Destrix

Lotus , now operating with a new lease on life under Geely ownership, continues to tease its big plans for expanding. The first big news came in the form of the Lotus Evija, a super exclusive electric supercar. Now, CEO Phil Popham has spilled light details on the next project. t's none other than an affordable car, meant to come after the Evija and it will definitely serve the opposite end of the spectrum, Popham told Bloomberg in a new interview published Wednesday. The Evija will be limited to 130 cars and cost $2 million. This unnamed car will cost between $67,000 and $110,000, so not exactly the next people mover, but not $2 million, either. What's unclear is what kind of sports car this will be and Lotus didn't immediately respond to Roadshow's request for comment. It should offer space for everyday use, but that could mean anything from a grand touring type of car and something more practical. What we do know is this new model will be the last Lotus with an internal-combustion engine. After that, Lotus plans to focus on alternative powertrains, evidenced by the Evija's all-electric powertrain. Some cues from the Evija should make their way to this entry-level model, too. With the more affordable model, Lotus wants to produce 5,000 cars per year rather than 1,600, according to Popham. In the future, it sounds like the brand isn't afraid to tackle other segments outside of sports cars either. The CEO noted Geely has experience with other types of cars and didn't rule out the oft-rumored SUV model or a sporty sedan. Click to expand

Game Informations Publisher: Lock 'n Load Publishing Developers: Lock 'n Load Publishing, Riveted Games Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS The Nations At War boardgames from Lock 'N Load comprise these games and add ons: Nations At War Starter Kit Stalin's Triumph White Star Rising Desert Heat Solo Assistant for Nations At War These games portray platoon-level combat in the different theaters of World War II. You will get to command armor, artillery, infantry and air support. From tanks fighting tanks to close infantry assault. If you are inclined to play both digital and boardgames (who isn't?), you should take a look at this series. So, I did reviews of two out of the three boardgames that comprise the L'NLs stable of Nations At War games. I found them to be great games that were quick to play, and gave historical results. The rules were meant to allow the player to play the game, and not to pore over page after page of the manual. In this, L'NL succeeded admirably. Now I have been allowed to do a preview of Nations At War Digital edition, and put it through the paces and see if it is as good as its cardboard cousin. So on to the game. First, the action is based entirely on the Western Front of WWII. The scenarios and equipment, etc. were taken from the 'White Star Rising' edition of the boardgames. Before we get too deep, please remember that this is a preview and things could and probably will change. I had played a much earlier version of the game, so I have seen it grow and become much more polished. The player can play either the German or American side in the game. This means that you get to play with both Shermans and Panthers, along with most of the other equipment that each army used. The AI plays almost like a human opponent. To give you an example; I had four Tigers and the AI has a multitude of Shermans, M18s, M36s, and a few Stuarts. The victory conditions for the German side was that I destroy all of the enemy and exit the western edge of the map. The AI would use the Stuarts in Kamikaze like attacks towards the Tigers. At first glance, this seems a rather foolish move. However, for at least two turns I was forced to deal with the Stuarts and not do anything about the real threats that were enveloping my position. So, even though the tactics seem 'gamey', it is exactly what some players would actually do. The Allied airpower is not to be trifled with either. The ground attacking American planes took out two of my Tigers and a Wirbelwind in the above scenario. I have lost more than I have won playing against the AI. Another factor that is part of the boardgame, and is a real game changer at times, is Fate Points. Both sides are assigned so many of them at the start of each scenario. I will use L'NL's words to explain them: "Despite generals, sergeants,riflemen, spreadsheets,tables, and game designer’s best efforts, battles are often won not by the side with the best weapons, most men, or better morale, but by the unforeseen actions of men and women and inexplicable twists of fate. Fate Points (FPts) in the Nations at War system represent those twists.Fate Points are points that can be used to sway the turn of events and change an unfavorable situation into a favorable one. Fate Points are assigned within each scenario to a side and can be used anytime within the game. They cannot be carried over to other scenarios.Fate Points can be thought of as currency and can be used to purchase an event that can change the game. They can be used by the active player or their opponent at anytime. The defending player ALWAYS has the last chance to use FPts to adjust a unit’s outcome. Fate points that are used to adjust die results may only be used on that players own die results." So instead of getting an almost faithful representation of the boardgames, L'NL was able to transpose the boardgames right into the silicon world. This in itself is a major kudo for the game. The AI knows what it has to do to win victories, and is able to follow through and do it. It uses its forces very aggressively, so don't assume it will be passive and better on the defense (as most AIs are). I am very impressed by the game, and really looking forward to L'NLs Tactical Digital series of games that is also coming out soon. Thank you L'NL for allowing me to do this test drive on Nations At War Digital. I almost forgot, this game will be available on Steam at release, as will L'NLs Tactical Digital series. System Requirements _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ CPU: Info CPU SPEED: 2 GHz Dual Core RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit or Windows 10 64-bit VIDEO CARD: Direct X 11 Compatible Card PIXEL SHADERS: 5.0 VERTEX SHADERS: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 8 GB

