Legends ♛

President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Turkey's economy if Turkey goes "off limits" after his decision to pull US forces out of north-eastern Syria. In a series of tweets, Mr Trump defended his move that could open the way for Turkey to launch an attack on Kurdish fighters across the border. The withdrawal was heavily criticised even by Mr Trump's Republican allies. Kurdish forces were key US allies in defeating the Islamic State in Syria. Mr Trump's surprise move - described by the main Kurdish-led group as a "stab in the back" - goes against the advice of senior officials in the Pentagon and state department. Turkey v Syria's Kurds explained Turkey 'ready to set up Syria safe zone' Why the battle for northern Syria matters Critics say the withdrawal could facilitate an IS resurgence and leave Kurdish forces at risk of being attacked by Turkey, which regards them as terrorists. But Mr Trump warned Turkey not to take advantage of his decision, saying he could "destroy and obliterate" its economy. Last year, the US raised tariffs on some Turkish products and imposed sanctions on top officials as relations between the two Nato countries worsened over a number of issues. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his aim is to combat Kurdish fighters in the border area and set up a "safe zone" for up to two million of the more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey. In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said "the Department of Defense made clear to Turkey - as did the president - that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria". Earlier, Mr Trump said it was time "to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal" and that "Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out". In the place of clarity we only have President Trump's tweets and statements which appear to contradict him from both the state department and the Pentagon. This morning he appeared to signal the start of a US troop pullout from Syria and seemed to be washing his hands of the country, implicitly giving a green light for a major Turkish incursion. Now both the state department and the Pentagon say there is no major shift in US policy; that only a handful of US troops have been pulled back for their own safety, fearing some Turkish move. And they insist that this administration, including the president, stands firmly against any further Turkish move across the border. So did the President act on a Twitter whim in the wake of his phone call with Turkey's President Erdogan, only to be appraised of the likely consequences afterwards by officials? This is an object lesson in how dysfunctional US foreign policy-making has become. 'Disaster in the making' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, was among those who criticised the decision. He said a "precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran and the Assad regime". Lindsey Graham, another Republican senator and a close ally of the president, called the move a "disaster in the making", and said he would introduce a Senate resolution opposing the decision and calling for it to be reversed. Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN, said the Kurds "were instrumental in our successful fight against" IS in Syria and that "leaving them to die [was] a big mistake". In other reaction: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president "must reverse this dangerous decision", described by her as "reckless" and "misguided" Kino Gabriel, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - which occupy former IS territory in north-eastern Syria - told Arabic TV station al-Hadath that the move "was a surprise and we can say that it is a stab in the back for the SDF" Brett McGurk, former US special presidential envoy for the coalition against IS, said the announcement demonstrated a "complete lack of understanding of anything happening on the ground" UN humanitarian chief in Syria Panos Moumtzis said aid workers were "preparing for the worst" if fighting breaks out in north-eastern Syria Speaking to reporters, a senior state department official said the number of personnel being pulled back from the border area was "very small", and that they had been moved a "very short distance". Last December, Donald Trump's announcement of a "full" and "rapid" withdrawal of US forces from Syria set off a firestorm of criticism that culminated in the resignation of Defence Secretary James Mattis. Mr Trump eventually backed down, but his opponents appear to have secured only a temporary victory. Like last time, Mr Trump made Sunday night's withdrawal announcement after a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Unlike last time, there are fewer advisers within the White House positioned to dissuade the president. And also unlike last time, Mr Trump is currently in the middle of a congressional impeachment inquiry that could very well leave him fighting to stay in office during a Senate trial. If that happens, he'll need all the Republican friends he can get. This move, however, has even Senate loyalists like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell calling the president's judgement into question. The president is taking a big gamble at a delicate time. For whatever reason, he has decided the risk is worth it. Turkey's plans On Sunday, Mr Erdogan's office said he and President Trump had spoken on the phone about Turkey's plan to set up a "safe zone" in north-eastern Syria, and that the 20-mile (32km) zone was needed to combat "terrorists". Turkey considers the Kurdish YPG militia - the dominant force in the SDF alliance - an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades. In his call with Mr Trump, President Erdogan also expressed his "frustration over the US military and security bureaucracy's failure" to implement an agreement reached in August about the zone, his office said. The White House also said Turkey would take over responsibility for IS fighters captured by Kurdish forces. More than 12,000 suspected IS members are in Kurdish-controlled camps south of Turkey's planned "safe zone", and at least 4,000 of them are foreign nationals.

