Violence Flares in Gaza, and White House Responds to Protests: ‘Who Cares?’

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, October 20th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13This morning around 3 a.m. Eastern, widespread outages started for hundreds of websites and apps. The issue, a disruption of Amazon Web Services, which a lot of companies rely on for data storage and running the back end of things. In an update around 5.30 a.m., Amazon said its cloud services were mostly up and running again. But the list of affected companies includes everything from McDonald's to Netflix to the messaging app Signal to cryptocurrency platforms. The outages underscore just how much of the Internet runs off of Amazon services. For more updates, go to NYTimes.com.

0:56In Gaza yesterday, a new round of Israeli strikes killed at least 40 people, according to health officials there, and many others were rushed to the hospital, as the fragile, week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was put to the test. The Israeli military said it carried out the strikes after Palestinian fighters fired on its troops, killing two soldiers near Rafah. Hamas' military wing said it wasn't aware of that clash and that it lost contact with its fighters in that area months ago. In another flare-up of violence, Israeli forces opened fire on a car on Friday that they say crossed into an area controlled by the military.

1:35That attack killed at least nine people, including four children. A relative of the victims told the Times that they were all members of the same family and that he thinks they got lost and crossed into the Israeli zone by mistake. The Israeli military often publishes warnings about where civilians shouldn't go, but over the course of the war, many Gazans, who either don't have cell service or became disoriented in the devastated landscape, have been unsure whether or not they're in those restricted areas. Last night, despite both sides accusing the other of violating the truce, Israel and Hamas said that they are still committed to maintaining the peace deal.

2:17Now, three updates on the Trump administration.

2:24On Saturday, in thousands of locations across the U.S., demonstrators took to the streets to protest the administration. Events were scheduled in all 50 states. In New York City, officials said more than 100 ,000 people turned out. And the crowds at one rally in Chicago stretched for 22 blocks. At the protests, dubbed No King's Day demonstrations, people said they felt like Trump had crossed the line from behaving like a president to acting like a monarch. Some of those who marched and held signs told The Times they were outraged by a wide range of issues. the deployment of federal troops in American cities, government layoffs, and immigration raids.

3:07You know, the Mexican community, they are a community. So we're pretty much here to fight for those that are scared to come out their house, scared to go to school. In response to the protests, Republican leaders denounced them as a, quote, hate America rally. When asked if the president had a comment on the demonstrations, a White House spokeswoman replied by email, quote, who cares? I think it's a joke. Look, I looked at the people. They're not representative of this country. President Trump himself later claimed, without evidence, the events were funded by what he called radical left lunatics.

3:41And the White House posted an AI-generated image of Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance wearing crowns. Also, thank you. Thank you for having me. And thank you to President Trump for having such an amazing will for second chances. George Santos, the disgraced Republican congressman from New York, went on Fox News yesterday to thank President Trump for commuting his sentence. Santos was released from prison Friday night after serving less than three months of his more than seven-year sentence. He pleaded guilty this spring to wire fraud and identity theft and admitted to lying to Congress and stealing from campaign donors.

4:22A congressional ethics investigation found he'd spent campaign funds on cosmetic procedures, designer clothes, and OnlyFans purchases. In a post online, Trump said he felt Santos' sentence was excessive. It's part of a far-reaching wave of clemency that the president has granted to political allies this term. Now you said you could get Botox now that you're out. I can't. Something you can't do in prison. You can't. Thank you.

4:52And last one, the president of Colombia has accused the U.S. of murdering an innocent fisherman in an attack on a boat the U.S. claimed was carrying illicit drugs. In the past two months, the U.S. military has blown up multiple boats in the Caribbean Sea, saying it's necessary to stop dangerous drugs from entering the U.S. Many military law specialists, however, have called the attacks illegal because soldiers cannot lawfully target civilians who don't pose a threat in the moment. There have also been questions about who has been on the boats. The administration has not provided any evidence to support its claims that they were smugglers beyond descriptions of intelligence assessments.

5:32The Colombian president said one of the men killed in mid-September was a lifelong fisherman and urged his attorney general to help the man's family file claims against the U.S. for his death. He suggested they join up with a Trinidadian family that also says one of their relatives, another fisherman, was killed in a different boat strike. Trump responded to the accusation by saying he would cut aid to Colombia and impose new tariffs on goods from the country. After that, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed the U.S. had struck another boat allegedly carrying drugs, this one on Friday. He said it was connected to a Colombian rebel group.

6:17By most measures, the U.S. economy looks pretty good right now. Consumer spending is growing, so is GDP. But once you drill down, the rich are doing well, but a lot of other people are struggling. Ben Castleman is The Times' chief economics correspondent. He's been reporting on a growing divide in the economy between the highest earners, who've been buoyed by a stock market that keeps setting records, and the lowest earners, who are feeling the pinch of persistent inflation and a slowing job market. In recent months, the two-track nature of the economy has really become particularly stark. By one estimate, the top 10 % of households by income now account for nearly half of all spending.

7:05the most since the late 1980s. The pattern is showing up throughout the economy. Airlines report booming sales for first and business class tickets, but they're having trouble filling the cheaper seats at the back of the plane. Credit card companies are in an arms race to offer pricey cards with exclusive perks to well-to-do customers. But lower-income households are struggling to make minimum payments on their debts. According to economic policy experts Ben talked to, that divergence between the rich and the poor in the U.S. could mean the economy is more fragile than many indicators suggest, with one saying, quote, As the wealthy continue to consume, that's masking more and more insecurity and instability.

7:59And finally. Yesterday morning in Paris, half an hour after the Louvre opened, a truck with a ladder attached to it pulled up to the south side of the building and raised two thieves up to the second floor balcony. They used a grinder to break into the window and then burst into one of the gilded galleries that hold the Louvre's crown jewels. My colleague Catherine Porter is based in Paris. Inside the museum, the thieves who had masks on set off the alarms, but they managed to break into two cases and take things like royal emerald necklace and matching earrings, a tiara with a ton of pearls on it.

8:50They quickly headed back down the ladder, jumped on their motorbikes, and roared off. The entire thing lasted only seven minutes. It was one of the most brazen and probably costly heists in French history. The city was shocked. The mayor of Central Paris, he said it was like a movie. Couldn't believe it. The Louvre was quickly shut down. People, thousands of them who were already in the building, ushered out. A criminal investigation was launched. but at this point, we have no details of what they have found. This theft speaks to an issue that multiple museums across the country are facing. In the past even months, we've seen many thefts at museums, but the fact that this was done in broad daylight speaks to a growing audacity of thieves who are willing to strike in the open.

9:55Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a deeper look at what's happening in the American economy and why the stock market keeps going up and up and up. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.