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Kanye West, now Ye, created a stir (once again!) by wearing a controversial t-shirt with the slogan ‘White Lives Matter’ at his Yeezy fashion show at the recently-concluded Paris Fashion Week. The t-shirt also featured a photo of Pope John Paul II on the front. Not just him, similar shirts were also worn by models on the ramp apart from Candace Owens, an American conservative influencer and activist. In a now-deleted Instagram story, the American rapper also discredited the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement as a ‘scam’ and wrote, “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now it’s over. You’re welcome.” Notably, the phrase ‘White Lives Matter’ has been classified as a “white supremacist phrase” by the Anti-Defamation League. As such, upon seeing the shirt, several attendees, including Jaden Smith, walked out of the show with Vogue editor Gabriella-Karefa Johnson calling the designs “deeply offensive, violent and dangerous”. Now, in a new interview with Tucker Carlson, West defended his t-shirt and said, “They’re looking for an explanation — as an artist, you don’t have to give an explanation, but as a leader, you do. So the answer to why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is: They do. It’s an obvious thing.” Talking about his creative choice, he added, “I do certain things from a feeling, I just channel the energy. It just feels right. It’s using a gut instinct, a connection with God, and just brilliance.” “You know, my dad is an educated ex-Black Panther, and he put in a text to me today, he said, ‘White Lives Matter. Ha ha ha ha ha,'” he said, recounting his father Ray West’s reaction to the t-shirt. “And I said, ‘I thought the shirt was a funny shirt. I thought the idea of me wearing it was funny.’ And I said, ‘Dad, why do you think it was funny?’ He said, ‘Just a Black man stating the obvious.'” Source.

A huge blast on Russia's bridge to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it annexed in 2014, has killed three people, investigators say. The victims were in a nearby car when a lorry blew up, the Russian investigators said, bringing down sections of the bridge's roadway. Russia says the railway part of the bridge - where oil tankers caught fire - will reopen on Saturday. They also claim road traffic will begin on an undamaged lane this evening. The rail and road crossing opened in 2018 and was a symbol of Russia's illegal annexation. An adviser to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, did not directly claim Ukrainian responsibility but wrote: "Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. "Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled." Ukraine's defence ministry compared the bridge explosion to the sinking of Russia's Moskva missile cruiser in April. "Two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea have gone down," it tweeted. "What's next in line?" Meanwhile the Ukrainian government simply tweeted: "Sick burn." The Russian foreign ministry said: "The Kiev [Kyiv] regime's reaction towards destruction of civilian infrastructure is a testament to its terrorist nature." It is hard to exaggerate the significance, and symbolism, of seeing the bridge - which was opened by President Putin - on fire. Russia has used the bridge to move military equipment, ammunition, and personnel from Russia to battlefields in southern Ukraine. As such, Ukrainian authorities said it was a legitimate target, as they vow to retake the peninsula. Any attack on Crimea, where the Russian army has a massive presence, will be seen as another massive humiliation for the Kremlin. The bridge is particularly hated by Ukrainians. Social media in Ukraine erupted in celebration on seeing the fire - one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 70. Local authorities in Crimea say they will organise a ferry service between the Russian mainland and the peninsula. Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said: "At 06:07 Moscow time today [03:07 GMT], an explosion was set off at a cargo vehicle on the motorway part of the Crimean bridge on the side of the Taman peninsula, which set fire to seven fuel tanks of a train that was en route to the Crimean peninsula. "Two motorway sections of the bridge partially collapsed." Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir Konstantinov blamed the explosion on "Ukrainian vandals, who have finally managed to reach their bloody hands to the Crimean bridge". He added the damage to the bridge would be "promptly restored, since it is not of a serious nature". Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed about the "emergency" on the bridge and has ordered a government inquiry, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. A criminal investigation is also under way. The 19km (12-mile) bridge across the Kerch Strait, which cost £2.7bn to build, was opened four years after Moscow illegally annexed Crimea. It is the longest bridge in Europe, and was hailed by Russian media as "the construction of the century". Russian officials previously claimed it was well protected from threats from air, land or water. The crossing is more than 100 miles from Ukrainian-held territory. One explosives expert told the BBC the fire was probably not caused by a missile. "The lack of obvious blast / fragmentation damage on the road surface suggests that an air-delivered weapon was not used," he said. He said it was possible that "a well-planned attack from below may have been the cause". "I suspect explosives on the road bridge and train deck were initiated near simultaneously using coded radio command," he added. Ukraine claimed responsibility last month for a series of air strikes on Crimea over the summer, including an attack on Russia's Saky military base. Kyiv has the momentum in this conflict. The army has reclaimed large swathes of territory, forcing Russian troops to abandon long-held positions. Amid the losses, Moscow has begun a chaotic military mobilisation - which led to rare anti-war protests in Russia, and a huge exodus of military-age men. On Russian TV talk shows, presenters and studio guests have been expressing increasing doom and gloom about the situation. Source.

