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Users of TikTok are retaliating over the impending TikTok ban on Sunday by installing RedNote, a Chinese app that some users refer to as China's TikTok. National security worries over TikTok's Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, were a major factor in the platform's prohibition, and many users are turning to RedNote as an overt form of protest. RedNote, also called Xiaohongshu in China, is a social media site that offers shopping, short movies, community building resources, and more. It is not owned by ByteDance, nor is it a direct clone of TikTok. Xingyin Information Technology, based in Shanghai, is the owner. In order to send a message to the U.S. government and the social media company Meta, which stands to gain additional users of its TikTok-like product, Reels, if the ban takes effect, A...

Washington The special counsel who accused Hunter Biden of tax and firearm offenses prior to his father, President Joe Biden, pardoning him, submitted his final report to the Justice Department on Monday. In the report, special counsel David Weiss stated that the president could not "rewrite history," implying that Biden had defamed "the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations" by criticizing the case against his last surviving son when he announced his pardon decision. In the official White House statement announcing the pardon, Bid called the conviction of his sons as a miscarriage of justice. Prosecutors for Weiss later contested this claim in a court filing. "Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated whe...

Washington The special counsel who accused Hunter Biden of tax and firearm offenses prior to his father, President Joe Biden, pardoning him, submitted his final report to the Justice Department on Monday. In the report, special counsel David Weiss stated that the president could not "rewrite history," implying that Biden had defamed "the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations" by criticizing the case against his last surviving son when he announced his pardon decision. In the official White House statement announcing the pardon, Bid called the conviction of his sons as a miscarriage of justice. Prosecutors for Weiss later contested this claim in a court filing. "Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated whe...

According to two people familiar with the negotiations, President-elect Donald Trump's staff is discussing his trip to Los Angeles to assess the devastation caused by the wildfire. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has extended an invitation to Trump, who has frequently chastised state and local leaders for their handling of the fire. On Sunday, Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat, stated on CBS News that she planned to extend the invitation to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as well as Trump. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesman for the Trump transition, chose not to comment on the trip talks. Whether Trump would leave before or after his inauguration on January 20 is unknown. When asked if he intended to visit California again to assess the devastation caused by wildfires, Trump did not directly answer the q...

According to two people familiar with the negotiations, President-elect Donald Trump's staff is discussing his trip to Los Angeles to assess the devastation caused by the wildfire. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has extended an invitation to Trump, who has frequently chastised state and local leaders for their handling of the fire. On Sunday, Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat, stated on CBS News that she planned to extend the invitation to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as well as Trump. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesman for the Trump transition, chose not to comment on the trip talks. Whether Trump would leave before or after his inauguration on January 20 is unknown. When asked if he intended to visit California again to assess the devastation caused by wildfires, Trump did not directly answer the q...

While one person remained with his son who had cerebral palsy and was unable to leave, at least two of the victims died in the Southern California wildfire attempted to defend the homes where they had spent decades raising families. In the Los Angeles area, deadly flames driven by dry weather and strong windserupted Tuesday, resulting in the known deaths of twenty-four persons. Approximately 180,000 people have been displaced from their homes, and thousands of buildings have been destroyed. According to officials, the actual number of fatalities is unknown because communities are still being destroyed by the fires. What we currently know about the victims is as follows: Anthony and Justin Mitchell According to Anthony Mitchell, his father was a "protector" who would stop at nothing to k...

While one person remained with his son who had cerebral palsy and was unable to leave, at least two of the victims died in the Southern California wildfire attempted to defend the homes where they had spent decades raising families. In the Los Angeles area, deadly flames driven by dry weather and strong windserupted Tuesday, resulting in the known deaths of twenty-four persons. Approximately 180,000 people have been displaced from their homes, and thousands of buildings have been destroyed. According to officials, the actual number of fatalities is unknown because communities are still being destroyed by the fires. What we currently know about the victims is as follows: Anthony and Justin Mitchell According to Anthony Mitchell, his father was a "protector" who would stop at nothing to k...

Ahead of President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has drastically moved the firm to the right with a number of policy and practice changes in the past week that have angered some users, workers, and interest groups. The scope of the changes goes far beyond social media moderation, according to Zuckerberg, who said that some of the modifications to Meta's fact-checking and moderation systems were intended to prevent censorship and safeguard free speech on its platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. They reportedly touched on Meta's internal policies regarding its board and restrooms as well as the optional aesthetic theming that it had previously used on one of its platforms to celebrate trans people. In the past week, Meta has implemented all of these adjust...

Ahead of President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has drastically moved the firm to the right with a number of policy and practice changes in the past week that have angered some users, workers, and interest groups. The scope of the changes goes far beyond social media moderation, according to Zuckerberg, who said that some of the modifications to Meta's fact-checking and moderation systems were intended to prevent censorship and safeguard free speech on its platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. They reportedly touched on Meta's internal policies regarding its board and restrooms as well as the optional aesthetic theming that it had previously used on one of its platforms to celebrate trans people. In the past week, Meta has implemented all of these adjust...

According to three people with direct knowledge of the report's contents, the FBI background check on President-elect Donald Trump's choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, does not include interviews with Hegseth's ex-wives or the woman who accused him of sexual assault in a California hotel room in 2017. Two other people with knowledge of the FBI background check process said that interviewing current and previous spouses is typical procedure. However, it also depends on the interviewees' participation, and it's unclear if the FBI made an effort to reach out to them. Two sources claim that although Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will hear Hegseth's confirmation hearing on Tuesday, also contacted Hegseth's ex-wives' attorneys, they did not provide the committe...