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wowowin fb ( MENAFN - AFP) US President-elect Donald trump filed a brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his January 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance. "In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing space to address these issues," Trump's legal team wrote, to give him "the opportunity to pursue a Political resolution." Trump was fiercely opposed to TikTok during his 2017-21 first term, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds. The Republican voiced concerns -- echoed by political rivals -- that the Chinese government might tap into US TikTok users' data or manipulate what they see on the platform. US officials had also voiced alarm over the popularity of the video-sharing app with young people, alleging that its parent company is subservient to Beijing and that the app is used to spread propaganda, claims denied by the company and the Chinese government. Trump called for a US company to buy TikTok, with the government sharing in the sale price, and his successor Joe Biden went one stage further -- signing a law to ban the app for the same reasons. Trump has now, however, reversed course. "Now (that) I'm thinking about it, I'm for TikTok, because you need competition," he recently told Bloomberg. "If you don't have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram -- and that's, you know, that's Zuckerberg." Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg and part of his Meta tech empire, was among the social media networks that banned Trump after attacks by his supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The ban was driven by concerns that he would use the platform to promote more violence. Those bans on major social media platforms were later lifted. In the brief filed on Friday, Trump's lawyer made it clear the president-elect did not take a position on the legal merits of the current case. "President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute," John Sauer wrote in the amicus curiae -- or "friend of the court" -- brief. "Instead, he respectfully requests that the court consider staying the act's deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thus permitting President Trump's incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case." MENAFN27122024000143011026ID1109035871 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration, including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club, and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

It has been a revival season for Augustana College cross country runners. For the first time since 2015, the Vikings men qualified as a team for the NCAA Division III National Championships. The senior-laden team competes in the season’s final meet on Saturday at the Lavern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. The 8K race is set for 11 a.m. CST. Fifth-year senior Emma Odle will carry the Augie banner into the 6K women’s championship at 10 a.m. looking to improve on her 70th-place finish in last year’s championship. With a Top 40 All-America finish, she could be the first female runner from Augie to earn such honors since 1998. It’s safe to say that things are turning around for the men’s program. “It’s a testament to what our seniors, in particular, and upperclassmen have done in terms of their leadership, their investments, their commitments and connections with each other,” said Chad Gunnelson, Augustana director of track & field/cross country. “What they’ve done is really helped elevate everyone’s ability to compete. “They all chose to buy into Coach (Kyle) Flores’s training and to really put the team first.” That showed last Saturday when the Vikings finished fifth in the always-tough Midwest Regional they hosted at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island. Led by seniors Joe Langridge, Grant Ackard, Finbar Martin, Alex Gazarek, Rock Island’s Donovan Garro, and Joe Gibbons, the Vikings earned a coveted at-large berth into this week’s championship run. They will be joined in Indiana this week by sophomores Jose Gomez and Adam Miller along with freshman Ethan Storie. The Vikings, led by captains Langridge and Garro, are ranked No. 28 in the latest national coaches poll, giving the Vikings a target to shoot for this weekend. Gunnelson noted the Vikings have run shoulder-to-shoulder with teams ranked just ahead of them and said a finish in the Top 20 would be significant. To get to that point, Gunnelson said that Flores will have the Vikings shoot for a fast start and be ahead of the pack and heavy traffic back in the field. Ahead of schedule could also describe the resurrection of the program Paul Olsen built into a national treasure. “I’m proud of the men to come in to change the culture and gravitating toward team performance and year-around training,” Gunnelson said. “The senior class is a very significant part of how this has happened. They have made the biggest difference and it’s been their leadership and investment in the program that has helped accelerate that timeline. “Without such an incredible group of young men, we aren’t able to make this jump so quickly.” Also making huge jumps in her efforts, Odle has become a threat to become just Augie’s third female cross country All-American and first since Christina Gamzer (30th) in 1998. Odle, already a track & field All-American, has made her fifth season one to remember. She set a school record with a personal best this season of 21:30.41 in winning the CCIW Championships individual title. She qualified for her second national meet with a time of 21:48.6, which was 26 seconds faster than her 70th-place time at last year’s NCAA Division III National Championships. That has her set up for this weekend as she ventures into her final 6K race as an individual advancing after spending the fall leading a young and inexperienced team. “She is an aggressive runner and she is fearless,” Gunnelson said. “The nice thing is she now has experience running at last year’s national meet and knows what to expect this year. “She has been in some extremely competitive races where she has finished high. The opportunities that she has had and what she has done with those opportunities puts her in a strong position to finish very high. Top 20 or 25 is going to be a great place, but realistically, the goal is to be an All-American.” Get local news delivered to your inbox! sports writer/golf editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

A grand opening was hosted on November 22 for the new permanent location of the Martensville-Warman Early Years Family Resource Centre (MWEYFRC) – a safe, welcoming space offering free programming and supports to families with children under the age of six. Representatives from the various partners involved in the creation and operation of the MWEYFRC gathered at 7 Centennial Drive North in Martensville for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. In truth, the centre has already been offering programming in the area since spring, but the staff lacked a permanent space; as such, they operated out of the Warman High School and ran programs in different city parks. The permanent location, a former Credit Union in close proximity to local parks, was only secured this fall, and the public has been able to access the centre’s services since early October. “In the short amount of time that we’ve been in our permanent location, we’ve seen an infinite amount of smiles and joy when families come to the centre, whether it’s for drop-in play or our most popular program, our Sip n’ Chat,” said centre co-ordinator Emily Martens. The YMCA of Saskatoon is the main operating partner of the centre, in collaboration with Prairie Spirit School Division. DeAnn Mercier, CEO of the Saskatoon YMCA, said they also operate two other Early Years Family Resource Centres in the city: one location in Fairhaven that has been open since 2020, and another in Brighton that opened in 2024. “These locations have since welcomed over 31,000 visiting families through their doors, and we know the centre in Martensville will be just as successful,” said Mercier. While it is not a daycare, Mercier summarized the centre’s purpose as being “a space to play with your child, meet people and get advice from early childhood professionals, all for free.” The services provided are guided by four program pillars of early learning, parent education, family wellness and community information and referrals. Mercier noted the value of just being able to hear from other people that what you are going through as a new parent is normal, and it’s OK for your child to make a mess. “Sometimes you just need to hear someone else say that, and you need a third space where you can get out of your house with your kids,” she said. Funding for the MWEYFRC is provided through the provincial Ministry of Education’s Early Years Branch. Warman MLA Terry Jenson, who brought greetings on behalf of Education Minister Everett Hindley, said the provincial government has opened a total of 21 such centres in 19 communities, including Saskatoon and Regina, Prince Albert, Estevan and the Battlefords. “The work done here ... and at all the Saskatchewan Early Years Family Resource Centres are making tremendous impacts on families throughout the province,” he said. “I’m a parent, so I can relate. We didn’t have a facility like this when my kids were young. So it’s going to be a very, very beneficial space.” As a lifelong educator, a parent and an uncle, Martensville Mayor Kent Muench indicated he was aware of how vital this type of support is for young children, not just in terms of their graduation rates from school but also in terms of their future success. He added that in the communities of Martensville and Warman, “we really value a place that is safe and provides opportunities for families.” Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk also commented that as a teacher and former vice principal at Warman High School, he understood and personally witnessed the value of a solid early learning foundation and providing access to resources to families with young children. He said he wished his parents had access to a centre like this when he had been younger. “Being a parent and not having relatives close by can be scary, and something that we need support with. The Early Years Centre brings together parents who might be in similar situations, and the benefits of having them are immeasurable,” he said. Neda Wilson of the Prairie Spirit School Division, who co-chairs the management committee that oversees the centre, said the division serves as the dedicated accountability partner, helping to oversee the centre’s development. This includes engaging in community planning, advising on the budget and helping shape the strategic direction of the centre, as well as managing service agreements and securing funding when needed. All of this is “critical” to ensuring the centre’s sustainability and impact, she added. Wilson said the management committee includes not just the division and the cities of Martensville and Warman, but also agencies like Regional Kids First, the Ministry of Social Services and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. “This centre is not just a building. It’s a symbol of our shared commitment to children and families, fostering a brighter future for our communities,” Wilson said. The grand opening ceremony was concluded by Martens sharing a story about the impact of the centre: the story of a family who had brought their child to one of their painting programs, which was the child’s first experience with “messy play.” She said, “The parent was filled with joy as they saw their child experimenting with paint, and how focused he had become.” The next day, the family had bought paint for the child, and it had a noticeable effect on his behaviour and engagement with activities. “This is just one of many positive stories we receive from families and the benefits they take with them when they leave the centre,” Martens said.

