NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-26-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said today that top U.S. and Chinese economic officials have agreed on a substantial framework for a trade agreement. They met on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Malaysia. President Trump is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea to finalize the deal later this week. Besson said U.S. soybean farmers will be pleased with the agreement. We also agreed on substantial agriculture purchases for U.S. farmers.

We agreed that the Chinese would begin to help us with the precursor chemicals for this terrible fentanyl epidemic that's ravaging our country. So I would say that it was a very good meeting overall. He was interviewed on ABCs this week. The partisan redistricting effort President Trump kicked off continues with the Commonwealth of Virginia. lawmakers will be holding a special session tomorrow. NPR's Moraleson reports. Virginia Democrats will discuss redrawing the state's congressional district maps to favor Democrats. This follows an unusual mid-cycle partisan redistricting effort by Republicans in Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.

After President Trump called on red states with trifectas, that is, with Republican governors and state legislatures in the same state, to create more seats favorable to his party. Three other blue states, California, Illinois, and Maryland have responded in kind and are looking at ways to increase seats favorable to Democrats. Normally, redistricting happens every 10 years after the census is taken, but that custom appears to be yet another political norm cast aside during the Trump era. Mara Liason, NPR News. The governments of Israel and the United States have coordinated the entry of Egyptian forces into areas in Gaza deemed dangerous and under the control of. Hamas. They're to search for the bodies of hostages. NPR's Rob Schmitz reports from Tel Aviv. The Egyptian team, which specializes in search and rescue operations and in dismantling

explosive devices, entered the strip accompanied by engineering vehicles with Israeli approval to help locate the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages. Their bodies are believed to be in areas that have been booby-trapped. For days, there have been discussions over allowing outside teams into Gaza to help recover the remaining 13 deceased Israeli hostages. as well as dead Palestinians under the rubble. Rob Schmitz and Pierre News, Tel Aviv. Hurricane Melissa is intensifying as it moves slowly over the warm waters of the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center says it's now a category of forest storm

and is likely to strengthen more in the coming days. Forecasters warn of potentially catastrophic flooding and destructive winds in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti. Floods have already claimed several lives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. You're listening to NPR News in Washington. In Argentina, voters are set to go to the polls today in high-stakes mid-term elections seems as a referendum on President Javier Milley's austerity agenda. His ally Donald Trump has offered a $20 billion currency swap to prop up the peso.

But Trump's continued support could depend on Malay's performance in the election. Natalie Elkobe reports from Buenos Aires. A lot is at stake for President. Javier Millet, a libertarian who imposed a tough program of spending cuts and reforms to curb inflation in a country prone to economic volatility. Half the seats in the lower house of Congress and one third of the Senate are up for grabs in these elections. A currency crisis has raised serious questions about his economic strategy, with the U.S. intervening with a controversial multi-billion dollar bailout. Many Argentines continue to struggle to make ends meet, but while Milet's popularity

has taken a hit amid corruption scandals and the threat of a recession, polls suggest the outcome of this election is too difficult to predict. For NPR News, I'm Natalie Alcova in Buenos Aires. Prosecutors in Paris say they've made some arrests in the jewelry heist at the Louvre one week ago today. They did not say how many suspects are in custody, but that one of them was detained as he was preparing to fly out of the country last night. They also did not say whether any of the jewels have been recovered. The thieves had smashed display cases. They made off with historic crown jewels that were worth an estimated $102 million. I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.