NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-11-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

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Do you ever look at political headlines and go, huh? Well, that's exactly why the NPR Politics Podcast exists. We're experts, not just on politics, but in making politics make sense. Every episode, we decode everything that happened in Washington and help you figure out what it all means. Give politics a chance with the NPR Politics Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingley.

The White House is preparing for this week's meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending Russia's war with Ukraine. The two were scheduled to hold talks in Alaska on Friday. As NPR Shandalee's Duster reports, Vice President Vance is describing the meeting as a breakthrough. Vance says the upcoming Alaska meeting between President Trump and Russian President Putin follows months of U.S. officials trying to break a logjam in the war. Vance told Fox News, the meeting is, quote, a major breakthrough for American diplomacy,

but cautions that Ukraine and Russia may not be content with the deal. We're going to try to find some negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and the Russians can live with, where they can live in relative peace, where the killing stops. It's not going to make anybody super happy. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians probably at the end of the day are going to be unhappy with it. Ukrainian president Volodemir Zelenskyy said Saturday he supports Trump's efforts to leverage. a peace deal, but that Ukraine will not give up any land. Shandales Duster and PR News.

Zelensky is not scheduled to attend the talks. Australia is the latest country to announce it will recognize Palestinian statehood at next month's meeting of the UN General Assembly. The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears. Far too many innocent lives have been lost. That's Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Alpenisi, who says the decision was prompted in part by the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. A Georgia man who opened fire on the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

in Atlanta blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal. That's what a law enforcement official tells the Associated Press. Dozens of rounds were fired into the CDC complex on Friday. The shooting left a police officer dead. It's unclear if the gunman was killed by police or from a self-inflicted. wounded. In the aftermath of the shooting, some current and former employees of the CDC are criticizing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sophie Grottis with Georgia Public Broadcasting, Hasmore. Clustered at an Atlanta park on Sunday,

Abbey Tye, and other former and current CDC staff denounced the violence and called for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign. He, along with others in this administration, have sown distrust among the American people, dehumanizing CDCers and pointing to us as villains. Tai says her child was also on lockdown during the shooting at a nearby daycare. In a statement emailed to CDC employees, RFK Jr. called the shooting, quote, unsettling. Many CDC employees will start the week working from home with plans for an all-staff meeting this week. For NPR News, I'm Sophie Grades in Atlanta.

This is NPR News from Washington. Delta Airlines says one of its jets, made contact with a parked delta jet while pushing back from a gate in Atlanta yesterday. No injuries were reported among the 192 passengers and six crew members. They were transferred to another plane after a delay. U.S. women's gymnastics has one of its youngest national champions. As NPR's Matt Bloom reports, 17-year-old Hesley Rivera came out on top in last night's finals in New Orleans.

Rivera earned her first all-around first place title with top scores in three events, balance beam, uneven bars, and floor exercise. It marks the New Jersey teen's latest high-profile win after helping the U.S. women's team earn gold in the Paris Olympics last summer. Here's Rivera speaking to NBC after coming off her winning floor routine. So much work in the gym, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. So I'm just so grateful that I'm here today. Fellow Olympian Leanne Wong, Nab, second.

The two are early favorites to represent the U.S. at the World Championships in Indonesia this fall and summer games in Los Angeles in 2008. Matt Bloom and PR News, New Orleans. Crews in Central California say they're gaining more ground on the state's largest wildfire. Containment on the Gifford fire in a remote area of the Los Padres National Forest is now at one-third. It's been burning for more than. than a week in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties prompting some evacuations. It's blackened more than 118,000 acres. I'm Dave Mattingly in Washington.