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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, July 25th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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Monkeypox is now a global emergency, and the American health system may not be ready. The World Health Organization just designated monkeypox a "public health emergency of international concern." That's the WHO's highest alert level, the same one it gave COVID-19.
Now, to be clear, that doesn't mean that monkeypox is as dangerous as COVID. It's not as deadly. Ninety-nine percent of patients survive monkeypox. But the emergency declaration means that it's spreading fast and that countries need to take serious action.
Critics say the U.S. is not doing enough, and that it may be repeating some of the failures of the early COVID response. White House medical advisor Dr. Ashish Jha defended the administration's actions on CBS's "Face the Nation" yesterday.
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Dr. Ashish Jha: Right now, we have over 2,000 cases, but we have ramped up vaccinations, ramped up treatments, ramped up testing, and we're going to continue to look at all sort of policy options.
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California Congressman Adam Schiff was on the same show, saying the Biden administration needs to be doing more.
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Adam Schiff: I don't know why there aren't more vaccines available. I'm hearing from healthcare providers in my district that there are people lining up to get vaccinated and they don't have the vaccines for them, and that is a real problem.
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Since the outbreak began in May, monkeypox cases have largely been in men who have sex with men. Many people in this community say they're struggling to get access to testing and vaccines, and that they feel the problem is being ignored.
The WHO's decision to declare monkeypox a global emergency is a call for countries to act in solidarity, to coordinate distribution of tests and vaccines. At the moment, there's only one manufacturer in the world making monkeypox vaccines. As one virologist in the Democratic Republic of Congo put it, vaccinating the West might help stop the outbreak there, but the risk in the rest of the world remains.
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America is burning right now. There are multiple wildfires raging across the U.S. and climate change makes them more intense. And beyond the fire zone, tens of millions of Americans have been under heat advisories recently. They're being told to stay inside and stay cool. Now, the lucky ones have AC. It is a relief, but it's also a problem.
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Umair Irfan: Air conditioning is increasingly becoming a necessity for survival. But our use of air conditioning, particularly drawing on fossil fuels, contributes to warming. Basically, it makes the very problem it's trying to solve worse.
<v Umair Irfan covers climate for "Vox," and he points out lots of people think of AC as a luxury. But in many parts of the world that are experiencing extreme heat, AC is very much a public health necessity. It's something that can prevent sickness and death. Now, the problem is, the energy and pollution that AC creates can make climate change worse. Irfan says the challenge that we face, one that we must rise to, is>how can we make cooling more sustainable?
Irfan: You know, use more clean and renewable energy, things that don't contribute to climate change. But there are also some newer technologies that can also obviate the need for these kinds of air conditioners that are more efficient. Things like heat pumps, but also broader cooling solutions, things beyond just the spaces. So, like, green spaces in urban areas and passive cooling design.
The headline on Irfan's piece is "The air conditioning paradox." And he says, if we're smart about rethinking how we keep ourselves cool, if governments and people take action, there's a way out of the paradox.
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Irfan: A lot of these things do have solutions, both in the near term and in the long term. So this is not something that we should despair over, but we should view as a challenge and an obligation to address.
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Buying a home in the U.S. is rough. Even if you manage to scrape together a down payment, you might still lose a bidding war, or get turned down for a mortgage. Stephanie Synclair was seeing this play out in Atlanta's hot real estate market. She was bummed out by it, so she decided to look elsewhere. She went on Facebook to announce a big move.
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Stephanie Synclair: I bought a house in Italy during the pandemic. [LAUGHS] Like, how crazy is that!
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"Bloomberg" interviewed Stephanie and other Americans who ditched the U.S. to buy homes in Europe. Stephanie says she's now ready for the "bella vita" in Sicily, and she also gets a lot more for her money there. Back in Atlanta, houses go for 400,000 dollars on average. But in parts of Sicily, they average just over 80,000 euros. And remember, these days, with the dollar super-strong, 80,000 euros is about 80,000 dollars.
Stephanie is 40 years old, so she's not like the typical older American who retires to Europe. Younger people are now motivated to move, driven by the strong dollar, as we mentioned, remote work and political turmoil in the U.S. They're now buying places in Italy, Spain, France and Portugal. Some countries are rolling out the red carpet. They're offering special visas and programs to attract American buyers. Portugal and Spain offer so-called "golden visas" to foreigners who invest. Italy is starting to offer visas to remote workers.
"Bloomberg" warns of the pitfalls for those who are considering this kind of move, including tax and immigration headaches. But if you're willing to put up with all that paperwork, you can lower your cost of living and try out a different way of life.
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You ever get a phone call while you're digging into a plate of hot wings? It is just the worst. You either miss the phone call or you get buffalo sauce all over your phone. So if you're gonna pick up that phone, it better be important.
For Allyson Felix, the call was definitely worth taking. She's the most decorated sprinter in U.S. history, and she retired last week. "ESPN" reports, just a few days after that big, emotional send-off, she's in L.A., eating some wings and a root beer float, which is the ultimate "I have retired from a professional sport" meal. And then she gets this phone call. "We could really use you in Oregon to run on the relay team at the world championships."
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So, she jumped back to it over the weekend. And she killed it. She helped the U.S. team advance to the final. And in that race, Team USA took home gold. Felix said coming back to help her team, running in a stadium and soaking in all that love one last, last time is a moment that she'll never forget.
You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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