Today is Saturday, Sept. 13, the 256th day of 2025. There are 109 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 13, 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.

Also on this date:

In 1788, the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election and declared New York City the temporary national capital.

In 1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate; she became the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.

In 1971, a four-day inmate rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison; the ordeal and final assault claimed the lives of 32 inmates and 11 hostages.

In 1997, a funeral was held in Kolkata, India, for Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa.

In 2008, crews rescued people from their homes in an all-out search for thousands of Texans who had stayed behind overnight to face Hurricane Ike.

In 2010, Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic to win his first U.S. Open title and complete a career Grand Slam.

In 2021, school resumed for New York City public school students in the nation’s largest experiment of in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Barbara Bain is 94.
• Nobel Peace Prize laureate Óscar Arias is 85.
• Rock singer David Clayton-Thomas (Blood, Sweat & Tears) is 84.
• Actor Jacqueline Bisset is 81.
• Singer Peter Cetera is 81.
• Actor Jean Smart is 74.
• Record producer Don Was is 73.
• Chef Alain Ducasse is 69.
• Rock singer-musician Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) is 64.
• Olympic gold medal sprinter Michael Johnson is 58.
• Filmmaker Tyler Perry is 56.
• Fashion designer Stella McCartney is 54.
• Former tennis player Goran Ivanisevic (ee-van-EE’-seh-vihch) is 54.
• Country musician Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts) is 50.
• Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple is 48.
• Actor Ben Savage is 45.
• Soccer player Thomas Müller is 36.
• Rock singer Niall Horan (One Direction) is 32.
• Actor Lili Reinhart (TV: “Riverdale”) is 29.

Today is Friday, Sept. 12, the 255th day of 2025. There are 110 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 12, 2008, a Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people.

Also on this date:

In 1857, the S.S. Central America (also known as the “Ship of Gold”) sank off the coast of South Carolina after sailing into a hurricane in one of the worst maritime disasters in American history; 425 people were killed and thousands of pounds of gold sank with the ship to the bottom of the ocean.

In 1940, the Lascaux cave paintings, estimated to be 17,000 years old, were discovered in southwestern France.

In 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched its Luna 2 space probe, which made a crash landing on the moon.

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

In 1977, South African Black student leader and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, 30, died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.

In 1994, truck driver Frank Eugene Corder piloted a stolen single-engine Cessna airplane into restricted airspace in Washington, D.C., and crashed it into the South Lawn of the White House. He died in the crash.

In 2003, in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly opened fire on vehicles carrying police, killing eight of them.

In 2011, Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win his first U.S. Open championship.

In 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Linda Gray is 85.
• Singer Maria Muldaur is 82.
• Author Michael Ondaatje is 82.
• Actor Joe Pantoliano is 74.
• Photographer Nan Goldin is 72.
• Composer Hans Zimmer is 68.
• Actor Rachel Ward is 68.
• TV host-commentator Greg Gutfeld is 61.
• Actor-comedian Louis (loo-ee) C.K. is 58.
• Golfer Angel Cabrera is 56.
• Country singer Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland) is 51.
• Rapper 2 Chainz is 48.
• Singer Ruben Studdard is 47.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming is 45.
• Singer-actor Jennifer Hudson is 44.
• Actor Alfie Allen is 39.
• Actor Emmy Rossum is 39.
• Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is 36.
• Country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini is 32.
• Actor Sydney Sweeney is 28.

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 10, the 253rd day of 2025. There are 112 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 10, 2008, the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) was powered up for the first time, successfully firing the first beam of protons through its 17-mile underground ring tunnel.

Also on this date:

In 1608, John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia.

In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

In 1960, running barefoot, Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the Olympic marathon in Rome, becoming the first Black African to win Olympic gold.

In 1960, Hurricane Donna, a dangerous Category 4 storm blamed for 364 deaths, struck the Florida Keys.

In 1963, 20 Black students entered Alabama public schools following a standoff between federal authorities and Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace.

In 1979, four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives and a 1950 attempted killing of President Harry S. Truman were freed from prison after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter.

In 1987, Pope John Paul II arrived in Miami, where he was welcomed by President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan as he began a 10-day tour of the United States.

In 1991, the Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. The proceedings would become a watershed moment in the discussion of sexual harassment when Anita Hill, a law professor who had previously worked under Thomas, came forward with allegations against him.

In 2005, teams of forensic workers and cadaver dogs fanned out across New Orleans to collect the corpses left behind by Hurricane Katrina.

In 2022, King Charles III was officially proclaimed Britain’s monarch in a pomp-filled ceremony two days after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Scientist-author Jared Diamond is 88.
• Singer José Feliciano is 80.
• Former Canadian first lady Margaret Trudeau is 77.
• Political commentator Bill O’Reilly is 76.
• Rock musician Joe Perry (Aerosmith) is 75.
• Actor Amy Irving is 72.
• Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, is 71.
• Actor-director Clark Johnson is 71.
• Actor Kate Burton is 68.
• Film director Chris Columbus is 67.
• Actor Colin Firth is 65.
• Cartoonist Alison Bechdel is 65.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson is 62.
• Actor Raymond Cruz is 61.
• Rapper Big Daddy Kane is 57.
• Film director Guy Ritchie is 57.
• Actor Ryan Phillippe (FIHL’-ih-pee) is 51.
• Ballerina Misty Copeland is 43.
• Former MLB All-Star Joey Votto is 42.

By AAMER MADHANI and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was trying to walk a delicate line following Israel’s attack on Hamas officials in Qatar, distancing himself from the strike Tuesday but stopping short of condemning Israel for carrying out an audacious strike on the soil of another major U.S. ally.

Trump said the unilateral action directed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “did not advance Israel or America’s goals.” He offered notably muted pushback, however, even suggesting “this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for peace.”

