Students blocked access to Paris’s prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) university over Israel’s war on Gaza, demanding the institution condemn Israel’s actions in a protest that echoed similar demonstrations on university and college campuses across the United States.
Chanting their support for Palestinians, the students on Friday displayed Palestinian flags at windows and over the building’s entrance. Several wore the black-and-white keffiyeh head scarf that has become an emblem of solidarity with Gaza.
“When we see what is happening in the United States, and now in Australia, we’re really hoping it will catch on here in France, the academic world has a role to play,” said 22-year-old Hicham, a master’s student in human rights and humanitarian studies at Sciences Po.
The students, he said, want Sciences Po to condemn Israel’s actions.
“We’re very happy that [students at] more and more universities are getting mobilised,” said 20-year-old Zoe, a master’s student in public administration.
“We hope that will spread to all universities and beyond … we won’t give in until the genocide in Gaza ends.”
Sciences Po officials did not reply to a request for comment.
On Wednesday night, police removed a first group of students that had blocked Sciences Po, French media said, a move which was condemned by left-wing politicians.
Palestinian group Hamas has said it remains committed to achieving an agreement with Israel to end the war on Gaza, but only if its conditions including a lasting ceasefire are met.
Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group’s political bureau, said that Hamas “is serious about releasing Israeli captives within the framework of an agreement” that also ensures the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
He told Al Jazeera Arabic in a televised interview on Thursday that Hamas will not accept a truce without a permanent ceasefire and a complete halt of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 34,000 people – mainly women and children – since the current conflict started in October.
An “unhindered return” of Palestinians across the besieged enclave to their homes, along with the reconstruction of Gaza and “an end to the crippling siege” imposed on it were among the four conditions that al-Hayya reiterated.
Hamas had submitted its response to a United States amendment on April 13 and is still waiting for a reply from Israel and the mediating parties, he said.
Talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been in limbo with the two sides showing few signs that they are ready to compromise on their demands, but international mediators – Qatar, the United States and Egypt – have been engaged in intense behind-the-scenes talks to secure a deal.
Top Israeli officials have repeatedly called Hamas’s demands “delusional” and have said an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would amount to losing the war.
Egypt has asked for a follow-up meeting with Israel in renewed efforts to mediate a deal, two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency.
Egyptian, Israeli and US officials reportedly held in-person and remote meetings on Wednesday that sought concessions to break the deadlock in the months-long negotiations, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli officials is expected to take place on Friday in Cairo.
The US and 17 other countries issued an appeal for Hamas to release captives as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza.
“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now for over 200 days,” read the statement on Thursday by the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
It said that the “deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities”.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna pointed out that the statement appears to be trying to step up pressure on Hamas amid ongoing attempts at negotiation.
“There’s no mention whatsoever of any concomitant release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel by the Israeli government, but this is stepping up pressure on Hamas, it would appear, as these negotiations grind forward,” he said.
The renewed effort to continue the talks is shaping up as Israel has significantly increased its military activities across the enclave and is proceeding with plans for a ground invasion of Rafah in the south, where some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter.
The humanitarian situation in Rafah – bordering Egypt – and across Gaza remains dire, with the United Nations and others repeatedly stressing the need for Israel to allow more aid in.
Eleven-year-old Husam is one of more than 600,000 children who have sought refuge in Rafah which was designated a “safe zone” even as the Israeli military continues to pound it from the air in preparation for a ground assault.
“We’re afraid people will resort to killing each other for food,” he told Al Jazeera.
“A person’s psyche wears out with fear. It’s a slow death.”
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief says former leader ‘among those being investigated’.
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is being investigated in connection with a corruption probe involving his sons, the country’s anticorruption agency has confirmed.
Azam Baki, chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), said on Thursday that Mahathir was “among those being investigated”.
“Let the investigations conclude first, until an appropriate time when we can state the findings of the case,” Azam told reporters in the northeastern state of Kelantan.
A spokesperson for Mahathir, who led the Southeast Asian country from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020, declined to comment.
In January, the MACC ordered Mahathir’s two eldest sons, Mirzan Mahathir and Mokhzani Mahathir, to declare their assets as part of inquiries prompted by the Pandora and Panama Papers leaks.
Anwar, who served as Mahathir’s deputy during the 1990s before being jailed, has denied accusations of using his anticorruption as a pretext to target political rivals and insisted he does intervene in legal cases.
In February, the MACC charged former finance minister and Mahathir ally Daim Zainuddin and his wife for failing to disclose assets.
Mokhzani Mahathir, Mahathir’s second-eldest son, told Bloomberg News in an interview last month that his father was the “primary suspect” in the investigation.
Defence and prosecution prepare for retrial of the once-powerful movie producer in a case that was a landmark for the #MeToo movement.
New York’s highest court has overturned disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for rape and sexual assault, highlighting the challenges of holding powerful men to account.
The Court of Appeals found on Thursday that the landmark trial was unfair because the judge allowed women whose accusations were not part of the charges Weinstein faced to give evidence in court.
Judge Jenny Rivera called for a new trial following the 4-3 decision.
The ruling does not affect a separate 16-year rape sentence handed down in California, so the 72-year-old will remain behind bars.
Bombshell allegations against the Oscar-winning producer broke into the open in 2017 and led to a flood of allegations against other powerful men as women fought back against sexual violence in what became known as the #MeToo movement.
Three years later, a New York court found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
He was jailed for 23 years in a case that was considered a landmark for the #MeToo movement.
Following his conviction, a civil trial awarded $17m to dozens of other women who had accused Weinstein of abuse.
Many of his accusers condemned Thursday’s decision, with actress Ashley Judd calling it “an act of institutional betrayal”.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg signalled it planned to put Weinstein back on trial.
Stinging dissent
At a news conference, Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala called the ruling “a tremendous victory for every criminal defendant in the state of New York” and said Weinstein was ready to testify in his own defence at a retrial.
“He’s been dying to tell his story from day one,” Aidala said. Weinstein has contended that any sexual activity was consensual.
Any retrial would be overseen by a different judge. The term of the judge in the original trial, James Burke, expired at the end of 2022.
In its ruling on Thursday, the state Court of Appeals said the trial court erred in allowing “testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts” and saying it would permit questions about Weinstein’s “bad behaviour” if he had testified. The producer did not take the stand in his own defence.
In a stinging dissent, Judge Madeline Singas wrote that the court was continuing a “disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence”. She said the ruling came at “the expense and safety of women”.
In another dissent, Judge Anthony Cannataro wrote that the decision was “endangering decades of progress in this incredibly complex and nuanced area of law” regarding sex crimes after centuries of “deeply patriarchal and misogynistic legal tradition”.
The reversal of Weinstein’s conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in recent years.
In 2021, a court in Pennsylvania threw out Bill Cosby’s conviction on sexual assault and he was freed from prison. The Supreme Court declined to take up the case.
Former US president says Charlottesville rally was a ‘little peanut’ compared with pro-Palestinian student protests.
Former United States President Donald Trump has claimed that pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses are more hateful than the infamous 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Speaking to reporters outside his hush-money trial in New York on Thursday, Trump said the Unite the Right rally was “nothing” compared with the hate being expressed at student demonstrations against the war in Gaza.
“We’re having protests all over,” Trump said as he left the Manhattan courtroom where he is standing trial over alleged payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
“Charlottesville was a little peanut, and it was nothing compared – and the hate wasn’t the kind of hate that you have here, this is tremendous hate,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments follow a Truth Social post on Wednesday in which the Republican presidential contender described the Charlottesville rally as a “‘peanut’ compared to the riots and anti-Israel protests that are happening all over our Country.”
The White House rebuked Trump over his comments.
“Minimising the anti-Semitic and white supremacist poison displayed in Charlottesville is repugnant and divisive,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
US President Joe Biden, who is expected to face off against Trump in November’s presidential election, has repeatedly invoked the Charlottesville rally as a decisive moment in his decision to run against Trump in 2020.
During the event on August 11, 2017, white supremacists rallied against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee, chanting slogans including “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”
A day later, James Alex Fields Jr, a self-identified white supremacist, deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters near the rally site, killing Heather Heyer.
Trump’s response to the rally, including saying that “both sides” were to blame, marked one of the most controversial moments of his presidency.
There have been no comparable incidents of violence at the pro-Palestinian protests roiling multiple US universities, including George Washington University, Yale, New York University (NYU), Columbia University and the University of Texas.
But reports of harassment and threats against Jewish students have prompted condemnation from officials including Biden, House Speaker Mike Johnson, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Footage shared on social media last weekend appeared to show activists telling students to “go back to Poland” and that October 7 is “going to be every day for you” – referring to Hamas’s attacks on Israel in which 1,139 people were killed.
Chabad at Columbia University, a chapter of an international Orthodox Jewish movement, also reported that protesters had told Jewish students, “You have no culture”, “All you do is colonise” and “Go back to Europe”.
