Ceasefire on the line at today's Alaska Trump-Putin summit: Unbiased Updates, Aug. 15, 2025

And he's not going to mess around with me

Trump-Putin face-to-face in Alaska. This morning, the high-stakes question, can the war on Ukraine be ended

Plus, federal takeover, level two. The attorney general just tapped a new boss at D.C. police, and the pushback is immediate

And Barack Obama fires a warning shot. We can't let a systematic assault on democracy just happen and stand by

The former president sides with Gavin Newsom and Texas Democrats on the front lines

The stories that matter, clear and credible from across the country to around the world

These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News. Good morning. I'm Craig DeGrelli. This morning, history and high stakes in Alaska

President Trump and Vladimir Putin later today will meet face to face

The first time Putin has met a president on American soil in nearly 20 years

The mission, find a way out of the war in Ukraine. But there's no ceasefire, no Zelensky at the table and no guarantees

Donald Trump saying Thursday he believes Putin wants to make peace. And Trump will know really fast if the talks are worth continuing

I think it's going to be very interesting. We're going to find out where everybody stands

And I'll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes

So we tend to find out whether or not we're going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting

And if it's a bad meeting, it'll end very quickly. And if it's a good meeting, we're going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future

European leaders are warning Donald Trump not to give up Ukrainian territory

after he floated a possible land swap. Zelensky, not invited, calls his exclusion a victory for Putin

But Trump says the opposite, claiming his presence alone is keeping Moscow from pushing further

I think that President Putin would like to see a deal. I think if I weren't president, he would take over all of Ukraine

It's a war that should have never happened. If I weren't president, in my opinion, he would much rather take off, take over all of Ukraine

But I am president and he's not going to mess around with me. The summit site, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, a Cold War crossroads with deep symbolic ties to Russia

Putin is able to travel there because the United States is not part of the International Criminal Court which has issued an arrest warrant for him Talks will begin later today with a one then a working lunch What happens after that Trump says is up to him meaning Trump

The Trump administration's federal takeover of D.C.'s Metropolitan Police just tightened, with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi handing control to the head of the DEA

Bondi has named Terry Cole as the emergency police commissioner, giving him full authority over the department

meaning Chief Pamela Smith and other leaders now need his sign-off before issuing any directives

D.C.'s attorney general pushing back, writing to Smith that, it is my opinion that the Bondi order is unlawful and that you are not legally obligated to follow it

Bondi's move came hours after Smith ordered officers to alert immigration authorities

about undocumented immigrants encountered at checkpoints or traffic stops. Bondi says the district's sanctuary policies are why she installed new leadership

They're trying to protect criminal aliens. And what's going to happen if we keep this up

Criminals are going to flee to D.C. and we're not going to let that happen

Bondi's order also reversed guidance that barred D.C. police from searching databases to check a person's immigration status

Also Thursday, the Trump administration says at least 100 arrests have taken place since the National Guard arrived on Monday

This morning, a political brawl with California and Texas at the center

Governor Gavin Newsom formally kicking off his plan to rewrite California's congressional maps

a direct counterpunch to Republicans in Texas redrawing theirs to add GOP seats

We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt. and we have got to meet fire with fire and we've got to be held to a higher level of accountability

So that's what this is about. It's not complicated. We're doing this in reaction to a president of

United States that called a sitting governor of the state of Texas and said, find me five seats

We're doing it in reaction to that act. But the rally outside a Los Angeles museum took a sharp

turn when more than a dozen border patrol agents, many armed and in tactical gear, showed up. DHS

said they were looking for migrants accused of crimes but local leaders called it a brazen show of force Democrats say it all part of a bigger fight with President Trump A message Senator Adam Schiff who Trump has repeatedly referred to as a lowlife hammered home

He doesn't give a rat's ass about you. Not in California, not in Texas. He only cares about himself

And we are going to fight back. We're going to make sure that here in California, your vote matters

If they're going to play with fire, we're going to fight fire with fire

Former President Barack Obama jumped into the fray last night. ABC News was first to report that he held a private call with Texas Democrats

who fled their state, many to Illinois, to block new GOP maps

He's praising California's response. What we all recognize is we can't let a systematic assault on democracy

just happen and stand by. And so because of your actions, because of your courage, what you've seen is California responding, other states looking at what they can do to offset this mid-decade gerrymandering that is highly irregular

Obama warned of a long battle ahead, but said the whole country is watching

No deal after global negotiators failed to reach agreement on a landmark treaty to tackle the world's plastic pollution crisis

More than 1,000 delegates from 184 countries spent days in Geneva debating the issue

The biggest divide? Whether to cap the production of new plastics or focus on better design, recycling and reuse

The latest draft, released today, ditched any cap on production but did call current levels unsustainable and said global action is needed

Despite the disappointment that we all leave with, we have to accept that significant progress was made

Progress was made in that red lines were clarified. Progress was made in that countries discussed

Progress is made because people are demanding a treaty. Now, there's a lot of hard work ahead

The world produces more than 400 million tons of plastic every year

a number expected to jump 70 percent by 2040 without action Many countries also pushed for the treaty to address the toxic chemicals used in plastics Another point that still on the table In the Atlantic tropical storm Aaron is picking up steam

and could become this season's first hurricane by Sunday, possibly reaching category four strength

Right now, Aaron is packing 70 mile an hour winds and moving west northwest, still hundreds of miles

from land. The storm is expected to pass just north of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands

in Puerto Rico this weekend, kicking up rough surf, rip currents, and bands of heavy rain

Forecasters say a direct hit is unlikely for now, but a shift in track could change that

Aaron's long-range path toward Bermuda or the U.S. East Coast remains uncertain

In the Gulf, a separate system could bring downpours and flash flooding

to parts of Texas and Louisiana later tonight. This morning, Louisiana is taking aim at the popular online gaming platform Roblox

accusing it of creating an environment where sexual predators can lurk, thrive and target

children. The state attorney general says Roblox has failed to protect kids and it has become a

danger because of harmful content. In Livingston Parish, the sheriff says his office has multiple

cases involving Roblox, but no arrest yet. In Iowa, authorities say a 13-year-old girl met an

adult on the site who then allegedly kidnapped and trafficked her across state lines. The attorney

general in Louisiana is now pushing to shut down the platform. Roblox, with more than 100 million

users a month, says it bans sharing personal information and blocks image exchanges in chats

but admits those rules are not always enough. Before we head out, here's what we're tracking

today. This morning, California Democrats are expected to unveil a new congressional map

designed to pick up five U.S. House seats, a counter to Texas Republicans' redistricting push

At 11, South Korea holds a symbolic inauguration ceremony for President Lee Jae-myung in downtown Seoul

And this afternoon, President Trump arrives in Anchorage for his high-stakes talks with Vladimir Putin

Wake up looking like you've read five newspapers without actually reading five newspapers

The Unbiased Updates newsletter, straight to your inbox every morning. Go to san.com slash newsletters

Those are your Unbiased Updates for this Friday. We'll see you back here on Monday. For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli

Have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend