Up First from NPR - Ceasefire Negotiations, Options for Haiti, Oppenheimer Sweeps Oscars

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Muslims are making the start of Ramadan today — and there is, as yet, no ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to stop the war during this holy month. In Haiti, police say they are "on their knees" as the coordinated attacks from armed gangs enter their second week. And in a moment of global conflict, a movie about the creation of the atomic bomb sweeps the Academy Awards.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Mark Katkov, Tara Neill , Rose Friedman, Lisa Thomson and Ben Adler.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Milton Guevara. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Zac Coleman.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Biden said what he wanted in Gaza. We're going into Ramadan. It should be nothing happening. Instead, the war continues into the Muslim holy month. A temporary ceasefire could point to a longer peace. So why is it so hard to achieve? I'm E. Martinez, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Haiti's prime minister can't return to his own country. Haitian gangs have coordinated attacks on his government.

So could one of their leaders become Haiti's next president? And in a moment of global conflict, a movie about the creation of the atomic bomb sweeps the Academy Awards. For better or for worse, we're all living in Oppenheimer's world, so I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere. Other Oscar winners referred to conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. What was the show like? Our correspondent put on a gown and went. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. Now, our change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to our change,

this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. Muslims are marking the start of the holy month of Ramadan today, and there is as yet no ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The U.S. with Arab mediators has been trying for weeks to pause the war during this holy month of daily fasting, introspection, and worship. Here's what President Biden told MSNBC over the weekend. I want to see a ceasefire, and I'm starting with a major,

major exchange of prisoners for a six-week period. We're going into Ramadan. It should be nothing happening. And we should build off that ceasefire. Should be nothing happening, he says. NPR international correspondent Aya Batraoui is covering what is happening. Hey there, Aya. Hi, good morning, Steve. Why isn't there a deal? So the main issue is over what kind of ceasefire this is going to be. The U.S., as you heard Biden say back six weeks, a humanitarian truce in which 40 to 50 Israeli hostages are released and much more aid flows into Gaza. And the U.S. hopes that they can build on this during the talks and make it extend. But Hamas wants an end to the war. Or at least U.S. guarantees that any truce will be extended,

and they're using hostages as leverage. Now, Israel agrees with the six-week pause in the fighting, but Israel's military and political leadership, they're insisting on a military operation in southern Gaza to dismantle Hamas battalions in Rafah. That is where more than a million Palestinians have been displaced. Many are living in tents and they have nowhere left to go. You know, I watched a good part of this interview the president had with Jonathan Capehart of MSNBC. It's a really revealing exchange. The U.S. has said, don't invade Rafah, where all of these civilians are taking shelter along with Hamas. Jonathan Capehart says, is that a red line?

Meaning you'll really respond if Israel invades Rafah. Biden says, yes, it's a red line. But then added there are no red lines when it came to U.S. support for Israel's defense, meaning he doesn't really want to hammer Israel if they do this. How does Israel respond then? Well, the response has come from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He spoke to Politico after Biden's remarks, and he said Israel will go to Rafah because his red line, he says, is October 7th, making sure that this Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel never happens again. And he also bluntly repeated his opposition to Biden's support for a two-state solution, saying his positions have the backing of the majority of Israelis who he says,

quote, don't want to see a Palestinian state. Netanyahu argues that a Palestinian state would be a security threat for Israel. Is there any indication that the Israeli leader has changed course at all in response to requests from the United States? Well, there's things he hasn't done, for example, like he hasn't gotten in the way of Biden's efforts to have the U.S. drop food from planes to people starving in northern Gaza. And Israel says it is working closely on a sea route that the U.S. and other countries want to use to send aid that way into northern Gaza. But what he also hasn't done is what aid groups say would be the most efficient, most direct, quickest way to get food in, which is open border crossings with the north of Gaza. Land crossings is what the aid groups want. So what are conditions like in Gaza right now?

People are absolutely exhausted, Steve. Everyone that NPR's producer Enes Baba there speaks to wants reprieve. You know, Gaza's health ministry says more than 30,000 people have been killed in the past five months, most of them by Israeli airstrikes. And people also just need clean running water, electricity and food. And the usual traditions of Ramadan are impossible in these conditions. Have a listen to what Salam al-Nadjar says. He's a 62-year-old man who's fled his home in Gaza. He says it's not right that people are living in tents and can't visit with family or perform nightly prayers in mosques because of bombings.

But he also says it's not fair that some Hamas leaders are living comfortably in exile while the people of Gaza are eating excrements, though he used a different word for that. NPR's Abba Traui, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Steve. For more coverage and analysis and differing views, go to npr.org slash Mideast Updates. Mid-East updates. Armed gangs control much of Haiti's capital as part of a revolt. Yeah, many groups in the country have been working to remove the country's prime minister, and they conveniently struck when he was out of the country. He's still not able to return. Ariel Henry is so unpopular, he wasn't even allowed into the neighboring Dominican Republic,

the other country on that island. And it's in the neighboring Dominican Republic that we find NPR's Eder Peralta. Good morning. Hey, good morning, Steve. How'd the prime minister get into such a jam? This standoff begins about two weeks ago. Prime Minister Ariel Henry announces that he intends to delay elections until next year. And that's when these gangs, who used to fight each other, started working together to overthrow the government. They started attacking government targets, police stations, the port, the airport.

