--:-- Nora Rahm: Taylor Swift is once again taking over the internet. Her new album touches on her relationship with fiancé Travis Kelsey, as well as a simmering beef with a fellow pop star. We're delving into the life of a showgirl and unpacking all the joyful bangers. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Nora Rahm: [Live from NPR News in Washington] The Trump administration says it sent layoff notices to more than 4,000 federal workers. It filed papers last night in response to a lawsuit brought by labor unions representing government workers.
--:-- Nora Rahm: Meanwhile, the government shutdown is now in its 11th day, with no apparent movement to resolve the impasse.
--:-- Ron Elving: People are feeling it at airports, in farm country, wherever people do business with the government in any way or depend on it in any way.
--:-- Ron Elving: Republicans had hoped those people would blame the Democrats and put pressure on them. Some do and some have, but polls show more people are blaming the president and his party.
--:-- Ron Elving: So can there be an end in sight? Yes, when both sides are willing to talk seriously about the coming cuts to health care.
--:-- Ron Elving: [NPR Ron Elving] The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has written a letter telling the Trump administration it won't be signing on to what the White House calls a compact to get preferential treatment for federal funding.
--:-- Alyssa Nadwerny: NPR's Alyssa Nadwerny reports. A letter from MIT President Sally Kornbluth says the compact, quote, includes principles with which we disagree.
--:-- Alyssa Nadwerny: MIT was one of nine universities asked by the Department of Education to sign the agreement to ensure access to federal funding and grants.
--:-- Alyssa Nadwerny: The compact requires schools to agree to a list of demands, including a five-year tuition rate freeze, limits on international students, and prohibiting the use of race or sex as admissions factors.
--:-- Alyssa Nadwerny: Kornbluth writes, the university believes that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone, and therefore, quote, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
--:-- Alyssa Nadwerny: The university is the first school to respond publicly to the administration's compact.
--:-- Anas Baba: Thousands of Palestinians are returning to their homes in Gaza after Israeli troops withdrew to agreed-upon lines in President Trump's ceasefire plan.
--:-- Anas Baba: For the first time in years, there are not daily bombardments or airstrikes.
--:-- Anas Baba: Police have begun to reappear on the streets in small numbers, but their return doesn't necessarily signal the return of law and order or even the control on the ground.
--:-- Anas Baba: As of earlier this year, Gaza police reported that more than 1 officer was killed in Israeli airstrikes and attacks.
--:-- Anas Baba: As for Gaza people now, the return of police officers offers maybe a small sense of safety.
--:-- Nora Rahm: Power is being restored in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, a day after Russia launched major strikes on Ukraine's power grid.
--:-- Nora Rahm: Officials say the main work to restore power is done, but there are still some localized outages.
--:-- Nora Rahm: More than 800,000 homes and businesses had lost power.
--:-- Nora Rahm: This is NPR News.
--:-- Nora Rahm: Authorities said today it appears no one survived an explosion at a munitions plant in rural Tennessee yesterday.
--:-- Nora Rahm: Earlier, they had said there were 18 people still missing.
--:-- Nora Rahm: It occurred at Accurate Energetic Systems, which processes explosives and ammunition from the military, and is located about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.
--:-- Nora Rahm: The Humphreys County Sheriff says it could take days, weeks, even months to determine the cause.
--:-- John Hamilton: Scientists are hoping to treat diseases, including Alzheimer's, by influencing the way cells decide when to die.
--:-- John Hamilton: NPR John Hamilton reports on efforts to control the process known as programmed cell death.
--:-- John Hamilton: In Alzheimer and other neurodegenerative diseases, nerve cells decide to self-destruct long before they should.
--:-- John Hamilton: So biotech companies are looking for ways to keep these cells alive by blocking signals that start the fatal process.
--:-- John Hamilton: Doug Green of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital says several firms think they can do this with treatments known as antisense drugs.
--:-- John Hamilton: If they're right, it's going to cure a lot of diseases, diseases that we associate with aging and inflammation.
--:-- John Hamilton: Antisense drugs can keep a cell from making certain proteins.
--:-- John Hamilton: In this case, the drugs are designed to reduce proteins that carry the signals responsible for programmed cell death.
--:-- Nora Rahm: Today is World Migratory Bird Day, a biannual event to celebrate the millions of birds who are taking off about this time on their journeys across plains, seas, and mountains.
--:-- Nora Rahm: This year's theme is shared spaces, creating bird-friendly cities and communities.
--:-- Nora Rahm: I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: America's global role is shifting fast.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: On Sources and Methods, we explain how and why.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: I'm Mary Louise Kelly.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: I've talked to spies. I've reported from war zones. I've interviewed ambassadors, generals, presidents.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: Want to understand what is happening around the world and how it affects us?
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: Join me and my fellow reporters as we break it down for you.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: Listen to Sources and Methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
