NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-16-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: November 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Amy Held. A split is growing between President Trump and what had been one of his stonious advocates in Congress. And as NPR's Luke Garrett reports, the intra-party rift, represents a broader fight over the Make America Great Again movement. Trump called Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green a traitor on Saturday after reneging his endorsement for the Georgia lawmaker. Green tells CNN she now fears for her safety. Those are the types of words. that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger. Green says Trump is attacking her because she supports releasing the Epstein files.

She also criticized Trump's foreign policy agenda, saying he should focus more on domestic issues. I would love to see Air Force One be parked and stay home. Last week, Trump said he knows the MAGA movement best and that Green is lashing out because he didn't support her statewide political ambitions, which Green denies. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. A judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot find the University of California or withhold federal funding based on its discrimination allegations. From Member Station, KQED in San Francisco, Juan Carlos Salara, reports.

The ruling is a victory for faculty, staff, and student groups who sued after the administration demanded that UCLA pay over $1 billion and change campus policies, like a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, to reinstate frozen federal funding. Connie Chan is counsel for some of those groups. The ruling is really significant. It requires the government to refrain from using its pressure tactics to try to coerce the University of California into adopting the administration's preferred ideological views.

The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. For NPR News, I'm Juan Carlos Lara in San Francisco. In Southern California, the rain is easing for now, but the risk from an atmospheric river remains. Forecasters say the rain could be heavy again tomorrow, leading to more flash flood warnings and rockslide risk. The region is still recovering from January firestorms, now susceptible to debris flow. After the storm dumped more than a month's worth of rain in parts up to six inches, flooding got uncomfortably close for Long Beach resident Tim Maurice. The water just started coming up really fast and it's up past the sidewalk now and almost I put some sand.

bags around the house, almost in the house. It's a little scary. In parts of town, kayakers were paddling down the streets. Venezuela's Nicolas Nicolas Maduro says U.S. military exercises in maritime neighbor Trinidad and Tobago are irresponsible, and he is accusing the U.S. of pursuing a criminal war. The USS Gerald Ford arrives in the Northern Caribbean today, the world's biggest aircraft carrier joining thousands of service members already there. This is, NPR News. In Chile, a new president and parliament are on the ballot today. Presidential candidates very sharply. Jeanette Hara is a communist and former labor minister and Jose Antonio Kast, an ultra-conservative lawyer. The focus has been on public fears over organized crime

and immigration. Ukraine is working on resuming prisoner exchanges with Russia. NPR's Polina Litvinovah reports from Kiev the effort could potentially bring home 1,200 Ukrainians from captivity. Ukraine's Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustam Umerov, announced that he has had consultations with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on the resumption of the POWs exchanges between Ukraine and Russia. In his post on social media, Umeirov wrote, this would help to activate the agreements the two countries made during the direct talks in Istanbul.

Ukraine hopes to return home more than 1,000 people before Christmas. The last prisoner exchange was in October. So far, such swaps are the only progress Ukraine and Russia have achieved since their direct negotiations renewed in spring. Polina Litwinova, NPR News, Kyiv. In Manila, hundreds of thousands of protesters came out to demand accountability in a flood control corruption scandal. They're outraged over substandard or non-existent flood.

defense projects in the typhoon-prone Philippines. Government officials have testified about kickbacks involving Congress and public works officials. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has promised swift action. This is NPR News.