NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-26-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. President Trump has ordered the military killing of dozens of alleged drug smugglers since September. Ten boats have been blown up at Trump's direction. At least 43 people reportedly died. A Republican senator says this is wrong. NPR's Luke Garrett reports. The White House says the alleged drug smugglers are invading the U.S. by transporting deadly narcotics. But GOP Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky tells Fox News,

he has seen no evidence to support military strikes. I would call them extrajudicial killings, and this is akin to what China does, to Iran does with drug dealers. They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public, so it's wrong. The two people that survived the U.S. strikes were released. For Paul, this raises more questions. If they were drug dealers, why wouldn't we prosecute them, present evidence of the drugs, show the arms they were about to invade us with,

or show us something? Trump has argued alleged drug traffickers are terrorists and the military has the right to kill them without Congress. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. The president of the Palestinian Authority has appointed an apparent successor amid uncertainty over the future role of the Palestinian leadership in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. NPR's Daniel Estrin has more. Mahmoud Abbas has been the internationally recognized Palestinian leader for 20 years. There have long been questions of who would replace him. Now, just weeks away from his 90th birthday, Abbas has decreed that if he is unable to fulfill

his duties, his role would be taken over temporarily by his deputy Hussein as Sheikh. Many Palestinians see him as being friendly to Israel. There's no telling if he would remain in the president's role indefinitely. This decree comes as the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has been sidelined, while the U.S. and other countries work on a plan for post-war Gaza. President Trump told Time magazine he wasn't sure if Abbas had a future leadership role for the Palestinians. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Hurricane Melissa, a category four storm is threatening Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

NPR's Matt Bloom reports. Forecasters say the storm could continue to intensify before making landfall in the coming days. Several deaths have already been reported in Haiti and the Dominican Republic due to flooding. 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. 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. Parts of Cuba, the southeast Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos are also being warned of potential

impacts this week. Matt Bloom, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said today that top U.S. and Chinese economic officials agreed on a substantial framework for a trade agreement on rare earth metals and tariffs. He says this means, for now,

the U.S. will not impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods that President Trump had threatened. He said it's not final until President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet in South Korea on Thursday. Authorities in Paris have begun making arrests in last weekend's theft of some of the French crown 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 a hundred million dollars 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. The airport in Vilnius, Lithuania, is reopened today. Flights had been suspended last night for a second night because of balloons. Officials say the approaching balloons appeared to be carrying contraband cigarettes being smuggled into Lithuania from neighboring Belarus. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.