NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-05-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

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Hey, it's Rachel Martin. I'm the host of Wildcard from NPR. For a lot of my years as a radio host, silence sort of made me nervous. That pause before an answer, because you don't know what's going on on the other side of the mic. But these days, I love it. Hmm. Oh, gosh. Give me a minute. Yeah, yeah. Think. Listen to the Wild Card podcast only from NPR.

Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Dave Mattingley. The Pentagon says two Venezuelan fighter jets flew over a U.S. Navy destroyer in the waters off Venezuela yesterday and what's being described as a highly provocative move. The Defense Department accuses the Venezuelan government of trying to interfere with its counter-narco-terror operations in the Southern Caribbean and warned against it happening again. The incident involved the guided missile destroyer, the USS Jason Dunham. Earlier this week, the military struck a small boat carrying illegal drugs from military. Venezuela, killing 11 people. The White House says President Trump will sign an executive order today renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War. NPR's Daniel Kurtzleben reports. A White House official not authorized to discuss the order on the record confirmed to NPR

that Trump will be signing the order and also provided a fact sheet. According to that sheet, the order will authorize the department name change as a secondary title and will also allow defense department officials to substitute the word war into their titles. For example, the Secretary of Defense could use the title Secretary of War. In addition, the order will instruct the Secretary to recommend actions such as legislation to make the department's name change permanent. The Department of Defense was known as the Department of War until the 1940s. The White House explained that the new name will quote, signal to adversaries America's readiness to wage war to secure its interests. Danielle Kurtzleben and PR News. government says nearly 7,000 homes were destroyed in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan by a strong earthquake that hit the area five days ago. The magnitude six quakes struck near the border with Pakistan. More than 2,200 people are confirmed dead. The U.S. Geological Survey says another quake shook the region last night. PBS says it's cutting about 15 percent of its workforce. The move follows Republicans in Congress, voting to end federal funding of public media, beginning

in October. NPR's David Fulkenflick has more. CEO Paula Kerger said PBS had already taken smaller steps but didn't have much choice. She said the congressional rescission of all future funds for the corporation for public broadcasting, more than $500 million annually, mostly to public TV and radio stations, was compounded by the Trump administration's decision to kill a major educational grant for PBS. Kerger wrote to station officials that PBS would still fulfill core missions. quote, these decisions, while difficult, positioned PBS to weather the current challenges facing public media. Some stations have embarked on their own job cuts, even as listeners, viewers, and readers have stepped forward with fresh contributions to try to help stations fill the gaps.

David Fulkenflick, NPR News. The August numbers on employment in the U.S. are due out this morning from the Labor Department. This is NPR News from Washington. NASA says a telescope in Chile has captured images of a growing tail on a comet that's expected to pass closest to Earth in December. It's still 238 million miles away. Scientists say solar flares may be more than six times hotter than previously thought. NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boys has more on the findings of a new analysis. Solar flares are bright bursts of light on the sun that happen when magnetic energy gets released and dumped into ions and electrons.

Alexander Russell is with the University of St. Andrews. He says in the past, telescopes have measured the temperature of just the electrons. And we've kind of just assumed, well, the ion temperature would be the same as the electron temperature. But new research suggests that ions get heated up a lot more strongly. And when that's taken into account, their calculations in astrophysical journal letters show that solar flares could be as hot as 180 million degrees Fahrenheit. Better understanding of solar flares and related phenomena could help protect satellites and even astronauts from harmful particles and radiation. Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News. Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter is apologizing after being ejected moments after kickoff and last night's win over the Dallas Cowboys. Carter was thrown out six seconds into the game for spitting on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott. The Cowboys QB and Carter exchanged words after.

After the opening kick, Carter then spit on Prescott's jersey and was tossed from the game. The Eagles won 24 to 20 to open the NFL's regular season. I'm Dave Mattingly in Washington. On the TED Radio Hour podcast, psychologist and teen expert Lisa DeMore says that despite all the scary statistics about kids and their mental health, by and large, they are as funny, inventive, curious as they've ever been. How teens are coping with today's dressers and how adults can better support them. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.