By the Associated Press
Diplomacy may be soft power, but in this administration it’s also a soft landing.
National security adviser Mike Waltz was nominated as U.N. ambassador after he mistakenly added a journalist to a Signal chat discussing military plans.
Then Trump tapped IRS Commissioner Billy Long as envoy to Iceland after Long contradicted administration messaging less than two months on the job.
And last weekend he named State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy U.N. representative after she struggled to gel with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s team.
The appointments can be viewed as consolation prizes for leaving a high-profile post following rocky tenures. They also reflect the degree to which Trump is trying to keep loyalists close, even if their earlier placements were ill-fitting.
Breaking with his former reality TV show, Trump is not telling his appointees “You’re fired!” but instead offering them another way to stay in his administration.
By the Associated Press
The “Sovereign Brazil” plan also contains other measures in response to 50% tariffs imposed by Trump on several products from the South American nation.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the plan, which includes a bill to be sent to Congress, is a first step to help exporters.
The other measures include postponing tax charges for companies affected by the tariffs, providing 5 billion reais ($930,000) in tax credits to small- and medium-size companies until the end of 2026 and expanding access to insurance against cancelled orders.
The plan also incentivizes public purchases of items that could not be exported to the United States.
Brazil’s government is also granting a one-year extension of tax credits for companies that import items so they can produce goods for exportation.
By the Associated Press
National Guard officials say they expect troops to start doing more missions in Washington that day because orders and plans are still being developed.
The White House forecast an increased presence of troops Wednesday night. A Guard spokesman said the significant increase was at the Guard’s armory, where troops are staging.
The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the planning process, said the numbers are getting closer to the 800 troops that the Trump announced Monday that he was activating.
Neither Army nor District of Columbia National Guard officials have been able to describe the training backgrounds of the troops who have reported for duty so far.
While some Guard members are military police, and thus better suited to a law-enforcement mission, others likely hold jobs that would have offered little training in dealing with civilians or law enforcement.
By the Associated Press
The president has revoked an executive order signed by President Joe Biden that was intended to better foster competition through stronger antitrust enforcement.
Trump’s new order nullifies the “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” action of 2021.
The move comes as part of a broader push to promote deregulation while watering down — or wiping out entirely — anti-monopoly protections.
By the Associated Press
Trump has signed an executive order meant to reduce and streamline regulations in an effort to make the U.S. commercial space industry more competitive.
It calls for the creation of an Office of Space Commerce within the Secretary of Transportation.
The order also seeks to “enhance American greatness in space by enabling a competitive launch marketplace” that can “substantially increase” commercial space activities in the next five years.
It directs authorities to ease requirements for commercial license and permit appeals for U.S.-based space operators and to reduce or eliminate many environmental reviews.
By the Associated Press
US District Judge Rita F. Lin ruled that the administration must restore millions of dollars in National Science Foundation grants to the University of California, Los Angeles.
Lin ruled late Tuesday that the research grants were suspended for reasons she had already ruled “arbitrary and capricious” and gave the administration until Aug. 19 to show compliance or explain why it has not restored the funding.
It was not immediately clear how much could be returned to UCLA. The school’s chancellor said last week that the administration has pulled $584 million in grants from various federal agencies. The judge’s ruling applies specifically to NSF grants.
The funding was frozen as part of a wider pressure campaign targeting universities that Trump says are out of step with his political agenda.
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Nearly every day, Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym still does that motherly thing and texts her youngest son, Eric M. Tarpinian-Jachym, with the latest on his two siblings, his father, and life in Massachusetts.
“I text his phone almost every day, like how my day’s going and how everybody’s doing, and how I miss him,” she said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s like I’m journaling to him.”
Since June 30, her heartbroken messages have gone unanswered. That’s when the rising senior at the University of Massachusetts was fatally shot in Washington, D.C., as he went to grab a late-night snack after a long day at the US Capitol, where he was interning for a Kansas congressman. He was 21.
Eric Tarpinian-Jachym 21 of Granby and UMass Amherst, who was shot and killed in Washington DC on June 30.Family PhotoBy the Associated Press
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on an unspecified number of Cuban, Brazilian, Grenadan and other officials, including some in Africa and former employees of the Pan American Health Organization.