“This was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump said on social media hours after the strikes.

Trump is seeking to soothe concerns of a Gulf ally that has played a key role in mediating between the U.S. and Iran and its proxies, including during talks with Tehran-backed Hamas as the war with Israel in Gaza grinds on. The U.S. also has about 10,000 troops stationed at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, an installation that serves as the forward headquarters of U.S. Central Command.

The president said he directed special envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatar of the impending attack in the capital, Doha, after learning about it and that Witkoff was quick to call Qatari officials. But the U.S. alert was, “unfortunately, too late to stop the attack,” Trump said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari refuted in a post on X that the Qataris were given any warning from the U.S., saying it came just as “the explosions from the Israeli strikes were being heard.”

Qatar has sought closer ties with Trump

The Qataris have sought to deepen their relationship with Trump since his return to office. They have even gifted Trump a $400 million Boeing 747 jet that is to be retrofitted into a new Air Force One. Trump has said the plane will be donated to a future presidential library once his term ends and put on display as a museum piece.

“I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack,” Trump said on social media.

At the same time, Qatar, a wealthy nation with expansive natural gas and oil reserves, has faced scrutiny for its support of Hamas. Prior to the Israel-Hamas war, Doha for years sent millions of dollars per month to the Gaza Strip to prop up Hamas’ governing structure. Qatar has also hosted leaders of the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In a carefully worded statement, Trump also made clear that “eliminating Hamas” was a “worthy goal.”

Trump’s effort to try to assuage Qatar without criticizing Israel comes as he struggles to find an endgame to the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza and win the release of 48 hostages, about 20 who are believed to still be alive.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaking at a briefing earlier Tuesday, did not say how long before the Israeli strikes that Qatar was warned.

She, like Trump, also did not address whether there was any concern that the Qataris could, in turn, have forewarned Hamas leaders that the Israeli strike was coming. Hamas says its top leaders survived the Israeli strike and that five lower-ranking members died.

Israeli warning to the US described as vague

The U.S. military was notified about the Israeli strike ahead of time through military channels, but a U.S. official described that notification as very vague.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss sensitive matters, said the notification included the fact that the Israeli military was going to attack Hamas but did not include specifics like a location, which made it insufficient to allow for any timely follow-on warnings to countries in the region.

Israel perfunctorily warning the U.S. ahead of operations has been an aggravation for much of the war, according to a former U.S. government official who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic issue. Frequently, the official said, Israeli notification “consisted of them calling someone at the embassy or at the Pentagon when planes were already in the air.”

Yet, with a strike this sensitive, the official said, it was difficult to believe Israel had not at least received tacit approval from the U.S. before moving forward with the operation.

White House and State Department officials did not respond to requests for comment about the timing or substance of Witkoff’s warning to Qatar.

Jonathan Schanzer, a former counterterrorism analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department, said the White House’s public comments may be in part an effort to help Qatar save face and keep its relations steady with the United States.

“It’s damage control,” said Schanzer, who is executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. But he added that the strike could affect the Qataris and their relationship with Hamas moving forward.

“There’s a lot of taking stock right now by all parties,” he said.

Trump talks with both sides

Trump spoke with Netanyahu and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and other Qatari officials following the strikes.

“I assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil,” Trump said of his conversation with Qatari officials.

Leavitt demurred when asked if there would be any consequences for the Israelis or Netanyahu for the strike that she suggested was unexpected by U.S. officials.

Trump posted on social media Sunday a cryptic warning to Hamas hinting at a new American proposal to exchange all the remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners and end the war in Gaza.

“I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting,” Trump said. “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

Asked if Trump had been hinting at the Doha strike, Leavitt replied, “No, he was not.”

Today is Thursday, Sept. 4, the 247th day of 2025. There are 118 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 4, 1949, more than 140 people were injured following a performance by singer Paul Robeson in Peekskill, New York, as an anti-Communist mob attacked departing concertgoers.

Also on this date:

In 1781, Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers under the leadership of Governor Felipe de Neve.

In 1944, during World War II, British troops liberated Antwerp, Belgium.

In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus ordered Arkansas National Guardsmen to prevent nine Black students from entering all-white Central High School in Little Rock.

In 1972, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz became the first to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games, winning a seventh gold at the Munich Olympics in the 400-meter medley relay.

In 1972, the longest-running game show in U.S. history, “The Price is Right,” debuted on CBS.

In 1974, the United States established diplomatic relations with East Germany.

In 1998, Google was founded by Stanford University Ph.D. students Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

In 2016, elevating the “saint of the gutters” to one of the Catholic Church’s highest honors, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa, praising her radical dedication to society’s outcasts and her courage in shaming world leaders for the “crimes of poverty they themselves created.”

In 2018, the Senate Judiciary Committee began confirmation hearings for future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on a day that saw rancorous exchanges between Democrats and Republicans.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Golf Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd is 83.
• Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson is 76.
• Actor Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs is 72.
• Actor Khandi Alexander is 68.
• Actor-comedian Damon Wayans Sr. is 65.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza is 57.
• DJ-musician-producer Mark Ronson is 50.
• Actor Wes Bentley is 47.
• Actor Max Greenfield is 46.
• Singer-actor Beyoncé is 44.
• Actor-comedian Whitney Cummings is 43.
• Actor-comedian Kyle Mooney (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 41.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. has carried out a strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela.

The president offered scant details on the operation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that the vessel was being operated by a “designated narco-terrorist organization.”

The press office of Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement.

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

President Donald Trump’s administration is piling new restrictions on Palestinian visa applicants, making it nearly impossible for anyone holding a Palestinian Authority passport from receiving travel documents to visit the U.S. for business, work, pleasure or educational purposes.

Palestinian applicants who hold non-Palestinian Authority passports may also face difficulties should they need a U.S. visa.

Since early August, the State Department has tightened what it says are temporary policies to boost its vetting procedures for Palestinians seeking to travel to the United States, meaning that virtually all applications will either be denied or not accepted for processing.

The moves targeting the Palestinians are part of the administration’s global effort to reform how U.S. visas are issued and crack down on illegal immigration — it has already resulted in several thousand student visas revoked, many of them for pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli activity. As part of that effort, the State Department said last week that it is reviewing all of the more than 55 million current U.S. visa holders to ensure they are properly vetted.

However, the steps taken against Palestinians appear more far-reaching than those directed at other nationalities, many of which include exemptions for official travel to the U.S.

On Aug. 1, the department instructed consular officers to deny visa applications from anyone suspected of having past or present employment or ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization or the Palestinian Authority regardless of their position or purpose of travel.

On Aug. 16, the department suspended a program that had allowed war-wounded Palestinian children from Gaza to come to the U.S. for medical treatment, following an outcry from conservative pundits.

Two days later, on Aug. 18, the department sent a worldwide cable to all U.S. diplomatic posts instructing them to reject all non-immigrant visa request from Palestinian Authority passport holders.

“This action is to ensure that such applications have undergone necessary, vetting, and screening protocols to ensure the applicants’ identity and eligibility for a visa under US law,” according to the cable, obtained by The Associated Press and reported earlier by The New York Times.

The suspension does not apply to Palestinians who hold non-Palestinian Authority passports, but they could still be refused if they are suspected of having PA or PLO ties, according to the Aug. 1 instructions.

Although the suspension does not apply to Palestinians seeking immigrant visas, the cable said that Palestinian officials applying to visit the United States for official purposes are not exempt from the restrictions.

Then, on Friday, in keeping with the guidance issued a week earlier, the department announced that it had denied visa applications from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and about 80 other Palestinian officials who were planning to participate in the high-level meeting at U.N. General Assembly in New York later this month.

“It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” the department said in a statement.

It said that to be considered partners for peace, the groups “must consistently repudiate terrorism, and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by U.S. law and as promised by the PLO.”

The Palestinian Authority denounced the visa withdrawals as a violation of U.S. commitments as the host country of the United Nations and urged the State Department to reverse its decision. There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority on the broader visa restrictions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that U.S President Donald Trump’s administration is listening to the Kremlin’s justifications for its invasion of neighboring Ukraine and claimed that Moscow and Washington have come to a “mutual understanding” about the conflict.

Putin said during a visit to China that “the (Trump) administration is listening to us,” as he complained that former President Joe Biden paid Moscow’s arguments no heed.

“Now we see this mutual understanding, it’s noticeable,” Putin said at a bilateral meeting with Slovakian President Robert Fico after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. “We are very happy about this and hope this constructive dialogue will continue.”

But Russia faces possible punitive actions by Trump, who has expressed frustration at Putin’s lack of engagement in U.S.-led peace efforts and threatened unspecified “severe consequences.” The American president has made ending the three-year war one of his diplomatic priorities and hosted Putin at a summit in Alaska last month.

Putin attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who are also facing pressure from Trump. The SCO started out as a security forum viewed as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia but it has grown in influence over the years.

After the summit, the Russian leader held talks with Xi in Beijing, and on Wednesday he was to attend a massive military parade there commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In Beijing, Putin struck an apparently amenable tone about possible progress in some aspects of the discussions to stop the fighting, although his comments reflected no substantial change in Russia’s position. Western leaders have accused Putin of marking time in peace efforts while Russia’s bigger army seeks to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.

On the key issue of possible postwar security guarantees for Ukraine to deter another Russian invasion, Putin said “it seems to me that there is an opportunity to find consensus.” He didn’t elaborate.

While Putin reiterated that Moscow will not accept NATO membership for Ukraine, he also noted that he had never objected to Ukraine joining the European Union.

He also said Russia “can work with our American partners” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest and one of the 10 biggest atomic power plants in the world. Its fate has been a central concern of the war due to fears of a nuclear accident.

Putin said Russia could also work with Ukraine on the Zaporizhzhia question — “if favorable conditions arise.”

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and JUAN ARRAEZ, Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said his country was at “maximum preparedness” and ready to respond if attacked by forces that the United States government has deployed to the Caribbean.

His comments during a news conference come as the U.S. government this week is set to boost its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. The U.S. has not signaled any planned land incursion by the thousands of personnel being deployed. Still, Maduro’s government has responded by deploying troops along its coast and border with neighboring Colombia, as well as by urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia.

“In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela,” Maduro said of the deployment, which he characterized as “an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.”

He said he would constitutionally declare a “republic in arms” if the U.S. attacked Venezuela. He did not elaborate.

The U.S. Navy now has two Aegis guided-missile destroyers — the USS Gravely and the USS Jason Dunham — in the Caribbean, as well as the destroyer USS Sampson and the cruiser USS Lake Erie in the waters off Latin America. That military presence is set to expand.

Three amphibious assault ships — a force that encompasses more than 4,000 sailors and Marines — would be entering the region this week, a defense official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to describe ongoing operations.

The deployment comes as President Donald Trump has pushed for using the military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into U.S. communities and for perpetuating violence in some U.S. cities.

On Monday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil, citing a United Nations report, told his counterparts in various Latin American countries that the deployment of U.S. maritime forces is built on a “false narrative” as 87% of cocaine produced in Colombia departs through the Pacific and traffickers attempt to move only 5% of their product through Venezuela. Landlocked Bolivia and Colombia, with access to the Pacific and Caribbean, are the world’s top cocaine producers.

Gil added that the narrative “threatens the entire region” and an attack on Venezuela “would really mean a complete destabilization of the region.”

“Let us immediately demand an end to this deployment, which has no other reason than to threaten a sovereign people,” he added during a virtual meeting of members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States regional group.

Maduro also used his news conference to insist that he was the legitimate winner of last year’s presidential election. But ample and credible evidence has shown the contrary, prompting several countries, including the U.S., to not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s president.

Maduro, sworn in to a third six-year term in January, added that his government maintains two lines of communication with the Trump administration, one with the State Department and another with Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell. He called Secretary of State Marco Rubio a “warlord” pushing for action in the Caribbean to topple Venezuela’s government.

Since the July 2024 presidential election, Venezuela’s political opposition has been urging the U.S. and other countries to pressure Maduro into leaving office. Its leader, María Corina Machado, last month thanked Trump and Rubio for the deployment of the vessels, describing the move as “the right approach” toward Venezuela’s government, which she described as a “criminal enterprise.”

Maduro on Monday, however, warned that U.S. military action against Venezuela would “stain” Trump’s “hands with blood.”

“President Donald Trump, the pursuit of regime change is exhausted; it has failed as a policy worldwide,” Maduro said. “You cannot pretend to impose a situation in Venezuela.”

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Today is Friday, Aug. 29, the 241st day of 2025. There are 124 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 29, 2004, marathoner Vanderlei de Lima was attacked by a spectator during the running of the Olympic marathon in Athens; de Lima, who was leading the race at the time, eventually finished third and received the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship in addition to his bronze medal.

Also on this date:

In 1814, during the War of 1812, Alexandria, Virginia, formally surrendered to British military forces, which occupied the city until September 3.

In 1825, the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro was signed by Portugal and Brazil, officially ending the Brazilian War of Independence.

In 1862, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing began operations at the United States Treasury.

In 1944, 15,000 American troops of the 28th Infantry Division marched down the Champs-Élysées in Paris as the French capital continued to celebrate its liberation from the Nazis.

In 1958, the U.S. Air Force Academy opened in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In 1966, the Beatles concluded their fourth American tour with their last public concert, held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in southeast Louisiana, breaching levees and spurring floods that devastated New Orleans. Katrina caused nearly 1,400 deaths and an estimated $200 billion in damage.

In 2008, Republican presidential nominee John McCain picked Sarah Palin, a maverick conservative who had been governor of Alaska for less than two years, to be his running mate.

In 2013, in a sweeping new policy statement, the Justice Department said it would not stand in the way of states that wanted to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana as long as there were effective controls to keep marijuana away from children, the black market and federal property.

In 2021, Hurricane Ida blasted ashore in Louisiana as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., knocking out power to all of New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and briefly reversing the flow of the Mississippi River.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Elliott Gould is 87.
• Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin is 87.
• Olympic gold medal sprinter Wyomia Tyus is 80.
• Olympic gold medal long jumper Bob Beamon is 79.
• Animal behaviorist and autism educator Temple Grandin is 78.
• Dancer-choreographer Mark Morris is 69.
• Actor Rebecca De Mornay is 66.
• Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is 58.
• Singer Me’Shell NdegeOcello (n-DAY’-gay-OH’-chehl-oh) is 57.
• Actor Carla Gugino is 54.
• Actor-singer Lea Michele is 39.
• MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard (SIHN’-dur-gahrd) is 33.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s top trade negotiator abruptly canceled a trip to Washington aimed at issuing a joint statement on a tariffs deal with the Trump administration, as a top government spokesman urged the U.S. side to speed up implementation of the agreement.

Trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa was scheduled to leave Tokyo for Washington on Thursday for a 10th round of talks, following up on the agreement announced on July 22.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters some details required further consultations, so the trip was postponed.

In July, the two sides agreed on a 15% tax on imports of most Japanese goods, effective Aug. 1, down from an earlier 25% rate announced by President Donald Trump as so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on the major U.S. ally. Japanese officials discovered days later that the preliminary deal would add a 15% tariff to other tariffs and objected. Officials in Washington have acknowledged the mistake and agreed to abide by the agreement on a 15% tariff, and to refund any excess import duties that were paid.

So far, that hasn’t happened.

“We will strongly request the United States to amend its presidential order to correct the reciprocal tariffs and to issue the presidential order to lower tariffs on autos and auto parts,” Hayashi said.

In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Washington was ready to finalize the deal, in which Japan also pledged to invest up to $550 billion in the United States in coming years.

Plans for Akazawa to visit Washington are undecided, Hayashi said during a daily briefing, with another nudge at the Trump administration.

“Japan and the United States have confirmed the importance of sincere and prompt implementation of the agreement between the two countries,” he said, adding that a deal was essential for the economic security of both countries.

Today is Thursday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2025. There are 125 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 28,1955, Emmett Till, a Black teenager from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in Money, Mississippi, by two white men after he had allegedly whistled at a white woman four days prior; he was found brutally slain three days later.

Also on this date:

In 1845, the first issue of “Scientific American” magazine was published; it remains the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States.

In 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run began in Prince William County, Virginia, during the Civil War; the Union army retreated two days later after suffering 14,000 casualties.

In 1898, pharmacist Caleb Bradham of New Bern, North Carolina changed the name of the carbonated beverage he’d created five years earlier from “Brad’s Drink” to “Pepsi-Cola.”

In 1957, then U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond (D-South Carolina) began what remains the longest speaking filibuster in Senate history (24 hours and 18 minutes) seeking to stall the passage of the Civil Rights Act of that year.

In 1963, during the March on Washington, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech before an estimated 250,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In 1968, police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.

In 1988, 70 people were killed when three Italian Air Force stunt planes collided during an air show at the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein, West Germany.

In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation as Hurricane Katrina approached the city.

In 2013, a military jury sentenced Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that claimed 13 lives and left 30 people injured.

