--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, August 13th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, with Israel's targeted killing of journalists, our lens in Gaza is shrinking. Trump's unprecedented deal with the world's most valuable company. And there's no escaping ads at the movies. But first, members of the D.C. National Guard started to deploy last night after President Trump's decision to seize control of D.C.'s police and mobilize the military to address crime in a city where violent crime is at a 30-year low.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They've been told they'll be stationed in the Capitol until September 25th. But what role the Guard will actually play remains unclear. D.C.'s mayor, Muriel Bowser, says her expectation is that they will patrol federal properties, including parks, monuments and federal buildings.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Pentagon officials say the Guard will not participate in law enforcement. They'll only support other federal agents. But officials did leave open the possibility that these armed troops would be allowed to temporarily detain people.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Throughout his second term, the president has pushed the boundaries of how the American military can be deployed on U.S. soil. This has been an ongoing pattern for President Trump, even from his first administration.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: I often see the military as something he wants to call in or to show that he's serious about something, especially when it comes to law and order or fighting crime.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Very few presidents have been so willing to deploy the military for domestic purposes. It's a step that most presidents are really hesitant to take unless there's a major crisis or disruption somewhere.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: And this has happened, you know, in the past couple of decades. But Trump has done this at least three or four times only in the last six months.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He sent the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border, where they've been involved in detaining migrants. And he sent the Guard and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles earlier this summer in response to demonstrations over ICE immigration raids and arrests.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: Hundreds of troops are still in the city today. And this week, a federal judge is hearing arguments about whether the administration violated federal law by mobilizing them to L.A.
--:-- Shamita Basu: California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is challenging Trump's order and asking the judge to return control of California's guard to him.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: The administration is also planning to expand the military's role in immigration enforcement by using more military bases to house people the administration suspects of being in the country illegally.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's already used a number of bases for this, including Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which was challenged in the courts.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: One reason Trump has been using the military more to support his political agenda in this term is because he has fewer people in his inner circle telling him not to.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In his first administration, his then chief of staff, John Kelly, he later told others that one of his biggest challenges was trying to persuade Trump not to use the military.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: And that Trump seemed to not understand that it really was a last resort and he couldn't just rely on the military to back him up when he wanted to show that he was serious about something.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in this case, you know, there are fewer John Kellys around.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: Former and current members of the military told her the presence of U troops deployed onto American streets more often sets a concerning precedent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The fact that they would be desensitized to seeing them on their streets or start kind of considering law enforcement in a way that isn't part of the U.S. Constitution or the way that the United States runs is something that doesn't sit well with a lot of current and former military.
--:-- Shamita Basu: D.C. is unique in that Trump has direct control of its National Guard in a way that he doesn't have with others around the country.
--:-- Vera Bergen-Gruen: A former professor at the U.S. Army War College told me, at best, his decision to deploy the Guard to D.C. will give him a way to take credit for the already historically low crime rates in the city.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But at worst, she says, this could be a test run for more legally dubious use of military force around the country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now to an unusual deal between the Trump administration and the world's most valuable company, NVIDIA, which is raising questions over its legality and the repercussions for national security.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NVIDIA produces chips that power many of technology's fastest-growing products, especially in the realm of AI.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But the company had been facing challenges because of restrictions put in place by the Biden administration on selling its chips to China, which the government had defended on national security grounds.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In April, Trump added certain NVIDIA chips to those restrictions, but now he's reversed course and told reporters that NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, was free to sell into the Chinese market, but for a price.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So I said, listen, I want 20%. So I just wanted, so when I say I want 20, I want for the country. I only care about the country. I don't care about myself.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And he said, would you make it 15? So we negotiated a little deal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It means that the government will get a cut for their sales. Now, that sounds like an export tax, which is banned by the Constitution.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But this deal is being described as voluntary. Which would be a way around the ban.
--:-- Shamita Basu: White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters on Tuesday the legality of it is still being ironed out.
--:-- Lisa Edechico: There really aren't many, or if any at all, examples of the government kind of taking a cut of exports in this way.
--:-- Shamita Basu: An arrangement like this is definitely unusual, but it could also be perhaps an acknowledgment that, you know, China is going to move forward in AI.
--:-- Lisa Edechico: So this is a way for the U.S. to actually kind of benefit from China's AI expansion and maybe have them kind of rely on our technology for part of that.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Adichiko said that for some government officials, national security concerns around selling chips to China haven't gone away, even if the government has secured additional revenue.
--:-- Lisa Edechico: Republican Congressman John Molinar, who chairs the House Select Committee for China, warned against setting a precedent that incentivizes the government to grant licenses to sell China technology that will enhance its AI capabilities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The chip in question is called the H20, thought to have helped in the development of the popular Chinese AI system DeepSeek.
