--:-- Yasmin Khan: Good morning. It's Wednesday, April 10th. I'm Yasmin Khan, in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Coming up, why high school students are still waiting for college financial aid following a series of glitches. The women in Switzerland who sued over climate change and won. And college basketball marks a milestone and says farewell to a legend. But first, let's take a quick look at some major stories in the news.
--:-- President Biden: President Biden is out with new criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy in Gaza. In an interview with Univision, Biden also criticized the killing of seven aid workers from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach. I think it's outrageous that those four or three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out.
--:-- President Biden: Biden said Israel needs to agree to a ceasefire to allow for increased humanitarian aid deliveries to Palestinian civilians.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: In legal news, a new ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court brings back a ban on nearly all abortions in the state. The law is from 1864, before Arizona was even a state. It's the latest legal move made possible after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The Arizona court put its ruling on hold for 14 days to allow time for challenges. The state's voters may ultimately get to decide. People campaigning for a ballot measure to protect abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution say they have enough signatures to put the question on the ballot in November.
--:-- Haley Messinger: May is typically when high school students come up against the deadline to commit to the college they plan to attend in the fall. So we are just weeks away from what is arguably the biggest decision of their young lives. And still, millions of students are waiting to get crucial information about their financial aid packages.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: That's because the overhaul of the federal student financial aid process, known as FAFSA, was riddled with glitches and errors. This means universities and scholarship programs cannot put together complete financial aid packages without knowing what students might receive from the federal government.
--:-- Haley Messinger: As a result, prospective students and families don't have the information they need to choose where to go to school. So you're thinking about either making a decision that may cost you tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars, are hopefully waiting out to get an answer before making that decision.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Take the story of 18-year-old Brycelen Harrelson from Florida. She's so uncertain about what's to come that she recently sent out six additional applications to less expensive state universities, just in case.
--:-- Carrie Harrelson: Her mother, Carrie, was talking to me about how she's a single mother. They're relying on aid to get them through school, like a lot of families are. College is extremely expensive. And even if families, you know, have a good paying job and work really hard, sometimes that's not enough.
--:-- Kelly Gaynor: NBC also spoke to Kelly Gaynor about her daughter Kennedy, who plans to attend her dream school, James Madison University. But she still doesn't know how much it's going to cost. So Kelly actually decided to slash her 401k contribution in almost half this year to save money for tuition just because things are up in the air.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And she told my colleague Sarah Rupert the stress level is at a whole new level for me. And it like having to make those money moves is you know something a lot of parents don't expect.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The Department of Education says it's nearly through the backlog of applications, but there's still a large number of forms that need to be reprocessed. It did not respond to NBC's questions about the choices some families are making while in limbo.
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--:-- Yasmin Khan: Now let's turn to an unusual court ruling that could impact the way citizens seek climate justice in the future. Yesterday, Europe's top human rights court determined that the Swiss government had violated the rights of citizens by not doing enough to mitigate climate change.
--:-- Greta Thunberg: The case was brought by a group of Swiss women, age 64 and older, who had said they were particularly susceptible to the health risks of warming summers and that their government didn't do enough to protect them.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The European Court of Human Rights agreed that the Swiss government fell short on its own goals in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The court issues binding decisions, but governments do not always comply.
--:-- Tessa Kahn: Two additional similar cases were tossed out, but the decision for the Swiss women was seen as a major victory. Climate activist Greta Thunberg reflected on the moment with the BBC.
--:-- Greta Thunberg: Today's rulings make very clear that the European states have a legal responsibility to take real climate action and to protect people and to protect its citizens. It cannot be a political choice whether to respect human rights or not.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The ruling is the latest example of citizens using courts to push governments to take action on climate change. Here in the U.S., a group of young plaintiffs in Montana won a landmark judgment last year, saying they have a constitutional right to a healthy environment.
--:-- Tessa Kahn: Well, like any government that is found to be in breach of its legal obligations, it's now under an obligation to align its action with what the law requires. And they have made these sorts of findings in other countries in the past. It requires governments to be more ambitious in terms of their policies to cut carbon emissions. They got to stop burning fossil fuels at the pace that they currently do.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: One of the leaders of the group that brought the Swiss case called the ruling a victory for all generations.
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--:-- Yasmin Khan: We end with a couple of sports stories, wrapping up a massive year for women's basketball. First, the winningest coach in the history of college hoops is retiring. Stanford's Tara Vanderveer leaves with 1,216 victories across 45 years.
--:-- Tara Vanderveer: She won three national titles and made 14 Final Four appearances. Earlier this year, she broke the record held by longtime Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, known as Coach K.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: After that game, Vanderveer mostly kept the spotlight on her players. Wow. You know, I mean, it is a big number. And I'm very appreciative of the great players I've coached and the great places I've been. And, you know, the attention is brought to women's basketball.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Also, new ratings data shows a historic milestone for the game. This year, the women's NCAA tournament final got higher ratings than the men's final for the first time. Nearly 19 million viewers tuned in to see undefeated South Carolina take down the superstar of the moment, Iowa's Caitlin Clark.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: That was several million more than the men's matchup. And it's nearly four times the audience for the women's final two years ago. But as the Wall Street Journal points out, the money hasn't caught up with the surging audience. The men's tournament will bring in nearly $900 million for the TV rights. But the women's tournament? Just over $6 million.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And we have a narrated article coming up next. Elle magazine explores how the fight over reproductive health care is playing out in the military.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: If you're listening in the podcast's app, follow Apple News Plus narrated to find that story. And before we let you go, we have a correction to share for yesterday's show.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The son of actor Bill Murray is Luke Murray, an assistant coach for the University of Connecticut men's basketball team, not head coach Dan Hurley. We apologize for the error, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
