NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington on Corvac Coleman, Congress has approved a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all its files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. As NPS Claddea Grisales reports, the measure cleared the Senate on a voice vote. In an extremely rare scene in Republican-controlled Washington, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to approve the bipartisan bill under a voice vote with no objections. The Senate has now passed the Epstein bill as soon. as it comes over from the House. House Republican leaders said they voted to approve the plan with the expectation the Senate would amend it to address their concerns. However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the overwhelming House vote of 427 to 1,

that was no longer necessary. And this way, the senators did not have to have their votes recorded. In a major reversal, Trump in recent days said he'd signed the bill when it reaches his desk. Claudia Rizales, NPR News, the Capitol. President Trump will attend the U.S. Saudi Investment Forum in Washington today. He'll be joined by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince say they've reached several deals. Trump says that the U.S. is now giving Saudi Arabia a special new status.

I'm pleased to announce that we are taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-Nanational. ally. During his White House visit yesterday, the Saudi Crown Prince faced questions from journalists. U.S. intelligence have found he approved the operation that led to the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Trump dismissed the reporter's question as embarrassing to the Crown Prince who has denied involvement. Koshoggi's widow has criticized Trump's comment yesterday. Drug maker Purdue Pharma will cease to exist under a Chapter 11 bank plan that has been approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge. NPR Sidney Lepkin reports

the Oxycontin maker and the company owners, the Sackler family, have been at the center of the nation's opioid crisis. The new restructuring plan replaces one the Supreme Court rejected in 2024, finding that it would have shielded the Sackler family from future lawsuits. This time around, members of the family can still be sued in civil court. The Sackler family will pay up to $7 billion to Purdue's creditors as part of the plan. The arrangement will also provide a pool of up to $865 million to compensate individual victims. The plan was approved by Judge Sond Lane of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Purdue will dissolve and emerge as a new company, NOAA Pharma. Its focus will include overdose reversal medicines and it will not involve

the Sacklers. Sydney Lepkin and PR News. On Wall Street and pre-market trading, Dow futures are higher. This is NPR. A California judge has ordered the man accused in one of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires to stay jail while he waits for trial. Prosecutors say Jonathan Rindernecht is considered a flight risk. He's accused of starting the Palisades fired last New Year's Day. He pleaded not guilty. The fire killed 12 people and destroyed nearly 7,000 structures. A new study finds ultra-processed foods are a key driver of chronic disease around the world,

and governments need to act now to reduce their consumption. That's the conclusion of an expansive new series of papers published by an international team of health researchers. NPR's Maria Godoy has more. The papers reviewed years' worth of evidence linking ultra-processed foods to poor health outcomes, including an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, Crohn's disease, and dying prematurely.

The researchers say ultra-processed foods have been shown to harm nearly all the organ systems in the human body. These foods have rapidly displaced fresh foods and traditional diets around the world, even as diet-related diseases have been rising. The authors say government policies like soda taxes, warning labels, and limiting these foods in school meals are urgently needed. The papers appear in the medical journal, The Lancet. Maria Godoy and PR News. Officials in Venice, Italy, say a bottlenose dolphin is swimming in city canals. He's been there for months, but Venice authorities want him to swim away because he may have been injured by a boat propeller. They'll try to move the dolphin

to open water. This is NPR.