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“I almost, like, don’t know how to define myself without TikTok,” content creator Ayman Chaudhary sighed, reflecting the consternation of millions over US authorities’ scheduled banning Sunday of the hugely popular app.After months of legal tussles, the US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would ban the video-sharing platform — used by 170 …

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Global equities rallied on Friday as traders digested corporate results and prepared for US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week, pushing London’s benchmark FTSE 100 and Frankfurt’s DAX 40 index to new all-time highs.All three major indices on Wall Street closed higher, with the Nasdaq Composite propelled by a rise in tech stocks. “The sentiment in …

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The United States unveiled a new rule Friday to tighten an exemption allowing low-value imports to enter the country duty-free, taking aim at Chinese shipments that might be benefiting from it.The proposal disqualifies certain products from the low-value, or “de minimis,” exemption, which allows goods valued at $800 or below to come into the United …

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Israel’s cabinet convened on Friday to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.The agreement, which was earlier approved by the security cabinet, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war.It would also launch on Sunday the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Under the deal mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the following weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.The justice ministry published a list of 95 Palestinians to be freed starting Sunday, “subject to government approval”. They include 69 women, 16 men and 10 minors.The Israel Prison Service said it would prevent any “public displays of joy” when Palestinian prisoners are released.Israeli strikes have killed dozens since the ceasefire deal was announced. The military said on Thursday it had hit about 50 targets across Gaza over the previous 24 hours.The ceasefire would take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.Saying the proposed deal “supports achieving the objectives of the war”, Netanyahu’s office announced that the security cabinet recommended that the government approve it.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority has completed preparations “to assume full responsibility in Gaza” after the war.Even before the truce begins, displaced Gazans were preparing to return home.”I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south. “If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”In Israel, there was joy but also anguish over the remaining hostages taken in the Hamas attack.Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest hostage.Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri had died in an air strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to hope.”I think of them, these two little redheads, and I get shivers,” said 70-year-old Osnat Nyska, whose grandchildren attended nursery with the Bibas brothers.- ‘Confident’ -Two far-right ministers have voiced opposition to the deal, with one threatening to quit the cabinet, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believed the ceasefire would proceed.”I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” he said.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more since the deal was announced on Wednesday.Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages and could turn their “freedom… into a tragedy”.The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,876 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- Trump and Biden -The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts by mediators after months of fruitless negotiations, with Trump’s team taking credit for working with US President Joe Biden’s administration to seal the deal.”If we weren’t involved… the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said in an interview Thursday.A senior Biden official said the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released.On Friday, he said: “We seek a full implementation of the first phase, and for the second phase to be the final.”We are waiting for the Security Council to issue a binding resolution to implement the agreement.”The Israeli authorities assume the 33 are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.Two sources close to Hamas told AFP three Israeli women soldiers would be the first to be released on Sunday evening.The women may in fact be civilians, as the militant group refers to all Israelis of military age who have undergone mandatory military service as soldiers.An Israeli military official said reception points had been established at Kerem Shalom, Erez and Reim, where hostages would be joined by doctors and mental health specialists before being “transported via helicopter or vehicle” to hospitals in Israel.Israel “is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences”, a source said on condition of anonymity.During talks in Cairo on Friday, negotiators agreed to form a joint operations room in Cairo to “ensure effective coordination” and compliance with the truce terms, Egyptian state-linked media reported.French President Emmanuel Macron said French-Israeli citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi were among hostages due to be freed in the first phase.Biden said the second phase could bring a “permanent end to the war”.In aid-starved Gaza, where nearly all of its 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, humanitarian workers worry about the monumental task ahead.”Everything has been destroyed, children are on the streets, you can’t pinpoint just one priority,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) coordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP.burs-ser/jsa/kir

A former CIA official pleaded guilty Friday to leaking top secret US intelligence documents about Israeli military plans for a retaliatory strike on Iran.Asif Rahman, 34, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency since 2016 and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia in November.Rahman faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in a federal court in Virginia to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.Iran unleashed a wave of close to 200 ballistic missiles on Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of senior figures in the Tehran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups.Israel retaliated with a wave of strikes on military targets in Iran in late October.According to a court filing, Rahman, on October 17, printed out two top secret documents “regarding a United States foreign ally and its planned kinetic actions against a foreign adversary.”He photographed the documents and used a computer program to edit the images in “an attempt to conceal their source and delete his activity,” it said.Rahman then transmitted the documents to “multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them” before shredding them at work.”Rahman also destroyed multiple electronic devices, including a personal mobile device and an internet router he used to transmit classified information,” the filing said, discarding the destroyed devices in public trash bins.The documents, circulated on the Telegram app by an account called Middle East Spectator, described Israeli preparations for a possible strike on Iran but did not identify any actual targets.According to The Washington Post, the documents, generated by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, described aviation exercises and movements of munitions at an Israeli airfield and the leak led Israeli officials to delay their retaliatory strike. “Mr Rahman betrayed the trust of the American people by unlawfully sharing classified national defense information he swore an oath to protect,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in a statement.Sentencing was set for May 15.

EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib announced a 235 million euro aid package for Syria and neighbouring countries on Friday during the first visit by a senior EU official since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.The trip comes two weeks after foreign ministers from France and Germany visited, calling for a peaceful, inclusive transition, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by countries seeking to engage with war-torn Syria’s new authorities.”I come here to announce a new package of humanitarian aid of 235 million euros ($242 million) in Syria and in neighbouring countries,” Lahbib told a press conference in Damascus after meeting Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.”Our funding will contribute to basic needs like shelter, food, clean water, sanitation, health care, education and emergencies among others,” she said.Neighbouring countries have taken in millions of Syrian refugees over the years.”We count on the authorities to ensure unrestricted and safe access for humanitarian actors to all regions of Syria including those in hard-to-reach and conflict-affected areas” in the east, Lahbib added.Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the rebel offensive that ousted Assad on December 8. An interim government has been appointed to steer the country until March 1.HTS, which has roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, has sought to reassure minorities that they will not be harmed and that the rule of law will be respected.”We are at a turning point and the decisions that will be taken in the coming days and months will be crucial,” Lahbib said.- Sanctions -Her meetings were also expected to focus on the future of the sweeping economic sanctions that the 27-nation bloc imposed on Syria during Assad’s rule.The transitional government has been lobbying to have the sanctions lifted, but some European governments have been hesitant, wanting time to see how the new authorities exercise their power.”We want to see a bright future for Syria and for that, we need to see the rule of law being respected, human rights, women’s rights,” Lahbib said.”What I’ve heard from the mouth of the current authorities (is) really encouraging… Now we need action.”Let’s help Syria but without being naive,” she said.EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss proposals to ease some measures at a meeting in Brussels on January 27 but Lahbib warned: “We will need unanimity to lift the sanctions”. burs-lg-ob/kir/jsa

France’s president said Friday that Paris will soon host an aid conference to help rebuild Lebanon after the Israel-Hezbollah war last year, as he visited Beirut in a show of support for Lebanon’s new leaders.After a vacancy of more than two years, Joseph Aoun was elected president on January 9 and named Nawaf Salam as prime minister-designate.”In the middle of winter, spring has sprung,” Macron said at a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart.”You are this hope,” he said, referring to Aoun and Salam.The new prime minister faces the monumental task of forming a government to oversee reconstruction after the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ended in November, and implement reforms demanded by international creditors in return for a desperately needed financial bailout.At the French embassy on Friday evening, Macron said he was convinced a government would emerge in “the coming days”.Salam, a former presiding judge at the International Court of Justice, separately said consultations with all political sides on potential cabinet line-ups this week had been “more than positive”.Earlier in the day, Macron had pledged to help drum up financial aid at an international reconstruction conference when Aoun comes to Paris “in a few weeks’ time”.”The international community must prepare for massive support to the reconstruction of infrastructure,” he said.Analysts say Hezbollah’s weakening in the war last year allowed Lebanon’s deeply divided parliament to elect Aoun and back his naming of Salam as premier.- ‘Long-lasting’ ceasefire -France administered Lebanon for two decades after World War I, and the two countries have maintained close relations.Earlier in the day, Macron strolled through the Gemmayzeh neighbourhood, near the port of Beirut, posing for photographs and selfies with eager members of the public, and downing small cups of coffee offered to him along the way.In August 2020, he was the first foreign leader to visit the neighbourhood days after it was devastated by a massive explosion at the port.Four years later, Lebanese pushed through the crowd to speak to him.”Please help us to form a new government able to bring my daughter back to Lebanon,” one woman said, explaining that her child had moved to France to study after being wounded in the huge blast.An elderly lady called the French president “adorable”.”Lebanon is dear to my heart,” Macron replied.Families of the more than 22 people killed in the explosion are hopeful after a long-stalled inquiry into the disaster resumed on Thursday.Macron said he would later meet UN chief Antonio Guterres, as a January 26 deadline to fully implement the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire approaches.With just over a week to go, he called for accelerated implementation of the truce.”There have been results… but they must be accelerated and long-lasting. There needs to be complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the Lebanese army must hold a total monopoly of any weapons” in south Lebanon, he said.Under the terms of the deal, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws.At the same time, Hezbollah is required to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south and pull its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.- ‘Continued occupation’ -Speaking to UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, Guterres urged an end to Israel’s “continued occupation” and “military operations” in south Lebanon.He also said that UN peacekeepers “uncovered over 100 weapons caches belonging to Hezbollah or other armed groups” since the November 27 ceasefire.He added that the “presence of armed personnel, assets and weapons” other than those of the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers violated the terms of the UN Security Council resolution that formed the basis for the deal.Hezbollah is the only group in Lebanon that did not surrender its weapons to the state following the 1975-1990 civil war.It has played a key role in politics for decades, flexing its power in governmental institutions while engaging in fighting with the Israeli military.

Iranians and Israelis have been banned from flying to Syria, which is under new leadership since last month’s overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, an airport source said.International flights resumed at Syria’s main airport in Damascus on January 7, almost a month after Islamist-led rebels ousted Assad after a lightning offensive.Just a few airlines have since resumed or announced they will resume flights to Syria.A Damascus airport source said the facility’s authorities told airlines operating in Syria not to allow Israelis and Iranians to board flights to the country.The source, not being authorised to brief the media, spoke on condition of anonymity on Thursday.Syria and Israel are technically at war and do not have diplomatic ties, and Israeli nationals have long been unable to enter the country.Iran was a major backer of Assad’s government, but Damascus-Tehran relations have been on ice since Assad’s overthrow.Two airlines appeared to be complying with the measures, which Syria’s interim authorities have not announced publicly.A travel company source in Damascus said the firm “received instructions from Qatar Airlines indicating it is currently not possible to book flights for Iranians wishing to travel to Damascus”.”However, we have not received any related official instructions from the transport ministry,” the source added, also requesting anonymity.Qatar Airways was the first international carrier to announce it would resume flying to Damascus.Turkish Airlines said Wednesday it would resume flights to Damascus from January 23 after more than a decade.A statement on the Turkish Airlines website said that “in accordance with recent decisions taken by the Syrian Arab Republic authorities, certain rules have been established for passengers entering Syria”.”Citizens of all countries except Israel can enter the country,” it said.However, it also said that Iranians “can only enter the country with prior authorisation”, rather than indicating they had been banned.