World Awaits Trump-Putin Summit In Alaska

Good Monday morning. A meteorite older than the Earth crashed into a Georgia home earlier this summer. Have a great start to your week!

In Today’s Brief

• Iowa: Tragic incident

• North Korea: Border move

• Texas: Special series

• Nasdaq: Record close

• NFL: Long kick

... and more

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The Top Tip

The sitdown

President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on American soil this week.

• The news: Putin and Trump will hold a summit in Alaska on Friday to discuss a deal to end Russia's war against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not been invited, but Trump is reportedly considering it.

• Of note: Putin last visited the U.S. in 2015. He has not visited a NATO country since a pre-pandemic trip to Germany in 2020. Putin and former President Joe Biden met in Switzerland in 2021.

• At issue: Trump has suggested he will push Ukraine to concede territories to Russia as part of a peace deal. Zelenskyy has said he will not agree to this. European allies have insisted Ukraine be part of the talks. There is also confusion about what exactly Russia is (or isn’t) offering.

Quick Tips

U.S. News

• An Iowa man set his house on fire after killing two neighbors. The 71-year-old man died of burn-related injuries; he had been convicted of harrassing other neighbors last year (More)

• President Trump said he will present a plan to "stop violent crime" in Washington today. He has threatened a federal takeover of the city in recent weeks; FBI agents are reportedly now carrying out overnight patrols (More)

• Firefighters in California made significant progress against the Canyon Fire. Evacualtion orders related to the Los Angeles-area blaze were lifted (More)

World News

• South Korea said North Korea has removed some propaganda loudspeakers from the intra-Korean border area. The move is an apparent effort to ease tensions between the nations (More)

• Grenada's government and its opposition agreed to end an oath of allegiance to the British crown. The move comes amid calls for reparations and removing King Charles as head of state (More)

• Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he has "lost faith" in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war effort in Gaza. The far-right politician stopped short of a threat to collapse the country's governing coalition (More)

Political News

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened a rolling series of special legislative sessions. Some Democratic lawmakers have fled the state to thwart Republican-led plans to redraw congressional districts by denying quorum (More)

• IRS Commissioner Billy Long was removed after two months. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will temporarily lead the agency; Long was nominated to be ambassador to Iceland (More)

• At least four Democrats will run for Senate in Iowa next year. Incumbent GOP Sen. Joni Ernst has not yet announced whether she will seek re-election (More)

Business & Markets

• Major indexes closed higher on Friday. The Nasdaq scored a record close, finishing the day up over 200 points (Dow+0.47%, S&P 500 +0.78%, Nasdaq +0.98%).

• Nvidia received federal clearance to export H20 computer chips to China. But Chinese state media has raised concerns about backdoor security risks, as well as panned the quality of the product (More | More)

• A Federal Reserve governor said three interest rate cuts are possible this year. Michelle Bowman is the central bank's vice chairperson for supervision; she cited recent weak jobs data as a reason (More)

Entertainment & Sports

• Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little hit a 70-yard field goal, the longest in NFL history. It will not count as a league record since it came during a preseason game (More)

• Weapons earned $42.5M at North American box offices, beating its opening weekend projections. Freakier Friday was No. 2 at theaters, hauling in $29M (More)

• Fran Drescher will not seek re-election as SAG-AFTRA president. Actors Sean Austin and Chuck Slavin are the candidates vying to succeed The Nanny star atop the union (More)

Links

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• These are the House members with redistricting concerns ✏️

• Someone tried to smuggle $2M worth of cocaine in cheese cans 🧀

• Why we should leave seashells at the beach 🐚

• AOL will discontinue dial-up internet next month 🛜

• How the lawncare industry turned dirt into gold 🚜

• Facts about teens and social media 🤳

• Thieves are targeting high-profile sports collectibles 🏆