This topic will be loced because member of CSBD did not respect rules please next time post model[ its down there] and read rules of section Good luck! Model Your Nickname: Your Problem: Screenshot:

What is it? The Mercedes-Benz A250e EQ Power hatchback is one of three new plug-in hybrid models launched by the German firm in its compact class line-up. It's joined by the roomier B250e and significantly larger A250e saloon, both of which run the same driveline. This is the turbocharged 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine from the A200 in combination with an electric motor and an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The overall system output is 215bhp and 332lb ft. The big attraction, of course, is that the front-wheel-drive A250e allows you to travel for extended distances purely on electric power at speeds of up to 87mph. With a relatively large 15.6kWh battery from sister company Deutsche Accumotive mounted underneath the rear seat, the A250e achieves an electric-only range of up to 42 miles on the WLTP test cycle. That's 11 miles more than Volkswagen claims for the outgoing Golf GTE, which uses a smaller 8.7kWh battery. It also serves to provide the A250e with a theoretical combined 201mpg and average CO2 emissions of 33g/km, making it highly attractive for company car buyers. Another thing: to package the battery as low down as possible, the exhaust system now ends in the centre of the car, under the floor, instead of at the rear, while the fuel tank has been moved backwards within a torsion beam rear suspension and reduced in size to 44 litres What's it like? Step into the A250e and there's immediately a lot to like. The interior is largely unchanged from petrol and diesel-engined versions of the A-Class hatchback, with high-quality materials, outstanding high-definition digital instruments and infotainment functions and switchgear that works with a wonderfully precise feel The stylish interior offers the same amount of room front and rear as other A-Class variants. However, the relocation of the fuel tank and packaging of the power electronics system at the rear has reduced the size of the boot by 70 litres. However, despite the raised floor, there's still 300 litres of luggage capacity. In anything but electric-only mode, the initial step-off is handled by the motor before the engine cuts in. Sadly, though, we never get to explore the car’s full performance potential; in light rain, it was unable to handle light-to-moderate throttle loads without disturbing wheelspin and axle tramp. The trouble lies with the A250e’s inability to place its notinconsiderable reserves to the road cleanly in damp conditions in anything but battery hold mode, in which the sole power source is the petrol engine. In both electric mode and hybrid mode with electric boosting qualities to enhance performance, the torque developed by the motor immediately overwhelms the efforts of the electronic traction and stability control systems. The result, even with gentle tip-in, is an unruly spinning of the front wheels accompanied by old-fashioned wheel hop on wet roads at typical city speeds. The lack of control is most evident when accelerating away from standstill and when accelerating with moderate steering wheel lock, as at the exit of a roundabout. In extreme cases, it leads to disruptive understeer. It's a little more resolved after you build some momentum out on the open road. However, a sharp application of the throttle can still leave it scrambling for traction when the road is less than dry. It can be quite disturbing during cornering at lower speeds. Should I buy one? Mercedes acknowledges the fundamental traction problem with the A250e hatchback, which it says is limited to certain frictional factors on damp road surfaces. It says it is already creating a new software package that is planned for introduction before deliveries of customer A250es begin later this year, and it has invited Autocar to sample the revised model. Watch this space. Mercedes-Benz A-Class A250e EQ Power specification Where Frankfurt, Germany Price £32,000 On sale October Engine 4cyls in line, 1332cc, turbo, petrol, plus electric motor Power 215bhp Torque 332lb ft Gearbox 8-spd dual-clutch auto Kerb weight 1680kg Top speed 146mph 0-62mph 6.6sec Fuel economy 201mpg CO2 33g/km

Joan Johnson will be remembered for helping millions of African Americans reclaim their cultural identity. Together with her husband she co-founded Johnson Products, one of America's most successful black-owned businesses, and the first to be listed on the American Stock Exchange. The company developed many innovative products to help members of the black community look after their hair. But the real root of the company's success was in the way it recognised the political power of hair and used its platform to champion what made African Americans different. "I look at my mother as a pioneer," said Joan Johnson's son Eric in a statement after her death last week aged 89. "Because of her, people have been able to accomplish things they maybe didn't think they could." Joan Betty Henderson was born in Chicago in 1929, though little is known about her upbringing. At the age of 21 she married her high school sweetheart, George Johnson, a former salesman who worked as a chemist for a beauty products company. It was the era of segregation, and beauty standards in America were set according to the physical attributes of white people. "The politics of respectability were the rule of the day," said Renée Richardson Gosline, a senior lecturer of management science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Many African Americans felt the pressure to straighten their naturally curly hair just to fit in among their white contemporaries. Thriving among their contemporaries was an even greater challenge. Some straightening products were available, but not to the mainstream consumer, and George saw an opportunity. In 1954, with a $250 loan, he teamed up with a barbershop owner to create a hair straightener for black men. The product, Ultra Wave Hair Culture, was trialled at the shop. With the barbershop so busy, George was left to look after both the manufacturing and the sales sides, and their partnership eventually splintered. He and his wife later teamed up and together they went on to found Johnson Products. Success came almost immediately. Joan Johnson worked behind the scenes as the company's treasurer, dealing with orders, accounts and logistics, and was an unsung hero in its success. During her first year, they more than quadrupled sales to $75,000. As business continued to boom, the couple were forced to move warehouses several times to cope with the company's newfound growth. Six stories about black women's hair There were many barriers along the way. One of their buildings - based in a predominantly white neighbourhood of Chicago - had its windows frequently smashed, and was once firebombed. An electrical fire also burned down a production plant in 1964, destroying the company's inventory and killing an employee. Despite setbacks, the couple achieved $1m in annual sales by 1961. They also released a new shampoo, a cream rinse, and Ultra Sheen - a women's hair straightening product that made the process cheaper and less time consuming. But as the civil rights and Black Power movements gained strength throughout the 1960s, notions of beauty - not just politics - began to change, and many African Americans turned away from straighteners. Instead, activists like Angela Davis sported natural afros, as a sign of rebellion against the white status quo and pride in African American identity. In response, Johnson Products launched Afro Sheen, a product to maintain afros, not change them. The firm also tapped into this historical watershed moment through an advertising campaign championing the natural beauty of African Americans. By the end of the 1960s, Johnson Products dominated the black hair-care market during the decade, and made $10m in annual sales. The company's message "was much deeper than beauty", said Renée Richardson Gosline, the MIT lecturer. "It was a statement about being proud of who you are as a black person, which was relatively revolutionary at the time." As the company's national profile grew, so did interest from investors, and in 1971 Joan Johnson oversaw the company's public listing on the American Stock Exchange, the third largest exchange in the US. The company also weathered an economic recession three years later, as well as a government order to print warnings on any products containing lye. Their success attracted industry giants like Revlon into the market, as other companies realised the potential buying power of a community they had previously overlooked. Competition grew, and so did segmentation within black hair styles as African Americans sought to express their individual identities Over time Johnson Products gained a reputation for lagging behind market trends, and in its waning years the company was riddled with family feuds. In 1989, after eight straight years of losses, Johnson divorced her husband, took control of the company and was appointed as chairman.

he body of Robert Mugabe has arrived back in Zimbabwe after a private flight from Singapore, where he died last week aged 95. Mr Mugabe was Zimbabwe's first leader after the country became independent in 1980. He held on to power for almost four decades before being ousted in a coup in 2017. He will be buried on Sunday after a state funeral on Saturday. However, his final resting place remains in doubt. Africa Live: Updates on this and other stories Why I feared Mugabe but also revered him From liberator to tyrant In pictures: The life of Robert Mugabe The specially chartered flight carrying Mr Mugabe's body landed at about 13:30 GMT. He had been receiving hospital treatment in Singapore. A convoy of vehicles with "RG Mugabe" number plates was seen next to the runway and a crowd of people, some wearing the former president's image on T-shirts, awaited the arrival of the plane. Mr Mugabe's wife Grace was also on the flight, the ex-president's nephew, Leo Mugabe, said. The body will be taken to the family home known as the "Blue Roof" in Harare. What are the funeral plans? On Thursday and Friday, Mr Mugabe is due to lie in state at Rufaro Stadium, in Mbare township in Harare, where he was sworn in as Zimbabwe's first prime minister after independence from the UK in 1980. His official state funeral will take place on Saturday at the 60,000-seat National Sports Stadium in Harare. But the BBC's Shingai Nyoka in Harare says the former strongman remains as controversial in death as he was in life. The government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared him a "national hero" for his role in helping Zimbabwe gain independence, and a grave has been reserved at Heroes' Acre, a shrine in Harare for all those who fought against colonial rule. But reports suggest Mr Mugabe did not want those who ousted him from power to preside over his funeral and so he might instead be buried at his rural home in a private event.

Final Fantasy 7 is known for its epic scope and groundbreaking cutscenes, but it was just as notable for its zany sense of humor and oddball touches. The upcoming remake has shown plenty of the grandiose scale and sky-high production values, but the latest trailer makes sure we know that it’s still pretty weird too. The new trailer out of the Tokyo Game Show provides off lots of story detail, including the debut of the villainous Turks. But if you're watching closely, it also confirms that the squatting mini-game is back at 1:34. It comes as part of a montage of gameplay including Cloud throwing darts and Tifa doing chin-ups, and it looks as if the timing-based gameplay aspect has been fleshed out a bit more to boot. The squatting mini-game became something of a joke throughout the FF7 spin-offs, and even made an appearance in Crisis Core. Squatting and chin-ups aren't the only strange touches coming back for the remake. The lecherous Don Corneo is also spotted in the new trailer. The original implied that the character frequents a brothel and abuses girls, so it's been an open question how Square Enix would handle him in the remake. By all appearances he looks to be his same old creepy self. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming on March 3, 2020 on two Blu-ray discs. Square Enix is producing a $330 collector's edition. with a Steelbook case, soundtrack, art book, and Cloud Strife statue from Play Arts.