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Game Informaions Initial release date: April 23, 2020 Developer: ION LANDS Genre: Adventure game Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows Publishers: ION LANDS, Merge Games, Maple Whispering Co., Ltd. Whether it's Blade Runner's rain-soaked Los Angeles, the planet Coruscant in Star Wars, or the future New York imagined by The Fifth Element, there's something evocative about the image of a futuristic city criss-crossed with flying cars. And in the gorgeous, voxel-based Cloudpunk you get to be a part of one of those teeming skyways, driving a beaten-up hover car and delivering packages in a dystopian city, Nivalus. This vivid, intricate metropolis is genuinely stunning to look at. It's a bustling sprawl of neon signs, roaming spotlights, colossal billboards, and hover cars scurrying back and forth between monolithic skyscrapers. If you've ever watched Blade Runner and wished you could get behind the wheel of a spinner, this is as close any game has come to realising that fantasy. It looks great up close too. Lower your car to street level and you'll see pedestrians milling around, noodle stands, and seedy nightclubs. In the air, advertising blimps, trains streaking along suspended rails, and the glow of thousands of apartment windows. The sheer density of the place is remarkable. It ticks off every cyberpunk aesthetic cliche, but it does it with style. Cloudpunk is a game almost entirely about exploration and conversation. As you make your deliveries you'll meet a large cast of characters along the way, including shady nightclub owners, hackers, hover car racers, CEOs, cops, and self-aware androids. Nivalus is a city filled with stories, although the quality of the writing and voice acting is pretty uneven. There are some great characters here, though. Huxley is a private detective who speaks like he's narrating a hard-boiled crime novel, and frustrates Rania with his tortured mixed metaphors. And I love Camus, Rania's AI companion, who has an infectiously naive, optimistic personality. There's a story to follow too. As Rania makes her deliveries she learns more about Cloudpunk, how the city is run, and the tensions bubbling beneath the surface. And as Control grows to trust you, you're given more lucrative jobs—including a visit above the clouds to the Spire, where wealthy corporate stooges live and work away from the mass of humanity below. But what really holds Cloudpunk together is the driving. Or is it flying? Your little hover car is a delight to control, with a nice feeling of speed, weight, and momentum. Gliding across those dazzling cityscapes, weaving through traffic, and firing your repulsors to gain altitude feels sensational. And it only gets better as you spend your hard-earned wages on upgrades, including a nifty booster that gives you a short, satisfying surge of speed. There are some light simulation elements too, such as stopping at garages to refuel, or forking out for repairs if you've traded paint with a few too many hover buses. But for the most part, Cloudpunk is a pretty easygoing experience. It's a narrative game first and foremost, more concerned with telling you a story than challenging you. You're never really in danger. Occasionally you're forced to park your car and explore parts of the city on foot. Fixed camera angles and slightly floaty character movement mean these sections aren't as compelling as when you're in the air. But there are some nice, light navigation puzzles here, using elevators and walkways to find clients hiding in the dark corners of the crowded city. There are a few fun extras, like an apartment you can decorate, optional missions that reveal more about the city, and even the opportunity to trade your hover car in for a faster model. But the core of the game is navigating the city and meeting the strange people who live there. There's a faint but noticeable disconnect between some of Cloudpunk's working parts, as if the city and the hover cars came first, and the rest was grafted on later. But despite this, and some distractingly poor acting in places, I basically love it. Even if the story doesn't grab you, it's worth playing just to fly around that wonderful city. And it's nice playing a cyberpunk game where you're a regular working stiff, not a corporation-toppling superhacker. System Requirements CPU: AMD / Intel CPU (AMD FX-4300 or Intel i3-4130 or newer) CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 8 GB OS: Windows 7/10 (64 bit) VIDEO CARD: AMD / NVIDIA dedicated graphics card, with at least 2GB of dedicated VRAM and Shader Model 5.1 support (AMD R9 285 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or newer) PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 SOUND CARD: Integrated or dedicated DirectX 9 compatible soundcard FREE DISK SPACE: 7 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 2048 MB

