--:-- Shea Stevens: This message comes from Dataiku. Companies can struggle to turn data into real AI apps. Dataiku makes it easy with low-code tools so anyone can build and scale AI. Visit dataiku.com slash NPR.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Air carriers have begun reducing domestic flights at dozens of major U.S. airports as the government shutdown drags on. Delta and United Airlines are confident that they can accommodate most ticket holders because of below demand around this time of year.
--:-- Joel Rose: NPR's Joel Rose reports on the reasons why the FAA ordered the flight reductions.
--:-- Joel Rose: The official explanation from the FAA is that it's necessary for safety. The government shutdown is clearly taking a toll on air traffic controllers who are required to work without pay. Some of them have taken on second jobs. Many are calling out sick.
--:-- Joel Rose: And overall, the air traffic control system had been working fairly well during the shutdown until this past weekend when we did see some staffing shortages at dozens of facilities around the same time.
--:-- Shea Stevens: And P.R.'s Joel Rose speaking on All Things Considered.
--:-- Joel Rose: The longest government shutdown in U.S. history has forced federal workers to go weeks without a paycheck and community organizations are stepping up.
--:-- Jackson Seneberg: From member station WAMU, Jackson Seneberg reports on how one school district in the Washington D area is helping out.
--:-- Jackson Seneberg: Arlington is the first Virginia suburb you hit west out of D.C. and home to the Pentagon. It's a hotbed for federal employees.
--:-- Jackson Seneberg: That's why the superintendent of Arlington Public Schools asked the district to come up with ideas to help families. One solution? Serve dinner at three schools while the shutdown lasts.
--:-- Frank Bellavia: Arlington Public Schools' Frank Bellavia.
--:-- Frank Bellavia: When you think about communities, you think about the schools that are there, and these really are the backbones of the community. So us being here and doing this meeting is nothing different.
--:-- Frank Bellavia: The school system plans to serve 250 meals at each school every weeknight for 30 days, or until the shutdown ends.
--:-- Jackson Seneberg: For NPR News, I'm Jackson Seneberg in Washington, D.C.
--:-- Shea Stevens: It's been nearly one month since Israel secured the release of its last surviving hostages from Gaza. Their testimonies about life in captivity are now beginning to emerge.
--:-- Ite Stern: As Ite Stern reports from Tel Aviv, one former captive says he was sexually abused in captivity.
--:-- Ite Stern: Rom Berzlowski, an Israeli soldier, was kidnapped from a music festival in southern Israel and held in Gaza for more than two years.
--:-- Rom Berzlowski: In an interview with Israeli media, he said he endured repeated sexual assaults by his captors, members of the Islamic Jihad. They stripped me of everything, tied me up naked. He said it was sexual violence meant to humiliate.
--:-- Ite Stern: Previously, other released Israeli hostages have told similar stories of sexual assault in captivity.
--:-- Ite Stern: Berslavsky said his captors urged him to convert to Islam, promising food if he did, and offer he refused.
--:-- Ite Stern: Israel is still awaiting the return of six hostages' bodies from Gaza, five Israelis and one Thai national.
--:-- Shea Stevens: For NPR News, Amitai Stern in Tel Aviv.
--:-- Shea Stevens: U.S. futures are higher in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR.
--:-- Shea Stevens: For the second time in less than three months, Ukrainian drones have attacked a major oil refinery in southwest Russia, according to Ukraine's Army General Staff.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The facility is the largest producer of fuel and lubricants in Russia's southern federal district and accounts for 5 percent of the country's total refining capacity.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Officials in Moscow have not confirmed the report, although a local governor says that drones started a fire at an unspecified facility in the region.
--:-- Shea Stevens: A Colombian man who survived a U.S. attack on a submarine suspected of transporting narcotics in the Caribbean will not face charges in his home country.
--:-- Shea Stevens: This despite assurances from both Colombia and President Trump that he would.
--:-- Gary Kahn: More from NPR's Gary Kahn.
--:-- Gary Kahn: According to the Spanish newspaper El País, Jonathan Obando Perez was discharged last week from a Bogota hospital.
--:-- Gary Kahn: The 34-year-old was one of two survivors of a U.S. military strike on a suspected drug-smuggling submarine.
--:-- Gary Kahn: Federal officials in Bogota say there were no plans to launch a formal investigation against Obando, as it has no evidence he committed a crime in Colombia.
--:-- Gary Kahn: President Trump had posted on social media that Obando would be detained and prosecuted in Colombia.
--:-- Gary Kahn: Officials there also made similar assurances.
--:-- Gary Kahn: The other survivor of the attack, an Ecuadorian, with a criminal narcotics record in the U.S., was also released once returned to his home country.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro.
--:-- Shea Stevens: On Asia-Pacific market, shares are mostly lower, down around 1% in Tokyo and in Hong Kong. This is NPR News.
