Ga[M]er

To what extent are you willing to go for money? Directed by Anurag Kashyap, Choked is the story of a hapless bank cashier whose life takes an unexpected turn when she finds a source of unlimited money in her own kitchen. What will happen when the world becomes suspicious of her newfound fortunes?

Washington, DC – The US State Department has removed the ultranationalist Israeli group Kahane Chai from its list of “foreign terrorist organizations” (FTO), in a move that US advocates had warned could embolden supporters of the Israeli far-right. In a statement on Friday, the department said it was delisting five groups, including Kahane Chai, as part of a routine procedure to remove inactive organisations from the FTO database in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). “As required by the INA, the Department reviews FTO designations every five years to determine if the circumstances that were the basis of the designation have changed in such a manner as to warrant a revocation,” the State Department said. “Our review of these five FTO designations determined that, as defined by the INA, the five organizations are no longer engaged in terrorism or terrorist activity and do not retain the capability and intent to do so.” President Joe Biden’s administration had confirmed its plans to revoke the “terror” designation of Kahan Chai – originally known as Kach – last week after media reports revealed that the State Department had notified Congress of the decision. While critics acknowledge that the group – founded by ultranationalist, US-born Israeli politician Meir Kahane – officially has been inactive, they say adherents who embrace its anti-Arab ideology are still operating both in the United States and Israel. Before establishing Kach in Israel, Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in the US, a hardline pro-Israel organisation linked to several violent attacks on US soil, including the assassination of Palestinian-American organiser Alex Odeh in California in 1985. “Kach and Kahane Chai splintered into various groups and political parties that continue to espouse, inspire and carry out acts of violence against Palestinian civilians,” said William Lafi Youmans, an associate professor at George Washington University who is working on a documentary about the assassination of Odeh. “Rather than removing the designation, the State Department should have updated and expanded it. Simply dropping these groups from the list is going to be seen as the United States continuing its light approach towards right-wing violence against Palestinians,” he told Al Jazeera earlier this week. But on Friday, the State Department emphasised that the move is strictly bureaucratic, not political. Alongside Kahane Chai, the other delisted groups are Basque Fatherland and Liberty, Aum Shinrikyo, Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, and Gama’a al-Islamiyya. The State Department also removed six deceased individuals from the US list of “specially designated global terrorists” (SDGT). “Revoking FTO designations and the delisting of deceased individuals ensures our terrorism sanctions remain current and credible and does not reflect any change in policy towards the past activities of any of these terrorists or of the organizations in which they were members,” it said. Still, Palestinian rights advocates have voiced concern about the political implications of the decision to delist Kahane Chai. Kahane, who was elected to the Israeli Knesset in 1984 on a platform that openly advocated for Palestinians to be expelled from their homeland, was killed in New York in 1990. But long after his death, his followers continued to carry out violent attacks. In 1994, a US-born member of both the JDL and Kach gunned down dozens of worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. And in 2001, JDL leaders plotted to blow up a mosque in California, as well as the office of Lebanese-American Congressman Darrell Issa. Kach has been banned in Israel, but rights activists say the group’s supporters still operate under different far-right organisations in the country – and some of its adherents have gone on to hold public office. The US added Kahane Chai to the FTO list in 1997. As a domestic US group, the JDL is separate from Chai, but both are part of the same Kahanist movement. The State Department said Kahane Chai and the other four groups will retain their SDGT designations to “ensure frozen assets are not released to still active individual terrorists”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/20/us-removes-ultranationalist-israeli-group-from-terror-list

As dusk fell over Australia's Phillip Island last week, thousands of tiny black-and-white birds participated in the largest "penguin parade" seen on the island since record-keeping began in the 1960s, with more than 5,200 little penguins (Eudyptula minor) crossing the beach in a single night. Phillip Island — known as Millowl to the Indigenous Bunurong people — hosts Australia's largest colony of little penguins, which is currently about 40,000 birds strong, according to the Penguin Foundation, a group that funds research and conservation efforts on the island. This is the world's smallest penguin species; the birds grow to be no bigger than about 15.7 inches (40 centimeters) tall, or about the height of a bowling pin, according to The Australian Museum. Every day at dusk, a subset of the Philip Island penguin po[CENSORED]tion swims back to shore after hunting for fish, squid, krill and small crustaceans in the ocean, and then heads inland toward their nesting grounds. This event, locally known as the "Penguin Parade," draws large numbers of tourists to Phillip Island Nature Parks, where visitors can "sit and watch the penguins emerge from the water for 50 minutes" each night, Paula Wasiak, a Phillip Island Nature Parks field researcher, told Live Science in an email. "Penguin viewing has occurred at the same location for over 50 years and the birds have been habituated to nightly activity over time," she said. (If you can't make it to the island in person, you can also watch livestreams of the parade on Facebook or YouTube.) At dusk on May 3, an unusually large number of penguins took part in the parade, as 5,219 little penguins stormed the shore at once and then took off toward their burrows. "We couldn’t believe our eyes when more than 5,000 penguins came out of the water in less than an hour," Wasiak said in a statement. To count the birds, park rangers station themselves at the four main penguin "highways" — dedicated paths that the wee birds always use to come ashore, Wasiak told Live Science. "Little penguins cross in groups, with the same penguins using the same pathway each time they enter the colony," and throughout the 50 minute parade, rangers count every bird that waddles down these paths, she said. The record for the island's largest penguin parade had just been broken the previous week, on April 29, when 4,592 birds came ashore at once, Wasiak told Live Science. The prior record was set on a November night in 2021, when 4,435 birds scuttled across the sand and toward their nests, according to ABC Gippsland, a local news station owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Overall, May's parades have included surprisingly high numbers of penguins, with approximately 3,000 to 5,000 birds marching each night. "It’s been a penguin party night after night, which is unusual for this time of year, let alone in record numbers like we are seeing now," Wasiak said in the statement. Historically, the largest parades have taken place in November and December, at the peak of the birds' breeding season, according to the Penguin Foundation. Why have this month's penguin parades swelled to such remarkable sizes? It may be that this year's La Niña event — where strong trade winds sweep across the Pacific, from South America to Indonesia — may be boosting the birds' offshore food supply, which means that more birds are congregating in coastal waters rather than seeking food farther away. Little penguins primarily feed on small fish, such as anchovies, which can only survive in a narrow temperature range, Wasiak told Live Science. "It suggests that during La Niña years, the ocean conditions around Phillip Island are often ideal for an abundant supply of fish/food close to the shore," she said. Typically, when they're not breeding, the penguins can spend up to a month foraging at sea, Wasiak told ABC Gippsland. With food closer to shore, the penguins instead make quick turnaround trips and arrive back on the beach just in time for the nightly parade. On top of the prolonged La Niña event, the high parade attendance may be related to a phenomenon known as the "autumn breeding attempt," where older penguins in the colony attempt to breed outside of peak mating season, Wasiak told Live Science. This breeding attempt is usually preceded by an uptick in the number of penguins heading out to forage. May's large parades may also be a result of steady improvements in the penguins' island habitat, Wasiak told Live Science. "One of the main areas we're seeing an increase in penguin attendance is to the east of the colony. In the past, poor habitat and erosion in this area meant penguins had difficulty accessing and nesting there," Wasiak said in the Parks' statement. "A lot of work has gone into improving dune structure, creating penguin pathways and restoring habitat, which is now paying off." https://www.livescience.com/record-breaking-penguin-parade-australia

Let's get straight to it: A Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe just sold for $142 million. It's now the most valuable car of all time, according to Mercedes-Benz. That's the number 142 followed by six zeros—a sum pretty much unfathomable for us common folk. Consider this: The original Shelby Cobra, considered to be one of the most important American sports cars, sold for $13 million in 2016. Add a zero to the end, and you're still not there. The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe from 1955—one of two road-going versions of the epic 300 SLR race car—bears the name of its creator and chief engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut. It's considered one of the world's most significant automotive icons because of its design and innovative technology, helping shape the Mercedes-Benz brand and inspire the production 300 SL Gullwing (itself a monumental icon). It blew our minds when we drove it way back in 1957. The rare coupe was part of a non-public vehicle collection belonging to Mercedes-Benz Classic. It sold in early May during an auction held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart in conjunction with high-end auctioneer RM Sotherby's. The buyer, evidently passionate about iconic autos, is a private collector, part of the select group of Mercedes-Benz customers and international collectors who was invited to participate in the auction. They have agreed to keep the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe accessible to the public on special occasions. As for the second original 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe? Called "The Blue"—whereas the one that sold was "The Red," both named for their interior colors—it's still under Mercedes-Benz ownership and is on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Is this Mercedes-Benz truly worth $142 million? Was there a catch? Value is determined by what someone is willing to pay, but there was a little more to the sale. The auction proceeds went to create something uncreatively called the Mercedes-Benz Fund. This fund—divided into the sub-categories of University Scholarships and School Scholarships—connects, educates, and encourages students as they pursue environmental science projects and technologies that support decarbonization and resource preservation. Think of it this way: The fund supports the future Rudolf Uhlenhauts of Mercedes-Benz. https://www.motortrend.com/features/most-expensive-car-mercedes-benz-300-slr-uhlenhaut-coupe/

Ukraine has dismissed as "wishful thinking" Russia's plan to connect a giant Ukrainian nuclear power station to the Russian electricity grid. Russian troops are occupying the sprawling Zaporizhzhia plant by the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine. It is Europe's biggest nuclear plant. The Ukrainian staff are still operating it, but Russia has sent its own nuclear experts to monitor their work. Russia's deputy prime minister has vowed to sell power from it to Ukraine. Marat Khusnullin said Russia would integrate the Zaporizhzhia plant with Russia's energy system if Kyiv refused to pay for the plant's electricity. Visiting Russian-occupied southern Ukraine on Wednesday he said "if the Ukrainian energy system is ready to receive [electricity] and pay for it, then we'll work, but if not - then the plant will work for Russia". However a spokesman for Ukraine's state nuclear agency Energoatom said it would take years to link the plant to Russia. "The plant only works in Ukraine's energy grid," Leonid Oliynyk told the BBC. "The Russians can build a power line theoretically, but it will take a long time, like their Crimean bridge - several years," he said, referring to the bridge connecting Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, to Russian territory. "Now the power station is working at a minimum level, but Kyiv remains in charge, all the power lines are controlled by Ukraine. The Russian statement is wishful thinking," Mr Oliynyk added. Normally the plant generates more than half of Ukraine's nuclear power and 20% of the country's total electricity supply. But now just two of its six reactors are operating. Ukrainian forces still control the city of Zaporizhzhia, on the opposite bank of the Dnieper. The nuclear power plant is in Enerhodar, a town of nearly 53,000 built in Soviet times to house the nuclear workers. There have been several protest rallies in Enerhodar against the Russian occupation, violently broken up by Russian security forces with tear gas and stun grenades. During his visit Mr Khusnullin said "I think this region's future is to work in our friendly Russian family". On 3 March Russian forces shelled the Zaporizhzhia plant, and later took control of it. Buildings around one of its reactors were damaged, according to Energoatom. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said radiation levels and reactor safety were not affected. World leaders condemned Russia for the attack and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of "nuclear terror". The IAEA says the situation at the plant now remains "fragile" and "unsustainable", as Russian troops keep the staff under tight surveillance, along with a team of experts from Rosatom - Russia's state nuclear agency. The IAEA says it is trying to negotiate an inspection visit to the site. Mr Oliynyk said "the staff feel bad, because there's a lot of technical pressure on them, the Russians are behaving as occupiers". He said Russia was keeping about 500 troops and 50 armoured vehicles at the site. "They're checking documents, they don't let people speak freely and break up meetings in Enerhodar." He insisted that Ukraine "will liberate the whole territory - no deals with the occupiers". Russia's temporary occupation of Chernobyl in northern Ukraine - site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986 - also alarmed world leaders. The radiation level at the decommissioned plant is reported to be stable and within safe limits, but there are hotspots in places nearby where Russian soldiers dug trenches. There have been some forest fires in the exclusion zone around the plant - not directly threatening it, Mr Oliynyk said. But he added: "Firefighters cannot go there as so many mines were laid, it's too dangerous." After Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and parts of the Donbas region, he said, Ukraine stockpiled nuclear fuel, so now it has enough to last two years. Ukraine now has a deal with US power company Westinghouse to provide nuclear fuel, with the goal of replacing the 40% of nuclear fuel that Kyiv still gets from Moscow. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61524376

Karan may want to shut the door on the world but the world won’t stop ringing his doorbell. Who will he let in? House Arrest, starring Ali Fazal, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Jim Sarbh, and Barkha Singh, directed by Shashanka Ghosh and Samit Basu premieres on 15 November, only on Netflix.

Watcher Chronicles is a 2D souls-like that recently released for both iOS and Android. It tasks players with battling their way through plenty of tough enemies and bosses, gathering new gear as they progress. It's a game that promises a challenge then, so we decided to hand the game over to our App Army to see if they were up to the task. Here's what they said: Jojó Reis Simply amazing and addictive! This game is roguelike style with a souls style footprint, a game with increased difficulty more very rewarding. Graphics and sounds are great and very good gameplay, all of this makes this game a great choice for those looking for a challenging game, I loved the game. The game has 120fps support, perfect! Mark Abukoff I really like the art style of this game…. it’s a lot of fun, and the music and sound effects are invigorating and appropriate. But also a bit distracting, so I turned the sound off. I’ll admit to a bit of frustration with the onscreen controls… I prefer being able to swipe for movement, or having virtual controls that aren’t static buttons. It’s just a play style that I’m comfortable with. And while there is some limited customization available, I couldn’t adjust them to a comfortable instinctive setup. I did try it with my Backbone controller and that improved things. But that first boss is still very hard and a bit frustrating. It is a roguelike Souls-like game, so I expect to die and to have to work hard. But the combination of a hard first boss and not-ideal control layout makes this one a bit frustrating. I haven’t given up on it because I like the look and fairly simple play. But I’m also not going to throw myself at the same beast forever. The game does have co-op multiplayer, but only local. It’d be awesome if you could connect with other players online. So I’d say try the free trial. It’s worth looking at absolutely and has good potential. But also a bit of a frustration issue for me. Jerard He A good roguelike style game with amazing graphics and sounds. The music can be a bit more sinister or eerie though I feel to make the experience more immersive. Controls were ok, simple enough till the boss fight. Maybe give us a bit more gear or tips on the 1st boss fight to not get 2 shotted. The looting elements are well thought out, making you think of ways and try to get that elusive chest that you miss the first time. Overall a good game, try the trial and hopefully there’s a patch to balance the initial stage. Pierpaolo Morgante I really enjoyed playing the game, as it’s a nice rogue-like game with cool visuals and music. I got stuck at the first boss, but I’ll keep trying and defeat it. Like others said, the controls are intuitive but somewhat awkward, and maybe having a bigger screen than a phone or a controller might help and improve the play experience. The game is honestly great, and if you’re a fan of the genre it’s a must-get. The nicest touch from the developers is the opportunity to play a little bit for free before unlocking the full game, and for sure it is worth it. The game is really well done and addictive. I am not a fan of multiplayer, so the fact that it’s only limited to local networks is not a huge deal-breaker for me, but you might want to consider that if you prefer playing with friends online. Oksana Ryan Watcher Chronicles on iPad Pro. I was all set to fight my way through the dungeons, killing monsters and collecting cool stuff along the way. To be fair I did manage to kill lots of skeletons and collect a few treats but then I hit the first boss and it all went downhill. I’d struggled with the controls from the start but when it came to defeating the boss nothing seemed to flow for me and I had a feeling of Groundhog Day as I continuously found myself unable to react quick enough to defeat the boss and kept dying. The game itself had good graphics and had a dungeons and dragons vibe and the game seemed to have everything going for it but to have the boss so difficult to defeat so early in the game was just annoying. Sorry but not for me. Dries Pretorius The first thing that struck me about Watcher Chronicles is how punchy the combat is, whether you are getting hit, or dealing blows the exchange of force is visceral. The soundtrack surprised me time and again as familiar patterns opened into new arrangements. The art is moody and quite unique in the genre of 2D Soul-Likes, which is developing a rich tradition on mobile devices, with titles like Dead Cells and Rogue Legacy. If you are like me, owning both those games and wondering whether Watcher Chronicles brings enough new ideas to warrant a purchase: movement Feels less nimble and intuitive than Dead Cells, but that is not a bad thing, the shift toward a more meticulous and cautious rhythm was not as sharp as it was with Rogue Legacy because the character feels a lot more powerful, and health management is more generous. Forward momentum can evoke the joy that made tearing the undead a new one in Punch Quest such a compelling experience, especially when bones and skulls go flying from the newly dispatched. A big difference here is that the world is not procedurally generated, instead, areas