Blackfire

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]

Voted

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

Microsoft has seemingly got plans to give Edge users a way of turning off optional features if a fresh development in testing for the browser pans out and makes it to release. The new option under Settings – in an Optional Features panel – was spotted by Leopeva64 on Twitter, and is present in the Canary channel (the earliest test channel for Edge preview versions). Not everyone is seeing it in Canary, mind, so it really is very early days for this chunk of functionality As seen in testing, the Optional Features area declares that you can ‘Choose your own features with Microsoft Edge’ and lists the possible extras that can be enabled (or disabled). You can click to turn something on, or off, as needed, although when switching bits on, you’ll have to wait a little while for the feature to be downloaded and installed within the browser. Analysis: A lean, mean, browsing machine The idea here is to give the user the ability to streamline Microsoft Edge. With fewer features built-in, the application is obviously leaner, and the browser will run faster, so this is a very welcome choice to exercise. In recent times, we’ve been seeing quite a lot of evidence of feature creep with Edge. Microsoft appears to be pushing ahead with plenty of extra bits of functionality in an effort to one-up Chrome on the features side of the equation, leading us to be concerned about how performance might be affected in the longer term. Of course, not everyone wants any given new feature – so it’ll be great to have the ability to swerve any additions if needed. Assuming that this Optional Features panel makes it past testing, that is. It’s still in the very earliest stages of experimentation as noted, so we best not get carried away with the idea. Though hopefully testers will get carried away in feeding back some big thumbs-ups to Microsoft here. With Chrome being a pretty crammed browser these days in terms of options – and still carrying the perception of being bloated, for sure, even if Google has worked on making the app more streamlined in recent times, certainly for memory usage – this could be a key change for Microsoft to give Edge a compelling advantage. [ https://www.techradar.com/news/Microsoft-Edge-looks-set-to-solve-Chrome’s-biggest-problem-bloat]

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is having a rough start on PC. As outlined in my review, performance is choppy in the largest areas of the game and even those hoping to flex their top-of-the-line GPUs are lucky to get a consistent 60 fps. A patch issued pre-release has helped(opens in new tab) with egregious problems like broken cutscene audio, but larger issues remain, like its inability to utilize the full power of your hardware and its unending hunger for VRAM. The result on launch day? A "Mostly Negative"(opens in new tab) user rating on Steam, with reviews almost exclusively citing unacceptable performance. In response to the PC version backlash, EA issued a half-apology, half-explanatory tweet outlining what it believes to be a significant reason behind Jedi: Survivor's performance: PC players running Windows 10 on high-end CPUs designed for Windows 11, and powerful GPUs coupled with less powerful CPUs. For example, players using cutting-edge, multi-threaded chipsets designed for Windows 11 were encountering problems on Windows 10, or high-end GPUs coupled with lower-performing CPUs also saw unexpected frame loss," the tweet reads. "Rest assured we are working to address these cases quickly." For example, players using cutting-edge, multi-threaded chipsets designed for Windows 11 were encountering problems on Windows 10, or high-end GPUs coupled with lower-performing CPUs also saw unexpected frame loss," the tweet reads. "Rest assured we are working to address these cases quickly." Though the statement does go on to apologize to "any of our players experiencing these issues," some are detecting an accusatory tone in the message, as if EA is acknowledging poor performance while also hand-waving it as a problem for only a "percentage" of PC players with powerful hardware. "'You're using Windows 10 and an i9 10900k? No wonder our game runs at 30fps on your PC with a 4090.' Oh ok… I guess I need to upgrade then?" wrote YouTuber Nick930 in response. The mention of players using Windows 10 on newer CPUs is a little strange, too. It's not an uncommon practice as far as I'm aware, because there isn't usually much of a downside. In a recent Windows 10 vs Windows 11 showdown, PCWorld found little to no difference in everyday performance when using Windows 10 on Windows 11-optimized Intel chips. Apparently Jedi: Survivor is an outlier. No matter the cited causes, it's hard to believe that EA has been blindsided by Jedi: Survivor's crappy performance. Just about any PC configuration you throw at it is noticeably choppy, and considering three out of four Steam users are still rocking Windows 10, you'd think this problem was very much foreseeable. "While there is no single, comprehensive solution for PC performance, the team has been working on fixes we believe will improve performance across a spectrum of configurations," the statement continues. EA notes that "each patch requires significant testing to ensure we don't introduce new problems." In the meantime, Jedi: Survivor is a great game bruised by a bad framerate. [https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-kinda-sorta-apologizes-for-poor-star-wars-jedi-survivor-performance-cites-high-end-hardware-as-a-problem/]

