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The text of an inflammatory “letter to America” from 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden has gone viral on TikTok and drawn praise from young users — and US lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are blasting the China-owned app for promoting terrorist propaganda.

In the letter, bin Laden claimed that he orchestrated the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center that killed nearly 3,000 Americans because the US attacked us in Palestine.

Bin Laden called the creation of Israel a crime which must be erased. He also claimed that the AIDS epidemic was “a Satanic American Invention” and objected to US companies allowing women to have jobs, fuming, “You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins.”

The antisemitic tirade went on to assert that in the US, Jews “control your policies, media and economy.”

The Guardian, which had published the full text of the letter in 2002, pulled it down on Wednesday, citing the fact in a statement that it was being widely shared on social media without the full context. Therefore we have decided to take it down and direct readers to the news article that originally contextualized it instead.

The TikTok trend appears to have been jumpstarted by Lynette Adkins — a social media influencer with 12 million followers who has been profiled in the Los Angeles Times.

In her video, which has received nearly 100,000 likes and more than 5,500 comments since it was posted Wednesday, Adkins told her followers to stop what theyre doing right now and go read a letter to America.

Adkins followed up with several other posts, including one in which she discussed three movies to watch after youve read a letter to America and another in which she reacted to the Guardian taking down the text and declared America is losing the PR war bad.

The Guardian taking that post down is actually one of the worst things that they couldve done. I dont know who was behind it or what the reasoning was, but I feel like it literally just confirmed everything that we read in the letter, Adkins said.

When reached for comment, a TikTok spokesperson said content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism and added that the company was proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform.

At the same time, the company bizarrely tried to deny that the bin Laden-related content had gone viral — despite videos that racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

The number of videos on TikTok is small and reports of it trending on our platform are inaccurate, the spokesperson added. This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media.”

Many of the TikTok users promoting the letter were women.

A second said she would “never look at life the same, I will never look at this country the same. Please read it and if you have read it, let me know if you are also going through an existential crisis in this very moment, because in the last 20 minutes, the entire viewpoint on the entire life I have believed and I have lived has changed.”

Another social media user whose video went viral said that after reading the letter, “it becomes apparent to me that the actions of 9/11 and those acts committed against the US and its people were all just the buildup of our government failing other nations.”

Elsewhere, TikTok user @Raeyreads posted the full text of bin Ladens letter to her TikTok account, where it has received more than 1 million views.

Its crazy that we are JUST now finding out about this. The U.S. government truly believes they are untouchable and never learned from the past, one user wrote in response.

Over the past 24 hours, thousands of TikToks (at least) have been posted where people share how they just read Bin Ladens infamous "Letter to America," in which he explained why he attacked the United States.

The TikToks are from people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and pic.twitter.com/EwjiGtFEE3

“The fact I agree with a lot of what hes saying. explains why the Us government didnt publicize this or teach us about it,” another said.

The videos in support of bin Laden surfaced just days after The Post reported that several Republican lawmakers had renewed their calls for TikTok to be banned for spreading content that critics deemed anti-Israel during the nations ongoing war with Hamas.

Critics from both political parties have alleged that TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, is effectively a mass surveillance and propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party.

TikTok has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Freelance journalist Yashar Ali shared a number of the viral video clips on X, saying without criticizing any of the posts that the “TikToks are from people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Many of them say that reading the letter has opened their eyes, and theyll never see geopolitical matters the same way again.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said the footage showed how China-owned TikTok is pushing pro-terrorist propaganda to influence Americans.

These people are sympathizing with Osama bin Laden the terrorist responsible for 9/11 and thousands of American deaths, Gottheimer said. TikTok must be banned or sold to an American company.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) described TikTok as a geyser of terrorist propaganda – and the most effective surveillance tool for a foreign government ever invented.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another vocal advocate for a TikTok ban in the US, also chimed in on the alarming situation.

Now trending on social media (especially TikTok) people saying that after reading Bin Ladens Letter to America, they now understand terrorism is a legitimate method of resistance against oppression and America deserved to be attacked of 9/11, Rubio said.

The Guardians website now displays a message to readers explaining that the text had been removed.

This page previously displayed a document containing, in translation, the full text of Osama bin Ladens ‘letter to the American people,’ as reported in the Observer on Sunday 24 November 2002. The document, which was published here on the same day, was removed on 15 November 2023, the message said.

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Politics

Dubai state-owned bank Emirates NBD debuts crypto trading on Liv X app

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Dubai state-owned bank Emirates NBD debuts crypto trading on Liv X app

One of the largest banking groups in the region, Dubai-state-run Emirates NBD, offers crypto trading services in collaboration with Aquanow and Zodia Custody.

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US

Trump tells Hamas ‘you are dead’ if Israeli hostages are not immediately handed over

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Trump tells Gazans 'you are dead' if Israeli hostages are not immediately handed over

US President Donald Trump has told Hamas to hand over Israeli hostages or “you are dead”.

The threat, made over social media, came hours after the White House confirmed that US officials had broken with tradition to hold direct talks with Hamas.

The US has previously avoided direct contact with the group owing to Washington’s longstanding position not to negotiate with terrorists – with Hamas having been designated as a terrorist group in the US since 1997.

