What to watch on Super Tuesday

Good morning! It's Tuesday, March 5th. I'm Yasmeen Khan in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Coming up, why Super Tuesday feels a bit less "super" this year, how North Korea is getting more dangerous to the world, and Taylor Swift, caught in a diplomatic fight.

It's Super Tuesday, with voters in 16 states heading to the polls. Former president Donald Trump is in the driver's seat on the Republican side. He's the winner of all but one contest, including the North Dakota caucuses last night. And yesterday's Supreme Court ruling ended a legal threat to keep him off the ballot. Meanwhile, President Biden is cruising toward the Democratic nomination,

If I was talking to you at the beginning of January, 2023, I would say, boy, I don't know if Trump and Biden will make it onto the ballot. They both have such serious weaknesses with so many Democrats saying, "Oh, I want an alternative," and so many Republicans saying, "I don't know, I'm open to an alternative," and it looked like we were going to get a competitive primary. And yet, here we are, it's Super Tuesday, and it doesn't feel very super.

Still, Walter says, it's important to pay attention to the results because they show friction points within the parties. For example, so far Trump has performed poorly with suburban and college-educated primary voters. Nikki Haley has gotten their support. She's expected to drop out after Super Tuesday, which leaves the question of how strongly her supporters would come out for Trump in the general election. Meanwhile, Biden recently faced a protest vote

What we don't know about the voters who showed up and voted in Michigan is whether their vote was simply that, a protest, but not clear that it also means, "and by the way, I won't show up and vote for you in November if this policy doesn't change." Many of the people who showed up could be people who never intended and will never vote for Joe Biden. Some people will absolutely vote for Joe Biden, no matter what, but they wanted to send their note of protest.

But given how tight the race is looking for the general election, Walter says losing any group of voters, no matter how small, could matter.

In all likelihood, this race is going to be very, very close as 2016 was, as 2020 was. And so even the smallest bit of defection, right, 10,000 votes here, 5,000 votes there, I decided to stay home. I decided I really am upset with the policy the administration's taking. I'm voting a third-party candidate. That has a tremendous impact on the final outcome.

You can follow the results in every Super Tuesday contest, and find all the best coverage in the Apple News app.

Now, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news. A new U.N. report says there's strong evidence of sexual assaults during the October 7th attacks by Hamas, and against hostages taken that day. U.N. special envoy Pramila Patten led the mission.

We found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment has been committed against captives and we also have reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may still be ongoing against those still held in captivity.

Patten said the report reinforces the need for a ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas has denied that its personnel committed sexual assaults during the attack. The U.N. team also visited the West Bank, where Palestinians accused Israeli security forces and settlers of sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners. In the U.S., the Supreme Court is temporarily freezing a Texas immigration law that would allow state authorities to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally.

There's pretty clear precedent that immigration enforcement is the purview of the federal government. Laws that are comparable to this one have been struck down by the Supreme Court in the last decade or so. At the same time, this is a different Supreme Court than we've had in the last decade or so. And we live in a time of surprises, and so I don't want to say anything could happen but I'm not gonna make any sure predictions.

In Michigan, jury selection begins today in the trial of James Crumbley. He's the father of the teenage school shooter who killed four people at Oxford High School in 2021. The shooter's mother, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year. James Crumbley has pleaded not guilty to the same charges. And France is now the first country in the world to explicitly protect the right to abortion in its constitution. The change was made official

As much of the world's attention is focused on conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, North Korea is taking advantage of this moment to beef up its nuclear arsenal. "The Wall Street Journal" points to some disturbing developments. Here are just a few: In the past few weeks, North Korea has test fired multiple missiles. Its leader, Kim Jong Un, seems to have abandoned

So something strange is going on in North Korea and has been for a few years.

That's Nicholas Kristof speaking to "NPR" last month. He's a columnist with "The New York Times," who's written about the region for decades.

They've been more distant. They've held the West off. They've ratcheted up the rhetoric. The recent warning about a great revolutionary event was concerning.

Kristof points to experts on the region who say they're concerned that North Korea could be preparing to launch an attack. Other experts say, they don't think North Korea wants a war, but if the United States were to withdraw troops from the peninsula, that could increase the likelihood of an attack. Thomas Schafer, Germany's former ambassador to North Korea, told "NPR" there's another key factor to pay attention to, the U.S. presidential election.

Pyongyang hopes for a win, I believe, by Trump or another isolationist Republican to get another chance to come closer to their main strategic goal, which is a weakening of the U.S.-South Korean alliance and withdrawal of the U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula.

Kim Jong Un had previously tried to strike a deal with former President Trump that would have shed some sanctions in exchange for disarmament. But that fell apart and ever since, he's restarted missile tests and developed weapons that could credibly target Japan and South Korea. Schafer said to combat these concerns, the international community can keep trying to negotiate.

Well, I think what the international community has been doing in the last decades, that is trying to engage with North Korea, offering political and economic incentives, giving security guarantees, and building confidence is the right cause. One should remember that North Korea does not only consist of one person who decides all, actually it's 25 million, and as I believe the leadership is broader than many people to think and not all have the same thinking.

This week, South Korean and U.S. troops are doing annual military drills. North Korea has not reacted just yet, but in the past, the country has responded with more missile tests.

Finally, how Taylor Swift is at the center of a diplomatic tiff in Asia. She's currently playing a string of six sold-out shows in Singapore. It's her only stop in Southeast Asia, because of an exclusivity deal with the government. Fans and politicians in neighboring countries aren't happy about missing out. Thailand's prime minister has spoken out against the deal. And a lawmaker from the Philippines said the move to secure Swift "isn't what good neighbors do."

If that's what's needed to be done to get an outcome which is mutually beneficial and which, from Singapore's point of view, serves not just to grow the economy but also to bring in visitors and goodwill from all over the region, I don't see why not.

"CNBC" pulled together data showing that Swift's concerts are expected to pump as much as 370 million dollars into Singapore's economy. And hotel bookings by guests from Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia have soared.

You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a Narrated Article coming up next. "Elle" spoke to the entrepreneur who coined the term "girl boss" about why she's ready to walk away from that label. If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News+ Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.