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Today’s prime tales

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his case for continued U.S. help throughout a visit to New York and Washington this week. On Thursday he met with members of Congress, who’re mulling the White House’s $24 billion request for Ukraine funding — and operating up in opposition to an end-of-the-month deadline to move a authorities spending invoice. He obtained a bipartisan welcome from Senate leaders however not within the House, where Republicans are split on the issue.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with NPR’s Steve Inskeep in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Kholood Eid for NPR

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Kholood Eid for NPR

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with NPR’s Steve Inskeep in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Kholood Eid for NPR

The historic auto employees strike may get even greater immediately. United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain says if “serious progress” is not made by midday ET, the union will ask extra employees to stroll off the job — becoming a member of the roughly 13,000 who went on strike at three totally different crops final Friday. NPR’s Andrea Hsu tells Up First that the union and automakers are nonetheless speaking and buying and selling proposals, however stay far aside on a spread of points from wages to retirement advantages.

• Workers have rallied this week in Detroit, Chicago and Louisville,with many questioning whether or not their plant shall be subsequent. Rashad Martinez, who works on the Ford plant in Louisville, told Hsu on Thursday night: “I got work tomorrow. So we’ll be that crew to walk off and I tell you, we’re ready.”

A shaky cease-fire within the South Caucasus seems to be holding, however elevating plenty of questions. Azerbaijan says it has reestablished management over the breakaway ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, after an Azerbaijani offensive earlier this week that separatists say killed no less than 200 individuals.

• Azerbaijan “appears to have crushed a decades-long independence movement” in a bit of greater than a day, NPR’s Charles Maynes experiences from Moscow.Armenia’s authorities is now bracing for an inflow of refugees and extra protests at house, the place persons are offended on the lack of intervention by the federal government and Russian peacekeepers.
• Among essentially the most urgent questions is what’s going to occur to ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh.Maynes says relying on the reply, we may nonetheless see Armenia one way or the other drawn into battle — which may doubtlessly power greater powers, including the West, to get involved. 

Parts of the East Coast are beneath a tropical storm warning this weekend. The National Hurricane Center is warning of excessive winds, coastal flooding and life-threatening rip currents from North Carolina to New Jersey. The disturbance is predicted to turn into a tropical storm by Friday evening because it nears the North Carolina coast.

• If it does, it will likely be named Ophelia. That can be the sixteenth named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season — which forecasters have predicted will see “above-normal levels of activity,” with as much as 21 named storms. 

From our hosts

Steve Inskeep (left) interviews Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York City on Wednesday.

Kholood Eid for NPR

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Kholood Eid for NPR

Steve Inskeep (left) interviews Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York City on Wednesday.

Kholood Eid for NPR

Steve Inskeep joined NPR in 1996 and began internet hosting Morning Edition in 2004. He additionally hosts Up First.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared all of the sudden. I turned my head to find him standing amongst aides, safety individuals and members of the NPR crew. In a room stuffed with fits and ties, he wore his navy cargo pants and a darkish sweatshirt embellished with the crest of Ukraine.

Before we began, he had questions on how he can be heard. He knew the radio and podcast episodes would take away a few of his instruments of communication, the trademark outfit and his expressive face. He spoke English at any time when doable to keep away from interpretation. Zelenskyy was visiting the annual gathering of the United Nations — which included Russia, in addition to nations that don’t actively help Ukraine’s trigger. He was additionally visiting U.S. officials, who present very important help.

He has mentioned Ukraine is defending democracy, and we mentioned the issues of a democratic nation in an prolonged conflict. Martial regulation has, amongst different issues, delayed elections. He faces questions from some Ukrainians about when they are going to resume, and mentioned it could be arduous to vote in a conflict zone when many citizens are scattered to different international locations.

On Morning Edition, A Martínez requested me about the weight that Zelenskyy must carry. It made me mirror on how totally different the conflict might sound if Ukraine had had a unique president, some grey and jowly official with a political previous stretching again to Soviet occasions. Instead, it is a 45-year-old former comedian rallying his individuals, and anybody on the planet that can take his aspect.

Weekend picks

Clockwise from prime left: Invisible Beauty, Foe, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 and Nyad.

Magnolia Pictures; Amazon Studios; A24; Murray Close/Lionsgate; Focus Features; Liz Parkinson/Netflix

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Magnolia Pictures; Amazon Studios; A24; Murray Close/Lionsgate; Focus Features; Liz Parkinson/Netflix

Clockwise from prime left: Invisible Beauty, Foe, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 and Nyad.

Magnolia Pictures; Amazon Studios; A24; Murray Close/Lionsgate; Focus Features; Liz Parkinson/Netflix

Check out what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:

Movies: Our NPR critics reveal the 25 films they’re most excited to see between now and Thanksgiving.

TV: The Gold explores the aftermath of an actual 1983 gold heist when thieves broke right into a warehouse and made off with three tons of gold bars. Catch the zippy saga on Paramount+.

Books: In Wellness, Jack and Elizabeth stare down the appearance of center age and understand they’re very totally different from the individuals they had been after they first met. The novel is each humorous and heartbreaking.

Music: Mitski says her new album, The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We, is her most American. In it, she tries to reconcile all of her identities with what it means to be American.

Quiz: This week’s news quiz tackles every part from artwork to enterprise to politics. There’s a relatively massive clue on this very e-newsletter.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Fat Bear Week begins October 4.

Felicia Jimenez/NPS photograph

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Felicia Jimenez/NPS photograph

Fat Bear Week begins October 4.

Felicia Jimenez/NPS photograph

1. Are you prepared for Fat Bear Week? From previous scandals to potential future champions, here is what you need to know earlier than voting opens in October. 
2. Free COVID assessments by mail are coming again. Starting Monday, the federal authorities will ship as much as 4 fast assessments per family to anyone who requests them.
3. Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner, aka “Flo-Jo,” revolutionized ladies’s sprinting along with her velocity and elegance. NPR looks at her legacy 25 years after her demise. 

This e-newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi. Suzanne Nuyen contributed.