NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-17-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

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Support for NPR, and the following message come from the estate of Joan B. Kroc, whose bequest serves as an enduring investment in the future of public radio and seeks to help NPR produce programming that meets the highest standards of public service in journalism and cultural expression. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roran. President Trump will meet with Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky at the White House Monday. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, It is the latest phase of Trump's so far elusive quest to end Russia's war in Ukraine. After a showy summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that failed to yield the ceasefire Trump was after, the president called Zelensky and European leaders from Air Force One.

In a social media post overnight, Trump said, quote, It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war and not a mere ceasefire. that is a significant shift from what he was saying before the summit. Trump added that if the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky goes well, he would schedule a meeting with both the Ukrainian and Russian leaders. Tamara Keith, NPR News. Washington, D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser called the Trump administration's efforts to federalize the city's police force this past week unsettling and unprecedented. In a letter to the city's 700,000 residents, the mayor said she stands behind the police department.

leadership and its 3,100 officers. She added the surge in law enforcement across D.C. has created waves of anxiety. Meanwhile, protest against the Trump administration's law enforcement crackdown were held Saturday in Washington and other cities. This man, Bruce Givens, lives outside Washington. He explained why he's demonstrating. I am out here because Trump is a fascist. He is taking over our country. He's literally shredding the Constitution. He's sending ice agents, which are basically Gestapo into the streets, scooping up people without due process, innocent people. Friday, a federal district judge in Washington rebuffed the Trump administration efforts to install a federal official is head of the police department. The current police chief

Pamela Smith remains in that job. A strike by 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants is over just hours before it began. As Dan Carpenchuk reports from Toronto, the flight attendants were ordered back to work Saturday afternoon by Canada's jobs minister, the union is criticizing that. The federal jobs minister, Patty Heidu, has also ordered binding arbitration in the dispute. It means the existing collective agreement between the airline and the flight attendants' union will be extended until the arbitrator comes up with a new deal. Heidu said it was not only cancellations that left thousands of Canadians stranded, but disruptions to critical air cargo that led to the decision.

Air Canada would not immediately comment, but the union for the flight attendants, Canadian Union of Public Employees said it sets a terrible precedent. It says the government is violating the member's charter rights to take job action, and it has given air Canada exactly what it wanted. The dispute was over wages and pay for unpaid work hours. For NPR News, I'm Dan Carpenchuk in Toronto. This is NPR. Scientists in Australia have identified a new species of ancient whale that's far smaller than its living relatives. Christina Kokila says the discovery was made from a rare fossil that was found on a popular surfing beach. Australian scientists at the museum's Victoria Research Institute described the prehistoric

creature as unusual, small like a dolphin, with bulging eyes the size of tennis balls. But they warn its cute appearance is deceiving. It was a dangerous predator with razor-sharp teeth. Teeth and a partial skull were part of a 25 million-year-old fossil found by a local resident on a beach in the eastern state of Victoria in 2019. It's believed to belong to a juvenile whale with an adult measuring up to 10 feet long. Researchers named the new species Janjakitas Diladi after the beach and amateur fossil hunter who discovered the skull. For NPR News, I'm Christina Kukkola in Melbourne, Australia.

Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center have updated the status of Hurricane Aaron. It's a major category 4 that is about 145 miles northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with maximum. maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. It's moving west-northwesterly at 14 miles per hour. While Aaron is not expected to hit land, it could cause flooding in some parts of the Caribbean, which are already experiencing high winds as a result of the storm. Storm watches have been posted for several islands. Forecasters say Aaron is one of the fastest strengthening Atlantic storms in history. It is expected to remain a hurricane through next week. From Washington, you're listening to NPR.

Thank you.