Shoppers warned to be wary of social media scams this Black FridayTopline The fate of TikTok is in the hands of the Supreme Court, as the nation’s highest court prepares to weigh a federal law—set to take effect Jan. 19—banning the popular social media app unless its China-based parent company sells it, culminating years of debate over TikTok. Timeline Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts : We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here. When Could The Tiktok Ban Take Effect? The ban against TikTok could become effective as early as Jan. 19 unless ByteDance commits to selling TikTok to another company or the Supreme Court decides to take up the app’s requested injunction. What U.s. Company Could End Up Buying Tiktok? A range of companies have shown interest or been rumored to consider a purchase of TikTok. Amazon has been identified as a potential buyer, with experts pointing to TikTok and Amazon’s deepening ties , such as the announcement of a partnership this year allowing users to browse and purchase products from Amazon on TikTok. Amazon also became the third-largest advertiser on TikTok this year in the U.S. Oracle and Walmart could potentially make a joint bid for TikTok, as the two companies joined forces to buy the app in 2020 before reportedly being stopped by the Biden administration over security concerns. Microsoft could return to the table for TikTok after also trying to buy the app in 2020, though Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he was “happy with what I have” after talks fell through. Video-sharing platform Rumble publicly offered to buy TikTok early this year and could reenter the conversation, having said it was previously “ready to join a consortium with other parties seeking to acquire and operate TikTok inside the U.S.” China, which has vowed to block the sale of TikTok’s algorithm, would have to approve a sale of TikTok to another company, though the country is unlikely to do so . Who Is Billionaire Tiktok Investor Jeff Yass? Yass, who has an estimated net worth of $49.6 billion , is a GOP megadonor and a major investor in TikTok. He reportedly met with Trump and became possibly the biggest influence behind Trump’s switch from attempting to ban the app to later opposing its removal .. The co-founder of global trading firm Susquehanna International Group, which owns about 15% of ByteDance , Yass owned a $33 billion stake in TikTok as of this March and has financially backed conservative lawmakers opposing the ban, such as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R.-Ky., donating $24 million and $32,200 to each, respectively, according to The Wall Street Journal . Yass has reportedly threatened to stop donating to Congress members who support the ban against TikTok, which would threaten his multi-billion dollar investment in the app. The billionaire has donated millions of dollars to conservative PACs such as Club For Growth Action ($16 million), the Congressional Leadership Fund ($10 million) and the Protect Freedom PAC ($6 million). Could Donald Trump Reverse The Tiktok Ban? Potentially, though there are hurdles. Trump, who sought to ban TikTok in 2020, has since indicated he’s opposed to banning it and said he has a “warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” crediting it with helping his performance with young voters in the 2024 election. Experts have suggested the president-elect could declare TikTok as being compliant with the law, regardless of whether or not it was purchased by another company from ByteDance. However, doing so could result in lawsuits challenging Trump’s declaration. Trump could also attempt to get TikTok to completely divest from ByteDance through a deal, with James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, telling NPR that China could be more open to approving a TikTok sale if Trump eased off his vows to impose high tariffs on Chinese imports. Former Justice Department official Alan Rozenshtein wrote in a Lawfare op-ed that Trump could lobby Congress to repeal the ban, though in doing so he would have to overcome the law’s bipartisan support. Trump could ask the Supreme Court not to enforce the ban, which may be unrealistic, as Apple, Google and Oracle would have to ignore the law, leave TikTok up and risk financial penalties if Trump later reconsidered his position on TikTok. Lastly, Trump could allow TikTok to go down and bring the app back to app stores and the internet with a one-time, three-month extension that would potentially give time to help facilitate a sale of TikTok. What Happens To American Data If The App Is Shut Down? All of Americans’ TikTok user data could be moved to China in the event that the app is banned from the U.S. A precedent was set for such a move in 2020, when TikTok operations ended in India and left the app and ByteDance with access to millions of Indian users’ data years after the shutdown, according to Forbes . Big Number About 170 million . That is how many Americans used TikTok as of April, according to the app. Key Background At the heart of the federal government's issue with TikTok is national security and data privacy concerns linked to the app and its ties to China. U.S. officials have claimed the Chinese Communist Party could use the app to spy on Americans or influence public discourse. TikTok has shot down claims it is beholden to the Chinese government. The app’s CEO told Congress this year he “disagrees with the characterization" that