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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, March 24th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, TikTok's CEO takes the heat from U.S. lawmakers, how abortion bans are driving doctors out of their jobs, and the future of the dairy aisle is leaving cows in the dust.
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But first, let's start with three international stories that we're watching this morning.
The U.S. carried out a series of air strikes in Syria on Thursday night against Iran-aligned groups. The Pentagon said that these groups were to blame for a drone attack that killed an American contractor and injured American troops yesterday. "Reuters" reports, although U.S. forces in Syria have been targeted by drones before, fatalities are extremely rare. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the U.S. strikes left eight pro-Iranian fighters dead.
Meanwhile in Israel, parliament passed a law making it more difficult to remove a prime minister from office. This strengthens Benjamin Netanyahu's ability to hold onto power as he faces an ongoing corruption trial. In an address yesterday, he also doubled down on his plans to weaken Israel's judiciary, which has been the subject of months-long mass protests across the country.
And finally, the U.S. and Canada have come to an agreement that allows both countries to turn back asylum seekers more easily at the northern border. As part of this agreement, Canada says it will offer 15,000 slots for migrants from the Western Hemisphere to apply to enter the country legally. According to the "Los Angeles Times," this move comes as the Biden administration has shifted its immigration strategy in recent months to deter illegal border crossings and establish legal pathways.
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Republicans and Democrats in Congress don't always see eye to eye. But members of the bipartisan House Energy and Commerce Committee seemed to be on the same page yesterday about the need to seriously grill the CEO of TikTok about data security on the world's most popular app. It's used by more than 150 million Americans. Here's committee chair representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington.
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Cathy McMorris Rodgers: To the American people watching today, hear this: TikTok is a weapon by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you, manipulate what you see and exploit for future generations.
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Lawmakers questioned CEO Shou Chew for several hours. The backdrop of this testimony, as we've mentioned before on this show, is that White House officials have told TikTok that it must divest from its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, or face the possibility of a U.S. ban. China said yesterday that it would "firmly oppose" a forced sale of the app. And Chew has maintained that TikTok is free from Chinese government manipulation and ownership won't change its data security.
One moment that raised eyebrows in the room during Chew's testimony is when he brought up data security at U.S.-owned companies.
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Shou Chew: I don't think ownership is the issue here. With a lot of respect, American social companies don't have a good track record with data privacy and user security. I mean, look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
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TikTok came up with a proposal last year to host all of the data generated by American users on servers in Texas. Chew says it would function as a kind of digital firewall. But lawmakers weren't convinced that'll do enough to keep American data safe.
Democratic committee member Frank Pallone pressed Chew on data-selling practices.
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Frank Pallone: Would you commit to not selling your data to anyone?
Shou Chew: Congressman, I actually am in support of some rules.
Pallone: I didn't ask you whether… I asked you whether the company, TikTok, would commit to not selling its data to anyone and just using it for its own purposes internally.
Chew: I can get back to you on the details of that.
Pallone: Okay. Get back to me.
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It was a heated testimony, to say the least. "NPR" has a solid recap. And "Fox Business" did something that many of us don't do when we first sign up for an app. They read through TikTok's entire licensing agreement and privacy policy, and they came up with a good explainer on what data TikTok does collect from American users. You can find all that on the Apple News app.
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There have been several stories about abortion providers that caught our eye recently. They all illustrate the kind of pressure that many physicians feel like they're under, particularly in states that have banned abortion procedures.
First, to a city in Idaho: Sandpoint, home to around 9,000 people. But if anyone needs labor and delivery care, they now have to drive almost 50 miles away.
And that's because the only hospital in town, Bonner General Health, recently announced it'll stop offering obstetrical services. The hospital says it was an emotional decision. But it gave a few reasons, including a pediatrician shortage and Idaho's legal and political climate, which is pushing many doctors to leave the state. Idaho has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country. One doctor described the challenge of trying to bring in new obstetricians to a local news station, "4 News Now."
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Idaho Doctor: The care that they provide can be easily misconstrued as having been potentially illegal in the state of Idaho.
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We're seeing a similar care crisis in Texas. "Slate" talked to medical providers there who've said they've considered quitting or leaving Texas because of abortion politics. Doctors say they face impossible decisions every day because their ethical obligations to pregnant patients who are experiencing dangerous complications are often at odds with state law.
Texas has banned nearly all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. There's an exception for "medical emergencies," but there's no clear definition of what that means. And the evidence is piling up that that this is leading to bad outcomes for patients. Some physicians have waited to intervene until the patient is literally close to dying.
Earlier this month, five women and two OB-GYNs sued the state of Texas, asking lawmakers to clarify what medical exceptions qualify for abortion care and to give doctors the discretion to make decisions they think are right for pregnant patients when their lives are at risk.
And the last story that caught our eye comes from Alabama, where abortions are illegal at all stages of pregnancy, with an exception for life-threatening situations. "The Guardian" has a profile on one of the state's few remaining doctors who provides abortion services, Dr. Leah Torres. She's vocally supportive of reproductive rights and has a big social media presence. And she says she's been targeted by lawmakers, protesters and conservative news outlets.
At one point, the state took away her medical license, putting her out of work for months, only to acknowledge there was no just cause and reinstate it seven months later. Her description of what she went through during that time, the legal costs and lost wages, the feeling of being intimidated by the state, she says it feels like a forewarning for the rest of the country. In her words, "Everything that happens on abortion, happens in Alabama first."
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What even is milk anymore? With so many non-dairy options from oat milk to soy milk to almond milk, we are truly in our post-dairy era. And now there's another evolution: lab-grown, cow-free milk.
"The Washington Post" has the story about this growing industry. One executive of an animal-free dairy company explains it this way: Through a process called precision fermentation, he's able to create milk protein from yeasts or fungi. No cows involved, which is a plus for anyone who cares about greenhouse gas emissions or animal cruelty. And it's supposed to be pretty healthy. No cholesterol, no lactose, growth hormones or antibiotics.
And now, major corporations are experimenting with lab-grown dairy. Companies like Starbucks, Nestle and General Mills. A big draw for them is the environmental angle. Many have set ambitious sustainability goals, and they're partnering with cow-less dairy companies to meet them.
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And check out our interview show, "In Conversation." This week is all about artificial intelligence and what it might mean for the future. I spoke with the editor-in-chief of "The Verge," Nilay Patel, and he made this point that I can't stop thinking about. He said we are all giving ChatGPT and other AI bots like it way too much human credit.
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Nilay Patel: And so there's a thing that animal researchers do with animals where they put a mirror in their enclosure and they try to see if the animal can deduce that it is looking at itself. And most of us right now are failing the AI mirror test. We do not see that we are just talking to ourselves.
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If you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is queued up to play for you next. So enjoy the weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
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