Blackfire

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A star-crossed Kentucky Derby lost its early favorite when Forte was scratched and two more horses died, making it seven in all, at Churchill Downs earlier Saturday, further blows to a sport already reeling from a series of doping suspensions and breakdowns. “This is part of racing and it’s the cruel part,” Mike Repole, co-owner of Forte, said in an interview with FanDuel TV. Forte was the fifth scratch from the Derby in the days leading up to the $3 million race for 3-year-olds. Chloe’s Dream, a 3-year-old gelding, and Freezing Point, a 3-year-old colt, were injured in their races on the Derby undercard, becoming the sixth and seventh horses to have died at Churchill Downs in recent days. The string of horse deaths cast a pall for some Derby-goers on a mostly cloudy and warm day. “It’s concerning, and I hope they’re quickly trying the best they can to correct whatever’s going on,” said Michael Freeze, who along with his friend dressed up as jockeys. “They need to do whatever is best for the horses, and the sport in general.” Chloe’s Dream got hurt in the second race Saturday. The horse was taken off in an equine ambulance with a right front knee injury and was euthanized, trainer Jeff Hiles confirmed to The Associated Press. “He just took a bad step out there,” Hiles said. “They could do the same thing running in the field as they could on the track. So it’s very unfortunate. That’s what we deal with.” Freezing Point suffered a left ankle injury in the Pat Day Mile and was euthanized, trainer Joe Lejzerowicz told the AP. He said Fort Bragg, who finished third, came over and slammed into Freezing Point during the race. “He just got bumped in the backstretch,” Lejzerowicz said. “He never took a bad step or bobble. He had a big heart.” New antidoping and medication rules enforced by a central governing body of the sport are scheduled to take effect May 22. “There’s something going on,” said Pat Murtha, who was attending his first Derby. “They need to find out, and set some rules and regulations to protect these animals.” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, a two-time Triple Crown winner, is nearing the end of a two-year ban issued by Churchill Downs Inc. One of his horses, Medina Spirit, crossed the finish line first in the 2021 Derby and failed a post-race drug test. The horse was disqualified and Baffert was punished. In 2019, over 30 horse deaths occurred at California’s Santa Anita racetrack, rattling the industry and leading to safety reforms. Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Rick Dutrow had his license revoked in 2011 for 10 years by New York officials. Regulators found syringes loaded with unauthorized medication in a desk in his barn. Dutrow re-opened his stable last month. Forte had been the early 3-1 favorite; his absence reduces the field to 18 horses for the 1 1/4-mile race. Repole said veterinarians from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission diagnosed Forte with a bruised foot. He said the colt had developed the bruise a few days ago. The colt stumbled during a workout Thursday, although trainer Todd Pletcher had downplayed it publicly. Behind the scenes was a different story. “We did X-rays, we brought in vets, the state vets came in and they watched him every single day,” Repole said in the interview. “He’s fine. He probably needs a couple more days (to recover).” Pletcher still has two horses in the Derby: Tapit Trice and Kingsbarns. A crowd of about 150,000 is expected to jam Churchill Downs to wager and watch the Derby. Post time is 6:57 p.m. EDT. The horse deaths included Derby contender Wild On Ice. Two of the horses were trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. He was indefinitely suspended by the track, although investigators have yet to determine a cause for the deaths of his horses. “It doesn’t make me happy to see a horse get euthanized,” said racegoer Joe Conforto, wearing jockey goggles and a stuffed horse on his head. “But I think a lot of it is bad luck. Most race horses are taken better care of than human beings.” Four horses were scratched — Practical Move, Lord Miles, Continuar and Skinner — in recent days. Practical Move and Skinner had fevers, while Continuar wasn’t in peak condition, according to his Japanese trainer. Lord Miles was Joseph’s Derby horse. Forte was last year’s 2-year-old champion and has a five-race winning streak. “You can only be a 3-year-old colt on the first Saturday in May one time in your life,” Repole said. “I feel bad for the horse.” [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/early-kentucky-derby-favorite-forte-scratched-race-rcna83193]