Fifteen-year-old winger Lamine Yamal became Barcelona's youngest-ever player as they beat 10-man Real Betis to move 11 points clear at the top of La Liga. The academy product, who turns 16 in July, was brought on in the 84th minute to replace Gavi. At 15 years and 290 days, Yamal is the fifth-youngest player to appear in the competition. Goals from Andreas Christensen, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and a Guido Rodríguez own goal secured the win. 'Dreams of Messi & Barcelona clash with reality' - Balague Mallorca youngster Luka Romero is the youngest player to feature in La Liga when he came on against Real Madrid in 2020, aged 15 years and 219 days. Yamal, who Barca boss Xavi Hernandez called "fearless", was included him in the squad for the first time against Atletico Madrid last Sunday. Betis winger Joaquin, 41, who also featured at the Nou Camp on Saturday, had already made 215 La Liga appearances when Yamal was born. Barca took the lead when Christensen got on the end of Raphinha's inswinging cross to head home his first goal for the club from six yards out. Betis substitute Edgar Gonzalez, who had been brought on for the injured Luiz Felipe, was sent off in the 33rd minute after collecting two yellow cards in quick succession. Lewandowski scored from a Jules Kounde cross three minutes later to increase the hosts' lead. Raphinha added a third before half-time, following a lengthy video assistant referee check after the goal was initially ruled out for offside. Then in the 82nd minute, Ansu Fati's cross was turned into his own net by Betis defender Rodríguez to seal the result. [https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65438402]

Ya Ya the panda arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago as a fluffy gesture of China's friendship with America. But she returned home Thursday the subject of online nationalistic fervor. News of her touching down in Shanghai was welcomed by Chinese social media users and some animal welfare activists who have been vocal in their concerns about Ya Ya’s care and condition at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, as well as her symbolic role in world affairs. The zoo has denied mistreating the 190-pound panda, but her return trip to China marked the culmination of an intense online campaign that has mirrored the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing. Ya Ya’s trip was closely followed online, and people shared screenshots tracking the animal’s flight path into Shanghai. Vanessa Mai, a 22-year-old English student from Guangdong who told NBC News she had signed up to a campaign to save Ya Ya, said the panda was “getting a lot of exposure now and she will definitely be better off in China.” Some animal welfare groups have questioned her condition and complained that her fur looks mangy and she looks thin. They have also blamed the zoo for the death in February of Ya Ya’s mate, Le Le — both contentions denied by the zoo as well as Chinese officials. An image from Chinese broadcaster Phoenix News was also po[CENSORED]r among Chinese social media users. It shows the bear relieving herself before the trip — and leaving muck as an apparent gift for keepers. For decades, China deployed the iconic black-and-white animals in the service of so-called panda diplomacy. But this four-legged soft-power play by Beijing does not come free for recipient nations. “They rent pandas for $1 million a year, usually on 10-year contracts,” said Stanley Rosen, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California’s U.S.-China Institute. “If a cub is born, that’s another $400,000 given back to China, all of which is put into conservation efforts.” Despite the effort and money that keeping Ya Ya cost the zoo, and assurances from Chinese officials that she was in fact being treated properly, some Chinese social media users and animal rights groups around the world continued to raise concerns about her welfare. “Refuse the meaningless panda diplomacy,” one person wrote on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo, where over 400 million users have responded to the #Yaya topic. “Don’t let them be uprooted from their homeland again,” another wrote. Even the hawkish state-run Global Times tabloid, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, has weighed in — linking the panda to Chinese-American relations, which have hit a low point amid tensions over Taiwan, the U.S. downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon and Beijing's growing assertiveness internationally. “If this had not happened during a period when Washington is intensifying its containment and suppression of China, this matter would not have caused such a stir,” it said in an editorial. “Whether it’s a corn-milling plant, a crane, or an unidentified flying object, anything with a ‘China’ tag could be seen as a ‘threat’ by the U.S.” Ya Ya, who is 22, arrived in Tennessee on loan from China in 2003, which China and the U.S. maintained much more cordial relations. [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/panda-yaya-china-memphis-zoo-diplomacy-washington-beijing-geopolitics-rcna81566]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's powerful sister has warned that a recent US-South Korean deal will lead to a "more serious danger". Kim Yo-jong said North Korea's nuclear deterrent "should be brought to further perfection", state media reported. The US agreed to deploy nuclear-armed submarines to South Korea and involve Seoul in its nuclear planning to counter nuclear threats from the North. In return, South Korea agreed to not develop its own nuclear weapons. The deal - known as the Washington Declaration - was announced this week during President Joe Biden's talks with his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol's in the American capital . Referring to the agreement, Ms Kim said: "The more the enemies are dead set on staging nuclear war exercises, and the more nuclear assets they deploy in the vicinity of the Korean peninsula, the stronger the exercise of our right to self-defence will become in direct proportion to them." She warned that the move would "only result in making peace and security of North-East Asia and the world be exposed to more serious danger". Ms Kim holds a senior position in the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and is reported to have influence on her brother. President Biden hailed the deal, saying it would strengthen the allies' co-operation in deterring a North Korean attack. President Yoon said the agreement marked an "unprecedented" commitment by the US to deter attacks and protect allies by using nuclear weapons. China warned against "deliberately stirring up tensions, provoking confrontation and playing up threats". Under the deal, the US will make its defence commitments more visible by sending a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in 40 years, along with other assets, including nuclear-capable bombers. The two sides will also develop a Nuclear Consultative Group to discuss planning issues. Politicians in Seoul have long been pushing Washington to involve them more in planning for how and when to use nuclear weapons against North Korea. Concern has been rising on both sides about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. Pyongyang is developing tactical nuclear weapons that can target South Korea, and refining its long-range weapons that can reach the US mainland. The US already has a treaty obligation to defend South Korea, and has previously pledged to use nuclear weapons if necessary. But some in South Korea have started to doubt that commitment and call for the country to pursue its own nuclear programme [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65433286]

