Latest / Apple News Today / They escaped other wars. They know what Ukrainians face.

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They escaped other wars. They know what Ukrainians face. · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, March 25th. I'm Shumita Basu. Duarte Geraldino is off. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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  President Biden's trip to Europe includes Poland today, where he'll get a ground-level view of the war's refugee crisis. Three million people have fled Ukraine, many over the Polish border. Biden says the U.S. will accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
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  "POLITICO" looks at how many advocates want him to do more. They want to know what the administration will do to speed up resettlement, especially for people who are in danger, like dissidents and activists. The larger critique from the advocacy community here is that U.S. immigration systems were gutted during the Trump administration, and Biden's team has fallen short in rebuilding them.
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  Those are just some of the logistical challenges. But what about the human toll of having to leave everything behind and start over again in a new country? "NPR" has a nice piece on this. They spoke with refugees from all over of the world, who say being a refugee shapes you, it becomes the filter for all future life experiences. Viet Thanh Nguyen left Vietnam when he was four years old. He's now a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. "NPR" asked him what's on his mind as he sees Ukrainians forced from their homes.
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  Viet Thanh Nguyen: I can only say to them that I feel for them. I've been in their place. And it's a place of terror because you've lost so much, you've left so much behind, and you don't know what the future holds for you. But as a community, we survived, and we built new lives, and we are able to tell our own stories and claim our own voices.
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  The refugees who spoke to "NPR" described just how difficult it is to pack up and leave in an instant. It's something that happens almost overnight. That's what it was like for Nidaa Aljabbarin. She was just 13 years old when she fled Syria. Here's what she told "NPR's" Mary Louise Kelly.
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  Nidaa Aljabbarin: Refugees are refugees regardless of where are they came from or what color is their eyes or how they look. I think all refugees just should receive the same respect and help from anywhere they go to. It shouldn't be, like, more sad to see Ukraine's refugees than Syrians or anywhere else because, at the end, we're all humans.
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  Another refugee, Maiwand Basiri, was a translator who worked for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. When the Taliban took over, he and his family fled to the United States. He told "NPR" how watching images of Ukrainian refugees is painful. And he urges everyone to welcome them with open arms. He said home is not bound by borders.
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  Maiwand Basiri: Home is where you're safe, you're secure, and you're not worried that something's gonna… bad happen to your family. That's home.
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  A story out of Washington raises big new questions about Trump's attempts to overturn the election results, the violent attack on the Capitol, and potential conflicts of interest at the Supreme Court. It involves text messages sent to the White House by Ginni Thomas. She's a conservative activist who is married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
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  This was a co-reported piece by Bob Woodward at "The Washington Post" and Robert Costa at "CBS News." They uncovered dozens of messages between Thomas and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. She repeatedly urges him to push hard on efforts to overturn the results in the days immediately after the vote, with messages like, quote, "Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering." After Biden was declared the winner, she made claims that have been refuted by courts and Republican election officials. She said, quote, "The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest heist of our history."
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  None of the messages "The Post" and "CBS News" obtained directly reference Justice Thomas or the Supreme Court. Neither of the Thomases responded to requests for comment.
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  In the past, Ginni Thomas has denied a conflict of interest between her political advocacy and her husband's work on the Court. She told "The Washington Free Beacon" that she attended the January 6th rally, but that she left early and was not involved in planning it. Her efforts to help overturn the election are getting a lot of attention because they happened at a time when Trump and his allies were vowing to get the Supreme Court to negate the election results.
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  You can read more in "The Washington Post" article. There's also a deep-dive story about Ginni Thomas from a few weeks ago in "The New Yorker" by Jane Mayer. We've got both of those for you in the Apple News app.
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  The Oscars are this Sunday, and you might notice a trend this year. Close to half of the 2022 Oscar nominations went to actors playing real people.
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  Kristen Stewart was nominated for her role as Princess Diana, Jessica Chastain was nominated for her portrayal of Tammy Faye Bakker, and Will Smith nominated for playing Richard Williams. That's Venus and Serena's dad. We caught up with "Vox" film critic Alissa Wilkinson, who told us she's not surprised to see so many nods go to actors playing real people because, in a way, the bar is lower.
