NPR News Now - 2am ET, October 15 | The latest headlines from NPR

Episode Date: October 15, 2026

The latest headlines from NPR at the top of this hour. The stories you hear are written, reported and fact-checked by NPR journalists.  Learn more about the standards of our journalism at npr.org/ethics. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This is NPR News Now. The latest headlines every hour. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. Ukraine says the satellite communication system that guides its drones has been placed under crippling restrictions. The Trump administration controls that satellite system and has warned it could scale back intelligence sharing. Here's NPR's Greg Myrie. Ukraine says when its drones exceeded 100 miles per hour, which they routinely do, The communication signal was cut, rendering the drones useless.

Ukraine's military uses something called Star Shield, the military version of a network that comes from the much better known civilian system, Starlink, which is headed by Elon Musk. Musk says on social media, the U.S. government controls Star Shield, and any restrictions would have been done by the U.S. military or President Trump. Neither Trump nor the military has commented, but the president has been telling Ukraine, to stop attacking Russian oil facilities. U.S. officials have also warned that intelligence cooperation could be halted.

Greg Myrie, NPR News, Washington. President Trump has wrapped up a midterm campaign swing through western states in Montana. The rally in Calispell outside Glacier National Park was his second of the day. In Arizona, Trump defended the airplane he's using as Air Force One, opening his remarks by describing how the jet was a gift from the Kataria royal family. Inflation worsened last month. The Labor Department says the consumer price index rose 3.7% in September compared with a year ago, up from 3.4% in August. Here's NPR Scott Horsley. Average wages have gone up just 3% over the last year, while prices have jumped 3.7%.

So that means the typical paycheck buys less today than it did a year ago. And no wonder many workers feel like they're falling behind. It's a little different for retirees. we got word that social security benefits will go up 3.6% in January. That's an automatic cost of living adjustment or cola that's supposed to protect seniors from inflation. A spike in gasoline price is tied to the war with Iran accounts for more than half the monthly increase. Pope Leo up and walking following surgery that confirmed he has lung cancer. Doctors say his recovery is proceeding as planned from Rome.

Megan Williams reports. The Vatican says, 71-year-old Pope is recovering as expected after Tuesday's operation. He's walking around his hospital room, doing respiratory therapy, and eating normally. Surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung after tests confirmed adenocarsinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. Doctors say there were no complications from the surgery, which lasted around 90 minutes. They're now waiting for further tests to show whether the cancer had spread

and whether Leo will need additional treatment. For NPR news, I'm Megan Williams in Rome. And you're listening to NPR News. Iran-backed Houthi rebels have attacked the headquarters of the Saudi oil company Aramco. Officials say offices of senior executives were damaged. The strikes are part of intensifying attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis in neighboring Yemen. AI is often associated with replacing white-collar jobs and even destroying humanity. But in India, AI is being developed to replace

industrial jobs. MPR's Dia Hadid reports on factory workers who are training their own replacements. In a textile factory in the southern Indian town of Karur, women pack aprons into plastic packaging and record their every hand movement through a GoPro fastened on a headset. That footage is called egocentric data. Developers need millions of hours of it to train AI robots. Even as experts say India is emerging as a key place to record egocentric data, they say that The development of AI robots will likely be deployed in countries where labor is more expensive and power is cheaper. They say these women in factory jobs might be saved by the fact that their labor is cheap. Most are paid around $100 a month and power here is considered expensive for now.

Dear Hedid, NPR News, Karur Tamil Nadu, India. The financial markets in Asia are falling sharply in Thursday trading. South Korea's benchmarked down more than 7%. and Japan's NICA has slipped 4.5% amid a deepening sell-off in technology shares. The losses in Asia follows Wednesday decline on Wall Street after the government said inflation worsened in September. I'm Giles Snyder, NPR News.