Blackfire

Adding @-EXPANDABLE-to Journalist Staff. Welcome Budd Removing @Mr.Hackerfrom Team, Reason :Left to another Community, unloyal MEMBER, BLACKLISTED

Microsoft is further improving the Paint app in Windows 11, with new changes coming through in testing including a dark mode. As mentioned, one of the big tweaks for Paint here is the addition of a dark mode, and the app will automatically use it if you’ve turned on dark mode in Windows 11’s settings. (Note that you can turn off the option to automatically switch, mind). Another useful change comes with zoom controls. Microsoft has given users a higher level of fine-tuning with the zoom slider, and you can set a custom zoom value if needed. On top of this, a ‘fit to screen’ option is now present which will do just that – zoom to match the size of the app window. In the blog post describing all the changes, Microsoft further tells us that it has overhauled ‘Image Property’ dialog boxes to match Windows 11’s modern design, and fit with the new backdrop for the Paint client. Finally, we’re informed that there have been “many accessibility and usability improvements” to dialog panels throughout the app, with better access key support (keyboard presses for interface controls, rather than having to use a mouse) and keyboard shortcuts in general. Accessibility has been a major focus for Microsoft with Windows 11 for some time now, and again and again, we’re seeing either small tweaks or larger feature introductions coming through for the OS. Good stuff. The dark mode looks smart and is another piece of the puzzle for those wanting this option throughout Windows 11, wherever they’re working. Paint remains a po[CENSORED]r app, so it’s not surprising to see Microsoft continuing to improve the software. Folks want more though (don’t they always), and we’re still seeing calls for layers to be introduced to the app. If you remember, the addition of layers is something we’ve seen (in the early stages) from the modding community, and recently an innovative Paint hack brought in the ability to create simple animations. Maybe – just maybe – those are features we might see Microsoft officially working on in the future. Who knows, stranger things have happened, and the software giant certainly appears keen to keep on motoring ahead with Paint improvements. [https://www.techradar.com/news/Microsoft-gives-one-of-its-oldest-apps-dark-mode-in-Windows-11]

, June 2, 2023: Gigabyte has released an official statement and has been in touch with us to say that it has uploaded beta BIOS options to the official Gigabyte website which addresses the security issues highlighted by the Eclypsium report. It claims that Intel 600- and 700-series and AMD 400- and 500-series firmware updates have been released and that Intel 400- and 500-series and AMD 600-series beta BIOS releases will be available soon. A quick check of a couple of B550 boards on the Eclypsium list, however, highlights that they're still missing the new BIOS update, though I have seen the new firmware available for Intel boards. After the Asus debacle I am waiting for a response to confirm that the use of a beta BIOS won't affect your motherboard warranty. To fortify system security, GIGABYTE has implemented stricter security checks during the operating system boot process. These measures are designed to detect and prevent any possible malicious activities, providing users with enhanced protection: 1. Signature Verification: GIGABYTE has bolstered the validation process for files downloaded from remote servers. This enhanced verification ensures the integrity and legitimacy of the contents, thwarting any attempts by attackers to insert malicious code. 2. Privilege Access Limitations: GIGABYTE has enabled standard cryptographic verification of remote server certificates. This guarantees that files are exclusively downloaded from servers with valid and trusted certificates, ensuring an added layer of protection. Original story, June 1, 2023: It's not a great time to be a motherboard manufacturer. First, Asus risks burning up your Ryzen processor with overly aggressive voltage settings in its firmware (even the supposed 'fix') and now Gigabyte is accused of using the same sorts of backdoor techniques as "threat actors" looking to hack into systems. The vulnerability has been discovered by security company, Eclypsium (via Wired), and points to millions of Gigabyte motherboards out in the wild with the same invisible firmware updating mechanism. "We are working with Gigabyte to address this insecure implementation of their app center capability," reads its report. "In the interest of protecting organizations from malicious actors, we are also publicly disclosing this information and defensive strategies on a more accelerated timeline than a typical vulnerability disclosure." Eclypsium has published a list of the affected motherboards (pdf warning), but basically if you have a modern Gigabyte motherboard the chances are that your current mobo is going to be on this extensive list. There are reportedly 271 different models on the list, but I've not counted because the pdf file runs over three pages and three columns of pretty small typeface. Suffice to say, it's a lot of boards. It also doesn't matter if you're running an AMD or Intel system; the vulnerability affects both platforms. All it would theoretically take is someone on the same network as your machine intercepting Gigabyte's insecure updater and pointing it to a different URL than the standard firmware repositories. One of the worst parts of this is that, of the three possible download locations, one of them is using a plain HTTP address, not the far more secure HTTPS. Eclypsium has stated that it doesn't currently believe there has been an active exploit of the vulnerability, but that "an active widespread backdoor that is difficult to remove poses a supply chain risk for organizations with Gigabyte systems." lists the potential risk and impact as follows: Abuse of an OEM backdoor by threat actors: Previously, threat actors have taken advantage of legitimate but insecure/vulnerable "OEM backdoor" software built into the firmware of PCs. Most notably, Sednit group (APT28, FancyBear) exploited Computrace LoJack to masquerade as legitimate laptop anti-theft feature. Compromise of the OEM update infrastructure and supply chain: Gigabyte does have documentation on their website for this feature so it may be legitimate, but we cannot confirm what is happening within Gigabyte. In August 2021, Gigabyte experienced a breach of critical data by the RansomEXX group and then experienced another breach in October 2021 by the AvosLocker group. Persistence using UEFI Rootkits and Implants: UEFI rootkits and implants are some of the stealthiest and most powerful forms of malware in existence. They reside in firmware on motherboards or within EFI system partitions of storage media, and execute before the operating system, allowing them to completely subvert the OS and security controls running in higher layers. Additionally, since most of the UEFI code exists on the motherboard instead of storage drives, UEFI threats will easily persist even if drives are wiped and the OS is reinstalled. The rate of discovery of new UEFI rootkits has accelerated sharply in recent years as seen by the discovery of LoJax (2018), MosaicRegressor (2020), FinSpy (2021) ESPecter (2021), MoonBounce (2022), CosmicStrand (2022), and BlackLotus (2023). Most of these were used to enable persistence of other, OS-based malware. This Gigabyte firmware images and the persistently dropped Windows executable enable the same attack scenario. Often, the above implants made their native Windows executables look like legitimate update tools. In the case of MosaicRegressor, the Windows payload was named "IntelUpdater.exe" MITM attacks on firmware and software update features: Additionally, the insecure nature of the update process opens the door to MITM techniques via a compromised router, compromised device on the same network segment, DNS poisoning, or other network mani[CENSORED]tion. It is also important to note that the third connection option, https://software-nas/Swhttp/LiveUpdate4 , is not a fully qualified domain name, but rather, a machine name that would presumably be on the local network. This means an attacker on a local subnet could trick the implant into connecting to their system, without the need for DNS spoofing. Ongoing risk due to unwanted behavior within official firmware: Backdoors hidden within UEFI or other firmware can be hard to remove. Even if the backdoor executable is removed, the firmware will simply drop it again the next time the system boots up. This challenge was demonstrated before when trying to remove Computrace LoJack and Superfish tools from Lenovo laptops. The whole thing takes place during the Windows startup process where the Gigabyte updater, without any input from the user, can go off and download and then execute payloads from different locations on the internet. The fact that one of those locations is on an insecure HTTP address makes it easily compromised by a so-called Machine-in-the-middle attack. Though Eclypsium also notes that even on the HTTPS locations the actual remote certificate validation (the part that should theoretically make it more secure) isn't implemented properly, which makes them vulnerable to the same sort of attack, too. It's a bit of a security nightmare if you're running an organisation on Gigabyte-based systems, though arguably less of a concern for solo PC gamers. But it's still not a good feeling knowing that an insecure Wi-Fi network could lead to anything getting loaded onto your machine without you knowing anything about it. [https://www.pcgamer.com/if-youve-got-a-modern-gigabyte-motherboard-theres-a-bios-setting-you-need-to-disable-to-avoid-pcs-latest-security-calamity/]

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes feels he owes manager Erik ten Hag for standing by him after a 7-0 humiliation at Liverpool in March. Fernandes attracted huge criticism, from ex-United captain Gary Neville and others, for his conduct that day. Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said after the match that the Portugal international should not captain United again. Ten Hag rejected the demands and called the 28-year-old "an inspiration". He is set to lead United out for Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley with club captain Harry Maguire likely to be on the bench. "I'm aware that he's really happy with the way I train, the way I play, the way I show my emotions and the way I show my passion for the game," said Fernandes. He knows I care. That's why probably sometimes it makes you do some things that you should not do. "But I will never do anything to make the team look bad, make my team-mates look bad, or something that is not good for the team. He knows that, so that's why it protects me. "I think that's good because he shows you the respect, he shows you the protection, but always with the demands behind that because obviously when you protect someone you want them to give you some back, so he can have his reasons to protect you." Fernandes had a testing day at Anfield; with once incident late in the match where he appeared to make contact with an assistant referee, although he was not charged. Ten Hag has supported the midfielder, but does not give him a free pass. In a throwback to Sir Alex Ferguson's days, there have been occasions when Ten Hag has demanded to see the 28-year-old to express his displeasure - but the manager maintains trust by not disclosing the details of those discussions. Fernandes said: "He has called me to his office two or three times and said 'look, we have to change this, we have to change this, I think you could do it in a different way'. We had many conversations this season." Latest Manchester United news, analysis and fan views The midfielder feels United are heading in the right direction under Ten Hag - having wanted reassurance regarding the club's plans before signing a four-year contract in 2022. "I am ambitious. I want to win trophies at the club," said Fernandes, a £47m buy from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020. "I spoke with the club before I signed that contract and said I want to be successful with the club but I need to make sure the club is going to do the right things and do things in a successful way. "I think those steps are being done. We still need some things and I think we will have that - not only with transfers but also in the dressing room, with us stepping up more in moments that we needed [to do it] this season but didn't. "Next season we will have learned, so we need to do it better." Positive, rather than successful season Fernandes refuses to call this season "successful" for Manchester United. The word he prefers to use is "positive". A successful season, he argues, would involve "winning the league, winning the Champions League, winning big trophies because the past of this club, the history of this club, is big". He won his first trophy as a United player, the Carabao Cup, in February, with the team securing a place in next season's Champions League. United have never won both domestic cups in the same season, so some kind of history awaits if they are successful at Wembley. However, Fernandes knows most of his club's supporters have a different reason for wanting their team to beat City - stopping them matching United's 1999 Treble-winning campaign. As players, Fernandes does not believe the United squad can think about the game in the same way. "We are aware of it," he said. "We know it. We know the story of our club and that the fans don't want City to do it. "But for us it is about ending the season in the best way possible. "We know if we win the trophy, the consequence of that is Manchester City cannot do the Treble any more. But from the players' side, it is just about winning the game because we want to win a trophy for ourselves, the club, the fans. That [https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65786336]

