NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-17-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, temporary flight reductions at major airports have been lifted as more air traffic controllers return to work. NPR's Joel Rose reports, commercial aviation is now back to normal after the federal government shut down. The Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration say airlines can resume normal operations at dozens of major airports. The FAA said those restrictions had been necessary to keep the airspace safe, as the agency grappled with widespread staffing shortage. of air traffic controllers during the government shutdown. But with the shutdown over, air traffic controllers have finally received some of the back pay they earned, and regulators say staffing conditions are now back to what they were before the shutdown. Airlines say they're confident they can ramp up quickly and should be able to return to their full schedules

before Thanksgiving holiday travel begins. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. Immigration activists are expected to confront the City Council in Charlotte, North Carolina tonight. This comes as border patrol agents continue to make arrests in the city. From member station WFAE, Nick Delacanel reports. Activists are urging Charlotte leaders to bar border patrol agents from city-owned buildings and parking lots. Agents have been making dozens of arrests along Charlotte's immigrant corridors, sparking chaotic scenes, including outside an Hispanic supermarket,

where shoppers honked horns and yelled at agents. In a video statement, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein said agents are stoking fear, and he urged residents to record them. Everyone wants to be safe in their communities, but the actions of too many federal agents are doing the exact opposite in Charlotte. It's still unclear who agents have arrested. The agency hasn't released names or charges. For NPR News, I'm Nick Della Canal in Charlotte.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. has designated a South American group as a new terror organization. The Trump administration says the group is run by Venezuela's president. but Rubio did not offer evidence. President Trump is calling on NBC to fire late-night host Seth Myers. This follows Trump's tirades against other late-night hosts who make fun of him. And Pierre's Elizabeth Blair reports. 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. I mean,

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. This is NPR News. President Trump has reversed course. Writing online yesterday, he told Republican lawmakers to vote for a measure that calls on the Justice Department to release all files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House already has enough support to force a vote on the release of the files.

That vote is expected sometime this week. According Bangladesh has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death, she's an Indian. so her trial was held in absentia. Hacina was toppled by student protests last year. The Bangladeshi court said she ordered deadly force to be used against protesters. In Germany, an auction house planning to sell off items belonging to former concentration camp prisoners has cancelled the sale. It had received widespread criticism.

Holocaust survivor groups are calling the auction organizers shameless. Esme Nicholson reports from Berlin. Among the items up for auction was a year. yellow star of David Patch from Buchenweil to concentration camp, its condition described as having signs of wear. Let's belonging to the murdered camp prisoners and Gestapo documents were also among the collection due to go up for auction this week in the city of Nois near Dusseldorf. Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Weirapfoul expressed his regret and outrage to his Polish counterpart, adding that any attempt to profit from the crimes of the Shoah is abhorrent. The International

Auschwitz Committee says, the artefacts belong to the victim's families or to museums and should not be degraded to mere commodities. For NPR News, I'm Esmine Gelson in Berlin. And I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.