Police Scotland consulted the National Crime Agency about its investigation into the SNP's finances. The BBC understands the national force asked the UK agency to carry out an independent review of its inquiry last year. The terms and outcome of this exercise have not been made public. The investigation has intensified since then with high profile arrests, searches and the seizure of a motorhome. Former SNP spindoctor attacks 'grotesque' police probe Colin Beattie resigns as SNP treasurer after arrest Leaked video shows Sturgeon dismiss finance concern Police sources said it was "good practice" in cases of this nature for the inquiry team to ask another force to double check their work. This is known as a "peer review". According to one senior police source, a peer review is typically "conducted to check on the status, strategy and direction of an investigation". They added: "The review checks that the lines of inquiry are correct, that nothing has been missed and that the rationale is proportionate and necessary". The National Crime Agency specialises in the investigation of serious and organised crime across the UK. It is not otherwise involved in the investigation into the SNP's finances and fundraising, known as Operation Branchform. That began in July 2021 following complaints about how more than £600,000 of donations for a future independence referendum were used. The SNP's former chief executive Peter Murrell and the party's ex-treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested, questioned as suspects and released without charge. The former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she would fully cooperate with police if they wanted to speak to her. The Uddingston home she shares with Mr Murrell, who is her husband, was searched for two days last month. She later described the experience as "traumatic". A further search was carried out at SNP headquarters in Edinburgh with officers removing boxes of material from the premises. Police also removed a luxury motorhome from the driveway of Mr Murrell's mother's home in Fife. Some in the SNP have publicly questioned Police Scotland's approach with the Glasgow MSP James Dornan describing it as a "fiasco" on social media. Murray Foote, the party's former communications chief at Holyrood, last week said he was prepared to bet that no charges would be brought. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "As the investigation is ongoing we are unable to comment further". [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65513265]

Seven people have been killed in the US state of Texas after a car struck a group at a bus stop close to a shelter for the homeless and migrants. The incident happened in the city of Brownsville near the Mexican border at about 08:30 local time (14:30 GMT). At least six other people were been injured, some of them critically. The driver has been arrested and charged. Brownsville police say it is not clear whether the incident was intentional. Earlier US media reports quoted police as saying it appeared to be a deliberate attack. The director of the nearby Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center, Victor Maldonado, said surveillance footage showed an SUV that "ran the light that was about a hundred feet away and just went through the people who were sitting there in the bus stop". He told the Associated Press that most of the victims were Venezuelan men. Lieutenant Martin Sandoval of the Brownsville Police Department told local media that the driver had also been taken to hospital for treatment and was undergoing drug and alcohol tests. According to US border protection officials, the city of Brownsville has recently seen a sharp increase in illegal migrant arrivals. Mr Maldonado told local media quoted by AP that in the past two months the Ozanam Center, an overnight shelter that can hold up to 250 people, has been handling up to 380 people a day. "I've had a couple of people come by the gate and tell the security guard that the reason this happened was because of us," Mr Maldonado told KRGV-TV. Officials in Brownsville issued a disaster declaration last month, following other Texas border cities that have done the same. That's ahead of an anticipated influx of migrants due to the upcoming expiry of a Covid-era policy that allowed the US to automatically expel [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65521233]

Happy birthday khawa 🎉🎂💐💐🎊❤️

WhatsApp is so easy to use that it's managed to become the messaging mainstay for most families, but it's still possible to run into the odd quirk or frustration. Fortunately, the app is in the process of fixing three of those annoyances with some new updates. The first two refinements are coming in an iOS and Android update that has started rolling out globally and will be "available to everyone in the coming weeks". To get these boosts to polls and sharing photos, you'll need to wait for new version to arrive or check your app store for the latest update. WhatsApp's poll improvements are particularly handy for social organizing. You can now create single-vote polls, to stop people from skewing the results with multiple votes. To do that, you'll just need to un-toggle the 'allow multiple answers' option when creating a poll If you've ever had trouble finding a poll in a chat, you'll be pleased to hear that you can also now search for polls in your chats with the new update. On the 'Chats' screen, just tap the search box and you'll now see 'Polls' in the list of results. Lastly, you'll also now get notifications when people vote on your polls and will be shown how many people have voted in total. A report from WABetaInfo(opens in new tab) has revealed that WhatsApp has made a handy new feature available to some beta testers that lets them transfer chats to another iPhone without having to go via iCloud. This is particularly useful for those who don't pay for extra iCloud storage beyond the free 5GB limit. That limit can prohibit you from transferring lengthy chat histories to a new iPhone, but this new method could get around that by letting you do the transfer within WhatsApp. Apparently, the process will be as simple as registering on WhatsApp with your usual phone number, then using your old phone to scan the QR code shown on your new phone in order to transfer your chat history. There'll also be a similar feature available for Android fans who don't want to transfer their chats via Google Drive. Unfortunately, right now this feature is currently only available to WhatsApp beta testers on iOS and Android, and this beta program is currently closed to new testers. On Android, you can check to see which beta testing programs are available by going to the Play Store, tapping your profile icon in the top right, tapping 'Manage apps and devices installed', and then tapping an app to see if it has a 'join the beta' option. Still, beta features do frequently get rolled out to the full version of WhatsApp, so this is one we're hoping to see in a full release in the coming months. [https://www.techradar.com/news/whatsapp-is-getting-3-super-useful-features-heres-how-to-get-them]

