US lawmakers urge Biden to extend TikTok Jan. 19 ban deadline

US lawmakers urge Biden to extend TikTok Jan. 19 ban deadline
A view shows the office of TikTok in Culver City, California, March 13, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 14 January 2025
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US lawmakers urge Biden to extend TikTok Jan. 19 ban deadline

US lawmakers urge Biden to extend TikTok Jan. 19 ban deadline
  • Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days if he certifies ByteDance is making substantial progress toward a divestiture but it is unlikely ByteDance could meet that standard

WASHINGTON: Two Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged Congress and President Joe Biden to extend a Jan. 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell the US assets of TikTok or face a US ban.
The Supreme Court held arguments Friday on Tiktok and ByteDance’s challenge to the law. A lawyer for the companies, Noel Francisco, said it would be impossible to complete a sale by next week’s deadline.
He said if banned, the short video app used by 170 million Americans would quickly go dark and “essentially the platform shuts down.”
Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days if he certifies ByteDance is making substantial progress toward a divestiture but it is unlikely ByteDance could meet that standard.
Senator Edward Markey said he planned to introduce legislation to delay the deadline by which ByteDance must sell TikTok or face a ban by an additional 270 days.
“A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process,” Markey said Monday.
“A TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen.”
President-elect Donald Trump has asked the court to delay implementation of the law, arguing he should have time after taking office on Jan. 20 to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.
Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, on Monday urged Biden and Trump “to put a pause on this ban so 170 million Americans don’t lose their free speech. Millions of Americans’ livelihood will be ended if this ban takes place.”
If the court does not block the law by Sunday, new downloads of TikTok on Apple or Google app stores would be banned but existing users could continue to access the app for some period. Services would degrade and eventually stop working as companies will be barred from providing support.
The White House did not immediately comment.


Greek rights groups call for criminal charges over deadly 2023 migrant shipwreck

Greek rights groups call for criminal charges over deadly 2023 migrant shipwreck
Updated 25 sec ago
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Greek rights groups call for criminal charges over deadly 2023 migrant shipwreck

Greek rights groups call for criminal charges over deadly 2023 migrant shipwreck
Rights groups hailed the ombudsman’s report, and blasted the government’s reaction
The ministry’s statement “is a monument of hypocrisy but also a confession it will continue to cover up the crime,” said KEERFA

ATHENS: Rights groups are demanding criminal charges be brought against members of Greece’s coast guard over a deadly 2023 migrant shipwreck, after the country’s ombudsman released a report noting “clear indications” that officers had overlooked the danger posed by the boat that sank.
The Adriana, a massively overcrowded fishing trawler, had been heading from Libya to Italy with an estimated 500-750 people on board when it sank in international waters west of Pylos in western Greece in June 2023. Only 104 people survived, while 82 bodies were recovered. The rest went down with the trawler in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean.
An independent investigation by Greece’s ombudsman into the shipwreck concluded this week that there were “clear indications” that eight senior coast guard officers should face disciplinary action for overlooking the dangers posed by the trawler.
The coast guard, which had been notified about the boat by Italian authorities, had been shadowing the vessel for hours as it sailed in international waters but within Greece’s area of responsibility for search and rescue.
At the time, the coast guard said the Adriana’s captain had insisted he did not want assistance and wanted to continue sailing to Italy. But several survivors said passengers had been calling for help repeatedly, and said that the boat capsized during an attempt by the Greek coast guard to tow it.
The ombudsman said Monday its report noted “a series of serious and reproachable omissions in the search and rescue duties by senior officers of the Hellenic Coast Guard which constitute clear indications” for establishing a case against the officers for endangering the lives of the Adriana’s passengers.
The independent body began its own investigation in November 2023 after “the direct refusal of a disciplinary investigation by the Coast Guard,” it said.
The Shipping and Island Policy Ministry, under whose jurisdiction the coast guard lies, rejected the ombudsman’s report, accusing it of “attempting to shift the conversation from the criminal smuggling networks to the members of the coast guard, who fight day and night for the protection of the country.”
It accused the report of frequently favoring versions of events that called into question the coast guard’s actions “without the slightest credible evidence.”
“At a time when irregular migration is causing global concern, the government remains steadfastly committed to a strict but fair policy of guarding the country’s borders,” the statement said.
Rights groups hailed the ombudsman’s report, and blasted the government’s reaction. The ministry’s statement “is a monument of hypocrisy but also a confession it will continue to cover up the crime,” said the Movement United Against Racism and the Fascist Threat, or KEERFA, which called for a protest rally outside a naval court in the Greece’s main port city of Piraeus Thursday evening.
Lawyers representing some of the survivors filed a request with the Piraeus naval court in December seeking criminal charges to be brought against members of the search and rescue operation.
“The transparency of administrative action and the attribution of responsibilities, where applicable, for the deadly Pylos shipwreck is an elementary legal demand, inextricably linked to the respect of the rule of law,” Ombudsman Andreas Pottakis said in a statement. “As is the thorough investigation of any other incident connected to the violation of the right to life, health and physical integrity.”

