Trump Grants TikTok Third Lifeline Amid Security Standoff
President Donald Trump will extend TikTok's deadline by 90 days this week, the White House confirmed on Tuesday, marking the third delay since January, when a ban threatened the app's US operations over national security concerns.
The new executive order ensures TikTok remains accessible while negotiations continue. 'The president wants TikTok to stay operational,' Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated. 'This extension prioritizes user data safety.' Why TikTok's Algorithm Matters
Trump's reversal aligns with his reliance on social media during the 2024 campaign. 'I have a warm spot for TikTok,' he told NBC in May. Analysts suggest the app's youth appeal boosted his election strategy.
Despite delays, ByteDance faces pressure to sell TikTok's US division, as critics argue the Chinese-owned app risks data leaks, fueling US-China tech tensions. 'TikTok symbolizes digital Cold War clashes,' said Warwick Business School's Shweta Singh.
Potential buyers include Oracle and Blackstone, which could reduce ByteDance's stake in a new global entity, with the first hosts TikTok's US data, leveraging its ties to Trump ally Larry Ellison.
However, unresolved issues linger, notably TikTok's proprietary algorithm. 'Losing it would cripple TikTok,' said Forrester's Kelsey Chickering. 'It's the platform's core strength.' Next Steps: AI Tools and Final Deadline
TikTok launched new AI advertising tools this week, signaling business continuity, while the administration aims to finalize a deal before 19 June—the next looming deadline. However, Trump hinted China would've agreed to a sale had tariffs not disrupted talks. Yet, with US-China relations strained, the app's fate remains uncertain.
The 90-day reprieve buys time but fails to resolve deeper geopolitical tensions. As TikTok bets on AI innovation, the world watches whether Trump's extensions can bridge the gap between security fears and digital diplomacy.
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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Fear stalks Tehran as Israel bombards, shelters fill up and communicating grows harder
NEW YORK: The streets of Tehran are empty, businesses closed, communications patchy at best. With no bona fide bomb shelters open to the public, panicked masses spend restless nights on the floors of metro stations as strikes boom overhead. This is Iran's capital city, just under a week into a fierce Israeli blitz to destroy the country's nuclear program and its military capabilities. After knocking out much of Iran's air defense system, Israel says its warplanes have free rein over the city's skies. US President Donald Trump on Monday told Tehran's roughly 10 million residents to evacuate 'immediately.' Thousands have fled, spending hours in gridlock as they head toward the suburbs, the Caspian Sea, or even Armenia or Türkiye. But others — those elderly and infirm — are stuck in high-rise apartment buildings. Their relatives fret: what to do? Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 585 people and wounded over 1,300, a human rights group says. Local media, themselves targets of bombardment, have stopped reporting on the attacks, leaving Iranians in the dark. There are few visible signs of state authority: Police appear largely undercover, air raid sirens are unreliable, and there's scant information on what to do in case of attack. Shirin, 49, who lives in the southern part of Tehran, said every call or text to friends and family in recent days has felt like it could be the last. 'We don't know if tomorrow we will be alive,' she said. Many Iranians feel conflicted. Some support Israel's targeting of Iranian political and military officials they see as repressive. Others staunchly defend the Islamic Republic and retaliatory strikes on Israel. Then, there are those who oppose Iran's rulers — but still don't want to see their country bombed. To stay, or to go? The Associated Press interviewed five people in Iran and one Iranian American in the US over the phone. All spoke either on the condition of anonymity or only allowed their first names to be used, for fear of retribution from the state against them or their families. Most of the calls ended abruptly and within minutes, cutting off conversations as people grew nervous — or because the connection dropped. Iran's government has acknowledged disrupting Internet access. It says it's to protect the country, though that has blocked average Iranians from getting information from the outside world. Iranians in the diaspora wait anxiously for news from relatives. One, an Iranian American human rights researcher in the US, said he last heard from relatives when some were trying to flee Tehran earlier in the week. He believes that lack of gas and traffic prevented them from leaving. The most heartbreaking interaction, he said, was when his older cousins — with whom he grew up in Iran — told him 'we don't know where to go. If we die, we die.' 'Their sense was just despair,' he said. Some families have made the decision to split up. A 23-year-old Afghan refugee who has lived in Iran for four years said he stayed behind in Tehran but sent his wife and newborn son out of the city after a strike Monday hit a nearby pharmacy. 'It was a very bad shock for them,' he said. Some, like Shirin, said fleeing was not an option. The apartment buildings in Tehran are towering and dense. Her father has Alzheimer's and needs an ambulance to move. Her mother's severe arthritis would make even a short trip extremely painful. Still, hoping escape might be possible, she spent the last several days trying to gather their medications. Her brother waited at a gas station until 3 a.m., only to be turned away when the fuel ran out. As of Monday, gas was being rationed to under 20 liters (5 gallons) per driver at stations across Iran after an Israeli strike set fire to the world's largest gas field. Some people, like Arshia, said they are just tired. 