NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-17-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump is giving domestic automakers some relief from his tariffs by extending a rebate on auto parts until 2030. tariffs on those parts had threatened to raise costs for automakers. The exemption was supposed to be short-term, be a short-term bridge to give automakers time to move production lines back to the U.S. Trump also signed an order imposing 25 percent tariffs on medium and heavy-duty trucks. President Trump is commuting the sentences of disgraced New York Republican Congressman George Santos. As NPR's Barber Sprunt reports, Santos had been sentenced to more than seven years in prison this past April. Trump announced the commutation of the former congressman,

via his social media platform. He wrote that George Santos will be released from prison, quote, immediately. Santos pleaded guilty to a raft of federal charges, including wire fraud and identity theft, for, among other things, stealing people's identities to make donations to his campaign. He reported to prison in July. In his post, Trump praised Santos for always voting Republican. Barbara Sprint and PR News, Washington. A bipartisan group of senators will force a vote to limit President Trump's powers to enter into war with Venezuela. NPR's Claudia Grisalis reports this comes amid fears Trump will unilaterally take the U.S. into a new military conflict with no end in sight.

Virginia Democrat Tim Cain is leading the bipartisan group to force the vote in the Senate following a 10-day waiting period. Kane says he's worried Congress is running out of time to stop Trump's escalating campaign against Venezuela. The pace of the announcements about the authorization of covert activities and the military planning makes me think there's some chance this could be animated. Kentucky Republican Rand Paul and California Democrat Adam Schiff have also signed on to force the vote. The move follows Trump ordered military strikes in the Caribbean, new covert operations and plans to begin military

operations inside Venezuela. Claude Rizales, NPR News. GOP leaders in New York are disbanding the state's young Republicans chapter. As Jimmy Vielkind from member station WNYC reports, it's the latest fallout from a leaked group chat in which young Republicans sent racist and anti-Semitic messages. NYGOP chair Ed Cox says the vote to suspend the young Republicans was unanimous. He says the vile language in the chat, quote, has no place in our party or its subsidiary organizations. Politico reported this week that former New York State Young Republicans Chair Peter Junta led a group chat that included racist comments and jokes referencing Adolf Hitler in the Holocaust. Junta has apologized and lost his job

after the messages were made public. The reaction by New York Republicans is more severe than from some figures in Washington. Vice President J.D. Vance downplayed the racist and misogynistic messages as, quote, edgy jokes. For NPR News, I'm Jimmy Vilkine in New York. And this is NPR News from Washington.

Hamas is reaffirming its ceasefire agreement with Israel by pledging to hand over the remains of all dead Israeli hostages. The militant group's state, follows a warning from President Trump that he would greenlight Israel to resume the war if Hamas doesn't live up to its end of the deal. Hamas is defending the killings of alleged gang members in Gaza, who one official accused of causing death and destruction. Meanwhile, the U.N. says aid into Gaza is still being held up. A new report sheds light on how dependent the U.S. is on China for the raw ingredients needed to manufacture many

medications. NPR's Gabriela Emmanuel has more. Nearly 700 U.S. medications require at least one ingredient that comes solely from China. This is the case for the very common antibiotic amoxicin. India is the sole supplier of an ingredient in roughly 400 U.S. medications, or about 22% in the analysis done by U.S. pharmacopoeia, a nonprofit that sets quality standards the U.S. government relies on. The group urges the U.S. to be less reliant by manufacturing these chemicals in the U.S. or increasing the geographic diversity of the supply chain.

Gabriela Emmanuel NPR News. The Orionid meteor shower peaks next week with the arrival of a new moon, offering a rare chance to see shooting stars without moonlight interference. The shower will peak Tuesday morning when experts predict up to 20 meteors per hour could be visible under ideal conditions. The source of the Orionids is debris from Haley's comet. It can be seen until early November. This is NPR News.

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