BirSaNN

Live Performance Title: Coldplay: The Astronaut (Live) Signer Name: The Astronaut Live Performance Location: - Official YouTube Link: Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video): 10/4

Music Title: Music Mix 2023 🎧 Remixes of Po[CENSORED]r Songs 🎧 EDM Bass Boosted Music Mix Signer: - Release Date: 04/02/2023 Official Youtube Link: Informations About The Signer: - Your Opinion About The Track (Music Video): 10/6

• Name: @BirSaNN • Time & Date: 01:17 /04/02/2023 •Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/ca6ED1c

People in Wales should pay more in income tax in order to help Wales through an "unprecedented crisis", according to Plaid Cymru. The party is calling for a 1p in the pound increase for people earning over £12,500, a 2p rise for salaries of over £50,000, and an extra 3p for those bringing in more than £150,000. It says the extra cash can go on NHS and social care pay. But the Welsh government has rejected the idea. It said raising the basic rate of tax would hit "many who are already struggling with rising inflation". Meanwhile the Conservatives said Plaid could "stop propping" up the Welsh government if they really lacked faith in Labour ministers. Plaid Cymru is calling for the income tax rises and cost-of-living measures to be added to the Welsh government's budget for the next financial year, 2023-2024. The party proposes using the extra cash raised to fund an 8% increase next year for NHS staff and paying social care workers £12 an hour. But if the proposals are rejected then Plaid will not vote against the draft budget when it is debated in the Senedd on Tuesday. Their abstention - part of the party's co-operation agreement with the Labour Welsh government - will allow the budget to pass. Major tax rises for high earners backed by Plaid What is income tax and how much will I pay? In December, the Welsh government unveiled its £20bn budget, which will see an increase in NHS funding but no income tax rises. The Welsh government has had some income tax powers since 2019, but has never used them. Ministers can adjust the basic rate, higher rate and additional rate by 10p in every £1, but do not have powers over the thresholds at which people pay the different rates. Income Tax rates and bands Personal allowance on earnings up to £12,570 - 0p Basic rate: £12,571 to £50,270 - 20p Higher rate: £50,271 - £150,000 - 40p Additional rate: £150,000+ - 45p Presentational grey line Plaid Cymru is calling for a 1p rise in the basic rate, a 2p increase in the higher rate, and a 3p hike in the additional rate. Official estimates suggest it would raise an extra £312m for the Welsh government. Plaid is proposing to use the extra cash raised to fund a £317m package of measures, including an 8% pay increase next year for NHS workers, a rise in the minimum wage for social care workers to £12 an hour, and a mortgage rescue scheme. It says the cash could also be used for a 'Welsh Solidarity Fund" that could be used to extend free school meals for secondary school pupils in receipt of benefits, to increase the Education Maintenance Allowance for students, or help people struggling to pay their mortgages. 'Legacy of cuts' Plaid Cymru's leader Adam Price said the Welsh government has been short-changed by Westminster but ministers in Cardiff were "not powerless" to act. Mr Price said: "An unprecedented crisis calls for genuine solutions. "Our NHS is in crisis. Waiting times are at an all-time high, patients are trapped waiting for treatment and diagnosis and the legacy of over a decade of real-term cuts to wages has led doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals to the picket line or to leave the profession entirely. "And, of course, it's not just the NHS - workers everywhere are on strike for fairer pay and better work conditions. "The economic crisis has left households across Wales unable to put food on the table. This is what 13 years of Tory cuts and 25 years of Labour mismanagement has done to our communities." Last autumn, a majority of Plaid Cymru's Senedd members voted for a 4p increase in the higher rate and a 5p rise in the additional rate, but the idea was never formally announced. A Welsh government spokesman said: "Now is not the right time to raise the basic rate of income tax as it would hurt many who are already struggling with rising inflation and higher energy bills. "Increasing the higher and additional rates of income tax in the way Plaid Cymru are proposing would only raise £75m - the bulk of the revenue raised under these proposals would come from basic rate tax payers in Wales. "In line with our commitment not to take more in Welsh rates of income tax from people for at least as long as the economic impact of Covid-19 lasts, we are proposing no change to any of the current rates for Welsh rates of income tax for 2023-24." Conservative leader in the Welsh Parliament Andrew RT Davies said: "Plaid Cymru's so-called "co-operation agreement" with Labour is a coalition in all but name. If they really lacked faith in Labour ministers in the Senedd, they would stop propping them up. "Instead, they're trying to have all the good things of government without taking responsibility. The result is typical voodoo economics from Plaid, trying to spend the same pound twice. "Under the UK Conservative government, Wales gets £1.20 for every £1 spent in England. The money is there but Labour and Plaid mismanagement is short-changing Wales and our NHS." link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-64497838

Fish and chip shops across Australia are using threatened shark meat in their food. The meat from several threatened shark species is being served as fish and chips at restaurants across southern Australia and could become a public health hazard, a new study finds. Researchers from the University of Adelaide analyzed DNA samples from meat served at 100 fish and chip shops scattered across the region and found that 23% of the samples contained shark meat filets (often referred to as flake) from shark species listed as threatened by The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species(opens in new tab), the entity that tracks po[CENSORED]tion numbers on a global scale. Those shark species include the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) and the smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena), according to the study, which will be published in the June 2023 issue of the journal Food Control(opens in new tab). "We know that seafood fraud is omnipresent and a large issue," Ashleigh Sharrad(opens in new tab), the study's lead author and a research assistant in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide, told Live Science in an email, "but I was always wondering what shark are we actually eating?" Of the meat samples analyzed, only 27% contained meat deemed legal for Australian fisheries to label as flake by the Australian Fish Names Standard(opens in new tab), a resource that provides information on the more than 5,000 fish species inhabiting Australian waters. Those included flake from the gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus) and the New Zealand rig (Mustelus lenticulatus), both of which are considered sustainable, according to a statement(opens in new tab). In total, researchers identified nine different shark species, according to the study. Related: Sharks do actually sleep, and sometimes with their eyes open Researchers also discovered that of the samples, "only one in ten retailers could correctly identify the type of fish being sold, while 20% of the filets were mislabeled and the remainder had ambiguous labeling," according to the statement. Here's why that's a potential health issue: In many cases, shark meat can contain high levels of mercury and other toxins. "In sharks, there is evidence of larger individuals and species that are higher up [on] the food chain having accumulated levels of heavy metals and other toxins," Sharrad said. "Some research has found shark meat with toxic levels for human consumption, so when there [are] umbrella terms such as' flake,' consumers are unable to know if they are eating species that are potentially harmful to their health." She added, "Although endangered shark species have been found globally to be served to consumers, it was a surprise to find out that Australians are unknowingly eating iconic species, such as endangered hammerhead." Sharrad and her team are hopeful that their research will be the first step in creating stricter guidelines within the fishing industry. link: https://www.livescience.com/threatened-shark-species-meat-australia

