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Today's top stories
As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on,health professionals are increasingly concerned aboutoutbreaks of respiratory ailments, hepatitis, GI problems and other infectious diseases in Gaza. The World Health Organization warns that disease may eventually kill more people than combat.
"It's bad, and it may well get worse," NPR's Ari Daniel reports on Up First. Rates of diarrhea among children are 25% higher than before the war. Gaza's health infrastructure has crumbled and more than half of its hospitals are no longer functioning. Intense overcrowding and a lack of clean water, sanitation and proper nutrition are creating a perfect storm for the spread of disease.
The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. The federal lawsuit alleges the ChatGPT creator and its biggest backer used the newspaper's material without permission to train its chatbots.
For months, OpenAI and the Times have negotiated a licensing agreement where OpenAI would pay the paper to use its articles. Those talks have collapsed, NPR's Bobby Allyn reports. He adds that the "entire digital publishing industry is on edge about generative AI," with fears of job loss and the spread of misinformation.
Scientists are almost certain 2023 will be the hottest year on record, capping a record-breaking decade of heat. The last eight years have been the hottest eight on record too.
Climate scientist Zeke Hausfather tells NPR's Lauren Sommer that a century of fossil fuel useled to a year like this. Oceanographer Tessa Hill tells Sommer that without changes, "we will look back at 2023 and think of it as, you know, remember that year that wasn't so bad?"
Deep dive
Brandon Bell / Getty Images
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Getty Images
Supermarket sticker shock eased this year, as egg prices fell back to earth. Despite gloomy recession forecasts at the beginning of the year, consumers kept spending and the economy continued to grow.
This year, the economy began to look a lot more like it did before the COVID pandemic began. Credit card debt increased, unemployment remained low, inflation cooled and wages outgrew inflation. Here's how life got more expensive — and more affordable — in 2023, shown through five charts.
Don't skip breakfast. The price of eggs, butter, coffee and sugar have finally dropped.
Housing costs climbed, but the worst could be behind us. Mortgage rates have eased and savings rates are climbing from rock bottom levels.
Book those travel plans. Falling jet fuel prices have lowered the price of airfare.
Picture show
Brian Munoz / Brian Munoz
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Brian Munoz
Sophia Lewis, 13, of Maryland Heights, Mo., helps hoist a giant rainbow flag down Market Street on Sunday, June 25, 2023, during the St. Louis PrideFest Parade in downtown St. Louis.
This illustration photo shows an Apple Watch 9 displaying the blood-oxygen level detection settings, in Los Angeles, on Tuesday.
Apple's Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches are available to purchase again after a federal appeals court temporarily halted an import ban as the company challenges a patent dispute with the medical technology company Masimo.
About 15 years ago, Oliver Muensterer was in a panic. He had traveled hours for a job interview and forgot his white dress shirt. He still remembers his unsung hero, a kind hotel desk attendant who gave him the shirt off his back.
If you've ever been on the road and wondered if car headlights are getting brighter, you're not totally wrong. The position where they're mounted on cars can cause glare and reduce visibility. (via LAist)
Broken Heart Syndrome mimics symptoms of a heart attack. It can strike after a stressful event, such as the loss of a loved one, a physical shock, or prolonged anxiety. The good news: It's treatable.
Civil War-era hobos hopped trains to find work. Content creators hop trains with their GoPros. Hitching rides on the railroad is an American tradition.
Ryan Dowdy, a former NASA food scientist, won a USDA innovation grant to further develop a meal replacement bar for first responders. Trump's freeze on government awards has jeopardized those plans.
Brian Gibbs was an environmental educator at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa. His job was among those nixed by the Trump administration as it pushes to shrink federal spending.
Comedian W. Kamau Bell speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about his decision to perform at the Kennedy Center after President Trump assumed the organization's chairmanship.
European leaders are meeting in Paris to discuss an emerging transatlantic chasm over security and the war in Ukraine, while the U.S. will send negotiators to meet Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia.
European leaders were hopeful they could work with the Trump administration on the Ukraine war and other issues. But comments last week by several U.S. officials have poured cold water on such hopes.