Rubio said they are being targeted “for their complicity in the Cuban regime’s medical mission scheme in which medical professionals are ‘rented’ by other countries at high prices and most of the revenue is kept by the Cuban authorities.”
None of the officials, except for two Brazilian health ministry employees, were named in the statements.
Rubio accused them of being “responsible for or involved in abetting the Cuban regime’s coercive labor export scheme, which exploits Cuban medical workers through forced labor.”
Rubio previously imposed similar sanctions on other officials after announcing the new policy to punish Cuba and countries that accept Cuban health care workers in February.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio departs after President Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participate in a signing ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House on Aug. 8, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Andrew Harnik/GettyBy the Associated Press
US District Judge Thomas Cullen questioned why it was necessary for the administration to sue the state’s entire federal bench over an order pausing the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals.
Cullen did not issue a ruling following a hearing in Baltimore, but he expressed skepticism about the legal maneuver, which attorneys for the Maryland judges called completely unprecedented.
All of Maryland’s 15 federal judges are named as defendants in the suit, a highly unusual circumstance that reflects the administration’s aggressive response to courts that slow or stop its policies.
At issue in the lawsuit is a judicial order barring the administration from deporting any immigrants seeking review of their detention until 4 p.m. on the second business day after their habeas corpus petition is filed.
The Justice Department says that impedes Trump’s authority to enforce immigration laws.
Attorneys for the Maryland judges counter that the suit aims to limit the power of the judiciary.
By the Associated Press
Trump says homeless people in the nation’s capital will be moved far from the city as part of his federal takeover of policing in the District of Columbia and crackdown on crime.
With his exact plans unclear, there is concern among advocates and others who say there are better ways to address the issue of homelessness than clearing encampments, as the Republican administration has pledged to do.
Washington’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives Trump the opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime.
Police respond to a situation Tuesday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington.Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington PostHere’s what we know and don’t know about his plans.
By Alyssa Vega, Globe Staff
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow slammed President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as an “authoritarian takeover” that she says has little to do with combating crime in the nation’s capital.
Trump announced Monday that he was putting the D.C. police department under federal control and deploying about 800 National Guard troops after asserting the district has been overtaken by “bloodthirsty criminals” and “drugged-out maniacs.”
Maddow, who lives in Western Massachusetts, opened Monday night’s episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show” by citing data that show D.C.’s crime rates have dropped in recent years.
“You think it’s really about crime? You think it’s really about being tough on crime?” Maddow said of the deployment.
By the Associated Press
Representative Cherrish Pryor, a Democrat from Indiana, warned Wednesday that the Texas redistricting fight would have impacts far beyond the Lone Star state, saying “while Texas is on the frontlines of this fight, Indiana may be next in line.”
President Donald Trump has been pressuring Republican-run states, including Indiana, to redraw Congressional boundaries and dispatched Vice President JD Vance to the state this month to call for a new federal caucus. Representative Ed DeLaney, from Indiana, decried Vance’s visit to Indiana, telling the Associated Press it was “insulting and embarrassing.”
“Never in my life did I think the vice president of the United States would come to my state and ask them to shoplift two districts,” he said.
DeLaney also said he has seen potential drafts of redistricting maps for Indiana “floating around” and said he sensed hesitancy about them from his Republican colleagues. There’s always the risk, he said, that redistricting would backfire for the party that calls for it.
“If they have any brains, they’d look at this and ask ‘How does this play out for me?’” He said. “Every one of them won the district they have, and they won them fairly easily.”
By the Associated Press
Representative Jon Rosenthal, a Democrat from Houston, told the Associated Press they have not yet decided how long the Texas Democrats in Chicago will hold out before returning to Texas, calling it a “complicated and emotional discussion.”
Rosenthal said going home after the current special session ends Friday “is definitely one of the options.”
At a Wednesday news conference at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. memorial on Chicago’s South Side, Rosenthal and other Democrats from Texas and Indiana defined success for the walkout as building awareness for the redistricting fight in Texas rather than blocking the redrawn maps.
“They may still pass these maps, but we’re going to do everything we can to awaken America,” said Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat from Texas.
By the Associated Press
A man has been arrested on a charge that he hurled a sandwich at a federal law-enforcement official in the nation’s capital amid a surge in law-enforcement patrols ordered by the White House, according to a court filing Wednesday.
