NPR News: 10-18-2025 11PM EDT

Support for the following message comes from Sutter Health, where doctors and nurses care for 3.5 million Californians, offering everything from primary and maternity care to advanced heart and cancer treatments.

Learn more at Sutterhealth.org.

Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.

More than 1,000 people lined Western Avenue in Albany, New York this afternoon for one of more than 2,000 No Kings rallies being held across the U.S.

The rallies are being held to protest actions by the Trump administration.

Sandy Gordon says he was pleased to see such a broad range of people participating.

The age groups are inclusive, color,

every aspect of the American culture is represented here on the move and expressing the sentiment of being really unhappy.

The pursuit of happiness has been derailed in our country by this administration.

More than 100,000 people, meanwhile, packed Times Square in New York, and hundreds of thousands of other people attended rallies across the country.

Rallies were also held in Louisiana, which is the home state of House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Johnson has described today's rallies as hate America protests.

Alex Cox with member station WRKF reports from Baton Rouge.

Whether it be from the various costumes or the language on the signs, the No Kings Day protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was colorful.

There were many people who wore inflatable costumes.

A group showed up as crawfish.

Gerald Darusso, an organizer for the event, says that shows the protesters' lighter side.

We also have a sense of humor about this.

I mean, how many crawfish show up and say,

you know, I dissent.

In reference to comments by House Speaker Mike Johnson, protesters asked, do I look like a terrorist?

And said that protesting is one of the most American things you can do.

For NPR News, I'm Alex Cox in Baton Rouge.

Tensions between the U.S.

and Venezuela are continuing to grow.

The U.S.

Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago is warning Americans to stay away from U.S.

government facilities on that island nation.

Trinidad is just miles from the Venezuela coast, and one Trinidad community is mourning the death of two fishermen that they say were killed in a U.S.

military strike on Tuesday.

President Trump says he wants the fighting to stop between Russia Russia and Ukraine, but getting to that point remains challenging.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Trump on Friday at the White House, but as NPR's Geron Kikissis tells us, he didn't gain much from President Trump.

Ukraine has also signed a minerals deal with the Trump administration.

Zelensky offered cutting-edge drones in exchange for maybe some Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Ukrainian diplomacy did seem to pay off last month when Trump suggested Russia was weak and Ukraine could even win this war, but Zelensky walked away Friday with not much of anything, and Trump said he will meet with Putin soon in Hungary.

That's NPR's Joanna Kakissis with our report from Kyiv.

And you're listening to NPR News.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government is trying to overturn a ban on Israeli fans attending a soccer match in the UK next month.

Vicki Barker reports from London.

British soccer team Aston Villa is scheduled to play the Israeli team Maccabee Tel Aviv on November 6th in a Europa League game in the city of Birmingham.

On Thursday, city officials announced that Maccabee fans will be banned based on, quote, current intelligence and previous incidents.

That's a possible reference to violent clashes between Maccabee fans and pro-Palestinian demonstrators around a Europa League match in the Netherlands last year.

But Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been among those condemning the decision as anti-Semitic anti-Semitic and is said to be investigating what he might do to both reverse the ban and address the security concerns.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

In college football, the upsets continued in the top 10 for this weekend.

Gunnar Stockton passed for 289 yards and four touchdowns as No.

9 Georgia rallied Saturday for a 43-35 win over No.

5 Mississippi.

Number 17 Vanderbilt, meanwhile, beat 10th-ranked LSU in Nashville by a score of 31-24.

It was their first win over LSU since 1990.

Number 7, Texas Tech, fell to Arizona State 26-22, and number 2, Miami, lost on Friday night.

Number 1, Ohio State, took care of business, though, shutting out Wisconsin 34-0, and number 3, Indiana, beat Michigan State 38-13.

I'm Dale Willman.

NPR News.

This message comes from Mattress Firm.

A restless partner can steal your rest.

Mattress Firm sleep experts can match you with the Temper Lux Adapt, built to absorb motion for undisturbed sleep.

Visit Mattress Firm and upgrade to a Temper-Pedic.

They make sleep easy.