NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-14-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Herbst. As President Trump gets ready to meet with Russian President Putin in Alaska tomorrow, to possibly broker and end to Russia's war in Ukraine, Trump says he'll know in the first few minutes whether Putin is serious about peace. But he says it's a potential second meeting that would be the most important. We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it's going to be a good meeting, but 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 along, maybe not. Trump also warned that tomorrow's meeting may not go well, in which case he says he would immediately return to Washington. He suggested last week that a cease-fair deal may include some swapping of territories, That's something Ukrainian President Zelensky says he's against. And President Trump has ordered people living on the streets in Washington, D.C. to move into shelters or leave the city. Today, officials move to break up homeless encampments. And Piers Brian Mann reports. A bulldozer clears away a tent from this camp near the Lincoln Memorial, dumping debris into a garbage truck.

David Beatty, a man in his 60s, has lived here for months. It just feels wrong to me. The idea that we're poor makes them uncomfortable. and they don't want to be reminded that poor people exist. During a press conference this week, Trump said people living in camps like this one are turning the nation's capital into what he described as a wasteland and have to go. Critics say neither Trump nor local leaders have done enough to make housing more affordable for low-income Americans.

Brian Mann, NPR News, Washington. Israel's far-right finance minister says construction work is going ahead on a highly controversial proposed settlement project, in the occupied West Bank. It's a project that he says is intended to, quote, bury the idea of a Palestinian state. And here's Emily Fang reports. The proposed settlement of about 3,400 housing units would be on a patch of land dubbed E1 near Jerusalem. It would slice into the West Bank, dividing into the main territory that Palestinians hope might one day be their Palestinian state. But Salo Smotrich, the finance minister pushing the long-delayed E1 project forward, said at a press

conference Thursday that it is precisely his goal to, quote, ensure that by September, the hypocritical leaders in Europe will have nothing to recognize, referring to a flurry of several Western governments saying they will recognize a Palestinian state this fall. Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority all condemned the E1 project. E1 and other Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, but their construction has accelerated over the past two years. Emily Fang and Pierre News, Tel Aviv. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

In Utah, the Willard Fire in North Ogden City has burned more than 750 acres and it's 0% contained. This is firefighters deal with hot weather and steep terrain. Hundreds of homes have been evacuated. Pamela McCall from Member Station KUER reports the blaze started as a car fire. Firefighters have not been able to stop the fire. from spreading and fire conditions are not making their job any easier. Conditions are bone-dry, and winds gusting to 25 miles per hour are expected, along with frequent dried lightning strikes. Last night, residents were asked to stop using cell phones, so emergency responders could connect

with one another. At one point, 30,000 people were without electricity, and those who still had power were asked to shut off air conditioning units and other appliances. People using an irrigation system had to shut off valves so helicopters fighting the fire could scoop water from its tanks. And the county fairgrounds have been open to people who need to move livestock away from the flames. For NPR News, I'm Pamela McCall. The number of people who say they drink alcohol has fallen to its lowest level in at least 86 years. A Gallup hole shows 54% of Americans say they drink, and the lowest number Gallup has reported since it started tracking. drinking levels in 1939. The poll shows the majority of Americans also feel that even moderate

drinking defined as one or two drinks a day is unhealthy. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.