Shumita Basu, Narrating: Hey there, Shumita here. Americans buy a lot of stuff around the holidays, more than most of us need, probably. If you’ve reevaluated any of your consumer habits in recent years, we want to hear it about. How are you shopping differently and how has it worked out for you?
Just use your iPhone’s voice memo app to record yourself. Tell us your name, where you’re from, and what’s changed about your buying habits. And please, try to keep it to about a minute. You can send it to us at applenewstoday@apple.com. And we might include your story on our weekly interview show, "Apple News In Conversation." Thanks!
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Good morning! It’s Monday, December 4th. I’m Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today’s show… How a group of Ukrainian teenagers who escaped Russia could strengthen a war crimes case against Vladimir Putin, how world leaders are thinking about the role of food in the fight against climate change, and the benefits of having friends older and younger than you.
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But first, let’s take a look at some of the top stories in the news. Starting in the Middle East, where Israel hit parts of south Gaza with airstrikes over the weekend and called for people to evacuate areas where it believes Hamas leaders are located. Hamas says its fighters clashed with Israeli troops about one mile from Khan Younis in the south.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees from the war have been displaced to south Gaza in recent weeks, while Israel’s ground offensive focused on northern Gaza . Recent evacuation orders from Israel have caused widespread confusion over which areas are safe for civilians and which areas Israeli forces are targeting for combat.
This morning, on social media, Israel posted new evacuation orders for people in south Gaza with a map that Israel says clearly defines "safe areas." But U.N. officials and people in Gaza point out it's difficult for people to follow these orders in real-time since access to electricity and the internet continue to be a major problem in Gaza with Israel’s ongoing blockade affecting power to the Strip.
In other news, in the United States, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today over the legality of a bankruptcy settlement involving Purdue Pharma. For years, the maker of the powerful prescription painkiller, OxyContin, has been the focus of lawsuits aiming to hold the company accountable for its role in the opioid crisis. A settlement reached last year would make Purdue’s owners, the Sackler family, pay for billions of dollars’ worth of addiction-treatment and other relief efforts in exchange for legal immunity. The high Court will decide whether that legal maneuver is a violation of federal law. And their decision could impact how other organizations resolve similar claims of mass injury in the future.
And in sports, the bracket for this year’s College Football Playoff is set. And a lot of fans are pretty upset that the selection committee left Florida State out of the final four. The team went undefeated this season in a Power Five conference, yet two teams that lost games, Alabama and Texas, secured spots over the Seminoles. The committee said the injury of Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis factored into the decision, leading him to post on social media saying that he was sorry he didn’t get injured sooner so the committee could see that quote "this team is much more than the quarterback."
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Since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, Ukraine’s government has accused Russia of abducting tens of thousands of children. The Kremlin claims it’s protecting Ukrainian children, and adhering to the law. Some kids have been adopted by Russian families. But the International Criminal Court considers the unlawful transferring of children a war crime, and has an arrest warrant out for Russian President Vladimir Putin. And Ukraine is building a case to argue that Russia is systematically taking Ukrainian children with the goal of erasing their national identities.
Siobhan O’Grady, the chief Ukraine correspondent for "The Washington Post," told us how several Ukrainian teenagers who managed to escape and return to Ukraine could play a critical role in the case against Putin.
Siobhan O’Grady: The older that you are, the better you can express what actually happened to you. The exact dates, times, details, the names of people who you were interacting with, which could be key evidence in war crimes trials about the forced deportation or relocation of Ukrainian children. And so, I think that Russia sees teenagers in particular who have been forcibly moved, and there are many of them, as a threat when they return.
O’Grady spoke to three teenagers from the Kherson region. Last fall, they were pressured by their school officials to sign up for sort of summer camps in Russian-held territories.
O’Grady: All of them were told that they would be gone just for a few weeks, that it was mandatory.
Kherson had been captured by Russian forces pretty early in the conflict. But soon after these teens were transferred to camps, Ukrainian forces managed to regain control of Kherson.