In a press conference on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there had been “ongoing talks and discussions” between the US officials and Hamas.

President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress. Pic: AP
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File pic: AP

But she would not be drawn on the substance of the talks – taking place in Doha, Qatar – between US officials and Hamas, but said Israel had been consulted.

Ms Leavitt continued: “Dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what’s in the best interest of the American people, is something that the president has proven is what he believes is a good faith, effort to do what’s right for the American people.”

There are “American lives at stake,” she added.

Adam Boehler, Mr Trump’s pick to be special envoy for hostage affairs, participated in the direct talks with Hamas.

A spokesperson for Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had “expressed to the United States its position regarding direct talks with Hamas”.

Hours later, Mr Trump warned Hamas to hand over Israeli hostages or “it’s over for you” – adding: “This is your last warning”.

Hamas militants on the day of a hostage handover in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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Hamas militants on the day of a hostage handover in Gaza in February. Pic: Reuters

On his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump wrote: “Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered or it is over for you.

“Only sick and twisted people keep bodies and you are sick and twisted. I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.”

Mr Trump met with freed Israeli hostages on Wednesday, something he referenced in his social media post, before adding: “This is your last warning. For the leadership of Hamas, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance.

“Also, to the people of Gaza, a beautiful future awaits, but not if you hold hostages. If you do, you are dead. Make a smart decision. Release the hostages now, or there will be hell to pay later.”

Israel estimates about 24 living hostages, including American citizen Edan Alexander, and the bodies of at least 35 others, are still believed to be in Gaza.

Donald Trump welcomes Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. Pic: Reuters
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Donald Trump with Benjamin Netanyahu in February. Pic: Reuters

The US has a long-held policy of not negotiating with terrorists – which it is breaking with these talks as Hamas has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US government’s National Counterterrorism Center since 1997.

The discussions come as a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire continues to hold, but its future is uncertain.

Palestinians walk among the rubble of buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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Palestinians amid the rubble in the southern Gaza strip. Pic: Reuters

Mr Trump has signalled he has no intention of pushing the Israeli prime minister away from a return to combat if Hamas does not agree to terms of a new ceasefire proposal – which, Israel says, has been drafted by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

The new plan would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages – the group’s main bargaining chip – in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.

Read more:
The competing plans for rebuilding Gaza
Freed Israeli hostage details captivity

Israel has made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners, a key component of the first phase.

Fighting in Gaza has been halted since 19 January.

Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

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Technology

Alibaba shares soar after Chinese tech giant unveils new DeepSeek rival

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Alibaba shares soar after Chinese tech giant unveils new DeepSeek rival

The Alibaba office building is seen in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, on Aug 28, 2024.

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Alibaba shares surged on Wednesday after the Chinese behemoth revealed a new reasoning model it claims can rival DeepSeek’s global blockbuster R1.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba ended the Thursday session up 8.39% — hitting a new 52-week high — with the company’s New York-trading stock rising around 2.5% in premarket deals. Alibaba shares have gained nearly 71% in Hong Kong in the year to date.

The Chinese giant on Thursday unveiled QwQ-32B, its latest AI reasoning model, which it said “rivals cutting-edge reasoning model, e.g., DeepSeek-R1.”

Alibaba’s QwQ-32B operates with 32 billion parameters compared to DeepSeek’s 671 billion parameters with 37 billion parameters actively engaged during inference — the process of running live data through a trained AI model in order to generate a prediction or tackle a task.

Parameters are variables that large language models (LLMs) — AI systems that can understand and generate human language — pick up during training and use in prediction and decision-making. A lower volume of parameters typically signals higher efficiency amid increasing demand for optimized AI that consumes fewer resources.

Alibaba said its new model achieved “impressive results” and the company can “continuously improve the performance especially in math and coding.”

Both established and emerging AI players around the world are racing to produce more efficient and higher-performance models since the unexpected launch of DeepSeek’s revolutionary R1 earlier this year.

Chinese firms have been doubling down on the technology with Alibaba investing in AI after debuting its first model in 2023. The strength of the company’s cloud Intelligence unit was a key contributor to Alibaba’s sharp profit hike in the December quarter.

“Looking ahead, revenue growth at Cloud Intelligence Group driven by AI will continue to accelerate,” Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said at the time.

Optimism surrounding AI developments could lead to large gains for Alibaba stock and set the company’s earnings “on a more upwardly-pointing trajectory,” Bernstein analysts said.

“The pace of innovation is incredibly fast right now. It’s really good for the world to see this happening,” Futurum Group CEO Dan Newman told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday. “When DeepSeek came out, it made everyone sort of question, was OpenAi the final answer? Would the incumbents, the Microsofts, the Googles, or the Amazons that have all made massive investments win?”

He stressed that the large language models were increasingly “becoming commoditized” as developers look to drive down costs and improve access to users.

“As we see this more efficiency, this cost coming down, we’re also going to see use going off. The training era, which is what Nvidia really built its initial AI boom off, was a big moment,” Newman said. “But the inference, the consumption of AI, is really the future and this is going to exponentially increase that volume.”

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