NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-20-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: September 20, 2025

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On the TED Radio Hour podcasts, scientists at Alphabet's Moonshot Factory tackle big, serious global problems. But their leader likes to show up on rollerblades, sometimes dressed as Gandalf. My way of trying to disarm people and remind them humor and silliness are very close to the wellsprings of creativity. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, D.C. I'm Dale Wilman. For the third time this month, the U.S. military has destroyed a boat the White House claims was smuggling drugs from South America. And as NPR's Quill Lawrence reports, three people on board were killed. President Trump announced on social media that he had ordered a deadly strike on what he called

a vessel affiliated with a designated terrorist organization conducting narco-trafficking. Trump added in all caps, stop selling fentanyl, narcotics, and illegal drugs in America. U.S. Southern Command referred all questions about the attack to the White House. In the two previous lethal strikes this month, the boats had left from Venezuela, a country where a small amount of mostly cocaine transits to the U.S. The vast majority of fentanyl comes from Mexico. The White House has not provided detailed briefings to Congress on the subject, and some lawmakers from both sides of the aisle say these strikes amount to execution without trial.

Quill Lawrence NPR News. President Trump has announced a new $100,000 fee for visas for high-skilled foreign workers. As NPR's Adrian Florida reports, the president says his executive order overhauling the H-1B visa program will raise billions of dollars while protecting American workers. The new fee will make it much more expensive for American companies that want to hire foreign workers. In the Oval Office on Friday, President Trump said that will incentivize companies to pursue foreign workers only if they truly cannot find Americans to do the job. The H-1B visa program is for high-skilled workers like software engineers. Most of them come to the U.S. to work for large tech firms, but some conservatives have alleged the program incentivizes companies to bring in foreign workers who accept lower salaries than Americans do. The visas currently cost companies that can get them a few hundred dollars each.

Trump said the new $100,000 fee per worker per year will raise billions for the U.S. Treasury. Adrian Fletio, NPR News. The Senate has confirmed President Trump's pick to be U.N. ambassador. As MPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, the vote to confirm Michael Waltz, just in time for the United Nations General Assembly meeting this month in New York. Senators voted 47 to 43 to approve the former Florida congressman to serve as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations. Mike Walts was briefly national security advisor until he mistakenly added a journalist to a signal group chat about sensitive information on U.S. air strikes in Yemen. The scandal followed him to his confirmation hearing where some senators questioned his fitness for a top government job.

In the hearing, Waltz vowed to push for reforms at the UN and said after 80 years it has, in his words, drifted from its core mission of peacekeeping. President Trump is expected to address the U.N. next Tuesday. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. It was a good day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 172 points. The NASDAQ finished up 160 points. This is NPR News. Polish and allied aircraft were deployed early Saturday after Russia launched air strikes targeting Western Ukraine.

The targets were close to Ukraine's border with Russia. A NATO official says defenses in the region have been brought to a high state of readiness. Texas A&M President Mark Walsh stepped down on Friday after more than a week of turmoil sparked by a viral video. The video showed a student confronting an instructor over her teaching of issues related to gender identity in a children's literature. class. Houston public mediaist Bianca Seward has more. Welsh, a retired general, did not offer a specific reason for stepping down. But last week, a Republican Texas lawmaker posted video of the confrontation on social media and called the professor's actions, quote, DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also called for her termination, and the instructor was later fired.

Sophomore Ariana Aguilar said she's concerned about the Board of Regents' focus. I think it's really important to really re-examine what the Board of Reasons is. agencies supporting and who they're supporting, which is, you know, the entire student body and not just the perspective of some people. Welsh is now the fourth university employee to be dismissed or demoted since the video surfaced. The instructor in the video has appealed her termination. I'm Bianca Seward in Houston. The International Olympic Committee says Russian and Belarusian athletes will be required to compete as individual neutral athletes in next year's Winter Olympics. The games will take place in Italy next February. Restrictions will also be in place for athletes from both

countries who are in the military. The IOC also clarified that it never discussed banning Israel from those same games. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News, in Washington. This message comes from WISE, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with WISE, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply.