--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, October 18th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the state with two dueling abortion measures and a lot of confused voters, why hurricanes are getting deadlier, and the WNBA's record-setting season of viewership. But first, the leader of Hamas is dead.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Israeli military confirmed yesterday that its forces killed Yahya Sinwar. He was Israel's top target since the war in Gaza began more than a year ago, overseeing Hamas's military operations while in hiding.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Biden issued a statement calling it a, quote, good day for the world. Vice President Kamala Harris called Sinwar the mastermind of the October 7th terrorist attack and said with his death, justice had been served.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Sinwar was responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent people, including the victims of October 7 and hostages killed in Gaza. He had American blood on his hands.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Today, I can only hope that the families of the victims of Hamas feel a sense and measure of relief. And she said it's time to end the war.
--:-- Kamala Harris: This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza. And it must end such that Israel is secure. The hostages are released. The suffering in Gaza ends. And the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.
--:-- Kamala Harris: And it is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Sinwar had long ties to Hamas. He joined the militant group when it was founded in the 1980s. He later spent more than 20 years in an Israeli prison and was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's when, according to Israeli intelligence, he began planning the October 7th attack that he believed would mark the beginning of the end of the Jewish state.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel had put a huge amount of resources toward his capture, but ultimately it was a trainee squad that found him rather unexpectedly, according to sources who spoke to the New York Times.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As for what comes next, his death leaves Hamas with a significant leadership vacuum.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel has now taken out several high-level commanders, which means the thousands of remaining Khem-S fighters on the ground are without organized leadership. The IDF describes them as being in guerrilla mode.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think from the Israeli side now, there's some big decisions to make.
--:-- Richard Haas: That's Richard Haas, the former president of the Council of Foreign Relations, speaking to CNN's Christian Amanpour.
--:-- Richard Haas: Is this something now that creates an opportunity, if you will, for the small ceasefire not a permanent one but something that would allow perhaps more food to go for the people of Gaza and obviously to get the Israeli hostages out?
--:-- Richard Haas: Might this be a moment where the Israelis can essentially declare victory and say OK now we prepared to turn the page or open a new chapter and begin a conversation with Palestinians about what might come next?
--:-- Richard Haas: It puts in front of this Israeli government some first-order strategic decisions. Essentially, how are they defining victory? What are their priorities at this point?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Already, the Israeli government has reached out to mediators handling ceasefire talks. And in a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered freedom to anyone who lays down their weapons and returns the remaining hostages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Though he also said, our war has not yet ended.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's turn now to a crucial issue this election, abortion access. Ten states have an abortion measure on their ballots, but one of those states, Nebraska, somewhat oddly has two.
--:-- Annie Gowan: That's Annie Gowan, the Midwest correspondent for The Washington Post. She recently spent time in Omaha talking to voters and organizers about these measures.
--:-- Annie Gowan: When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Nebraska's legislature passed a 12-week abortion ban. Advocates for abortion access then launched an effort to get the issue on the ballot to allow abortions up to the point of fetal viability, typically around 24 weeks.
--:-- Annie Gowan: After they began their signature drive, then the anti-abortion people in the state began on a drive of their own. And they're basically wanting to put something into the Constitution which mirrors the state law, which is 12 weeks.
--:-- Annie Gowan: So now voters in Nebraska will see two competing abortion-related proposals on their ballot.
--:-- Annie Gowan: The competing measures have drawn in a lot of outside spending. Voters have been inundated with ads.
--:-- Annie Gowan: Gowan told us some voters seemed confused about their options.
--:-- Annie Gowan: There's also the question about the order in which they appear. The one higher up on the ballot is the more restrictive one. The one lower down is the one that expands access.
--:-- Annie Gowan: So they're a little concerned that people are going to be confused going down the list, you know, see an abortion question, which does approve abortion. It's just limiting it to 12 weeks and then not go further down and realize that the one that, you know, is really for abortion access is further down on the list of questions.
--:-- Annie Gowan: Complicating all of this further, Gowan said, there are some voters who may vote no on both, thinking that even a 12-week ban isn't restrictive enough.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If both measures somehow pass, then Nebraska would have to use a law dating back to 1912 for the first time, where the measure with the most votes would be enacted.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After back-to-back hurricanes, people across the Southeast are taking stock of their losses. At least 245 people are dead. Many others are still missing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And experts expect billions of dollars in damage.
--:-- Porter Fox: This is just the beginning. This is not a one thing. This is not a storm of the century.