Trump to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court

Trump to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court
Updated 47 min 59 sec ago
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Trump to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court

Trump to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court
  • Financial, visa sanctions to be placed on individuals, family who assist in ICC probes of US citizens or US allies
  • International court has taken measures to shield staff from possible US sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court for targeting the United States and its allies, such as Israel, a White House official said.
The order will place financial and visa sanctions on individuals and their family members who assist in ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies, said the official.
The move by Trump comes after US Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to sanction the ICC in protest at its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Netanyahu is currently visiting Washington.
The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible US sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month.
In December, the court’s president, judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would “rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardize its very existence.”
This is the second time the court has faced US retaliation as a result of its work. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan.
The 125-member ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals. The United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members.


Trump to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court. (File/Reuters)
US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court. (File/Reuters)
Updated 23 min 29 sec ago
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Trump to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court. (File/Reuters)
  • The order will place financial and visa sanctions on individuals and their family members who assist in ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies, said the official

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court for targeting the United States and its allies, such as Israel, a White House official said.
The order will place financial and visa sanctions on individuals and their family members who assist in ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies, said the official.
The move by Trump comes after US Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to sanction the ICC in protest at its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Netanyahu is currently visiting Washington.
The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible US sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month.
In December, the court’s president, judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would “rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardize its very existence.”
This is the second time the court has faced US retaliation as a result of its work. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan.
The 125-member ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals. The United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members.


Finland to ban Russian nationals from buying property: minister

Finland to ban Russian nationals from buying property: minister
Updated 06 February 2025
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Finland to ban Russian nationals from buying property: minister

Finland to ban Russian nationals from buying property: minister
  • “The government has just decided to submit a proposal to parliament to ban real estate transactions by Russians in Finland,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said
  • “Our aim is to strengthen the security of Finland and the Finnish people“

HELSINKI: Finland’s government on Thursday proposed a ban on property purchases by nationals from countries that initiate wars, meaning in practice that real estate transactions by Russian citizens will be restricted.
It recommended that “persons whose country of nationality is waging a war of aggression and may pose a threat to Finland’s national security” would not be permitted to buy real estate there.
“The government has just decided to submit a proposal to parliament to ban real estate transactions by Russians in Finland,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen told a press conference.
“Our aim is to strengthen the security of Finland and the Finnish people,” he added.
While the bill did not mention Russia explicitly, Hakkanen said the current security environment meant “Russia and Russian nationals and companies are the ones concerned.”
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) eastern border with Russia last year blocked several real estate acquisitions by private individuals and companies linked to Russia, citing threats to national security.
According to Hakkanen, the bill aims to prevent property being used for “large-scale hostile influence,” such as enabling intelligence activities and various forms of sabotage against Finland.
Persons holding a permanent residence permit in Finland or a long-term European Union residence permit granted by Finland would not be affected by the ban.
To reduce the risk that the ban will be circumnavigated by so-called dummy purchasers — someone who buys property on behalf of another to conceal the aim of a purchase — the ministry said it “could impose an obligation to apply for a permit.”
Parliament is set to vote on the bill later this spring, according to Hakkanen.


Panama president decries US ‘lies’ about canal fees

In this aerial view a cargo ship enters the Panama Canal on the Pacific Ocean side in Panama City on February 4, 2025. (AFP)
In this aerial view a cargo ship enters the Panama Canal on the Pacific Ocean side in Panama City on February 4, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 06 February 2025
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Panama president decries US ‘lies’ about canal fees

In this aerial view a cargo ship enters the Panama Canal on the Pacific Ocean side in Panama City on February 4, 2025. (AFP)
  • Allegations are latest point of tension between countries which have clashed over the canal since Trump claimed waterway had effectively been taken over by China

PANAMA CITY: Panama President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday said the United States was spreading “lies and falsehoods” after the State Department claimed US government vessels would be able to pass the Panama Canal without paying a fee.
The fiery allegations are the latest point of tension between the two countries which have clashed over the canal since US President Donald Trump claimed the vital waterway had effectively been taken over by China and vowed “we’re taking it back.”
Speaking to journalists, Mulino expressed his “absolute rejection” of managing US-Panama ties “based on lies and falsehoods.”
The Panama Canal Authority issued a statement late on Wednesday denying the claim from the US State Department earlier in the day that Panama’s government had agreed to no longer charge crossing fees for US government vessels, in a move that would save the US millions of dollars a year.
Trump has accused the Central American country of charging excessive rates to use its trade passage, one of the busiest in the world.
“Why are they making an important institutional statement from the entity that governs the foreign policy of the United States, under the President of the United States, based on a falsehood?” Mulino asked on Thursday, calling the State Department’s claim “simply and plainly intolerable.”
Mulino said he had asked his ambassador in Washington to take “firm steps” to deny the Trump administration’s claim.