Zelensky’s Charm Offensive, and Israel’s Push to Send Gazans to South Sudan

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, August 19th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13I think that we had very good conversation with President Trump. Very good. And it really was the best one. — Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy walked out of the White House yesterday on a very different note than his last visit, where that ended in a televised shouting match with President Trump. This time, Zelenskyy and Trump presented a relatively united front, accompanied by a group of other European leaders. — And we are very happy, President, that all the leaders are here, and the security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you. Those leaders who'd flown to D.C. to support Zelensky had worried it could be a more volatile encounter.

0:53But Zelensky showed up ready to charm. He wore a suit jacket instead of his usual military attire, which caught Trump's eye last time and not in a good way. And Zelensky repeatedly thanked Trump for his support, another sensitive topic last time. But while the meeting seemed to buoy the U.S.-Ukraine relationship, it wrapped up with few signs of progress on ending the war itself.

1:18Luke Broadwater:We'll work with Russia. We're going to work with Ukraine. We're going to make sure it works. And I think if we can get to peace, it's going to work. I have no doubt about it. President Trump offered only vague assurances that the U.S. would help enforce any peace deal, something Zelensky has pushed for in case Russia tries to attack again. Your team has talked about security guarantees. Could that involve U.S. troops? Would you rule that out in the future? We'll let you know that maybe later today. Trump is largely focused on pushing for another meeting, this one between Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.

1:52He even excused himself from the larger discussions at one point yesterday to go call the Russian president. For his part, Zelensky said he's ready to meet with Putin. But he repeated that Ukraine will not cede any land to Russia, something Putin has repeatedly demanded.

2:13Now, a few other updates on the Trump administration.

2:17Luke Broadwater:Mail-in ballots are corrupt. Mail-in ballots, you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots. On Monday, President Trump took aim at the country's voting systems, promising to sign an executive order banning mail-in ballots, which are used by millions of Americans. If he moves forward with the plan, he'll almost certainly face intense legal pushback, since the Constitution explicitly gives states the power to set the, quote, times, places and manner of elections. In recent years, Democrats have used mail-in ballots more than Republicans, and Trump's announcement comes as he and his allies are trying to get any advantage they can ahead of the midterms next year.

3:01Some election experts warn that by starting to raise baseless claims of election fraud now, Trump could be going back to his 2020 playbook and laying the groundwork for claiming the midterms were rigged if Republicans don't win.

3:19And at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a senior official told employees on Monday that the agency will no longer provide any material in languages other than English. He said it was part of an effort to carry out President Trump's executive order signed earlier this year that made English the country's official language. While the rise of free translation apps like Google Translate might limit the impact of the move, critics of the change say it could make it more difficult for non-English speakers to access resources like affordable housing. In a statement, a labor union representing HUD employees said that denying language access could, quote, shut people out of housing and services they're entitled to by law, and that, quote, we are one people because of our diversity, not by erasing it.

4:14The Times has learned that Israeli officials have been in talks with South Sudan about a highly controversial plan to relocate huge numbers of Gazans. In recent months, Israeli leaders have been increasingly vocal about wanting Palestinians to leave Gaza en masse, and they've been trying to find countries that would take them in. South Sudan, which has struggled with years of war and famine itself, is said to be considering the proposal as a way to curry favor with President Trump, who briefly endorsed the idea of clearing Palestinians out of Gaza earlier this year. Israeli officials have framed it as a, quote, voluntary migration, but critics say that any effort to forcibly or permanently displace Gazans would amount to ethnic cleansing and a war crime.

5:02Meanwhile, Hamas announced on Monday that it has accepted a new ceasefire proposal that diplomats say would allow more aid into the territory and see a swap of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages. The deal was put forward by Egypt and Qatar, which have been acting as mediators. But it's unclear whether Israel will accept the proposal. During previous rounds of negotiations, hopes for a ceasefire have been raised only to be dashed days later. Earlier this month, Israel signaled it plans to ramp up its military operations in Gaza, despite growing international outcry over the humanitarian crisis there, as well as mass protests inside Israel by people concerned that more fighting will put the hostages' lives at risk.

5:56In Canada this morning, protests and a walkout by Air Canada's 10 ,000 flight attendants have ended in a tentative deal with the airline. The strike had disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers over the past few days. One of the central issues of the dispute was whether the flight attendants should get paid for work they do while a plane is on the ground. Air Canada staff, like a lot of flight attendants around the world, have only been paid for work they do during a flight, not for the time they spend helping passengers board or deplane. The union estimates that means they effectively do about 35 hours of free work every month.

6:38The exact terms of the deal are still unclear, but Air Canada had indicated it was willing to pay staff for some of that ground time at half their normal rate. The deal now needs to be approved by the flight attendants.

6:55And finally. This summer, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Glorilla, and the Wu-Tang Clan have all packed arenas and stadiums around the U.S. and the world. It's part of a surge in hip-hop artists going on tour. While rap is an undeniably massive chunk of the music industry, it's the most listened-to genre, it hasn't had the presence on tour that other genres have had. Last year was hip-hop's biggest year of live music yet, but it still made up just 5 % of what the top 100 tours brought in. And while this year could go on to beat that, it remains a relatively small slice of the pie. Industry experts say there are a couple reasons that it's playing catch-up.

7:47One, rappers have often focused on one-off club performances, rather than rolling out a big tour with a lot of upfront expenses. That's a relatively new undertaking for some in the genre. Also, booking agents say that some concert promoters and venues still need convincing that hip-hop shows will bring in big audiences. One told The Times, quote, A lot of the promoters are older people and may have just been booking rock and country acts. And there have been safety concerns because of a reputation for violence that has dogged the genre since its early days. While violence has broken out at concerts featuring all kinds of pop acts, venues and law enforcement tend to focus on rap.

8:28One touring agent told The Times that even insurance for rap concerts is more expensive.

8:36Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, more on the White House meeting between President Trump and Wladimir Zelensky. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.