NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-16-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: November 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Amy Held. Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has arrived in the Caribbean. 4,000 sailors on board join thousands of service members already there. The Trump administration says it is fighting narco-terrorism. Military exercises are planned. It is not clear whether the military will be used against Venezuela. But pressure on Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro, is growing. He put his message to music at a Caracas,

this weekend, calling for peace with John Lennon's Imagine. The U.N.N. Us people. The U.S. has long pushed for regime change, offering a $50 million reward for Maduro's arrest. It's day two of a federal surge in Charlotte, North Carolina, that defies the wishes of state and local leaders. Saturday saw immigration agents arrest 81 people, a Border Patrol official says. People were detained outside church, supermarkets, and places of work. Charlotte's Democratic mayor says the operation is causing unnecessary fear. President Trump has issued two new pardons for people connected to the January 6th insurrection.

NPR's Ava Pukatch reports. Trump issued a second pardon for Daniel Edward Wilson. Wilson had already been pardoned for his actions on January 6, 2021, when on his first day in office, Trump granted clemency to everyone charged for convicted for the attack. But Wilson had remained behind bars due to a separate conviction for illegally possessing six guns and nearly 4,800 rounds of ammunition. After the second pardon, he was released from prison

where he had been serving a five-year sentence. Trump also pardoned Suzanne Ellen Kay, who was convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents who were investigating whether she was at the Capitol on January 6. She was released last year after serving 18 months. months. Eva Pugatch, NPR News, Washington. Several Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are vowing to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from Tel Aviv.

Speaking at a government meeting, Netanyahu reiterated his stance against Palestinian independence. Our opposition to a Palestinian state on any territory has not changed whatsoever, he said. The U.N. Security Council is said. set to vote on a U.S. drafted resolution for an international stabilization force in Gaza as part of President Trump's 20-point peace plan that went into effect last month. Part of that resolution includes language that leaves the door open for Palestinian statehood, something insisted on by many of the countries expected to contribute troops to the stabilization force. Netanyahu and many Israeli leaders have long opposed statehood, saying it would be a reward for Hamas.

Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News. In tennis, in his home country, Italy's Yannick Sinner defeated Spanish world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP finals. Sinner won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, and the 24-year-old maintained an unbeaten run in this tournament, earning record prize money topping $5 million. Todd Snyder, a singer whose freewheeling tunes and cosmic stoner songwriting, made him a beloved figure in American Roots Music has died. He was 59.

Ryan Hass reports. The Nashville-based musician was best known for his influence on the alternative country music scene. Snyder was prolific and spent much of his life on the road performing. He was hospitalized in recent days due to pneumonia, according to his family. Following his death, fans praise Snyder's lyrical prowess and wit. On news of his death, Snyder's record label encouraged fans to celebrate his life by turning on one of his records, quote, loud enough to wake up all of your neighbors. For NPR news, I'm Ryan Hess.

This story has legs in multiples of eight. What is believed to be the world's biggest known spider's web, topping 1,100 square feet, was found in creepy conditions, the pitch black of a sulfur-rich cave on the Albanian-Greek border. Tens of thousands of arachnids belonging to two different species cohabitate there. Researchers say it's extraordinary because spider group living is rare. This is NPR News.