Blackfire

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

Howdy Besides your work as a journalist, I've noticed that you display great teamwork and positive behavior lately , which is commendable. Although your request for a moderator position has been rejected multiple times and you were even removed from the staff, but you didn't lose hope and continued to excel in your daily activities. Your ambition is admirable, and I believe that we need more people like you on our staff. You deserve a second chance to rectify your mistake

Hello, as a coordinator of a journalist project, I must say that you are doing an excellent job. I appreciate that you accepted my invitation to rejoin the community, and your behavior has been exceptional. Your history as a global moderator indicates that you have extensive experience as a staff member, which is highly valuable. You have my full endorsement, and I am confident that you will be a valuable addition to the team. We need more members like you on the staff You have my Pro

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

Voted

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). It looks like Microsoft will let you remove some of Edge's features:https://t.co/t1HbJS6nhS.I wonder what other features will be included in that section in the future... Games? E-tree? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/9aQC146rJMApril 26, 2023 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). Not everyone is seeing it in Canary, mind, so it really is very early days for this chunk of functionality. 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. 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]

AMD has confirmed an issue that saw some users Ryzen 7000-series CPUs burn out(opens in new tab), and says a fix is on the way from its motherboard partners in the "next few days," if it's not already available. "We have root caused the issue and have already distributed a new AGESA that puts measures in place on certain power rails on AM5 motherboards to prevent the CPU from operating beyond its specification limits, including a cap on SOC voltage at 1.3V," the statement from AMD says. "None of these changes affect the ability of our Ryzen 7000 Series processors to overclock memory using EXPO or XMP kits or boost performance using PBO technology." That last bit is crucial, as the issue had previously been linked in a statement from Asus to EXPO memory profiles. These memory profiles allow for easy overclocking of memory kits to their advertised speeds, and require an increase to SoC voltage in order to run sufficiently stable. It's this SoC voltage that is likely the cause of the issues some users have since reported, including the damage seen to user Speedrookie's CPU, as seen in the picture posted to Reddit While EXPO memory profiles are considered overclocking, and thus are not covered by any warranty, AMD has said that any user affected by the issue should get in touch with its customer support. "Our customer service team is aware of the situation and prioritizing these cases," AMD says. That hopefully means any affected chips will be replaced without the user having to fork out to replace the poorly parts. . you're not affected by the issue but have any AMD Ryzen 7000-series CPU, be extra vigilant for any new motherboard BIOSes made available on your motherboard manufacturer's website. It's especially important to download that update and flash your board, just to be on the safe side. These updates should arrive imminently, including new AGESA code from AMD with the relevant fixes and checks. "We expect all of our ODM partners to release new BIOS for their AM5 boards over the next few days. We recommend all users to check their motherboard manufacturers website and update their BIOS to ensure their system has the most up-to-date software for their processor." Asus already has a new beta BIOS available for its AM5 boards, which include the fix "for Ryzen 7000X3D series" chips. Gigabyte and ASRock have new BIOSes to download, which don't make explicit mention of the fix but are likely one and the same, and we're still awaiting a newer BIOS from MSI. [https://www.pcgamer.com/amds-figured-out-why-ryzen-cpus-were-burning-up-bios-fix-already-rolling-out/]

