Blackfire

IMAGE SOURCE,CBS Disgraced ex-lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife and son in a case that shocked the US. The hearing in South Carolina came one day after a jury took less than three hours to convict the 54-year-old. Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were shot at close range on their family estate on 7 June 2021. Prosecutors argued he killed his wife and son to divert attention from his financial crimes and gain sympathy. Judge Clifton Newman called the case "one of the most troubling" he had seen and noted Murdaugh's past "as a well-known member of the legal community". You've practised law before me, and we've seen each other at various occasions throughout the years," he said, calling it "especially heart-breaking for me" to learn of Murdaugh's arrest and prosecution, more than a year after the murders were committed. Alex Murdaugh headed a legal dynasty that for decades had occupied a powerful place - the jurisdiction was described by some as "Murdaugh Country". Judge Newman said he understood the decision by the state not to seek the death penalty, but noted that Murdaugh's own family had had people executed for less. "Your family, including you, have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom, and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct," he said. The disbarred attorney was convicted of two counts of murder after a six-week trial. During the trial, investigators revealed how Murdaugh stole nearly $9m from clients, to fund an addiction to painkillers and a lavish lifestyle. At Friday's sentencing, Murdaugh spoke briefly twice, to maintain his innocence. His lawyers said they would appeal against the life terms within 10 days. Murdaugh's surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, dressed in a simple navy-blue blazer, sat still and silent throughout the proceedings - even as the judge sentenced his father to two consecutive life sentences. The judge also suggested the murders may have been carried out under the influence of the drugs. "It might not have been you, but it may have been the monster you became when you took those pills." I would never hurt my wife and I would never hurt my son," he said in brief remarks at the hearing. He stared ahead and did not react as his sentence was read. A video filmed by Paul Murdaugh just minutes before he was shot featured the voice of his father in the background, dramatically contradicting his claim he was not there at the time. A juror who convicted him told ABC News that was the moment he began to suspect the defendant was guilty. A new mugshot released by the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) shows that Murdaugh's head has now been shaved. According to local media, male prisoners normally undergo some sort of haircut upon arriving in prison. The SCDC said in a statement that "like all inmates" he will spend the next 45 days in the intake process - during which time his medical and mental health will be assessed, as will his educational level. After the 45-day period, he will be sent to a maximum-security prison. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64828608

Every morning this year, Aaron Robinson has arisen before dawn and run 26 miles before work. He explains how to turn an intimidating exercise plan into a simple habit. By the time you read this, Aaron Robinson will – barring disaster – have run his 75th marathon in 75 days. Aided by his two pace-setters, Inca and River (his border collies), Robinson will have got out of bed around 3am, and completed 26 miles. He’ll probably do the same tomorrow, and the day after that. People always ask how many marathons he’ll do, he says. “I don’t know. I’d love to say, especially for fundraising, ‘I’m doing X amount.’ But we’re just doing it day by day. It depends on the dogs and how they feel.” But how does he feel? “Doing previous ultra-marathons, the second half you’re often running on ‘tired legs’. I feel like every run now I’ve done on tired legs,” he says. Robinson, 40, who lives in east London, ran 200 miles in three days last year and he has completed many other ultra runs. The daily marathon has been tough, but, he says, it’s also “one of my happiest times of the day, really. I’m an introvert – I love running on my own. It’s my happy place.” The 3am start is a necessity, so that he can make it to work on time. Robinson works for the charity Hope for Justice, which campaigns to end modern slavery and supports victims, and for which he is raising money and awareness. “Trying to fight modern slavery can feel overwhelming,” he says, “but each of us can do something, however small.” Starting in the cold and dark of winter was no deterrent. “I just wanted to do it,” he says. “I’m planning on doing this for a long time, so I’m going to go through all the seasons.” It probably helped to start in the harder months, he adds, so that now he is appreciating the earlier dawns. At the weekend, he had a lie-in “until 5am, and I ran most of the time in sunshine. That was the fastest run I’ve done. It just feels more natural.” Whether the rest of us need a push to start exercising, are taking on a new challenge, or want to operate with more grit, determination and resilience, what can we learn from Robinson? He sounds alarmed at the question. “I don’t consider myself an expert,” he says cautiously – and his extreme schedule wouldn’t be recommended by experts. “I can only say what works for me.” The good news: it includes crisps. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/02/13-ways-to-stay-strong-and-active-man-runs-marathon-a-day

Hakimi denies an allegation made by a 24-year-old woman that he raped her at his home in Paris on 25 February. The player's lawyer said Hakimi was the victim of "attempted racketeering". The Nanterre prosecution office said on Friday that Hakimi has been placed under police monitoring and was banned from contact with the alleged victim. According to his lawyer, Fanny Colin, Hakimi, 24, "firmly denies all the accusations against him" and welcomes the investigation because "he finally has the possibility to defend himself". "The club supports the player, who has firmly denied the accusations and trusts the justice system," PSG said in a statement on Thursday. "Paris St-Germain is an institution that promotes respect on and off the pitch." PSG manager Christophe Galtier declined to comment on the investigation in a news conference on Friday. The Ligue 1 leaders face Bayern Munich in the Champions League last-16 second leg on Wednesday, with Hakimi expected to play after recovering from a a muscle injury. Galtier said: "The aim with our medical staff is for him to be available for the match against Bayern." Born in Spain, Hakimi was a key player as Morocco made history by reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, the first African side to do so. His performances saw him honoured at the Best Fifa Football Awards ceremony held in Paris on Monday evening, where he was named in the FIFPro men's world team of the year. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64838597

Up until now, MacBook users seeking the ultimate browser for top battery life have often used Safari, Apple’s own offering, which has been optimized specifically to work in harmony with the company’s other hardware and software. However this could all be about to change, with the latest version of Google Chrome promising to match Safari’s level of energy efficiency for simple web browsing tasks. What’s more, opting to use the recently introduced Energy Saver mode will allow Chrome to even exceed Apple’s battery life predictions. Chrome laptop battery life Currently, Apple claims a typical battery life of 17 hours under “wireless web” usage on a 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro, its best performer in terms of battery life. Google’s testing on that same device (without Energy Save mode enabled), and using Chrome 110.0.5481.100, produced an equal prediction. https://www.techradar.com/news/google-chrome-wont-drain-your-macbook-battery-as-much-anymore

( A long-circulating rumor that Valve is preparing to release a new version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on its latest game engine was boosted this week after data miner Aquarius found a config profile(opens in new tab) called "Counter-strike 2" in Nvidia's latest drivers. The profile references "csgos2.exe," and there's really not much that could stand for besides "CS:GO Source 2." (Unless… CS:GO Splatoon 2 crossover?) I had a peek at the driver data using Nvidia Profile Inspector(opens in new tab) and can confirm that the csgos2.exe profile is there (I don't know why anyone would make that up, but it's the internet, so I checked). A more explicit reference to a CS:GO "source2" Nvidia config was also posted on Twitter by Gabe Follower(opens in new tab), whose name perhaps helps explain why the Valve founder hides out in New Zealand sometimes. None of this necessarily means that a Source 2 version of CS:GO is imminent, but it wouldn't be surprising. Dota 2 moved to Source 2 all the way back in 2015. CS:GO will probably end up on Source 2 eventually, so the bigger question may be how much it matters. When Dota 2 moved to Source 2, Valve added the Custom Games feature, which was a pretty big deal that ultimately led to the creation of the autobattler genre. But I've already played bizarro Mario Party in CS:GO, so custom games are well covered by the CS:GO map-making and modding community. Maybe Valve will add something else exciting whenever it brings CS:GO to its latest tech, but if it's really just an update to the machinery beneath de_dust, the average player may not notice much when the switch happens. https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-drivers-csgos2exe-reference-reinvigorates-csgo-update-speculation/ .

Russian President Vladimir Putin says a Ukrainian sabotage group entered a Russian border region on Thursday and opened fire on civilians in a "terrorist act". The governor of Bryansk region said "saboteurs from Ukraine" had fired at a civilian car in Lyubechane, a border village, killing two men and wounding a 10-year-old boy. Kyiv strongly denied the Russian claim. The alleged incident has not been independently verified. Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted that it was "a classic deliberate provocation". "RF [Russia] wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country," he said Russia has previously reported some Ukrainian missile and drone strikes on Russian border areas, including Bryansk region. But there have been no confirmed reports of Ukrainian ground forces infiltrating Russia Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said FSB forces and regular troops on Thursday clashed with "Ukrainian nationalists" who had crossed into Russia and taken hostages. The FSB said the "nationalists" were then hit with a massive Russian artillery strike and pushed back into Ukraine. They left a large cache of explosives in the village, the FSB alleged. When Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 President Putin branded the Kyiv government "nationalists" and "neo-Nazis", arguing that Russia had to act against them. President Zelensky was democratically elected, has Jewish origins and has no far-right politicians in his government. Speaking on Russian state TV on Thursday President Putin said "today they committed another terrorist act, another crime, penetrated the border area and opened fire on civilians". The investigative journalism group Bellingcat Monitoring describes the RVC as "a unit officially formed last year made up primarily of anti-Putin, anti-Kremlin Russian far-right figures active in Ukraine". A Bellingcat expert, Michael Colborne, has identified one of the men in the video as RVC leader Denis Kapustin, who also uses the surname Nikitin. "This RVC seems to do very little actual fighting, or at least serious fighting, and Kapustin may have physical combat sports training but he is not from any sort of military background," Mr Colborne told the BBC. In a text post with the video the RVC said it "entered Bryansk region to show our compatriots that there is hope, that free Russians carrying arms can fight the regime". Commenting on the RVC claim, a Ukrainian military intelligence official, Andriy Yusov, said "these are people who are fighting with arms against the Putin regime and those who support him... Perhaps Russians are beginning to wake up, realise something and take some concrete steps". This week Mr Putin accused Ukraine and Western spies of intensifying operations inside Russia. Russian officials said a drone crashed in the Kolomna district just 100km (62 miles) from Moscow - though it was not confirmed to be Ukrainian - while two Ukrainian drones were allegedly shot down in southern Russia. Previously Russia said drones had attacked an airbase in southern Russia used for launching bomber strikes on Ukraine. Kyiv has not claimed drone attacks inside Russia, accusing the Kremlin of propaganda. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64826028

3 A vast majority of UK residents polled want to see an end to large animals being cruelly confined in zoos, a new survey from nonprofit Born Free Foundation found. The survey, which polled 2,000 UK residents, reported that 76 percent wanted to see the next UK government phase out captivity for large animals, including giraffes, rhinos, elephants, lions, and tigers — a practice that Born Free described as “archaic, unethical and damaging.” “Wild animals are traded and kept in zoos and private homes in ever-increasing numbers,” said Mark Jones, Born Free’s head of policy. “Wildlife crime continues to have devastating impacts on individual animals, wildlife habitats, and wider society. Far too little is being done to effectively protect and restore our natural fauna and flora or safeguard the welfare of wild animals.” Born Free’s survey followed their report, “Confined Giants: The Plight of Giraffe in Zoos,” on the devastating consequences of confinement on giraffes. The report highlighted how zoo enclosures, which are tiny compared to the vast savannah and grasslands the animals inhabit in the wild, limit giraffes’ range of motion and can potentially lead to lameness and stress-induced behaviors. Physical trauma and malnutrition are commonly seen in captive giraffes too, which can decrease lifespan, according to Born Free’s report. In addition to seeking an end to commercial captivity for large zoo animals, Born Free also is campaigning to curtail hunting “trophy” imports, end the UK’s infamous badger culls, and phase out animal fur in fine

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(IMicrosoft Edge is going to make an effort to help you improve the browser with a new system of badges for add-ons Add-ons (also referred to as extensions) are little extras that can be bolted onto the browser to deliver all kinds of functionality, but clearly the trick to making Edge better with them is choosing good add-ons, and not bloat or poor-quality efforts (or even malicious ones in a worst-case scenario). As MS Power User(opens in new tab) reports, what the new system delivers is a badge – a visual icon, present on the product description page and elsewhere – to show that any given browser extension is of a high enough quality to deserve that label. So in short, you know you’re getting something you can trust, and that will work well. Microsoft says that it’ll soon start to experiment with testing extension badges in the Edge Addons Store (EAS). The company notes(opens in new tab): “Edge is starting with a small-scale experiment and will begin to engage with the developer community to talk through the criterion and help them get acquainted with the badging process on EAS.” https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-has-a-new-plan-to-make-edge-better-than-chrome

The new Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is an outstanding next-gen gaming laptop. It's a machine that comes in at a price point that makes the rest of the high-end RTX 40-series look even more ridiculous on their lofty $4,000+ perches. And its RTX 4080 GPU gives it the sort of gaming performance that has me questioning why anyone would want an RTX 4090 machine(opens in new tab). This is the first gaming laptop I've seen using the second-tier Ada Lovelace GPU from Nvidia, and it's a doozy. Like the RTX 4090 before it, the numbering system Nvidia is using for its mobile graphics silicon is a step removed from that inside the desktop versions of the same name. While Nvidia might be making a big deal of the fact xx90-class GPUs are going into laptops for the first time, they're not the same as the graphics chompers in the latest and greatest gaming PCs. The mobile RTX 4090 uses the same AD103 GPU as the desktop RTX 4080(opens in new tab), though the mobile RTX 4080 is actually built from a cut-down version of the AD104 used inside the desktop RTX 4070 Ti https://www.pcgamer.com/lenovo-legion-pro-7i-gaming-laptop-review/

India has been positioning itself as a leading voice of developing countries known as the Global South in recent years. Now, as president of the G20, Delhi could not have a bigger stage on which to deliver. The world's 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union account for 85% of global economic output and two-thirds of its po[CENSORED]tion. But as its foreign ministers meet in Delhi, any broader agreements that India hopes to deliver will largely depend on one key factor: the war in Ukraine. When G20 leaders gathered last autumn in Bali, under Indonesia's presidency, Russian missiles hit key Ukrainian infrastructure targets as world leaders sat down for dinner. The joint communique clearly showed differences, with India, China and Russia reportedly not agreeing to unequivocal criticism of the invasion. Not much has changed since then: the war has continued with no sign of peace talks, the world remains as divided, if not more so, and many big economies are still in turmoil. Given this backdrop, it wasn't surprising when G20 finance ministers failed to agree on a closing statement after their meeting in Bangalore (Bengaluru) last week. Both Moscow and Beijing declined to accept parts of a closing statement that deplored Russia's aggression "in the strongest terms". It was left to India to release a chair's summary which noted "different assessments of the situation" in Ukraine within the group. The foreign ministers' talks this Wednesday and Thursday are likely to face similar hurdles. "India is taking its G20 presidency very seriously. So it's going to pull out all the stops to try to make this a successful meeting. There will be a lot of symbolic flourishes. In terms of substance, the Ukraine issue will be looming over everything else," says Michael Kugelman, deputy director at the Wilson Center think-tank. India wants to focus on issues it sees as more urgent for the developing world. It has put climate change, the increasing burden of debt on developing nations, digital transformation, rising inflation and food and energy security on the agenda. Many economies are still struggling to recover from the pandemic and rising prices due to the war have made things worse. Experts say Delhi will need deft diplomacy to somehow make the group look beyond Ukraine - but agreements on issues seen as "low hanging fruit" are thought to be achievable. In that sense, Delhi will hope to use this week's talks to hit the ground running ahead of a leaders' summit in September. "India will try to work out a compromise statement that doesn't fully satisfy anybody, but that everybody can live with," says Jitendra Nath Misra, a former Indian ambassador and now a professor at OP Jindal Global University. "But it's not going to be easy, as countries on either side of the war have only hardened their stands in the past few months." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64781836

One of Greece's worst-ever rail disasters, which claimed at least 43 lives, was due to "tragic human error", the country's prime minister has said. PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke after visiting the site of Tuesday night's head-on collision between a passenger service and a freight train. The local stationmaster has been charged with manslaughter. The Greek transport minister has resigned. Rescue teams are continuing to search for survivors. The accident happened just before midnight on Tuesday. The passenger train carrying some 350 people collided with a freight train as it emerged from a tunnel after leaving the town of Larissa. It is still unclear why the two services were running on the same track. The stationmaster, who is in charge of signalling, denies wrongdoing and has blamed the accident on a possible technical failure After visiting the site, Mr Mitsotakis said everything pointed to "a tragic human error". "Justice will do its job," he said in a televised address. "People will be held accountable, while the state will be on the side of the people." Announcing his resignation, Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis stated: "When something so tragic happens, it is impossible to continue and pretend it didn't happen." Trade unions said collisions have multiple factors and the crash had highlighted chronic deficiencies, including lack of staff, broken signals and outdated facilities. The first four carriages of the passenger train were derailed and the first two caught fire and were "almost completely destroyed", Thessaly regional governor Kostas Agorastos said. The train was travelling from Athens to Thessaloniki, which has a sizeable student po[CENSORED]tion, and it is believed many on board were students returning there after a holiday for Greek Orthodox lent. Survivors have described the chaotic scenes after the crash, with one shaken passenger telling the BBC: "People were panicking and screaming." Giannis Antonoglou, who escaped from the fifth compartment of the passenger train, said the windows suddenly smashed and "we ended up being tilted 45 degrees as if about to tip". Stergios Minenis, a 28-year-old passenger who jumped to safety from the wreckage, told Reuters news agency: "The fire was immediate. As we were turning over we were being burned." Some passengers said they were forced to break carriage windows with their bodies or luggage to escape the burning wreckage. Larissa's mayor said some of those who died would only be identifiable through genetic testing. Relatives of missing passengers have provided DNA samples to help the identify bodies, a hospital in Larissa said IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGEShttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64817894

This isn't the most surprising revelation, but the numbers are still eye popping. According to long-time graphics market soothsayers JPR(opens in new tab), graphics card shipments dropped from 26 million in the last quarter of 2021 to 13 million for the same period last year. That's an epic 50% drop, year-on-year. Admittedly, the final quarter of last year didn't fully see the benefit of Nvidia and AMD's new GPU launches. Nvidia's new RTX 40-series only appeared in mid October, with the marginally more mainstream RTX 4070 Ti(opens in new tab) not rolling out until early this year. Likewise, AMD's RX 7900 series, led by the AMD RX 7900 XTX(opens in new tab), were only released in mid December, so will barely feature in the numbers at all. But those caveats aside, we are still looking at a precipitous drop in GPU numbers at the end of last year versus the same quarter in 2021 The total net result of which was an explosion in demand for Nvidia's RTX 30-series and AMD RX 6000 GPUs(opens in new tab) and prices increasing to multiples of the recommended retail figure for an extended period. https://www.pcgamer.com/graphics-card-shipments-cratered-by-50-at-the-end-of-2022/

Vulnerable manatees are starving to death and being harmed in boat collisions in Florida, with nearly 3,000 of the marine mammals dying in the past three years alone. It’s time for the United States to do more to protect these precious creatures — including giving them increased protections through the Endangered Species Act by uplisting their status to “endangered.” Manatees face numerous threats including algal blooms, toxic runoff from animal agriculture farms, and boat strikes — with at least 76 of the animals dying in 2022 alone after being hit, according to news reports. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which currently lists manatees as “vulnerable,” reports that nearly half of manatee deaths are caused by humans. Starvation remains the leading cause of death for the animals due to the algal blooms, which occur when high amounts of nutrients from man-made chemicals accumulate in the water and prevent their main food source, seagrass, from growing. In 2017 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decreased manatee protections. Now there are only about around 7,500 of the animals left in Florida’s waters, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It’s crucial that sensitive and ecologically important manatees are granted the protections they need and deserve. Sign our petition urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to uplist manatees to “Endangered” under the Endangered Species Act so these animals and their habitats can receive stronger protections. In the interim, we urge FWS to ensure that these vulnerable species and their ocean-based homes are protected. https://ladyfreethinker.org/sign-urge-u-s-government-to-protect-manatees-from-starvation-and-death/

Honda has revealed an extreme variant of the CR-V fitted with an 800bhp hybrid V6 borrowed from Indycar Series race cars. Nicknamed the HPD [Honda Performance Development] Beast, the Honda CR-V Hybrid Racer is a "rolling laboratory" that has SUV bodywork draped over a tubular chassis. The most notable change over the standard CR-V is the powertrain: an electrified version of Indycar's 2.2-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6 that utilises supercapacitors to store electricity. e https://wwwautocar.co.uk/car-news/-cars/honda-cr-v-hybrid

Nick Movie: The Pale Blue Eye Time: 2022 Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: Netflix Duration of the movie: 2h 8m Trailer:

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Exiled Belarusian opposition figures say a Russian military plane has been damaged in a drone attack near the capital, Minsk. Aliksandr Azarov, leader of Belarusian anti-government organisation BYPOL, claimed responsibility for the attack on Telegram. The Beriev A-50 early warning aircraft was struck by multiple blasts near the Machulishchy airbase. It comes amid increased cooperation between Minsk and Moscow. The strikes damaged front and central parts of the aircraft as well as its radar and antenna, BYPOL said on Telegram. These were drones. The participants of the operation are Belarusian", Mr Azarov said. Speaking to the BBC, Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Belarusian opposition leader, said the attack was "creative" and "sophisticated". "It was very brave because Belarusians are in a situation of the total terror", he told BBC News. He added that the opposition party was "definitely helped by locals, helped by military" to cause damage to the plane. However, it is not possible to confirm the opposition's account of what happened Both the Russian and Belarusian departments of defence are yet to publicly comment on the incident. Separately, a prominent pro-Kremlin channel, Tsargrad TV, confirmed a drone attack on the airbase, but blamed it on the Ukrainian military. It also reported damage to the A-50, but did not give specific details. A Russian air defence expert, Yuri Knutov, told the channel that for some reason the airbase had not been protected by Russian Pantsir anti-aircraft missiles. He described the A-50 as an airborne command centre used for directing Russian air strikes. BYPOL, the Belarusian group that has claimed responsibility for the strike on the aircraft, consists of former law enforcement officers now opposed to President Alexander Lukashenko's office. It has been listed as a terrorist organisation by Mr Lukashenko's government. While Belarus has not directly become involved in the war in Ukraine, Mr Lukashenko allowed Russian troops to launch into Ukraine through Belarus. The two countries have also been participating in joint military training exercises over recent months. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64782626

