NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-30-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. President Trump has left South Korea after meeting with China's President Xi Jinping and Busan. No word yet on whether the two leaders reached agreement on any issues. Meanwhile, Trump has ordered the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in over 30 years. The president says the tests would be equal to those carried out in China and Russia. President Trump says he's given South Korea permission to build a nuclear-powered submarine, The announcement follows Trump's meeting with Korean President Lee J. Myeong and the finalizing of their trade deal. More from NPR's Deepa Shibaram.

Trump posted on social media that Korea will be building the nuclear-powered submarine in the Philadelphia shipyards. On Wednesday, when Trump met with Lee, Lee asked the president to allow Korea to receive fuel for nuclear-propelled subs in order to better track North Korean and Chinese submarines. Trump said in his post that based on the trade deal, South Korea agreed to. and the investments they're making in the U.S., which totals up to $350 billion, he gave support for them to build the new submarine. The announcement comes as Trump is meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Korea, the last stop on his trip to Asia. Deepa Shiverum and PR News, Jiangzhou, Korea.

The Federal Reserve Board has lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point. Fed Chair Jerome Powell says the modest rate cut is based on existing data showing higher unemployment. Although official employment data for September are delayed, available evidence suggests that both layoffs and hiring remain low, and that both households' perceptions of job availability and firm's perceptions of hiring difficulty continue to decline. Powell says inflation is eased from 2022 highs, but remains higher than the central bank's goal of 2%. Americans relying on federal food aid under the SNAP program are at risk of losing those benefits on Friday. That leaves individual states to try to find food assistance for low-income residents. Alex Cox of Member Station, WRKF, reports on Louisiana's effort to help SNAP recipients.

While already convened for a special session on redistricting, the Louisiana legislature passed a resolution that paved the way for SNAP recipients to receive funding from the state. But 53,000 of those who rely on the program probably won't get the benefits. Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein says that's because they are prioritizing children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The intention is that we're not covering able-bodied adults. That's the direction that we're headed. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry says the people who won't qualify for the state-funded benefits should lean on food banks or pursue jobs highlighted on the state-run online job board. For NPR News, I'm Alex Cox in Baton Rouge. You're listening to NPR.

Exit polls suggest Wednesday's general election in the Netherlands is too close to call. As Terry Schultz reports, opinion polls showed more than a third of voters were undecided as they headed to voting sites. Dutch far-right leader Hertfielders and his anti-Islam Freedom Party may still have the edge in the race for seats in the 150 member House of Representatives, but moderate parties were closing the gap in the last opinion poll held before voting. began. Vilders brought down the previous government by pulling his party out of the coalition after only 11 months in a dispute over migration. He wants the Netherlands to completely stop accepting asylum seekers. The other groups expected to win big shares of the vote include the center-right Christian Democrats, the center-left D-66, and a block comprising the Labor Party

and the Green Left. One party cannot govern alone in the Netherlands, but forming a new government will be difficult, as these mainstream parties have ruled out working with builders. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz. A massive police raid on a drug gang embedded in a low-income neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro that left 119 people dead as drawing protests for excessive force and calls for the Rio de Janeiro's governors to resign. Dozens of residents gathered in front of the state's government headquarters, a day after the deadliest raid and hours after families and residents laid dozens of dead bodies. To rest. Authorities in Mississippi are still on the lookout for three monkeys that escape from an overturned truck following a crash. Authorities say most of the animals were transported, being transported, were killed in the accident, which occurred earlier this week. The animals were from Tulane University. This is NPR.