--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, December 6th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, investigating sexual violence against women by Hamas, growing concern about warming as global leaders meet on climate, and alarming new data about a decline in promotions of Black employees.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A warning that this next story includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence. President Biden is calling on more international organizations to condemn the rape and mutilation of women during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This comes as more evidence is coming to light of how extensive the sexual violence was, from survivors, video footage, and interrogations of captured militants.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Recently, the Times of London published a detailed account of what took place on that day. Investigators and those who cleaned and buried the dead saw evidence of widespread rape.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They said many of the women were naked, with blood between their legs. One witness says he saw a woman raped by multiple fighters and ultimately shot in the head.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At a U.N. event hosted by Israel, police superintendent Yael Reichert described some of the evidence collected so far.
--:-- Yael Reichert: Everything was an apocalypse of corpses. Girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israeli officials have not released an estimate of how many women were sexually assaulted. Few victims or eyewitnesses survived, and those who did are traumatized.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hamas denies committing sexual violence. It says any atrocities may have been committed by other militant groups, not under its control.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But witness testimony and other evidence, including videos posted by Hamas fighters, support some of the allegations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israeli activists have sharply criticized the U.N. for not speaking out about these atrocities sooner.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On Friday the UN group focused on women rights issued a statement condemning the sexual violence on October 7th and broadening the call for accountability to include all acts of gender violence committed since the start of the war
--:-- Shamita Basu: A U commission looking into war crimes on both sides is investigating sexual violence and collecting evidence
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel has accused the commission of bias and said it won't cooperate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israeli police say they've collected thousands of pieces of evidence for their own prosecutions of the attackers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now let's take a look at some other major stories in the news.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the Senate, an abortion fight that held up more than 400 military promotions is mostly over.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville lifted his blockade on nearly all of the promotions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Senate quickly voted to confirm them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tuberville was protesting the Pentagon's policy of paying for travel so service members can access abortions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He's still blocking a handful of promotions, but the Senate could go around this by holding individual votes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the COP28 Global Climate Summit in Dubai, many scientists doubt that the world can meet the goal of keeping historical temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Inside Climate News looked at what experts are saying.
--:-- Shamita Basu: More and more think that the world will overshoot the target unless there's rapid and dramatic change in energy use.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Warming by just two degrees would dramatically increase famine, drought, severe weather, and extinctions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Today, we are watching the Supreme Court with arguments in a workplace discrimination case.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's about a woman police sergeant in St. Louis who says she was transferred out of a prestigious role because of her gender.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Depending on how the court eventually rules, the case could have major impact on a range of workplace diversity programs and lead to a wave of reverse discrimination lawsuits.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In business news, podcast fans are reacting to Spotify's announcement earlier this week that it'll cancel the show's Heavyweight and Stolen.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The company says it'll work with the show's creators on next steps, which could mean the shows continue elsewhere.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The cancellations come as Spotify is cutting around 1,500 jobs, or 17% of its global workforce.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Its CEO says this latest wave of layoffs is needed to cut costs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Time magazine has announced its 2023 Person of the Year. It's Taylor Swift.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It points to her global impact having launched her sold Eras tour this year and releasing a concert movie which has brought in more than a quarter billion dollars at the box office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Swift is the first solo entertainer to receive the title in the magazine nearly century tradition
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let return to the topic of workplace diversity issues and look at some reporting on efforts to give more Black workers management opportunities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the national reckoning with race, companies focused on and succeeded at promoting Black employees.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But now that trend has slowed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal got exclusive access to McKinsey data that shows a major drop in promotions, a reversal of recent progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ray Smith covers workplace issues for the journal. If you talk to companies, they'll insist that they're still committed to DEI.
--:-- Ray Smith: But the bottom line is that a couple of things sort of happened all at once in 2022 to make companies either decrease their focus or deprioritize DEI.
--:-- Ray Smith: For one, fears of a recession created budget pressure. And some corporate diversity efforts became a target for cost-cutting.
--:-- Ray Smith: And several DEI consultants that I've spoken to over the years have told me one of the first things to go when there are signs of weakness in the economy, companies are ready to sort of start cutting DEI programs or diversity programs.
--:-- Ray Smith: There were also other distractions from diversity efforts, supply chain issues, and trying to manage a balance between work from home and getting staff in offices.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the highest level, there has been some progress.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are now eight Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, compared with just four in 2020.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But below the C-suite level, things are moving much more slowly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Smith explains what this means for workers.
--:-- Ray Smith: They are not getting promoted at that very first critical step from entry level to manager, the first promotion, the first rung.
--:-- Ray Smith: And that sets them back. If they're not being promoted in the early stages of their career, that sets them back from being promoted to managers in future positions.
--:-- Ray Smith: It just sets Blacks further behind on the path to advancement and ascending into the higher ranks of corporate America.
--:-- Shamita Basu: With promotion rates dropping, Smith says some Black employees feel like their companies haven't fulfilled promises they made.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some say diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts now feel like they were just for show.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As diversity consultants tend to see it if organizations are serious about having an inclusive workplace they have to promote the diverse workers they bring in or else they seek opportunities elsewhere.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Finally, let's talk about one of the great joys of traveling.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yes, there's sightseeing, art, culture, but I want to talk about potato chips.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Have you ever wondered why you see so many fun flavors in other countries?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Things you may not have seen back home? Like chicken shawarma, lamb and mint, masala mayhem, butter caramel.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Well, a writer at The Guardian did some pretty deep investigating to try to raise the curtain on what she calls the weird, secretive world of chip flavors.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And to answer the question, how do they decide which flavors to launch in which countries?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, part of what makes this such a fun read is everyone is taking their job so seriously.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Like, I want to remain anonymous seriously.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As one of the food scientists in the piece puts it, everyone has their own crown jewels that they protect.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The part I found really interesting was about research and development.
--:-- Shamita Basu: How do they come up with the flavors?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Well, it turns out, lots of data and tech.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The big chip companies scour the internet and take a snapshot of every restaurant menu in a particular locale to find out what ingredients are popular.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's how the companies have ended up determining that Germans love their paprika, or that Asian countries like fish-flavored chips, or that Europe isn't quite ready for sweet-flavored chips yet.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, if you're in search of new and exciting chip experiences, The Guardian says the place you really have to go is China.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The writer describes it as a place that's on the cutting edge of chip flavor technology.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's where Lay's has released what are called sensorial chips.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This isn't just about flavor anymore. It's about chips that can make your mouth feel numb or cool or fizzy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's such a big market, so there's more experimentation going on.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As one chip executive explains, if you've got 1.4 billion people, someone's bound to like it.
--:-- 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 from Vox.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It goes deep on ultraviolet light and how it can kill airborne viruses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it looks into whether this technology could help stop future pandemics.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
