US Court Rejects TikTok Request to Temporarily Halt Pending US Ban

A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Asharq Al Awsat

08:24-14 December 2024 AD ـ 13 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

08:24-14 December 2024 AD ـ 13 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1446 AH

US Court Rejects TikTok Request to Temporarily Halt Pending US Ban

A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

TikTok must now move quickly with a request to the Supreme Court to block or overturn a law that would require its Chinese parent ByteDance to divest of the short-video app by Jan. 19 after an appeals court on Friday rejected a bid for more time.
TikTok and ByteDance on Monday had filed the emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking for more time to make their case to the US Supreme Court.
The companies had warned that without court action, the law will "shut down TikTok — one of the nation's most popular speech platforms — for its more than 170 million domestic monthly users."
But the court rejected the bid, saying TikTok and ByteDance had not identified a previous case "in which a court, after rejecting a constitutional challenge to an Act of Congress, has enjoined the Act from going into effect while review is sought in the Supreme Court," Friday's unanimous court order said.
A TikTok spokesperson said after the ruling that the company plans to take its case to the Supreme Court, "which has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech."
Under the law, TikTok will be banned unless ByteDance divests it by Jan. 19. The law also gives the US government sweeping powers to ban other foreign-owned apps that could raise concerns about collection of Americans' data.
The US Justice Department argues "continued Chinese control of the TikTok application poses a continuing threat to national security."
TikTok says the Justice Department has misstated the social media app's ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the US on cloud servers operated by Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect US users are made in the United States.
The decision - unless the Supreme Court reverses it - puts TikTok's fate first in the hands of Democratic President Joe Biden on whether to grant a 90-day extension of the Jan. 19 deadline to force a sale, and then of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20.
Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, said before the November presidential election he would not allow the ban on TikTok.
Also on Friday, the chair and top Democrat on a US House of Representatives committee on China told the CEOs of Google-parent Alphabet and Apple they must be ready to remove TikTok from their US app stores on Jan. 19.

UN Official Urges Iran, US to Let Fertilizers Through Hormuz Strait

Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)

17:33-14 November 2026 AD ـ 04 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1448 AH

UN Official Urges Iran, US to Let Fertilizers Through Hormuz Strait

Iran and the United States should "immediately" allow fertilizer shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to ease the crisis in some of the most vulnerable countries, a senior UN official said Saturday.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, told the COP31 climate talks in the Turkish resort city of Antalya that the lack of fertilizers could push millions into poverty.

The Iranian blockade of the vital waterway, which started after the joint US-Israeli attack against Iran in late February, has choked shipping in the region and beyond. The US blockade of Iranian ports has further complicated matters.

While Iran and the United States are still trying to negotiate an end to the conflict, Moreira da Silva said he had the same message for both countries.

"They should continue their negotiations about the comprehensive deal -- but that deal should not avoid an immediate, exceptional, limited, and time-bound solution for the fertilizers," he said.

"Basically, what we need is five vessels a day with fertilizers," he added.

- Millions at risk -

Moreira da Silva heads up the UN task force dedicated to facilitating the safe passage of fertilizers during the crisis.

Before the conflict, a third of the world's fertilizers passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and since the blockades, their prices had risen by 30 percent, he said.

"But what I think is not sufficiently recognized is the disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable countries," he added.

Sudan's finance minister recently told him that the price of food there had doubled in six months, he added. In Nepal, they had told him that farmers could no longer afford to buy fertilizers.

"So, it's very important that we are aware that countries such as Mozambique, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are facing very significant impact."

The effects of this shortage could be catastrophic, he warned.

"If we continue missing the planting seasons in different parts of the world we may have 45 million people facing severe and acute food insecurity," he said.

"We may have 30 million people being forced into poverty."

The UN had a system ready to get fertilizer shipments moving within seven to 10 days, he said.

World

Report: Trump Tells Advisers He May Hold Off on Iran Attacks Barring New Provocations

US President Donald Trump attends a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, US, November 11, 2026. (Reuters)

11:09-14 November 2026 AD ـ 04 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1448 AH

Report: Trump Tells Advisers He May Hold Off on Iran Attacks Barring New Provocations

US President Donald Trump attends a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, US, November 11, 2026. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump has told senior advisers in recent days that he may hold off on attacking Iran if the US faces no new provocations from Tehran or the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Trump has alternated between threats of escalating the war with new strikes and winding down hostilities, and current and former officials say he does not appear to have made up his mind about how to resolve the unpopular conflict, which he launched in February with Israel.

But in meetings with his national security advisers and after a series of intelligence briefings, Trump said he was considering holding off on strikes, said the people, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity.

