--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, May 18th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, a new ban on TikTok, what to know about a grave climate warning, and the secret danger hiding in your turkey sandwich. But first, more and more kids across the country are having a hard time making it to school and staying in the classroom.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Psychologist Jonathan Dalton told USA Today about how intense anxiety can cause school avoidance. We are all designed, our hard wiring is to avoid things that make us scared. The challenge is that just like our smoke alarm can't tell if we burned our toast or the curtains are on fire, the same is true for these kids.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Health reporter Adriana Rodriguez says school avoidance got worse during the COVID pandemic. Some kids didn't return to classrooms when they reopened. Parents tell her there's little information out there about how to help kids whose anxiety is making them afraid to go to class. A lot of people don't know what to do. They don't know where to go. They don't really know if it's just them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Jane Dembski's son started avoiding school in the sixth grade. Experts say those behaviors often show up in kids who are in transition, going from elementary to middle or middle to high school. Rodriguez tells the family's story.
--:-- Adriana Rodriguez: At first, it started, not wanting to go to school a day or two, not wanting to go to school an entire week. That week kind of goes into weeks and then into months. And then he became totally school avoidant where he was not going to school.
--:-- Adriana Rodriguez: Frustrated by the lack of resources, Dembski started an organization called the School Avoidance Alliance to raise awareness. It estimates that up to 28 percent of students in the country avoid school at some point because there no standard guidance on getting kids back in the classroom.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Rodriguez says schools and families often have to come up with their own solutions which can be a combination of therapy and accommodations by schools. Experts tell me that it's really everyone who needs to be responsible. This includes parents, this includes mental health experts, and it includes schools. You know, they all need to communicate and work together in order to help the students.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dembski's son went on to graduate and find a job. His mother says he's managing his anxiety now and thriving. She says she hopes that their story of getting through the mental health challenge of school avoidance will give hope to other families dealing with it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's take a moment now to look at some major moves from a few different state legislatures, starting with Montana. It's now the first state to ban TikTok. Lawmakers say they did it out of concern that China's government could get access to Americans' data through the social media app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The bill doesn't target individual users, but it will fine TikTok and app stores offering it if they don't block access in Montana by the end of the year. Legal challenges are sure to come. TikTok calls the law a First Amendment violation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a number of new bills into law. They regulate gender-affirming care, rules on gender pronouns in schools, bathroom use, and other issues that LGBTQ plus people say the state should stay out of.
--:-- Shamita Basu: DeSantis held a public event to sign the bills. What we've said in Florida is we are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy. And kids should have an upbringing that reflects that.
--:-- Shamita Basu: DeSantis is expected to officially enter the presidential race next week. And finally on to Texas which is also moving to limit medical options for transgender people The legislature passed a bill to ban doctors from providing gender treatment to children If the governor signs it into law, Texas will be the most populous state to ban gender-affirming care for minors.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The World Meteorological Organization has a grave new warning for our warming planet. The world is almost certain to hit record high temperatures in the next five years. And there's a strong chance that global temperatures will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over historical levels.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's a dangerous tipping point where catastrophic effects can happen. The WMO says the rise is because of both ongoing human action and the coming El Nino. That weather system will bring warmer temperatures. But the agency says their report does not mean the globe will permanently cross the 1.5-degree threshold by 2027.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Whether it's a long-term impact is largely up to how people act or don't. The impact of climate change on food and water supplies is forcing millions of people to leave their homes, becoming climate refugees. A recent report from the Norwegian Refugee Council shows that climate disasters, combined with conflicts like the war in Ukraine, forced a record 71 million people around the world to flee their homes last year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One big driver of that displacement was the flooding in Pakistan last summer. Some villages are still underwater. NPR recently checked in on how the recovery is going. Shabnam Baluch is the Pakistan country director for the International Rescue Committee.
--:-- Shabnam Baluch: I'm worried about a repeat disaster. There are predictions that this monsoon, which is around the corner, in end of May, we start the monsoon, there are 70 percent chances of flood this year as well. And we are in no capacity to respond to these floods.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The health menace inside your sandwich That's the kind of headline that makes you stop and think, because it's aimed straight at your lunch. The Wall Street Journal reports on research linking processed meat to various health problems like type 2 diabetes, dementia, and certain types of cancer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Doctors are telling us to eat less deli meat, bacon, and sausage. And one big concern is salt. Processed meats can have up to 400 percent more sodium than unprocessed meat. There's also research connecting certain preservatives to health risks, including colon cancer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, all of that is not particularly new, but what is new is governments are starting to take action. New York City is phasing out processed meats from meals in public schools and hospitals by 2025. The World Health Organization is working on new recommended limits on consumption, and U.S. regulators are setting sodium reduction goals for processed meats.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, the industry says it uses a safe level of preservatives and it offers many reduced sodium products. But health experts would like to see food companies do more. Unprocessed turkey, pork and beef don't have the same negative health impacts. A cardiologist argues to the journal that means the industry could change its processing to create healthier products.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And he'd like to see that because every now and then he loves to have a BLT. One more quick thing before we let you go. Today in New York, the PGA Championship is set to start. We'll have coverage through the weekend on the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Bloomberg Businessweek. It's a spy story about an iconic product, Coca-Cola. A former chemist tried to steal trade secrets in a messy espionage scheme involving China. It's an interesting story. So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
