ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast - August 24th 2025

Tonight, several developing stories as we come on the. air. The rising threat from wildfires and dangerous heat. in the West. The National Guard may be heading to. more U. S cities to combat crime and why some. countries are suspending deliveries of packages to. the U. S. We begin in the West where more than 30. million are on alert for dangerous heat record highs. possible in Portland and In Napa, they're battling. a fast-moving fire from the air and on the ground. In Oregon, thousands of homes threatened.

After deploying the National Guard to the nation's capital, President Trump now says he might send more troops to the. streets of Chicago, New York, and Baltimore to fight crime. Democratic leaders in those states pushing back, saying crime rates are falling, some calling the. move unconstitutional. Ukraine on the offensive on its Independence Day. Major strikes deep inside Russia, targeting energy facilities. The peace initiative at a standstill. Vice President Vance insisting the Russians. have made concessions toward Ukraine.

But the Russian foreign minister says no sit-down. between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders is planned. Also tonight, worldwide confusion. over new rules for shipping. Some countries plan to stop delivering packages to the US. after the president ended tariff exemptions. What this could mean if you bought something from overseas. The frightening scene on an American Airlines flight. What happened when a device caught fire, sending smoke through the cabin?

The warning to residents after an explosion. and fire at an automotive plant. Why they're being told to be careful about what they touch. No one saw this coming. A hot air balloon makes an emergency landing. on a city street. Serving up history as the US Open begins. Former champ Venus Williams making a comeback at 45 as. Novak Djokovic goes for his 25th Grand Slam title. And America Strong meet the women trying out for. a new league of their own.

ABC News World Headquarters in New York. This is World News Tonight. Good evening. Thanks for joining us on this Sunday. I'm Mary Bruce in for Lindsay Davis. More military troops may be heading to major American cities. as part of President Trump's crackdown on crime. But we begin here tonight with the growing. threat from wildfires and than 30 million people on alert. for dangerous heat in the West. The so-called Pickett Fire is roaring through Northern.

California's wine country, scorching more than 6,500 acres. The flames casting an orange smoky hue over the skies as. more people have been forced to leave their homes. In central Oregon, the flat fire exploding. in size overnight, burning more than 21,000 acres, thousands of homes there threatened the heat bearing. down on the West record highs possible in Portland. and Seattle. The blistering temperatures causing high. school football teams in Sacramento to delay. their games and the cool down coming to the northeast.

Our weather team is tracking it all. But first, ABC's Jacqueline. Lee leads us off tonight. flames roaring through California's wine country. A growing number of communities. ordered to evacuate as the picket fire burns out of. control, scorching more than 6500 acres, only. 11% contained families forced to leave everything. behind crews in the thick of the firefight in the. air and on the ground, surging resources to the. front lines like air tankers and helicopters,

dropping thousands of gallons of fire retardant. and water amid a black sky and plumes of thick smoke. Deploying dozers to create a large enough firebreak. to stop the spread of flames. Given the lack of rain, this dry vegetation. serves as fuel that can ignite in a second, quickly turning a flame into a raging wildfire. We got a tour of the headquarters. for the Los Angeles County Fire Hand Cruise. Is this year different than previous years? If we don't get any rain, then we can certainly,

that we can see fires like we did last year. - Another massive firefighting effort underway in Oregon, the flat fire exploding to more than 21,000 acres overnight. Zero percent contained with nearly 4,000 homes. in the danger zone, the fire fueled by hot, dry conditions. More than 30 million Americans are on alert. as a heat wave grips the West. High school football teams in Sacramento. delaying their games due to the scorching. temperatures and a dust storm gusting through the.

