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The new Toyota Corolla has been around for a couple of years now, but it seems Toyota found something it really wanted to improve: the interior touchscreen interface. New for 2025 is the FX special edition trim, which blends sportier accents inside and out, a larger 10.5-inch screen for connectivity and navigation, and a nod to classic Corolla from the 1980s. The new FX trim for 2025 is said to be inspired by the "iconic and sporty" Corolla FX16 that debuted back in 1987, which took the tuned 1.6-liter engine from the rear-wheel-drive '84 Corolla GTS and applied its power to the front axle of a hatchback version. Use of that Corolla's name therefore is slightly confusing, given the 2025 Corolla FX doesn't get a new engine, it's just more of an appearance pack for the existing SE trim line and, well, a bigger screen. Which is something of a disappointment for anyone who remembers the sporty FX16 original. This new Corolla keeps the same 169-horsepower 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve engine generating 151 lb-ft of torque as every other non-hybrid, non-GR Corolla. The new FX special edition does add 18-inch satin black alloy wheels with matching lug nuts, black badges, black mirror caps, a large rear spoiler, and a black roof for a contrasted look on models with appropriate paintwork. The FX is offered in Midnight Black Metallic, Ice Cap white, and Underground grey colors. But, hey, more touchscreen! Where the standard Corolla only measures in with an 8.0-inch touchscreen, the new FX's unit grows to 10.5 inches, offering noticeably more screen real estate. You'll also get a 7.0-inch digital driver display and the XSE trim's wireless phone charger inside. The 10.5-inch screen will also now be available on other 2025 model Corollas soon as an upgrade. The interior is also treated to Moonstone sport fabric seats with orange accent stitching. Toyota says Safety Sense 3.0 (lane keep assist, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking) is also included in the FX package, as it is on every other current Corolla model. Pricing for the 2025 Corolla lineup is coming later this year, and the FX and new screen will be available this fall. https://www.motortrend.com/news/2025-toyota-corolla-fx-edition-first-look-review/

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva claimed the biggest win of her career against an out-of-sorts Aryna Sabalenka to reach the semi-finals of the French Open. Second seed Sabalenka was seen grimacing and pointing to her stomach as she talked to medical staff in the middle of the first set. She continued to struggle and appeared to consider retiring from the match. Despite being far from her best, Sabalenka managed to move past her discomfort to complete the match. But it was Andreeva, ranked 38th in the world, who emerged victorious, wrapping up a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-4 win. The 17-year-old is the youngest Grand Slam semi-finalist since Martina Hingis at the US Open in 1997. She will face Jasmine Paolini in the last four after the Italian stunned fourth seed Elena Rybakina earlier on Wednesday. "Honestly I was really nervous before the match, I knew she'd have an advantage," said Andreeva, who had lost both her previous meetings with the Belarusian in straight sets. "Me and my coach, we had a plan today but again I didn't remember anything. I just try to play as I feel." Andreeva capitalises on Sabalenka struggles After exchanging breaks early in the opening set, it quickly became apparent that Sabalenka was feeling under the weather. The Australian Open winner became increasingly frustrated with her below-par performance and called for the trainer as Andreeva broke to go 4-3 up. After talking to the match doctor and returning to the court, Sabalenka made a swiping gesture at her neck and seemed close to signalling her retirement. But she appeared to brighten and managed to level the set at 5-5 before digging deep in the tie-break to take the opener. The same problems returned for Sabalenka, however, and she often needed to crouch down and steady herself on her racquet - receiving a time violation on one occasion. The 26-year-old looked close to tears for much of the second set and made a slow, lethargic walk to her seat when Andreeva broke at 5-4 to force a decider. Both players struggled to hold serve as the match trundled past the two-hour mark, and Sabalenka continued to receive medical attention. Andreeva capitalised on her opponent's struggles and landed an outrageous lob on her second match point at 5-4 to seal a famous victory. Andreeva's rise continues It is another win that marks Andreeva's rapid rise to the top of the sport. When the latest rankings are released on Monday, she is set to find herself in the top 30 for the first time. Playing in her first Grand Slam quarter-final, Andreeva occasionally looked agitated by Sabalenka's discomfort, annoyed the world number two could hit stunning winners after struggling to stand up straight. But the teenager kept her nerve and calmly moved through the second and third set, using a powerful two-handed backhand and delicate drop shots to good effect. It continues a fantastic 12 months as she reached the last 16 at Wimbledon last summer and then thrashed three-time Slam finalist Ons Jabeur on her way to the fourth round at the Australian Open earlier this year. https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/articles/cp99l88dy0yo

