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TikTok ban on city worker phones comes into effect

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

The City of Kingston is following the lead of the federal and provincial governments and banning TikTok on employees’ work devices. The City’s Chief Information Officer, Jeff Bumstead, says there was already some discussion of a ban and the Canadian government’s decision helped move that along. “We had been having some internal discussions prior to the announcement from the feds about the risks and the possible restrictions on usage,” Bumstead said.“That was really just kind of the final incident that put us over to make the decision.”The removal was implemented as of March 20th and is still underway.The federal government brought the ban in over security and intelligence concerns from the China based app, and Bumstead said the same concerns were at the centre of discussions within the city.Bumstead says while he can’t speak much to city employee’s feelings around the app, in some conversations he’s had people are definitel...

Domestic violence suspect running away from police killed after being hit by truck

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

GREELEY, Colo. (KDVR) -- A 31-year-old man accused of assaulting his partner was hit and killed by a commercial truck while evading police, the Greeley Police Department said in a release. Police responded to a disturbance call in the 5500 block of 29th Street just after midnight Wednesday. The caller told police a man was "punching and kicking" a woman then got multiple knives and continued to assault her, the release said. Colorado’s violent, motor vehicle crimes are concentrated in these counties Before first responders got there, the suspect took off in his car, and officers in the area began a search for the vehicle. The suspect and car were spotted shortly after driving back to the scene, according to GPD.When officers tried to stop the vehicle, the suspect took off and police pursued him until he hit a dead-end, police said. He got out of the car and ran off. He jumped a fence a tried to cross Highway 34 when a large commercial truck struck him, the department said. The sus...

Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula reach Miami Open 3rd round

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Sixth-seeded Coco Gauff opened her 2023 Miami Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Rebecca Marino on Thursday and advanced to the third round where she will face 27th-seeded Anastasia Potapova.After her victory, Gauff, coming off a quarterfinals appearance at Indian Wells, said in a television interview that it wasn’t her best outing, despite converting five of her nine break points.“It was a shaky performances honestly,” Gauff said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a straight forward match, even if I was up a break sometimes.”Gauff came back from a break down twice in the second set to claim her second career win versus Marino. Gauff defeated Marino in the first round at Roland Garros in 2022.Gauff said she was a bit nervous playing in her hometown — she’s a native of Delray Beach, Florida, a small city about 40 miles north of Hard Rock Stadium, where the tournament is played. Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat was among those in attendance Thursday.“Ji...

Brothers skip Pride jerseys; Panthers lose to Maple Leafs 6-2

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brothers Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers declined to wear special Pride-themed warmup jerseys ahead of the team’s 6-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.The jerseys were part of Florida’s Pride night game in support of the area’s LGBTQ community, and the brothers cited their religion as the reason for the decision.“We carry no judgement on how people choose to live their lives, and believe that all people should be welcome in all aspects of the game of hockey,” the Staal brothers said in a statement. “Having said that, we feel that by us wearing a Pride jersey it goes against our Christian beliefs.”After the loss, Eric Staal said he wanted to stick with the brothers’ statement and “try my best to move forward.” Marc Staal was not made available to the media.While the Staal brothers declined to participate, Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was one of the Panthers who went ahead with the Pride-themed jerseys.The Chicago Blackhaw...

Historic building in downtown Miami evacuated after being deemed unsafe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

Fire officials ordered an emergency evacuation after a building in downtown Miami was deemed unsafe.Offices were cleared out on Thursday at the historic Huntington Building, located along the 100 block of Southeast First Street.The order was given after a fire inspection revealed illegal remodeling compromised emergency escape routes.Management for the 13-floor building is working with city officials to determine the necessary repairs before people can safely return to the structure.

Meet Rachel Reeves — Britain’s next chancellor?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Stitcher .st0{fill:#EB8A23;} .st1{fill:#FAC617;} .st2{fill:#612368;} .st3{fill:#3792C4;} .st4{fill:#C33727;} Acast Westminster Insider profiles the woman who could be running Britain alongside Keir Starmer in a year’s time. Host Ailbhe Rea sits down with Labour Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves to explore her backgr...

Rachel Reeves: ‘I’m sure I have’ kissed a Tory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

LONDON — Rachel Reeves is “sure” she has kissed a Tory and says she would encourage others to be less “tribal, in politics and in life.”The shadow chancellor joins the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, in dismissing the “never kissed a Tory” badge of honor favoured by some of her more left-wing Labour colleagues. “I’m sure I have,” she tells a new episode of POLITICO’s Westminster Insider podcast. “Unlike maybe some of my colleagues I don’t go around voter ID-ing people.”The debate was rekindled last year when Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell wore a T-shirt emblazoned with “never kissed a Tory” to a Pride event in Manchester. The slogan was popular in some Labour circles, particularly during the leadership of the left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, but is seen by the more centrist Starmer and Reeves as alienating crucial swing voters.“I don’t think we need to be quite so tribal in politics and in life,” Reeves says of the phrase. “It’s good to be challenged p...

The toxic legacy Putin is leaving Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. Britain has pushed back hard against Russia’s specious accusation that the United Kingdom is engaging in nuclear brinkmanship, after its decision to supply Ukraine with armor-piercing depleted uranium (DU) tank shells, which will be sent alongside the Challenger 2 tanks London is giving Kyiv.Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aides argue the shells have a “nuclear component” and that Britain is, therefore, triggering nuclear escalation with the deployment of the DU rounds, as former Russian President and now National Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev told reporters the shells increase the odds of nuclear escalation.But as munitions experts point out, DU is incapable of triggering a chain reaction. It is the material left after the enrichment of natural uranium — which is used for nuclear warheads and reactor fuel — and at 1.7 times denser than lead, when rounds are tipped with it, they can penetrate the ar...

EU-speak, now brought to you by AI

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.In the words of a former boss: “We could automate your job.”That is of course nonsense. There’s no way even the most sophisticated software could come up with a list of offensive nicknames for Donald Trump — including “mangled apricot hell beast” — in a little under a week, so I’m safe. But such programs are now playing a bigger and bigger — and dumber and dumber — role in society and politics.You may have seen this week what is perhaps the low point of European politics (with the high point being that Hungarian MEP caught fleeing a lockdown-breaking gay orgy, which will one day be commemorated with a massive statue in Brussels’ Grand Place), when Green MEP Daniel Freund and Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács wrote raps (yes, raps) slamming each other using the chatbot ChatGPT. The exchange was every bit as terrible as you would imagine. Freund’s rap about Hungarian Prime...

The age of impunity

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:00 GMT

Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, is president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and host of the weekly podcast “World Review with Ivo Daalder.”Russian President Vladimir Putin is now wanted for war crimes, with the International Criminal Court issuing a warrant for the his arrest for the illegal abduction of children from war-torn Ukraine to Russia.Putin isn’t about to face trial in the Hague — nor is he likely to be arrested when he travels abroad. But his face has now been indelibly plastered on wanted posters around the world. And much like Charles Taylor of Sierra Leone and Slobodan Milošević of Serbia, Putin faces the risk of one day being caught and held to account for his crimes.Accountability lies at the core of the rule of law. Those accused of committing crimes are arrested, prosecuted and tried, with those found guilty punished for their deeds — at least that’s the theory. In practice, however, accountability is hard, especially in international setting...