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--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Wednesday, April 14th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Today, President Biden is announcing his biggest foreign policy move yet. He is pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. They should all be gone by September 11th.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yes, they're all going to be out by the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks that killed thousands of people in the U.S. and led to America's longest ongoing conflict.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: CNN puts this move in the context of changing world powers and new dangers for America. China and Russia are playing an increasingly assertive role on the world stage.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Closing the book on two decades of war in Afghanistan is in some ways a signal that the next decade may be more about standing up to powerful adversaries rather than a mix of terror threats.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: As CNN puts it, both China and Russia are already testing Biden. Moscow has been building up troops on Ukraine's borders. Beijing has sent warplanes to probe Taiwan's defenses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The U.S. may also have to pay closer attention to other countries. Iran wants to bolster its nuclear ability, and North Korea is testing ballistic missiles again.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And a pullout of troops in Afghanistan may mean the U.S. needs to change its relationship with key countries, such as Pakistan and India.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Leaving Afghanistan may shift America's focus to other threats, but it's not without risk. CNN talked to some foreign policy experts who are concerned that pulling out U.S. troops will lead to a resurgence of terror threats there and a reversal of human rights advances.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But Biden has been making this promise since his campaign, saying U forces unintentionally became part of the problem there and more troops is not the solution.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you've got your vaccine appointment on the calendar and you were supposed to get Johnson & Johnson, hang tight. States are coming up with plans to make sure that you get either Pfizer or Moderna instead.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Federal health officials have paused Johnson & Johnson distribution while they look into six incidents of a rare blood clot.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: First of all, it's helpful to identify the exact problem. Vox cuts through all the noise here.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Out of the nearly 7 million people who have already rolled up their sleeves and been injected with J&J's vaccine, so far, only six have developed this rare blood clot.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And these blood clots are dangerous because they can prevent blood from leaving your brain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Health officials are calling for this pause so they can determine how to treat this condition and, importantly, craft new guidelines.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So you might be thinking, why are we only hearing about this now? Well, Vox says it's basically a numbers game.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Because this is such a rare outcome, about one in a million, there simply weren't enough people in the clinical trials for this complication to even come up.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That changed once the vaccine was rolled out more widely.
--:-- Shamita Basu: These blood clots are similar to what's been reported with the AstraZeneca vaccine. It's the same type of vaccine as the J&J shot.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The EU halted the AstraZeneca shot temporarily, but later resumed distribution, calling it, quote, safe and effective.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vox says the biggest challenge moving forward will be messaging.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Researchers knew there would always be a possibility that they'll need to study and explain rare risks as they come up.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But that predictable process sometimes translates to worry and hesitancy in a jumpy public.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Vox points out, we saw Pfizer and Moderna address their issues in real time.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Remember when some people who got either of those shots started having allergic reactions? Health officials changed their protocol to screen people with allergies and they added a 15 waiting period to keep an eye on people after they got the shot
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Vox says regulators could take a similar approach with Johnson Johnson add more guidelines and increase people confidence in the shot
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vox is also pointing out this blood clot condition is not being seen in people who have gotten the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: For its part, the White House is saying it does not expect the pause to significantly impact the country's vaccination campaign.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Health officials are encouraging people, get vaccinated as soon as possible.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Prices for U.S. consumer goods were up 0.6 percent in March. That's the biggest one-month jump in nine years.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This news is leading to a growing and familiar debate about whether we should be concerned about inflation.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And the worry is that as businesses start to recover and stimulus money is being pumped into the economy, prices could rise even higher, making your paycheck less valuable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if inflation gets out of control, it could limit how much the federal government is willing to spend on future legislation.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In Vox, Emily Stewart explains an important concept called core inflation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's essentially inflation minus the cost of food and energy, which tend to have volatile prices.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Keep in mind, gas prices recently spiked, and that's juicing the overall numbers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Strip off food and gas data, and you see prices for other stuff are not going up as fast.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Stewart says some economists have been scarred by the 70s. They were driven by this fear of returning to double-digit inflation, even though inflation has remained exceptionally low.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it's not like we shouldn't be concerned at all. Psychology plays a huge role here.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: One interesting point in this article is that the threat of inflation could cause businesses to raise prices to get ahead of it, effectively creating the inflation that they worried about
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Vox points out the federal government doesn seem too concerned right now.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Fed Chair Jerome Powell says the inflation we seeing is going to be short
--:-- Shamita Basu: So the Fed has been cautious about overreacting.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the risk of out-of-control inflation is low.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So we need to focus on creating jobs and getting the economy back on track.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: What if one good thing that comes out of the pandemic is a chance for us to see Simone Biles kill it at the Olympics one more time?
--:-- Shamita Basu: When the pandemic delayed the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, athletes had to plan for another year of grueling preparation.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And now some athletes who'd plan to retire after Tokyo are saying they think they can keep going for a little longer to make it to the 2024 Games, too.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Olympic sports psychologists say because the next Olympics in Paris is only three years away, going a little bit longer feels more doable to many athletes.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That's the case for Biles. The gymnast is 24 years old, undefeated in all-around competition since 2013.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She was originally planning to retire after Tokyo, but she recently said that her coaches have been encouraging her to think about competing in Paris.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: She says she'll decide after this year's competition.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Other athletes say they want to try for Paris because international fans won't be allowed to attend the Tokyo Games.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Laura Webster, who is a four-time Paralympic volleyball medalist, tells the Journal she wants her three kids to see her play in Paris.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So she's motivated to keep training so she can compete in front of a large audience one more time.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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