Sean Charles Dunn, 37, of Washington, D.C., approached a group of US Customs and Border Protection agents late Sunday, pointed a finger in an agent’s face and swore at him, calling him a “fascist,” a police affidavit says. An observer’s video captured Dunn throwing a sub-style sandwich at the agent’s chest, the affidavit says.
“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police.
Dunn tried to run away but was arrested on a federal assault charge, police said.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Dunn.
The incident coincided with President Trump’s push to flood the city with National Guard troops and federal officers. Trump claims crime in the city has reached emergency levels, but city leaders point to statistics showing violent crime at a 30-year low.
By the Associated Press
President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin meeting at an American military base this week allows them to avoid any protests and provides an important level of security.
That’s according to Benjamin Jensen, senior fellow for defense and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
“For President Trump, it’s a great way for him to show American military strength while also isolating the ability of the public or others to intervene with what he probably hopes is a productive dialogue,” Jensen said.
He said the location means Trump can cultivate ties with Putin while “signaling military power to try to gain that bargaining advantage to make a second meeting possible.”
By the Associated Press
“It is the credibility of the House and the Senate,” Bessent said during an interview. “It brings down trust in the system because, I can tell you, if any private citizen traded this way, the SEC would be knocking on their door.”
Bessent’s call makes him the latest federal official to call for some limits on congressional stock trading. Members of Congress have received mounting criticism in recent years for operating investment portfolios while serving in Congress.
Insider trading by members of Congress is already illegal under the STOCK Act of 2012, though concerns over enforcement and the perception of bias persist among the public.
Members of Congress have shown interest in imposing limits on their own stock trading. Senators on both sides of the aisle have introduced legislation that would limit federal officials and their families from managing the buying and selling of assets ranging from publicly traded stocks and bonds. Other lawmakers and government watchdogs have proposed bans on trading other financial assets, such as cryptocurrency and real estate.
Former President Joe Biden in December called for a ban on congressional stock trading.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a press conference after the trade talks between the US and China in Stockholm, Sweden, Tuesday, July 29, 2025.Magnus Lejhall/Associated PressBy the Associated Press
The Treasury Department has issued a license that temporarily waives sanctions to allow Russia to spend money inside the United States to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit with President Trump later this week.
The license, which will expire on Aug. 20, five days after the summit, authorizes the Russian government to spend and American companies and others to accept summit-related payments that might otherwise be prohibited by US sanctions.
Payments that “are ordinarily incident and necessary to the attendance at or support of meetings in the State of Alaska between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation” are allowed by the license.
Wednesday’s Treasury notice did not specify what specific transactions would be allowed.
By the Associated Press
Trump says homeless people in the nation’s capital will be moved far from the city as part of his federal takeover of policing in the District of Columbia and crackdown on crime.
With his exact plans unclear, there is concern among advocates and others who say there are better ways to address the issue of homelessness than clearing encampments, as the Republican administration has pledged to do.
Washington’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives Trump the opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime.
National Park Police monitor a homeless encampment in Foggy Bottom in Washington, D.C., on March 14. Astrid Riecken/For The Washington PostBy the Associated Press
Texas Democrats will not return to the state capitol on Friday, the deadline given by Republican leaders to compel them back to Austin to pass new U.S. House maps that would give the GOP an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections.
Democratic members have been camped out in Illinois, Massachusetts and New York for more than a week to block the new congressional maps sought by President Donald Trump. House Speaker Dustin Burrows said if lawmakers are not present the next time they reconvene Friday, he will end the current session and the governor will immediately call another one.
“Texas House Democrats will issue our demands for a second special session on Friday. Abbott can choose to govern for Texas families, or he can keep serving Trump and face the consequences we’ve unleashed nationwide,” party leader Gene Wu said in a statement on Wednesday.
By the Associated Press
The White House says the National Guard presence in Washington will ramp up Wednesday night and federal patrols will be around the clock rather than focused on the evening.
The steps come days after Trump’s unprecedented moves to take over the D.C. police department and send in National Guard troops to deal with crime. Statistics show it’s been on the decline after a sharp rise in 2023.
About 1,450 federal and local officers fanned out Tuesday night and made 43 arrests.