On Sunday, a group of student activists representing the protesters released a statement distancing themselves from “inflammatory individuals” and condemning “any form of hate or bigotry”.
Washington, DC – Chants of “free Palestine” were interrupted by ululating and cheers as dozens of Georgetown University students arrived at a protest at the neighbouring George Washington University (GW) campus in the heart of the US capital city.
Students, professors and activists from across the Washington, DC, area gathered on Thursday to show solidarity with Palestinians amid the war on Gaza and demand an end to what they call their colleges’ complicity in Israel’s human rights abuses.
“We’re here to show support for the students at GW and also to raise the demands of all the students in DC, which are to divest from companies that are involved in weapons manufacturing and Israeli apartheid, and to cut ties with Israeli universities because of their complicity in the Israeli genocide in Palestine,” Anna Wessels, a Georgetown student, told Al Jazeera.
The GW encampment brought college protests that have gripped the country to a campus that is blocks away from the White House and the Department of State.
Wessels stressed the significance of the protests taking place in the seat of the federal US government, where President Joe Biden approved $26bn in aid to Israel days ago.
“If we weren’t doing anything in DC, then we’re not living up to our moral responsibility,” Wessels said.
‘This is about Gaza’
Several students and organisers told Al Jazeera on Thursday that they remained focused on Gaza and Palestine, where the Israeli military has killed more than 34,000 people, and mass graves continue to be discovered.
“This entire encampment was made with every single messaging to be around the genocide in Gaza and to revolve around centring all of the demands on Gaza,” said Mimi Ziad, an activist with the Palestinian Youth Movement.
“This isn’t about the students. This is about Gaza. This is about all of Palestine.”
Students draped in keffiyehs had congregated on a GW grass lawn dotted with tents around a statue of George Washington, the first American president.
“George Washington says free Palestine,” read a paper sign that was taped to the statue.
The protesters raised their voices in unison to the beats of a drum in support of Palestinians, condemning Israel for its violations.
“The students, united, will never be defeated,” they chanted, as Palestinian flags waved alongside signs calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Student organisers, sporting yellow and pink vests, directed foot traffic within the demonstration and handed bottles of water to people.
“It feels great to be around other people who see the reality we see and who share the outrage and frustration and also share the energy to solve the problem,” said Elliott Colla, a Georgetown faculty member who joined the protest at GW.
Several demonstrators said pushing universities to divest from Israel can have a tangible effect on the conflict, as boycotts of South Africa helped end the apartheid system in the early 1990s.
College activism around Gaza has taken centre stage in US politics in recent days.
A Palestine solidarity encampment at Columbia University in New York faced a police crackdown and arrests last week as the college administration called on law enforcement to clear the protest. The university has now set a Friday deadline for the protest to disband.
But students continued to demonstrate. Their campaign spread to other colleges across the country, including the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), Boston’s Emerson College, Georgia’s Emory University and the University of Southern California (USC), with dozens of students also arrested at the institutions.
Protesters are demanding that their universities withdraw investments from companies linked to arming the Israeli military [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera]
Anti-Semitism accusations
Pro-Israel politicians from both major parties have been condemning the protesters and accusing them of anti-Semitism – a charge that Palestinian rights activists reject.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson visited the Columbia campus and accused the protesters of intimidating and threatening Jewish students. He also suggested withholding funding to universities that allow pro-Palestinian protests.
“If these campuses cannot get control of this problem, they do not deserve taxpayer dollars,” Johnson, who was met with “Mike, you suck!” chants, said.
But student protesters across the country have condemned anti-Semitism, noting that many of the demonstrators are themselves Jewish. Donia, a protester at GW, said such accusations of anti-Semitism are hurting the fight against bigotry.
“When you’re accusing anyone who’s against genocide in Gaza of being anti-Semitic, you’re losing the actual meaning of the movement against anti-Semitism,” Donia, who chose to be identified by her first name only out of fear of reprisal, told Al Jazeera.
She added that pro-Israel advocates were “freaking out” and trying to repress the student movement with anti-Semitism allegations because they know it is effective.
“A lot of the future generation of politicians in this country are at these universities, and they’re not buying their lies any more. That’s what’s really scaring them,” Donia said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed on the protests on Wednesday, calling them horrific. “Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities,” he said.
His remarks prompted a rebuke from progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish.
“No, Mr Netanyahu. It is not anti-Semitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – 70 percent of whom are women and children,” Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.