the platform is spying on Americans and said TikTok is committed to protecting Americans’ data. After the law against TikTok was signed by Biden this year, the app said the requirement to sell itself is “illusory to the point of being no alternative at all.” Experts and reporting by Forbes have shown ByteDance and TikTok are significantly intertwined, as former National Security Agency general counsel Glenn Gerstell told Forbes this year: “There's no way to take the U.S. piece out of TikTok and sell it to someone.” ByteDance has tried to quell concerns about TikTok by noting 100% of U.S. traffic was routed to Oracle and U.S. Digital Service infrastructure in the U.S as of 2022. It has also claimed it is roughly 60% owned by institutional investors including the Carlyle Group, General Atlantic and Susquehanna International Group. However, Forbes’ reporting has revealed that ByteDance has used TikTok to spy on journalists and TikTok mishandled sensitive data, including financial information, Social Security numbers and personal contacts of creators , advertisers , celebrities and politicians . Further Reading Why A Powerful U.S. Court Thinks The TikTok Ban Doesn’t Violate The 1st Amendment (Forbes) The TikTok Law Gives You A Right To Your Data. Here’s How To Request It. (Forbes) If Trump Wants To ‘Save’ TikTok, He Might Need It To Get Banned First (Forbes) Congress Warns Apple And Google They Must Ban TikTok In January (Forbes) If TikTok Is Banned, Americans’ Data Could End Up Back In China (Forbes) TikTok Asks Supreme Court To Stop Federal Ban (Forbes) TikTok Spied On Forbes Journalists (Forbes) TikTok’s China Problem (Forbes)owin22 。

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Berkshire Partners Managing Director Ted Rainaud Named to GrowthCap's 2024 “Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors” ListNATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) — Chris Mubiru had 13 points to lead Northwestern State to a 71-58 victory over North Alabama on Sunday. Mubiru finished 5 of 6 from the field for the Demons (3-4). Jerald Colonel scored 12 points and added six rebounds. Landyn Jumawan had 12 points with two 3-pointers. Jacari Lane finished with 14 points to lead the Lions (4-3). Will Soucie added 13 points and Canin Jefferson scored nine. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

(The Center Square) - The City of Los Angeles’s “mansion tax” on all property over $5.15 million has led to an over 70% decrease in affected sales, resulting in significant foregone property tax revenue, according to a research preview of county assessor data from Commonwealth Title. Mott Smith, a real estate development professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, analyzed the effect of Measure ULA, a voter-approved tax that was marketed as a “mansion” tax to fund social services, but applies to all real estate — including offices, industrial space, shopping centers, and multifamily buildings. Smith found affected sales dropped by over 70% since April of 2023, when the measure took effect, with a worse decline for multifamily, commercial, and industrial space, while sales increased in the rest of the county and continued as normal for properties under the threshold. Smith says the impact of reduced sales means less tax revenue now and in the long term, which could require the city and county to scale back essential services, as growing deficits leave the state without the ability to provide any bailouts. “Everything from schools to police and fire to other social services are funded primarily through property tax receipts,” said Smith in an interview with The Center Square. “What Measure ULA appears to be doing is reducing property tax growth in Los Angeles County because of a bad policy in Los Angeles City at a time of probably the greatest fiscal strain we’ve seen in maybe eight to ten years.” Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia recently announced the city is “ broke ” and borrowing $80 million to cover court-ordered liability payments, suggesting the city can’t afford to lose money now. In California, property taxes are assessed at the value of the purchase price, with increases on assessed value capped at 2% per year, meaning a building purchased for $50,000 in 1980 is still taxed at $137,000, even though it may be worth over $1 million today. Because property sales reset the assessed value of the property back to the current market rate, resulting in higher property tax revenue, a slowdown in sales cuts into current revenue from the loss of non-ULA transfer taxes of 0.56% at the city and county levels, and future revenue increases from the resets. Property taxes fund most of the local government services people use, meaning lower property tax revenue can leave municipalities scrambling for funding. In Oakland , for example, half of the city’s $80 million shortfall is due to lower than expected revenue from the city’s real estate transfer tax. Smith also warned that because most buyers tend to buy property to redevelop it, a slowdown in buying means people don’t want to invest in Los Angeles. “This is a very concerning leading indicator that builders have left the LA market,” said Smith. “All the zoning in the world isn’t going to help if the builders have left.” As an illustrative example, Smith noted if a development company bought a warehouse for $4 million, invested $500,000 in renovations, and sold it for $5.5 million, the developer would get a ULA tax bill