are spread out from your hub area in different directions, each holding a variety of satisfyingly complex bosses to understand and overcome. You can drive along an area until your skill or powers are outmatched. When you die, your loot is dropped, and your next mission is to retrieve it without dying. I really enjoyed this mechanic and the shift in focus from pushing territory to retrieving and retreating sets a nice gameplay rhythm. Altars for resting serve as teleporters, and they occur with relative frequency to mark your push, so you can leap to any altar from any other, navigating the world is never a chore. Watcher Chronicles is a confident and fun addition to its genre, with a unique voice and plenty of polish. I would love to see two device multiplayer implemented in future updates, lack thereof is my only complaint. What is the App Army? The App Army is Pocket Gamer's lovely community of mobile game experts. As often as possible, we ask them for their thoughts on the latest games and share them with you. To join, simply head over to either our Discord Channel or Facebook Group and request access by answering the three questions. We'll then get you in right away. https://www.pocketgamer.com/watcher-chronicles/app-army-assemble/

Minecraft is constantly evolving. We get small glimpses of these evolutions thanks to the snapshots, even if players aren’t always happy about it, but the biggest changes come via full updates, with the next one being Minecraft update 1.19. We’ve got good news; you can now check out ‘The Wild’ thanks to the 1.19 pre-release, which is now available to play. While the latest Minecraft update isn’t adding in everything previously promised, it’s still bringing with it a fair amount of new content. The Wild introduces frogs, tadpoles, mangrove trees and swamps, the deep dark, ancient cities, the allay mob, and even the mighty Warden. We’ve been writing about some of these for a little while now, but 1.19 will fully integrate them into the sandbox game. The official notes list some peculiar changes, with the most perplexing being that it slightly reduces the number of mangrove trees in mangrove swamps. The 1.19 pre-release also changes when item interaction vibrations happen and adds in an equip sound if you decide to plonk a pumpkin or skull on your head. There’s still no word on an actual release date for The Wild; the blog post also states that we’ll likely only see bug fixes for future pre-releases, which could mean we’re in the final stages now. Unfortunately, we’re not getting fireflies in this update, but we could see them further down the line given how excited the player base is about having ambient bugs flying around. Here’s hoping for the 1.20 update. In less official news, you can now turn all of your Minecraft mobs into adorable Lego figures if you want to. Alternatively, you could go and take a look around the White House, if blocky landmark recreations are more your style. https://www.pcgamesn.com/minecraft/update-the-wild-pre-release

Three-dimensional (3D) mapping is a very useful tool, such as for monitoring construction sites, tracking the effects of climate change on ecosystems and verifying the safety of roads and bridges. However, the technology currently used to automate the mapping process is limited, making it a long and costly endeavor. "Switzerland is currently mapping its entire landscape using airborne laser scanners—the first time since 2000. But the process will take four to five years since the scanners have to fly at an altitude below one kilometer if they are to collect data with sufficient detail and accuracy," says Jan Skaloud, a senior scientist at the Geodetic Engineering Laboratory (Topo) within EPFL's School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC). "With our method, surveyors can send laser scanners as high as five kilometers and still maintain accuracy. Our lasers are more sensitive and can beam light over a much wider area, making the process five times faster." The method is described in a paper published in the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing by Davide Cucci, a senior research associate at the Research Center for Statistics of the Geneva School of Economics and Management of the University of Geneva, who works with Topo regularly, Jan Skaloud, and Aurélien Brun, lead author, a recent Master's graduate from EPFL and winner of an award from the Western Switzerland Association of Surveyor Engineers (IGSO). Missing the point LiDAR laser scanners beam millions of pulses of light on surfaces to create high-resolution digital twins—computer-based replicas of objects or landscapes—that can be used in architecture, road systems and manufacturing, for example. Lasers are particularly effective at collecting spatial data since they don't depend on ambient light, can collect accurate data at large distances and can essentially see through vegetation. But lasers' accuracy is often lost when they're mounted on drones or other moving vehicles, especially in areas with numerous obstacles like dense cities, underground infrastructure sites, and places where GPS signals are interrupted. This results in gaps and misalignments in the datapoints used to generate 3D maps (also known as laser-point clouds), and can lead to double vision of scanned objects. These errors must be corrected manually before a map can be used. "For now, there's no way to generate perfectly aligned 3D maps without a manual data-correction step," says Cucci. "A lot of semi-automatic methods are being explored to overcome this problem, but ours has the advantage of resolving the issue directly at the scanner level, where measurements are taken, eliminating the need to subsequently make corrections. It's also fully software-driven, meaning it can be implemented quickly and seamlessly by end users." On the road to automation The Topo method leverages recent advancements in artificial intelligence to detect when a given object has been scanned several times from different angles. The method involves selecting correspondences and inserting them into what's called a Dynamic Network, in order to correct gaps and misalignments in the laser-point cloud. "We're bringing more automation to 3D mapping technology, which will go a long way towards improving its efficiency and productivity and allow for a much wider range of applications," says Skaloud. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-05-piece-faster-cheaper-accurate-3d.html

AMD has announced its Computex 2022 'High-Performance Computing' keynote which will be hosted by CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, on 23rd of May in Taipei, Taiwan. The company is expected to reveal several next-generation technologies within the PC Desktop & Mobile segment. AMD CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, To Host 'High-Performance Computing' Keynote on 23rd May, Featuring Next-Gen Desktop & Mobile PC Innovations The announcement comes as no surprise since AMD already confirmed their Computex 2022 event for the 23rd of May. Once again, AMD is expected to push the boundaries with brand new and next generation products that were previously unheard of. We wanted to take some time and talk about what we can expect from AMD's premiere Computex 2022 keynote. AMD Ryzen 7000 Raphael & The Next-Gen AM5 Platform The hotly anticipated AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs, codenamed Raphael, and the next-gen AM5 platform will be a huge focus during the Computex 2022 keynote. The Ryzen 7000 CPUs will be featured on the brand new platform, saying goodbye to the previous AM4 platform. The new AM5 platform is expected to be revealed in the form of two distinct lineups, the X670 and X670E which will aim at the high-end segment first before more mainstream options launch by end of this year or early in 2023. We can expect AMD to showcase some new performance demos and talk about the specs of these chips but be assured that the proper launch will be aiming a Q3 timeframe. Radeon Graphics Update: RDNA 3 & Beyond? Another surprise unveil by AMD could be in the form of their next-generation RDNA 3 graphics line which is expected to launch in the second half of 2022. AMD could show us a brand new roadmap that gives us a glimpse of their future RDNA portfolio succeeding the existing RDNA 2 GPUs or they could also give us a first look at the upcoming technologies or design of their next-gen Radeon RX 7000 series lineup. With that said, the AMD Radeon RX 6000 'RDNA 2' family is complete & is time that AMD starts to talk about what comes next! AMD Radeon Technologies: FSR 2.0, New Adrenalin Updates, Advantage Designs The Radeon segment isn't only going to be based around hardware but the software will also be a crucial part of the keynote. AMD can announce more titles featuring their brand new FSR 2.0 tech while also delivering updates on more features within their Adrenalin driver suite. AMD Advantage laptops may also be showcased with improved designs rocking both RDNA 2 and Zen 3+ core IPs Dragon Range, Phoenix, Rembrandt Desktop APUs, or Something More? To be honest, the things we mentioned above are known and AMD is always known to go a step ahead and tease us with their next-gen technologies way earlier than they are planned to launch. A few key products that may be further detailed include the Dragon Range, Phoenix & Rembrandt APU (Desktop) lineup. Maybe we can see AMD announce its Threadripper 5000 lineup for the consumer segment, I mean that's not much to ask for? But rest assured, AMD's Computex 2022 keynote is going to be jam-packed with announcements and unveils so make sure to tune in to the Livestream on May 23, 2022, at 2:00 PM (GMT +8). https://wccftech.com/amd-computex-2022-ceo-dr-lisa-su-keynote-high-performance-desktop-mobile-pc-products/

