By Dominic Hogan For Mailonline

Published: 04:27 EDT, 14 August 2023 | Updated: 08:45 EDT, 14 August 2023

Advertisement

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has thrown her weight behind efforts to ban TikTok from federal employees’ phones by including the provision in an omnibus spending bill she hopes to pass by the end of next week.

It is the latest in a growing move to limit the reach of the Chinese-owned video sharing app, amid fears the country’s communist rulers could access data. 

Pelosi’s spokesperson told Reuters that she supports including the TikTok provision in legislation to fund the government that the House of Representatives is due to take up next week.

If passed, the  $1.7 trillion spending bill will funds the government until the end of Sept. 30, 2023.

F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray recently told lawmakers the app could be used to take control of phones.

But the app’s owners, ByteDance, say the fears are unfounded.

Even so, the Senate on Wednesday voted to ban the video app from government-owned devices, supporting a bill sponsored by Republican Senator Josh Hawley to protect federal employees.

Seven states have banned the app — or are in the process of banning the app — from employees phones.

And several federal agencies, including the White House and the Pentagon, have barred it from government-owned devices.  

Some lawmakers want to go even further. This week members of Congress introduced legislation that would ban TikTok from the U.S. entirely. 

The Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act) would ban all operations by any social media company in or under the influence of China and Russia.

It has the backing of Republicans as well as Democrats, in a sign of how the app has triggered alarm across party lines that Chinese spies can access American smartphones.  

Sen. Marco Rubi (R-Florida), who introduced the bill in Senate, said Chinese law meant the app’s owner, ByteDance, was required to hand data to the Chinese Communist Party. 

‘The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok,’ he said. 

‘This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day. We know it’s used to manipulate feeds and influence elections. We know it answers to the People’s Republic of China.’

The Beijing-based owners of the app are already locked in dispute with the federal government over how it uses and stores user data, amid concerns that it could be deployed in influence operations. 

Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, who co-sponsored the bill in the House, said: ‘TikTok is digital fentanyl that’s addicting Americans, collecting troves of their data, and censoring their news.’

While Republicans have often been loudest to warn of the digital threat from China, the bill is co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois.

‘At a time when the Chinese Communist Party and our other adversaries abroad are seeking any advantage they can find against the United States through espionage and mass surveillance, it is imperative that we do not allow hostile powers to potentially control social media networks that could be easily weaponized against us,’ he said. 

‘The bipartisan ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act is a strong step in protecting our nation from the nefarious digital surveillance and influence operations of totalitarian regimes.’ 

Their move follows months of heightened scrutiny of the app. 

FBI Director Wray told Congress last month that the Chinese government could use it to ‘control data collection of millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which can be used for influence operations.’

He has also warned that it could be used to hijack other software on the phone, potentially allowing it to collect and send more data. 

Such is the level of concern that six states have barred employees from downloading the app.

On Friday, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said the state was joining New Hampshire, Wyoming, Georgia, North Dakota, Idaho and Iowa in taking action.

‘Use of TikTok poses a significant risk to the security of our state and Montanans’ sensitive data,’ he tweeted. 

‘Effective immediately, I have prohibited the use of TikTok on state devices, while connected to the state network, and to conduct state business.’

Wild goat pushes female tourist, 64, off a cliff while hiking in Spain – then attacks terrified friend, knocking them unconscious

• The Iberian ibex charged at the Dutch tourist and pushed her off a cliff in Spain
• Woman suffered two broken wrists while her friends were also injured in attack 

By Rachael Bunyan

Published: 11:18 EDT, 5 June 2023 | Updated: 12:03 EDT, 5 June 2023

Harrison Ford was seen pushing a luggage cart as he checked out of a hotel with wife Calista Flockhart on Sunday after attending their son Liam’s graduation.

The acting icon, 80, whose film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will be released next month, was every inch the gentleman as he loaded up the family’s luggage.

He wore a crisp blue shirt, black suit jacket and pants, paired with black boots as he stepped out.

Calista, 58, looked chic in a black top and wide-legged trousers, teamed with sneakers and an oversize bag as she chatted with Harrison.

