NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-17-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

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Lie from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. A federal judge says the Justice Department may have engaged in profound investigative missteps in its prosecution of former FBI director and President Trump critic James Comey. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports the judge has ordered prosecutors to turn over all grand jury materials to Comey's defense lawyers. Comey was indicted by a grand jury in September on false statements and obstruction charges tied to his congressional testimony in 2020. His attorneys have requested the grand jury materials arguing that irregularities may have tainted the prosecution. Now, Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick has granted that request. In an opinion, Fitzpatrick says the record, quote, points to a disturbing pattern of

profound investigative missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceedings. This is one of several ways Comey is challenging. The Trump Justice Department's case against him. Ryan Lucas NPR News, Washington. Saudi Arabia's crown prince heads to Washington, D.C., tonight for a meeting at the White House tomorrow with President Trump. NPR's Aibatrawi reports the meeting's agenda is expected to cover a lot of ground from investment deals to a U.S. defense pact.

The last time Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Washington was seven years ago, just before his aides killed Saudi critic and Washington post-columnist Jamal Khashoggi, sparking international outcry. But the heir to the Saudi throne returns to Washington as a partner, not a pariah. The prince, known also for major social and economic reforms that have changed life in Saudi Arabia, has vowed hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the U.S. under Trump. He's expected to ask for F-35 fighter jets, advanced AI chips, nuclear technology, and a defense pack that wouldn't require congressional approval.

Underpinning those talks are personal ties between Trump and Prince Mohammed. That was on display in May when the president chose Saudi Arabia again as his first overseas trip, and those personal ties mixed with business as billions from the Gulf flow into Trump's family ventures. Ayaputrawi, NPR News, Dubai. A new analysis finds the administration's cuts to national institutes of health grants affected hundreds of clinical trials and thousands of patients. NPR's Robstein reports on the findings published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Since returning to office, the Trump administration has terminated hundreds of grants from the NIH for medical research.

Researchers at Harvard analyzed clinical trials funded by the NIH, between the end of February and the middle of August. They found 383 clinical trials involving at least 74,000 participants were affected. Studies involving infectious diseases, heart disease, and respiratory diseases were hit hardest. One out of every 37 NIH cancer trials was affected. Rob Stein and PR News. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow is down more than 400 points at 46,733. This This is NPR News. Retailers are heading into the holiday hiring season with assistance from artificial intelligence. NPR's Windsor Johnson reports many major chains are using AI systems to scan resumes and sort applicants almost instantly.

Retailers, including some of the country's biggest chains, say they're using artificial intelligence tools to sort thousands of holiday job applicants at once. The systems scan resumes in seconds, flag qualified. candidates and even schedule interviews automatically. Labor researchers say this kind of automated screening has exploded in the last two years. They warn the speed is appealing, but the tools can misqualified workers who don't use the exact keywords the software looks for. Companies say they need the technology to keep up with demand. Stores are filling tens of thousands of seasonal jobs before Thanksgiving, and for applicants, decisions now come in minutes instead of days. Johnston and PR News. After more than 40 years in the business and a string of box office hits,

Tom Cruise has an Oscar. He received an Academy Honorary Award yesterday at the Governor's Award, streamed by the Oscars Online. I will always do everything I can to help this art form to support and champion new voices, to protect what makes cinema powerful. And, you know, hopefully without too many more broken bones, that would be nice. The ceremony also, also honor choreographer and actor Debbie Allen, singer, actor and philanthropist Dali Parton, and production designer Wynne Thomas. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, in Washington.