NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-17-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Effective just now, the Federal Aviation Administration has lifted all flight restrictions on air travel in the U.S. The FAA had reduced flights by up to 6% last week. Officials were trying to deal with growing staff shortages among air traffic controllers. That was linked to the federal government shutdown. Air traveler Steve Yeager was in Denver waiting to board his flight to Europe. The government shutdown, I thought, was really disappointing all around. showing how dysfunctional our government is.

Tens of thousands of flights were delayed or canceled during the 43-day-long government shutdown. Airlines say they're confident their operations will return to normal in time for people to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. President Trump has reversed course. He now says that House Republicans should vote to release the Justice Department's files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump says, quote, we have nothing to hide. Writing online last night, described the issue as a, quote, Democrat hoax and claimed it was intended to deflect from GOP's success. Trump's declaration comes as a bipartisan group in the House has already gathered enough support to vote on releasing the files.

And peers Luke Garrett has more. Republican Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky helped gather the 218 signatures needed to force the vote. On ABC News, Massey cautions his fellow Republicans that this ballot record will live on beyond President Trump. In 2030, he's not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don't vote to release these files, and the president can't protect you. Trump called Massey a loser. NPR's Luke Garrett reporting. Newly released paperwork shows a former member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors violated ethics rules for financial transactions. NPR Scott Horsley reports the board member abruptly resigned from the central bank 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, fired. 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 and Pierre News, Washington. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump administration will designate a new terror group. He says it's Cartel de Los Solis. The administration claims it's run by Venezuela's president.

Rubio spoke as a major U.S. aircraft carrier sailed into the Caribbean Sea. This is NPR. A court in Bangladesh has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikasina to death. Her trial was held in absentia. Shea is in India. Shea Casina was ousted from office last year by a popular student uprising. The Bangladeshi court says she ordered lethal force against the students. Hundreds were killed in the protests.

Early data suggests that the number of first-time international college students in the U.S. is down sharply from last year. That's according to the Institute of International Education. It's a nonprofit that tracks global enrollment trends. From member station GBAH in Boston, Kirk Carrapeza reports. The survey of 800 colleges shows the number of international students enrolling at U.S. colleges for the first time is down 17%. Professor Harardo Blanco directs Boston College's Center for International Higher Education.

He attributes that decline to a shift. in policy and tone coming from the White House. I think there is a sense that international students are not unambiguously welcome in the United States, and I think that is a significant change in the mood for higher education. The loss is a major blow to schools that depend on international students to offset declining domestic enrollment and dwindling tuition dollars. For NPR News, I'm Kirk Carrapeza in Boston. The U.S. Postal Service says it lost nine.

billion dollars in the last fiscal year. U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner warns the Post Office cannot fix its finances just by cutting services. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.