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- [00:05]
A
Good morning. It's Tuesday, October 14th. I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News today. On today's show, mounting trade tensions between the US And China. Why government ethics reform measures are failing across the country and Halloween might be less chocolatey this year. But first, to the latest from Gaza and what comes next. Yesterday, all the living hostages were reunited with their families. Around 250 hostages were taken by Hamas during the October 7th attack, but only 20 survivors made it through two years of captivity to see a peace deal finally emerge. Among the 20 people released on Monday include 24 year old friends Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal, who were kidnapped from the Nova Desert Music Festival where Hamas killed 400 attendees. A video Hamas released over the summer showed an emaciated David digging his own grave. Also freed was 25 year old Matan Zingakar. That's Matan embracing his mother, Einav, who'd become a household name in Israel, as she demanded the release of the hostages. For those seeking the bodies of their deceased relatives, though, there was little sign of closure. Only four bodies have been recovered and identified as hostages so far. The fate of the hostages has dominated Israeli politics for the past two years as more and more citizens called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prioritize their release over the destruction of Hamas. Yesterday, Netanyahu addressed the country and referred to the Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible.
- [02:14]
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And in this book we read the immortal words of King Solomon. To everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. Et milchama ve' et shalom. A time for peace and a time for war. The last two years have been a time of war. The coming years will hopefully be a time for peace.
- [02:38]
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Meanwhile, crowds of Palestinians came together in the west bank yesterday to welcome home some of the 2,000 prisoners being released by Israel as part of the ceasefire deal. They arrived in international Red Cross buses and some flashed V for Victory signs as they emerged. Around 1700 of those being released were detained after the war began and had been held without charge. And another 250 or so had been serving longer sentences that predated the war. Mostly convicted for deadly attacks against Israel, the majority of those will be deported to other countries. Just a few days into the ceasefire, with Israeli attacks halted and aid beginning to make its way into Gaza, thousands of Palestinians are returning home to northern Gaza and finding total devastation. The home they knew likely damaged or destroyed and family members lost to the war. The New York Times spoke with a number of Palestinians who said the release of 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, one justification for Hamas starting the war, wasn't worth the cost to Gaza. In two years of war, more than 67,000 Palestinians were killed and around 450 Israeli troops. Yesterday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and leaders in the region traveled to Egypt to sign a peace agreement alongside President Donald Trump.
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The momentous breakthrough that we're here to celebrate tonight is more than the end of the war in Gaza. It's with God's help, it'll be the new beginning for an entire beautiful Middle East. From this moment forward, we can build a region that's strong and stable and prosperous and united in rejecting the path of terror once and for all.
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There's a lot left to iron out about what happens next. Israeli troops have pulled back some, but are still in about 50% of the enclave. And there's no official timeline for a full withdrawal. Speaking to cnn, former Bush administration foreign policy advisor Dan Senor said a lot is riding on outside countries.
- [04:49]
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Here's the real uncomfortable question that no one wants to talk about right now. Are they willing to risk their lives, risk the lives of their citizens serving in Gaza? Right, because the IDF can't do this obviously has been articulated for the implementation of the 20 point plan. So it's going to have to be these other governments. So who are these governments going to be the ones sending forces into Gaza as part of this stabilization force to, for instance, disarm Hamas.
- [05:16]
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As for the reconstruction in Gaza, the World bank has estimated that at least $53 billion will be needed to rebuild. Egypt expects to host a future summit to discuss reconstruction plans. Now let's turn to the trade tensions between the US And China, which after a quiet period, briefly sparked fears in financial markets.
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We've gone from kind of a fragile cold peace truce to really a bare knuckle brawl.
- [05:53]
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That's Phelim Kain, China and Indo Pacific affairs correspondent at Politico. He told us that this latest tit for tat began on Thursday last week after China announced new export restrictions on rare earth materials that are essential for manufacturing, especially in defense related projects. China described it as a measure to safeguard world peace, while Trump's trade representative, Jameson Greer, described it as a power grab.
- [06:19]
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And so that really kicked open a new front and a very fractious exchange between the Chinese government and President Donald Trump, who a day later announced that he was prepared to impose heavy tariffs of up to 100% on Chinese imports.
- [06:39]
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Kyne told us that right now average imports into China are taxed at around 55%, which has broadly allowed goods to continue flowing at a cost. But a 100% tariff would likely grind trade between the two countries to a complete halt. Wall street fell sharply following the announcement. And that, Kynes says, led to a quick reversal from Trump, who pulled back on the threat and put back on the table an upcoming meeting between the two leaders.
- [07:07]
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Now, for a president that's really very, very sensitive to this idea of taco, which is Trump always chickens out, that looked like a speed taco. And then this morning, of course, we saw Treasury Secretary Scott Besant saying that a meeting is going to happen and strangely blaming this rare earths export restrictions by China on quote, unquote hardliners in the Chinese system rather than Xi Jinping, which is either a reflection of absolute abject ignorance of the Chinese system or extreme wishful thinking to try to put things back on track.
