--:-- Corva Coleman: This message comes from Ritual. What makes Ritual vitamins different?
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--:-- Corva Coleman: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva 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.
--:-- Corva Coleman: 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.
--:-- Corva Coleman: 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 that is going to be a tremendous challenge for American Israeli and indeed Middle Eastern diplomacy
--:-- Corva Coleman: 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.
--:-- Corva Coleman: 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.
--:-- Ashley Lopez: 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.
--:-- Ashley Lopez: But during the shutdown, the agency says, people can only use either the automated phone service or online portal to get their letters.
--:-- Christine Lizotte: Christine Lizotte, 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.
--:-- Ashley Lopez: Agency employees say they're dealing with an uptick of frantic and upset callers as they work without pay.
--:-- Corva Coleman: Ashley Lopez, NPR News.
--:-- Corva Coleman: Stocks open higher this morning as some government number crunchers go back to work to calculate the September inflation rate.
--:-- Scott Horsley: 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.
--:-- Scott Horsley: That report's a key ingredient used to calculate the cost of living adjustment that Social Security recipients will receive next year.
--:-- Scott Horsley: 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.
--:-- Scott Horsley: 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.
--:-- Corva Coleman: Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
--:-- Corva Coleman: You're listening to NPR.
--:-- Corva Coleman: 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.
--:-- Corva Coleman: The South American country of Peru has a new leader. Amid soaring crime and corruption allegations, President Dina Boluarte has been impeached.
--:-- John Otis: John Otis reports her replacement has also been plagued by scandal. Dina Boluarte was the first woman to serve as Peru 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.
--:-- John Otis: But it was her failure to stem a crime wave that led Peru's Congress to oust her shortly before midnight Thursday.
--:-- John Otis: Boluarte was replaced by José Geri, 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.
--:-- John Otis: In December, Geri was accused of rape, but the case was dropped by Peru's attorney general.
--:-- Corva Coleman: For NPR News, I'm John Otis.
--:-- Corva Coleman: This week, California adopted a law aimed at cutting out ultra-processed foods in all school lunches.
--:-- Corva Coleman: State health officials have to come up with guidelines, and public schools have to start phasing out ultra-processed foods in about four years.
--:-- Corva Coleman: California defines these foods as those that have one or more additives, such as non-nutritious food sweeteners.
--:-- Corva Coleman: I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.
--:-- Corva Coleman: Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.