of $220,000 — or half of the pretax profit. If investors covered 80% of the cost for 80% of the profit, the developer would be left with $56,000 in pretax profit, before paying employees. For many developers, this means investing in LA just isn’t worth it.The number of Black first-year students attending Harvard Law School in the fall dropped by over half compared to last year, data shows. Harvard only admitted 19 Black first-year students into their school in 2024, a dramatic fall from last year when 43 Black students were admitted, according to data from the American Bar Association . The data comes after a Supreme Court ruling struck down affirmative action in higher education. “This obviously has a lot to do with the chilling effect created by that decision,” David B. Wilkins, a Harvard law professor, told the the New York Times . “This is the lowest number of Black entering first-year students since 1965.” In a case sparked by challenges to admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the court’s conservative majority last year barred colleges from considering race, leaving many searching for new ways to promote student diversity . The Harvard Black Law Student Association said in a statement the “rollback” of affirmative action narrows the number of universities future law students can come from. “This would be a crushing loss,” the group said. Several Black Harvard Law alumni such as Robert L. Wilkins, a D.C. circuit judge, and Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, graduated from smaller liberal arts colleges and made strides in the legal field. “By making access to legal education more difficult for those of marginalized demographics, society will lose out on changemakers with novel approaches to complex, pressing problems,” the Harvard Black Law Student Association said. In Harvard’s undergraduate population, there were also decreases. Fourteen percent of incoming students identified as Black, a drop of 4% from the class before it. Latino students made up 16% of the freshman class, an increase of 2% while Asian-American numbers remained the same at 37%. Other institutions also saw drops in diversity in undergraduate populations. Some include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Amherst, Tufts and Wellesley. Meanwhile, nearly all public universities and community colleges that provided student demographic data to MassLive either held steady or showed increases in diversity. More higher edMembers were required to debate and vote on the issue before December 17 MLAs were debating whether to approve Windsor Framework arrangements on Tuesday night Stormont’s backing of post-Brexit arrangements laid out in the Windsor Framework is “an important step forward”, NI Secretary of State Hilary Benn has said. It comes after the Assembly approved articles 5-10 of the document following a marathon debate at Stormont on Tuesday.

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Thought just 17, Donald Trump’s granddaughter appears to relish her role as an aspiring, up-and-coming MAGA influencer , as she shares slickly produced videos on social media about the fun she has hanging out with her beloved, president-elect “grandpa.” But there’s only so much that Kai Trump can do to soften the image of a man who has been compared by critics to history’s most dangerous fascists and who regularly hurls insults and makes profane remarks. His opponent in the election, Kamala Harris, received some 74 million votes to his 76 million. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

Article content NEW YORK — Angelina Jolie never expected to hit all the notes. But finding the breath of Maria Callas was enough to bring things out of Jolie that she didn’t even know were in her. Recommended Videos “All of us, we really don’t realize where things land in our body over a lifetime of different experiences and where we hold it to protect ourselves,” Jolie said in a recent interview. “We hold it in our stomachs. We hold it in our chest. We breathe from a different place when we’re nervous or we’re sad. “The first few weeks were the hardest because my body had to open and I had to breathe again,” she adds. “And that was a discovery of how much I wasn’t.” In Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” which Netflix released in theatres Wednesday before it begins streaming on Dec. 11, Jolie gives, if not the performance of her career, then certainly of her last decade. Beginning with 2010’s “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” Jolie has spent recent years directing films while prioritizing raising her six children. “So my choices for quite a few years were whatever was smart financially and short. I worked very little the last eight years,” says Jolie. “And I was kind of drained. I couldn’t for a while.” But her youngest kids are now 16. And for the first time in years, Jolie is back in the spotlight, in full movie-star mode. Her commanding performance in “Maria” seems assured of bringing Jolie her third Oscar nomination. (She won supporting actress in 2000 for “Girl, Interrupted.”) For an actress whose filmography might lack a signature movie, “Maria” may be Jolie’s defining role. Jolie’s oldest children, Maddox and Pax, worked on the set of the film. There, they saw a version of their mother they hadn’t seen before. “They had certainly seen me sad in my life. But I don’t cry in front of my children like that,” Jolie says of the emotion Callas dredged up in