NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-21-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: September 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. A memorial service is underway at State Farm Stadium in Arizona. It's to remember and honor conservative activist Charlie Kirk who was shot and killed 11 days ago while he was speaking at Utah Valley University. The service is drawing tens of thousands of mourners, including President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, other top officials, and many young conservatives who had been inspired by his work. The United Nations General Assembly meets in New York this week. The President of Turkey says while there, he'll discuss Israel's recent actions in Gaza in a meeting

this week with President Trump. Duri Buscaran has more. Addressing reporters before departing for New York, Turkish President Rajap Thayb Erdogan said he's hopeful that a move at the UN General Assembly by several European countries. countries, to recognize a state of Palestine, will add momentum to the cause. He also said he plans to discuss Gaza with President Trump during a Thursday meeting and touch on other issues like trade and national security. Dozens were killed in Gaza City yesterday, according to media reports. Israel is continuing its air and ground assault to seize the densely populated city, leveling high-rise buildings and ordering people to leave the combat zone. For NPR News,

I'm Derri Bouscarin in Istanbul. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal all recognized a Palestinian state today. They joined more than 140 other members of the UN to do so. British Prime Minister Kier Starrmer says the decision over Israeli objections is aimed at ending the conflict in Gaza and promoting a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says it empowers those who seek peaceful coexistence and the end of Hamas. The decision to recognize the Palestinian state comes over strong objections of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Trump says he'll nominate White House A. Lindsay Halligan to be the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

She replaced Eric Seabird, who stepped down last week. He had been investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud, but had expressed doubts that criminal charges should be filed. NPR's moral liaison has more. Trump actually said he didn't resign, I fired him. But now, in an extraordinary post on truth social, Donald Trump has ordered Pam Bondi, his attorney general, to prosecute his political opponents, including James, but also former FBI director James Comey and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. Trump claims they are all, quote, guilty as hell. And this is an escalation of Trump's decision to use the Department of Justice as the instrument of his campaign of revenge and retaliation.

NPR's Mara Liason. You're listening to NPR News in Washington. President Trump says the U.S. and China are close to a deal that would allow the video app TikTok to operate in the U.S. A law says the app would be banned unless its Chinese owner puts it under the control of American investors. Trump had delayed implementation while negotiations continued. Trump told Fox News the deal may include media mogul Robert Murdoch, his son Lachlan, and Oracle founder Larry Allison. Brown bears in Alaska's Catmai National Park and Preserve have been packing on the pounds this summer.

And this week, they'll face off in the annual Fat Bear Week competition. Alaska Public Media's Ava White reports. The name of the event, Fat Bear Week, says it all. It's a week of celebrating how chubby the bears get in preparation for months of hibernation. And these bears get huge. Sarah Bruce is a park ranger at Catmai. She says it's stunning to watch the bears transform as they feast on the world's largest sock-eye salmon run. It really is quite a sight to see these bears go from 5, 6, 700 pounds, and they come out of the den to over 1,000 pounds by the end of the season.

12 chunky contenders will face off in the bracket-style competition, which opens for online voting at explore.org Tuesday and runs through September 30th. For NPR news, I'm Ava White in Anchorage. A different sort of winter was announced early this morning in Moscow. Vietnam won the Intervision Song Contest, which Russia revived after it was banned from the Eurovision Song Contest for the invasion of Ukraine. The winning song was based on a folk tale about a king who repelled an enemy army. I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.