Here are the top stories for this week all summarized so you can stay informed and save time!
All sources are at the end of the post.
US appeals court rejects big tech's right regulate online speech:
On Friday, the US 5th Circuit appeals court upheld a Texas law prohibiting large social media companies from banning or censoring users based on their point of view. In addition to this it has a provision allowing either users or the Texas attorney general to sue to enforce the law. Technology industry groups call this a setback, saying all it will do is turn platforms into bastions of dangerous content. The largely 2-1 ruling makes it possible that the US Supreme Court will rule on the law, which conservatives say is necessary to protect their views from "Big Tech" censorship. A Supreme Court ruling is made more likely as this contradicts a ruling by the 11th Circuit in May which found that most of a similar Florida law cannot be enforced as it violates companies' free speech rights. The companies affected by such laws have sought to preserve their ability to regulate user content when they believe it may lead to violence, citing concerns that unregulated platforms will enable extremists and terrorist groups. The association on Friday said it disagreed with forcing private companies to give equal treatment to all viewpoints. "'God Bless America' and 'Death to America' are both viewpoints, and it is unwise and unconstitutional for the state of Texas to compel a private business to treat those the same," it said in a statement.
Germany takes control of Russian-owned oil refineries:
The facilities of the oil refinery on the industrial site of PCK-Raffinerie GmbH, jointly owned by Rosneft, are illuminated in the evening in Schwedt, Germany, on May 4, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP, File)
On Friday, Germany’s economy ministry announced that it has seized control of three Russian-owned oil refineries to secure supplies of gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel. Germany's Federal Network Agency, which regulates its gas and electricity industries, will be in charge of controlling Rosneft's shares in the three refineries: PCK Schwedt, near Berlin, MiRo, near Heidelberg, and Bayernoil in Bavaria. The ministry says they account for roughly 12% of Germany's oil refining capacity and that this was meant to "counter the threat to the security of energy supply.” Europe has been embroiled in a bitter energy standoff with Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine in late February, leading its imports of Russian oil and natural gas to have fallen sharply. The Schwedt refinery is especially important to Germany's energy needs, processing about 220,000 barrels of crude a day. It alone supplies about 90% of Berlin's fuel, according to Reuters.
Woman Hailed as Hero For Using Drone to Locate Over 200 Lost Pups For Free:
Erica Hart via SWNS
A dog lover has been hailed a ‘real-life superhero’ for using her drone to reunite families with their lost pups most recently, just in time before a ‘deadly’ storm hit. September 9th was a normal Friday for Erica Hart, as she abandoned her shopping trip to rush home and launch a drone search for a schnauzer before a rumbling thunderstorm made things worse. Jamie Hollinshead phoned her from Clayton, Yorkshire, to say his rescue dog Hilda had bolted from their garden and they’d already searched for two hours. The 33-year-old rushed to the last-known location and within 20 minutes spied the escaped pooch running down a residential road. When the two-year-old dog darted into a nearby field and kept moving, Erica was able to direct Jamie and his wife to the best spot for intercepting her. The couple from Clayton, who adopted the rescue dog this past April, has hailed Erica a ‘real-life superhero’ and believes Hilda could have been killed had she not been found before the thunderstorm hit minutes later.
Pipes a Million Times Thinner Than Human Hair Could Deliver Personalized Therapies to Individual Cells:
Pipes a million times thinner than a human hair could deliver personalized therapies to individual cells, according to new research. The ‘world’s tiniest plumbing system’ could transform medicine by funneling drugs, proteins, or molecules to precisely targeted organs and tissue without any risk of side effects. It is made of many microscopic tubes that self-assemble and can connect themselves to different biostructures. These nanotubes form using DNA strands woven between different double helices. The tube structures have small gaps similar to woven bamboo tubes called Chinese finger traps and now with an engineered cork on the ends of the tubes, the system of tubing can turn the flow on and off in a controlled way. These improvements in the tubing design are a significant step toward creating the first network of its kind to combat a host of life-threatening diseases, allowing scientists to study diseases like cancer, and the functions of the body’s more than 200 types of cells.
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