NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-16-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

NPR News: 09-16-2025 12PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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. Ah. Gosh. Give me a minute. Yeah, yeah. Think. Listen to the Wild Card podcast, only from NPR.

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump is defending FBI director Cash Patel, who is currently being grilled on Capitol Hill over his handling of the investigation into conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination in Utah last week. Take a look at what he did with respect to this horrible person that he just captured. He did it in two days. It took other similar cases, four days, five days, four years. If you look at certain shooters, now I have confidence in every. everybody in the administration. But critics are raising concerns about missteps.

They say the FBI directors may that could harm the prosecution of Kirk's alleged killer. Tyler Robinson is expected to be charged today. The president took reporters' questions as he was about to depart for the United Kingdom. It'll be his second state visit to Britain. King Charles III is expected to deploy Tierra diplomacy at a time when the Trump administration's policies on tariffs and security, including over Ukraine's offense against Russia, have tested the U.K.'s own policies. A U.N. panel of experts is accusing Israeli leaders of inciting genocide in Gaza. Israel has dismissed the report, which comes as it announces that a ground offensive in Gaza's city is underway.

Here's NPR's Michelle Kellerman. The head of the Commission of Inquiry, which was set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, laid out a long list of atrocities in Gaza. and Navi Pile said that killings, the aid blockages, and forced displacement amount to genocide. The commission concluded that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and that it is continuing with that genocide. Israel called the report libelous and accused Pili and the other investigators of being proxies of Hamas. She says she wished the Israelis would cooperate or at least tell the commission where the report was

wrong on the facts. Michelle Kellelman, NPR News, the State Department. One of Hollywood's most celebrated actors, Robert Redford, has died at the age of 89. His decades-long career included unforgettable performances and numerous films. NPRs, Nita Ulibe, has this remembrance. Robert Redford was way more than one of the most handsome men in history. Here he is, melting Barbara Streisand in the film The Way We Were from 1973. Can I ask you a personal question? Sure.

Do you smile all the time? No. No. No. As an actor, Redford was more understated than his good looks would suggest. He transformed Hollywood's independent film scene with his Sundance Institute and Festival. And Robert Redford was a producer, director, an ardent environmentalist. Netta Ulippi, NPR News.

From Washington, this is NPR. A New York judge has tossed out terrorism charges against the man accused of killing United Health Executive Brian Thompson in December, citing lack of evidence. Luigi Mangione still faces a state charge of second-degree murder, which, if convicted, could land him in prison for life. If found guilty of federal charges, Luigi could be sentenced to death. President Trump says the U.S. and China have reached a deal to keep TikTok operating in the United States. States, President Trump and Xi Jinping of China are expected to discuss the video sharing app on Friday. Today is 9, 16, 25, and that is special because each number is a perfect square. 3 squared is 9, 4 squared 16, 5 squared is 25, and that's not all. Here's reporter Ari Daniel.

It turns out that 3, 4, and 5 are a Pythagorean triple. That is, if you sum the squares of the first two, 9 plus 16, you get the square of the last one, 25. Sound familiar? It's the Pythagorean theorem. A-squared plus B-squared equals C-squared. And there are no other dates this century like this, so most of us will experience it just once. Terence Blackman chairs the math department at Medgar-Evers College. This date reveals some kind of hidden mathematical poetry that is sitting there, just like walking and coming upon a beautiful flower. Blackman says the Pythagorean theorem is useful as well to carpenters and architects and occasionally reporters.

For NPR News, I'm R.A. Daniel. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.