The Wall Street Journal reports that tech giant Oracle has beaten out Microsoft in a deal with ByteDance for TikTok’s U.S. operations. (1/9)
On August 6, 2020, President Trump had signed an executive order saying the U.S. government would ban TikTok in the country if ByteDance didn’t sell the app within 45 days. (2/9)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that the Treasury Department did receive a proposal over the weekend, with Oracle serving as ByteDance’s ‘trusted technology partner ... making many representations for national security issues.’ (3/9)
It’s unclear what ‘trusted technology partner’ means, but the deal isn’t a sale, according to reports. Microsoft announced on September 13 that its bid was not accepted by ByteDance. (4/9)
Sec. Mnuchin said that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. will review the Oracle proposal this week and then make a recommendation to the president. (5/9)
He also said the proposal involves a commitment to headquarter TikTok global in the United States. He said this would mean adding 20,000 new jobs. The potential deal has been greeted with a heavy degree of skepticism in some tech quarters. (6/9)
‘A deal where Oracle takes over hosting without source code and significant operational changes would not address any of the legitimate concerns about TikTok, and... (7/9)
...the White House accepting such a deal would demonstrate that this exercise was pure grift,’ former Facebook executive Alex Stamos tweeted on September 13. (8/9)
Oracle founder and chairman Larry Ellison openly supports President Trump, holding a fundraiser for him in February. President Trump has called Ellison ‘a tremendous guy.’ (9/9)
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A former NBC marketing executive has issued an apology to Americans for creating a false narrative of who Donald Trump really is while filming ‘The Apprentice’ in the mid-aughts.
Trump was coming off several failed business ventures, bankruptcies, and controversies when the show launched on NBC in 2004; the reality program helped re-cement Trump’s reputation as a successful mogul in the public eye for years to come.
‘To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty,’ John D. Miller wrote. ‘That was the conceit of the show. At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.’
Volkswagen is facing a lawsuit from the parents of an Illinois toddler who was in the backseat of his mother's car when it was stolen by carjackers.
The lawsuit alleges that after being contacted by authorities, Volkswagen refused to disclose the location of the missing child and vehicle until $150 was paid for the company's connectivity service.
'I think this case and the facts are just an egregious example of corporate greed putting profits over people,' attorney Gerald Bekkerman told ABC7.
After a multi-year investigation following George Floyd's murder, the DOJ revealed in an 89-page report that the Minneapolis Police Dept. disproportionately targets Black & Indigenous individuals, frequently employing officers who engage in conduct that violates people's rights.
The tragic death of Floyd sparked a wave of protests and widespread unrest across the U.S., ultimately leading to rare criminal convictions for the officers involved.
The Minneapolis Police Department has experienced officer departures and a decline in community support since Floyd’s death. However, even prior to this incident, the Minneapolis police had been the subject of protests and allegations of using excessive force.
Protests have erupted across Greece following the shipwreck carrying as many as 750 passengers, leaving dozens dead and hundreds still missing.
The gravity of the situation drew intense criticism over the European Union’s failure to establish a comprehensive migration and asylum policy. Greece’s coast guard defended its response to the shipwreck off the country’s south coast.
The incident involved a fishing vessel carrying hundreds of migrants, which capsized and sank in the Mediterranean Sea while en route from Libya to Italy.
António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, called out fossil fuel companies for ‘kneecapping’ progress toward net-zero goals on June 15.
He said that governments must remain committed to net-zero goals to avert climate disaster and that fossil fuel companies should start helping, instead of hindering, the energy transition.
‘Fossil fuel companies must also cease and desist influence peddling and legal threats designed to kneecap progress,’ Guteress said.
NASA has revealed a new ‘postcard’ from Mars rover Curiosity and already, it has astounded researchers by capturing the Martian landscape and skies. Scientists say it offers a unique glimpse into the varying conditions of the red planet throughout the day.
According to NASA's news release, Curiosity, which has been exploring Mars since August 2012, utilized its black-and-white navigation cameras on April 8, 2023, to take images during the morning and afternoon.
These images were then transmitted back to Earth for analysis by the research team, where color was then added.