Good morning. It's Tuesday, August 19th.
I'm Shamita Basu.
This is Apple News Today.
On today's show, a partisan tit-for-tat over congressional maps,
the growing problem of stalking in elite sports,
and the transformative power of just sitting and spacing out.
But first,
President Trump says he's working on arranging a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and possibly himself for some time in the next few weeks.
It would be the next step toward establishing an agreement to end the war in Ukraine,
after yesterday's meeting between Trump, Zelensky,
and a group of European leaders at the White House.
Well, this really is unusual, and President Trump commented quite a few times.
how historic it is to have so many European leaders sitting in the White House.
Michael Birnbaum is a White House correspondent for The Washington Post.
He told us yesterday's meeting was extraordinary for a number of reasons.
One was just how high level some of these leaders are.
People like NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
but also just how quickly they seem to have cleared their calendars for this.