The Headlines - Hezbollah Blames Israel for Deadly Pager Attack, and Fed Expected to Cut Rates

Starting point is 00:00:00 From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Wednesday, September 18th. Here's what we're covering. Hundreds of pagers carried by members of Hezbollah exploded simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday in a stunning coordinated attack on the militant group. Witnesses said smoke came out of people's pockets before loud bangs knocked them to the ground. The pagers exploded inside homes, cars, grocery stores, and on the sidewalk. Local hospitals were overwhelmed

Starting point is 00:00:36 as victims poured in with mangled hands and bloodied faces. At least 12 people, including two children, were killed, and more than 2,700 others were injured, according to Lebanon's health minister. U.S. and other officials tell The Times it was an Israeli operation, though Israel has not commented on the attack. Hezbollah's been using pagers for years, trying to get around Israeli surveillance with the old-school tech. A few months ago, Hezbollah's leader told all of its members to break or bury their cell phones out of security concerns. Officials say the pagers, which were ordered from a Taiwanese company, were tampered with before they reached Lebanon. They say Israel

Starting point is 00:01:15 hid small amounts of explosives, as little as an ounce or two, next to the battery in each device. Then, at 3.30 p.m. Lebanon time, the pagers all received a message that appeared to be coming from the group's leadership. Instead, it activated the explosives. The attack came a day after Israeli leaders had warned that they were considering stepping up their ongoing military campaign against Hezbollah, which has been intensifying its attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Hezbollah has vowed to intensifying its attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, calling yesterday's explosions, quote, blatant aggression. Today, the Federal Reserve is gathering for one of its most significant meetings in years.

Starting point is 00:02:09 Fed officials are poised to cut interest rates for the first time since early 2020. Till now, interest rates have been sitting at a two-decade high as part of the Fed's attempt to tame soaring prices. But with inflation coming down steadily and the labor market cooling off, the Fed is now ready to basically start taking its foot off the economic brakes. How much it'll cut the rate today is not yet clear, but any cut will have ripple effects across the economy. If you're somebody who's got a balance on their credit card, one good thing about the news this week is that credit card industry interest rates often mirror what the Fed does. So there's a very good chance that card companies are going to be lowering their interest rates often mirror what the Fed does. So there's a very good chance that card companies are going to be lowering their interest rates very soon. Ron Lieber is covering what the rate cut will mean for consumers. An area where the news is not as good is for savers. If you're

Starting point is 00:02:57 able to put money away in an online savings account or in a money market account, you've probably been earning 5% annually on your money or so. That rate is probably going to fall because interest rates for savers do tend to track what the Fed does pretty closely. The Fed will make its announcement today at 2 p.m. Eastern. It's already signaled that it expects to cut rates even more when it meets again in November and December. Instagram has launched a major effort to make its app safer for teenagers after years of warnings from parents and child safety groups

Starting point is 00:03:34 about the dangers of social media. Tens of millions of teenagers use Instagram where there are concerns about online bullying, sexual extortion, and exposure to content promoting self-harm or eating disorders. Instagram says with the new settings that parents will be able to monitor the topics their teens have chosen to see more of, and what accounts they've recently messaged, though they won't be able to see the actual messages. The accounts of users younger than 18 will also automatically be made private, though older teens will be able to undo that themselves.

Starting point is 00:04:07 Making all under-18 accounts private by default is probably one of the biggest moves Instagram has made in terms of child safety issues in its entire history. And, you know, the timing of this announcement is no accident. Mike Isaac covers Instagram and its parent company, Meta, for The Times. He says the announcement about the new safety features came right before members of Congress are set to debate details of the Kids Online Safety Act, which is happening today. It's a piece of legislation that could require companies to put guardrails around kids' use of social media. Very consistently, Meta has in the past sort of preempted Congress by announcing product changes, policy changes, but they can basically say,

Starting point is 00:04:53 here's what we're doing to protect kids or, you know, make things safer online. You know, that can be helpful. I think parents and groups that focus on safety can appreciate that. But at the same time, it has the dual purpose of basically having Meta try to shield itself from regulation, including a bill like the Kids Online Safety Act, because they would rather not be bound by what regulators tell them to do, but how they feel the product should work. A new report published today says that alcohol use may be one factor driving up the rates of cancer among some adults. The report from the American Association for Cancer Research shows that excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of multiple types of cancer. The new study comes just after another significant survey found that even moderate and light drinkers die more often from cancer than occasional drinkers.

Starting point is 00:05:55 Overall, cancer deaths have been going down as new treatments have become available. But more and more people have been developing cancer, alarming health experts. Adults under age 50 have been getting breast and colorectal cancers at increasingly higher rates in recent decades, and experts are concerned that many people don't know about the links between cancer and drinking. One recent study found that fewer than a third of young women knew that alcohol use increases the risk of breast cancer. The authors of today's report say alcoholic drinks should have labels that specifically warn about these risks. And finally, more than a month after the Summer Games, the fight over one Olympic medal has flipped, flopped, and now it could flip again.

Starting point is 00:06:48 The drama is centered on the bronze medal for the women's gymnastics floor exercise. When the scores first came down, U.S. gymnast Jordan Childs did not make the top three. But her coach appealed the scoring, and she moved up. She's won the bronze. That was the first twist. Do you believe that? She doesn't. Childs collapsed in happy tears at the news

Starting point is 00:07:11 and got to stand on the podium in Paris, bronze medal around her neck. But Romania then filed a complaint, saying the appeal came four seconds too late. And a special tribunal agreed, stripping Childs of her medal and giving it to Romania's Ana Barbosu. Now, Childs has appealed to Switzerland's Supreme Court to overturn that

Starting point is 00:07:32 ruling. The sports organization that set up the original tribunal is based there. Childs' legal team says they have video showing the appeal was made on time, but that the tribunal refused to consider the footage. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how right-wing extremists took control of Israeli politics and what that could mean for the country's future. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Traci Mumford. My colleagues Amelia Nirenberg and Michael Simon-Johnson will be stepping in starting tomorrow. I'll be back in October.

The Headlines - Hezbollah Blames Israel for Deadly Pager Attack, and Fed Expected to Cut Rates

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