The war has hiked global fuel ‌prices and proven unpopular with ‌US voters, who handed control of Congress to the Democrats in last week's midterm elections. In ‌a Reuters/Ipsos ⁠poll taken shortly before ⁠the November 3 elections, 55% of Americans said the war was not worth the cost, and Vice President JD Vance cited it as the reason Trump's Republicans lost Congress.

Trump's private comments build on public remarks playing down the likelihood of major warfare resuming.

"As Commander-in-Chief, President Trump is the architect and sole decision-maker who holds all the cards and will always ensure that America’s interests are protected," a White House official said in a statement. "The United States is in a very strong position with control of the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian economy collapsing. Only President Trump knows what he will do, and when."

The CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment.

US intelligence agencies have assessed that the US naval blockade and economic sanctions are hurting the Iranian economy and would continue to put pressure on Tehran, two US officials briefed on the intelligence said.

Building on its months-long ‌blockade of Iranian sea traffic, the US military is also seeking to prevent weapons and other sanctioned material from entering the country by land or through the Caspian Sea, Reuters first reported last week.

MILITARY OPTIONS

At ⁠the same time, the US military ⁠is ready to escalate if needed, three more people familiar with US planning said.

A third aircraft carrier is moving into the Middle East in the coming days to replace one of the two currently operating in the region, but all three carriers could stay if needed, the people said.

Trump could opt to bomb Iran's underground nuclear facilities, one of the people familiar with Trump's talks said. But the US has already struck those facilities, and it is unclear whether further strikes would be successful.

US intelligence agencies have assessed that renewed strikes would not significantly shift Iran’s demands in negotiations, two US officials said.

Trump was also briefed on US weapon stockpiles, some of which have drawn down to worrying levels, the two people familiar with the intelligence briefings said. Reuters reported in August that the US had used “virtually all” of its long-range precision munitions, and another person briefed on the matter said they have not been replenished.

"The United States Military has enough munitions and ammo to serve all of the Commander-in-Chief’s strategic goals and beyond," the White House official said.

ISRAELI PRESSURE

Israeli officials have continued to lobby the administration to engage in another military campaign, according to a US official.

Trump signaled this week that the US has already achieved what it could from negotiations, but did not say whether he would resume strikes.

“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump said in a social media post on Thursday. “We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”

World

Trump Is Taking Elon Musk on His Asia Trip, but He Plans to Avoid Talking About Nvidia Scandal

US President Donald Trump presents the National Medal of Science to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during the "A New Golden Age" summit at the US Institute of Peace, renamed The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace by the Trump administration, in Washington, DC, US, October 8, 2026. (Reuters)

10:46-14 November 2026 AD ـ 04 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1448 AH

Trump Is Taking Elon Musk on His Asia Trip, but He Plans to Avoid Talking About Nvidia Scandal

President Donald Trump plans to take the world's wealthiest man, Elon Musk, with him next week when he travels to the Philippines and China.

As the head of SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has economic and national security interests that make him a valuable adviser to Trump, according to administration officials who insisted on anonymity as a condition for previewing the president's plans on a Friday call with reporters.

The journey comes as the fallout spreads from Jensen Huang being ousted as the CEO of Nvidia for having an extramarital affair with an alleged agent of the Chinese government. Beijing denies that Alice Huang is a spy. Her company Megaspeed was accused last year of shipping Nvidia's advanced computer chips into China.

But Trump does not plan to confront Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the matter and administration officials do not expect Chinese retaliation for any follow-up actions to prohibit China from smuggling or using advanced computer chips, officials told reporters.

The administration believes the situation with Nvidia should not have any bearing on the trip, as the US does not make its use of export controls subject to negotiations with foreign countries. Trump's aides are discussing the possibility of closing loopholes in existing trade measures, including the use of export licensing and preventing the ability of Chinese firms to use advanced chips over the internet through remote access.

The trip will be capped with a historic trilateral meeting with Xi and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, where efforts to limit nuclear weapons will be a chief topic. Still, there are no plans for Trump to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whose nuclear arsenal has been a source of consternation to the US and its allies.

Trump is set to arrive Tuesday in the Philippines to meet with his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. While in Manila, he intends to sign a trade deal with Thailand and meet with the Quad, an alliance composed of the US, India, Australia and Japan.

On Wednesday, Trump will leave for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, where he’ll have his third in-person meeting this year with Xi. Afterward, Trump and Xi will hold their joint meeting with Putin.

The leaders are expected to talk about the Iran war, but Russia's war in Ukraine is not expected to be part of the agenda, officials said and Musk, whose Starlink system has been integral to Ukraine's ability to fight back against Russia's invasion, will not be part of the trilateral meeting.

US Court Rejects TikTok Request to Temporarily Halt Pending US Ban

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