Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Kyiv marks independence as Russia downplays peace

What happened
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday marked his country's 34th Independence Day from Soviet Russia with a speech in Kyiv's central Maidan square, flanked by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg. From Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC's "Meet the Press" that President Vladimir Putin had no plans to meet with Zelenskyy for peace talks pushed by President Donald Trump.

Who said what
"We are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace," Zelenskyy said. "Putin can be stopped," said Carney, announcing that Canada will invest $1.5 billion (2 billion Canadian dollars) in military assistance for Ukraine. "The Russian economy is weakening. He is becoming increasingly isolated, while our alliance is growing stronger."

Norway said yesterday it was working with Germany to provide Ukraine with two more Patriot air defense systems. The Trump administration, meanwhile, "has for months been blocking Ukraine's use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia," The Wall Street Journal said, "limiting Kyiv from employing a powerful weapon in its fight against Moscow's invasion."

What next?
"Trump thought the red carpet would impress Putin," Mykhailo Samus, director of a Kyiv think tank, told The New York Times, but "Putin just wants to grab Ukraine and is not interested either in money or in red carpets." Russia had already "made significant concessions," Vice President J.D. Vance told "Meet the Press," including recognizing that Ukraine would have "territorial integrity" after the war and Moscow cannot "install a puppet regime in Kyiv."

Today's IMMIGRATION Story

Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportation

What happened
Kilmar Abrego García, the best-known migrant wrongly deported to El Salvador early in President Donald Trump's mass deportation push, was released from prison in Tennessee on Friday and spent the weekend at home with his family in Maryland. But his lawyers said they expect him to be detained again at an ICE check-in today and, barring a court order, deported to Uganda as soon as Wednesday.

Who said what
Abrego's lawyers said in a court filing Saturday that the Justice Department had offered him plea deal in which he would be deported to Costa Rica if he agreed to stay in prison, plead guilty to federal human trafficking charges he denies and serve a sentence in the U.S. Abrego declined, and minutes after he was released on a judge's order, ICE notified his lawyers he may be sent to Uganda.

The Justice Department and Homeland Security Department are "using their collective powers to force Mr. Abrego to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative safety, or rendition to Uganda, where his safety and liberty would be under threat," the lawyers wrote, calling the prosecution selective and "vindictive." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday she "will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country."

What next?
There is "little stopping the administration" from sending Abrego to any country but El Salvador that has "agreed to accept immigrants expelled from the U.S.," The Wall Street Journal said. If he takes the plea deal this morning, Abrego faces "up to 10 years in federal prison" before being freed to Costa Rica, NBC News said.

It's not all bad

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic are using deep brain stimulation techniques to analyze electrical signals and better understand how to help stop seizures. The team is studying how "different parts of the brain respond to different stimulation patterns," aiming to personalize therapeutic stimulation settings for patients with neurological disorders like epilepsy, the medical center said. If seizures are stopped, it will "return control and predictability to our patients' lives," said Mayo Clinic neuroscientist Dr. Jonathon Parker.

Under the radar

The app tackling porn addiction

"It might still be taboo in polite society, but online, porn is ubiquitous," said The Free Press. In a 2020 study, 91% of men and 60% of women in the U.S. reported consuming some form of pornography, and Pornhub, the world's most popular adult content site, received 11.4 billion visits from mobile devices in one month last year, according to Statista.

The digital wellness industry, which is projected to hit $1.5 trillion by 2030, has "long tiptoed around one of the most stubborn and stigmatized issues of our time," said LA Weekly: "compulsive consumption of adult content" — until now.

The porn abstinence app Quittr — founded last year by British teenager Alex Slater and his American business partner, Connor McLaren — has already passed a million downloads from more than 120 countries and has about 100,000 paid users, according to McLaren.

Every day, subscribers renew their pledge not to watch porn, instead choosing goals such as stronger relationships, more energy or a better sex life. The core offering is a "panic button" that shames users who are about to relapse. The app also offers AI chatbots and exercises that rewire the brain, as well as access to a huge support network.

This is "Gen Zers trying to say, 'I'm fed up with being played, and my life feels out of my control,'" said Zac Seidler, a psychologist and the global head of research for men's health charity Movember. "I think it ties in and overlaps extensively with the notion of purpose and meaning, and self-development and growth, which is really flourishing among young guys."

On this day

August 25, 1916

President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park Service. Previously, the country's 14 national parks had been managed by the Department of the Interior. Today, the service has about 20,000 employees overseeing 85 million acres of national park lands.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Trump's threat of troops looms large'

"National Guard to carry guns in Washington, D.C.," The Kansas City Star says on Monday's front page. "Trump's threat of troops looms large over big cities," The Washington Post says. "Breaking free from free-market system," Trump is "the new activist investor scrambling U.S. business," The New York Times says. "Stagnant hiring is rising economic hazard," says The Wall Street Journal. Rising "cost of school supplies stretching budgets thin," the Detroit Free Press says. National Park Service officials "dismissed wildfire warnings" as "Grand Canyon blaze grew," USA Today says. "Latino electorate holds the key in redistricting duel," says the Los Angeles Times.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Wedding cashers

Couples in France are inviting strangers to their weddings as a way to offset costs and buck tradition. Invitin, a startup in Paris, sells tickets to nuptials, with brides and grooms vetting potential guests beforehand. One participating bride, Jennifer, told The Guardian the idea sounded "fun," and she and her fiancé are "open to sharing things." Tickets are typically about $150, and guests must agree not to drink too much or share unauthorized photos of the big day.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.