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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
1. Lawmakers lambasted TikTok’s chief executive about the platform’s ties to China.
The members of a House panel questioning Shou Chew, the video app’s C.E.O., appeared unconvinced by his insistence that American user data would be out of reach of the Chinese government. In an often scathing five-hour hearing today, the lawmakers accused TikTok of threatening U.S. national security and harming adolescents.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers repeatedly asked Chew if TikTok — which is owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance and used by 150 million Americans — was spying on Americans on behalf of the Chinese government. Chew insisted that a program that would store the data of American users on domestic servers would protect their information, but the Biden administration has rejected the proposal.
The popular app has become a battleground in a technological cold war, with American threats of a TikTok ban in some ways mirroring how China has long blocked many American platforms. Hours before Chew testified, China’s commerce ministry said it opposed a sale of the app, potentially narrowing the Biden administration’s options.
Some lawmakers also expressed worries about TikTok’s impact on teenagers. They accused TikTok of building an addictive algorithm that can bombard young people with videos that can put them in dangerous and even lethal situations.
In Utah, the governor signed a bill that could drastically limit youth access to apps such as TikTok.
2. The Manhattan district attorney fired back against his House Republican critics.
The office of the district attorney who is likely to indict Donald Trump, Alvin Bragg, accused lawmakers who have scrutinized its investigation of attempting to inappropriately impede a local prosecution. In response to a request for documents, Bragg’s office declined, saying it would be “an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty.”
The grand jury, which has been hearing evidence about Trump’s role in a hush money payment to a porn star, is now not expected to call for an indictment until next week at the earliest.
The Manhattan inquiry is just one of several involving Trump. The confluence of investigations is putting the criminal justice system through a public stress test unlike any in American history.
3. Israel’s Parliament passed a divisive law as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets.
The new legislation, which passed by the narrowest of majorities, would make it more difficult to declare prime ministers incapacitated and remove them from office. Critics said it was aimed at protecting the country’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges.
The law’s passage came at the start of another day of large-scale protests in opposition to the government plan for a broad overhaul of the judiciary. Later in the day, Netanyahu defiantly said in a televised speech that he would proceed with the overhaul next week.
In other international news, a vibrant and historic main street in Turkey was reduced to rubble after a massive earthquake last month. We flew a drone over the street to show the destruction.
4. Ukrainian tank commanders are growing frustrated with the pace of Western deliveries.
“Give me an Abrams or get me out of here!” one Ukrainian commander recently said, referencing the highly advanced American battle tanks that the U.S. said it would send to Ukraine. Many members of the military have been relying on Soviet-era tanks and decades-old training.
Now they’re growing impatient. Promises of Western equipment, particularly tanks, offered the commanders hope that they could gain the upper hand against the Russians in the Bakhmut region. But deliveries have been slow, and they have had to continue fighting with an arsenal in constant need of maintenance.
In other news from the war, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, visited the southern region of Kherson today.
5. In Jackson, Miss., where some taps run dry, one pipe is leaking five million gallons a day.
An ongoing water crisis has forced residents of the city to boil their water or hoard bottles. Businesses have closed when they’ve run out of water. Yet when officials noticed the busted pipe in 2016, they left it to gush.
The leak has gouged out a swimming pool-size crater on an abandoned golf course. At its current flow, the pipe leaks enough drinking water to serve the daily needs of 50,000 people, or a third of the city residents who rely on the beleaguered water utility.
6. New York City has spent millions converting upscale hotels into migrant shelters.
In order to provide temporary housing for some of the 50,000 migrants who have arrived on buses from the southern border since last spring, city officials have renovated about 100 hotels and office buildings. The effort may ultimately cost as much as $4 billion over the next two years and could result in cuts to city services, the mayor has warned.
The effort has been a kind of boon for hotels, some of which have struggled even as the pandemic has waned. In October, the city signed a $40 million contract to buy out all 1,300 rooms of the Row NYC hotel until mid-April, making it the first of several Midtown hotels that now solely house migrant families.
In other news from New York, legislators say that the state’s highways are just too slow.
7. Autism prevalence rose in the U.S. in recent years.
An estimated one in 36 8-year-olds had autism spectrum disorder in 2020, up from one in 44 in 2018, according to a study released today by the C.D.C. The prevalence was roughly 4 percent in boys and 1 percent in girls.
The rise does not necessarily mean that autism has become more common among children, and could be due to increased awareness and screening. It was especially sharp among Black, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander children; for the first time, autism was significantly more prevalent among 8-year-olds in these groups than in white children.
In other health news, colon cancer is rising among younger adults. Here’s what to know.
8. It’s Sweet 16 time in the men’s N.C.A.A. tournament.
In the hours after this newsletter hits your inbox, four universities will advance to the tournament’s semifinals. Here’s what to watch for.
The most anticipated game of the night is between No. 2 U.C.L.A. and No. 3 Gonzaga. It’s a rematch of a 2021 Final Four game in which Gonzaga came out on top, but the U.C.L.A. star Tyger Campbell wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Two of tonight’s games will be held in Las Vegas — a city the college basketball world once avoided. Only as sports gambling has become more broadly allowed has the city lost its pariah status.
9. What to do tonight:
Cook: Ricotta and lemon brighten up this one-pot pasta.
Drink: The Bee’s Knees cocktail was a favorite of the Prohibition era.
Sell: The secondhand market for luxury men’s clothing is booming.
Upgrade: Our consumer tech columnist says it’s time to stop using physical SIM cards.
Read: “All the Knowledge in the World” tells the history of the encyclopedia.
Listen: Our chief film critic explained why he’s done with movies.
Prepare: Here are some expert tips for getting through allergy season.
Play: Today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. For more, find all our games here.
10. And finally, there’s joy in letting loose.
If you were watching television in the late ’80s and early ’90s, you probably remember the phenomenon: Actors playing everyday people — a teacher, a traffic cop or a businesswoman — drop what they are doing and start grooving.
The almost uncontrollable dancing, once popular on music videos, children’s shows and especially TV commercials, might be cheesy. But my colleague Shane O’Neill found the trend aspirational, depicting a world in which adulthood could be fun and surprising, even for the squares.
Have a spontaneous night.
Brent Lewis compiled photos for this briefing.
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