NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-28-2026 1AM EDT

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

NPR News: 09-28-2026 1AM EDTSee 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

Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. Five men have been arrested on suspicion of planning to attack a British Air Force base used by the U.S. military in the Iran War. As NPR's Kristen Wright reports, authorities haven't named the suspects. British police arrested the five men after reports of three suspicious vehicles heading toward the base. The men are suspected of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack involving explosives at R.A.F. Fairford in western England, about 100 miles from London. The U.S. Air Force uses the Royal Air Force Base for defensive operations against Iran and deploys large bombers to launch limited strikes in the war. President Trump told reporters the suspects were looking to do big damage

and had been watched for a long time. American troops have used the base for decades under an agreement dating back to the 1950s. Kristen Wright, NPR News. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is joining the chorus of tech people calling for required safeguards to be placed on the development of artificial intelligence. In an interview with NBC on Sunday, Gates said nothing in history has reached the level that AI already has. This is truly an evolutionary event. We have created an intelligent species that in many respects is already smarter than we are. And over the next several years at kind of exponentially improving level will be insanely smarter than we are.

Gates said safeguards would not dramatically hinder the AI industry, and he called on Congress to pass legislation requiring those safeguards. A powerful Noreaster remains stalled off New York and New Jersey, and it's continuing to push water into low-lying communities. Coastal flood warnings for many areas remain in effect. As NPR's Amy held reports, at least one storm-related death has been reported. In Brooklyn, a falling tree killed a worker for the New York Housing Authority,

as wind gusts top 60 miles per hour. More than 100,000 power outages were reported from the Mid-Atlantic to New England. Some New Yorkers kayaked through flooded city streets. At the Jersey Shore, some areas saw their highest flooding since Superstorm Sandy 14 years ago. Anne Fitzsimmons, owner of Jay's on Third Restaurant in Stone Harbor, says she and her team are doing their best to stay afloat.

Everyone is here, all hands on deck. We're going to get cleaned up. We've been getting rid of the water. We have fans running to dry out. out. Forecasters expect repeated rounds of coastal flooding as the system loops offshore before moving out early in the week. Amy held and PR News. President Trump says he had plans to dine Sunday night with the CEO of Anthropic. That's one of the leading artificial intelligence companies. The meal with Dario Amadeh comes just days after Anthropic had a setback in a court case against the government, banning its products for defense department work. There's been no word on whether that meeting took place or not.

You're listening to NPR News. In Switzerland, a proposal pushed by the country's right-wing Swiss People's Party to strengthen the country's neutrality stance was soundly defeated Sunday. The measure would have prevented the country from joining punitive measures against other countries unless they were imposed by the United Nations. Supporters had said the government had moved too close to the European Union and NATO. The competition is fierce right now, as Alaska's annual Fat Bear Week continues. People around the world are casting their votes for their favorite bulky brown bear at Catmine National Park and Preserve.

Alaska Public Media's Ava White has our reports. As the brown bears continue fattening up on sock-eye salmon, the original field of 16 chunky competitors is thinning. Catmai Park Ranger Sarah Bruce says, even if the plum participant you're rooting for doesn't take the top spot as bad as bear, they're all still winners. The bears have no idea that this is happening. they have already won in the fact that they are set to survive another winter hibernation. Voting in the bracket style competition is closed over the weekend but reopens Monday. Fat Bear Weekends Tuesday when a chubby champ will be crowned. You can vote online at fatbearweek.org.

For NPR News, I'm Ava White in Anchorage. Calypso music has lost one of its most well-known voices. Slinger Francisco, known as the Mighty Sparrow on stage, has died at the age of 91. His family said he died peacefully but released no other details. Francisco was known as the Calypso King of the World. He wrote more than 500 songs and recorded more than 70 albums over his career. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.