Hidden away in a residential neighbourhood is one of Afghanistan's new "secret" schools - a small but powerful act of defiance against the Taliban. Around a dozen teenage girls are attending a maths class. "We know about the threats and we worry about them," the sole teacher tells us, but she adds, girls' education is worth "any risk". In all but a handful of provinces in the country, girls' secondary schools have been ordered to remain closed by the Taliban. At the school we visit, they've done an impressive job trying to replicate a real classroom, with rows of neat blue and white desks. "We do our best to do this secretly," says the female teacher, "but even if they arrest me, they beat me, it's worth it." Back in March, it seemed as if girls' schools were about to reopen. But just an hour or so after pupils began arriving, the Taliban leadership announced a sudden change in policy. For the students at the secret school, and many other teenage girls, the pain is still raw. "It's been two months now, and still schools haven't reopened," one 19-year-old in the makeshift classroom told us. "It makes me so sad," she added, covering her face with the palms of her hands to hold back the tears. But there's also a mood of defiance. Another 15-year-old student wanted to send a message to other girls in Afghanistan: "Be brave, if you are brave no-one can stop you." Taliban to force Afghan women to wear face veil Women’s faces become latest Taliban restriction Girls' tears over chaotic Taliban schools U-turn 'I felt anxious going back to university' Primary schools for girls have reopened under the Taliban, and have in fact seen a rise in attendance following the improvement in security in rural parts of the country, but it's not clear when or if older girls will be allowed back into class. The Taliban have said the correct "Islamic environment" needs to be created first, though given schools were already segregated by gender, no-one seems sure what that means. Taliban officials have repeatedly insisted in public that girls schools will reopen, but also admit that female education is a "sensitive" issue for them. During their previous stint in power in the 1990s, all girls were prevented from going to school, ostensibly due to "security concerns". Now, multiple sources told the BBC, a handful of hardline but highly influential individuals in the group appear to still be opposed to it. In private, other Taliban members have expressed their disappointment at the decision not to open girls' schools. The Taliban's Ministry of Education seemed as surprised as anyone when the leadership overruled their plans in March, and some senior Taliban officials are understood to be educating their daughters in Qatar or Pakistan. In recent weeks, a number of religious scholars with links to the Taliban have issued fatwas, or religious decrees supporting girls' right to learn. Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani is an Afghan cleric, based largely across the border in Peshawar, Pakistan. He's well-respected by the Taliban and on a trip to Kabul last month met senior figures within their government. He's careful not to criticise the continued closure of schools but, speaking at his madrassa in Peshawar, with his mobile phone in hand, scrolls through the text of his "fatwa", which shares decrees from earlier scholars and accounts from the life of the Prophet Muhammad. "There is no justification in the sharia [law] to say female education is not allowed. No justification at all," he tells the BBC. "All the religious books have stated female education is permissible and obligatory, because, for example, if a woman gets sick, in an Islamic environment like Afghanistan or Pakistan, and needs treatment, it's much better if she's treated by a female doctor." Similar fatwas have been issued by clerics in Herat and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan. It's a symbol of how widespread support for girls' education now is in the country, even amongst conservative circles, but it's not clear how much of an impact the decrees will have. The Taliban have formed a committee to examine the issue, but multiple sources with links to the Taliban told the BBC that while even senior Taliban ministers were on board with the reopening of girls schools in March, opposition to it centred around the group's leadership in the southern city of Kandahar, where the "Amir" or Supreme Leader, Mullah Haibatullah is based. After initially adopting a more flexible attitude when taking power last August, the Taliban have recently been issuing more and more hardline edicts, including making the face veil compulsory for women and encouraging them to stay at home. Meanwhile, their tolerance for dissent, even in their own ranks, is dissipating. One Taliban member with a large following on social media, had tweeted critically about the closure of girls' schools, as well as new rules ordering government employees to grow their beards. However, according to one source, he was called in for questioning by the Taliban intelligence department, later deleting his tweets and apologising for his earlier comments on beards. There appears to be very little grassroots opposition to female education in Afghanistan, but some Taliban figures cite concerns about the Islamic State group using the issue as a recruitment tool, if girls' schools are opened up. Western officials, however, have also made clear that progress on women's rights is key for the Taliban to be able to access some of the billions of dollars of foreign reserves that are frozen.

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