Welcome to the new internet, Facebook. Meta has revealed a plan for the social media platform, which turned 20 this year, to win over Gen Z and increase engagement from the younger generation. Facebook execs presented their strategy for the “next 20 years” of Facebook at an event in New York City on May 31, focusing on Gen Z and artificial intelligence. The company handed out pamphlets to those who attended the event that read, “We are not your mom’s Facebook,” but rather, “a hub for all things culturally happening in the platform’s underground,” Axios reported. “We’re still for everyone, but we also recognize that in order to stay relevant, we have to build for… Gen Z,” President Tom Alison said at the event, according to Mashable. According to a 2023 Pew Research survey, only 33% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 ever use Facebook, while just 3% use it almost constantly. Through research, “we noticed… this is the time in [Gen Z’s] life when they start making a lot of huge transitions: moving, going to college, getting their first job, getting their first apartment, finding a romantic partner,” Alison shared. “They want a way to explore their new interests and they want to find real people and real experts who share them. And that’s where we think Facebook comes in.” Facebook is focusing on three major features to get Gen Z on the platform: the feed, reels and creators. The company hopes that shifting the content of the user’s feed will attract younger audiences, shining a light on content relevant to them such as Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Dating, groups and events. According to employees, Facebook Marketplace is visited daily by more than 10 million of the platform’s 40 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada between the ages of 18 and 29. Facebook has phased out certain features that weren’t central to a social feed, such as audio and news products. Similar to Instagram, Facebook will be putting an emphasis on Reels and short-form video, as well as making it easier for users to privately message these videos to friends and family. Meta has also developed a professional mode on Facebook in an attempt to make the medium more creator-friendly. There will be features for creators to monetize their posts and utilize AI tools to do a range of things from transforming photo backgrounds to crafting a post. Facebook has also updated the ranking technology with Reels and Feed to deliver more effective and accurate recommendations, according to the company’s blog post. With many of these changes seeming extremely similar to Instagram, it appears that there could be an identity crisis between the two Meta products. But Alison clarified that Facebook will focus more on connecting Gen Z to experiences while Instagram will continue to focus on content discovery and creator connection. https://nypost.com/2024/06/05/lifestyle/facebook-is-desperate-to-lure-gen-z-heres-how-theyre-doing-it-not-your-moms-facebook/

The Israeli military says it has begun a ground operation against Hamas in the Bureij refugee camp and east of the town of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Troops backed by air strikes were targeting “terrorists and terrorist infrastructure above and below ground”, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. The charity Médecins Sans Frontières said at least 70 dead people and 300 wounded, the majority of them women and children, had been brought to a hospital in Deir al-Balah since Tuesday. It comes as US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators meet in Doha and Cairo to discuss how to finalise a new ceasefire and hostage release deal. The US said on Tuesday it was still waiting for a response from Hamas to what it described as an Israeli proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden last week. Qatar said it had delivered the plan to Hamas representatives and noted that it was also still waiting for a clear position from the Israeli government. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday the group would deal "seriously and positively" with a proposal based on an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel's prime minister has insisted he will not agree to a permanent ceasefire before Hamas is defeated and the hostages it is holding are released. And on Wednesday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared that "all negotiations with Hamas will be conducted under fire". Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 36,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Bureij is one of the smallest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps. It covers an area of 0.5 sq km (0.2 sq miles) and had 46,000 residents registered with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) before the war. The camp is just to the south of the Wadi Gaza riverbed and the IDF’s “Central Gaza Strip Corridor” - a section of land controlled by Israeli forces which runs east to west from the border with Israel to the Mediterranean Sea, dividing Gaza in two. The Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps are also located near Bureij, while the town of Deir al-Balah is about 5km (3 miles) to the south-west. The four areas are currently crowded with people displaced by fighting elsewhere, including many of the more than a million who have fled the southern city of Rafah since the start of an Israeli ground operation there a month ago. Earlier this year, IDF troops carried out a ground operation against Hamas fighters in the camps of central Gaza that lasted several weeks. On Wednesday, the IDF said the new "targeted" operation in Bureij and eastern Deir al-Balah was aimed at dismantling "terrorist infrastructure located several kilometres away from the border with Israel above and below ground". “The activity started with a series of aerial strikes on terror targets, including military compounds, weapons storage facilities, and underground infrastructure," its statement added. "During the strikes, several Hamas terrorists were eliminated.” Later, the IDF put out a new statement announcing that troops had “gained operational control” of eastern Bureij and eastern Deir al-Balah. It added that they had “eliminated terrorists” in the areas, destroyed rocket and mortar launchers, and located several tunnel shafts. A man from Bureij told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today programme that his family fled the camp as the Israeli bombardment intensified on Tuesday. “We were stunned that the army was conducting a ground operation again in Bureij,” he said. “We were struck by shells falling on us from all sides, landing on citizens’ homes, on the streets... which led to the killing of a number of citizens.” “The situation in general is extremely difficult,” he added. “We left our homes in order to preserve our lives and the lives of our children.” A young woman said: “Fragments fell into our home and into some of the residential apartments in our building... We survived because we all were on the lower floors.” “We were in a residential building full of approximately 40 people, some of whom were residents of the building itself and others were people who were displaced from the north and the south, in Rafah... Now where should we head to from Bureij?” On Wednesday morning, Palestinian news agency Wafa cited medics and rescue workers as saying at least 11 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on several homes in Maghazi overnight. Another two people were killed in a strike on a home near the entrance to Bureij, while two more were killed by artillery fire in the Abu al-Ajen area, south-east of Deir al-Balah, it said. Later, Médecins Sans Frontières said its medical team on the ground had described the situation at Deir al-Balah's al-Aqsa hospital - one of the only remaining functional health facilities in central Gaza - as "apocalyptic". The charity said women and children made up the majority of the 70 dead people and 300 wounded, brought to hospital over the past 24 hours, and that many patients were suffering from severe burns, shrapnel wounds, fractures and other traumatic injuries. "The odour of blood when I entered the emergency room [this morning] was just overwhelming. People are lying on the floor. People are lying outside... bodies being brought in white plastic bags. The families standing over them and praying," MSF medical referent Karin Huster said in an audio message. "It's just an emotionally overwhelming situation. It's impossible for anyone to cope." At the start of its operation in Rafah on 6 May, the IDF told civilians to evacuate to an “expanded humanitarian area” stretching from the coastal al-Mawasi area to Deir al-Balah, where it said they would find tents, field hospitals and supplies. But Unrwa warned on Monday that space for displaced families in Deir al-Balah was “running out, as people continue arriving hoping for safety where there is none”. “Living conditions are not at all suitable for families and critical services, and supplies are limited,” it said. The IDF also said on Wednesday that troops were continuing “targeted operations” in Rafah. It added that they had “located weapons and eliminated armed terrorists”, without providing further details. Residents told Reuters that Israeli tanks had mounted raids into the centre of Rafah and deeper into the west before retreating to eastern and southern areas. As well as displacing civilians, the Rafah operation has resulted in the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza dropping by two-thirds, according to the UN. Egypt has closed the nearby Rafah border crossing since Israeli forces took control of the Gazan side almost a month ago and the UN has said it is too dangerous to reach the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel. “In Gaza, delivering aid has become almost impossible,” outgoing UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters on Tuesday. “We need all border crossings open. We need safe and unimpeded access. We need to prioritize humanitarian aid.” He spoke after an independent group of experts warned in a report that it was “possible, if not likely” that famine was under way in northern Gaza. However, the US-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said hostilities and access constraints had impeded the collection of data to prove that. A UN-backed assessment estimated in March that 1.1 million people across Gaza were facing catastrophic hunger and that famine was imminent in the north by May. Israel disputed the report, saying it contained factual and methodological flaws. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw44wpj99v7o

