Skip to content
DHS Shutdown, Ukraine Peace Talks, Olympics Stars Stumble

DHS Shutdown, Ukraine Peace Talks, Olympics Stars Stumble

Up First from NPR
Feb 16, 2026 13 min
Open in Clue

About this episode

Congress is out on recess as a partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security is underway after talks collapsed over immigration enforcement reforms.<br>Officials from the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine prepare for new peace talks in Geneva as Moscow presses territorial demands and Kyiv insists on security guarantees.<br>And at the Winter Olympics in Italy, American speed skater Jordan Stolz is making history while other superstar athletes struggle with the intense pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage.<br/><br/><em>Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? </em><a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/news"target="_blank" >Subscribe</a><em> to the Up First newsletter.<br></em><p class="readrate">Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow, Kate Bartlett, Tina Kraya, Eric Whitney, Mohamad ElBardicy and Adam Bearne.<p class="readrate"><p class="readrate">It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.<p class="readrate"><p class="readrate">Our director is Christopher Thomas.<p class="readrate"><p class="readrate"><p class="readrate"><p class="readrate">We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Simon-Laslo Janssen.<p class="readrate">(0:00) Introduction<br>(01:57) DHS Shutdown<br>(05:38) Ukraine Peace Talks<br>(09:26) Olympics Stars Stumble<br/><br/>See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

Listen to this episode in English to learn English

Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. DHS Shutdown, Ukraine Peace Talks, Olympics Stars Stumble from Up First from NPR gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.

In the Clue app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.

Episodes to Learn English

More podcasts in English