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- [00:05]
A
Good morning. It's Friday, December 5th. I'm Shemit Sebastu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, with the World cup, draw upon us how FIFA's president got so cozy with Trump. The ripple effects of cuts to science research and medical trials, and the crisis facing the Eurovision Song Contest.
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But first to the military briefing that split Congress yesterday. Lawmakers got their first look at video showing a series of U. S Strikes on an alleged drug boat back in September. In the video you see two survivors attempting to flip their capsized vessel back over when they were attacked again. 11 people in total were killed that day. But even as Congress members watched the same footage, it seems they drew very different conclusions.
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What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service.
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That's House Democrat Jim Himes.
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B
You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion with a destroyed vessel who are killed by the United States.
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But here's Republican Senator Tom Cotton.
- [01:20]
B
I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs down for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight.
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Admiral Frank M. Bradley, the commander in charge of the operation in question, answered lawmakers questions in a closed door session. Himes and Cotton did agree on one thing, that contrary to the Washington Post's initial report, Bradley said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not instruct him to kill everybody on board.
- [01:49]
B
Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, not to give no quarter or to kill them all. He was given an order that of course was written down in great detail as our military always does.
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The strikes remain under congressional investigation, as critics say an act of war may have been committed. The Pentagon's own manual says, quote, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal. Reuters reports that Congress is probing how the follow up strike was conducted, the rationale and what information Admiral Bradley might have given. Hegseth Cotton is a foreign policy hawk, so it might not be surprising that he characterized the strikes as righteous. But President Trump has long preached to his base that he does not believe America should be getting militarily involved abroad. No new wars was a central slogan in his campaign. So the last few months, which have seen at least 80 people killed in boat strikes carried out by the US military have been a surprising pivot for Trump. The administration says the strikes are part of operations targeting narco terrorists and that the US Is in conflict with drug traffickers. And Trump has hinted his willingness to engage in a more extensive campaign.
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What we've seen is such a shift since January where now there's this conversation about is the US Going to imminently conduct a land strike against Venezuela.
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Megan Mesurly covers the White House for Politico. She spoke to us about the growing ease with which Trump appears to be morphing into an interventionist, at least in this region.
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There's 14, 15,000 troops stationed in the area, more than a dozen warships. I mean, this is the kind of reality that would have been unthinkable for a lot of supporters of the president's back in January.
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Trump has not said he's pursuing regime change, but last week he spoke with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over the phone and reportedly told him to leave Venezuela or face consequences.
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A lot of folks around the president who I've been talking to who would consider themselves in sort of this staunch anti interventionist camp were of the mind that they were getting a president who, you know, yes, would involve himself in foreign affairs but would not be taking military action against other countries.
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Meserly quoted some supporters who justified the attack on America first grounds, like one former intelligence advisor who said the objectives were core to domestic interests. Still, some remain nervous about slipping into the territory of Trump's predecessor, George W. Bush.
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I've talked to folks who basically said, okay, you can oust Maduro, but what's the Day Two plan? What's the Hundred Day plan? And those folks have significant concerns that in the wake of a Maduro ouster, you would have this power vacuum that could lead to very significant fighting, could even lead to a civil war in Venezuela, and then the US Would be on the hook basically for trying to help figure things out there because it was the one that sort of set.
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The events off, messerly told us. Some of the staunch anti interventionists she spoke to for her reporting told her the debate within MAGA has shifted from a philosophical one about whether America first should support intervention at all to a technical one about what counts as intervention and how much force is needed.
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It's the World cup draw later today. The U.S. can already breathe a sigh of relief. The way the pots have been drawn means it won't face the superpower nations like Spain, Argentina, England or France, though it could still face one of the world's greatest players, Norway's Erling Haaland. The draw is happening at the Kennedy center in Washington, D.C. president Trump will be there, along with leaders of the co host nations, Mexico and Canada. Now the event itself is mainly just reading out names of countries, so there'll be plenty of star studded athletes there to add some glitz and glamour. Expect appearances from the likes of Tom Brady, Shaquille o' Neal and Wayne Gretzky. This year's event has shone a light on the burgeoning friendship between Trump and FIFA President Johnny Infantino. Adam Crafton, a senior writer with the Athletic, told us about it.
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They became close during his first presidency when FIFA awarded the United States, Canada and Mexico the bid, and Infantino was one of those figures that actually remained pretty loyal to Trump. Even in some of his most challenging times, such as the Senate impeachment hearings, Infantino was still introducing him at events at Davos, calling him a fighter and really kind of praising him, crafton told us.
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Infantino has now made more Oval Office visits than any world leader and he can often be spotted in the background of major geopolitical events. He had a prime seat at the inauguration and he was spotted at the Gaza Peace Summit. Today's setting, the Kennedy center, is a sign of Trump's sway. Trump is now the self appointed chair of the Kennedy center and he reportedly encouraged Infantino to consider it over venues in Las Vegas, Crafton told us. The financial arrangement between FIFA and the center is unusual. FIFA has occupied space there for the past three weeks as it prepares, but it's not being charged a traditional rental fee. Instead, it's paying over $7 million via donations and sponsorship deals. Democrats have questioned the payment structure and more broadly criticized Trump's use of the center to the benefit of his allies and the cost of apolitical artistic events.
