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--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, August 24th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the most talked about moments from last night's Republican debate. Why a key part of Biden's immigration strategy is being challenged in court today. And a surprising fact about where Americans buy their sushi. But first, let's check in on some big stories in the news.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A Russian plane crashed on Wednesday, killing all 10 people aboard. According to Russia's civil aviation agency, one of the passengers was Yevgeny Purgosian, the founder of the Wagner Mercenary Group. He staged a brief mutiny against Russia's military earlier this summer. There's been no official confirmation of this death from the Wagner Group or Russian officials.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When President Biden was asked by reporters whether he believed Putin was involved, he said there is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind. I don't know for a fact what happened, but I must trust.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In other international news, today Japan began the process of releasing treated wastewater from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown into the Pacific Ocean. The 2011 incident was one of the worst nuclear accidents in modern times, prompted by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese government says releasing this water is a safe and necessary step in the decades-long process of decommissioning the plant.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But the decision was met with resistance by activists who say it poses risks to marine life. China has banned seafood from Japan as a result.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani turned himself in on Wednesday at an Atlanta jail, where defendants are being booked in a racketeering case against Trump and several others. The charges stem from a criminal election interference case. In total, 19 people, including Trump, have been indicted. Also booked on Wednesday was Sidney Powell, another election attorney for the former president.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Giuliani and Trump face the most charges in this case. Today, Donald Trump plans to turn himself in. His bond has been set at $200,000.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's stay with politics now and talk about what happened at the first Republican presidential debate last night. Eight candidates gathered in Milwaukee. As we've mentioned, former President Trump wasn't there. He instead opted to do a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was posted online five minutes before the debate started.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post is out with an overview of the night that declares Trump as one of the winners, despite him not even being there. He's got a nearly 40 percent lead in the polls, but the candidates on stage spent most of their time attacking each other.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Going into the night, the expectation was that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be a target. He is second to Trump in most polls. Instead, it was tech entrepreneur and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, who both prompted and received some of the most fiery attacks.
--:-- Nikki Haley: At one point, he got into a verbal spar with me when I criticized him for saying he wouldn't support Ukraine against Russia. And, you know, you came off of it, but you've been pushing this lie. You've been pushing this lie all week. You want to go and defund Israel. You want to get to run the China.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: I'm going to address each of those right now. This is the false lies of a professional politician. Under your watch, you will make America less than you have no foreign policy experience. And it shows.
--:-- Nikki Haley: Haley also used her time on stage to underscore the fact that the GOP doesn't have the support to pass a federal abortion ban, saying there needs to be consensus between Republicans and Democrats for it to happen.
--:-- Mike Pence: To be honest with you, Nikki, you're my friend, but consensus is the opposite of leadership. When the Supreme Court returned this question to the American people, they didn't just send it to the states only. It's not a states-only issue. It's a moral issue.
--:-- Chris Christie: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson were the only candidates who said they wouldn't support Trump in the general election if he was convicted.
--:-- Chris Christie: Someone's got to stop normalizing this conduct. OK now and now whether or not whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong the conduct is beneath the office of President of the United States
--:-- Shamita Basu: And, you know, this is the great thing about this country. Booing is allowed, but it doesn't change the truth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Apple News editors have put together a collection of some of the best coverage and analysis of the debate, including a useful CNN piece that fact-checks some of the claims made by candidates last night. Make sure to check that out in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Moving on to a big story in immigration news. Today, a key part of President Biden's immigration strategy is being challenged in a Texas federal court.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this year, the administration began executing a plan to discourage illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Part of the strategy included establishing a parole program so that immigrants from four countries could apply to legally live and work in the United States for two years.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The government says the program has been a success so far, that more than 180,000 migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti have been admitted. And border apprehensions dropped in the early summer, though they began to rise again in July.
--:-- Valerie Lavias: NPR spoke to one of the people who's relying on this parole program. I was already a U.S. citizen. I came from Haiti when I was 18 years old. And as political unrest in Haiti has intensified recently, I was able to use this program to apply for my brother and nephew to come to the U.S. They got approved and they joined me in Florida a few weeks ago.
--:-- Valerie Lavias: All anybody wants who lives in unrest is to have peace, to have some family time, to be able to get the basic needs met instead of living in fear of death, fear of hunger.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, a lawsuit filed by Texas and a number of other states is leaving the parole program's future in doubt. Critics say, and NPR confirms, no other administration has relied on this idea of granting parole as much as the Biden administration, which has now admitted more than half a million people into the country in this way, including from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The lawsuit alleges that the administration has essentially created a new visa program instead of treating parole on a case basis.
--:-- Mark Krikorian: NPR spoke to Mark Krikorian, executive director of a think tank advocating for lower levels of immigration. This administration has used parole as the vehicle to create an entirely separate illegal system of admitting foreigners to the United States.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Today in court, the Biden administration will have to defend its parole program by arguing that it's making enough of an impact, discouraging migrants from crossing the southern border illegally.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go today, a surprising little fact about sushi in America. There's a bit of a joke about gas station sushi. You know, sushi you probably shouldn't eat because it's not coming from a place you expect to find top quality raw fish.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But what about supermarket sushi? Millions of Americans seem to be on board with it because, get this, the biggest seller of sushi in America right now is Kroger.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yeah, the Midwest-based grocery store chain. The Wall Street Journal explains how that says a lot about how grocery stores are changing. People can only buy so many basic groceries. So if supermarkets want to grow, they need to sell people different stuff. Prepared sushi is a way to grab dollars that people might otherwise spend in restaurants.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's the same reason so many grocery stores offer whole roasted chickens and pre-made sandwiches. Kroger says it does regular inspections of its sushi products. And the journal explains that quality is getting better, helping people get over the ick factor of buying a raw fish meal at the same place where they get a gallon of milk and toilet paper.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So what do actual sushi masters think about this? The journal speaks to a fourth-generation sushi chef, and he says he thinks it's a good thing. Selling sushi for relatively cheap at supermarkets could help create a wider audience, which he thinks will ultimately land more customers in high-end Japanese restaurants.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Time that's a good listen after the first Republican debate. It asks whether any of those candidates on stage can successfully challenge Trump for the nomination and win. That's up next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
