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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday October 17th. 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.
Let's start with some international news that we're following this morning in Ukraine, Iran, and China.
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First, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was reportedly hit with a series of explosions early this morning. A Ukrainian official credited it to kamikaze drones used by Russia. The extent of the damage is still not clear, but it follows another recent set of attacks on the country that left 19 people dead.
As Iran entered its fifth week of nationwide anti-government protests, a fire broke out at the notorious Evin Prison on Saturday night. At least eight prisoners died and some are still hospitalized as of this morning, according to Iranian officials. The prison holds hundreds of people, including political prisoners and dual citizens. It's been charged by rights groups with abusing detainees.
And in China, the Chinese Communist Party Congress is now underway. It's a week-long political event that will culminate in President Xi Jinping officially securing a third term in office. Let's stay with this story a little bit longer and talk about what this means for China and the world.
<v "NPR" shares a few key points from President Xi's speech over the weekend, which was the kick-off event for this gathering. On the pandemic, Xi defended the country's COVID Zero policy, which has involved strict measures>mandatory mass testing, quarantines, and lockdowns of entire cities. He didn't show any signs of reconsidering, despite some rare recent protests. That policy, according to economists, is gravely impacting China's projected economic growth, another focus of the president's speech.
He also spoke about being more assertive on the global stage. "NPR" reports that the largest applause line during his speech had to do with what he calls "Chinese reunification", specifically, reclaiming the independent island of Taiwan as part of China.
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Interpreter: The wheels of history are rolling on towards Chinese reunification and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Complete reunification of our country must be realized and it can, without a doubt, be realized.
Xi Jinping: [SPEAKING THROUGH TRANSLATOR]
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This comment comes as China's military has put more pressure on Taiwan, flying jets into Taiwan's airspace. Taiwan's president has said the country will do what it takes to defend its freedom. And just last month, President Biden said that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if China were to attack.
The speech was a glimpse at Xi's intentions for his unprecedented third term, after China's lawmakers abolished the two-term limit on the presidency. His likely inauguration in March will start Xi's second decade of rule.
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Moving to domestic politics… The Senate race in Pennsylvania, between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Doctor Mehmet Oz, is pretty close according to public polling. And it could help determine which party controls Congress after November.
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In recent months, John Fetterman's health has become a major talking point in the media and on the campaign trail. He had a stroke in May and, as he's recovered, he's done interviews using real-time closed captions so that he can read the reporters' questions and process what they're saying. Captions are commonly used by people with auditory processing or hearing issues, including those who are recovering from strokes.
Basu: Last week, Fetterman used this technology while he was speaking to "NBC" Reporter Dasha Burns. It was his first in-person interview since the stroke. Later, Burns was on "MSNBC," and said something that got a lot of attention.
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Dasha Burns: Just in some of the small talk prior to the interview before the closed captioning was up and running, it did seem that he had a hard time understanding our conversations.
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Burns later said her reporting should not be seen as commentary on Fetterman's "fitness for office," but his political opponents and some media outlets have done exactly that. Health experts, disability advocates, and some journalists have pushed back, saying that line of questioning was ableist. Fetterman himself called the controversy over his "NBC" interview "surreal."
Rebecca Traister recently profiled Fetterman for "New York Magazine." She told us it was a video interview, and just like with Burns, Fetterman was using closed captioning technology. But Traister had a different takeaway.
Rebecca Traister: Dasha Burns and I were fundamentally trying to communicate actually very similar experiences, but the subtleties in how we framed them made them come out very differently.
Traister says this is a candidate whose medical condition has been really scrutinized. And the fact that he's using assistive technology right now is something that he's been open about.
Traister: The "NBC" report, it made it feel like there was something uncovered, which of course feeds into a frame that is actually being pushed by his opponent, Dr Oz, that in some way there's been something deceptive about Fetterman's campaign's approach to his stroke recovery.
Traister says there was some reasonable criticism of Fetterman's campaign for not being quicker to share information about his stroke. The statement came two days later. A letter from his cardiologist stated that he has cardiomyopathy and that he'll be fine if he takes his medication and adopts a healthy lifestyle.
Traister: We absolutely should have transparency from candidates if they have big health problems, but as somebody who reported on John Fetterman, the calls for transparency feel slightly off, because I actually feel like, at this point, whatever the criticisms about the early messaging were, it is extremely visible to anybody who's watching him being interviewed on television or at these rallies, who reads about how he requires the closed captioning technology in order to have conversations, all that is right out there, it's just visible. I've never-- I've rarely seen a political candidate or leader whose medical progress has been more publicly trackable by millions of people.
In her profile, Traister writes about how Fetterman has been thinking about recovery, vulnerability, and the stakes of the race that's now just three weeks away. If you're listening to us in the Apple News app right now, we've queued up Rebecca Traister's story to play right after this episode of "Apple News Today," so stick around for that.
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Something really weird is going on in retail.
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Companies are offering major deals right now, basically running Black Friday sales in October. Target, Amazon, and others are all slashing prices. For bargain hunters, like the YouTuber who calls himself "The Deal Guy," this is a pretty exciting time.
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The Deal Guy: These are the top 50 October Amazon Prime Day 2022 deals, and today's brand new deals are awesome! Let's begin with a pair of Bluetooth wireless earbuds…
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But maybe not so awesome for retailers, as "The Washington Post" explains. What's going on here might surprise you given everything you've heard about pandemic supply chain shortages. For some products, it's exactly the opposite. Retailers have too much stuff. Recent data showed U.S. retailers are sitting on a record $732 billion of inventory.
Retailers here basically lost a bet. They ordered stuff based on what they thought people's appetite would be, but household spending on goods has slowed down lately. So a bunch of stuff is sitting on shelves, not making retailers any money.
Stocks of big companies have taken hits, including Nike and Target. But listen, investors loss might be your gain, as long as you're up for getting a really early start on your holiday shopping.
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You can find all these stories and more in the "Apple News" app. And, as I mentioned earlier, if you're listening in the news app, stick around to hear the "New York Magazine" profile we mentioned on Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman.
I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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