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Musician Name: Morad Birthday / Location: 5 March 1999 (age 25) L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain Main instrument: Rap? Musician Picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morad_December_2023.jpg Musician Awards & Nominations: Morad is constantly seen wearing tracksuits over the years in his music videos and concerts.[22] In a 2019 interview he said that he would wear a tracksuit if he went to the Grammy Awards.[3] In 2022, he released the single “Chándal” (transl. Tracksuit) rapping about wearing tracksuits in different occasions Best Performance: Sigue Other Information: -

Live Performance Title: Metro Boomin - Red Bull Symphonic (Full Performance) Signer Name: Metro Boomin Live Performance Location: Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Official YouTube Link: Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video): The whole album is mad... one of the best albums i've heard FOR REAL.

Artist: ElGrandeToto Real Name: Taha Fahssi Birth Date /Place: 3 August 1996 Casablanca, Morocco Age: Age 27 Social status (Single / Married): I think in a rs Artist Picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ElGrandeToto2-683x1024.jpg Musical Genres: Moroccan rapper Awards: won the title of "Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist" in the 2020 African Entertainment Awards USA. Top 3 Songs (Names): Qui sait ? (feat. ElGrandeToto) --- BLUE LOVE --- Ojos Sin Ver Other Information: imo he aint rapping anymore, but his music is good, as a vibe not as good songs in terms of lyrics

Diane Abbott has been readmitted as a Labour MP, the BBC understands, but it is unclear whether she will stand for the party at the general election. The former shadow home secretary was suspended in April 2023 after saying Jewish, Irish and Traveller people do not face racism "all their lives". Her suspension meant she would not be able to stand for Labour on 4 July. Party officials had tried to broker a deal by which she would get the whip back in return for standing down. It is not clear if the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP has accepted that arrangement. Ms Abbott apologised and withdrew her remarks shortly after they were published, in a letter to the Observer newspaper. Labour has not confirmed who its candidate will be in the Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat. Ms Abbott has been contacted for a comment. BBC Newsnight revealed earlier that the party's investigation, launched over 13 months ago, was completed in December 2023. Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) issued her with a "formal warning" for "engaging in conduct that was in the opinion of the NEC, prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party". It said it expected her to undertake an "online, e-learning module" which a source said was a two-hour antisemitism awareness course. Ms Abbot did the module in February, after which it is understood she received an email from Labour's chief whip acknowledging she had completed it. Ms Abbott, who became the first black woman to be elected to Parliament in 1987, was a close ally of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and served as his shadow home secretary. Mr Corbyn, who was suspended as a Labour MP in 2020 for saying the scale of antisemitism within Labour's ranks had been "dramatically overstated" by his opponents, has confirmed he will stand against the party. He will contest Islington North, which he has held since 1983, as an independent candidate. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-69040616

A zoo has welcomed the birth of Arctic fox cubs for the first time. Eight cubs, also known as kits, were spotted emerging from an underground burrow at Dudley Zoo last week. Carnivore section leader, Sam Grove, said the arrival of the cubs, who were about six weeks old, was "extra special". "We’re thrilled to see the cubs out and about exploring the habitat," he added. Parents Grace, aged two and Spruce, aged one, were doing "incredibly well" with dad guarding the burrow entrance and taking food to mum, the zoo said. Female Arctic foxes can birth up to 14 pups and can have two litters in a year with babies sporting a dark velvety coat. The species live in burrows and can survive up to six years in the wild. They were re-introduced to the zoo in 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5110d52dggo

This review was conducted as part of our 2024 Car of the Year (COTY) testing, where each vehicle is evaluated on our six key criteria: efficiency, design, safety, engineering excellence, value, and performance of intended function. Eligible vehicles must be all-new or significantly revised. When it comes to the seventh-generation 7 Series , it's clearer than the crystalline trim that bedazzles the cabin that BMW went all-in on luxury with its updated flagship sedan. There are several kitchen sinks' worth of high-end touches, technology features, and a jaw-shattering rear seat package that are either standard or available for the new 7 in all its forms. For 2023, those forms include the six-cylinder turbo powered 740i , the twin-turbo V-8 760i xDrive, and the all-electric i7 xDrive60 capable of close to 300 miles to a charge, with more variants on the way. They're all built on the same production line and can be outfitted with roughly the same equipment. They also come with a buck-toothed grille treatment that most of our judges reviled with an unbridled passion, though the rest of the car's exterior didn't receive the same savagery. But once you step into the 7 Series, press on the brake pedal and the automatic driver door whirs shut, you're treated to a sensory overload of fabulousness that makes you forget all about its face. Trimmed out like a high-end VIP lounge, with super comfortable seating, stylized, backlit crystal-look trim, geometric metal speaker covers, and high-res digital screens with a dumfounding array of customization, the 7 impresses as much as it overwhelms. There's a lot going on here, aka "more stuff than you could ever figure out what to do with" opined deputy editor Alexander Stoklosa, and that's before you even climb into the back seat. BMW's optional rear entertainment and comfort packages rival any brand this side of Rolls-Royce (and given BMW owns Rolls, it's likely learned a thing or two). The showstopper in back is a 31.3-inch, fold down 8K screen with Amazon Fire TV integration, augmented by two 5.5-inch screens in each door panel, the requisite pillow-clad headrests, a rear-window shade, and more. It's the stuff of champagne wishes and caviar dreams, or "wretched excess" if you prefer, as guest judge Chris Theodore so eloquently put it. When you're riding in the back seat of the 2023 7 Series with that screen on, you're not going to have to turn up the volume, as most judges reported the cabin to be as quiet and isolated as you'd expect from a sedan of this nature. Same goes for the ride over the rough stuff, which gobbled up and spit out nasty bumps and bruises. The judges weren't unanimous in their opinions about the suspension tune, but most felt it to be a comfortable Bavarian land yacht. As for how well the 7 Series hustles around a circuit, there's certainly some ultimate driving character infused into these hefty haute haulers (the i7 is three-plus tons of fun), with more than one editor reporting some (you guessed it) body roll, but in a controlled way. The 740i was deemed the most playful, the 760 the wildest, and the i7, well, the heaviest. So yes, we like the new 7 a lot. Most judges called it arguably the best flagship luxury sedan on the market. https://www.motortrend.com/news/2024-bmw-7-series-i7-coty-review/

Third T20: Sophia Gardens, Cardiff England: Did not bat Pakistan: Did not bat Match abandoned without a ball bowled, England lead series 1-0 England's World Cup preparation was dented further by a washout in the third T20 against Pakistan in Cardiff. Persistent rain fell throughout the evening which led to the game being abandoned without a ball bowled just after 20:10 BST. The first match of the four-game series at Headingley was also rained off, before England took a 1-0 lead at Edgbaston on Jofra Archer's long-awaited return from injury. The final match, which is live on BBC Two and iPlayer, takes place at The Oval on Thursday, when rain is forecast again. Jos Buttler's side begin their T20 World Cup defence on 4 June against Scotland, but do not have any warm-up matches in the Caribbean. Captain Buttler was not with the squad in Cardiff because of the expected arrival of his third child, with all-rounder Moeen Ali set to stand in as skipper. It has not yet been confirmed whether Buttler will rejoin the squad in London. This series, essentially an unofficial tournament warm-up for both sides, was a crucial one for head coach Matthew Mott and Buttler's fine-tuning of their World Cup squad. Fast bowler Archer bowled four overs at Edgbaston in his first match for more than a year, and was not expected to play in Cardiff as they manage his workload. But if there is no play at The Oval, only one outing would not be ideal preparation for such an important player for England with such serious injury troubles. For some players, particularly batters, it may not be as significant with the likes of Buttler, Will Jacks, Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow enjoying success in the Indian Premier League, though they returned home early from the tournament for this series. However, England have not played a T20 series since a 3-2 defeat by West Indies in December, and of the 20 teams that will be appearing in the World Cup there are only four - South Africa, Scotland, the Netherlands and the USA - that have played fewer than England's 13 T20s since the last tournament in 2022. "England will have been banking on these games," said World Cup winner Alex Hartley on BBC Test Match Special. "It's the classic one where the players will say they can't control the weather, which is understandable, but you want to be playing competitively before a global tournament. "There is a real fine line between being cooked for cricket and undercooked - you have got to get that right. "You want to find some form before the World Cup and if you do lose a couple of games you can find out where you’re going wrong as a team and where you can get better." https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/articles/c2vvx77g8n6o

