--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, October 13th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shumita Basu: On today's show, hostages are released from Gaza in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. The government shutdown drags on with no end in sight, and how police reports describe protests in Portland over the last month. Let's start with the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
--:-- Shumita Basu: In the early hours of this morning, all 20 of the remaining living Israeli hostages were released by Hamas after two years of captivity.
--:-- Anat Peled: In Tel Aviv, tens of thousands of people gathered at Hostages Square to watch a live stream and celebrate.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The bodies of about 28 hostages who died will be released at a later date, as Hamas says it needs more time to locate their remains.
--:-- Anat Peled: Meanwhile, in the West Bank, buses carrying freed Palestinians left an Israeli military prison, and they exited to a cheering crowd.
--:-- Shumita Basu: In total, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinians from Israeli prisons and 1,700 Palestinians who've been detained in Gaza since the start of the conflict.
--:-- Anat Peled: Within hours of the hostage handover, President Trump landed in Israel, where he met with hostages' families before addressing the Israeli parliament.
--:-- President Trump: After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families and it is glorious 28 more precious loved ones are coming home at last to rest in this sacred soil for all of time and after so many years of unceasing war and endless danger today the skies are calm the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a holy land that is finally at peace.
--:-- Anat Peled: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke and pledged his commitment to the peace plan.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Anat Palet with The Wall Street Journal spoke to us from Tel Aviv yesterday. She said Trump successfully managed to apply pressure to both sides to get to this point.
--:-- Anat Palet: Trump announced a victory and the teams, you know, hadn't even finished working. But What Trump thought and his idea was that basically first work out the victory. It's very business deal like, you know, first work out that there's a deal, the big picture, and then the details come later.
--:-- Shumita Basu: As part of the first phase, U.S. troops arrived on Thursday in coordination with an international group supporting the ceasefire efforts.
--:-- Anat Palet: Those troops are expected to monitor the increased flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and facilitate the transition to a civilian government.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Israeli authorities say 600 trucks carrying supplies entered Gaza on Sunday. They will include food, but also medical equipment and shelter supplies.
--:-- Anat Palet: There's also going to be essential equipment coming in for repair of critical infrastructure.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Trucks are going to be able to move more freely, and they already are actually in certain areas that the IDF has evacuated from.
--:-- Anat Palet: On Trump's trip to the region, he also plans to attend a peace summit in Egypt where parties will discuss the next steps of the deal.
--:-- Shumita Basu: While many are relieved and optimistic to celebrate what may be the end of a tragic and deadly chapter, Pelet told us there are difficult decisions to be made.
--:-- Anat Pelet: The second part of the plan involves governance for Gaza. It involves the idea of disarming Hamas. And that is going to be a lot trickier And there still a lot of gaps between the two sides And one of the things that interesting is that in the negotiations for the first stage of this deal the sides decided not to touch that They saw it was this kind of, it was toxic, the can of worms that they didn't want to open yet, and so that's going to have to be opened.
--:-- Shumita Basu: As the government shutdown continues, President Trump has begun to follow through on his promise to fire thousands of federal workers.
--:-- Shumita Basu: On Friday, the administration began mass layoffs targeting more than 4,000 government employees across at least seven major departments.
--:-- Jessica Riedel: The administration's plans were revealed in court filings. Unions representing federal workers sued just before the shutdown began to stop layoffs from happening while the government is closed.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Trump had said the layoffs would be targeted at Democratic priorities.
--:-- President Trump: We'll be making cuts that will be permanent. And we're only going to cut Democrat programs.
--:-- Jessica Riedel: Despite the dramatic nature of the layoff numbers, there's reason to believe this was part of many agencies' plans dating back to the Doge days, when they were encouraged to propose future slashes to their workforce.
--:-- Shumita Basu: There's a lot of people in the government right now who were pretty sure their jobs were going to be eliminated six months ago, but are still employed by the federal government.
