TikTok dismisses rumours of ties to Chinese govt

Short video-sharing app TikTok has denied rumours linking up to the Chinese government calling the US accusations as "rumors and misinformation."

TikTok launched an online information hub as its Chinese parent firm faced a deadline set by President Donald Trump to divest TikTok before the app is banned in the United States.

On a web page titled "The Last Sunny Corner of the Internet," TikTok maintained it was setting the record straight about the platform.

"TikTok has never provided any US user data to the Chinese government, nor would it do so if asked," the company said in the post.

"Any insinuation to the contrary is unfounded and blatantly false."

US user data is stored here, with a backup in Singapore, according to TikTok.

The company, owned by China-based ByteDance, also launched a new @tiktok_comms Twitter account to address issues in real time.

As tensions soar between the world's two biggest economies, Trump has claimed TikTok could be used by China to track the locations of federal employees, build dossiers on people for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.

The US leader early this month also ordered a ban on the messaging app WeChat which is used extensively in China.

On Friday, Trump signed a separate executive order for ByteDance to sell its interest in Musical.ly, the app it bought and merged with TikTok in 2017, citing national security.

TikTok said the US action "risks undermining global businesses' trust in the United States' commitment to the rule of law, which has served as a magnet for investment and spurred decades of American economic growth."

TikTok also repeated its intention to "pursue all remedies available to us in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded."

China meanwhile Monday slammed Washington for using "digital gunboat diplomacy" in the TikTok case.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Monday said TikTok had done everything required by the US, including hiring Americans as its top executives, hosting its servers in the US and making public its source code.

But the app has been "unable to escape the robbery through trickery undertaken by some people in the US based on bandit logic and political self-interest," Zhao said at a regular press conference.

TikTok separately Monday announced an alliance with music distribution platform UnitedMasters, playing to budding artists and their fans despite US steps to bar the popular app.

The deal to integrate UnitedMasters into TikTok promised to build on a trend of the platform being way for musicians to be discovered by posting short-clip videos.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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More than dozen U.S. states expected to sue Trump administration over postal cuts

More than a dozen states as early as this week are expected to sue the Trump administration over cuts at the United States Postal Service they say could delay mail-in ballots in the November elections, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said on Monday.

Frosh said anywhere between 15 to 20 Democratic attorneys general are reviewing legal arguments, and he expects that the states involved will join in one, or possibly several, lawsuits.

“We are talking with other AG offices and expecting to take action soon,” Frosh said.

Republican Trump, who is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in opinion polls, said last week he was against Democratic efforts to include funds for the Postal Service and election infrastructure in coronavirus relief legislation because he wanted to limit mail-in voting during the pandemic. Twice as many people could vote by mail as did so in 2016 because of the pandemic, according to some estimates.

Democrats have cited reductions in overtime, restrictions on extra mail transportation trips and new mail sorting and delivery policies as changes that threaten to slow mail delivery of ballots and other critical mail such as medicines.

Trump on Monday denied that he was attempting to undermine the Postal Service’s ability to handle mail-in ballots.

“No, we’re not tampering,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “We want to make it run for less money, much better, always taking care of our postal workers.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, has asked Trump to postpone the operational changes until after the Nov. 3 elections. The post office is a “perennial drain on the Treasury,” he said in a letter. “But making the radical changes only weeks before early voting begins - however fiscally well founded - would place the solvency of the Post Office above the legitimacy of the government itself.”

It’s unclear whether Yost would join any legal action.

Frosh said that in Maryland, the service has pulled six sorting machines.

“They pulled four out in one location,” in the Democratic stronghold of Baltimore City, he said.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in an interview that it would be unconstitutional to physically bar someone from voting or block the roads so people could not get to polling stations.

“So, too, it’s illegal to intentionally defund the postal service or dismantle close to 700 mail sorting machines in big cities across the country or to remove blue mail boxes, which we’ve heard about,” Tong said.

Tong said he had been collecting evidence of mail delivery problems in Connecticut and that the office has been “flooded with complaints” about delays.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on Monday she planned to sue over the cutbacks and called Trump’s attempt to “interfere” with postal operations an “authoritarian power grab.”

