TikTok’s parent company ByteDance spent more than $10 million on lobbying last year, marking the company’s most expensive lobbying year to date. According to a Q4 lobbying disclosure report filed Tuesday, ByteDance spent $2.3 million on expenses related to lobbying activity between Oct. 1 through the end of the year.

The popular video app went dark in the United States late Saturday and then came back around noon on Sunday, even as a law banning it took effect.

Harlan Ullman, Ph.D., is United Press International’s Arnaud deBorchgrave Distinguished Columnist, senior advisor at Washington D.C.’s Atlantic Council, chairman of two private companies and principal author of the shock and awe military doctrine. His next book, due in 2025, is “The Great Paradox: Strategic Thinking in an Unstrategic World.”

From the US Supreme Court’s ruling on TikTok and Israel’s cabinet okaying a ceasefire pact with Hamas to US President Joe Biden commuting the sentences of thousands, several important events took place in the world this week.

His inauguration coincides with MLK Day, when our country pauses to celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Donald Trump today will recite the oath of office and officially return to power to enact his sweeping vision of America.

Lawmakers pushing for a TikTok ban have voiced concern about Chinese influence — but also about pro-Palestinian messages on the platform.

Mike Waltz, Trump's appointed National Security Advisor, says in an interview to CBS: 'Hamas will never rule Gaza.'

President-elect Donald Trump said mass deportations will begin “very quickly” after taking office, one of a number of plans he discussed in a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday.

Palestinians in Gaza are confronting an apocalyptic landscape of devastation after a ceasefire paused more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas. (Video courtesy of Associated Press) READ: Join this channel to get access to perks: Subscribe to the Manila Bulletin Online channel!

On Monday evening, just hours after Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act, an extreme bill that would allow for the deportation and detention of any undocumented immigrant merely suspected of a nonviolent crime. And they did it with the help of 12 Democrats.

President Trump's first national security priorities are to restore the Pentagon's warfighting readiness and reform the intelligence community.

Plus: What Donald Trump plans as part of his first 100 executive actions in his second term. | A ceasefire has begun between Israel and Hamas.