Russia's ruling United Russia party has suffered major losses in Sunday's election to the Moscow city parliament, nearly complete results show. The party lost nearly a third of the seats in the 45-member parliament, but remains on course to retain its majority with about 26 seats. With most opposition candidates disqualified, the Communists, independents and others gained seats. The exclusion of the opposition candidates triggered mass protests. The woman driving Russia's opposition protests Moscow crackdown in pictures Thousands of people have been detained, and riot police have been accused of a brutal crackdown on demonstrators. What's the latest from Moscow? With nearly all the results in, United Russia is predicted to get 26 seats in the city parliament (Mosgorduma). The party's brand has become so toxic lately that all its members ran as independents, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow reports. In a major upset, the party's leader in the Russian capital, Andrei Metelsky, was not re-elected. The Communist Party is expected to get 13 seats, while the liberal Yabloko party and left-leaning Just Russia will each have three seats. Opposition leader Alexei Navalny promoted a strategy of "smart voting" after his own allies were all barred from running in this election. Mr Navalny's team exposed what they called "undercover" United Russia candidates, and campaigned for those best placed to defeat them. He described the result as "fantastic". State media are mostly presenting the results in Moscow as a win for the governing party in any case, our correspondent says. But the Kremlin will certainly be studying the real picture, and what it says about the public mood in the Russian capital, she adds. Turnout in Sunday's election was about 22%. What about the rest of Russia? Unlike Moscow, Kremlin-backed candidates dominated in other local and regional elections held across the country on 8 September. They look set to win in all 16 regions that were electing their governors. United Russia was formed in 2001 to support President Vladimir Putin, whose ratings have fallen in recent months. Commenting on the overall election results, Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "On the whole, United Russia's campaign across the country was very, very successful. "In some places, it got more seats, in others - fewer. Across the country, the party showed its political leadership." When asked whether the loss of seats in Moscow was due to the protest vote, Mr Peskov said: "The result shows the opposite - that all the theories of political pundits about a protest vote were not confirmed."

Following months of speculation, Nintendo has confirmed that Overwatch is coming to Nintendo Switch. The company made the announcement as part of its Nintendo Direct presentation. Overwatch: Legendary Edition releases for Nintendo Switch on October 15. It costs $40 USD, comes with three months of Nintendo Switch Online, and is currently available for pre-order at Best Buy. It's important to note that the game is only available as a digital download, and there won't be any physical game card included. Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan said in 2017 that porting the game to the Nintendo Switch would be challenging, but noted that the studio was open to the possibility. Then last year Blizzard senior producer Pete Stilwell said the work on Diablo 3 had helped familiarize the studio with the platform. More recently the rumors have gained steam thanks to a series of leaks. First an Overwatch-themed Switch case appeared briefly on Amazon, which suggested a port incoming. Most recently a leak that turned out to be legitimate for Plants vs. Zombies suggested that other games were real too, and Overwatch was on that list.

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong are appealing to President Donald Trump for help as they march near the US consulate general in the city. Some are carrying banners reading, "President Trump, please save Hong Kong" and "Make Hong Kong great again". The protests, now in their 14th straight week, have continued despite Hong Kong's leadership finally meeting one of the protesters' key demands. China has consistently warned other countries not to interfere. It says the situation in Hong Kong, a former British colony handed back to China in 1997, is purely its own internal affair. Sunday's crowd waved US flags and chanted pleas for the US to "liberate" Hong Kong from China. They are asking the US to pass a proposed "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act", which Democratic Senators are pushing for consideration next week. Hong Kong protests explained in 100 and 500 words The background you need on the Hong Kong protests The law would require the US to certify Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy on an annual basis to justify its special trade status. It could also expose Chinese officials to US sanctions if they were found responsible for suppressing Hong Kong's freedoms. Protesters sang the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, and a new rallying cry of "five demands, not one less" - after one of their long-standing conditions for ending demonstrations was met earlier this week. What do protesters want? The protests first erupted over a controversial extradition law which would have allowed Hong Kongers to be extradited to mainland China - where a different legal system applies. Mass protests involving hundreds of thousands of people demanded that the plan be abandoned. It was initially suspended in June, and then finally dropped earlier this week. The twists and turns in Hong Kong so far Seven ways China's media took on HK protests In the meantime, the protesters' demands had spiralled into calls for a much wider set of reforms. Four of their demands remain unmet: Withdrawal of the "riot" description used about the protests by the authorities Amnesty for all arrested protesters An independent inquiry into alleged police brutality Universal suffrage for the elections of the chief executive and Legislative Council, Hong Kong's parliament Some also want Hong Kong's embattled political leader, Carrie Lam, to resign, accusing her of being controlled by the mainland government in Beijing. But the protests have sometimes turned violent. On Saturday, some protesters attempted to gain access to the international airport, the site of previous demonstrations. But police only allowed airline passengers with a ticket to board trains and buses bound for the terminal. By Saturday night, the situation had destabilised into running clashes between protesters and police, with tear gas being fired in the city - a common sight during the weeks of demonstrations. Is the US likely to get involved? The appeal for US intervention comes despite President Donald Trump's characterisation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as "a great leader who very much has the respect of his people". "I have zero doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it," Mr Trump tweeted in mid-August. On Saturday, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said China should show "restraint". Instead of a crackdown, he urged Chinese authorities to "to sit down and talk with the protesters and resolve the differences." For its part, China has not only warned foreign powers not to interfere, but has outright accused the US and Britain of encouraging the protests. The US State Department has issued a travel advisory for Americans visiting Hong Kong, warning that US citizens and diplomatic staff "have been subject to a People's Republic of China propaganda campaign falsely accusing the United States of fomenting unrest in Hong Kong."

hermaltake today launched the RGB version of the ToughRAM it had previously announced at Computex. These 2x 8GB kits include a DDR4-3600 CAS 18, a DDR4-3200 CAS 16 and a DDR4-3000 CAS 16 part number. Other changes include removing lengthy tRCD/tRP/tRAS from published memory specifications, though we wouldn’t be surprised if specs for the new part numbers correspond to those published in its preview. On the positive side, Thermaltake’s RGB Ecosystem remains, featuring the firm’s RGB Plus software with AI Voice Control, Alexa compatibility and Razer Chroma synchronization. Those not using any of Thermaltake’s other RGB hardware will be keen to know that it also works with various motherboard utilities, though this control requires the use of a motherboard’s ARGB header. Currently available in Europe and Australia, the DDR4-3600 kit costs 159€/$209 (AUD), the DDR4-3200 129€/$169 and the DDR4-3000 kit 119€/$159. Thermaltake did not respond to our inquiry regarding U.S. pricing and availability.

Firefox 69 has only just landed, but you can already get a sneak peek of Firefox 70 and its new features by downloading the newly released beta. Bear in mind that this isn't a stable version, so may still have a few bugs and some elements may change before the final release. One of the most striking differences between Firefox 69 and Firefox 70 is the improved dark mode. Now, when your operating system is set to dark mode, all of Firefox's internal pages will reflect that fact, including preferences and privacy settings. Check out our guide to the best browsers Find out how to activate dark mode in Chrome The best free password manager This is also the first time we've seen the new, simplified Firefox logo on our desktops. The new branding replaces the iconic fox and globe with a stylized orange and purple swirl. Confused? Mozilla has created a video explaining how the new design came to be:

According to the Italian Metal Workers Unions, FCA is investing over $1Billion on infrastructure and plants across Italy. FCA’s plan starts at their Pomigliano plant near Naples where they will focus on the production o Production of the hybrid Fiat Panda is expected to start in early 2020 with the Tonla to follow in 2021. Alfa’s Tonale SUV will slate below the current Stelvio SUV and offer customers a premium green compact SUV. When Alfa Romeo introduced the Tonale SUV at the Frankfurt Autoshow, the company explained that it would be a crucial part of their future electric vehicle range. Alfa wants the Tonale to retain great driving dynamics of the Stelvio while using an electric drivetrain. With the growing capacity to build electric and hybrid SUVs, we’d expect some of FCA’s other product offerings to see some build time at Pomigliano. With the gr In addition to the huge investment at Pomigliano, FCA is investing $700 million in the Mirafiori plant in Turin. This investment will allow FCA to prepare for the upcoming 2020 electric Fiat 500. Thanks to this large investment from FCA, Italy will soon produce a huge number of electrified vehicles. This plan will allow FCA to move their brands into the future of car tech while offering consumers a more eco-friendly vehicle.

