NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-21-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: September 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona reached capacity today as tens of thousands gathered to mourn the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Wayne Chesky from member station KJZZ has more from inside the stadium. The inside of State Farm Stadium was jam-packed with people. It had reached a capacity crowd and they were diverting other folks over to a nearby arena that was going to live stream the presentation. and all of the speakers.

President Trump is in attendance. He and many of his cabinet members are speaking to the crowds today. And peers Luke Garrett has more. Kirk's remembrance began with hours of Christian worship music. Here's singer Kerry Job Kearns. We need our country healed. We want the Kirk family to be healed.

Kirk's pastor, Rob McCoy, spoke first at the memorial. He said many politicians were present, but Charlie saw politics as a road to Christianity. Kirk's chief of staff, Mike McCoy, quoted a Christian philosopher and called Kirk a martyr. The martyr dies in his rule has just begun. Executive producer of the Charlie Kirk show Andrew Colvette then said Kirk was a profit. Local police estimate 60,000 people filled State Farm Stadium with tens of thousands gathered outside. Luke Garrett, NPR News.

The UK, Canada, and Australia have formerly recognized a state of Palestine. It's a push by major Western countries to revive the two. two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin and Yahoo, though, has vowed to retaliate. And peers Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv on what Israel's response could be. Netanyahu said in a video, there will be no Palestinian state to the west of the Jordan River, referring to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He said that would reward terrorism after the Hamas attack that started the Gaza war. Netanyahu said Israel's response would come after his trip this week to the U.S. where he'll address the U.N. and meet President Trump.

A person briefed on the matter, but not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR, Israel would likely not annex West Bank land out of concern the United Arab Emirates could cut ties with Israel, but that Israel could change the status of some West Bank land, putting it under Israel's full administrative control. Another move being considered is closing foreign diplomatic missions to the Palestinians. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Fallout from a cyber attack that affected check-in systems at several European airports continues for a second day. With travelers facing dozens of canceled and delayed flights and airport teams scrambling to limit the damage to travel plans.

The cyber attack started late Friday at key airports in Brussels, London, and Berlin that were hit by disruptions to electronic systems that snarled up check-in. You're listening to NPR news from Washington. 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 has more. 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 when 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. At the weekend box office, Demon Slayer Infinity Castle took the top spot once again, adding $17 million in ticket sales. That makes it the highest grossing anime film ever in North America. In second place, Universal Pictures Him, a football horror produced by Jordan Peel, debuted with $13 million. Despite its promising premise, the film did receive poor reviews. In third place, another horror, The Conjuring Last

with $13 million in its third weekend, with a global total nearing $400 million. It's now the biggest film in the Conjuring's universe. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.