--:-- Porter Fox: That's Porter Fox. He's a journalist who's been covering climate change for more than a decade, and the author of a new book about the growing threat of hurricanes.
--:-- Porter Fox: We will see more major hurricanes and more extreme weather with the more heat we trap on this planet and the more heat that gets infused into the oceans.
--:-- Porter Fox: Studies show that warming oceans are causing hurricanes to move further inland to some unexpected places that just aren't prepared for them.
--:-- Porter Fox: We're bringing New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri into hurricane country and everything in between. Obviously, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, it's all now within hurricane country.
--:-- Porter Fox: So the storms are also migrating north as northern waters warm.
--:-- Porter Fox: So you're going to see storms in New York and Boston and Portland, Maine, Providence, Rhode Island.
--:-- Porter Fox: Fox also pointed out that the effects of climate change are compounding. As the world warms, you're going to see around 8% more water content in the atmosphere for every decade that we keep heating up.
--:-- Porter Fox: And with more water up in the clouds, you're going to get tremendously more rainfall.
--:-- Porter Fox: So the 20 inches they got out of Helene, the 40 inches Hurricane Harvey dumped in Houston in two days, you know, this is just unheard of.
--:-- Porter Fox: And it's so much water. But you also have the water coming up from this storm surge. All of these kind of geophysical fallouts from the climate crisis are starting to lump on top of one another and snowball.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To hear more of my conversation with Porter Fox and what it'll take to reverse this trend, check out this week's episode of Apple News in Conversation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the News app, it's queued up to play for you next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Former President Donald Trump attended the Al Smith dinner in New York City last night, and alongside him was Melania Trump, who's been noticeably absent from the campaign trail.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The dinner, which benefits Catholic charities, has traditionally been attended by presidential nominees on both sides of the aisle going back decades.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vice President Kamala Harris broke that tradition, skipping the dinner to campaign in battleground states.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Instead, she appeared in pre-recorded video.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump called her absence disrespectful to a round of applause.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Comedian Jim Gaffigan, who impersonates Tim Walz on SNL, emceed the event and roasted Harris for not attending.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I'm sorry, why is Vice President Harris not here? I mean, consider this. This is a room full of Catholics and Jews in New York City. This is a layup for the Democratic nominee I mean in her defense I mean she did find time to appear on The View Howard Stern Colbert and the longtime staple of campaigning, the Call Her Daddy podcast.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump used his time to attack some of his political rivals, credit God for saving his life during two assassination attempts, and crack a few jokes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's a true pleasure to be with you this evening. Amazing pleasure. And these days, it's really a pleasure anywhere in New York without a subpoena for my appearance.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Moving now to an update on a story that we brought you yesterday about Robert Roberson, a Texas man facing the death penalty for charges related to shaken baby syndrome, even though the detective behind his case says they were wrong and Roberson should be free.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After Texas lawmakers issued a last-minute subpoena to try to halt the execution, a local judge granted a temporary restraining order, pausing the execution minutes before it was due to take place and sparing his life, at least for now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The order was quickly followed by an appeal from the Texas Attorney General.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If that appeal is granted, the execution will move forward.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We are learning more details about what happened to Liam Payne, the former One Direction singer who fell to his death off his third-floor balcony at a hotel in Argentina.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to NBC News, the desk manager at the hotel where he was staying called 911 before the fall to ask for help with a guest who was, quote, overindulged on drugs and alcohol and destroying the room.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Payne was found dead a few minutes after that call.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Fans gathered outside the hotel to pay respect to the late singer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His family said in a statement, they are heartbroken.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His former bandmates echoed that, saying they are completely devastated.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, tonight, the New York Liberty play the Minnesota Lynx in a game that could determine who will be the next WNBA champions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: USA Today reports that the first two games of the series have seen record viewership, each averaging 1.24 million viewers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's a whopping 82% increase from last year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Which, I mean, when you've got Sabrina Ionescu sinking a tie-breaking three-pointer from 28 feet with one second to go, makes a lot of sense.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ionescu will heave and hit and hit! Sabrina Ionescu with the biggest shot in Liberty history!
--:-- Shamita Basu: If Minnesota can stave off New York tonight, they'll survive to play for the championship in Game 5 this weekend.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're listening in the News app right now, we've got our latest episode of In Conversation about how hurricanes are getting bigger and more deadly queued up to play for you next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Enjoy your weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
