Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor, Johnston.
U.S. efforts to end the war in Ukraine, shipped to Kiev today, where U.S. envoy Steve
“Wittkov and Jerry Kushner are expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.”
The two held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday.
The Kremlin called those discussions constructive, but there was no sign of a breakthrough
and PR's Charles Mains reports. Ahead of the talks, Putin announced a 72-hour pause on attacks on Kiev, building on a similar gesture by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky while the Americans traveled to Moscow. It amounts to a temporary reprieve for both capital cities after some of escalating drone and missile strikes, often targeting civilian infrastructure.
Let's clear as what progress there might be towards an actual peace deal, and announcing the diplomatic mission, President Trump suggested Wittkov and Kushner had a new proposal on offer, yet publicly Putin has shown that a willingness to compromise and Zelensky little desire for territorial concessions. The Kremlin insists are required for lasting peace.
Charles Mains and PR News, Moscow. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are once again escalating in and around the straight
“of Hormuz as both sides trade military action and warnings over access to the waterway.”
And PR's carry con reports, the latest confrontation comes as diplomatic efforts continue to keep commercial shipping moving through the region.
The U.S. military says Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the IRGC launch-policy
missiles toward two U.S. naval vessels. It was an aircraft carrier and a guided missile destroyer. Senkams says both ships were able to evade those attacks and in retaliation. The U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers destroying all of them. That's MPR's carry con reporting.
Photers in Germany are casting ballots in an regional election that could produce the countries first far-right state governor since World War II. The anti-immigration alternative for Germany party is leading the latest polls by about 20 points. MPR's S.M. Nicholson reports.
German domestic intelligence classifies the ITN-Ateaver for Deutschland or AFD as extremist
“in the state of Saxony Unhardt, but this is not deterring voters.”
The AFD has sought out ties with the MAGA movement in the U.S. and advocates closer relations with Russia. The party has run a campaign centered around what it calls "remigration" promising mass deportations from day one and the segregation of refugees children in schools. The candidate hoping to become Germany's first AFD state governor is 35-year-old or
resheakment to form a salesman with a massive TikTok following. His affable image contrasts stuck with the party's radical platform, but in a country where coalitions are the norm, the AFD may struggle to form a government, unless it wins an absolute majority. For MPR News, I'm Eismina Coulson in Berlin.
This is MPR. A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center in Washington says years of neglect are to blame for a part of the ceiling collapsing during a storm last week. Officials say the damage underscores the need for a planned two-year renovation. In the meantime, members of the Center's Trump-aligned board remain in court over plans
to add the president's name to the building. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is on its way to its planned orbital parking place about a million miles from Earth. Joe Palco reports mission managers have begun turning on the telescopes' instruments, and they say so far, everything looks good.
The school bus-sized observatory has a number of scientific goals. It's looking for a special kind of exploding star called a "type-1A" supernova that astronomers used to study a mysterious force called dark energy. It will also search for planets around distant stars as well as galaxies far beyond the Milky Way.
Critical systems like the solar panels and main antenna have successfully deployed has
has the sunshade designed to block out unwanted light. The spacecraft also completed a correction to its trajectory. The telescope should arrive at its parking place in about 90 days. After that, its five-year scientific mission will begin. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palco.
Puerto Rican music star, Bad Bunny, has won his first prime time Emmy for his Super Bowl half-time show. The performance took home seven Emmys, more than any Super Bowl half-time show in history. Most of this year's Emmy Awards are being handed out this weekend in Los Angeles ahead of the main ceremony on September 14th.
This is NPR. As the political landscape shifts beneath our feet, we're all vulnerable to a well-funded distraction economy determined to take our eye off the ball. Our weekly politics series, if you can keep it, is here to help where our focus is not the horse race, but the state.
We tackle the big political stories of the day and why they matter for our democracy. Join me, Todd's Willard. me Jen White on the OneA podcast from WAMU and NPR.