Why we’re running it: To see if a vRS badge can make an electric car exciting and if the Skoda Enyaq vRS is a case-in-poin Life with a Skoda Enyaq vRS: Month 4 Coloured cables help avoid accidents - 24 May I’m not sure if Skoda colour-matched the charging cable provided with our EV’s ludicrously bright hue, but it both makes a change from a black cable and is quite useful. When using lamp-post chargers on the street, I always try to tuck the cable under my car for pedestrians’ safety, but a virtually glowing cable is an extra welcome warning of the potential trip hazard Don’t worry: you haven’t stumbled across a well-thumbed edition of Dogs Monthly in the dentist’s waiting room. This is still Autocar. Only this week we’re mostly modelling dogs, specifically my two. That’s Tatty on the left and Himba on the right (a West Highland terrier and Miniature Schnauzer respectively), and part of the reason I’m parked outside a freezing-cold NEC is to visit Crufts and get the two mutts assessed by one of the esteemed judges. There is a car link, I promise. In one of those slightly off-the-wall brand tie-ups, Skoda has embraced the world of dogs and launched a range of products that help keep your precious cargo safe in the back of the car. There’s even a playlist for anxious dogs, I kid you not. Barkin’ Bops – ye gods! Wander around Crufts during the build-up to the show and you can understand why Skoda sponsors it: dogs are big business in the UK. Over the course of the event, the Crufts judges will assess 20,000 dogs, whittling that number down to 220 best of breeds and then into the final that’s across seven categories. The logistics of that process alone blows the mind. How on earth do you choose one black Lab from another? n the back of our Skoda Enyaq iV Coupé, I’ve gone for the harness-and-hammock combo. The former is to keep things legal: not only is it incredibly dangerous to have a hound loose in the cabin with you, it will also get you in trouble with the police. They cost £62.32 each, so not cheap but still vital. I also used the hammock – basically a piece of non-slip canvas strung across the rear seats to keep the car clean and the dogs comfy. This is available from £117.24 but is Skoda-branded and padded, so cheaper, thinner options are out there. Both are relatively easy to fit, even if I do manage to thread Tatty’s head and leg through the same gap on the harness at one point. The hammock also took a bit of assessing, as you need to get the straps in the right spot (these help secure it, via the headrest stays), but it has a nifty Velcro ‘door’ so it’s easier to post the dogs into the car. It also comes with slits in the base so you can poke the harness through to attach it to the seatbelt. It’s a remarkably well-thought-out set-up that keeps all the muck well contained. You can also buy dog guards for the rear if you would prefer to keep your pets in the boot, and a mat for back there with a handy flap that protects the rear bumper when they jump in and out. It makes the journey to the NEC effortless and the dogs settled in well. Back to top How did they get on with the judging? Well, as you can see, it was only a mock-up (Crufts is way too busy to let my two reprobates in on a proper day), but judge Bill Lambert thought both performed well, even going so far as to say that Himba was “well balanced”. That gave me visions of her front camber being set-up just so, but, apparently, it actually means she has good proportions. If only she was as easy to clean as the Enyaq. [https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/skoda/enyaq-iv-vrs/long-term-reviews/SKODA-ENYAQ-COUPE-VRS-2023-LONG-TERM-TEST]

An Oklahoma man said he was the victim of an hourslong bee attack last Friday, leaving him with a broken hip and over 200 stingers in his body. Carl Amos, 81, was mowing his yard in Maysville when his family said he was swarmed and attacked by what appeared to be “killer bees," an aggressive subspecies also known as Africanized bees. “They were going in my hair and going in my ears and in my nose, and I thought I better keep my mouth shut because those bees will be in my mouth,” Amos said in an interview with NBC News affiliate in Oklahoma City KFOR. “I hit some of them with my hands,” he told the outlet. “You just can’t kill ’em fast enough.” Amos tried to run from the bees but fell and injured his leg in the process. “I knew I had broken my leg because I heard it pop, so I thought this is not good,” he told KFOR. He said the bees continued to sting him as he lay on the ground for nearly three hours. A man who worked at a business nearby discovered Amos and called an ambulance. “I feel like I owe him my life,” he told KFOR. Amos was subsequently transported to a local hospital where staff began to remove the bees' stingers, according to a statement posted on GoFundMe from his daughter Heather Garvey. “The hospital has removed over 200 stingers and are still removing them three days later,” Garvey said. “After all this, he is in good spirits but it will be a long road to recovery,” Garvey wrote. [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-man-suffers-hourslong-bee-attack-leaving-broken-hip-hundreds-rcna87458]

Two women have been killed in shelling by Ukrainian forces in the Russian border region of Belgorod, its governor has said. Vyacheslav Gladkov said the victims were hit by shrapnel as they were travelling in a car near the village of Maslova Pristan. Officials in the neighbouring Bryansk and Kursk regions said buildings had been damaged in shelling and an overnight drone attack. Ukraine has so far not commented. However Kyiv has denied involvement in previous attacks across the border, which it says are carried out by Russian anti-government groups. In Belgorod, Mr Gladkov said two men travelling in another car had been seriously wounded in the shelling. He added that nine people had been injured in the region in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, one of the most prominent anti-Kremlin paramilitary groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion (FRL), said it had been engaging in military operations in the nearby village of Novaya Tavolzhanka. In a post on social media on Friday morning, it said two civilians had been killed after the Russian artillery mistook their vehicle for a car containing FRL members. The FRL said "active fighting" continued on the outskirts of Novaya Tavolzhanka, admitting that there were injured "legionnaires". Neither claim has been independently verified. Long-range drones also hit two towns in the Smolensk region, the local governor there said, while the Kaluga region's head said an explosion had been reported in a forest. Recent weeks have seen an increase in cross-border attacks by the FRL and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), another paramilitary group. Last month, the two groups carried one of the most significant incursions - targeting the border towns of Shebekino and Grayvoron - since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Who are the Russian anti-Putin paramilitaries? The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) came to prominence in March 2023, taking part in a cross-border raid in Russia's western Bryansk region. The group's leader is known as Denis Kapustin or Denis Nikitin, a Russian nationalist, who a Ukrainian investigative website alleged had links to neo-Nazi groups. Mr Nikitin has described himself as a patriot with "traditionalist" views and the RDK accuses Russia's mainstream opposition of sitting on the fence in the Ukraine war. The Liberty of Russia Legion (FRL) is a very different organisation which fights alongside Ukrainian troops. The group uses a white-blue-white flag, seen by part of the Russian opposition as the flag of "free Russia". Arguably the FRL's best-known soldier, Caesar, has insisted "there are no people in the legion who were forced to join it" and all members were contract soldiers with Ukraine's international legion. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65786624]

More than 120 people are now known to have been killed and 850 injured in a multiple train collision in India's eastern Odisha state, officials say. More than 200 ambulances were sent to the scene in Balasore district, says Odisha's chief secretary Pradeep Jena. One passenger train is thought to have derailed before being struck by another on the adjacent track late on Friday. Indian Railways said the two services involved were the Coromandel Express and the Howrah Superfast Express. Speaking to reporters at the crash site, Odisha Fire Services official Sudhanshu Sarangi said: "We have now recovered more than 120 dead bodies." He warned that the figures "might go up as we complete the process" of checking the overturned carriages. Mr Jena earlier said that about 850 were injured, and more than 100 additional doctors have been mobilised. Rescue efforts were "in full swing", he added. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was distressed by the incident, and his thoughts were with the bereaved families. "Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected," he tweeted. Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah labelled the incident "deeply agonising". One male survivor said that "10 to 15 people fell on me when the accident happened and everything went haywire. I was at the bottom of the pile. "I got hurt in my hand and also the back of my neck. When I came out of the train bogie, I saw someone had lost their hand, someone had lost their leg, while someone's face was distorted," the survivor told India's ANI news agency. It is believed that several carriages from the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed at around 19:00 local time (13:30 GMT), with some of them ending up on the opposite track. Another train - the Howrah Superfast Express travelling from Yesvantpur to Howrah - is then thought to have hit the overturned carriages. Indian officials said that a goods train - which was stationary at the site - was also involved in the incident. They provided no further details. Some surviving passengers were seen rushing in to help rescue those trapped in the wreckage. Local bus companies were also helping to transport wounded passengers. There are fears that the death toll will rise further. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65793257]

Name of the game: Soulstone Survivors Price: 7.49$$ Link Store:Here Offer ends up after X hours:Offer ends 5 June Requirements: - MINIMUM: OS: Windows 7 or newer Processor: 2.5Ghz or better Memory: 4 GB RAM Storage: 2 GB available space

Bing AI should soon be usable in other browsers besides Edge, so the army of Chrome users out there can get a piece of Microsoft’s chatbot if they so wish. That includes the “first experiments in enabling third-party browsers”, as you can see from the tweet. Can’t you already get the Bing chatbot in Chrome (or other browsers for that matter)? No, not as such, although admittedly there are workarounds in the form of unofficial extensions (clunky fudges, really) for Chrome and Firefox to enable Bing AI within their walls. Official support would obviously be much better to have, though, and it’d be a good way for Microsoft to get more folks using the chatbot, too. As well as third-party browser support, Parakhin talks about major improvements for the ‘disengagement rate’, meaning cures for when the chatbot falls over and fails to respond, ending the current session abruptly. We’re also promised that Bing Image Creator will get better, so there are some useful tweaks inbound for Microsoft’s AI. All this will apparently be part of a bigger update than normal for Bing AI in June, and this will also include a “large-scale plugin rollout”. In a previous tweet, Parakhin notes: “We are turning everything into a plugin (including different facets of Search!) – and it results in a very significant metrics improvement.” As we’ve been told before, plug-ins will be available across all manner of platforms, such as Spotify and Trip Advisor to pick out a couple of quick examples. Analysis: One Bing to rule them all The news that the Bing chatbot is coming to other browsers before too long, and won’t just be exclusive to Microsoft Edge, is obviously great for anyone who doesn’t want to use Edge. And that’s a fair few folks, of course (particularly those who might be tired of Microsoft trying to persuade them that its browser is great, and that it should be the default choice, via a bunch of ads and various prompting within Windows). This move will help Microsoft, too, in terms of creating a much wider potential audience for its Bing AI. It represents a change of tack, because instead of leveraging the chatbot to attempt to get folks using Edge, now Microsoft will be working things the other way around – looking at bringing more users on board the AI via Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers. And that surely is a key consideration, particularly when we see how crazy everything is around AI right now. The artificial intelligence bandwagon is positively groaning under the weight of everyone clambering aboard. That third-party plug-in rollout will also drive Bing AI usage, too, and improvements in lessening the frequency of the chatbot’s abrupt halting of sessions in some cases will doubtless be useful in persuading people of the AI’s merits. Microsoft has already removed an important hurdle that may have stopped a number of folks from using its chatbot – namely the requirement to sign in with a Microsoft Account (though the AI is more limited if you don’t). All of which underlines the pressure Microsoft evidently feels to push the adoption of Bing AI over pretty much every other service or product right now. [https://www.techradar.com/news/Microsoft-is-preparing-to-unleash-Bing-AI-on-Chrome-and-Firefox-browsers]

Not wanting to be outdone by Intel showing off Stable Diffusion running on its new Meteor Lake CPU, AMD has joined the AI battle with its own Computex demo. Our sister site, Tom's Hardware, got a taste of the new AI engine in AMD's Pheonix APU doing its thing. Phoenix is the APU that forms of the basis of not only AMD's Ryzen 7040 series laptop processors, but also the Z1 chip in the Asus RoG Ally. So, the silicon isn't new. But this is the first time we've seen Phoenix's new AI core, known as XDNA AI, actually do something. Slightly oddly, AMD seemingly has no firm plans to put the XDNA engine from Phoenix into its desktop CPUs. For now, it's a laptop and handheld exclusive. Anywho, the demo platform was an Asus Strix Scar 17 with a Ryzen 9 7940HS chip. Unlike Intel's AI engine in Meteor Lake, the XDNA engine doesn't show up as a discrete component in Task Manager in Windows. Whatever, the demo involved accelerating a facial recognition task but didn't generate any comparative numbers. So, there's no measure for how much better Phoenix was at the task compared with, say, running it on and CPU, GPU or some combination of the two. Still, for what it's worth AMD reckons its XDNA engine is faster than the equivalent Neural engine in Apple's M2 chip, though hasn't made any claims compared to Intel's AI tile in Meteor Lake, otherwise known as a VPU or "Versatile Processing Unit". AMD has announced a new set of tools to help developers code for the XDNA engine. But we don't have many if any examples of software or apps that can actually use XDNA for now. The general idea is for the XDNA AI engine to accelerate light AI inferencing workloads including audio, video and image processing and do so faster more efficiently than a CPU or GPU. The net result should be both lower latency for such tasks, for instance real-time audio processing or background blurring, and better battery life while doing it. How useful any of these AI cores will be remains to be seen. But at the very least, there's a whole new word salad of XDNA engines, VPUs and inferencing workloads to get used to. Fun, fun, and thrice we unreservedly exclaim, fun. [https://www.pcgamer.com/amd-joins-in-the-ai-war-with-on-chip-inferencing-demo/]

