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The abortion-pill case in a Texas court, explained · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, March 16th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, the U.S. gives TikTok an ultimatum: get sold or get banned, how AI is making phone scams more convincing and dangerous, and a March Madness preview.
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  But first, people on all sides of the American abortion fight are watching for a ruling in a case that might temporarily take the abortion pill mifepristone off the market. Arguments were yesterday in Amarillo, Texas. A group of anti-abortion activists asked a federal judge for an injunction to block the pill, for now, while their full case is considered. They argue that the FDA approval of mifepristone in 2000 was wrong. The Justice Department and a company that makes the drug say that this lawsuit is meritless, that the drug has repeatedly been proven safe and effective.
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  There's a lot of focus on the judge here, Matthew Kacsmaryk. He's a Trump appointee who's expressed anti-abortion views in the past and worked for a conservative legal organization. Legal analysts say the plaintiffs filed the suit in Texas with the hope that he would be sympathetic to their case.
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  "The Texas Tribune" was in the courtroom yesterday and has the details. Arguments largely didn't focus directly on abortion but on legal questions of standing and procedure. Namely, do the plaintiffs have the right to bring a lawsuit asking to reopen the FDA's approval for mifepristone?
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  There were also arguments over whether approval of pills that can be easily mailed across the country threaten state's differing laws on abortion. Another issue was whether the FDA should've been allowed to approve the drug under the fast-track procedure it used two decades ago.
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  If the judge grants the injunction the anti-abortion plaintiffs want, it's not clear how much impact that could have on access to mifepristone nationally. And any ruling here is likely to be appealed to a higher court.
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  The Biden administration is threatening to ban TikTok in America if the company's Chinese owners don't sell their stakes. "The Wall Street Journal" broke the story of this latest twist in talks between TikTok and the U.S. government.
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  Pushing for a sale is a big shift in administration policy. TikTok has been negotiating with U.S. regulators for years about how to keep user data safe. There are concerns that the company could share private data from American users with the Chinese government, along with other questions about how much influence Beijing could exert over the company. TikTok has repeatedly said that American data is safe. It has plans to spend $1.5 billion on a program to protect data of U.S. users. And the company says that changing ownership won't make it more secure.
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  We have sort of been through this before. In 2020, the Trump administration tried to force a sale of TikTok. There were even some buyers lined up: Oracle and Walmart. But TikTok fought that in court and the deal fell apart. There is more legal wrangling going on behind the scenes. But some of this will play out on a big public stage. As we've mentioned before, TikTok's CEO will testify in Congress next week.
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  As AI technology gets more sophisticated, certain types of scams are, too. "Washington Post" tech reporter Pranshu Verma told us about this trend. It starts with a phone call from someone claiming to be a lawyer.
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  Pranshu Verma: And that lawyer will say, "Hey, your son or daughter is in jail. They've gotten into an accident or they've done something wrong. They need cash now."
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  And here's where this particular scam starts to get really creepy and convincing.
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  Verma: They put somebody on the phone, quote unquote, that sounds exactly like the person that's their loved one, that son, daughter, grandson. And so that's enough to get you hooked in.
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  In one case, a couple got duped by a call that sounded like their son. He said he was in trouble, he needed money, and they sent thousands of dollars. But it wasn't really him. It looks like the scammers cloned his voice using AI technology, possibly from YouTube videos that the son posted.
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  Impersonation scams like these are on the rise. FTC data shows, last year, thousands of people got scammed over the phone by someone claiming to be a friend or family member. We asked Verma to explain how scammers use AI to create a copy of someone's voice.
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  Verma: Theoretically, if this podcast posts and your voice is on there for a minute, my voice is on there for a minute, somebody could take our voices, and then the AI software analyzes what makes your voice unique. And then it can recreate and mimic a clone voice.
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  From there, a scammer could make that AI voice say whatever they type. Law enforcement says tracking these scammers down is tough because they could be calling from anywhere in the world.
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  The schemes may be getting more high-tech, but same old safety tips still apply. Be wary of anyone who is calling and asking for cash or gift cards. And if someone who sounds like a loved one calls asking for money, maybe put them on hold and try calling them separately to see if it's actually them. Because the incoming number that you see on your phone can be faked, too.
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  The next few days are unlike any other on the college basketball calendar. Practically wall-to-wall games as the first rounds of the men's and women's NCAA tournaments get started. "Apple News" sports editor Shaker Samman is here to talk about it.
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  Basu: Hey, Shaker.
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  Shaker Samman: Hey! How's it going?
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  Basu: Good! So let's talk about the teams to beat, starting with the men's side. Who is rising to the top?
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  Samman: There's not really that sort of standout team this year. Kansas, for most of the year, looked like they had a really good shot of repeating as national champions. They do. Alabama is the overall top seed. Houston looks like they've got the best squad they've had since Phi Slama Jama was running through the tournament in the '80s. And then you've got a few teams a little lower. Arizona looks frisky, Perdue with their 7'4" behemoth, Zach Edey. And then Duke, a team that is pretty common around this time of year to make some waves, started the season really slowly but have put it together and look like their cabal of freshmen could really take a bite outta March Madness.
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  Basu: And how about the women's tournament?
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  Samman: You know, I'm a sucker for superstars. Iowa's Caitlin Clark, South Carolina's Aliyah Boston, Stanford's Cameron Brink, all three players who are just so fun to watch and whose teams have a really strong chance of cutting down the nets this year.
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  Basu: And what about any Cinderella picks? Are there any matchups that you're watching that could really bust some brackets out there?
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  Samman: Absolutely. You know, I am really zeroing in on the men's side on Utah State, who are 18th ranked team in the country, but are somehow only a 10 seed in the tournament. They're playing Missouri in the first round. Also, for as much as I like hyping up the Duke men's team, Oral Roberts, who they'll play in the first round, a 12 seed, have a 7'5" center, Connor Vanover, who could really frustrate Duke on the interior and maybe even take out Tennessee in the second round. On the women's side, Princeton feels like a really popular candidate as a Cinderella pick here. They're on a 15-game win streak, they won the Ivy League tournament, they're a No. 10 seed. They could take out NC State in the first round.
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  Basu: Now Shaker, aside from having all the latest updates on the games in the Apple News app, we also have something special there today from Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning, right?
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  Samman: Yeah! We spoke to Zo, an NBA legend. You might remember him from his days with the Miami Heat, or you might remember him, if you're a college basketball fan, with his time at Georgetown where, in his very first March Madness game in 1989, he saved the Georgetown Hoyas from a historic defeat against the No. 16 seed, Princeton, in the first round. Mourning blocked what would've been Princeton's game-winning shot and kept their March Madness dreams alive. And, really more than anyone else, can speak to what it's like to play in this high-pressure, win-or-go-home environment.
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  Alonzo Mourning: Every possession has to be executed with perfection because I know that if I'm not putting forth the effort, then I'm going home. So this is the moment that you've been waiting for, but now it's time for you to step up.
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  We've got more from Alonzo Mourning. He wrote a letter to his 12-year-old self. It's published in the "Players' Tribune." You can listen to him read it himself. If you're listening to us in the Apple News app right now, that's queued up to play next. So enjoy that listen, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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