About this episode
Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast:1) There was no sign of progress in ceasefire talks between the US and Iran after the worst burst of violence in weeks. President Trump said ceasefire talks are in the “final” stages, while Iran’s foreign minister said the negotiations had stalled. Hezbollah militants rejected a US-brokered truce in Lebanon, with its chief calling the deal “absurd” and refusing to link its presence in Lebanon with stopping the war.2) The Senate passed a $69.5 billion bill to fund two immigration enforcement agencies over three years, resolving a months-long dispute. The bill includes $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection, $38.5 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and $5 billion for additional border support. The bill now heads to the House for a vote before being sent to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.3) Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed back at prospects for European leaders to help negotiate an end to his war in Ukraine, dismissing them as mediators. Putin reiterated that he’d reached an agreement with President Trump on what he said was a compromise peace deal at their summit in Anchorage, and that EU states could play a role in ending the war by convincing Kyiv to agree to compromises. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued an open letter to Putin calling on him to meet directly to settle the war, and said that both Europe and the US should be part of the process of ending the war. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.