It’s a sauce-y confession. The hosts of an Australian radio show were left horrified after a woman called into their program, claiming that she fed her grandmother’s ashes to her brother as a “prank.” The woman, known only as Cheyenne, made the macabre confession on Tuesday’s episode of “Fifi, Fev & Nick,” saying she and her mom first sampled her nan’s remains before later serving them to her unsuspecting sibling in a pasta sauce. “So my nan passed away in August last year and got cremated,” Cheyenne explained. “Obviously my family and myself were grieving, so I went over to mom’s one night and thought to cheer her up a bit … let’s just taste nan.” “After I did it once, I got mom to do it because I didn’t want to be alone in it,” she shockingly added https://nypost.com/2024/05/28/lifestyle/i-put-my-grandmas-ashes-in-pasta-sauce-to-prank-my-brother/

Israeli forces have reportedly reached the centre of the southern Gaza city of Rafah and seized a strategically important hill overlooking the nearby border with Egypt. Witnesses and local journalists said tanks were stationed at al-Awda roundabout, which is considered a key landmark. They also said tanks were on Zoroub Hill, effectively giving Israel control of the Philadelphi Corridor - a narrow strip of land running along the border to the sea. The Israeli military said its troops were continuing activities against "terror targets" in Rafah, three weeks after it launched the ground operation there. Western areas of the city also came under intense bombardment overnight, residents said, despite international condemnation of an Israeli air strike and a resulting fire on Sunday that killed dozens of Palestinians at a tented camp for displaced people. The Israeli military said it was investigating the possibility that the fire was caused by the explosion of weapons stored by Hamas in the vicinity. It also denied reports from local health and emergency services officials on Tuesday afternoon that tank shells had hit another camp in al-Mawasi, on the coast west of Rafah, killing at least 21 people. Reuters news agency cited local health officials as saying the blast occurred after Israeli tank shells hit a cluster of tents in al-Mawasi on Tuesday. An official in the Hamas-run civil defence force also told AFP there had been a deadly Israeli strike on tents. Videos posted to social media and analysed by BBC Verify showed multiple people with serious injuries, some lying motionless on the ground, near tents and other temporary structures. There was no clear sign of a blast zone or crater, making it impossible to ascertain the cause of the incident. The location - verified through reference to surrounding buildings - is between Rafah and al-Mawasi, and lies south of the IDF's designated humanitarian zone. The IDF said in a statement: "Contrary to the reports from the last few hours, the IDF did not strike in the humanitarian area in al-Mawasi." Israel has insisted that victory in its seven-month war with Hamas in Gaza is impossible without taking Rafah and rejected warnings that it could have catastrophic humanitarian consequences. The UN says around a million people have now fled the fighting in Rafah, but several hundred thousand more could still be sheltering there. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began what they called “targeted” ground operations against Hamas fighters and infrastructure in the east of Rafah on 6 May. Since then, tanks and troops have gradually pushed into built-up eastern and central areas while also moving northwards along the 13km (8-mile) border with Egypt. On Tuesday, they reportedly reached the city centre for the first time. The al-Awda roundabout, which is only 800m (2,600 ft) from the border, is the location of major banks, government institutions, businesses, and shops. One witness said they saw soldiers position themselves at the top of a building overlooking the roundabout and then begin to shoot at anyone who was moving. Video posted online meanwhile showed tank track marks on a road about 3km west of al-Awda roundabout and 300m from the Indonesian field hospital, which was damaged overnight. Earlier, residents told the BBC that tanks seized Zoroub Hill, about 2.5km north-west of al-Awda roundabout, after gun battles with Hamas-led fighters. The hill is highest point along the Egyptian border and its seizure means the entire Gazan side of the border is now effectively under Israeli control. Zoroub Hill also overlooks western Rafah, where residents said there had been the heaviest air and artillery strikes overnight since the start of the Israeli operation. A local journalist said the bombardment forced hundreds of families to seek temporary shelter in the courtyard of a hospital, while ambulances struggled to reach casualties in the affected areas. At dawn, thousands of people were seen heading north, crammed into cars and lorries and onto carts pulled by donkeys and horses. "The explosions are rattling our tent, my children are frightened, and my sick father makes it impossible for us to escape the darkness,” resident Khaled Mahmoud told the BBC. “We are supposed to be in a safe zone according to the Israeli army, yet we have not received evacuation orders like those in the eastern [Rafah] region,” he added. “We fear for our lives if no-one steps in to protect us. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment on the various reports but put out a statement saying that “overnight troops operated on the Philadelphi Corridor while conducting precise operational activity based on intelligence indicating the presence of terror targets in the area”. “The activity is being conducted as efforts are continuing to be made in order to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians in the area,” it added. “The troops are engaging with terrorists in close-quarters combat and locating terror tunnel shafts, weapons, and additional terrorist infrastructure in the area.” The IDF has told civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate for their own safety to an “expanded humanitarian area” stretching from al-Mawasi, a coastal area just north of Rafah, to the central town of Deir al-Balah. On Sunday night, at least 45 people - more than half of them children, women and the elderly - were killed when an Israeli air strike triggered a huge fire in a camp for displaced people near a UN logistics base in the Tal al-Sultan area, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Hundreds more were treated for severe burns, fractures and shrapnel wounds. The IDF said it was targeting two senior Hamas officials in the attack, which happened hours after Hamas fighters in south-eastern Rafah launched rockets towards the Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time in months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a “tragic incident” had occurred “despite our immense efforts to avoid harming non-combatants” and promised a thorough investigation. IDF chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that the strike had targeted a structure used by the Hamas commanders which was away from any tents, using “two munitions with small warheads”. “Following this strike, a large fire ignited for reasons that are still being investigated. Our munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” he said. Rear Adm Hagari added that investigators were looking into the possibility that the fire was caused by the explosion of weapons or ammunition stored in a nearby structure, and played what he said was an intercepted telephone conversation between two Gazans suggesting that. The audio recording could not immediately be verified. Sam Rose of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, told the BBC from western Rafah that the killing of so many civilians could not be dismissed as an accident. “Gaza was already one of the most overcrowded places on the planet. It is absolutely impossible to prosecute a military campaign involving large-scale munitions, strikes from the sky, the sea, the tanks, without exacting large-scale civilian casualties,” he said. “It seems like we are plumbing new depths of horror, bloodshed and brutality with every single day. And if this isn’t a wake-up call, then it’s hard to see what will be.” Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”. Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 252 others were taken hostage. At least 36,090 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722ep99173o

