PM Modi makes his podcast debut with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath: ‘I am human, not God’
This marked the Prime Minister’s first-ever podcast appearance, where he discussed a wide range of topics, including his childhood, India’s technological advancements, and the intersection of politics and entrepreneurship
Diksha Malhotra: Redefining global beauty in commercial campaigns
With her ability to seamlessly adapt to diverse aesthetics and brand identities, she has cemented her reputation as a game-changer in the beauty industry
UT-Austin’s presidency goes vacant amid growing challenges for Texas public university leaders
In recent years university presidents have been facing growing political pressures, student and faculty pushback and an increasingly demanding job.
‘I follow the law:’ El Paso doctor responds to Ken Paxton’s lawsuit over alleged transgender care
Hector Granados, one of two pediatric endocrinologists in El Paso, said he stopped providing gender-affirming care after it was outlawed in Texas in 2023.
Vance resigns from Senate as he and Trump prepare to take office
Vice President-elect JD Vance resigned his U.S. Senate seat as he and President-elect Donald Trump prepare to take office. Vance, who has served in the Senate since early 2023, resigned around two years into his six-year Senate term. “I hereby resign my office as a United States Senator from the State of Ohio, effective January 10, 2025,” Vance said in the resignation letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine that is circulating online. VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT VANCE UNDERWENT MINOR SURGERY AFTER SENATE SWEARING IN “As I prepare to assume my duties as Vice President of the United States, I would like to express that it has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve the people of Ohio in the Senate over the past two years,” Vance added. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, noted in a post on X that he “will really miss having” Vance as a Senate colleague. “Over the last two years, he’s become a dear friend and trusted ally,” Lee noted. “But the Senate’s loss is also the Senate’s gain, as he is about to become the president of the Senate—a job that belongs to the vice president.” OHIO NATIVE JD VANCE, TEXAS’ TED CRUZ MAKE WAGER FOR BUCKEYES-LONGHORNS COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL Vance reciprocated, noting that the “Feeling is mutual!” Trump and Vance, who trounced the Democratic ticket in the 2024 presidential election, will take office later this month on Jan. 20. “To the people of Ohio, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the privilege of representing you in the United States Senate. When I was elected to this office, I promised to never forget where I came from, and I’ve made sure to live by that promise every single day,” Vance said in a statement about his Senate resignation. TRUMP SPEAKS TO THE PRESS DURING MEETING WITH GOP GOVERNORS “The American people have granted President Trump an undeniable mandate to put America first, both at home and abroad. Over the next four years, I will do all that I can to help President Trump enact his agenda. Together, we will make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous than ever before,” he added.
Slim Down, Cash In: How speed slim diet turns your weight loss journey into rewarding adventure
Losing weight is no easy feat. It requires discipline, commitment, and the right approach. But what if your weight-loss journey could be more than shedding those kilos? What if you could be rewarded for achieving your fitness goals?
Delhi: IGI airport’s T2 to remain shut for next…, know how it will affect flight operations
The four-decade-old terminal 2 (T2) at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) will stand closed for upcoming four to six months in the next financial year for refurbishment work, scheduled to be completed in the September quarter.
US ETFs vs Mutual Funds with US exposure: Which is best for you?
What are ETFs? ETFs, or Exchange-Traded Funds, are a type of asset class that can be bought and sold on exchanges just like stocks. Since they are traded on the market, their prices are updated in real-time, reflecting the current market conditions.
Supreme Court weighs TikTok ban Friday; national security, free speech arguments are considered
The Supreme Court on Friday will hear oral arguments about a U.S. law requiring TikTok to either divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or be banned from operating in the U.S. It’s a heavily followed case that pits national security concerns against free speech protections for millions of Americans. The court agreed in December to hold an expedited hearing on the case, giving it just nine days to decide whether to uphold TikTok’s request to halt or delay the ban passed by Congress before it takes effect Jan. 19. It is unlikely the court will take that long, however, and justices are expected to issue a ruling or order in a matter of days. The case comes as TikTok continues to be one of the most popular social media apps in the U.S. with an estimated 170 million users nationwide. ‘HIGHLY QUALIFIED’: FORMER STATE AGS URGE SENATE TO CONFIRM BONDI TO LEAD JUSTICE DEPARTMENT President-elect Trump has also signaled support for the app, putting the case further into the national spotlight in the final weeks before his inauguration. Ahead of Friday’s oral arguments, here’s what to know about the arguments and how the Supreme Court might act. TikTok arguments, alleged free speech violations TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, are urging the court to either block or delay the enforcement of a law Congress passed with bipartisan backing in April. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act gave TikTok nine months to either divest from its Chinese parent company or be removed from U.S. app stores and hosting services. Its owners have said repeatedly they will not do so. It also grants the president a 90-day window to delay the ban if TikTok says a divestiture is in progress. TikTok, ByteDance and several users of the app swiftly sued to block the ban in May, arguing the legislation would suppress free speech for the millions of Americans who use the platform. Lawyers for TikTok argued that the law violates First Amendment protections, describing it as an “unprecedented attempt to single out applicants and bar them from operating one of the most significant speech platforms in this nation” and noting that lawmakers failed to consider less restrictive alternatives compared to an outright ban. “History and precedent teach that, even when national security is at stake, speech bans must be Congress’s last resort,” attorneys said in a reply brief filed last month to the high court. National security concerns Congress has cited concerns that China, a country it considers a foreign adversary of the U.S., could use TikTok to download vast troves of user data and push certain Chinese government-backed content onto users, prompting it to order the divestiture last spring. The Biden administration also echoed these concerns. In a Supreme Court brief, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar noted the law focuses solely on China’s control of the app, which the Biden administration argued could pose “grave national security threats” to Americans, rather than its content. Beijing could “covertly manipulate the platform” to advance geopolitical interests in the U.S., Prelogar noted, or use the vast amount of user data it has amassed for either espionage or blackmail. Lawyers for the administration will argue