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Chapter 1: What are the key outcomes of President Trump's Mideast trip?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump is completing his Mideast trip today. He spent the past week meeting with Gulf Arab leaders and striking multi-billion dollar defense and tech deals. But in Pierre's Aya Batraoui reports, Trump leaves the region with the war in Gaza still flaring.
Chapter 2: What is Trump's proposal for Gaza's future?
Trump's Mideast visit began just after Hamas released the last living American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza. Hamas says it did so on the understanding the U.S. would call for a permanent ceasefire and push for aid to enter Gaza. Instead, while in the region, Trump appeared to double down on his idea that Palestinians in Gaza should be permanently relocated outside the territory. saying the U.S.
should get involved there and make it a, quote, freedom zone. He then said his administration's looking at people starving in Gaza under Israel's total blockade, saying we've got to get that taken care of without elaborating. His comments come as Israel says it struck more than 100 Hamas sites in recent days and attacks that have killed hundreds, including entire families.
Aya Batrawi, NPR News, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Chapter 3: Why is Trump's Mideast trip seen as an economic success?
Some see President Trump's Mideast trip as an economic success. Former Ambassador Doug Silliman is the head of the Arab Gulf States Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank.
I think he's really trying to shift the focus of American traditional dealings with the Gulf from the Carter Doctrine of 45 years ago, which was essentially oil for security, to new longer-term and deeper economic partnerships. And I think he has had a pretty good success on this one because the Gulf states also want to have this kind of relationship with the United States.
Chapter 4: What is the Department of Homeland Security's new request?
He spoke to NPR's Morning Edition. The Department of Homeland Security is asking the Pentagon to provide some 20,000 National Guard members to help in removing migrants who are illegally in the U.S., This story was first reported by the New York Times. NPR has learned that military lawyers are reviewing this request. State governors would be asked for volunteers among their Guard forces.
Chapter 5: What caused the recent air traffic control communication blackout?
It's not clear when this might happen. Air traffic controllers at another airport have experienced a communications blackout for well over a minute, this time in Colorado. NPR's Jacqueline Diaz reports this comes on the heels of several outages at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
Multiple radio transmitter failures left pilots flying into Denver International Airport on Monday unable to communicate with air traffic controllers. The outage lasted for about two minutes, hitting the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center in Longmont, Colorado.
That's according to Frank McIntosh, an official with the Federal Aviation Administration, who shared the details in testimony before a House committee hearing this week. Local reports in Denver claim the outage lasted for six minutes. McIntosh said those reports were, quote, over-exaggerated. Planes were able to remain at safe distances in the sky during the outage. Jacqueline Diaz, NPR News.
You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Talks are underway in Istanbul, Turkey, among Ukrainian, Russian, and Turkish representatives. They're discussing ways to end Russia's war on Ukraine. But Russian President Vladimir Putin did not go, sending a low-level delegation instead.
President Trump says he thinks there won't be significant progress in ending the war unless he meets Putin himself. Trump did not mention Ukraine. Shares in UnitedHealth Group tumbled nearly 11 percent yesterday. That was after the health care and insurance conglomerate dismissed reports of a federal government investigation. And Piers Maria Aspin reports.
UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. It controls how tens of millions of Americans access and pay for health care. But it's having a terrible year. which kept getting worse this week. On Tuesday, UnitedHealth abruptly replaced its CEO and suspended its financial guidance for this year.
Now it's facing reports of a potentially criminal investigation by the Department of Justice into its Medicare business. The company says it has not been notified by the DOJ of such an investigation and that it stands by the integrity of its business. But investors are spooked. Shares in UnitedHealth have fallen more than 50 percent in the past month.
shaving hundreds of billions of dollars off its market cap. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York.
People going to the beach in Florida this year will need to watch out for record levels of smelly seaweed. It's called sargassum. Researchers say there's been a record amount of it in the Atlantic Ocean. It's piling up on beaches and could drive away tourists. This is NPR.
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