The House will vote on a bill that will force a sale or total ban of China-owned TikTok as soon as Saturday after Speaker Mike Johnson signaled the measure will be bundled with a foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel.
The modified version of the fast-tracked legislation would give Beijing-based ByteDance up to a year to divest its stake in TikTok or be banned in the US, Bloomberg reported. Thats an increase from the six-month window from the bills original version, which passed by House by overwhelming majority last month.
House lawmakers are expected to pass the bundled bills this weekend, setting up a vote in the Senate that could take place next week. President Biden has already indicated he would sign the TikTok ban-or-sale bill if it reaches his desk.
The timeline extension could help assuage the bills critics in the Senate, some of whom have argued that the six-month window was too tight to complete a sale.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who had expressed some reservations about the legislation, said she now supports it.
Im very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the Byte Dance divestment period from six months to a year, Cantwell said in a statement. As Ive said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support this updated legislation.
Some experts had expressed skepticism that the Senate would hold a vote on the bill before the November 2024 election and risk upsetting the popular apps supporters.
Lawmakers from both parties have pushed for a crackdown on TikTok due to concerns that the app, which has more than 170 million American users, could be used as a spying and propaganda tool for the Chinese government. TikTok officials deny wrongdoing.
A recent report released by US intelligence officials found that TikTok has played a role in malign influence operations, with accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the US midterm election cycle in 2022.
TikTok has vowed to fight any forced sale in court. The company has argued that the House bill is a de facto ban and that, even if it were inclined to sell, a deal couldnt be completed in six months.
It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform, TikTok said in a statement on the updated push.
Some potential buyers have already emerged as the legislation works its way through Congress.
As The Post reported earlier this week, ex-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is looking to partner with one or more firms that have artificial intelligence expertise in order to buy TikTok and rebuild its recommendation algorithm in the US.
Sources said Mnuchin believes rebuilding the app will allow his potential group of buyers to address US security concerns as well as Chinas strict export laws on technology.
Experts said the cloud-computing and AI giant Oracle would be a logical partner for Mnuchin’s bid.
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that former Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick had met with ByteDance executives regarding a potential sale.
Elsewhere, Politico reported that staffers at the Chinese Embassy in Washington have recently held meetings with Congressional aides to lobby against the TikTok sale-or-ban bill.
Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has passed and he’s due to sign it into law on Independence Day. Mark Stone and David Blevins discuss how the bill will supercharge his presidency, despite its critics.
They also chat Gaza and Ukraine, as Donald Trump meets with freed Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and talks to Vladimir Putin.
If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.
Image: Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk. Pic: Reuters
Image: Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo (right) arrive at the funeral of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva. Pic: PA
Jota, 28, leaves behind his wife of only 11 days, Rute Cardoso, and three young children.
His younger brother, 25, was an attacking midfielder for Penafiel in the second tier of Portuguese football.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot, captain Virgil Van Dijk and teammates including Andy Robertson, Conor Bradley, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez were seen at the service.
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Former teammates Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho were also there.
Van Dijk carried a red wreath with Jota’s number 20, while Robertson had a wreath featuring number 30, Silva’s number at Penafiel.
Image: Manchester United and Portugal player Bruno Fernandes. Pic: PA
Image: Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool’s player Andrew Robertson. Pic: Reuters
Some of Jota’s teammates in the Portuguese national side also attended, including Bruno Fernandes, of Manchester United, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, of Manchester City, Joao Felix and Renato Veiga, of Chelsea, Nelson Semedo, from Wolves, Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio.
Ruben Neves was one of the pallbearers after flying in from Florida where he played for Al Hilal in the Club World Cup quarter-final on Friday night.
‘More than a friend’
In a post published on Instagram before the service, he told Jota he had been “more than a friend, we’re family, and we won’t stop being that way just because you’ve decided to sign a contract a little further away from us!”
Jota’s fellow Liverpool midfielder, Alexis Mac Allister, said on Instagram: “I can’t believe it. I’ll always remember your smiles, your anger, your intelligence, your camaraderie, and everything that made you a person. It hurts so much; we’ll miss you. Rest in peace, dear Diogo.”
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Porto FC president Andre Villas-Boas and Portugal national team manager Roberto Martinez were also in attendance.
‘With us forever’
Speaking after the ceremony, Martinez said the period since their deaths had been “really, really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we showed we are a large, close family.
“Their spirit will be with us forever.”
The service was private, but the words spoken by the Bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, were broadcast to those standing outside the church.
He told Jota’s children, who were not at the service, that he was praying for them specifically, as well as their mother and grandparents.
“There are no words, but there are feelings,” he said, adding: “We also suffer a lot and we are with you emotionally.”
The brothers died after a Lamborghini they were travelling in burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.
No other vehicles are said to have been involved in the incident.
Liverpool have delayed the return of their players for pre-season following Jota’s death and players past and present paid tribute to him and his brother on social media.
Hidden among the majestic canyons of the Utah desert, about 7 miles from the nearest town, is a small research facility meant to prepare humans for life on Mars.
The Mars Society, a nonprofit organization that runs the Mars Desert Research Station, or MDRS, invited CNBC to shadow one of its analog crews on a recent mission.
“MDRS is the best analog astronaut environment,” said Urban Koi, who served as health and safety officer for Crew 315. “The terrain is extremely similar to the Mars terrain and the protocols, research, science and engineering that occurs here is very similar to what we would do if we were to travel to Mars.”
SpaceX CEO and Mars advocate Elon Musk has said his company can get humans to Mars as early as 2029.
The 5-person Crew 315 spent two weeks living at the research station following the same procedures that they would on Mars.
David Laude, who served as the crew’s commander, described a typical day.
“So we all gather around by 7 a.m. around a common table in the upper deck and we have breakfast,” he said. “Around 8:00 we have our first meeting of the day where we plan out the day. And then in the morning, we usually have an EVA of two or three people and usually another one in the afternoon.”
An EVA refers to extravehicular activity. In NASA speak, EVAs refer to spacewalks, when astronauts leave the pressurized space station and must wear spacesuits to survive in space.
“I think the most challenging thing about these analog missions is just getting into a rhythm. … Although here the risk is lower, on Mars performing those daily tasks are what keeps us alive,” said Michael Andrews, the engineer for Crew 315.