NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-26-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says the U.S. and China have reached a substantial framework for a deal on rare earth metals and tariffs. NPR's Luke Garrett reports Besson says the U.S. will not impose 100 percent tariffs on China for now. Fresh from negotiations in Kuala Limpore Malaysia, Secretary Besson tells ABC the stage is set for President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalize a trade deal. reached a substantial framework for the two leaders. At issue, are tightening Chinese restrictions on metals, materials, and magnets needed for U.S. cars, weaponry, and chips. Besson says Trump's threat of hiked levies delayed the new rare earth licensing regime.

The president had given me maximum leverage when he threatened 100 percent tariffs if the Chinese imposed their rare earth global export controls. So I think we have averted that. Bessent also says he expects China. to revive their buying of U.S. soybeans, but he added nothing is final until Trump and Ghee meet on Thursday. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Candidates in the Virginia governor's race are making their closing arguments to voters ahead of Election Day on November 4th. Margaret Barthell of Member Station, WAMU,

reports from a conservative political action conference event for the Republican ticket. Winston Earl Sears is the current lieutenant governor and the GOP nominee for governor. is not having my daughter having to be forced to undress in a locker room with a man that's not love. That line got her standing ovation, criticizing Democrats for policies allowing transgender kids to use bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with their gender identity and not their birth sex has been a key closing message for Earl Sears. The Democrat in the race, Abigail Spanberger, says local communities should decide on how to handle these issues, not the state.

She is focused instead on affordability in the closing days of the race. For NPR News, I'm Margaret Barthell in Sterling, Virginia. New Jersey is also electing a new governor on November 4th. New York City is selecting a new mayor. A hurricane warning is in place for Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. As Hurricane Melissa draws closer, NPR's Matt Bloom reports, Melissa is now a category of storm. The slow-moving hurricane is expected to drop as,

much as 40 inches of rain on the region over the coming days, causing massive flooding, landslides and power outages. Authorities in Jamaica say they've activated hundreds of shelters and are warning residents of storm surge of up to 13 feet along parts of the coast. Parts of Cuba, the southeast Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos are also being warned of potential impacts this week. NPR's Matt Bloom. This is NPR News. The militant Kurdish group, the PKK, said today it's withdrawing its forces from Turkey, ending a decades-long insurgency. It says it's moving its fighters to Iraq as part of a peace effort with Ankara. Turkey, the U.S. and the EU have called the group a terrorist organization.

It's been fighting for a Kurdish state since the 1980s, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Authorities in Paris have begun making arrests in last weekend. theft, some of the French crown Jews from the jewels from the Louvre Museum. NPR's Eleanor Beersley reports, one was apprehended last night while trying to leave the country. In a statement, the Paris prosecutor condemned the leak of information in the case, which she said had forced them to reveal facts prematurely that could compromise the investigation. The brazen daytime heist at the museum last Sunday stunned France. Four men dressed as workmen broke into an upper floor window using a ladder on a moving truck.

They made off with $100 million worth of royal jewels from the 19th century reign of Emperor Napoleon III. According to Le Paris newspaper, the men arrested are from the Paris suburbs. One was preparing to board a flight from Charles de Gaul airport with some of the stolen items from the Louvre. Eleanor Beardsley and Pierre News, Paris. In Major League Baseball, the World Series is now tied at one game apiece. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5 to 1 last night after a lopsite it lost to Toronto. Friday night, the series moves to Southern California for the next three games starting tomorrow night. I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.