--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, March 31st. Here's what we're covering.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Just hours ago, President Trump called me to tell me he is, quote, pissed off with Russia's President Putin. President Trump gave a sprawling phone interview this weekend to NBC's Kristen Walker. Welker described their conversation, which wasn't broadcast, on Meet the Press.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: She said a major focus of the interview was Russia. Trump is growing impatient with how slowly ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine have been moving, and said he's considering tariffs to force Russia to make a deal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Mr. Trump said 25 percent tariffs on Russian oil could happen any moment and told me he plans to speak with President Putin this week.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The president also talked about the tariffs he's putting in place on foreign cars and car parts. Trump said he's not backing down from the plan, even as the stock market has plunged in response.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And on fears of foreign automakers raising prices, quote, I couldn't care less if they raise prices because people are going to start buying American-made cars.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Trump acknowledging that prices might go up was a rare admission that his economic policy could cause economic hardship for Americans.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In the interview, the president also claimed that a lot of people want him to serve a third term, even though the Constitution says he can't.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: When Welker said that was something she heard him joke about a lot, the president said, quote, No, no, I'm not joking. I'm not joking.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Though he also said he was focused on his current term at the moment.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Over the weekend, the Trump administration also doubled down on its insistence that the U.S. will take control of Greenland.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Vice President J.D. Vance made a three-hour-long visit to the island. A U.S. delegation was originally supposed to take a much longer trip that would have included stops at cultural sites and a dog sled race, but that was scrapped after local residents said they planned a protest.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Instead Vance only visited a U military base there. In a speech he framed the region as critical for U national security.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways and Arctic naval routes.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Vance also took aim at Denmark, which largely oversees Greenland. Our message to Denmark is very simple. You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: You have underinvested in the people of Greenland. That has to change.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In response to the Trump administration's repeated assertions that the U.S. will get Greenland, the territory's prime minister said yesterday, quote, let me be clear, the United States will not get it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Myanmar, rescue teams have been using sledgehammers and drills to dig through collapsed buildings and look for survivors after a powerful earthquake shook the country on Friday.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: More than 1,700 people have been killed, according to officials there, and the death toll is expected to rise significantly.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In the aftermath of the quake, the country's military junta, which has avoided asking for outside assistance in past disasters, made a rare appeal for help.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Russia, China, and India quickly sent in rescue teams. But for the moment, the U.S., which used to be a leader in foreign aid, appears to have sent nothing.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: While the American embassy in Myanmar said the U.S. plans to provide $2 million in assistance, Many of the programs that would have helped actually distribute that aid have been disrupted by the Trump administration.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And in Washington, a handful of USAID employees who were trying to coordinate a response to the quake got emails as they were in the middle of their work telling them they were laid off.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A former top official at USAID told The Times that the lack of support could undermine America relationships in the region.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He said quote If we don't show up and China shows up that sends a pretty strong message
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Haiti, for over a year now, gangs have been terrorizing the country's capital city.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They've taken over whole neighborhoods, murdered hundreds of people with impunity, And Haiti's police force has been overwhelmed, in part because they're essentially outgunned.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Experts say that there are up to half a million illegal firearms in the streets in Haiti.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And the big question is, how do they get there?
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Frances Robles, along with her colleague David Adams, are part of the team covering Haiti for The Times.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They've been reporting on how the country has been flooded with weapons, despite the fact that it's illegal to ship any there.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Francis says that experts they talk to say that most of the weapons are coming from the U.S.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One of the most common methods for smuggling guns is the use of straw buyers.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And that's where a person in the United States goes to a gun store or a gun website and just buys them.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And so a person who's illegally shipping guns to Haiti will get various straw buyers to make these purchases for them.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They gather all the loot, and then they send them by freighter to Haiti.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The shipments are really hard to track because they usually go out on these freighters that leave South Florida, and they're packed with stuff.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I mean, they're packed with used clothes and bicycles and all kinds of things.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And in most countries, customs inspect the packages and shipments coming in.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They don't really inspect very much of the ones going out.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So very, very few of these shipments get caught.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Francis says Haiti is not alone in being overrun by American weapons.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Many countries across Latin America are dealing with the same issue.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Mexico for example most of the guns recovered from crime scenes come from the United States
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally. In 1999, Tony Hawk did what seemed impossible.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The skateboarder launched himself up off the halfpipe and completed a 900, a trick named for the number of degrees he spun around in the air.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He turned his body a full two and a half times while off the ground and then landed on his board smoothly.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Now, almost 30 years later, officials are set to decide whether people can try a trick like that in the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Despite all the excitement back when Hawk pulled off the trick, the 900 belongs to vert skateboarding, a niche form of the sport which has fallen out of the spotlight as park and street style skateboarding has become more popular.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They're easier to learn. No giant ramps necessary.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So while skateboarding's been featured in the last two Olympic Games, vert skateboarding, with its big air moves, has not been.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But a younger crop of skaters wants to change that.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They've been tackling the tricks faster than even Hawk can comprehend.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The 900 was a lifelong goal for him.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And there are now skaters who've landed the trick at age 12.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Hawk told The Times that some of that's because skaters are now starting younger than ever.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Where kids used to be told skateboarding was a bad influence, now they're encouraged.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There's whole dedicated training facilities.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Olympic officials will make their decision next week about whether there will be a vert event at the Summer Games.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Hawk has even offered to supply the ramp.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily. how the Trump administration is targeting students on college campuses for deportation. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm Traci Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