MG plans to capture a slice of the electric microcar market with the Comet, an entry-level four-seater aimed at Generation Z. Priced from ₹798,000 (£7800) in India, the Comet is 2974mm long, 1505mm wide and 1640mm tall, making it slightly larger than the Citroën Ami (2410mm, 1390mm, 1520mm) and significantly smaller than the MG 3 (4055mm, 1729mm, 1590mm). It's powered by a permanent magnet synchronous electric motor delivering 41bhp and 110lb ft of torque through the rear wheels. Performance statistics are yet to be officially detailed. The Comet’s short wheelbase of 2010mm means its turning circle is very tight, at 4.2m. For reference, the LEVC TX (better known as London’s black cab) needs 7.62m. A prismatic 17.3kWh lithium ion battery gives the Comet range of 143 miles (230km) according to the MIDC test cycle and can be recharged at up to 3.3kW. DC fast charging isn't supported, reportedly because of the cost this would add, meaning a 0-100% recharge takes around seven hours The interior is somewhat less spartan, featuring 10.25in displays for infotainment and instrumentation with support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. Safety features include anti-lock brakes, a reversing camera, parking sensors, dual front airbags and Isofix childseat mounts. Indian order books are set to open in the coming months. The Comet isn't expected to go on sale in the UK, given its limited suite of safety equipment – especially apparent when compared with the European Union’s GSR2 safety regulations. It's available in just one trim level, but a range of optional exterior sticker packs are available, including four 'Lit' varieties. The Comet is also sold in China as the Wuling Air EV and in Egypt as the Chevrolet Spark EV. [https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/mg-launches-tiny-urban-ev-142-mile-range]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suspended election campaigning after he fell ill during a live TV interview in which the broadcast was abruptly brought to a halt. After a 20-minute break, he returned to say he had "serious stomach flu" after two days of intense campaigning. Mr Erdogan, 69, is facing his toughest election campaign so far. The main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has been chosen to run for a group of six political parties. He was among a number of opposition leaders to wish the president a speedy recovery. Health minister Fahrettin Koca said on Thursday that the president's health was fine and that he had "infectious gastroenteritis". He said he would resume his scheduled daily programmes as soon as possible. Latest polls suggest a close race for the presidency, with Mr Kilicdaroglu in with a good chance of electoral victory. The first round takes place on 14 May, with a possible presidential run-off two weeks later. President Erdogan initially cancelled three campaign appearances in central Anatolia on Wednesday, saying he had been advised to stay home on the advice of doctors. He then cancelled his scheduled events on Thursday, too, including the opening of Turkey's first nuclear power station at Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast. Instead, a pale and tired-looking Mr Erdogan joined Russia's Vladimir Putin in taking part in the inauguration online. Akkuyu's four nuclear reactors, largely owned by Russian firm Rosatom, have taken several years to build and the opening had been timed to coincide with the election. The two leaders also spoke over the phone before the ceremony, with Moscow saying they had agreed to deepen economic and trade co-operation. Several journalists were seated around President Erdogan when he fell ill during the live broadcast on Tuesday evening on pro-government channels Ulke TV and Kanal 7. After one of the interviewers asked a question, the camera showed the journalist looking increasingly alarmed before the screen went blank. Eventually Mr Erdogan returned to explain that he had earlier considered cancelling the programme. "Of course, we sometimes encounter such situations amid such busy work." Within hours of the broadcast, speculation appeared on some social media accounts outside Turkey that Mr Erdogan had suffered a heart attack. Mr Erdogan's head of communications Fahrettin Altun took to social media to "categorically reject such baseless claims" about the president's health, tweeting screen shots of the accounts spreading the allegations. "No amount of disinformation can dispute the fact that the Turkish people stand with their leader and @RTErdogan and his AK Party are set to win the May 14 elections." Mr Erdogan has been in power for 21 years and has fallen ill before during a live TV interview. Weeks after surviving a botched coup in June 2016, he was taken ill for several minutes before returning to continue the interview. The broadcaster cut to an ad break. In 2011 and 2012 he had gastro-intestinal surgery that fuelled speculation about his health. The soft-spoken challenger to Turkey's powerful Erdogan Voting in parliamentary and presidential elections takes place on 14 May. If no presidential candidate wins more than half the vote there will be a second round two weeks afterwards. Voting has already begun for the 3.3 million Turkish citizens abroad who have until 9 May to cast their vote. In Germany some 1.5 million Turkish citizens are entitled to vote in polling stations in all 16 states. There are also large Turkish communities in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. Mr Kilicdaroglu and his allies have promised to return Turkey to a parliamentary system, rolling back many of the changes brought in by Mr Erdogan, who steered Turkey to beefed-up elected presidency in 2018. .[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65409951]

