NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-16-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 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 Janine Herbst. President Trump in a reversal is now urging House Republicans to vote to release the Epstein files to move on from what he calls the Democrats' hopes. He made the comment on social media saying Republicans have nothing to hide. Meanwhile, the House is set to vote on the files this week after lawmakers gathered enough signatures to force a ballot. And Piers Luke Garrett reports one of the lawmakers behind the discharge petition is now warning of a last-minute cover-up. Republican Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky helped gather the 218 signatures needed to force the vote. On ABC News, Massey cautions his fellow Republicans that this ballot record will live on beyond President Trump.

In 2030, he's not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don't vote to release these files, and the president can't protect you. But Massey says new Trump administration investigations may be an effort to bar the release of the Epstein documents indefinitely. If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can't be released. So this might be a big smokescreen. Even if the House advances the Epstein file bill, it faces difficult odds in the Senate and the White House. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. California Governor Gavin Newsom's office is happy that about 200 of the state's National Guard that had been sent to Portland, Oregon, are coming back to the state. For member station KQED, Rachel Vasquez has more.

Newsom's office confirmed the news Saturday, saying the troops' return was long overdue. President Donald Trump federalized the troops over the summer, originally sending them to respond to immigration protests in Los Angeles. In October, Trump attempted to deploy guard members from California to Portland as the city saw protests outside of immigration enforcement offices. A federal judge in Oregon ruled against the deployment last week. For NPR News, I'm Rachel Vasquez in Sacramento. A communist party politician and far-right candidate will go through a runoff next month after today's first round of voting in Chile.

John Bartlett has more. Communist Jeanette Hada is expected to take a first round victory in Chile, with 27% of the vote, but by a much narrower margin than polls had predicted. Far-right Jose Antonio Cass, who has run a Trump-like campaign based on crime, border security and illegal immigration, shared the right-wing vote with several other candidates, but outstripped expectations by winning a projected 24% of the vote. Communist Hara and far-right caste will face off in a second round on the 14th of December, with caste widely expected to inherit the vote of the other right-wing candidates and win the presidency.

As was the case in Sunday's vote, voting will be compulsory in the runoff. For NPR News, I'm John Bartlett in Santiago, Chile. U.S. Futures contracts are trading higher at this hour. Dow futures up a fraction. You're listening to NPR News. In Germany, an auction house planning to sell off items belonging to former concentration camp prisoners has cancelled the sale after widespread criticism. As Esme Nicholson reports, Holocaust survivor, groups are calling the auction organizers shameless.

Among the items up for auction was a yellow star of David Patch from Buchenwald Concentration Camp, its condition described as having signs of wear. Letters belonging to the murdered camp prisoners and Gestapo documents were also among the collection due to go up for auction this week in the city of Nois near Dusseldorf. Germany's foreign minister Johann Varipfoul expressed his regret and outrage to his Polish counterpart, adding that any attempt to profit from the crimes of the shore is abhorrent. The International Auschwitz Committee says the artifacts belong to the victim's families or to museums and should not be degraded to mere commodities.

For NPR News, I'm Esme Noglson in Berlin. The annual UN climate negotiations in Brazil are at the halfway point, as several nations say they want stronger commitments on several issues. And that includes cutting emissions, getting financial, aid to countries hit hardest by climate change and also getting serious about phasing out fossil fuels. But that would be up to high-level ministers who take over the action during the second and final week of what's known as COP 30. Asian markets are trading lower at this hour than NICA, the main market in Japan, is down about 7 tenths of a percent. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News,

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