NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-29-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Federal Reserve has lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point. The move this afternoon, which is widely expected, was intended to provide support for the sagging U.S. job market. In President Trump's last stop of his trip to Asia, he says he negotiated agreements on trade and Korean investments in the U.S. with South Korea's leader. It comes ahead of Trump's meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping Thursday local time. Trade will be the main point on their agenda, and PRZ-Bas Chivaram has more. The U.S. and South Korea affirmed Seoul investing $350 billion into the U.S. They've been negotiating for months on the details of their trade agreement, including how the money would be distributed.

All the details of the agreement are yet to be released, but $150 billion of the investment will go towards revitalizing. U.S. shipbuilding. Tariffs on South Korean goods will also be lowered from 25 to 15%. Trump met South Korea's president separately and as part of a formal dinner with heads of states of other countries. At the table was also Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, who Trump has been upset with recently over tariff negotiations. Deepa Chivaram, NPR News, Guangzhou, Korea. As the federal government shutdown approaches the one-month mark, a lot of attentions on hundreds of thousands of federal personnel laid off or working without pay and how all of it affects the public. NPR's Joel Rose is covering the impact on air traffic controllers and fears about whether it's still safe to fly.

According to the FAA and the Department of Transportation, their top priority is keeping the system safe. But if they have to, they will limit the number of planes that are in the air in order to keep from overloading the system. So I would say, yes, it is safe to fly, but we are going to see a lot more delays and disruptions before this is over. That's NPR's Joel Rose reporting. The Pentagon says a decision not to replace departing U.S. troops in Romania does not constitute a withdrawal from Europe. Smae Nicholson reports about 100,000 U.S. military personnel are deployed across the continent. Bucharest confirms a reduced presence of roughly 1,000 U.S. troops

are to remain in Romania down from more than 1,700. In a statement, Romania's defense ministry says the U.S. decision takes into account that NATO has consolidated its presence. and activity on the eastern flank and that the resizing of U.S. forces was expected. The Pentagon says the decision does not signal less commitment to NATO and Article 5, which stipulates members of the alliance, will come to the defense of each other if attacked.

But eastern European countries are growing increasingly nervous of Russia in the wake of a recent spate of drone incursions into NATO airspace in the region. For NPR news, I'm Esmenekelson in Berlin. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour with the Dow now up, 165 points. This is NPR News. A $40 million civil trial is underway involving a Virginia teacher who was shot by a first grader. The teacher accuses the school's former assistant principal of failing to act despite warnings. Here's NPR's Kristen Wright.

Abby's Warner's attorney argues Ebony Parker, who was assistant principal of Richneck Elementary, was told multiple times on the day of the shooting that the six-year-old boy had a gun, but had no one search him and didn't call police. Zwerner was sitting in her classroom in Newport News when she was shot in the hand. The bullet also went into her chest. It's still there, and Zwerner doesn't have full use of her hand. Parker's defense attorney says she couldn't possibly have foreseen what happened. The child got the gun from home.

His mother was sentenced to time in prison. Kristen Wright, NPR News, Washington. There is a mission program that's part of a growing trend of farmers finding successors online. WKAR, Sophia Salaby has a tales. America's farmers are getting older. According to the USDA, their average age is 58 years old. And they may not have a family member or friend to pass their land onto. That's where land or farm linking comes in.

Using online platforms, farmers post about the land they have and land seekers post about what they're looking for. Then they can make a connection. In Michigan, My Farm Links, Jill donor, says it can make the succession process more personal. Most farmers want that land to go to a deserved farmer, somebody who can actually take it and do good for the land. There are currently several dozen farm linking programs active in more than 30 states. For NPR News, I'm Sophia Salaby in East Lansing. It's NPR.