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- [00:05]
Shemitah Basu
Good morning. It's Thursday, June 5th. I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, Trump BANS Citizens of 12 countries from traveling to the U.S. the NBA Finals brings together two overlooked franchises. And a woman who was detained by ICE in April has been allowed to return home.
- [00:29]
Ian Leonard
Foreign.
- [00:34]
Shemitah Basu
Let'S start with President Trump's executive order last night banning travel to the US from 12 countries, targeting mostly African and Middle Eastern nations. They include Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, and Iran. And Trump issued partial restrictions on another seven countries, including Venezuela and Sierra Leone. He announced the order in a recorded statement from the Oval Office, connecting it to the recent attack on people in Colorado who were marching to support the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
- [01:05]
James Sample
The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don't want them. In the 21st century, we've seen one terror attack after another carried out by foreign visa overstayers from dangerous places all over the world.
- [01:33]
Shemitah Basu
The man accused of injuring 12 people in that attack is an Egyptian national, which is not one of the countries restricted under this order. This travel order is similar to the one the president imposed in his first term, though with more countries involved. This time, Trump vowed to bring the ban back on the campaign trail, and he made it clear in his address last night that this order had actually been in the works for a long time. He said he'd been planning this since the start of his term.
- [01:59]
James Sample
We will not let what happened in Europe happen to America. That's why on my first day back in office, I directed the secretary of State to perform a security review of high risk regions and make recommendations for where restrictions should be imposed.
- [02:16]
Shemitah Basu
The first travel ban Trump imposed in 2017 went through several iterations and court challenges before ultimately being upheld by the Supreme Court. Though Trump at the time complained that the version had been, quote, watered down, that order was ultimately rescinded by President Biden when he took office. This time around, Trump says he instructed the State Department to review the order before announcing it. Unlike last time, where top officials in the administration said they were largely left in the dark before Trump announced his plan, James Sample, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University, told ABC that he expects this order to be challenged.
- [02:54]
Pramila Jayapal
They learned some lessons from 2016, and I think that what stands out to me here is that it is not as easily susceptible to the very obvious charge of targeted discrimination on race or religion, the so called suspect classifications that the initial Muslim ban was the order.
- [03:14]
Shemitah Basu
Drew immediate criticism from House Democrats, with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal saying it would only further isolate the US on the world stage. The president of a nonprofit that helps to resettle Afghans in the United States told the Washington Post thousands of Afghans with pending cases will now be blocked from reaching safety. He told the Post that he believes people should, quote, call it what it is, a second Muslim ban dressed up in bureaucracy and rushed out in the aftermath of a tragedy to disguise its intent. The effects of this announcement are still coming to light and we'll learn more in the coming days. According to the language of the executive order, it's set to go into effect starting Monday. Lets turn now to the ripple effects of the ongoing Canadian wildfires and the dangerous air quality many states are seeing. Hundreds of fires are still raging and nearly half of those remain what's defined as out of control. That smoke has drifted into the US and hit large swaths of the Midwest, creating a hazy fog and dangerous conditions for residents. People living in parts of Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan have been badly affected. Here's how Fox 9's meteorologist Ian Leonard described conditions in Minnesota on Tuesday.
- [04:39]
Matthew Capucci
It's nasty. It's nasty in the eyes, in your nose. You can almost taste campfire. That surface level smoke is so very unhealthy, and this is unhealthy for all. That means somebody who's a big distance runner and goes for runs all the time, even that person shouldn't be outside exercising.
- [04:55]
Shemitah Basu
Minneapolis was flagged as very unhealthy and on Tuesday, the Washington Post reports that it had at one point the second most unhealthy air quality of any major major city in the world, behind only Kuwait City conditions have now improved in some areas, but the smoke is drifting east and vulnerable groups in five states New York, New Jersey, Iowa, New Hampshire and Maine have been advised to stay indoors. Chicago skyscrapers are expected to be drowned in smoke over the weekend with an alert now in place. Now of course there'll be a lot of variation, so you should check out conditions in your area before canceling your park run. The air quality index runs from 0 to 500 and beyond 100 is where you'll get possible alerts and warnings. PBS spoke with meteorologist Matthew Capucci about the dangers and how you can lower your risk.
- [05:48]
Ian Leonard
Now when the smoke is up high causing changes to the light, it's harmless, but down near the surface. When we're breathing it in, it's really bad. It's like if you were sitting next to a campfire and breathing that in, you wouldn't want to do that. If I were in North Dakota right now, I'd be turning off my air conditioning and only circulating the air inside my home.
- [06:06]
Shemitah Basu
And he said for the worst affected areas, some protective gear might be a good idea.
- [06:11]
Ian Leonard
We hate to say it, but those N95 masks from the COVID era could come in handy because once again, the smoke is made up of these fine little particulates that you don't want to be breathing in. If you have to go outside in the affected areas, that's a really good thing to sort of put one protective layer between you and the air you're breathing in.
