May 13 top stories
Hello, it is May 13. Hope your weekend was good. Here are today’s top stories.
TikTok sues U.S. government over law forcing sale or ban
TikTok sued the U.S. government last Tuesday to block a law that could force a nationwide ban of the popular app after President Biden signed the legislation last month.
The court challenge sets up a historic legal battle, one that will determine whether U.S. security concerns about TikTok’s links to China can trump the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users.
The stakes of the case are existential for TikTok. If it loses, TikTok could be banned from U.S. app stores unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells the app to a non-Chinese entity by mid-January 2025.
In its petition filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals, TikTok and ByteDance allege the law is unconstitutional because it stifles Americans’ speech and prevents them from accessing lawful information.
The White House referred questions about TikTok’s legal challenge to the Justice Department, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Recipient of first-ever pig kidney transplant dies
Daily Moth covered this story two months ago on March 22 about a gentleman named Richard Slayman, 62, of Massachusetts, who was the first patient to ever receive the genetically modified pig kidney transplant successfully.
Here is an unfortunate update to the story:
According to Massachusetts General Hospital, Richard Slayman has died. The transplant team said they have no indication Slayman’s death was the result of the transplant. They praised his generosity and kindness and described him as a “beacon of hope” for other patients.
Slayman had already endured a transplant with a human kidney that had to be removed because of complications and was struggling with three-times-a-week dialysis when he agreed to the experimental pig-kidney procedure.
When they announced that surgery had been successful, Slayman appeared to be recovering well. He walked within a few days after the procedure and was released from the hospital a few weeks later.
U.S. overtakes China as Germany’s top trading partner
In 2023, China was Germany’s top trading partner for the eighth year in a row, the U.S. looks like it’s quietly taking that top spot as this year progresses.
Reuters reported that combined exports and imports between Germany and the U.S. totaled 63 billion euros ($68 billion) between January and March of 2024. Meanwhile, trade between Germany and China came to just below 60 billion euros.
Experts said this shift is the result of several factors: strong growth in the U.S. has boosted demand for German products, at the same time, German companies are decoupling from China, and weaker domestic demand in China because China being able to produce goods it previously imported from Germany (mainly cars) reduced German exports to China.
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More than 180 starving and sick pelicans found along Calif. coast
More than 180 malnourished and injured brown pelicans are turning up along coastal California in recent weeks and many others have died.
A local wildlife center director said: “For the first time in ten years this is the most pelicans I’ve ever seen here so, it’s quite unusual. We’ve taken in more than 100 pelicans that were anemic, dehydrated and weighing only half of what they should. They are starving to death and if we don’t get them into care, they will die. It is really a crisis.”
Some wildlife experts said it is not immediately clear what is sickening the birds and noted the pelicans are malnourished even though marine life abounds off the Pacific Ocean.
Wildlife organizations are focused on caring for the birds until they can be released back into the wild.
See Alex’s story about a woman living behind a store’s rooftop sign for a year.
“Rooftop Ninja” lived in food store sign for a year
Thanks, Callie.
In a bizarre story from Michigan, police said a 34-year-old woman was living in a supermarket’s rooftop sign for about a year.
The sign is in a hollow peak at the top of the supermarket where there is glass, so anyone in there would be protected from the elements. The store is the Family Fare Supermarket in Midland.
The public called the woman the “Rooftop Ninja.”
On April 23, contractors working on a roof noticed that there was an extension cord leading into the sign area. They saw that there was a woman in the sign and notified the food store’s management, who called the police.
When police officers went up to the sign area, the woman told them to not worry because she was leaving. She said she wouldn’t come back and did not face any charges.
This “Rooftop Ninja” had a small desk, clothing, some food, a printer, and a plant in the sign area. Managers at the food store said they provided the woman with information on community resources for housing issues.
Thanks for that story. That’s all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
TikTok sues U.S. government over law forcing sale or ban
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/business/tiktok-ban-appeal.html
Recipient of first-ever pig kidney transplant dies
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/11/metro/mass-man-who-received-pig-kidney-transplant-dies/
https://www.dailymoth.com/blog/march-22-top-stories-1
U.S. overtakes China as Germany’s top trading partner
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-overtakes-china-germanys-top-trading-partner-2024-05-09/
More than 180 starving and sick pelicans found along Calif. coast
“Rooftop Ninja” lived in food store sign for a year