Wednesday morning news: August 13, 2025

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Washington D.C. policing » Federal authorities have wasted no time taking charge in Washington, D.C.

Today will mark the second full day since President Trump declared a public safety emergency in the nation’s capital and placed D.C. Metro Police under federal control.

Attorney General Pam Bondi told federal agents overseeing the effort:

BONDI:  We're a team. We're in this together. This is our home, all of our homes, and we're here to make it safer and thank you for what you do for our country.

Metro police now report through the Justice Dept chain of command.

And nearly 900 federal law enforcement officers from the FBI, DEA and other agencies were embedded into citywide operations.

DEA Administrator and Acting D.C. Police Chief Terry Cole says so far:

COLE:  We've had 60 arrests that are very impactful. Mm-hmm. We've taken 17 firearms off the streets.

Hundreds of National Guardsmen are also serving in a support role.

Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has criticized the takeover as unnecessary

Ukraine-Russia » The State Department says Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov spoke this week in preparation for President Trump's face-to-face summit with Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders are set to meet Anchorage, Alaska on Friday to discuss what it would take to end the war in Ukraine.

State Dept. spokeswoman Tammy Bruce:

BRUCE:  The president's not calling this a negotiation. Uh, he is not the one, uh, that asked for it. This is what, as I've equated to you before, his remarks were that this is to see what's happening. See what's possible.

The White House is calling the summit a “listening exercise.” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT: Sitting face to face rather than speaking over the telephone will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed.

This week,  President Trump indicated a land swap between Russia and Ukraine may be required to end the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government will not cede territory to Russian invaders. And he adds that even if he were so inclined, Ukraine’s constitution forbids it.

Netanyahu Iran water offer » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping an ongoing drought in Iran will give the Iranian people one more reason to oust the Islamic regime.

In a video message Netanyahu extended this offer to the people of Iran: Reject the radical rulers, and Israel will show you how to gather fresh drinking water.

NETANYAHU: The moment your country is free, Israel's top water experts will flood into every Iranian city bringing cutting edge technology and know-how. We will help Iran recycle water. We will help Iran desalinate water.

Over the weekend Iran's president warned that parts of the Islamic republic… are facing a serious water crisis.

Bureau of Labor Statistics nominee  » President Trump has named his choice for the new head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after firing the last one. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Trump has tapped Heritage Foundation economist, E.J. Antoni to lead the bureau, which produces the government’s monthly jobs reports.

The president fired the previous BLS Commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, earlier this month … who was picked for the job by former president Joe Biden.

Trump accused her of rigging the latest unemployment figures for political reasons … after a weaker than expected jobs report.

E.J. Antoni has been a defender of many of the Trump administration's economic policies and signaled support for the dismissal of McEntarfer.

Antoni will need Senate confirmation.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Inflation numbers » The Bureau of Labor Statistics also releases inflation reports. And it reported on Tuesday that consumer prices held steady in July, overall.

Prices rose 2.7%, the same as the month before.

President Trump’s top economic adviser Stephen Miran says the numbers continue to defy predictions by many that Trump’s tariffs would fuel inflation.

MIRAN:  Consumer price inflation is running at a 1.9% annualized rate since the president took office, and that's an example of the effects of the president's profoundly disinflationary policies of deregulation, border control, energy abundance, and tax incentives to boost capital stock.

However, Tuesday’s inflation report did show so-called core inflation coming in hotter than expected. Core inflation excludes more volatile sectors like food and energy and that number rose from 2.7 to 3.1% in July.

Still, the overall number slightly beat expectations, raising hopes of a Fed interest rate cut soon. And that fueled a surge on Wall Street.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: more on the federalization of policing in the nation’s capital. Plus, learning to unplug in our screen-saturated world.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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