NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-27-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. Two members of the West Virginia National Guard shot yesterday blocks from the White House remain in critical condition. Authorities say an Afghan National is in custody and was also wounded. President Trump is calling it an ambush-style attack and says he's deploying hundreds more National Guard members to Washington, D.C., as a result. And Pierce Dia Hadid reports the Trump administration also says all immigration requests from Afghan nationals, are being halted indefinitely. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made the announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It came as the Department of Homeland Security identified the shooter as an Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakhanwal. He entered the U.S. under a program that helped resettle Afghan refugees after the Taliban overran Kabul and triggered the chaotic exit of U.S. forces from the country. Advocates for Afghan say the decision to suspend

immigration requests is likely to impact the claims of some 35,000 Afghan nationals and their families who are in the asylum pipeline. That's through a program for those who served alongside Western forces during America's two decades of involvement in Afghanistan. Dear Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai. Pope Leo is in Turkey on the first foreign trip of his papacy. The first American Pope's six-day pilgrimage will also take him to Lebanon. MPR's Ruth Sherlock is traveling with the Pope. Shortly after taking off from Rome, Pope Leo the 14th came to greet the journalists on board. Bonjourno, to the Americans here, happy Thanksgiving.

It's a wonderful day to celebrate. The first stop is Turkey, where he'll meet with President Reisip Tayyip Erdogan, an opportunity to smooth relations with the leader who in 2020 turned the Hagia-Sophia heritage site, important for Christians and Muslims, into a mosque. and Leo will travel to Isnik where 1700 years ago the Council of Nicaa developed the fundamental Christian creed still recited by

Christians of different denominations today. Pope Leo said he hopes this trip inspires all people to greater unity and harmony. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Ankara, Turkey. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade gets underway in about a half an hour

in New York City. Dozens of floats, clowns marching bands, and of course, the giant balloons. We'll float on the street in Manhattan to the Macy's store in Harold Square. There will be 34 giant balloons, each one, between two to four stories tall. Catherine Wright, with Macy's studios, says they're ready for any wind problems. All of our balloons have this flight analysis that tells our balloon teams how high they can fly the balloons in different wind conditions. Lil John and Cynthia Arevo are among those scheduled to appear. You're listening to NPR News,

News from Washington. A three-judge panel says North Carolina can use a newly redrawn congressional map designed to give Republicans an additional U.S. House seat. The map would give the GOP an advantage in 11 of the 14 congressional districts, and it targets the state's only swing seat, held by Democratic rep Don Davis, representing over 20 northeastern counties. North Carolina is among several states where President Trump has pushed for mid-decade map. changes ahead of the 2026 elections. Thanksgiving in orbit is nothing new for a veteran NASA astronaut, Mike Fink. As NPR's NPR's Nell Greenfield Voice reports, it's a second time he spent the holiday on board the International Space Station.

Mike Fink has been living on the orbiting outposts since August. The station's crew includes other NASA astronauts, an astronaut from Japan and Russian cosmonauts. In a video message, Fink said they'd share a festival. festive meal. So we have like the traditions of turkey. There's some cranberry sauce here. A can of cranberry sauce floated next to him. It's actually kind of Russian cranberries. So it's kind of neat to have that up here because that's one of the my favorite parts. They'll also eat other holiday treats NASA sent up, packages of everything from candy to lobster. Fink said he was going to miss his family back on Earth, of course, but that it was awesome to get to celebrate with

what he called his space family. Nell Greenfield. Boyce, NPR News. Wall Street's closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it will have a shortened trading day tomorrow. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News, in Washington.