--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, September 10th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Here's what we're covering. At noon today, I convened the heads of Israel's security organizations and authorized a surgical precision strike on the terrorist chiefs of Hamas.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In a sharp escalation of its war in the Middle East, Israel launched an airstrike yesterday in Qatar, the country that's played a key role in trying to mediate an end to the conflict.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The strike hit a building in the capital city of Doha, where a number of Hamas politicians lived. Hamas said it happened while they were meeting to discuss a ceasefire proposal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Several members of the group were killed, though none were senior Hamas officials. The attack came as somewhat of a shock, as Qatar was considered to be neutral ground.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Hamas officials have worked out of the country for years. The Qatari prime minister condemned the strike, calling it barbaric.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But Israel defended the operation, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he was following through on his promise to eliminate Hamas completely.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: His office also said the strike was spurred in part by a Hamas attack at a bus station near Jerusalem earlier this week that killed at least six people.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, I was very unhappy about it. Very unhappy about every aspect, and we've got to get the hostages back.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But I was very unhappy about the way that went down. Israel seems to have left its strongest ally, President Trump, in the dark about its plans.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That put Trump in a fraught position. Not only is Qatar a close U.S. partner in the Middle East, but the U.S. has also been actively trying to mediate the ceasefire talks happening there between Israel and Hamas.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's the second time in recent months that Israel has apparently taken the U.S. by surprise. When it launched its 12-day war with Iran back in June, it gave the White House only minimal notice.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Now, a few other updates on the Trump administration. Last night, a federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump's efforts to oust Lisa Cook, one of the governors of the Federal Reserve.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Lawyers for Cook have argued that Trump moved to fire her for political reasons, as he's pressured the Fed to lower interest rates.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Trump has claimed that she falsified documents related to her mortgages and needs to go.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The judge rejected that argument saying in part that because the alleged fraud happened before Cook was appointed to the Fed and didn't involve her professional conduct, she's able to stay in her role for now while she continues to fight her dismissal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Also, the Times has learned that the administration has been quietly dismantling efforts at the IRS to crack down on some of the methods that the wealthiest Americans and biggest companies use to pay less in taxes.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Under the Biden administration, the IRS had begun an effort to root out and push for more transparency around some specific tax shelters.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The effort was projected to bring in more than $100 billion for the federal government. But the Trump administration has been rolling that back under pressure from Republican lawmakers, industry groups, and right-wing activists.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In response to questions from The Times, a Treasury official said the department was reversing Biden-era guidance because it would have imposed enormous burdens on many, quote, honest taxpayers.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And on Tuesday, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rolled out a new report from his Make America Healthy Again Commission to tackle what he has framed as a health crisis among American children.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In it, Kennedy doubled down on some of his most controversial views, like questioning fluoride in water and the safety of vaccines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But he also took on some topics that have gotten broader support, including warning about the dangers of pesticides and ultra-processed foods.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: My colleague Alice Callahan covers nutrition and health for The Times. Yesterday, I called up food policy experts and asked what they thought of the report.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They said there are some good ideas here, like greater oversight of food additives, healthier foods in schools and hospitals, more nutrition research.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But they said the report really lacked regulatory muscle. One expert called the report all promises and no teeth.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And they said they'll be watching to see if the administration actually funds and implements many of the ideas in the report and ultimately if they take bigger steps to regulate food companies.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, the White House did take action yesterday on one of the Maha report's recommendations.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: President Trump directed the administration to sharply crack down on TV ads for prescription drugs.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Right now, the U.S. is nearly the only wealthy country in the world where commercial breaks are flooded with them.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That started happening in the 90s after the FDA relaxed rules that required drug makers to list out a huge amount of information about possible side effects.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The change made it easy for drug makers to start running quick ads because they could cut down any warnings to just that lightning fast this product may cause dizziness, nausea, constipation, bloating, sudden death, etc.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Now Trump wants to put those restrictions back in place, though any policy change is expected to face an aggressive First Amendment challenge from the drug industry, which spends billions of dollars each year advertising its products.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So over the last few days, this eruption of public anger, the protests that spread like wildfire across Kathmandu, was the fastest and fiercest civilian uprising that I've seen anywhere in recent years.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's astonishing how big it got and how fierce. My colleague Alex Trevely is covering the protests and the violent crackdown in Nepal, which have plunged the country into chaos.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The uproar, called the Gen Z protests, began after the government tried to block social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those apps had become a key platform for people to voice their anger about inequality in Nepal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The hashtags Nepo Babies and Nepo Kids had become flashpoints there as people shared photos claiming to show the luxury lifestyles of the children of Nepal's political elite.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: During the first day of the protests, when police or security forces opened fire into a crowd taking the lives of, we think, at least 19 of the protesters, it became clear that this wasn't going to stop simply when the government reversed its ban.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Indeed, the next day, things escalated. By then, there were probably hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets, setting fire to the parliament, the Supreme Court.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The sitting prime minister resigned and flew off in a helicopter. Other former prime ministers were rounded up and beaten, some of them on camera.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And by the end of yesterday, pretty much the whole Capitol was in flames.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And it was only about 10 p.m. last night that the army stepped in.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And on Wednesday now, we're expecting some kind of high-level meetings between the activist leaders and the army.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The sort of issues they're talking about have nothing to do with social media. It's about corruption, lack of opportunities for young people in the country.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And the protesters, best I've been able to understand, are calling for a whole new government.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: What we just seen is quite a lot like these other youth protest movements that have toppled governments in South Asia in recent years.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It was three years ago that Sri Lanka's entrenched ruling family fled the country in a jet after a mostly youth movement.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And just last year, the same thing happened in Bangladesh.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: These sort of medium-sized countries of South Asia, they are quite unlike one another in a lot of ways.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But one thing they all have in common is enormous youth populations.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: People who are extremely frustrated with the status quo, in particular, it seems to offer them no opportunities.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So there are a lot of disempowered feeling teenagers and 20-something-year-olds who, in a way, have everything at stake and also feel they have nothing to lose.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It creates a very powerful combination politically.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally, I flew 14 hours all the way to Japan just to try 7-Eleven.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Japan, 7-Eleven convenience stores have a diehard, loyal foodie following.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They have everything, like milk teas, fish cakes, pastas, even a clam pasta.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This is what I dream about. There is nothing like the 7-Eleven egg salad sanzo in Tokyo.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It might come as something of a surprise when you think about American 7-Elevens and what they offer.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Sometimes you need a 9 a.m. chili cheese dog just to shock your body back into routine.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Japanese convenience stores are actually known for high-quality fresh food.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And now 7-Eleven's parent company is betting billions of dollars that it can expand its business in the U.S. using that same model, turning the stores into food meccas.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: 7-Eleven is the biggest convenience store chain in the U.S., but its parent company has had a rough go recently in terms of stiff competition and a falling stock price.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's hoping to revitalize and grow its U.S. market by adding 1,000 in-store restaurants and providing more of its own branded, prepared food.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One speed bump to the whole plan could be location.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Japan, many of the stores get deliveries of fresh food multiple times a day.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In the U.S., 7-Eleven's scattered locations at sometimes far-flung gas stations could make that a bit harder.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today on The Daily, a look at how Jeffrey Epstein leveraged his relationships with the rich and powerful to fund a years-long criminal operation.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
