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Why Western tanks could transform the war in Ukraine · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, January 16th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, powerful new weapons headed for Ukraine could change the war, checking in on a groundbreaking slavery reparations program in Evanston, Illinois and how the pandemic and screens are transforming how we tip.
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  But first, let's catch up on some of the big headlines from the weekend and where they stand now. Search teams now have the voice and flight data recorders from the deadly crash in Nepal on Sunday. At least 68 people died in the country's worst plane crash in 30 years. The recorders may help investigators understand why the plane went down in clear weather. But it may take months to make a firm conclusion.
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  The World Health Organization and many governments are calling on China to release more information about COVID. After many weeks of insisting that few had died following a recent surge of infections, China reported over the weekend that nearly 60,000 people with COVID-19 had died since early December. China says the "emergency peak" of the latest surge has passed, but many countries are skeptical. The U.S., South Korea and others have virus-testing and other additional controls on arrivals from China.
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  Here in the United States, California is taking another hit of severe weather, although forecasters say later this week, they expect an end to the relentless storms that have killed at least 19 people.
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  And yesterday, President Biden commemorated Martin Luther King Jr. at Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. He talked about what MLK called for in his most famous speech.
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  President Joe Biden: A dream in which we all deserve liberty and justice, and it's still the task of our time to make that dream a reality because it's not there yet.
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  Now on to Ukraine, where rescue workers in Dnipro are trying to find survivors after a daytime Russian missile strike hit a civilian apartment building. Ukrainian defense forces want more missile defenses from the West to counter attacks like these. The U.S. is in the process of delivering its advanced Patriot missile system, but it may not be on the battlefield for months, until Ukraine's troops are trained on it.
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  There's other important news involving weapons from the West. The U.K. now says it will send tanks to Ukraine. This public promise crosses a line that no other Western country has crossed yet. "The Wall Street Journal" looks at what could be one of the biggest developments in the ground conflict.
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  Modern tanks are critical to strategy. They're the reason why World War II was dramatically different than World War I. The second conflict didn't have the long stalemates and extended trench warfare of the first. Tanks are now essential to winning major battles on land, which is why Ukraine wants to upgrade its arsenal so badly.
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  The U.K.'s move can be seen as a sign of confidence in Ukraine's forces, but also concern. Russia is moving troops to the front lines, and building strength in numbers. More tanks could help Ukraine mount critical counterattacks to win back territory.
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  Britain is providing Ukraine a small amount of tanks, but the move could open the floodgates for other countries to give more armor. The key now is Germany. There are thousands of German-made tanks used by allies in Western Europe. Some are just next door to Ukraine in Poland, which is willing to help. But the German government has to approve the transfer first.
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  In 2019, Evanston, Illinois, agreed to pay reparations to compensate Black residents for slavery and decades of racist government policies. It's the first government-funded reparations program for Black Americans. But more than three years later, most of the money promised hasn't been distributed. Emmanuel Felton is the Race and Ethnicity Reporter at "The Washington Post."
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  Emmanuel Felton: Evanston's a part of this wave across the country of local and state governments looking to make amends for slavery, for Jim Crow, for redlining, for all of these policies that have harmed Black Americans since the dawn of this country.
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  The city council agreed on $25,000 housing vouchers. To qualify, Black residents must show that they or their ancestors lived in Evanston when the city enforced segregation, between 1919 and 1969. The city pledged $10 million, but so far, just $400,000 have been distributed. Out of the hundreds of Black residents who've applied, just 16 have been paid. Many are on a waiting list. Some people died before they got the money. There were initial problems with funding. The city expected to use revenue from taxing legal marijuana sales, but far less money came in than expected, so the city had to find other sources. And Felton explains some supporters of reparations have issues with the way that this program's designed.
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  Felton: It was always gonna be a struggle, right? Like, there are 12,000 Black folks in Evanston. Most of them are renters. Like, what were they gonna do with this money? Because $25,000 really isn't enough for a down payment in, you know, a city where the average home price is about 500,000. So, you know, there were a lot of people concerned from the very beginning that this really wouldn't close the racial equity gap in Evanston. And so far, it really has struggled to even meet its limited goals.
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  Still, Evanston is doing something. Most discussions about reparations never get past hypotheticals. But this Illinois city got to the other side of that debate. Even with the early stumbles, supporters of Evanston's plan say they're just glad to see a program get off the ground.
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  Felton: There've been a lot of promises made to Black Americans over the span of our history that haven't been filled, back to the original promise of 40 acres and a mule, right? So, I think there's some pride in what Evanston's doing, but also the sense of, "Well, we gotta wait and see if this actually happens."
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  Think about the last time you went to a sandwich counter or a coffee shop. You placed your order, probably whipped out your credit card and confronted a screen that asked you, "Would you like to add a tip?" This is the part when your hands start to get clammy, right? I mean, do you really have to tip? Was it a complicated order? Will the person behind you in line see how much you're leaving and judge you for it?
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  Tipping has been a source of anxiety for consumers for a long time now. There have been so many articles written about it over the years. Charlie Warzel, for "The Atlantic," takes stock of the current moment and what's different about it. And he argues that technology and the pandemic are changing how we tip, and how we feel about tipping.
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  He cites data from the payment company Square, which powers the technology behind many of the tablets that are used in these transactions. Restaurant tips were up in 2021, and again last year. The conventional wisdom goes, as we've made tipping easier in the digital age, workers are getting more tips overall. But Warzel questions whether that's true everywhere. He points out people who rely on cash tips, like baggage handlers or shuttle drivers, seem to be losing out in this new tipping economy, now that fewer people are carrying cash.
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  And he says making it easier to tip can also give employers an excuse to pay workers less. It's this stealthy shift of labor costs, from companies to customers. Warzel's got some good observations about why tipping culture is so uniquely weird right now. So, it's worth a read even if you think you've read everything about tipping.
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  You can find his article, and all the stories we talked about today, on 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. A reporter from "The Times of London" traveled to Mississippi to investigate why, nearly 70 years later, no one has been convicted for the lynching of Emmett Till. It's a compelling listen, especially as we reflect today on Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. That story is cued up next. I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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