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Today’s top stories
The TikTok social network application logo is displayed on the iPhone screen against the American flag background.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
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OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
The TikTok social network application logo is displayed on the iPhone screen against the American flag background.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
TikTok filed its first major lawsuit to challenge the law, which President Biden signed in April that would ban the app nationwide unless it was sold to non-Chinese buyers. Lawmakers fear the Chinese government could use the app to spy on American citizens or spread propaganda. TikTok said the ban would violate the First Amendment. Internal documents reveal behind-the-scenes negotiations with the US government, including a roughly 100-page national security agreement that would give US officials the ability to suspend the app if it becomes become a threat.
- 🎧 These documents are a “big deal” because they show how far the company is willing to go to allay Washington’s fearsNPR’s Bobby Allyn tells Up first. Biden administration officials told Allyn that anything beyond the separation of Tiktok from its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, is a “zero-starter”. Allyn said the Supreme Court could ultimately decide on the case. If the ban is upheld, it will “further divide the internet”.
If you’ve been planning a summer vacation recently, you may have noticed the option to pay a small fee to offset carbon when buying airline tickets or renting cars. Essentially, the companies promise that they will use your money to reduce or eliminate climate-warming pollution elsewhere. But do these offsets do what they claim?
- 🎧 NPR’s Julia Simon says there are two main reasons why carbon offsets can turn out to be false promises. First, many of them overestimate their impact. Some are collecting money to protect forests that don’t need to be protected, for example. Second, most offsets promise to eliminate or store carbon dioxide emissions for 40 years or less. But some CO2 can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds, even thousands of years.
Utah lawmakers used new state sovereignty law to overrule Biden administration’of the new Title IX expansion, which will take effect in August. The new regulations are intended to protect pregnant, transgender, and LGBTQ+ students. Some of these rules will no longer be available against laws passed by the Utah Legislature, including one the governor signed banning transgender students from using the bathroom or locker room that corresponds to their gender identity. Republican Rep. Neil Walter claimed expanding Title IX “constitutes an excess” of federal power. Biden’s Title IX expansions have been blocked in at least 10 states, but Utah is the first to invoke sovereignty to do so. (Through KUER)
Picture show
Main exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC Friday, June 14, 2024.
Jared Soars for NPR
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Jared Soars for NPR
Did you know DC is home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, including 82 copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio, printed 400 years ago?? These copies were previously accessible only to scholars. Today, they will be on display for the public for the first time when the Folger Shakespeare Library reopens after an $80.5 million renovation.
- 📷 NPR gets an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how the Folger Shakespeare Libraryy are connecting with new audiences. See briefly in the new main exhibition hall and see how the space has been transformed.
Weekend selection
Sharks in the Seine – mon condition!
Netflix/Sofie Gheysens
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Netflix/Sofie Gheysens
Check what NPR watching, reading and listening this weekend:
🍿 Movie: Under Paris is currently one of Netflix’s hottest movies. It mixes suspense and creature-filled horror. Pop culture happy hour Linda Holmes said the big hit was “very silly”, although not as silly shark. If you’re looking for a popcorn movie with loads of cartoon gore, you could do a lot worse.
📺Television: 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer announced his retirement in 2022 at the age of 41. How did Federer envision his life after letting go of the racket? In the documentary Federer: Final twelve days, the athlete recounts his emotions in real time as he gets ready to compete professionally for the final time. ABOVE Morning editionCo-director Asif Kapadia calls the documentary “a love story.”
📚 Books: Summer is here! If you’re wondering what to bring for your vacation or cozy reading time, NPR staff shares Top non-fiction And fiction books of 2024 so far. Find everything from biographies and memoirs to health, science, history, sports, and more
🎵 Music: NPR music editor Sheldon Pearce says that Kendrick Lamar’s explosive Juneteenth concert at the Forum in Los Angeles “planted a flag for the future of LA rap while uniting to hate one guy Some Toronto giant.” Missed the concert? You can stream it on Amazon.
🎮 Games: Erdtree’s Dark Elden Ring Finally here The sequel to the 2022 hit brings a new world to explore, new secrets to discover, and tough new bosses to defeat.
❓Quiz: How do you keep up with celebrity mug shots and Olympic fashion? Test your knowledge above This week’s news quiz.
3 things to know before going
Lorrie Paul and her father Duane Harlow Roberts.
Lorie Paul
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Lorie Paul
- Lorrie Paul went bankrupt one winter day in 1996. Her father was not recovering well from open heart surgery and her mother needed a lot of support. As she sobbed near the hospital window, a stranger’s hand on her shoulder brought her comfort. She is still thinking about This nameless, nameless hero three decades later.
- As they enter their golden years, Gen-Xers have many possibilities was diagnosed with cancer than Baby Boomers, a new study from the National Cancer Institute shows.
- Virginia “Ginger” Hislop is about to complete her master’s degree at Stanford Universityy when World War II broke out, and her priorities changed. Eighty-three years later, he was 105 years old received her degree to a standing ovation. (through KQED)
This newsletter has been edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.