--:-- Jessica Riedel: And there's hundreds of billions of dollars in spending savings that were promised earlier in the year that never occurred.
--:-- Shumita Basu: NPR also notes that as the push to cut down the federal workforce has gone on for months, several departments have had to rehire laid off staffers because they couldn't perform basic functions.
--:-- Jessica Riedel: Meanwhile, at the CDC, hundreds of employees, some scientists and elite disease detectives working on outbreak response for things like measles and Ebola in Africa, had their dismissals rescinded over the weekend.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The administration said that they were notified by mistake.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Federal workers who are still employed will mark their first week without pay, as checks were not sent out for October work to about 1.4 million furloughed and essential workers at the end of last week.
--:-- Shumita Basu: One furloughed NIH worker told The Washington Post he was stocking up on food pantry supplies because it's unknown how long he'll be without a paycheck.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Service members might also feel the pinch as they too could be subject to missing pay.
--:-- President Trump: Yesterday, President Trump asked the Pentagon to repurpose funding for research and development so that the money could be used to make payroll for military members set to miss their first paycheck this week.
--:-- Shumita Basu: People who use government services are also starting to feel the impact.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The IRS's taxpayer helplines have been closed, and FAA staffing shortages in places like Nashville, D.C., and Denver led to thousands of delayed flights nationwide.
--:-- Shumita Basu: As for negotiations, Democrats, who are holding out for an extension of Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies, remain dug in.
--:-- Arizona Senator Mark Kelly: We need a real negotiation and we need a fix. We need this corrected for the American people. This is for so many people. Their health care is running towards a cliff. And if we don't fix this, it's going to go right over it.
--:-- South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham: I'm willing to vote to open the government up tomorrow to my Democratic friends. I am not going to vote to extend these subsidies. It costs $350 billion. If you make over you get subsidies for your healthcare Let have a rational discussion but not with a government shutdown It up to you If you want to keep it shut down fine It's not going to change how I approach health care.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The last government shutdown took place during Trump's first term and lasted 34 days as the longest closing in U.S. history.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Congress is not in session today because of the Columbus Day holiday.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Let's turn now to the ongoing legal fights over the use of National Guard troops in Portland, Oregon and Chicago.
--:-- Shumita Basu: On Saturday, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling barring National Guard troops from being deployed to Chicago streets.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The court did allow the troops to remain federalized and under President Trump's control.
--:-- Shumita Basu: 200 Texas National Guard members and 300 from Illinois remain activated.
--:-- Vice President J.D. Vance: Vice President J.D. Vance said on Sunday the administration will continue to fight to deploy guard troops to Chicago.
--:-- Shumita Basu: At least 15 people were arrested over the weekend as protesters clashed with authorities outside of an ICE facility in the Broadview suburb of Chicago, which has become the center of protests in the area.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Meanwhile, in Portland, federal authorities shot pepper balls and tear gas at protesters near an ICE facility on Saturday, though no arrests were made.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Last Thursday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in a case over President Trump's attempt to deploy National Guard troops to the city.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The state of Oregon sued, and a judge temporarily blocked troops from going into Portland.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The court hasn't ruled, but appeared skeptical of the lower court's ruling blocking the deployment.
--:-- Shumita Basu: President Trump has called Portland a crime-ridden war zone, a characterization that local leaders say is not accurate.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: So the Wall Street Journal's Zusha Ellenson decided to take a close look at daily police reports in Portland in the month leading up to Trump's decision to deploy federal troops to try to understand how these ICE protests are being documented by law enforcement.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: If you talk to locals, they barely even notice them because they've been contained to sort of one city block and they've been mainly around the ICE facility.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Ellenson says that's a starkly different viewpoint than what's coming from Washington.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: But the Trump administration is saying that the ICE facility there is under siege, that, you know, the protests are very violent and huge, and that's the reason they need to send troops in.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: Ellenson started by looking at reports from Labor Day last month.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: There was a group of about 125 people that marched from a park to the ICE facility there.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: And when we read the police report, they described the crowd as having little to no energy.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: And then they said that a federal official who's in charge of security over there at the ICE building said he was, quote, not concerned about the group.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: He notes that the Labor Day protests did have some testy moments, and demonstrators even brought a makeshift guillotine, which intimidated some authorities.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: But overall, authorities said they weren't that worried about what was going on.