The pair’s outing came as new character poster for the final chapter in Ford’s Indiana Jones journey were released.

The brooding posters show stars including Ford, Phoebe Waller Bridge (Helena Shaw), Mads Mikkelsen (Jurgen Voller) and Antonio Banderas (Renaldo) posing up just weeks before the film debuts on June 30.

Also seen was Shaunette Renée Wilson as Mason, Toby Jones as Basil Shaw and Ethann Isidore as Teddy. 

Set in 1969 amid the backdrop of the Space Race, Dr.Jones, renowned archaeologist and adventurer, finds himself uneasy over the U.S. government’s recruitment of former Nazis to help beat the Soviet Union in the competition to make it to space.

For this go-around, Indy’s goddaughter, Helena Shaw (Waller-Bridge), accompanies him on his new journey, while Jürgen Voller (Mikkelsen), a NASA member and ex-Nazi involved with the moon-landing program, wishes to make the world into a better place as he sees fit.

This comes after Ford and Flockhart watched their son Liam receive diplomas from Amherst College in Massachusetts. 

The Ally McBeal star announced she had adopted her son Liam as a single parent in January 2001. 

‘I have always wanted to adopt a child and I am overjoyed that I have been blessed with a beautiful and healthy son,’ the new mom said in a statement at the time.

Speaking of her new bundle of joy, she admitted, ‘I’m completely enchanted and awe-struck.’ 

One year later, she and Harrison met at the 59th Golden Globe Awards in 2002.

Calista was nominated for a best actress award for her role in Ally McBeal. 

Harrison was there to receive the Cecil B DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The couple kept their relationship quiet until they decided to go public, stepping out together at the Venice Film Festival in September of that year. 

The pair lived together for nearly a decade before tying the knot in 2010 in New Mexico, where the action star was working on the film Cowboys and Aliens. 

Liam was about nine when his parents married. Harrison was 67 at the time. 

‘I’ve got five kids in total, so it’s not my first rodeo,’ the Star Wars star told The Independent.

Yeah, obviously, I’m getting older but I don’t relate to it very much. It doesn’t interest me as something to dwell on. I have a 9-year-old kid at home. I feel like the father of a 9-year-old.’

‘My older children have taught me a lot about parenting. My first child was born when I was 25. I reckon I’m a little better at it now.’

The actor has four older children from his prior marriages. 

Ben, 56, and Willard, 54, are his sons from his first marriage to illustrator Mary Marquardt, 78.  He shares Malcolm, 35, and daughter Georgia, 32, with his second wife, ET: the Extra-Terrestrial screenwriter Melissa Mathison, 65.

Neither Harrison nor Calista keeps a strong social media presence.

An Instagram page attributed to Liam reads, ‘My parents are Calista Flockhart & Harrison Ford My parents say I can’t take selfies becuz I need a private life #annoyingactorparents #single.’

Harrison and Calista recently returned from Cannes where Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny debuted. The actor received a five minute standing ovation for what could be his final portrayal of the beloved character who helped make him a superstar. 

When asked at a news conference what it was like for him receiving such an accolade, he got teary and answered, ‘Indescribable.’

‘I can’t even tell you,’ he added. ‘The welcome is unimaginable and it makes me feel good.’

When asked about the de-aging technique that allowed him to look like his younger self at the beginning of the film, the actor said he didn’t feel the need to revisit his younger years. 

‘I don’t look back and wish I was that guy again. I am real happy with age. I could be dead, after all, and I am still working.’

The action hero recently returned to television, starring in 1923, a Yellowstone prequel, which has been renewed for a second season, and Shrinking, a comedy on Apple TV+, which has also been renewed. 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens in theaters June 30.

Unapologetic Nikola Jokic slams claims the NBA could suspend him for PUSHING Suns owner Mat Ishbia when he held onto the ball in dramatic Game 4 defeat: ‘They are not going to protect me?’

• Jokic scored a stunning 53 points in the defeat to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday
• There was no official word from the league on further discipline Sunday night
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

By Tyrell Feaster For Dailymail.Com and Ap

Published: 22:37 EDT, 7 May 2023 | Updated: 01:04 EDT, 8 May 2023