Police in Texas say they believe a man killed five of his neighbours after an argument about him practice shooting with a semi-automatic weapon nearby. The victims were all from Honduras, and included an eight-year-old child. The incident occurred late on Friday night in the small town of Cleveland, San Jacinto County, Texas. Among those killed were two women who were found lying on top of two surviving children, according to local Sheriff Greg Capers. "In my opinion, they were actually trying to take care of the babies and keep them alive," Capers told a local station KTRK. He added that all the victims had been shot "from the neck up, almost execution style, basically in the head". The suspect, believed to be Mexican, has been named as Francisco Oropez. He is still on the run and thought to be armed. Investigators believe that the victims had asked Oropez, who it is thought had been drinking, to stop shooting as they were trying to put a baby to sleep. According to Sheriff Capers, the man replied, "I'll shoot out in my front yard, do what I want to in my own residence." After both parties returned to their houses, the gunman "topped off his magazine, and walked down his driveway... into the people's house and started shooting," Capers said. A total of 10 people were at the property at the time. The adults were declared dead at the scene, and the eight-year-old died at a hospital. Although it is thought the shooter has left the county, the sheriff's office continued to urge residents to stay at home. Neighbour Veronica Pineda said she heard the shooting, but that the sound of gunfire was a regular occurrence: "It's normal, in this neighbourhood they're always shooting. They're always calling the cops and there's nothing done for that. "So yesterday I heard the shooting but I thought it was, like, a normal day. I never thought this was happening." The incident came days after nine people were injured at a shooting during teenagers' party in western Texas. Two weeks ago four young people were shot dead during a 16th birthday party in Alabama. Firearm incidents are the top cause of death for US children and teenagers, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65437185

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Tottenham striker Harry Kane said he held an "honest conversation" with chairman Daniel Levy on Monday to try to revive the club's season. Kane and some other senior Spurs players met with Levy 24 hours after their 6-1 thrashing at Newcastle. Interim boss Cristian Stellini was sacked later that day and replaced with first-team coach Ryan Mason. "I think it was important [for Levy] to understand where the players' heads were at in that moment," said Kane. "It was an honest conversation of where everyone is at and what we need to try to do to give us the best possible chance to finish the season with something Kane added that he felt the Newcastle result had been "building up" since Tottenham conceded two late goals in a 3-3 draw against Southampton last month, a result that led to the departure of previous manager Antonio Conte. The north London club fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Manchester United in Mason's first game back in charge on Thursday to stay fifth in the table, six points outside the top four. "We're still fighting for fourth place but if it's not fourth, we'll try to finish fifth or sixth - as high up as we can," added Kane. "In this league, it's so competitive, you can easily end up eighth or ninth if you're not careful. That's what it was - to give us the best chance and I'm glad we reacted like that." Kane would not comment on speculation about his future despite Manchester United fans singing they would "see him in June" during Thursday's match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kane, who was the subject of interest from Manchester City in 2021, is about to enter the final 12 months of his Spurs contract and has been linked with a summer move to Old Trafford. "I heard what they were saying but I'm just focused on this team and trying to finish strongly," he said. 'Kane one of the best in the world' Meanwhile, interim boss Mason has labelled Kane "one of the best and most intelligent players in the world". The 29-year-old is the club's all-time top scorer with 274 goals in 430 appearances having moved ahead of Jimmy Greaves in February. He also overtook Wayne Rooney to become England's all-time top scorer with his 54th international goal against Italy last month. "This country probably doesn't appreciate how good Kane is from a footballer point of view. He's incredible," said Mason, who was also a team-mate of Kane during his playing days. "Watching him live, this country should appreciate we've got a real special talent. We're talking about one of the best, most intelligent players in the world." https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65424213

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