DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A mysterious airstrip being built on a remote island in Yemen is nearing completion, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show, one of several built in a nation mired in a stalemated war threatening to reignite.

The runway is likely built by the United Arab Emirates, which has long been suspected of expanding its military presence in the region and has backed a Saudi-led war against the Houthis.

While the Houthis have linked their campaign to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, experts worry a ceasefire in that conflict may not be enough to see the rebels halt a campaign that’s drawn them global attention. Meanwhile, the Houthis have lobbed repeated attacks at Israel, as well as U.S. warships operating in the Red Sea, raising fears that one may make it through and endanger the lives of American service members.

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.

SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT).

Video shot by Reuters showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind.

President Joe Biden reportedly has no intention of enforcing a TikTok ban that is set to go into effect on Sunday, deferring the fate of the ban to President-elect Donald Trump one day before he takes office.

In a report published on Thursday night, an anonymous U.S. official told the Associated Press (AP) that Biden would not enforce the ban if it goes into effect on Sunday as expected. The decision on implementing the law banning TikTok, and whether to enforce the ban at all, will instead fall on the incoming Trump administration.

In a statement to Newsweek, Trump-Vance Transition Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that "President Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to save Tik Tok, and there's no better deal maker than President Trump."

The US government has imposed sanctions on the head of Sudan's army and de facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the treasury department said.

He has been leading one of the two sides in the 21-month civil war that has killed tens of thousands, uprooted over 12 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

In a brief statement, the US accused Gen Burhan of "destabilizing Sudan and undermining the goal of a democratic transition".

If there is one thing the EU knows about Donald Trump, it is that he loves tariffs. The incoming president has said “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and has threatened to impose them on US allies around the world.

On the campaign trail he proposed tariffs of 10-20% on imports from all countries, with a 60% rate reserved for China. Once elected, he tweeted that the EU must buy more US oil and gas “otherwise it is TARIFFS all the way!!!” This week, he announced he would create an “external revenue service” on the day of his inauguration.

The European Commission, which leads on trade policy for the EU’s 27 member states, has been preparing for the next US president since last summer. Details of its response to potential tariffs are closely guarded though, and depend on what the volatile incoming president actually does.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense has poured more than $3.7 million into developing warfare technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 2015, according to a recent report from students and faculty organizing against the war in Gaza.

The report was published last month by the MIT Coalition for Palestine, which represents 19 student and faculty groups on campus, including MIT Divest, MIT Jews for Collective Liberation, and MIT Faculty and Staff for Palestine.

After the student organizers began further probing grant information, the school took down the grant software used for the coalition’s research, said Rich Solomon, a member and MIT graduate student who worked on the report. “MIT has engaged in a sustained and organized campaign of disinformation and propaganda in order to silence and suppress this information,” Solomon told The Intercept.

BUKAVU, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A Congolese court has sentenced three Chinese citizens to seven years in prison after they were arrested in possession of gold bars and $400,000 in cash and found guilty of illegal activities linked to the artisanal mining sector.

The trio are the first Chinese nationals to stand trial since Democratic Republic of Congo launched its latest push to crack down on the unlicensed extraction of the many precious and strategic minerals buried in its conflict-torn east.

"This is an educational trial that should normally serve as a wake-up call to all Chinese nationals who think they can leave China, arrive in Kitutu, Kibe, Lugushwa, Kamituga or Mwenga and behave as if they were in their own room, without even paying the hotel fees," said Christian Wanduma, a lawyer representing local communities in the trial.

With less than a week left in office, United States President Joe Biden is expected to remove Cuba’s designation as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, according to anonymous sources familiar with his plans.

The Associated Press news agency broke the story on Tuesday, citing US officials. But the move is likely to be a symbolic measure rather than a lasting policy.

A webpage on the State of Louisiana’s official site appears to be advertising “animal porn Porn Videos.” The online home of the Federal Judicial Center offers “free how to sex videos,” with a closed captioning feature. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s SimpleReport, identified as an “official website of the United States government” in a banner at the top of the page, provides “Desi Girl Xxx Video sex Videos,” while the City of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, points to “Sexy Beautiful European Porn.”

These are just a few examples of the wide range of U.S. government websites inadvertently directing visitors to hardcore porn content. Other examples can readily be discovered when searching for pornographic keywords like “xxx” and utilizing Google’s “site:” search operator to query only U.S. government domains.

New users have piled in to the Chinese social media app RedNote just days before a proposed US ban on the popular social media app TikTok, as the lesser-known company rushes to capitalize on the sudden influx while walking a delicate line of moderating English-language content.