NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-16-2025 8PM 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 Hurst. This week, the House will vote whether to order the Justice Department to release documents about the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. And peers Mara Liason has more. House Speaker Mike Johnson tried for months to avoid this vote, but he failed when four Republicans joined Democrats to sign a discharge petition. That's a tool that allows rank-and-file House members to circumvent leadership and bring bills to the floor.

Last week, the House Oversight Committee released documents that show President Trump may have known more about Epstein than he has said he did. Trump has lashed out at Republicans who've demanded the documents be released, and he's ordered his Attorney General to investigate Epstein's ties to Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton. Even if the bill passes the House, it faces an uncertain future in the Senate and a potential veto from the president. Mara Liason, NPR News, Washington. Several Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are vowing to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state. MPR's Kat Lansdorf reports that the head of an expected vote at the UN Security Council

this week. 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 UN Security Council is 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 Lansdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. President Trump is calling for NBC to fire late-night host, Seth Myers. And peers Elizabeth Blair reports, this comes on the heels of Trump's tirades against other late-night hosts who make fun of him. One of Seth Myers jokes last week was about President Trump's recent comment that there weren't

enough skilled workers in the U.S. for certain jobs. Myers did an impression of him. Laura, Laura, listen, you can't expect me to make America great again with only Americans. On Truth Social, Trump wrote that Myers' NBC show is a ratings disaster, that Myers has no talent and that NBC should fire him. Then Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, reposted Trump's post on X. Former Congressman and Free Speech Advocate Justin Amash posted on X, the government shouldn't be pressuring companies with respect to late-night hosts, comedians, or anyone

else. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Washington. U.S. Features contracts are trading higher at this hour. You're listening to NPR News. Stargazers may notice bright streaks in the sky late tonight. NPR Shandalees Duster reports the Leonid Meteor Sheper. shower is expected to peak tonight through Tuesday morning. The Leonid meteor shower happens every November. The meteors are known to be bright, colorful, and very fast, traveling at 44 miles per second. Meteor rates are as low as three meteors per hour, but NASA says stargazers can catch up to 10 to 15 meteors per hour this year.

The best chances of seeing the meteors will be after midnight and into the early morning hours. The American Meteor Society says to go to a dark location away from city lights and look to the eastern sky and the constellation Leo. Meteors will be seen streaking from there in various directions. The moon will also be less than 10% full, making it easier to see the Leonids. Shandales Duster, NPR News. In the Philippines, hundreds of thousands rallied in the capital, Manila, demanding accountability for a flood control corruption scandal

that's implicated top government officials and members of the country's Congress. This after the discovery that thousands of flood defense projects were substandard, incomplete, or didn't even exist in one of the world's most typhoon-prone countries. Congressional hearings were held. Flood control is a sensitive issue in the Philippines after two typhoons left at least 259 people dead this month, mostly from flash floods and from landslides. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News, in Washington. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.

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