NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-17-2025 4AM 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, including allegedly storing classified data at home. The indictment also alleges Bolton shared sensitive information with family members and that hackers gain access to his email. It is in the latest example of the Trump administration targeting one of the president's perceived enemies.

Bolton became a Trump critic after his firing during the first Trump administration. New York's Attorney General, Letitia James, says she was indicted in retaliation for bringing civil fraud case against the Trump organization. James faces mortgage fraud charges, which she denies. It's nothing more than retribution, retribution for basically doing my job, for doing my job following a two-year investigation in a congressional hearing. It wasn't political. It was based on facts and the application of the evidence. James is vowing to wage a vigorous defense. In a rare stand against immigration policies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is suing the Trump administration over its fees for H-1B visas. Details from NPR's Maria Aspen. The Chamber of Commerce is one of the biggest pro-business lobbying groups in the country. It's now suing President Trump over his new plans to charge employers $100,000 per visa for skilled workers, such as software engineers. The president's steep new fee for the visas through the business community and hundreds of thousands of workers who have them into chaos last month. In a statement, the chamber called the fee unlawful and said it would hurt U.S. employers.

A health care staffing business and labor unions have already sued the Trump administration over these fees. But the new lawsuit marks one of the only times this year that a big business group has openly opposed Trump's policies. Maria Aspen, NPR News, New York. The Admiral overseeing U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean says he's retiring by the end of the year. Admiral Alvin Holsey became head of U.S. Central Command less than a year ago. The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo appears to be largely under control. Details from NPR's Jonathan Lampert. Since the Ebola outbreak began in late August, 45 people have died from the disease.

At least 64 more have been sickened by the virus, which can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and bleepard. leading. But for nearly three weeks, no new cases have been reported, according to the World Health Organization. Officials say the rollout of Ebola vaccines to contacts of cases, as well as to health care workers, helped slow the spread. More than 18,000 people have been vaccinated so far. The outbreak will be declared officially over if 22 more days pass without a new case. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading. This is NPR. Ukraine's President Zelensky is in Washington to make the case for acquiring Tomahawk missiles to defend his nation against Russia. President Trump has hinted at the idea of selling Tomahawk missiles to pressure Russia into one-on-one ceasefire talks with Ukraine.

Russian President Putin and Trump planned to meet in Hungary later this month. Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. says that massive overnight attacks on his nation shows that Moscow's real attitude towards peace, is insincere. New research finds that vigorous mental exercise can produce biological changes in a person's brain. NPR's John Hamilton has the tales. The study involved 92 healthy people who were 65 and older. Half spent 30 minutes a day for 10 weeks playing video games like Solitaire and Candy Crush. The other half did exercises from a demanding cognitive training program called Brain H.Q. Etienne de Villers-Idani of McGill University says in people who got the Training, levels of a key chemical messenger increased in a brain area involved in making decisions.

It was about 2.3%, which is not huge, but it's significant. To be there si Danes said the chemical messenger, called acetylcholine, typically declines by about 2.5% every 10 years starting in middle age. So cognitive training, he says, rolled back the clock by about a decade. John Hamilton, NPR News. NPR's mourning the loss of one of its founders, Susan Stamberg, has died at the age of 87. Sandberg was the first woman in the U.S. to anchor a nightly national news program. She retired last month. This is NPR News.

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