In 2016, six scientists completed a yearlong Mars simulation on the big island of Hawaii, where they emerged after living in a dome in near isolation on Mauna Loa.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Ken Jenkins (TV: “Scrubs”) is 85.
• Former MLB manager and player Lou Piniella (pih-NEHL’-uh) is 82.
• Former MLB pitcher Ron Guidry (GIH’-dree) is 75.
• Former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove is 73.
• Artist Ai Weiwei is 68.
• Actor Daniel Stern is 68.
• Olympic gold medal figure skater Scott Hamilton is 67.
• Actor Jennifer Coolidge is 64.
• Film director David Fincher is 63.
• Country singer Shania (shah-NY’-uh) Twain is 60.
• “Pokemon” creator Satoshi Tajiri is 60.
• Actor Billy Boyd is 57.
• Actor Jack Black is 56.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Pierre Turgeon is 56.
• Actor Jason Priestley is 56.
• Olympic gold medal swimmer Janet Evans is 54.
• Actor Carly Pope is 44.
• Country singer Jake Owen is 44.
• Country singer LeAnn Rimes is 43.
• Rock singer Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) is 39.
• Actor Quvenzhane (kwuh-VEHN’-zhah-nay) Wallis is 22.

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2025. There are 126 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 27, 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall in the United States; the storm would be responsible for 49 total deaths and more than $14 billion in damage.

Also on this date:

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions. The explosions (which could be heard 3,000 miles away) and resulting tsunamis in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

In 1894, Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which contained a provision for a graduated income tax that was later struck down by the Supreme Court.

In 1964, the film “Mary Poppins” had its world premiere in Los Angeles, California.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

In 1982, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s stole his 119th base of the season, breaking Lou Brock’s single-season stolen base record. (Henderson would finish the season with a still-unmatched 130 stolen bases.)

In 1990, blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughn and four others were killed in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin.

In 2001, Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows, killing senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri.

In 2005, coastal residents jammed freeways and gas stations as they rushed to avoid Hurricane Katrina, which was headed toward New Orleans.

In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver, becoming the first Black presidential nominee from a major political party.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Author William Least Heat-Moon is 86.
• Actor Tuesday Weld is 82.
• Former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., is 82.
• Actor G.W. Bailey is 81.
• Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 72.
• Actor Peter Stormare is 72.
• Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 68.
• Golfer Bernhard Langer is 68.
• Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 64.
• Fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford is 64.
• Actor Chandra Wilson is 56.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome is 55.
• Rapper Mase is 50.
• Actor Sarah Chalke is 49.
• Actor Aaron Paul is 46.
• Actor Patrick J. Adams (TV: “Suits”) is 44.
• Singer Mario is 39.
• Actor Alexa PenaVega is 37.
• Singer-songwriter Kim Petras is 33.
• U.S. Olympic and WNBA basketball star Breanna Stewart is 31.
• Rapper/singer-songwriter Rod Wave is 27.

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 26, the 238th day of 2025. There are 127 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 26, 1985, 13-year-old AIDS patient Ryan White began “attending” classes at Western Middle School in Kokomo, Indiana via a telephone hook-up at his home, as school officials had barred White from attending classes in person due to his illness.

Also on this date:

In 1939, the first televised major league baseball games were broadcast on experimental station W2XBS: a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. The Reds won the first game, 5-2, and the Dodgers the second, 6-1.

In 1944, French Gen. Charles de Gaulle braved the threat of German snipers as he led a victory march in Paris, which had just been liberated by the Allies from Nazi occupation.

In 1958, Alaskans went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood.

In 1968, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago; the four-day event that resulted in the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey for president was marked by a bloody police crackdown on antiwar protesters in the streets.

In 1972, the summer Olympics opened in Munich, West Germany.

In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani (al-BEE’-noh loo-CHYAH’-nee) of Venice was elected pope following the death of Paul VI. The new pontiff, who took the name Pope John Paul I, died just over a month later.

In 1980, the FBI inadvertently detonated a bomb planted at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, while attempting to disarm it. (The hotel had been evacuated and no injuries were reported but the blast caused significant damage.)

In 2009, kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard was discovered alive in California after being missing for more than 18 years.

In 2022, an affidavit released by the FBI showed that 14 of the 15 boxes recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate contained classified documents, many of them top secret, mixed in with miscellaneous newspapers, magazines and personal correspondence.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is 80.
• R&B singer Valerie Simpson (Ashford & Simpson) is 79.
• Broadcast journalist Bill Whitaker is 74.
• Puzzle creator/editor Will Shortz is 73.
• Jazz musician Branford Marsalis is 65.
• Actor-singer Shirley Manson (Garbage) is 59.
• Actor Melissa McCarthy is 55.
• Latin pop singer Thalia is 54.
• Actor Macaulay Culkin is 45.
• Actor Chris Pine is 45.
• Comedian/actor/writer John Mulaney is 43.
• Country musician Brian Kelley (Florida Georgia Line) is 40.
• NBA guard James Harden is 36.
• Actor Dylan O’Brien is 34. Actor Keke Palmer is 32.

By BARRY HATTON and KATIE MARIE DAVIES, Associated Press

The second Oval Office meeting in six months between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went off smoothly Monday, in sharp contrast to their disastrous encounter in February.

European leaders joined the discussions in a show of transatlantic unity, and both they and Zelenskyy repeatedly thanked Trump for his efforts to end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine.

“I don’t want to hide the fact that I wasn’t sure it would go this way,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Washington. “But my expectations were not just met, they were exceeded.”

Zelenskyy said Tuesday: “We have taken an important step towards ending this war and ensuring security for Ukraine and all of Europe.”

But despite the guarded optimism and friendly banter among the leaders, there was little concrete progress on the main obstacles to ending the war — and that deadlock likely favors Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces continue to make steady, if slow progress on the ground in Ukraine.

“Putin cannot get enough champagne or whatever he’s drinking,” Gabrielius Landsbergis, a former foreign minister of Lithuania, said of Monday’s meeting.

As NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told The Ingraham Angle on Fox News: “All the details have to be hammered out.”

Here is a look at the issues that must be resolved:

Security guarantees for Ukraine

To agree to a peace deal with Russia, Ukraine wants assurances that it can deter any future attacks by the Kremlin’s forces.

That means, Zelenskyy says, a strong Ukrainian army that is provided with weapons and training by Western partners.

It could potentially also mean offering Ukraine a guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense mandate, which sees an attack on one member of the alliance as an attack on all. How that would work is not clear.

Additionally, Kyiv’s European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement in Ukraine.

A coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, have signed up to support the initiative, although the role that the U.S. might play in such a force is unclear.

European leaders, fearing Moscow’s territorial ambitions won’t stop in Ukraine, are keen to lock America’s military might into the plan.

Trump said he’ll help provide protection but stopped short of committing American troops to the effort, instead promising U.S. “coordination.”

Russia has repeatedly rejected the idea of such a force, saying that it will not accept NATO troops in Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired an online meeting Tuesday of the coalition countries.

Once officials have discussed proposals in more detail, Rutte said, a virtual meeting will take place with Trump and European leaders.

Agreeing on a ceasefire

Ukraine and its European supporters have repeatedly called for a ceasefire while peace talks are held.

Putin has balked at that prospect. With his forces inching forward in Ukraine, he has little incentive to freeze their movement.

Ahead of his meeting with the Russian leader last week, Trump threatened Russia with “severe consequences” if it didn’t accept a ceasefire. Afterward, he dropped that demand and said it was best to focus on a comprehensive peace deal — as Putin has pushed for.

Trump said in Monday’s Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy that a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was “unnecessary.” But after his closed-door meeting with European leaders and Zelenskyy, Trump told reporters that “all of us would obviously prefer the immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace.”

Where Trump ultimately falls on that issue is important because it could affect how much Ukrainian land Russia has seized by the time the two sides get around to hammering out how much it could keep.

Occupied Ukrainian territory

Zelenskyy and European leaders said that Putin has demanded that Ukraine give up the Donbas, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the most intense fighting but that Russian forces have failed to capture completely.

Moscow’s forces also hold Crimea as well as parts of six other regions — all adding up to about one-fifth of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has long noted the Ukrainian Constitution prohibits breaking up his country. He has also suggested the demand for territory would serve as a springboard for future invasion.

Rutte said the possibility of Ukraine ceding occupied territory to Russia in return for peace wasn’t discussed in Monday’s talks. That is an issue for Zelenskyy and Putin to consider together, he said to Fox News.

A Putin-Zelenskyy meeting

Zelenskyy has repeatedly suggested sitting down with Putin, even challenging the Russian leader to meet him as part of direct peace talks between the two sides in Turkey in May. Putin snubbed that offer, saying that significant progress on an agreement would have to be made before the pair met in person.

On Monday, Trump appeared to back Zelenskyy’s plan. “I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump said in a social media post.

He said he would join the two leaders afterward.

But when discussing a phone call held after the meeting between Trump and the Russian leader, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov gave no indication that either a bilateral or a trilateral meeting with Ukraine had been agreed.

European leaders know that Putin doesn’t want to meet Zelenskyy and that he won’t allow Western troops in Ukraine — but they’re expressing optimism that these things could happen in the hopes of forcing Putin to be the one to say no to Trump, according to Janis Kluge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“Europeans hype up expectations to create a reality in which Putin disappoints,” he wrote on X.

Associated Press writers Sam McNeil in Brussels and Emma Burrows in London contributed.

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. special envoy to Lebanon said Monday that his team would discuss the long-term cessation of hostilities with Israel, after Beirut endorsed a U.S.-backed plan for the Hezbollah militant group to disarm.

Tom Barrack, following a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, also said Washington would seek an economic proposal for post-war reconstruction in the country, after months of shuttle diplomacy between the U.S. and Lebanon.

Barrack is also set to meet with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri, who often negotiates on behalf of Hezbollah with Washington.

“I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step,” said Barrack, who is also the U.S. ambassador to Turkey. “Now what we need is for Israel to comply with that equal handshake.”

Lebanon’s decision last week to support a plan to disarm Hezbollah angered the Iran-backed group and its allies, who believe Israel’s military should first withdraw from the five hilltops it has occupied in southern Lebanon since the end of its 14-month war with Hezbollah last November and stop launching almost daily airstrikes in the country.

Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, has vowed to fight efforts to disarm the group, sowing fears of civil unrest in the country.

Barrack warned Hezbollah that it will have “missed an opportunity” if it doesn’t back the calls for it to disarm.

Aoun and Salam both want to disarm Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups, and have demanded Israel halt its attacks and withdraw from the country.

Aoun said he wants to increase funding for Lebanon’s cash-strapped military to bolster its capacity. He also wants to raise money from international donors to help rebuild the country.

The World Bank estimates that Hezbollah and Israel’s monthslong war in late 2024 cost $11.1 billion in damages and economic losses as larges swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon were battered. The country has also faced a crippling economic crisis since 2019.

By JOSH BOAK and SAMYA KULLAB, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine’s future could hinge on a hastily assembled meeting Monday at the White House as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brings with him an extraordinary cadre of European leaders to show U.S. President Donald Trump a united front against Russia.

The European political heavy-hitters were left out of Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, and they’re looking to safeguard Ukraine and the continent from any widening aggression from Moscow.

By arriving as a group, they hope to avoid any debacles like Zelenskyy’s February meeting in the Oval Office, where Trump chastised him for not showing enough gratitude for American military aid. The meeting also is a test of America’s relationship with its closest allies after the European Union and the United Kingdom accepted Trump’s tariff hikes partly because they wanted his support on Ukraine.

