The Headlines - Zelensky’s Charm Offensive, and Israel’s Push to Send Gazans to South Sudan

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Plus, the rise of rap on tour. On Today’s Episode:5 Takeaways From Trump’s Meeting With Zelensky and European Leaders, by Luke BroadwaterTrump Wants to End Mail-In Voting Ahead of Next Year’s Midterms, by Tyler Pager and Nick CorasanitiHousing Agency to Offer Material Only in English, Official Says, by Eileen SullivanHamas Accepts New Gaza Cease-Fire Proposal, Officials Say, by Adam Rasgon, Isabel Kershner and Ronen BergmanIsrael Is in Talks to Send Gazans to South Sudan, Officials Say, by Aaron Boxerman, Natan Odenheimer and Abdi Latif DahirThe Live Music Business Is Booming. Now Rap Is Getting a Piece, Too, by Ross ScaranoTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, August 19th. Here's what we're covering. I think that we had very good conversation with President Trump. Very good. And it really was the best one. Ukrainian president, Vlomir Zelensky, walked out of the White House yesterday on a very different note than his last visit,

where that ended in a televised show. outing match with President Trump, this time Zelensky and Trump presented a relatively united front, accompanied by a group of other European leaders. And we are very happy with President that all the leaders are here, and the security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you. Those leaders who'd flown to D.C. to support Zelensky had worried it could be a more volatile encounter. But Zelensky showed up ready to charm.

He wore a suit jacket instead of his usual military. tire, which caught Trump's eye last time and not in a good way. And Zelensky repeatedly thanked Trump for his support, another sensitive topic last time. But while the meetings seemed to buoy the U.S.-Ukraine relationship, it wrapped up with few signs of progress on ending the war itself. We'll work with Russia. We're going to work with Ukraine. We're going to make sure it works. And I think if we can get to peace, it's going to work. I have no doubt about it. President Trump offered only vague assurances. that the U.S. would help enforce any peace deal,

something Zelensky has pushed for in case Russia tries to attack again. Your team has talked about security guarantees. Could that involve U.S. troops? Would you roll that out in the future? We'll let you know that maybe later today. Trump is largely focused on pushing for another meeting, this one between Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. He even excused himself from the larger discussions at one point yesterday

to go call the Russian president. For his part, Zelenskyy said, He's ready to meet with Putin, but he repeated that Ukraine will not cede any land to Russia, something Putin has repeatedly demanded. Now, a few other updates on the Trump administration. Mail-in ballots are corrupt. Mail-in ballots, you can never have a real democracy with mail-in balance. On Monday, President Trump took aim at the country's voting system.

promising to sign an executive order banning mail-in ballots, which are used by millions of Americans. If he moves forward, he'll almost certainly face intense legal pushback, since the Constitution explicitly gives states the power to set the, quote, times, places, and manner of elections. In recent years, Democrats have used mail-in ballots more than Republicans, and Trump's announcement comes as he and his allies are trying to get any advantage they can,

ahead of the midterms next year. Some election experts warned that by starting to raise baseless claims of election fraud now, Trump could be going back to his 2020 playbook and laying the groundwork for potentially claiming the midterms were rigged if Republicans don't win. And at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a senior official told employees on Monday that the agency will no longer provide any material in languages other than English. He said it was part of an effort to carry out President Trump's executive order signed earlier this year that made English the country's official language. While the rise of free translation apps like Google Translate might limit the impact of the move, critics of the

change say it could make it more difficult for non-English speakers to access resources like affordable housing. In a statement, a labor union representing HUD employees said that denying language access could, quote, shut people out of the housing and services they're entitled to by law. And that, quote, we are one people because of our diversity, not by erasing it. In the Middle East, Hamas says it has accepted a new ceasefire proposal that diplomats say would allow more aid into the territory and see a swap of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostage. The deal was put forward by Egypt and Qatar, which have been acting as mediators, but it's unclear whether Israel will accept the proposal. During previous rounds of negotiations, hopes

for a ceasefire have been raised only to be dashed days later. Earlier this month, Israel signaled it plans to ramp up its military operations in Gaza, despite growing international outcry over the humanitarian crisis there, as well as mass protests inside Israel by people concerned, that more fighting will put the hostages' lives at risk. Also, the Times has learned that Israeli officials have been in talks with South Sudan about a highly controversial plan to relocate huge numbers of Gazans. In recent months, Israeli leaders have been increasingly vocal

about wanting Palestinians to leave Gaza en masse, and they've been trying to find countries that would take them in. South Sudan, which has struggled with years of war and famine itself, is said to be considering the proposal as a way to curry favor with President Trump, who briefly endorsed the idea of clearing Palestinians out of Gaza earlier this year. Israeli officials have labeled their policy as voluntary migration, but critics say that any move to forcibly or permanently remove Gazans

would amount to ethnic cleansing and a war crime. And finally, this summer, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Glorilla, and the Wu-Tang Clan, have all packed arenas and stadiums around the U.S. and the world. It's part of a surge in hip-hop artists touring. While rap is an undeniably massive chunk of the music industry, it hasn't had the the presence on tour that other genres have had. Last year was hip-hop's biggest year of live music yet, but acts in the genre still accounted for just under 6% of the top 100 tour grosses. While this year could go on to top that, it remains a relatively small slice of the pie.

Industry experts say there are a couple reasons that rap is playing catch-up. For one, rappers have often focused on one-off club performances, rather than rolling out a big tour with a lot of up-front expenses. That's a new undertaking for some in the genre. Also, some bookers or venues have been hesitant to schedule hip-hop acts because of safety concerns, a reputation that has dogged the genre since its early days. While violence has broken out at concerts featuring all kinds of pop acts, venues and law enforcement tend to focus on rap.

One touring agent told the times that even insurance for rap concerts is more expensive. And other agents said, said concert promoters still need convincing to book a hip-hop show. One added, quote, a lot of the promoters are older people and may have been just booking rock and country acts. Even as the genre grows its touring presence, the difference in profits are striking. Travis Scott, a giant on streaming, had the biggest tour gross of any hip-hop artists last year, around 170 million. The rock mainstay cold play earned more than double-than-downed. that with fewer shows.

Those are the headlines. Today on the daily, more on the White House meeting between President Trump and Vlodemir Zelensky. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.