[MUSIC FADES IN]
Gideon Resnick, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, June 15th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, the plight of asylum seekers stuck on an island for 20 months, how the surprise awakening of a psychiatric patient may change medicine for a generation, and why some elephants do yoga.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
But first, we're gonna take a look at some major stories in the news. The Supreme Court voted to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act. In a 7-2 decision, the majority held that Congress has the authority to enact the law, which gives preference to Native families if a Native child is up for adoption. The plaintiffs in the case had argued that the law discriminates against non-Native parents. Ahead of the decision, we spoke with Rebecca Nagle, the host of the Crooked Media podcast "This Land" and a citizen of Cherokee Nation. She explained the importance of the legislation.
[START APPLE NEWS TODAY CLIP]
Rebecca Nagle: There is a long history of the U.S. federal government systematically separating Native children from their families, which I think it's really important to point out is an internationally recognized form of genocide, to remove the children of a people. You can't continue to exist as a people, as a tribe, if you don't have your children.
[END APPLE NEWS TODAY CLIP]
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves for China tomorrow. He'll be the highest-ranking American official to visit the country in five years. A previous visit was rescheduled after a spy balloon was shot down over U.S. territory. And tension over that raises the stakes of what's already a contentious relationship here, with other disputes including trade, human rights, Taiwan's security and China's support for Russia.
In New York, a grand jury has indicted Daniel Penny on a second-degree manslaughter charge after he put Jordan Neely in a chokehold in the subway last month. Penny's lawyers say Penny was protecting himself and other passengers after Neely was acting erratically.
Turning now to India and Pakistan. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated ahead of the cyclone making landfall in India's western state of Gujarat. There were already several deaths reported from the heavy rains and high winds.
And finally, dozens of migrants are dead and hundreds missing in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece. It's one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in Europe. Rescuers are still searching the seas to look for survivors. And government officials say the boat came from Libya, a key launching point for people trying to get to Europe. These boats are often operated by human smuggling networks, overloaded with passengers and lacking adequate safety measures.
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
That deadly shipwreck is a reminder of how dangerous it can be for migrants traveling by sea. But that danger doesn't always end for those who make it to shore. There are dozens of migrants who have been stranded for 20 months on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean in difficult conditions. A warning here that this story involves suicide and sexual assault.
In 2021, a group of Sri Lankan Tamils set sail for Canada, where they planned to seek asylum, citing persecution at home. But their ship had engine trouble, and they hit rough weather. They were pulled off course, and so they headed for an island known as Diego Garcia. It's a British territory, home to a U.K. and U.S. military base, where unauthorized visitors are strictly forbidden. A military ship escorted them to land, and since then, they've been in a state of legal limbo, living in what migrants say are terrible circumstances. Human rights attorney Tom Short spoke to Britain's Channel 4 earlier this year.
[START CHANNEL 4 ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Tom Short: Two of our clients have written to us, and I understand you've seen these letters as well, expressing torment. I mean, utter, utter desolation and feelings of no hope whatsoever.
[END CHANNEL 4 ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Migrants have been living in tents initially intended for COVID isolation for military personnel. Anyone who leaves the area must be accompanied by a guard. And migrants say the poor conditions on the island are causing severe mental distress. Lawyers say they are aware of at least 12 suicide attempts, several hunger strikes and allegations of at least two sexual assaults within the camp. One of the migrants told the "BBC" that she was sexually assaulted, and she had to live in the same tent as her attacker for a week before authorities moved him. The British government did not respond to the "BBC's" questions about this.
Some migrants have gotten off the island, returning home after either giving up their asylum claims or being rejected. A handful have been approved to be sent to a "safe third country." But dozens of people are still there. And attorneys say the review process has been unfair, slow and full of mistakes. The British government says it is following international law.
It's unclear how long the process could take and whether the remaining migrants can get off the island and onto a country where they will be safe. One asylum seeker tells the "BBC," people seem to have "lost their hope."
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
After a traumatic event when she was 21, April Burrell became a patient in a psychiatric hospital. She developed psychosis as well as auditory and visual hallucinations. The former high school valedictorian was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia. Neuroscientist Richard Sima writes for "The Washington Post" and told us April's story.
Richard Sima: She was catatonic. She wouldn't respond very much to the outside world. She would be unblinking. Like, she wouldn't smile. She'd be just standing at the nurses' station, and she would have to be physically moved.
Resnick, Narrating: For close to 20 years, April stayed at a long-term psychiatric center. A series of treatments had failed. Dr. Sander Markx, a psychiatrist at Columbia University, wanted to change that, so he ordered new tests and consulted with dozens of experts. Finally, the psychiatrist saw something that other doctors had missed. April's bloodwork showed that her immune system was producing excess antibodies that were attacking her body. That was a big clue she had lupus.
Sima: What was strange was that the lupus seemed to only affect her brain. There's no external signs of the disease, which is probably why it was missed by previous doctors. So, it seemed that these antibodies were attacking her brain and causing damage and inflammation in the areas that might cause these psychiatric symptoms.
Resnick, Narrating: Now, finding lupus was a major breakthrough because there are very effective treatments for it. Her doctors started treating it, hoping that the psychiatric symptoms might get better. And April began to dramatically improve. As Sima put it, she woke up from years of illness.
Sima: She's just so different because she's engaging and asking questions and awake.
Resnick, Narrating: April's family was happy to see elements of her personality and memory return. And now, she's giving hope for psychiatric patients who've been written off as untreatable.
Dr. Markx and his team are now working to identify and treat more patients with psychiatric conditions that were caused or exacerbated by autoimmune issues. April's case, along with others, spurred the development of a mental health center at Columbia that will work on developing treatments based on genetics and autoimmune causes of mental illness.
Sima: That is really game-changing for the patient, the family, but also as an approach to psychiatry, to look for different underlying causes and give as precise a treatment as you can to those causes.
Resnick, Narrating: There's a whole lot more to April's story, including how two chance meetings decades apart helped set up the medical breakthrough. You can read all of it on the Apple News app.
[LIGHTHEARTED MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
She's almost 40 years old, she weighs 6500 pounds, and she loves to show off her famous handstand. I'm talking about Tess, an elephant at the Houston Zoo. Like a lot of humans out there, she and her herd do daily yoga to stay limber as they age.
The Houston Zoo starts their elephants on a daily yoga routine from a very young age. And there's another useful purpose to all of this. So, as the elephants to downward dog and such, their human trainers are checking out their skin, their feet and their mouths. The zoo's elephant manager explained to the "Houston Chronicle" that yoga helps them monitor an elephant's health and also their range of motion. It's also a great mental stimulation for these exceptionally smart animals.
The sessions are pretty short, anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes. Older elephants will sometimes do two a day. And just like you and I, after completing a tough workout, elephants do love a little treat. In this case, they're often getting bananas and bread. Now, not all of the elephants at the Houston Zoo can do a handstand like Tess can. The elephant manager said that she is definitely the most flexible of the group.
[MUSIC FADES IN]
You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next on student debt. The Supreme Court will issue an opinion on Biden's loan forgiveness plan any day now. Tens of millions of people could be affected by that decision. "Mother Jones" looks back at the story of Jessica Madison, a pioneer of the loan cancellation movement. That story is cued up for you next, and Shumita will be back with the news tomorrow.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]