When it comes to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, you can't be too careful. Beyond the the negative affects of the COVID-19 virus itself, the term "coronavirus" alone is causing some problems, including forcing Mini to rename the super cool "Corona Spoke" wheels on its new electric Cooper SE. "The wheel was renamed from 'Corona Spoke' to 'Power Spoke' out of sensitivity to the COVID-19 situation," a Mini spokesperson told Roadshow on Thursday, following a report from InsideEVs earlier this week. "Although the wheel design was named well before the current pandemic, a decision was proactively made to change the name in advance of any feedback being received." "Power Spoke" makes perfect sense, as the wheels are said to resemble the design of a UK power outlet. (Despite being owned by a German company, Mini loves to flaunt its British roots.) These 17-inch wheels come on the Cooper SE's highest "Iconic" trim level. The Mini Cooper SE only recently went on sale. It's powered by a 32.6-kilowatt-hour battery and single electric motor that produces 181 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque. Mini estimates a driving range of about 110 miles, which isn't a lot, but third-party tests state that number might be a bit conservative. Either way, we like the Mini SE because of its plucky driving dynamics, great interior refinement and quirky style -- regardless of what those wheels are called.

The Arabic phrase “Ramadan Kareem” means to enjoy a blessed and happy Ramadan. NEWS18 » LIFESTYLE1-MIN READ Ramadan 2020 Date: All You Need to Know The holy month of Ramdan this year will start from April 24 to May 24, 2020. The end of Ramdan will be celebrated with Eid-Ul-Fitr. Antara Kashyap | Trending DeskUpdated:April 22, 2020, 7:14 PM ISTfacebookTwitter Pocket Ramadan 2020 Date: All You Need to KnowThe holy month of Ramdan this year will start from April 24 to May 24, 2020. The end of Ramdan will be celebrated with Eid-Ul-Fitr. Observed by Muslims across the world, Ramadan is the holiest month as per the Islamic calendar. The festival is celebrated in the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. The Arabic phrase “Ramadan Kareem” means to enjoy a blessed and happy Ramadan. Ramadan 2020 Date in India The holy month of Ramadan 2020 is likely to begin from April 24 (depends on the sighting of the crescent moon) and will last for four weeks. Muslims observe fast from dawn to dusk. In the evening, they break their fast by eating meal, also known as Iftar, with family and friends. It is believed that by refraining from food and water throughout the day, one understands the pain and sufferings of other people and gets closer to the God (Allah). According to beliefs, fasting during Ramadan is considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam. The other pillars of Islam are declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity and going for Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. Meanwhile in India, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister for Minority Affairs & Chairman, Central Waqf Council, has asked waqf boards’ officials to spread awareness among the people to offer prayers and perform other religious rituals during the holy month of Ramadan while staying inside their home. Naqvi has further directed the officials to ensure strict and honest implementation of lockdown, curfew and social distancing during the holy month. The decision was taken in the view of coronavirus pandemic.

Auto lending in the midst of an economic collapse is never pretty, as people stop paying on their car loans to divert money to more immediate necessities like food and shelter. This collapse is no different. Exhibit A: Credit Acceptance, one of the biggest subprime lenders in the country (and one of the most unsavory). It had this to say in a report filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission: In an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, state governments have implemented social distancing guidelines, travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and shutdowns. These actions have caused economic hardship in the areas in which they have been implemented and have led to an increase in unemployment and resulted in many consumers delaying payments or re-allocating resources, leading to a significant decrease in our realized collections. In short: an unspecified number of people have stopped paying on their car loans, the full extent of which Credit Acceptance can’t reveal yet. If all of that is to be somewhat expected—Credit Acceptance’s business is lending money to people who might not be able to afford it long-term—a somewhat more alarming situation is in a different report out this week. Exhibit B: Ally Financial, which was founded over a century as the lending arm of General Motors. It was known as GMAC until, er, the last economic crisis about a decade ago, a few years after GM sold a majority stake in the business. Today by volume it is one of the biggest auto-loan lenders in the country; Monday it said many of its more reliable borrowers weren’t so reliable anymore. From Bloomberg: Ally Financial Inc. said 25% of its auto-loan customers have asked for payment deferrals, and the vast majority have never been delinquent before. Of the 1.1 million borrowers who requested forbearance, more than three-quarters have never asked for a deferral before and 70% have never had a late payment with Ally, Chief Financial Officer Jennifer LaClair told analysts during a conference call Monday. Exhibit ? Lenders like Volkswagen Credit, which said last week it was waiving payments for six months for some people who have lost their job because of the virus. It’s a preemptive admission that you can’t get blood from a stone, I guess. But that also came with some sti[CENSORED]tions: To qualify, unemployment must not occur within the first 90 days of ownership. The customer must have lost their job because of economic reasons and must be collecting unemployment benefits. Customers also must have been employed full time at least 12 consecutive weeks before job loss. The offer is good for 12 months from the date of purchase. The program does not cover leases, and it is not available in New York. The lending arms of most of the other big automakers are also offering various deferment plans for borrowers, which delay payments until the end of the loan. Edmunds says that most lenders prefer to deal with customers on a case-by-case basis. The best thing you can do if you can’t make your payment is to reach out and try and strike a deal. I myself fear that increasingly many borrowers won’t even be able to afford that.

