| August 16, 2025 
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Good morning. Presidents Trump and Putin met for three hours in Alaska yesterday but emerged with no progress to share on the war in Ukraine. “There is no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said at a news conference afterward. It was Putin’s first face-to-face meeting with an American president since he started the war in 2022. Here’s what you need to know.  | | Presidents Trump and Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Doug Mills/The New York Times |
- A deal? Both men referred to an agreement without detailing what it might be. Trump said he would call NATO officials to update them on the talks, which lasted about half as long as officials had planned. “Many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left,” Trump said. The word “cease-fire” was not mentioned. Following the talks, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he would meet with President Trump in Washington on Monday.
- Mutual admiration. Putin referred to Trump as his “dear neighbor” and, in a public relations gift, confirmed something Trump often claims: that he would not have attacked Ukraine if Trump had still been in the White House. Trump, in turn, spoke warmly of his friend “Vladimir.”
- Breaking protocol. As the summit began, the two presidents rode alone, without aides or interpreters, in Trump’s limousine, a rarity. At the news conference later, Putin spoke first, unusual for a visiting head of state on American soil.
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- No questions. The presidents exited the stage after shaking hands, ignoring the raised hands of dozens of journalists from both their countries and around the world. That was unusual for Trump, who gave an interview shortly afterward to Fox News in which he put the onus for a cease-fire on Ukraine: “Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done.”
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We have more news below. But first: a word from one of our weather journalists. (Melissa Kirsch’s column will be back next week.)  | | Andrew Testa for the New York Times; NOAA |
Hurricane Erin | By Erin McCann I’m watching this storm a little more closely than usual. | |
I like to think I’m not a destructive person. A little clumsy, maybe. Not terribly tidy. But not a menace. Yet a storm bearing my name is the year’s first Atlantic hurricane; it may even become a Category 4. Storms get names, so this isn’t that odd — except that my job is to assign and edit stories about coming storms. My colleagues have started referring to Human Erin and Storm Erin to keep things straight. “Erin’s raging,” one joked yesterday. “I’m updating Erin,” said another. Wait — the story or the editor? We Erins have been here before. We got added to the list of names used for tropical cyclones in 1989. Ours comes up every six years. So the fifth storm this year, for E, means I’m in the news again. No Erin has been destructive enough to make officials retire the name. That’s good: I don’t want my name to strike fear. (Except when reporters miss deadline!) This time, Hurricane Erin is likely to turn away from land by next week, so even if it musters some menace, it will do so at sea. More sound than fury. (Also, same.)  | | Kenny Holston/The New York Times |
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And Just Like That …  | | Sarah Jessica Parker plays Carrie Bradshaw. Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max |
- “And Just Like That …,” the “Sex and the City” revival, ended this week. Sarah Jessica Parker spoke to The Times about how Carrie changed.
- On “Cannonball,” a Times podcast you can watch, Wesley Morris and Taffy Brodesser-Akner celebrate the show and blame you for its untimely end.
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More on Film and TV Music More Culture  | | Jungle (“Back on 74”); Universal Pictures (“Sweet Charity”); FKA twigs (“Childlike Things"); NYCB (Kay Mazzo in “Duo Concertante”) |
- It can feel overwhelming to watch a dance. If you follow the hands, they can unlock the mysteries of a moving body, our dance critic Gia Kourlas writes.
- A new Ralph Lauren collection and HBO’s “The Gilded Age” show the complexities of portraying the Black elite, Yola Mzizi writes.
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