NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Congress has approved a bill demanding the release of the Epstein files and sent the measure to President Trump's desk. Over the weekend, Trump urged Republicans who support the measure and said that he would sign it. As NPR's Claudia Grosaliz reports, that's a reversal of the position taken when Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey began pushing the measure. This is something that dragged out for much of the year. but then it came together rather quickly in a matter of days. But first, a little bit of background. Massey was working alongside California Democrat Rocana,

and they started what's known as a discharge petition. Four months ago, it's an arcane procedure of skips, committees, leadership to force a floor vote with signatures from a simple House majority. And they hit that mark last week. And Trump fought them all the way until this past weekend when he reversed course and he saw that this look like it was going to pass. And PR's Claudia Grisal is. President Trump hosted a White House dinner for Saudi Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman last night. Earlier Tuesday, the two leaders discussed a number of agreements, including the sale of fighter jets to Riyadh and billions of dollars' worth of investments in the U.S. I'm pleased to announce that we're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia is a major non-NATO ally. Trump says a stronger alliance

will advance the interests of both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. President also says that bin Salman knew nothing about the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Turkey. The man accused of setting the deadly Palisades fire in Los Angeles has been ordered to remain in custody pending trial. More from Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. During the hearing, attorneys presented different views on whether the man accused Jonathan Rindernecht is a flight risk.

Prosecutors argued that he has significant ties to France, where he was raised and where his parents live, and also to Indonesia. Defense attorneys called those claims rhetoric and said Rinderneck doesn't even have a current passport. In the end, the judge ruled that he will remain in custody. Rinderneck is accused of starting a fire just past midnight on January 1st. Fire crews put out the flames, but they continued to smolder underground and came back to life a week later as the Palisades Fire, destroying more than 6,800 structures and leading to the deaths of at least 12 people. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. The Trump administration is preparing to begin immigration sweeps to include New Orleans. What's being called Operation Swamp Sweep aims to round up roughly 5,000 people across southeast, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

An immigration crackdown in North Carolina now is being expanded to include Raleigh. This is NPR. Honda is recalling more than 256,000 hybrid accords because of a software problem that could lead to a sudden loss of power. The defect can cause the internal software to reset while the car is in motion, potentially causing a crash. The recall pertains to vehicles from the 2023 through 2025 model years. Honda says that as of October, it received more. more than 800 warranty claims linked to the problem, but no reports of related injuries. New research from the College of William and Mary finds that the U.S. has been the biggest recipient

of Chinese loans and grants for the past 20 years. As NPR's Emily Fang reports, the overall size of Chinese lending abroad is much higher than previously known. The aid data report findings show Chinese state banks have lent some $200 billion for more than 2,500 projects in the U.S. between 2000 and 2020, including for deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars in semiconductors and technology. That amount dwarfs any other destination for Chinese state lending. Overall, though, China has been scaling back its overseas lending as economic pressure builds at home and experience helps them choose better investments, especially in high income countries moving away from developing countries. But the report also found China has taken more

measures to obscure its lending activity, making tracking these volumes difficult, and that its lending increasingly aligns with Beijing's geopolitical objectives. Emily Fang and Pierre News. U.S. futures are virtually unchanged in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR News.