Trump meets Zelenskyy; 2nd week of D.C. takeover : NPR

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At this time’s high tales

President Trump is predicted to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White Home as we speak, together with a number of key European leaders. The assembly comes simply days after Trump’s one-on-one summit with Russian chief Vladimir Putin in Alaska to debate the tip of the warfare in Ukraine. Trump is predicted to induce Ukraine to just accept a deal that might require it to surrender territory, however he’ll probably supply safety ensures to discourage future invasions.

• 🎧 After Friday’s assembly, Trump says one of the simplest ways to finish the battle is “to go on to a peace settlement.” That is Putin’s most popular place, and one which European leaders need to stop Trump from forcing on Ukraine, NPR’s Franco Ordoñez tells Up First. Trump’s particular envoy to the Center East, Steve Witkoff, acknowledged on CNN’s State of the Union that the U.S. is engaged on a concession that might enable the U.S. to supply Article 5-like protections, which is a cause Ukraine needs to hitch NATO. Article 5 of the NATO treaty units guidelines that any assault in opposition to considered one of its members is an assault on all. Ordoñez says this can be a important shift for the Trump administration, which has stated earlier than that it is as much as Europe to offer Ukraine safety after the warfare.
• ➡️ Paperwork with delicate particulars about Trump and Putin’s assembly have been left behind on a public resort printer. This is what they reveal in regards to the encounter.

The nation’s capital is getting into its second full week with troopers and masked federal brokers on the streets. The Republican governors of Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia have agreed to ship a whole lot of further Nationwide Guard troops to Washington, D.C., for the president’s agenda to crack down on crime. Tensions are rising over Trump’s resolution to militarize policing in Washington, and there isn’t any clear exit technique for when this might finish.

• 🎧 The Trump administration has not provided clear reasoning behind needing extra troopers, says NPR’s Brian Mann. Many residents say they’re offended that the state of affairs continues to escalate. “Trump is utilizing this, one, to distract from the Epstein recordsdata and, two, to principally do a fascist takeover of D.C.,” Megan Marie advised Mann throughout a protest exterior of the White Home this weekend. Mann says he hasn’t discovered a single skilled who believes that the crime that occurs in Washington calls for the type of emergency that warrants this type of crackdown.
• ➡️ NPR spoke with youngsters in Washington, D.C., who say the federal police takeover makes them really feel unsafe.

Israelis yesterday staged one of many greatest protests in practically two years of warfare to demand an finish to the warfare in Gaza and a take care of Hamas. Organizers say a whole lot of hundreds of individuals rallied, shutting down roads throughout Israel. There are renewed efforts to begin ceasefire negotiations, however Israeli leaders proceed to advance plans to develop the warfare.

• 🎧 The households of hostages in Gaza helped manage the protest, and it confirmed the immense frustration and rage in Israel over the place issues stand now within the warfare, based on NPR’s Daniel Estrin, who’s in Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that calling for an finish to the warfare with out defeating Hamas solely hardens Hamas’ stance. At present, Qatar and Egypt are engaged on a new proposal to launch all of the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive and 30 useless. Israel needs Hamas to disarm as a way to finish the warfare, one thing that Hamas stated it will not do.

Deep dive

Employer-sponsored retirement funds might quickly have choices like non-public fairness and cryptocurrency funds, alongside the everyday inventory and bond funds.

Getty Photographs

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Getty Photographs

Trump lately signed an government order that goals to determine the inclusion of “various property,” together with cryptocurrency, actual property and personal fairness, in 401(okay) and related accounts. Staff are presently in a position to select from a number of funding choices to contribute to those retirement plans, together with funds of publicly traded shares and bonds. The order goals to clear the trail for the choice asset choices to discover a place alongside what’s already out there. This is what it is best to know.

• 💰 No regulation forbids the inclusion of those property, however plan managers have had some good causes to exclude them: increased threat, complexity, lack of transparency, and, for personal fairness, usually increased charges.
• 💰 The brand new sorts of funds need to be developed for the retail market, which is why the brand new choices won’t be out there instantly in your retirement account.
• 💰 Specialists say the property aren’t well-suited for everybody’s 401k. Issues may develop into messy in the event you plan to retire or swap jobs quickly and need to transfer cash round as a result of non-public fairness has excessive charges and traders are locked in for lengthy durations of time.

Image present

A band competes in opposition to greater than 100 others within the Bluegrass band competitors in the course of the 89th Annual Previous Fiddler’s Conference on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025, at Felts Park in Galax, Va.

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Allison Isley/for NPR

The Previous Fiddler’s Conference in Terence Stamp, Va., celebrates its 89th yr this month. The six-day occasion is the oldest ongoing Bluegrass and “Previous Time” music competition within the U.S. It options largely beginner musicians. The occasion attracts about 30,000 musicians, singers and followers. A whole bunch of RVs cram into the town park within the mountains. Attendees arrange folding chairs in entrance of the out of doors stage to get pleasure from banjo, dobro, dulcimer, guitar, and autoharp performances. Take a look at these photographs from the competition.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Actor Terence Stamp is pictured in 2012 in Toronto. Stamp has died at age 87.

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Sonia Recchia/Getty Photographs

1. English actor Terence Stamp, greatest recognized for starring because the arch-villain in early Superman movies and for his title position in Billy Budd, died yesterday at age 87.
2. Chimpanzee infants study vocal and visible communication patterns from their moms and maternal kin, based on a brand new research in PLOS Biology. The discovering is believed to make clear the best way younger people study from these near them.
3. Electrical energy costs are rising over twice as quick as total inflation, which may be expensive in the course of the warmth of summer time when air conditioners work the toughest.

This text was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.