Good news: Unsurprisingly, Ghost of Tsushima remains an excellent third-person action-adventure game four years after its initial release. It's not suddenly become crap. Huzzah! Doing an Assassin's Creed-style game set in Japan years before Ubisoft decided to make Assassin's Creed Shadows, Sucker Punch delivers a gripping, beautiful, and often memorable samurai epic—one loaded with tense sword fights, brutal assassinations, and plenty of story-telling class. So, yes, I rate the game and recommend you buy and play it if you haven't already, which it seems like plenty of PC gamers have already done. The Director's Cut also includes the Iki Island expansion, so you're getting the full Ghost of Tsushima experience. It does take a bit of time to find its feet, though, and, the early moments are quite slow and regimented. And it's still a four year old game, so despite its PC-specific graphical enhancements, the game's core engine is starting to look a bit dated by modern standards. Bringing a katana to a knife fight It might not be on the bleeding edge, but Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut still delivers a number of improvements over the console edition, including unlocked framerates, support for Nvidia DLSS3, AMD FSR3, and Intel XeSS, as well as compatibility with Nvidia Reflex and image quality-enhancing Nvidia DLAA. On top of that, this version of the game also supports ultrawide (21:9), super Ultrawide (32:9), and even 48:9 Triple Monitor support, meaning the sweeping landscapes of Tsushima really can stretch out to your vision's periphery. There are also a few nice little extras thrown in, too, such as the ability for cinematics to be rendered in real-time, a fact that unlocks Japanese voice language lip sync. This sounds like a small thing, but this is absolutely a game you should play with Japanese audio, be that in Samurai Cinema mode (Japanese language, English subs, full-colour graphics) or Kurosawa (Japanese language, English subs, black and white, film grain heavy visuals) mode. As such, Japanese lip sync in cinematics adds to the immersion massively. Finally, there's adaptive haptic feedback, too, if you have a compatible controller. This means that you can get physical feedback when fighting with your blade, or shooting with your bow. A welcome addition. As for things that are not included with this PC edition, which I really would like to have seen, the most obvious is real time ray tracing, both in terms of global illumination and in terms of reflections. I'll come back to this later. For more info on the game's hardware demands, be sure to check out our performance analysis feature. My experience with the PC version of the Director's Cut Playing the game on my primary rig, which is powered by an Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti, 32GB RAM (DDR4), and an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X, Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut ran consistently at over 100 fps at FHD resolution. The RTX 3090Ti is only DLSS2 compatible, too, so I'm confident that if you had a 40-series card from Nvidia you'd likely achieve framerates of over 140fps. This game runs like butter, then, and even if you were using more dated hardware, I'm still very confident you'd get a locked framerate of 60fps or more. That high, stable framerate meant I found much of the combat easier and more natural compared to the console version. It's not quite as brutal and unforgiving as a soulslike, but timing sword counters and parries is key in this game, so the smoothness is a real benefit. It also helped when lining up swift bow shots, especially firing from on horseback, which require a good degree of precision. Swapping out the primary monitor for a 32:9 variant, the sweeping landscapes of Tsushima island do indeed look stunning. Wind rustling through the grasses and trees, shimmering lakes nestling up against war-torn rustic villages, majestic forts and pagodas breaking distant treelines—all seem slightly more real with the wider, perspective-broadening aspect ratio. That said, Ghost of Tsushima remains really rather pretty at any aspect ratio. While I think it's still stunning thanks to its fantastic art direction—something that is absolutely enhanced by the PC version's bells and whistles— there's also no escaping that, four years after its original release, Ghost of Tsushima is not a visual tour-de-force anymore, and its engine allows limited environmental interactivity and, well, realistic clutter. Don't get me wrong, not every game needs Starfield-levels of interactable objects and environmental details, but aside from people, resources and collectibles, this is a pretty static world. It's also a world where, thanks to the lack of ray tracing, there are moments when the lightning looks pretty old hat and flat compared newer open-world third person action-adventure games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. While the character models, textures, and lightning aren't quite at 2024 standards, this doesn't hamper the story or the action, with it technically pretty darn faultless. I didn't experience a single crash, either, and the only visual glitch I saw was a distant pagoda not rendering properly once, with its angled rafters appearing to float in the air. A great PC port Sony should replicate Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut on PC is a great all-round port of a very good game, and is now the definitive way to play it. Yes, I'd have liked the options for more modern lighting effects to be enabled, but aside from that, Nixxes, who is responsible for the port, has done a great job here. Here's hoping Sony continues to port to PC in a similar fashion, and in a more timely manner, too, such as the Japanese firm did recently with Helldivers 2. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/ghost-of-tsushima-directors-cut-review/