Lionel Messi is expected to decide in the coming hours where he will be playing his football next season - the only thing that seems certain is that it will not be at Barcelona. Messi would have liked nothing more than to return to the place that was his home since he left Argentina as a 12-year-old in pursuit of his footballing dream. But his camp has told Barcelona the decision on his future is imminent and they cannot wait any longer for a proposal from them that has not arrived, despite promises the Catalan club would have something in place by now. The 35-year-old World Cup winner wants to stay in Europe but, after it was decided he would leave Paris St-Germain this summer, the forthcoming offers from the continent have not been attractive enough. In Saudi Arabia there are government officials already working on his arrival. They have been told Messi has accepted a very lucrative offer from Al-Hilal and are preparing for the move. This could simply be his camp preparing for his decision - or it is the most attractive proposition for the player. American side Inter Miami are another option, although a reported loan deal between them and Barcelona - where he would end up temporarily at the Catalan club - is not on the cards. The timing and announcement of his decision will be decided by his new club. Once again the Barcelona media machine has been mobilised to persuade anyone and everyone that their failure to secure a deal is the fault of the player and La Liga. A melange of misinformation, half-truths and outright lies emanating from a friendly press ignore the fact Barcelona have at no point put any proposal to the player and that they cannot offer any guarantee they will be able to do so before the September 1 deadline. The Financial Fair Play limitations that will be in place for next season also make any ambitious plan to bring him back an impossibility. But, rather than admit this, Barcelona prefer to give the impression they are making tireless efforts to bring him home - only for them to be pushed back either by Messi or the allegedly 'draconian' limitations put on them by the league's governing body. It is simply not true. Manager Xavi said yesterday that 99% of what was required for the player to return to the club was down to Messi himself. Perhaps that is what Xavi has been told, but it is all words and putting the emphasis on his decision is based on an intentionally wrong reading of the affair. These are the moments when teams start to put their plans in place. And with plans for his return seemingly now dead in the water, it is damage limitation time for Barcelona as they set about trying to show they did everything possible to bring him home. Messi's team made it clear he was prepared to play for whatever wage that would have helped Barcelona stay the right side of FFP regulations and he would even be prepared to play for free if asked - although that is neither acceptable to La Liga or even legal under Spanish law. The French newspaper L'Equipe said there was the possibility of Messi being signed by Inter Miami and then going on loan to Barcelona. This is an idea that has come from the American club, but never had any chance of going past the talking stage. How can Inter convince Messi to be signed by them and go on loan to Barcelona for few months? The player, for many the best ever, would feel like a commodity. In any case, despite being discussed by the two clubs, at no point has any proposal along those lines been made to the player himself. The accusation La Liga is to blame is risible. They are followed by nonsensical accusations La Liga also has in place anti-Barcelona regulations. It is the exact opposite. La Liga rules are in place to protect clubs, Barcelona included, from owners and directors financially ruining them. The temptation when directors get money is to invest it in players when the reality is they should be as much or more concentrated on paying debts and improving infrastructure. Due to the usage of 'financial levers' that allowed Barcelona to invest in the club last season, but won't be able to be used again, they presented a liquidity plan recently to La Liga. This was in addition to the budget plans that all clubs have to provide, to prove to the league they are living within their means. The reason they have to provide these plans is to reassure the league that any extra incoming money will not be spent in a way that could jeopardise the future of the club. The temptation of spending on players, rather than on much-needed repairs or debt repayments, is akin to buying prohibitively expensive designer furniture to place in a living room, while there is a massive hole in the roof. Clubs present budget plans which show their income minus all non-sporting financial commitments and any outstanding debts that need to be serviced. What is left is the money available to pay players. It is up to Barcelona if they want to use all that money to pay for Messi, but they have never indicated they want to do that, instead suggesting they need to register Ronald Araujo or Gavi with their new contracts first. The reality is the club still have massive debts to cover and their spending capacity will be very limited. That information will arrive officially from La Liga to Barcelona in the next few days, but the club is very aware of those limits, which will not be announced to the public until after the markets have closed to not affect transfers. Meanwhile, you hear false stories in the Catalan media about how La Liga and Barcelona are holding meetings to talk about Messi, and there is only a shortfall of around 40m euros (£34.6m) between what the club have presented and what La Liga wants to resolve their FFP situation. This, again, is untrue. The most worrying aspect is that, with the distraction of Messi, people are not realising since the arrival of president Joan Laporta, the debt is neither being reduced at the rate it needs to be, nor being reduced in sufficient quantities to allow them to have a budget for the players that will allow them to be competitive in Europe. [https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65770318]

Volkswagen has revealed a new special edition of the Golf R, which will be sold exclusively in limited numbers with a bespoke performance package and a raucous Akrapovič exhaust. Named the Volkswagen Golf R 333 Limited Edition, the hot hatch uses the same turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder EA888 engine as the standard Golf R. Power is uprated to 328bhp (333PS) and 309lb ft - an increase over the 319bhp of the standard car - and its improved performance means it can now reach a top speed of 167mph and complete the 0-62mph sprint in 4.6sec. Standard equipment includes an R performance exhaust system supplied by Akrapovič, featuring titanium rear silencers. A set of 19in Estoril wheels are matched with semi-slick tyres. The Golf R 333 is finished with Lime Yellow metallic paint, a black roof and 333 decals emblazoned around both the interior and exterior. Inside, it receives Nappa leather sports seats and a Harmon Kardon premium audio system. Alongside the Golf R 20 Years, it’s the most powerful version of the Golf yet. It’s also the most expensive, with a price tag of €76,410 (£65,802). Each example of the Golf R 333 will be numbered and feature a small plaque with its designation. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that we will see the Golf R 333 in the UK. It’s exclusively available for customers in Germany, with production set to begin in September this year. Deliveries are said to start in October. The Golf R 333 shares some stark similarities to a model presented in 2017 – a performance package for the Mk7.5 Golf R that included an Akrapovič exhaust plus suspension alterations. The package also upped the hot hatch’s top speed from an electronically limited 155mph to 166mph and added drilled disc brakes and shock-absorber adjustment, plus bright yellow paint. Back then, Volkswagen described the car as “even rawer, even less compromising and even more strong-willed”. [https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/volkswagen-reveals-new-£65,000-Golf-R-333-Limited-edition]

