By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Paramount Skydance says the Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings withdrew from its bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery to avert a possible national security review.

Paramount’s revised filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of its takeover bid said the Chinese company had dropped its $1 billion financing commitment out of concern, since it would be a “non-U.S. equity financing source,” that its bid might be subject to a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS. That was even though approval by CFIUS or by the Federal Communications Commission was not a condition of the bid.

The SEC filing, dated Monday, said that foreign sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, which are providing $24 billion for Paramount’s bid, had agreed to give up a right to participate in Warner Bros’ management to avoid the additional scrutiny.

On Monday, Paramount launched a hostile $77.9 billion takeover offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, competing with rival bidder Netflix to buy the company behind HBO, CNN and a famed movie studio.

Big deals that involve foreign companies are sometimes subject to national security reviews by CFIUS, a U.S. government group chaired by the Treasury Secretary that studies mergers for national-security reasons. It has the power to force companies to change ownership structures or divest completely from the U.S.

Under former President Joe Biden as well as President Donald Trump, the Treasury Department has sought to strengthen its powers as national security concerns related to foreign investment have increased.

Tencent is among dozens of Chinese companies that the U.S. Defense Department has included in a list of companies it said have ties to China’s military. Tencent, whose shares are listed in Hong Kong, denies that.

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Based in the southern technology and financial hub of Shenzhen, Tencent owns the League of Legends developer Riot Games and has ties with other big U.S. entertainment brands. It also has a streaming deal with the National Basketball Association.

It is the world’s largest equity investor in online games and a major entertainment and social media company, operating the WeChat messaging and payments service in popular China and with Chinese emigrants abroad. Tencent has a market capitalization of over $700 billion, according to Hong Kong’s stock exchange.

There was no immediate comment from Tencent.

By STEVEN SLOAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — As he shook President Barack Obama’s hand and pulled him in for what he thought was a private aside, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an explicit message: “This is a big f——— deal.” The remark, overheard on live microphones at a 2010 ceremony for the Affordable Care Act, caused a sensation because open profanity from a national leader was unusual at the time.

More than 15 years later, vulgarity is now in vogue.

During a political rally Tuesday night in Pennsylvania that was intended to focus on tackling inflation, President Donald Trump used profanity at least four times. At one point, he even admitted to disparaging Haiti and African nations as “ shithole countries ” during a private 2018 meeting, a comment he denied at the time. And before a bank of cameras during a lengthy Cabinet meeting last week, the Republican president referred to alleged drug smugglers as “sons of b——-s.”

While the Biden incident was accidental, the frequency, sharpness and public nature of Trump’s comments are intentional. They build on his project to combat what he sees as pervasive political correctness. Leaders in both parties are seemingly in a race now to the verbal gutter.

Vice President JD Vance called a podcast host a “dips—t” in September. In Thanksgiving remarks before troops, Vance joked that anyone who said they liked turkey was “full of s—-.” After one National Guard member was killed in a shooting in Washington last month and a second was critically injured, top Trump aide Steven Cheung told a reporter on social media to “shut the f—- up” when she wrote that the deployment of troops in the nation’s capital was “for political show.”

Among Democrats, former Vice President Kamala Harris earned a roar of approval from her audience in September when she condemned the Trump administration by saying “these mother———- are crazy.” After Trump called for the execution of several Democratic members of Congress last month, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said it was time for people with influence to “pick a f——— side.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the administration cannot “f—- around” with the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who on Monday announced her Senate campaign in Texas, did not hold back earlier this year when asked what she would tell Elon Musk if given the chance: “F—- off.”

The volley of vulgarities underscore an ever-coarsening political environment that often plays out on social media or other digital platforms where the posts or video clips that evoke the strongest emotions are rewarded with the most engagement.

“If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at the social media companies,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said Tuesday night at Washington National Cathedral, where he spoke at an event focused on political civility. “It’s not a fair fight. They’ve hijacked our brains. They understand these dopamine hits. Outrage sells.”

Cox, whose national profile rose after calling for civility in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination in his state, approved an overhaul of social media laws meant to protect children. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the state law.

Tough political talk is nothing new

Tough talk is nothing new in politics, but leaders long avoided flaunting it.

Recordings from Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, for instance, revealed a crude, profane side of his personality that was largely kept private. Republican Richard Nixon bemoaned the fact that the foul language he used in the Oval Office was captured on tape. “Since neither I nor most other Presidents had ever used profanity in public, millions were shocked,” Nixon wrote in his book “In the Arena.”

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“Politicians have always sworn, just behind closed doors,” said Benjamin Bergen, a professor at the University of California-San Diego’s Department of Cognitive Science and the author of “What the F: What swearing reveals about our language, our brains, and ourselves.” “The big change is in the past 10 years or so, it’s been much more public.”

As both parties prepare for the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential campaign, the question is whether this language will become increasingly mainstream. Republicans who simply try to imitate Trump’s brash style do not always succeed with voters. Democrats who turn to vulgarities risk appearing inauthentic if their words feel forced.

For some, it is just a distraction.

“It’s not necessary,” said GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who is retiring next year after winning five elections in one of the most competitive House districts. “If that’s what it takes to get your point across, you’re not a good communicator.”

There are risks of overusing profanity

There also is a risk that if such language becomes overused, its utility as a way to shock and connect with audiences could be dulled. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has talked about this problem, noting that he used swear words in his early routines but dropped them as his career progressed because he felt profanity yielded only cheap laughs.

“I felt like well I just got a laugh because I said f—- in there,” he said in a 2020 interview on the WTF podcast with fellow comedian Marc Maron. “You didn’t find the gold.”

White House spokesperson Liz Huston said Trump “doesn’t care about being politically correct, he cares about Making America Great Again. The American people love how authentic, transparent, and effective the President is.”

But for Trump, the words that have generated the most controversy are often less centered in traditional profanity than slurs that can be interpreted as hurtful. The final weeks of his 2016 campaign were rocked when a tape emerged of him discussing grabbing women by their genitals, language he minimized as “locker room talk.” His “shithole” remark in 2018 was widely condemned as racist.

More recently, Trump called a female journalist “piggy,” comments that his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, defended as evidence of a president who is “very frank and honest.” Trump’s use of a slur about disabled people prompted an Indiana Republican whose child has Down syndrome to come out in opposition to the president’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

On rare occasions, politicians express contrition for their choice of words. In an interview with The Atlantic published last week, Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., dismissed Harris’ depiction of him in her book about last year’s presidential campaign by saying she was “trying to sell books and cover her a—.”

He seemed to catch himself quickly.

“I shouldn’t say ‘cover her a—,” he said. “I think that’s not appropriate.”

St. Paul has declared a snow emergency to take effect tonight after a winter storm dropped 3-5 inches of snow and tangled up the morning commute.

Beginning 9 p.m. Wednesday, night plow routes will be plowed. City officials are asking motorists to not park on those routes, which include downtown and all streets with the “Night Plow Route” and “Night Plow Route This Side of Street” signs.

Vehicles not moved from those routes by 9 p.m. will be ticketed and towed.

Beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, all day routes will be plowed. Do not park on day plow routes — these routes are not marked by signs. If there are no “Night Plow” signs posted within the block, consider it a day plow route. Those vehicles not moved from day plow routes by 8 a.m. will be ticketed and towed.

Snow emergencies last 96 hours. In this case until 9 p.m. Sunday. To avoid a ticket or having your vehicle towed, do not park in areas where streets are not plowed to the curb. Always follow all posted street signs. And, do not park vehicles where signs indicate “No Parking.”

For more information go to stpaul.gov/snow.

Reminders about shoveling

City officials also offered these reminders about shoveling:

• Shovel your sidewalk. Under city ordinance homeowners are required to remove snow and ice from sidewalks within 24 hours.

• Corner property owners should shovel curbs, walkways and crosswalks to the street.

• Do not push snow out into the streets.

• Do not place recycling and garbage carts in the street. Carts should ONLY be kept in the boulevard or at the end of the driveway.

• And, shovel hydrants out and clear snow and ice off storm drains to prevent street flooding.

Free off-street parking

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Meanwhile, free off-street parking is available during the first 24 hours of a declared Snow Emergency (Night and Day Plow Phases) from 5 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Block 19 Ramp — at 145 E Seventh Street — located at Jackson and Seventh Street in downtown St. Paul.

Learn where and when people can park their vehicles using St. Paul’s Snow Emergency Parking Map at stpaul.gov/snowemergencyparkingmap.

For more information

Updates about current snow operations can be found at stpaul.gov/snow.

Go to stpaul.gov/snowFAQs for a list of snow-related frequently asked questions.

By JULIA FRANKEL, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Aid deliveries into Gaza are falling far short of the amount called for under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, an Associated Press analysis of the Israeli military’s figures showed.

Under the October ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Israel agreed to allow 600 trucks of aid into Gaza each day. But an average of around 459 trucks a day have entered Gaza between Oct. 12, when flow of the aid restarted, and Dec. 7, according to an AP analysis of latest figures by COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid entry.

By all accounts, aid has fallen short in Gaza

COGAT said that roughly 18,000 trucks of food aid had entered Gaza between the ceasefire taking effect and Sunday. It said that figure amounted to 70% of all aid that had entered the territory since the truce.

That means COGAT estimates that a total of just over 25,700 trucks of aid have entered Gaza — well under the 33,600 trucks that should have entered by Sunday, under the terms of the ceasefire.

In response to the AP analysis, COGAT insisted Wednesday that the number of trucks entering Gaza each day was above the 600 mark. But when asked, it refused to elaborate why the figures it gave did not reach that amount or provide raw data on truck entry.

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Throughout most of the war, COGAT gave detailed figures of daily trucks entering Gaza but stopped doing so when the ceasefire began. Rights groups say that because it controls the crossings, it is the only entity with the access and visibility necessary to track how much aid and commercial goods are entering Gaza.

The U.N. and aid groups have often said the amount of aid entering Gaza is far lower than COGAT claims.

The U.N. says only 6,545 trucks have been offloaded at Gaza crossings between the ceasefire and Dec. 7, amounting to about 113 trucks a day. That’s according to its online database. The U.N. figures do not include aid trucks sent bilaterally by organizations not working through the U.N. network.

A Hamas document on Saturday provided to the AP put the amount of aid trucks that have entered at 7,333.

This week, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stressed a “dire” need for more aid to enter Gaza, saying Israeli restrictions on aid have bottlenecked recovery efforts.

Food remains scarce in Gaza, aid groups say

Humanitarian groups say lack of aid has had harsh effects on many of Gaza’s 2 million residents, most of whom were forcibly displaced by war. Food remains scarce as the Palestinian territory struggles to bounce back from famine, which hit parts of Gaza during the war. Starving mothers in Gaza are giving birth to malnourished babies, some of whom have died in hospital, according to a recent report by UNICEF. As winter rains pick up, displaced families living in tents have been left exposed to the elements and without supplies to cope with floods and the biting cold.

“Needs far outpace the humanitarian community’s ability to respond, given persistent impediments,” the agency wrote in a report on Monday. “These obstacles include insecurity, customs clearance challenges, delays and denials of cargo at the crossings, and limited routes available for transporting humanitarian supplies within Gaza.”

Israel temporarily stopped all aid entry at least once in response to alleged Hamas violations of the truce. Israel said that Hamas has failed to return the bodies of the hostages in the time period established by the ceasefire, while Hamas has said it struggled to find the bodies due to the destruction left by Israel in the Palestinian territory.

Hamas has also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire terms because of the slow flow of aid, continued closure of the Rafah crossing and ongoing deadly strikes on Gaza.

Dispute over remains of final hostage

Meanwhile, Israel says it is demanding the return of the final hostage, Ran Gvili.

The Office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the AP on Wednesday that Gvili’s remains must be returned, a condition of the first phase of the ceasefire.

“Once phase one is completed, phase two will begin,” the office said in a statement.

Hamas fighters and Red Cross crews continued to comb the ruins of Gaza City for the final body this week, while the militant group Islamic Jihad claimed it had handed over the last hostage body in its possession.

On Tuesday, Hamas called for more international pressure on Israel to open key border crossings, cease deadly strikes on the territory and allow more aid into the strip.

The accusations mark the latest road bump at what regional leaders have described as a critical time for the ceasefire agreement, as mediators seek to push the truce into its second, more complicated phase.

Associated Press reporter Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Jerusalem and reporter Sam Mednick contributed from Tel Aviv.