One of the early complaints fans had with Overwatch 2 was that Blizzard made it a requirement to add a phone number to even play the game. However, following a significant backlash, Blizzard has now reconsidered and announced that it will remove the requirement for most existing Overwatch players. We have made the decision to remove phone number requirements for a majority of existing Overwatch players. Any Overwatch player with a connected Battle.net account, which includes all players who have played since June 9, 2021, will not have to provide a phone number to play. We are working to make this change and expect it to go live on Friday, October 7. We will update players once it is in effect. We remain committed to combating disruptive behavior in Overwatch 2—accounts that were not connected to Battle.net as well as new accounts will still have to meet SMS Protect requirements, which helps to ensure we’re protecting our community against cheating. If a player is caught engaging in disruptive behavior, their account may be banned whether they have a new account or not. Another major launch issue was the long queues. Blizzard explained that they have fixed some of the causes behind the problem, though players should still expect to experience some queues. Players may have been seeing their queue numbers jumping around, going from a small number to a larger number. This is due to there being two queues for players—one through Battle.net, then one through the game itself. This process is usually invisible to players, but was being seen in real time. We have made changes to simplify the queuing process, so players should now only be experiencing the one queue before entering the game. There are several areas where we’re working to improve stability. Today we’ve patched a server that is critical to the login experience, and this change has increased login reliability. Beyond queues, we’re in progress with another server update that will reduce the occurrences of players being disconnected once they’re already in game. Finally, the player database is being overloaded, which cascades and causes a backup in the login system, which eventually leads to some people being dropped out of queues or being unable to log in at all. We’re continuing to add nodes to ease the pressure on the player database. The process of adding nodes requires replication of data, which inherently adds pressure to an already stressed system, so we’re doing it slowly to not cause any further disruption as devs and engineers work through separate issues. We are also currently throttling queues in order to protect the player database as much as we can while we scale—this feels bad in the short-term, but once it’s done, will greatly improve the experience for players across multiple fronts moving forward. As a reminder, Overwatch 2 launched in early access as a free-to-play title. It currently only features PvP, whereas the long-awaited PvE mode should be added to the game sometime next year. Source.

While Apple showcased Stage Manager as the iPad's new way of multitasking that introduces windows and soon external display support, it's five months since WWDC 2022 and it's at the point where the feature should be scrapped. I've always been a fan of the iPad since its debut in 2010, thanks to its design and the software improvements that came to it across the years, such as split-view, Apple Pencil and more. Yet when iPadOS 16 was announced at WWDC in June, Apple went hard in making sure that users knew that the iPad was capable of replacing a computer, with desktop-class apps and this new way of multitasking. Since then, Stage Manager has seen a multitude of bug fixes and some recent changes where it will be available on other iPads. However, we're still at a point where it's buggy, confusing, and generally in a state that makes me think it's nowhere near ready for its rumored debut later this month. Enough is enough iOS 9 introduced split-view to the iPad, where you could have split-screen apps and a 'Slideover' view for a third app. But users, me included, wanted something more, especially to take advantage of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro display. Plenty also wanted external display support to manage more apps at once, especially when working from home was a standard in 2020. And while Stage Manager fulfilled these two needs with separate windows and external display support until it was delayed, the execution has so far been terrible. I liked using it back in July - I gave it the benefit of the doubt at the time as it was only a month since WWDC, and usually with some features, they can change and be fixed over the summer period until they arrive in a final release. However that's not the case with Stage Manager - as recent as last night I was trying to manage Safari, Infuse and Notes by resizing them in different windows, and it would crash every time. There's other oddities, where you could have two windows active, and if you switch Stage Manager off, sometimes it will revert to split-view, but one app will be something else entirely, not of the two apps that were previously in windows. I'm not alone in this - many others on Twitter are expressing their frustrations with Stage Manager too, and concerns are brewing. It's rumored that we'll be seeing new iPads soon alongside the debut of iPadOS 16.1, but perhaps this is an occasion where Apple needs to hold its hands up, admit that Stage Manager isn't ready, and delay it until next year. I've spoken before of how Stage Manager has been in danger of falling on iPadOS' sword with its snap-grid view and unclear labels, and it's more relevant than ever now. The whole feature needs a rethink, but iPadOS also needs to be rethought as to how it can better serve multitasking on the iPad. The way apps snap to a grid is an iPadOS quirk, not something mandated by Stage Manager. It's why the feature works better in macOS Ventura, as there's no grid for an app to snap to - you can place an app anywhere on the screen. Let's see it redesigned for a future release, Apple. Learn from this period and perhaps ask the iPad community how they can be better served with managing apps, compared to what's currently on offer. For now, iPadOS 16.1 is in danger of being an issue as big as Maps was in iOS 6, and no one, especially Apple, wants that again. Source.

Intel has revitalized the midrange graphics card market with the company's latest Arc A770, which will make its way into the list of best graphics cards. Starting at $329, the Arc Alchemist graphics card brings GeForce RTX 3060-like performance to the table with Resizable BAR (ReBAR) enabled, of course. But, without ReBAR or similar technology like Smart Access Memory (SAM), it's another story. With Arc, Intel recommends potential consumers make sure their systems support ReBAR or SAM. The chipmaker has been very open about it and publishes it on its website(opens in new tab). ReBAR isn't mandatory but recommended since the chipmaker built its graphics cards and drivers around ReBAR. Intel fellow Thomas A. Peterson (TAP) said, "If you have an older PC without ReBAR support, just buy an RTX 3060, don't bother with Arc." Therefore, it's safe to assume that Arc graphics cards suffer a performance penalty on systems that lack support for ReBAR. Media news outlet TechPowerUp(opens in new tab) has tested the Arc A770 with ReBAR disabled, and the results speak for themselves. Without ReBAR, the Arc A770's performance, on average, plummeted to 77% at 1080p (1920x1080), 76% at 1440p (2560x1440), and 80% at 4K (3840x2160). Arc owners who don't have a system with ReBAR are essentially losing almost a quarter of the performance from their graphics cards. Intel's other Arc offerings, such as the A750 and A380, will also undergo performance losses. However, we don't know to what degree. Nonetheless, TechPowerUp's results don't paint the entire picture. The publication noted that the games suffered from stutters and were simply unplayable without ReBAR. Moreover, the lack of ReBAR significantly impacted the Arc A770 across 25 titles, so it's not just AMD- or Nvidia-specific titles. In addition to testing ReBAR, TechPowerUp also evaluated whether the speed of the expansion slot impacts the Arc A770's performance. As a reminder, the Arc A770 comes with a conventional PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. However, the tests revealed that PCIe 3.0 is still plenty for the Arc A770 as long as ReBAR is enabled. Furthermore, TechPowerUp only recorded a performance difference of up to 2% between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0, so ReBAR support is more important than the expansion slot. Regarding ReBAR, only Intel 10th Generation Comet Lake, 11th Generation Rocket Lake, and 12th Generation Alder Lake processors support that feature. As for AMD, SAM support is only present on Ryzen 3000 Zen 2 chips and newer. So while Arc's performance looks attractive and priced fairly, its requirements effectively lock out users with older systems. Arc also demands Windows 10 20H2 or Windows 11 as the operating system, so Windows 7 users, who are reluctant to upgrade, are also out of the picture. The Arc A770 will hit the retail market on October 12, starting at $329. If you plan to upgrade to Arc for gaming, ensure your system supports ReBAR or SAM. If not, you're better off picking up a Radeon RX 6650 XT for $285 or even the GeForce RTX 3060 at $369. Source.

