--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, January 30th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the U.S. Secretary of State in the Mideast as Israeli-Palestinian violence escalates, a major change in policy around blood donations, and wrapping a huge weekend in the sports world. But first, the latest in the death of Tyree Nichols.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On Friday night, graphic video footage was released. It showed five Memphis police officers punching, kicking, and pepper spraying him after pulling him from his car during a traffic stop. Nichols doesn't appear to fight back. He tells them he was just trying to go home.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In an echo of the video of George Floyd's murder, Nichols also calls for his mother several times. The officers were fired by the police department and now face second-degree murder charges. Several are out on bond, and their attorneys say they will plead not guilty.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The former officers were part of a special unit called Scorpion. The Memphis Police Department shut it down over the weekend. The Scorpion unit and similar ones around the country have been criticized for aggressive tactics.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nichols' family attorney, Antonio Romanucci, says they're a problem. I call on all chiefs in this country to review their saturation units, to review their special squad units and disband them because they can easily become corrupted when they are told, they are whispered in their ear, act with impunity.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Calls for accountability are going beyond the police department. Two sheriff's deputies who appeared on the scene have been relieved of duty. There's an internal investigation into their conduct. The EMTs who first responded are suspended and under investigation, too.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are questions as to why Nichols wasn't given more medical help on the scene and taken to a hospital sooner. Nationally there are new calls for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. It failed to clear the Senate in 2021. The bill would ban chokeholds, limit qualified immunity, that's the legal doctrine that protects officers accused of misconduct, and create a national database of disciplinary action against officers, among other things.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tyree Nichols' family is calling for justice, but also encouraging people to see the person they loved. His mother, Ravon Wells, had this remembrance.
--:-- Ravon Wells: He was coming from Shelby Farms about the time of the incident because he liked to go and watch the sunset and take pictures. That was his thing. My son loved the sunsets. That was his passion. He loved photography. He loved skateboarding. He was just his own person.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nichols' funeral is on Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Jerusalem today and Ramallah tomorrow. He'll meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This trip has been on the books for a while, but Blinken's visit comes as violence between Israelis and Palestinians is at the deadliest point it's been in years. We deplore overall the loss of innocent civilian life. We'll be reiterating that message and encouraging the parties to take steps to calm things down, to de-escalate tensions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last week, 10 people were killed in an Israeli army attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Israel said it was targeting militants. Later, a Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The UN tracks these numbers. It says 2022 was the deadliest year for West Bank Palestinians in nearly two decades. 2023 is already on track to surpass that. Netanyahu is back in power following a recent election He got support from right parties The policies his administration is now pursuing have split Israelis Some on the left question whether Netanyahu and his supporters are trying to undermine democracy to preserve their power.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And many in Netanyahu's new government are longtime opponents of a Palestinian state. The national security minister banned public display of the Palestinian flag. That makes things tricky for Secretary Blinken this week. He's representing President Biden, who supports a two-state solution to the long-running conflict, Israel existing alongside an independent Palestine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But with a right-wing government running Israel and new violence flaring up, that peace proposal seems far away. The FDA plans to make a major change in policy around blood donations. It's one that the LGBTQ plus community has wanted for many years.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The agency is removing some restrictions on donations from gay and bisexual men. Those who are in a monogamous relationship, who are practicing safe sex and testing negative for HIV, will now be able to donate. The proposed guidelines are the latest in a shift that focuses more on actual risk of transmitting HIV rather than blanket bans based on sexual orientation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: During the 80s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, the FDA banned donations from men who had sex with men. In 2015, there was a slight change, allowing these men to give blood if they abstained from sex for a year. Critics said this was too strict.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last year, ABC spoke with the CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis, who said that the policy was dangerous. Here we have, according to the Williams Institute, 360,000 men who have said that they would donate blood. That's 600,000 pints of blood, which could save nearly a million lives.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So this isn't only hurting LGBTQ people with reinforcing this stigma. It also hurting every American This proposal comes as the U blood supply has been low It dropped to critical levels in some places during the pandemic.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Next comes a public comment period and final FDA review. Newly eligible donors could be cleared to start giving blood at the end of this year or early next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Finally, let's take a quick look at a busy weekend in sports. First and foremost, the Super Bowl is set. In two weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Eagles crushed the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 on Sunday. For the Chiefs, it was a tougher matchup. They beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in a game that came down to a last-minute drive and a field goal in the final seconds.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Moving to tennis. The Australian Open finished yesterday. 10 as in 10 Australian Open titles for Novak Djokovic. But more importantly, it was his 22nd Grand Slam win. That ties him in the men's record books with Rafael Nadal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's quite the turnaround from last year for Djokovic. He was barred from playing in Australia after a legal fight over his refusal to comply with the COVID vaccination policy at the time. Irina Sabalenka won the Women's Championship, her first ever Grand Slam title.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find more sports coverage in the Apple News app, along with all the stories we talked about today. 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 magazine. It includes a rare interview with the CEO of DeepMind, the much-hyped artificial intelligence company. Its leader is now urging caution. He wants the industry to slow down on scaling up AI.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
