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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, August 2nd. I'm Shumita Basu. This is “Apple News Today.” On today's show, the staggering scale of Ukrainians who've lost limbs since Russia's invasion. New concerns about the future of a critical ocean current, and some positive environmental breakthroughs, in a summer of climate anxiety.
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But first, Donald Trump has now been indicted for the third time. A federal grand jury voted to move forward with charges against the former president in connection with his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election and his actions leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
The four counts are: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy against the rights of U.S. citizens, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and obstructing an official proceeding.
Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who led the investigation, talked about why Trump should answer for his actions in court.
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Jack Smith: The attack on our nation’s Capital on January 6th, 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. It's described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation's process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.
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Smith also paid tribute to the men and women who guarded the Capitol while it was under attack.
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Jack Smith: They're patriots and they're the very best of us. They did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. They put their lives in the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people. They defended the very institutions and principles that define the United States.
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Trump's first hearing on the new charges is set for tomorrow. It might not be the only case related to his efforts to overturn the election. Indictment in a Georgia case could come this month and he faces other criminal charges, including the federal case over his handling of classified documents. There's also a New York trial over charges that he falsified business records related to hush-money payments to an adult-film actor. Trial proceedings are scheduled to take place as the 2024 campaign heats up. Trump has broadly denied wrongdoing.
He was already the first current or former U.S. president to face criminal charges. This week's indictment breaks ground in a different way. Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, and he now faces serious charges that he tried to undermine the democratic system itself, to illegally hold on to power.
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Let's change focus to what's happening abroad, where the war in Ukraine is intensifying this week. Today, more Russian drones hit port and grain-storage facilities in the Odesa region. Also this week, drone strikes have repeatedly hit skyscrapers in Moscow. Ukraine's president says “that gradually the war is returning to Russian territory.”
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“The Wall Street Journal” looks at the impact of the conflict on Ukrainian troops and civilians, and one type of injury stands out. As many as 50,000 Ukrainians have lost limbs since Russia invaded. Those are numbers unheard of in recent conflicts in the West. Doctors say they haven't seen amputations at those levels since World Wars I and II. For context, fewer than 2,000 U.S. veterans had amputations in all the years of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
Now the numbers are so high because of how Russia is waging the war. It's making heavy use of mines and artillery attacks on the front lines, and its airstrikes on Ukrainian cities have devastating impact on civilians. The situation could get worse as Ukraine advances, pushing through more territory that Russian troops have packed with mines.
The “Journal” looks at how Ukraine's medical system is straining to care for all the new amputees. Artificial limbs cost tens of thousands of dollars. Each person needs a tailor- made prosthetic. And children are a special case, because they need to change prosthetics as they grow. Also, patients need access to specialists who can provide the rehabilitation that helps people rebuild their lives. Right now, there aren't enough experts in the country to handle the wave of new patients.
The “Journal” tells the stories of several patients, a 20-year-old-soldier who lost her leg under fire, a 7-year-old girl whose leg was destroyed in a Russian missile attack. You can read more about them in the Apple News app.
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There's a vital ocean current running deep in the Atlantic that determines everything from crop production in Africa, to sea levels along the East Coast. And climate change is bringing it to the brink of collapse.
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The current is called AMOC. That's AMOC, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. It's a current in the Atlantic Ocean that carries warm water from the equator up north where it cools off and brings cool water back south. A new study says, because of changes in ocean temperature, there are signs that AMOC is getting weaker and could collapse much sooner than scientists expected, maybe in a few decades.
Climate physicist Peter Ditlevsen is an author of the study. He told “WION,” “if AMOC collapses, the earth loses a vital current that helps regulate temperatures.”
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Peter Ditlevsen: The heat that is not transported to the, to the Northern Atlantic stays in the tropics. And that's really where you have, the big problems in terms of climate change.
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As he says, “the tropics would heat up if the current collapses.” Drought could get worse in parts of Africa. Sea levels could rise by the Eastern U.S. A collapse is a threat to animals and to our global food supply.
Given the importance, scientists say the potential collapse of AMOC is another warning sign that humans need to take strong action to prevent the planet from getting hotter. As one oceanographer puts it, “AMOC is the bedrock of Earth's climate system, and it can't be taken for granted.”
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We want to end on a different note. This hot summer has been full of bad news about climate change. But “Bloomberg Green” recently did a roundup of good news for the planet, efforts and discoveries that have the potential to make things better.
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The “Bloomberg” piece highlights a big change across Europe, a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Many European countries acted quickly to transition from Russian fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. It's been a major undertaking, and by “Bloomberg's” measure, a largely successful one. Last year, solar installations in Europe jumped by 35%.
“Bloomberg” also writes how U.S. ships are using Al technology to reduce collisions with whales. And about scientists who figured out a new way to capture carbon produced by steelmaking using a type of mineral. That means a giant industry could potentially cut emissions, without buying expensive new equipment.
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This is just a small taste of Bloomberg's reporting. You can find the rest, and all the stories we covered today, in the Apple News app.
And if you're listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've cued up the latest episode of our World Cup podcast “After the Whistle.” The U.S. women just barely made it out of the group stage. Soccer legend Brandi Chastain joins Brendan and Rebecca to talk about what it'll take to get back on a championship track.
That's cued up for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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