NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-17-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

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In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump appears to be walking back plans to sell long-range tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that would allow it to strike deep into Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the powerful weapon would force Russia's Vladimir Putin to discuss ending his invasion.

Zelensky says it's time for a ceasefire and negotiations. I think we have to stop where we are and he is right. President is right and we have to stop where we are. This is important to stop where we are and then to speak. Trump says the ceasefire deal in the Middle East gives the Russia-Ukraine talks momentum and gave the U.S. quote, a lot of credibility. Trump says he'll meet with Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks to discuss ending the war. President Trump has added new tariffs on large trucks and at the same time eased some tariffs on imported auto parts.

As NPR's Kamilla Dominovsky reports, the extra wiggle room on tariffs is specifically for parts, bound for U.S. factories. President Trump said weeks ago he'd put new tariffs on medium and heavy duty trucks. Think delivery vans, 18 wheelers, buses. Those will kick in November 1st. This action also extends a program allowing automakers to offset some tariffs on parts. Carmakers have been very vocal with the White House about how tariffs are hitting cars made in U.S. plants. That's because even the most made-in-America vehicle relies on some imported parts and those have tariffs. This extension reduces how much those parts tariffs hurt companies. Automaker stocks went up after news outlets reported that this was coming.

Camila Dominovsky, NBR News. President Trump says he commuted the sentence of former Congressman George Santos. He's serving more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft. The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 people, including his own family members, to make donations to his campaign. Millions of people are expected to gather across 50 states tomorrow to protest against the Trump administration's policies.

NPR's Alana Wise reports on the No King's demonstrations. Organizers are planning for a wave of protests spanning from coast to coast. This comes as the government enters into its third week of shutdown. And viral video has shown masked ice agents detaining people with little to no explanation. Saturday's plan demonstrations follow major. no-kings protests this summer. Then, organizers claim they saw about 5 million people take to the streets. This weekend's protests could produce an even higher turnout. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to the prospect of mass demonstration stating simply, who cares? Alana Wise, NPR News.

The SMP 500, Dow Jones, Industrial Average, and NASDAQ composite all rose half a percent today. This is NPR News. thousand people displaced by storms in Alaska won't be able to return to remote villages for at least 18 months, according to Governor Mike Dunlevy. In one of the hardest hit villages, Kipnook, an initial assessment showed that 121 homes, or 90 percent of the total, have been destroyed. The governor says remnants of a typhoon struck the area with the ferocity of a category two hurricane. Health officials in Southern California have identified three cases of a strain of M-pox tied to more severe illness. As NPR's Will Stone reports, these are the first cases confirmed in the U.S. in people with no recent travel history. Earlier this week, the city of Long Beach reported the first case. Then, two more turned up in Los Angeles County, which has a separate health department. All three people were hospitalized and are now recovering. It's not clear how they caught this type of MPox, known as Clayd I, which is different from the strain that surged in the U.S. in 2022. This version of the virus has fueled outbreaks in parts of Africa, in particular the Democratic. Republic of the Congo, DRC, and other nearby countries. Public health officials say they are

investigating the cases, and at this point, there's no clear link between them. M. Pox tends to cause rashes or unusual sores, fever and other flu-like symptoms. Willstone, NPR News. Japan's former Prime Minister, Tomiichi Morayama, who was known for his 1995 apology to Asian victims of Japan's imperial aggression, died today. He was 101. Murayama died at a hospital in his hometown. Oweeta in southwestern Japan. I'm Rylan Barton. This is NPR News from Washington. Support per NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender or geography.coffman.org.