Lotus is merging with L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp., with shares expected to be listed on the ticker under the name LOT. The British car manufacturer Lotus is already owned by Geely, and now the company has announced it will merge with L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp., which is a SPAC or special acquisition company. The combined company is expected to keep the name of Lotus Technology Inc., with an estimated combined enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion. Geely and other current Lotus owners are expected to retain their interests in the merged entity and hold a combined 89.7 percent. Ordinary shares for Lotus are expected to be listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "LOT" after the IPO. Lotus is going public, yet on the surface little will change: Parent company Geely and its co-owners are expected to retain an 89.7 percent majority share of the company. Ordinary shares for Lotus are expected to be listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol "LOT" after the IPO. Interestingly, the new acquisition company, or SPAC, that's buying in to Lotus is associated with Bernard Arnault and his France-based luxury goods giant LVMH, which owns companies that make everything from champagne to haute couture clothing. New Feel, Same Name After the deal goes through with the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp., Lotus is expected to retain its name "Lotus Technology Inc." with a new enterprise evaluation of roughly $5.4 billion. That evaluation takes into account an estimated $288 million in cash from Catterton's trust account (assuming none of that firm's public shareholders elect to redeem their shares), according to a release from Lotus. Eletre SUV Plans Look to Be on Track Geely CEO Qingfeng Feng will continue to helm the ship, and production plans do not seem to have changed. When we asked Lotus about how the merger will affect short- and long-term production plans, we were directed to the official release here. As things stand, the Eletre SUV is still expected to begin delivery in China in the first quarter of this year, and in the U.K. and Europe later in the year. It seems the U.S. and the rest of the world will need to sit patient, with Lotus still planning global delivery in 2024. The push to go public is part of a larger narrative between Lotus and Geely trying to improve the company's reach on a global scale. To that end, prospects seem high for the British outfit as it heads public. Managing director Matt Windle told us in December that Lotus received more than 10,000 orders for its new Emira, with over a third of those sales coming stateside. On top of that, in the span between Goodwood 2021, when the Emira launched, and Goodwood 2022, Lotus sold more cars than it had in the previous six years combined. A Colorful History of Ownership Lotus has changed hands a few times since Colin Chapman founded it in 1952. Following Chapman's death, the company teetered on the edge of bankruptcy before being purchased by General Motors and Toyota. The company was eventually sold to the Italian businessman Romano Artioli who also owned Bugatti at the time. In 2017, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (more commonly known as Geely) purchased a 51 percent stake in Lotus. In the years since, Geely has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into bringing Lotus into the modern era of car manufacturing. link: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a42744136/lotus-going-public-nasdaq/

