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US Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, leaving app’s fate to Trump

In this photo illustration, the TikTok logo is displayed on a phone on January 17, 2025 in New York City. The Supreme Court unanimously decided to ban the app in the United States. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Updated 18 January 2025
Reuters
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US Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, leaving app’s fate to Trump

  • Trump vows his TikTok decision in “not too distant future“
  • Law was passed on national security grounds
Updated 18 January 2025
Reuters

WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court upheld on Friday a law banning TikTok in the United States on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell it, putting the popular short-video app on track to go dark in just two days.
The court’s 9-0 decision throws the social media platform — and its 170 million American users — into limbo, and its fate in the hands of Donald Trump, who has vowed to rescue TikTok after returning to the presidency on Monday.
The law was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by President Joe Biden, though a growing chorus of lawmakers who voted it are now seeking to keep TikTok operating in the United States.
TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app’s users challenged the law, but the Supreme Court decided that it did not violate the US Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech as they had argued.
ByteDance has done little to divest of TikTok by the Sunday deadline set under the law. But the app’s shutdown might be brief. Trump, who in 2020 had tried to ban TikTok, has said he plans to take action to save the app.
“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” Trump said in a social media post.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend Trump’s second inauguration on Monday in Washington.
“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” Chew said in a statement, while reiterating the company’s free speech claims.
Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed TikTok in a phone call on Friday.
It is possible that TikTok could keep operating on Sunday if the Biden administration clearly states it will not enforce the law in deference to the incoming Trump administration. However, it is not clear if that would convince Apple, Alphabet’s Google, Oracle and others not to stop providing key services to TikTok.
A person briefed on the matter said TikTok is still planning to go dark on Sunday without further clarity from the Biden administration on the legal status of the app.

‘Foreign adversary control’
TikTok’s Chinese ownership for years has raised concerns among American leaders, and the TikTok fight has unfolded at a time of rising trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump is expected to levy high tariffs on Chinese goods due to what he terms unfair trade practices from the world’s biggest exporter.
Lawmakers and Biden’s administration had emphasized national security concerns regarding TikTok, including that China could use it to amass data on the millions of Americans using the app for harassment, recruitment and espionage.
“TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government’s national security concerns,” the Supreme Court said in the unsigned opinion.
TikTok has become one of the most prominent social media platforms in the United States, particularly among young people who use it for short-form videos, including many who use it as a platform for small businesses.
Some users reacted with shock that the ban could actually happen.
“Oh my god, I’m speechless,” said Lourd Asprec, 21, of Houston, who has amassed 16.3 million followers on TikTok and makes an estimated $80,000 a year from the platform. “I don’t even care about China stealing my data. They can take all my data from me. Like, if anything, I’ll go to China myself and give them my data.”
The company’s powerful algorithm, its main asset, feeds individual users short videos tailored to their liking. The platform presents a vast collection of user-submitted videos, often under a minute in duration, that can be viewed with a smart phone app or on the Internet.
As the Jan. 19 deadline approached, millions of users jumped to other Chinese-owned apps like RedNote, finding they had to decipher its all-Mandarin platform to kickstart their feeds.
“China is adapting in real-time to the ruling,” said Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, which submitted a brief in the case against TikTok. “Beijing isn’t just building apps; it’s building a discourse power ecosystem to shape global narratives and influence societies.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the ruling affirmed that the law protects US national security.
“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data,” Garland added.

What happens next
The Biden administration has emphasized that TikTok could continue operating as-is if it is freed from China’s control. The White House said on Friday that Biden will not take any action to save TikTok.
Biden has not formally invoked a 90-day delay in the deadline as allowed by the law; companies providing services to TikTok or hosting the app could face legal liability.
“This decision’s going to be made by the next president anyway,” Biden told reporters.
It is not immediately clear if TikTok’s business partners including Apple, Google and Oracle will continue doing business with it before Trump is inaugurated. The law bars providing certain services to TikTok and other foreign adversary-controlled apps including by offering it through app stores such as Apple and Google.
Google declined to comment on Friday. Apple and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement reiterated Biden’s position that “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law.”
Given the timing, Jean-Pierre added, action to implement the law “must fall to the next administration” while the Justice Department said “implementing and ensuring compliance with the law after it goes into effect on January 19 — will be a process that plays out over time.”
A viable buyer could still emerge, or Trump could invoke a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, stating that keeping TikTok is beneficial for national security.
Only one notable bidder has emerged so far — Frank McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, who said he believes TikTok is worth about $20 billion without its algorithm.
“Beijing needs TikTok more than Washington does,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow and expert in US-China relations at the Hudson Institute think tank. “With that leverage, Trump has a better chance of getting what he wants: TikTok’s continued operation in America without any national security threats.”