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Conservative Party chairman Jake Berry has hit back at suggestions by former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries that the government should change course or face a "wipeout" at the next election. In an interview with the Times, the former culture secretary accused ministers of "lurching to the right". But Mr Berry said he did not understand or agree with some of her comments. The government has faced vocal opposition from some of its own MPs since its mini-budget on 23 September. The party's annual conference in Birmingham this week was overshadowed by internal divisions, after the chancellor U-turned on plans to scrap the top rate of income tax in the face of criticism from many Tories and turbulence in financial markets. Some cabinet ministers and senior Conservatives have also publicly spoken out against the suggestion increases to benefits including universal credit could be linked to wages rather than prices, which would amount to a real-terms cut. Ms Dorries, who supported Liz Truss during the leadership election, said she had made some "big mistakes" in her first weeks as prime minister. She told the Times: "You don't win elections by lurching to the right and deserting the centre ground for Keir Starmer to place his flag on. "If we continue down this path, we absolutely will be facing a Stephen Harper-type wipeout. I'm sure [the prime minister has] listened and will stop and rethink." Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau won a landslide victory against Mr Harper in the 2015 election. Ms Dorries, who was a key ally of Boris Johnson, was asked by Ms Truss to stay on as culture secretary, but chose instead to return to the backbenches when the new prime minister took over. She accused the government of shelving several of his policies, including privatising Channel 4, reviewing the BBC's licence fee, introducing the Online Safety Bill, and bringing forward new animal welfare legislation. She said abandoning Mr Johnson's policies was "a mistake", adding: "That was our mandate, our deal with the voters. Removing a prime minister and the policies people voted for less than three years ago is a troubling precedent to set in a democracy." However, Mr Berry told LBC: "I've seen some of the comments by Nadine, I don't understand some of them and some of them I don't agree with." "[I am] quite good friends with Nadine and I think she's a very fine individual and a very fine Conservative, but quite a lot of what we have done hasn't been just about cutting people's taxes - though of course people are getting the cut in income tax. Quite a lot of it is, you know, action on energy bills," he said. He suggested the current tax policy is "very similar" to when Ms Dorries was in government. There have also been divisions within the Tory party over whether benefits should rise in line with inflation - a pledge made by Mr Johnson. Ms Truss has refused to say she would maintain that commitment. Ms Dorries said increasing benefits only in line with wages would be "cruel, unjust and fundamentally unconservative" during a cost-of-living crisis. In his interview with LBC, Mr Berry also said he regretted saying on Sunday people could get a better-paid job to cover their energy bills, adding that "my language was a bit clumsy". Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer has branded Ms Truss the "destroyer of growth", after she accused Labour of being part of an "anti-growth coalition" in her conference speech. In a round of interviews with BBC local radio, the Labour leader said increased mortgage rates were a "direct result" of the government's "kamikaze" mini-budget last month. Source.

For 36 years, biologist Ian Jones has been studying the crested auklet (Aethia cristatella). The small seabirds flock in ocean waters between Siberia and Alaska. They nest in colonies on rocky coasts of remote islands. And each spring, they hold courtship displays that resemble rowdy, carnal swim parties. Jones, a professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland, has observed the birds’ eight-week breeding season: the sights, sounds, smells, and moves. In sum, he says, “it looks like some sort of 1960s-style love-in.” When the snowmelt signals spring, crested auklet males of breeding age choose a courtship staging spot, and the flaunting begins. The males puff up their feathers, strut around, and flash their forward-curving crest (its size does matter to females, research has shown). They also make trumpeting, hooting, and yapping sounds “like the barking of small dogs,” Jones says. If a female likes a male’s show, she approaches him. If there’s mutual interest, both birds pose and vocalize, and stroke each other with their bills. That distributes a tangerine-scented substance released from a gland beneath their nape feathers. The smell may be an auklet turn-on—and the bird is already “extremely gregarious,” Jones says. “You can have a one-meter-square flat rock with hundreds of birds on it, jostling, crowding, and doing all sorts of weird things.” A couple’s wooing usually leads to intertwining of necks, then mating—but never on dry land, Jones says. “They do it frequently. Several times in an hour. And always at sea.” Not always alone, however: Sometimes a “scrum” of other auklets tries to thwart or cut in on the sex, until the male backs them off with jabs of his bill. In a single season the mates produce one egg, co-parent during the chick’s early months, and often remain a pair. The next year, the same birds may find each other and do it all again. Source.

