--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, March 24th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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. But first, let's start with three international stories that we're watching this morning.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The U.S. carried out a series of airstrikes 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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 on to power as he faces an ongoing corruption trial.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's used by more than 150 million Americans. Committee chair Representative Kathy McMorris, a Republican from Washington, said 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."
--:-- Shamita Basu: Lawmakers questioned CEO Sho Chu 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: China said yesterday that it would firmly oppose a forced sale of the app. And Chu has maintained that TikTok is free from Chinese government manipulation and ownership won't change its data security.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One moment that raised eyebrows in the room during Chu's testimony is when he brought up data security at U.S.-owned companies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I mean, look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. TikTok came up with a proposal last year to host all of the data generated by American users on servers in Texas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Chu says it would function as a kind of digital firewall, but lawmakers weren't convinced that'll do enough to keep American data safe.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Democratic committee member Frank Pallone pressed Chu on data selling practices.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Would you commit to not selling your data to anyone?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Congressman, I actually am in support of some rules. I didn't ask you whether the rules, 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I can get back to you on the details. Okay, get back to me.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It was a heated testimony, to say the least. And PR 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And they came up with a good explainer on what data TikTok does collect from American users. You can find all of that on the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And that's because the only hospital in town, Bonner General Health, recently announced it'll stop offering obstetrical services.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The care that they provide can be easily misconstrued as having been potentially illegal in the state of Idaho.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We're seeing a similar care crisis in Texas. Slate talked to medical providers there who have said they've considered quitting or leaving Texas because of abortion politics.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the evidence is piling up that this is leading to bad outcomes for patients. Some physicians have waited to intervene until the patient is literally close to dying.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this month, five women and two OBGYNs 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Guardian has a profile on one of the state's few remaining doctors who provides abortion services, Dr. Leah Torres.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In her words, "Everything that happens on abortion happens in Alabama first."
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And now there's another evolution, lab-grown, cow-free milk. The Washington Post has the story about this growing industry.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: No cholesterol, no lactose, growth hormones or antibiotics. And now major corporations are experimenting with lab-grown dairy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Companies like Starbucks, Nestle, and General Mills. A big draw for them is the environmental angle.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many have set ambitious sustainability goals, and they're partnering with cowless dairy companies to meet them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And check out our interview show, In Conversation. This week is all about artificial intelligence and what it might mean for the future.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I spoke with the editor-in-chief of The Verge, Nilay Patel. And he made this point that I can't stop thinking about.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He said, "We are all giving chat GPT and other AI bots like it way too much human credit."
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And most of us right now are failing the AI mirror tests. We do not see that we are just talking to ourselves.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is queued up to play for you next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So enjoy the weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