Abortion, toxic masculinity, human extinction ... What’s the best way to talk to children about the big issues of the day? We ask the experts Laura Potter Fri 3 Feb 2023 11.00 GMT Toxic relationships If they’re lucky enough to avoid them at home, children are nonetheless exposed to toxic relationships on TV and social media – Ofcom received more than 3,000 complaints about misogynistic behaviour in just one episode of Love Island in 2022, and TikTok hosted videos of teenage boys ripping girls’ clothes off. For psychotherapist Cathy Press, who specialises in relationship abuse, parents need to be aware of what their kids are consuming, and encourage empathy if they watch something harmful. “By not discussing toxic relationship traits, we collude with normalising them,” she says. “Rather than yelling ‘How could you watch that?’, which shames the child, ask, ‘How would it feel if somebody ripped your clothes off?’” Start talking early: a UK study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council found that by age 13 to 14, 49% of boys and 33% of girls thought hitting a partner would be “OK”. So where do they get that message? “Kids grow up being exposed to on-screen depictions where men are routinely superheroes who can persuade a woman to do anything,” says Press. “Women put up some token resistance but always give in if they’re pursued long enough. Unchecked, children develop stereotypical, rigid ideas around what’s acceptable in relationships, and believe that one partner should be more dominant.” It’s pervasive, so Press urges parents to “never miss an opportunity to discuss when you see it”. Take Andrew Tate, the ex-kickboxing champion who has amassed a huge online following and was recently arrested in Romania on charges of human trafficking. Alongside “motivational” fitness content, he advocates male dominance and celebrates violence against women. Scolding your son for watching him could “exacerbate a sense of victimhood”, warns Dr Stephen Burrell, deputy director at the Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse. “It’s not boys’ fault that people like Tate exist and are given massive, profit-making platforms to express their ideas.” Instead, “help children think critically about his ideas, and how they might be harmful and show them there are lots of different ways of being a man, which involve treating women with equality and respect, and oneself and others with care and kindness”. Mike Nicholson, a former teacher and creator of the Progressive Masculinity Program, suggests using comparisons: “Compare Tate to rugby player Kevin Sinfield, who possesses a lot of the physical characteristics lads admire in Tate, but who spends his time doing ultra-marathons to raise awareness around motor neurone disease. He’s strong but he’s also selfless. Next to him, Tate looks small, pathetic and selfish.” Know your terminology. Explain coercive control, which is “someone is pushing you into doing something you don’t want to do, and you don’t feel safe to say no”, says Press. Gaslighting is “being minimised or devalued every time you share an idea or a feeling”. It often follows love bombing: “Putting someone on a pedestal, saying lots of nice things, making promises, only to dismantle that pedestal by gaslighting.” Just as the victim realises they’re unhappy, the love bombing happens again. This is all routinely displayed on shows like Love Island and the Netflix drama Euphoria. No matter what you think of them, “kids are watching, so watch together and pull it to pieces with them”, says Press. Human extinction “Never start by talking about human extinction,” says Caroline Hickman, psychotherapist and researcher in young people’s feelings about the climate crisis. Instead, frame it for children. “Talk about how climate change could impact their favourite animal, for example.” Then research it together, and the child will naturally see how it impacts humans, too. “Explain that the chances of wholesale human extinction are really low,” Hickman says. In her research, Hickman asks children: how can I speak to you about climate change without terrifying you? “Sophia was eight when she said: ‘Tell us the truth, because if you don’t, we can’t trust you. But don’t tell us the bad news all at once – tell us some bad news, then some good.’” Don’t tell them not to worry. “Climate anxiety is triggered by concern about the climate, but the distress comes when children realise those in power are failing them.” Brush it off and you could be put in the same category. “Tell them you’re worried too, so ask what can we do as a family, as a school and as a community, globally? Placing their anxiety in a bigger context is reassuring,” says Hickman. If you don’t fully understand it, say: ‘Let’s find out together.’ You don’t have to be the expert Uju Asika Discuss activists, and innovative solutions. “I tell children about the six young people who are suing 33 European governments in the European court of human rights for failing to act on climate change, and say: ‘Look – this is what children can do.’” “If you’re asked why you have a car, say: ‘Brilliant question; let’s talk about it,’” Hickman says. If they ask why you fly, “discuss why not all flying is the worst thing – it’s private jets, empty planes. Don’t get sucked into talking about personal carbon footprint, which was developed by oil companies to make individuals feel responsible.” Colourism and white privilege You may feel well-versed in racism, but less confident discussing more nuanced issues, such as colourism. “If you don’t fully understand it, say: ‘Let’s find out together.’ You don’t have to be the expert,” says Uju Asika, author of Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World. “It’s the idea that the closer you are to fair skinned, the better you are.” Asika recommends a picture book – Sulwe, by Lupita Nyong’o – for younger children, and to use the news as a talking point. For example, a newspaper story about Kwasi Kwarteng was wrongly accompanied by a photograph of Bernard Mensah, a Bank of America boss – misidentification being a common micro-aggression. “It happens typically with dark-skinned black celebrities with very recognisable faces, who are still being undermined,” says Asika. When it comes to white privilege, she suggests parents explain that there are barriers white people don’t face that others have to. “This isn’t about the child feeling responsible, but noting injustice and thinking what they can do.” Worried this message will feel bleak to a non-white child? Asika recommends also talking about “resistance and the countless examples of people who have overcome barriers”. Contextualise history – not all people of one skin colour were “good” or “bad”, “powerful” or “oppressed” (this is explored in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Danger of a Single Story). Teach that racism isn’t only violence or name calling but is also, say, always characterising non-white people a certain way on TV. Empower them to be part of the change by questioning that. Young children will sometimes say things that make you balk, but stay calm. Don’t freak out if they say a friend has “weird hair” or their house smells funny, says Asika. “Ask if they have thought how that person might feel if you said that.” Also recognise that you may need to broaden their horizons if you live somewhere without much diversity. “If you can travel to an environment where people live, eat and pray differently, do it,” says Asika. “If not, you can access the world from a book – I was born in Nigeria and as a young girl I was reading Famous Five books. Explore global culture, art, music, or learn a language that isn’t taught on the curriculum. Be intentional and creative.” Porn From the get-go, avoid using “cute” names for genitals, which sets up embarrassment, says Yoan Reed, co-founder of sexual education website Outspoken Sex Ed. “When a child understands the basics about bodies, reproduction, rights and developing sexuality, it is far easier to discuss sex, consent and porn,” she says. Making anything sexual a taboo also discourages a child from confiding in you if they see distressing content. “Whether they have deliberately been looking for information about sex or been exposed to it, they can feel shame or fear the repercussions,” says Reed. Don’t get angry; give them comfort and support, and explain that what they’ve seen isn’t real sex. Children can be exposed to porn as young as seven. If that happens, she says, tell your child: “If you see videos of people touching each other with no clothes on, it can make you feel strange. Close your eyes – and the device – and come and talk to me. You won’t be in any trouble.” As children reach puberty and become curious about sex and bodies, don’t expect school to do all the teaching: explain that porn “gives unrealistic expectations of sex, bodies, and gender roles, and that it often exhibits misogynistic, homophobic/transphobic activity that can be scary”, says Reed. Describe it as “entertainment meant for adults; fantasy not reality”, and point out the differences between porn and real sex. “Porn doesn’t show communication, consent, contraception, mutual pleasure and emotions,” says Reed, who suggests likening it to action movies. “Cars race, people jump off them and fire off on all cylinders – nothing like cars on the motorway.” Worried you’re on the back foot with a child in their teens? “Ask what they know about inappropriate content, consent, gender inequality, misogyny and gender-based violence and let their responses develop further conversations,” says Reed. She suggests talking when driving, as there’s no direct eye contact, and highlighting media stories that reference porn. Transphobia Transphobia is a big issue, especially on social media, so children have questions. “Explain that transphobia refers to any negative feelings, opinions and actions towards people who do not identify as cisgender,” says Chris Grant, psychotherapist and founder of The Queer Therapist. “This provides an opportunity to talk about what they know or assume about gender, and to begin a wider, gentle conversation on racism, homophobia and ableism, and how to promote tolerance and respect difference.” Ask why they think the trans person is ‘weird’, which can help them identify gender stereotypes in their thinking Chris Grant If a small child, a three- to six-year-old, say, refers to a trans person as “weird”, Grant suggests parents “question with curiosity this rigid thinking and provide counter examples”. Explain, say, that boys wear skirts in many parts of the world. “Describe how just because someone looks a certain gender doesn’t mean that’s how they identify, so it’s important to ask.” For children up to 10, “ask why they think the trans person is ‘weird’, which can help them identify gender stereotypes in their thinking”, says Grant. Teens want to fit in, which puts those who don’t at risk of bullying. “Remind young people that many different gender identities and expressions exist, and all are valid and valuable.” Abortion When news broke last summer that the US Supreme Court had eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion, many young people had questions. Dr Helen Dring-Turner, resource development coordinator at young people’s health charity Brook, says an abortion could be explained to small children as “when someone is pregnant and decides with the help of a doctor not to be any more”. This can be expanded on as a child gets older, to reflect the many reasons behind this decision, she says. “The important common thread is choice, the fact the pregnant person shouldn’t be judged, and the use of factual language such as ‘termination’, ‘abortion’ and ‘foetus’.” Dr Lesley Hoggart, Open University associate dean, and co-director of the website Abortion Talk, advises explaining that having a child is not a direct consequence of sex, but a choice. Little ones may be baffled as to why anyone wouldn’t “want” a baby, so Hoggart suggests adapting language. “Say, ‘Babies are very special, so we think about the right time to have one to give them the best life possible.’” Don’t worry the topic is too grown-up: “If it’s important enough for them to ask, it should be important enough for us to answer,” says Dring-Turner. As they get older, children can pick up strong opinions. “Listen, and ask how it was formed,” advises Dring-Turner. “Then remind your child that our opinions are formed from a range of places and that we can change them if we learn new information, that nobody is always right or wrong and that we should respect people’s views.” Hoggart advises explaining that abortion is common, that “you will have friends or relatives who have had an abortion. That breaks down the idea that it’s this horrendous, out-of-the-ordinary thing.” It also encourages empathy. Finally, she suggests pointing out the alternative: forced pregnancy. Sexualised clothing Many parents are troubled by female pop stars’ hyper‑sexualised clothing, from Megan Thee Stallion’s thong one-piece at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards to Spanish singer Rosalía’s overtly sexualised video for Hentai. “Explain that pop stars are at work, wearing costumes because it’s their job to be seen,” says Jerilee Claydon, clinical psychotherapist and parenting educator, who also suggests exposing them to other role models. “I’ve put Greta Thunberg in front of my seven-year-old so she’s seeing a young girl doing great things who isn’t dressed provocatively.” Don’t say ‘Stop dancing like that.’ Say ‘That looks fun, and you can do that at home but not outside of the house’ Jerilee Claydon Is your five-year-old dancing sexily in front of the mirror? “Don’t say: ‘Stop dancing like that’,” says Claydon. “Say: ‘That looks fun, and you can do that at home but not outside of the house. Just like we don’t take our clothes off in the supermarket but you can run around naked in our garden.” Claydon says responding calmly is key, because “if a child feels seen, soothed and safe they’ll be more likely to trust you on what’s the right thing to wear”. Explain healthy attention to older children who want to wear revealing clothing. “A 12- or 13-year-old doesn’t understand a man looking at her is putting her at risk. She feels this lovey rush of attention, which gives a false sense of security,” says Claydon. “Explain that the feeling isn’t wrong, but that they may get attention from someone older who won’t know how to keep them safe.” If an older teen goes out in skimpy clothes, ask how they felt afterwards. “If they tell you they felt uncomfortable, don’t say ‘I told you so!’, say ‘That sounds horrible. You really liked that outfit, how did that feel?’” Question the need, too: “If they have a compulsion to wear revealing clothes, is it because it’s their only source of attention? How else you can build their self-esteem?” Finally, remember that despite growing up watching Madonna and Cher perform in next to nothing, we didn’t all end up in leather catsuits. link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/03/dont-tell-us-the-bad-news-all-at-once-how-to-talk-to-kids-about-grown-up-things

