NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-26-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

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On Fridays, the 1A podcast is all about helping you cut through the info fog and get to what's important in the news. Close out the week with us on our Friday News Roundup. Here from reporters who've been embedded with the biggest news of the week. Join us every week for the Friday News Roundup. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. Former FBI Director James Comey is responding to his indictment on criminal charges. President Trump is praising the indictment coming days after he pressured the Justice Department to target his enemies.

More from NPRs, Franco Ordonez. Minutes after the Justice Department announced the indictment, President Trump took to social media and declared justice in America. He went on to call Comey corrupt and one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to. The charges against Comey, come just days after Trump publicly press for the Justice Department to take action now on prosecutions against Comey and other political critics. It represents the latest escalation in a year's long war of words between Trump and Comey, who famously likened the president to a mob boss.

Trump long blamed Comey for appointing a special prosecutor who investigated contacts between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Franco Ordonez. NPR News. Many public and private officials are expressing alarm over the indictment of James Comey. The Justice Department accuses Comey of obstruction and lying under oath, apparently during the 2020 Senate hearing on the Russia investigation. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar tells CNN that President Trump is weaponizing the DOJ. There is a clear through line that everyone sees where he is going after people that he doesn't like or who have said things that he doesn't like or who have done things to him in the past. And that is why this is so troubling for the justice system. After Comey's indictment, his son-in-law, Troy Edwards, resigned from his post as a senior prosecutor in Virginia.

And Comey's daughter, Maureen, is suing the Justice Department, alleging she was wrongfully fired from the prosecutor's office in Manhattan. In Gaza, health officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed 95 Palestinians across the territory since Wednesday. As NPR's Anas Ababa reports, dozens of those. deaths occurred in areas where the Israeli army had encouraged civilians to flee for safety. One of Israel's airstrikes killed 13 displaced people who were sheltering in attending campments. That's according to Al-Aqsa hospital where the victims were taken. In Gaza's city, health officials say Israeli shilling and bombardment forced several hospitals to stop all services this week. Israel's military says it struck 170 Hamas target across Gaza over the past

day. But in Gaza's city, attacks have hit neighborhoods where many cities, civilians still reside. Rescue teams say a woman buried under rubble who had been bleeding for help on the phone for three days has not been found. Her home was bombed the second time while she was waiting to be rescued. Annas Baba, NPR News, Gaza City. U.S. futures are flat and after-hours trading on Wall Street following Thursday's losses. The Dow fell 173 points. This is NPR. Starbucks has announced plans to lay off 900 non-retail workers. and close hundreds of stores in the United States and Canada. It would be the second round of job cuts at the coffee giant this year.

Starbucks says it also plans to spend a billion dollars on restructuring. The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the safety of Mitha Pristone, a medication that's often used for abortion and miscarriage management. Details from NPR, Selina Simmons-Duffin. In states that ban or severely restrict access to abortion, many patients have gotten around those restrictions by using telemedicine and abortion medications they receive through the mail. A group of Republican attorneys general don't like that and urged the Trump administration's FDA to tighten access to Miffipristone. In a letter obtained by NPR Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty McCarrie say they are re-reviewing safety evidence for the medicine and may change the prescribing rules.

Professional groups representing OBGYNs have said, quote, MIFA Pristone is an incredibly safe medication and that FDA restrictions should reflect that. Selina Simmons-Duffin and PR News. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers went on strike Thursday after the government announced door-to-door mail delivery would end for nearly all households within the next 10 years. Canada Post said the strike will mean mail and parcels will not be accepted or delivered for the duration of the walkout. Again, U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading on Wall Street. You're listening to NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your

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