her. “That was a moment in realizing they were going to be with me, side by side, in this process of really understanding the depth of some of the pain I carry.” Jolie, who met a reporter earlier this fall at the Carlyle Hotel, didn’t speak in any detail of that pain. But it was hard not to sense some it had to do with her lengthy and ongoing divorce from Brad Pitt, with whom she had six children. Just prior to meeting, a judge allowed Pitt’s remaining claim against Jolie, over the French winery Chateau Miraval, to proceed. On Monday, a judge ruled that Pitt must disclose documents Jolie’s legal team have sought that they allege include “communications concerning abuse.” Pitt has denied ever being abusive. The result of the U.S. presidential election was also just days old, though Jolie — special envoy for the United Nations Refugee Agency from 2012 to 2022 — wasn’t inclined to talk politics. Asked about Donald Trump’s win, she responded, “Global storytelling is essential,” before adding: “That’s what I’m focusing on. Listening. Listening to the voices of people in my country and around the world.” Balancing such things — reports concerning her private life, questions that accompany someone of her fame — is a big reason why Jolie is so suited to the part of Callas. The film takes place during the American-born soprano’s final days. (She died of a heart attack at 53 in 1977.) Spending much of her time in her grand Paris apartment, Callas hasn’t sung publicly in years; she’s lost her voice. Imprisoned by the myth she’s created, Callas is redefining herself and her voice. An instructor tells her he wants to hear “Callas, not Maria.” The movie, of course, is more concerned with Maria. It’s Larrain’s third portrait of 20th century female icon, following “Jackie” (with Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy) and “Spencer” (with Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana). As Callas, Jolie is wonderfully regal — a self-possessed diva who deliciously, in lines penned by screenwriter Steven Knight, spouts lines like: “I took liberties all my life and the world took liberties with me.” Asked if she identified with that line, Jolie answered, “Yeah, yeah.” Then she took a long pause. “I’m sure people will read a lot into this and there’s probably a lot I could say but don’t want to feed into,” Jolie eventually continues. “I know she was a public person because she loved her work. And I’m a public person because I love my work, not because I like being public. I think some people are more comfortable with a public life, and I’ve never been fully comfortable with it.” When Larrain first approached Jolie about the role, he screened “Spencer” for her. That film, like “Jackie” and “Maria,” eschews a biopic approach to instead intimately focus on a specific moment of crisis. Larrain was convinced Jolie was meant for the role. “I felt she could have that magnetism,” Larrain says. “The enigmatic diva that’s come to a point in her life where she has to take control of her life again. But the weight of her experience, of her music, of her singing, everything, is on her back. And she carries that. It’s someone who’s already loaded with a life that’s been intense.” “There’s a loneliness that we both share,” Jolie says. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think people can be alone and lonely sometimes, and that can be part of who they are.” Larrain, the Chilean filmmaker, grew up in Santiago going to the opera, and he has long yearned to bring its full power and majesty to a movie. In Callas, he heard something that transfixed him. “I hear something near perfection, but at the same time, it’s something that’s about to be destroyed,” Larrain says. “So it’s as fragile and as strong as possible. It lives in both extremes. That’s why it’s so moving. I hear a voice that’s about to be broken, but it doesn’t.” In Callas’ less perfect moments singing in the film, Larrain fuses archival recordings of Callas with Jolie’s own voice. Some mix of the two runs throughout “Maria.” “Early in the process,” Jolie says, “I discovered that you can’t fake-sing opera.” Jolie has said she never sang before, not even karaoke. But the experience has left her with a newfound appreciation of opera and its healing properties. “I wonder if it’s something you lean into as you get older,” Jolie says. “Maybe your depth of pain is bigger, your depth of loss is bigger, and that sound in opera meets that, the enormity of it.” If Larrain’s approach to “Maria” is predicated on an unknowingness, he’s inclined to say something similar about his star. “Because of media and social media, some people might think that they know a lot about Angelina,” he says. “Maria, I read nine biographies of her. I saw everything. I read every interview. I made this movie. But I don’t think I would be capable of telling you who she was us. So if there’s an element in common, it’s that. They carry an enormous amount of mystery. Even if you think that you know them, you don’t.” Whether “Maria” means more acting in the future for Jolie, she’s not sure. “There’s not a clear map,” she says. Besides, Jolie isn’t quite ready to shake Callas. “When you play a real person, you feel at some point that they become your friend,” says Jolie. “Right now, it’s still a little personal. It’s funny, I’ll be at a premiere or I’ll walk into a room and someone will start blaring her music for fun, but I have this crazy internal sense memory of dropping to my knees and crying.”

