Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning. It's Friday, December 12th. I'm Shemita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, inside the last-minute battle over healthcare subsidies, how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came to be the most powerful figure in national public health, and Disney cuts a major AI deal that could transform how their creations are used by fans.
But first, the latest on the escalating conflict with Venezuela and a closer look at the country's Nobel laureate opposition leader. This week, the U.S. took aim at a central piece of the Venezuelan economy, oil, after it seized a tanker. The operation was the focal point of Press Secretary Caroline Levitt's briefing yesterday.
We're not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narco-terrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world.
The same day, the Trump administration announced it had sanctioned half a dozen more ships, as well as three of President Maduro's nephews. As his government contemplates its next move, dozens of other vessels wonder about theirs. As Reuters reports, many more sanctioned shipments could be targets if they set sail.
For this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, leading Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the tanker seizure was a, quote, decisive moment.
The regime previously thought that they could do anything. Anything. They felt they had absolute impunity. Now they start to understand that this is serious and the world is really watching.
She spoke from Norway after receiving the Nobel Prize, though she just missed the ceremony. Many thought it was unlikely she would make an appearance at all, given the dangers of leaving her home country. In some exclusive reporting, the Wall Street Journal has been looking into how Machado escaped and what she might do now.
Maria Corina Machado had been in hiding in Venezuela for over a year in a suburb off Caracas and had only been out once so far that we know of. So getting her out, everybody knew, as the most recognizable woman in the region would be incredibly difficult.
Vera Bergengruen is a national security correspondent for The Journal. She told us that a private American extraction team played a crucial role, but it was far from smooth sailing.
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Chapter 2: What is the background of Venezuela's Nobel Peace Prize winner?
Machado has insisted she will return to her home country, but sources told Bergen-Gruen that could be as risky as leaving. Maduro's government said they would consider her a fugitive if she ever left Venezuela. For now, Bergen-Gruen told us, Machado has a packed agenda abroad, and she hopes to influence Western opinion.
She believes that wherever she can draw the most attention to her cause is where she needs to be. Until now, that has been inside of Venezuela.
She believes that, you know, obviously this triumphant moment, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, we're told that she's going to embark on a tour of European capitals and speak to people and kind of rally support for her cause, potentially the United States. She seems to believe that that was the moment to do that.
Machado may have won the Peace Prize, but she is not a pacifist. She has stayed close to the White House and backed their recent actions.
She's really courting the Trump administration to do anything they can, economic pressure, political pressure, but even the use of military force to depose Maduro. And that has been something that I don't think we've seen these kinds of Peace Prize winners really support.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Machado suggested recent pressure had weakened Maduro and that his days were numbered.
You need to raise the cost of staying in power and lowering the cost of leaving power. Only when you do that, this regime will break down. And that's where we are moving towards right now.
It was a busy day on Capitol Hill as lawmakers scrambled to prevent health care costs from dramatically rising for millions of Americans at the end of the month. Dueling bills in the Senate to address the issue failed in two separate votes on Thursday. A plan from Republicans would have expanded health savings accounts.
A deposit of one thousand or fifteen hundred dollars per person would be made into an account that could be used for out of pocket medical costs. That money would not be eligible to pay premiums. Democrats put forward a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies that were at the heart of the government shutdown.
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Chapter 3: How did Maria Corina Machado manage her escape from Venezuela?
measles and whooping cough outbreaks and kids are put in the hospital. And his answer was we would listen, which was a hopeful answer. And then he went on to sort of list out all the reasons that he was not wrong.
In my chat with Scheer, we go much deeper into Kennedy's background and how it's shaping his leadership and driving public health policy. To hear more, check out this week's episode of Apple News in Conversation. If you're already listening in the news app right now, that episode is queued up to play after this show. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
In a stunning rebuke of President Trump, Republicans in Indiana rejected a bill to redraw the state's congressional map. The Indianapolis Star reports the 19-31 vote against the measure caps off months of pressure from Trump, who's asked several red states to help maintain a Republican majority after next year's midterms through redistricting.
The vote total in Indiana means the effort is now dead. Trump on Wednesday said he would support primary challengers to Republicans who voted against the bill and personally attacked Indiana's Senate leader by name. Republicans have a supermajority in the Indiana House and Senate. The failure of this bill, which could have netted Republicans two more seats in the U.S.
House, makes Indiana the only state to formally reject Trump's redistricting efforts. It has been one of the most drawn-out and controversial immigration cases of the Trump administration. But yesterday, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was freed from detention after an order from a federal judge.
Garcia had been deported to El Salvador in the spring due to what ICE described as a, quote, administrative error. He was returned to the U.S., where the government then held him for months as they attempted to deport him to other countries. Garcia now heads back to his home in Maryland. And his lawyer said it was, quote, an extraordinary victory for our client and for due process.
Meanwhile, yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the administration's immigration enforcement policies at a House committee hearing, while some Democratic lawmakers called on her to resign. She said she, quote, would not back down. And finally, some of the oldest cartoon characters could be jumping into a whole new world.
Disney announced on Thursday it reached a licensing agreement with OpenAI. It'll allow people to easily make their own short videos using the company's vast IP. In truth, a lot of people were already doing this. But with this deal, they no longer have to worry about breaching copyright, something that Disney is typically very hawkish about.
In recent months, Disney has warned AI companies over the ease with which their characters could be recreated on their platforms. This deal marks a turning point in the very tough questions as to how people's artistic work is potentially used and abused on AI platforms. And the Writers Guild said it appeared to sanction theft. But while images are part of the deal, voices crucially are not.
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