NPR is in the U.S. and Hacker News has a policy of not editorializing titles.

To explicitly state for others, the country in question is the United States.

Is there any other country it could be referring to?

Government shutting down?! You'll NEVER belive who! Click NOW to find out!

More clicks. SOP editor behavior in 2020-whatever. Gotta get those sweet sweet eyeball on ad bucks.

(The country is the US btw)