NPR News: 10-25-2025 7AM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. The former top U.S. diplomat to Venezuela, James Story, says the escalating tension between Washington and Caracas could lead to action against Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
For the administration, the preferred outcome is that somebody close to Maduro does one of three things.
What are the escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela?
It extradites him to the United States, exile him to another country, or removes him from the scene in a more permanent manner, rather than the United States to get involved.
Maduro has repeatedly accused the U.S. of attempting to drive him from power. Yesterday, the Pentagon announced the U.S. is sending an aircraft carrier and its strike group to the waters of South America after conducting 10 airstrikes on vessels the Trump administration accuses of carrying illegal drugs. The Pentagon confirming that it has accepted the anonymous $130 million gift that President Trump announced on Thursday. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell issued a statement saying the money falls under the Defense Department's General Gift Acceptance Authority. The money is to be used to help pay members of the military during the government shutdown, but the gift raises ethical questions. U.N. Security Council commemorated the 80th anniversary of the United Nations on Friday, as Linda Fasulo reports.
Secretary General Guterres said the Council remains a vital necessity and a powerful force for good, but warned that its legitimacy is fragile. Too often nations have acted outside the UN Charter, he said, which stalls action and puts everyone at risk. Guterres also stressed that reform was imperative and overdue. He called for expanding the Security Council to include permanent seats for members from Africa, Latin America and Asia. He also welcomed proposals by France and Britain to voluntarily limit the use of the veto. Security Council reform would require the approval of all five veto-holding permanent members, including the U.S., Russia, and China. For NPR News, I'm Linda Fasulo in New York.
Republican lawmakers in Virginia criticizing Democrats' plans to redraw the Commonwealth's congressional districts. Virginia now the latest state where Democrats are trying to counter mid-decade redistricting in GOP-led states, as Brad Kuttner of Radio IQ in Richmond reports.
Republican state senator and constitutional lawyer Bill Stanley joined a growing number of Virginia Republicans who say more than 800,000 early votes cast before Thursday's announcement should void Democrats' redistricting scheme.
I would think some of those voters that have already voted may want to change their vote, and they can't now because of what they're seeing the Democrat Party in Virginia doing.
Virginia Democrats have so far said little about the effort, but a lawmaker familiar with the process said any GOP efforts to use the courts to slow it down are a, quote, desperate Hail Mary to deflect from their undemocratic efforts to prevent accountability nationwide for their policies. For NPR News, I'm Brad Kuttner in Richmond.
This is NPR. President Trump is on his way to Asia. He departed aboard Air Force One late last night. His first stop is in Malaysia. But the main focus of his trip is the president's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as trade war tensions escalate. Wall Street had another record-breaking week as the federal government made an exception to the shutdown and released a crucial inflation report. As NPR's Maria Aspin reports, the Dow ended the week above 47,000 for the first time ever.
Annual inflation was slightly lower than expected in September, the government said Friday. It's not releasing most economic data during the shutdown, but it needs this particular report to determine the cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients. Now those 75 million people will see an extra $56 per month on average in their Social Security checks, starting in January. Meanwhile, investors welcomed the inflation report as another sign that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again next week.
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