--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 7th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. The conclave to choose a new pope begins today. And a mostly cordial meeting between Canada's new prime minister and President Trump. But first, to last week's communications meltdown at Newark Airport that put air traffic controllers completely in the dark and set off a chain reaction that's still resulting in canceled and delayed flights.
--:-- [Audio from air traffic control is played]
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, audio from air traffic control was released, offering us a window into the incident.
--:-- Andrew Tangle: No, you do not have a Bravo clearance. We lost our radar and it's not working correctly. Radar service terminates. Squawk me afar. Freeze change approved. If you want a Bravo clearance, you can just call the towers when you get closer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We called up Andrew Tangle, who covers aviation safety and regulation for The Wall Street Journal, to tell us what was happening there.
--:-- Andrew Tangle: They lost their radios and their radars for about 90 seconds. And they couldn't communicate with pilots. And that was a very scary situation for the controllers. They are managing busy, complex airspace, and they keep airplanes safely separated. They tell them where to go, where to point the nose, how fast to go, all of that, and keep them out of harm's way.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This blackout meant controllers couldn't see where each plane was, and their backup systems didn't work. There are planes taking off, landing, going hundreds of miles per hour. They're all in sequence. They need to know where not to fly. They need to know not to go in a certain direction to not have a conflict with another aircraft and crash into it.
--:-- Andrew Tangle: And when the basic tools that air traffic controllers use don't work, it's very scary for them, but it raises obvious safety issues for the traveling public.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ultimately, there were no crashes. Thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled since, and dozens more were diverted to other airports. Tangle says the whole experience was traumatizing for the controllers. Their union has said that many have since taken trauma leave.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As for the cause, the Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has blamed, quote, antiquated technology. He says he'll propose a plan to modernize the air traffic system later this week that will cost tens of billions of dollars.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What happened at Newark along with other recent aviation disasters like the fatal collision near Reagan National Airport in January have put longstanding problems in the industry into sharp focus. Air traffic control alone has been facing issues for years due to inadequate funding, dated systems, and staffing shortages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The report from the Government Accountability Office last year found that close to three-quarters of air traffic systems were obsolete or potentially too hard to fix or maintain. The FAA says it's understaffed by about 3,000 fully certified controllers nationwide. So that results in controllers needing to work six-day weeks, 10-hour days.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are reports of fatigue, stress, and so forth. I mean, controllers are known to like overtime, but some say that after a while, they'd rather have a better life-work balance.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Duffy has rolled out new incentives aimed at increasing the number of certified controllers. In February, he announced a 30 percent pay increase for students at the Air Traffic Academy. More recently, he announced the FAA will give $5,000 to all graduates of that academy. And he announced annual bonuses for air traffic controllers who are eligible for retirement but choose to stay on the job.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So far, controllers have been exempt from federal workforce cuts. As for what's going on at Newark Airport, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has now called for an investigation, and it remains unclear how long it'll take for flights to resume their regular schedules.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now let's turn to some major military developments in Southeast Asia. As the world is watching nervously after India sent a series of strikes into Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Pakistan responded, according to an army spokesman, by shooting down Indian jet fighters. The strikes follow a recent militant attack in a part of Indian-administered Kashmir in April, which killed 26 people, primarily Indian tourists.
--:-- Shamita Basu: India has accused Pakistan of having links to last month's attack, which Pakistan has denied. A video shared by Reuters appeared to capture the moment bombs descended near the Pakistani-administered city of Muzaffrabad.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to Pakistani officials, multiple civilians, including children, have died. We are now in the midst of a standoff between two nuclear powers engaged in some of the most dangerous fighting in years.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But so far, there's a lot of disagreement between them on what's taken place. Pakistan described India's attack as an act of war and said it will not go unpunished.
--:-- Shamita Basu: An armed forces spokesperson claimed they had specifically targeted places of worship in a BBC interview. But India says it struck sites of, quote, terrorist infrastructure and insisted its actions were, quote, measured, responsible and designed to be non-escalatory.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, President Trump was asked about the strikes shortly after they happened.
