NPR News: 10-18-2025 3AM EDT

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.

Ukrainian President Vlodymir Zelensky was at the White House Friday, where he had a lengthy meeting with President Trump.

Afterward, Trump called on Russia and Ukraine to stop fighting and bring to an end their war.

Empires Michelle Kelleman has more on where things stand.

In a lot of ways, it's a war of attrition.

You know, Russia has a lot more men to throw into this meat grinder, as Trump likes to say.

Has a lot of drones and missiles,

much of it made by Iran.

Zelensky and the Europeans have worked really hard to convince Trump.

that Russia is not winning this war.

And again, it seemed like their strategy was working.

You know, you heard Trump say this war is making Putin look bad.

It's hurting its economy.

Trump, meanwhile, also had a phone call with Russia's president after he seemed to back off from an earlier indication that he might offer Ukraine Tomahawk missiles that could strike deep into Russian territory.

A count by Virginia's unemployment agency indicates that the pace of federal employees applying for jobless benefits may be increasing.

From VPM News, Jad Khalil reports.

During the first week of the shutdown, 550 Virginia residents listed a federal agency as their employer when applying for unemployment.

The next week, it was 700.

That's according to a Virginia Employment Commission spokesperson.

These unemployment claims still need to be vetted, but it would account for varying reasons for a government worker to be out of work.

That includes people who accepted a deferred resignation program, commonly known as the FORC, and those who were furloughed in the shutdown.

The spokesperson wrote in an email that most federal workers who applied for unemployment benefits had been furloughed.

Virginia has about 150,000 federal employees, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

For NPR News, I'm Jada Khalil in Richmond.

Millions of people are expected to gather across 50 states Saturday to protest against Trump administration policies.

NPR's Lana Wise reports on the No Kings demonstrations.

Organizers are planning for a wave of protests spanning from coast to coast.

This comes as the government enters into its third week of shutdown.

Environment

ICE agents detaining people with little to no explanation.

Saturday's planned demonstrations follow major No Kings protests this summer.

Then, organizers claim they saw about 5 million people take to the streets.

This weekend's protests could produce an even higher turnout.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to the prospect of mass demonstrations, stating simply, who cares?

Alana Wise and PR News.

International shipping now accounts for about 3% of the yearly emissions of greenhouse gas, but a meeting by the world's largest maritime nations ended on Friday without new regulations to control those emissions.

President Trump had urged the countries on Thursday to vote against regulations that would have imposed fees for emissions above a certain threshold.

The shipping industry is a major user of fossil fuels.

You're listening to NPR News.

China's second highest ranking general and eight other senior officials have been expelled from both the Communist Party and the military.

The Defense Ministry says the nine are under suspicion of serious misconduct linked to corruption, and they say the misconduct involves large sums of money.

Government anti-corruption drives have become a major policy for Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he took office in 2012.

A new report sheds light on how dependent the U.S.

is on China for the raw ingredients needed to manufacture many medications.

NPR's Gabriela Emmanuel has more.

Nearly 700 U.S.

medications require at least one ingredient that comes solely from China.

This is the case for the very common antibiotic amoxicillin.

India is the sole supplier of an ingredient in roughly 400 U.S.

medications, or about 22%, in the analysis done by U.S.

Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit that sets quality standards the U.S.

government relies on.

The group urges the U.S.

to be less reliant by manufacturing these chemicals in the U.S.

or increasing the geographic diversity of the supply chain.

Gabriela Emmanuel, NPR News.

In college football, Drake Lindsay had a a rushing and passing touchdown in Minnesota, set a school record for sacks as the Golden Gophers beat number 25 Nebraska Friday night 24-6.

The Gophers sacked Dylan Riola nine times, and Louisville upset number two Miami by the score of 24-21.

Louisville intercepted Carson Beck four times, the last interception in the final minute stopped a Miami go-ahead drive.

I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.

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