NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-17-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. President Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky Monday at the White House. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, it is the latest phase of Trump's so-far elusive quest to end Russia's war against 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. The State Department says that all visitor visas for people from Gaza are being stopped. This in an order to conduct a full review of procedures used to issue a small number of medical visas. NPR's Ava Batrotti reports the announcement comes after a post on X by a Trump supporter calling the medical evacuees, quote, a national security threat. In her post on X, Laura Lumer reposts a video by a group called Heel Palestine, showing children from Gaza.

arriving to the U.S. for medical treatment, supporters cheer on their arrival. Luma writes in the post, why are any Islamic invaders coming into the U.S. under the Trump admin? In subsequent posts, she says she hopes all people from Gaza who came for medical care during the war are deported and that Muslim countries should be taking them in. Heel Palestine has helped some children from Gaza who've lost their limbs in Israeli attacks, received prosthetics and treatment in the U.S. It's a fraction of what the World Health Organization says are more than 10,000 Palestinians in need of urgent medical treatment outside Gaza. A. Abatrawi, Empire News.

Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene, recovery efforts are still ongoing at some Tennessee State Parks. Chad Barrett, with member station WETS, has more. Hurricane Helene caused the temporary closure of four Tennessee State Parks. All except for David Crockett Birthplace State Park have at least partially reopened to the public. Chelsea Walters is a mounted patrol park ranger at the park. definitely in the middle of recovery still. It's not over yet. We are still working on silt mud removal. Two state parks in northeast Tennessee continue their efforts in fully clearing trails and reopening some still-closed campgrounds. For NPR news, I'm Chad Barrett in Johnson City,

Tennessee. Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center in Miami Beach has slightly downgraded hurricane errand. It now has maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. It is about 150 miles from Puerto Rico. This is NPR. Canada's government is forcing Air Canada and its 10,000 striking flight attendants into arbitration, bringing an end to a 12-hour strike that shut the airline down during the peak of the summer travel season. Union leaders said the government is rewarding the company for its refusal to negotiate. The airline said the impact of the brief walkout could take more than a week to fully restart its operations. The existing contract will stay in effect while the Canada Industrial Relations Board seeks an arbitrator who will sit in for both management and labor

between Friday and Sunday air Canada canceled or suspended 196 flights. A national women's soccer match started almost three and a half hours after its scheduled time because of extreme heat Saturday night. Greg Eklund has more from Kansas City. When the match between the Orlando Pride and Kansas City Current finally got under way, the kickoff temperature was 91 degrees. The extreme afternoon heat had been predicted 24 hours before, but the league decided to leave the original kickoff time intact. Izzy Rodriguez, the starting defender for the current, says the players were puzzled. I don't know necessarily what goes into those decisions, but for us it was they might make decisions different in the future.

The league said in a statement that, while forecasts guide planning, we primarily rely on real-time on-site weather data. The temperature was at 96 degrees at the scheduled afternoon kickoff time. For NPR news, I'm Greg Eclan, Kansas City. Publio marks his first 100 days in office this weekend. This is NPR. Support for NPR comes.