Israel strikes Iran, U.S. official says; Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets’ is here
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Today’s top stories
Israel carried out a strike against Iran overnight, a U.S. official tells NPR. Iran state media reports that according to Iranian Brigadier General Mihan Dost, the loud booms heard east of Isfahan were the sounds of Iranian air defenses intercepting an “unknown object.” The central city of Isfahan is home to sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program. The International Atomic Agency says there’s been no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites. The strike comes less than a week after Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile attack on Israel. Israel’s military and prime minister’s office have not yet responded to NPR’s request for comment.
Google has fired 28 employees in the aftermath of a sit-in earlier this week to protest Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract Google shares with Amazon to supply the Israeli government with cloud services. Last week, Time magazine obtained an internal company document that showed Israel’s Ministry of Defense has also contracted with Google as recently as last month. Google says the work isn’t “directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.” Employees say clarity is needed and fear the technology could be weaponized against Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Zelda Montes, one of the employees who was fired, says Google was “quite literally silencing our voices in the workplace.”
All 12 jurors have been selected for former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York. The search for alternate jurors resumes today. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts related to payments made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair.
It’s a big day for Swifties. Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department is finally out. NPR critic Ann Powers says the album is “written in blood” and as “messy and confrontational as a good girl’s work can get.” Queue up the album, press play and read Powers’ breakdown of the new tracks.
We, the voters
Students exposed to gun violence are less likely to do well in school or graduate. At North Community High School in Minneapolis, students are well aware of those effects. The school’s quarterback was shot and killed blocks from the school two years ago. Another member of the football team was shot in both legs last spring and survived. As part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Minneapolis Public Schools will receive at least $500,000 to help fund strategies to bolster school safety and mental health resources to combat gun violence. But some say there’s a disconnect between what the government is offering and what they need.
Thanks for joining Morning Edition this week as we explored issues surrounding gun violence. The We, The Voters series continues next week with stories about the economy on All Things Considered.
Weekend picks
Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend: Movies: French writer-director Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast is a wildly original adaptation of the 1903 Henry James novella about a man who lives in a constant state of fear. Bonello takes the cautionary tale about the dangers of being too cautious and takes it in unexpected directions.
3 things to know before you go
This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.