NPR News: 09-08-2026 8PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. US forces have destroyed five Iranian oil ships as part of escalating hostilities in the Gulf. The US says the operation was in response to Iran targeting US warships. NPR's Greg Myrie has more. US Central Command says it hit and destroyed the five Iranian oil ships near Carg Island. The country's main oil processing facility at the northern end of the Gulf. The Americans told the crews on the Iranian ships to abandon them before they were struck. The US says it acted after Iran's revolutionary guard corps fired ballistic missiles at US Navy warships twice in the past two days. The American ships were not hit and continue to operate in the region. The US is stepping up economic pressure on Iran and exchanges of fire have increased in recent days. The US also hit three Iranian oil ships last Saturday. Greg Myrie, NPR News, Washington. New York City has released long with held 9-11 records on toxic air near ground zero.

1:0525 years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, more people have died from 9-11 related illnesses than those killed in the attacks. Steve Kastinbaum reports the documents show what officials knew when they said it was safe to return to Lower Manhattan. Over 170,000 documents were made public after Mayor Zaram Mhamtoni's administration settled two lawsuits from 9-11 advocacy organizations. People got sick because the leaders they trusted, lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air. New York Congressman Gerald Nadler was among those who started the quest for this information more than two decades ago. The officials like EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Mayor Giuliani denied claims like mine saying the air was perfectly safe. Last for this. The public can browse this first batch of documents through a portal on the city's website. For NPR News, I'm Steve Kastinbaum in New York. The Inspector General's Office for the US Postal Services looking into a new technical system the agency is developing for mail-in ballots in the midterm election.

2:08As NPR's Hansi Lawong reports, that new technology is part of a legal fight at the Supreme Court. The Postal Service built the new online system after President Trump put out an order calling for it to deliver mail-in ballots only to people on voter lists that the states would have to turn over to the mailing agency. We should note USPS is a financial support of NPR. Last week an anonymous federal government official filed a report claiming that system has not been properly tested and could lead to eligible voters not getting ballots in time for the midterm general election or at all. Now the USPS Inspector General's Office says it's conducting an independent review of those claims. The federal judge has blocked the Postal Service from requiring states to use the online portal for their mail-in ballots for the midterms. The judge found it has no authority to impose that requirement. USPS is now asking the Supreme Court and an appeals court to pause the judge's ruling. Hansi Lawong and NPR News. This is NPR. A federal judge in Missouri has temporarily blocked the state from using its old congressional districts in the November election. After the US Supreme Court today declined to get involved in the legal battle, the move

3:12came just days after the Missouri Supreme Court said the state cannot use a new congressional map that President Trump hoped would help Republicans keep control of the US House. AI has solved one of mathematics' most famous unanswered problems, Katie Riddle reports. The question is known as the Nave Stokes existence and smoothness problem. It's one of seven millennium prize problems designated by scholars in 2000 to highlight some of the most important challenges in mathematics. The question AI says one of its unreleased models took just 88 hours to produce a possible solution. The problem concerns equations used to describe how fluids move, including in weather models, scientists use versions of them to model everything from weather and ocean currents to airflow around airplanes and blood moving through the body. But the unanswered question is largely theoretical, whether the equations always behave predictably or can break down under extreme mathematical conditions. Katie Riddle in Peer News. Live golf, which tried to rival the PGA tour has filed for bankruptcy.

4:16The move comes after Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund abruptly cut off support. Live says part of its plan moving forward is to restructure. It estimates some $500 million in debt. The PGA tour has banned players for one year, from their most recent live golf appearance. US Stokes sank today after the three-day weekend and the latest fighting in the war in the Ron pushed oil prices higher. This is Dabra Tyson. The disappearance of her son Austin is one of the biggest missing person cases in the world. What do you want from me? I should have the mystery. I know that my son is somewhere alive. Listen to Where is Austin Tyson from MPR's Embedded and BBC Radio 4 on the MPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.