--:-- Mark Garrison: Good morning. It's Thursday, January 4th. I'm Mark Garrison in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, deadly food shortages in Gaza, 24 predictions for 2024, and how a 13-year-old became the first human to beat Tetris. But first, let's take a brief look at some other major stories in the news.
--:-- Mark Garrison: A judge has revealed a list of names that came up in court proceedings related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of the high-profile names include Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. Like many of the names revealed, there's no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Clinton or Trump. Clinton has said in the past that he was not aware of Epstein's abusive behavior and cut ties with him a while back.
--:-- Mark Garrison: There is an allegation in the documents that Prince Andrew inappropriately touched a woman. In the past, he's denied wrongdoing. He did settle a lawsuit with a woman who said she was a victim of abuse.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In other legal news, the U.S. Department of Justice is suing Texas over its new immigration laws. The bill recently signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott allows local law enforcement to arrest people who enter the country illegally. The Justice Department says this is unconstitutional because enforcing immigration law is the federal government's business.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Abbott previously said he's ready to fight for the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In New Jersey, the killing of Imam Hassan Sharif is under investigation. He was shot outside his Newark mosque yesterday. Authorities don't yet have a motive or suspect.
--:-- Ted Stevens: It does not appear that the Imam was a victim of a biased crime or that this is related to terrorism.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The state attorney general says investigators usually wouldn't reveal that kind of information so soon. But they felt it was important to say now because of the national surge in hate crimes, especially against Muslims.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Around 100 people are dead in Iran following two explosions and a memorial for a general. Qasem Soleimani was killed by a U.S. airstrike in 2020 under orders from then-President Trump. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Let's turn now to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where aid agencies are warning that scarce food could lead to famine. A recent UN report said more than 90% of people in Gaza are dealing with acute food insecurity, and nearly every family is skipping some meals each day.
--:-- Arif Hussain: I've seen Afghanistan, I've seen Yemen, I've seen Syria, I've seen South Sudan, I've seen Northeast Nigeria, pretty much everywhere. I've never seen something at this scale as is happening in Gaza and at this speed.
--:-- Mark Garrison: What's also striking, the numbers. Arif Hussain tells The New Yorker that in the entire world right now, there are about 700,000 people experiencing famine or catastrophic hunger, and 80% of them are in Gaza.
--:-- Amina Shamlak Arafi: It's hard to provide food for my daughters without their father. They're dying of hunger, poverty, and everything.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Adding to the crisis is the cold winter weather with temperatures dropping sharply. Some people who fled their homes to escape Israeli bombs are now living in makeshift camps that are not built for the climate.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Israeli attacks have already killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, largely civilians. And if the desperate food situation doesn't improve, the UN says many more may die of starvation.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Vox is out with a story that caught our eye. 24 predictions for 2024. It covers politics, business, culture, sports, and more. Now, there's a lot of this kind of thing this time of year. One thing that's different about these predictions, they have some humility. Vox's predictions come with probabilities.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: We were wrong a bunch of times last year, but we're trying to become better forecasters, and hopefully that will make us better journalists.
--:-- Mark Garrison: This year, he predicts inflation will settle down further in America. Some of the external factors, like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and some of the pandemic-related disruptions are in the past now.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: And so I think we're going to see a leveling off, tapering off of inflation.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In domestic politics, Vox predicts Republicans will win the Senate and Democrats will take the House. In global politics, Vox predicts Benjamin Netanyahu will be unseated as Israel's prime minister. Narendra Modi will win re-election in India.
--:-- Dylan Matthews: And Mexico will get its first female president with the election of Claudia Scheinbaum. She is far and away in the polls the frontrunner for the 2024 Mexican presidential election.
--:-- Mark Garrison: She's not as intensely charismatic. She's a scientist, not a firebrand. And so it'll be interesting to see how she does in office.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And in sports Vox is paying attention to baseball star Shohei Ohtani. Vox predicts he'll lead the MLB in home runs and maybe break Barry Bond's record.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Yeah, I'm excited to see him try.
--:-- Mark Garrison: You can find all 24 predictions in the Apple News app.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Finally, even if you're only a casual gamer, you can probably recognize this theme song. Tetris is a simple game that people can pick up quickly, which is why it's been popular for so long.
--:-- Mark Garrison: But there's a whole community of expert Tetris players who practice for hours a day and play at high speed in tournaments around the world. And recently, a 13-year-old player has pulled off what none of them have done before. He beat Tetris, getting so far into the game that it froze.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Willis Gibson is a serious gamer, so he keeps the camera rolling as he plays. That means we can hear the moment he beat Tetris.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The Oklahoma teenager is the first human good enough to take Tetris to its breaking point. Previously, only computers powered by AI had been able to do that.
--:-- Mark Garrison: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next from New York Magazine.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Writer and editor Tom Skoka writes and narrates his own story about navigating America's complicated medical system to try and find answers for a debilitating and mysterious condition, and what we do when we can't reach conclusions.
--:-- Mark Garrison: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
