— President-elect Donald Trump has formally requested the Supreme Court to delay the implementation of a potential TikTok ban, arguing that his administration needs time to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request was submitted on Friday as TikTok and the Biden administration presented opposing briefs to the court. TikTok called on the justices to strike down a law that could result in the platform’s ban by January 19, 2025, while the Biden administration defended the statute, citing national security concerns. Trump, who filed an amicus brief in the case, maintained a neutral position on the legal dispute. However, he urged the court to extend the deadline for TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to allow for a negotiated solution after he assumes office. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” the brief stated. “Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case.” The filing marks Trump’s latest intervention in a major national issue before his inauguration. The Republican president-elect has been actively engaging with foreign leaders and business figures at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida while assembling his administration. Last week, he met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew to discuss the platform’s future. Trump’s position on TikTok has evolved. During his first term, he attempted to ban the app over national security concerns, but his stance shifted during his 2024 presidential campaign when he joined TikTok to connect with younger voters. His campaign effectively used the platform to share viral, often macho-themed content aimed at engaging male audiences. Despite his opposition to banning the app outright, Trump has reiterated that he still sees potential national security risks with TikTok. TikTok and ByteDance are challenging a law signed by President Joe Biden in April, which mandates TikTok’s divestment from ByteDance or a U.S. ban. The statute was upheld earlier this month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, prompting TikTok to appeal to the Supreme Court. The oral arguments, scheduled for January 10, will address whether the law unlawfully restricts free speech under the First Amendment. TikTok’s legal team argues the statute is based on speculative risks that China could influence TikTok’s U.S. operations through ByteDance, despite no evidence of such interference. “The government concedes that it has no evidence China has ever attempted to do so,” TikTok’s brief stated, adding that the fears are “predicated on future risks.” The Biden administration has defended the law, emphasizing that TikTok’s integration with ByteDance and reliance on proprietary technology developed in China pose inherent risks. Officials argue that Chinese authorities could compel ByteDance to provide data on U.S. users or manipulate content on the platform. However, TikTok maintains that the government’s concerns are unfounded and that a forced divestment would harm its operations and violate free speech protections. With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments in January, the fate of TikTok in the U.S. hangs in the balance. Trump’s plea for a delay signals his intention to address the issue diplomatically after taking office, potentially reshaping the platform’s future in the country. This ongoing legal battle underscores the broader tensions between the U.S. and China over data security and digital sovereignty, with TikTok caught in the crossfire. Source: AP
NEW YORK (AP) — Top-ranked chess player is headed back to the World Blitz Championship on Monday after its governing body agreed to loosen a dress code that got him fined and denied a late-round game in another tournament for . Lamenting the contretemps, International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich said in a statement Sunday that he’d let World Blitz Championship tournament officials consider allowing “appropriate jeans” with a jacket, and other “elegant minor deviations” from the dress code. He said Carlsen’s stand — which culminated in his quitting the tournament Friday — highlighted a need for more discussion “to ensure that our rules and their application reflect the evolving nature of chess as a global and accessible sport.” Carlsen, meanwhile, said in a video posted Sunday on social media that he would play — and wear jeans — in the World Blitz Championship when it begins Monday. “I think the situation was badly mishandled on their side,” the 34-year-old Norwegian grandmaster said. But he added that he loves playing blitz — a fast-paced form of chess — and wanted fans to be able to watch, and that he was encouraged by his discussions with the federation after Friday’s showdown. “I think we sort of all want the same thing,” he suggested in the video on his Take Take Take chess app’s YouTube channel. “We want the players to be comfortable, sure, but also relatively presentable.” The events began when Carlsen wore jeans and a sportcoat Friday to the Rapid World Championship, which is separate from but held in conjunction with the blitz event. The chess federation said Friday that longstanding rules prohibit jeans at those