Latest / Apple News Today / What to know about Russia’s latest attacks on Kyiv
Transcript
- 0:00[MUSIC FADES IN]
- 0:01Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, October 10th. I'm Shumita Basu. 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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- 0:03Kyiv is under attack. Also Lviv, and other major cities in Ukraine's west that have mostly been peaceful in recent months. But today, residents heard air-raid sirens and explosions, and saw buildings in flames.
- 0:04[SIREN BLARING]
- 0:05Lately, the conflict has been concentrated in Ukraine's south and east. The deadly attacks came during the Monday morning rush hour, as people headed to work and school.
- 0:06Putin said these strikes are in retaliation for an explosion that severely damaged a bridge linking Russia to territory it occupies in Crimea. It's a critical supply line for Russian troops in southeast Ukraine. Cutting it off creates military and trade problems for Russia. Ukraine did not officially take credit for blowing up the bridge, but senior officials have widely celebrated it on social media. The developments over the weekend came as Ukrainian forces have steadily taken back territory that Russia occupied. Before Russia's latest attacks, retired U.S. Navy admiral Mike Mullen spoke to ABC on Sunday. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff talked about fears that Putin's losses in Ukraine may lead him to take stronger action, possibly even using nuclear weapons.
- 0:07[START ABC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
- 0:08Mike Mullen: He's a cornered-- I believe, a cornered animal, and I think he's more and more dangerous, just what's happened in the last 24 hours. That bridge was struck, which was logistically critical as well as very symbolic.
- 0:09[END ABC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
- 0:10Today's attacks may put a lot of Ukrainians back into the mindset of the earliest days of the war. Back then, civilians fled major cities or huddled in bomb shelters. These new strikes are an explosive reminder that Russia's war is not over. And Putin's future moves are hard to predict.
- 0:11[PULSING ELECTRONIC MUSIC]
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- 0:13Today, Harvey Weinstein's trial on sexual assault charges begins in Los Angeles. It's a key moment for the #MeToo movement, which was first sparked by abuse allegations against the Hollywood producer reported in "The New Yorker" and "New York Times" five years ago. If you've only partially followed the latest developments around Weinstein, let me fill you in on how high the stakes are for this trial. Back in 2020, he was convicted by a New York jury of charges including rape. A 23-year sentence made it likely that Weinstein, who's now 70 years old, would die in prison. But a court is allowing him to appeal that conviction, and that means that this trial in Los Angeles may be needed to keep him in prison.
- 0:14It's likely this trial will still be going on when the film "She Said" comes out in theaters in November. The movie tells the story of the "New York Times" reporters who broke the Weinstein allegations. His misconduct was an open secret in the entertainment industry for years, but he was so powerful that people wouldn't speak out.
- 0:15[START "SHE SAID" ARCHIVAL CLIP]
- 0:16Character 1: How did you persuade women to tell you what had happened to them?
- 0:17Character 2: The case I made was I can't change what happened to you in the past, but together we may be able to help protect other people. The truth, basically.
- 0:18[END "SHE SAID" ARCHIVAL CLIP]
- 0:19That trailer has been an issue in the latest Weinstein case. His attorneys wanted to delay the trial until after the movie came out, arguing that ads could prejudice the jury. A judge rejected that request.
- 0:20[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
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- 0:22Waves of misinformation are targeting voters ahead of the midterms. It's a problem that seems to get worse with every election. "Vox" focuses on false information aimed at the Latino community specifically. Christian Paz is a senior politics reporter at "Vox"…
- 0:23Christian Paz: That's kind of the way that it gets worse in the Latino community is that there's more of a tendency to exist on social media in echo chambers, in consuming media in Spanish or on social media platforms that aren't necessarily as well regulated.
- 0:24One example of this, after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, false rumors circulated in Spanish-language chats on WhatsApp that the shooter was transgender or an undocumented immigrant. Both are not true. The false stories circulating involve some of the big topics dominating politics, and political misinformation, at the moment. Things like gender identity, inflation, Trump. Some misinformation can be traced back to Republican campaigns. Sometimes it's hard to tell who's behind it. Democrats say that misinformation targeting Latinos is hurting their party. That population is growing, so there could be major political impact.
- 0:25Paz: A lot of Latino voters, including those that I've spoken to, have told me that they just aren't excited, that they don't feel a very strong positive reason to vote for a Democrat right now.
- 0:26Paz says it's hard to tell how much of this is due to misinformation and how much is a failure of Democratic strategy. But he says among Latinos there is dissatisfaction with Biden, particularly on money issues.
- 0:27Paz: The economy, inflation, costs of living are the top concerns on their minds. Latino Republicans definitely have big concerns with crime, with immigration. If you look at Latino Democrats, that is slightly different. There are other concerns with education and health care, and abortion definitely rises on that side as well.
- 0:28Recent survey data of Latino voters shows that misinformation can still harm people who don't fully believe it. It can make them unsure of what to believe and unwilling to engage with elections. The big question is how to counter the effects of bad information. New research shows that having access to accurate, fact-checking journalism can lead people to reject false claims. This worked for English and Spanish speakers, Liberals and Conservatives. The researchers concluded making fact-checking information available in Spanish and on platforms like WhatsApp could help counter this kind of targeted misinformation.
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- 0:31Stories about cheating in sports are all over the news lately. Recently, on this show, we talked about the chess scandal that's been a big deal over the last few weeks. This month, a fishing competition in Ohio with around $30,000 in prize money devolved into total chaos when officials discovered that two anglers cheated.
- 0:32[START FISHING COMPETITION ARCHIVAL CLIP]
- 0:33[CROWD CLAMORING]
- 0:34[END FISHING COMPETITION ARCHIVAL CLIP]
- 0:35The "Akron Beacon Journal" tells the story of how officials cut their fish open and found weights stuffed inside. Also this month, cheating allegations in a very different kind of competition: Irish dance.
- 0:36[IRISH MUSIC]
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- 0:38Now if you're wondering "How do you cheat in dance?" we were kinda confused too, until we got into the details of the story. The issue was with the judges. "The Independent" reports that there are text messages among judges and dance teachers discussing fixing competitions. In one case, there appeared to be talk of exchanging sexual favors for higher scores. The governing body of competitive Irish dancing is now investigating.
- 0:39All these cheating stories had NPR reach out to a professor at the Wharton School of Business at UPenn who studies decision-making and ask him "Why?" "Why do we cheat?" Maurice Schweitzer says people cheat for things like money and status, but there is a third factor at play, something that he calls the "cheater's high."
- 0:40[START NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
- 0:41Maurice Schweitzer: There's something about the thrill of outsmarting another person or outsmarting a system where we don't always feel guilty and bad about unethical behavior. And I think that helps to explain why some people are attracted to engaging in unethical behavior.
- 0:42[END NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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- 0:44You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app now, stick around and we'll have a narrator read you a "Bloomberg Businessweek" article. It's about hackers who target new homebuyers and the crack team that's working to prevent them from stealing down payments. So sit back and enjoy listening to that. I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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