--:-- Yasmin Khan: Good morning. It's Tuesday, April 16th. I'm Yasmin Khan in for Shamit the Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: On today's show, the Supreme Court hears a case on the January 6th attack. One year of war has Sudan on the brink of collapse. And Salman Rushdie's return after escaping death. But first, let's take a brief look at some major stories in the news.
--:-- Jessica Levinson: The criminal trial for former President Trump continues today in New York with jury selection. Day one saw dozens of jurors dismissed. More than half the people in the first batch were excused yesterday after they said they couldn't be fair and impartial.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Legal analyst Jessica Levinson told CBS that seating a jury may take some time. Because attorneys are wary of allowing someone in the jury box who could wreck their case. We know that old saying that cases are rarely won at jury selection, but they sometimes are lost at jury selection.
--:-- Jessica Levinson: Trump faces multiple felony charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to an adult film actress. He's pleaded not guilty.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: In Baltimore, searchers have found the body of another victim of the bridge collapse last month. Six construction workers were killed when a cargo ship hit the bridge. Two are still missing. There are multiple investigations into what happened, now including a federal criminal probe.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And in sports, at the WNBA draft, the number one pick was no surprise. With the first pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, the Indiana Fever select Caitlin Clark, University of Iowa. The league already made moves to take advantage of the audience Clark has shown she can draw. The WNBA is putting nearly all of Indiana's games on national TV to maximize exposure.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Other stars of March Madness were also drafted, including LSU's Angel Reese and Camila Cardoso of the NCAA champion South Carolina They were both chosen by the Chicago Sky
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Today, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case that could impact hundreds of people who were criminally charged for attacking the Capitol on January 6th. Specifically, at question, is whether prosecutors improperly stretched a law used to charge insurgents with obstruction for delaying the certification of the 2020 election results.
--:-- Anne Marimow: This followed the collapse of the energy giant Enron and the exposure of massive fraud, including the shredding of documents that investigators were going to be seeking. And this is an obstruction statute that makes it a crime to obstruct, influence, or impede an official proceeding or attempts to do so.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. And so far, more than 100 people involved in the January 6th attack have been convicted and sentenced under it for obstruction. A ruling from the Supreme Court against prosecutors who've used the obstruction statute could impact those convictions and pending cases.
--:-- Anne Marimow: The ruling could also affect the federal election interference case against Trump. He's denied the charges, two of which are based on the obstruction law in question. Maramo says Trump would likely move to have those charges dismissed if the Supreme Court rules that prosecutors have overreached with this statute.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: But the prosecution in Trump's case could adjust if that happens. Special counsel Jack Smith says this is different. President Trump is not accused of storming the Capitol himself and disrupting this official proceeding, but the charges against him include evidence of trying to, for instance, submit a slate of fake electors, which could be considered more tangible evidence.
--:-- Jack Smith: So he says the facts alleged against the former president are different and could still hold up despite whatever the Supreme Court rules.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Lower courts have nearly all ruled in favor of prosecutors using the obstruction charge in January 6 cases. A Supreme Court ruling could come in late June.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And one quick thing about the court. Legal watchers took note that Justice Clarence Thomas missed yesterday arguments on other matters Chief Justice John Roberts said Thomas would still participate by looking at legal briefs and transcripts Roberts gave no explanation for Thomas absence It wasn't clear if Thomas was coming to the session today.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: After one year of civil war in Sudan, Aid agencies are warning that humanitarian conditions for civilians are on the brink of collapse. More than 8 million people have been forced from their homes, a quarter of them under the age of 5. It's the largest displacement in the world.
--:-- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: The UN says 25 million people need humanitarian support, and there could be unprecedented levels of starvation. Today, half of Sudan's people need emergency assistance.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: We cannot let these nightmares slide from view. That's UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressing a conference in France on increasing aid to Sudan.
--:-- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Aid workers say the fighting is making it hard to get vital supplies in. Aid convoys have been targeted. Humanitarian personnel and warehouses have been attacked. Women and girls are subject to rampant sexual violence.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The death toll in the fighting between forces loyal to rival generals is estimated at 14,000. But the true total could be much higher. Very few aid workers and journalists have been able to get into the hardest-hit areas to see what's actually going on.
--:-- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: The fighting has also led to a collapse of the medical system. Almost 15 million people need health assistance. Acute and chronic malnutrition are rampant. The health system is under attack.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Officially, WHO has verified 62 attacks on health care. But this is just the tip of the ice because there is underreporting.
--:-- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: The UN conference in France aimed to secure close to $3 billion in pledges for food and health care support from dozens of countries. Ultimately, over $2 billion was pledged.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Finally, the author Salman Rushdie has a new book out today that reflects on a moment he almost lost his life In 2022, the author was stabbed multiple times at a public event in New York. Many years before, he'd been in hiding at certain points. He had death threats because of what's known as a fatwa from Iran, a religious order calling for his killing.
--:-- Salman Rushdie: It came in response to his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses. Rushdie gave his first TV interview since the attack to 60 Minutes. At one point, he and Anderson Cooper sat in silence for 27 seconds, the length of the stabbing attack.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: That's quite a long time. That's the extraordinary half minute of intimacy in which life meets death. His new memoir is called Knife, Meditations After an Attempted Murder.
--:-- Salman Rushdie: In it, Rushdie writes about that day and how his survival feels miraculous. I mean, I certainly don't feel that some hand reached down from the skies and guarded me. But I do think something happened which wasn't supposed to happen. And I have no explanation for it.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Rushdie said he was still grappling with how to account for something that feels like a miracle when he doesn't quite believe in miracles. He's still dealing with the trauma of the attack and with his injuries. He lost his right eye.
--:-- Salman Rushdie: At first, he didn't want to write about the experience and have it define him. But Rushdie said that his knife and his way to fight back is his writing. Language is a way of breaking open the world.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: I don't have any other weapons, but I've been using this particular tool for quite a long time. So I thought this was my way of dealing with it.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, a narrated article is coming up next. The Atlantic reports on how cows are suffering on organic dairy farms, even though they're thought by some to offer more humane conditions. If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
