Boeing Whistleblower Found Dead as Scrutiny Toward Company Continues to Grow [Full News Memo]

Puberty Blockers Banned in UK, The Potential Banning of TikTok, SpaceX Launches a Test Flight of Starship, Haiti on Brink of Civil War

Newsbites

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• Puberty blockers banned in UK: The National Health Service of the UK announced it will prohibit the use of puberty blockers for adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria. In its release, the NHS said that after a multi-year review of the existing studies and literature, “we have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of PSH [puberty suppressing hormones] to make the treatment routinely available at this time.” Puberty blockers will only be permitted for children who are part of a clinical research trial and a few private clinics. UK health minister Maria Caulfield said the decision was a “groundbreaking change as children’s safety and wellbeing are paramount.”

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• Battle against TikTok: The House of Representatives voted 352 to 65 to pass legislation that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. operations, or ban TikTok in the U.S. The bill now goes to the Senate, where stronger opposition is expected. President Biden has said he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. Proponents of the legislation say TikTok poses a security threat as the company is subject to data sharing agreements with the Chinese government. Some politicians, including Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, are against banning TikTok as they see it as a potential government power grab restricting free speech.

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• SpaceX conducted their longest ever test flight (launch video) for the Starship rocket, which they hope will bring humans to the moon and mars in the future. Starship, which is the largest rocket in the world, traveled halfway around the world, but eventually lost communication and began to disintegrate upon re-entry to earth. Although the rocket didn’t successfully land in the Indian Ocean as they hoped, Starship opened and closed its payload doors in orbit, successfully initiated the transfer of super-cooled rocket propellant between tanks and utilized a flip motion to initiate return to earth. Elon Musk posted on X that "Starship reached orbital velocity…congratulations SpaceX team!!" (full video)

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• Special Counsel Robert Hur defended his decision to include the language in his report that described President Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Mr. Hur was appointed to investigate whether Biden mishandled classified documents, and concluded that he was not criminally liable last month. The four-hour testimony was filled with heated moments from Republican and Democrat lawmakers. (video of highlights)

  Presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing a similar investigation into how he handled classified documents after leaving office. 

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• 2024 Election Rematch Set: Donald Trump (to be 78 yrs.) and Joe Biden (to be 82 yrs.) officially secured their parties’ presidential nominations this week, setting up a rematch of the oldest candidates in U.S. history.

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