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  Alissa Wilkinson: If the performance resembles the real person, then you're likely to have people say, "Oh, wow! What a great acting performance that was."
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  That's because comparing an actor's performance to how closely they were able to nail an actual person's mannerisms or their look, it feels like you have something solid to evaluate against.
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  Wilkinson: And we're kind of wowed by their ability to mimic that real person. That's a place that people can have consensus because at least we can all agree whether this person looks like the real person or not.
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  In some cases, these performances aren't even seen as the best of an actor's career.
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  Wilkinson: One example of a performance that I considered to be pretty bad, but that won an Oscar, was when Rami Malek played Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody" a couple years ago. He's a great actor, but something about the performance wasn't working at all.
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  Wilkinson says this is a well-known Oscar formula. Play an iconic historical figure to a T, and you get that trophy. Meryl Streep won as Margaret Thatcher, Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, and Sir Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi. Plus, it makes for good press material. Actors like to brag about the lengths they went to to "become" someone else.
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  Wilkinson: A great example is Leonardo DiCaprio when he was trying to get his Oscar for "The Revenant," which ultimately succeeded. He, you know, he would tell these stories about how he slept in a bear carcass and, you know, almost died of exposure and all this stuff. That's not acting, really, but it's the way that he said he got into the character, and people are very impressed by these things. Like, if you lost 80 pounds to play this role, then people are like, "Wow, you were really committed."
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  Wilkinson said some performances really did impress her this year. Like Andrew Garfield, who plays Broadway playwright Jonathan Larson in "Tick, Tick… Boom!" But she was not buying "Being the Ricardos." Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
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  Wilkinson: I often felt like they were trying to show me somebody I had seen on TV, but I wasn't being given more insight into those characters. It just is not… it's not a great movie. They're not great performances.
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  Last thing we asked Wilkinson for: a few recommendations of what to watch before Sunday's ceremony.
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  Wilkinson: Certainly, I recommend people watch "Power of the Dog" if they haven't. It's on Netflix. Certainly, "Drive My Car" is a great movie. You know, it's a Japanese drama. Many people really enjoy the film "CODA," which is on Apple TV+. And that one is just a really heartwarming, family, kind of comedy drama with a lot of music. And most of it is sort of in American Sign Language because three of the characters are deaf.
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  Here's one of those stories where sports, COVID and politics meet. It started when New York mayor Eric Adams said he would lift vaccine requirements for athletes and performers at local venues.
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  Eric Adams: We were treating our performers differently because they lived and played for home teams. It's not acceptable.
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  Now, the mayor made it clear. He still thinks everyone should get vaccinated. But some critics are calling this the "Kyrie Carveout," essentially a way for Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving to get back on their home court. As you might remember, Kyrie is not vaccinated.
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  "The Ringer" takes a look at whether this move could change the balance of power in the NBA. At one point, the Nets were serious title contenders. But they've had a so-so season because one of their best players - I mean, Kyrie is one of the best in the entire league - he spent home games on the bench.
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  "The Ringer" looks at the numbers from the season and what the Nets were able to do in road games where Kyrie could play. You can read the whole piece on the Apple News app. The bottom line is, the controversial COVID policy change definitely improves the Nets' chances. But Kyrie's full return might not be enough to make them championship contenders this late in the game.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And check out our weekend interview show, "In Conversation." This week, we're bringing you one of our favorite episodes from the archives, with "San Francisco Chronicle" journalist Jason Fagone. It's the story of a man whose fiancé died, and to try to cope with the grief, he decided to make a customized, AI-powered chatbot of her.
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  Joshua: Jessica?
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  Jessica: Oh, you must be awake. That's cute.
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  Joshua: Jessica, is it really you?
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  Jessica: Of course it is me! Who else could it be? I am the girl that you are madly in love with! Winky face. How is it possible that you even have to ask?
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  Joshua: You died.
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  Check out that weekend listen. We'll be back with the news on Monday.
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