NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-16-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. President Trump is back in Washington after his nearly three-hour meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. The summit did not produce a ceasefire or an agreement to end Russia's war against its neighbor Ukraine. After a news conference, President Putin called the three-year-old conflict a terrible tragedy. The situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, we'd always consider the Ukrainian nation. and I've said it multiple times, a brotherly nation, how strange it may sound in these conditions.

We have the same roots, and everything that's happening is a tragedy for us and terrible wound. On the flight home, Trump said he was going to talk to Ukraine's President Zelensky and NATO leaders. I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I'll, of course, call up President Zelensky and tell him about today's meeting.

It's ultimately up to them. President Zelensky, a short time ago, said he'd be in Washington Monday for a meeting with President Trump. In something of a win for Washington, D.C.'s government, the city's police chief is going to remain in command of the department following a federal court hearing Friday. Sarah Y. Kim 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 head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. That prompted D.C. 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 today recognized that that is flagrantly illegal, very important win for Home Rule today. 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. In a broad developing story, a strike by 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants is on. From Toronto, Dan Carpenchuk reports the airline is in the process of shutting down. More than 600 Air Canada flights have already been grounded as of Friday night, affecting more than 100,000 passengers.

By the end of Saturday, all flights to all destinations will be canceled. Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Airline Division are at an impasse in contract negotiations. The main sticking points are wages and pay for unpaid work hours. Tens of thousands of Air Canada customers have been scrambling, trying to find alternative flights. Efforts to reach Air Canada by phone have left people frustrated, some waiting for hours to get through.

The union has rejected a call for third-party arbitration, and Canada's jobs minister has urged both sides to return to the bargaining table. For NPR News, I'm Dan Carpunchuk in Toronto. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR. PR News. A federal grand jury in New Orleans on Friday indicted the city's mayor LaToya Cantrell on corruption fraud in conspiracy as well as obstruction charges. Police said the mayor was in a romantic relationship with a member of her protection unit for nearly three years and they attempted to keep the relationship secret defunding the city, defrauding the city. The complaint also said

the protectee engaged in personal activities while on duty and being paid. paid by the city. The defense team for the alleged Buffalo, New York supermarket mass shooter is making a new argument in federal court, this that the grand jury pool for the white supremacist trial was too white. Ryan Zunner of Toronto Public Media reports. Lawyers for Peyton Gendron argue his constitutional rights to a diverse pool of grand jurors was violated, saying the pool of 60 grand jurors didn't include enough black or Hispanic people. Former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, who convicted Gendron on state charges for the targeted murder of 10 black people, says jury diversity is a real issue, but the judge has a wide

scope. If you're looking at the totality of the circumstances here, you're going to say to yourself, well, we got a white guy here, not an African American, all right, who killed 10 African-Americans. Judge Lawrence Vlardo has not ruled on the motion yet, but has called the filing a little incongruous. Gendron's death penalty trial is set for next summer. For NPR News, I'm Ryan Zuner in Buffalo. The National Hurricane Center says Aaron is now a category two storm and is expected to intensify. This is NPR News. Support for NPR.