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--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, August 11th.
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--:-- Tracy Mumford: Well, you're looking at territory that's been fought over for three and a half years with a lot of Russians have died, a lot of Ukrainians have died. So we're looking at that.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This week, President Trump will host Russian President Vladimir Putin for Putin's first visit to the U.S. in almost a decade. The two will meet in Alaska on Friday for a one-on-one.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Trump has repeatedly presented himself as the best person to negotiate with Putin to end the war in Ukraine. We're going to get some switched. There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Ahead of the meeting, Trump suggested that Ukraine might need to give up some of its land as part of a peace deal, An idea that's been a red line for Ukraine.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Almost immediately, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky flatly rejected that proposal, saying, quote, Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The talks this week have also alarmed Ukraine and many of its European allies because Ukraine hasn't been invited.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: On Sunday, leaders from seven countries, including France and Germany, released a statement saying that any peace process must start with Ukraine at the table.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In response to the uproar, Vice President J.D. Vance said the administration is looking to arrange a Trump-Putin-Zelensky meeting, but it's not clear if or when that might happen.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Times has learned that the Trump administration has struck a highly unusual deal with two tech giants that make the chips that power artificial intelligence.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The administration previously banned the companies, NVIDIA and AMD, from selling those chips to China, citing national security concerns.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The U.S. has a lead in the AI race, and the government said it wanted to keep it that way.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But now the companies have gotten the green light in exchange for a 15% cut of their Chinese sales.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That essentially makes the federal government their business partner.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There's almost no precedent for this kind of arrangement but it shows how President Trump has increasingly inserted himself into American companies' international business dealings.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Just like how he said he'd personally find a buyer to take over TikTok's U.S. operations.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The chips deal could funnel more than $2 billion to the U.S. government, though it's caused an outcry among national security experts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They're concerned that giving China access to more powerful chips, which perform better than the ones Chinese companies currently make, could give China the edge in a technology that's already reshaping military and economic power.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Atlanta, researchers and staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are on edge after a gunman opened fire on CDC headquarters on Friday.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: According to police, a man they described as, quote, very disturbed, who'd apparently become obsessed with anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, killed a police officer on the scene, and left the glass facade of the buildings covered in bullet holes.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He was later found dead nearby.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I've spoken or texted with about 25 scientists, including about a dozen, who were there when the shooting happened.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Really, all of them are terrified.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And they all feel a sense of betrayal.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: My colleague Apoorva Mondavilli covers science and public health for The Times.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Many of the people I talk to feel like this is the culmination of years of hate sent their way.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They feel like here they are, dedicating their lives to making people's health better.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But they've been demonized.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They've been called greedy and corrupt and blamed for everything that went wrong during COVID.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Some of them had experienced abuse even before Friday's shooting.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And it's not always in places where they were prepared for it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Someone threatened to kill one CDC scientist I know when she was at open mic night where she occasionally sings.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Apoorva says that many of the scientists she talked to were particularly upset because they feel like some of the hostile rhetoric directed at them has come from the person now overseeing the CDC.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Before taking on the role Kennedy framed the agency work as corrupt and fascist and railed against COVID vaccines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Kennedy didn't respond to the shooting until late Saturday morning after posting photos of himself fishing.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He wrote in a department-wide email, quote, this is a reminder of the very human challenges public servants sometimes face, even in places dedicated to healing and progress.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Gaza last night.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This is Al Jazeera breaking news just coming out.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Sad breaking news out of Gaza where Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has just been killed.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Israeli military killed four journalists working for Al Jazeera, according to the news organization.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The journalists were staying in a tent near a hospital, and the director of that hospital told The Times they'd been hit by a drone strike that also killed a number of other people.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Among the dead is Anas al-Sharif, a well-known Al Jazeera correspondent.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted Al-Sharif, claiming he was a terrorist posing as a journalist.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Last year, the Israeli military shared what it said were documents it had seized showing he was a member of Hamas.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Both Al-Sharif and Al Jazeera denied the accusation, saying it was fabricated.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Just a few weeks ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was deeply worried about Al-Sharif's safety, claiming the Israeli military had stepped up a, quote, smear campaign against him after he broadcast an emotional report about starvation in Gaza.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Al Jazeera said the attack was an attempt to silence journalists ahead of ramped-up military operations in the territory that the Israeli government recently announced.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Since the war began, Israel has almost completely prevented foreign journalists, including from The Times, from entering Gaza.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So most of the reporting has come from Palestinians working on the ground.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Last week, there was a heist near Los Angeles.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Security footage shows thieves ransacking a gift shop, grabbing boxes and packages.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They managed to carry off thousands and thousands of dollars worth of labubus.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: If you know what a labubu is, you're thinking, yeah, of course, this happened.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The world of labubus is cutthroat.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: If you don't know what a labubu is or why you would steal one, welcome.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This better be the gold labubu, otherwise I'm crashing out like you guys don't understand.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Depending on how old you are, you can think of a labubu as the new Cabbage Patch doll or troll doll, Beanie Baby, Furby.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Oh my God! Oh my God!
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Basically, they're this kind of cute, kind of evil-looking little fuzzy collectible that has become the must-have accessory after a K-pop star was seen with one last year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Get out.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Even cuter than it looks online.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: People clip them to their backpacks or belt loops.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm actually way late talking about this because Rihanna clipped one to her Louis Vuitton bag back in February.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Each Libubu costs roughly $20 to $30, but the limited edition ones can be worth $500 or more.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And since a lot of them come in a blind box, you have no idea what you're getting.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So that has driven people to snatch up as many as they can, legally or otherwise.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Chinese company behind Libubu's, Popmart, had $400 million in Libubu revenue last year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This year is poised to be even bigger.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A few months ago, some stores in the U.K. had to briefly stop selling them because the crowds were getting out of control and fights were breaking out.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For anyone out there unable to get their hands on a LeBubu, just remember there is an entire market for knockoffs.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are called LeFoufous.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Before you go, I do want to make sure that you've seen that the New York Times app now has a whole new way for you to listen to all of your favorite Times shows, including the headlines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: If you don't have it already, download the New York Times app from the App Store, open it up, and ta-da, it's got all of our coverage.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Plus, now you can tap the Listen tab at the bottom.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There you will see highlight clips from all the Times shows, lots of options, must-listen interviews, all kinds of things.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One place, a ton to listen to, in the New York Times app.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: You can listen to The Daily right there, right now.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today's episode, Andrew Ross Sorkin explains what CEOs are saying privately about President Trump's tariffs.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