Facelifting the A-Class is a huge deal for Mercedes, because even though it’s the smallest and cheapest model in its line-up, it’s also the most po[CENSORED]r car from the German brand here in the UK. The Mercedes A-Class was Britain’s fourth best-selling car in 2021 but has dropped out of the top 10 so far this year. Hoping to reinvigorate sales, Mercedes has given the A-Class plenty of tweaks inside and out to freshen it up for 2022 and beyond. As suggested by previous spy shots, the exterior of the A-Class has been given a mild revision in both saloon and hatchback form. The front bumper gets a slightly different lower grille opening and the main grille itself has been reshaped - although the quintessential larger three-pointed star badge is still there. The bonnet gains two bulges for some added aggression. Around the side you’ll find a new selection of alloy wheels up to 19 inches in size, and to the rear there’s a new diffuser and brake light unit. The new A-Class will once again rival the Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series in the premium hatchback market and a key battleground will be interior technology. The outgoing model featured a seven-inch screen and 10.25-inch display as standard, with a pair of 10.25-inch displays available as an option. Mercedes has retained this line-up for the facelifted model. What has changed is the infotainment system itself, because the car gets latest generation of MBUX. The display style can be changed between “Classic”, showing the usual relevant driver information, “Sporty” with a more pronounced rev counter and “Discreet’ for less information on show overall. Extra equipment, such as an additional USB-C port and a fingerprint sensor, is also available and as you’d expect, there’s smartphone compatibility with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Wireless. The MBUX upgrade also means the voice assistance is “even more capable of dialogue and learning”, claims Mercedes. There’s a boost in safety tech, with a new “Driver Assistance Package” adding lane-keep assist and active steering control. The new A-Class now features a “Parking Package” which supports bay parking and offers a 360-degree camera to help with parking using 3D images. Mercedes has given the facelifted A-Class some new powertrain options as well. Every petrol engine is now electrified, with a seven-speed or eight-speed automatic gearbox as standard. The new mild-hybrid system includes a 48V motor which Mercedes says “supports agility when starting off with an extra 13bhp”. Kicking off the range is the A 180 with 134bhp and 230Nm of torque from its mild-hybrid, 1.3-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine. Acceleration stands at 9.2 seconds for 0-62mph and the top speed is 134mph. Next up is the A 200, which uses the same engine as the A 180 but tuned to 161bhp and 270Nm of torque. 0-62mph is dealt with in 8.2 seconds and it’ll top out at 140mph. Above those there’s the A 220 with the Mercedes 4MATIC four-wheel drive system. It uses a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine pumping out 188bhp and 300Nm of torque. That’s enough for a 7.1-second 0-62mph time and 146mph top speed. The 221bhp A 250 goes from 0-62mph in 6.3 seconds and on to a 155mph top speed. Source.

Garlic is used in most Indian kitchens to add a distinct flavour to dishes. The humble ingredient not only makes the food taste better but also comes packed with umpteen health benefits that help strengthen the body’s immunity and keep many ailments at bay. Possessing “powerful antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory properties and being high in antioxidants,” garlic’s benefits are ‘legendary’, Dr Moomal Asif wrote on Instagram. Agreed Dr Garima Goyal, a dietitian, and told indianexpress.com, “Garlic contains a compound called allicin, which makes it a medicine in disguise.” She added that it has “excellent disease-preventing effects such as on cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, and also promotes health through its antioxidant activities.” In an Instagram post, nutritionist Lovneet Batra had also shared that garlic is “a miracle food” that “helps to boost the immune system and thus protect our body against various infections” — all due to the presence of allicin. According to experts, it is also anti-fungal and antiseptic in nature, and can help “prevent certain cognitive diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s.” However, the experts warned that frying garlic — which should ideally be consumed on an empty stomach — even for “two minutes in the frying pan destroys all its health benefits.” Dr Goyal explained that on being cooked, garlic’s allicin compound is lost along with other water-soluble vitamins like B and C as they all are heat sensitive. What can be done? To retain the health benefits of garlic, Dr Asif suggested making a small change: “Crush, chop, or mince garlic and keep it away from heat for 10 minutes.” “During this time the maximum allicin is created and (if left untouched for 10 minutes) stays intact during cooking,” she said, adding that after 10 minutes one can “fry, sauté, bake to your heart’s content and still get all its medicine.” Adding, Dr Goyal said that this is because in those 10 minutes “allicin becomes intact”, which can be “added to your dishes and relished along with the health benefits.” So, enjoy the myriad benefits of garlic with this super easy rule! Source.

An ex-policeman has killed at least 38 people, most of them children, in a gun and knife attack at a pre-school daycare centre in north-east Thailand. Police say he then killed himself and his family after a manhunt following the attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province. Children and adults are among the casualties at the nursery - police say the attacker shot and stabbed his victims before fleeing the scene. The former officer, aged 34, was sacked in June for drug use, police said. A teacher who survived the attack told Thailand's Thairath TV the gunman used to drop off his child at the nursery and had seemed polite. A motive for the attack remains unclear. At least 22 children were among the dead in the mass killing in the town of Utthai Sawan. Some victims aged as young as two were attacked as they slept. A dozen people who were injured have been taken to Nong Bua Lamphu district hospital. "The shooter came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first," a local official Jidapa Boonsom, who was working nearby, told Reuters news agency. One of them was a teacher who was eight months pregnant, "At first people thought it was fireworks," she said, adding the gunman then forced entry to a locked room where children were sleeping. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha described the shooting as "a shocking event". Police named the attacker as Panya Kamrab, a local man who had been a police lieutenant colonel before he was dismissed last year for drug use. Armed with a shotgun, a pistol and a knife, he stormed the nursery at about 12:30 pm (0530 GMT). The details of what followed are still emerging, but after the killing spree the attacker fled the scene in a white-four door Toyota pick-up truck with Bangkok registration plates, according to police, who launched a search for him and warned locals to keep indoors for their own safety. Eyewitnesses were quoted saying the attacker had driven into bystanders, injuring several people, as he made his escape. Police say Kamrab returned home, killing his wife and child before taking his own life. Mass shootings in Thailand are rare although gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region. Illegal weapons are also common in the south-east Asian country, according to the Reuters news agency. The nursery attack comes less than a month after an army officer shot dead two of his colleagues at a base in Bangkok. In 2020 a soldier killed 29 people and injured dozens more in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. Source.

Happy birthday legend @REVAN, wish a beautiful day and a wonderful year full of success and joy.

