by Brittney Melton

October 14, 2025

Good morning. Have you heard of Silent Courier? It is a new dark web platform that allows international users to share classified information with Britain's MI6. Listen to what you should know about it. Here's the news we're following today:

Israel released nearly 2,000 prisoners yesterday as part of the initial phase of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Hamas also freed the last 20 surviving Israeli hostages. Some of the Palestinians who returned to Gaza were journalists, doctors and first responders who were taken from hospitals and off the streets by soldiers. NPR’s Aya Batrawy tells Up First that some of the returned Palestinians showed signs of torture on their bodies and severe malnutrition, and some struggled to walk.

One of the Palestinian prisoners released under the prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas gestures as he and others disembark from their bus upon arrival at Ramallah Cultural Centre in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. He is surrounded by a large crowd of people.

Mosab Shawer/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty

🎧 NPR’s Anas Baba witnessed the people’s return to Gaza and said he saw a mix of joy and survival as many embraced loved ones. But many of them have no homes to return to and have discovered that their families are gone. Israeli troops still occupy Gaza and won’t be withdrawing until Hamas disarms. Batrawy says it is still uncertain whether Hamas will agree to storing or handing over offensive weapons. As Gaza looks to rebuild, President Trump’s peace plan doesn’t address the West Bank or the creation of a Palestinian state, leaving the root of the conflict unresolved.
🎧 Trump has returned from a trip to the Middle East and is receiving a lot of credit for the ceasefire deal, says NPR’s Tamara Keith. There have previously been brief ceasefires in the war. The question now is whether this time will be different. Keith emphasizes that this is only the first phase of a multiphase peace plan for Gaza. By making the trip to the Middle East, Trump has invested political capital in the peace being a lasting one. For the agreement to hold, the president cannot just move on; he will have to stay engaged and keep applying pressure, according to Keith.
➡️ Here’s a look at the war in Gaza, by the numbers.

Federal immigration officers have been seen in countless videos using increasingly aggressive tactics while detaining immigrants. A majority of Americans say they disapprove of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, according to a recent survey from The New York Times and Siena University.

🎧 Ed Yohnka with the ACLU of Illinois tells NPR’s Meg Anderson that officers are dragging people out of vehicles and roughly taking people who are just walking on the street. Yohnka and other observers say federal agents have tear-gassed people and shot them with pepper balls while targeting immigrants, protesters and journalists. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says its officers are acting according to law and policy. Gil Kerlikowske, the former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, tells Anderson that immigration officers are not prepared to police an urban environment, and good policing in cities is about getting the public to trust you.

New 2025 testing data indicate that U.S. students in third to eighth grade scored below 2019 performance levels in reading. The data comes from the Spring 2025 MAP Growth Assessment by NWEA, a K-12 testing and research organization. The results show there is a little more room for optimism when it comes to math, where some grades showed improvement. All grades are still behind compared to pre-pandemic scores.

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Cost of living

A person wearing protective clothing and gloves checks a dog's temperature.

Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images

NPR's series Cost of Living: The Price We Pay is examining what’s driving price increases and how people are coping after years of stubborn inflation.

If you have a pet, odds are you have felt the increased cost of pet care. The Indicator from Planet Money talks with Veterinarian Adam Hechko about why prices are soaring. Here’s what he had to say:

🐶 The cost of operating a veterinary practice has increased with things like medication, partly due to tariffs. Hechko says the cost of a box of exam gloves is more than twice what it was a year or so ago.
🐶 For many practices, the cost of labor exceeds 50% of overall operating costs, because wages for these careers have to rise over time.
🐶 People are willing to spend more money on pet care. Hechko says this noticeable shift in the culture of pet ownership relates to pandemic lockdowns. Some people’s only social interactions or source of companionship during that time were their pets. Hechko believes that's why more people are willing to pay more for the best care to keep their pet healthy.

Listen to what else Hechko has to say about the cost of pet care, or read the transcript from the interview. This week, the series will cover the rising cost of health care. Stay up-to-date on the latest stories here.

How are higher prices changing the way you live? Fill out this form to share your story with NPR.

Spaghetti Cumbia poses for a portrait at Vasquez Rocks in northern LA County on March 26, 2022.

Ivan Kashinsky

Cumbia Across Latin America is a visual report covering the people, places and cultures that keep this music genre alive in six countries.

The members of the band Spaghetti Cumbia grew up listening to Latin music in their Los Angeles homes, including cumbia. Living in LA, the group became heavily influenced by classic rock, punk rock and hip-hop. They created their own style by mixing cumbia with their influences and adding a Spaghetti Western sound. The band members credit their love for music for saving them from connecting with the wrong crowd in the ‘90s, when gang violence was at its peak on the city’s east side, which was a popular destination for immigrants. Spaghetti Cumbia said there was no time to spend on the streets between rehearsals and studio sessions. Learn more about how Los Angeles helped shape cumbia music and see pictures from the band’s gigs. You can also read the article in Spanish.

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Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Former President Barack Obama was the final guest on actor and comedian Marc Maron's bi-weekly podcast, which ended yesterday on episode 1,686. Obama provided insight into the current state of politics and reflected on WTF with Marc Maron’s legacy.

The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded yesterday to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their research on how cycles of technological innovation drive economic growth and lead to creative destruction.

After graduating from high school in 1971, Silvana Clark enrolled at a community college after receiving guidance from her drama teacher, George Meshke, who had taken a job there. Facing financial difficulties for the next semester, she informed Meshke, who then helped her secure a scholarship. Toward the end of the school year, Clark discovered her unsung hero was actually the one responsible for paying her fees, an act she says she will never forget.

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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