[INTRO MUSIC FADES IN]
Yasmeen Khan, Narrating: Good morning. It's Monday, January 29th. I'm Yasmeen Khan in for Shamita Basu.
This is "Apple News Today." Coming up…
Why Gaza's called the most dangerous place to be a child right now…
Museums cover up exhibits of Native American artifacts…
And a thrilling comeback and an upset set the stage for the Super Bowl.
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But first, let's take a look at some big developments in the Middle East.
Three U.S. troops are dead and dozens more injured after a drone attack
in Jordan, near the Syrian border.
The U.S. says Iran-backed militant groups were behind the attack,
and President Biden promises a response.
The difficult part is how to respond in a way that doesn't start a larger conflict
between Iran and the U.S.
Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton talked about this tricky balance on "CNN."
[START CNN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Cedric Leighton: There are several options here. Most of them are very bad.
But the best option of a bad series of choices is going
to be to hit something that is very important to the Iranians,
but it is not something that strikes at the core of the regime
or at the core of some of their capabilities,
but it would serve as a warning to them. So something like attacking naval assets
in the Persian Gulf, something like that kind of goes up to the line.
[END CNN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Khan, Narrating: Iran denied involvement in the drone strike.
This latest violence comes as the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt are encouraging Israel
and Hamas to make a new deal for a ceasefire.
There were high-level talks in Paris yesterday, which included
the CIA's director.
One proposal could stop fighting for up to 60 days in exchange for the release
of hostages and more aid to Gaza.
And the U.N. is urging the U.S. and other countries to restore aid money
for the U.N.'s agency working in Gaza.
This came after Israel accused several U.N. workers of involvement
in the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel.
The U.S., Germany, and many other countries halted funding.
The U.N. has fired several employees and says it's investigating,
including considering criminal prosecution,
which is rare for aid workers.
But at the same time,
the U.N. says countries should still provide money
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because the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains desperate
and U.N. aid is a lifeline for civilians.
We've been reporting daily about the dangerous situation for civilians
in Gaza.
Today, we want to get more specifics about conditions on the ground.
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Before the U.N. aid story broke, I spoke with Dr. Tania Hach Hassan,
a pediatric intensive care doctor
with Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF.
Dr. Haj-Hassan is in frequent touch with colleagues working in Gaza.
She told me what doctors and nurses are seeing
is unlike any other war zone they've worked in.
Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan: There is literally no safe space. People cannot flee.
This is a population that is completely entrapped,
who has been asked or forced to move sequentially
into a smaller and smaller pocket of land.
And even in those areas that are declared, quote unquote, safe, where they're told
to flee to, they are being actively killed.
So it's completely unprecedented in modern day history.
Khan, Narrating: How are your colleagues in Gaza doing right now?
What's the latest that you're hearing from them?
[HAJ-HASSAN INHALES DEEPLY]
Haj-Hassan: Since the very beginning, the messages have been dire,
and they've become increasingly dire as time has gone by.
I would say last week, I got a lot of messages
to the effect of, we're literally living in hell.
We never imagined something so horrific.
We feel like the world has completely abandoned us.
I think there was a sense of frustration. One colleague,
I can actually just pull up her messages to me here.
One colleague described feeling a kind of numbness, and I quote,
that's how I feel, complete numbness.
Haj-Hassan, Narrating: Nothing matters, nothing affects me, I care about nothing.
If you told me right now that the whole world was on fire,
I wouldn't blink.
I don't know why this is, but that's how I feel. I feel numb.
Khan: Mm.
I would like to ask about Gaza's youngest patients,
newborns and their mothers.
The UN reported that some 20,000 babies were born
in Gaza in the first 105 days of the war.
I'm also seeing reported spikes in miscarriages and stillbirths.
Haj-Hassan: Mm-hm.
Khan: What capacity is there for treating pregnant women and infants?
Haj-Hassan: Almost none at this point.
We've heard numerous stories, rather horrific stories of women trying
to access care for delivery.
A pregnant woman known to the MSF team had tried
to find somewhere to deliver her baby, but the hospitals were full
and ultimately delivered in the latrine near her tent.
