--:-- Mark Garrison: Good morning. It's Wednesday, September 27th. I'm Mark Garrison in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Mark Garrison: On today's show, inside Azerbaijan, as tens of thousands flee the humanitarian crisis there, a hearing on the doping scandal in Olympic figure skating is finally underway, and the first supermodels reunite and tell their story. But first, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news.
--:-- Mark Garrison: North Korea says it will expel Travis King, the U.S. soldier who went into the country this summer. At the time, the American military was escorting King back to the U.S. for potential disciplinary action, but he slipped away and joined a tour group heading to the border, where he ran across.
--:-- Mark Garrison: A New York judge says Donald Trump and his family business committed fraud by making false and misleading valuations of his real estate assets. The ruling is an early victory for the state's attorney general in the civil fraud case against Trump that's set to go to trial next week. New York's AG accuses Trump of inflating his net worth by billions. Trump has denied the allegations.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Trump will once again not be on stage at tonight's Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. You can get full coverage of that in the Apple News app.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In Congress, the clock is ticking to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week. The challenge is the House and Senate are far apart. Senators are moving forward on a bipartisan bill that would buy time and prevent a shutdown. But several hardline House Republicans are refusing to do that without major concessions. If the House and Senate don't get aligned and fast, there will be a shutdown.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In legal news, the federal government and 17 states are suing Amazon. They say the company abuses its market power to squeeze merchants and rivals, leading to higher prices for shoppers. Amazon says the government's lawsuit is, quote, wrong on the facts and the law.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians are running from Nagorno Karabakh, that's the area inside Azerbaijan where Azerbaijan's military recently took over. And the Armenians living there no longer feel safe. The ethnic Armenians are leaving a place where many have lived for decades to live in neighboring Armenia.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The latest military victory was quick, but the conflict over land that Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians both claim has been going on for generations. Both sides claim that they have centuries of history and heritage in Karabakh, and that's what makes this conflict so complicated, so hard for both sides.
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--:-- Mark Garrison: I spoke to BBC senior correspondent Olga Ivshina, who was in Azerbaijan. She explained that the situation intensified recently when Azerbaijan blocked a key road. That kept some weapons from reaching the ethnic Armenian forces, but it also cut off humanitarian supplies.
--:-- Olga Ivshina: This blockade harshly affected civilian populations. So there were severe shortages of food and water supplies with the total lack of medicine. Many people are missing. People don't know whether their relatives survived because there is almost no cell phone connection. So it's a very harsh humanitarian situation there.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The rush to escape has been chaotic, with traffic jams of cars overloaded with people and their belongings. A ceasefire deal is in place, and Azerbaijan's military says it is guaranteeing safe passage for civilians. But many ethnic Armenians don't trust the military, and some fear ethnic cleansing.
--:-- Olga Ivshina: Earlier this week, a fuel explosion killed dozens of people who were attempting to leave. The cause isn't clear. If Sheena says people on the ground aren't sure whether there can be a lasting peace. After all those decades of casualties, of bloodshed, the only way peace is possible is if both sides are ready to learn from each other's pain, if they're ready to see each other's tragedy.
--:-- Mark Garrison: So there is a possibility for peace, but no one really knows how long this ceasefire will hold. And is it the end of the conflict or is it just another ceasefire?
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--:-- Mark Garrison: A hearing is underway in Switzerland this week in one of the biggest doping scandals in Olympic history. Potential gold medals for the U.S. figure skating team hang in the balance. It involves the Russian skater Kamila Valjeva and her performance during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Valyeva was then 15 years old, seen as the best in the world. In the team event where women and men compete together, she lived up to the hype, helping her Russian team place first. The U.S. was in second and Japan third. But it was later revealed that she previously tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug.
--:-- Mark Garrison: This news came out right before teams were set to get their medals. Now, nearly two years later, they're still waiting. This week, the case is being heard behind closed doors in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it will have the final say.
--:-- Mark Garrison: NPR spoke to American skater Vincent Joe. If the court rules against Russia, he and his teammates will get gold medals instead of silver. They're frustrated that it's taking so long.
--:-- Vincent Joe: We're now closing in on 600 days, and we haven't heard anything we haven't been communicated with, and we're really in the dark here.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Joe and his teammates asked to attend the hearing in Switzerland, but were denied. The court has been criticized for the secrecy in how it's holding the proceedings.
--:-- Vincent Joe: The whole handling of the situation has done a lot of damage. It certainly is a statement about the state of clean sport, a landmark in the history of doping scandals in the Olympics and in figure skating history.
--:-- Mark Garrison: It's not clear when the court will issue a ruling or when the medal ceremony will finally be held once it does. So Joe and other skaters are still waiting for justice.
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--:-- Mark Garrison: So, you can read more about these fashion trailblazers and all the stories we talked about in 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.
--:-- Mark Garrison: There have been a lot of opinion pieces and studies arguing for the economic benefits of marriage lately. Rebecca Traster takes a closer look at this discussion and offers a counterpoint. Her article in The Cut is queued up to play for you next, and our narrated articles are now also available in the Podcasts app.
--:-- Mark Garrison: So if you want to have great journalism read to you there, just search for News Plus Narrated to start listening to articles from the world's best magazines and newspapers.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Shumita is back with the news tomorrow. Thank you.