Burning Man Festival in the Nevada Desert, sending. tents flying. married due to the smoke from the picket fire. officials issuing an air quality advisory for parts. of the Bay Area through tomorrow. Mary Jacqueline Lee tracking it all Jacqueline. Thank you. So let's get right to meteorologist. Danny Beckstrom from our New York station W A B. C and Danny time this out for us. Mary, the extreme heat has held on for. days, making it even more dangerous. And as we head into the work week, the. focus of the extreme heat is in the Pacific Northwest,

where extreme heat warnings remain along the I five. corridor from Medford to Portland to Seattle and. record high temperatures will be challenged again. on Monday. The general hot and dry weather in the. region continues to feel fire danger, the greatest. risk being in parts of northern California, southern Oregon and in the mountains of western. Washington. The pattern producing the heat wave. also pulling in monsoon moisture, which could lead. to new fire starting from lightning strikes, but. could also trigger localized flash flooding. from the southern Sierra Nevada and into the four. corners region. While the heat's been the weather. story in the west in the east, seasonably cool.

conditions settle in as we close out the month of. August. Mary certainly feels like summer's coming to. an end. Danny, thank you now to President Trump, possibly expanding the of the military on. American soil, considering sending National Guard. troops into major cities like Baltimore and Chicago. The president facing backlash for casting democratic-led. cities as crime-ridden and lawless. The war of words now escalating. ABC's Jay O'Brien has more. Tonight, as President Trump's mobilization of.

nearly 2,000 National Guard troops to the nation's. capital nears the end of its second week. A U.S. official telling ABC News planning is. underway to potentially expand that mission and send the. National Guard to Chicago. The plans first reported by the Washington Post no official. deployment has been ordered and the Department of Defense. declined to speculate on future operations but in the Oval. Office this week Trump suggesting his focus could soon. shift to other Democratic run cities. >> Chicago is a mess you have an incompetent mayor grossly.

incompetent so I think Chicago will be our next and then we'll. help with the. >> The York Illinois governor JB Pritzker pushing back. saying there is no emergency that warrants Trump. federalizing his state's National Guard or sending. active duty military within our borders and a spokesperson for. New York governor Kathy Hokel telling ABC News crime is down. across New York City and state and the president's attempts to. invoke military power undermines work being done but.

Trump's authority beyond Washington DC a federal. district is limited and even in that city Democratic officials. arguing Trump is abusing his power declaring a crime. emergency even with violent crime already at a 30 year low. according to police data and in nearby Maryland governor Wes. Moore also drawing the president's ire touting. Baltimore's falling crime numbers and challenging. trump to keep the city's name quote out of your mouth. the president lashing out writing if Westmore needs.

help I will send in the troops which is being. done in nearby DC and quickly clean up the crime. governor more calling trump's threats unconstitutional. and hypocritical for a party that talks about state. rights it's amazing how they're having such a big. government approach in the way they're. conducting public safety. >> The state of California and its governor Gavin. Newsom sued the Trump administration this summer. after the deployment of hundreds of national. guardsmen and active duty Marines to Los Angeles. that case is still playing out in court.

>> Jay another example of President Trump. expanding the use of U.S. troops on American soil, but the authority Trump exercised in. Washington DC can't be used in the same way in. other cities and states. Yeah, Mary, that's something White House officials, even Vice President J.D. Vance, have acknowledged in the last few days that they. have more power over D.C. than other American cities. And there are also these constraints on how national. guard troops can be used. If they're called up by a governor at the request of the. president, then they have full law enforcement authority.

But if the president federalizes them without the involvement. of a governor, then they're limited to just protecting. federal buildings and personnel. Mary. Okay, Jay, thank you. Overseas now to Ukraine, marking its Independence Day. with drone strikes deep inside Russia. Video circulating online showing this explosion. at an oil and gas facility. It comes as US-led peace talks have stalled. Russia's top diplomat saying no meeting is planned. between President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky.

Here's ABC's Marcus Moore. - As the country marks 34 years of its independence. from the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian military launching. what they're calling a gift for Russia. Videos circulating online showing a massive. Ukrainian drone attack targeting an oil and. gas processing facility deep inside Russia. Moscow says it shot down 95 drones across multiple regions. overnight, but debris from one intercept causing. this explosion. These attacks on key Russian facilities come as ceasefire.

talks remain largely stalled. Vice President J.D. Vance optimistic after a flurry of. high-stakes negotiations this week. I think the Russians have made significant concessions to. President Trump for the first time in three and a half. years of this conflict. One demand out of reach, a summit between. Putin and Zelensky. After the president announced they'd meet face-to-face, Russia's foreign minister saying And tonight, nothing is planned. Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda.

would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all. Ukraine and Russia remain defiant, keeping. any deal elusive. European leaders and President Trump showering Ukraine with. support as this war rages on three and a half years later. And just hours ago, word that Ukraine and Russia had agreed. to another prisoner exchange, a moment of relief for families. of those reunited, and some consensus in this war.

