NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-16-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: November 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. Border Patrol agents continue to make arrests in Charlotte, North Carolina, today, the latest city to experience a federal immigration crackdown. From Member Station WFAE, Nick Delacanel has more. Agents arrested 81 people on Saturday, the first day of the operation, according to Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino. Around Charlotte, agents were seen detaining people outside laundromats, auto shops, supermarkets, front yards, even a church. Outside in East Charlotte Walmart, construction worker Lopez Nunez says he fears for his undocumented wife and newborn. He's keeping them home. You really need to go outside for an emergency.

If you try to stay home, it's safe and don't open the door for ice. Charlotte Mayor Vailail says agents are causing unnecessary fear. It's unclear how long the operation will last. For NPR News, I'm Nick Della Canal in Charlotte. Newly released paperwork shows a former member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governor, violated financial transaction ethics rules. And Pierre Scott Horsley reports she resigned from the central bank abruptly three months ago. Paperwork released by the Office of Government Ethics shows Adrenah Coogler bought and sold individual stocks last year in violation of Fed policy.

Some of the transactions took place during the so-called blackout periods around Fed meetings when trading is even more strictly regulated. The rules are designed to avoid the appearance that Fed officials are trading on inside information. Coogler says the trades were made by her husband without her knowledge. News the stock trades may explain Coogler's decision to quit the Fed in August, almost six months before her term expired. Her resignation gave President Trump an early opening to install White House economist Stephen Myron on the Fed board, where Myron has echoed the president's call for more aggressive interest rate cuts. Scott Horsley, Empire News, Washington.

Ukraine is working on resuming prisoner exchanges with Russia. And Pierce Polina Litwinova reports it could result in the return of 1,200 prisoners. 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. The annual UN climate negotiations in Brazil are at a halfway point.

Several nations say they want stronger commitments on several issues, including cutting emissions. But that'll be up to high-level ministers who take over the action during the second and final week of what's known as COP 30. You're listening to NPR News. from Washington. Researchers say malaria patients may soon have a new treatment option after decades of relying on one type of medication. As MPIR's Jonathan Lambert reports, existing pills aren't working

as well in many areas. Since the early 2000s, a single class of drugs called artemisinins has treated the vast majority of malaria. Derived from the wormwood plant, Artemisinins have saved millions of lives. But their power to treat malaria is fading in some parts of the globe as the parasite that causes malaria evolves resistance. Without alternatives, deaths could surge. But malaria researchers are cheering as a new drug just cleared a big scientific hurdle. Ghanloom, manufactured by Novartis, cured over 97% of patients in a large clinical trial across a dozen African countries. Researchers presented the results at a meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and hygiene. The team hopes for regulatory approval within the next year and a half.

Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. Artificial Christmas trees are more expensive this year, up as much as 10 to 15 percent over last year. That's partly because of President Trump's tariffs on China. The American Christmas Tree Association says 83 percent of Americans who put up a tree choose an artificial one. But nearly all are imported from China, raising the cost to U.S. businesses that import the trees. Decorations and other holiday day core are also expected to be more expensive because of the tariffs, although some businesses tried to stock up before the tariffs went into effect. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News, from Washington.