--:-- Yasmin Khan: Good morning. It's Friday, March 8th. I'm Yasmin Khan, in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Coming up, why it matters that Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest rival was in Washington this week, previewing the four criminal trials against Trump, and some storylines to watch this Oscars weekend. But first, last night was President Biden's State of the Union address.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: He talked about his goals for a second term in office, the domestic and foreign crises the country faces, and threats to democracy, including, he said, from his likely general election opponent. Throughout the speech, Biden only referred to former President Trump as his predecessor.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Biden also addressed a top concern from voters head on, his age. In my career, I've been told I was too young. By the way, they can let me on ascended elevators for votes sometimes. Not a joke. And I've been told I'm too old. Whether young or old, I've always been known. I've always known what endures.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The very idea of America is that we're all created equal. In a speech that ran over an hour, Biden was energetic, at times feisty. He emphatically defended his administration's actions, including taking credit for the economy's performance. My inherited economy is on the brink. Now our economy is literally the envy of the world.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: 15 million new jobs in just three years. A record. A record. Fact checkers at CNN say that is true. But the challenge for the president is that voters are still feeling the sting of high prices.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Biden also called out Republicans and Trump on abortion rights. At one point, he even directly addressed Supreme Court justices who were present, as the overturning of Roe v. Wade has been a major motivator for voters. Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot. We won in 2022 and 2020, and we'll win again in 2024. Biden said he would codify abortion rights nationwide if given the opportunity.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And there was a rare moment of bipartisanship. Biden comments about crossing the five mark since Hamas assault on Israel and the ongoing efforts to negotiate an immediate ceasefire to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza got wide applause.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Here in this chamber tonight are families whose loved ones are still being held by Hamas. I pledge to all the families that we will not rest until we bring every one of your loved ones home.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: We also... He also said that the conflict wouldn't end without a two-state solution. While the speech was perceived as kind of a proxy campaign speech, Martha Raddatz from ABC News said it felt like it was something bigger for Biden.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: It was a legacy speech. No matter what happens in November, Joe Biden laid down the hammer tonight about what he believes and what he feels about this country. So I think that Democrats will look at it as that as well.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And that's why Joe Biden probably really rose to this moment.
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--:-- Yasmin Khan: Let's turn again to the war between Israel and Hamas. Hamas says it's increasingly unlikely there will be a ceasefire deal before the start of Ramadan, which is two days away.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The start of the Muslim holy month has been seen by diplomats in Washington, Qatar, Egypt, and beyond as the unofficial deadline to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Last night, President Biden announced plans to increase the flow of aid into Gaza by opening a pier to bring in temporary shelters, food, water, and medicine.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: For the leadership of Israel, I say this. Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: These are among Biden's strongest comments yet on the humanitarian crisis, and potentially another sign of a splintering relationship between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: I mean, this is an incredibly complicated time. I mean, extremely complicated time.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: That's Dov Lieber, Wall Street Journal correspondent covering Israel and the Palestinian territories. We spoke with him before the State of the Union about the challenges for Israel's leadership.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Israel's still in a really sensitive place, and the entire situation is on a knife's edge. This week, Netanyahu's biggest political rival, Benny Gantz, visited the White House, where he met with Vice President Kamala Harris.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The visit of Benny Gantz to Washington is the first serious break we see between Netanyahu and Gantz since the start of the war. And the point of the trip, according to Gantz and people around him, was to try to improve the relationship between the United States and Israel at a time when it seems to be kind of flagging.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Netanyahu's response was you should not go and I the prime minister Gantz, who leads the center-right National Unity Party and is part of Israel's emergency war cabinet, met with the vice president a day after she called for an immediate ceasefire for at least six weeks.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: For some, this meeting was a clear sign of the White House's growing frustration with the hardline Israeli government. And what does this say about the American stance towards Israel now?
--:-- Yasmin Khan: For the Americans to be inviting Benny Gantz to the White House, which, by the way, Netanyahu, since being elected over a year ago, has never had an invitation to the White House.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The White House has made it clear they did not initiate the meeting. Gantz did. But still, it raises questions about whether it's increasingly losing faith in Netanyahu and his ability to not just manage the war, but what comes after the war.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Meanwhile, Gantz has been clear that he hopes to unseat Netanyahu, and most polls in Israel suggest that Gantz would win if elections were held today.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: At the end of this month, Donald Trump will face his first of four criminal trials. It's over so-called hush money payments he allegedly made ahead of the 2016 election.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: I think the allegations themselves are pretty straightforward, and there seems to be a lot of evidence for them. That's Scott Detrow, host of NPR's Trump Trials podcast.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Prosecutors say that when he was running for office, Trump disguised payments to two women, including adult film star Stormy Daniels, to hide allegations that he had an affair.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies the affairs. In addition to this case, he faces one in Georgia over allegations of trying to overturn the election and two at the federal level, 91 criminal charges in all.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: This is just a totally unprecedented moment in American history. It's also a lot to keep track of, which is why on this weekend's episode of Apple News and Conversation, guest host Brian Stelter offers a primer on all of them and the key details to pay attention to.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Along with Scott Detrow, The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty joins the podcast. I think that hearing these arguments go on among partisans, among politicians is one thing.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: But when you see a jury of your peers— Average Americans, yeah. The president's peers come down with a verdict. I think it is very, very different.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: What we have seen among Trump supporters is quite a capacity to rationalize pretty much anything And ultimately if it comes down to Trump versus Biden I think we will see a lot of Trump supporters rationalizing themselves into pretzels.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Stick around after today's show. If you're listening in the Apple News app, this episode of Apple News in Conversation is queued up to play next.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And finally, the Oscars are coming up on Sunday, and our team at Apple News has been pulling together some of the most interesting stories to watch.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Here are a few things you might want to follow, starting with two actors who could join an elite club. Just seven people in Academy Awards history have won three or more times for acting.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Legends like Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, and others, this weekend, Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro could join them.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Foster is nominated for her supporting role in NIAID, and De Niro for his in Killers of the Flower Moon.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Meanwhile, fans of this iconic movie monster will want to see if he can win his very first Oscar in the visual effects category. That is Godzilla from Godzilla Minus One, which exploded at the box office to become one of the top-grossing international films of all time.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: It would be a big deal if it were to win. It's up against several Hollywood-backed films with much larger budgets, like the latest installments of Mission Impossible and Guardians of the Galaxy.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Another contender to watch comes from the international features category. It's a movie called Io Capitano, about migrant teenagers making the dangerous journey from Africa to Italy, inspired by real-life events.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: What's notable about the film is that migrants were hired to consult on it. The actors who played the migrants didn't know if their characters would live or die during filming.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And the extras on set were survivors of the very same journey depicted on screen. Director Matteo Garone told CNN earlier this year, authenticity was a top priority.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: We wanted to be authentic for the respect of the people that made this journey, for the respect of the people that died on this journey.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: You can follow the latest from the Academy Awards on Sunday in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, this week's episode of Apple News and Conversation is coming up next.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And remember to set your clocks for daylight savings time this weekend. Have a great weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
