Reuters World News - Russia-Ukraine talks, birthright citizenship and Newark

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending the negotiations in Istanbul which would be the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in three years. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Donald Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship. And the FAA is considering a plan for troubled Newark airport. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Putin and Trump are expected to skip direct peace talks with Ukraine. The U.S. Supreme Court considers the fight over birthright citizenship. Plus, the FAA's plan for the troubled Newark Airport. It's Thursday, May 15th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaksin Liverpool. And I'm Christopher Waljasper in Chicago. be the first direct peace talks between Kiev and Moscow in three years.

That's if they happen. The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be in Istanbul today. Ukrainian president, Volodymy Zelenskyy, says he'll only go if Putin shows up, and US President Donald Trump is in a holding pattern, waiting to see if there's a reason to add a layover in Istanbul on his way home from the Gulf. Andrew Osborne is here with more. There's an elaborate kind of diplomatic game being played out here between Russia and Ukraine. Both of them are clearly keen to try to show US President Donald Trump that they are more, more up for peace,

keener for peace than the other. So while Putin did indeed propose these talks, he did not say that he would be coming at any stage. It was the Ukrainian president of Volodymya Zelensky, who, if you like, laid down that challenge. Some in Russia saw that as a trap for Putin. And there was some taunting going on as well. As Zelensky said, come if you're not afraid to talk to me. But what's really going on here is that both of these leaders, for different reasons, they want Trump to remain engaged in the peace process and neither wants to be seen to be the one to be collapsing any talks.

So what can we expect today, if anything? One thing that it is very important to stress here is that the situation is very fluid. There are some people, some people in Russia at least, who are saying that if these talks were to take place, were to go, that there still might be a chance that Putin might fly to Turkey, not today, but maybe tomorrow or Saturday, and join the talks. And we've just had Donald Trump come out and say that in principle he remains willing to fly in himself, if appropriate. Trump says the US is getting very close to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran, adding that Tehran has, quote, sort of agreed to the

terms. Even though both Washington and Tehran have said they prefer a diplomatic solution, they remain divided on several red lines. A US-backed humanitarian organisation is set to start working Gaza by the end of May, under a heavily criticised aid distribution plan. They've asked Israel to let the United Nations and others resume deliveries to Palestinians from now until the operation is set up. No humanitarian assistance has been delivered to Gaza since March. Four in ten Americans are worried about the Trump administration's ability to contain the ongoing measles outbreak. That's according to a new Reuters Ipsos poll. The U.S. is currently facing the largest outbreak of measles in 25 years, with more than a thousand

cases as of last week. Sean Diddy Combs' ex-girlfriend testified on Wednesday that the hip-hop mogul raped her in 2018 after they ended their more than a decade-long relationship. The singer Cassandra Ventura, who goes by Cassie, also said Combs agreed to a $20 million settlement to end her 2023 civil lawsuit against him. The 55-year-old rapper has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts. The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case challenging Trump's ban on birthright citizenship. 22 states have sued the administration over the executive order alongside multiple pregnant immigrants and advocacy groups. Federal judges in Washington State, Massachusetts, and Maryland issued orders blocking the order nationwide. Those cases have now worked their way up to the Supreme Court, where our legal reporter Andrew Chung has been following.

the case. So the Supreme Court is looking at this case in a pretty unusual way. The administration has focused the justices on their bit to stop what are called nationwide or universal injunctions. They think that federal judges do not have the authority to issue decisions that stop the administration from implementing a policy nationwide. So should the justices rule on the scope of judicial power, how could that decision impact future legal battles between the Trump administration and lower court judges? So if the Supreme Court sets limits or stops lower court judges from being able to issue universal injunctions, there could be a patchwork across the country as to where the government's

policy applies and where it doesn't apply. In this particular case, any individual or state that did not sue to challenge the policy would not be protected by the injunction. And so you could end up in a situation where babies born to certain people in 28 states would not be audited. dramatically granted U.S. citizenship. The plaintiffs in these cases have said that more than 150,000 newborn children would be denied citizenship annually if President Trump's order is allowed to take effect. Summer is nearly upon us. And in the U.S., retailers are scrambling to make sure they've got enough hot weather essentials in store. For some, that's sundresses, for people like me, copious amounts of sunscreen.

Kamal Krimmins has more. Beijing and Washington's decision to temporarily slash tariffs has kicked off a race among companies to secure China-made merchandise. Retailers usually begin shipping products months before the summer season starts, but the trade war has messed up that timetable, even with big players like Walmart and Target front-loading orders. All of this could mean congestion at ports because retailers are also trying to stock up ahead of the back-to-school shopping season,

and some manufacturers of Halloween decorations are saying they'll have to scramble too. You have been warned. And speaking of warnings, if you're planning any getaways soon, maybe avoid Newark Airport. Chris has more. The Federal Aviation Administration opened a two-day meeting with major airlines on Wednesday to discuss its proposal to cut flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in order to address major delays there. The meeting in Washington comes as a series of equipment outages and staffing issues have plagued the airport and caused travel chaos. At a House hearing on Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed his predecessors.

The infrastructure didn't rot in the last 100 days. Reporter David Chepardson covers transportation. David, first of all, what went wrong at Newark? It's a confluence of problems. We've got runway construction. in Newark. You've got an airport that's struggled for years to handle the traffic that it has, and if not enough controllers, they've cut the number of flights, plus you throw on the other factor of faltering FAA equipment, whether it's radar is going out or the telecommunications equipment,

and so as a result, you've seen these very long delays. So it's kind of reached a boiling point after years of trying to do certain things. They obviously haven't worked. So how is the FAA hoping to fix this situation. Some people, somewhere I let's talk, the entire air traffic control system is like a Frankenstein systems that have been bolted onto one another

for years and years. And so that's why Duffy would like to build a whole new system, keep the existing one running until the new one's ready. You really have two buckets of problems that they can address. One are the staffing issues and two are the technology issues.

So he wants cars to approve the money. up front and then really, you know, a nutshell, replace almost everything, right? All new telecommunications equipment, new radars, new radios, network switches, a whole new operating system that ties in all of the facilities together. So the question is, how much money is Congress going to be willing to put in? What assurances can the administration give that the money is actually going to accomplish or they need to get done? What kind of timeline is it going to take? For our recommended read today, we'll see you on the dark side of the moon. Data on lunar gravity obtained by NASA robotic spacecraft is offering new clues about why the two sides of the moon look so different.

You can read more by following the link in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out roiders.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headlines show.