‘How can I be afraid?’
Zaid Abu-Abbas, an 18-year-old GW student, said the protesters are simply calling for the rights of Palestinians to be protected, dismissing accusations of anti-Semitism as bogus.
He said he was encouraged by the turnout at the protest, expressing hope that the student-led demonstrations can bring about change beyond campus.
“We are in DC near all these government buildings and politicians; they have no other choice but to see what we’re doing,” Abu-Abbas told Al Jazeera.
The joyous atmosphere at GW on Thursday drew a stark contrast with footage of violent arrests at other campuses.
However, students interviewed by Al Jazeera played down the prospect of a law enforcement push to clear the encampment.
Ziad, the Palestinian Youth Movement activist, said she is worried about the students, but she herself is not scared. “How can I be afraid if I’m Palestinian?”
Former United States President Donald Trump saw two of the four criminal cases against him move forward on Thursday.
In New York, Trump was again in court in a case connected to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, in which he defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
He is charged with 35 felony counts of falsifying business documents, with prosecutors arguing the misdeeds were done as part of a larger criminal scheme to influence the vote.
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, the US Supreme Court heard arguments related to Trump’s claim that he is immune from federal prosecution in a separate case related to allegations that he sought to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump has argued that he should be immune from prosecution because the charges relate to actions he took while in office.
Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s proceedings:
Tabloid publisher knew ‘catch and kill’ payments ran up against campaign laws
Speaking in the New York trial, National Enquirer publisher David Pecker said he knew the effort to buy and stifle negative stories about Trump was a violation of federal election laws.
In the US, corporations must report payments made in coordination with an electoral campaign. Pecker had earlier testified that he had agreed to use his position to be the “eyes and ears” of the campaign, buying unflattering stories and then killing them before publication. In a meeting with Trump and Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, he said the trio hatched the plan to stifle politically damaging stories.
Pecker was specifically referring to paying model Karen McDougal $150,000 for her story about an alleged affair with Trump. When asked if the intention in buying the story was to influence the election results, he replied: “Yes, it was.”
While the 34 falsification charges against Trump relate specifically to payments made to Daniels, prosecutors have spent the early days of witness testimony seeking to establish a wider pattern of Trump engaging in election malfeasance.
Pecker says Trump was not worried about family learning of alleged affair
The publisher said he never saw Trump indicate that he was worried about any damage to his family that might accrue from the allegations of extramarital affairs levelled by McDougal and Daniels.
Instead, he said during questioning by prosecutors that he thought the attempts at damage control were purely political. “I think it was for the campaign.”
In fact, Pecker told the prosecution that Trump never referenced his family when discussing the affair allegations.
The claim undercuts one of the central tenets of the defence’s argument that the payments to Daniels were meant to prevent personal, not political, harm to Trump.
Prosecutors say Trump has committed more gag order violations
Prosecutors have been waiting for Judge Juan Merchan to make a ruling on allegations Trump has violated a partial gag order on at least 10 occasions; earlier the judge prohibited Trump from speaking publicly about individuals involved in the case.
Prosecutors said Trump had violated the order four times since they requested that he be sanctioned on Tuesday.
Those included two new attacks Trump directed at Cohen while speaking to the press. Trump also described jurors as “95 percent Democrats”, in another alleged violation.
Prosecutors also argued that calling Pecker “a nice guy” during a campaign stop on Thursday represented a form of intimidation. They said the statement was meant to send a message to Pecker and other witnesses to be kind to Trump or face consequences.
Defence begins cross-examination
Thursday’s proceedings ended with Trump’s defence lawyer Emil Bove’s cross-examination of Pecker.
In the first part of his questioning, he attempted to portray “catch and kill” schemes as “standard operating procedure”.
Pecker noted he had previously suppressed stories on behalf of Rahm Emanuel – the former Chicago mayor and former White House chief of staff to Barack Obama – and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The cross-examination of Pecker was set to continue on Friday.
Supreme Court seems poised to reject Trump’s claim
During a day of questioning, the justices of the US Supreme Court seemed sceptical of Trump’s claims that all of his official acts in the White House should be protected by absolute immunity.
Otherwise, argued Trump lawyer John Sauer, it could become common for former presidents to be prosecuted for unpopular policy decisions.
In response, Justice Elena Kagan asked whether a former president could escape prosecution even if he ordered a coup or sold nuclear secrets. Sauer said prosecutions of ex-presidents might not be allowed if those were determined to be official acts.
The proceedings on Thursday indicated a speedy decision from the Supreme Court is not likely.
