--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, March 24th. I'm Shamita Basu. And I'm Duarte Giraldino. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are a number of developments related to the war in Ukraine this morning that we're following. So we wanted to start with a quick look at some important stories.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We've picked a few good articles on the Apple News app where you can read more.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Today, President Biden is in Europe for emergency meetings with NATO and G7 leaders. This is his first trip abroad since Russia's invasion.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Biden also plans to visit Poland on this trip. That's where many Ukrainian refugees have fled.
--:-- Shamita Basu: CNN has a nice compact piece that lays out the diplomatic stakes of these meetings. It looks at five key questions for Biden's mission.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: From what more the West can do for Ukraine to questions about modern American leadership in Europe.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There is news of WNBA star Brittany Greiner. She's said to be doing well, according to the U.S. State Department.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: She received her first visit from American consular officials since she was detained in Russia more than a month ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Washington said denying consular access to her and two other Americans in Russian custody is against international law.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Russia charged her with attempting to smuggle vape cartridges containing hashish oil.
--:-- Shamita Basu: ESPN looks at the latest in her story.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And Russia's stock exchange is open today after its longest shutdown since the fall of the Soviet Union.
--:-- Shamita Basu: CNBC reports on how early trading saw big swings in shares.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It opened under a number of special rules, including blocking selling by foreigners and banning betting against the market by short selling.
--:-- Ian Millhiser: One is you have a number of people on this committee, you know, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, all of whom think they are presidential contenders.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you want to win a Republican primary, it's good to get on Fox News. It's good to, like, get in front of your ideas in front of conservative media.
--:-- Ian Millhiser: The second dynamic, I think, is purely ideological. For lots of conservatives, no matter how qualified Judge Jackson may be, they don't see her as being in line with their legal philosophy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The third dynamic that's in play is, you know, both parties feel very aggrieved about how their Supreme Court nominees have been treated in the past.
--:-- Ian Millhiser: Democrats point to Obama nominee Merrick Garland. He was denied a vote by the Republican Senate, and Republican complaints stretch back to rejected Reagan nominee Robert Bork in the 80s.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So I think this confluence of political incentives, of grievance, of the dynamics of conservative media all came together to, you know, produce a sort of filterless hearing that was just much less civilized than I would have expected.
--:-- Ian Millhiser: Both Reagan and Clinton had court nominees in their time who got more than 90 votes. Recent Supreme Court confirmations have been closer, party line votes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the fact that the current nominee could be the first Black woman on the highest court brings race and gender into the mix.
--:-- Ian Millhiser: The L.A. Times spoke with Black women working in the legal profession, and several described Judge Jackson hearings as hard to watch.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They said it felt very familiar the kinds of racist and sexist aggression they had to endure in their professional lives.
--:-- Ian Millhiser: One woman, a professor at Georgetown, called it a master class in how Black women are expected to be patient and composed, even under attack.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It can be hard to find clear patterns in Supreme Court confirmation hearings because they just don't happen that often.
--:-- Ian Millhiser: But all justices have one thing in common. No matter how rough of a time they had in the Senate, once confirmed, the job is theirs as long as they like.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And people in both parties still widely expect the Senate to confirm Judge Jackson.
--:-- Host: How in the world am I going to survive? That's the question one elderly American said is on their mind as they're staring down inflation at a 40-year high.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Washington Post spoke with more than a dozen people from their late 50s to their 80s, and they said they're cutting back on meat and fresh vegetables.
--:-- Host: They're driving less, even trading in gym memberships for Jane Fonda workout videos.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Many of them are buying items that won't expire, like pasta and canned beans, all as a way to stretch fixed incomes.
--:-- Host: According to the University of Massachusetts, Boston, $27,000 is the bare minimum that a single renter in good health needs to cover expenses.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Post points out half of older Americans who live alone are living on less than that.
--:-- Host: Lewis Fought retired early during the pandemic for health reasons. He used stimulus money to prepay for his funeral.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And he's currently living off about $1,200 a month from Social Security.
--:-- Host: He said he feels like he's scraping the bottom of the barrel.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Social security payments are supposed to adjust for cost of living, but there can be up to a year's lag between inflation and higher payments.
--:-- Host: So short-term price hikes can really hit seniors.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: All of this means we could see more and more older Americans pushed below the poverty line.
--:-- Host: The Post cites one study that warns homelessness among seniors is rising and expected to triple in the next decade.
--:-- Host: Springtime is officially here, which means warm weather, beautiful flowers, and for a lot of us, pretty bad allergies.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And new research warns because of climate change, allergy season is only going to get worse.
--:-- Host: Two atmospheric scientists write in The Conversation that this century, the U.S. is on track to see allergy season start up to 40 days earlier and last 19 days longer, with up to 200% more pollen.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: People tend to get the idea that warmer temperatures can mean more pollen earlier in the year.
--:-- Host: But part of this research may surprise you. Apparently, the bigger driver of future pollen increases will be rising carbon emissions.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And that's because carbon dioxide fuels photosynthesis.
--:-- Host: And that means plants may grow larger and produce more pollen.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, for people who suffer from allergies, there is some hopeful news in this study.
--:-- Host: These scientists are using their new model to improve local pollen forecasting, which means hopefully you'll have a more reliable warning about which days you're going to want to stay indoors and take cover.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can find all those stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That includes coverage of the resignation letter from a Manhattan prosecutor who was investigating Donald Trump's businesses.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Washington Post reports, this man believes Trump personally committed felonies and should be charged.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump has denied the accusations.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We also have a number of stories looking back at the career of Madeleine Albright, The first woman to serve as Secretary of State died yesterday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Our editors recommend Time Magazine's article about her and others.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