They included driving under the influence, unlawful entry and resisting arrests, as well as a warrant for assault with a deadly weapon, according to the White House. Seven illegal guns were also seized.
Vehicles with law enforcement agents from the US Customs and Border Protection as well as Metropolitan Police drive along Kennedy Street NW, in the early morning of Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, in Petworth neighborhood of Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/Associated PressBy the Associated Press
After announcing the Kennedy Center Honors recipients, Trump went on a tour of the performing arts venue that sits along the Potomac River.
He’s walking around to discuss upcoming renovations, the White House said.
By the Associated Press
As Trump rushes to spruce up Washington, even the city’s grass could be in for an overhaul.
“We’re also gonna fix up a place called Washington D.C. We’re gonna make it so beautiful again,” Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center.
“We’re gonna be redoing the parks, redoing the grass,” he added. “You know, grass has a lifetime like people have a lifetime. And the lifetime of this grass has long been gone, when you look at the parks, where the grass is old, tired, exhausted.”
Trump promised to replace existing green areas around Washington with “the finest grass” and insisted that he knew a lot about green spaces “because I own a lot of golf courses and, if you don’t have good grass, you’re not in business very long.”
By the Associated Press
“They all went through me,” he said of his five choices, including Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor and George Strait.
In previous years, presidents have received recommendations through a bipartisan advisory committee.
Trump referred only to conferring with such hand-picked Kennedy Center officials as Board Chair Ric Grennell and Vice Chair Sergio Gor. Still, he added, he turned down “plenty” of suggestions because they were “too woke. I had a couple of wokesters.”
President Trump stands beside photos of Kennedy Center Honors nominees from left showing, country music star George Strait, actor-singer Michael Crawford and “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone. Alex Brandon/Associated PressBy the Associated Press
US President Trump said Wednesday there will be “very severe consequences” if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t agree to stop the Ukraine war after Friday’s summit.
Trump was “very clear” in a virtual meeting Wednesday with European leaders that the US wants to achieve a ceasefire at the upcoming US-Russia summit in Alaska, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
In the same meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, he told the group that Putin “is bluffing” ahead of the planned meeting with Trump.
Putin, Zelensky said, “is trying to apply pressure … on all sectors of the Ukrainian front” in an attempt to show that Russia is “capable of occupying all of Ukraine.”
By the Associated Press
The president said that his call with Ukraine’s president and European leaders was “very friendly” and rated it a 10 out of 10.
Trump is meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday and says the one-on-one will happen before any discussions involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
European leaders organized a call on Wednesday so that Trump could speak with Zelensky. But Trump didn’t answer questions subsequently on whether he insisted the Putin meeting be done without Zelensky.
Trump also said there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t agree to take steps to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
By the Associated Press
The president says his using federal crackdown on Washington can be extended beyond 30 days if he declares a state of emergency, which he said he’d do if he had to.
But he also called on Congress to act, saying, “We’re going to need a crime bill that we’re going to be putting in, and it’s going to pertain initially to D.C.”
He suggested that a crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital could be a model for similar actions around the country.
Asked about the possibility of the District of Columbia getting statehood, Trump called the concept “ridiculous.”
“We want to straighten the place out,” he said. Trump added that the city would benefits Democrats and added, “They want to pick up two senators, and that’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen. And that’s the least of the reasons why, by the way.”
Members of the National Guard arrive at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C., on August 13, 2025. ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty ImagesBy the Associated Press
Asked about reports that Russian hackers breached the federal court filing system, the president said, “Hacking is what they do.”
Press on if he’d bring it up during his meeting on Friday with Putin in Alaska, Trump said, “I guess I could.”
By the Associated Press
In an ironic twist, Trump will meet Putin at a base that was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War and still plays a role today.
Throughout its history, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage has hosted large numbers of aircraft and overseen early warning radar sites that were aimed at detecting Soviet military activity and any possible nuclear launches.
Much of that military hardware has been deactivated, but the base still hosts key aircraft squadrons, including the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet, and still intercepts Russian aircraft that regularly fly into US airspace.
By the Associated Press
The US vice president took a break from his European vacation to thank US servicemembers during a brief stop at a Royal Air Force base outside London.
Vance told members of the US Air Force that their skill provides muscle to back up threats and open space for the Trump administration to negotiate with foreign leaders.
