Supreme Court backs law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok beginning Sunday unless it's sold by its China-based parent company, holding that the risk to national security posed by its ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States.

A sale does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users' phones once the law takes effect, new users won't be able to download it and updates won't be available. That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.

The decision came against the backdrop of unusual political agitation by President-elect Donald Trump, who vowed that he could negotiate a solution, and the administration of President Joe Biden, which has signaled it won't enforce the law — which was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support — beginning Sunday, his final full day in office.

“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, noting that actions to implement the law will fall to the new administration.

Trump, mindful of TikTok’s popularity, and his own 14.7 million followers on the app, finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from prominent Senate Republicans who fault TikTok’s Chinese owner for not finding a buyer before now. Trump said in a Truth Social post shortly before the decision was issued that TikTok was among the topics in his conversation Friday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

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Trump and Chinese leader Xi talk about trade, fentanyl and TikTok

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on America's biggest rival.

Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese foreign ministry said. The call came the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company.

“We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for a good start of the China-U.S. relationship during the new U.S. presidency and are willing to secure greater progress in China-U.S. relations from a new starting point,” Xi said in the call.

Trump confirmed on his Truth Social platform that he had spoken with Xi, saying “the call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A.” They talked about trade, fentanyl and TikTok and more, he said.

“President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!” Trump wrote. His transition team pointed to the social media post when asked for more details on the call.

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Trump's swearing-in will move inside the Capitol Rotunda because of intense cold weather

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office from inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday due to forecasts of intense cold weather, upending months of meticulous planning for a massive outdoor event with crowds sprawling down the National Mall.

“The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.”

The Rotunda is prepared as an alternative for each inauguration in the event of inclement weather. The swearing-in was last moved indoors in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan began his second term. Monday’s forecast calls for the lowest Inauguration Day temperatures since that day.

Outgoing President Joe Biden, members of Congress and some other dignitaries and notable guests will be able to view the ceremony from inside the Capitol Rotunda. But even if they are standing shoulder-to-shoulder packing the Rotunda as in 1985, many will be forced to watch the swearing-in from elsewhere.

Alternate plans were being devised to accommodate as many guests as possible. More than 250,000 guests are ticketed to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds and tens of thousands more were expected to be in general admission areas or to line the inaugural parade route from the Capitol to the White House.

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Israel's full Cabinet meets on Gaza ceasefire deal after security Cabinet recommends approval

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s full Cabinet was meeting Friday evening on a Gaza ceasefire deal after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed an agreement had been reached that would pause the 15-month war with Hamas and release dozens of hostages.

The security Cabinet recommended the deal's approval earlier in the day, and the full Cabinet was expected to approve the ceasefire, which could start as soon as Sunday. The deal has drawn fierce resistance from Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, whose objections could destabilize his government.

The Cabinet was meeting well past the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, a rare occurrence and a reflection of the moment’s importance. In line with Jewish law, the Israeli government usually halts all business for the Sabbath except in emergency cases of life or death.

Israel and Hamas have been under growing pressure from both U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration and President-elect Donald Trump to reach a deal before Trump takes office Monday.

Mediators Qatar and the U.S. had announced the ceasefire Wednesday, but the deal hung in limbo for more than a day as Netanyahu insisted there were last-minute complications he blamed on Hamas.

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How the deal to pause the Israel-Hamas war could unfold

The Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreemen t is expected to take effect as soon as Sunday. But the most significant diplomatic breakthrough in over a year of brutal war between Israel and Hamas is rife with risks and raises more questions than it answers.

The deal presented to the Israeli Cabinet Friday after months of complex negotiations mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar is ridden with diplomatic ambiguity, leaving the issues that most inflame tensions between Israel and Hamas up for more negotiation. That has stirred fears that, failing a second agreement, the war could resume within weeks.

In besieged Gaza, the prospect of more humanitarian aid and a respite from constant bombardment still has lifted Palestinians' hopes after 15 months of suffering through an Israeli military campaign has killed over 46,000 people, both civilians and militants.

In Israel, families have eagerly prepared to welcome home relatives Hamas took captive during its Oct. 7 cross-border attack that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and resulted in the abduction of 250 others.

Even as Israel and Hamas quarreled over final sticking points earlier this week, American and Qatari officials said the first phase of the deal — lasting 42 days — should take hold first thing Sunday.

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3 lawyers for the late Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny are convicted and sentenced to prison

PETUSHKI, Russia (AP) — Three lawyers who once represented the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were convicted by a court Friday as part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent that has reached levels unseen since Soviet times.

Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser were already in custody and were given sentences ranging from 3 1/2 to five years by a court in the town of Petushki, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Moscow. They were arrested in October 2023 on charges of involvement with extremist groups, as Navalny’s networks were deemed by authorities.

The case was widely seen as a way to increase pressure on the opposition to discourage defense lawyers from taking political cases.

