Traditional Russian wooden dolls called Matryoshka depicting Soviet Leader Josef Stalin, left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and U.S. President Donald Trump are displayed for sale at a souvenir shop in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Agents from various agencies including Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Park Police, and FBI, question a couple who had been parked in a car with Washington D.C. plates outside of a legal parking spot while eating McDonald's takeout, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, in northwest Washington near Kennedy St. NW. The couple were released after a search of the car. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Traditional Russian wooden dolls called Matryoshka depicting Soviet Leader Josef Stalin, left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and U.S. President Donald Trump are displayed for sale at a souvenir shop in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
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Agents from various agencies including Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Park Police, and FBI, question a couple who had been parked in a car with Washington D.C. plates outside of a legal parking spot while eating McDonald's takeout, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, in northwest Washington near Kennedy St. NW. The couple were released after a search of the car. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Berlin Wednesday for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and virtual meetings with other European and U.S. leaders ahead of the Friday summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
European and Ukrainian leaders want to be heard before Trump sees Putin in Alaska, where they've been left out. Zelenskyy is due to meet with the Europeans first and then have a call with Trump and Vice President JD Vance about an hour later. Leaders of the “coalition of the willing†— the nations that would help police any future peace agreement — will take place last.
Here's the latest:
Protests being organized for Trump-Putin summit
The group Stand Up Alaska is organizing rallies on Thursday and Friday in the state, where sentiment toward Russia has cooled since 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 U.S. House in 2018, fled from the Soviet Union to Anchorage with his mother in the early 1990s. He expressed dismay that Trump has grown . Russia and the U.S. “are just starting to look more and more alike,†he said.
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Trump’s evolving rhetoric about Zelenskyy and Putin
Candidate Trump repeatedly said he could end the “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 and Russian President Vladimir .
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.
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ºÃÉ«tv Guard awaits assignments in DC
The troops reported for duty on Tuesday, ramping up after the White House and reduce crime in what the president called — without substantiation — a lawless city.
The for a month. How aggressive the federal presence will be remains unclear.
An Army spokesperson who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely describe ongoing operations said Tuesday that, so far, what troops have been told “clearly and distinctly†is that they will be in a support role to law enforcement. What form that support will take remains to be determined.
The Army spokesperson also said that since mobilizing up to 800 ºÃÉ«tv Guard troops could take until week's end, their assignments may not be known until week.
White House orders review of Smithsonian exhibits
Ahead of the country’s 250th birthday, the with Trump’s interpretation of American history.
The examination will look at all public-facing content, such as social media, exhibition text and educational materials, to “assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.â€
US national debt reaches record $37 trillion
years sooner than pre-pandemic projections.
The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2020 projections predicted the U.S. reaching the milestone after fiscal year 2030. But the debt grew faster than expected as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the U.S. economy and the Trump and Biden administrations borrowed heavily to stabilize the national economy.
Trump visiting Kennedy Center for the announcement of this year’s honorees
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.â€