The Democratic-led House of Representatives will meet on Saturday to consider legislation barring changes to Postal Service levels that were in place on Jan. 1, 2020.

Trump’s appointed postmaster general here on Monday agreed to testify before Congress next week on cuts in service.

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UAE-Israel agreement total departure from Arab consensus: Palestinian PM

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has denounced a recent agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to open formal diplomatic ties as Abu Dhabi’s total departure from the Arab consensus over the resolution of the Palestinian issue.

Speaking at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, Shtayyeh slammed the pact as a blatant departure from the Arab consensus that any normalization of ties with the Tel Aviv regime has to come in the context of resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an overall peace deal, Arabic-language Donia al-Watan online newspaper reported.

Israel and the UAE on August 13 reached a deal that will lead to full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides, in an agreement apparently brokered by US President Donald Trump.

“Talking about Palestine and what it either accepts or rejects is an entirely Palestinian affair," he added.

He also said the "expansion of UAE’s arsenal with US-made weapons should not come at the expense of al-Quds and Palestine."

Meanwhile, Abbas Zaki, a member of the central committee of the Palestinian Fatah movement, said that Abu Dhabi's decision to normalize relations with Israel contradicts the UAE constitution.

He added, “The UAE law prohibits, imposes penalties and orders imprisonment for those who praise Israelis.”

Zaki then described bin Zayed's move as “the beginning of the New Middle East project.”

He added that the normalization agreement “contributed to the collapse of the international front that rejected Israeli plans to annex Palestinian territories [in the occupied West Bank], and to the non-recognition of Palestine as a state by 25 countries.”

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More than dozen U.S. states expected to sue Trump administration over postal cuts

More than a dozen states as early as this week are expected to sue the Trump administration over cuts at the United States Postal Service they say could delay mail-in ballots in the November elections, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said on Monday.

Frosh said anywhere between 15 to 20 Democratic attorneys general are reviewing legal arguments, and he expects that the states involved will join in one, or possibly several, lawsuits.

“We are talking with other AG offices and expecting to take action soon,” Frosh said.

Republican Trump, who is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in opinion polls, said last week he was against Democratic efforts to include funds for the Postal Service and election infrastructure in coronavirus relief legislation because he wanted to limit mail-in voting during the pandemic. Twice as many people could vote by mail as did so in 2016 because of the pandemic, according to some estimates.

Democrats have cited reductions in overtime, restrictions on extra mail transportation trips and new mail sorting and delivery policies as changes that threaten to slow mail delivery of ballots and other critical mail such as medicines.

Trump on Monday denied that he was attempting to undermine the Postal Service’s ability to handle mail-in ballots.

“No, we’re not tampering,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “We want to make it run for less money, much better, always taking care of our postal workers.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, has asked Trump to postpone the operational changes until after the Nov. 3 elections. The post office is a “perennial drain on the Treasury,” he said in a letter. “But making the radical changes only weeks before early voting begins - however fiscally well founded - would place the solvency of the Post Office above the legitimacy of the government itself.”

It’s unclear whether Yost would join any legal action.

Frosh said that in Maryland, the service has pulled six sorting machines.

“They pulled four out in one location,” in the Democratic stronghold of Baltimore City, he said.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in an interview that it would be unconstitutional to physically bar someone from voting or block the roads so people could not get to polling stations.

“So, too, it’s illegal to intentionally defund the postal service or dismantle close to 700 mail sorting machines in big cities across the country or to remove blue mail boxes, which we’ve heard about,” Tong said.

Tong said he had been collecting evidence of mail delivery problems in Connecticut and that the office has been “flooded with complaints” about delays.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on Monday she planned to sue over the cutbacks and called Trump’s attempt to “interfere” with postal operations an “authoritarian power grab.”

The Democratic-led House of Representatives will meet on Saturday to consider legislation barring changes to Postal Service levels that were in place on Jan. 1, 2020.

Trump’s appointed postmaster general here on Monday agreed to testify before Congress next week on cuts in service.

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UAE-Israel agreement total departure from Arab consensus: Palestinian PM

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has denounced a recent agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to open formal diplomatic ties as Abu Dhabi’s total departure from the Arab consensus over the resolution of the Palestinian issue.