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The 1,078 signatories denounce the genocide and call for cutting ties with Israeli institutions that fail to condemn it. On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out a terrorist attack in Israel, killing more than 1,200 people out of a population of 9.5 million, including over 800 civilians and at least 33 children, and injuring 5,400 more. The attack also led to the capture of 248 hostages, around 100 of whom are still held in Gaza. Since then, the Israeli government has launched a response of genocidal violence against Gaza’s Palestinian population, under the eyes of the international community. By late October 2024, identified victims had reached 43,061 , including over 13,735 children, 7,216 women, and 3,447 elderly people, with over 100,000 injured, in a population of 2.3 million. Thousands of additional victims remain buried beneath the rubble, uncounted. The Israeli military is now inflicting upon Palestinian civilians at least the equivalent of an October 7 every ten days, and has done so for more than a year. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has described the situation in Gaza as a “crisis of humanity”. In addition to the heavy toll on civilians, this war has led to the massive destruction of Palestinian civilian infrastructure and has forced 90 percent of Gaza’s population into repeated displacement. Most hospitals have been bombed and destroyed, and numerous medical teams have been killed. Constant attacks and blockades on food, water, fuel, medicines, and humanitarian aid cause unbearable suffering for Gaza’s population, who are facing starvation and infectious disease. Children, along with other vulnerable groups, are particularly badly affected. In late October 2024, the Palestinian Ministry of Education, based in Ramallah, reported that Israel had killed over 11,057 schoolchildren and 681 students in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and injured over 16,897 schoolchildren and 1,468 students. In total, 441 teachers and education personnel have been killed, and 2,491 injured. At least 117 academics in Gaza have been killed, including Sufian Tayeh , mathematician, theoretical physicist, and president of the Islamic University of Gaza, who was killed along with his family by an Israeli bombing in the Jabaliya refugee camp on December 2, 2023. Additionally, 406 schools in Gaza have been damaged, with 77 completely destroyed. Gaza’s universities have been gravely impacted, with 20 institutions damaged, 51 buildings completely demolished, and 57 partially destroyed. As a result, nearly 88,000 students and 700,000 schoolchildren in Gaza have been deprived of education for more than a year. On January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that there was a risk of genocide and ordered Israel to take measures to prevent it. On March 28, the ICJ reiterated this order, requiring implementation of these preventive measures. Then, on May 24, the ICJ ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah and to open the Rafah crossing to allow unimpeded access to humanitarian services and aid for civilians. These orders seem to have been entirely disregarded, and attacks on civilians in Gaza have intensified , especially in the north, with a clear aim to depopulate this region of Palestinians. On September 30, 2024, after days of aerial bombardment, the Israeli military also invaded Lebanon, killing at least 1,600 people and displacing 1.2 million. Israeli government human rights violations extend beyond the Gaza Strip and do not begin as a reprisal for the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. In the West Bank, since October 7, 2023, 79 schoolchildren and 35 students have been killed, with hundreds more injured or arrested. Systematic, widespread human rights violations , such as land confiscation, resource plundering, and racial discrimination, have been well-documented over 57 years of occupation of Palestinian territories and 17 years of Gaza’s blockade. On July 19, 2024, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion on “the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem and Gaza”, unequivocally declaring Israel’s occupation illegal and calling for its immediate cessation. The ICJ underscored that the responsibility not to support this illegal practice falls not only on third-party states but also on all institutions that uphold international law, including universities. The scientific community has often mobilised in the past to defend human rights and international law. In an open letter published in the New York Times in December 1948, cosigned by Hannah Arendt and Albert Einstein, the authors denounced the visit of Menahem Begin, leader of the Tnuat Haherut party, precursor to Likud (the party of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), in these terms: “Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.... It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future. A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9, terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants – 240 men, women, and children – and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin.” For more than a year now, the Israeli government and its military forces have been committing the equivalent of a