Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
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People in Syria are slowly settling into a new reality. The fall of the Assad regime offers new opportunities, but also creates big challenges. What's the priority for Syrians going forward?
We'll hear from NPR's Ruth Sherlock in Damascus. Ami Martinez, that's Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. The alleged gunman's motive in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is still unclear.
I mean, we could speculate on a hundred different things.
Police have been sifting through Luigi Mangione's online history since his arrest and learned more about his ideology. We'll get an update on what they found.
And the proposed merger between two grocery giants hangs in the balance. Yesterday, two separate judges in two separate cases blocked Kroger and Albertsons from joining forces. Is the merger dead? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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It's been four days since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled the country.
And celebrations are settling down. People are starting to think about the huge challenges facing the war-torn country.
And perhaps Ruth Sherlock is in Damascus, and she's here to tell us more. Good morning, Ruth. Good morning. So what's the situation there like now?
Well, you know, you might be able to hear the high caliber rounds being fired behind me. It's the rebels testing weaponry they've acquired. But apart from these explosions, they seem to be trying to keep a pretty light touch here, Michelle. You know, they swept down from this rural province of Idlib and they seem to be trying to show Damascenes, people from here, that they can go about their business. And there's not even a lot of checkpoints, for example. And what is quite extraordinary is is they seem to now be handling a relatively managed handover of power. They've formed this new transitional government. And this even includes some politicians from the old regime. They're pardoning soldiers who were conscripted into the military service, but they are dismantling the feared security apparatus, the intelligence bases of the regime, and saying that they will bring war criminals to justice.
A lot of the new faces in this new government are similar to those in the Islamist-led government in the rebel-held province of Idlib that they controlled for years. They are projecting moderate stances for now, saying women can dress as they please, for example. But, you know, many Syrians say it's still really too early to know how this will go.
So we've mentioned earlier that the city seems to be quieting down. What are you hearing about people's main priorities right now?
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