NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-20-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Mourners are gathered inside the Washington National Cathedral for former Vice President Dick Cheney's funeral. Former President George W. Bush is among those to eulogize his former vice president. Though not a happy assignment, I do consider it an easy one because there was so much to like and admire about Dick Cheney. Dick was a stoical man, and I doubt he left his life with any complaints about the time given to him, or its end. Cheney was one of the most powerful political figures of his time. The Republicans served as White House Chief of Staff, a member of Congress, a defense secretary, and a vice president alongside President George W. Bush for two terms. Cheney was a chief architect of Bush's War on Terror post-9-11 and a force behind the U.S. invasion of Iran.

Rock. In his later years, Cheney was still a hardline conservative, but did not support President Trump, whom Cheney described as the greatest individual threat to our republic. Neither Trump nor Vice President J.D. Vance was in attendance. The Labor Department says U.S. employers added. 119,000 jobs in September more than expected, but job growth in the summer was weaker than first reported. And Pierre Scott Horsley reports a new numbers were delayed by the six-week government shutdown. The report shows hiring was uneven in September. September, health care and hospitality continued to add workers, but factories and warehouses shed jobs. The unemployment rate inched up to 4.4% while the workforce grew. Job gains for the two previous months were revised down by a total of 33,000 jobs. While the information in today's release is somewhat stale, it's the last jobs report the Federal Reserve will get before its next decision in December on interest rates. Snapshots of the October and November job market have been delayed by the government. government shutdown. Some of the October figures, including the unemployment rate, were not gathered at all. Scott Horsley and Pair News, Washington. The CDC has made a dramatic shift in its position

on vaccines and autism. More from NPR's Rob Stein. The CDC's website now says a link between vaccines and autism cannot be ruled out. That's a sharp reversal from the CDC stance that there is no link. The change comes, even though a connection between vaccines. vaccines and autism has long been debunked by a large body of high-quality research. But Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long promoted the discredited claim. The CDC's change is alarming public health experts. They are already worried about a drop in childhood vaccination, which has led to a resurgence of dangerous childhood diseases like measles and whooping cough. Rob Stein in PR News. The Dow is down 39 points. This

is NPR Niz. Frida Carlos El Sueño La Gama will be auctioned tonight at Sotheby's in New York. The 1940 self-portrait depicts the artist sleeping in her canopy bed while a skeleton wrapped in dynamite floats above the bed. It was painted during a turbulent time in the artist's life. El Sueño is considered one most haunting works. Sotheby's believes the painting could sell for anywhere from

$40 million to $60 million. Delegates to the UN's World Climate Conference in Brazil are calling for a clear roadmap to guide the world away from fossil fuels. NPRs, Julia Simon, has more from Belim, Brazil. Climate ministers and envoys are calling for a clear roadmap to move the world away from planet heating, oil, gas, and coal. The U.S. is not participating in this. conference. The U.S. is the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world. Ralph Regan Vanu is

Minister of Climate Change of Vanuatu, an island nation threatened by rising seas. Regan Vanu says the absence of the U.S. isn't a bad thing. Generally, it's a good thing they're not here because we have less recalcitrance to deal with. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told NPR, President Trump will not jeopardize our country's economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals. Julia Simon, NPR News, Belain, Brazil. U.S. stocks are trading lower this hour with the Dow off 35. The SMPs lost 14, and the NASDAQ is now down 58 points. It's NPR NEAS.