NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-14-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

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Live from NPR news, I'm Lakshmi Singh. As President Trump prepares for his summit tomorrow with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, he is also describing it as a prelude to a potential future meeting that could involve several world leaders. Here's NPR's Daniel Kurtzleben. In recent days, Trump has been saying that if his meeting with Putin goes well, he would want a second summit that includes Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump opened the door to including U.S. European leaders. The more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having.

We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders alone. Maybe not. I don't know that it's going to be very important. We're going to see what happens. European leaders spoke with Trump on Wednesday, saying Putin must agree to a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine before any peace talks begin. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News, the White House. Some unhoused individuals in Washington, D.C., are beginning to gather their belongings ahead of Trump-ordered dismantlements of their encampments. Earlier this week, the president said homeless people will be moved far from the city. Amber Harding, the executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the homeless, says she believes federal law enforcement will begin systematically rounding up and arresting people who've been living on the street.

If I say you have to go to shelter or, you know, some sort of involuntary treatment, even though you don't qualify for involuntary commitment. And you say no, there's nothing in the law that says I get to arrest you. That is not something that exists in our law. President Trump says he initiated federal takeover of local law enforcement and ordered the dismantlement of encampments to address rising crime in the city. That's contrary to data showing two years of declines in violent crime. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says his state will soon open another detention center for people taken into custody by ICE. NPR's Greg Allen reports the state plans to reopen a prison in North Florida.

Governor DeSantis says the prison in North Florida can hold more than 1,300 detainees. It's been vacant since it was shut down two years ago because of a declining inmate population. This follows construction of a larger detention facility in the Everglades that's expected to hold as many as 5,000 detainees. The governor says the state now needs additional capacity. will have the same services that you have at Alligator Alcatraz. Costs will be reimbursed by our federal partners. DeSantis says reopening the shuttered prison will cost just a fraction of the $450 million allocated for the detention center in the Everglades. A federal judge is considering where the construction of that facility violated federal law. Greg Allen and PR News, Miami.

U.S. stocks end the day mixed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closing down 11 points to end the day at 44,911. This is NPR News. Sen Genshitsu, a former kamikaze pilot trainee, who devoted his life to advocating world peace through the art of the Japanese tea ceremony, has died. Officials at the Urasenka School, where Genshutsu was the 15th Grand Master of the Treasure Practice,

said he was 102 years old. The African Union is backing calls by activist groups to replace the standard map of the world with one that accurately represents the continent's size. Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg. For years, some groups have urged governments, tech firms and international organizations to stop using the 16th century Mercator world map, saying it distorts continent's sizes. The African Union is backing the movement, the Reuters News Agency reports, quoting the AU Commission's deputy chairperson as saying the Mercator map makes Africa look marginal.

The map, created by Flemish geographer Gerardis Mercator, enlarges near the poles like North America and Greenland, while shrinking Africa and South America, Africa is actually 14 times the size of Greenland. For NPR News, I'm Kate Butler in Johannesburg. Gonorrhea, antibiotics, and AI. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they have designed novel antibiotics with a major assist from

artificial intelligence to combat two hard-to-treat infections, gonorrhea and MRSA. The project is ongoing, but details of the latest study appear today in the journal, Cell. The Dow closed down 11. The S&P was up slightly. The NASDAQ off 2. This is NPR News.