NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-18-2025 10AM 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 Jail Snyder. No King's demonstrations against the Trump administration planned in big cities and small towns across the country today. In Chicago, demonstrators will be on the streets amid escalating tensions over immigration enforcement, as Jessica Popovac reports. Opposition to Trump's mass deportation campaign has been strong.

Federal agents in Chicago and its suburbs have detained not only immigrants with and without legal status, but also several journalists, protesters, and minors. Denise Poliak is with Indivisible Chicago, one of the groups organizing the protest. They are creating havoc here and intentionally and deliberately engaging in cruelty with the goal of terrorizing and silencing us. And it's our message to them that we want them out of here and it's hands-off Chicago. Organizers say they hope people will show up to make a peaceful statement and connect with other local efforts.

For NPR News, I'm Jessica Popovat. in Chicago. The body returned by Hamas overnight has been identified. Israel says the remains are that of 76-year-old Eliahu Margalite. His remains are the 10th Hamas has returned since the ceasefire went into effect. Hamas remains under pressure to return all the bodies but says it's struggling to access them under the rubble and destruction. Tom Fletcher is the UN's humanitarian chief in Gaza. He spoke to the BBC. And people are picking through the rubble of the bodies. They're trying to find their homes. They're returning to where they think their homes were and seeking to identify them. We have an enormous job ahead of us to stabilize the situation to stop the starvation, to get

the hospitals open, to get kids back in school. We've started to do that, and we're having an impact already. But being here on the ground, it's an overwhelming task. The death toll is rising. Gaza's health ministry said today that more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that began with the October 7th attack by Hamas. GOP leaders in New York disbanding the state's Young Republicans chapter, Jimmy Veilkind from member station WNYC, reports on the latest fallout from a leaked group chat to which members 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 Vilkind in New York. And you're listening to NPR News. Dozens of South Koreans have returned home from Cambodia, where most were detained during a crackdown on online scam centers.

They arrived today on a chartered flight, and South Korean authorities say they will face criminal investigations. Their return follows the death of a South Korean college student who was reportedly forced to work in a Cambodian scam center. British Prime Minister Kirstarmer's government is trying to overturn a ban on Israeli fans attending a soccer match in the U.K. next month. Barker reports from London. British soccer team Aston Villa is scheduled to play the Israeli team Maccabee Tel Aviv on November 6th in a Europa League game in the city of Birmingham. On Thursday, city officials announced that Maccabee fans will be banned based on, quote, current intelligence and previous incidents. That's a possible reference to violent clashes between Maccabee fans and pro-Palestinian demonstrators around a Europa League match in the Netherlands last year.

But Prime Minister Kier-Starmer has been among those condemning the decision as anti-Semitic and is said to be investigating what he might do to both reverse the ban and address the security concerns. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. Los Angeles Dodgers have advanced to Major League Baseball's World Series. The Dodgers swept the National League Championship Series last night, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5 to 1. Dodgers star, Shohay Otani, had three home runs and put show. shot-out ball into the seventh inning. The American League series is heading into game six tomorrow night.

I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.