NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-23-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump is addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He has spent much of his remarks highlighting his own work, insisting he has solved several world conflicts, although that is not clear. But he also says, unlike himself, the U.N. has done little to solve the same conflicts. What is the purpose of the United Nations? The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I've always said it.

It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. but it's not even coming close to living up to that potential. Trump spoke about denouncing illegal migration and blamed India and China for purchasing Russian oil. He says Europe must stop purchasing Russian energy too. He says they're helping fund the war in Ukraine. Trump denounced efforts to recognize a Palestinian state. He also said the U.S. will lead an international effort

to enforce a world agreement to limit biological weapons. Trump is also calling climate change. quote, the greatest con job. Trump is rejecting green energy efforts. As senior diplomats gather for the U.N. General Assembly, the Secret Service says it shut down a network of devices that could have been used to spy on or disrupt communications. And Pierre's Jenna McLaughlin has more. High-profile meetings of world leaders are extremely attractive targets for espionage. So it's no surprise the U.S. Secret Service uncovered a network of more than 300 servers and 100,000 SIM cards in New York City in the days leading up to the 80th U.N. General Assembly.

According to the Secret Service, those devices could have enabled bad actors to shut down communication networks in the area or to spy on the session. Matt McCool is the special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office. He made brief remarks in a video message. This announcement is designed to safeguard critical infrastructure and responsibly provide the public what we can at this time. He said the investigation already uncovered a potential foreign actor involved. Jen McLaughlin, NPR News.

Opening arguments are expected today in the federal government's case against big tech company Amazon. The Federal Trade Commission alleges Amazon manipulated millions of customers into signing up for its prime membership and then made it really hard to cancel. NPR's Alina Seljuk reports the trial is in Amazon's hometown, Seattle. The lawsuit marks one of the biggest federal cases against one of the world's largest companies and somewhat unusual for a dense anti-trial. trust case. A jury will determine whether Amazon broke the law. And note that Amazon is among NPR's financial supporters. The FTC says Amazon illegally used what are known as dark patterns, quote, manipulative design elements that trick people into signing up for prime. And then the FTC says Amazon made people jump through too many hoops if they wanted to cancel. The company denies any

wrongdoing and says its designs and disclosures follow industry standards. Alina Selo, NPR News. On Wall Street, the Dow was up about 200 points. The NASDAQ is down 80. This is NPR. A new U.S.-based joint venture is proposing to take control of the video-sharing app TikTok under a deal being negotiated with China. The venture will be able to retrain TikTok's content algorithm using U.S. data. The White House says the algorithm was a tough point of negotiation that needed to meet requirements of U.S. and Chinese law. TikTok faced a ban in the U.S. over security concerns. China's southern coast is bracing for the landfall of a super typhoon. Schools and workplaces across the region are closed.

Ashish, Valentine has more from Taipei, Taiwan. Videos on Chinese social media show customers complaining because grocery store shelves were empty of vegetables and other ingredients. The megacities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are stealing themselves as super typhoon Ragasa approaches. Hong Kong's airport is suspending hundreds of flights. Ragasa already passed Taiwan and made landfall in the Philippines, causing multiple casualties and displacing thousands. The storm will bring powerful winds and heavy rainfall to millions of people in China and Southeast Asia. For NPR News, I'm Asch Valentine in Taipei.

A Seattle seafood distributor has recalled more cooked and frozen shrimp sold at Kroger grocery stores in the U.S. because of conservative. about potential radioactive contamination. Aquastar Corporation has recalled nearly 160,000 pounds of shrimp because of possible contamination with a radioactive isotope. Again on Wall Street, the Dow was up about 200 points. This is NPR.