US TIKTOK BAN
The countdown is on for TikTok, because US President Joe Biden has signed a new law, bringing the app one step closer to being banned in the country. Yep, it looks like TikTok's clock is tick tick tocking. You see, for a while now, the US has been clashing with TikTok. Their owner, ByteDance, is a Chinese company and the US thinks TikTok could be feeding data from the 170 million Americans who use the app to the Chinese government, which is something TikTok denies. Now, a big national security bill has been approved by lawmakers and signed by the President that could mean the end of TikTok in the US. The new law is giving ByteDance nine months to either sell the app to a non-Chinese owner or face being completely banned, which is a move that's left a lot of content creators pretty worried. But TikTok says it won't be going down without a fight. So we're sure to see a lot more play out before the app's January 19 deadline.

WHALE STRANDING
Authorities are monitoring pods of whales off Western Australia's south-west coast after a mass stranding event yesterday. About 160 long-finned pilot whales were stranded in the shallows at Toby Inlet. 29 whales died but wildlife officers and volunteers worked around the clock to move most of them back out to sea. They're now being watched closely to make sure they don't re-beach themselves.

SEAGULL BOY
Now it's time to meet Cooper, a 9-year-old from Derbyshire in the UK who's surprisingly good at screeching. Yeah, you'd be forgiven for thinking you're listening to a seagull right now. But it's actually Cooper, also known as Seagull Boy. Yep, Seagull Boy, or Cooper, is a seagull super fan. So much so, he dresses like one, and sounds just like one! In fact, Cooper's squawking prowess has just earnt him the title of European Junior Gullscreeching Champion! Where he showcased a standard screech, and the more difficult "seagull that is hungry" screech. There was some tough competition. Ok, maybe not that one. But it was Cooper who managed to impress the judges with an incredible score of 92 out of 100. And he reckons he'll be back again next year to defend his title.

SKI JUMP
First up, to Iceland where Japanese Olympian Ryoyu Kobayashi has just broken a world record for this incredible ski jump. He flew 291 metres, reaching a top speed of 107 kays an hour. What a take-off!

SPACE FISH
Now to these special fish who've just taken off to live in space on board the Shenzhou-18 spaceship. They're called zebrafish, and were chosen because even though they're much smaller than us they have quite a bit in common with humans like their tissues, organs, and about 70% of our genes, which makes them pretty good test subjects.

ROBOT FACE
And finally to a robot in the US that can copy your smile. Engineers at Columbia University have dubbed this robot Emo, not due to its taste in music or affinity for particular hairstyles, but simply because it's designed to mimic emo-tions. Oh no. No, put its skin back on. The hope is that this tech can help robots like Emo better communicate with us humans and make our interactions feel even more real.
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For the past 55 years, Behind the News has been helping to break down current issues and events for young people all around the world. The program is a high-energy, fun way for people to learn about the stories we see in the news while providing background information that isn’t usually given by other news bulletins.