Deir Yassin massacre every day in Gaza, while the scientific community largely remains silent. Yet, as the open letter above demonstrates, this community has already strongly opposed attacks on civilians, whether during the Algerian and Vietnam wars or, more recently, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Scientists, particularly mathematicians, cannot remain indifferent to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, especially as Western powers appear to support this crime against humanity politically, diplomatically, and militarily. Enough is enough. We urge our colleagues to cease all scientific collaboration with Israeli institutions that do not explicitly condemn the genocide in Gaza and the illegal colonisation of Palestine. We also encourage them to put pressure on our own institutions to terminate agreements with these partners under the same conditions, in accordance with international law. This position obviously does not include individual collaborations with Israeli colleagues, 3,400 of whom have courageously signed a call to the international community, which we wish to support, “to intervene immediately by applying any possible sanctions against Israel to achieve an immediate ceasefire between Israel and its neighbors, for the future of the people living in Israel/Palestine and the region, and to guarantee their right to security and life.” Finally, we demand that our institutions scrupulously respect academic freedoms and resolutely uphold freedom of expression in accordance with the law. Signatories (petition closed on December 4, 2024 with 1078 signatories): Ahmed Abbes, directeur de recherche au CNRS, France Samy Abbes, Maître de conférences, Université Paris Cité, France Maha Abboud, Professeure, CY Cergy Paris Université, France Nahla Abdellatif, Professor, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieur de Tunis, Tunis El Manar university, Tunisia Amine Abdellaziz, Docteur de l’Université Grenoble Alpes, France Chaima Abid, PhD in applied mathematics/LAMSIN, Tunisia Hammadi Abidi, Professor University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia Mohammed Ably, Maître de conférences, Université de Lille, France Abdelhak Abouqateb, Professor, Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco Tiago Miguel Abreu, PhD student at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil Khader Faiez Abu-Helaiel, Profesor en la Universidad de Jaén, Spain Vincent Acary, Directeur de recherche à l’INRIA, France Celine Acary-Robert, Ingénieur de recherche, UGA , France Fessel Achhoud, PhD student, University Hassan first, Morocco Boris Adamczewski, Director of Research at CNRS, France Louigi Addario-Berry, Professor, Canada Research Chair, McGill University, Canada Karim Adiprasito, Directeur de recherche au CNRS, IMJ-PRG, France Dan Agüero Cerna, Postdoc, SISSA, Italy Marie-Thérèse Aimar, Maîtresse de Conférences émérite Aix-Marseille Université, France Sabah Al Fakir, Ancien professeur université scientifique de Lille, France Safaa Al-Ali, Postdoctoral researcher, Centre INRIA de l’Université Côte d’Azur, France Darío Alatorre, Outreach technician, Institute of Mathematics, UNAM, México Baklouti Ali, Professor, Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, Tunisia Roberto Alicandro, Professor, University of Naples Federico II, Italy Mohamed Aliouane, PhD student , SISSA, Italy Nasrin Altafi, Postdoc at Queen’s university, Canada Tuna Altınel, Maître de Conférences, Université Lyon 1, France María de la Paz Alvarez-Scherer, Retired, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México Saber Amdouni, Associate Professor, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieur de Tunis, Tunis El Manar university, Tunisia Silviana Amethyst, Research Engineer, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany Omid Amini, CNRS – École Polytechnique, France Claire Amiot, Professeur, Université Grenoble Alpes, France Farid Ammar Khodja, Maître de conférences, Université de Franche-Comté, France Cherif Amrouche, Professeur Emérite Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, France Abdelhamid Amroun, MCF Université Paris-Saclay, France U.K. Anandavardhanan, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India Yves André, Directeur de recherches CNRS, France Angel Angel, Professor universidad politécnica de Madrid, Spain Daniele Angella, Professor, Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica “Ulisse Dini”, Università di Firenze, Italy Pablo Angulo, Profesor PCD en excedencia – Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain Jean-Philippe Anker, Professeur émérite, Université d’Orléans, France Colette Anné, mathématicienne retraitée (CNRS), France A full list of all signatories can be found here . The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.TikTok's no stranger to controversial weight-loss trends, from the carnivore diet to the recent craze around "oatzempic ." But the latest diet to make waves on social media involves a cup of Joe: the coffee loophole diet. In general, the diet involves adding specific ingredients — like ground cinnamon, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper — to your coffee and drinking it within seven seconds of feeling hungry. TikTokers swear by it , claiming it boosts metabolism and burns belly fat. But let's pump the brakes for a second — while the health benefits of coffee have been well-known, the coffee loophole diet is not backed by research. Not to mention, the long-term health risks are definitely worth considering (ahem, gas and bloating issues). So even if you could bypass the smoky and spiced flavor of cayenne pepper in your coffee, are these additives safe to mix in your drink? To get a better understanding, we tapped two registered dietitians to learn about the coffee loophole diet, including the potential risks and its impact on the body. Dena Champion , MS, RDN, CSO, LD, CNSC, is a registered dietitian nutritionist at The Ohio State Wexner University Medical Center. Courtney Pelitera , MS, RD, CNSC, is a registered dietitian specializing in sports and wellness nutrition. What Is the Coffee Loophole Diet? There are different variations of the coffee loophole diet online. But generally, the trendy diet involves TikTokers adding additional ingredients to their coffee to shed weight and bolster metabolism. While social media users sing their praises of the diet , there's no research or scientific evidence to support that these coffee mixtures even work, let alone that it should be consumed within seven seconds. What Are the Potential Benefits of the Coffee Loophole Diet Dena Champion, MS, RDN, CSO, LD, CNSC, a registered dietitian nutritionist at The Ohio State Wexner University Medical Center, says that she doesn't see any benefits to this diet. Courtney Pelitera, MS, RD, CNSC, agrees — noting that "the dose of ingredients here is not enough to make a difference in your day-to-day metabolism." That said, coffee on its own — without the additives — has been shown to offer several potential health benefits, such as reduced risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and lower incidences of several types of cancers , including colon, rectal, breast, and endometrial , to name a few. That doesn't mean you can't add things to your coffee for taste. "If you want to add something to make your coffee taste better, that's great," explains Pelitera. "Milk, a teaspoon of sugar, milk alternatives are all great options. You just want to be careful not to go overboard with the added sugars." What Are the Risks of the Coffee Loophole Diet? According to Pelitera, the coffee loophole diet may increase one's risk of gas and bloating. "Coffee itself is a food we know causes heartburn in many who drink it regularly," says Pelitera. "If this is something that affects you, I would advise against this." While coffee itself can irritate the digestive system, the ingredients added in the coffee loophole diet could also make matters worse, especially for those with sensitive stomachs. "Most research on turmeric and cayenne had subjects with side effects of bloating and heartburn," Pelitera says. That's because cayenne and chilis contain capsaicin, an active ingredient that stimulates pain receptors in the body, causing a burning sensation, according to a study published in the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility . Another study found that ingesting meals containing chili produced higher abdominal pain and burning symptoms when compared to standard meals. In addition, the diet could trigger binge eating episodes due to intense hunger as a result of a liquid diet, explains Champion. While this diet is relatively safe to try in an average healthy adult, says Pelitera, speaking to your healthcare provider and or nutritionist before trying a diet like this is recommended. Alternatives to the Coffee Loophole Diet Champion says that while it may be possible to lose weight in the short run, this diet is unlikely to support any weight loss long term, underscoring the importance of holistic and sustainable plans for weight management. Instead of the coffee loophole diet, Pelitera recommends prioritizing three full meals per day, ensuring each has a good source of fiber, protein, and includes between one and two servings of fruits or vegetables. Hydration is also king when it comes to weight management. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends 11.5 cups of water per day for women and 15.5 cups for men. Upping your water intake may increase a process called lipolysis, a process where your body burns fat for energy, which was found in a study published by Frontiers in Nutrition . Don't underestimate the power of sleep, either. "Less than seven to nine hours of sleep per night in adults has been proven to cause an increase in appetite , hormone regulation, and weight fluctuations," so it's imperative to get plenty of it, says Pelitera. Ultimately, the coffee loophole diet might sound like a quick fix, but it's not the most sustainable or healthiest approach. Instead, experts recommend focusing on small, manageable changes to your overall diet and lifestyle. "Don't buy into it [the hype]," says Pelitera. "Weight management comes from really looking into your day-to-day nutrition habits and creating a healthy, sustainable plan." Kayla Hui (she/her) is a freelance writer, specializing in health, wellness, the outdoors, travel, and food. In her five years of writing experience, she's covered women's health, chronic conditions, health disparities, and wellness trends for Women's Health, Well+Good, Shape, Health, Verywell Health, The Zoe Report, and more.

Analysis: After Juan Soto's megadeal, could MLB see a $1 billion contract? Probably not soonThe move appears to be a political gambit by Donald Trump to use tariffs as a bargaining chip with China. BEIJING – United States President-elect Donald Trump appeared to fire his first salvo on China on Nov 26, saying that he will impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on imported Chinese goods on his first day in office. It appears to be a political gambit to use tariffs as a bargaining chip, with Trump adding that the hike is related to China not doing enough to stem the flow of drugs – specifically fentanyl – to the US. Mr Stephen Olson, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said Trump prides himself on being unpredictable, so it is difficult to be certain of his strategy. “But this is very likely an opening salvo,” he noted, adding that Trump’s goal through such tariff actions could be to cut some kind of trade deal that could also include Chinese commitments on other issues, such as drug control. Observers, including Chinese scholars, had warned about the likelihood of Trump using tariffs in such a transactional way. During Trump’s first presidency between 2017 and 2021, such tit-for-tat moves were made on goods such as Chinese solar panels and steel, and American soya beans and aeroplanes. In the meantime – especially with US President Joe Biden deciding not to lift these import taxes – Chinese sellers have been diversifying their export destinations, and 10 per cent could be a margin that they could still absorb. But the greater fear is that this is merely the beginning of a series of escalating actions that would lead to yet another economic confrontation. The first trade war resulted in tariffs on some US$550 billion (S$728 billion) of Chinese goods and US$185 billion of US goods. It ended with a trade deal in 2020, but a Chinese pledge to buy an additional US$200 billion worth of US exports never materialised. In a Truth Social post on Nov 26, Trump said he had “many talks” with China about fentanyl being sent to the US, but to no avail. Abuse of the prescription drug used to treat severe pain has caused thousands of deaths in the US each year. The US government has said that most illegal fentanyl is trafficked from Mexico using chemicals from China. In response, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman maintained that China has one of the world’s strictest anti-drug policies, and has engaged in “extensive” cooperation with the US on this issue. The Chinese embassy in Washington said: “Nobody wins in a tariff or trade war.” During his election campaign, Trump pledged a blanket 60 per cent additional tariff on Chinese goods. It is unclear how he derived the figure, but observers have noted that the figure would be roughly consistent with the average tariff level if the US had revoked China’s most favoured nation status. China was granted this status in 2000 as it prepared for entry into the World Trade Organisation, allowing it to benefit from the same trade terms as US allies. Only four countries currently do not enjoy such a status with the US: Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Cuba. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in its annual report released last week recommended that China’s status be revoked – the first time the US bipartisan advisory body has explicitly called for such a move. Mr Olson, who studies international trade, said that revocation – if it comes to that – would “send a very strong signal that the US has concluded that deep economic integration with China was a mistake that now needs to be corrected”. The National University of Singapore’s Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian, who specialises in Chinese foreign policy, cautioned that nothing is yet definite as Trump does not take office until January. Other possible motivations for the latest move? “Perhaps it is to see how the PRC will react as Trump and his team plan out their strategy,” he said, using China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China. Trump could yet hold back because a tariff hike could end up hurting US consumers, with the US still the top export market for China. Mr Nick Marro, the principal economist for Asia and lead for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit, noted that senior US officials have cautioned that the battle on inflation is not over, and tariff imposition would risk reigniting those price pressures. “It’s still highly unlikely at this point, but the economic – and political – costs of these tariffs could prompt a rethink by the Trump team come January. But let’s not hold our breath,” he wrote in a note on Nov 26. A key question remains over Trump’s Cabinet picks, with potential appointees such as Mr Marco Rubio for secretary of state viewed as China hawks. But others are seen as being more moderate, especially on the economic front. Prof Chong said that such differences in the upcoming administration could also lead to volatility in US-China relations. He noted that Mr Rubio has different positions on China than Mr Elon Musk, who has significant investments in China and has met the country’s top leaders multiple times. “These differences will have to be worked out. There could be some variation in policy as that takes place. The resulting shifts could well affect US-PRC ties.” Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel now

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