Game Informations Title: Itta Developer: Glass Revolver Release Date: April 22, 2020 Reviewed On: Switch Publisher: Armor Games Studios Genre: Bullet-Hell When one thinks of “bullet-hell” games, the first thing that usually comes to mind is fast-paced, hectic gameplay. One rarely, however, remembers the stories of these games. ITTA, developer Glass Revolver’s debut game, fuses intense bullet-hell gameplay with an intriguing story that ends up outshining its mechanics, creating an experience I was not expecting. Childhood is a time of wonder, joy, and discovery. In ITTA, however, a young girl is thrown into a mysterious world full of horror and despair without much hope. Stolen from her home, Itta wakes up in a strange cave with the bloodied bodies of her brother, father, and cat nearby. Confused and horrified, she is quickly soothed by a guardian spirit that takes the form of her cat, arms her with an astral revolver, and sends her out into the world. ITTA plays out like a surrealist indie film that grabs your attention for three hours then leaves you with more questions than answers. The game’s world, known as “the garden,” is full of memorable and creepy characters, most of which you don’t learn much about other than one or two interactions upon initially meeting them. The one thing connecting everyone in the garden is a looming sense of loss and hopelessness. No one here is full of despair outright; they almost all have come to peace with their hellish situations, awaiting the moment that they become wandering spirits and forget all facets of their original lives. The garden and all of its inhabitants enthralled me, and I was desperate to learn more about the world developer Jacob Williams crafted. Though not much is explicitly explained, the little that I did get was enough to keep me playing. This is not to say that ITTA isn’t fun to play; it certainly is. The game mashes together fast-paced bullet-hell gameplay with a gauntlet of 18 bosses to deliver some truly stress-inducing battles. Most bosses in ITTA can be tackled in whatever order players wish. If you get stuck on a particular boss, it might be best to move on to another one and come back later. This Legend of Zelda like freedom, is one of the best features. Itta’s quest takes place over three different maps, which each have hidden secrets scattered throughout. Some of these are ancient texts that help flesh out the world and give some cryptic context to the plot while others are upgrades that make Itta a better fighter. Unlike most games that reward the player with upgrades after finishing fierce enemies or progressing to a specific part of the game, all of ITTA’s upgrades are almost entirely missable. For instance, you start the game with only two hearts in your health bar and, if you were never to explore outside of the boss areas, you would never gain any more health. The same could be said for most of the eight unlockable weapons. As far as I can tell, three of them are necessary to finish the main story, but others might never be found; I personally was missing three of them when I completed the game. After beating the final boss, going back into the world to find these missed upgrades and weapons is pretty much the only thing to do. Sadly, aside from rechallenging the final boss, there doesn’t seem to be any way to take on the rest of the bosses with your newfound upgrades, which is a shame. Seeing as how finishing the game and collecting everything took me about four hours, a new game plus would’ve been a welcome addition. ITTA has a few technical issues that I encountered. The game takes an absurd amount of time to start, with a black screen sitting on my Switch’s screen, making me question if the game was even working. Once you get past this, however, none of the other load screens felt unnecessarily long. Seeing as to how ITTA is a bullet hell game at heart, the screen is typically filled with hundreds of projectiles. During a few of the more hectic encounters, the frame rate noticeably dropped. Additionally, about halfway through my first playthrough, the game crashed, forcing me to restart the fight. Design-wise, ITTA is a real marvel. The game features genuinely stellar pixel art, with character designs ranging from simple to incredibly complex. Itta, for example, has an incredibly minimalistic design, but it shows her innocence and purity. Most of the bosses in (as well as creatures you encounter in the overworld) have much creepier, detailed designs. The characters paired with the three distinct areas make ITTA a real treat for the eyes. One thing I’d like to mention is that ITTA’s difficulty doesn’t seem to get higher in the later boss fights. Instead, I felt that the matches became easier after the first battle. I’m not sure if this is due to the upgrades I acquired or through practice. If you find yourself enthralled by ITTA’s story but can’t seem to get the hang of the combat, the developer added two accessibility options to ensure that everyone who wants to see the end of the game can. Players have the option to either turn on damage multipliers that makes enemies easier to kill or turn on invincibility which, obviously, makes you invincible. While I didn’t find the game all that difficult, it is significant that these options are here for those that might need them. I found myself unexpectedly invested in the story of ITTA; its dark themes and mysterious characters held my attention throughout its short campaign. Aside from a few technical issues and the lack of a real postgame, ITTA is a bullet-hell experience that will quickly satisfy any craving you might have for the genre. Seeing as how this it’s the developer’s first game, I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next. System Requirements _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ CPU: 2.0 Ghz i5 or better CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows Vista/7/8 VIDEO CARD: 2GB Video RAM PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 300 MB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 2048 MB

