NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-17-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Herbst. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders are set to meet with President Trump at the White House tomorrow. MPIR's Luke Garrett reports the Trump administration says, hopes to build off the Alaska summit. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says some, but not a lot of progress was made towards peace in Alaska. Here he is on ABC News.

So we're still a long ways off. I mean, we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement. We're not at the edge of one. But I do think progress was made. Rubio framed peace agreement negotiations as a balance between Ukrainian security guarantees and a land exchange with Russia. Zelenskyy said Sunday he can't trade land. The Secretary of State said if no peace deal is reached, Trump still has levers against Putin's

economy. In terms of sanctions, look, at the end of the day, if we can't reach a peace agreement here and this war continues and so forth, then I anticipate you'll see the president take further action. He's already made that clear. Rubio said it will ultimately be up to Putin and Zelensky to make the deal. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. In Texas, detainees are set to arrive today at a massive new immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss. And as Angela Kcherga with Member Station KTP reports protesters gathered outside the military base in El Paso. More than 50 people held signs and chanted close the camp at an entrance to Fort Bliss Sunday morning. Construction is advancing rapidly on a detention camp on the Army base.

Immigration and customs enforcement says the facility will house single adults facing deportation from across the country. Fernando Garcia is the executive director of the Border Network, human rights. The people that is going to end up in these centers are the people that are going to be picked up that are being picked up right now in Home Depot, in the fields, in the construction sites. Ice says the camp will open with 1,000 beds with plans to expand to 5,000. For NPR news, I'm Angela Kochergan, El Paso. A controversial private military contractor says he's been hired by Haiti to try to pacify the country. Empire Zeta Peralta has more. The former Navy SEAL broke the news in an interview with Reuters.

Eric Prince says it will take him about a year to wrestle huge swathes of Haiti from gang control. And after that, he says he will be in charge of setting up a tax collection scheme on goods being imported from the Dominican Republic. Haiti's transitional government has not confirmed Prince's long-term involvement in the country. Prince founded the private security firm Blackwater. Back in 2010, Blackwater employees were convicted of killing more than a dozen unarmed civilians in Iraq. Prince has worked across the world, including Mozambique and Congo, to try to quell rebellions. But his forces have never really achieved a clear-cut victory. Eidapralta, NPR News, Mexico City.

U.S. features contracts are trading higher at this hour. This is NPR News. A report finds that parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef are seeing their steepest decline in decades. Empire's Nate Roth reports the coral reef is being battered, by warming seas and cyclones. The annual report from the Australian Institute of Marine Science found that two of the Great Barrier Reef's three regions suffered substantial losses in coral cover over the last year.

Coral cover, which refers to how much of a reef surface is covered in living coral, has become increasingly volatile at the Great Barrier Reef. Record highs, followed by record lows. Scientists say it's a sign of an ecosystem under stress. Last year, the reef, which supports thousands of marine animals, experienced the largest mass bleaching event ever recorded. Warmer ocean temperatures, a result of human-caused climate change, are stressing and killing corals globally. Nate Rot, NPR News.

Terence Stamp, of the British actor who often played the role of a complex villain, including one in the early Superman films, has died. He was 87 years old. The London-born stamp started his film career with 1962 seafaring Billy Budd, earning him an Oscar nomination. In his six decades in the business, he gave a touching portrayal of the transgender entertainer Bernadette in 1994's The Adventure of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He was also widely praised for his lead in director Steven Soderberg's 1999 crime drama, The Limey. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

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