The Headlines - Netanyahu Unwavering on Cease-Fire, and Putin Visits Mongolia

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

Plus, battling mpox in Congo.   Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. On Today’s Episode:As Many Israelis Push for an Immediate Hostage Deal, the Prime Minister Has Refused to Change Course, by Patrick KingsleyFamilies of American Hostages Say a Deal ‘Has to Happen Right Now’, by Troy Closson, Campbell Robertson and Jay RootPutin Begins Meetings in Mongolia in Defiance of I.C.C. Arrest Warrant, by Valerie Hopkins and David PiersonClimate Change Can Cause Bridges to ‘Fall Apart Like Tinkertoys,’ Experts Say, by Coral DavenportBattling Mpox in the Outbreak’s Epicenter in Congo, by Arlette Bashizi and Elian Peltier

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, September 3rd. Here's what we're covering. After this, we're asked to show seriousness? We're asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas? It says, kill more hostages, murder more hostages, you'll get more concessions.

Last night, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he will not budge on conditions for a ceasefire, despite facing the biggest protests in Israel since the start of the war in Gaza. Demonstrators had taken to the streets and some workers had gone on strike, grieving and angry, after the bodies of six hostages were recovered from Gaza. The protesters called on the government to make an immediate deal with Hamas to stop the fighting and secure the release of the remaining hostages. But Netanyahu is not backing down. — We're out to destroy the military capabilities of Hamas and the governing capabilities of Hamas, and we're well on our way to achieving both.

That is total victory. Netanyahu insists that Israel needs to keep troops stationed along Gaza's border with Egypt, controlling a strip of land there known as the Philadelphia Corridor. Hamas has said that's a non-starter and that any deal must include a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. A spokesman for Hamas's military wing threatened

yesterday that if Netanyahu continues his military campaign instead of striking a deal, the remaining hostages in Gaza will return home, quote, inside coffins. For 23 years, I was privileged to have the most stunning honor to be Hersh's mama. I'll take it and say thank you. I just wish it had been for longer. Meanwhile, in a cemetery in Jerusalem yesterday, the family of Hirsch Goldberg-Pollen, one of the six hostages killed in Gaza last week,

spoke at his funeral. How do we live the rest of our life without you? I pray that your death will be a turning point in this horrible situation in which we are all entangled. Goldberg-Pollen was a dual American-Israeli citizen, and the Israeli military says they believe seven more Americans are still being held in Gaza, four of them alive. Several of their families openly criticized Netanyahu yesterday for not moving urgently enough to secure the release of their loved ones. Adi Alexander, whose 20-year-old son Aiden was taken on October 7th, told The Times that a ceasefire deal, quote, has to happen right now, full stop, period. More military pressure brings more dead hostages. On Monday, President Biden also said that Netanyahu was not doing enough to finalize a deal.

And one of Israel's other closest allies signaled its growing frustration with the war in Gaza. Britain announced that it would suspend the exports of some weapons to Israel, saying there was a clear risk it could be used in violation of international law. This morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a state visit to Mongolia. It's the first time he's been in any of the 120-plus countries that belong to the International Criminal Court since the ICC put out a warrant for his arrest last March. He's accused of committing war crimes related to the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children. The International Criminal Court actually asked Mongolia to honor its commitment as a member and

arrest Putin. But what we saw today actually was a red carpet welcome for the Russian president. Valerie Hopkins covers Russia for The Times. She says Putin almost certainly will not be arrested in Mongolia because the country, which shares a 2,000-mile-long border with Russia, relies on Moscow for nearly all of its fuel. According to the official agenda, Putin is in Mongolia to talk about economic cooperation and possible infrastructure projects. But actually, the most important purpose this visit serves for him is thumbing his nose at the international community.

Analysts are saying it's really a symbolic win for him, considering that for the last two and a half years, the West has tried to isolate him, to make him into an international pariah. And here he is saying, you know, look at your Western rules-based order. No one's going to arrest me because I'm still too important as a partner and Russia is still too powerful. In the U.S., the summer of extreme weather has taken its toll on the country's infrastructure, like highways, runways, and in particular, bridges. Just how hot is it? The 3rd Avenue Bridge is stuck in the open position all because of overheating. Early this afternoon, crews performing some routine maintenance noticed some buckling on the bridge surface closing that bridge to traffic. Now overnight, a train bridge in western Iowa collapsed under the pressure of the high water. America's bridges were already vulnerable and in need of repair.

More than a quarter of them were built before 1960. But now, record-breaking heat and flooding linked to climate change is causing them to deteriorate faster, according to engineers. The bridges often weren't built to withstand sharp temperature swings, which cause materials to swell and contract. One civil engineering expert told the Times the hot conditions can make bridges, quote, literally fall apart like tinker toys. A study published in the journal Plus One found that high temperatures could cause one in four steel bridges in the U.S. to collapse by the year 2050. Another issue is the ground the bridges are built on. Heavy rains are eroding the

soil around their foundations, which is the leading cause of bridge failure in the U.S. Updating the structures for modern conditions is both expensive and time-consuming. A 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill put more than $100 billion towards major transportation projects. But Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told The Times, bridges can take the longest to update. And finally, cases of MPOCs, which the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency last month, are continuing to spread. There have been diagnoses in Sweden and Thailand, but the vast majority have been in African countries, where more than 17,000 people have been infected and 600 have died, mostly children. The epicenter of the outbreak is the Democratic Republic of Congo, and officials there say they don't have the resources to contain or even treat the virus. In Congolese clinics, doctors say they're short on medications

to care for patients covered with the painful lesions that come with MPOCs. And they're still waiting on vaccines to protect health care workers and caretakers. So when I went there, the first sound which will come in the hospital is the kids were crying because of the lesion they have on their body. They are so painful. Photojournalist Arlette Bashizi went to a clinic that's been overwhelmed by patients in Kivumu in eastern Congo. You could see mothers looking after their kids

because they can't leave them alone at the hospital. So even the mothers of those kids are also exposed to the mpox. One mother I met at the health center had her daughter being treated. She was holding her hand. I was like, are you not afraid to also contract this disease? And she just told me,

I can't leave her alone because I don't want her to die. I'll stay here with her. And that is like the situation that they are all going through. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, why a growing number of schools are banning cell phones. You can listen on the Times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.