'I don't want to go in traffic for 40 hours, 30 hours, 20 hours, just to get to somewhere that might get bombed eventually,' he said. The 22-year-old has been staying in the house with his parents since the initial Israeli strike. He said his once-lively neighborhood of Saadat Abad in northwestern Tehran is now a ghost town. Schools are closed. Very few people even step outside to walk their dogs. Most local stores have run out of drinking water and cooking oil. Others closed. Still, Arshia said the prospect of finding a new place is too daunting. 'We don't have the resources to leave at the moment,' he said. Residents are on their own No air raid sirens went off as Israeli strikes began pounding Tehran before dawn Friday. For many, it was an early sign civilians would have to go it alone. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Tehran was a low-slung city, many homes had basements to shelter in, and there were air raid drills and sirens. Now the capital is packed with close-built high-rise apartments without shelters. 'It's a kind of failing of the past that they didn't build shelters,' said a 29-year-old Tehran resident who left the city Monday. 'Even though we've been under the shadow of a war, as long as I can remember.' Her friend's boyfriend was killed while going to the store. 'You don't really expect your boyfriend — or your anyone, really — to leave the house and never return when they just went out for a routine normal shopping trip,' she said. Those who choose to relocate do so without help from the government. The state has said it is opening mosques, schools and metro stations for use as shelters. Some are closed, others overcrowded. Hundreds crammed into one Tehran metro station Friday night. Small family groups lay on the floor. One student, a refugee from another country, said she spent 12 hours in the station with her relatives. 'Everyone there was panicking because of the situation,' she said. 'Everyone doesn't know what will happen next, if there is war in the future and what they should do. People think nowhere is safe for them.' Soon after leaving the station, she saw that Israel had warned a swath of Tehran to evacuate. 'For immigrant communities, this is so hard to live in this kind of situation,' she said, explaining she feels like she has nowhere to escape to — especially not her home country, which she asked not be identified. Fear of Iran mingles with fear of Israel For Shirin, the hostilities are bittersweet. Despite being against the theocracy and its treatment of women, the idea that Israel may determine the future does not sit well with her. 'As much as we want the end of this regime, we didn't want it to come at the hands of a foreign government,' she said. 'We would have preferred that if there were to be a change, it would be the result of a people's movement in Iran.' Meanwhile, the 29-year-old who left Tehran had an even more basic message for those outside Iran: 'I just want people to remember that whatever is happening here, it's not routine business for us. People's lives here — people's livelihoods — feel as important to them as they feel to anyone in any other place. How would you feel if your city or your country was under bombardment by another country, and people were dying left and right?' 'We are kind of like, this can't be happening. This can't be my life.'
Saudi Gazette
2 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
India won't accept third-party mediation on Kashmir, Modi tells Trump
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Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
US Unemployment Claims Dipped to 245,000 Last Week, Hovering at Historically Low Levels
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dipped to 245,000 last week, hovering at historically low levels, the Labor Department said Wednesday. US jobless claims ticked down from 250,000 the week before. Economists had forecast 250,000. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose to 245,500, the highest since August 2023. The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits the week of June 7 slid to 1.95 million. Weekly unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs and mostly have stayed within a healthy band of 200,000 to 250,000 since the economy recovered from a brief but painful COVID-19 recession in 2020, which temporarily wiped out millions of jobs. In recent weeks, however, claims have stayed at the high end of the range, adding to evidence that the US job market is decelerating after years of strong hiring. So far this year, employers are adding a decent but far from spectacular 124,000 jobs a month, down from an average 168,000 last year and an average of nearly 400,000 from 2021 through 2023. The slowdown is partly the drawn-out result of 11 interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023. But Trump's aggressive and often-erratic trade policies – including 10 percent taxes on imports from almost every country on earth – are also weighing on the economy, paralyzing businesses and worrying consumers who fear they'll mean higher prices. The Fed, satisfied that inflation was coming down, cut rates three times last year. But the central bank has turned cautious in 2025, worried that Trump's tariffs will rekindle inflationary pressures. The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged as it wraps up a two-day meeting Wednesday.