--:-- Lisa Edechico: It's not one of NVIDIA's most powerful chips, but it could be a key source of revenue for the company going forward.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And she said this deal could become important to the wider trade talk discussions between China and the U.S.
--:-- Lisa Edechico: It certainly gives the Trump administration a card to play. It kind of opens up the flow of these mid-tier chips, again, not the highest end chips to China, while giving the Trump administration a bargaining chip in its ongoing trade talks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Chips have become an increasingly important part of Trump's engagement strategy with tech companies.
--:-- Lisa Edechico: He has threatened 100 percent levies on semiconductor chips, but carved out exemptions for companies like Apple, among others, who committed to domestic investment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump has also left the door open to further deals for even more powerful technology.
--:-- Lisa Edechico: He said he was in talks with NVIDIA's CEO over their most advanced chip, the Blackwell, and that he was open to a deal there, too, for, quote, 30 to 50 percent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Funeral processions for the six journalists killed in Gaza by a targeted Israeli airstrike were held this week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The killings drew swift condemnation from the UN, the EU, and several press freedom groups.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Intentionally targeting and killing a journalist or any civilian is considered a war crime under international humanitarian law.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The most well-known of those killed and the person Israel said they were targeting was Anas al-Sharif, a correspondent for Al Jazeera whose CNN reports had become a household name and vital news source for those in the Arabic-speaking world, with millions of social media followers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He could often be seen reporting among rubble or speaking to Palestinians on the ground in Gaza.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His final broadcast from a hospital in Gaza focused on the worsening hunger crisis, showing how starving children are suffering from Israeli restrictions on aid.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israeli forces had been targeting al-Sharif for months and accused him of working with Hamas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The IDF, however, has not shared substantial evidence to support their accusation that he was involved in military activities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And both Al Jazeera and the Committee to Protect Journalists have strongly refuted the allegations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's what the chief executive of CPJ told NPR after Israel first made these accusations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is part of a pattern that we've seen from Israel in which Israel alleges that journalists are terrorists and then fails to produce any real credible evidence that they are such.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel has not provided any explanation for why it targeted the other journalists in the strike, Mohamed Kreyka, Ibrahim Zahir, and Mohamed Nufal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: All worked for Al Jazeera, plus two freelance reporters named Mu'amman Aliwa and Muhammad Al-Khaldi.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Throughout this war, the world has relied on Palestinian journalists like Al-Sharif to provide a direct lens into what's happening in Gaza.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel has not allowed international journalists to enter and work freely from Gaza, only offering supervised tours in rare cases.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the number of working journalists left has rapidly shrunk.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to Reporters Without Borders, Israel has killed almost 200 journalists in Gaza since October of 2023.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Roughly a quarter of them were directly targeted while working.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Gaza is considered the deadliest place in the world for journalists today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Irene Kahn, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, told Democracy Now! how this threatens how the world understands the war.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It is not killing in the context of war. It is a deliberate strategy to stop independent voices reporting.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So it's as much a threat to independent journalism as it is to the journalists themselves, as well as a blatant attempt by the Israelis to stop the world witnessing what they are doing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before he was killed, Al-Sharif wrote a social media post for Al Jazeera to share in the event of his death.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In it, he says, despite the pain and suffering he and other Palestinians have experienced, he, quote, never hesitated for a single day to do his work.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out giving up the eastern part of his country, set to be the key discussion point of upcoming talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump had already said some swapping of territories would be needed for any deal, and that the meeting would be a chance to, quote, feel out his Russian counterpart.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, Reuters reports that in advance of the meeting, Russia has carried out its most extensive incursion so far this year, as it looks to increase pressure on Ukraine to give up land.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There were some big changes in the State Department's long-awaited report on international human rights.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Detailed criticisms against some of Trump's allies, like Israel and El Salvador, have been removed, while countries at odds with the president, like Brazil and South Africa, have come under attack.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Sections on gender-based and LGBTQ-plus violence have been limited or removed completely, and there were new criticisms for traditional allies like the UK and France over what it described as curbing freedom of expression.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The report was quietly delivered to Congress almost a half year late while lawmakers are on recess.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, you thought you were safe from commercials at the movies, but The Washington Post reports that AMC Theaters has bowed to financial pressure.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In July, the theater introduced commercials before the movie, not during, for the very first time, and it appears to be a bet that is paying off.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Moviegoers are now being told in the app that they should expect the movie to begin 25 to 30 minutes after the listed start time.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So now you know exactly how late you can plan to show up.
--:-- 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: Bloomberg Businessweek goes inside a crime rink that's targeting star athletes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
