NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-29-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Dave Mattingly. Flooding landslides, power outages, and building damage are reported in Jamaica as a result of Hurricane Melissa. It made landfall in Western Jamaica yesterday as one of the strongest hurricanes on record, a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour. Melissa has since made landfall in eastern Cuba as a weaker, though still major, Category 3 storm. President Trump has arrived in South Korea. It's the third stop on the president's latest trip to Asia. It's expected to include a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional summit. Trump hopes to announce a trade deal with Beijing before returning to the U.S. There are no plans for Trump to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on this trip. NPR's Anthony Kuhn says ahead of Trump's arrival in Busan, North Korea launched multiple cruise missiles. North Korean state media reported that the nuclear-capable cruise missiles were fired from a

warship and flew for about two hours over the Yellow Sea west of the Korean Peninsula and hit their target. On route to South Korea, President Trump said the North has been test-firing missiles for decades, and this is just another one. He said he didn't know if he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on this trip, but said that he would return to meet him soon. Trump is in the southern city of Guangzhou for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. He's expected to meet with South Korean President I.J. Myeong on Wednesday.

and Xi Jinping on Thursday. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Gyeongju, South Korea. A federal judge in California, he is ordering an indefinite halt to the Trump administration's mass layoffs of federal employees. They were tied to the government shutdown, now nearly a month old. At a court hearing in San Francisco yesterday, the judge said she believes federal employee unions

that brought the lawsuit are likely to show the actions taken by the administration to authorize the layoffs were unlawful. President Trump has fired multiple members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. NPR's Elizabeth Blair says the Commission reviews design proposals for monuments, memorials, coins, and federal buildings. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts is an independent agency that advises the President and Congress on design and architecture.

As first reported by the Washington Post, the White House fired six commissioners. The chair position was vacant. The commissioners would have advised the president on the White House ball, and his plans for a monument similar to the Art de Triumph in Paris. Architect Bruce Redmond Becker, one of the commissioners who was fired, tells NPR in an email, neither project has been submitted for review yet. In 2021, President Biden fired four commissioners who'd been appointed by President Trump in his first term. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR News from Washington. Later today, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce its second cut in interest rates in as many months. Economists widely expect the Fed to lower rates by a quarter point, the same as it did in September with the central bank concerned about weakness in the job market. Online retail giant Amazon announced yesterday it's eliminating 14,000 corporate jobs as it shifts more money into artificial intelligence. Major League Baseball's World Series is now tied at two games.

a piece between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. Steve Futterman reports Toronto bounced back last night from the previous night's extra innings lost to even the series. One night after losing a marathon 18-inning game, the Toronto Blue Jays respond with an impressive win over the L.A. Dodgers. L.A. took an early 1-0 lead in the second, but in the third, the Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer off of L.A. Shohay Otani. Toronto continues. to lead two to one until the seventh. That's when the Blue Jay scored four more runs that essentially put the game out of reach. In the ninth, the Dodgers were able to score one run

to make the final score six to two. With the series now even at two games apiece, it's assured of returning to Toronto. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman at the World Series in Los Angeles. Heavy snow and icy conditions are preventing hikers from attempting to reach a popular spot on Mount Everest. Local authorities say Zhu Fang Peak. on China's side of the mountain is closed to climbers until further notice. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News, in Washington.