--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Monday, January 15th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I'm Gideon Resnick, in for Shamit Abassu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On today's show, a frigid start to the U.S. presidential campaign, the critical elections in other countries this year, and the fate of the hostages more than 100 days since Hamas attacked Israel.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Today marks the official beginning of the 2024 presidential campaign with the Iowa Republican caucuses. And the question, if polls are accurate, might be less about who the victor is and more about the margin.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The story of the race so far is just how dominant former President Trump has appeared to be. Another question for tonight is the impact of the brutally cold weather. At times, more than 110 million Americans have been under windchill warnings and advisories.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In Iowa, the National Weather Service warned of, quote, life-threatening wind chills, possibly feeling as cold as 45 below zero. So the bad weather could affect turnout.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The latest Des Moines Register poll had Trump in first place with a nearly 30-point lead. Amy Walter, the editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report, told PBS that she'll be watching to see if Trump can get more than half the Iowa vote.
--:-- Amy Walter: For the entire campaign, his rivals have made the case that there is a base of support for Donald Trump, but there's a bigger base of support for people who are willing to look beyond Donald Trump. With 50 percent of the vote, that would sort of close the door on that.
--:-- Amy Walter: If Trump can indeed put up those kinds of numbers, it would be the biggest caucus victory in history. Second to him in that Des Moines Register poll is Nikki Haley, with 20 percent of voters who say that she is their number one choice.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Ron DeSantis has 16%. Now, he bet heavily on a strong performance in Iowa visiting every county. Walter says this could be a make or break moment for his campaign.
--:-- Amy Walter: Ron DeSantis he has the most at stake certainly because he has the endorsements and he really banked his entire campaign on doing well in Iowa losing whether it by 10 or 20 or 30 points It's hard to turn that into a win.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: With the extreme weather, tonight will be about more than just which candidate has the most support in a poll. It's also a question of whose supporters feel bold enough to brave the frigid weather.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now let's take a step back and look at elections happening in 2024 around the world. More than 60 countries, representing 4 billion people, are holding elections. That is more than half of the world's population.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Politico's Eric Bazile-Emile wrote about what to watch here. A lot of consequential elections will be taking place that will show us how strong democratic institutions are, how good are social media companies at responding to new technological challenges like AI, social media regulations, content moderation, hate speech.
--:-- Eric Bazile-Emile: You know, it will affect just as well the ideological directions of countries that have deeply significant impacts in their regions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Taiwan voted over the weekend, electing Lai Xingda as president. He is a strong critic of China, where leaders have recently ramped up tensions with Taiwan.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: There is the menacing threat that China could attack Taiwan. President Xi's remarks in his New Year's speech made it seem that he wanted to at some point force the question of reunification between China and the self-governing island.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If Beijing and Taipei square off, that could impact the U.S. and Taiwan's other allies. President Biden has warned that the U.S. would defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Also this year, India will hold elections. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is expected to hold onto power there. The opposition accuses him of undermining democratic institutions, and they say his party condones violence against Muslims.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: India is one of the countries with the largest Muslim populations in the world, so there are deep concerns that a second Modi term or continuation of Modi government could see some real challenges there with preserving India multinational multi identity
--:-- Gideon Resnick: There also concerns about targeting journalists targeting religious leaders targeting, you know, dissent within the country.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: For more on those important elections coming up across the world this year, including Pakistan, Russia, and several European countries, you can check out the full story in Politico on the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Yesterday marked 100 days since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, killing approximately 1,200 people. More than 200 people were taken hostage. Over 100 have been released. Some died in captivity. And Israel says more than 130 people are still being held in Gaza.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Idai! Chen! Can you hear us? Family members of those hostages have been gathering near the Gaza border, calling out messages to loved ones over loudspeakers. We are here. We are standing so close to you.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In recent weeks, some hostages who have been released have been sharing their stories. Like Daniela Ohlone, who spoke with Channel 12 News in Israel.
--:-- Daniela Ohlone: I think there are still no words in Hebrew that can describe this horror, that new words need to be invented to describe what happened there that day. I was sure it was a lynching. They just kept giving me blows from behind, the head and the back.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Qatar and Egypt continued to play critical roles as diplomatic intermediaries between Israel and Hamas. There have been recent attempts to revive talks around releasing hostages in exchange for a prolonged ceasefire.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But Hamas has indicated it will not accept terms that fall short of Israeli troops leaving Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to free all of the hostages and to continue attacking Gaza until Hamas has been defeated.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But there are growing doubts about whether either of those goals can be achieved.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Our last story takes us back to Iowa and a caucus happening in a private home Maybe you've seen the historical images of this kind of thing. Folks gathering in a homey living room, maybe eating snacks, arguing about the Hawkeyes or Walter Mondale, or both.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: You might be thinking about a place like Sharon McNutt's house. The Wall Street Journal has the story and pictures of how the 77-year-old mayor of Silver City, population 245, is getting her home ready to host local caucus-goers tonight.
--:-- Sharon McNutt: To get ready for what could be about 50 guests, or I suppose a full 20% of town, I have to take down some Christmas decorations. I've got to haul out as many chairs as I can find, plus a piano bench so people have somewhere to sit. And I need to bake cookies, maybe chocolate chip and maple pecan.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: She said she's gearing up for what happened in 2016, the last time there was a competitive Republican race in Iowa. The room got pretty crowded then, and a newspaper even live streamed from her living room.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: McNutt didn't reveal who she is supporting, but she's relatively diplomatic in her house rules for others. Anyone attending can speak in favor of their candidate, but there are limits. Three minutes, she says, so that people aren't at risk of rambling on all night.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: After all, there will be some cookies to eat. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And if you're already listening in the news app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Time magazine. It's about Nikki Haley's campaign strategy, how she slowly built support over time to pass other candidates, and how she gained on Trump in the polls.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
