TikTok has resumed service in the US

💬 "As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!" the app's welcome page declares.

However, according to a Sputnik correspondent, it is still impossible to download TikTok from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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📹 A video of the meeting between the three hostages released by Hamas earlier today and their families has been made public by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office

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Funky, fun and festive facts about US presidential inaugurations

The stage is set for Monday’s festivities marking Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In honor of the occasion, here are some interesting, curious and downright weird facts about this well-worn US tradition.

🔸 From 1792-1937, inauguration day was held on March 4, not January 20. The change was congressionally mandated in 1933 to reduce the transition time between the old ‘lame duck’ president and the new administration.

🔸 The number of stars on flags on the Capitol building changes depending on what state the new president is from, representing the order in which the state joined the Union.

🔸 Since Trump ran from two different states in 2020 and 2024 (New York and Florida), the flags had/have 13 and 27 stars, respectively.

🔸 In 1825, John Quincy Adams became only president-elect not to have given the presidential oath with his hand on a Bible. In 1977, Jimmy Carter became the only one to be sworn in by his nickname “Jimmy,” rather than his full name, “James Earl Carter.”

🔸 Inaugurated in 1837, Martin Van Buren was the first president not to have been born under British rule.

🔸 Inauguration Day parades have been held every year since 1841. In 1973, during Richard Nixon’s second inauguration, organizers’ desire to pigeon-poop-proof the event went horribly wrong, with pigeons eating a chemical meant to repel them and littering Nixon’s parade route with dead birds.

🔸 Some festivities associated with the inauguration, like the inaugural luncheon, didn’t exist before the 20th century. America’s first president, George Washington, dined alone in 1789 after his ceremony. Talk about sigma energy. Oh, and his 1793 inaugural address was just 135 words.

🔸 In 2009, Barack Obama became the first president to flub the oath of office by repeating Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ mistaken words. Obama retook the office shortly after. Roberts is expected to administer the oath again this year, hopefully correctly.

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😳 ‘I’m not going anywhere’ – Biden

On his last full day in office, outgoing President Joe Biden, during his speech at the Royal Missionary Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina, promised to remain active in public life after leaving the White House.

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📹 Trump vows to repeal 'every radical and foolish executive order of the Biden administration' on his first day

US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices.

💬 "We're going to stop the destructive and divisive DEI mandates across both government and the private sector," Trump stated.

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📑 Trump vows to release secret files on John F. Kennedy assassination

💬 'In the coming days, we are going to make public the remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., among other topics of great public interest,' US President-elect Donald Trump declared during his victory rally the day before his inauguration in Washington D.C.

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🗣 ‘They handed billions and billions of dollars to the Taliban’ – Trump

US President-elect Trump lambasted the Biden Administration for its disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. He accused them of effectively arming the Taliban by leaving behind a significant cache of US military equipment.

💬 "They gave it to the Taliban. They gave our military equipment, a big chunk of it, to the enemy," Trump declared.

💬 "We're not going to hand over any money unless they return our military equipment," Trump emphasized.

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