“As you all know, it is impossible to bring peace anywhere unless the bad guys are also worried that we’ve got a hell of a fine Air Force and a hell of a fine military to back up the peace to begin with,” Vance said.
Though he has often been critical of European leaders, Vance on Wednesday spoke highly of the “special relationship” and “beautiful alliance” between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a visit to airmen and family members of the 501st combat support wing at Royal Air Force Fairford in Gloucestershire, England, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025.Frank Augstein/Associated PressBy the Associated Press
The president said major work would begin soon to revamp the Kennedy Center and promised that construction would be inexpensive and efficient.
“We’re gonna bring it to a higher level than it ever hit,” Trump said of the building.
Republicans are looking for ways to remake the Kennedy Center to Trump’s liking. They voted for $257 million to renovate the performing arts venue as part of their massive tax cut and spending package, but under the condition that its opera house is named after First Lady Melania Trump.
A separate bill, introduced by Republican Representative Bob Onder of Missouri, seeks to rename the entire center after Trump.
By the Associated Press
Trump said organizers approached him about hosting the awards ceremony in December and he balked saying they were “fools” to suggest he’d have time with his duties as president.
But Trump said White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told him to do it and therefore, “I’ve agreed to host.”
“I think it will be quite successful,” Trump said, recalling the days he hosted the finales of “The Apprentice.”
By the Associated Press
Trump has named Kiss, George Strait, Sylvester Stallone and Gloria Gaynor for Kennedy Center Honors.
In his new role as chairman of the center, he also named the English actor Michael Crawford, best known as the “Phantom of the Opera.”
The president praised the honorees, calling Stallone a “silver screen legend” whose star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was almost as famous as Trump’s own star there. And he mentioned Gaynor’s 1978 smash hit, “I will survive.”
By the Associated Press
Trump has arrived at the Kennedy Center to announce recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors.
Presidents don’t usually make the announcement, but Trump recently named himself the center’s chair.
He also added personal touches to the ceremony, with American flags placed on stage and a podium featuring the presidential seal.
Who is being honored is secret, but the stage featured five drapings — suggesting that there would be the usual five choices for this year’s honorees.
There was also a decidedly political flare to the proceedings. A sign near the stage read” $257 million appropriated for the Kennedy Center in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
By the Associated Press
Tom Homan was asked about Trump’s takeover of the District of Columbia’s police department and any concern that criminals who go into hiding could return after the end of the 30-day period for federal control.
Congress would have to approve any extension. But Homan said at the White House that “the president’s authority is never over.”
Homan often says this when talking about Trump’s immigration crackdown at the US-Mexico border.
“The president is going to do what he has to do to make this country safe again in every city in this nation,” Homan said.
By the Associated Press
Washington’s mayor and police chief say an influx of federal agents linked to Trump’s takeover of the department will help public safety, though it’s not yet clear exactly what success would look like.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said that federal officials tapped by Trump to oversee the department temporarily haven’t yet set specific goals, though having more officers on patrol and taking more guns off the street seem high on the list.
In an interview with Fox 5, police chief Pamela Smith said that the department is short almost 800 officers, so the extra presence “is clearly going to impact us in a positive way.”
Bowser, who previously called Trump’s moves “unsettling,” said Wednesday that she’s focused on “making sure the federal surge is useful to us.”
By the Associated Press
In an email Wednesday morning, they advertised a new “GREAT JEANS MAGA HAT!” as a prize for 100 donors who contribute to the Trump National Committee joint fundraising committee.
The email arrived with the subject line “Donald Trump has great jeans” — a play on the American Eagle denim ad.
The “limited edition” denim hat, which features white writing bearing Trump’s “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” slogan, is not yet available through Trump’s merchandise store, which is often quick to jump on memes and trends.
By the Associated Press
“I told the President of the United States and all our European colleagues, ‘Putin is bluffing,’” the Ukrainian president said.
“Russia is trying to portray itself as capable of occupying the whole of Ukraine. This is undoubtedly their desire. Putin is also bluffing, pretending that sanctions are not important to him and that they are not working. In reality, the sanctions are very helpful and are hitting the Russian military economy hard,” Zelensky said. “Yes, it is true that Russia has several times more weapons, including three times more artillery. But Russia also has three times more losses. And that is a fact.”
