NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-20-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. In North Carolina, Charlotte's mayor and local police say federal agents are leaving the city today after a week of sweeping arrests in immigrant-heavy areas. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security has not confirmed the crackdown has ended. From member station, WFAE, Eli Portillo, reports. Mayor Vailis said in a statement Thursday, it appears Border Patrol's operation has ended. The County Sheriff and Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department confirmed agents are leaving. Masked agents driving unmarked SUVs arrested more than 370 people against the wishes of Charlotte's leaders.

Border Patrol has said it was focusing on those in the country illegally but has not offered detailed charges against them and has only named a handful of those detained. Federal officials have not answered questions about where they've taken them. For NPR News, I'm Eli Portillo in Charlotte. September's Jobs report is out following a nearly six. week delay because of the government shut down. The Labor Department says the economy gained 119,000 jobs that month. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. Now the President Trump has signed the bill that directs the Department of Justice to release files relating to Jeffrey Epstein. There's

renewed focus on the documents that already have been released and what they say about the president. In thousands of pages that are now public, other powerful people were revealed to keep close ties to Epstein even after he became a registered sex offender. NPR Stephen Fowler has more. Trump is mentioned quite frequently in these documents. Epstein appeared obsessed with Trump and his presidency and trying to tell powerful people that he was this sort of Trump whisperer because of their one-time friendship.

But plenty of high-profile Democrats have been in varying degrees of Epstein's orbit, and Trump is directing the Justice Department to investigate links between Democrats like former President Bill Clinton, Summers, and Megadoneer-R-Ree Hoffman. NPR's Stephen Fowler reporting. The group Human Rights Watch has released a new report. It says that the Israeli military's emptying of refugee camps in the occupied West Bank amounts to crimes against humanity. NPR's Katlonsdorf reports this comes as Israel's extended military operation in the territory has been going on for nearly a year. In January, Israeli forces moved into several densely populated areas in the northern West Bank,

forcibly displacing more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the UN. Those people have not been allowed to return to their homes since, which in many cases have been demolished by the Israeli military. Israel says the operation is necessary for its security. The Geneva Conventions prohibit the displacement of civilians in occupied territory except temporarily, and entitled Displace People to Protection and Accommodation. Human Rights Watch found that Israel has not complied, saying that the forced displacement amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is the longest and largest displacement in the West Bank in decades. Kat Lawnsdorf, MPR News, Jerusalem.

From Washington, it's NPR News. New York City Mayor Alex Aramam Dani says he is not concerned that President Trump might use their meeting this Friday to embarrass him. He says the sit-downs a chance to advance affordability issues that recently helped get the Democratic Socialists elected. Trump has railed against Mamdani, labeling him a communist mayor. He's threatened to deport Mamdani, who was. born in Uganda and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018. Novelist Robbie Alamede is this year's winner of the National Book Award for Fiction. And P.R. Andrew Limbong says the award is one of the most prestigious in American literature

and was given out at a ceremony in New York City last night. During his acceptance speech, Alamedin took the time to thank his agent, his editor, and a few other people, including his psychiatrist, his drug dealers, And thank all gastrointestinal doctors. I guarantee you that I wouldn't have been able to write a single word in the last 10 years without their help. There would have been no movement. Alamedin's novel, the true, true story of Raja the gullible and his mother, is a funny and sad novel about a philosophy teacher who lives with his aging mother. In nonfiction, Omar Al-Aqad won for his book,

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, and in poetry, Patricia Smith, one for her collection, the intentions of thunder. Andrew Limbong, NPR News. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 351 points, roughly three quarters of a percent, at 45,787. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.