tournaments, and players are lodged nearby to make sartorial switch-ups easy if needed. An official fined Carlsen $200 and asked him to change pants, but he refused and wasn’t paired for a ninth-round game, the federation said at the time. The organization noted that another grandmaster, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was fined earlier in the day for wearing sports shoes, changed and continued to play. Carlsen has said that he offered to wear something else the next day, but officials were unyielding. He said “it became a bit of a matter of principle,” so he quit the rapid and blitz championships. In the video posted Sunday, he questioned whether he had indeed broken a rule and said changing clothes would have needlessly interrupted his concentration between games. He called the punishment “unbelievably harsh.” “Of course, I could have changed. Obviously, I didn’t want to,” he said, and “I stand by that.” Jennifer Peltz, The Associated PressSujeet Indap in New York and Stephen Morris in San Francisco Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A judge in Delaware rejected Tesla’s attempt to restore Elon Musk’s record $56bn pay package after previously striking it down as a breach of the fiduciary duty of the electric-car maker’s board, dealing a blow to the world’s richest man. Judge Kathaleen McCormick wrote that Tesla’s unprecedented effort to push the 2018 pay package through a second time, four months after she first struck it down, was “creative”. But the board “had no procedural ground for flipping the outcome of an adverse post-trial decision based on evidence they created after trial,” she wrote. The decision from the Delaware Court of Chancery tees up an expected appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, which will decide how much weight the decision by Tesla’s shareholders to approve it has at a moment when Musk’s social and political power is at its peak. Musk has gained the ear of US president-elect Donald Trump after spending more than $100mn on his re-election campaign. In return, Musk has gained sway over crucial cabinet appointments and made co-head of an advisory body that has vowed to dramatically shrink the federal budget. The pay package of just over 300mn Tesla shares would only vest if the company hit a series of difficult stock price and operational targets. McCormick, in her original ruling in February, said the Tesla board that approved the package six years ago was too cozy with Musk, and that her analysis of the pay award showed that it could not be justified on any reasonable metric. Tesla stock has surged 44 per cent this year, much of that coming after Trump’s election victory on November 5. That means the stock options in Musk’s pay package have soared in value to $108bn. If it is ultimately granted, the package would increase his ownership stake from just under 13 per cent to more than 20 per cent. After McCormick struck down Musk’s pay package the first time, Tesla put identical terms — with enhanced disclosures — to a shareholder vote in June. It passed with 72 per cent support. Shareholders also approved a separate plan to reincorporate the company from Delaware, where the vast majority of big public US companies are listed, to Texas, where several other Musk-controlled companies are based. Since the February decision, Musk has loudly complained about the Delaware corporate law court and has moved all of his companies incorporations to either Nevada or Texas. Delaware’s status as the premiere destination for public companies’ legal domiciles has since become a lingering issue for the state. Recommended Last month, Musk posted on his social media platform X: “When there are egregiously wrong legal judgments in a single state that substantially harm American citizens in all other 49 states, the Federal government should take immediate corrective action.” Lawyers for the shareholder who brought the original suit were also awarded $345mn in fees, instead of the $5.6bn in Tesla shares that they had requested, according to Monday’s decision. Lawyers at the firm Bernstein Litowitz, who had represented the Tesla shareholder who brought the suit, had said that based on the $56bn value of the cancelled stock grant, they were owed $5.6bn in shares. McCormick rejected that, however. She said that the lower amount of $345mn, payable in cash or Tesla stock, was sufficient, estimating that the value returned to shareholders was closer to $2.3bn, pointing to an accounting charge it took in 2018.Students innovate to combat waste, dementia and allergies
MDC24: Over 250 delegates to attend CJID's media and development conferenceMOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) — Steven Clay scored 15 points as Morehead State beat Alice Lloyd 94-63 on Saturday. Clay shot 6 for 12, including 3 for 8 from beyond the arc for the Eagles (7-6). Kenny White Jr. scored 14 points, finishing 7 of 9 from the floor. Jerone Morton, Tayler Brelsford and George Marshall all scored 13 points. Jared Strickland finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for the Eagles. Landon Napier added 10 points for Alice Lloyd. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .