News Updates From CLG

All links and summaries are here.

Alaska summit ‘brings us closer’ to Ukraine resolution – Putin | 16 Aug 2025 | Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed cautious optimism that the Alaska summit brings “us closer” to resolving the Ukraine conflict. The Russian leader also noted that Moscow and Washington are on the same page regarding the need to end the hostilities as soon as possible. The talks in Anchorage, which lasted nearly three hours, marked the first face-to-face meeting between Russian and American leaders since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Speaking on Saturday, Putin said that his “visit was timely and quite useful.” “The conversation was very frank, substantive and, in my opinion, it brings us closer to the necessary solutions,” he added.

Trump praises ‘warm’ meeting with Putin –The U.S. president has said he and his Russian counterpart “agree on a lot” | 16 Aug 2025 | U.S. President Donald Trump has described his summit in Alaska with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as a “warm meeting,” and suggested that the Ukraine conflict is close to being resolved. In an interview with Fox News, the U.S. leader praised the three-hour talks with Putin in Anchorage on Friday, noting that they had made progress in talks mainly focused on ending the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. “Actually, I think we agree on a lot. I can tell you, the meeting was…warm,” Trump said, calling Putin a “strong guy.” The U.S. leader earlier suggested that he would “give today a ten” when it came to the outcome of the summit.

‘Next time in Moscow’ – Putin to Trump | 16 Aug 2025 | Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare public switch to English to invite U.S. President Donald Trump to Moscow for the next round of peace talks, following their summit in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday. Trump said he could see the meeting taking place though it would likely face political pushback. Speaking at the press conference, Trump called the meeting “extremely productive” and said, “We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” implying no deal had been reached yet. He said the talks marked significant progress and reaffirmed what he described as his strong relationship with Putin. “Today’s agreements will help us restart pragmatic relations,” Trump said.

U.S. efforts to settle Ukraine conflict ‘energetic and sincere’ – Putin | 15 Aug 2025 | The U.S. is making a genuine effort to stop the fighting in Ukraine and reach agreements that would account for the interests of all parties involved, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. Putin is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss ways of ending the Ukraine conflict, as well as steps toward normalizing relations between Moscow and Washington. On Thursday, Putin met with top government officials in Moscow to discuss the upcoming summit and “the stage where we are with the current U.S. administration.”

Pure evil: Ukrainian agents tricking elderly Russians into terrorism – FSB –Kiev is turning them into “human bombs,” the security agency has said | 11 Aug 2025 | Ukraine’s security and intelligence agencies are using Russian citizens, including elderly women, to carry out suicide missions, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said. At least five people were targeted in recent plots, the agency claimed in a statement released on Monday. Using fraud schemes and psychological pressure, Kiev recruited the women through [social media apps], allegedly posing as Russian law enforcement officials and convincing them to cooperate. According to FSB, the scammers stole the women’s personal funds… Under the pretext of recovering these assets, they were tasked with monitoring the homes and vehicles of Russian military personnel, storing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from hidden caches, and ultimately delivering the devices, disguised as household items, to service members. The plan was to use the women as “human bombs,” the FSB added.

U.S. is ‘done’ funding Ukraine – Vance | 10 Aug 2025 | Washington is not going to fund Ukraine anymore, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Sunday. Ukraine’s European backers can buy the weapons from American producers if they want to continue supporting Kiev, and the U.S. will be “okay with that,” Vance added. “But we’re not going to fund it ourselves anymore,” he said. The interview was published after Vance met with several European and Ukrainian officials in London, including UK Foreign Minister David Lammy. Vance suggested that Kiev’s European backers should play a bigger role providing funding if they “care so much about this conflict.” …Moscow’s senior negotiator Kirill Dmitriev has warned that countries trying to prolong the Ukraine conflict will likely go to great lengths to derail the planned meeting between Putin and Trump.

National Guard patrolling D.C. prepared in coming days to carry weapons | 16 Aug 2025 | National Guard troops sent to Washington, D.C., this week as part of President Trump’s mission to crackdown on violent crime in the nation’s capital will reportedly start carrying weapons in the coming days. That the troops could, and would, has been reported since they started arriving Tuesday, but that will in the coming days was reported Saturday by The Wall Street Journal, based on what the newspaper said were people familiar with the change. The newspaper also says Defense Department officials had previously said the 800 National Guard soldiers deployed wouldn’t be armed, unlike many federal law enforcement agents sent to the capital.

