U.N.-backed panel confirms famine in Gaza. And, DOJ to ship Congress some Epstein docs

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Immediately’s high tales

A U.N.-backed panel of consultants on hunger has declared that Gaza is within the grip of famine. The announcement comes after almost two years of struggle and Israeli restrictions on support getting into the territory, and as Israel prepares to launch a brand new offensive on Gaza Metropolis. The Built-in Meals Safety Part Classification raised its classification of situations in Gaza to Part 5, the very best stage of its meals insecurity scale, which the IPC says is “characterized by starvation, destitution and death.” The IPC report says half 1,000,000 persons are dealing with that stage of hunger and warns that one other 1.07 million folks — over half the inhabitants of Gaza — are dealing with extreme meals deprivation.

• 🎧 Given the dearth of outdoor entry to Gaza, it is seemingly that these numbers are an underestimate, in response to NPR’s Jackie Northam. Israel has denied that there’s a starvation disaster in Gaza, the place it has been combating Hamas for the reason that Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel. Northam says the IPC assist doesn’t assign blame for the famine, however says a ceasefire is required to finish the struggle and flood the territory with support. The help group Mercy Corps has warned of famine in Gaza for months, and calls it a “man-made” famine that could be a “direct result of months of deliberate restrictions on aid, the destruction of Gaza’s food, health, and water systems, and relentless bombardment.”

The Home Oversight Committee is anticipated to obtain a whole bunch of paperwork associated to the Justice Division’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation right this moment. That is in response to a congressional subpoena issued earlier this month calling on the DOJ to offer data of its probe. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has mentioned a number of the recordsdata can be made public after victims’ names are redacted.

• 🎧 NPR’s Claudia Grisales says it is a “major step for Republicans,” who’ve fended off questions round Epstein for months. The occasion base has been pissed off with President Trump and Republicans for not releasing these data. The Home left for its August recess early to keep away from votes on the problem. Democrats say they may proceed to push for extra transparency when Congress returns, and Grisales says they’ve an unlikely ally in Home Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Massie has mentioned he’ll power a Home vote on the complete launch of the data on Epstein, the millionaire financier who died by suicide in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on sex-trafficking fees.
• ➡️ The Trump administration has shifted its tone and message in response to strain to launch these paperwork. This is a timeline of what the administration has mentioned.

The Division of Justice has employed a lawyer who represented rioters charged within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Legal professional Jonathan Gross is now working with the Trump administration’s “Weaponization Working Group,” which opinions the felony and civil circumstances introduced towards the president by federal and native prosecutors within the final 4 years. Gross took an unconventional path to representing Jan. 6 defendants. This is what to know concerning the legal professional.

Are tariffs elevating costs? Earnings calls from a number of the largest retailers within the U.S., together with Walmart, House Depot and Goal, reveal some solutions. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon says that whereas the corporate has been capable of mitigate the price of tariffs to date, they’re rising “each week.” Whereas some costs are up, objects like college provides are cheaper this 12 months than final 12 months, in response to Walmart.

• 🎧 NPR’s Alina Selyukh says massive retailers are giving measured and nuanced takes. When Walmart issued a warning in Might that tariffs would elevate costs in weeks, Trump posted that the retailer ought to cease blaming tariffs and “EAT” them. Many retailers have executed that, and McMillon says tariffs took so lengthy to roll out that consumers have not dramatically modified their behaviors but. Selyukh says one query hangs over the scenario now: How lengthy till corporations determine they can’t afford to eat the tariffs anymore?

Dwelling higher

It may be arduous navigating adjustments as folks age.

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SeizaVisuals/Getty Pictures/E+

Dwelling Higher is a particular collection about what it takes to remain wholesome in America.

Ageing can carry numerous adjustments to folks’s our bodies, minds and relationships in methods they’re typically not ready for. As soon as folks begin to expertise a number of the realities of growing old, they may discover that youthful generations do not absolutely comprehend what they’re experiencing. This hole in understanding can result in frustration inside grownup child-older mother or father relationships. Grownup youngsters can discover it arduous to know what their mother and father are going via as a result of they have not skilled it but. Dad and mom could keenly really feel that lack of empathy. Nonetheless, there are a number of methods grownup youngsters may help growing old mother and father modify to life’s developments.

• 👴 Listening is crucial factor an grownup youngster can do for an older mother or father. Attempt asking them how one can finest spend your time with them. If they’re fighting well being adjustments, ask them how they really feel about it.
• 👴 Many individuals have to change their diets as they age. Bear in mind, there’s a distinction between serving to them keep on observe and pressuring them with reminders.
• 👴 In case you are offering intimate care, strive asking your mother and father to inform tales about their lives. This may help alter the dynamic of help, which may really feel humiliating for them.

Weekend picks

Buscabulla

Quique Cabanillas/Courtesy of the artist

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Quique Cabanillas/Courtesy of the artist

Try what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Films: Lurker follows a sociopathic striver who maneuvers his approach into the interior circle of a rising pop star. NPR’s Aisha Harris says the strain within the parasocial relationship between the 2 primary characters, Matthew and Oliver, is deeply satisfying in its unease. And, listed below are a number of the movies in theaters this weekend, together with a field workplace document setter you most likely have not heard of.

📺 TV: Amanda Knox made headlines in 2007 when her British roommate was discovered lifeless in Italy. She’s the chief producer of the brand new eight-part collection dramatizing the story of her wrongful conviction, The Twisted Story of Amanda Knox.

📚 Books: Louis Sachar has spent almost half a century writing a few of my favourite youngsters’s books, together with Holes and the Wayside College collection. He hopes the adults who grew up on his books will really feel the identical connection to his newest launch, The Magician of Tiger Fort. And, listed below are a few of this week’s publishing highlights.

🎵 Music: Puerto Rican duo Buscabulla joins NPR’s World Cafe to carry out a few of their new music and focus on the making of their newest album, Se Amaba Asi, which explores vulnerability and romantic hardships.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Youngsters cool off in a mist fountain in central Paris amid a heatwave, on Aug. 13.

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Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP through Getty Pictures

1. As European summers develop hotter, a heated political debate is brewing in France over an unsuspecting equipment: the air conditioner.
2. Greater than 3.6 million youngsters have been born within the U.S. in 2020, in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. As these “COVID kindergarteners” enter college for the primary time, many mother and father are anxious about how their time in isolation will influence their improvement.
3. Far fewer Canadians are touring to the U.S. this 12 months. The dip comes as relations between the 2 international locations are strained after Trump imposed steep tariffs on Canada and vowed to make it a U.S. state.

This article was edited by Yvonne Dennis.