NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-31-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

NPR News: 10-31-2025 1AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Fridays, the 1A podcast is all about helping you cut through the info fog and get to what's important in the news. Close out the week with us on our Friday News Roundup. Here from reporters who've been embedded with the biggest news of the week. Join us every week for the Friday News Roundup. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. President Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping, reached a deal on trade issues during their meeting in Busan, South Korea.

But NPR's Emily Fang reports that some critical issues have been put on pause. China's most devastating threat and your total export ban on products containing rare earth materials the U.S. cannot make itself has now been paused. And Xi Jinping agreed China will again buy U.S. soybeans. Despite fears that China would push the U.S. to say something on Taiwan, Trump said the topic never came up. China wants to control the Democratic island that Beijing claims is theirs. U.S. trade representative Jameson Greer weighed in on another heated point of contention,

and that is China's desire to buy powerful NVIDIA semiconductor chips that are crucial to some artificial intelligence capabilities. Greer said it would need to be discussed later. Emily Fang and Pierre News. A federal judge in Boston is weighing arguments over funding for SNAP. At issue is whether money for the food aid program can be cut off. Snap funding runs out on Saturday affecting roughly 42 million Americans who rely on it for groceries. The Trump administration has alarmed refugee advocacy groups. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, it's because the administration has set the lowest refugee cap in U.S. history

and says it will accept mostly white South Africans. In a notice in the Federal Registry, the Trump administration says it will cap the number of refugees to 7,500 this fiscal year, and most of those spots are for Afrikaners, white South Africans. Africans. The International Rescue Committee calls this an historic retreat at a time when global displacement has reached record levels. Another group that helps to resettle Afghan allies says Trump is effectively shutting the door on Afghans who risk their lives to help the U.S. during the war there. A Trump administration official tells NPR that no refugees will be admitted

until there are consultations with Congress, and that's held up by the government shutdown. Michelle Kellerman and BR News, the State Department. The man known to British followers as Prince Andrew is now officially Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His brother, King Charles, has stripped Andrew of his titles and official home and wake of outrage over his ties to late sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. British historian George Gross says the king wants to distance himself and his successors from the scandal.

This is about getting the house in order. I think what was very noticeable is the final words of the statement. the royal family remains key parts of charitable organizations working on domestic, sexual abuse, all of that kind of thing. So for them to have that, and this in the background, must be impossibly difficult. And also, the public disquiet was very significant on this, both media and public. This is NPR. A Senate confirmation hearing for Surgeon General nominee Casey Means is now on hold. As NPR's Will Stone reports, it's because Means is having a baby.

The Senate hearing was delayed because Casey Means went into labor. The hearing was already scheduled to happen virtually, so she didn't have to travel so late in her pregnancy. Means is currently in Hawaii. It's not clear now when the hearing will be rescheduled. Means is an ally of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but many in public health and medicine argue she's not qualified for the job. While she did go to Stanford Medical School, she never completed her training to become a surgeon.

She gained popularity over the past year after publishing a book on diet and metabolic health and going on prominent podcasts, and her brother has been a close advisor to Secretary Kennedy. Will Stone, NPR News. According to the Israeli military, Hamas has released the remains of two more hostages to the International Red Cross in Gaza.

Hamas has returned the bodies of 17 hostages and is expected to release 11 more under Phase 1 of the Gaza ceasefire. The move comes after the Israeli Army carried out targeted attacks on Thursday. In a step to reconciliation, the Australian state of Victoria has approved a formal treaty with the country's indigenous people. The move comes two years after a failed bid to establish a First Nations advisory body in Parliament. It paves the way for a formal apology to Australia's aboriginals. We're on the land when Britain made it a penal colony for 80. years until 1868. The treaty is to be signed next month. U.S. futures are higher in

after-hours trading. This is NPR News. Fall in love with new music every Friday at All Songs Considered. That's NPR's Music Recommendation podcast. Fridays are where we spend our whole show sharing all the greatest new releases of the week. Make the hunt for new music a part of your life again. Tap into New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, available wherever you get your podcasts.