Food Banks Brace for Growing Demand, and Putin’s New Missile Test

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, October 27th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13With the government shutdown nearing the one-month mark, many Americans may soon be cut off from a crucial part of the social safety net, food stamps. Tens of millions of low-income Americans who rely on SNAP, the Federal Food Assistance Program, could lose access as soon as this weekend. That's as many as one in eight people in the country. Some states have said they're going to try and step up to fill the gap. Others are still trying to figure out a plan. And while the Department of Agriculture had signaled that it could use emergency funds to keep the benefits flowing, it said in a memo on Friday that it will not tap into that reserve.

0:50Good morning. Can I get you some potatoes? Across the country, food banks are bracing for a surge in demand. We also have some shallots. Many were stretched thin even before the shutdown. Food prices, driven up by inflation, have meant more and more Americans rely on food banks. One network in Oregon has seen a 50 percent jump in visits in the past two years alone. And earlier this year, the Trump administration slashed nearly a billion dollars in anti-hunger programs, including one that provided food directly to food banks. Without federal support, food banks and pantries the Times spoke with across the country said they'll only be able to provide a fraction of the assistance they used to.

1:33The need is even greater in areas with lots of federal workers, many of whom aren't getting paychecks right now. In Maryland on Saturday, for example, cars lined up for blocks at an event for those federal workers. They ran out after passing out over 300 boxes of food and had to turn the rest of the people away. Meanwhile, the Trump administration says it's accepted a$130 million donation to help the government pay troops during the shutdown, despite the fact that federal law prohibits the government from spending money Congress hasn't appropriated. The White House wouldn't say who the money came from, but the Times has learned from two sources that the donor is Timothy Mellon, the heir to a banking and railroad fortune.

2:19Mellon, who is famously reclusive, is a longtime backer of President Trump. The president had already signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to use unspent R &D money to pay military salaries, but lawmakers have warned that moving funds around like that is only a temporary fix. Mellon's donation to the Pentagon works out to just about$100 per service member.

2:47Yesterday, President Trump kicked off a nearly week-long trip across East and Southeast Asia. He started in Malaysia. As of this morning, he's in Japan and he'll head to South Korea next. He'll be discussing a range of trade deals and coming face to face with the leaders of countries that he's pummeled with tariffs over the last 10 months. It's hard to overstate the degree to which distrust has entered the global system because of how Trump enacts foreign policy. And Asia, perhaps more than any other part of the world, has felt it intensely. Damien Cave is a global affairs correspondent for The Times.

3:22He's based in Vietnam. He says that while many countries in the region are somewhat optimistic, since the Trump administration has been signing some preliminary agreements recently, they're also very wary. One of the things that I hear in the region all the time is it's not just the problem of tariffs and the economic approach to the United States. It's just the uncertainty. You never know which version of Trump you're going to get. It's his impulsiveness. It's the lack of detail in a lot of these deals. And so that uncertainty has created a real sense of instability. And, And, you know, for a lot of countries, I think in the short term, they're going to say to the United States, this is great.

3:57We love you. We really want you to be here. But in the medium to long term, a lot of the people that I talk to in the region are saying we need to diversify away from the United States. I don't know that we can ever trust the United States again the same way that we used to. The most consequential part of Trump's Asia trip will come later this week at a summit in South Korea, where he's scheduled to sit down for an in-person meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Mr. Secretary, do you believe that China is ready to make a trade deal? Kristen, I can tell you they are because we just finished two days of negotiations and we've created a framework for the two leaders to discuss on Thursday in Korea.

4:43Ahead of the meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant told NBC that American and Chinese officials have reached some preliminary agreements to diffuse the economic tensions between China and the U.S. The two sides have been at odds over a wide range of issues, from export controls on rare earth minerals, to stopping fentanyl trafficking, to Trump's steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

5:17In Russia yesterday, President Vladimir Putin announced that his country has successfully tested a nuclear-powered missile. It's capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, and because it runs on nuclear power itself, the Kremlin says it can fly for much longer than other missiles and can evade defense systems. The missile is called the Burevestnik, named after a seabird that some believe foreshadows a storm. In the test flight, a Russian official said it stayed airborne for 15 hours, traveling 8 ,700 miles. That's about a third of the circumference of the Earth. Putin said no other country in the world has a missile like this.

5:58And an expert in nuclear nonproliferation called the development worrying, saying it was like a tiny flying Chernobyl. The successful test wasn't unexpected. Analysts say the weapon's been in development in Russia for years. But this is the first time since President Trump returned to office that Putin has so openly discussed nuclear threats. At the moment, there's an arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia that puts limits on the number of long-range nukes that can be deployed in the field. It's set to expire in February, though Putin has offered to extend it for another year as long as the U.S.

6:35does the same. Trump has said that proposal, quote, sounds like a good idea to me.

6:43We are due to get a direct hit, Category 4 and possibly Category 5. In the Caribbean, authorities in at least five countries, including Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, are urging residents to evacuate from low-lying areas ahead of Hurricane Melissa. Do not take this one lightly. This may be the one. At the moment, Jamaica seems poised to take the brunt of it. Melissa could be the strongest storm in recorded history to ever make landfall there. Forecasters are predicting that as much as three feet of rain could fall, which could trigger catastrophic flash flooding and wash out roads.

7:24People in the region are already starting to feel the storm's effects. It's expected to move across Jamaica tomorrow, but because it's moving relatively slowly, it could linger over the island for as long as a day.

7:45And finally, it is Halloween week. You have until Friday to figure out your costume or your kid's costume, which can be stressful, no matter if you're trying to hot glue and paper mache and armadillo outfit, or if you're just trying to figure out where the closest Spirit Halloween is. According to Spirit, the most popular costumes at the Halloween megastore this year are, drumroll please, The K-pop Demon Hunter characters from the hit Netflix movie. They're a girl band, but they also slaughter monsters. I hope you're happy. I hope you're happy now. Wicked costumes are also flying off the shelves.

8:23Remember, if you're deciding if you're a Glinda or an Elphaba, one requires washing off a lot more green face paint. So choose accordingly. And are you the protectors of this world? Yes, we are. The Fantastic Four costumes are also a top choice, according to Spirit, because superheroes. There you go. Of course, this year, there's definitely some DIY options out there. With just a yellow safety vest and a tiara, you could be one of the thieves that hit the Louvre. Though there were some arrests in that case over the weekend, so maybe add some handcuffs.

9:00Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, an inside look at the federal gambling investigation that has shaken the NBA. You can listen to that in The New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.