Category Archives: US News

More than half a million ‘TikTok refugees’ flock to China’s RedNote as ban looms

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RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, rockets to top of US app stores, along with ByteDance’s Lemon8

New users have piled in to the Chinese social media app RedNote just days before a proposed US ban on the popular social media app TikTok, as the lesser-known company rushes to capitalize on the sudden influx while walking a delicate line of moderating English-language content.

In a live chat dubbed “TikTok Refugees” on RedNote on Monday, more than 50,000 US and Chinese users joined the room. Veteran Chinese users, with some sense of bewilderment, welcomed their American counterparts and swapped notes with them on topics such as food and youth unemployment. Occasionally, however, the Americans veered into riskier territory.

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Canada’s provincial leaders in disarray over response to Trump tariff threats

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Responses range from conciliation to retaliation, including cutting off electricity and halting the purchase of US liquor

Canada’s provincial premiers are sharply divided on how to prepare for US trade tariffs, less than a week before Donald Trump takes office with a threat to dramatically reshape the relationship between the two countries.

Canadian officials have sought to defuse the crisis with personal appeals to the president-elect, multimillion-dollar advertising sprees and targeted threats, but the country remains gripped by uncertainty over how Trump’s tariffs might take effect. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the incoming US administration is weighing hiking tariffs by 2%-5% a month to avoid spiking inflation.

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Chinese officials reportedly discuss sale of TikTok in US to Elon Musk

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Tech company rejects as ‘pure fiction’ a report that a deal could take place if it fails to avoid an impending ban

Chinese officials have reportedly held preliminary talks about a potential option to sell TikTok’s operations in the US to the billionaire Elon Musk, should the short-video app be unable to avoid an impending ban. Another option is that Musk acts as a broker in a deal to sell the app.

Beijing officials prefer that TikTok remains under the control of its Chinese parent, Bytedance, but have discussed other options including a sale to Musk, Bloomberg reported. The Financial Times reported on the same day that the officials had discussed the preliminary possibility of Musk functioning as a go-between for Bytedance and any potential buyer that would prevent the app from being shut down.

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France must stand firm in face of ‘new world disorder’ embodied by Musk, says PM

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François Bayrou said France must look global powers ‘face on’ in reference to Donald Trump’s return to office

The French prime minister has said the country must stand firm in the face of figures such as Elon Musk, who represents a “new world disorder”.

In his first policy speech to parliament on Tuesday, François Bayrou, a veteran centrist, said there was “a new world disorder, that threatens all equilibrium and all rules of defence. There are a certain number of people who embody this without complex, such as Elon Musk.”

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Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal

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Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’

Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.

US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that involved hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.

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Intoxicated ‘nervous flyer’ caused New York flight to divert to Dublin

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American Zachary Greear, 34, receives suspended sentence after unruly behaviour on United Airlines plane

A “nervous flyer” whose unruly behaviour caused his transatlantic flight to be diverted to Dublin has been given a two-month suspended sentence.

Dublin district court heard that the 34-year-old American had mixed the tranquilliser Xanax with alcohol to combat his anxiety before becoming disruptive on the United Airlines flight on Monday.

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Trump interest in Greenland is ‘wake-up call to Copenhagen’, says minister

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Greenlandic minister says Denmark has failed to act over demands for action on minerals and alleged state abuses

A Greenlandic government minister has said she views Donald Trump’s interest in the territory as positive, saying it has acted as a “wake-up call to Copenhagen” after years of failing to adequately respond to its demands for action on minerals and alleged abuses by the Danish state.

Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for housing, infrastructure, minerals, justice and gender equality, said the government had been trying to drum up interest in collaboration with both the EU and the US for “many years”, but it was only now that it was getting the attention it had been seeking.

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Biden insists US is ‘winning’ on world stage – what would losing look like?

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The president defended his record on Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan but foreign policy successes have been few

On paper, few US presidents could boast the foreign policy bona fides of Joe Biden, a veteran statesman with nearly a half-century of experience before he even stepped into office.

But as his term comes to an end, critics have said that the president will leave a legacy of cautious and underpowered diplomacy, as even allies have conceded that the administration is still grasping for a cornerstone foreign policy success.

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Dangerous winds expected to amplify California wildfires as death toll hits 24

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Warning of ‘particularly dangerous situation’ with gusts expected as LA fire chief says: ‘We are not in the clear yet’

Firefighters battling the disastrous wildfires around Los Angeles were prepared for a return of dangerous winds that could again stoke the flames as the death toll in the tragedy has hit at least 24.

Fierce gusts known as Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into devastating infernos that leveled huge tranches of neighborhoods around America’s second-largest city, which has also been hit by drought.

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FBI warns of potential ‘copycat or retaliatory’ New Orleans attacks

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Agency and DHS report possible threat from extremists in response to attack that killed more than a dozen people

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday warned of a potential public safety threat from violent extremists in response to the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“The FBI and DHS are concerned about possible copycat or retaliatory attacks due to the persistent appeal of vehicle ramming as a tactic for aspiring violent extremist attackers. Previous attackers inspired by foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) who have conducted vehicle attacks in the United States and abroad have used rented, stolen, and personally owned vehicles, which are easy to acquire,” the agencies said in a statement.