police chief in the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol, who defected to Russia after they seized the city, has been killed in an apparent partisan bombing. Oleksandr Mishchenko died when an improvised device exploded at the entrance to the block where he lived. There have recently been reports of heightened Ukrainian partisan activity in the region. Melitopol's exiled mayor said the dead officer was a traitor. The city is in Zaporizhzhia province, one of four regions that Russia claimed to have annexed last year following its invasion, despite only partially controlling them. After Mariupol, Melitopol is the largest city on territory occupied by Russia since February 2022. Russia's Interior Ministry said the explosion happened at 05:20 local time (02:20 GMT). It added that two policemen were injured and hospitalised but subsequently one of them died. A video of the scene showed a crater next to the apartment building and nearby cars with broken windows. 'You can rebuild Mariupol - you can't bring back the dead' Ukraine's shadow army "The path of each collaborator is predictable: yesterday betrayal, today panic, tomorrow massacre," exiled Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on his Telegram channel about the killing. He said that before the invasion Mishchenko had been chief of the Priazovsky district police department, adding that he not only defected but also "tricked his employees into becoming traitors". It is unclear what Mr Fedorov meant by the allegation. In a later post he named the second policeman as Yuryy Akimov, Mishchenko's assistant and driver. He said police arrested a "girl standing at a bus stop" over the incident, implying that they were unable to find the real culprits. Meanwhile the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda published a video which appeared to show a man with disguised voice and features claiming responsibility for the blast. The man was seen saying: "Sorry for the loud noise this morning, we were clearing the rubbish, in other words eliminating the Judas Oleksandr Mishchenko." He went on to warn other collaborators that they faced a similar fate. Volodymyr Rogov, a Russian-installed official in Zaporizhzhia region, said Mishchenko had several times been threatened by "terrorists" for "restoring peace to the region, preventing illegal acts and creating order in his native land". Last year a number of Russian-installed officials were killed in attacks in occupied areas, including Zaporizhzhia region. One of them was Oleh Boyko, the deputy mayor of the city of Berdyansk, who died along with his wife in September in an apparent assassination. And a number of Russian-installed officials were killed in the southern city of Kherson last year by partisan activity ahead of the successful Ukrainian offensive that captured the city. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65414836]

Name of the game: HUMANKIND™ Price: 9.99 $ Link Store:Here Offer ends up after X hours:Offer ends 5 May Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7, 64-bit Processor: Intel i5 4th generation / AMD FX-8300 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 770 / AMD R9 290 DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 25 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7, 64-bit Processor: Intel i5 6th generation (or better) / AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (or better) Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (or better) / AMD RX 5500-XT (or better) DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 25 GB available space

Tracking down the service or tweak you need in Google Docs should soon be a lot simpler thanks to a new update coming to the platform. The word processor tool is introducing a new search bar that it says will make it easier for users to find exactly what they're looking for, including commonly used features such as formatting and editing tools. For example, typing in “who last viewed this document,” will bring up the Activity dashboard. As well as Google Docs, the new addition will also be added into several other Google Workspace tools, including spreadsheet software Sheets and presentation software Slides, replacing the current need to navigate to the Help menu to search all fields. Google Docs search The new search bar will be instantly available when opening up a new file, and will initially offer suggestions for common actions, such as getting a Google Doc document set up properly, inserting rows or columns in a Google Sheets file, or editing the theme in a Google Slides presentation. you begin building and editing a file, you'll be able to find recent actions and used features, or further suggestions for functions you might want to use to improve your file. "These refined tool-finding capabilities aim to help you quickly locate relevant features or functionality using your own words," a Google Workspace blog post(opens in new tab) announcing the news said. Whether you’re exploring collaboration, smart canvas, or formatting features, the enhanced tool finder will save you time and streamline your flow of work by helping you find the exact features you’re looking for much quicker." The new addition will be on by default, and won't require any IT admin changes or controls. It's begun rolling out now, and will be available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers, as well as users with personal Google Accounts. Here's our list of the best office software on the market https://www.techradar.com/news/google-docs-is-getting-its-own-search-bar-to-find-exactly-what-youre-searching

