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Episode Date: September 25, 2026

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Live from NPR News, I'm Jail Snyder. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing back against a lavish welcome for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott. I understand that Trump has to be diplomatic, but she's a despicable person that is killing us with fentanyl, build the military to try to defeat us. On Thursday, Senate Democrats criticized Trump's meetings with Xi, saying he opted for pageantry over purpose and that he's failed to secure meaningful concessions from Beijing on trade, artificial intelligence, and human rights. President Trump greeted Xi on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews upon his arrival in Washington. After hosting a Thursday night state dinner at the White House, Trump is to wrap up his meetings with Xi with a Friday tour of the National Archives. The Pentagon is trying to figure out how parts of an F-35 fighter jet went missing in Hong Kong.

NPR's Greg Myrie reports on the suspicion that China may now have components of the most advanced U.S. military aircraft. Australia is one of several countries that's been allowed to buy the F-35 jet from the U.S. Australia says it shipped some F-35 parts back to the U.S. because they needed repairs. This included the jet's canopy, which covers the cockpit and is coated with stealth technology that makes the fighter difficult to detect. However, the shipment was diverted to Hong Kong where it disappeared. The U.S. says China is engaged in extensive espionage to learn more about advanced American weapons. In a statement, the F-35 Joint Program Office at the Pentagon said it was, quote, actively working with U.S. authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components

and investigate the incident. Greg M.P.R. News, Washington. The U.S. Senate has narrowly rejected a war powers resolution. The vote Thursday marked the 14th time the Senate considered a measure aimed at sending President Trump a message about the Iran war. The rejection comes out. after the House has three times voted to end the war that's largely blamed for his bike and fuel prices and has become a flashpoint in the midterm election. Senate Health Committee spent around two hours Thursday questioning Dr. Heidi Overton, President Trump's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Here's MPR. Sydney Lubkin. Senators asked Overton about her views on vaccines, the abortion pill Miffra Pristone, food safety, and whether she'll be able to tell the president when he is wrong. She was serving as a White

House aid until her nomination last month. She stood near the president in the Oval Office this summer when, without evidence, he called the MMR vaccine potentially quite lethal. When the committee members asked about that, she didn't say the president was wrong, but she did say the vaccine is safe, effective, and the best tool in the fight against the ongoing measles outbreak. It is not yet clear whether the senators will vote in favor of confirming her. Sydney Lupkin, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. The state of New York is suing the popular prediction market site, Polymarket, claiming the platform is running an illegal gambling operation. The lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James expands her effort to rein in prediction markets, following similar cases against Kalsh, Coinbase, and Gemini.

Polymarket is fighting back filing its own lawsuit, saying the Federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive authority to regulate prediction markets. World leaders have convened their high-level meeting on climate action at the UN General Assembly. NPR's Julius Simon reports there was both good and bad climate news. On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutieresh started with the bad news. The world is headed for an overshoot of the aim for global warming limit 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. Scientists say that means more deadly storms, floods, heat waves, and Gutieresh says there's this. Emissions are still rising when they must plummet. And fossil fuel expansion continues.

The crisis is accelerating, he said. But so are the solutions. We are the first generation with the tools to address climate change, he said, like solar, wind, and batteries. And he said, we're the last generation who can avert climate catastrophe. Julia Simon and Pierre News. No, Lowe is now the latest hurricane in the Pacific, the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

says NOL strengthened into a hurricane Thursday, and it's expected to dump heavy rain on Hawaii's big island. Meanwhile, forecasters are warning that Hurricane Polo could cause flooding and landslides in Mexico. This is NPR News.