Speaking at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, Shtayyeh slammed the pact as a blatant departure from the Arab consensus that any normalization of ties with the Tel Aviv regime has to come in the context of resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an overall peace deal, Arabic-language Donia al-Watan online newspaper reported.

Israel and the UAE on August 13 reached a deal that will lead to full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides, in an agreement apparently brokered by US President Donald Trump.

“Talking about Palestine and what it either accepts or rejects is an entirely Palestinian affair," he added.

He also said the "expansion of UAE’s arsenal with US-made weapons should not come at the expense of al-Quds and Palestine."

Meanwhile, Abbas Zaki, a member of the central committee of the Palestinian Fatah movement, said that Abu Dhabi's decision to normalize relations with Israel contradicts the UAE constitution.

He added, “The UAE law prohibits, imposes penalties and orders imprisonment for those who praise Israelis.”

Zaki then described bin Zayed's move as “the beginning of the New Middle East project.”

He added that the normalization agreement “contributed to the collapse of the international front that rejected Israeli plans to annex Palestinian territories [in the occupied West Bank], and to the non-recognition of Palestine as a state by 25 countries.”

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We will remove the deprivations of Sindh under the leadership of PM Khan: Amir Kiyani

At the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan, PTI Central Secretary General and Member National Assembly Amir Mehmood Kiyani and Coordinator to Prime Minister Ahmad Khan Niazi visited Sindh.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Secretary General and Member National Assembly Amir Mehmood Kiyani Coordinator to Prime Minister Ahmad Khan Niazi attended the Workers Convention held at Insaf House, Larkana.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh leader Saifullah Abro and PTI workers gave a warm welcome.

On this occasion, PTI Sindh Assembly Member Jamal Siddique, PTI North Sindh President and Member Sindh Assembly Aslam Abro and PTI North Sindh Secretary General Mubeen Jatoi were also present.

Addressing the workers, Amir Mehmood Kiyani said that we will not leave the PTI workers alone.

PTI Central Secretary General Amir Mehmood also criticized Sindh govt and said what had done the Sindh govt for the people of Sindh  in last 12 years?

He insure the people of Sindhb that We will remove the deprivations of Sindh under the leadership of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.

کوآرڈینیٹر وزیراعظم احمد خان نیازی کا لاڑکانہ میں ورکرز کنونشن سے خطاب pic.twitter.com/ZTI0pwz4xR

— PTI North Sindh (@PTINorthsindh) August 16, 2020

On this occasion, Ahmad Khan Niazi said that the workers of Pakistan Tehreek are a strong asset of the party. The purpose of coming here is to meet the workers and solve their problems.

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We will remove the deprivations of Sindh under the leadership of PM Khan: Amir Kiyani

At the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan, PTI Central Secretary General and Member National Assembly Amir Mehmood Kiyani and Coordinator to Prime Minister Ahmad Khan Niazi visited Sindh.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Secretary General and Member National Assembly Amir Mehmood Kiyani Coordinator to Prime Minister Ahmad Khan Niazi attended the Workers Convention held at Insaf House, Larkana.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh leader Saifullah Abro and PTI workers gave a warm welcome.

On this occasion, PTI Sindh Assembly Member Jamal Siddique, PTI North Sindh President and Member Sindh Assembly Aslam Abro and PTI North Sindh Secretary General Mubeen Jatoi were also present.

Addressing the workers, Amir Mehmood Kiyani said that we will not leave the PTI workers alone.

PTI Central Secretary General Amir Mehmood also criticized Sindh govt and said what had done the Sindh govt for the people of Sindh  in last 12 years?

He insure the people of Sindhb that We will remove the deprivations of Sindh under the leadership of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.

کوآرڈینیٹر وزیراعظم احمد خان نیازی کا لاڑکانہ میں ورکرز کنونشن سے خطاب pic.twitter.com/ZTI0pwz4xR

— PTI North Sindh (@PTINorthsindh) August 16, 2020

On this occasion, Ahmad Khan Niazi said that the workers of Pakistan Tehreek are a strong asset of the party. The purpose of coming here is to meet the workers and solve their problems.

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