O’Grady: All of these kids were stuck still at the camps that they had been sent to and had no idea how they were going to get home. So, that was a moment of real panic for them when they realized that they were really stuck on the wrong side of the battle lines.
These teenagers ended up spending anywhere from 8 to ten months away from home.
“The Washington Post” isn’t sharing the details of how exactly they got out for security reasons. But when one of the boys escaped and arrived in Kyiv, he says his phone started ringing. Calls from Russian officials, from the Russian police, demanding to know where he was. He told them, "I’m in Ukraine." He says they didn’t believe him. So, he sent a selfie from Independence Square, the site of famous mass protests against Russia in 2014.
O’Grady: That was just this remarkable show of bravery and wit from a 17 year old who'd been through so much, you know, this very symbolic selfie taken from the square in Kiev where Ukrainians gathered to protest against policies that would have brought them closer to Russia and further away from Europe a decade ago.
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Now to an update from COP 28, the ongoing global climate summit in Dubai. This year, for the very first time, more than 130 countries signed a declaration that formally recognized how food and agriculture systems contribute to climate change.
Some of the biggest emitters of greenhouses gases per capita from food signed this pledge, including the U.S., China, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. Some of their goals include promoting sustainable food security, supporting farmers and fishers, especially those from marginalized groups, and reducing food emissions that contribute to global warming.
Later this week, an entire day of the conference will be dedicated to talking about food and climate, and advocates are eager to see some more concrete goals and deadlines laid out.
This is a big step. Food accounts for a huge portion of global emissions, about one third. And research has shown that reducing meat and dairy from our diets, two top sources of food emissions, can go a long way in reducing our carbon footprint. Recent research shows the average vegan diet is linked to about one-quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions of a diet that includes a lot of meat.
“Grist”, a news outlet that emphasizes climate solutions, took that thinking a step further. A reporter asked experts in food policy, history, the economy and more, what might happen if, starting tomorrow, everyone on the planet just stopped eating meat?”
It’s an interesting thought experiment, obviously full of hypotheticals, but it’s worth reading how these experts respond to that question. Most agreed that flipping a switch like that would be pretty bad. You know, it would disrupt entire economies, leave lots of people jobless, especially in low-income countries that rely on their livestock industry. But they say, a more gradual shift is totally possible. That a thoughtful shift from animal farming to legume farming could be realistic. And that, truthfully, cutting out meat entirely all over the world probably isn't necessary, that it would be enough for high-consumption countries like the United States to reduce how much meat we’re eating.
You can read more about how a meatless world might look from "Grist" in the Apple News app.
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I want you to picture, say, your ten closest friends. Just line 'em up in your mind. Now let me ask you, are they are more-or-less your age? Data shows that’s pretty typical for most people in the United States. But it wasn’t always like this, and a recent piece in "The Atlantic" argues we’re kinda worse off for it.
Having friends of all ages used to be more of the norm in the U.S., but changes over the years to how we live and work impacted our friend circles. Take schools. They were not always organized by grade, which meant younger and older kids had more chances to mingle and form friendships. Another factor was the rise of senior living communities, which gives them seniors fewer opportunities to interact with younger people. And the declining attendance in religious communities which were usually another environment where you’d typically be interacting with people outside your age group.
"The Atlantic" spoke to someone who researches inter-generational relationships. And she says there’s lots of data showing friendships across generations can be beneficial for everyone. For example, integrating preschools with senior centers so the young and old can spend time together has proven to boost the health and well-being of both groups.
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Our families provide an automatic cross-generational perspective, of course. But friends add another dimension. And it’s one that researchers say we should seek out more, to broaden our horizons and build a better-connected, less lonely society.
You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you’re listening in the app right now, we’ve got a Narrated Article coming up next from “The New Yorker.” It’s a real treat because it’s not only written by David Sedaris, he narrates it too. It’s an amusing story about how he’s had unwelcome guests on his property for years now… rams. And apparently, they’re mean as anything.
If you’re listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News+ Narrated to find that story. Enjoy listening to that, and I’ll be back with the news tomorrow.
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