Miami

Name of the game: Severed Steel Price: $24.99 - $12.49 Link Store: Here. Offer ends up after X hours: DAILY DEAL! Offer ends 8 October. Requirements:

Audi has created a hardcore version of the R8 supercar as a final send-off for its howling 5.2-litre V10 engine. Called the R8 V10 GT RWD, it traces its track-bred DNA to the first-generation R8 GT of 2010. Like its forebear, the new GT is equipped with an aggressive aero package, lightweight components and a bespoke chassis setup to take on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. With a price tag of around £200,000, the GT is set to be the most expensive Audi ever sold in the UK, and it could be the most exciting. The standard rear-driven R8 produces 562bhp from its naturally-aspirated V10, but for the GT, Audi has installed a more potent unit which drives through a snappier seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox with revised gearing. With 611bhp and 565Nm of torque, the GT fires from 0-62mph in just 3.4 seconds, and on to a top speed of 199mph. In tandem with the power uplift, Audi has stripped 20kg from the R8’s kerb weight thanks to carbon-ceramic brake discs, lightweight suspension components and new 20-inch forged wheels. These are shod in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, and in keeping with the car’s track focus, buyers can specify an adjustable coilover suspension kit. The GT’s on-limit behaviour can be tailored using a new Torque Rear driving mode, which allows the driver to control the level of rear axle slip through seven stages. The system uses wheel speed, steering angle and throttle position sensors to tweak the car’s stability systems through a corner, and should allow the driver to dig deeper into the GT’s capabilities. Speaking of which, the limited-run car produces more downforce than the standard R8 thanks to a new front splitter, canard flaps, side skirts, and a revised diffuser, all fashioned from carbon fibre. The GT’s also gets swan-neck mounts for its rear wing, cleaning up the airflow along its lower surface. Inside, flashes of red pick out the R8 GT’s seat belts and floor mats, while racy bucket seats have been installed for extra support during hard track sessions. The R8 GT RWD will arrive in showrooms next year, with a starting price of approximately £200,000 and just 15 examples earmarked for the UK. Source.

The annual show of graduating students of the Raghu Rai Center for Photography is back in the Capital. This year’s edition showcases works by eight graduating students of the 2021-22 batch, traversing genres such as street photography and documentary, landscapes, portraits, photo stories, conceptual, fashion and product photography. Apart from 33 standalones, there are two photo stories on The Bull Run in Khekra (Rajasthan) by Jaiveer Singh Rathore; and Theyyam Festival of Kerala, by Krishnan R Menon. Menon says, “Over the last 14 months, every day has been a new learning experience. From working on photo essays and documentaries to the street, I have now started seeing things that I could not see before.” Amrita Sen, whose works on display include black-and-white landscapes and product photography, says, “We have reached the stage of exhibiting our finest work, and can’t wait to hear the feedback and perspective viewers will provide.” The centre’s director and curator of the show, Nitin Rai, said, “This is our ninth annual exhibition, and after this, we are taking a break.” This year, the centre got few students, but they feel it is not economically viable. Mentor and master-artist Raghu Rai said, “Each year, the interaction between the students and faculty tends to be intense and demanding, and we try and pick up some refreshing and serious work from each of them.” The exhibition is open to the public on October 5-6, 11 am to 6.30pm, at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre. Source.

It does inside the eastern Ukrainian town of Lyman, retaken from the Russians at the weekend. The deserted debris-strewn streets are lined by boarded up or burnt-out buildings. Metal sheeting dangling from smashed roofs is buffeted by the wind. Few civilians venture out. We counted almost as many dogs as people - though the po[CENSORED]tion was around 20,000 before the war. The handful of civilians we met seem shell-shocked by months of bombardment, and uncertain their ordeal is over. The only surge of life was a convoy of Ukrainian troops riding high on top of armoured personnel carriers, waving and cheering, as they headed out of town, along a road bordered by pine forest. They roared past evidence of the human cost of Russia's defeat. The bodies of five dead Russian soldiers lay near each other, now bloated, and contorted by death, but once somebody's husband or somebody's son. They were in full uniform, with boots still on, as if they might somehow return to the fight. They appear to have been cut down together as they tried to flee. Nearby we saw a heap of discarded Russian uniforms, sleeping bags, and ration packs. There was an army backpack with a name written on it. We don't know what became of its owner. Two young volunteers from a Ukrainian humanitarian group were working carefully and quietly, numbering the bodies, and looking for anything that might identify them. They were kneeling just metres away from mines scattered along the roadside, their dark green colour camouflaged by the grass and leaves. They are a lingering threat from an enemy that has been driven into retreat, or as Russia's defence ministry put it, was "withdrawn to more advantageous positions". That statement has a familiar ring to it after the domino of Russian routs last month in Kharkiv province in the north-east. Later the volunteers manoeuvred the remains into black body bags and drove them away - some of Russia's fallen soldiers finally leaving the battlefield. A new Ukrainian flag was flying atop a captured Russian T72 tank, parked by the roadside. "We are going to win," said the smiling young Ukrainian soldier clambering around the gun turret. "I feel very good, very great." What happened here isn't just a defeat for President Vladimir Putin. It's a complete humiliation. Just last Friday he announced to the world he was annexing four Ukrainian regions, including Donetsk, where Lyman is located. He proclaimed that they would be "Russian forever". A day later Ukrainian forces were inside Lyman, and his troops were running for their lives. Ukraine says as many as 5,000 Russian troops were encircled in Lyman, before the town fell. We don't know how many were killed or captured. The defence ministry in Kyiv said in a tweet that almost all the Russian troops deployed to Lyman had been "redeployed either into body bags or into captivity". The strategic town is a gateway to the neighbouring region of Luhansk, which is almost entirely in Russia's grip. Ukraine is hoping to advance further, using its victory here as a springboard. Lena and her 10-year-old Radion are hoping for peace, and for running water. We met the mother and son heading for a well to refill a five-litre container. "I think it will be peaceful," said Lena, who wore a black hat and a few layers of woollen jumpers, "It should be peaceful. Everyone has suffered enough. The hardest thing was to survive the shelling. We prayed as we stayed in the cellar. The situation is still tense but overall, I am happy." While deprived of school, Radion has learnt the lessons of war. His face is sombre, beneath his deep blue hat. "It was a bit scary in Lyman," he tells us "because there was a lot of bombing. War is very bad because people are dying. It's more peaceful in my heart now." Others here still seem lost in their trauma, like 66-year-old Nadia. She was alone on the streets, walking slowly, as if she could not recognise her surroundings. "I hope for the best," she said "and that they [the Russians] won't come back here. It was very bad. Both sides were firing. We didn't understand anything. When it was quiet, we went outside to cook. Then it started again. We have all gone mad now." And she had a question for us. "Why am I being bombarded?" she beseeched us. "I didn't do anything bad. I didn't kill. I didn't steal. I don't understand why. Maybe you can tell me. We lived well, everything was good, we worked. And in one moment it was turned upside down." In the streets around town pro-Russian slogans have been daubed on walls, kiosks and bus shelters. "CCCP" is daubed on a closed shop front - the Cyrillic letters for USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Much as President Putin may wish to resurrect the Soviet Union of his youth, the ruins of Lyman stand as testament to his failure. Ukraine now has momentum and knows it must move fast, Western weapons supplies permitting. Battle lines will harden when freezing weather comes. The window for reclaiming more territory this winter may close in a few weeks. Source.

