New fears of famine in Gaza as war rages

Good morning, it's Thursday, January 4th. I'm Mark Garrison, in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, deadly food shortages in Gaza, 24 predictions for 2024 and how a 13-year-old became the first human to beat Tetris.

But first, let's take a brief look at some other major stories in the news. A judge has revealed a list of names that came up in court proceedings related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of the high-profile names include Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Like many of the names revealed, there's no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Clinton or Trump. Clinton has said in the past that he was not aware of Epstein's abusive behavior and cut ties with him a while back.

It does not appear that the Imam was a victim of a biased crime or that this is related to terrorism.

The state's attorney general says investigators wouldn't usually reveal that kind of information so soon, but they felt it was important to say now because of the national surge in hate crimes, especially against Muslims. And around 100 people are dead in Iran, following two explosions and a memorial for a general. Qasem Soleimani was killed by a U.S. airstrike in 2020, under orders from then-President Trump.

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions. Let's turn now to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where aid agencies are warning that scarce food could lead to famine.

A recent U.N. report said more than 90 percent of people in Gaza are dealing with acute food insecurity. And nearly every family is skipping some meals each day. In a recent "PBS" story, the chief economist of the U.N.'s World Food Program, Arif Husain, said the level of suffering is beyond what he's witnessed in two decades doing this work.

I've seen Afghanistan, I've seen Yemen, I've seen Syria, I've seen South Sudan, I've seen Northeast Nigeria, pretty much everywhere. I've never seen something at this scale as is happening in Gaza and at this speed.

What's also striking, the numbers. Husain tells "The New Yorker" that in the entire world right now, there are about 700,000 people experiencing famine or catastrophic hunger, and 80% of them are in Gaza. "NBC News" recently reported on a camp where tens of thousands of Palestinians are crowded in. Amina Shamlakh Al-Rafi said her family was forced out of Gaza City, and her husband was arrested by the Israeli military. She's now trying to keep her children alive.

[SPEAKING THROUGH TRANSLATOR]

She says it's hard to provide food for her daughters without their father. She says they're dying of hunger, poverty and everything. Adding to the crisis is the cold winter weather, with temperatures dropping sharply. Some people who fled their homes to escape Israeli bombs are now living in makeshift camps that are not built for the climate. Israeli attacks have already killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, largely civilians.

"Vox" is out with a story that caught our eye. 24 predictions for 2024.

It covers politics, business, culture, sports and more. Now, there's a lot of this kind of thing this time of year. One thing that's different about these predictions, they have some humility. "Vox's" predictions come with probabilities. For example, the prediction that Trump will win the White House only has 55% certainty.

We're aware that we're going to be wrong about a bunch of things.

That's senior correspondent Dylan Matthews.

We were wrong a bunch of times last year, but we're trying to become better forecasters and hopefully that will make us better journalists.

This year, he predicts inflation will settle down further in America.

Some of the external factors like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and some of the pandemic related disruptions are in the past now. And so I think we're going to see a leveling off, tapering off of inflation.

In domestic politics, "Vox" predicts Republicans will win the Senate and Democrats will take the House. In global politics, "Vox" predicts Benjamin Netanyahu will be unseated as Israel's prime minister, Narendra Modi will win reelection in India and Mexico will get its first female president with the election of Claudia Sheinbaum.

She is far and away in the polls the front runner for the 2024 Mexican presidential election. She's not as intensely charismatic. She's-- she's a scientist, not a firebrand. And so it'll be interesting to see how she does in office.

And in sports, "Vox" is paying attention to baseball star Shohei Ohtani. "Vox" predicts he'll lead the MLB in home runs and maybe break Barry Bonds's record.

Yeah, I'm excited to see him try.

You can find all 24 predictions in the Apple News app.

Finally, even if you're only a casual gamer, you can probably recognize this theme song.

Tetris is a simple game that people can pick up quickly, which is why it's been popular for so long. But there's a whole community of expert Tetris players who practice for hours a day and play at high speed in tournaments around the world. And recently, a 13-year-old player has pulled off what none of them have done before. He beat Tetris, getting so far into the game that it froze. Willis Gibson is a serious gamer, so he keeps the camera rolling as he plays.

[GASPS] Oh, oh my God. [GASPING HEAVILY]

The Oklahoma teenager is the first human good enough to take Tetris to its breaking point.

Previously, only computers powered by AI have been able to do that. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next from "New York" magazine. Writer and editor Tom Scocca writes and narrates his own story about navigating America's complicated medical system to try and find answers for a debilitating and mysterious condition, and what we do when we can't reach conclusions.