NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-04-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: October 4, 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 Giles Snyder. Congress remains at odds over funding the government. The shutdown now on its fourth day. M.P.R. Barbara Sprunt reports the Senate is not in session this weekend after multiple failed votes.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he didn't see the point in holding more votes over the weekend since the Senate hasn't made any progress on negotiations. The Senate voted on a GOP plan that already passed the House that would fund the government through late November. It also voted on a Democratic counterproposal that funds the Senate. the government through October and includes an extension of health care tax credits boosted up during the pandemic. Those are on track to expire at the end of the year. Both votes have failed repeatedly to meet the 60 vote threshold to advance the bills. Republicans have said they'll negotiate on the subsidies, but only after the government is funded. Barbara Sprint and PR News, Washington. Johnny Jones is a Transportation Security Administration agent and a local union leader in North Texas.

He says TSA agents at the nation's airports are having flashbacks to the last shutdown that began in late 2018 and lasted 35 days. Everybody's starting to make preparations for how they're going to pay their bills. And during the last shutdown, I've known some people that had to take loans and pay 30% interest on them. It was horrible, and it took them months or even years to recover. DSA workers at airport checkpoints remain on the job without pay. After more than four decades in prison, a Pennsylvania man's murder conviction was vacated over the summer this week, finally released, but immediately detained by ICE, as Sidney Roach, member station WPSU reports. Subramanium Vedam, or Subu, as he's known in his community in state college, had been in state prison for 44 years, convicted of the 1980 murder of Tom Kinzer. Vatom has maintained his innocence. In August, a county judge found that state prosecutors had suppressed evidence.

in the case and overturned the first-degree murder conviction. Prosecutors opted not to retry the case. Now, Vatum is being held in the Mishannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County. Mishanin has been the center of protests and lawsuits accusing the facility of human rights violations. Vatim's family says he is a legal resident and that ICE arrested him on a detainer from 1988. They plan to dispute his detention in immigration court. For NPR News, I'm Citi Roach in State College, Pennsylvania. President Trump says he believes Hamas is ready for a lasting peace. Trump is urging Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accepted some of the other terms of the president's plan to end the war. Following Hamas's response, Israel's military said it would advance plans to prepare for the first phase, but there were at least three strikes in Gaza this morning. And the military is warning Palestinians against trying to return to Gaza City. This is NPR News. Germany's Munich airport has reopened, although authorities are advising travelers of delays today.

Dozens of flights were canceled or diverted last night after authorities closed the airport for a second time due to another drone sighting. It's the latest in a series of incidents involving drones at some blame on Russia. Japan is on track to get its first woman prime minister, the ruling liberal Democratic Party. Chosene Takiichi to be the new party leader. expected to replace Shigua Shiba as Prime Minister. A vote in Parliament is scheduled for October 15th. Despite election losses this year, Takiichi is favored because the LDP still holds the largest number of seats. The Silicon Valley Company OpenAI has launched a new social media platform based entirely on users' AI-generated content. Here's MPR's Jeff Brumfield.

OpenAI's SORA app looks a lot like TikTok, except everything here is fake. All you need to do is type in a quick description and out pops a very realistic video of, I don't know, Richard Nixon saying whatever you want. Tonight I have learned that the moon landings were faked. NASA has misled us all, and the trust of this nation has been shaken. Nixon never said the moon landing was faked, obviously, but even experts are impressed. Okay, so that's very convincing. Solomon Messing is at NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics.

He also finds it very worrying. We may be entering an era when the stuff, that we see just isn't believable at all. What this means for society remains to be seen. Also, I just posted a video of myself lounging on a yacht. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News.