--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, February 20th. Here's what we're covering.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Gotta move, gotta move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Tensions are flaring between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky over how to end the war in Ukraine. On Wednesday, President Trump mocked the Ukrainian leader, called him a dictator, and repeated his false claim that Ukraine started the war. He also suggested that Zelensky is effectively ripping off the U.S. by asking for military aid.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Europe has failed to bring peace, and Zelensky probably wants to, maybe he wants to keep the gravy train going. I don't know what's the problem, but he has it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Zelensky, meanwhile, said Trump is caught in a web of Russian disinformation about the war and said that he would, quote, like to have more truth with the Trump team.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It was some of Zelensky's most open criticism yet of Trump, and it came on the heels of Trump sidelining Ukraine while he pushes forward on negotiations directly with Russia.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I've been talking to Ukrainians about this remarkable about-face that the American government has had on its position on Ukraine. And what I'm hearing is shock, anger, outrage.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: My colleague Kim Barker is based in Ukraine. She's been reporting from the town of Bucha, which became a symbol of Russia's brutality during the invasion.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Bucha was the site of one of the most shocking massacres by Russian troops in the early days of the war. They seem to use Ukrainians walking by almost for target practice. And then they just left the bodies on the streets.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I met a guy on Wednesday afternoon, and he was really angry that Trump would sit down with the Russians and that the Americans would actually negotiate with a high-level Russian team when the country that was actually invaded, Ukraine, wasn't even at the table.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Mixed in with that anger about the pivot of America is this fear of like what is going to happen next if America which has been Ukraine's biggest ally since Russia invaded three years ago what happens if America actually stops the support Where will Ukraine be left then?
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And I talked to one woman who said, if America abandons us, we're screwed. You talk to soldiers on the front line, though, and they're going to say, we're going to keep fighting no matter what.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Also yesterday, President Trump continued to test the bounds of federal power as he moved to end New York City's congestion pricing program.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Since January, drivers have been charged a $9 toll to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan. It's designed to limit congestion and raise billions for repairs to the subway and other projects.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Early data showed it's working. Traffic's been down since the program started. But Trump has repeatedly criticized it, calling it a burden on working-class drivers and saying it will hurt tourism and business in the city.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Yesterday, Trump's Secretary of Transportation said approval for the program will be revoked. And Trump wrote on social media, quote, Congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan and all of New York is saved.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He signed his message, Long live the king. The White House doubled down on that. Recirculating his post with an illustration of Trump wearing a crown.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm here to say New York hasn't labored under a king in over 250 years. New York's Governor Kathy Hochul was quick to respond.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I don't care if you love congestion pricing or hate it. This is an attack on our sovereign identity, our independence from Washington.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Trump's first month in office, he's repeatedly gotten involved in state and local issues. Some of which may be out of federal reach.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In addition to New York's tolls, he's also weighed in on California's water management policies, overruling officials there. And he signed an executive order calling for patriotic education in schools, when curriculum's generally been handled at a local level.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Last night, he even suggested the federal government should run the District of Columbia, saying there was too much crime. The district governed itself since the 1970s.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But Trump said quote I think we should take over Washington D.C.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: New data released this morning by Gallup shows a sharp rise in the number of American adults who identify as LGBTQ.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Nearly one in 10 Americans now say that's how they identify. Almost triple the number from 2012 when Gallup began tracking it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The increase has been driven in large part by young people. Nearly a quarter of Gen Z adults, aged 18 to 27, identify as LGBTQ.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's also been driven by a jump in people who say they're bisexual. The survey also showed that 1.3% of people say they are transgender. That's doubled in the last few years.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The data comes as the Trump administration has moved to restrict transgender rights, banning transgender girls from school sports teams, and banning transgender people from the military.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Yesterday, Trump's new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced the government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, saying the administration is, quote, restoring biological truth to the federal government.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But many medical experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say that not everyone fits into neat categories of male and female.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Now, three updates on stories from this week. In the Middle East this morning, Hamas returned the bodies of four Israeli hostages who were taken on October 7th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They include an elderly man and a mother and her two young children. It's not clear how they died, though Hamas says they were killed in Israeli airstrikes while being held in Gaza.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In exchange, Israel's releasing a group of Palestinian prisoners. It's part of the ongoing ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This weekend, Hamas is expected to return six hostages who are still alive.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Panama, nearly 100 migrants who were recently deported from the U.S. have been moved to a detention camp on the outskirts of the jungle.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The migrants are from countries like Iran and China, and some had arrived in the U.S. hoping to seek asylum. Instead, they were put on a plane to Panama City after Panama struck a deal with the U.S. to take in deportees.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They spent days locked in a hotel before being transferred to the remote camp. One migrant told the Times it felt like being in a zoo with detainees kept in cages.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Claimed that Panama's foreign minister denied.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And in an update on the plane crash in Toronto, Delta Airlines says it will offer $30,000 to every passenger on the flight, which flipped upside down and burst into flames upon landing.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Delta said the offer came with, quote, no strings attached. No one was killed in the crash, and as of yesterday morning, all but one passenger had been released from the hospital.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The investigation into the cause of the crash is still ongoing.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally, Mount Etna in Sicily has been erupting for the last two weeks. This is something that happens regularly.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Tourists have flocked to the Italian island for decades to see the volcano in action. This time, though, there has been a flood of people.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So many that cars are blocking the roads and emergency vehicles haven't been able to get through. Also, the visitors just won't stay away from the lava.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Italian authorities have been warning that while it's an extremely beautiful sight, the lava sizzling on the snowy mountain slopes, it's dangerous.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This week, they tried to ban people from approaching it. But people keep uploading photos and videos of the eruption from places that are supposed to be off-limits.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A few videos show people skiing down the mountain while lava is smoldering in the distance.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Experts say that a volcano with snow on it is particularly dangerous because when the extreme hot meets the extreme cold, it can result in sudden bursts of high-pressure steam that can hurl rocks outward.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So local authorities would just like everyone to know, please do not ski by the lava.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how the Trump administration getting involved in Mayor Eric Adams' legal case has set off chaos in the Justice Department.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