National Guard descends on Washington, D.C., as Trump mulls plan for ‘reaction force’ to invade U.S. cities at any time | 12 Aug 2025 | The National Guard started patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night after President Trump announced the government would takeover policing in the city. Troops with the National Guard arrived into the capital late on Tuesday night in a bid by the White House to curb violent crime. Images of the troops started to pour in shortly after 8pm EST, showing camo clad officers being dispersed throughout the city. Military Humvees also parked on the National Mall on Tuesday evening with officers standing close by. The New York Times reported that they stayed in the area for two hours before leaving for what a nearby Master Sgt. described as a “presence patrol.”

Trump takes control of D.C. police, deploying National Guard in historic capital crime crackdown – and warns NYC could be next | 11 Aug 2025 | President Trump announced a sweeping crime crackdown in D.C. on Monday, placing the city’s police department under federal control and deploying the National Guard to patrol the streets – while warning New York City could be next. “I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor – and worse. This is liberation day in D.C. and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump told reporters at the White House. The Home Rule Act, which granted DC self-governance in 1973, allows the president to assert emergency control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for 30 days.

Hundreds of National Guard troops to flood Washington, D.C., as Trump posts images of homeless from motorcade: ‘We want our Capital BACK’ | 10 Aug 2025 | Hundreds of National Guard troops were prepared to flood the streets of Washington, D.C., as President Donald Trump threatens a federal takeover of the capital. The move came as Trump blasted the crime and homelessness in D.C. while deploying 120 FBI agents to work alongside D.C. police and other federal law enforcement officers in the nation’s capital. “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.” “Be prepared! There will be no ‘MR. NICE GUY.’ We want our Capital BACK.” The president has likened his plans for D.C. as similar to his administration’s aggressive crackdown against illegal immigration at the southern border.

HHS announces revival of childhood vaccine safety task force | 14 Aug 2025 | The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday announced it was reinstating the long-dormant Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, which provides oversight of vaccines that are administered to children. The panel was created by Congress in 1986 under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, but gave Congress its final report in 1998. The task force and HHS secretary are required to give Congress updates every two years. The new panel will consist of experts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya serving as chairman.

China records more cases of deadly chikungunya virus as country battles ‘largest outbreak ever’ | 11 Aug 2025 | Cases of chikungunya virus continue to rise in China, as the country battles its largest-ever outbreak of the illness. Another 1,387 cases of Chikungunya virus were confirmed last week, Chinese authorities said, with almost all in the southern manufacturing city of Foshan. It takes the tally to more than 10,000 cases overall, with infections also reported in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as in Europe and travel-acquired cases in the U.S. The spread of the mosquito-borne disease has triggered restrictions in China not seen since the Covid pandemic, with disinfectant sprayed in streets and patients quarantined in hospitals. Officials have also deployed insecticide-spraying drones, “cannibal” mosquitoes and killer fish to eliminate any insects that could be carrying the virus. [As P_T asked on X: “Where is Bill Gates?” I replied: “Busy dropping off the mosquitoes.]

FDA lifts pause on vaccine with serious side effects against virus in China sparking global epidemic fears | 11 Aug 2025 | The FDA has lifted a pause on the administration of a vaccine for the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness currently spreading from China. The Ixchiq single-dose vaccine was approved for adults 18 and up at risk of exposure to the virus in 2023, when the CDC had recorded 152 travel-associated cases of the virus, the highest rate in four years. But administrations of the shot to adults aged 60 and older were paused in May of this year, triggered by reports of 17 serious side effects following vaccination, including two deaths. The European Medicines Agency suspended Ixchiq’s use in May and the FDA soon followed. A second chikungunya vaccine, Vimkunya, was approved by the FDA in February 2025.

CDC shooter died by suicide and fired nearly 200 rounds at headquarters, authorities say –Authorities also confirmed that they had recovered “written documentation that expressed the shooter’s discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations.” | 12 Aug 2025 | The man who opened fire at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters last week, killing a police officer, died by suicide, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday. The shooter, identified by authorities as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, “died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the bureau’s director, Chris Hosey, said Tuesday at a news conference. Hosey added that White fired nearly 200 rounds of ammunition at the headquarters, and that authorities recovered five guns and “over 500 shell casings” from the scene. He also said that authorities had recovered “written documentation that expressed the shooter’s discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations” from White’s home.