NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2025 7PM EST

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

NPR News: 11-19-2025 7PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Bayer. Science is a rigorous process that requires questions, testing, transparency, and results that can be proven. This approach is integral to every breakthrough Bayer brings forward. Innovations that save lives and feed the world. Science Delivers.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump says that the Saudi Crown Prince has convinced him to get more involved in solving the war in Sudan. NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. President Trump says it wasn't on his charts to try to solve the conflict in Sudan, but he told an audience at a business conference that the Saudi crown prince explained to him how horrible the conflict is. And you know we've already started working on that, okay? He said that would be the greatest thing you can do.

That would be greater than what you've already done. That was your expression. Is that a correct expression? Pretty good. The Saudis have been encouraging Trump to try to stop. the flow of weapons to the RSF, which is accused of widespread atrocities. The United Arab Emirates is accused of backing the paramilitary, and many observers want to see Trump use his influence with the Emirates to stop that.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. The Justice Department has acknowledged a possible lapse in how the case against former FBI director James Comey was presented to a grand jury. The full grand jury didn't review a copy of the final indictment against Cohen. The revelation came during a hearing where Comey's lawyers asked a judge to throw out the case on grounds the government is being vindictive. Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of making a false statement and obstructing Congress. Harvard says it's taking another look at its ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The review comes after emails showed the university's former president and current economics professor Larry Summers and his wife kept close ties with Epstein even after his sex offense conviction in 2008.

from member station GBAH in Boston, Kirk Carapetza reports. A Harvard spokesperson says the school is reviewing recently released Epstein documents and evaluating its next steps. Walter Johnson teaches history at Harvard. He says as troubling as Summer's contact with Epstein was, it's not clear what course of action Harvard should take. Whether it's appropriate for the university to discipline someone for things that they have said,

no matter how tawdry, how small-minded that have been revealed in a state-sponsored dump of their private email, that seems to me to be an open question. Summer says he's ashamed of his relationship with Epstein, and he's stepping back from his public commitments. But as of now, he's still a Harvard professor. For NPR News, I'm Kirk Carrapeza in Boston. Elon Musk has made his public return to Trump's orbit at the Saudi Investment Forum in Washington. As a featured guest, he talked about the future of artificial intelligence with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. He made a prediction that in 10 or 20 years, work will be optional, saying it would be like playing sports or a video game. Musk left the White House in May

shortly before a public spat with Trump. The U.S. stock market made slight gains today. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The U.S., Britain, and Australia have announced sanctions against a Russian Russia-based web hosting service for allegedly running ransomware operations. Officials say, media land is among the companies that sell access to servers and other computer infrastructure and enable the criminal activity. Ransomware can severely disrupt local governments, hospitals, and businesses. Most of the involved gangs are based in former Soviet states and are out of reach of the

Western courts. New research from Brown University finds that marijuana leads people to cut back on alcohol consumption. It's one of the first rigorous studies to test this idea in humans, NPR's Will Stone has more. In an elaborate and provocative experiment, scientists doled out joints and constructed a fake bar in the laboratory. They recruited about 160 people and found those who smoke the higher potency cannabis ended up drinking 27 percent less alcohol and the lower potency about 19 percent less compared to the placebo. Jane Metrick at Brown University led the study. It is telling us that cannabinoids could play potential therapeutic role in alcohol use disorder.

Metric and other researchers acknowledge cannabis itself is not harm-free and concerns about the drug also need to be weighed, and that more research needs to be done before making any kind of recommendations. Will Stone, NPR News. An owl found partially encased in concrete after it got inside a cement mixer in Utah is expected to fly free again after it was cleaned by animal sanctuary workers. They removed the concrete after several grooming sessions. It's expected to be released by summer next year. This is NPR News from Washington. 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. Tees and Cs apply.