Topics: TikTok

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Judge is ‘offended’ at DOGE’s tactics but does not pause its takeover of the US Institute of Peace

Updated 20 March 2025
AP
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Judge is ‘offended’ at DOGE’s tactics but does not pause its takeover of the US Institute of Peace

  • The institute and many of its board members sued the Trump administration Tuesday, seeking to prevent their removal and to prevent DOGE from taking over its operations
Updated 20 March 2025
AP

A federal judge allowed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to remain in control of the US Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit created by Congress, but expressed concern about their conduct.
US District Judge Beryl Howell said Wednesday she was offended by DOGE staff’s use of threats and law enforcement to gain access to the USIP headquarters and to remove the institute’s president, George Moose, from the building on Monday.
But she declined to immediately restore the former board members, who filed the lawsuit late on Tuesday, to their positions. Howell also declined to bar DOGE staff from USIP’s headquarters, which they gained access to on Monday in part with the help of the police.
Trump last month in an executive order targeted USIP and three other agencies for closure in an effort to deliver on campaign promises to shrink the size of the federal government.
The institute and many of its board members sued the Trump administration Tuesday, seeking to prevent their removal and to prevent DOGE from taking over its operations.
USIP is a think tank, which seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts. It was created and funded by Congress in 1984. Board members are nominated by the president and must be confirmed by the Senate.
The suit is the latest challenge to the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle US foreign assistance agencies, reduce the size of the federal government and exert control over entities created by Congress.
Among the board members who filed suit is former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan, who was nominated to the ambassadorial role in Trump’s first term and continued to serve as ambassador under President Joe Biden and then was picked by Biden for the board.
The lawsuit accuses the White House of illegal firings by email and said the remaining board members — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — also ousted Moose, a former ambassador and career diplomat at the State Department.
In his place, the three appointed Kenneth Jackson, an administrator with the US Agency for International Development, according to the lawsuit.
In response, government lawyers raised questions about who controlled the institute and whether the nonprofit could sue the administration. It also referenced other recent court rulings about how much power the president has to remove the leaders of independent agencies.
DOGE staff tried multiple times to access the building Monday before successfully getting in, partly with police assistance.
The institute’s staff had first called the police around 3 p.m. Monday to report trespassing, according to the lawsuit. But the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that the institute’s acting president — seemingly a reference to Jackson — told them around 4 p.m. that he was being refused access to the building and there were “unauthorized individuals” inside.
“Eventually, all the unauthorized individuals inside of the building complied with the acting USIP President’s request and left the building without further incident,” police said.
The lawsuit says the institute’s lawyer told DOGE representatives multiple times that the executive branch has no authority over the nonprofit.
A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, said, “Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage. The Trump administration will enforce the President’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.”
To the top Democrats on the foreign affairs committees in Congress, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks and New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the “hostile takeover” of the institute was one more sign that Trump and Musk want “to recklessly dismantle historic US institutions piece by piece.”
The leaders of two of the other agencies listed in Trump’s February executive order — the Inter-American Foundation, which invests in businesses in Latin American and the Caribbean, and the US African Development Foundation — also have sued the administration to undo or pause the removal of most of their staff and cancelation of most of their contracts.
A federal judge ruled last week that it would be legal to remove most contracts and staff from the US-Africa agency, which invested millions of dollars in African small businesses.
But the judge also ordered the government to prepare DOGE staff to explain what steps they were taking to maintain the agency at “the minimum presence and function required by law.”