Not that we were expecting anything else, but new trade body listings confirm that AMD's RX 7600 and Nvidia's RTX 4060 Ti graphics cards are both imminent. And both will run with just 8GB of graphics memory The listings are posted on the Eurasian Economic Commission's website, which is the governing body of the Eurasian Economic Union, which roughly speaking is a former Soviet bloq equivalent of the EU. Anyway, one listing for ASRock(opens in new tab) includes entries for the RX 7600 indicating 8GB of graphics memory, while another for Gigabyte(opens in new tab) has both the RX 7600 and Nvidia's RTX 4060 Ti, both running 8GB of graphics memory. The listings also imply that these cards will be launched shortly and indeed the expectation for some time is that both cards will appear later in May just before the Computex tech trade fair, or possibly at the fair itself at the beginning of June. The big remaining unknown is pricing. And it will be pricing and how it combines with those 8GB frame buffers that defines these cards. As we've reported previously, games that breach the 8GB barrier, even running at just 1080p, are becoming more widespread(opens in new tab). If these new cards are super affordable, the fact that they may run into occasional VRAM issues will be acceptable. But if they're positioned in line with the current trend for sky-high GPU prices, 8GB will be much harder to tolerate. Put it this way, a $400 GPU with just 8GB? No thanks. Of course, the problem for both cards is that there really is no option other than 8GB. Both are said to run 128-bit memory buses, and current graphics memory is available in 1GB and 2GB module formats, both with 32-bit interfaces. That means you have the option of either 4GB or 8GB on a 128-bit board. And 4GB is a total non-starter. 12GB of memory would require a 192-bit bus and 16GB a 256-bit bus. Increasing the bus width, meanwhile, would require a total redesign of a GPU. Incidentally, the listings seem to indicate RX 7600 rather than 7600 XT. And we are kinda expecting XT variants at launch, so it's unclear for now whether both XT and non-XT models will be available from the get go. Anyway, we have a feeling these cards will come in lower, price-wise, than might be expected purely going on the positioning of existing AMD RX 7000 and Nvidia RTX 40-series GPUs, partly due to this specific 8GB concern. That said, we're also expecting Nvidia's RTX 4060 Ti cards to be the faster of the two, so that would imply higher pricing for the Nvidia offering. But we'll know soon enough as both are expected before the end of the month. [https://www.pcgamer.com/hope-you-like-gpus-with-8gb-because-both-amd-and-nvidia-have-new-cards-ready-to-go/]

Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from next week's Italian Open but says his condition has improved as he bids to be fit in time for the French Open. The 36-year-old Spaniard has not played since January because of a hip injury and says he needs more time to train. Unless he plays one of the events in Geneva or Lyon starting May 21, the 14-time champion will go to Roland Garros without a match on clay this year. "I'm very sorry to announce that I will not be able to be in Rome," he said. "You all know how much it hurts to miss another one of the tournaments that have marked my professional and personal career for all the love and support of the Italian fans," the 22-time Grand Slam champion continued in a statement on social media. "Despite having noticed an improvement in recent days, there have been many months without having been able to train at a high level and the re-adaptation process has its times and I have no choice but to accept them and continue working." His statement is considerably more optimistic than his post of two weeks ago when he said he had paused training to consider alternative treatments. The French Open begins in Paris on 28 May. [https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/65502314]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Churchill Downs suspended trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. indefinitely and Lord Miles, who is trained by Joseph, was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Thursday, days after the sudden death of two of his horses at the track. The suspension prohibits Joseph, or any trainer directly or indirectly employed by him, from entering horses in races or applying for stalls at all Churchill Downs Inc.-owned tracks. The decision comes after the deaths of Parents Pride on Saturday and Chasing Artie on Tuesday. Both collapsed on the track and died after races. “Given the unexplained sudden deaths, we have reasonable concerns about the condition of his horses, and decided to suspend him indefinitely until details are analyzed and understood,” Bill Mudd, CDI president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. “The safety of our equine and human athletes and integrity of our sport is our highest priority. We feel these measures are our duty and responsibility.” Investigators have yet to find any cause in the deaths of Joseph’s two horses in a 72-hour span, along with two others over the past week, which has cast a pall over Churchill Downs in the final preparations for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. “This is the worst part of the game,” said Mike Repole, co-owner of early Derby favorite Forte. “It’s very sad.” Joseph said earlier Thursday he was questioned by investigators from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Churchill Downs. “They found no wrongdoing on our part,” he said. Joseph received permission from the KHRC to scratch five horses from races on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the Daily Racing Form. He already had scratched one on Wednesday. He told reporters earlier in the day that he scratched any horse that had been in contact with the two that died out of an abundance of caution. Despite the deaths, Joseph had planned to run Lord Miles in the Derby. The colt arrived from Florida; the two dead horses had been at Keeneland in Lexington. Joseph, a 36-year-old third-generation trainer, said earlier Thursday that investigators examined his barn, checked the horses’ veterinary records and took blood samples from each of his horses, which showed nothing abnormal. The feed, hay, straw and supplements used by the horses were checked, too. The deaths are the first for Joseph, who came to Florida in 2011 after training in his native Barbados. “It crushes you. It knocks your confidence, it makes you doubt everything,” he said. At the same time, he added, “There’s two ways: You can run away from it and pretend it didn’t happen or you could face it and find out what we can do.” Meanwhile, two horses dumped their exercise riders during on-track training Thursday, including Derby entrant Verifying. Neither rider was injured. Besides Joseph’s horses, Derby long shot Wild On Ice and 3-year-old filly Take Charge Briana broke down with musculoskeletal injuries during training or racing at Churchill Downs. Both were euthanized. Joseph said the first necropsy done on his horse didn’t reveal a cause of death. “We’re living on unknown terms right now, so that’s the uneasy part,” he said. Spectators at morning training were startled when Verifying, one of trainer Brad Cox’s four Derby runners, got loose on the track, triggering a warning siren. The colt was caught by an outrider and turned over to Cox, who led him back to the barn. The exercise rider dislocated his right shoulder. “He was galloping by and looked great. Next thing I know the rider was on the ground,” Cox said. “We got lucky, we dodged a bullet.” Cox said he had “no concern” about any issues with the track as a result of the horse deaths. Not long after, And Tell Me Nolies reared and dumped her rider before tearing off the track at full speed and rampaging through the stable area in search of her barn. Trainer Peter Miller said the filly appeared to be fine and is scheduled to start in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. “Luckily, she didn’t go down or anything, so she’s OK,” he said. Repole believes it would help if the sport did more to reassure the public how seriously it takes safety. “People will understand injuries,” he said. “People won’t understand injuries with death.” The industry was rocked in 2019, when more than 40 horses died at Santa Anita in California. As a result, a raft of safety reforms were enacted that have spread around the country. “The horses get great care and we do our best to prevent these kind of things, but they still happen,” Joseph said. “A lot of times in those sudden deaths you never get answers [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-derby-2023-trainer-suspended-two-horses-mysteriously-die-race-rcna83021]

Reform UK - formerly the Brexit Party - has made little headway in England's local elections. The party, founded in 2018 with Nigel Farage's backing, fielded hundreds of candidates, mainly in areas that had voted heavily to leave the EU in 2016. But with all but three results now declared, Reform has won just six seats, averaging just 6% of the vote in the wards where it stood. In the last equivalent poll in 2019, UKIP averaged 19% in wards it fought. At the time, Prime Minister Theresa May had failed to get her Brexit deal through the Commons - and the UK was yet to leave the European Union. Weeks later, the then-Brexit Party would go on to win the UK's elections to the European Parliament, by which time Mrs May had resigned as Tory leader - paving the way for Boris Johnson to enter Downing Street. Reform UK leader aims to wipe out Tories at polls Reform UK leader attacks Tories as high-tax party Labour aims for No 10 after Tory poll drubbing The political influence of Reform - now led by former MEP Richard Tice - has waned since then, but it has been ahead of the Green Party and the Lib Dems in some national opinion polls. On Friday, Mr Tice told The Telegraph his party had "changed the course of numerous seats" in the local elections, at the Tories' expense. On Reform's failure to make greater inroads, he added: "Look, Rome was not built in a day. We're a new party. First-past-the-post is brutally hard, which is why we support proportional representation." In January, Mr Tice said he was on a mission to ensure the Conservatives "never have a majority government again". Both the Tories and Labour had run out of ideas to fix "broken Britain", and only his party offered "bold, brave solutions", he argued. Reform, which has no MPs, says it plans to field candidates in every constituency in England, Scotland and Wales at the next general election. UKIP, whose political fortunes have declined sharply since Mr Farage stood down as its leader in 2016, has so far lost all the seats it was defending in these elections. But party chairman Ben Walker dismissed claims the party had been wiped off the electoral map, saying: "The seats being reported as being lost today haven't been our seats for some time due to defections to other political parties or independents. "UKIP still has elected councillors across the country on various councils." In 2014, the defection of Tory MPs Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless, and the wider electoral threat thought to be posed by UKIP to the Conservatives, were major factors in prompting then-Prime Minister David Cameron to announce a referendum on Britain's future in the EU. [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65502990]

The leader of Russia's Wagner mercenary group says he will withdraw his troops from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on 10 May because of ammunition shortages. Yevgeny Prigozhin's statement came after he posted a video of him walking among his dead fighters' bodies, blaming top Russian defence officials. "Tens of thousands" had been killed and injured there, Prigozhin said. Russia has been trying to capture the eastern city for months, despite its questionable strategic value. Wagner troops have been heavily involved. Earlier this week, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby - citing newly declassified intelligence - said that more than 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 80,000 wounded in fighting in Ukraine since December. Half of the dead were from the Wagner group. In his statement on Friday, Prigozhin, 61, pinned his decision to withdraw from Bakhmut squarely on the defence ministry, using expletives. "Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where is the... ammunition?... They came here as volunteers and die for you to fatten yourselves in your mahogany offices." Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov have often been the focus for Prigozhin's anger, amid reports of fierce infighting among different power groups in Russian President Vladimir Putin's entourage. In the statement, Prigozhin said his Wagner's casualties were "growing in geometrical progression every day" because of the lack of ammunition. But he stressed that his fighters would stay on their positions until 9 May, when Russia marks Victory Day in World War Two, and would only withdraw from Bakhmut the following day. In the video released earlier, Prigozhin - seen standing in front of his men - said he would "transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the defence ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds". "My lads will not suffer useless and unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition," he added. One of the videos released by Prigozhin on Friday appears to have been filmed about 2km (1.2 miles) from the centre of Bakhmut. The BBC has matched ground features, including bushes and pylons, with satellite imagery of the location. Prigozhin is a publicity seeker, and his influence has seemingly waned in recent months. He has previously made threats he has not followed through with - subsequently dismissing them as jokes and military humour. Only last week he told a Russian pro-war blogger that Wagner fighters in Bakhmut were down to their last days of supplies of bullets, and needed thousands of rounds of ammunition. The Kremlin has not commented on Prigozhin's latest statements. Meanwhile, Ukraine's military said it was not seeing any decline in the intensity of fighting near Bakhmut. "For months, Prigozhin has been trying to make outrageous statements in order to draw attention to himself," Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Command, has told BBC Ukrainian. And Ukraine's deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said Russia was desperately trying to seize Bakhmut by 9 May. Prigozhin has emerged as a key player in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, in charge of a private army of mercenaries leading the Russian onslaught. He recruited thousands of convicted criminals from jail for his group - no matter how grave their crimes - as long as they agreed to fight for Wagner in Ukraine. Prigozhin hails from St Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin's home city. The two most likely first met at one of Prigozhin's restaurants in the city. Years later, Prigozhin's catering company Concord was contracted to supply food to the Kremlin, earning him the nickname "Putin's chef". From Putin's chef to head of Russia's private army The battle for Bakhmut has dragged on for months. Wagner troops and regular Russian forces have fought on the same side, against the Ukrainian military. Ukraine decided to defend the city at all costs in an apparent attempt to focus Russian military resources on one place of relatively little significance. In February, Prigozhin posted another image of his dead troops and blamed army chiefs for their deaths. Although the military denied deliberately starving his Wagner group of shells, at the time they did respond by increasing supplies to the front line. US-based military analyst Rob Lee argues that Wagner's latest complaint of shortages likely reflects Russia's defence ministry rationing ammunition ahead of Ukraine's long anticipated counter-offensive. The ministry has to defend the whole front, but Prigozhin's sole concern lies in taking Bakhmut, he wrote on Twitter. If Wagner did manage to take the city Prigozhin could claim the political credit, Mr Lee added. The mercenary chief has himself predicted that Ukraine's counter-offensive will begin by 15 May, as tanks and artillery will be able to advance in dry weather, after the last spring rain. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65493008]

Name of the game: Call of Duty®: Black Ops III Price: 14.99 $ Link Store: Here Offer ends up after X hours: Offer ends 15 May Requirements: MINIMUM: OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit / Windows 8.1 64-Bit Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-530 @ 2.93 GHz / AMD Phenom™ II X4 810 @ 2.60 GHz Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 470 @ 1GB / ATI® Radeon™ HD 6970 @ 1GB DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 100 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Mozilla made a rather interesting purchase as the developer recently announced it bought Fakespot, a startup whose browser extension can sniff out fake product reviews With this acquisition, Mozilla plans on further integrating Fakespot’s technology(opens in new tab) into Firefox to help users “cut through deceptive reviews [so they can] shop with the confidence of knowing what they’re buying is high-quality and authentic.” The extension, in case you don’t know, utilizes a combination of “artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)... to detect [common] patterns” in online reviews. Scammers write in a certain way to artificially inflate a “product’s rank in search engines”, according to Mozilla’s post, sp Fakespots reads these reviews(opens in new tab) and gives them a grade from A, meaning it’s reliable, to F dubbing it unreliable. It’s unknown exactly how Mozilla will integrate Fakespot into its browser other than a brief mention of unique features, but as one of the best secure browsers you can use, there's plenty of reason to be optimistic about the results. And don’t worry about the extension becoming exclusive to Firefox as the extension “will continue to work across all major web browsers and mobile devices”. In fact, developers at Mozilla will help out in its development, so presumeably many of the best web browsers using the extension will still benefit. ChatGPT scams Now you may be wondering: how does this relate to ChatGPT? Well, as it turns out, there’s been an uptick of people using AI chatbots to write Amazon reviews(opens in new tab). What’s funny about the initial wave of these fake reviews is they often didn’t hide the fact that an AI chatbot wrote them, with one literally writing: “As an AI language model, I don’t have a body” in the text of a review. But that doesn’t stop fraudsters from writing bunk content for online marketplaces en masse or in “different tones of voice” to avoid getting caught. There's also the growing threat of increased misinformation coming from misusing AI chatbots plus more sophisticated phishing campaigns. Sure, you can do things yourself by carefully looking for red flags in reviews (we even have a guide that’ll tell you what to look for) or doing your own research. However, the sheer amount of content you’ll have to parse through is immense. Even Amazon itself has a hard time cleaning things up. Needless to say, shoppers need every advantage in their favor. [https://www.techradar.com/news/Firefox-might-one-day-be-able-to-detect-fake-reviews-written-by-chatgpt]

Nvidia's monstrous RTX 4090 has dipped below Nvidia's recommended pricing in several European markets. That includes pricing on Nvidia's official online store. n the UK, you can now grab an RTX 4090 for £1,579 from Nvidia's official store(opens in new tab), down from the £1,649 at which it originally listed. But probably the biggest drop has been in Germany. Back at launch, the RTX 4090(opens in new tab) commanded €1,949. Now? It's yours for €1,769(opens in new tab). OK, that's not exactly pocket change. But the simple fact that Nvidia's range-topping graphics card can now be bought from its own online store for materially less than launch late last year is significant. Lest we've all forgotten, it took about two years from launch for the RTX 3090 to be widely available at MSRP, let alone dip below it. The RTX 4090 is also something of a bellwether in that it's, arguably, the only member of Nvidia's latest RTX 40 family that represents a step forward in value for money compared to the previous generation. The RTX 3090 launched at $1,499 in late 2020, with the RTX 3090 arriving at $1,599 in late 2022. That $100 increase doesn't even keep up with inflation, but the 4090 is massively more powerful than the RTX 3090. Compare that with with RTX 3080 and RTX 4080 that replaced it(opens in new tab). The RTX 3080 was a $699 GPU, in theory at least. But the RTX 4080 upped that to a painful $1,199, all the while not delivering the same performance jump, proportionally, as the RTX 4090 did over the RTX 3090. Speaking of the RTX 4080, it too can be had for a whisker under MSRP from several official European Nvidia stores. It's still miles off what we would regard as a decent deal on the 4080, however. For the record, neither the RTX 4080 nor the 4090 are listed below MSRP on Nvidia's USA store. So, these sub-MSRP listings are not yet universal. But they're also widespread enough to defy explanation as edge cases or temporary blips. And the US pricing for these cards started at a better place than most of Europe. Instead, they're another positive data point in the downward trend of GPU prices. As we mentioned the other day, we're not there yet, but it's all heading in the right direction(opens in new tab). [https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidias-rtx-4090-dips-below-msrp-in-europe-as-gpu-prices-continue-to-fall/]

