NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-16-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. President Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the White House on Monday to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine. Yesterday, he met in Alaska with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Trump said it was an extremely productive meeting. No agreement was reached. NPR's Greg Myrie reports from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Trump called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky

and extended the invitation as he flew back. from Alaska to Washington. European leaders also joined the call. Zelensky wrote on social media that on Monday they'll discuss, quote, all the details regarding ending the killing and the war. Now, Trump said in his own social media posts that it was best to go, quote, directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war rather than a mere ceasefire, which oftentimes do not hold up. But that's going to be a tall order. Trump has pushed for months without success to get a ceasefire. Ukraine favors this approach and has endorsed Trump's ceasefire call while Russia's Putin has not signed on. NPR's Greg Myrie reporting from Kiev. In something of a win for Washington,

D.C.'s government, the city's police chief will remain in command of the department, following a federal court hearing yesterday. Sarah Wykem from member station WAMU reports. The Trump administration attempted to remove Pamela Smith from her position as D.C.'s police. chief and replaced her with the head of the drug enforcement administration. That prompted DC Attorney General Brian Schwab to sue the administration for its quote, attempted hostile takeover of the city police department. Schwab spoke after the court hearing at which a federal judge persuaded the Justice Department to back off. I'm very gratified that the judge recognized that that is flagrantly illegal, very important win for home rule. Mayor Muriel Bowser later said she was

encouraged by the judge's handling of the matter. For NPR news, I'm Sarah Wyckham in Washington. More than 300 people have been killed in flooding in Pakistan after two days of torrential rain. NPR's Diyahed has more. Many casualties came from a district called Bunur in a hilly area. Residents there described to local media how gushing rain and boulders smashed through their villages, wiping away homes. They said the only survivors were women who were collecting firewood in the hills and children away at schools. The heavy rains washed away roads and bridges, complicating rescue efforts in some areas.

Environmentalists have expressed fury with the government because they appear to have given little warning, even as climate change, makes the monsoon's rains more erratic and extreme. Authorities say they now expect more flooding, even hundreds of miles downstream. Pakistan last experienced major flooding in 2022. Dear Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.

NPR News. A Catholic aid organization says an Israeli airstrike in Gaza this week destroyed a warehouse filled with food and baby formula and killed two workers. The Vulnerable People's Project said the warehouse also contained vegetables and other items to be distributed this week to Christian and Muslim families. It said it had taken months to obtain the aid. Students still aren't showing up to school at pre-pandemic numbers. Chronic absentee is was still elevated in new numbers from the 2024- 2025 academic year. NPR Sequo Carillo reports. Five years after the onset of the pandemic and switch to virtual learning,

students remain out of the classroom at higher rates than before lockdown. A new report out of the Rand Corporation finds that the problem is particularly persistent in urban districts. This past school year, in roughly half of urban school districts, more than 30 percent of students were. chronically absent. On top of that, one quarter of students in K-12 districts say they do not think that being chronically absent is a problem. District leaders continue to worry about the impact of high absenteeism on students' academic recovery. Sequoia Carillo and PR News. The National Hurricane Center is tracking Hurricane Aaron in the Caribbean. It's now a category

five storm with a maximum sustained wind of nearly 160 miles per hour. It had grown for a topical storm to a category 5 within 24 hours. Aaron is not expected to make landfall, but its outer bands could affect several islands. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News, in Washington.