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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, October 10th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show: The Speaker of the House race is still up in the air at a dangerous time in the world; Why life expectancy has dropped sharply in the U.S.; And how our genes may influence how we respond to a vegetarian diet.
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But first, the conflict between Israel and Hamas, where there are multiple ways the already volatile situation could escalate. One area to watch is how much Israel intensifies its attacks on Gaza, including whether it sends in ground troops. Another is the ongoing hostage situation. Hamas has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage for every time Israel bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning.
Even ahead of any of those escalations, the fighting is already claiming hundreds of lives. Close to a thousand Israelis have been killed. Gaza’s health ministry reports that around 800 Palestinians have been killed there. And inside Israel, its military says that 1,500 Hamas militants are dead.
Israel has called up 300,000 reservists, which is an enormous number in a country of only 9 million people. This is raising fears that the country is considering a ground assault in Gaza. Israeli ground troops haven't attacked there in nearly 10 years. It's a densely packed area with networks of secret tunnels. Israel's 2014 ground attack on the area was previously its longest and deadliest fight with Hamas.
Even if it doesn't send in ground troops, Israel is already doing a lot of damage through its airstrikes. And it's severely tightening the rules of the blockade, cutting off food, water, and power. Civilians inside have few options to escape the attacks, with most exits sealed off by Israel.
Hind Khoudary, a journalist in Gaza, spoke to "Al Jazeera" about the impact on civilians.
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Hind Khoudary: What happened today with us, what we witnessed today, was something I never witnessed. I saw thousands of Palestinian refugees in UNRWA schools without electricity, without water, without food. There is no safe space for Palestinians to go, and it's very dangerous for everyone in the Gaza Strip right now.
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Meanwhile, Israeli families are frantic to find missing loved ones. Yoni Asher's wife and daughters, age three and five, were taken by Hamas. He told "NBC" he hadn't slept for days.
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Yoni Asher: These are babies. Babies. Women. Families are off limits. You can't just take them, hold them in captivity. It's a situation you just can't… You can't do this kind of things.
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It's unclear how many Israeli hostages are being held in Gaza, but there are estimates from Israel that there are likely more than 100. The U.S., France, and other countries are looking into whether any of their citizens are being held captive. At least 11 Americans have been killed.
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Now, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news.
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In Afghanistan, rescue teams are digging through rubble, hoping to find survivors after a powerful series of earthquakes killed at least 2,000 people in the country's west over the weekend. The quake is the worst to hit Afghanistan in more than a quarter century. Aid workers say that some residents felt the earth shake and thought it was a bombing, so they ran inside for shelter, which resulted in a higher death toll as homes were destroyed. The UN says that in 11 villages, every single home is gone.
In Washington, Republicans don't appear close to consensus on the next House Speaker. It's looking like it could be a drawn-out fight for the role between Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan. A leaderless House while the Middle East crisis flares up is worrying people in both parties. Some Republicans support giving the temporary Speaker Patrick McHenry additional powers so that critical issues can be addressed quickly. And Kevin McCarthy now says that he's willing to return to his role as Speaker. But some of the minority of Republicans who voted him out would have to change their minds.
And President Biden has been interviewed by the Special Counsel investigating his handling of classified documents. The White House says the president voluntarily did the interviews over two days, and has fully cooperated with investigators throughout. The federal investigation is looking into storage of classified documents at Biden's Delaware home and at a Washington think tank office set up for him.
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Moving on to a story about our health: American lives are being cut short. The U.S. is falling farther and farther behind other wealthy countries. For decades, life expectancy in America was getting longer, peaking at just about 79 years old. But for the last decade or so, it's started to drop.
"The Washington Post" spent a year investigating the reasons why and found chronic illnesses, like diabetes, cancer, heart and liver disease, are the primary factor. Gun and opioid deaths may get more attention, but chronic disease is what's doing the most to shorten people's lives in this country
Reporter Joel Achenbach told us the problem is largely because America's health care system invests little in preventing illness.
Joel Achenbach: This country is actually really good at keeping very sick people alive. We put a lot of resources into that. But what we're not good at as a country is making people healthy to begin with, keeping them healthy to begin with, preventing disease.
There are clear disparities in the data when you look at the impact of chronic disease across the country. Deaths in rural communities are rising faster. And people in low income communities are far more likely to die. That means the difference in life expectancy between affluent and impoverished communities is widening. The "Post" calls this "the death gap."
Achenbach: It's actually growing faster than the income gap. In other words, how long you live has become the most telling indicator of the widening inequality in America.
To give you a sense of how big the gap has gotten: In the 1980s, people living in the poorest parts of the United States were nine percent more likely to die each year than wealthier Americans. By 2020, they were 61 percent more likely to die.
Achenbach told us about Bonnie Jean Holloway from Louisville, Kentucky. For years, she worked around-the-clock waiting tables, which took a toll on her health. She developed rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic diseases. She died this summer at the age of 61.
Achenbach: She had COPD and emphysema. She was a smoker. She grew up in a culture where everyone smoked. Her parents smoked. She started smoking when she was 12. And we wanted to tell her story, among many stories, about people and families who've been through the trauma of chronic disease, and how it robs people of quality of life, and then often leads to an early death.
Throughout the 20th century, the U.S. would point to rising life expectancy rates as proof of progress, a measure of the nation's overall health. But by that same metric, right now America is very sick.
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Are you a vegetarian and loving it? Or maybe you've tried to go veg and struggled. New research says there may be genetic reasons for why vegetarianism is easier for some people than others. "NPR" has this story.
Researchers analyzed the DNA of more than 300,000 people, including vegetarians. And they found several genes that may play a role in making it more likely that someone can stick to a vegetarian diet.
Northwestern University's Dr. Nabeel Yaseen tells "NPR" that some of these genes have to do with how our body metabolizes fats, or lipids.
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Dr. Nabeel Yaseen: One hypothesis, which is highly speculative, is maybe there is a lipid nutrient in meat that some people need and others don't.
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Dr. Yaseen's got a personal tie to the research. He says he's tried to give up meat without much success. But the study doesn't close the door to people changing their diet for health, animal welfare, and environmental reasons. Even if some people may have something in their genes that makes them need meat, they might be able to just eat less meat and be okay.
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from "Esquire." It profiles Yusef Salaam. He's one of the so-called Central Park Five, who was wrongfully convicted and ended up in prison for seven years in the 90s. Now, he's running for New York City Council, and on track to win office in the city that once locked him up.
If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News+ Narrated to find that story. Enjoy that listen, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow
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