NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-27-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The federal government shutdown continued to disrupt flights across the country over the weekend. NPR's Joel Rose reports air traffic controllers are set to receive no money on payday this week. The Federal Aviation Administration said staffing shortages delayed planes headed to Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday. Staffing shortages were reported at more than 20 FAA facilities around the country over the weekend. And here's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaking to Fox News on Sunday. That's a sign that the controllers are wearing thin. Air traffic controllers are required to work without pay during the government shutdown.

Their union says some are taking on second jobs driving for Uber and DoorDash to make ends meet. Controllers are set to receive no money when payday officially arrives on Tuesday. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. As Hurricane Melissa barrels toward Jamaica, authorities have always. ordered evacuations in several areas urging residents to seek immediate shelter. Forecasters say the storm, now a category five, could be among the most powerful ever to hit the island. It now has top sustained winds of 165 miles per hour. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warns a deluge could trigger catastrophic flooding across parts of Jamaica. Reporter Nick Davis is there. The storm has

slowly been moving along the south coast, between three and seven miles an hour for about a day. only about 100 miles out, but it's due to turn inland tonight, bringing record levels of rainfall, up to 30 inches, so with that extensive flooding, this storm is huge. It'll cover the island with major hurricane conditions, and so the government has put in place a mandatory evacuation order in some low-lying areas. Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall in the early hours of tomorrow morning and be here for almost 12 hours before it leaves. For NPR News, I'm Nick Davis in Jamaica. The search for the bodies of the remaining Israeli hostages continues in Gaza.

As reports of Israel's military-striking Palestinians inside Gaza threaten the two-week-old ceasefire, NPR's Rob Schmidt's reports. Over the weekend, Israel allowed a search and rescue team from Egypt to enter Gaza to search for the bodies of the 13 remaining hostages. According to an official who spoke to NPR but not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, Israel also allowed members of Hamas to cross the so-called yellow line into Israeli-held territory to assist in the search for the deceased hostages. Gaza's civil defense reports that Israel's military struck a group of Palestinian civilians

who had returned to their homes near Kahn Yunus in southern Gaza, killing two and injuring three. Over the weekend, Israel's military said it carried out a targeted strike in central Gaza on a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, injuring four people in a car. Both attacks appear to be testing the U.S. brokered ceasefire agreement. Rob Schmitts, NPR News, Tel Aviv. It's NPR. The U.S. military presence is growing in the Caribbean waters where military strikes on alleged drug vessels have killed at least 43 people.

Venezuela's military has been on high alert. U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told CBS News yesterday that President Trump has the power to launch the strikes. He also says land strikes are a real possibility. Japan's emperor, Naruhito, extended a royal welcome today to President Trump at Tokyo's Imperial Palace. The U.S. leader had just arrived from Malaysia. Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, Trump presided over the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia. Worldwide families are having far fewer children, and a growing number of economists say the trend is reshaping parts of the global economy.

NPR's Brian Mann with more. Most experts agree the shift to fewer kids is being driven by good things. including education and economic gains for women and plummeting teen pregnancy rates. But there are also challenges. Economists say families in all the countries that drive global GDP from China to Germany to the U.S. are now having too few children to maintain a stable population and robust workforce. Lant Pritchett is at the London School of Economics. It's hard to maintain the dynamism of the economy.

You can't get people to do all kinds of work from electricians to plumbers to everything else. Many experts say the trend toward fewer children in the U.S. and around the world will continue, a pattern that's already straining pension and health care systems in some countries as populations age and shrink. Brian Mann, NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.