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Good morning! It's Thursday, December 21st. I'm Shumita Basu. This is “Apple News Today.” On today's show… The link between gun access and high suicide rates… The problem of new fathers turning down parental leave… And the strange tale of what happens to all the holiday gifts we return.
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But first, the impact of the war in Gaza on Bethlehem. Normally, the birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank would be filled with tourists and pilgrims at this time of year. But this year the scene is somber and quiet. Nearly all Christmas celebrations are cancelled because of the conflict in nearby Gaza.
The “L.A. Times” went to Bethlehem, and what stands out is what's missing. There are no Christmas lights in the streets, no decorated tree in Manger Square, no festive parade. People in church are praying for the victims in Gaza. Lutheran pastor, Munther Isaac, changed his church's nativity scene this year. Now, it features baby Jesus wrapped in the black and white Palestinian kaffiyeh, the scarf, and surrounded by rubble, evoking the destroyed buildings in Gaza. He talked to “Al Jazeera” about it.
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This is what Christmas looks like in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. Children being pulled from under the rubble, families being displaced with their homes destroyed.
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Palestinian Christians are a minority in this area, and many in Bethlehem have friends and relatives who are suffering in Gaza. Last week, a church official in Gaza said two Christian women sheltering at church compound were killed by Israeli sniper fire. Israel's military has said it doesn't target civilians and that its review found no reports of a strike on the church.
British Member of Parliament, Layla Moran, told the “BBC” she has several relatives taking shelter in the same church complex.
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This should be a moment where, as awful as all of this is, and I have to tell you that the Christmas carols stick in my throat at the moment, you know, peace to all men, etc. This is an incredibly important time for Christians and yet they're doing this to Christians in a church. It makes a mockery of when Israel says it's not targeting civilians.
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Many celebrations may be on hold, but church services and prayers continue. A Greek Orthodox priest at the Church of the Nativity told the “L.A. Times” that right now, "the message of Bethlehem and the message of Christmas - which is the message of peace - is more important than ever."
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A warning that this next segment is about suicide.
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Since 2017, around 25,000 people have died by suicide using guns every year in the United States. Almost 80% were white males, age 15 and older. And last year marked the highest number of gun suicides ever recorded.
“The Trace,” a news organization that focuses on gun violence in America, dove into this systemic problem, along with “The Atlantic.” Social scientists have looked into potential drivers of America's high suicide rate. And they include addiction, breakdowns in social connections, job loss and many other factors. But one consistent through line is access to a gun.
Owning a gun doesn't make someone suicidal, obviously. It just means that if you're suicidal, your chances of dying are significantly greater. According to the statistics, if you use a gun in a suicide attempt, there's a 90% chance that you won't survive. That's Mike Spies, senior staff writer at “The Trace.” He examined this troubling trend through the story of Bob Owens, a gun-rights blogger who died by suicide in 2017.
I think both everyone who knew him personally as a friend and everyone who knew him as like a public personality who regularly appeared on “NRATV” and news programs and was just someone who was really out front on the issue it was really; it was just utterly shocking. Both how he did it and the fact that he did it at all.
Spies points out that organizations like the National Rifle Association have pushed back on research that shows a link between gun availability and suicide. And that Owens himself did too. Spies also writes about other incidents of NRA supporters using guns to die by suicide. The numbers are so stark that the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the NSSF, which is the trade group for the firearms industry, launched a campaign in 2016 with a suicide-prevention organization.
Is that enough? And the answer, at least at the moment, seems to be no. Because this program that NSSF and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention jointly launched seven years ago doesn't seem to be having any effect at all, and in fact things have just gotten worse, right? Like I said the last two years have been record breaking years for gun suicide.
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You can read the whole investigation on the Apple News app.
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As you might've heard me mention a few times before on this show, I am having a baby. This is my last week of shows on “Apple News Today” for a little while before I take some time off for maternity leave. Which might be why this “Wall Street Journal” story about parental-leave policies caught my attention.
Workplaces have expanded parental leave in recent years, for women and for men. But many new fathers aren't taking all the time off that's being offered to them, which means they're potentially making things more challenging for their families, and basically leaving money on the table. Data shows that only about 60% of men take their full paid leave, compared to 93% of women.
The “Journal” spoke with a man named Tim Allen. He was the CEO of a media company when his twins were born in 2015. At the time, he was offered 4 weeks of paid leave, but he decided to pass and instead take a few days off here and there. Now, he says, he regrets his choice. Too much of the heavy lifting fell on his partner, who took nine weeks of unpaid leave from his job. During the few days he did take off, Allen still answered emails and took calls so that he appeared present.
Some fathers believe that time away from work could hurt their career. They worry their commitment to their job will be questioned or that they might face ridicule. The “Journal” points out that forgoing this time at home is the same as giving up part of your compensation package, it’s like letting vacation days go unused. It impacts the division of labor at home. And there's a ton of studies that demonstrate the serious benefits of paternity leave. It's good for children, it's good for parents' relationships, and for mothers' earnings. New research also shows that taking parental leave helps rewire dads' brains to the mental and emotional requirements of parenting.
Allen says, for him, it didn't fully sink in until years later, how much he wishes he took full advantage of his parental leave. He told the “Journal,” he now encourages new fathers to act differently, to use their leave, and not miss out on moments with their families.
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Americans are on track to buy a lot of stuff this holiday season. According to “Gallup,” the average person expects to spend nearly $1000 on gifts. And if historical trends hold up, we'll end up returning about 30% of them. So, what happens to all the stuff we send back?
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There's this whole industry out there that is like largely unseen by the general public that's called reverse logistics.
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That's Amanda Mull, a writer for “The Atlantic,” who I spoke to recently on “In Conversation.”
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And that is like the process of taking all of the stuff that consumers didn't want or that stores weren't able to sell and moving it back up through the supply chain from whence it came.
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Mull recently visited a returns-processing center in Pennsylvania - or as she calls it, “the belly of the holiday-returns beast.” The workers at this center sort through all the stuff that we return, and they determine if an item should be resold by the original retailer, sent to discounters like TJ Maxx or Marshalls, trashed, or donated.
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And that process, there's a ton of machinery involved in it, there's a ton of data analysis involved in it. But also, there are just people who have to open these packages and figure out if you wore that sweater or not. If you wore that pair of pants. You know, you said you didn't on your return slip. Were you lying?
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Returns alone is a $1 trillion industry. And one that Mull says a lot of retailers don't really want us to know about. In fact, workers at these return centers sign confidentiality agreements that prevent them from publicly naming the companies they serve. Many online retailers offer free returns. But the process always has a cost behind the scenes. And a lot of us don't realize how much of what we return ends up in a landfill.
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In Conversation” interview with Mull from a few weeks back, where we talk about shopping sustainably. Enjoy listening, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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