An Australian man suffered head injuries in a harrowing encounter with a crocodile in Queensland over the weekend. Marcus McGowan was snorkeling with his wife and friends off Cape York on Saturday when he was attacked from behind, he said in a statement released Tuesday by the Cairns and Hinterland health service. The crocodile, which McGowan believes was a juvenile, had its jaws around his head. "I was able to lever its jaws open just far enough to get my head out," McGowan said. "The crocodile then attempted to attack me a second time, but I managed to push it away with my right hand, which was then bitten by the croc." McGowan was taken to Haggerstone Island, where a friend, a fireman, administered first aid until an emergency helicopter arrived to take him to a nearby hospital. He said he was treated for lacerations to his scalp and puncture wounds to his head and hand. Ultimately, McGowan said, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. "I live on the Gold Coast and am a keen surfer and diver, and understand that when you enter the marine environment, you are entering territory that belongs to potentially dangerous animals, such as sharks and crocodiles," he said in his statement. McGowan has asked for privacy as he recovers. Saltwater crocodiles, native to Australia, can grow up to 7 meters, more than 22 feet, according to the Australian Zoo. They can also hold their breath underwater for up to eight hours. "They use the murkiness of the water to remain unseen before ambushing their prey, grabbing them with their powerful jaws and death-rolling them back into the water," the zoo said on its website. Though the po[CENSORED]tion of saltwater crocodiles has rebounded after years of poaching, they are still considered vulnerable in Queensland, the zoo said. The last recorded attack by a crocodile was a nonfatal attack also around Cape York in February, according to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science. The department has a record of attacks from December 1985 through March, with the last recorded fatal attack in the state occurring in February 2021. "The Queensland Government is committed to a crocodile management program that delivers appropriate protection of public safety while enabling the ongoing survival of estuarine crocodiles in the wild," the department said on its website. [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-news/australian-man-frees-head-jaws-crocodile-attacked-snorkeling-rcna86865]

Boris Johnson says he has given the government all the WhatsApp messages and notebooks demanded by the Covid inquiry. The former PM is urging the Cabinet Office to hand the material to the inquiry in full, without redactions. The inquiry, which begins public hearings in two weeks, is investigating how ministers handled the pandemic. The Cabinet Office has so far refused to hand over material it does not consider relevant. The government has argued that politicians must have the right to discuss policies in private and a leading lawyer is in the process of deciding what is relevant to the inquiry. However, the inquiry's chairwoman, crossbench peer Baroness Hallett, said it was her role, not that of the government, to decide what was relevant. The inquiry has given the Cabinet Office until 16:00 BST on Thursday to change its mind and disclose all of the information. It could lead to a legal battle between the government and the inquiry, with the courts deciding what material is made available. Some senior Conservative MPs have urged the Cabinet Office to back down to avoid a lengthy legal showdown with the inquiry. William Wragg, the chairman of a parliamentary committee on constitutional affairs, told the BBC: "If the inquiry requests documents and info - then whoever it has asked should comply." Mr Johnson's spokesman has said the former PM would hand over the material directly to the Covid inquiry if asked. Cabinet Office sources have stressed that individuals are at liberty to share any information with the inquiry team, so Mr Johnson could choose to hand things over directly. The exception, they say, are documents such as government diaries which they argue any government would need to look at for national security reasons. Mr Johnson's spokesperson has claimed that the Cabinet Office has had access to all these unredacted documents for "months", but has said the former PM handed over more material on Wednesday. "While Mr Johnson understands the government's position, and does not seek to contradict it, he is perfectly happy for the inquiry to have access to this material in whatever form it requires," the spokesman said. The Cabinet Office said it had received the material from Mr Johnson and "officials are looking at it". The material includes 24 notebooks with contemporaneous notes, as well as his diaries and WhatsApp messages between Mr Johnson and cabinet ministers, advisers and senior civil servants. The inquiry said on Tuesday it had been told the Cabinet Office did not have access to all the information it had been asked for. Cabinet Office sources say the reason for this, contrary to what Mr Johnson has claimed, is because the former PM was previously working with lawyers employed by the government who were working through his notebooks, diaries and WhatsApp messages. But they say when Mr Johnson cut ties with those lawyers, the Cabinet Office lost access to those documents. The BBC has been told the Cabinet Office legal team visited Mr Johnson's office to inspect the notebooks. The Liberal Democrats urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to submit the material requested by the inquiry and to stop using Mr Johnson "as an excuse to avoid handing over vital evidence". There has been friction between Mr Sunak's government and Mr Johnson over the Cabinet Office's decision to refer him to police over further potential Covid rule breaches during the pandemic. The Cabinet Office said it made the referral following a review of his official diary by government lawyers as part of the Covid inquiry. The former PM has dismissed claims of any breaches as a "politically motivated stitch-up". [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65770586]

The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has increased prison sentences on two top former Serbian security officials. Jovica Stanišic and Franko Simatovic were convicted of training death squads accused of ethnic cleansing during the break-up of Yugoslavia. They will serve 15 years instead of the 12 they were originally given in 2021. The court's final verdict on the former Yugoslavia is also the first to prove a direct link between the Serbian state and a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Mr Stanisic, a former head of Serbia's State Security Service, and his deputy, Franko Simatovic, a senior intelligence operative, were key allies of Serbia's late ex-President Slobodan Milosevic. The court found the spymasters guilty of establishing training camps and deploying infamous death squads, the paramilitary units called the Red Berets. They were also held responsible for involvement in crimes across Bosnia and in one town in Croatia as members of a joint criminal plan to eliminate non-Serbs from swathes of land during the Balkan wars. Following the judgment, Kada Hotic, a former seamstress in Srebrenica whose husband's body was found in a mass grave, spoke to the BBC sitting near a fountain outside the tribunal and reflected on her decades long quest to find the truth. "I'm looking at this beautiful blue sky and this building of the ICTY which managed to bring us partial justice. I lost my sons, my two children, my brothers, I cannot live in my Srebrenica, I just live to fight for justice. I want people to live in a country and not kill each other, we are all just humans," she Ms Hotic - who also lost her son and two brothers in the genocide - was born in 1945 and never met her father, who died fighting the Nazis in the World War Two. She told the BBC she that she regretted that her mother never fought for justice for her father, and that she hopes this ruling will inspire others. But as Dr Iva Vukusic, assistant professor in international history at Utrecht University explains, the length of the legal process which spanned two decades, underscores the complexity of proving war crimes in international courts, and highlights some of the challenges for those investigating Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. "It sends a message, it's worth working on this, it's worth documenting, it's worth investigating, there is hope in that regard, and not all is lost," she told the BBC. The evidence gathered during these trials provides a historical narrative of what happened during the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Many hope it will help to heal the scars of the past and bring divided communities together to build a peaceful, unified future. "It's the missing piece of the puzzle," Nenad Golcevski, from the Humanitarian Law Centre said. "Now there can't be more denying of the role of Serbia, as a final judgment it completes the legacy, now it's up to us, the people in the Balkans, to take that legacy forward, to use it, to find lessons from it, so that something like this is never repeated again." [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65769640]