Prosecutors have asked for a decision to move swiftly, so the federal case can go to trial before the November election.
The Supreme Court typically issues its last opinions by the end of June, about four months before the election. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who would preside over the trial, said pre-trial issues could take up to three months. It could also send the case back down to a lower court.
Underscoring the gravity of the case on Thursday, Justice Samuel Alito said that “whatever we decide is going to apply to all future presidents”.
More than 200,000 people and 51,000 households have been affected by the rains, Tanzania’s prime minister said.
Flooding and landslides in Tanzania caused by weeks of heavy rain have killed 155 people and injured 236 others, the country’s prime minister has said, as intense downpours continue across East Africa.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told Parliament that the El Nino climate pattern has worsened the ongoing rainy season, causing the flooding and destroying roads, bridges and railways.
“The heavy El Nino rains, accompanied by strong winds, floods and landslides in various parts of the country, have caused significant damage,” Majaliwa told Parliament on Thursday.
El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought and heavy rains.
The devastating effects of the rains were “primarily due to environmental degradation”, Majaliwa added, blaming deforestation, unsustainable farming practices such as “slash and burn” agriculture and unregulated livestock grazing.
More than 200,000 people and 51,000 households were affected by the rains, the prime minister noted. Flooded schools were closed and emergency services were rescuing people marooned by the floodwaters.
Schoolchildren are stranded due to a damaged River Zingiziwa bridge in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania [AP]
Majaliwa warned those living in low-lying areas to move to higher ground and urged district officials to ensure that provisions meant for those whose homes were washed away go to those in need of the supplies.
On April 14, the government said a total of 58 people, including children, had been killed in rains and floods since the beginning of the month.
The East African region has been pounded by heavier-than-usual rainfall during the current rainy season, with flooding also reported in neighbouring Burundi and Kenya.
In Kenya, 35 people were reported dead as of Monday, and the number was expected to increase as flooding continues across the country.
Some parts of the capital, Nairobi, remained underwater on Thursday, and Kenyans were warned to stay alert, with the forecast for more heavy rains across the country in coming days.
In the Mathare neighbourhood in the capital, at least four bodies were retrieved from flooded houses on Wednesday. Local media reported that more bodies were retrieved from the Mathare River.
The number of casualties is expected to increase as flooding continues across Kenya [Tony Karumba/AFP]
Kenyan President William Ruto chaired a multi-agency flood response meeting on Thursday and directed the National Youth Service to provide land for people in flood-affected areas.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua told a press briefing that people affected by the floods would be given food and other goods, while those living in the most vulnerable areas would be relocated.
In Burundi, around 96,000 people were displaced by months of relentless rains, the United Nations and the government said earlier this month.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update this week that in Somalia, the “Gu” rains (from April to June) were intensifying, with flash floods reported since April 19.
Uganda has also suffered heavy storms that have caused riverbanks to burst, with two fatalities confirmed and several hundred villagers displaced.
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer shutting down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the United States, Reuters reported citing four sources.
The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance overall operations, which would make a sale of the app with algorithms highly unlikely, the sources, who are close to the parent, said on Thursday.
TikTok accounts for a small share of ByteDance’s total revenues and daily active users, so the parent would rather have the app shut down in the US in a worst-case scenario than sell it to a potential American buyer, they said.
A shutdown would have limited impact on ByteDance’s business while the company would not have to give up its core algorithm, said the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
ByteDance declined to comment.
It said late on Thursday in a statement posted on Toutiao, a media platform it owns, that it had no plan to sell TikTok, in response to an article by tech platform The Information saying ByteDance is exploring scenarios for selling TikTok’s US business without the algorithm that recommends videos to TikTok users.
In response to Reuters request for comment, a TikTok spokeswoman referred to ByteDance’s statement posted on Toutiao.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew said on Wednesday the social media company expects to win a legal challenge to block legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden that he said would ban its popular short video app used by 170 million Americans.
The bill, passed overwhelmingly but the US Senate on Tuesday, is driven by widespread worries among US lawmakers that China could access Americans’ data or use the app for surveillance.
Biden’s signing sets a January 19 deadline for a sale – one day before his term is poised to expire – but he could extend the deadline by three months if he determines privately owned ByteDance is making progress.
ByteDance does not publicly disclose its financial performance or the financial details of any of its units. The company continues to make most of its money in China, mainly from its other apps such as Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, separate sources have said.
The US accounted for about 25 percent of TikTok overall revenues last year, said a separate source with direct knowledge.