Volkswagen has previewed a new special edition of the Golf R, which will be fully revealed on 31 May. Through the R-devoted YouTube channel, the German firm has revealed the name of the hot hatch: the Volkswagen Golf R 333 Limited Edition. It has also given drivers a hint of what to expect, revealing an Akrapovic exhaust, a set of cross-drilled brakes, 19in black Estoril alloy wheels, '333' badging and bright yellow exterior paint - a colour that isn't currently available on the Golf R. 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 Akrapovic 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”. Volkswagen even presented the performance-package model at the Geneva motor show, shod with Pirelli Trofeo R tyres, which were used on the Lamborghini Huracán Performante. from the turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder 'EA888' engine. That’s more than the standard Golf R, which offers an output of 319bhp and a 0-62mph sprint of 4.7sec. [https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/volkswagen-previews-new-golf-r-333-limited-edition]

Napoli won their first Serie A title for 33 years as they drew with Udinese at Dacia Arena to spark jubilant celebrations back in Naples. They last won the league in 1990 with a Diego Maradona-inspired side adding to their first title three years earlier. Victor Osimhen smashed in a 52nd-minute equaliser after Sandi Lovric had given Udinese a shock lead. And Napoli held on to the point they needed to win their third Serie A title with five games to spare. 'Football is everything' - what Scudetto means to Naples Napoli end three decades of hurt Napoli's previous two titles came in the days of Argentina legend Maradona - who their stadium is now named after - in 1987 and 1990. Following those glory days the club fell into financial decline, relegation and bankruptcy; playing in Serie C as recently as 2006. They have won the Coppa Italia three times in the past 11 seasons but it is the Scudetto the Napoli fans craved. They now have a new cast of superstars, with Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen scoring 21 goals in 26 league games and Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia contributing 12 goals and 10 assists. At 64 boss Luciano Spalletti, who twice won the Coppa Italia with Roma, becomes the oldest manager to win Serie A. His team had the chance to lift the title with six games to spare last weekend but could only draw with local rivals Salernitana. But with a 16-point advantage over second-placed Lazio their third Serie A title is now confirmed. Osimhen leveller sparks wild celebrations Their match with Udinese was almost an afterthought. Napoli fans had been partying in Naples all day before filling the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona to watch a stream of the match. Over 10,000 fans travelled north to see their side in Udine but they were stunned into silence after 13 minutes when Lovric was given acres of space in the box before curling the hosts in front. Napoli struggled in the first half but got the goal they needed after the restart with Osimhen finding the corner after Kvaratskhelia had forced a good save from Udinese keeper Marco Silvestri. And after taking the lead Napoli managed the game superbly, keeping their opponents at arm's length. On the full-time whistle Napoli fans raced onto the pitch, starting celebrations in both Udine and Naples [https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65488842]

A 15-year-old equestrian was killed Sunday during a competition in Florida after a horse knocked her off and fell on her head. Hannah Serfass, of Webster, Florida, was competing in the Fox Lea Farm Spring Concours I in Venice, about 70 miles from Tampa, when "the horse tripped and suffered a rotational fall," the U.S. Equestrian Federation said in a statement. The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said Serfass was about halfway through the course in a jumper event when she tried the sixth jump. "The horse landed the jump successfully and took two or three steps/gallops toward the next hurdle and for unknown reasons planted its left foot, which caused the horse to lean down significantly towards its left front hoof," authorities said. "This action caused the rider to then topple forward and off the horse in the same direction and onto the ground," the sheriff's office said. "The horse then continued to fall in the same direction falling over and onto the rider's head on the ground." The equestrian federation said the fall was "unrelated to a jumping effort." Fox Lea Farm personnel rushed to Serfass' aid until deputies arrived. She was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. The horse, Quaxx 2, a 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding, was not injured. Serfass was described as a talented up-and-coming rider. The federation said she was known for her work ethic and her love of horses. Fox Lea Farm said in a statement that it sends its "sincere condolences to the family, trainer, friends, & the whole equestrian community. We are all heartbroken." The federation will review the accident "to learn what we can do to minimize risk and increase safety in equestrian sport," it said. [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teen-equestrian-dies-horse-falls-florida-competition-rcna82484]

