NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-15-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

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These days, there's so much news. It can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community. The Consider This Podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and analysis that helps you make sense of the news. We get behind the headlines. We get to the truth. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. will soon host a summit where President Trump says he hopes to pave a path to cease fire talks between Russia and Ukraine. Trump, his closest advisors and journalists are traveling on Air Force One to Anchorage for the president's first face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin since

2019. Here's NPR's Tamer Keith. President Trump is positioning himself as the key to ending Russia's war in Ukraine because of his relationship with Putin. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasn't invited to this summit. And Trump says his aim today is to feel out whether Putin is serious about peace. 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. Whether that second meeting happens depends on how today's summit goes. The White House says Trump and Putin will hold a joint press conference after they meet.

Tamara Keith, NPR News, Anchorage, Alaska. The District of Columbia is now suing to end the federal takeover of the Metropolitan D.C. Police Department. The local government of the nation's capital filed its lawsuit in court today hours after the Trump administration widened its intervention in the city's law enforcement by naming a federal official as the emergency head of a department currently led by police chief, Pamela Smith. DC Attorney General Brian Schwab says U.S.

Attorney General Pam Bondi's actions are unlawful. Here he is on CNN. The chief of police under the guidance of the mayor has been working with federal law enforcement, which by the way, we do all day, every day here in this city. But the disruption, the takeover, a purported takeover of MPD, throws that into chaos and confusion. Earlier this week, Trump said he was putting D.C. law enforcement under federal oversight because of a surge in crime in the city. However, local and federal data show the rate of violent crimes in D.C. have been falling during the last two years. College students in computer science once expected an easy jump into six-figure coding jobs, but as AI tools handle more junior programming tasks, some companies are rethinking their hiring

of entry-level software engineers. And Pierre's Windsor Johnston reports. Routine jobs like writing basic code, running tests, and creating documentation are now often automated. Robert Siemens is a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. He says that means fewer entry-level positions and tougher competition for the ones that remain. The data also suggests that that entry-level work that is AI exposed, there's even more of a decline in demand. According to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, college graduates in their 20s with degrees in computer science or engineering are facing some of the nation's highest unemployment rates. It's NPR. Today, the United Kingdom and its World War II allies are commemorating the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, victory over Japan.

On August 15, 1945, Japan agreed to surrender to Allied forces ending the war. This year, ceremonies are taking place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. NPR's Lauren Frere reports from London. King Charles presided over a remembrance ceremony with bands, a military flyover, and a moment of silence. The king noted the immense price paid by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At another reception for veterans, Prime Minister Kier-Starmer said values the West fought for in World War II are still contested today. President Zelensky, who is fighting for the same values as we were fighting for. He hosted Zelensky here on the eve of President Trump's meeting.

with Russian President Putin in Alaska. Buckingham Palace, the White Cliffs of Dover, and other UK landmarks are being illuminated for VJ Day, which the U.S. observes in September when Japan formally signed its surrender. Lauren Freyer and PR News, London. People in the market for buying or refinancing a home are getting a slight break on borrowing rates in the U.S. The finance giant Freddie Mac reported this week that the average rate on a 30-year loan had fallen to 6.5.8 percent from 663, last week. That's the lowest level in nearly 10 months. And on average, the rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages popular for those looking to refinance have fallen to 5.71%. It's NPR.