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

Episode Date: October 10, 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 Corvac Coleman. President Trump is expected to leave shortly for

Walter Reed Military Medical Center. He'll get his second physical this year. The White House says it is routine. Trump says he feels fine. The president says he hopes to go to the Mideast this weekend. This comes as Israel says the ceasefire has gone into effect with Hamas. Israeli troops have pulled back to areas within Gaza that were specified in the agreement. Hamas is now supposed to release all remaining hostages. Israel's former ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, says the next step is vital. And we move from those two stages, the return of hostages and the IDF withdrawal to the disarmament of Hamas. And if that cannot be accomplished within a certain amount of time, there's going to be a tremendous challenge for American, Israeli, and indeed Middle Eastern

diplomacy. There are reports Israel is still attacking areas in Gaza where Israeli troops are still allowed to deploy. This is day 10 of the federal government shutdown, with Republicans and Democrats unable to reach any agreement on a spending bill. President Trump has said he'll cut, quote, Democrat programs during the shutdown, but he didn't identify which ones. Meanwhile, Social Security checks are still going out. NPS Ashley Lopez reports agency employees say they cannot help people with questions during the shutdown. Benefit verification letters are a service provided by the Social Security Administration that act as a sort of income verification. that is key to obtaining aid like housing assistance, fuel assistance, and help from nonprofits.

But during the shutdown, the agency says people can only use either the automated phone service or online portal to get their letters. Christine Lazott, a claims representative for the agency in Auburn, Maine, said those systems don't work for everyone. This is the most vulnerable population. These are elderly people who've never used a computer. Agency employees say they're dealing with an uptick of frantic and upset callers as they work without pay. Ashley Lopez, NPR News. Stocks open higher this morning as some government number

crunchers go back to work to calculate the September inflation rate. NPR Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones industrials are up about 140 points. The government shutdown has delayed key economic reports, but some furloughed employees at the Labor Department are coming back to work in order to complete the September inflation report. That reports a key ingredient used to calculate the cost a living adjustment that Social Security recipients will receive next year. Gasoline prices continue to drop as demand for gas falls to a four-month low. AAA reports the average price of regular gas is now $3.10 a gallon. It's under $3 a gallon in more than half the states.

And federal regulators are investigating dozens of instances in which Tesla vehicles ran red lights or broke other traffic laws while operating in self-driving mode. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR. This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is commending her work advancing democratic rights for the people of Venezuela. The South American country of Peru has a new leader. Admit soaring crime and corruption allegations, President Dina Bolwarte has been impeached.

John Otis reports her replacement has also been plagued by scandal. Dina Bolwarte was the first woman to serve as Peru's president, but she faced controversy from the start. She is under investigation for accepting Rolex watches as bribes and for human rights abuses during a government crackdown on protests. But it was her failure to stem a crime wave that led Peru's Congress to oust her shortly before midnight Thursday. Bolwarte was replaced by Jose Heri, the former head of Congress who took the oath of office early this morning to become Peru's eighth president in the past eight years. In December, Hei was accused of rape, but the case was dropped by Peru's Attorney General. For MPR News, I'm John Otis. This week, California adopted a law aimed at cutting out ultra-processed foods in all school lunches.

State health officials have to come up with guidelines, and public schools have to start phasing out ultra-processed foods in about four years. California defines these foods as those that have one or more additives, such as non-nutricious food sweeteners. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.