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings know of Todd McLellan, a longtime NHL coach, but most don’t really know him. They’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted as the season progresses. But their new coach made an unmistakable first impression Friday during a team meeting and 20-minute practice prior to tonight’s game against Toronto. “I think you can definitely feel his presence; he has a presence when he’s in the room,” Patrick Kane said. “The way he speaks, just his voice, his voice on the ice, he seems like he’s going to be a coach that’s demanding, and I think that’s a good thing for our group. Demand more from us and then hopefully we can put out more for him, too.” They have much more to give following a 13-17-4 start that got Derek Lalonde fired on Thursday. “It’s been a frustrating start to the season and obviously our last performance (4-0 loss to St. Louis Monday), last week two games against Montreal,” Dylan Larkin said. “We’re missing something and ultimately Steve (general manager Yzerman) made the decision. I really like Derek and (assistant coach Bob Boughner, also fired) as guys. They’re really good people and you never want to see that. Especially the time that it happened was a little awkward but felt like something needed to happen. “And now we move forward, and we had a great first day with Todd. Right when it happened, it was difficult to see, but we moved forward and hopefully continue to look at the big picture and develop this further.” Kane speaks from experience when he said a coaching change can give a team an immediate boost. “I guess everyone has a clean slate, like he said in our meeting this morning,” Kane said. “You try to have a good first impression on the coach and he’s not making it too complicated for us. Try to keep it simple for us. Just go out and play and bring the spirit, bring the heart, play faster, play with some life and hopefully it’ll turn out well for us.” Larkin said players ultimately are responsible for the team’s struggles but believes McLellan can help them recapture their spirit. “That’s something that we’ve been lacking and something that as a player, when you go out there and you don’t have it for whatever reason -- like the last week and multiple times throughout this season – it’s not the way I want to play,” Larkin said. “Whatever happens the rest of the way this season, we need to build the team spirit and the competitiveness back in our locker room.” Moritz Seider described a mix of nervousness and excitement as he drove to the rink. “I think we’re all good hockey players. We just need maybe a different approach or something and maybe he hit the triggers already,” Seider said. “And I think we’re going to be a team that’s playing with a lot of heart, a lot of character and a lot of spirit tonight. We’re going to be a good hockey team for a full 60 minutes, and that’s, I think, most important. That was his message, and I think everyone’s believing in it.” #RedWings Todd McLellan running his first practice at the morning skate. pic.twitter.com/PHkXsXagpM

It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not." Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on a simmering feud among MAGA allies over H-1B worker visas, telling the New York Post that he supports the program, according to the outlet. Trump told the New York Post that he has “always liked the visas.” The H-1B visa program allows employers to temporarily hire non-U.S. citizens for highly skilled jobs. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” he said, according to the outlet’s report. A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During his first term, the Trump administration implemented rules that would have cut the number of H-1B visas issued each year. The rules, however, were ultimately struck down in court. In recent days, MAGA world has been embroiled in a debate over the program, with one faction defending the visas and another faction arguing that the program allows foreigners to take American jobs. Trump allies, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, argued in online posts that the visa program benefits the country. The latest news on Donald Trump's presidency Musk said in a post this week that “the number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low.” Musk, who was born in South Africa and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, said that the reason he and others who built SpaceX and Tesla are in the U.S. is because of the H-1B program. “Take a big step back and F--- YOURSELF in the face,” he said in a post . “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.” Musk said in a post to X that “those contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party,” later clarifying that he was referring to “those in the Republican Party who are hateful, unrepentant racists.” Musk’s posts came in reply to a post from Scott Adams, the creator of the “Dilbert” comic, who said “MAGA is taking a page from Democrats on how to lose elections while feeling good about themselves.” Separately, Ramaswamy, who is partnering with Musk to lead Trump’s nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, argued in a post to X that he hopes American culture again prioritizes “hard work over laziness.” Ramaswamy also said in a post to X on Friday that the H-1B visa program “is badly broken & should be replaced with one that focuses on selecting the very best of the best (not a lottery), pro-competitive (no indentured service to one company), and de-bureaucratized.” Republicans who criticized H-1B visas included far-right activists Laura Loomer and Steve Bannon. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also weighed in, calling it “lazy” for the “tech industry to automatically go to foreign workers for their needs.” “Invest in our American workforce,” she said in a post to X on Friday. “We must invest in Americans first before looking elsewhere.” Musk also faced accusations of censoring critics after more than a dozen conservatives, including Loomer, said their blue badge verification on X had been revoked after they criticized Musk over his views on immigration. This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

CDMO Stock Alert: Halper Sadeh LLC Is Investigating Whether the Sale of Avid Bioservices, Inc. Is Fair to ShareholdersWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

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