Tomato

In general you got 4 works on our community, 3 of them are visible and one got hidden by our coordinator due to the missing of watermark... you have no gallery yet, besides you're talking about your work with other communities. In the other hand you got some pretty works, besides i like that challenging attitude of yours (if you consider it as a competitor not as an enemy) my question for you is: let's say you got accepted and you are part of our team, why would we trust you and give you access on our category? since you said you work for other communities... I'd give you my pro already, but i'm really not sure about trusting you to get access.

Conservative MP Steve Baker has apologised for some of his behaviour towards Ireland and the EU during the Brexit process. The Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) was speaking at the Conservative party conference. He reflected that he and others did not "always behave in a way which encouraged Ireland and the European Union to trust us to accept that they have legitimate interests". "I am sorry about that," he said. Mr Baker, a well-known Eurosceptic, said "relations with Ireland are not where they should be and we all need to work extremely hard to improve them". He added: "Actually the demise of our late majesty gave us an opportunity to meet leading Irish figures, and I said to some of them that I am sorry that we did not always respect your legitimate interests. "I hope they won't mind me saying I could feel the ice thawing a bit." Wanted to bring 'humility' He was speaking on a panel alongside Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris and Conservative peer Lord Jonathan Caine, who is parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Northern Ireland Office. Much of the discussion centred around the Northern Ireland Protocol, which keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods - avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. "To respect the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) does mean to have respect for all three strands," said Mr Baker. "As a unionist said to me they have seen constitutional change without their consent through the protocol," he added. "Of course, others will argue they've seen constitutional change through having left the EU, without their consent. "But now's the time to really move on and accept the Belfast/GFA agreement as the fundamental fact which brings peace and enables government in Northern Ireland." However he then added that despite acting with "ferocious determination to get the UK out of the EU", he wanted to bring some "humility". "I want to accept and acknowledge that I and others didn't always behave in a way that encouraged Ireland and the EU to trust us to accept that they have legitimate interests, legitimate interests that we're willing to respect - because they do and we are willing to respect them," he said. "I'm sorry about that, because relations with Ireland are not where they should be and we all need to work extremely hard to improve them and I know that we are doing so," he added. 'Combination of humility and resolve' However he added that the government was resolved to get progress on the protocol. "It is not acceptable that Northern Ireland is so separate from Great Britain right now under the protocol, the protocol which at the moment is only partially implemented," he said. "That combination of humility and resolve and that willingness to build up relations and say actually, yes, we do want to be Ireland's closest friends and partners, as we all respect all three strands of the Belfast/GFA - that really is where we need to be," he added. He said people were keen for a negotiated solution. The UK and EU are set to restart talks aimed at resolving the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly held talks with his EU counterpart Maroš Šefčovič on Friday afternoon. The government has been attempting to change the deal it originally agreed with the EU nearly three years ago. But talks have largely been at a standstill since February. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) withdrew from Stormont's institutions in protest at the post-Brexit trading arrangements, arguing that the protocol threatens Northern Ireland's place in the union. What is the protocol? The protocol effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods - avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. But it means new checks on goods arriving from Great Britain, causing deep concern among unionists. In June, while Liz Truss held the position of foreign secretary, she introduced legislation in Parliament that sought to give UK ministers powers to unilaterally scrap large parts of the deal. It was welcomed by the DUP, which has called for the bill to be "fully enacted" before the party considers a return to power sharing, but was condemned by political opponents and the EU as a breach of international law. Since becoming prime minister this month, Ms Truss has reiterated that she wants to reach a negotiated outcome with the EU that would avoid use of the protocol bill's powers. However, the legislation is still expected to begin its scrutiny in the House of Lords in the coming weeks. Source.

HOBART, Australia — Wildlife experts on Thursday rescued 32 of the 230 whales that were found stranded on the wild and remote west coast of Australia’s island state Tasmania a day earlier. Half the pod of pilot whales found stranded in Macquarie Harbour were presumed Wednesday to still be alive, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania said. But only 35 had survived the pounding surf overnight, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service manager Brendon Clark said. “Of the 35 that were remaining alive this morning, we’ve managed to refloat, rescue and release … 32 of those animals, and so that’s a terrific result,” Clark told reporters late Thursday at nearby Strahan. “We still have three alive on the far northern end of Ocean Beach, but because of access restrictions, predominantly tidal influences, we just haven’t been able to access those three animals safely today. But they’ll be our priority in the morning,” Clark added. The whales beached two years to the day after the largest mass-stranding in Australia’s history was discovered in the same harbor. About 470 long-finned pilot whales were found on Sept. 21, 2020, stuck on sandbars. After a weeklong effort, 111 of those whales were rescued but the rest died. The entrance to the harbor is a notoriously shallow and dangerous channel known as Hell’s Gate. Marine Conservation Program biologist Kris Carlyon said the dead whales would be tested to see if there were toxins in their systems that might explain the disaster. “These mass stranding events are typically the result of accidental sort of coming to shore, and that’s through a whole host of reasons,” Carlyon said. Local salmon farmer Linton Kringle helped in the 2020 rescue effort and said Thursday’s challenge was more difficult because the whales were in shallower and more exposed waters. Fourteen sperm whales were discovered Monday afternoon beached on King Island in Bass Strait between the Australian mainland and Tasmania. Griffith University marine scientist Olaf Meynecke said it’s unusual for sperm whales to wash ashore. He said that warmer temperatures could also be changing the ocean currents and moving the whales’ traditional food. Source.

