NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-13-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Two days left until the U.S. Russia summit. Ukrainian president, Vlodemir Zelensky, says he advised President Trump during a virtual meeting today that Russian leader of Vladimir Putin is bluffing about wanting peace. Trump later said it was not his call not to invite Zelensky to Friday summit. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reports Trump's managing expectations about this week's talks in Alaska. Trump says that Friday's meeting with Putin. in Alaska will determine whether they have another gathering that include Zelensky.

Now, there may be no second meeting, because if I feel that it's not appropriate to have it, because they didn't get the answers that we have to have, then we're not going to have a second meeting. A White House official said the meeting will take place at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. Trump also said a call he had with Zelensky and other European leaders this morning went well. After that call, German Chancellor Friedrich Mayors said Ukraine must be at the table for negotiations with Putin. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News, the White House. The White House says federal agents will be on patrol around the clock in Washington, D.C. But NPR's Tom Bowman reports, national guard troops are not intended to intervene in local crime-fighting matters with exceptions.

President Trump has said that Washington, D.C. is basically a wash in crime, although incidents of violent crime in the nation's capital have dropped sharply in the past two years. But most crimes are not committed around the national monuments. they're being committed in the neighborhoods or along the busy commercial streets. I spoke with two retired National Guard generals who suggested that having guard troops only at the monuments is really more performative, a public relations move that won't really do much to reduce crime. NPR's Tom Bowman reporting, Israel is gearing up to take over the last remaining area in Gaza, not yet under its control.

The polls show most of Israeli society wants the war to end so hostages in Gaza can be released. And a new anti-war voice has emerged. Israel's own soldiers. Here's NPR's Emily Fang. Jonathan Cadman is a 45-year-old professor and a reservist medic. When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, he volunteered to serve in Gaza. But now as Israel approaches nearly two years of war in Gaza, Cadman is among a growing cohort of soldiers who say they will not go back.

He says Israel could have and should have reached a ceasefire deal with Hamas long ago, and he has opposed to far-right elements of Israel's government who are pushing to escalate war. We know that what they want is to reoccupy Gaza and get a settlement there. And I completely disagree with that. He is referring to two ministers who have said repeatedly that they want to annex Gaza, move out Palestinians, and build Jewish settlements there again. Emily Fang and Pier News, Tel Aviv. The Tao has closed.

up 463 points. It's NPR News. The U.S. government's gross national debt set a new record in topping, $37 trillion. The Treasury Department's report release yesterday shows the national debt reached its current level years sooner than pre-pidemic projections. After a two-year absence, tennis grade Venus Williams returns to Grand Slam tennis at the U.S. Open later this month. She received a wild card invitation today to kick. compete in the singles. The International Tennis Federation says that at the age of 45, that makes Williams the most senior entrant and singles at the tournament since 1981 when Renee Richards was 47. A new study finds that reindeer, yes, the deer of Christmas fame, are in trouble. And

Piers Nate Roth reports climate change is to blame. You don't need to be all that well-versed in Christmas lore to know that reindeer or caribou, as they're also called, prefer colder climates. Human activities, though, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels are warming the planet and making their habitat in the Arctic less suitable. The new study published in the journal Science advances warns that without dramatic reductions in climate warming emissions, reindeer populations could drop by nearly 60% by the end of the century. North American reindeer, an important food source for other wildlife and for some indigenous groups, could drop by 80%. The loss, the researchers say, affect both people and the broader tundra ecosystem.

Nate Rot, NPR News. U.S. stocks end of the day higher with the Dow closing up more than 1% or 463 points. It's NPR News.