--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Tuesday, September 30th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On today's show, explaining Trump's winning streak at the Supreme Court. The clock is ticking to avert a government shutdown. And how a new baseball league came together. But first, President Trump made his big pitch for peace in the Middle East yesterday, standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House as they outlined a ceasefire proposal.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The promise of a new Middle East is so clearly within our reach. This is the closest we've ever come to real peace, not fake peace, not political fool's peace. If we can get this difficult problem solved, the opportunities for all within that vast region of this world. It's a vast region. It's unlimited.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The 20-point proposal demands a full return of the remaining hostages and the complete disarmament of Hamas. In return, Israel would suspend military operations, withdraw to an agreed line, and release 250 of the 1,700 Palestinians that had been detained since the conflict began nearly two years ago. And it sketches out a new governing body to run Gaza for a transitional period.
--:-- Michael Birnbaum: This is really the first time we have a fairly comprehensive vision for what a day after transition plan could look like after the fighting stops.
--:-- Michael Birnbaum: Gone from the proposal is Trump's ambition for Gaza to become what he called a Riviera of the Middle East, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be relocated and the region would be placed under U.S. control. Instead, an apolitical committee would be set up.
--:-- Michael Birnbaum: That committee, which would mostly be comprised of Palestinians, would be overseen by a different body that would be chaired by President Trump. And it would include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and some other international leaders that haven't been named yet.
--:-- Michael Birnbaum: So they would have some sort of oversight and some kind of control over this transitional Palestinian committee. That group would be called the Board of Peace.
--:-- Michael Birnbaum: There's not much detail on who else might be involved or how the Palestinians will be represented. Hamas would have to step aside entirely, and the Palestinian Authority would undergo a, quote, reform program.
--:-- Michael Birnbaum: That group, which administers parts of the West Bank, said that it welcomed Trump's efforts. And as for the bigger question of Palestinian statehood? The compromise that seems to have been worked out here in the agreement is kind of pushing off timelines, leaving it open as a possibility, but not making firm that there will be a Palestinian state that Israel would have to recognize on any immediate timeline.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: European leaders urged Hamas to accept the plan but their agreement is far from certain There are a lot of details that have been left for negotiators to work out like the exact nature of Israeli withdrawal Hamas would have to dismantle hundreds of miles of tunnels and lay down their weapons entirely
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But under the terms militants who did commit to giving up their arms could receive amnesty. If they don't agree, Netanyahu suggested Israel could escalate its military efforts.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But if Hamas rejects your plan, Mr. President, or if they supposedly accept it and then then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done. In that event, President Trump said that Israel would have their full backing.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This proposal comes as Israel faces growing isolation. An increasing number of world leaders and countries say they will recognize a Palestinian state. Even President Trump has at times expressed frustration with Netanyahu over, among other things, a recent strike against Hamas' leadership in Qatar, a key U.S. ally.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Notably, Netanyahu apologized to Qatar for that strike at Trump's behest yesterday. Meanwhile, Israel continues its assault in Gaza City. Hospital sources told the BBC that more than 35 people, including aid workers, were killed in strikes over the weekend.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now to the Supreme Court. A new term begins there next week, and as of late, the White House has been on a winning streak.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: What we've seen with the Trump administration is that they've been sued, you know, hundreds of times in lower courts, but they've only taken a tiny proportion of those cases up to the Supreme Court.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: And they've had a lot of success there with 20 of their applications being granted. Parties affected by administration policies have filed more than 300 lawsuits to challenge them.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: Most of those cases are still working their way through the courts. But the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to evaluate 28 cases on an emergency basis. And so far, they've only lost two of those.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: These are not cases that go through the regular appeals process in the courts where they get decided by a district court judge, and then they go to the appeals court, then they go to the Supreme Court, and it can take months or even years for those cases to be decided.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: What they do instead is when a lower court judge blocks something the president wants to do via an executive order or something like that, they immediately ask for a stay of that ruling, i.e. to put that ruling on hold.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: And then if they don't get that, they rush to the Supreme Court. A considerable part of the White House's success comes down to which cases they're taking to the Supreme Court.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: They know that the Supreme Court, even though it has a 6-3 conservative majority, isn't going to be with them on. So some of the issues they going up to the Supreme Court on are kind of longstanding advocacy issues that the conservative legal movement has been pushing for decades
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: The administration only losses include the court stopping plans to immediately deport immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act and ordering Kilmar Abrego who was wrongly deported to El Salvador, returned to the U.S.