Volvo’s all-new, all-electric large SUV will be called EX90 and will come loaded with advanced safety tech as part of the Swedish brand’s vision of zero deaths and serious injuries in its new cars. The Volvo EX90 will be sold alongside plug-in hybrid variants of the current XC90, Auto Express understands, and will be unveiled on 9 November, before sales start in 2023. Our exclusive image shows what the new car – based on Volvo’s latest SPA2 platform – could look like when it finally breaks cover later this year, with an evolutionary design language for the large SUV. The EX90 will feature plenty of tech to protect pedestrians, cyclists and other road users, as well as its occupants. According to Joachim de Verdier, head of Safe Vehicle Automation at Volvo, “We believe the EX90 to be the safest Volvo car to ever hit the road. “We are fusing our understanding of the outside environment with our more detailed understanding of driver attention. When all our safety systems, sensors, software and computing power come together, they create a preventative shield around you – and you won’t even know it’s there until you need it.” Systems offered on the EX90 include a new LIDAR (light detection and ranging) set-up, which uses a scanning laser light to detect objects ahead. Volvo claims the tech can ‘see’ a stray tyre in the road up to 120 metres in front, for example, while it can spot pedestrians up to 250 metres ahead. This works at high speeds as well as in daylight and at nighttime, unlike a camera-based system, so the level of protection is the same regardless of driving conditions. Using LIDAR, Volvo claims accidents with severe outcomes can be reduced by up to 20 per cent, with overall crash avoidance improved by nine per cent. The EX90’s system is accompanied by five radars, eight cameras and 16 ultrasonic sensors. The latter include parking sensors, while much of the other tech will still be used for pedestrian detection and lane-keep assist, plus convenience features, such as surround-view while parking and semi-autonomous adaptive cruise control. The EX90 will also be fitted with plenty of interior safety technology, including a driver understanding system that features two cameras trained on the driver to assess their concentration and attention levels. The tech observes a driver’s eye-gaze patterns. Volvo believes a driver can focus too much on the road ahead and suffer from cognitive distraction, focusing on their thoughts and not the task of driving. But too little attention paid to the road shows that they are visually distracted, potentially by a mobile phone or another device. Combined with a capacitive steering wheel sensor that knows when the driver is gripping the wheel, the gaze-monitoring tech will attempt to build a bank of driver behaviour data and intervene in a manner of different ways when needed. Expect more details on the EX90’s powertrain and tech to be drip-fed ahead of the car’s reveal in seven weeks’ time. Source.

Hundreds of hot air balloons are scheduled to lift off Saturday morning, marking the start of an annual fiesta that has drawn pilots and spectators from across the globe to New Mexico’s high desert for 50 years now. As one of the most photographed events in the world, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has become an economic driver for the state’s largest city and a rare — and colorful — opportunity for enthusiasts to be within arm’s reach as the giant balloons are unpacked and inflated. Three of the original pilots who participated in the first fiesta in 1972 and the family members of others are among this year’s attendees. That year, 13 balloons launched from an open lot near a shopping center on what was then the edge of Albuquerque. It has since grown into a multimillion-dollar production. Pilot Gene Dennis, 78, remembers the snow storm that almost caused him to miss that first fiesta. He had to rearrange his flight plans from Michigan so he could make it to Albuquerque in time. The weather was perfect when he got to New Mexico, said Dennis, who flew under the alias “Captain Phairweather.” He was quoted at the time as saying he had brought good weather with him. He’s on the hook again, as pilots hope predictions for opening weekend are fair. “Ballooning is infectious,” Dennis said, describing being aloft like drifting in a dream, quietly observing the countryside below. This year will mark Roman Müller’s first time flying in the fiesta. He’s piloting a special-shaped balloon that was modeled after a chalet at the top of a famous Swiss bobsled run. One of his goals will be flying over the Rio Grande and getting low enough to dip the gondola into the river. “This is my plan,” he said, with a wide smile while acknowledging that it’s not always easy to fly a balloon. One thing that helps, he said, is the phenomenon known as the Albuquerque box — when the wind blows in opposite directions at different elevations, allowing skillful pilots to bring a balloon back to near the point of takeoff. Dennis said it took a few years of holding the fiesta to realize the predictability of the wind patterns allowed for balloons to remain close to the launch field, giving spectators quite a show. Denise Wiederkehr McDonald was a passenger in her father’s balloon during the first fiesta. She made the trip from Colorado to participate in a re-enactment of that 1972 flight on Friday. Her father, Matt Wiederkehr, was one of the first 10 hot air balloon pilots in the U.S. and held numerous world records for distance and duration and built a successful advertising business with his fleet of balloons. Wiederkehr McDonald, who went on to set her own ballooning records before becoming a commercial airline pilot, was wearing one of her father’s faded ballooning jackets and held a cardboard cutout of him as the balloon she was riding in lifted off. She recalled a childhood full of experiences centered on ballooning. “I remember the first time being down in the balloons with them all standing up and inflating and not being able to see the sky because it was all colored fabric. And then the other thing was the first balloon glow at night. Oh, my gosh,” she said. “There were a lot of firsts that I took for granted back then but really look back and appreciate so much now.” The fiesta has grown to include a cadre of European ballooning professionals. More than 20 countries are represented this year, including Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Taiwan and Ukraine. It also serves as the launching venue for the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race, one of the world’s premier distance races for gas balloons. Source.