Im really rich” is what Donald Trump declared as he announced his intention to run for president back in June. He then proceeded to bring out a document summarising where his $8.7bn net worth comes from, a figure, incidentally, that’s at odds with Forbes’ estimate of his wealth. The business biweekly peg his fortune at $4.5bn. Although we may never know who’s actually on the money when it comes to the exact figure. Either way, it’s a lot of cold hard cash and Trump isn’t shy about spending (or speaking about) it. Here’s how the divisive billionaire and presidential candidate splashes it. TRUMP TOWER The 68-storey skyscraper on Fifth Avenue is Trump’s pride and joy. It’s where he announced his intention to run for the Republican nomination. He sleeps in the penthouse, which has a gold and diamond door, indoor fountain and painted ceiling, all very baroque. It cost approximately $300m to build and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo just purchased a slice for $18.5m. THE MAR-A-LAGO ESTATE Bought in 1985 for just $10m, the Mar-A-Lago mansion in Palm Beach is expansive, housing 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms and 3 bomb shelters, just in case. The magnate lived there for 10 years before converting it into an exclusive private club. SEVEN SPRINGS MANSION Another property bought relatively cheaply two decades ago, by today’s prices that is. Trump paid $7.5m for this Bedford, NY, 213-acre property and initially wanted to develop it into a golf course. Instead, the 39,000 square-foot mansion has long been the family’s summer home. TRUMP WINERY He’s made his billions in property and now it’s not hard to see why. Trump has a noted ability to purchase real estate for a fraction of the actual worth, his winery in Charlottesville, Virginia being another prime example. The land cost just $3.6m, an estimated 25% of it’s actual worth, and the acquisition and development was overseen by Trump Jr., Eric. It’s now an award-winning vineyard with 10 Gold Standards. BOEING 757 A billionaire can’t ever be expected to travel commercial. Trump hits the skies in a $100m private jet with an interior befitting of the price tag and the man himself. Inside a lounge, bedroom and bathroom are all decked out in questionable, but signatory, gold finishes and embossed Trump family crests. A SIKORSKY S-76 CHOPPER Why have just a jet when you can have a fleet of aircraft. To accompany the Boeing, Trump also owns a private helicopter, costing $7m. It underwent a renovation on the interior upon purchase, estimated to have set the former-Apprentice star back another $750,000. Like the 757, family crests are embossed everywhere and gold is used far more than sparingly. The whole interior is outfitted with 24-karat gold-plated hardware—from the seatbelts to the handles. Trump can’t be accused of being understated at any level. LAMBORGHINI DIABLO As well as being a Rolls Royce fan and owning a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Trump can also call a 1997 bright blue Diablo part of his automotive collection. No longer in production, having been replaced by the Murciélago in 2001, inside it is branded with a plaque noting who owns it. A CUSTOM GOLD MOTORBIKE No word on the price of this, but Orange County Choppers built Trump a custom-made motorcycle with a significant amount of 24-karat gold detailing. Constructed of “elite custom parts”, the lavishness absolutely screams Donald Trump.

