NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-23-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: October 24, 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 Rylan Barton. The Trump administration says it will hold an oil. oil and gas lease sale in one of the nation's largest tracks of wilderness. NPR's Nate Rot reports it's unclear if anyone will place bids. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is roughly

the size of South Carolina, an area of northeast Alaska with no roads, but abundant wildlife like caribou muscocks and polar bears. It's also been the subject of a long-running political dispute. The first Trump administration opened the area to oil and gas lease sales before the Biden administration closed it off again. The Interior Department now says sales are back on with two planned later this winter. The last time an oil and gas lease sale was held in the refuge, though, it ended with no bidders. Nate Rot, NPR News. Demolition work on the East Wing of the White House continues today, even as preservation groups plead for caution as NPR's Tamara Keith reports the project is ahead of schedule. A White House official tells NPR

demolition of the entire East Wing could be completed as soon as this weekend, with structures all the way up to the edge of the White House residents coming down. In a letter, the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States urged the Trump administration to pause the demolition until plans for the 90,000 square foot ballroom, far bigger than the main house, can go through a review process. The White House says the offices and other East Wing features, including the secure underground presidential emergency. Operation Center will be modernized and enhanced as part of the ballroom project. Tamara Keith, NPR News.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has endorsed former governor and bitter rival Andrew Cuomo in the city's mayoral race. Adams now says he hopes Cuomo can beat frontrunner Zoran Mamdani. NPR's Brian Mann reports. Eric Adams dropped out of this race after scandals crippled his reelection bid. At first he declined to back Cuomo calling the former governor a snake and a liar. but he's reversed course and says he hopes to keep Mamdani, whom Adams described as too far left, from taking over his mayor. We're fighting against a snake oil salesman that has sell or sold us a bill of goods.

Cuomo's running is an independent. It says he still has time to catch Mamdani, who leads by double digits in polls. During a debate Wednesday, Mamdani, the Democrat and Curtis Slewa, the Republicans said they wouldn't accept an endorsement from Adams, who was indicted last year on bribery and corruption charges, later suspended by the Trump administration. Ryan Mennon, NPR News, New York. The European Union has levied more economic sanctions on Russia a day after President Trump announced sanctions against Russia's two biggest oil companies.

The moves are intended to push Moscow to end its war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by warning that the measures were an unfriendly act that could backfire by disrupting oil prices. And oil prices spike today. Analysts say if the situation continues, consumers will soon be paying more at the pump. From Washington, this is NPR News. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians filled the streets of Budapest in competing demonstrations today. The rival rallies were a standoff between nationalist prime minister, Victor Orban, and his main political challenger, Peder Majjar.

Majjar is challenging Orban with his most competitive election in his 15 years in office. The United Nations is sounding the alarm over a sharp rise in sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. NPR's Fatima Tannis reports the ongoing 30-year conflict there has led to historic rates of sexual violence against Congolese women and girls. The UN says there has been a 30% increase in sexual violence cases in the DRC compared to 2024. Last year, Doctors Without Borders said they had treated more than 40,000 survivors, a record for the organization, the group said at the time. The UN's reproductive health agency says many critical surveillance,

services for survivors, such as rape kits and HIV prevention medication, have been disrupted due to the violence and the foreign aid cuts of the Trump administration. The agency is calling for an urgent increase in funding to deliver life-saving care and mental health support to thousands of survivors. Fott Matanis, NPR News. Scientists have discovered a pair of rare dinosaur mummies at a site in Wyoming. They left impressions of their skin and scales on a layer of clay that formed with help from microbes. Scientists have been uncovering dinosaur mummies for over a century. Some were buried quickly after dying. Others sank into bodies of water or dried out. I'm Rylan Barton. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.