Brazilians are voting in an election which could see the country switch from a far-right to a left-wing leader. Voting is compulsory with more than 156 million people eligible. Incumbent Jair Bolsonaro is seeking a second term but faces a challenge from ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. After voting, Lula said he wanted to get the country "back to normal". Mr Bolsonaro - who has often questioned the electronic voting system - said "clean elections" must be respected. Mr Bolsonaro has said in the past that if he loses the election, it will be because the voting was rigged. Brazil's electoral authority has dismissed allegations of a possible rigging as "false and dishonest", but the attacks have raised concerns that Mr Bolsonaro may not accept an outcome unfavourable to him. Quizzed by journalists on the matter on Sunday, he did not directly answer. Statements made by the president in the lead-up to the election, such as that only God could remove him from office, have created a tense atmosphere. A certain nervousness prevailed at two polling stations the BBC visited in Rio as even those wearing Bolsonaro or Lula badges would only provide their first names and refused to have their picture taken. Many voters are showing who they back by either wearing red - the colour of Lula's Workers' Party flag - or the Brazilian football shirt, which is a favourite of President Bolsonaro and his supporters. But there is also a fair share who have opted for subtlety out of fear they may be challenged by rival supporters. Eighty-seven-year-old Sonia, wearing a blue shirt, lowered her voice when she pointed to her 83-year-old friend Eva, who was wearing green: "If you put our two outfits together, they make up the colours of the Brazilian flag, and that's a sign we back Bolsonaro." "I am a patriot, and I don't want our country to become like Venezuela," she whispered, referring to the fear many Bolsonaro supporters share that a left-wing government could drag Brazil into an economic crisis like the one crippling its northern neighbour. The two women also think that President Bolsonaro will strengthen family values and combat the breakdown of the traditional family structure as well as make Rio safer so they do not "have to be afraid to go for a walk after dark". Maria, 54, is also a big fan of Mr Bolsonaro. "There's so many great things he has done, I struggle to narrow it down to a single one," she says before settling on the economy. "Look, he was dealt a really bad hand, he had to face the pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn but he did wonderfully," she gushes. "People say he is authoritarian, but that's not true, it's the opposite, he let's people take their own decisions and weigh up risks for themselves," she says, explaining that his anti-lockdown stance during Covid meant that those living hand-to-mouth were able to go to work. But José, 45, wants President Bolsonaro out of office. "Bolsonaro and his sons are thugs, plain and simple, they should all be in prison." He voted for the centre-left candidate, Ciro Gomes, in the last election, but this time he will vote for Lula because he thinks he is the only one who can beat President Bolsonaro. Mark, who works for state-owned oil giant Petrobras, is also casting an "anti-Bolsonaro vote". He says he is no fan of Lula but he strongly objects to Mr Bolsonaro's plans to privatise Petrobras. Poles apart Voters polarised views mirror weeks of acrimonious campaigning in which the two main candidates often spent more time trading insults than laying out their policies. During a televised debate on Thursday, President Bolsonaro called Lula, who served time in prison after being convicted on corruption charges, an "ex-inmate" and a "traitor", while Lula labelled the president "a liar". Five key facts about Lula 76 years old left-wing former metal worker was president from 2003-2010 imprisoned in 2018 but conviction was later thrown out Lula was not able to run in the last election in 2018 because he was in jail and barred from standing for office. His Workers' Party colleague, Fernando Haddad, did not have the same name recognition and failed to inspire left-wing voters in the way Lula does. Amid widespread discontent with mainstream politics and anger at corruption scandals which had tainted the Workers' Party, far-right lawmaker and former army captain Jair Bolsonaro was swept into office. Five key facts about Bolsonaro 67 years old far-right former army captain running for a second consecutive term has cast unsubstantiated doubts on the trustworthiness of Brazil's electronic voting system But with Lula's conviction annulled by the Supreme Court, the former president is very much back on the scene and opinion polls give him a double-digit lead over Mr Bolsonaro. There are nine other candidates in the running, but polls suggest their support does not amount to more than 10%, leaving Lula and Mr Bolsonaro to battle it out. The poll is taking place in one the world's most populous democracies, and a result is expected within hours after polls close at 17:00 (20:00 GMT). One round or two? Brazil's electoral system requires that a candidate win more than 50% of the valid votes cast in order to be declared president outright. If none of the candidates gets the necessary votes in the first round on 2 October, a run-off will be held between the top two on 30 October. Lula pledged to get Brazil "back to normal" after casting his vote Opinion polls have consistently shown Lula in the lead and there is a small chance he could win the presidency in the first round, something which has not happened since centre-right President Fernando Henrique Cardoso was re-elected in 1998. However, many Bolsonaro supporters remain confident of victory and the president himself believes he can win outright in the first round. Poverty on the rise Growing levels of poverty - hunger is said to affect more than 33 million of Brazil's 214 million inhabitants - have boosted support for Lula, who during his previous presidencies lifted millions out of poverty through generous social programmes. But the growth of evangelical churches has played into the hands of President Bolsonaro, who - while himself not evangelical - has, nonetheless, aligned himself closely with evangelical pastors. READ: ‘We'll vote for Bolsonaro because he is God’ One of those supporting the incumbent is Jean Regina, vice-president of the think tank Brazilian Institute of Law and Religion. According to him, religious leaders find "that the president's rhetoric aligns with what they hold dear, which is the free exercise of their religion and many moral aspects of social life". While Mr Regina highlights Mr Bolsonaro's defence of the traditional family, this is something Vin Vogel, author and illustrator of young readers' books, objects to. He says that "as a citizen who happens to be homosexual, I was so depressed when this openly homophobic person" was elected. But his rejection of President Bolsonaro goes further than that. "There is nothing in this man that I like. He is a threat to democracy, to LGBT people, to indigenous people, so when he was elected, I thought, 'The bully has won the fight.'" Similar to other Lula voters, for Mr Vogel, investment in education is the key to levelling inequalities in Brazil. "There is no way we're going to thrive as a nation if people can't get educated and get access to leisure and culture," he says, adding that he messaged Lula's campaign on social media with a plea to invest in education. Source.