Profile
news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now or someone who is feeling the effects of shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.
Reporting from Hong Kong
Trump is still on track to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, despite new friction in recent days over tariffs and export controls.
Tensions resurged last week after China announced new curbs on exports of rare earths, prompting Trump to threaten an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports. The escalation raised doubts as to whether Trump and Xi would follow through on a potential meeting on the sidelines of the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.
“I believe that meeting will still be on,” Bessent told Fox Business News yesterday, adding that there had “been substantial communication” between the world’s two largest economies over the weekend.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce confirmed that the two sides held a working-level meeting yesterday, but warned that “the U.S. cannot demand talks while simultaneously threatening and intimidating with new restrictive measures.”
Government data released yesterday showed that China’s exports to the U.S. were down 27% last month compared with a year earlier, even as its worldwide exports were 8.3% higher. China’s exports to the U.S. have fallen in each of the last six months.
Republican Jack Ciattarelli spent part of a recent rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, tossing bright red “Make NJ Great Again” hats to supporters in the crowd.
To become the state’s next governor, Ciattarelli needs voters who have long donned “Make America Great Again” hats to head to the polls in three weeks, too.
The New Jersey race is one of the first major tests of Trump’s second term for Republicans looking to turn out his voters when he is not on the ballot. New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states with governor’s races this year, and Ciattarelli is the only candidate for governor with Trump’s endorsement.
Read the full story here.
The president of Indonesia asked Trump if he could meet with his son Eric during a conversation that was picked up by a microphone while the leaders were at a summit in Egypt to address the war in Gaza.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto asked about the meeting yesterday during the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, where he was captured on audio and video speaking with Trump behind a podium with a microphone attached. Trump, who had his back facing the camera, replied, “I’ll have Eric call. Should I do that? He’s such a good boy. I’ll have Eric call.”
Later in the conversation, much of which was inaudible, Trump again says, “I’ll have Eric call you.” Prabowo then says: “Eric or Don Jr.”
Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are both executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization, which has real estate projects around the world including a golf club outside the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and a golf club and resort listed on the company’s website as “coming soon” on the resort island of Bali.
It was not clear whether the conversation between Subianto and Trump was business-related. The White House and the Indonesian presidential office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Senate will come back into session today and is expected to vote for the eighth time on the House-passed continuing resolution, which is backed by Republicans. There is no indication that lawmakers have shifted their stances to change the outcome for the bill, which has failed to advance seven times.
The House remains out of session this week.
Speaker Johnson place blame on Senate Democrats for the continuation of the government shutdown, now the nation’s fifth longest, saying yesterday that the shutdown “should end tomorrow.”
“The Democrats in the Senate’s next opportunity to end this, to change this, and vote yes and reopen the government will be tomorrow, and I pray that they will do the right thing,” he said.
Democrats have urged Republicans to address health care issues, like Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire, in efforts to reopen the government.
Trump is set to meet at the White House today with Argentine President Javier Milei, just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the U.S. “directly purchased Argentine pesos” and “finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina’s central bank.”
Milei, whose country has been facing economic turmoil, is a Trump ally.
Trump and Milei held a meeting when they were in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. During the meeting, Trump endorsed Milei for another term.
Later, Trump will posthumously award conservative activist Charlie Kirk with a Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced this morning that she is running for the Senate, pitching herself as the Democratic Party’s best chance to beat Republican Sen. Susan Collins next fall — and saying she does not plan to serve more than one term.
“I’ve won two statewide offices, and unlike other people in the primary right now, I’ve actually won public office, won elections,” Mills said in an interview ahead of her launch.
“And I’ve stood up to Donald Trump, and I have delivered progress for Maine people when it comes to health care, clean energy, public health, education. And I’m willing to fight for that in the U.S. Senate,” she said.
Mills is a top recruit for Senate Democrats, and she said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., encouraged her to run. But she will face a fight for her party’s nomination, with multiple candidates already in the race and making their own pitches for why they are best suited to defeat Collins, the only Republican senator from a state Kamala Harris won last year.
Read the full story here.
Reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel
The tenuous ceasefire in the two-year Israel-Hamas war was holding Tuesday even as complex issues remained ahead, a day after widespread jubilation over the return to Israel of the last 20 living hostages held in Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange.
The list of more immediate questions includes those on when Hamas will return to Israel the bodies of the 24 hostages believed to be dead in Gaza, as well as the health conditions of the released hostages and freed Palestinians.
Only four of the deceased hostages — whose release is also part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump — were turned over to Israeli authorities on Monday. On Tuesday, the Israeli military identified two of them — Guy Illouz from Israel and Bipin Joshi, a student from Nepal.
Read the full story here.
NBC News
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC