NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-18-2025 2AM EDT

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

NPR News: 10-18-2025 2AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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, I'm Dale Wilman. President Trump posted on social media that his phone call Friday with Russian President Vladimir Zelensky was very interesting and cordial. The conversation between the two leaders comes as Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin

are planning another in-person meeting. And Paris Deepa Shivam reports. Trump says that he has told both Zelensky and Putin that it's time to make a deal to end the war. The president has been adamant that there's momentum to end the war after he brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The war in the Middle East was far more complicated. We got that one done. And I think we have a good chance. I think President Zelensky wants it done. And I think President Putin want it done. He and Zelensky discussed the U.S. providing Ukraine Tomahawk missiles, which Trump has said could put pressure on Putin to come to the negotiating table. But he seems to have walked that back after the chat with Putin. No decision has been made about providing those weapons. Trump says he plans to meet with Putin in Hungary in the next two weeks. Deepa Shiveram, NPR News, the White House.

Alaska Governor Mike Don Levy says damage to remote coastal villages hit by flooding last weekend is so severe that many of the 2,000 people who were displaced won't be able to return home for at least 18 months. The remnants of a typhoon hit the region with the same force as a Category 2 hurricane last weekend. First responders spent the past week carrying out the largest airlift rescue operation in the state's history. Coast Guard Petty Officer Teddy Kirsch was there evacuating residents. This being actually my first ever live rescue, the first woman, the first person I ever hoisted in the basket was a woman and her baby. Now, I will never forget the feeling of holding that baby while that woman was getting out of the basket, setting her down in her chair, and then handing her back her baby.

That was something I will never forget. A landmark agreement to cut emissions from global shipping has been postponed. owned for at least a year. The deal was negotiated over the past decade and then blocked by the Trump administration this week. And Paris, Camilla Dominovsky has our reports. The giant ships that move cargo around the world mostly run on oil. Alternative fuels could cut emissions and help the global fight against climate change. The International Maritime Organization has spent years negotiating a deal that would set legally binding rules to cut emissions. It was almost finalized this week. Then the U.S. started working to undo the deal.

President Trump called the effort to cut emissions a, quote, green new scam tax that would raise costs. The U.S. is the world's largest oil producer, and along with other large producers like Russia and Saudi Arabia, managed to push the final decision on the rules back by at least a year. In a post on ex-Secretary of state Marco Rubio called the vote a huge win for the president. Kamila Dominovsky, NPR News. Stocks finished up across the board on Friday, and you're listening to NPR News. leaders in New York are disbanding the state's Young Republicans chapter, as Jimmy Veilkind 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 Genevialkind in New York. Egypt says it may open the Rafa border crossing into Gaza as early as Sunday, But it's not been made clear if that will allow for the movement of both much-needed aid and people. The crossing connecting Gaza to Egypt is significant, as it would make it easier for those seeking medical treatment or international travel. Many Palestinians also have family in Egypt. Eugenio Suarez hit a go-ahead Grand Slam Friday night as the Seattle Mariners beat Toronto 6-2. The win gives the mariners a three-to-two lead in the American League Championship Series. In Los Angeles, meanwhile, Shohei Otani hit three home runs.

and pitched a shutout into seven innings as the Dodgers clinched the NL League series of a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.