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Outside the RTX 4090, this generation of graphics cards haven't been universally well regarded, with the RTX 4060 Ti probably the worst reviewed GPU for Nvidia in a long time. But who cares when you're expecting to make $11 billion in the next few months. 'You don't like our new graphics cards? Boo hoo. We've got bigger AI to fry.' Nvidia has just revealed its Q1 2024 earnings, and no, that's not a typo, nor has time inexorably sped up. The green team just doesn't measure time in the same way as the rest of us—to Nvidia we're already rolling into the second quarter of 2024 in its fiscal terminology. Whatever, the news is that in Q1, while it's made significantly more money than the last financial quarter of FY2023, it's still some 13% down year on year. And in gaming terms it was down 38%. That does not make for pretty reading. But it's the predictions that Nvidia's CFO, Colette Kress, has made for the following three months that are pretty mind-boggling. Mostly because of the numbers involved. Kress is predicting that Nvidia is going to post revenue figures of around $11 billion in the three months up to the end of July 2023. Eleven billion dollars. For reference that's an increase of 64% over the same period from last year. It's certainly not the RTX 4060 or RTX 4060 Ti (whether 8GB or 16GB) that's going to make all that cash for the green team, as gaming is probably still going to be in the bad books when it comes to the financials. No, it's the data centre side of the business which is now making Nvidia all its money, because that's where all the generative AI and large language model (LLM) cash is being spent. Nvidia is one of the largest suppliers of AI accelerators, and is riding the current AI wave all the way to the bank. What does that mean for PC gaming? Likely not much. Of course, generative AI is probably going to end up a big deal in game development, but all that extra money flowing into Nvidia's coffers isn't going to have an impact on the GPUs we get to slot into our PCs. I'd love to say that Nvidia would suddenly be less penny-pinching when it comes to manufacturing GPUs for a certain price point—one of my issues with the RTX 4060 Ti—and I'd love to say that Nvidia would suddenly stop trying to pitch every GPU release at people with unfeasibly large volumes of disposable income. But sadly I doubt any of that's going to happen. There's a chance Jen-Hsung pays less attention to the GeForce side of the business going forward—I mean, he didn't mention gaming once in the world earnings call and Q&A with analysts—but I wouldn't expect that to necessarily be a positive for PC gamers. Gaming isn't going to become an afterthought for Nvidia overnight, it's still a relatively strong side of its business. But in the face of an AI revolution, it's absolutely not the vital piece of the financial puzzle it once was. [https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-doesnt-care-if-you-dont-like-its-new-graphics-cards-ai-is-going-to-make-it-dollar11b-in-just-3-months/]

Everton's fans basked briefly in their annual celebration of Premier League survival before the wider crisis engulfing one of English football's great old institutions burst to the surface at a highly charged Goodison Park. The facts of an occasion riddled with nervous tension were that Everton escaped their third last-day dice with relegation in the Premier League era with victory over Bournemouth - but the sub-plots were many and for a while this looked like the day 69 successive seasons in English football's top tier would end. It felt as if Everton would drop into the Championship as they demonstrated their lack of quality by struggling to break down Bournemouth at the same time as Leicester City led against West Ham United. At that point Everton were in the bottom three and a sense of panic was growing inside the stadium. It was in the 57th minute that Abdoulaye Doucoure wrote his name alongside Barry Horne in 1994 and Gareth Farrelly four years later as the Everton midfielder who saved the day with a spectacular long-range strike The goal was greeted with an impromptu firework display behind the Gwladys Street stand, the heartbeat of Goodison Park, and yet another explosion of the noise that assaulted the ear-drums and provided the soundtrack for most of this tumultuous afternoon. With the stands ankle deep in chewed fingernails, not helped by an agonising 10 minutes of added time, referee Stuart Attwell's final whistle brought an outpouring of joy similar to the one that greeted Everton's win over Crystal Palace that brought safety in last season's penultimate game. 'Change needed or Everton will be back here again' After the joy - perfectly understandable - came the anger, as Everton's fans voiced their discontent with the club's hierarchy with chants of "Sack The Board" sweeping around Goodison. As manager Sean Dyche said: "It was a horrible day for all concerned. There was no joy in it for me other than getting the job done." In reality, this was a celebration born out of failure, the failure of Everton owner Farhad Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright and chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale and the calamitous strategies that have brought Everton to the financial and footballing precipice. Everton got away with it this time but if there is not significant change at the top of the club everyone will be back here again in this parlous position next season. The board have not attended a game since January, citing safety concerns, Everton have been referred to an independent commission by the Premier League over alleged breaches of financial fair play and for a while here they were looking at the sporting catastrophe of relegation. Movement needed in the boardroom? It is fair to say positive news has been in short supply until this win. hairman Kenwright's most recent intervention was an ill-advised and poorly timed "open letter" which focused more on criticism of the board by supporters rather addressing any of the poor decision-making and squandered millions that have characterised the Moshiri era. The relationship between supporters and board is fractured beyond repair and it is easy to see why, after all the talk of "never again" when Everton got out of trouble at the next-to-last fence in 2021-22 before a much-trumpeted 'strategic review' did nothing other than lead to an even more perilous position this season. There will be more talk of "never again" but it cannot come from the same people who have delivered that message in the past. There have been too many mistakes. Moshiri - who has reached an exclusivity agreement with MSP Sports Capital for investment, which presumably will be directed at the new Bramley Moore Dock stadium - is at the forefront. The investment must come with change in a boardroom that has not simply presided over stagnation but a decline that almost ended in the Championship. The empty seats in Goodison's directors' box cannot remain unoccupied but it is almost impossible to see a situation where the board can return, which is unsustainable. Job done for Dyche but what next for Toffees boss? Dyche has completed the job by keeping Everton in the Premier League but he also needs help - or a squad that is accurately reflected by their league position will be in exactly the same place this time next year. Everton relied on those few who have served them so superbly through the struggles right to the end, particularly goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who saved from Matias Vina as the seconds ticked down. James Garner did a top-class shift as an emergency right wing-back, while Doucoure's goal confirmed the impact he has had under Dyche following his exile under Frank Lampard. He not only scored the winner against Bournemouth but also got two in the 5-1 win at Brighton that gave Everton three points not many had factored into the relegation equations. Dyche struck a tone of grim realism as he sifted through the aftermath of Everton's latest escape but how he gets the assistance he clearly requires to avoid another season like this remains to be seen. What has been a constant throughout has been the magnificent backing from Everton's supporters, who packed the nearby County Road in such numbers before kick-off that traffic on that busy stretch had to be diverted. They do not deserve the suffering they have been put through yet again and their furious reaction once they turned away from the joy was a clear indication they do not think Everton's board deserves them. And their instincts are right. It is not a time for the "never again" soundbites fans have heard before. Everton need a serious reboot and fresh ideas in their hierarchy otherwise this will merely be a temporary reprieve. For this night, though, and for those pouring out into Goodison Road heading for The Winslow Hotel, the famous old Evertonian hostelry, they could savour the taste of something to settle shattered nerves after their club once again went to the very edge before stepping back. [https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65742415]

