--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, September 10th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the state making childcare free for everyone. Why so many people are talking about beta blockers to treat anxiety. And one country's parliament is set ablaze as it tries to ban Instagram. But first, to the Middle East, where yesterday Israel carried out a strike targeting Hamas' senior leadership in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: It's the first time that Israel has carried out an attack in Doha, a major metropolitan city that's been the main base of diplomacy between the sides in this conflict.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hamas says the strikes hit none of their senior officials, though it did kill the son of Hamas' chief negotiator and a few other members, A member of Qatar's internal security forces was also killed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The attack in Qatar, a U.S. ally and country that served as the primary mediator in trying to bring an end to Israel's war in Gaza, was criticized by the international community, including the U.N.'s secretary general.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Trump called it unfortunate, and White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt questioned the move in a briefing yesterday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard in bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America's goals.
--:-- Shamita Basu: However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Mona Yakubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Bloomberg Radio that the international condemnation of Israel's strike was indicative of broader concerns.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think increasingly there's just worry that these kinds of actions are really transgressing international norms, international law, and they're creating a far more dangerous Middle East with implications not just for the region, but certainly for U.S. security and frankly for Israel's security.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The strike in Qatar came at a moment when the United States had sent its own proposal to Hamas for a ceasefire.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's an open question now whether or how that proposal can proceed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Qatar has for now suspended its role as mediator.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Speaking at an event at the U.S. Embassy in Israel yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had authorized the strike to hit the planners of the October 7th mass attack.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On this day, as in previous days, Israel acted wholly independently, wholly independently, and we take full responsibility for this action.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And this action can open the door to an end of the war, end of the war in Gaza.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel has accepted the principles, the proposal put forward by President Trump to end the war, beginning with the immediate release of all our hostages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He and his defense minister said that they had instructed officials to prepare for the strike in retaliation to a shooting earlier this week that killed six Israelis in Jerusalem.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hamas later claimed responsibility for that shooting.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Israel struck in Qatar and asserted that the precision attack was a means of helping to reach a ceasefire it also issued an urgent evacuation order for Gaza City warning of an impending full invasion of the city where the U has already confirmed a famine is taking place.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last week, U.N. agencies had said that many households are unable to move due to costs and logistical challenges, and that an order to relocate could be construed as a coercive act that violates international law.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now to the issue of child care and a first-in-the-nation policy being introduced in New Mexico, announced this week by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham at a press conference.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Universal access, free child care for every New Mexico family in the state of New Mexico.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That starts in New Mexico. It's an expansion of a policy they put into place three years ago when the state decided to offer free child care to qualifying families.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Most American families spend an average of $13,000 on child care annually.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In New Mexico, it's a little higher than that, more than what people in the state spend on housing on average.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The state is comparatively one of the poorest in the nation, and it's long been ranked at the bottom for child well-being.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's partly why, when Grisham first took office in 2018, she declared a moonshot for education, with major investments in early childhood through college.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Since then, the state has gradually expanded its child care access and subsidies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: First, it had a pretty high income cap, which meant many families in the state qualified for free care.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But as one parent, Ashley Escobel, told local news outlet KRQE, that income ceiling was making her think twice about whether to pursue her career goals.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You want to make the most money you can and you want to not need all this assistance.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But until you get to that point, it's really hard to find a middle ground.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now I don't have to worry about will my next raise affect my kids being able to go to daycare.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The governor's office says expanding the policy will cost nearly $130 million a year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in recent years, both parties and the public have shown a willingness to invest in this way.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Early Childhood Education and Care Department, which was launched in 2020, now has an operating budget of nearly $1 billion, half of which goes to child care payment support.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the money generated from New Mexico's unique natural resources plays a big role, too.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Three years ago, 70 percent of New Mexican voters approved a constitutional amendment directing a small percentage of its permanent land fund toward childhood programs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As oil and gas revenues in the state have risen, so too has the money earmarked for child care.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Speaking to NPR's Marketplace, Jessica Brown, an economist studying child care markets at the University of South Carolina, said New Mexico's natural resources give it an unusual way of funding this issue.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But now the challenge will be ramping up facilities to meet needs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I mean, even for middle and high income families, child care is expensive.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It takes up a huge fraction of people's budgets, often as much, sometimes more than a mortgage.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is great as long as people can still find slots for their kids.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The state says it's targeted building 55 more licensed child care centers and registering 1,000 new in-home daycares to accommodate additional families.
