Arab Leaders on Israel-Hamas, Trump Won't Testify, Argentina Inauguration

Qatar is hosting policymakers for an annual forum focusing this year on the war in Gaza.

So I can promise I will not give up.

As the U.

I'm Michelle Martin, that's Leila Fadl, and this is up first from NPR News.

And Argentina's newly elected far-right president, Javier Milley, was sworn into office.

Sí, juro.

He's promising big changes in Argentina to tackle an economic crisis fueled by runaway inflation. We have a preview of what that might look like and his chances of success, so stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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Qatar A. U.

Joining me now from Doha is NPR's Ayah Batraoui, Hi ayah.

Hi, good morning Layla.

Good morning, So tell us what you're hearing at this conference.

Right, so this forum is absolutely dominated by the war raging in Gaza. It's increasingly being seen as a threat to regional security and the key issue in the Middle East right now. Now, Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed al-Thani. He told the forum that the war is also showing the size of the gap between those around the world demanding an end to this war and those reluctant to even call for a ceasefire. Now, Israel says this war to destroy Hamas could take another two months.

Now among the attendees is U.

Well, he says he expects public order to break down soon in the Gaza Strip as hunger, continuous Israeli bombardment and the spread of disease increases the possibility that Palestinians could be forced from Gaza into neighboring Egypt to seek refuge. And that is something Egypt vehemently opposes. Now, despite the U.S veto, Guterres said he will not give up. It's important to note.

I think there's a widening gulf when it comes to rhetoric. I'm very concerned at the lack of recognition of the fact that Israel does not have carte blanche.

Occupying powers have responsibilities.

And again, back to those basic laws of war about proportionality, distinction, you know, supporting civilians.

Now you point out that the U.

Well, almost none. But one surprising advocate at this forum was Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, from South Carolina, who, by the way, says he supports another Trump presidency now. He praised Qatar for its role mediating during this war. He said there should be a two-state solution and insisted Hamas must be destroyed and, of course, the U.S.

I pledge in front of the world to help President Biden secure the votes in the United States.

Senate to make it possible for Saudi Arabia to have a defense agreement with us, which would then make it possible for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel. So there were guests in the audience hearing this. Because this war is evoking a lot of emotions as people watch these images of mass displacement and the scale of the war, particularly thousands of Palestinian children killed by airstrikes. So it's not something that people in this region are likely to forget. And that is going to complicate how Arab governments interact with Israel from here on.

That's NPR's Ayat Batrawi joining us from Doha.

Thank you ayat, Thanks Laila.

Donald Trump plans to avoid testifying for a second time in the New York civil fraud trial against him and his company.

His lawyers had said he would take the witness stand in his own defense today, but on the eve of the hearing, Trump posted on social media.

NPR's Andrea Bernstein has been covering the case and joins us now from New York to explain what's coming next. Hi Andrea.

Good morning.

So what happened?

Well, it may be true that when it comes to testifying, Trump really doesn't have anything more to say. For a while now, Trump's legal team has been saying that Eric Trump and Donald Trump would be among the trial's final witnesses. But first Eric and then Donald Trump abruptly changed plans. One former Donald Trump lawyer, Ty Cobb, had even predicted last week on CNN that Trump wouldn't show up. Trump told me last night. That's because of the legal risk that the attorney general could cross-examine Trump on some of his lies and misstatements, which could hurt his legal strategies.

Now, Trump's lawyers say he was being made to unfairly testify while under a gag order. What is that about?

Right from the beginning of this case, Trump started going after the judge's clerk, accusing her of bias. She received so many death threats she can no longer take the subway to work. So Judge Arthur N. Gorin said to Trump, You can come after me, but not my staff. Trump did anyway twice, and the judge fined him twice.

Now, what happened when Trump testified the last time?

So it went like this. In that last appearance, Trump was asked a yes or no question about property values, and he answered. You know, you sued me on the basis that Trump had no money and he wrote up phony statements and defrauded banks. Even though they were represented by the biggest law firms in the world and the most sophisticated and best lawyers. And even though those banks were paid back in full, there was no harm. So that's his defense.

So what do we know about what's next?

So court resumes tomorrow with the cross-examination of the expert, two rebuttal witnesses. After that, written briefs in January and arguments from each side on January 11th, and after that a verdict.

NPR's Andrea Bernstein in New York.

Thank you, thank you.

Argentina's newly elected far right president, Javier Millet was sworn in sworn into office over the weekend.

So, Javier Gerardo Millet, Juro por Dios y por la patria, the former TV personality and.

Self-described anarcho-capitalist won in a landslide victory, promising to bring big changes to an Argentina struggling with nearly 150 percent inflation. He expressed admiration for former President Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The economist, Latin American correspondent Ana Lankes joins me now from Buenos Aires. Good morning, Hi Lila, Hi So.

Yeah, so, between winning the election in mid-November and taking office on Sunday, Millet backpedaled on many proposals, including the one you mentioned, dollarization, which was like his flagship proposal. And instead, his priority is going to be shrinking the size of the state. So, in his inauguration speech yesterday, he said he'd cut public spending by around five percentage points of GDP. And he's expected to table a lot of reforms in Congress in the coming days, including cutting the number of government ministries, simplifying the tax system and maybe even privatizing some state-owned companies. So it's starting to sound a lot more like a conventional kind of liberal shock therapy program than the anarcho-capitalist platform he ran on in the campaign.

So, I mean, as you point out, this was his flagship campaign promise, and now he's backtracking. How will Millet's followers respond to this different approach, this softer approach to?

Reform, Yeah, that's a really good question, because Millet's whole campaign was anti-establishment. He took pride in being this outsider who was coming to blow up the system. A bit like, you know, Trump draining the swamp. And instead, since winning the election, he has appointed a lot of moderate technocrats and establishment figures to the top jobs in his cabinet. So I think a lot of people close to Millet are a bit disappointed.

Support now. But in his inauguration speech, Millet didn't promise a quick fix. He predicted things will get worse before they get better. What obstacles does he face in his first year in office?

Yeah, that's right. So Millet was really frank. In his inauguration speech, he said there's no alternative to austerity. And he also said We know that in the short term, the situation will worsen. He's talking about the next few months.

Ana Lankes, from The Economist, talking to us from Buenos Aires Thank you so much, thank you.

The meeting comes as an aid deal for Ukraine remains stalled in Congress. Lawmakers disagree on the package, which currently links immigration and border policy changes to the aid for Ukraine and Israel.

And Zelensky is also set to meet with House Speaker Republican Mike Johnson, as well as Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. We'll bring you the latest news here.

I'm Laila Fauldon and I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Michael Sullivan, Krishnadev Kalamur, Mohamed El-Ghardissi and Olivia Hampton. It was produced by Katie Klein, David West and Chad Campbell. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Zach Coleman.

And thanks for listening to Up First. You can find more in-depth coverage of the stories we talked about today and much more on NPR's Morning Edition. That's the radio show Michelle Martin, Steve Inskeep, A. Martinez and I host.

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