US President Donald Trump says he has called off peace negotiations with the Taliban that sought to end America's 18-year war in Afghanistan. Mr Trump tweeted he had been set to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and senior Taliban leaders on Sunday. But he cancelled the secret meeting at his Camp David retreat after the militants admitted they were behind a recent attack that killed a US soldier. The talks were due to take place a few days before the anniversary of 9/11. The US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban in the autumn of 2001, because the militants had given safe haven to the al-Qaeda network to plan the attacks on the US on 11 September. A source from the Taliban's political office in Doha told the BBC that the group was set to hold an "urgent internal meeting" to discuss Mr Trump's decision. Meanwhile the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani - who would have met separately with Mr Trump at Camp David, according to the US president - said real peace would only be possible when the Taliban agreed to a ceasefire and direct talks with the Afghan government. How surprising is this news? A face-to-face meeting with the Taliban at Camp David - the site of past historic peace negotiations - would have been an extraordinary diplomatic move by the US president, especially as it would have come just ahead of the 18th anniversary of 9/11. The top US negotiator had announced a peace deal "in principle" on Monday. It was the result of nine rounds of talks between the US and Taliban representatives, held in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar. What has the war cost the US? What could peace in Afghanistan look like? 'We embraced... but I'd still kill him' But Mr Trump's tweets on Saturday evening appeared to put an end to nearly a year of painstaking negotiations which had excluded the Afghan government in Kabul, dismissed by the Taliban as American puppets. "Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, [the Taliban] admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers," the president tweeted. "I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations." As part of the proposed deal, the US would have withdrawn 5,400 troops within 20 weeks, in return for Taliban guarantees that Afghanistan would never again be used as a base for terrorism. The US currently has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan What about the attacks in Afghanistan? On Thursday, a Kabul car bombing carried out by the Taliban killed 12 people, including a US soldier. A Romanian soldier serving with the Nato-led mission was also killed. But the Taliban had never agreed to end their violent campaign against Afghan and foreign forces while the peace talks were taking place. Sixteen US troops have been killed this year. A recent escalation of violence had deepened fears that a looming US-Taliban agreement would not end the daily fighting in Afghanistan and its toll on civilians. Afghan and US forces 'deadliest for civilians' The Afghan women determined not to lose out Why Afghanistan is more dangerous than ever Ever since the US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Kabul a week ago with news of "a deal in principle", there have been almost daily Taliban attacks, with a growing chorus of anger in Afghanistan - and the US. The Taliban say they're targeting foreign forces. But time and again, Afghan civilians are suffering. The new agreement is said to only include a commitment to reduce violence. A senior US diplomat explained they'd accepted the Taliban argument that a ceasefire was their main bargaining chip for Afghan talks set to follow the US negotiations. A senior Afghan official angrily told me "a ceasefire is our bargaining chip too," insisting the government would not accept the current deal. Afghan leaders accuse the US of bestowing legitimacy on the Taliban, which has only emboldened them. There is also mounting scepticism, now voiced by President Trump, that any commitments made by Taliban negotiators in Doha won't be upheld by commanders in the field What does each side want? Mr Trump pledged during the 2016 presidential campaign that he would end the US war in Afghanistan. But he recently said that he wanted to get troop numbers down to 8,600 - about the same as the level when he entered office - and then "make a determination from there". He said the US would maintain a military presence in Afghanistan. Many in Washington fear that a full US pull-out would leave the country deeply unstable and vulnerable to militant groups that could use it as a base to attack the West. Who are the Taliban? How does the Taliban make money? The Taliban militants now control more territory than at any time since the 2001 US invasion. They have insisted that they will not talk formally to the Afghan government until a timetable for the US troop withdrawal is agreed. The initial US-Taliban deal was meant to pave the way for intra-Afghan talks on a broader political solution. Mr Trump said he would have met Taliban leaders and President Ghani separately at Camp David. Some in Afghanistan fear that any deal could see hard-won rights and freedoms eroded and the Taliban back in power. The militants enforced strict religious laws and treated women brutally during their rule from 1996 to 2001. Nearly 3,500 members of the international coalition forces have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, more than 2,300 of them American. The figures for Afghan civilians, militants and government forces are more difficult to quantify. In a February 2019 report, the UN said that more than 32,000 civilians had died. The Watson Institute at Brown University says 58,000 security personnel and 42,000 opposition combatants have been killed.

Xbox Live services are currently suffering an outage. According to the Xbox Live Status page, those trying to connect will find they have limited to no access. The site states that core services such as signing in, as well as creating, managing, or recovering accounts are impacted. [Update: Xbox Live services are coming back online. Let's all celebrate by listening to Chumbawamba.] The outage is happening across Xbox One, Xbox on Windows 10, Xbox 360, and Xbox on other devices--so, pretty much anything that can sign into services. Xbox Support on Twitter has acknowledged the issue. The latest update on the status page states Microsoft's "engineers and developers are actively continuing to resolve the issue causing some members to have problems signing in to Xbox Live. Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience." The outage will no doubt be frustrating to those who have early access to Gears 5, a core component of which is multiple multiplayer mode. Alongside the core campaign, which can be played co-operatively, there's the competitive multiplayer, Horde mode, and the new Escape mode. Naturally, there are many other games that rely on the Xbox Live network to function properly, most notably Fortnite. Although Gears 5 is available to a select group of people now, it becomes widely available on September 10. In our Gears 5 review in progress, Phil Hornshaw said it "is very much a return of those best elements of Gears of War" but with "a focus on making the game feel somewhat more adaptive to your particular ways of playing." He continued: "Whether you want campaign or co-op, Competitive or Quickplay, there's an option for you in Gears 5, and plenty of stuff to reward you for time spent and skill gained. Gears 5 might suffer from some of the same storytelling missteps as its predecessors, and it might not venture far out."

Hello there welcome to true hell ?