Ever wondered why AMD has never made an all-in-one chip like those it engineered for the latest consoles from Microsoft and Sony and stuffed it in a laptop? Wouldn't that pretty sweet? Well, something along those lines is actually happening, allegedly. The big rumour involves a new APU from AMD codenamed Strix Halo. If anything, it's even better than transplanting a console SoC into a PC laptop. According to Moore's Law is Dead(opens in new tab)—admittedly not always the most reliable of sources—Strix Halo will be the first PC APU with a hefty 256-bit memory bus. All previous APUs from AMD, and indeed Intel, including AMD's new Ryzen Z1 APU in the Asus RoG Ally(opens in new tab), have made do with a mere 128-bit bus and not a lot of bandwidth to share between the CPU and graphics. We've therefore often wondered why AMD didn't do a console-style APU with a 256-bit bus and therefore the potential for decent graphics performance. Strix Halo is supposedly that APU. Not only does it have that 256-bit bus, it also reportedly gets no fewer than 40 RDNA 3-plus style graphics compute units. For context, that's a little under half the number of AMD's current Radeon RX 7900 XT desktop monster. It's also more than three times the number of CUs in the Ryzen Z1 Extreme(opens in new tab), which tops out at 12 CUs. Strix Halo is also said to rock no fewer than 16 CPU cores, though it's not clear if all 16 will be full fat Zen 5 cores or if that number will be split between those and an allocation of Zen 5c low-power cores. Intriguingly, Strix Halo is said to be a chiplet design, with the graphics contained in its own slice of silicon and further dies for the CPU cores, the I/O, cache, the memory controllers and even dies for an AI engine and image processing. Overall, the result is said to be an APU that rivals Nvidia's RTX 4070 mobile graphics(opens in new tab) for outright gaming performance. If that in itself isn't revolutionary, the power consumption hopefully will be. Apparently, Strix Halo is designed to be competitive with Apple's M-series chips. And that means full performance on battery power and huge step up in battery life. AMD is also said to be working on what you might call more mainstream APU updates. Strix Point reportedly has up to 12 CPU cores and 16 graphics compute units in a monolithic die. That APU will essentially be a direct replacement for AMD's Phoenix APU, AKA the Ryzen 7040-series(opens in new tab), an up-to eight CPU coore and 12 CU APU for laptops that was announced at the beginning of this year and is just starting to appear in laptops. Strix Point and Strix Halo are both predicted to launch at some point next year these rumours are accurate, these APUs could make for decently powerful and hopefully also unusually affordable gaming laptops in slim, usable form factors. Strix Halo in particular would also arguably be the first APU with genuinely gameable integrated graphics. The possible exception is those weird Intel Kaby Lake G(opens in new tab) CPUs from back in 2018 with an AMD Vega graphics chip crammed into the CPU package. But those chips had 4GB of HBM video memory in the package, too, rather than a shared memory bus. So those things arguably weren't APUs in the same sense as an AMD Phoenix or one of the rumoured new Strix chips. And they also had pretty much zero impact, only appearing briefly in a handful of laptop and NUC designs before vanishing. Anyway, these rumoured new AMD APUs are technically very trick and could make for some laptops that really, well, move the game on. Here's hoping Moore's Law is Dead has its facts right for once. [https://www.pcgamer.com/rumoured-amd-chip-is-the-gaming-laptop-apu-weve-been-waiting-for/]

rare black fox which has been roaming the streets of a Vale of Glamorgan town for two weeks has been rescued. Black Foxes UK began receiving numerous reports of an abandoned "silver fox" in Barry on 8 April but were unable to locate its owner. Also known as silver foxes, they are not native to the wild in the UK, but domesticated and kept as exotic pets. The fox was safely captured on 24 April and has been found a home at a secure facility. RSPCA Cymru said even the most experienced fox experts have had difficulty keeping adult foxes and does not advise it. Rare black fox is spotted roaming the streets In North America, about 10% of foxes are black, with the rest a mixture of colours, such as red. Some people will breed only black litters to make totally black foxes, and there are currently no restrictions in the UK on breeding or owning them. Black Foxes UK sought help from the local authority animal warden and local cat rescue, Shua Trust Home and Sanctuary who helped with the rescue. he fox, which is male and appears to be about two years old, has been named Shadow. He was taken to Vets4Pets for treatment as there were reports of the fox having a leg injury, but he was found to be in fine health. Shadow is very confident around people and was clearly well-socialised prior to his escape, said Black Foxes UK. It said there may still be an injured fox on the loose and asked the public to stay alert.

