Latest news with #Chinese-owned
Otago Daily Times
6 hours ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Councillor denies privacy breach
The West Coast Regional Council is alleging a privacy breach involving its former chairman after correspondence from a mining company ended up in the media. However, Cr Allan Birchfield, who openly admits passing the information on, denies there was any breach. If the council wanted to take issue with it — "bring it on". The council released a statement this week, and although it did not directly refer to Cr Birchfield, it took issue with the release of the correspondence from Chinese-owned Westcoast Mining Ltd shared with "some councillors". The correspondence complained about a two-year delay in their resource consent application, and being ordered by regional council staff to shut down mining operations in the meantime. Council chairman Peter Haddock said in a statement Westcoast Mining Ltd had "confirmed it did not share" its correspondence to the council with anyone else. "Nor did it give permission for any of its information to be shared," Cr Haddock said. Rather, the letter had been shared "confidentially" with some councillors. "It's very disappointing privacy between [the] council and the company has been breached ... We will be taking measures to deal with this transgression." Cr Birchfield said yesterday he took "full credit" for passing on the information because it concerned council activities in the public domain. "They're wrong. That letter was written to all the councillors, and I take full credit for releasing it," he said. "The public should know the mining community do know what is going on [with the council]." He said the correspondence would be otherwise discoverable anyway through the Local Government and Official Information and Meetings Act. The allegations outlined by Westcoast Mining were "symptomatic" of wide disquiet in the West Coast community about the changing council approach to consenting and compliance, Cr Birchfield said. It not only reflected the growing concern within the West Coast mining fraternity but from other industry sectors seeking routine consents and now being presented with new hurdles. Cr Birchfield said the information being sought officially now often reflected no West Coast mining knowledge or local knowledge at all. "I'm being barraged with complaints from the industry and I'm sick of it. "I released that letter because it's not private," Cr Birchfield said. Cr Brett Cummings, who chairs the Resource Management Committee, was surprised at the council stance but preferred not to comment publicly. He was already awaiting further information on "concerns with the consenting process" he had raised. Cr Peter Ewen, who has regularly sparred with Cr Birchfield, described the release of the correspondence as "grandstanding" and "attention seeking". He said Cr Birchfield knew "full well" the rules about information disclosure. Given it was apparently yet to be tabled at the council meeting he was "jumping the gun". "I think attention-seeking councillors are doing it all the time — that's the problem," Cr Ewen said. "There's a right and a wrong way to do it. He knows that ... there's an election coming." Cr Ewen said there was also some irony in that Cr Birchfield, a gold miner, had not always declared his own mining activities at the council table. "He can't even follow the rules himself." Cr Haddock said Westcoast Mining Ltd had been mining without a resource consent when it was shut down on May 31. "It was clear the resource consent was yet to be issued as a company representative visited the WCRC office on May 16 ... to request alterations to their [application]. "We will not be commenting further while the matter is under investigation," Cr Haddock said. — Greymouth Star
USA Today
21 hours ago
- Business
- USA Today
Trump signs executive order delaying ban on TikTok
Trump signs executive order delaying ban on TikTok - again The 90-day extension marks the third time that Trump has delayed a TikTok sell-or-ban law from going into effect after it it was passed by Congress. Show Caption Hide Caption Tiktok stays as President Donald Trump extends deadline for ban President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending the deadline to ban Tiktok. WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump has again extended the deadline for a TikTok ban to go into effect, allowing the Chinese-owned social platform to continue operating for the 90 days. Trump said earlier in the week that he planned to give TikTok a third extension and signed an executive order on June 19 making it official. It was the third time that Trump authorized a delay. TikTok and Tariffs: Trump postpones TikTok deadline as talks continue to sell social media giant The popular social media app's parent company, ByteDance, now has until Sept. 17 to secure a deal that satisfies a legal requirement. Lawmakers ordered TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the United States over national security concerns. Former President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan legislation into law. And the Supreme Court held the ban. But since returning to office, Trump has directed the Department of Justice not to enforce it. His executive orders have kept the app from going dark. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration's lawyers "strongly believe" the president has the legal authority to delay enforcement. "The political reasoning for this, of course, is because the president made a promise to keep TikTok on," she said. "He also wants to protect American's data and privacy concerns on this app, and he believes we can do both things at the same time. So he's making an extension so we can get this deal done." Trump ordered Vice President JD Vance and his then-national security adviser, Mike Waltz, to help facilitate a deal that would prevent user data from being accessed by the Chinese government. U.S. officials said they were on the verge of reaching an agreement in April but hit stumbling blocks when Trump ratcheted up tariffs on China. Is TikTok getting banned? Trump says he'll 'probably' extend deadline again Trade relations between the two nations have improved since then but a TikTok deal remains on ice. It was not clear if TikTok came up when Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump spoke by phone for the first time on June 5. "We probably have to get China approval. I think we'll get it," Trump told reporters on June 17. "I think President Xi will ultimately approve it." TikTok has 135 million users in the United States, most of them young Americans, who Trump has said he does not believe are at risk from being spied on. "If China is going to get information about young kids, I don't know. To be honest with you, I think we have bigger problems than that," he told reporters. China denies that it interferes in the affairs of private businesses. Its embassy spokesman in Washington said in a June 19 statement that Trump has not changed its position on the United States ban. In response to a request, Liu Pengyu reiterated that the nation would "handle relevant matters in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations" and said the United States "should provide an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory business environment." Contributing: Joey Garrison
Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Trump delays TikTok ban in US for third time, signs order for 90 days reprieve
US President Donald Trump Thursday signed an executive order delaying the ban or forced sale of TikTok in the United States for a third time, granting the Chinese-owned social media company another 90 days to find a buyer or face a nationwide ban. 'I've just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),' the President announced in a post on Truth Social. Trump's first executive order on TikTok was issued on his first day back in office, just three days after the US Supreme Court upheld the federal ban. He followed up with a second order in April, extending the deadline to 19 June. With this latest move, TikTok now has until September to secure a sale or risk being banned from operating in the country.
Axios
a day ago
- Business
- Axios
Trump extends TikTok sale deadline again
President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to push TikTok's sale deadline for the third time this year. Why it matters: Trump's repeated delays on the ban have begun to tick off some Senate Republicans, more than a year after a bipartisan law was passed out of serious concerns for the app's threats to national security. ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese-owned parent company, has failed to sell the app to a U.S. buyer as required by the law. Reuters reported earlier this year that a plan to spin off the app's American operation was put on hold after the U.S. imposed steep tariffs on China. He has dangled a deal as a way to negotiate the tariffs. Trump announced the expected deadline extension on Truth Social. The new deadline is Sept. 17. Catch up quick: Trump signed an executive order in January just after taking office extending the app's ban by 75 days, hours after it briefly went dark.
USA Today
a day ago
- Business
- USA Today
Trump says he signed an executive order delaying a ban on TikTok
Trump says he signed an executive order delaying a ban on TikTok The 90-day extension marks the third time that Trump has delayed a TikTok sell-or-ban law from going into effect after it it was passed by Congress. Show Caption Hide Caption What we know now about TikTok and the upcoming ban extension deadline As an extension deadline approaches, President Donald Trump will extend the deadline for a sale another 90 days, according to the White House. WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump has again extended the deadline for a TikTok ban to go into effect, allowing the Chinese-owned social platform to continue operating for the 90 days. Trump said earlier in the week that he planned to give TikTok a third extension and signed an executive order on June 19 making it official. It was the third time that Trump has authorized a delay. The popular social media app's parent company, ByteDance, now has until Sept. 17 to secure a deal that satisfies a legal requirement. Lawmakers ordered TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the United States over national security concerns.
