NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-27-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. The government shutdown moved into its 27th day today, and congressional leaders say they are no closer to an agreement. More than a million federal workers have missed a paycheck, and the food assistance program known as SNAP is almost out of money. NPR Stephen Fowler reports that SNAP has long been a target of the Trump administration. It has been a priority of Trump in both his first term and now to cut the SNAP program. In fact, the so-called one big beautiful bill passed earlier this year has some of the largest ever reductions to snap. And almost everything the White House has done during the shutdown has been focused on blaming Democrats, targeting programs and places they feel disproportionately impact Democrats. And this is no different.

In addition to SNAP, early education, and other benefits that serve tens of millions of Americans are at risk this week if a deal is not reached. universities across the country have closed academic programs they shared with China under pressure from a House committee report that said those programs threaten U.S. national security. Michelle Maritzko, member station KJZZ reports that includes two colleges in Arizona. Republican Congressman Eli Krain says Northern Arizona University ended its dual degree electrical engineering partnership program with Chongqing University in China after it appeared in a report co-authored by the Select Committee on the Strategic. competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party. The University of Arizona shuttered four tech microcampuses in China after the committee noted its partnership, spokesman Mitch Zach. We've communicated directly with those affected and are working with enrolled students to

help them continue their education. The report states U.C. Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and at least six others have all shut down our Chinese partnership programs, but has said more than 50 others continue them. For NPR News, I'm U.S. East School and Flagstaff. French police are questioning two suspects arrested Saturday night for their involvement in the Louvre heist. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that police have two more days to get the suspects to talk before they must release or charge them. French television is full of experts weighing in on how the tiaras and necklaces could be dismantled or taken out of the

country or both. There's also talk of a possible accomplice inside the Louvre. Christian Flech, the former director of the Paris police said that's entirely possible. Who can imagine you'd scale a ladder up to a balcony of the Louvre without having a minimum guarantee of what the security situation is inside, he told BFM News Channel. According to newspaper Le Parisian, the suspects were already known to police and were identified from the DNA taken from a hair inside a motorcycle helmet left behind at the scene of the crime. Leonard Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. And you're listening to NPR News.

Hurricane Melissa is on track to make landfall in Jamaica by early tomorrow morning. And forecasters say Melissa could be the strongest to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851. Melissa intensified into a Category 5 storm today over the warming Caribbean Sea, which is linked to climate change. Southeastern Cuba and the Bahamas are also in the storm sites. In 1812, hundreds of thousands of men in Napoleon's army perished during their retreat from Russia. Now seems a couple of unexpected pathogens may have helped hasten the soldier's demise. Here's reporter Ari Daniel. A new study examined the ancient DNA found in the teeth of 13 of Napoleon's soldiers exhumed from a mass grave in Lithuania.

Researchers found that two bacteria, one that causes paratyphoid fever and the other relapsing fever, had likely helped kill them. men. These results, along with earlier work, reveal the soldiers were under microbial assault on all fronts. Michela Binder is a bio-archeologist who wasn't involved in the study. These wars were anything but glamorous. For some of them, the death in battle would have been a relief. A relief, she says, from bodies riddled with disease. For NPR news, I'm Ari Daniel. Game three of Major League Baseball's World Series getting underway this hour in Angeles moving from Toronto, where the first two games of the best of seven were played. The Toronto Blue Jays blew out the Dodgers in the first game, but LA took the second and is seeking to win back-to-back championships. This is NPR News. Support comes from UC Berkeley's online master of public health program. Now, more than ever, public health needs bold, informed leaders. Berkeley's flexible online degree helps professionals advance their careers. Learn more at public health.

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