A U.S. federal appeals court upheld an order requiring TikTok to sever all ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by January 2025. The court found that the relationship poses a threat to national security, raising concerns that American user data could be accessed without consent by China.

The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court rejected TikTok’s appeal, affirming that the original order, formalized in a law signed by President Joe Biden and approved by Congress in April, withstands constitutional scrutiny.

“The First Amendment exists to protect freedom of expression in the United States,” said Judge Douglas Ginsburg, writing for the majority opinion. “The government acted solely to protect this freedom from a foreign adversary and to limit that adversary’s ability to collect data on Americans,” he added.

TikTok may appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, which would need to decide on the case before the January 19 deadline. If accepted, enforcement of the order will be delayed until a final decision is made.

Spain experienced its “warmest” November on record this year, with an average temperature of 12.4°C, surpassing the previous record set in 1983, according to the state meteorological agency (Aemet).

“Last November was the warmest on the entire Iberian Peninsula” since records began in 1961, Aemet stated on its social media, specifying that the average temperature for the month was “2.8°C above the average for the period 1991-2020.”

Additionally, November was “very dry overall,” with precipitation levels “40% below normal,” despite the “heavy rains during the early days on the Mediterranean side,” which led to deadly floods in Valencia and other regions, the agency reported.

The floods on October 29th left at least 230 dead, mostly in Valencia.

Delegations from Iran, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are meeting this Friday in the Swiss city of Geneva to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, its relations with Russia, and the situation in the Middle East.

Ahead of the meeting, the European Union’s deputy foreign policy chief, Enrique Mora, said on Thursday that he had held a “frank discussion” in Geneva with two senior officials from Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majid Takht-Ravanchi and Kazem Gharibabadi.

The conversation focused on “Iran’s support for Russia, which must cease; the nuclear issue, which must find a diplomatic solution; regional tensions (it is important that all parties avoid escalation); and human rights,” the diplomat posted on X (formerly Twitter).

For his part, Gharibabadi called on the European Union to “abandon its self-centered and irresponsible approach to the problems and challenges of this continent and international issues,” said Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abás Araqchi, on the same platform.

The meeting is taking place with the utmost discretion amidst heightened tensions between Israel and Iran and their allies, and less than two months before the return of Donald Trump to the White House, who was highly hostile towards Tehran during his first term.

It was Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the 2015 agreement, in which Iran and six world powers agreed that the Islamic Republic would limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Since then, Iran has pushed forward with the development of its nuclear program, which its authorities claim is for peaceful purposes.