With a dusting of fresh winter snow settling around us and the crackle of electricity loud in the wires over our heads, Michael runs his gloved fingers over golf ball-sized holes in the crippled hulk of a huge transformer. "Here, and here, and here," he says, as he shows where shrapnel from a Russian missile punctured the transformer's thick sides. Sharp metal fragments of the missile lie on the ground nearby. Along the way, other transformers as big as bungalows are disappearing behind protective cocoons of concrete and sandbags. Above us loom the high, forbidding, Soviet-era walls of the power plant's vast turbine hall. Panes of glass for half a mile shattered by explosions from the 12 missiles that have landed here since mid-October. For all the well-publicised damage, the authorities don't want us to reveal too much. Since October, when temperatures began to plummet, Russia has been using strikes on Ukraine's power grid to force the civilian po[CENSORED]tion into submission. For two weeks, the BBC watched engineers and technicians who run the network racing to repair the damage and keep electricity flowing across the country. We have been asked not to reveal the precise location of some of the facilities we visit. We've also altered the names of some of the officials we meet. "Every time the equipment is damaged, it gets us all right here in our soul," Michael says, tapping his chest. Some of these huge rust-stained machines are older than the men who run them. But for Michael, the plant's manager, they're his babies. "It's our life. Our second family." Michael sent his first family - his wife and teenage son - to Europe early in the war. Their dog, a playful golden retriever, now accompanies him to work every day. The transformer - 130 tonnes of twisted metal, dangling wires and scorch marks where cooling oil leaked and caught fire - is not easy to replace. "I know how much effort it takes to build this, to install and launch it," says Michael, a veteran of 30 years in this industry. "It's not something you can buy in a store." The same goes for the turbines inside - monstrous, deafening mechanical dinosaurs, churning and hissing away at the heart of the plant. They're hugely impressive machines, but there's little time to admire them, as the air raid siren sounds for the third time this morning. In a well-practised drill, most of the plant's staff head for the bunkers. The atmosphere is relaxed - such interruptions are commonplace - until word starts to spread of a fresh wave of Russian attacks on the power grid. A sister plant in the west has been hit. A picture circulates of fire raging in a turbine hall much like the one we were in just now. Then, even through the thick concrete walls of our underground retreat, we hear a distant explosion. There's tension in the room as the men and women check their phones. A crowded apartment block, not far away, has been hit. The scene, when we arrive soon after dark, is chaotic and desperate. A missile has torn a gaping hole in the middle of the nine-storey building. Thick smoke, pierced by flashlights, rises from a pile of rubble. Dozens of rescue workers and volunteers are working frantically to find survivors. The death toll, which mounts inexorably over the coming days, is one of the highest of the war so far. Mothers, fathers, children. Whole families. At the power station, the following morning, the mood is bleak. Everyone believes the missile was aimed at them. "We need to stop the attacks," Michael says. "We need to close the sky over Ukraine." Until that happens, Ukraine's entire grid will be in jeopardy. Especially substations, which have borne the brunt of Moscow's wrath. These vital hubs, where transformers turn high voltage electricity from power plants into lower mains voltage that businesses and homes can use, have been targeted over and over again. link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64467774