BMW will offer hands-free driving capability in the UK on a range of models from next year, the company has said. Drivers will be able to remove their hands from the steering wheel in all models of the new 5-series range including the electric i5, as well as in the BMW i7 large electric saloon and the iX electric SUV, Matt Bacon, head of product for BMW’s large models in the UK, told Autocar. BMW is taking advantage of new rules in the UK that allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel providing they are still paying attention to the road, sometimes called Level 2+ in the autonomy categorisation scale. BMW will follow Ford, which is rolling out its BlueCruise hand-free system on the Ford Mustang Mach E electric SUV in the UK The BMW system enabling this change is called Highway Assistant in the US, which the company is pushing to be renamed Motorway Assistant in the UK, Bacon said. The feature is part of Driving Assistant Professional, which is available in the new 5-series on top of Tech Pack Plus, which includes adaptive cruise control and lane centreing. BMW has yet to finalise whether the system will be available as a monthly subscription, as it is in the Ford Mustang Mach E, or a one-off fee at purchase. The extra cost is partly to pay for the licence fee for the higher definition mapping needed to better locate the car, BMW said. The exact roads the system will work on have yet to be determined, Bacon said, although the minimum requirement is that that are dual carriageways with a central divider. The car will alert you if you drive onto a qualifying road. Ford has said roads covered by BlueCruise will include the M25 and M40. The BMW will recognise whether you are paying attention to the road ahead via cameras positioned in front of the driver in the information screen. The L2+ system will harness the car’s Active Lane Change Assistant to allow the driver to change lanes without needing to place their hands on the wheel. The car suggests a lane change which the driver confirms by looking into the side mirror. The same driver monitoring cameras will track the drivers’ line of sight, okaying the move. BMW has said it will expand this autonomy to include “address-to-address” level two-plus capability on its Neue Klasse EVs, due from 2025. Meanwhile Porsche is expected to offer L2+ hands-off, eyes-on driving on its new electric Macan arriving next year as part of the Supervision package supplier by Intel-owned Mobileye, which includes 11 cameras. [https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/bmw-launch-hands-driving-uk-next-year]

animal reserve in Kent has welcomed the arrival of a new lion. The lion, a male named Hunter, was born in 2019 at West Midland Safari Park and has now arrived at Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve in Hythe. He joins the pride of lions currently residing in the reserve's eight-acre lion enclosure - Europe's largest non-drive through lion enclosure. The site's managing director said Hunter's arrival will help continue its conservation and rewilding work. Hunter has joined a lioness named Oudrika and her three daughters. Howletts Wild Animal Trust and Port Lympne Estates managing director, Tony Kelly, said he was sure the new arrival would "capture the hearts of everyone who meets him". He said: "At the same time, we're proud to play a role in the vital conservation and rewilding work being carried out by our charity partners at The Aspinall Foundation. "Two of Oudrika's offspring have already started their rewilding journey and are thriving in the lands of their ancestors." [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-65709948]

President Joe Biden and his Republican opponents have announced they have agreed in principle to raise the US debt ceiling and avert a default. The president described the agreement as a "compromise", while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said it "was worthy of the American people". The deal, after weeks of bitter negotiations, still needs to be approved by a divided Congress. The Treasury has warned the US will run out of money on 5 June without a deal. The US must borrow money to fund the government because it spends more than it raises in taxes. Republicans have been seeking spending cuts in areas such as education and other social programmes in exchange for raising the $31.4tn (£25tn) debt limit. Details of the tentative deal have not officially been released - but CBS, the BBC's partner in the US, reported that non-defence government spending would be kept flat for two years and then rise by 1% in 2025. It was unclear how exactly a government programme that provides food-purchasing assistance for people on low or no incomes would change. A simple guide to the debt ceiling Could a US debt default unleash global chaos? In a statement, President Biden described the agreement as a compromise which was good for the country "because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost". Mr McCarthy, for his part, referred to "historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce". "There are no new taxes, no new government programs," he said. Mr McCarthy added that he planned to finish writing the bill on Sunday, before having a vote in Congress on Wednesday. But he faces a challenge to push it through the House, where it may be opposed by some diehards among both Republicans and Democrats. On Sunday, Republican Representative Chip Roy of Texas said in a tweet he and some others were "going to try" to stop it passing. Republicans control the House by 222 to 213, while Democrats control the Senate by 51 to 49. Mr McCarthy told Fox News on Sunday that more than 95% of House Republicans were very excited about the deal. A US default would upend the US economy and disrupt global markets. In the US, the immediate effect would be that the government would quickly run out of funds to pay for welfare benefits and other support programmes, for instance. Over a long period, the crisis would tip the US economy into recession - and this would result in unemployment rising. A US recession would have big knock-on effects for many countries around the world, for which the US is a key trading partner - they would not be able to sell to an economy that does not buy as much. And because the US dollar is the reserve currency of the world, a default would send panic across the world, eventually leading to prices of many commodities rising [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65736734]