--:-- Shumita Basu: During that first week of September, you have like 20 protesters outside the facility. Maybe you have eight. Maybe you have 15. It's just a very, very small group.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Nonetheless, on September 5th, Trump is speaking to reporters, and they ask him, where are you going to send troops next?
--:-- President Trump: And he says he might send them to Portland.
--:-- President Trump: And he says because what he's seeing in Portland is, quote, unbelievable.
--:-- President Trump: He calls it the destruction of the city.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: Images from protests over the weekend showed demonstrators in various costumes dressed as frogs, dinosaurs, even pickles.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: One person told the New York Times it was to, quote, contrast the narrative that we are violent extremists.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: Ellenson says Trump view of what happening in Portland might be based on a Fox News report that used footage from destructive protests in Portland in 2020 that took the city years to recover from
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: Those protests saw widespread damage and fires, mostly in the city's downtown area.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: Ellison also notes that Trump issued his order to deploy troops last month after the deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Texas, so there may have been some desire to send additional protection to ICE facilities.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: Still, memories of those 2020 protests in Portland have impacted what's going on today.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: It was very intense in 2020. But I think what those protests did in Portland, it really turned public sentiment against the demonstrations there.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: And so this time they've been far more mild and have not had the same level of public support up in Portland.
--:-- Zusha Ellenson: And I think that's taken some of the wind out of the sails of the people protesting this time around.
--:-- Shumita Basu: So they have not been as intense as in Los Angeles. or in Chicago.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Four people are dead and 20 more were injured in a mass shooting at a bar in South Carolina early Sunday morning.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Authorities say a large crowd was at Willie's Bar and Grill when shots rang out just before 1 a.m.
--:-- Shumita Basu: At least 100 people are reported to have been at the bar, which was hosting a high school reunion.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The police have not released a motive for the shooting, but say they are pursuing persons of interest.
--:-- Shumita Basu: On Friday, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Venezuela has been in the throes of an economic, political, and humanitarian crisis for years under the leadership of President Nicolas Maduro.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum interviewed Machado, who was in hiding, twice last year, and notes that her Nobel Prize comes as Venezuela is at the center of one of the world's most impressive grassroots democracy movements, despite the fact that, as Applebaum puts it, Americans are mostly familiar with stories about Venezuelan drugs and gangs.
--:-- Shumita Basu: In accepting the award, Machado dedicated it to Venezuelans fighting for freedom and President Donald Trump, who publicly lobbied that the prize go to him.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And finally, actor Diane Keaton died over the weekend at the age of 79, which came as a surprise to her many fans who've long associated her with her timeless, vibrant characters.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Known for her unique fashion and comedic prowess, Keaton's 50-plus year career included marquee roles in The Godfather and Annie Hall, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Here she is speaking to the BBC in 1977 about her love of performing.
--:-- Diane Keaton: I always was attracted to it since I can remember, you know. I was very attracted to being on stage or singing or being paid attention to. And I always shined under those conditions or I certainly felt good until it was over. And then I felt guilty.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Social media buzzed with news of her death, which also saw an outpouring of tributes from her colleagues in the industry.
--:-- Shumita Basu: from Jane Fonda to Steve Martin to Goldie Hawn, who wrote, You never liked praise, so humble, but now you can't tell me to shut up, honey.
--:-- Shumita Basu: There was and will be no one like you.
--:-- Shumita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Bloomberg Businessweek has the story of how 3M, the company behind the Post-it, has battled various lawsuits over its products, but is now looking to shed its toxic reputation with new C-suite leadership.
--:-- Shumita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
