NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-18-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

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Making time for the news is important, but when you need a break, we've got you covered on All Songs Considered, NPR's music podcast. Think of it like a music discovery show, a well-deserved escape with friends, and, yeah, some serious music insight. I'm going to keep it real. I have no idea what the story is about it. Here are new episodes of All Songs Considered every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says he is stepping away from his public duties. Summers is facing backlash over his email exchanges with late sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. NPR's Giles Snyder reports.

Larry Summers told Harvard student newspaper in a statement that he is deeply ashamed and takes full responsibility for what he said was a misguided decision to continue to communicate with Jeffrey Epstein. He said the move as part of an effort to rebuild trust and repair, relationships with those closest to him. Emails between Summers and Epstein were among thousands of documents released last week by the House Oversight Committee. They show the two remained in contact until just before Epstein's arrest in 2019 for sex trafficking minors. Summers has not been accused by any of Epstein's victims, but last week, President Trump named him and other prominent Democrats when he urged the Justice Department to investigate them. Trial Snyder in PR News.

The Trump administration is preparing to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. The announcement comes amid concerns that the sale could lead to the China gaining access to U.S. technology that's linked to the advanced weapons system. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon is expected to discuss that plan and other deals Tuesday during his first official visit to Washington. Ben Salmon is also expected to announce a multi-billion dollar investment in U.S. artificial intelligence. infrastructure. For the past two months, the Trump administration has carried out deadly strikes on small suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. As NPR's Ryan Lucas reports, it is a huge change from decades-old U.S. policy of intercepting drug boats, seizing the contraband, and prosecuting the crew. So I spoke with nine current and former officials for this story.

They are all people who spent much of their careers focused on transnational criminal organizations in drug trafficking. So they have a lot of experience. They are not. fans of drug cartels, they all question the legality of the Trump administration's military strikes. Many of them referred to the strikes as murder, and they point out that there's no due process here for the folks who are being killed. Now, the Trump administration, for its part, disagrees. It says these strikes are lawful and that the president is acting under his Article 2 powers as commander-in-chief and in self-defense.

The Justice Department said in a statement that the administration is committed to ending drug trafficking and said that these leaks are from disgruntled. employees. NPR is Ryan Lucas. A federal magistrate in Washington is criticizing the Justice Department's prosecution of former FBI director James Comey. Judge William Fitzpatrick cites what he calls fundamental misstatements of the law by the prosecutor who took the case to a grand jury. Fitzpatrick has also expressed concerns about unexplained irregularities in the jury transcripts. This is NPR. An Indiana man charged with involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of a house cleaner who showed up at the wrong address.

62-year-old Kurt Anderson is facing up to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, if convicted. Anderson fired a shot through his front door, killing 32-year-old Maria Florenda Rios Perez de Valisquez. The November 5th incident in the Indianapolis suburb of Whitesown is being called a test of Indiana. stand your ground law. The latest report card from the March of Dimes gives the U.S. a D-plus for maternal and infant health. NPR's Maria Godoy reports that the U.S. has one of the highest rates of premature births among developed nations. About one in ten babies born across the U.S. last year was premature, and those rates were much higher in some U.S. states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, and for certain racial and ethnic minorities, especially black women and

infants. The March of Dimes report also found about one in four pregnant women didn't receive prenatal care in their first trimester, a decline from previous years. Meanwhile, the prevalence of pre-existing chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes increased. Both are known risk factors for preterm birth. The March of Dimes says the findings should be a call to improve systemic inequities and access to care across the country. Maria Godoy and PR News. futures are flat and after hours trading on Wall Street following Monday's losses, the Dow Jones industrials, tumbled 557 points. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate

with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs apply.