And they've been trading heavy fire with police, so much so that the prime minister can't even fly into his own country. And last week, as you mentioned, he tried to fly here to Santo Domingo. But the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, has made it clear that Ariel Henry is persona non grata here. And that's because he says Henry is so hated that he would pose a security threat here in the Dominican Republic where there's a lot of Haitians. Wow. So if he can't even get into the neighboring country and can't get home, who replaces him as Haiti's leader? I mean, that's the question. He is still hanging on. But the jockeying for his spot has already begun. There is one gang leader in particular, Jimmy Jerezé, who is known as Barbecue. And he

is clearly gunning for the top job in the country. Last week, he said if Henri doesn't resign, there will be civil war. But at the same time, he's really trying to exploit the division between classes in Haiti. The last thing the elite in Haiti want is these gangs to take over. But Barbecue says, look, I'm protecting the interests of the poor. I'm making sure that the leader they don't like, who they think is illegitimate, will never return to Haiti. And we've also heard a name from the past, Guy Philippe, a former coup leader who served time at an American prison. And he says he wants to be president. And one of his core promises is that he would offer amnesty to gang leaders. But let's not forget that these gangs have sowed chaos across

Haiti. They've attacked the civilian population ruthlessly. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been displaced by that violence, and nearly half the country is going hungry. I guess we should note the United States has an embassy there. It's very influential in the country. So what is the U.S. doing? Well, over the weekend, there was an evacuation. We were told from the American embassy, we were told by U.S. Southern Command that they flew aircraft to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince to evacuate some staff and also to bring in some more military personnel to beef up security at the embassy.

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince said it asked for more security because of, quote, heightened gang violence. So U.S. Marines were sent there to essentially beef up security. Do people see a path toward calm? The answer you'll get from the U.S. and from the prime minister is that a Kenyan-led international peacekeeping force can do that. But that mission was approved last year by the U.N. and it has faced hurdle after hurdle, and it's unclear when that might actually happen.

CARICOM, the bloc of Caribbean countries, is holding an emergency meeting today. They have been trying to solve this, but they've gotten nowhere. Now they're inviting the US, France, Canada, the UN, and Brazil to the talks to try and bring this to some order. And Pierre-Zé de Peralta, thanks so much. Thank you, Steve. And now the envelope, please. This is a national emergency.

Didn't need a charge. Oppenheimer blew up the Oscars. The three-hour movie about the man who created the atomic bomb picked up seven Academy Awards. And Pierce, Mandelit Delbarco was in the audience last night. Hi there, Mandelit. Hello, good morning. So not a huge surprise that Oppenheimer would do so well. No, no, actually Oppenheimer was a favorite coming into the Oscars. Director Christopher Nolan got his first Oscar and his movie won Best Picture. He's been an evangelist for IMAX and the big screen theatrical experience. And this is what he said during his speech. Movies are just a little bit over 100 years old. I mean, imagine being there 100 years into painting or theater. We don't know where this incredible journey is going from here.

But to know that you think that I'm a meaningful part of it means the world to me. Oppenheimer also got awards for Best Cinematographer, Best Original Score, Best Supporting Actor, Robert Downey Jr., and Best Actor, Cillian Murphy, who played the title role. We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb. And for better or for worse, we're all living in Oppenheimer's world. So I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere. Mendeleev, weren't there some other mentions of war and peace? There were. You know, the documentary 20 Days in Mariupol

became the first film from Ukraine to win an Oscar, and as he held up his award, the film's director, journalist Mstislav Chernov, said he wishes he never had to make the film. I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities. Director Jonathan Glazer, whose movie about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Zone of Interest, won Best International Feature, and he was on stage with his producer. Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.

You know, Steve, the Oscars ceremony actually started a few minutes late because there was a protest over Gaza in the street. The streets were blocked off and I and all the rest of the audience had to walk down Sunset Boulevard in their gowns and tuxes. You know, glamorous Hollywood. Once you finally made it in there, did anything surprise you about the awards? Well, you know, the movie Poor Things, it swept the technical categories last night. And its star, Emma Stone, beat out rival Lily Gladstone from Killers of the Flower Moon. And Martin Scorsese's movie didn't get a single award. There were no envelope mix-ups or nominees slapping

hosts like in past ceremonies, but in one bit, actor John Cena paid homage to a famous Oscars moment from 1974 when a streaker ran across the stage naked. Well, you know, you do what you can to salute the past. Go on, go on. You know, among the speeches, Davine Joy Randolph was really quite touching. She won for Best Supporting Actress in the movie The Holdovers. For so long, I've always wanted to be different. And now I realize I just need to be myself. Okay, that's beautiful, Mandelit.

But I want to ask about one more film. I've got two colleagues here. I don't want to name them, but one of them might be Michelle Martin. So they're going by each other the other day, and is beautiful, Mandelit, but I want to ask about one more film. I've got two colleagues here. I don't want to name them, but one of them might be Michelle Martin. So they're going by each other the other day, and they say, Good morning, Barbie. Good morning, Barbie. So how did Barbie do? Well, Barbie, or maybe you're Ken.

Director Greta Gerwig, she didn't get the award for her screenplay, and producer Marco Robbi, who played Barbie, didn't get to pick up the Best Picture Oscar. Ryan Gosling didn't win for Best Supporting Actor, and his song, I'm Just Ken, lost out to Billie Eilish's Barbie song. But he did give a show-stopping performance. You know, everyone in the audience was singing and dancing along, and you could feel the onstage kinergy all the way up to the rafters where I was sitting. Mandelit, thanks so much.

Thank you. That's in Pierce Mandelit, El Barco. And that's Up First for this Monday, March 11th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Amy Martinez. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Mark Katkoff, Tarneil, Rose Friedman, Lisa Thompson, and Ben Adler. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Ben Abrams, and Milton Gavata. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Zach Coleman. As always, start your day here with us tomorrow. And find more in-depth cover

to the stories we brought you on the radio on NPR's Morning Edition, the radio show co-hosted by the same people who bring you this podcast. You can find your station, if you need to, by going to stations.npr.org. Thank you.