ByteDance’s 2023 revenues rose to nearly $120bn in 2023 from $80bn in 2022, said two of the four sources. TikTok’s daily active users in the US is also just about 5 percent of ByteDance’s DAUs worldwide, said one of the sources.
Algorithms not for sale
TikTok shares the same core algorithms with ByteDance domestic apps like short video platform Douyin, three of the sources said. Its algorithms are considered better than ByteDance rivals such as Tencent and Xiaohongshu, said one of them.
It would be impossible to divest TikTok with its algorithms as their intellectual property licence is registered under ByteDance in China and thus difficult to disentangle from the parent company, said the source.
ByteDance also would not agree to sell one of its most valuable assets – its “secret source” – to rivals, said the four sources, referring to the TikTok algorithm.
In 2020, the Trump administration sought to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat but was blocked by the courts. The short-form video app has since faced partial and attempted bans in the United States and other countries.
China indicated it would be likely to reject a forced divestment of the TikTok app during a US congressional hearing in March last year.
“China will firmly oppose it [the forced sale of Tiktok],” said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce at a news conference in Beijing in late March in 2023.
“The sale or divestiture of TikTok involves technology export and must go through administrative licensing procedures in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations.”
China in 2020 unveiled the Export Control Law and the final text extended the definition of “controlled items” from prior drafts. According to state media, the amendment ensures that the exports of algorithms, source codes and similar data are subject to an approval process.
Excluding algorithms, TikTok’s main assets include user data and product operations and management, said two of the people.
ByteDance, backed by Sequoia Capital, Susquehanna International Group, KKR & Co and General Atlantic among others, was valued at $268bn in December when it offered to buy back approximately $5bn worth of shares from investors, Reuters reported at the time.
A new study has found climate change caused by fossil fuel emissions is the likely reason for the extreme weather events.
Global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions “most likely” exacerbated the intense rains that lashed the UAE and Oman last week, causing deaths and widespread flooding, an expert group of scientists has found.
The World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international group of scientists that investigates extreme weather events, said climate change caused by fossil fuel emissions is the probable reason but cannot be pinpointed “with certainty”.
The study compiled by 21 international researchers found extreme rainfall in El Nino years has become 10-40 percent heavier in the region affected.
“Warming, caused by burning fossil fuels, is the most likely explanation for the increasing rainfall,” WWA said in the study published on Thursday.
“There are no other known explanations” for the sharp rise in precipitation, the group added.
Twenty-one people died in Oman and four in the United Arab Emirates, which was battered by the heaviest rainfall since records began for the desert Gulf state 75 years ago.
The oil-producing states have been experiencing extreme heat brought on by global warming. But last week’s floods revealed the additional risk of exceptional weather events as the planet heats up.
“The UAE and Oman floods have shown that even dry regions can be strongly affected by precipitation events, a threat that is increasing with increasing global warming due to fossil fuel burning,” said Sonia Seneviratne, a WWA member and professor at Zurich’s ETH university.
Four people died in the UAE, which was battered by the heaviest rainfall since records began [Abdelhadi Ramahi/Reuters]
Extreme rains
The WWA study analysed historic weather data and climate models to determine changes in rainfall patterns in the area, including in the years affected by El Nino, a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
It found extreme rains were significantly less intense in the years before 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2F) of warming above pre-industrial levels.
“Extreme rainfall events have become at least 10 percent heavier in the UAE and Oman,” said Mariam Zachariah, a WWA member and researcher at London’s Imperial College.
“This finding … agrees with the basic physics that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture.”
The storm first landed in Oman on April 14, killing at least 21 people in flash floods and other incidents, according to the official Oman News Agency.
It hit the UAE on April 16, dumping nearly two years’ worth of rain that flooded homes, roads, malls and offices and left four people dead.
Dubai faced severe disruption for days with major roads blocked by floods, power outages and some residents trapped in their homes. Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest by international travellers, cancelled 2,155 flights, diverted 115 and did not return to full capacity until Tuesday.
“The situation was unprecedented in its severity but we are a country that learns from every experience,” Dubai ruler and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on Wednesday, announcing a $544m package to repair homes.
Friederike Otto, a climatologist and WWA member, said the world agreed at COP28 in Dubai to “transition away” from fossil fuels, but nearly half a year later countries are still opening new oil and gas fields.
“If the world keeps burning fossil fuels, rainfall in many regions of the world will get heavier and heavier, resulting in deadlier and more destructive floods,” Otto said.
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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