PSG expressed disappointment after failing to secure Ziyech on loan from Chelsea due to paperwork issues. Rabat - Chelsea’s coach Graham Potter responded to criticism targeting the English club following the collapse of Morocco’s Hakim Ziyech's transfer to Paris Saint Germain (PSG). On Thursday, Potter announced that Ziyech has returned to training. Ziyech will also be playing with Chelsea against Fulham, today at 9 p.m. Moroccan time. Commenting on Ziyech’s failed transfer to PSG, Potter said that Ziyech is a “professional player and understands the situation.” “He’s committed to us and available for the squad against Fulham. He will be an important player for us for the rest of the season,” he said. Ziyech fans and supporters expressed frustration after Chelsea failed to submit the correct paperwork to PSG to complete his transfer to the French club. Chelsea submitted incorrect paperwork for Zieych’s transfer to PSG three times on January 31, which marked the deadline for the January transfer window. PSG received the correct version of the documents after midnight in Paris. The French club appealed the situation to Ligue de Professional, the French body that runs the major professional football leagues in France. However, LFP rejected PSG’s request. PSG’s coach commented on the situation describing it as “unfortunate.” “We wanted to replace Pablo Sarabia with a player who can play on the right side. Unfortunately, that did not happen. But it’s the transfer window,” he said, stressing that the issue was not PSG’s fault link: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/02/353858/chelsea-coach-ziyech-is-important-for-us-for-the-rest-of-season

Nick Movie: Kill Her Goats Time: March 13, 2023 Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: ? Duration of the movie: 99 min Trailer:

Live Performance Title: JELENA KARLEUSA | YOUBOX LIVE CONCERT 2020 Signer Name: Jelena Karleusa Live Performance Location: Beograd Official YouTube Link: Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video): 10/10

Music Title: PARTY MUSIC 2023 🔥 Mashups & Remixes Of Po[CENSORED]r Songs 🔥 DJ Remix Club Music Dance Mix 2023 Signer: - Release Date: 02/03/2023 Official Youtube Link: Informations About The Signer: - Your Opinion About The Track (Music Video): 10/10

FTX founder Bankman-Fried, 30, has been under house arrest at his parents' California home after pleading not guilty. A US judge on Wednesday temporarily barred FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried from contacting current or former employees of the cryptocurrency exchange or his Alameda Research hedge fund, and from using encrypted messaging tools including Signal. The ruling by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan came after federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Bankman-Fried might tamper with witnesses or destroy evidence in his criminal fraud case. He was arrested in December on charges of looting billions of FTX customer funds, and lying to investors and lenders. Prosecutors last week cited a Signal message Bankman-Fried sent on January 15 to the general counsel of the FTX US affiliate, referred to in court papers as "Witness-1." Bankman-Fried proposed the two speak on the phone to try to "have a constructive relationship" or "vet things with each other." Bankman-Fried, 30, has been under house arrest at his parents' California home after pleading not guilty. His lawyers said last week that his efforts to contact the general counsel the company's current chief executive, John Ray, were attempts to offer "assistance" and not to interfere. Kaplan appeared skeptical of that argument, writing that Bankman-Fried's January 15 message "appears to have been an effort to have both the defendant and Witness-1 sing out of the same hymn book." "While defendant's counsel seeks to have the Court interpret that message in a benign way, that does not appear, at least on a preliminary basis, to be a persuasive reading," Kaplan wrote. A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declined to comment. Kaplan wrote that the new restrictions on Bankman-Fried's conduct would be in place until at least February 7, when he would hold a hearing to consider both sides' arguments. The order does not apply to Bankman-Fried's immediate family members, and he may communicate with FTX or Alameda employees if lawyers are present. At next week's hearing, Kaplan will also consider a request by Bankman-Fried's lawyers to allow him to access and transfer cryptocurrency. link: https://www.gadgets360.com/cryptocurrency/news/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-barred-from-contacting-employees-using-signal-encrypted-messages-3745014