Mary, President Trump has set a two-week deadline for a deal. between these two countries and has indicated that new sanctions. could be on the table, and that is something Ukraine. has been requesting for some time. Mary? The president has been. threatening those sanctions. see what happens in two weeks. Marcus, thank you. Now to Israeli airstrikes bombarding. Yemen's capital city. The strikes targeting an area near. the presidential palace, power plants and sites where Iran. backed Houthi rebels may keep ballistic missiles. It's just the latest round in attacks and.

counter strikes between Israeli forces and Houthis in Yemen. Now to global mail carriers suspending some. deliveries to the U.S. It comes as a tax exemption on low value packages is set. to expire later this week. So let's bring in ABC's Perry Russum. And Perry, how is this going to work and who's. going to be impacted? Yeah, Mary, this is going to affect millions of businesses. around the world and Americans who rely on them. for their products. Some European postal companies have decided to stop shipping. to the U.S. until they figure out how this new rule is. going to work.

So starting Friday, any package coming. into the U. S. That's worth under $800 will have to. go through customs and will be tariff. That tariff had been waived. under what's called the de minimis tariff. exemption. But President Trump getting rid of that. after signing executive order last month, this. will affect all the countries shipping to the. U. S. U. S. Customs only releasing some technical. details about the new rule a week ago. Still not clear who will collect the. tariffs, what additional information is needed or. how the packages will be processed.

Mary. Okay, Perry, thank you. Now to a mid air scare aboard an. American Airlines flight heading to phoenix from. philadelphia, the plane forced to make an emergency. landing at Washington Dulles International Airport. after a passenger's device reportedly caught fire, sending smoke throughout the cabin. Here's ABC's Reno Roy. Tonight, an investigation underway after. a mid air scare on board American Airlines. flight 3 57 en route from Philadelphia to phoenix. Saturday morning, officials say a passenger's.

personal device caught fire, the plane making. an emergency landing at Washington's Dulles. Airport. No, we'll stop here, please. American 3 57 American 357 no problem. You can just hold there. I do have fire commands. They're going to come out and take a look at you. Smoke filling the cabin carrying 160 passengers. and six crew members. I started smelling smoke and a. lot of people on the plane were coughing, but I looked. behind me and what we could tell was that there. was something on fire in the aisle. Flight attendants quickly jumping into action.

using a fire suppression bag to put out the. And then they walked around the plane, ensuring that everyone got oxygen masks. if they needed them. That passenger and the airline thanking the crew for their. bravery and professionalism. And Mary, this in-flight emergency comes as. millions of Americans prepare to travel for the. Labor Day holiday weekend. Mary? Reena, thank you. Now to the historic opening round of the U.S. Open here in New York. All the fan favorites are there, including 45 year. old Venus Williams, the oldest player to.

hit the US Open courts in more than 40 years. ABC's Morgan Norwood is covering all the action. - The US Open serving up history tonight. For the first time ever, fans filling the stands on a Sunday. The roar of the crowd, all for the favorites, from defending champs to the young stars. Facing another US Open title, Arena Sabalenka, Outlasting Reba Masorova, hoping to add another.

Grand Slam title. Coco Golf looking to win her second. US Open and redeem her tough loss. at Wimbledon this summer. Yeah, it's always a lot of energy. Obviously I have great memories on this court, so super excited to be back and playing in front of you guys, but all eyes on two time US Open champion Venus. Williams at age 45. Back in Arthur Ash after taking year away from. the game. Oh yeah, super thrilling to be back. It does not get old. It just gets more exciting.

