NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-07-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: October 7, 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 Corva Coleman. The U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to testify this hour before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nearly 300 former Justice Department employees have released a letter. It says under Bondi's leadership, the agency is failing to keep the country safe, uphold the rule of law, and protect civil rights.

The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago have sued the Trump administration. They're trying to stop the deployment of Illinois and Texas National Guard troops in Chicago. NPR's Tom Bowman says the troops are not. not yet deployed on Chicago streets. I'm told by a U.S. official not authorizes speak that those Illinois Guard troops are now gathering at a central location, but they'll still need medical screening, you know, personnel checks, training on crowd control before they head out.

So it could be later this week or next before they hit the streets in Chicago. Now, as far as a Texas troops, no word on that from officials I'm talking with about when or if they'll be on the streets. And PR's Tom Bowman reporting. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet President Trump at the White House this morning. Dan Carpenchuk reports from Toronto, Canadians want Carney to seek relief for high U.S. tariffs on Canadian products. Carney is under pressure at home to negotiate some kind of a win on tariffs. Canadian officials have been focusing recently on negotiating relief from punishing sectoral tariffs,

especially on Canadian steel, aluminum, copper, autos, and more recently, softwood lumber. Carney still maintains that Canada has one of the first. of the best trade deals with Washington because of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. It's Carney's second trip to Washington since he was elected in April, and while the two leaders talk regularly, former White House Trade Advisor Kelly Ann Shaw, says these talks are still likely to be challenging. She says before there are tariff reductions, a much broader deal will have to be struck on trade issues and national security. For NPR News, I'm Dan Carpenchuk in Toronto. President Trump has ordered the approval of a road in Arctic Alaska. This is a road

part of that state. Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin reports the road would allow new mining of copper, cobalt, and other important minerals. The Ambler Road is intended to spark a new mining industry in northwest Alaska. Interior Secretary Doug Bergam says developing the Ambler mining district will help America win the AI race with China. But the road is controversial among locals who live off the land. Rico de Wilde of Houslia, Alaska, says a road would endanger fish spawning grounds and caribou migrations. And also it brings in a lot of outsiders. We don't need more outside hunters. The Trump administration also announced the government will invest more than $35 million in a Canadian company seeking to develop the Ambler Mining District. For NPR News, I'm Liz Ruskin.

On Wall Street, in pre-market trading, Dow futures are higher. It's NPR. The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from Google Play. That means Google will have to change its app store. This stands from a legal dispute with Epic Games, the maker of the video game Fortnite. Epic Games claims Google Play is a monopoly and wants to be able to compete with Google's app store. This year's Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three scientists at the University of California. John Clark, Michel Deveret, and John Martini's are being honored for their work in quantum mechanical effects in electrical circuits. Some paleontologists recently revealed that they unearthed the oldest and most complete skeleton of a little-known group of dinosaurs.

These existed about 110 million years ago. Reporter Ari Daniel has more. The researchers in southern Mongolia spotted something in the rock face that looked like a perfectly polished jewel. It was a skull belonging to a new species of the oldest known Pachycephalosaur, a dinosaur with a domed head made of solid bone. This specimen was at least two years old when it died, revealing young animals already had fully developed domes. Whether they were battling it out for territory or mates is something we're not entirely sure of, but whatever they were doing with those domes, they started practicing at a very young age. North Carolina State University

paleontologist Lindsay Zano says the discovery fills a crucial gap in the evolution of these dynos. For NPR news, I'm Marie Daniel. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.