Topics: Trump Returns DOGE US Institute of Peace (USIP)

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EU proposes joint defense push amid Russia fears and US worries

Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters
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EU proposes joint defense push amid Russia fears and US worries

  • Kallas said Russia’s economy was in “full war mode,” with 40 percent of its federal budget going to the military
  • “Regardless of the ongoing negotiations for peace in Ukraine, this is a long-term investment in a long-term plan of aggression”
Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters

BRUSSELS: Europe should further boost military spending, pool resources on joint defense projects and buy more European arms, according to an EU blueprint unveiled on Wednesday, driven by fears of Russia and doubts about the future of US protection.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, presented the proposals in a White Paper on defense, which aims to ensure Europe has a “strong and sufficient” defense posture by 2030.
“The international order is undergoing changes of a magnitude not seen since 1945. This is a pivotal moment for European security,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels.
Kallas said Russia’s economy was in “full war mode,” with 40 percent of its federal budget going to the military.
“Regardless of the ongoing negotiations for peace in Ukraine, this is a long-term investment in a long-term plan of aggression,” she declared.
Some proposed measures aim to boost the EU’s arms industry, meaning any role for companies from major weapons producers outside the bloc such as the United States, Britain and Turkiye would be substantially limited.
EU countries have already begun boosting their own defenses in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They ramped up defense spending by more than 30 percent between 2021 and 2024.
But their efforts have acquired more urgency from US President Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Russia and US warnings that European security can no longer be Washington’s primary focus.
“450 million European Union citizens should not have to depend on 340 million Americans to defend ourselves against 140 million Russians, who cannot defeat 38 million Ukrainians,” European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.
“We really can do better. It’s time for us to take responsibility for the defense of Europe.”

CAPABILITY GAPS
The paper urges Europe to fill “capability gaps” in areas such as air and missile defense, artillery, ammunition and missiles, drones, military transport, artificial intelligence, cyber warfare and infrastructure protection.
The paper – a draft of which was leaked last week — proposes EU countries swiftly pool resources to fill the gaps, including through Defense Projects of Common European Interest, defined by governments and benefiting from EU financial incentives.
Moscow has condemned the EU’s rearmament push as an incitement to war based on an “invented story” of a Russian threat. Such words have not reassured European leaders, as Russia made similar statements before the invasion of Ukraine.
The EU paper includes proposals outlined earlier this month to boost countries’ defense spending.
Those include a plan for the Commission to borrow 150 billion euros ($163.35 billion) for loans to EU governments to spend on defense projects and easing EU rules on public finances, which the Commission says could mobilize a further 650 billion euros.
Defense policy has traditionally been the domain of national governments and the NATO security alliance that brings together North America and Europe.
But the EU has become increasingly involved in defense in recent years and the White Paper suggests a fundamental shift to a more pan-European approach.
Many EU governments say they are in favor. But how it would work is likely to be the subject of fierce debate — over who should have the power to decide on joint projects, who should run them and how they should be funded.
The proposals in the paper would require the approval of the bloc’s national governments and — in some cases — the European Parliament to become law.
In the paper, the European Commission suggests it could act as a “central purchasing body” on behalf of EU members. But some EU capitals have already signalled resistance, wanting to keep such decisions in the hands of national governments.
The paper says the Commission will also work on building a true EU-wide market for defense equipment, simplifying and harmonizing rules.
Such measures are intended to reduce the fragmentation of Europe’s defense industry, in which many manufacturers produce different weapons systems for different governments.
For example, Europe has 19 different main battle tanks, compared to just one in the United States and 17 types of torpedoes compared to just two in the US, according to an analysis by McKinsey.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Europe Kaja Kallas US

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US State Dept denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters
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US State Dept denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