The U.S. State Department condemned the sentences against the lawyers “who were simply doing their jobs to ensure a political prisoner was afforded his right to legal representation, turning defense lawyers into political prisoners themselves,” said spokesman Matthew Miller.

He called it “yet another example of the persecution of defense lawyers by the Kremlin in its effort to undermine human rights, subvert the rule of law, and suppress dissent,” and urged the government to release all political prisoners immediately.

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The Senate advances a migrant detention bill that could be Trump's first law to sign

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is heading toward a final vote on legislation that would give states the power to challenge federal immigration policies and require federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft and violent crimes, setting a new tone on immigration as Donald Trump enters the White House.

Newly in the majority, Senate Republicans have made the so-called Laken Riley Act — named after a Georgia student who was killed last year by a Venezuelan man — a top priority, potentially making it the first bill Trump signs as president.

On Friday, it cleared a key procedural hurdle 61-35, with 10 Democrats voting with Republicans to advance it to a final vote. The Senate is set to vote on final passage Monday after Trump's inauguration, but the House will also need to take up changes made to the bill.

Democrats, who last year allowed similar legislation to languish, initially supported opening debate on the bill, signaling a new willingness to consider crackdowns on illegal immigration following their election losses. However, most voted against advancing the bill to a final vote after they were unable to make significant changes to the legislation.

“The American people are rightly concerned about the illegal immigration crisis in this country, and they sent a clear message in November that they want to see it addressed,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, who described the bill as “the first of many” on the topic.

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Fires scorched campuses across Los Angeles. Many schools are seeking places to hold classes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Days after losing her home in the same fire that destroyed her Los Angeles elementary school, third-grader Gabriela Chevez-Muñoz resumed classes this week at another campus temporarily hosting children from her school. She arrived wearing a t-shirt that read “Pali” — the nickname for her Pacific Palisades neighborhood — as signs and balloons of dolphins, her school’s mascot, welcomed hundreds of displaced students.

“It feels kind of like the first day of school,” Gabriela said. She said she had been scared by the fires but that she was excited to reunite with her best friend and give her hamburger-themed friendship bracelets.

Gabriela is among thousands of students whose schooling was turned upside down by wildfires that ravaged the city, destroying several schools and leaving many others in off-limits evacuation zones.

Educators across the city are scrambling to find new locations for their students, develop ways to keep up learning, and return a sense of normalcy as the city grieves at least 27 deaths and thousands of destroyed homes from blazes that scorched 63 square miles (163 square kilometers) of land.

Gabriela and 400 other students from her school, Palisades Charter Elementary School, started classes temporarily Wednesday at Brentwood Science Magnet, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away. Her school and another decimated Palisades elementary campus may take more than two years to rebuild, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

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Homes were burning and roads already jammed when Pacific Palisades evacuation order came, AP finds

The first evacuation order covering neighborhoods closest to the start of the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfire didn’t come until about 40 minutes after some of those homes were already burning, according to an Associated Press analysis of emergency communications and interviews with survivors.

The wildfire, which would become one of the most destructive in California history, was spreading rapidly in ornamental plantings and burning homes by 11:27 a.m. on Jan. 7, recordings of scanner traffic reveal. So many people fled on their own, as wind-whipped flames raced over the nearby hills, that by the time officials issued the order to evacuate at 12:07 p.m., traffic was gridlocked.

Authorities would eventually urge people to exit their cars and leave on foot, and then used a bulldozer to clear away abandoned vehicles and make way for fire crews.

Despite the timing of the order, nearly all the residents of Pacific Palisades made it to safety — a relief that some attributed to the hyper-awareness of fire danger in a region frequently scarred by it, the efforts of first responders, the initiative that many took to evacuate on their own, and the fact that the fire broke out in broad daylight, when those nearby were awake to notice it.

The time lag is one of several issues that may have complicated the fire response. With the severe winds preventing aerial firefighting, water hydrants ran dry amid unprecedented demand. A reservoir near Pacific Palisades was empty because it needed repairs. Top Los Angeles Fire Department commanders decided not to deploy roughly 1,000 available firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines in advance, the Los Angeles Times has reported.

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Ozempic, Wegovy and other drugs are among 15 selected for Medicare's price negotiations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Popular weight loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have been added to Medicare’s list of medications that will be negotiated directly between the government and drug manufacturers, the Biden administration said Friday.

The price negotiations for the additional 15 drugs selected will be handled by the incoming Trump administration and, if deals are reached, almost assure billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers.

Besides Ozempic and Wegovy, some of the other medications include Trelegy Ellipta, which treats asthma; Otezla, a psoriatic arthritis drug; and several that treat different forms of cancer.

The list is a first step in negotiations and, given the timing, the details and final pricing will be left to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

“For some people this is a big deal,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a call with reporters on Thursday. “Some folks have to skip a dose in their prescription so they can make a prescription last longer.”

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