Canada will ban video app TikTok from all government-issued devices starting on Tuesday. The decision follows a review by Canada's chief information officer, and the app "presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security", a government spokesperson said in a statement. A TikTok spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the decision. It comes just days after the European Commission announced a similar ban Security concerns Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was enough concern about security around the app to require the change. This may the first step, this may be the only step we need to take," he said on Monday at a press conference near Toronto. TikTok has been criticised for its use of personal information and ties to the Chinese government. The short-form video app is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd. US federal employees were banned from using TikTok late last year and a number of American universities have also banned the app from being used on their networks. Broader public bans have been implemented in India and several other Asian countries. The company insists that Chinese government officials don't have access to user data and that a Chinese version of the app is separate from the one used in the rest of the world. But last year, the company admitted some staff in China can access the data of European users. The ban for European Commission employees is set to come into force on 15 March. Canadian privacy regulators are also investigating TikTok over concerns about user data, in particular whether the company obtains "valid and meaningful" consent from users when collecting personal information About a quarter of Canadian adults use the app, according to a recent survey by researchers at the Social Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University. In a statement, Mona Fortier, the president of Canada's Treasury Board, said the government "is committed to keeping government information secure". The app will be removed from government-issued phones this week and other devices and blocked from downloads in the future. "On a mobile device, TikTok's data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone," Ms Fortier said. "While the risks of using this application are clear, we have no evidence at this point that government information has been compromised." The Treasury Board, which oversees the operations of the federal government, includes the country's chief information officer. TikTok responds In a statement, a company spokesperson said the ban on government-issued devices happened "without citing any specific security concerns about TikTok or contacting us to discuss any concern prior to making this decision". "We are always available to meet with our government officials to discuss how we protect the privacy and security of Canadians, but singling out TikTok in this way does nothing to achieve that shared goal," the spokesperson said. "All it does is prevent officials from reaching the public on a platform loved by millions of Canadians." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64792894

About 10% of embattled social media giant Twitter’s remaining workforce, including staff charged with keeping the platform functional, discovered that they had been laid off over the weekend, according to a report published Sunday by the New York Times. About 200 data scientists, product managers and engineers working on issues like site reliability were among those fired, days after the company took some of its internal communications infrastructure offline, according to the report. These cuts are the latest of several that have afflicted Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover in late 2022. Fewer than 2,000 employees still work at Twitter, out of roughly 7,500 who were present before the company's go-private deal The Times report said that the company had shuttered its Slack instance early last week, which made it harder for employees to communicate with one another, and that some employees only discovered that they had been laid off when they were logged out of Twitter’s systems, including email accounts and laptops. Additionally, a Google chat platform administered by the company for its employees was closed over the weekend. Esther Crawford, the head of Twitter Blue — the company’s verification service that had begun efforts to charge users a monthly fee for the coveted “blue checkmark” on their profiles — was among those ousted in the latest round of layoffs, according to widespread reports. Crawford was the founder of a social screen-sharing app called Squad, which was bought out by Twitter in 2020 for an undisclosed fee. https://www.computerworld.com/article/3688938/twitter-stealthily-lays-off-10-of-remaining-workers-including-tech-staff.html

Name of the game: ACE COMBAT™ 7: SKIES UNKNOWN Price: 9.59$ Link Store: Click Here Offer ends up after X hours : Offer ends 6 March SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 (64-bit OS required) Processor: Intel Core i3-7100 Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750Ti(2GB) DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 50 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound card Additional Notes: Estimated performance: 1080p/60fps with graphics settings at "Low". Framerate might drop in graphics-intensive scenes. - 64-bit processor and operating system are required. RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 (64-bit OS required) Processor: Intel Core i5-7500 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3GB) DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 50 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX 11 sound card Additional Notes: Estimated performance: 1080p/60fps with graphics settings at "High". Framerate might drop in graphics-intensive scenes. - 64-bit processor and operating system are required. - Windows 10 (Version 1809 or later) and a 4GB VRAM GPU (graphics board or video card) are required for DirectX 12 API.