Update, 9/7/19, 4:38 a.m. PT: Some extra information about Gen12 has come out. According to a GitHub merge request, Gen12 will be one of the biggest ISA updates in the history of the Gen architecture and removal of data coherency between register reads and writes: “Gen12 is planned to include one of the most in-depth reworks of the Intel EU ISA since the original i965. The encoding of almost every instruction field, hardware opcode and register type needs to be updated in this merge request. But probably the most invasive change is the removal of the register scoreboard logic from the hardware, which means that the EU will no longer guarantee data coherency between register reads and writes, and will require the compiler to synchronize dependent instructions anytime there is a potential data hazard.”Twitter user @miktdt also noted that Gen12 will double the amount of EUs per subslice from 8 to 16, which likely helps with scaling up the architecture. Original Article, 9/6/19, 9:34 a.m. PT: Some information about the upcoming Gen12 (aka Xe) graphics architecture from Intel has surfaced via recent Linux kernel patches. In particular, Gen12 will have a new display feature called the Display State Buffer. This engine would improve Gen12 context switching. Phoronix reported on the patches on Thursday. The patches provide clues about the new Display State Buffer (DSB) feature of the Gen12 graphics architecture, which will find its way to Tiger Lake (and possibly Rocket Lake) and the Xe discrete graphics cards in 2020. In the patches, DSB is generically described as a hardware capability that will be introduced in the Gen12 display controller. This engine will only be used for some specific scenarios for which it will deliver performance improvements, and after completion of its work, it will be disabled again. Some additional (technical) documentation of the feature is available, but the benefits of the DSB are described as follows: “[It] helps to reduce loading time and CPU activity, thereby making the context switch faster.” In other words, it is new engine that offloads some work from the CPU and helps to improve context switching time. Of course, the bigger picture here is the enablement for Gen12 that has been going on in the Linux kernel (similar to Gen11), which is especially of interest given that it will mark the first graphics architecture from Intel to get released as a discrete GPU. To that end, Phoronix reported in June that the first Tiger Lake graphics driver support was added to the kernel, with more batches in August. Tiger Lake and Gen12 Graphics: What we know so far With the first 10th Gen (10nm) Ice Lake laptops nearly getting into customers’ hands after almost a year of disclosures, Intel has already provided some initial information about what to expect for the 11th-Gen processors next year, codenamed Tiger Lake (with Rocket Lake on 14nm still in the rumor mill). Ice Lake focused on integration and a strong CPU and GPU update, and with the ‘mobility redefined’ tag line, Tiger Lake looks to be another 10nm product solely for the mobile market On the CPU side, Tiger Lake will incorporate the latest Willow Cove architecture. Intel has said that it will feature a redesigned cache, transistor optimizations for higher frequency (possibly 10nm++), and further security features. While the company has been teasing its Xe discrete graphics cards for even longer than it has talked about Ice Lake, details remain scarce. Intel said it had split the Gen12 (aka Xe) architecture in two microarchitectures, one that is client optimized, and another one that is data center optimized, intending to scale from teraflops to petaflops. From a couple of leaks from 2018, it is rumored that the Arctic Sound GPU would consist of a multi-chip package (MCP) with 2-4 dies (likely using EMIB for packaging), and was targeted for qualification in the first half of next year. The leak also stated that Tiger Lake would incorporate power management from Lakefield. The MCP rumor is also corroborated by some recent information from an Intel graphics driver, with the (Discrete Graphics) DG2 family coming in variants of what is presumably 128, 256 and 512 executions units (EUs). This could indicate one, two and four chiplet configurations of a 128EU die. Ice Lake’s integrated graphics (IGP) has 64EUs, and the small print from Intel’s Tiger Lake performance numbers revealed that it would have 96EUs. A GPU with 512EUs would have in the neighborhood of 10 TFLOPS, which does not look sufficient to compete with 2020 GPU offerings from AMD and NVIDIA in the high-end space. However, not all the gaps are filled yet. A summary chart posted by @KOMACHI_ENSAKA talks about three variants of Gen12: Gen12 (LP) in DG1, Lakefield-R, Ryefield, Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake and Alder Lake (the successor of Tiger Lake) Gen12.5 (HP) in Arctic Sound Gen12.7 (HP) in DG2 How those differ is still unclear. For some speculation, the regular Gen12 probably refers simply to the integrated graphics in Tiger Lake and other products. However, the existence of DG1 and information about Rocket Lake could indicate that Intel has also put this IP in a discrete chiplet. This chiplet could then serve as the graphics for Rocket Lake by packaging it together via EMIB. If we assume Arctic Sound is the mainstream GPU, then Gen12.5 would refer to the client optimized version and Gen12.7 to the data center optimized version of Xe. In that case, the amount of EUs Intel intends to offer to the gaming community remains unknown. Moving to the display, it remains to be seen if the Display State Buffer is what Intel referred to with the ‘latest display technology’ bullet point, or if the DSB is just one of multiple new display improvements. Tiger Lake will also feature next-gen I/O, likely referring to PCIe 4.0. Given the timing of Ice Lake and Comet Lake, Tiger Lake is likely set for launch in the second half of next year.