- [06:26]
Shemitah Basu
As the fires continue, thousands have been evacuated in remote areas and at least two people have died. About 5.4 million acres have burned across the western and central provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The fires are expected to continue growing as the remote areas and severe winds hinder efforts by the emergency services. Meanwhile, people in Florida may think the smoke has reached them over the next few days as massive dark clouds are expected to hit the state. Actually, that's a totally separate weather event. Dust coming all the way from the Sahara Desert. The height of the dust means your air quality should stay clear, but Floridians will see hazy skies and maybe even some super colorful sunrises and sunsets. Now to the NBA Finals, which start tonight with a matchup that casual fans might not have seen coming. There's no super famous franchise like the Celtics or the Lakers, and there are no household names on the court like LeBron James or Steph Curry. Rather, these finals will pit the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Indiana Pacers, the two teams with unique brands of basketball.
- [07:43]
Michael Pina
This could be one of the most beautiful finals you'll see in a decade. I think that the style of play that both of these teams deploy is just so much fun to watch, michael.
- [07:54]
Shemitah Basu
Pina, a senior staff writer at the Ringer, told us. There is a clear favorite in this matchup.
- [07:59]
Michael Pina
The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the best basketball teams maybe in NBA history. They won 68 games this season. They had an absolutely suffocating defense. One of the more aggressive, disciplined defenses you'll basically ever see.
- [08:18]
Shemitah Basu
Not to mention they're led by 26 year old phenom and league MVP Shea Gilgeous Alexander. Meanwhile, the Pacers this season have enjoyed their role as the David in a Number of David vs Goliath type matchups surprising some people by even making it this far. They're led by guard Tyrese Halliburton, who Pina said needs to sustain the pace of the team's namesake.
- [08:40]
Michael Pina
He has to take care of the ball and he has to play extremely fast, and that is Indiana's identity. That is why Indiana is here. They are also very disciplined. They have one of the best offenses in the NBA and they do it just zip, zip, zip. They go up the court and then once they cross half court, they pass fast, they cut, they screen and everything is just a whir and it really is confusing to defend.
- [09:08]
Shemitah Basu
The other thing that separates these teams from some of the others in the league is that they have deep rosters.
- [09:13]
Michael Pina
Both these teams are incredibly deep, and I think what we're seeing in the NBA right now is you can have 2, 3 all stars on your team, but if 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 aren't above average at what they do and are willing to accept their role and thrive in whatever responsibility set the coaching staff gives them, you're just not going to be very good. And this is such a longer conversation about, like, the finances of the league and how difficult it is to build teams like this. But both these teams have done an excellent job of identifying players who fit the style of play that they want to execute and just kind of affording it all, frankly.
- [09:53]
Shemitah Basu
There's also a lot of history on the line. The Thunder have not been to the finals in 13 years and they haven't won a championship in almost 50 years. The Pacers, meanwhile, have never won a championship and haven't been to the finals since 2000. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following first to a series of escalating attacks on higher education by the administration. The Department of Education is threatening Columbia University's status as an accredited school, saying the university violated civil rights law because of its handling of campus anti Semitism. Now, the DOE is not directly in charge of accreditation, but it informed the commission that is responsible of these allegations. The revoking Columbia's accreditation would mean the school loses a key credential for its ability to receive aid as well as student grants and loans from the federal government. Columbia said it was aware of the administration's concerns and reiterated its commitment to fighting antisemitism on campus and at Harvard. President Trump signed an executive order last night seeking to block the school from continuing to host international students. Harvard says it complied with the administration's recent request to provide records related to misconduct by foreign students. The administration called the school's response insufficient. In Missouri, a woman detained by ICE back in April during a routine immigration check in was released yesterday. Carol Mayorga's story made national headlines in part because her community in Kennett, Missouri, largely turned out for Trump in the 2024 election and were largely outraged to see her detained. Her neighbors described her to NPR as a hard worker, a soccer mom and a cherished friend. And as one city council member put it to NPR while Mayorga was still in jail, they never thought she would be someone the administration targeted.
- [11:54]
Carol Mayorga
I do hear them ask questions about, well, surely this is a mistake, or what did she do wrong? Or Carol's not a criminal. Why is this happening to her? I mean, something like this brings it home because it makes it personal.
- [12:11]
Shemitah Basu
Her attorney told NPR that it was determined Mayorga is eligible for temporary relief through an immigration program known as Deferred Enforcement Departure, which applies to certain residents of Hong Kong. She fled abuse there nearly 20 years ago. Her order of deportation will ultimately remain, and her lawyer says she plans to fight it. And finally, the city of Cologne, Germany, had to evacuate yesterday after three unexploded bombs dating back to World War II were discovered. Finding undetonated bombs is not that uncommon, but an evacuation of this size, roughly 20,000 people, is more rare. Now, the good news is the bombs were defused, but it did take a little longer than officials hoped because of one resident who initially refused to leave. But reason prevailed in the end. City officials described it as the largest evacuation since the war. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple Stories news app. And if you're already listening in the news app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up Next from Bloomberg Businessweek. When YouTube debuted 20 years ago, the first video ever posted was 19 seconds long and featured one of its co founders just hanging out at the zoo. These days, YouTube has way bigger ambitions. It wants to be the centerpiece of your living room, competing with the biggest players in tv. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News narrative to find that story. And we'll be back with the news tomorrow.