NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-05-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: October 5, 2025

NPR News: 10-05-2025 4PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 Nora Rahm. representatives from Israel, the U.S., and Hamas are preparing for negotiations in Egypt. Israel and Hamas say they've accepted the first phase of a peace plan the U.S. proposed to release all hostages. But as NPR's Emily Fang reports, there are still questions about their acceptance of the next phases.

U.S. Middle East envoy, Steve Whitkoff, confirmed NPR that he and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are also in Egypt, which says it'll host Israeli and Hamas representatives starting Monday. day to hammer out the details of how to exchange remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees. But Hamas says it needs more details on how and when Israel's forces would withdraw from Gaza. Last night, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli military will, quote, continue to hold all areas controlling the depth of the strip and said Hamas would have to disarm by diplomatic or military means, something the group has not explicitly agreed to. Emily Fang and Peer News Tel Aviv.

The government shutdown is now in its fifth day with no resolution in sight. National parks across the country are trying to maneuver around the lack of money. NPR's Alana Wise reports. Some parks have drastically reduced staffing, some have called for outside funding, and some have closed completely. A contingency plan for the park service says that park roads, lookouts, and trails will generally remain accessible to visitors. but other services such as road and trail condition updates would not be provided. At closed park locations, services will be stripped to the bone, meaning no trash collection, restrooms, road maintenance, or visitor information.

In the past, skeleton operations have led to vandalism at parks, as well as major sanitation and ecological issues. As a result, some park advocates have called for all parks to be closed into the shutdown concludes. Alana Wise, NPR News. The U.S. Treasurer oversees the U.S. Mint says plans are underway to release a dollar corn featuring President Trump. NPR's Amy held reports such a coin would violate federal law. U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach retweeted a draft design of the coin, writing, looking forward to sharing more soon. The front features Trump's profile. The back shows him with fist raised the inscription, fight, fight, fight,

evoking his surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania 15 months ago. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt was asked if the president has seen it. Oh, I'm not sure if he's seen it, but I'm sure he'll love it. During Trump's first term, Congress passed bipartisan legislation, allowing the Treasury to mint special dollar coins to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. But federal law states only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency. Amy Held, NPR News. Listening to NPR News in Washington.

A new Supreme Court term opens tomorrow. A number of cases deal with presidential power. President Trump is being challenged on his attempts to fire members of independent regulatory agencies and to limit birthright citizenship. Taylor Swift's new album The Life of a Showgirl has been doing Swift business on streaming platforms and also in movie theaters with an estimated $33 million. at the domestic box office. NPR's Chloe Feltman reports.

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. Robin says the showgirl movie might not be as big a blockbuster

as Swift's wildly popular eras 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 Valtman, NPR News. Saturday Night Live opened its new season last night with Bad Bunny as the host. The singer and rapper will also provide the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl in February, a choice criticized in some quarters, because he plans to sing in Spanish. He opened his monologue in Spanish last night

and then said, if you didn't understand what I just said, you have four months to learn. I'm Nora Rom. NPR News in Washington. I'm Jesse Thorne. Ghostface Killa told me about when he was a kid, he found the number of his hero,

Dougie Fresh. He dialed it. He didn't really think it. through. And he's like, hey, who this? And it just goes quiet just like that. Ghostface Killah. That's on Bullseye for maximum fun.org and NPR.