NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-25-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. On board Air Force One late last night, President Trump was asked about the person who was said to have donated $130 million to help support military pay during the government shutdown. Trump did not reveal the identity of the donor, but said the man is an American citizen and one of his supporters. He's a great patriot. He's obviously a very substantial man. and he contributed $130 million toward the military. The Pentagon has confirmed that it has accepted the donation through what a spokesman said is the Defense Department's general gift acceptance authority. The donation, however, raises ethical concerns.

Trump was traveling to Asia for a six-day trip. The government shut down now in its 25th day, and more Americans are beginning to feel it. Pennsylvania is delaying a program that helps families heat their homes, and there is anxiety about food aid under the government's SNAP program. Christopher Ivy works for a Detroit area nonprofit called Forgotten Harvest. Our neighbors, the guests we serve every day, are impacted through the government shutdown and through the SNAP benefits ending. As of right now, it's the anxiety on the unknown as to what that will mean for them.

Members of Congress and also state and local officials urging the administration to not let SNAP funding dry up in November. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro accusing the U.S. of fabricating a war. They promised they would never get involved in another war. And now they are inventing a war, which we are going to avoid. How? With the mobilization of the peoples of South America, because South America and the Caribbean all say no to war, yes to peace, yes to prosperity. Maduro heard there through a BBC interpreter. The U.S. is sending an aircraft carrier strike group to join ongoing operations against South American drug traffickers. Federal Appeals Court has declined to review a panel ruling that weakens federal voting rights protections in seven states, as MPR's Hansi Lomong reports.

The Immigrant Advocacy Group, Arkansas United, sued over a state law that bans a person from helping more than six voters cast ballots. A part of the Voting Rights Act, known as Section 208, generally allows voters who need to be. help because of a disability or an inability to read a right to get help from a person of their choice. A judge ruled the Arkansas law violated the Voting Rights Act. But after Republican state officials appealed a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled private groups like Arkansas United and individuals did not have the right to sue. Only the U.S. Attorney General does. The full A circuit now has rejected a request to review that ruling. Two similar cases are before the Supreme Court, which is also reviewing the constitutionality of another key part of the voting

Act. Onzi Luong, NPR News. And this is NPR News. Tropical storm, Melissa is expected to strengthen into a hurricane today. Forecasters are warning that Melissa could touch off catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic through the weekend. The National Hurricane Center says Melissa could dump more than two feet of rain through Monday. Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic season. Polls are open today in Ivory Coast with its octogenarian leaders seeking a controversial fourth term. Kate Bartlett reports that major opposition contenders have been barred from contesting the election. Ballot stations opened an ivory coast with over 8 million people registered to vote in the West

African country, which is the world's biggest cocoa producer. Alison Wutara, who came to power in 2010, says changes he oversaw to the Constitution in 2016, allow him to run for more than the two-term limit. ahead of today's vote, he restricted gatherings and deployed thousands of security personnel. Four candidates are challenging the 83-year-old for the presidency, but the major candidates have been blocked from running. Contested elections in the country, which fought a brutal civil war in the early 2000s, have seen deadly violence breakout in the past. For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg. Final results from yesterday's presidential election in Ireland are expected later today.

The latest vote tallies, however, suggests a left-leaning lawmaker, Catherine Conley, has a significant lead for the largely ceremonial post, and her rival, Heather Humphreys, has conceded. I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.