NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-30-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

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Hey, it's Mike Danforth, executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Here's a great way to get the perks of being an NPR producer without doing any of the work. Join NPR Plus. With NPR Plus, you get extended interviews, inside looks at your favorite shows, and more. All while supporting NPR and never having to pull an all-nighter. Or if you work on one of the news shows, an all-morninger. Sign up at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, Naimshea Stevens.

President Trump met with China's leader Xi Jinping for the first time since returning to the White House. And NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports that their gathering took place on the sidelines of a regional forum in South Korea. The two leaders met for about an hour and 40 minutes at a South Korean military air base near the city of Busan. Aboard Air Force One, Trump said that Xi said China will do more to curb the flow of fentanyl ingredients into the U.S. said that 20% tariffs on China because of the fentanyl issue would be reduced to 10% effective immediately. Just before the meeting, President Trump announced that the U.S. will resume testing nuclear weapons. China has recently been expanding its nuclear arsenal. Trump said that he would visit China in April and Xi Jinping would visit the U.S. sometime after that. Anthony Kuhn,

in PR News, Guangzhou, South Korea. President Trump says the United States will share sensitive technology to help South Korea build a nuclear-powered submarine. Trump says he gave sole permission to build the submarine following trade talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit, South Korea has promised to invest $350 billion in the U.S. Meanwhile, Trump has ordered the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in over three decades. The president says the tests would be equal to those carried out in China and Russia. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsef, says the U.S. military has destroyed another boat

in the eastern Pacific. Hegsef says four people were killed in the latest. attack, as NPR's Quill Lawrence reports. Hexeth posted a video on social media showing a small motorboat exploding. He said the boat, like more than a dozen others, destroyed in recent weeks, was smuggling narcotics toward the United States. The Trump administration has labeled drug cartels terrorists and claims that makes it legal for the U.S. military to destroy the boats and kill the people on board, even if

they're unarmed. Critics in Congress from both parties say this is execution without trial and goes against the U.S. Code of Military Justice. Senate Democrats have demanded that the Department of Justice make public any rulings it is issued that allow summarily killing criminal suspects. Quill Lawrence NPR News. Dozens of deaths are now being reported in Jamaica since Hurricane Melissa struck the island on Tuesday.

The UN coordinator in Jamaica, Dennis Zulu, says the devastation to the island's homes, infrastructure, and power grid is unprecedented. There's been massive dislocation of services. We have people living in shelters across the country. And at the moment, what we are seeing in preliminary assessments is a country that's been devastated to levels never seen before. Melissa was a Category 5 storm when it hit Jamaica and the most catastrophic to ever strike the island. It is now a Category 2 storm that's on track to pass over the Bahamas and bypass Bermuda sometime today. You're listening to NPR.

A massive drug raid on low-income neighborhoods in Brazil is drawing protests, accusing police of using excessive force. Dozens of residents gathered outside of Rio's government headquarters Wednesday demanding his resignation. Mourners laid dozens of dead bodies on a street in one targeted community to highlight the magnitude of the raids, which claimed at least 119 lives. Months after merging with Paramount Skydance, the entertainment company is announcing layoffs. NPR's Mandelaide de Barco has details. The first round of pink slips went out to 1,000 workers throughout Paramount's divisions, film, TV, streaming, and the corporate departments. Another thousand employees in the U.S. and around the world are expected to lose their job soon,

as the media conglomerate Paramount Global plans to reduce its workforce by about 10%. In a memo to employees, Paramount Channinger, Chairman and CEO David Ellison said the job cuts were a, quote, necessary part of the company's reorganization. In some cases, he wrote, they're phasing out roles that, quote, are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities and the new structure. These first layoffs hit staffers at CBS News, now headed by controversial editor Barry Weiss. CBS News's morning and evening streaming shows were canceled. Mandalay de Barco, NPR News. The Toronto Blue Jays now lead Major League Baseball's best of seven series, three games to two.

after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five. The Blue Jays will host game six on Friday with hopes of winning their first World Series championship since 1993. This is NPR News.