--:-- President Trump: It's a shame we just heard about it just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval. Just heard about it. I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They've been fighting for a long time. You know, they've been fighting for many many decades and centuries actually if you really think about it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: No, I just hope it ends very quickly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post reports over the last week the United States has been urging de-escalation between the two countries. A spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general expressed concern, saying, quote, the world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is not the first time the two countries have come dangerously close to escalation over Kashmir, a divided area that both make a claim to. There have been attacks as recently as 2016 and 2019, but they targeted security forces based in the region.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Pakistan has consistently denied any involvement and in recent years at least, tensions have been brought under control before escalating to all-out war.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For more on this quickly moving story, you can find the latest in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Conclave, the process to select a new pope, begins today. It's a centuries-old Catholic tradition where cardinal electors from around the world come to the Vatican, take an oath of secrecy, lock the doors of the Sistine Chapel and stay there until they select a new pontiff.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In fact, the word conclave, which comes from the Latin with key, literally refers to being locked in. Bill Chappell, a correspondent for NPR, told us about the voting process.
--:-- Bill Chappell: The ballots themselves will be secret. It's recommended for cardinals to use a handwriting style that's not necessarily highly identifiable to their own. And the commitment to secrecy extends beyond the cardinals. Workers at the chapel are instructed to sweep the room for bugs to make sure nothing gets recorded and leaked to the press.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Selecting a new pope will require a two-thirds majority vote from the 135 eligible electors, all of whom are men. If there's no clear winner from that with the two-thirds majority, those ballots will be added to a pile that will then be burned to signal to people outside of the Sistine Chapel with black smoke that there's no new pope and the process will still have to continue.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The process can go on for days. When a pope is eventually selected, white smoke is the signal and the largest bell at St. Peter's Basilica will ring. The new pontiff is then asked two questions. The first is, do you accept your election as pope? And the second is, what will you be known as? Like, what will your name be?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Then the cardinal deacon of the church emerges from the central balcony of St. Peter's to announce Habemus Papam, which is Latin for we have a pope.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This conclave is unique in its makeup. While most of the electors hail from Europe, Chappell reports this actually will be the least European conclave ever.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At least 70 countries will be represented and 17 percent of the electors are from Asia. Francis famously was the first pope from South America. He installed cardinals in countries where there had been no cardinal before, you know, places like Mongolia, Rwanda, Haiti, and Laos.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His goal, I think, was to make the church reflect more of its global population. There are more than a billion Catholics around the world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are a number of lists floating around naming cardinals who might possibly be the next pope. But observers point out Pope Francis was an obscure pick. It's better to wait and see the outcome.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to implement its ban on transgender people serving in the military.
--:-- Shamita Basu: While legal challenges will continue to play out, in practice, yesterday's decision from the court allows the armed forces to discharge current transgender members and to reject prospective recruits.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The ban had previously been blocked by lower courts. An estimated 4,200 service members are transgender, representing about 0.2 percent of the military.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Canada's newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney met with President Trump yesterday for the first time since his victory.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump, who has leveled heavy tariffs against Canada and even threatened to make it the 51st U.S. state, was much more cordial in this conversation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As he said, he just wanted to be Canada's friend and praised Carney for his victory. However, Carney did assert again to Trump that his country would never become part of the U.S.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. That's true. We're sitting in one right now, you know, Buckingham Palace, you visited as well. That's true. And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale, won't be for sale ever.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, one more update on Real ID, which we talked about on yesterday's show.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that travelers who have not already gotten their ID will still be able to fly for now with additional security checks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She also said that over 80 percent of travelers have identification that is compliant with the new federal requirements.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The TSA said that if you travel today and don't have a Real ID, just be prepared to show up a bit earlier to the airport.
--:-- 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. Elle examines a group of women, often referred to as trad wives or traditional wives, that are privately meeting to discuss how trapped some of them feel by the traditional gender roles in their marriage and how they're ready to break out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