A glitch has appeared after Discord's recent update, rendering certain NVIDIA graphics cards to have their memory downclocked by 200 MHz. NVIDIA is currently working to alleviate the problem, and to see confirm whether the issue was due to the recent enablement of AV1 for NVIDIA GPUs within Discord. NVIDIA GPUs Are Having A Bad Day With Discord, Memory Downclocked on Certain Models But Fix Is On The Way Users from the Linus Tech Tips forum and Reddit first discovered the issue, which was immediately brought to the attention of NVIDIA. The company quickly offered a workaround while attempting to fix the problem. The workaround involves downloading the GeForce 3D profile manager to initiate a solution immediately. NVIDIA is reported to send an official fix to users later for users willing to wait for the new software solution. Click here to download the NVIDIA program GeForce 3D Profile Manager. Open the GeForce 3D Profile Manager. Click on the button Export SLI Profiles. A file explorer window will pop up. Select a location to export and save the NVIDIA Profiles text file. Open the text file saved in step 4 using Notepad (or any program that does not automatically apply to format). Perform a search for the section "Discord". Add a new line and type the following text as shown in the screenshot below: Setting ID_0x50166c5e = 0x00000000 Save the edited NVIDIA Profiles as a txt file. Go back to the GeForce 3D Profile Manager and click on the Import SLI Profiles button. A file explorer window will appear. Select the updated "NVIDIA Profiles.txt" file and then click on the Open button. 10. Once completed, you may close the GeForce 3D Profile Manager application. Users with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards are not experiencing the same memory clock slowdowns that are happening to the previous generation's GPUs. The update was intended to offer NVIDIA users to enable AV1 encoding so they could stream at a higher quality on the social community platform. However, the new update is only helpful if you are a Discord Nitro member, which will cost users between $9.99 a month for the premium service that allows the new feature. Any Discord users that do not have a Nitro subscription or a graphics card that can decode AV1 codecs will instead see an H.264 pr H.265 stream due to the company utilizing a peer-to-peer streaming capability, and H.264 is still currently widely used above AV1, even with the new codec gaining more ground in adoption on more devices and applications. If you have a compatible NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series card with AV1 capability and a premium Discord Nitro account, we recently covered how to access the new ability through Discord in this article. It is recommended that users affected by the new glitch disable the AV1 support on Discord for now and download the GeForce 3D profile manager if they would like to fix the problem sooner or wait until the company has had a chance to upload an official fix for the memory clock slowdown. link: https://wccftech.com/discords-recent-update-hamper-memory-clock-on-nvidia-gpus-fix-on-the-way/

Besides the two major updates to its Arc family, Intel also gave an update on the progress of its next-gen Xe2 GPUs codenamed Battlemage. Intel Will Have A Smoother Time Making Xe2 Battlemage GPUs, Company Rep Confirms Xe2-HPG "Discrete" & Xe2-LPG "Integrated" In The Works During a conversation with Hardwareluxx's editor, Andreas Schilling, Intel's Tom Peterson stated that the GPU division had a lot to learn from the first generation Arc GPU codenamed Alchemist. The first generation had a Xe architecture that scaled across the data center, discrete gaming, & integrated graphics solutions. Each sub-segment needs to be optimized according to the platform they are being aimed at and that's a complicated process. With Intel's upcoming Xe2 architecture, a similar methodology is being applied with two different chip designs, the Xe2-HPG for discrete graphics and the Xe2-LPG for integrated solutions. But the company states that during its 2nd generation, Intel will have less trouble as they did with the 1st gen Alchemist GPUs and they are further planning to streamline down the path when Celestial or Xe3 GPUs hit shelves. "I wish we had one design, like let's call it Xe 1 and all we had done is sprinkle that around unmodified. That is a winning strategy. What we have actually done unfortunately and we are Improving on this on future generations, we've done targeted micro architectures per vertical segment.So we have an architecture for high end datacenter, we have a slightly different architecture for desktop discrete and today we have a slightly different architecture for integrated.Now As we go forward in our roadmap, we realized this is a very, very expensive – the QA process and the segmantation.The thinking was we needed to differentiate our IP and customize it per each segment. T think in hindsight we would have been better off have we rigorously said "you know what, we're gonna give up something", like give up some differentiation in the high end or we are going to have some overhead in the low end. We're gonna just have one thing and it goes everywhere unmodified. Thats more the strategy we are looking at going forward. And thats because, thats really the only way to get IP reused to really work. There is a Xe and there is a Xe 2 and in that Xe 2 generation there is a Xe-LPG and there is a HPG (…) and there a slight variations (…) which is our big learning. The idea was we needed to optimize for each segment and build separate chips and do separate verifications. And I think now the real learning is we would be better off concentrating our focus and really thinking of it like a really solidly, hard IP business. But it's a tough thing, because if you know that your are going into the data center, you know that you are going desktop discrete and you know you are going be integrated – they all have slightly different ways to optimize. And that's what we've done a much much better job going forward. We are learning to refrain from overly customizing IP because that proliferates QA and verification and really bloats the work to be done." via HardwareLuxx Furthermore, during a recent interview with Raja Koduri, the chief architect of Intel's GPU division confirmed that there were certain obstacles when making their first generation Arc GPUs and that those are launched now so making the next generation GPUs, aka Xe2 Battlemage and Xe3 Celestial, will be much easier. link: https://wccftech.com/intel-battlemage-arc-gpus-come-in-two-variants-xe2-hpg-for-discrete-xe2-lpg-for-integrated-raja-koduri-says-making-the-next-generation-will-be-much-more-easier/

Nickname: @BirSaNN Video author: AFGuidesHD Name of the game: Call of Duty Vanguard Link video: Rate this video 1-10: 10/10