Dungeons of Aether is a fun story-driven dungeon crawler where we use a unique "dice drafting" gameplay mechanic to win a series of one-on-one battles against numerous deadly enemies. Playing as a motley crew of four colorful characters trying to save a troubled town from a greedy mining corporation and a powerful ancient evil, we explore lots of pre-designed dungeons to fight enemies, collect loot, solve light puzzles, and uncover bits of lore. The turn-based battles span multiple rounds. Each round, we roll six dice of different colors and then take turns drafting them with our opponent to increase our Attack, Defense, Speed, and Accuracy stats. Accuracy defines the number of moves we can choose from. The offensive moves deal damage only if our Attack value surpasses the enemy’s Defense, while support moves let us stack the odds for the next rounds. Speed defines the turn order, and we can set up clever traps and ruses if we manage to move first. For example, making the opponent's otherwise perfect attack fail because we suddenly have increased defense. Unfortunately, the enemies’ movements are so predictable that some attacks work better than others - up to the point where mindlessly spamming the same move in every fight works wonders. Fortunately, we still often end up in situations that require strategic thinking and clever use of our equipment and consumable items. Dungeons of Aether is a $4.99 premium game without ads or iAPs. The game offers a memorable journey full of funny character interactions, great humor, drama, intrigue, unexpected plot twists, and all the other attributes of a great tale. And a separate mode with randomly generated dungeons ensures great replayability after finishing the main story. https://minireview.io/role-playing/dungeons-of-aether

When Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was released in 2017 it quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. I beat it in one sitting and remember feeling thankful that I had played it in a room dark enough to conceal how much I wept as the credits rolled. As a young woman who had endured abuse and was desperately wrangling with her own mental health and attachment issues, Senua's journey resonated and comforted me in a way no other game ever had. So it might surprise you then, that when I heard Ninja Theory was working on a sequel, I was extremely hesitant. My biggest concern--particularly after Microsoft purchased Ninja Theory--was that the next entry in the Hellblade series would aim to be one of the massive, AAA experiences that are taking over the games industry, complete with a cluttered mini-map, crafting, side quests, and more. That's not to say these features are inherently bad of course--they do have their place--but to me, this felt at odds with what Hellblade did so well. I didn't want breadth, I wanted the series to maintain its depth; I wanted emotion, art, storytelling, introspection, mythos, terror, and magic. In fact, I was so concerned that the studio would trade in its depth for breadth, I didn't foresee what actually happened. Rather than expanding its systems and scope, or weaving a story equal parts intimate and mystical, Senua's Sage: Hellblade 2 focuses on vastly improving what its predecessor already did so well: visuals and sound. Hellblade 2 is a marvel to look at. It's gorgeous, cinematic, and hyper-realistic, yet still eerie and ethereal. Its music remains extraordinary, and its sound design is primed to make your skin crawl. And yet, I cannot help but be disappointed by how pared down and shallow its story and gameplay are. While Hellblade 2 might be a sight to behold, its minimal gameplay and muddled narrative prevent it from being a game that has any meaningful impact on me. Senua's Saga picks up not long after Senua's Sacrifice, and follows our heroine as she sets off to confront the Northmen who keep raiding her lands and enslaving her people. She sees this not solely as a chance to do what's right, but as a way to atone for the sins she is still convinced she committed--a way to wash off the blood that she can't help but see on her hands. However, Senua soon discovers that vengeance is not so simple, and a decision that condemns and brutalizes one group could mean safety and survival to another. It's a simple plot that is ultimately executed in a way that lacks richness. Yet there are certain themes here that carry it a bit further. First and foremost--and as every therapist will tell you--progress is not linear. Exploring Senua's reintegration into society and how her mental illness impacts that process is an interesting concept. Despite her being in a better place by the end of the first game, she is not miraculously cured of her trauma or the inner voices that manifested as a result of it. In fact, she is still largely fearful of herself and plagued by the guilt her father instilled in her. I appreciate that this comes through in her newest journey, too. Additionally, Hellblade 2 hones in on compassion in a way that is not novel, but tender nevertheless. Between Senua's companions assuring her that her empathy and unique way of seeing the world is a gift, to the game's overall emphasis on trying to understand the "man behind the monster" in order to heal them and stop cycles of violence, there are some calls for kindness here that are always worth hearing. I appreciated the game presenting conflicting ideas on morality and reformation, and while it did frequently delve into the old saying "hurt people hurt people," it also made clear that people always have a choice and that pain is not an excuse for cruelty. And yet, the themes fall a bit flat. I suspect it's largely due to the game's dialogue, narration, and Senua's voices, which never reach the same level of poeticism or introspection as they do in the first game. The voices in particular often come across as a distracting novelty. And sure, it can be argued that anxiety and trauma is distracting, but if that was the artistic choice Ninja Theory was going for, that sense of turbulence doesn't cut through. Instead, I was left frustrated that Senua's internal monologue became this simplistic bit of noise that only truly offered up either affirmations or self-flagellating remarks--some of which seemed to counteract all her previous lessons learned in a way that felt less like nonlinear progress and more like a lack of narrative cohesion. But while the voices felt too simple, the game's narration felt overly obtuse, featuring legions of words said all to convey very simple messages that are then repeated dramatically time and time again. All this comes on top of the fact that this game adds a cast of supporting characters who talk over and under these other voices, leading to writing coming across as muddled and tedious, and ultimately lacks the same sense of artistry exhibited in the Hellblade 2's audio and visuals. I also suspect that some of this would have been easier to forgive if the game's story beats were bolder, more intimate, less repetitive, and less predictable, but Senua's Saga ultimately commits to being an aesthetic and cinematic spectacle at the expense of telling a profound story that takes both Senua and the player to new heights. This is a problem that rears its head again when examining Hellblade 2's gameplay, which is substantially more frustrating than its storytelling. While playing through Senua's Saga, you will primarily do three things: walk, solve puzzles, and fight. In theory, that should be enough to make a player feel like they are playing a game--I mean heck, strip down Zelda and it's basically the same thing, right? Yet Hellblade 2 reached points where it felt more like I was watching a slightly interactive movie. The majority of my time felt spent crawling through caves or walking along beaches, and infrequent puzzles and simplistic combat kept me from feeling any sense of relief, connection, or satisfaction with the game. And sure, I've heard it argued that the original Hellblade's puzzles and combat were nothing extraordinary--I'd say that's fair, as the game primarily focused on deep, introspective storytelling. But considering Hellblade 2 doesn't have that, I had some hope new and improved mechanics might lie in store for us. Instead, things have been pared back. Just about every battle is the same: you face off against an enemy, parry their attack, press a button to kill them, then engage with the next one. Whereas in the previous game you had to navigate the field, manage multiple enemies, and could kick and fight a bit more dynamically, all of that has been cut in favor of circling around a single enemy until you can get in a parry. It's clear that the reason for this new combat system is to make battles more scripted and cinematic, as it's easy to incorporate tense moments, rolls, combos, dramatic deaths, and more when the player is limited to hitting a couple buttons against a single opponent in a very small space. But the big problem here--well, other than the combat itself--is that several games have proven that fights can feel choreographed and cinematic while allowing players to engage with enemies in more meaningful ways. Combat in Hellblade 2 feels not just like an afterthought, but virtually non-existent. In fact, I'd argue that the end result feels similar to a quick-time event, yet more tedious. Solving puzzles is just as simple a process, and mainly consists of finding ways to distort reality in order to gain access to new areas and vantage points. From there, you will find hidden runes that aid your progress. It's slightly less tedious, but none of the puzzles scattered throughout the game are particularly engaging or difficult, meaning you never feel challenged or particularly satisfied with yourself. This isn't to say Hellblade 2 is devoid of any remarkable features. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more visually striking first-party Xbox title. From its lighting and framing to the hyper-realism of its characters and locations, every bit of Hellblade 2 feels cinematic and spectacular. Whereas its story and systems could use some love, it is abundantly clear that these environments--from the animal skulls that adorn dilapidated houses to the towering mountains and vast oceans that extend past where the eye can see--were completely adored by the team. Similarly, the game's motion capture and performances are next-level, with each of the game's main cast bringing a level of melodrama and tension to the game that elevates a script that is otherwise a bit flat and predictable. The game's sound design and music are perhaps even more notable. Though the most obvious praise is leveled at the game's binaural audio, there are so many other elements that come together alongside this choice that elevate it. The deep groans of rotting buildings and shrieks of villagers in pain are so realistic they feel palpable. Senua's up-close and breathy panic inspires instant tension, while far off, guttural singing strikes fear. Though the combat itself might be subpar, the music that plays while Senua faces off against the draugr is intense and riveting. But while few games can rival Hellblade 2's sound, graphic fidelity, and talent for rendering stunning vistas and characters so expressive you can tell when they're tensing their jaws, I couldn't help thinking how gorgeous the game would be if what was depicted was more varied. There are a few memorable set pieces I won't spoil, but even compared to its predecessor--which led players through tombs, razed towns, haunted woods, chamber halls, and let them face off against giants, a rotting boar, towering stag-headed monsters, and the god of illusions--there is surprisingly little variation in Hellblade 2's settings and monsters. Though the caves Senua crawled through succeeded in inducing the claustrophobia the game warns you about at its start, large chunks of the game taking place surrounded by stone isn't entirely appealing. It's yet another substance problem in a game that is regrettably full of them. Based on its new naming convention, the use of "saga" in Hellblade 2's title, and Microsoft's acquisition of developer Ninja Theory following the success of Senua's Sacrifice, it seems as if Hellblade is slated to be a series as well as a staple in Xbox's first-party lineup. That said, at this point, I don't exactly understand where the series is headed, if not to the box office. There are plenty of games that prove games can be art, but as some studios lean harder into proving that in one specific way that cribs from Hollywood, we're seeing some games that feel afraid of being games. With too much focus on cinematics and too little on creating an experience that is engaging, Senua's Saga fails to reach the same highs as its predecessor--even if it does look stunning whilst trying. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/senuas-saga-hellblade-2-review-hell-and-high-water/1900-6418229/