NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-04-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: October 5, 2025

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In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. President Trump says Israel has agreed to the initial withdrawal line outlined in his proposed ceasefire plan for Israel and Hamas. And Pierce Franco Ordonez reports the administration is now waiting for confirmation from Hamas. President Trump says as soon as Hamas agrees, a ceasefire would immediately go into effect and a hostage and prisoner exchange would begin.

Trump went on to write on social media that the U.S. and regional partners will then, quote, create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal. which will bring us close to the end of this 3,000-year catastrophe. While much remains to be seen before anything is signed, the proposal reflects a potentially significant breakthrough toward ending the conflict. Hamas also agreed to hand over control of the Gaza Strip to an independent Palestinian body, but did not agree to hand over its weapons.

Franco, Ordonez, NPR News. Illinois Governor J.B. Prisker says he won't give in to an ultimatum from the Trump administration to deploy the state's National Guard, he says the administration says it intends to federalize 300 Illinois Guard members. Pritzker says the state doesn't need military troops. Meanwhile, protesters gathered in Chicago today near Brighton Park where Homeland Security says officers shot an armed woman this morning. DHS says border patrol vehicles were rammed and boxed in by 10 cars and that a suspect tried to run them over. while armed with a semi-automatic weapon.

Earlier this week, federal officials conducted an early morning immigration raid at an apartment building in Chicago, pulling adults and children from their apartment, including U.S. citizens. Alderman Brian Sigcho Lopez. They're escalating by this in the city. This is not making anyone safer. These raids, and you saw that the raids that just did a few days ago, there were innocent people.

Police say it is a federal investigation. Many USDA services are frozen as a result of the government shutdown. Montana Public Radio's Victoria Traxler reports on the impact on Montana's farmers. The federal government shutdown comes during a critical time for farmers as they organize finances and plans for next season. Local offices that process federal loan applications and other payments for disaster relief are closed. That means farmers will have to do without that federal support for the time being. Montana Farm Bureau Federation, Executive Vice President, Scott Colbeck. The farm economy is already at a crisis point, and this creates unnecessary hardship for farm and ranch families at a time when they can least afford it.

Montana's congressional delegates said in statements to MTPR, they blame Democrats for the shutdown and for delays in federal payments to farmers. For NPR news, I'm Victoria Traxler in Missoula, Montana. This is NPR. Taylor Swift's new album, The Life of a Showgirl has been doing swift business on streaming platforms and also in movie theaters. And Pierce Chloe Veltman reports fans across the country are hitting screenings

of the album's official release party this weekend. About 11 hours after the album's release on Friday, Spotify announced it had already broken the record for most streamed album in a single day so far in 2025. Meanwhile, the accompanying movie, a collage of music videos, song lyric explainers and behind the scenes footage, is also drawing big crowds. Sean Robbins is Fandango's director of movie analytics. Looks like it will easily be number one at the box office this weekend, potentially over $30 million. Robbins says the showgirl movie might not be as big a blockbuster as Swift's wildly popular era's tour film was in 2023.

But its limited three-day run this weekend is nevertheless propping up the full season's flagging box office numbers. Chloe Veltman, NPR News. Today is World Animal Day. It's designed to protect the rights and needs of animals, holding that every creature is entitled to respect. It started in Germany in 1925 and has grown to a global phenomenon to bring awareness to animal welfare issues and make the world a better place for animals. Dozens of cities around the world held events today celebrating animals. The theme this year, Save Animals and Save the Planet.

I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.