2023 may mark the first year ever where E3 has been without an appearance from Xbox, Sony, or Nintendo. This marks a significant moment in a gradual shift in the games industry that’s been years in the making. The E3 convention in June is often where we hear about all the upcoming games for Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PS5. Whether updates on games already announced or big reveals of new titles, the show has traditionally been a fixture in the games industry’s calendar. However, IGN(opens in new tab) says it “has heard from multiple knowledgeable sources that Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo won’t be part of E3 2023 or have a presence on the Los Angeles Convention Center show floor.” We may still hear from the big three platform holders in showcases around the event, but according to the report, they won’t attend the show to make their games playable for the press or consumers. In January, Microsoft confirmed plans(opens in new tab) for its “yearly showcase this summer”, but it hasn’t confirmed it will be in attendance at E3. Curiously, Xbox is on the board of the Entertainment Software Association – the body that organizes E3, but IGN remains confident that “[it] won’t have a booth on the show floor”. Sony has a track record of skipping E3, so its absence would hardly be a surprise. However, Nintendo has traditionally been a considerable presence at E3, and skipping out on proceedings would mark a sudden departure for the Nintendo Switch-peddling tech giant. Triple threat “We spent much of 2022 refining how E3 2023 would take shape, reflecting on the feedback we solicited, we did not send a single contract to an exhibitor until the start of this month,” E3’s organizer ReedPop told IGN in a statement. “We have received a tremendous amount of interest and verbal commitments from many of the biggest companies in the industry, and when we are ready to announce the exhibitors we are confident it will be a lineup that will make the trip to Los Angeles well worth it for the industry and consumers alike.” Much like Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo, ReedPop has given very little away regarding what we can expect at E3 this year. However, though the event organizers have been quiet on the subject of the big three’s potential absence, the implications are loud. In its heyday, E3 was a world-renowned celebration of the video game industry, part marketing tool, part press conference, and part fan convention. To this day, I remember exactly where I was when BioWare dropped Star Wars: The Old Republic’s cinematic trailer(opens in new tab) way back in 2011, and E3 was a big part of that. The E3 of 2023 no longer seems to have the ubiquitous cultural stopping power it once did. That said, even without Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo on the show floor, there is likely to be plenty on offer. What their absence does mean, however, is that E3 seems unlikely to reclaim its spot as the one-stop-shop for announcements and hype. For good or ill, it seems like we shall have to get our news from a range of competing Showcases and streams. link: https://www.techradar.com/news/it-looks-like-microsoft-nintendo-and-sony-will-skip-e3-2023

The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth remains in development. Electronic Arts management has confirmed that the publisher's upcoming Lord of the Rings mobile game, Heroes of Middle-earth, remains in development. That wouldn't normally be very noteworthy, but the company confirmed this after it canceled Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile this week. EA boss Laura Miele said on an earnings call this week that the team at EA's Capital Games continues to actively develop Heroes of Middle-earth. The game was soft-launched in select territories in July 2022, and Miele said the full release remains on track for later in 2023. Capital Games previously made Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, which is one of EA's most successful mobile games of all time, generating more than $1 billion from microtransactions. EA shocked fans on Tuesday when it announced it would retire Apex Legends Mobile and stop developing Battlefield Mobile. About Apex Legends Mobile, EA said the game's content pipeline fell short of the company's "bar for quality, quantity, and cadence." As for Battlefield Mobile, which was in development at EA's Industrial Toys, EA elected to not move ahead with the game after its soft-launch period. Halo co-creator Alex Seropian leads Industrial Toys, which is now getting shut down, according to VentureBeat. Heroes of Middle-earth, meanwhile, is a new fantasy game set in The Lord of the Rings universe. The game lets players bring famous Middle-earth characters to battle in a fight between good and evil. A new ring has been discovered, and it grants players the power to rewrite history. Naturally, there is a fight for it, and players can use the ring for good or evil. Check out some gameplay footage above. As for the wider Lord of the Rings video game landscape, upcoming projects include The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a survival crafting game called Return to Moria, and a new title from Weta and GTA company Take-Two's indie games division. Additionally, Standing Stone continues to update and support Lord of the Rings Online, and the company recently outlined its "ambitious" 2023 plans, including a new expansion. In other LOTR news, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie series is back on Netflix. link: https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/the-best-lord-of-the-rings-games-ranked/2900-4145/

"Everyone's the same on the inside, that's the positive message of Dead Island 2". Dead Island 2, Dambuster Studio's upcoming first-person, has put out a few more details about the tech that goes into its zombie pulverising. In a chat with Game Informer(opens in new tab), DI2's senior render programmer and technical art director shone some more light on the procedural FLESH system (Fully Locational Evisceration System for Humanoids) that the game uses to turn its undead shamblers into "meat piñatas". Fair warning, I'm about to write the words 'Flesh system' like a hundred times. It's too late for me, but you can still escape before the phrase starts to haunt your sleep. Dambuster has spoken about the Flesh system before(opens in new tab), but now they've gone into nauseating detail about precisely what the system does and how it manages to do it. The system will procedurally model weapon-appropriate wounds on the bodies of your zombified foes: Knives will slash and hammers will bludgeon, and they'll pass through layers of skin, fat, muscle, bone and organs to do it. Keep hacking at the same spot on an enemy and you'll eventually wear through, creating a kind of procedural dismemberment system. The system applies to every zombie in the game and models all sorts of fine details. At one point, one of the devs beams that they can even apply "bruising around the wounds" of your enemies, depending on the type of weapon you're using. A boast as impressive as it is disconcerting. The devs say they've put a lot of work into making the system feel right: You're not going to cut someone in half with a dagger or cause a minor wound with a sledgehammer to the head, but the kind of damage you do inflict will depend on different factors. The zombie's overall health, how many times you've already whacked away at the area you're targeting, the kind of weapon you're using, and things of that nature all go into calculating what kind of effects to apply. It sounds very impressive, and looks convincing in the gameplay clips shown in the GI video (linked above). And while it might be slightly unnerving to hear people lavish praise on a system about rending apart human bodies, Dambuster says it's going for a "film-style" or "fake real" kind of violence. "It's not supposed to make you think 'Oh this is horrible, I don't wanna see this,' you're supposed to go 'This is horrible, I do wanna see this,'" say the devs. Dead Island 2 and its myriad crimes against the human body will launch, finally, on April 28 this year(opens in new tab), nine years after it was originally announced. You can find it on the Epic Games Store(opens in new tab). link: https://www.pcgamer.com/dead-island-2-devs-detail-its-gruesome-procedural-violence-modelling-tech/

