--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It's Thursday, February 24th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Ukraine is under attack. Early reports from Ukrainian leadership say its military has killed dozens of Russian troops.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Biden said the latest moves from Russia are an unprovoked and unjustified attack. He's promising severe sanctions against Russia.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The EU foreign policy chief, Joseph Burrell, had a grim assessment. These are among the darkest hour for Europe since the end of World War II.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A major nuclear power has attacked a neighbor country and is threatening reprisals of any other states that may come to its rescue.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: BuzzFeed News reporter Christopher Miller is on the ground in Ukraine. He told us explosions woke him up around 5 in the morning.
--:-- Christopher Miller: There was a series of missile strikes on the airfield in Krematorsk, just 2,000 feet from where I was sleeping. And it shook the hotel.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The sky lit up bright yellow and orange. And a bunch of foreign journalists spilled out of their rooms in their underwear, wondering what was happening.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And, of course, we all knew what was happening, that this was the start of what would certainly be a brutal, large-scale war.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Reuters reports Russian forces launched missiles at several cities and landed troops on the coast.
--:-- Christopher Miller: Miller told us how Ukrainians are reacting. We saw some Ukrainians lining up at the ATM across the street to take out cash.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A lot of people were getting in their cars to go down to the petrol station, fill up their gas tanks.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There was two or three, we believe, Ukrainian jets, but possibly also Russian jets flying over the sky. And it was pretty loud.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They were flying very, very low.
--:-- Christopher Miller: He says it's hard to know what is factual in the early hours of this assault. There is just a mess and a tangle of information and misinformation floating around.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The situation is really fluid. And I think a lot of people are really scared.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: My Ukrainian friends are really scared. They're reaching out and asking what they should do where they should go.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And right now, it's really difficult to give anybody an answer.
--:-- Christopher Miller: Miller has been covering Ukraine and the region for 12 years. He was there when Russia invaded Crimea.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But he says this, this feels very different.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You know, nothing compares to what we're seeing now.
--:-- Christopher Miller: These are missiles being fired from Russian territory into Ukraine. This is a large-scale air attack. This is a helicopter assault on an airfield in Kiev.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: This is a multi-pronged incursion of the country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In international markets, stock prices fell sharply as news of the attacks came out. Global oil broke through the $100 barrier. This is the first time it's done that since 2014.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Russian ruble plummeted, hitting its lowest level against the U.S. dollar.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is a fast-moving story. You can get news and analysis throughout the day in the Apple News app.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Let's move on to another big story today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's a development in the investigation of Donald Trump and his family business.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Two prosecutors who were leading the Manhattan DA's investigation resigned.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As The Wall Street Journal reports, this raises questions about the future of the years-long probe.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The New York Times first broke this story. It's reporting these resignations happened while the DA's office has been in a month-long pause in its presentation of evidence to a grand jury.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is a big deal because the grand jury's term expires in April.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The New York Times also reports the resignations come as the new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has suggested he has reservations about this case.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal reports the prosecutors who are leaving the DA's office did not respond to requests for comment.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The DA's office says the investigation is ongoing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This probe has been looking into whether Trump's company misled lenders and banks and whether it committed tax fraud by giving off payments and perks to some of its employees perks like cars and apartments.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That what led to indictments of the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg the company's longtime CFO. They've pleaded not guilty and are seeking to have the case dismissed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump and the company have denied the allegations.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It's not clear what these resignations are going to mean for the future of the Manhattan DA's case.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But either way, Trump isn't out of legal trouble yet.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: New York State Attorney General Letitia James is also pursuing a civil case against the former president.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last week, she got permission from a judge to question Trump and two of his adult children under oath.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Plus, a district attorney in Georgia is investigating possible election interference by Trump.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A judge in that case recently approved the convening of a grand jury.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And there's another criminal investigation in New York's Westchester County looking into Trump's financial dealings at one of his golf courses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some parents of transgender children in Texas are trying to make sense of new government moves that say state agencies will investigate hormone therapy and other health care for transgender kids as child abuse.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The state's Child Welfare Agency confirmed this following a directive from the governor and a legal opinion from the attorney general.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The non-binding legal opinion stated that gender confirmation surgery and hormonal medications fall under the state's broad definition of child abuse, which includes mental, emotional or physical injury.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: An ACLU attorney tells the Houston Chronicle legally this doesn't change anything, not Texas law or the constitutional rights of transgender youth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What the attorney general's office issued is an interpretation of law.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And as the Chronicle points out, it contradicts recommendations made by the biggest professional medical organizations for the health and well-being of children with gender dysphoria, which is the medical term for psychological distress over gender identity.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Groups like the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association agree that for these children it best to leave health care decisions to families and their doctors.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now if adopted statewide this new rule would make Texas one of the most restrictive states in the nation for transgender youth who are seeking medical treatment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What's happening in Texas has been developing in other states, too.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Last year, 15 states introduced bills to ban or criminalize gender-affirming health care for minors, according to the ACLU.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Two ended up passing laws, Arkansas and Tennessee. The Arkansas law is blocked while a court challenge is underway.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Kaiser Health News is out with an article that looks at the impact on transgender youth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to a recent survey, 85% of LGBTQ plus youth reported that recent debates about anti-trans bills have negatively affected their mental health.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In a separate survey in 2020 of this community, nearly half said they seriously considered suicide in the past year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Kaiser Health News speaks to a transgender 18-year-old about the strain he's under.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: He's testified with his parents against bills in Texas. He says seeing people who are supposed to make laws to protect children say things that make it clear you're not worth fighting for, it's incredibly painful.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But he's also hopeful things can change.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: He says, I'm a human being and I'm also trans. Seeing us as the multifaceted human beings that we are is the first step in fighting this.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is a day of heavy news, and we're covering all these stories extensively in the Apple News app.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You'll find the latest developments in Ukraine from reporters on the ground, along with diplomatic developments in Moscow, Washington, and around the world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's also deeper analysis of the background and bigger picture of how we got here.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And you're going to learn more about the Trump investigation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're listening to us from North Carolina's Triangle or Toronto, be sure to check out the new local coverage we're rolling out there.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We've got the best reporting from local news outlets there, just like we've been doing in the Bay Area, New York, L.A., Chicago, Miami, D.C., Texas, and other places.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can check out the Apple News app to see what's available where you live.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We'll talk again with you tomorrow.