And unfortunately, her son died.
We had one nurse colleague who very early on described her cousin
or relative delivering at home, delivering a healthy baby
and being so grateful that she made it through labor
at home safely and that the baby survived and was healthy.
And 10 hours later, their home was bombed and the new mother
and her new baby were both instantly killed.
Khan, Narrating: UNICEF says Gaza is the most dangerous place on earth to be
a child right now.
They've called it a graveyard for children.
Dr. Haj-Hassan says that even if a child is lucky enough to survive
the bombing, there's no guarantee they'll survive
the war.
Haj-Hassan: The new mothers describe not being able to keep their babies warm.
If you're lucky and you can produce breast milk,
your supply is likely to be limited by dehydration
with ongoing limited access to drinking water.
And then if you cannot produce breast milk,
formula is almost impossible to come by these days.
We've had report over report about starvation in Gaza,
and families eating at most one meal a day,
sometimes not at all, no access to clean water.
And then in children what this often translates to even more so
than in adults is this vicious cycle of diarrheal disease,
illness and malnutrition.
Multiple humanitarian organizations are sounding the alarm that the deaths
from disease and epidemics and starvation are likely
to even surpass those of the bombardment.
Khan, Narrating: According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 26,000 Gazans have died,
including many children.
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Dr. Haj-Hassan says collecting data has been difficult,
and the number of deaths is likely much higher.
Several museums across the U.S. are changing
or closing exhibits displaying Native American artifacts.
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This is to comply with new regulations from the Biden administration.
The new rules require consultation and consent from descendants, tribes,
or Native Hawaiian organizations in order to display or do research
on human remains or cultural items.
The American Museum of Natural History in New York
just closed two major exhibition halls to comply.
Museum President Sean Decatur talked to "CNN"
about the thinking behind the moves
President Sean Decatur: The intent of the regulations, and I think the intent of this process,
is to make sure that the voices of Indigenous peoples have a say both in
in how their stories are told in museums and participate actively
in the presentation of their narratives in museums.
Khan, Narrating: Decatur said in a letter to staff that the exhibits were also out of date,
from a time when museums did not respect the perspectives
and shared humanity of indigenous peoples.
Similar moves are happening at the Field Museum in Chicago,
Denver Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and others.
Curators are removing objects or covering up display cases
until staffers can research what needs consent.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland rolled out the new regulations last month.
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She's the first Native American to hold a cabinet position.
She said the process will help return what was stolen back to communities.
And she said it's, quote, laying the groundwork
for the healing of our people.
A couple of quick stories from the sports world before we go.
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is banned
for four years for violating doping rules.
The ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport is backdated to December 2021.
That's when she tested positive.
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The decision likely means Russian skaters will be stripped of their team gold medal
from the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and the U.S. team will get gold instead.
Medals have been in limbo for years as legal wrangling over
the doping allegations dragged on.
And in the NFL, the Super Bowl is now set, with the Kansas City Chiefs taking
on the San Francisco 49ers.
It'll be a rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl, which the Chiefs won.
The Niners pulled off a big comeback win that ended a historic playoff run
by the Detroit Lions.
The Chiefs knocked off the Baltimore Ravens in an upset.
And finally, we've got a narrated article on a writer's journey to use science
to heal his own broken heart.
[START APPLE NARRATED ARTICLE]
Todd Martens: More than 400 days after the breakup, I continue to stew on it,
analyze it, grieve it.
I also haven't had more than three consecutive hours of sleep
since the fall of 2022.
[END APPLE NARRATED ARTICLE]
Khan, Narrating: That's the voice of LA Times reporter Todd Martens.
If you've ever been through a bad breakup, you know how much it hurts.
And you also know that it's not just psychological pain.
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Martens talks with researchers to explore how our brains get rewired
after heartache.
He learns about how heartbreak affects our immune systems.
It can literally make us sick.
And he finds out what science has to offer to fix a broken heart.
That's cued up for you next in the Apple News app.
And if you're listening in the Podcasts app,
follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find the story.
And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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