Shares in First Republic have tumbled nearly 30% to a new record low amid renewed fears the US bank could be the next to collapse. The sell-off extended steep declines from a day earlier after the bank said customers had pulled $100bn in deposits in in March. First Republic has been under pressure since a series of US bank failures last month sparked fears of a wider crisis. Its share price has shed 95% of its value in a matter of weeks. Shares ended Wednesday trading at less than $6 apiece, compared with more than $120 at the start of March. Founded in San Francisco in 1985, the bank is known for having a big mortgage lending business and a large stable of wealthy clients, many of whom had saved more money with the bank than would be guaranteed by the government. It was seen as vulnerable to a bank run - and being squeezed by higher interest rates, as it is forced to pay more to keep deposits, while earning less on the home loans made when rates were lower. Last month it received a $30bn influx from some of America's biggest banks, a rescue plan aimed at shoring up confidence in the lender, which had seemed to calm fears. But the scale of the withdrawals revealed this week was even worse than investors had expected. Is this a banking crisis - how worried should I be? £55bn withdrawn from Credit Suisse before rescue On Wednesday, the stock swung sharply and trading was repeatedly halted amid the volatility. The bank - which was the 14th largest in America at the end of 2022 - has said it is exploring its options. US media outlets have reported it is trying to convince the banks that supported it before to buy more of its assets to help prop up the business. They also say regulators are on alert but not prepared to step in yet. "There can be no certainty that the bank will be able to take actions to strengthen our business within a time frame that is acceptable to the market or our regulators," the bank said on Monday. "There can be no certainty as to the future of the bank if we are not able to do so." Problems in the banking sector surfaced in the US earlier last month when Silicon Valley Bank, which was the country's 16th-largest lender, collapsed in the biggest failure of a US bank since 2008. That was followed two days later by the failure of New York's Signature Bank. Authorities stepped in to guarantee deposits beyond typical limits in an effort to head off further runs on bank deposits. But the move, which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has estimated cost roughly $20bn, did not immediately prevent concerns from spreading. In Europe, Swiss officials also brokered a rescue for troubled banking giant Credit Suisse, which saw 61.2bn Swiss francs ($69bn; £55.2bn) leave the bank in the first three months of the year. Central banks around the world - including the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England - have sharply increased interest rates as they try to curb inflation. The moves have hurt the values of the large portfolios of bonds bought by banks when rates were lower. Customers worried about the financial implications for Silicon Valley Bank abruptly pulled funds from their accounts, leading to its collapse. The episode also raised fears about the situation at other firms. [ https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65403307]

British attempts to evacuate its embassy staff from Sudan at the weekend delayed efforts by other countries to rescue their own citizens, senior German political sources have told the BBC. They allege British forces landed in Sudan without the Sudanese army's permission - as other European nations were hoping to airlift citizens to safety. Germany, among others, had planned to use the airfield north of Khartoum from which subsequent evacuation operations have been conducted. But, the sources say, the "unannounced British military presence" so angered the Sudanese army that they refused access to the facility. According to one source, having landed without permission, the British had to pay the army before leaving. And negotiations to use the airfield meant that German rescuers "lost at least half a day" during what was, at the time, considered to be a very small window of opportunity. The UK Ministry of Defence denied that it was responsible for any delay. In a statement, a spokesman said: "It is not accurate to suggest that Britain's efforts to evacuate embassy staff from Sudan last weekend slowed-down Germany's plans. "Operating in such complex circumstances will always come with challenges, but we have worked extremely closely with our French, US and particularly German partners who have facilitated access to the airfield throughout this week, and of course we remain grateful to the Sudanese Armed Forces." Fighting in Sudan despite ceasefire - BBC reporter 'We're grateful to be alive' - Sudan Britons return Germany has now ended its rescue mission, after airlifting more than 700 people to safety on six flights from the airfield north of Khartoum which the UK is now using for its evacuation operation. Around 200 of those taken to safety were German nationals and the rest were from 30 other nations, including the UK. The relief and elation in Berlin that its operation concluded relatively successfully has assuaged the anger of defence officials, but military leaders are still said to be "not amused". Even Defence Minister Boris Pistorius couldn't resist a barb. When asked why the UK had managed to get its embassy staff out on Saturday, while German flights only started on Sunday, Mr Pistorius said: "How shall I put it diplomatically? They ignored what the Sudanese had sti[CENSORED]ted." And, in Berlin, there are lingering traces of disdain for the UK government's initial handling of the crisis. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock may not have mentioned the UK by name but launched a thinly disguised attack on countries that, she implied, had abandoned their citizens and focused their rescue efforts only on diplomatic staff. "It was important to us that the [German] evacuation, unlike other countries, didn't just involve our diplomatic personnel but all Germans on the ground and their partners." [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65401494]

Removing @Playboy™ From Team. Reason : Inactivity more than week, lack of interests.