Monday’s showing is a sign of the progress and the possible distress coming out of the Alaska meeting as many of Europe’s leaders descend on Washington with the explicit goal of protecting Ukraine’s interests, a rare and sweeping show of diplomatic force.

“It’s important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, and therefore for all of Europe,” Zelenskyy said on X.

The night before the meeting, however, Trump seemed to put the onus on Zelenskyy to agree to concessions and suggested Ukraine couldn’t regain Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, setting off an armed conflict that led to its broader 2022 invasion.

“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote on social media. “Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!”

Zelenskyy appeared to respond with his own post, saying, “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably.” He went on to say that “peace must be lasting,” not as it was after Russia seized Crimea and part of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine eight years ago, and “Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack.”

The sitdown in Alaska yielded the possible contours for stopping the war in Ukraine, though it was unclear whether the terms discussed would ultimately be acceptable to Zelenskyy or Putin.

Upon arrival in Washington, Zelenskyy said in another social media post: “We all equally want to end this war quickly and reliably.” He expressed hope that together with the U.S. and European countries Ukraine will be able to force Russia to “true peace.”

European heavyweights in Washington

Planning to join Zelenskyy in America’s capital are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

On the table for discussion are possible NATO-like security guarantees Ukraine would need for any peace with Russia to be durable. Putin opposes Ukraine joining NATO outright, yet Trump’s team claims the Russian leader is open to allies agreeing to defend Ukraine if it comes under attack.

Trump briefed Zelenskyy and European allies shortly after the Putin meeting, and details from the discussions emerged in a scattershot way that seemed to rankle the Republican U.S. president, who had chosen not to outline any terms when appearing afterward with Putin.

“BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA,” Trump posted online Sunday. The president also bemoaned media coverage of his summit with Putin, saying on Truth Social: “I had a great meeting in Alaska.”

Following the Alaska summit, Trump declared a ceasefire was unnecessary for peace talks to proceed, a shift to a position favored by Putin.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday a ceasefire was still possible but “the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal.”

‘A very big move’

European officials confirmed Trump told them Putin is still seeking control of the entire Donbas region, even though Ukraine controls a meaningful share of it.

And Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the U.S. and its allies could offer Ukraine a NATO-like commitment to defend the country if it came under attack as the possible security guarantee.

“How that’s constructed, what we call it, how it’s built, what guarantees are built into it that are enforceable, that’s what we’ll be talking about over the next few days with our partners who are coming in from overseas,” Rubio told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Rubio said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” such a commitment “would be a very big move” by Trump. He expects the delegations will “spend six, seven hours talking about these things, maybe more, and try to get to a point where we have something more concrete.”

Monday’s meeting will likely be very tough for Zelenskyy, an official close to the ongoing talks said. That official spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak openly about thinking within Ukraine and between allies.

Zelenskyy needs to prevent a scenario in which he gets blamed for blocking peace talks by rejecting Putin’s maximalist demand on the Donbas, the official said. It’s a demand Zelenskyy has said many times he’ll never accept because it’s unconstitutional and could create a launching pad for future Russian attacks.

If confronted with pressure to accept Putin’s demands, Zelenskyy would likely have to revert to a skill he has demonstrated time and again: diplomatic tact. Ukrainian leadership is seeking a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump and Putin to discuss sensitive matters, including territorial issues.

Trump’s ambition to end the war

After enduring a public tirade by Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February, Zelenskyy worked to repair relations with the U.S.

Constant diplomatic communication and a 15-minute meeting at the Vatican in April on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral helped turn the tide. Trump appeared at the time to be swayed by Zelenskyy’s conditions for peace.

But Trump says he cares primarily about ending the war, an ambition that led him after his meeting with Putin to discard the need for a ceasefire.

European allies also have worked with Trump, reaching a deal in July for NATO allies to buy weapons from the U.S. for Ukraine.

Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Macron stressed the importance of building up Ukraine’s military and the need to show Putin that Europe interprets his moves as a threat to other nations.

“If we are weak with Russia today, we’ll be preparing the conflicts of tomorrow and they will impact the Ukrainians and — make no mistake — they can impact us, too,” Macron said.

Russia continues attacks on Ukraine

In the meantime, the Russian forces continued pounding Ukraine with missiles and drones.

A Russian drone strike late Sunday on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killed seven civilians. The strike also injured 20 people, authorities said.

Russian aerial attacks also targeted the northeastern Sumy region and the southern Odesa region.

In Zaporizhzhia, a city in the southeast, 17 people were injured in an attack Monday, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched four Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 140 Shahed and decoy drones across Ukraine overnight, of which 88 drones were intercepted or jammed.

Kullab reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers John Leicester in Le Pecq, France, Illia Novikov in Kyiv and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss how to end Russia’s three-year war in Ukraine.

Months of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting haven’t made headway, but the stakes have risen since Trump met with with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. After that summit, Trump abandoned the requirement of reaching a ceasefire in order to hold further talks and aligned with Putin’s position that negotiations should focus on a long-term settlement instead.

The presence of several European leaders at the talks in Washington shows how central the conflict — and any settlement — is to wider security questions on the continent.

They are looking to safeguard Ukraine and Europe more broadly from any further aggression from Moscow — but also are providing a show of support for Zelenskyy after his last visit to the White House led to an angry confrontation. The American and Ukrainian leaders are scheduled to first meet privately, without the Europeans.

Here’s what to know about the Washington meeting.

The talks could be a pivotal moment in the war

After meeting Putin in Alaska, Trump is making a big push for a breakthrough.

A lot of issues need to be resolved, however, and the two sides have previously established red lines that are incompatible, including questions of whether Ukraine will cede any land to Russia, the future of Ukraine’s army and whether the country will have any guarantee against further Russian aggression.

