NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-26-2025 2AM EDT

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. Cambodia and Thailand have signed an expansion of a ceasefire to end their border conflict. President Trump helped to broker the original deal this summer. He was there for the signing. Today, alongside this peace treaty, we also are signing a major trade deal with Cambodia and a very important critical minerals agreement with Thailand. The United States will have a robust commerce and cooperation. transactions, lots of them, with both nations as long as they live in peace.

The agreement requires both countries to begin moving heavy weapons from the border area. Thailand must also release 18 Cambodian soldiers being held as prisoners. President Trump, meanwhile, is in Malaysia for a meeting with leaders of Asian countries. The federal government shutdown is now almost a month old, and many communities are preparing for food stamps to stop, so families are turning to food banks for help. But those groups are also struggling. Carl Escobel of Salvation Army in Aurora, Colorado, says he hasn't seen shelves this bear in many years.

We are already deplaning resources all the way to December. This is our attempt of getting the story out there that food pantries, not just ours, but many even smaller food pantries, right, are struggling to be able to meet the needs of our community. And Esquivel says the desperation he's seeing now is real. The White House's historic movie theater has been demolished as part of the Trump had been, administrations plans to make way for a new $300 million ballroom. As M.P.R.'s Chloe Velpen reports that venue was loved by many US presidents. Bill Clinton once described the White House family theatre as, quote, the best perk of the White House. The snug 40-ish seat venue provided

a retreat for presidents and their guests for more than 80 years after its conversion from a cloakroom by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. Jimmy Carter was a fan. He watched hundreds of films they're starting with all the president's men. Richard Nixon saw Patton about the controversial World War II General George S. Patton multiple times during the Vietnam War. Matt Lambrose is a theatre historian.

There's small moments that humanised each president that occurred in the space. Lambrose says he hopes the Trump administration will build a new theatre. The White House did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. There has been a shooting

at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. The Chester County District Attorney's Office says there were seven gunshot victims, but they have not said if anyone was killed. The shooting took place during the historically black university's homecoming weekend. An investigation into the incident is underway in Pennsylvania. Governor Josh Shapiro says he's offered state help to local officials. The university is located about 55 miles southwest of Philadelphia. The school's president says counseling will be available later today for any students who need it.

You're listening to NPR News. Americans communicating with people in Europe could be facing some time challenges this week, both Europe and the U.S. honored daylight savings time, but people in Europe roll back their clocks on Sunday while the U.S. and Canada move theirs back next Sunday. That means the time difference between London and New York, for example, will be off by one hour for the next week. In Florida, new research shows two important coral species have become extinct in local waters. As NPR's Greg Allen reports, researchers blame warmer ocean temperatures and climate change for the damage.

Teams of researchers conducted thousands of surveys throughout Florida waters after a heat wave in 2023 caused widespread coral bleaching and death. In the Florida Keys, home to the world's third largest coral reef tract, they found nearly all elkhorn and stichhorn coral had died. Andrew Baker, a marine biologist at the University of Miami, says that means the two species are functionally extinct. There's one or two or just a few scattered colony. in different reefs around the region, but they're so rare and often so small that they no longer have any real ecological role to play in the ecosystem. Marine biologists are cross-breeding Florida's Elkhorn and Stighorn with species from Central America that are more heat-tolerant, an effort they hope that may help restore Florida's reefs.

Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami. June Lockhart has died. She was 100 years old. The actor was known for her role in the TV show Lassie, as well as playing Maureen Robinson and Lost in Space, which ran for three years. Her warm character portrayals endeared her to viewers, but she insisted her real-life persona was different. She died earlier this week at her Santa Monica home from natural causes.

I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.