NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-21-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: September 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. Long lines are stretching around State Farm Stadium in Arizona for conservative organizer Charlie Kirk's memorial service. It begins in about an hour. Thousands gathered hours before the service was scheduled to start. NPR's Luke Garrett reports. Local police say hundreds of thousands are expected to attend Kirk's memorial service, including President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance,

and Charlie's wife, Erica Kirk. Glendale Police Department Communications Manager Jose Santiago says the crowd expectation keeps going up. We are estimating that we could see upwards of between 2 to 300,000 people just simply because of the amount of people that we have seen show up. Santiago says hundreds of law enforcement officers will manage the massive crowds. The lines of people walking up to the venue is stretching quite far. We're looking at more than a mile.

With crowd estimates far exceeding the stadium and overflow arena capacity, Santiago says not everyone traveling to Kirk's Memorial Service, will make it inside. Luke Garrett, NPR News. President Trump is to speak at the service. Earlier today, he sat down with Fox News and said Kirk had convinced him to get on the video app TikTok, and that helped him win the 2024 election. I'm a little prejudice with TikTok because I did so well with the young voter,

and by the way, Charlie helped me a lot. Charlie also said, you should get on TikTok, so I think I did that. But others said that too. and did amazingly well on TikTok, and we got record young voters. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Trump also said he's close to making a deal with China to allow TikTok to operate in the U.S.

by putting it under the control of American investors. He said that media mogul Robert Murdoch may be part of the group. An influential advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made changes to vaccine policy at a two-day meeting last week. NPR's Ping Huang reports from Atlanta. The panel is handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and skews towards being critical of COVID vaccines. They voted to recommend that people consult with a medical provider before they

get one. Panel member Retzf Levy, who led the discussions, wanted input on what people hear about the vaccines. Do we have a culture of safety? This has to do with acknowledging what the risks are and be truthful to parents and patients about what are the risks. The documented side effects are well known. Fever, body aches, a rare risk of heart problems for young men. But the committee voted to add theoretical risks to a consumer information sheet, even though some of those harms have not been proven, despite billions of doses being given out.

Ping Huang, NPR News. More countries recognized a Palestinian state today, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. More countries are expected to join that list at the United Nations General Assembly this week. This comes over the objections of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is NPR News. The Taliban leaders of Afghanistan today rejected President Trump's call for the U.S. to reestablish its presence at Pogrom Air Base. Trump said yesterday the U.S. is in discussions concerning the base but provided no details.

A Taliban spokesman urged the U.S. to follow a U. path of realism and rationality. He emphasized the importance of his country's independence and territorial integrity. Taylor Swift is headed back to movie theaters with her upcoming 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. NPR's Ava Pukash reports the singer has once again partnered with AMC theaters to release the film. The official release party of a showgirl coincides with the release of Swift's 12 album, The Life of a Showgirl. See the exclusive world premiere of the fate of Ophelia music video, along with behind-the-scenes footage from the music video shoot, brand new lyric videos, and stories about each song from my new album, The Life of a Showgirl.

The 89-minute film Mark Swift's second collaboration with AMC theaters following the 23 release of the Ares Tor concert film, which AMC says is the highest grossing concert film of all time, grossing more than $261 million. The official release party of a showgirl will screen October 3rd through 5th. Swift says dancing is optional, but very much encouraged. Eva Pugatch, NPR News. The National Hurricane Center is tracking Tropical Storm Gabrielle as it churns in the Atlantic. It's expected to pass east of Bermuda tomorrow and could strengthen into a hurricane by tonight.

I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.