April 25, 2025

Good morning.

1. US envoy Steve Witkoff is meeting with President Putin in Russia today amid US efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Trump said “Crimea will stay with Russia” in an interview and a senior Russian general was killed by a car bomb in Moscow (BBC: nwppr.co/060z).

2. FBI director Kash Patel announced that the FBI arrested a Wisconsin judge on obstruction charges for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest, though he quickly deleted the X post (CNBC: nwppr.co/060y).

3. President Trump signed an executive order to speed up permits for deep-sea mining in US and international waters, seeking to boost US production of strategically important minerals. The order appears to bypass UN negotiations (CNBC: nwppr.co/060x).

4. A federal judge temporarily blocked part of a Trump executive order that would require proof of citizenship upon voter registration, saying “the Constitution vests that power in the States and Congress alone” (AP: nwppr.co/060w).

5. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a policy that would disqualify transgender people from serving in the military (Hill: nwppr.co/060v).

6. Existing home sales fell 5.9% in March from February to the slowest March sales pace since 2009. Inventory was up 20% from a year prior (CNBC: nwppr.co/060u).

7. California passed Japan as the world’s fourth largest economy, after Germany, China, and the US (BBC: nwppr.co/060t).

8. The funeral of Pope Francis is tomorrow (NPR: nwppr.co/060s).

–Editors