NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Congress has overwhelmingly passed legislation to force the Justice Department to publish its files on late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. This came after months of foot dragging by House Speaker Mike Johnson. The measure was sent over to the Senate yesterday where it passed within hours. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says he wants the president to sign it now. There's no reason it can't be on the president's desk in an hour. second the president has to sign it you never know with him he said he would let's wait and see but third we have to make sure that the whole all of the documents are released the law gives the justice department

30 days to release all files and communications related to epstein the agency can't hold back names of victims or information about ongoing federal investigations president trump will attend the u.s saudi investment forum today in Washington will be joined by Saudi Arabian crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom Trump is hosting. Several CEOs of large companies are expected to join them. The summit comes as the U.S. and Saudi Arabia say they're working on several deals. And Pierre Sage Miller reports. Earlier this year, the White House announced Saudi Arabia agreed to invest $600 billion in the U.S.

But during his Oval Office meeting with President Trump, Prince Mohammed said he's upping it to $1 trillion. Salman says Saudi Arabia plans to invest that money in technology, including artificial intelligence. Trump also wants Saudi Arabia to sign on to the Abraham Accords. Those agreements dating back to Trump's first term normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states. Sage Miller, NPR News. U.S. intelligence says the Saudi Arabian crown prince approved of the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While speaking to reporters yesterday, President Trump defended the Crown Prince saying Khashoggi was controversial.

Kishoggi's widow spoke out saying Trump's view didn't give anyone the right to murder Keshokji. A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration's claims that big tech company META violated anti-competition laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp. NPR's Bobby Allen has more. Federal regulators sued META in 2020, alleging it was an illegal monopoly that broke competition laws when it purchased Instagram and WhatsApp. But since then, one major force has changed the social media landscape, TikTok. And this became a major part of META's defense over a seven-week trial in April, that it does not monopolize social media apps because of TikTok's dominance. The court has now agreed, dismissing the government's push that META should be broken up.

It's one of five government antitrust cases against Big Tech. Results have been mixed. META's victory follows Google losing two cases, and cases against Amazon and Apple are still pending. Bobby Allen and PR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Federal immigration authorities are still in Charlotte, North Carolina. School officials in the area say more than 30,000 students did not show up on Monday morning.

That's 20% of the school district's enrollment. Immigrant physicians make up a quarter of all the doctors in the U.S., but science, health, and immigration policies, such as higher visa fees, are making it harder. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports. Dr. Michael Liu says recent data show only 1% of physicians in the U.S. have work visas known as H-1B. Those are for highly trained, highly skilled professionals, and those doctors work in some of the toughest communities. High poverty counties had a four times higher prevalence of H-1B physicians. We also saw that same pattern in rural counties or rural communities.

Lou is Canadian and remained in the U.S. after training here and getting married earlier this year. But he says, It feels like my contribution just because I was not born in this country are less valued. Yuki Noguchi and PR News. The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on last year's collapse of the key bridge near Baltimore. Six people were killed. The bridge fell after it was rammed by an out-of-control cargo ship. The report says a loose wire on the ship was responsible.

The agency also cites lapses in communication to the construction work. who died. Maryland transit authorities now say the cost to build a new bridge is double than initially predicted. It could be more than $5 billion. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.