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You know, that $7 million going to an institution that is now being chaired by the president and his allies, which again is a, you know, a conscious decision that FIFA have made this year.
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Won'T just reveal the fixtures. FIFA will also unveil the winner of their first ever Peace prize, an award announced shortly after Trump missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize. Now many assume that it's destined for Trump. When asked earlier this month, Infantino was coy about it.
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D
Well, on the 5th of December, you will see.
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We'll find out.
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Okay, I have a great relationship. I'm really lucky. I have a great relationship with President Trump, who I consider really a close friend.
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Should Trump win the award, it'll put the president center stage on a day that usually sticks to sport.
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He'll then be able to give an acceptance speech as well, so invited to address what will be a pretty big global audience. And FIFA, you know, traditionally is a non political organization also slated to Take the stage tomorrow.
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The Village People are set to perform YMCA the hallmark of Trump campaign event rallies.
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What happened when the Trump administration pulled billions of dollars out of research budgets for work on disease prevention? The Washington Post has been reporting on the ripple effects for clinical trials and scientific research.
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Starting in sort of around late February this year, we started to see a lot of funding being cut from health research in many cases related to HIV or cancer, other infectious diseases.
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Allison Chu covers chronic diseases for the Post. She wrote about this recently published analysis on the impact of the funding cuts. When Trump first took office, the administration had told scientists that it would be ending certain work considered discriminatory against people based on race, sex, religion or other attributes. That change in policy resulted in cuts that disproportionately impacted trials that focused on diseases like COVID 19 and HIV and led to more than 100 canceled grants on cancer research. Almost one in 30 clinical trials experienced disruption from the cuts, affecting tens of thousands of trial participants. Chu told us about two scientists whose work was defunded.
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They were both working on clinical trials related to HIV care. One of the trials was a study focused on black and Hispanic men and their use of the preventive medication for HIV known as PrEP, and the other was a study on mental health in the LGBTQ community.
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These researchers were among those who had their funding reinstated later after a judge ruling. But even pauses are quite disruptive in this kind of work. Chu reports that when the PREP study wasn't receiving funding, a clinic in Mississippi had to close. One expert with whom Chu spoke emphasized that these trials are often just the beginning of a long process.
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Typically, the way that these trials work is whatever therapy is being tested, whether it's a medication or some other type of intervention, it has to be administered consistently over a period of time. And so you know, when you, when there's pauses, people aren't receiving the medication or the intervention. During these pauses, you could lose trial.
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Participants, which can ultimately make it more difficult to develop vaccines, antivirals and treatments over years to come. The Department of Health and Human Services called the analysis selective and said that the National Institutes of Health funds and oversees more than 42,500 clinical trials across every major disease area. Congress appears to be pushing back on the research cuts proposed for the future. Back in June, the NIH director, Jay Bhattacharya told Democratic Senator Dick Durbin he was hopeful there would be a negotiated resolution over research pauses in what became a testy exchange.
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I'm very hopeful that these universities where these pauses have happened will come to terms so that we can move forward with the agenda that I think you and I both share.
- [11:54]
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We absolutely.
- [11:54]
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Well, let me say this. I am personally disappointed. You know, you try as a senator to pick one or two areas and really make a difference. And I think this committee and the members of this committee on both sides made a difference. Dramatic difference. 60% increase in NIH research over the last 10 years. You've wiped it out.
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Committees in both the Senate and the House have now rejected Trump's cuts to the NIH in their budget proposals.
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Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for Texas to use its gerrymandered congressional maps in the 2026 midterm elections. The maps, which were changed mid decade at President Trump's request, could net Republicans an additional five seats in the U.S. house. A previous ruling from a lower court had claimed the map was likely unconstitutional by discriminating against voters based on race. There were questions in Texas over whether the high court would rule in time before the deadline to file to run in elections in the state on December 8th.
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The Eurovision song Contest is facing a revolt from its own competitors. Spain, Slovenia, Ireland and the Netherlands will all boycott the tournament this coming year after it approved Israel's participation. The contest is known for its camp, often wacky tracks from around Europe, but the boycotting countries wanted Israel to be disallowed because its war in Gaza. The 160 million strong audience will now be without entries that provided some iconic songs and who have a winning track record, like this 1975 Dutch entry.
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That's Ding a Dong by the band Teach in, which will live in your head for the rest of the day. You're welcome. The contest's 70th edition will take place in May.
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And finally, every year the team at Apple Podcasts awards a Show of the Year to recognize quality and innovation in podcasting. And this year that award goes to the Rest Is History, the top history podcast in the world with more than 15 million monthly downloads. It's hosted by historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland, and I recently sat down with the two of them to talk about their favorite chapters of American history. One moment they highlighted was the first meeting of the Aztecs and the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s, which Tom argued is the closest to science fiction world history has ever come.
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So ways of being human that have been separated for thousands of years and the new world lacks all kinds of things that the old world has in terms of livestock and crops and technology. And so what you are seeing there is is two previously hermetically sealed ways of being human, clashing with one another with the consequences that we know.
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If you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around for the full episode of Apple News in conversation with the hosts of the Rest Is History that's queued up to play next. If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News in Conversation to find that episode, or come back to the Apple News Today feed tomorrow. All new episodes of In Conversation are available there on Saturday days, too. Enjoy your weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.