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Ukraine’s president visits America to push for more aid · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, September 19th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, the missing F-35 fighter jet has been found, why so many older Americans are homeless, and what scientists learned from listening to babies babble.
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  But first, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the U.S. this week. He's addressing the UN General Assembly, meeting with top U.S. Members of Congress, and visiting President Biden at the White House.
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  The trip to America comes as Congress is considering Biden's request for tens of billions of dollars in additional aid to Ukraine. Zelenskyy recently spoke to Scott Pelley on "60 Minutes" about the importance of U.S. money, and the global stakes of defeating Russia.
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  Volodymyr Zelenskyy: [SPEAKING THROUGH TRANSLATOR]
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  The U.S. has already spent tens of billions of dollars supporting Ukraine's defense, including providing advanced weapons. But some Republicans are questioning whether America should continue sending Ukraine so much money. That includes GOP presidential candidates, and members of Congress.
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  There's also a broader legislative fight over spending, that could derail aid to Ukraine and even shut down the entire U.S. government by the end of the month. So a big part of Zelenskyy's trip will be to maintain political support and momentum, so that the money and weapons keep flowing from America.
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  On the battlefield, Ukraine has made some gains in recent days. Its forces just recaptured two villages in eastern Ukraine, as they push ahead in the counteroffensive in the south and east. But even Zelenskyy concedes that progress is slow. And Western intelligence says that Russia is reinforcing positions in key areas. So there's still a long fight ahead, which is why Zelenskyy is pushing so hard to expand American support.
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  Now, let's take a quick look at some other major stories in the news.
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  A high-stakes fight between Canada and India is escalating. Today India expelled a Canadian diplomat, following Canada's expulsion of an Indian intelligence agent. This comes as Canada's government says it's investigating whether India's government orchestrated the June killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he wants India's full cooperation in investigating what he calls "credible allegations" of Indian government involvement.
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  Justin Trudeau: Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.
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  India calls the allegations "absurd."
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  In the U.S., crews have found the debris of the F-35 jet that went missing in South Carolina on Sunday. A problem forced the pilot to safely eject. But the military initially had trouble finding the expensive stealth fighter. Now that crews are recovering the debris, an investigation is underway to find out what led to the crash.
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  And YouTube is blocking comedian Russell Brand from making money on the platform. The company says that it takes this kind of action if a creator's behavior is harmful. Brand faces multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault, revealed in an investigation over the weekend by the "Times of London," "Sunday Times," and "Channel 4." He has denied the allegations and postponed upcoming comedy shows.
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  Many of America's Baby Boomers are struggling to find affordable housing as they get older. "The Wall Street Journal" looks at why older people are the fastest-growing group in the unhoused population. The problem is getting so bad, so quickly, that some experts are calling this a "silver tsunami."
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  Reporter Shannon Najmabadi told us that the rising rates of homelessness among Boomers partially has to do with the size of this generation. It's huge. And elderly people are generally increasingly vulnerable to homelessness. The growing cost of housing plays a major role.
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  Shannon Najmabadi: Also just fixed incomes that they're on, like Social Security, not keeping pace generally with the cost of living in some areas.
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  And when you take a closer look at Boomers, experts point out, there's a clear divide. Many older Boomers had jobs that still offered pensions. But that's less common for younger Boomers, who came of age during back-to-back economic downturns. Those permanently set them behind in wealth.
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  A lot of the people that Najmabadi spoke to, said they were shocked to lose their home. They felt betrayed after working so hard to save for the future. But often all it took was the loss of a part-time job, a rise in monthly rent, or some unexpected expense.
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  Najmabadi: For a lot of people, they cycle through friends and family members. First, they'll couch surf, they'll find ways through their existing network to stay with the roof over their head. Eventually they might run out. They might not have family close by. They might not be on good terms with them. They might go through all of their friends and wear out their welcome as much as they can. And then they actually are on the street, so to speak.
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  There are few options. Shelters generally aren't set up to accommodate older people with particular mobility and health needs. And staff members often don't have the medical training to care for older residents. Low-cost assisted living centers have been closing due to staffing shortages or financial challenges. Affordable housing options that are designed for seniors have enormous waiting lists, sometimes hundreds of people long.
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  America needs to build a lot more housing, if seniors, and others, are going to be able to find somewhere to live. A University of Florida analysis says that state alone needs about 400,000 more low-cost rental units to meet demand. One researcher tells the "Journal" that the level of unhoused elderly people is unlike anything in America since the Great Depression.
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  Finally, a story about something parents of young children hear all the time.
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  [BABY BABBLING]
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  It may sound random and senseless, but research shows that baby babble is very consistent. Babies make similar sounds when they first start babbling around 6 months old. But then the babbling changes, depending on what languages they hear. UCLA linguist Megha Sundara explained this to "NPR."
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  Megha Sundara: So it turns out babies are, even when they're very young, are very good at imitating the rhythm and the intonation of the language they're hearing.
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  In one of her experiments, she let babies who were used to hearing English spend time with someone speaking Spanish. They got about 5 hours of exposure to hearing Spanish over four weeks.
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  And over time, when they were with a Spanish speaker, they changed their babbling to match the language. Babies are good at picking up language because of what's called neuroplasticity. It means their brains are super adaptive to new situations. Heightened language-learning ability lasts until kids are about 5 years old.
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  Some parents may worry that hearing multiple languages at home might confuse a baby. But research has proven that to be false. One speech expert tells "NPR" that when multi-lingual parents ask her which language they should speak around their baby, she says, all of them. Babies can handle 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, stick around.
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  We've got a narrated article coming up next from "Popular Science" about why paleontologists need fake fossils. It goes inside the Colorado workshop that fabricates dinosaur bones.
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  So enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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