NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-16-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: October 17, 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 Shay Stevens. A federal grand jury has indicted former national security advisor John Bolton on 18 counts over his handling of classified information.

The indictment alleges Iran-backed hackers got into Bolton's email and gained access to sensitive data. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports that he's also accused of sharing information with family members. It says that Bolton regularly sent diary-like entries to these two family members. It says he wrote these by transcribing handwritten notes that he took on yellow notepads about what he was doing on any given day, transcribed them into word processing documents that he sent electronically to these two family members. He also sent emails to them with classified information from his personal email accounts. NPR's Ryan Lucas reporting. President Trump says he spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin by phone today and we'll meet with him in a couple of

weeks in Hungary. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, the two men spoke on the eve of a White House visit by Ukraine's president. President Trump says it was a productive call with Putin. One of the topics was Ukraine's request for long-range tomahawk missiles. I did actually say, would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand tomahawks to your opposition? I did say that to him. I said it just that way. He didn't like the idea.

Before the call, Trump suggested he might sell tomahawks to Ukraine and expressed frustration with Putin, saying the Kremlin leader doesn't want to end the war, that is making Russia, look bad. Now he says he will meet Putin after top U.S. and Russian diplomats make the arrangements and he'll talk to Zelensky about what he heard on the call. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington. The Hamas Health Ministry says that Israel has returned the bodies of 30 more Palestinians to Gaza, bringing the total to 120. Under a ceasefire deal, Israel is to return over 15 Palestinian bodies for every deceased Israeli hostage. who's returned. NPR's Kerry Khan reports. After returning to Israeli hostage bodies late Wednesday,

Hamas says it has no more accessible bodies and will require, quote, significant efforts and specialized equipment to reach more. It's estimated that 19 dead Israeli hostages are still in Gaza, believed to be under the immense mounds of rubble and debris. More than 10,000 Palestinians are also missing, believed to be under the rubble, according to Gaza health officials. Two senior U.S. advisors who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity say they don't believe Hamas is violating the ceasefire and intelligence will continue to be shared with Hamas to help retrieve more bodies. Gaza officials are struggling to identify the bodies returned from Israel already.

None came back with names or IDs. Kerry Kahn, NPR News, Tel Aviv. You're listening to NPR. A federal judge says she will order federal immigration, officers to wear body cameras while working in Illinois. U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis says she was a little startled by the images of agents clashing with protesters. Last week, she ordered agents to wear badges and banned the use of certain riot control

techniques. Meanwhile, an appeals court judge has extended an injunction against deploying National Guard troops to aid immigration raids in Illinois. NPR founding mother, Susan Stamberg, has died at the age of 87. Colleagues saw Stamberg as a mentor and storyteller who was all so tough and authentic. NPR's David Fulkenflick pays a tribute. Susan Stamberg joined NPR at its start at a time when commercial networks almost never hired women. Stamberg said NPR's first program director, Bill Simmering, was brave to put her behind the microphone.

And he said two magical words to me very early on. He said, be yourself. And what he meant was, we want to hear voices on our air that we would hear across our dinner tables at night or at the local grocery store. She hosted all things considered in weekend edition and then became a special correspondent. She found joy in the creativity of culture, the spark of science, even the humanity in politics. To this day, Susan Stamberg's recorded voice announces each floor on the elevators at NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Third floor, newsroom. David Fulkenflick, NPR News.

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