“I told my colleagues and the President of the United States of America, our European friends, that Putin definitely does not want peace. He wants to occupy our country, and we all understand that very well. Putin cannot fool anyone,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky listens as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (not pictured) speaks during a joint press conference at the Chancellery following a virtual meeting hosted by Merz between European leaders and US President Trump on August 13, 2025 in Berlin, Germany. Omer Messinger/GettyBy the Associated Press
They talked by phone, with Putin and Kim Jong Un discussing their deepening ties and war efforts against Ukraine ahead of Putin’s meeting with Trump in Alaska, according to their state news agencies.
Putin also shared with Kim information about his talks with Trump scheduled for Friday in Alaska, TASS reported, citing the Kremlin.
According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last fall and also supplied large quantities of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles, in support of Putin’s war efforts against Ukraine.
Kim has also agreed to send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to Russia’s Kursk region, a deployment South Korean intelligence believes could happen soon.
By the Associated Press
Merz said that “we wished President Trump the very best” ahead of his summit with Putin.
“There is hope of movement” toward peace in Ukraine, Merz said, but “if there is no movement on the Russian side in Alaska, then the United States and the Europeans should and must increase the pressure” on Moscow.
He added: “President Trump knows this position and he shares it to a very large extent.”
Merz also said that Ukraine “is prepared for negotiations on territorial questions,” but that a legal recognition of Russian occupation “is not up for debate,” and that negotiations must also include “robust security guarantees for Kyiv.” The Ukrainian military must be in a position to defend the country’s sovereignty effectively, he said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (not pictured) at the Chancellery following a virtual meeting hosted by Merz between European leaders and US President Trump on August 13, 2025 in Berlin, Germany. Omer Messinger/GettyBy the Associated Press
Macron said Trump is going to “seek a future trilateral meeting” involving Zelenskyy as well as Trump and Putin.
“I think that’s a very important point in this regard. And we hope that it can be held in Europe, in a neutral country that is acceptable to all parties,” Macron said.
Merz stressed that the issue of a ceasefire must come at the beginning of the negotiations, adding: “President Trump also wants to make this one of his priorities in the meeting on Friday with President Putin, and I very much hope that there is a corresponding agreement.”
“So far, all talks that have been conducted with Putin in the past 2 ½ years have been accompanied by an even harder military answer,” Merz said. “It must be different this time, otherwise talks that are held are not credible and not successful.”
By the Associated Press
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says European leaders and the Ukrainian president had a “constructive and good” discussion with Trump on Wednesday.
Merz, speaking alongside Zelensky, said after the videoconference that “important decisions” could be made in Anchorage on Friday, and stressed that “fundamental European and Ukrainian security interests must be protected.”
French President Emmanuel Macron says Trump was very clear that the US wants to achieve a ceasefire at the meeting in Alaska. Merz said a ceasefire must be the priority. He said Trump said he wants to make a ceasefire one of his priorities.
By the Associated Press
The building where 400,000 Cubans fleeing Fidel Castro’s revolution relied on federal services provided at a cost of $6 billion in today’s dollars is reopening next month as a museum that explores the meaning of migration, freedom and homeland.
It comes at a sensitive moment — Cuban Americans voted overwhelmingly for Trump, but the president’s crackdown on migrants — including Cubans — is increasingly viewed as a betrayal. Protests against Trump have gathered outside the tower.
Museum organizers tiptoe around present-day politics. In Miami, 70% speak Spanish as their first language, and compassion for migrants runs deep.
By the Associated Press
Internal Bureau of Labor Statistics emails obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act after Trump fired Commissioner Erika McEntarfer suggest an agency with little of the corrupting partisanship Trump had claimed when he called the report “phony” and “rigged.”
After the commissioner’s firing, BLS employees talked about the importance of accurate numbers and professional integrity in producing data foundational for measuring the economy and holding elected officials accountable.
“Our data moves markets because it is some of the most timely and accurate information on economic conditions that businesses and policymakers have,” McEntarfer wrote to the staff. “BLS data impacts the decisions of the Fed, the President, Congress, and millions of businesses and households. The work of this agency is vital to the US economy.”