--:-- Shamita Basu: An estimated 40 million American adults suffer from anxiety.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And according to the World Health Organization, anxiety disorders are the world's most common mental health issue.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But as the stigma around mental health issues continues to lessen and treatment methods become more prevalent, one prescription pill is rising in popularity.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Even getting shout outs from celebrities like Robert Downey Jr. on stage at the Golden Globes last year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yeah, yeah. I took a beta blocker, so this is going to be a breeze.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And here's reality star Paige DeSorbo on a recent episode of the podcast Giggly Squad.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So I'd never taken a beta blocker before. I didn't know what it was.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Like my makeup artist had one of them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It takes away the physical symptoms of a panic attack.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal recently examined how prescriptions for a type of beta blocker, propranolol, the fastest growing pill in the category, have risen 28 percent since 2020.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The pill was approved by the FDA in 1967 to treat cardiovascular disease.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But as reporter Sarah O'Brien told us, increasingly it's become popular for other reasons.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It really works to slow the heart rate and lower your blood pressure, which can reduce the physical symptoms that people might feel when they're anxious or nervous about something like a presentation, going on a first date.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The FDA has not specifically approved propranolol for treatment of anxiety, and O'Brien said there are concerns in the medical community about its increased use, particularly around the ease of getting a prescription.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some of the people I spoke to mentioned that they sought this out via telehealth and they were asked to input their most recent blood pressure reading.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, they said that there was little kind of guardrails on that so they could do a little math themselves if they wanted to, if they were really trying to seek out this prescription and fudge the numbers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One doctor told O'Brien they didn't think it was practical to prescribe propranolol through telehealth, noting that without physically examining a patient, it's hard to know if it's appropriate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That same doctor also notes that it can mask the signs of an asthma attack and exacerbate diabetes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One medical expert O'Brien spoke with said that propranolol is non-addictive and far milder than drugs like Xanax or Valium, two other well-known anxiety medications.
--:-- Shamita Basu: O'Brien also spoke to a number of women who said that taking propranolol for a huge event, like their wedding day, was enormously helpful and that it led to a sense of calm in an otherwise stressful situation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But in an era of easier access to medications, like weight loss drugs called GLP-1s that have proliferated in the United States, new questions about whether people should take certain prescriptions just because they can have come up.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you can get a medication, like should you take it?
--:-- Shamita Basu: So with the GLP-1s, it became, you know, if you could lose weight, should you access these medications, even if you may not be sort of the intended person for this medication for off-label treatment should you lose five to 10 pounds.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And this is sort of, the people are seeking this out with the question of like, if I could medicate myself for the anxious jitters that I might have on my wedding day, should I do that?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go a few other stories we following A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trump attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while her lawsuit challenging her dismissal proceeds
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the judge said she'll likely prevail in showing that Trump didn't comply with the requirement that officials can only be removed for cause.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump had accused Cook of mortgage fraud, which he said justified her removal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Cook denies any wrongdoing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The administration is expected to appeal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nepal's attempt to ban social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram has backfired badly, sending its younger population to the streets in protest and forcing its prime minister to resign.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The demonstrations turned violent, the parliament building was set on fire, and clashes with police have led to at least 20 deaths and around 200 injuries.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nepal's Gen Z critics accused the government of attempting to stifle a broader anti-corruption campaign with the social media ban, which quickly became a catalyst for unrest.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One popular viral slogan was the Nepo kids trend, which highlighted the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the political class and their families.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The social media ban has been lifted, but it's not clear if the demonstrations will now fade away.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A revised jobs report says the U.S. added close to a million fewer jobs than initially reported in the year ending in March.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hiring was overstated by 911,000 jobs over that period of time.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR reports it's the largest such revision going back to 2000.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is the latest in a strand of economic markers signaling that the labor market is on shaky ground.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A pair of reports by the conference board and the New York Fed says Americans are less confident than ever about finding a job should they lose their current one.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, the number of mothers of young children who are working hit a 40-year low, and manufacturing jobs also dipped by 12,000 last month.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Even hiring in the tech sector outside of AI is shrinking.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, today is your first opportunity to get tickets to the 2026 World Cup, which might not be news to you if you already have a tab open while you're listening to this.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR reports that FIFA is planning to introduce a pricing system that they say is not exactly the same as dynamic pricing, the kind that's drawn a lot of pushback when employed by Ticketmaster, but one that does still fluctuate based on demand and will be overseen by humans rather than an algorithm.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The first thing to know is that an initial window beginning today is only for Visa cardholders and gets you into a lottery that could allow you to buy tickets beginning on October 1st.
--:-- Shamita Basu: From there, tickets could range from $60 to $60,000.
--:-- Shamita Basu: FIFA says it's anticipating enormous demand with over 5 million people expected to attend.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the news app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 63% of men under 30 are single, compared to 34% of women.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vox looks at a group of young, often straight, single men who wish that they weren't, and how societal norms around masculinity might contribute to unhappiness and difficulties in finding a partner.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Thanks for listening to Apple News Today.