--:-- Lawrence Hurley: But those have been the exceptions. While the White House's strategy has seemed to work, its long-term effect is unclear, Hurley told us.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: That's because the nation's top court has historically ruled on cases only after careful study of the issues and after multiple lower courts have weighed in and disagreed.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Supreme Court is getting increasingly involved in these cases at a very early stage and issuing these quite substantive decisions that allow the Trump administration policies to go ahead before it's fully been adjudicated whether they're legal or not.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The MLB playoffs begin today, and unlike a number of other major U.S. sports leagues, there's no equivalent for the women's game. But the 19th reports that an upstart organization called the Women's Pro Baseball League is looking to change that.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: The league, which is set to have its first season beginning next May will feature six teams for now, though the host cities haven't been announced yet.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: It was founded in part by Justine Siegel, the first woman to ever coach in an MLB organization. Now, it's been decades since women have had a professional baseball league, with the most famous organization being the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League of the 1940s and 50s.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: That was founded by the former owner of the Chicago Cubs, who at the time wanted to keep players on the diamond during World War II. But since so many men were overseas fighting, he turned to women to keep the game active.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: The league lasted until 1954 and inspired the hit movie A League of Their Own. Save for a short-lived attempt in the 1990s, there hasn't been a national outlet for girls who want to build a career in baseball.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Here's Billie Jean King, a lifelong Dodgers fan, talking to the MLB network about the moment at age nine when she realized that she would have to give up on her dream.
--:-- [Clip of Billie Jean King]
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Softball has often served as an alternative, but it's different in many ways. There are larger balls, a smaller field, and entirely different pitching mechanics.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: Dawood says that players who want to participate in the WPBL are excited about those differences. Something that girls and women who are interested in baseball specifically highlighted was that the aspects of baseball specifically are what resonated with them.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: They like that style of game. They like that style of play. Last month, the WPBL held tryouts in Washington, D.C. Players participated in drills and skills assessments as league officials evaluated.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: There were some notable names on the field trying out as well, including Monet Davis, who in 2014 became the first girl to earn a win in Little League World Series history.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: Dawood says as she spoke to league leadership about the WPBL they recognized that women sports and leagues like the WNBA are having a moment so it felt like the right time to strike I think that we seeing a lot more women athletics just getting more attention from people who probably didn't even watch sports before.
--:-- Sabreen Dawud: Seeing them getting opportunities outside of their board and just kind of being able to see them as people more and appreciate them.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: NBC News reported that the MLB is not involved with the league. But one of its founders said that frees them up to make some rule changes. One that's up for consideration? A home-run contest to break ties.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. Today is the deadline for Congress to reach a deal that would avert a government shutdown.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The four top leaders in Congress left a meeting with President Trump yesterday without a breakthrough. Republicans in the House passed a seven-week funding extension that would keep the government open as lawmakers finalized larger appropriations bills.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Democrats have refused to support the bill in the Senate, where Republicans need at least eight of their votes to overcome a filibuster.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Democrats want an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. Both sides continue to point fingers at one another after the meeting, and lawmakers have until midnight tonight to pass a stopgap bill to keep federal services operational.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now to what's being called the biggest buyout in history. Jared Kushner's Private Equity Fund and Saudi Arabia's Sovereign Wealth Fund have teamed up to take the video game giant Electronic Arts private in a $55 million deal.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Bloomberg reports that it's the latest effort by the Saudis to enter the gaming industry as they seek to diversify their economy from oil.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Bloomberg also notes that the crown prince is a gamer himself, and in particular a fan of Call of duty. The deal would pay stockholders $210 per share in cash, and it comes amid a sluggish market for the console gaming industry.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And finally, today voting concludes for an annual tradition pitting gigantic rotund beasts against each other. Fat Bear Week.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: You might be familiar with how this works, and if not, the name is relatively self-explanatory. The public gets to decide on their favorite of the Alaskan brown bears that bulk up for hibernation in Katmai National Park.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: That competition, like the bears themselves, has grown considerably from what was once a simple Facebook vote in 2014. Last year, more than a million people voted for their favorites.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And National Geographic reports that the competition this year will be fierce. That's because the salmon in the Parks River were plentiful.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: One park worker told the New York Times that part of the challenge of the competition is that you need two photos of each competing bear, one at the beginning of the summer and one after they've chunked up for the winter months ahead.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: 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, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Bloomberg Businessweek reports on Castle, a startup that was once a fast-rising star in Silicon Valley that sought to disrupt the online clothing rental market.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The company's CEO now faces allegations of swindling investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And we'll be back with the news tomorrow.