- [07:47]
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The markets have since rallied. But as economists wait for the two leaders to meet later this month, Kine says both sides are still making moves that could impact prices.
- [07:57]
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The US And China starting Tuesday are imposing new port fees for for each other's vessels. So that means Chinese owned and operated vessels that are coming to US Ports are going to be assessed a port fee that for your average cargo ship is going to mean an extra $3 million in fees. And that's just for starters. These fees will increase every year until 2028. So we're looking at substantial new costs for imports. It's not a tariff, but it's going to cost shippers, retailers and consumers in.
- [08:43]
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When elected officials are transparent about their code of ethics, it boosts public trust. But time and again at the federal level, various ethics reform measures have failed. A bipartisan bill to ban stock trading in Congress is still not passed. President Trump's various connections to family business deals in the crypto world have drawn tremendous scrutiny and and the White House repealed the last administration's ethics executive order and didn't replace it. A recent report from ProPublica found that this is a phenomenon happening at state level legislatures too, across the country.
- [09:18]
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What we saw in some ways was a little bit of a smorgasbord. We've found overall many efforts across many states, red and blue to in one way or another stymie legislation that would boost ethics reform.
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Tina Griego is the sustainability editor for the local reporting network at ProPublica. In conjunction with its local reporting partners, they found that Republican and Democratic lawmakers ran into roadblocks trying to enact laws that would tighten gift limits, strengthen conflict of interest rules and widen financial disclosure.
- [09:55]
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Requirements, either legislation that was introduced to actually block reform or weaken, say, the power of ethics commissions. Those bills basically just never got anywhere. They didn't make it out of committee. They died on a floor of a chamber in some cases. Some did get to the governor's desk only to be vetoed by the governor.
- [10:19]
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Then there are instances, like in Louisiana, where existing ethics rules were watered down. The state passed a law that puts additional restrictions on its state board of Ethics.
- [10:30]
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So their law significantly weakens ethics standards by making it harder for the Board of Ethics to launch and conduct investigations. So basically it raises the bar for when the board can launch its own investigation and when a response is required to investigate.
- [10:49]
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That state board is responsible for ethics charges that were leveled against then Attorney General Jeff Landry last month. The commission agreed to drop the charges after reaching a settlement with Landry, who is now the governor. A Republican who sponsored the bill said that the board's power needed to be checked. Then there are instances, like in Virginia, where a bill that would have required office holders to disclose digital assets like cryptocurrency was quashed by bipartisan pushback. Griego explained that there were questions from lawmakers of both parties about how those efforts could lead to more disclosure requirements.
- [11:25]
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The concern this was a kind of slippery slope and then would they be required to disclose holdings in gold, for example? And so he said that because of the concern over where this might lead, it failed.
- [11:40]
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Riego did point out there were some successful moves to boost ethics reforms.
- [11:46]
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So in Maine, there was a bipartisan push for a waiting period of one year for legislative staff who wanted to become lobbyists. That won overwhelming support. In Rhode island, the Democratic legislative supermajority and its Democratic governor agreed on a prohibition against bid rigging for state contracts. In Oklahoma, lawmakers overturned a governor's veto to make self dealing by government officials a felony offense. Period.
- [12:13]
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Still, ethics experts told ProPublica that threats to ethics standards and enforcement are growing across the country. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following tomorrow marks two weeks of the government shutdown and airports are not only dealing with flight delays, as we've mentioned before on the show, but also political messaging. The Washington Post reports a number of airports are refusing to air a video featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for the shutdown. Several airports say the video puts them at risk of violating the Hatch act, which prohibits public resources from being used for political purposes. The Post reports about half a dozen airports, including Phoenix Cleveland and Seattle so far have declined to air it. It's not uncommon for DHS officials to appear on videos at airports, but they're typically reserved for things like safety related messages. Nearly two months after a massive measles outbreak in Texas was declared over, the disease continues to spread in other areas of the country. In South Carolina, more than 150 unvaccinated schoolchildren at two schools are under a three week quarantine after being exposed to the disease. The state Department of Public Health recently reported its eighth confirmed measles case since the end of September. Meanwhile, a large measles outbreak along the border of Arizona and Utah continues to grow. Both states have reported dozens of cases so far this year. The CDC has confirmed 44 measles outbreaks in 41 states this year. The vast majority of the reported cases occurred in people who were unvaccinated and finally, we're just a couple of weeks out from Halloween. But if you've taken a browsing look at the candy aisle lately, you might have noticed something this year. It's not all that chocolatey, the Atlantic reports as cocoa continues to climb in price coupled with dwindling supplies, it's pressuring candy makers to try to use less of the stuff and instead push flashy flavor mashups like lemon meringue pie flavored M and Ms, or chocolate free Hershey kisses that tastes like cinnamon toast crunchy. Industry experts say the volatility of the cocoa market has made chocolate a huge risk for sweets makers. The outlook could be getting better, however, the Atlantic notes the cocoa harvest is looking up for next year. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the news app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. Esquire profiles actor George Clooney, who, after a legendary career in Hollywood, still worries, like many of us, about aging the future and what he has left to give. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.