--:-- Giles Snyder: This message comes from Amazon Business. Free your team from time-consuming office tasks with smart business buying tools. Enable buyers to find and purchase items fast. Learn more about the technology, insights, and support available at AmazonBusiness.com.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Portland, Oregon Mayor Keith Wilson is responding to President Trump's announcement that he's planning to send troops to his city.
--:-- Giles Snyder: President Trump has directed all necessary troops to Portland, Oregon. The number of necessary troops is zero.
--:-- Giles Snyder: On social media this weekend, Trump said troops are necessary, though, to protect immigration facilities from protesters.
--:-- Giles Snyder: His announcement makes Portland the latest Democratic-led city to face a troop deployment.
--:-- Giles Snyder: But Mayor Wilson says Portland is not a military target.
--:-- Giles Snyder: He spoke at a news conference with Governor Tina Kotak.
--:-- Giles Snyder: They say the troops would only inflame tensions.
--:-- Giles Snyder: President Trump is scheduled to meet tomorrow with top congressional leaders from both parties.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The meeting will take place one day before the deadline to fund government operations or face a partial shutdown, as NPR's Claudia Gorsalas reports.
--:-- Claudia Gorsalas: After President Trump canceled a meeting with Democratic leaders last week he now agreed to a new meeting Senate Majority Leader John Thune Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are set to visit with the president.
--:-- Claudia Gorsalas: Democrats have said they need stopgap legislation to address Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire by year's end.
--:-- Claudia Gorsalas: Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement they are resolute in avoiding a shutdown while also addressing the rising health care prices.
--:-- Claudia Gorsalas: Both said they want to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that, quote, meets the needs of the American people.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Ukrainian officials say Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles overnight.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The capital city of Kiev is reported to have borne the brunt of the attack.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The mayor says the strikes targeted residential buildings, civilian infrastructure, a medical facility, and a kindergarten.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Authorities say four people were killed in Kiev and at least 10 others wounded.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The small former Soviet Republic of Moldova is holding closely watched parliamentary elections today.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The vote is seen as the latest test of whether the country's current government continues on a pro-Western path or returns to Russia's orbit, as NPR Charles Maines reports.
--:-- Charles Maines: At stake are parliamentary seats that determine whether President Maya Sandu can continue to advance Moldova's bid for European Union membership by the end of the decade.
--:-- Charles Maines: Sandu has accused Russia of carrying out a massive influence campaign in a bid to sway the results in a country of just 2.4 million people.
--:-- Charles Maines: It's a charge backed by multiple independent media investigations.
--:-- Charles Maines: Earlier in the week, Moldovan police also arrested more than 70 people in raids tied to alleged Russian-backed efforts to foment unrest.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The Kremlin denies interfering in the vote and argues Sandu's government is stoking anti-Russian sentiment to mask voter dissatisfaction over pro-EU reforms in one of Europe's poorest countries.
--:-- Giles Snyder: And you're listening to NPR News.
--:-- Giles Snyder: A large electric utility has agreed to settle claims over the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen reports.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: Excel Energy says it reached an agreement to settle all the claims over the 2021 Marshall Fire.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: The development comes the same week a trial was set to begin.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: Excel says it agreed to pay about $640 million.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: Two telecommunications companies have also agreed to contribute to the settlement.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: In the lawsuit, more than 4,000 homeowners, businesses, and insurers alleged that power lines played a role in the late December blaze four years ago.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: It burned more than 6 acres and destroyed 1,000 homes, losses topped a billion.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: Excel is not admitting any fault or wrongdoing in the settlement.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: It maintains its equipment did not cause or contribute to the Marshall Fire.
--:-- Giles Snyder: For NPR News, I'm Rachel Cohen.
--:-- Giles Snyder: In Charleston, South Carolina, emergency management specialist Daniel Flessis is keeping tabs on a tropical depression that could strengthen into tropical storm Imelda later today and potentially a hurricane by Tuesday.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Even though this has not formed yet, we are treating it as if we're expecting some kind of impact.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Tropical storm watches are up along the southeast coast with the Carolinas preparing for potential impact.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The storm currently dumping heavy rain over portions of eastern Cuba and the Bahamas.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Vietnam has suspended operations at four coastal airports and evacuated thousands of people in intensifying typhoon forecast to make landfall today.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Heavy rain began drenching the region last night, the storm, the second major storm to threaten Asia over the past week.
--:-- Giles Snyder: I'm Giles Snyder in NPR News.
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