--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, August 4th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: CPAC is happening in Texas today. The conservative conference will have the usual mix of right-wing media and political speakers. Donald Trump, Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz. But there's also Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some American conservatives are really, really into him. Steve Bannon once called him Trump before Trump. Orban is currently under fire for a recent anti-immigrant speech that many compared to Nazi rhetoric. His longtime advisor, a Jewish woman, resigned. But he's still invited to CPAC.
--:-- Shamita Basu: All of the Orban love in America worries some people who've seen how he gradually transformed Hungary's courts and elections. He's changed laws to consolidate power. The New Yorker calls it bureaucratic gaslighting and asks if Hungary offers a glimpse of how America might gradually turn authoritarian.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Reporter Andrew Marantz traveled to Hungary to do some reporting on why Orban's leadership style appeals to a certain conservative type in America. He told NPR's Fresh Air, Orban is more cunning in some ways than a typical authoritarian leader.
--:-- Andrew Marantz: It's not like looking at Putin's Russia or, you know, even looking at Saudi Arabia or China. And, you know, you can just sort of glance at it and say, yes, this is this is not a democracy. The way he's done it is more subtle.
--:-- Andrew Marantz: And that gives him a certain amount of maneuvering room and plausible deniability such that people who want to be apologists for his regime can just deny to your face that there's anything undemocratic about it. They can say, well, what do you mean? He has elections. He's popular. He has a democratic mandate.
--:-- Andrew Marantz: And you just don't like the results of it. And I think you have to ignore a lot to get to that conclusion. But it's at least on its face somewhat plausible.
--:-- Andrew Marantz: Marantz says Orban is an example of how political process can be more powerful than personality. Yes Viktor Orban is a very gifted politician but he not a flashy reality star in the same way And so it much easier to look at someone like him and say OK what are the structures propping him up
--:-- Andrew Marantz: And what it really is is the ability to chip away at and hollow out institutions to perpetuate your own power And yes you know Donald Trump has his own way of doing things, but the party that has enabled him and has in many ways outpaced him now is really, to me, the more worrisome thing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Orban speaks this afternoon. Trump will deliver CPAC's closing remarks on Saturday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A Russian court says WNBA star Brittany Greiner is guilty of smuggling illegal drugs. She's been in custody since February. She had vape cartridges containing hashish oil. and she told the court she made an honest mistake.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She now faces nine years in prison if there's no deal for her release. It's been reported that the Biden administration discussed a prisoner exchange with Russia that would bring Greiner and former Marine Paul Whelan home.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Greiner's arrest and trial receive global attention, the family of a third jailed American is asking, what about our loved one? Mark Fogel is an American teacher who's been in a rush in jail for a year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Francia told us how Fogel's family feels like he's been forgotten. Why hasn't Mark Fogel gotten more attention? And that is that he is not famous.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He is one of the many, many Americans who go abroad, work abroad, live abroad, fall in love with these places as he did in Moscow, but don't become well-known figures. He's not a professional basketball player like Brittany Greiner, who is well-known and is going to generate headlines.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And for Mark Fogel and his family, that's a hard thing to swallow. In 2012, Fogel and his wife landed teaching jobs in Moscow. Their salaries were great. They loved living in Europe. In 2021, they agreed, one more year, then we'll retire in America.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Soon after that, Vogel was arrested by Russian authorities for attempting to enter the country with medical marijuana that had been prescribed in the U.S. for chronic pain. He's now serving a 14-year sentence.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His family never thought he would get so much time They thought well he might have to pay a big fine or that he might be deported or even have to serve a short prison sentence But 14 years, we're talking about a sentence that for a man who has just turned 61 a few days ago and isn't in the best of physical health, could be equivalent to almost, as his family worries and frets, a death sentence.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His wife told Roy Gfranzia that the family is frustrated by the lack of clear answers from the U.S. government. This whole process is incredibly opaque for the Fogel family, which has traveled down to Washington several times and had meetings with well-meaning, polite bureaucrats who have told them essentially nothing, and opaque to the media.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The State Department declined to speak with us about this case. And at this point, we really don't know. Vogel's wife says U.S. officials told her to avoid making public comments because that could make things worse.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But now she's speaking out for the first time. She's hoping it'll create pressure on the Biden administration to cut a deal to bring him home, even if he's not as famous as Brittany Griner.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many Americans who left the workforce during the pandemic have not returned. Companies and politicians are trying to figure out how to get people to come back and fill open jobs. Now, a new analysis points to a potential issue.
--:-- Shamita Basu: An estimated 4 million people are out of work because of long COVID. Brookings Institution researcher Katie Bach told NPR how massive her finding is.
--:-- Katie Bach: That is just a shocking number. That's 2.4 percent of the U.S. working population. Bach says when you add it all up, around $230 billion a year in earnings are being lost because of long COVID.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This condition is debilitating. Symptoms like brain fog and extreme fatigue can make it hard or even impossible to work.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR spoke to Karen Bischoff, who was training to be a firefighter, and she said she was doing well until long COVID hit. I couldn run into a burning building if I can regulate my temperature Like if I can control having hypertension I can lift up a patient or I going to pass out
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Biden administration says long COVID can be considered a disability. And the Americans with Disabilities Act requires workplaces to offer accommodations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But long COVID is complicated in a lot of ways. It's a new condition that we're still learning about, and symptoms vary a lot from person to person.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That leaves people like Bischoff, the would-be firefighter, stuck. She now works with other long COVID patients to help them figure out the maze of disability benefits.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But she says she'd rather be on the job. At 45 years old, she wanted to work at least two more decades. It's the worst thing, being at an airport and learning that your flight's been canceled.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You replay in your mind your whole journey getting to the airport. You question whether you really need to take this trip. You join the zombie line of passengers waiting for a desk agent just so someone can tell you, sorry for the inconvenience, but there's nothing we can do.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, the Transportation Department is proposing some official rule changes that would at least make it easier to get refunds for canceled or delayed flights.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The LA Times Travel Reporter explains that right now, the rules say airlines have to pay up if there are, quote, significant changes to flight schedules.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But there's no definition for significant changes. And that means that policies vary across airlines. If approved, this new rule would standardize things.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Significant would mean changes to the departure or arrival time of three hours or more for domestic flights, six hours or more for international flights. It would also make vouchers valid indefinitely if there were pandemic reasons for the flight problems.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, none of this will make sleeping on a bench or floor more comfortable, but you might find it easier to get paid for your pain when you finally do get home.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