  • Department denies deleting data, says it wasn’t holding it
  • Yale research report links Putin to adoption program for deported Ukrainian children
Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Wednesday denied that data collected in a government-funded program that helps track thousands of abducted Ukrainian children had been deleted, but acknowledged that the effort had been terminated as part of Washington’s sweeping freeze on almost all foreign aid.
In a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Democratic lawmakers sounded alarm that the data from the repository might have been permanently deleted.
Speaking at a daily press briefing, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said suggestions that data was deleted were false.
“The data exists,” Bruce said. “It was not in the State Department’s control. It was the people running that framework, but we know who is running the data and the website, and we know fully that the data exists and it’s not been deleted and it’s not missing.”
Bruce also suggested that President Donald Trump by bringing up the issue in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Wednesday may mean cooperation between the two countries on the topic could continue.
“The president of the most powerful country in the world, saying, I’m going to do something here... I think that’s a pretty good, clear indication that we can still work on issues that matter and make them happen without it being in a certain structure that has existed,” she said.
The research program conducted by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab was part of an effort that began under President Joe Biden to document potential violations of international law and crimes against humanity by Russia and Russia-aligned forces in its invasion of Ukraine.
The Trump administration paused the program on January 25, the unnamed State Department spokesperson said in an email, as the Republican president ordered a broad review to prevent what he says is wasteful spending of US taxpayer dollars with causes that do not align with US interests.
“Following a review, the US Department of State decided to terminate the foreign assistance award supporting the Ukraine Conflict Observatory,” a different spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the data resides on a platform owned by MITRE, a non-governmental organization that operates research and development centers, according to its website.
“To the best of MITRE’s knowledge and belief, the research data that was compiled has not been deleted and is currently maintained by a former partner on this contract,” it said in a statement.

Researches lose access
In his call with Zelensky, Trump inquired about the children who had gone missing from Ukraine during the war, including the ones that had been abducted, the White House said in a statement.
“President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home,” the White House said.
Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.
Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.
The decision to stop the program means researchers will lose access to a trove of information, including satellite imagery and other data, about some 30,000 children taken from Ukraine, the lawmakers said in their letter.
Last December, a report produced as a result of the research said Russian presidential aircraft and funds were used in a program that took children from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripped them of Ukrainian identity and placed them with Russian families.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the alleged war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Malaysia agrees on terms for restarting MH370 wreckage search

Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters
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Malaysia agrees on terms for restarting MH370 wreckage search

  • The decision will enable commencement of seabed search operations in a new location estimated to cover 15,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean
Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has agreed to terms and conditions of an agreement with exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search for the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, its transport minister said on Wednesday. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014 in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The decision will enable commencement of seabed search operations in a new location estimated to cover 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) in the southern Indian Ocean, based on a “no find, no fee” principle, Minister Loke Siew Fook said.

Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million if the wreckage is successfully located, he said.

“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the MH370 passengers,” Loke said in a statement. The government in December said it had agreed in principle with Ocean Infinity’s proposal to resume the hunt for MH370. The firm had conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018 but failed on two attempts.

Those followed an underwater search by Malaysia, Australia and China in a 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane. A ship that will look for the missing plane was deployed to its Indian Ocean search zone late last month, ship tracking data showed, even though a deal had yet to be signed with the government.

It was not immediately clear how long the search contract with Ocean Infinity would be. Loke had previously said it would cover an 18-month period.

Topics: Malaysia MH370 Flight MH370

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Pope Francis no longer using ventilation, confirmed as improving, Vatican says

Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters
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Pope Francis no longer using ventilation, confirmed as improving, Vatican says

  • “The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are confirmed to be improving,” said the latest detailed medical update
  • The pope’s doctors believe his infection is under control, the Vatican press office said
Updated 19 March 2025
Reuters

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is no longer using mechanical ventilation for help breathing at night and his doctors believe he will continue to improve, the Vatican said on Wednesday, in the latest positive update as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia.
Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for nearly five weeks for a severe respiratory infection that has required evolving treatment.
“The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are confirmed to be improving,” said the latest detailed medical update on his condition.
The pope had been using non-invasive mechanical ventilation overnight during his hospital stay, which involves placing a mask over the face to help push air into the lungs.
Such ventilation had been “suspended,” the statement said. But it said the pope is still receiving oxygen via a small hose under his nose.
The pope’s doctors believe his infection is under control, the Vatican press office said shortly after the release of the latest statement. The pope does not have a fever and his blood tests are normal, it said.
The pope has been described as being in a stable or improving condition for two weeks, but the Vatican has not yet given a timeframe for his discharge, saying his recovery is going slowly.
Francis is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
He has been receiving both respiratory physiotherapy to help with his breathing and physical therapy to help with his mobility. He has used a wheelchair in recent years due to knee and back pain.
Doctors not involved in Francis’ care said the pope is likely to face a long, fraught road to recovery, given his age and other medical conditions.

Topics: Vatican Pope Francis Pneumonia

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