And I'm looking forward to Monday night. on the men's side. 42 American men hoping to feed. the flushing crowd hungry for hometown. breakthrough. Francis Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul looking. to break the 22 year slump. I'm happy to come back here every year. This is the one for sure. This is the the pinnacle of tennis for me. What I dreamed about when I was a kid. An exciting start to opening day and. you can watch all the continuing action on ESPN Mary and we're.

looking forward to it. Morgan, thank you. There is still much more. ahead on world news tonight. This Sunday, we're remembering a popular. actor from the Sopranos, plus the warning to residents. near a burning automotive plant. and you don't see this very often. A hot air balloon coming in for landing on a. busy street. Police in Kentucky have arrested a 14 year old boy. in friday shooting outside of high school football. game. Players and fans ran for safety when gunfire.

broke out during the game at Mayfield High School. Police say the suspect allegedly shot an 18 year. old in the parking lot. He's charged with assault. victim was wounded in his arm and upper torso and is. reported to be in stable condition. In Louisiana, crews are working around. the clock to contain a fire at an oil plant. It started with an explosion. Friday. Evacuation orders remain in effect for people. living within a mile of the plant. Authorities are concerned about the. soot from the fire. Test results aren't back yet, but. they fear it could contain toxic chemicals.

The cause of the explosion is. still under investigation. And next, a major test for SpaceX's Starship. The past three attempts have ended. prematurely with the spacecraft exploding or breaking up. So let's bring in ABC's Melissa Don. Melissa, what can we expect tonight? Mary SpaceX postponing what would have been. Starship's 10th test flight and this spacecraft's. particularly is designed to be fully reusable, but their. latest on crude attempts have either exploded.

prematurely or fallen apart. Now in june there was a massive fireball explosion. on the launch pad during a pre flight engine test. Prior to that, test flight nine ended prematurely. Starship experiencing what space X called a. and in March, test flight 8 exploded with raining debris. falling above the Atlantic and causing the temporary. ground stops and flight delays throughout the area. Despite these setbacks, Mary, the company's test schedule. remains aggressive and Elon Musk says it's his goal that.

Starship will one day take humans to Mars and beyond. Mary. Melissa, thank you. Still ahead here, we remember the. well-known actor who started his career behind the scenes. to the index. Now residents on a quiet street in. Great Britain did a double take Saturday morning when. they looked up and saw this a giant hot air balloon. flying above their street and coming in for landing. The operator was supposed to land in a nearby park, but the wind had other plans. Remarkably, he managed to avoid the roofs, the.

parked car and thankfully the power lines bringing. down the balloon right in the middle of the street. Quite the parking job. And Tonight we're remembering. actor Jerry Adler. He was best known for playing a mob advisor. on The Sopranos. He also had roles in The Good Wife and Rescue Me. Adler started his career behind the scenes, managing, directing, or producing 53 Broadway shows. before turning to acting. Jerry Adler died Saturday. He was 96 years old. And when we come back, America's strong.

Meet the women, ready to blaze a new trail on the diamond. Finally tonight, it's been a while, but it's high time for. another league of their own. A swing at history. Today in Washington, D.C., tryouts. for the new professional baseball league for women. Over 600 of the best female players representing. nine countries showcasing their skills. Pitching, hitting, sliding, and catching.

hoping to be one of the 150 to play for the new league. This league is for everyone who's ever been told. that they can't play baseball. It's something not seen in more than 80 years. The first US pro women's baseball league. since the All-American League. Those players celebrated in the film a league of their own. Maybel Blair was there. Today now 98 years old back in the dugout,

cheering on the next generation, passing the bat to. new trailblazers like superstar Monet Davis, the Little League World Series pitcher. who wowed fans in 2014. It means a lot for me to be here just because I've. never gotten to play with all women in baseball. I've been dreaming of this moment. since I was a little girl. An historic beginning for the new league. debuting next spring, when we can all look forward. to seeing more of this. - One, two, three, Go To BBL! (crowd cheering). - And it's about time. Thank you for watching.

For Lindsay Davis, I'm Mary Bruce. Have a great evening. Good night. - David Muir, the most watched newscast in America. And now, ABC's World News Tonight has won the Emmy. for Best Live News program for the third year in a row.