NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-04-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: October 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. Reaction to President Trump's plan to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza is being viewed cautiously by residents there. Both Israel and Hamas say they endorse Trump's 20-point plan, but details have yet to be worked out. NPR's Carrie Khan reports. Residents in Gaza, like Iman Abu Aklan, a 48-year-old mother of force, says the news of a deal is some relief. It's like we've been bottled up so tightly, and now we can take a breath, just a small one, as we are still living in a nightmare, she says. Israel's military says it's getting ready to implement Trump's plan and has moved to a

defensive-only position, according to an official not authorized to speak to the media on the record. However, Gaza health officials say airstrikes continued overnight, killing and wounding Gazans. Israel is preparing a team for face-to-face talks as the U.S. also sends envoys to Cairo, according to two people briefed but not authorized to speak publicly. Carrie Khan and PR News, Tel Aviv. It's day four of the government shutdown. There's no movement in sight to end the stalemate.

A fourth vote for a short-term bill failed in the Senate yesterday. Democrats are insisting any short-term bill include an extension of health care subsidies scheduled to expire this year. Republicans say open the government now and discuss that later. The Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, is not moved by that offer. Why would we believe that Republicans have any interest in addressing the Affordable Care Act based on their word when for 15 years Republicans have been doing everything possible to gut the Affordable Care Act? It's not clear when any new negotiations will be held. Senate leader John Thune says, No votes will be held this weekend.

The House is in recess until October 13th. The Police Union in Charlotte, North Carolina, says it will ask the National Guard be deployed to fight violent crime. Gwendolyn Glenn has more on the story. In a letter this week, Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police said their request stems from a shortage of police and an increase in violent crime over the past few months. Since July, there have been 25 homicides in Charlotte, including the killing of Ukrainian refugee,

Arena Juruska, in August, on a local rail train. Her death attracted national attention, and President Trump called for the death penalty for her attacker. City officials say armed and unarmed security presence on the rail system has expanded and that police salaries have been increased to attract more officers. Charlotte Mayor Vail says a National Guard deployment is unnecessary. For NPR News, I'm not. Gwendolyn Glenn in Charlotte. This is NPR News in Washington. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said today

the Pentagon has given him an ultimatum. Call up the National Guard or it will. He called that absolutely outrageous and he won't give in. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to send troops into Chicago. A new study shows that artificial intelligence could be used to evade biosecurity systems at companies that make DNA. NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boyce reports. In the journal Science, researchers say they wanted to know if AI tools could rewrite the code for hazardous proteins like toxins. And it turns out AI could. It generated thousands of them. Eric Corvitz is Microsoft's chief scientific officer. To our concern, these reformulated sequences slipped past the biosecurity screening systems

used worldwide by DNA synthesis companies to flag dangerous orders. The research team quickly produced a software fix and rolled it out with the help of a DNA manufacturing industry group. But the episode shows how AI is revving up longstanding concerns about how to keep well-intentioned biology from being misused. Nell Greenfield Boyce, NPR News. October 4th is World Animal Day, observed since 1925, 100 years today to protect the rights and needs of animals that every creature is entitled to respect. The theme this year is save animals, save the panel, the planet that says that saving animal lives favors a healthier, more sustainable world. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News, in Washington.