NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-19-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Korva Coleman, Russia says it remains open to a meeting among President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, and possibly President Trump. But the Kremlin has remained vague on the timing of the talks. Trump hopes these will lead to peace in Ukraine. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Mainz has more. In an interview on state television, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was not refusing any format of meetings, be they between Putin and Zelensky or eventually including President Trump. Yet Lavrov warned preparations for such events take time. His comments suggested Moscow was looking to slow walk.

Trump's calls for a Putin Zelensky meeting in the coming days or weeks. Trump says Putin agreed to the bilateral talks to be followed by a trilateral meeting, including Trump, following a phone call he placed to the Russian leader Monday. Kremlin aide Yuriushakov was more circumspect, saying only Moscow was considering the possibility of holding higher-level direct talks with Ukraine. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. State lawmakers in California have released a proposed map to redraw congressional districts in their state. They say it could help Democrats gain up to five seats in the U.S. House.

They say they're responding to Texas Republicans. The Texas GOP is advancing a plan to send up to five Republicans to the U.S. House. But this change could be harder to do in California. Cap Radio's Laura Fitzgerald says, unlike Texas, California voters have to approve of the plan. Republicans strongly oppose the measure, and just some context here. The reason why California is going to the voters is because the independent redistricting commission that we have here is in our state constitution. So Republicans are criticizing Democrats for sidelining that. California's Republican congressional delegation has also spoken out against the bill.

Laura Fitzgerald reporting. A federal judge handling an immigration case in Florida has transferred a lawsuit to another district. The suit was brought by lawyers who represent detainees at a Florida site that's been called Alligator Alcatraz. And P.R.'s Greg Allen reports from Miami. The Trump administration filed a court document over the weekend saying that people held at the detention center in the Everglades, now will have their cases heard before immigration judges at another South Florida detention center. That answered one of the plaintiff's key demands in the case, and U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz dismissed that part of the lawsuit.

Lawyers for detainees said they were pleased with that decision. Judge Ruiz was considering the plaintiff's request for preliminary injunction to force the state and federal authorities to ensure detainees' rights to legal counsel are respected. But Ruiz says he agrees with Florida and the Trump administration that the case now should be moved to Florida's middle district and heard in Fort Myers. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami. The strike against Air Canada is over. The union representing 10,000 flight attendants and the carrier,

both say they reached a tentative contract agreement overnight. The deal must still be approved. approved by the unionized workers. This is NPR. Hamas says it has accepted a ceasefire proposal for Gaza. It resembles a plan put forward by the Trump administration. This calls for some Israeli troops to be moved, some hostages to be released, and more aid sent to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Israel previously agreed to that plan, but it's not clear if that agreement is still in effect. Wildfires are raging in vast areas of Spain. Spanish firefighters face a prolonged heat wave, as NPR's Miguel Macias reports from Seville.

The wild fires have claimed several lives and devastated and estimated and estimated 900,000 acres, making these years fire season among the worst on record. Two major fires in the northwest of the country have grown to become the largest on record. Fires in the central western region of extremadura and in the south have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people nationally. After 16 days of intense heat, temperatures dropped slightly on Tuesday, ending what has become one of the longest heat waves ever recorded in Spain. Climate change is making large destructive wildfires more likely because of hotter temperatures and drier vegetation. Miguel Macias, NPR News, Seville, Spain. The Justice Department says it is named Missouri's Attorney General as the new co-depity director of the FBI.

Missouri's Andrew Bailey will move into the job to serve alongside current. FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, who was a former Secret Service officer and podcast host. There's usually only one FBI deputy director at a time who runs the day-to-day operations of the agency. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.