Some Welsh councils are threatening to deduct pay of non-striking school staff, a headteachers' union has said. Thousands of members of the National Education Union (NEU) are striking on Wednesday over pay and school budgets. The National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) claimed heads had been told by several councils all staff would have wages deducted as a result. The Welsh Local Government Association, which represents councils, said it was working for an "amicable settlement". About a third of Wales' 1,500 schools were expected to be closed on Wednesday while hundreds of others told some classes to stay at home. Expense and workloads driving teachers out of job School strike: When, why, and how will it affect me? NAHT member headteachers were holding action short of striking - which included limiting tasks to core hours and not helping councils identify who is striking or not. General secretary Paul Whiteman said it would take legal action against any local authority which did not pay staff. "This demonstrates the completely amateur approach of local authorities that lies at the heart of the education dispute," he said. The union also claimed workers falling ill on a strike day were being required by some local authorities to visit a doctor and obtain a fit note. "I cannot believe that local authorities are so desperate to undermine legitimate industrial action that they would target the sick and place a further intolerable burden upon the NHS service," he added. The WLGA said it had been working closely with councils, trade unions and the Welsh government to seek an "amicable settlement". In a statement, it added: "Councils are in constant communication with their schools in providing appropriate advice and guidance regarding the planned industrial action. "There have been several constructive meetings over recent weeks and the WLGA is committed to continuing this dialogue until a solution is found." Education Minister Jeremy Miles said he had no first-hand knowledge of the situation. "But schools are not used to having strikes," he said, "so I'm sure there are practical questions that people need to work through." He called on unions and local authorities to work together in the "spirit of social partnership". link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-64483374

During the Eocene, the Arctic was a warm, swampy place that these primates called home. About 52 million years ago, when the Arctic was warm and swampy but still shrouded in six months of darkness during the polar winter, two small primates scampered around, using their strong jaw muscles to chew the tough vegetation that managed to survive at the gloomy northern pole, a new study finds. The two newfound primates — which belong to the already established primate genus Ignacius, and were given the new species names of I. dawsonae and I. mckennai — were small, weighing in at an estimated 5 pounds each (2 kilograms). They are the earliest known example of primates living in the Arctic, according to a new study published Wednesday (Jan. 25) in the journal PLOS One(opens in new tab). This finding is based on an analysis of fossilized jaws and teeth found on Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada. North of Baffin Bay, the island lies just south of the Arctic Ocean. It is about as far north as you can get in Canada. "If you think about their modern relatives, either primates or flying lemurs, these are among the most tropically adapted, warm-weather loving of all mammals, so they would be the about the last mammals you would expect to see up there, north of the Arctic Circle," study senior author Christopher Beard(opens in new tab), a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Kansas, told Live Science. The two species lived during the Eocene epoch (56 million to 33.9 million years ago), a period of intense planetary warming. At the time, there were no ice caps at the poles, and Ellesmere Island would have had a warm and muggy climate akin to that of today's Savannah, Georgia, according to study first author Kristen Miller(opens in new tab), a doctoral student in Beard's lab at the University of Kansas. Related: Why haven't all primates evolved into humans? In fact, temperatures on Ellesmere Island were hospitable enough to host a diverse ecosystem of unlikely animals, including early tapir-like ungulates(opens in new tab) and even crocodiles, snakes and salamanders(opens in new tab), according to earlier paleontological discoveries. While Eocene arctic dwellers did not have to deal with extreme temperatures, life in the warm Arctic wasn't without its challenges. Due to the tilt of the Earth's axis, the sun doesn't rise on the island for half of the year. "We've got six months of winter darkness and six months of summer daylight," Miller said. The main challenge for animals living so far north is a lack of food. Under such conditions, vegetation is likely to be scarce during the long, dark winters, so the researchers hypothesize that Arctic animals in the Ignaceous genus likely subsisted on tough-to-chew foods, such as seeds or tree bark. To make meals out of such difficult foods, the researchers found that, compared with the Arctic primates' more southerly relatives, their cheekbones protrude farther out from their skulls, which means that their jaw muscles likely did as well. "The mechanical result of moving these masticatory muscles forward is you generate greater bite forces," Beard said. Adaptations to northern latitudes don't stop with the jaw. The animals were much larger than their southerly relatives, too. "Five pounds doesn't sound very big, but compared to the ancestors of these guys, it's a giant," Beard said. "The close relatives with these animals that we find in Wyoming are the size of chipmunks." Their relatively large size is expected. Overall, there is a general trend in ecology called Bergmann's rule that states that the farther animals live from the equator, the larger they tend to be. Size is a common adaptation to cooler temperatures, and yes, for a type of animal typically found in the tropics, the climate of modern-day coastal Georgia would be quite cool, necessitating a large size to minimize heat loss. The Eocene's warming allowed many species to shift their ranges northward, a trend that ecologists are now seeing among modern species due to human-caused climate change. As the planet warms, more species will likely colonize the Arctic, but as in the case of Ignacius, many won't simply colonize, but may diversify into new species once there. "Given a little bit of time, species are going to evolve their own distinctive features that will enable them to adapt even better to the Arctic," Beard said. "I think it's a real dynamic picture of what's going to happen in the Arctic in the future with anthropogenic warming. link: https://www.livescience.com/earliest-arctic-primates