TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew intends to attend President-elect Trump's inauguration next week and is expected to sit on the dais alongside other prominent guests, a Trump transition source confirmed to Axios Thursday.
Why it matters: News of his invite comes as TikTok's fate hangs in the balance, with the U.S. ban of the popular platform set to take effect on Sunday, barring any eleventh-hour intervention.
President-elect Trump swiftly claimed the victory for himself on Wednesday, while President Biden retorted sharply when a reporter asked if he or Trump really deserved the credit: "Is that a joke?"
Why it matters: Officials from the U.S., Israel and Qatar tell Axios the deal to free the hostages and end 15 months of war wouldn't have been possible without unprecedented coordination between their administrations.
Big corporate donors to President-elect Trump's inaugural committee could soon find themselves in the crosshairs of his trade policy.
Why it matters: Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Stanley Black & Decker and Apple's Tim Cook all have written seven-figure checks for Trump's inauguration, which is on track to outraise his first ceremony in 2017 and President Biden's in 2021.
President-elect Trump will move to "preserve" TikTok, said his pick for national security adviser, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), on Wednesday — as a potential nationwide ban looms.
The big picture: It's not immediately clear what action Trump could take if the U.S. Supreme Court were to uphold a bipartisan law that would, unless sold to a U.S. firm, ban the popular video app that's owned by Chinese company ByteDance.
Southwest Airlines is being sued and Frontier Airlines fined over chronic flight delays by the Department of Transportation, the DOT announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: Wednesday's announcement by the outgoing Biden administration's Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, comes days after the DOT fined JetBlue $2 million for chronic flight delays — the first time such a penalty had been imposed on an airline.
Greenland must make its own decisions about independence from Denmark, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told President-elect Trump in a Wednesday phone call.
The big picture: Trump, since his first term, has repeatedly floated the idea of the U.S. buying Greenland even though the island's leaders have said it is not for sale.
Ukraine and Russia both need to make concessions to end the war between them, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), President-elect Trump's pick for Secretary of State, said Wednesday at his confirmation hearing.
Why it matters: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which will enter into its fourth year next month, poses one of the incoming Trump administration's greatest foreign policy challenges.
A deal has been reached in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas to release hostages being held in Gaza and establish a ceasefire, according to U.S., Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials.
Why it matters: The agreement will end more than 15 months of the deadliest war in the decades long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The U.S. needs more options to disrupt or destroy space tech deployed by other countries, namely China and Russia, according to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
Why it matters: Counter-space weaponry is seemingly taboo to talk about. Rarely will an official discuss hunting spacecraft.
President-elect Trump'stalk of Canada as a "51st state" and annexing Greenland registered among national-security crowds as an "Oh, boy!" moment. Obnoxious, enticing, familiar.
Why it matters: The darlings of Trump's current foreign policy fixation boast Arctic utility at a time when the icy region is heating up.
President Biden's last-minute executive order Tuesday to undo sanctions on Cuba and delist the socialist nation as a terrorism sponsor is outraging already dispirited Florida Democrats.
Why it matters:Biden's order will be undone almost as soon as Donald Trump replaces him on Monday, so it will have little practical effect. But Florida Democrats fear Biden's move gives Trump a chance to frame their party as beholden to socialists.
South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested at his presidential residence on Wednesday morning local time following an hours-long standoff, images from the scene show.
Why it matters: It's the first time an incumbent president has been detained in South Korea and marks the second attempt by anti-corruption investigators to arrest him for questioning related to his brief martial law declaration last month that triggered protests and shocked allies.
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's pick for Defense secretary, on Tuesday called the problem of extremism in the military "fake," but researchers warn there's a growing trend of military-linked terrorism.
The big picture: The rising number of people with military backgrounds engaging in domestic terrorism over the past three decades can partially be attributed to the difficulty transitioning from active duty to veteran status and a lack of community or purpose, experts say.