Friday that Congress did not impose any restrictions on speech— much less any restrictions based on viewpoint or on content — and failed to satisfy the test of free speech violations under the First Amendment. The Biden administration also filed under seal classified evidence to the court that it argued “lends further support” to its conclusion that TikTok under ByteDance ownership should be banned. That evidence has not been released to the public. Political pressures The Supreme Court’s decision to fast-track the case comes as President-elect Trump has signaled apparent support for the app in recent months. In December, Trump hosted TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago resort, telling reporters during a press conference his incoming administration will “take a look at TikTok” and the divestiture case. “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump told reporters. Attorneys for the president-elect also filed a brief with the Supreme Court last month, asking justices to delay any decision in the case until after Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20. The brief did not signal how Trump might act. Still, attorneys for TikTok have cited that relationship directly in their Supreme Court filings. Last month, they argued an interim injunction is appropriate “because it will give the incoming Administration time to determine its position, as the President-elect and his advisors have voiced support for saving TikTok. “There is a strong public interest that this Court have the opportunity to exercise plenary review. The case also comes amid a groundswell of support from some lawmakers in Congress. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass.; and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., filed a brief Thursday urging the Supreme Court to reverse the ban, arguing the lawmakers do not have sufficient evidence needed to outweigh free speech protections granted under the First Amendment. In the brief, lawmakers referenced the nation’s longtime reliance on national security claims as a means of justifying censorship, citing examples from the Sedition Acts of the 18th and 20th centuries and Cold War-era free speech restrictions. Banning TikTok due to “speculative concerns” about foreign interference, they argued, is “unconstitutional and contradicts fundamental American values.” They argued the U.S. could adopt less drastic measures that would effectively address any data security concerns posed by the app while also not infringing on First Amendment rights. Others remained deeply opposed. Sen. Mitch McConnell blasted TikTok’s arguments as “unmeritless and unsound” in a filing of his own, noting that Congress explicitly set the Jan. 19 date for the divestiture clause to take force since it “very clearly removes any possible political uncertainty in the execution of the law by cabining it to an administration that was deeply supportive of the bill’s goals.”
Trump accuses Newsom of prioritizing endangered fish species over protecting residents from wildfires
President-elect Trump set off a fiery debate over whether Democrats should be to blame for California’s wildfires after he accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of caring more about protecting an endangered fish species than protecting the state’s residents from wildfires. The president-elect has long railed against Democrats in California for limiting the availability of water for Californians that comes from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in the northern part of the state. He stumped on the issue during his 2016 campaign and, during his first term, Trump sought to divert more water away from a delta where the two rivers meet that is home to an endangered fish species known as smelt. But Newsom and his administration challenged this in court, arguing opinions suggesting that the water diversion would not impact the fish were wrong. Newsom also previously opposed efforts to construct a pipeline meant to divert water south. He has overseen programs in his state that annually release hundreds of billions of gallons of stormwater buildup into the Sacramento-San Jaoquin River Delta to benefit the smelt habitat — rather than redirecting the water south for use by people in the central and southern parts of the state. BERNIE SANDERS TAKES HEAT FOR BLAMING CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES ON CLIMATE CHANGE: ‘GLOBAL WARMING ATE MY HOMEWORK’ Trump set off a firestorm on Wednesday when he called out Newsom on his Truth Social platform for wanting “to protect an essentially worthless fish” over protecting the water needs of Californians. The comments are not new, however. In the run-up to the November election, Trump made the claim during an October interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. “I was in [California] farm country with some of the congressmen,” he told Rogan. “We’re driving up a highway and I say, ‘How come all this land is so barren?’ It’s farmland and it looked terrible. It was just brown and bad. I said, ‘But there’s always that little corner that’s so green and beautiful.’ They said, ‘We have no water.’ I said, ‘Do you have a drought?’ ‘No, we don’t have a drought.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you have no water?’ Because the water isn’t allowed to flow down. And in order to protect a tiny little fish, the water up north gets routed into the Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions of gallons of water gets poured.” California’s devastating wildfires have killed at least five people and driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. The Palisades Fire alone has burned through more than 17,000 acres of land, which is larger than the island of Manhattan. The damage so far has been estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars. The president-elect’s claims have been paired with reports that firefighters are running out of water as they battle the blaze, prompting the state to mobilize resources to replenish empty supplies. CAUSE OF RAGING LOS ANGELES WILDFIRES STILL UNDETERMINED AS MAYOR KAREN BASS DEFENDS HER LEADERSHIP “There’s no water in the Palisades. There’s no water coming out of the fire hydrants. This is an absolute mismanagement by the city. Not the firefighters’ fault, but the city’s,” Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer who unsuccessfully ran against Karen Bass for mayor in 2022, told Fox News. The governor’s press office said in response to Trump’s accusations that he was completely wrong, arguing the president-elect “is conflating two entirely unrelated things: the conveyance of water to Southern California and supply from local storage.” “Broadly speaking, there is no water shortage in Southern California right now, despite Trump’s claims that he would open some imaginary spigot,” Newsom’s office added. “[The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power] said that because of the high water demand, pump stations at lower elevations did not have enough pressure refill tanks at higher elevations, and the ongoing fire hampered the ability of crews to access the pumps. To supplement, they used water tenders to supply water — a common tactic in wildland firefighting.” Firefighters in California made progress towards slowing the spread of the fire on Thursday, according to The Associated Press. Crews reportedly were able to eliminate a fire that broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening and by Thursday had lifted the area’s evacuation order. Still, the fires continue to burn and most are only partially contained as of Thursday afternoon, according to reports.