In a post on social media Sunday night, Trump appeared to shift the burden for ending the war to Zelenskyy, whose country was invaded in February 2022.

“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” he wrote.

A comprehensive peace deal could still be a long way off.

Putin wants the Donbas

As a condition for peace, the Russian leader wants Kyiv to give up the Donbas, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the most intense fighting but that Russian forces have failed to capture completely.

In his Sunday night post, Trump wrote that Zelenskyy should also accept Russia’s illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

As part of a deal, Putin has said the United States and its European allies can provide Ukraine with a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense pledge, according to a senior U.S. official.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff called that a “game-changing” step though he offered few details on how it would work.

Ukraine has long pressed for some kind of guarantee that would prevent Russia from invading again.

Ukraine won’t surrender land to Russia

Zelenskyy has rejected Putin’s demand that Ukraine surrender the Donbas region, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, since the Ukrainian Constitution forbids giving up territory or trading land. That also means he can’t cede Crimea either.

Instead, freezing the front line — which snakes roughly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from northeastern to southeastern Ukraine — seems to be the most the Ukrainian people might accept.

Russia currently holds about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

Europe’s security is also at stake in the talks

European leaders see Ukraine’s fight as a bulwark against any Kremlin ambitions to threaten other countries in eastern Europe and beyond.

French President Emmanuel Macron described Ukraine as an “outpost of our collective defense if Russia wanted to advance again.”

“If we are weak with Russia today, we’ll be preparing the conflicts of tomorrow and they will impact the Ukrainians and — make no mistake — they can impact us, too.” Macron said Sunday.

The European political heavyweights expected in Washington are Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Civilians are killed as the fighting continues

Ukraine has in recent months been losing more territory against Russia’s bigger army, and Moscow’s forces breached Ukrainian lines in a series of minor infiltrations in the Donetsk region ahead of the Alaska summit. But there is no sign of a looming, major Russian breakthrough on the front line.

Both sides have also kept up their daily long-range strikes behind the front line.

A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed six people late Sunday, including an 18-month-old and a 16-year-old, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov. The attack on the northeastern city injured 20 others, including six children, he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday reported intercepting 23 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and the annexed Crimean peninsula overnight.

By MARK THIESSEN and GENE JOHNSON

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — When U.S. President Donald 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 Gov. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. and world leaders.

Here’s a look at Alaska’s history with Russia and on the international stage:

Russian trappers and Seward’s Folly

The fur traders established hubs in Sitka and on Kodiak Island. The Russian population in Alaska never surpassed about 400 permanent settlers, according to the Office of the Historian of the U.S. State Department.

Russian settlers brutally coerced Alaska Natives to harvest sea otters and other marine mammals for their pelts, said Ian Hartman, a University of Alaska Anchorage history professor.

“It was a relationship that the Russians made clear quite early on was not really about kind of a longer-term pattern of settlement, but it was much more about a short-term pattern of extraction,” Hartman said.

Meanwhile, Russian Orthodox missionaries baptized an estimated 18,000 Alaska Natives.

By 1867 the otters had been hunted nearly to extinction and Russia was broke from the Crimean War. Czar Alexander II sold Alaska to the U.S. for the low price of $7.2 million — knowing Russia couldn’t defend its interests in Alaska if the U.S. or Great Britain tried to seize it.

Skeptics referred to the purchase as “Seward’s Folly,” after U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward. That changed when gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896.

World War II and the Cold War

The U.S. realized Alaska’s strategic importance in the 20th century. During World War II the island of Attu — the westernmost in the Aleutian chain and closer to Russia than to mainland North America — was captured by Japanese forces. The effort to reclaim it in 1943 became known as the war’s “forgotten battle.”

During the Cold War, military leaders worried Soviets might attack via Alaska, flying planes over the North Pole to drop nuclear weapons. They built a chain of radar systems connected to an anti-aircraft missile system.

Friday’s summit will be at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. The base was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and it still hosts key aircraft squadrons that intercept Russian aircraft when they fly into U.S. airspace.

The military constructed much of the infrastructure in Alaska, including roads and some communities, and its experience building on permafrost later informed the private companies that would drill for oil and construct the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Last year the Pentagon said the U.S. must invest more to upgrade sensors, communications and space-based technologies in the Arctic to keep pace with China and Russia, and it sent about 130 soldiers to a desolate Aleutian island amid an increase in Russian military planes and vessels approaching U.S. territory.

Past visits by dignitaries

Putin will be the first Russian leader to visit, but other prominent figures have come before him.

Japanese Emperor Hirohito stopped in Anchorage before heading to Europe in 1971 to meet President Richard Nixon, and in 1984 thousands turned out to see President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II meet at the airport in Fairbanks.

President Barack Obama visited in 2015, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to set foot north of the Arctic Circle, on a trip to highlight the dangers of climate change.

Gov. Bill Walker welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping at the airport in Anchorage in 2017 and then took him on a short tour of the state’s largest city.

Four years later Anchorage was the setting for a less cordial meeting as top U.S. and Chinese officials held two days of contentious talks in their first face-to-face meeting since President Joe Biden took office two months earlier.

Critics say Alaska is a poor choice for the summit

Sentiment toward Russia in Alaska 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 Vladivostok a letter expressing concern.

The group Stand Up Alaska has organized rallies against Putin on Thursday and Friday.

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.

Russia and the U.S. “are just starting to look more and more alike,” he said.

Many observers have suggested that holding the summit in Alaska sends a bad symbolic message.

“It’s easy to imagine Putin making the argument during his meetings with Trump that, ‘Well, look, territories can change hands,’” said Nigel Gould-Davies, former British Ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. “’We gave you Alaska. Why can’t Ukraine give us a part of its territory?’”

The story has been updated to correct the spelling of Vladivostok.

Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit and Emma Burrows in London contributed.