Republicans plan U.S. TikTok crackdown
Home Republicans plan to vote this week on laws that may pressure the Chinese language house owners of TikTok to divest or be barred within the U.S., even after Donald Trump got here out strongly in opposition to banning the platform.
“We should make sure the Chinese language authorities can’t weaponize TikTok in opposition to American customers and our authorities by information assortment and propaganda,” mentioned Consultant Steve Scalise, the Home majority chief.
Scalise, a Republican of Louisiana, mentioned the Home would attempt to velocity the invoice’s passage. The strategy mirrored the rising momentum behind the invoice throughout an election 12 months, when members of each events wish to present they’re robust on China. President Biden has mentioned he would signal the laws.
However Trump, who as president as soon as vowed to ban the platform, now vocally opposes the invoice. He gave a rambling rationalization for his reversal yesterday, saying that he didn’t wish to alienate younger voters or give Fb, which he considers a nemesis, extra energy. The battle will take a look at his skill to proceed sinking bipartisan laws from the marketing campaign path.
Context: The invoice is one in every of a number of efforts over the previous 12 months aimed toward curbing TikTok due to considerations that its mother or father firm’s relationship with Beijing poses dangers to nationwide safety.
Preventing again: Final week, TikTok requested its customers to flood congressional phone traces and ask members to not shut down the platform.
A manipulated royal photograph
Catherine, Princess of Wales, apologized yesterday for having doctored {a photograph} of herself along with her three youngsters that Kensington Palace had shared. Information retailers retracted the photograph from their articles hours later, citing the edits.
It was the primary official photograph of Catherine since earlier than she underwent stomach surgical procedure two months in the past. And it turned a royal blunder, our London bureau chief writes. Even earlier than her apology, memes of “undoctored” photographs crammed the web. One confirmed a bored-looking Catherine smoking with a bunch of youngsters.
If the photograph was meant to douse hypothesis about Catherine’s well being — she has not been seen in public since final 12 months — it had the other impact. It set off extra rumors and conspiracy theories and created a recent tempest for a royal household that has lurched from one self-created disaster to a different.
Some telltale edits: Catherine didn’t appear to be sporting her wedding ceremony ring. A part of one in every of her daughter’s sleeves was lacking or misaligned.
Ukraine might quickly fly just a few F-16s
Ukraine might deploy F-16 fighter jets by this summer season. However regardless of guarantees from its European allies, delivering the jets and coaching the pilots has proved troublesome. Ukraine could begin with as few as six F-16s, out of about 45 pledged.
The jets might assist Ukraine defend itself in opposition to Russia, which has used extra aggressive air help to achieve floor within the east in current weeks. The F-16s would additionally seemingly come armed with missiles and bombs, which might partially make up for Ukraine’s scarcity of ground-based munitions.
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Deb Amlen, who writes about video games for The Occasions, realized to play Pokémon along with her youngsters once they have been little. Effectively into her youngsters’s maturity, they’re nonetheless taking part in collectively.
“The reward isn’t the sport,” she writes in an essay. “The actual current is that as my youngsters soar into their very own impartial lives, they nonetheless need me to fly together with them.”
And the Oscar goes to …
“Oppenheimer” gained seven Academy Awards, together with finest image, finest director (Christopher Nolan) and finest actor (Cillian Murphy). Emma Stone gained the Oscar for finest actress for her efficiency in “Poor Issues,” which gained 4 awards. See the listing of winners from Sunday.
In recent times, Hollywood’s high prize has gone virtually completely to impartial films. However that “Oppenheimer” gained this 12 months mirrored a shift. Name it the revenge of the studio film: a blockbuster from an old-line studio with almost $1 billion in ticket gross sales.
