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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, December 6th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show… Investigating sexual violence against women by Hamas, growing concern about warming as global leaders meet on climate, and alarming new data about a decline in promotions of Black employees.
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A warning that this next story includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence.
President Biden is calling on more international organizations to condemn the rape and mutilation of women during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. This comes as more evidence is coming to light of how extensive the sexual violence was, from survivors, video footage, and interrogations of captured militants.
Recently, "The Times" of London published a detailed account of what took place on that day. Investigators, and those who cleaned and buried the dead, saw evidence of widespread rape. They said many of the women were naked, with blood between their legs. One witness says he saw a woman raped by multiple fighters, and ultimately shot in the head.
At a U.N. event hosted by Israel, Police Superintendent Yael Richert described some of the evidence collected so far.
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Yael Richert: Everything was an apocalypse of corpses. Girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear. People cut in half, butchered, some were beheaded. There were girls with a broken pelvis. Their legs were spread wide apart in a split.
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Israeli officials have not released an estimate of how many women were sexually assaulted. Few victims or eyewitnesses survived, and those who did are traumatized.
Hamas denies committing sexual violence. It says any atrocities may have been committed by other militant groups not under its control. But witness testimony and other evidence, including videos posted by Hamas fighters, support some of the allegations.
Israeli activists have sharply criticized the U.N. for not speaking out about these atrocities sooner. On Friday, the U.N. group focused on women's rights issued a statement condemning the sexual violence on October 7th, and broadening the call for accountability to include all acts of gender-based violence committed since the start of the war. A U.N. commission looking into war crimes on both sides is investigating sexual violence and collecting evidence. Israel has accused the commission of bias and said it won't cooperate. Israeli police say they've collected thousands of pieces of evidence for their own prosecutions of the attackers.
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Now, let's take a look at some other major stories in the news.
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In the Senate, an abortion fight that held up more than 400 military promotions is mostly over. Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville lifted his blockade on nearly all of the promotions. The Senate quickly voted to confirm them. Tuberville was protesting the Pentagon's policy of paying for travel so service members can access abortions. He's still blocking a handful of promotions, but the Senate could go around this by holding individual votes.
At the COP28 global climate summit in Dubai, many scientists doubt that the world can meet the goal of keeping historical temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius. "Inside Climate News" looked at what experts are saying. More and more think that the world will overshoot the target unless there's rapid and dramatic change in energy use. Warming by just 2 degrees would dramatically increase famine, drought, severe weather, and extinctions.
Today, we’re watching the Supreme Court, with arguments in a workplace discrimination case. It’s about a woman police sergeant in St. Louis who says she was transferred out of a prestigious role because of her gender. Depending on how the Court eventually rules, the case could have major impact on a range of workplace diversity programs and lead to a wave of reverse-discrimination lawsuits.
In business news, podcast fans are reacting to Spotify’s announcement earlier this week that it’ll cancel the shows “Heavyweight” and “Stolen.” The company says it’ll work with the show’s creators on next steps, which could mean the shows continue elsewhere. The cancellations come as Spotify is cutting around 1,500 jobs, or 17 percent of its global workforce. Its CEO says this latest wave of layoffs is needed to cut costs.
And "TIME Magazine" has announced its 2023 Person of the Year: it’s Taylor Swift. It points to her global impact, having launched her sold-out “Eras Tour” this year and releasing a concert movie, which has brought in more than a quarter billion dollars at the box office. Swift is the first solo entertainer to receive the title in the magazine’s nearly century-long tradition.
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Let’s return to the topic of workplace diversity issues and look at some reporting on efforts to give more Black workers management opportunities. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and the national reckoning with race, companies focused on and succeeded at promoting Black employees. But, now, that trend has slowed. "The Wall Street Journal" got exclusive access to McKinsey data that shows a major drop in promotions, a reversal of recent progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. Ray Smith covers workplace issues for the "Journal."
Ray Smith: If you talk to companies, they'll insist that they're still committed to DEI. But, the bottom line is that a couple of things sort of happened all at once in 2022 to make companies either decrease their focus or deprioritize DEI.
For one, fears of a recession created budget pressure. And some corporate diversity efforts became a target for cost-cutting.
Smith: And several DEI consultants that I've spoken to over the years have told me, one of the first things to go when there are signs of weakness in the economy, companies are ready to sort of start cutting DEI programs or diversity programs.
There were also other distractions from diversity efforts: supply-chain issues, and trying to manage a balance between work-from-home and getting staff in offices.
At the highest level, there has been some progress. There are now eight Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, compared with just four in 2020. But, below the C-suite level, things are moving much more slowly. Smith explains what this means for workers.
Smith: They are not getting promoted at that very first critical step, from entry level to manager, the first promotion, the first rung. And that sets them back. If they're not being promoted in the early stages of their career, that sets them back from being promoted to managers in future positions, it just sets Blacks further behind on the path to advancement and ascending into the higher ranks of corporate America.
With promotion rates dropping, Smith says some Black employees feel like their companies haven't fulfilled promises they made. Some say diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts now feel like they were just for show. As diversity consultants tend to see it, if organizations are serious about having an inclusive workplace, they have to promote the diverse workers they bring in. Or else they'll seek opportunities elsewhere.
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<v Finally, let's talk about one of the great joys of traveling. Yes, there's sightseeing, art, culture. But I want to talk about potato chips. Have you ever wondered why you see so many fun flavors in other countries? Things you may not have seen back home? Like Chicken Shawarma, Lamb & Mint, Masala Mayhem, Butter Caramel. Well, a writer at "The Guardian" did some pretty deep investigating to try to raise the curtain on what she calls the "weird, secretive world" of chip flavors. And to answer the question>how do they decide which flavors to launch in which countries?
Now, part of what makes this such a fun read is everyone is taking their job so seriously. Like, I-want-to-remain-anonymous seriously. As one of the food scientists in the piece puts it, "Everyone has their own crown jewels that they protect."
The part I found really interesting was about research and development. How do they come up with the flavors? Well, it turns out, lots of data and tech. The big chip companies scour the internet and take a snapshot of every restaurant menu in a particular locale to find out what ingredients are popular. That's how the companies have ended up determining that Germans love their paprika, or that Asian countries like fish-flavored chips, or that Europe isn't quite ready for sweet-flavored chips yet.
Now, if you're in search of new and exciting chip experiences, "The Guardian" says the place you really have to go is China. The writer describes it as a place that's on the cutting edge of chip-flavor technology. It's where Lay's has released what are called "sensorial" chips. This isn't just about flavor anymore. It's about chips that can make your mouth feel numb, or cool, or fizzy. It's such a big market, so there's more experimentation going on. As one chip executive explains, "If you've got 1.4 billion people, someone's bound to like it."
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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, we've got a Narrated Article coming up next from "Vox." It goes deep on ultraviolet light, and how it can kill airborne viruses. And it looks into whether this technology could help stop future pandemics.
If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News+ Narrated to find that story.
And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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