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Where there’s fire, there’s smoke: Los Angeles blazes raise fears of ‘super toxic’ lung damage

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Concerns that dangerous fine particle pollution can become embedded in bloodstream and lungs

The Los Angeles wildfires have claimed the lives of at least 24 people and have burned more than 100,000 structures. While the focus is understandably on avoiding the flames, another immediate danger lurks across the county and beyond, one more difficult to escape: smoke.

The most dangerous component of wildfire smoke is fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5 or soot. These tiny particles, smaller than one 20th the width of a human hair, can, if inhaled, become embedded in the bloodstream and lungs. It is estimated that about one-third of all particulate matter pollution in the US now comes from wildfire smoke.

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Apple asks investors to block proposal to scrap diversity programmes

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Conservative thinktank wants firm to end its DEI efforts because they create ‘litigation, reputational and financial risks’

Apple has asked shareholders to vote against a proposal to scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, as tech rivals scale back similar schemes before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative thinktank, wants the iPhone maker to end its DEI efforts because they expose companies to “litigation, reputational and financial risks”. The proposal will be voted on at Apple’s annual general meeting on 25 February.

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Pope’s pick for Washington archbishop sets stage for conflict with Trump, experts say

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Appointment of progressive Robert McElroy comes as rightwing Catholics wield significant influence in US capital

When the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, sought to shut down a Catholic charity that was was providing shelter and aid to undocumented migrants at the border, the San Diego cardinal, Robert McElroy, took a robust public stand against the attempt.

“The state of Texas is using governmental pressure to curtail the work of the Church in one of its most fundamental obligations: to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, and to provide drink to the thirsty,” McElroy said in a statement at the time. “No government can morally tell us to abandon or limit this mission.”

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Chuck D pleads for people to stop using Public Enemy’s Burn Hollywood Burn on videos of LA fires

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The 1990 protest track ‘has nothing to do with families losing everything they have’ says the rapper, hitting out at TikTok and Instagram videos

Public Enemy’s Chuck D has asked people to stop using the rap group’s song Burn Hollywood Burn as a soundtrack on videos of the California wildfires, saying it has “nothing to do with families losing everything they have”.

The rapper issued the statement on the weekend in response to several videos uploaded to TikTok and Instagram that use the 1990 Public Enemy song over footage of the wildfires, which have killed at least 24 people, destroyed more than 12,300 buildings and displaced more than 200,000 people so far.

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UK should back tough Trump sanctions on Iran, report says

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Former top UK official believes intensifying economic pressure on Tehran would erode internal support for regime

The UK should back Donald Trump’s expected maximum economic sanctions against Iran as part of an effort to encourage nationals to end their support for the current regime in Tehran, Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary, argues in a report published on Monday.

He writes: “It is not for the west, let alone the UK, to determine who rules Iran. That is for the Iranian people. But we can make clear that the right choice will bring benefits just as the wrong one will bring more of the same.”

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LA wildfires: death toll rises to 24 as winds threaten further destruction

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More than 1,800 structures destroyed as Eaton and Palisades fires still less than 30% contained

The death toll from the Eaton and Palisades fires that have consumed large swathes of Los Angeles county – and are still less than 30% contained – has risen to 24, according to medical examiners.

The county of Los Angeles medical examiner published a list of fatalities without giving details of any identities. Eight of the dead were found in the Palisades fire zone, and 16 in the Eaton fire zone, the document said.

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LA fires could test Getty Center’s claim of being safest place to store artwork

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Getty team says no current plans to move prominent pieces from center deemed ‘marvel of anti-fire engineering’

It houses some of the richest treasures of the art world, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Irises, a popular Rembrandt and a priceless collection of paintings, portraits and other works spanning more than seven centuries.

To protect them, the Getty Center in Los Angeles was built in 1997 as “a marvel of anti-fire engineering”, complete with fire-resistant stone and concrete, protected steel, and set in well-irrigated landscaping.

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Italy releases Iranian man wanted by US over drone attack in Jordan

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Mohammad Abedini detained on US warrant three days before Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested in Iran

Italy has released an Iranian citizen wanted by the US over a drone attack in Jordan that killed three Americans a year ago, after the Italian justice minister asked a court to revoke his arrest.

Mohammad Abedini has already returned to Iran, Iranian state TV said on Sunday afternoon.

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Steve Bannon condemns Elon Musk as ‘racist’ and ‘truly evil’

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Ex-Trump adviser denounces tech CEO’s embrace of some forms of immigration and vows to ‘take this guy down’

In an escalation of discontent among the highest-profile far-right followers of Donald Trump, his former adviser Steve Bannon has called Trump’s newest favorite, Elon Musk, “racist” and a “truly evil guy”, pledging to “take this guy down” and kick him out of the Maga movement.

In an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy, excerpts of which were published this weekend by Breitbart, Bannon criticised Musk’s embrace of some forms of immigration and vowed to ensure that Musk does not have top-level access to the White House.

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Why will the Washington Post be different during Trump’s second term?

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As Trump’s inauguration looms, the paper, owned by Jeff Bezos, is in shambles – largely of its own making

As Donald Trump prepares to take office on 20 January, the ascension of a man who has repeatedly said he will persecute the media surely calls for the journalistic muscle of a newspaper that broke the Watergate scandal and has for decades been a mainstay of American political reporting.

But as Trump’s second term looms, the Washington Post, owned by the billionaire Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, is in shambles – mired in chaos and disarray largely of its own making.

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