The US has denied Russian claims it masterminded an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday aimed at assassinating President Vladimir Putin. A day after accusing Ukraine of carrying out the alleged attack, Mr Putin's spokesman said it had been done with Washington's support. US National Security spokesman John Kirby called it a "ludicrous claim". Ukraine has said it had nothing to do with the alleged attack. Mr Putin was not in the building at the time. Ukraine has accused Moscow of staging the incident in order to escalate the war. Even though Russian attacks have continued unabated - 21 people were killed on Wednesday in the Kherson region in the south - there is no sign yet of an intensification on Moscow's part. However, on Sunday evening a drone was shot down over the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, not too far from the presidential office. Officials later admitted it had been a Ukrainian drone that had "lost control" and been destroyed to avoid "undesirable consequences". According to President Putin's spokesman, the attack on the Kremlin - a large government complex in central Moscow - occurred early on Wednesday. Footage on social media showed smoke rising over the complex. A second video showed a small explosion above the site's Senate building, while two men appear to clambered up the dome. On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US was "undoubtedly" behind the alleged attack, without providing evidence. "Decisions on such attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington," Mr Peskov said. In his response, Mr Kirby told US media: "Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple The United States has nothing to do with it. We don't even know exactly what happened here, but I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever." The US official said Washington did not encourage or enable Ukraine to strike outside its borders, and did not endorse attacks on individual leaders. Ukraine has said that the alleged attack was a false flag operation by Moscow. On the other hand, though, many argue that Russia would have little interest in staging an attack that made the Kremlin look vulnerable The latest Kremlin claims came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in the Netherlands. In a speech afterwards, he called for the creation of a special tribunal to hold Russia's "crimes of aggression" to account. He said Mr Putin "deserves to be sentenced for criminal actions in the capital of international law", the Ukrainian president said. He listed alleged war crimes by Russia - including the "millions" of strikes in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and those killed during the occupation of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv, at the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion last year. The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for President Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. It says he is responsible for war crimes during the Ukraine war, which includes the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. But it has no mandate to prosecute the crime of aggression. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65485960]

least seven people, including some teachers, have been shot dead at a school in Pakistan's north-western Kurram district, authorities say. Multiple gunmen were involved in the incident, police have said, which occurred in the staffroom of Government High School Tari Mangal. This shooting is thought to have been linked to another earlier in the day, when a man was shot in his car in the district, officials say. The suspects remain on the loose. The details about exactly what happened at the school in Kurram district - a rural area that borders Afghanistan - are still unclear and police have not identified any clear motive. According to officials, a man was shot and killed in his car in Kurram district this morning. He was believed to be a member of the same school. In retaliation, a group surrounded a school in the small town of Tari Mangal, they say. At least seven people were killed at the school, at least four of them teachers, and two of them attendants. The police were also attacked and three were injured. The bodies of the dead have not yet been recovered. Samina Altaf, an education board chairwoman whose district includes Tari Mangal, told The Express Tribune that students inside the school remained safe. The teachers at Tari Mangal were said to have been at the school performing exam duties when the gunmen entered and opened fire, according to local reports. Former President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed regret over the killing, via his party's official Twitter, calling it terrorism. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65480770]

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Name of the game: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Breakpoint Price: 11.99 $ Link Store:Here Offer ends up after X hours:Offer ends 4 May Requirements MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only) Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 @3.1 GHz, Intel Core i5 4460 @ 3.2 GHz, or better Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 280X or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (4 GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better) DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 67 GB available space Additional Notes: originally released for Windows 7, the game can be played on Windows 10 and Windows 11 OS RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only) Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 @3.2 GHz, Intel Core i7 6700K @4.0 GHz, or better Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 480 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better) DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 67 GB available space Additional Notes: originally released for Windows 7, the game can be played on Windows 10 and Windows 11 OS