By the Associated Press
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday arrived in Berlin for talks with the German chancellor and virtual meetings with President Trump and other European leaders ahead of Friday’s planned summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has convened the virtual meetings in an attempt to make sure European and Ukraine’s leaders are heard ahead of the summit in Alaska, where Trump and Putin are expected to discuss a path toward ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Zelensky and the Europeans have been sidelined from that summit. German government spokesperson Steffen Meyer said the intention of Wednesday’s meetings was to “make clear the position of the Europeans.”
By the Associated Press
The group Stand Up Alaska has organized rallies on Thursday and Friday in the state, where sentiment toward Russia has cooled since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The Anchorage Assembly voted unanimously to suspend its three-decade-long sister city relationship with Magadan, Russia, and the Juneau Assembly sent its sister city of Vladivostock a letter expressing concern.
Dimitry Shein, who ran unsuccessfully for Alaska’s lone seat in the US House in 2018, fled from the Soviet Union to Anchorage with his mother in the early 1990s. He expressed dismay that Trump has grown increasingly authoritarian. Russia and the US “are just starting to look more and more alike,” he said.
By the Associated Press
Candidate Trump repeatedly said he could end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours.” But since President Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, the road to a peace deal has been fraught with changing dynamics among Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The summit between Trump and Putin set for Friday in Alaska could now be a pivotal moment in the 3 1/2-year-old war.
“At the end of that meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” Trump said Monday.
By the Associated Press
And according to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump might make an announcement of his own, too.
The center said in a statement that “our beautiful building will undergo renovations to restore its prestige and grandeur” and credited Trump’s advocacy. Trump complained during a March visit that the building is in a state of “tremendous disrepair.”
By the Associated Press
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Wednesday for talks with European and US leaders ahead of a Trump-Putin summit later this week, the German government said.
Merz has convened a series of virtual meetings for Wednesday in an attempt to have the voice of European and Ukraine’s leaders heard ahead of the summit in Alaska, where President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to discuss a path toward ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Zelensky and the leaders of European countries have all been sidelined from that summit.
Zelensky is due to meet with European leaders first, in preparation for a virtual call with Trump and Vice President JD Vance about an hour later. A call between leaders of countries involved in the “coalition of the willing” — those who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv — will take place last.
By the Associated Press
A federal judge is set to hear closing arguments Wednesday over whether to stop construction indefinitely at an immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” as she considers whether it violates environmental laws.
US District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a two-week halt on new construction last Thursday as witnesses continued to testify in a hearing to determine whether construction should end until the ultimate resolution of the case.
The temporary order doesn’t include any restrictions on law enforcement or immigration enforcement activity at the center, which is currently holding hundreds of detainees. The center, which was quickly built two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport, is designed to eventually hold up to 3,000 detainees in temporary tent structures.
By the Associated Press
President Trump will be visiting the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, the same day that the recipients of this year’s honors are announced.
Trump avoided the Kennedy Center Honors during his first term after artists said they would not attend out of protest. This year, he has taken over as the Kennedy Center’s new chairman and fired the board of trustees, which he replaced with loyalists.
By the Associated Press
Officials in a rural Tennessee town voted Tuesday to approve agreements to turn a former state prison into an immigration detention facility operated by a private company, despite loud objections from upset residents and activists during a contentious public meeting.
The five-member Board of Alderman in Mason, plus Mayor Eddie Noeman and Vice Mayor Reynaldo Givhan, met in a fire station garage to discuss converting the closed West Tennessee Detention Facility into a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center run by CoreCivic Inc.
By the Associated Press
When President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska on Friday, it will be the latest chapter in the 49th state’s long history with Russia — and with international tensions.
Siberian fur traders arrived from across the Bering Sea in the first part of the 18th century, and the imprint of Russian settlement in Alaska remains. The oldest building in Anchorage is a Russian Orthodox church, and many Alaska Natives have Russian surnames.
The nations are so close — Alaska’s Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait is less than 3 miles from Russia’s Big Diomede — that former governor Sarah Palin was right during the 2008 presidential race when she said, “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska,” though the comment prompted jokes that that was the extent of her foreign policy experience.
Alaska has been US territory since 1867, and it has since been the location of the only World War II battle on North American soil, a focus of Cold War tensions and the site of occasional meetings between US and world leaders.
Here’s a look at Alaska’s history with Russia and on the international stage.