Ramadan Moubarak ❤️❤️

The country's second-largest carrier cut almost all flights last month following wide-spread travel bans. It was already struggling with a long-term A$5bn (£2.55bn; $3.17bn) debt. The airline is now seeking new buyers and investors, after failing to get a loan from Australia's government. Virgin Australia chief executive Paul Scurrah said: "Our decision today is about securing the future of the Virgin Australia Group and emerging on the other side of the Covid-19 crisis. "Australia needs a second airline and we are determined to keep flying." Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson - whose Virgin group is a part-owner of Virgin Australia - has offered a Caribbean island as collateral to help get a UK government bailout of Virgin Atlantic. Branson offers Caribbean island to secure bailout Shares had been suspended in the firm for the past fortnight as it struggled to find a survival plan. Canberra refused a request from the company for a A$1.4bn loan, but in the past month had announced around A$900m in support for all local airlines. Virgin Australia has turned just two statutory profits in the past decade. It is part-owned by a number of entities including the UAE government, Singapore Airlines, China's HNA, and Sir Richard Branson's Group. It employs about 10,000 people directly and another 6,000 through ancillary businesses. Consulting firm Deloitte announced it had appointed as administrator on Monday. It will try and restructure the firm's debt, pay off creditors and find a buyer - with private equity groups expected to be interested. Consumer groups and local politicians have voiced concerns that unless the airline is resurrected, national flag carrier Qantas will hold a near-monopoly in Australia. Air travel is crucial in the vast continent where distances between coastal capital cities make flights the only practical way to travel quickly domestically. Virgin Australia had previously held around 31% of domestic flights, while Qantas controlled around 58% of the market. The long-term loss of the airline will also be seen as a major blow to Australia's tourism industry - a big GDP driver. Before the shutdown, Virgin Australia had flown about 130 aircraft to 41 destinations - mainly domestic routes, but also international services including to New Zealand, Bali, Fiji, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Have you ever felt disappointed with your skin despite working out, eating well and following the ‘right’ skincare routine? Well, you are not alone. We have all been through that phase. But that should mean that you stop taking care of your skin. In fact you are use your time at home set a skincare routine or detoxify your skin at regular intervals. Ahead, we tell you the steps to give your oily skin a much-needed detox. Step 1: Begin by prepping your skin with oil (a non-comedogenic one) preferably extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil. Take a few drops in your palms and pat it on your skin. Massage in an upward motion and with soft pressure underneath your eyes. Step 2: Once you are done massaging, it is time to wash your face with a gentle cleanser, something that doesn’t strip your face of its natural oils yet leaves it feeling squeaky clean. Wondering which type of face wash works best for your skin? Check out this guide. Make-up hacks for oily skin Step 3: Those with oily skin understand that dirt buildup is frequent with this skin type, often making it look dull and tired. Thus, it is important to understand why exfoliation is imperative to keep the pores clean. Check out this DIY face scrub for yourself. Apply in gently in circular motions on your forehead, chin and nose to banish all the gunk and dirt. Why walnut scrubs are not good for your skin Step 4: Exfoliation removes the dirt buildup and the accumulated layer of dead skin cells but since we are talking about detoxification, it is important to eliminate dirt from deep within and this is where masking comes into play. Masking is important, and for those with oily skin, there’s nothing better than multani mitti or fuller’s earth. Opt for a mask which has volcanic clay or carbon to flush out impurities. Quarantine beauty tips: Keep your skin glowing with these homemade face pack Step 5: Now is the time to focus on blackheads. It is a type of acne which looks like small bumps that appear on the chin, forehead, nose and even the back area when hair follicles become clogged with oil, dirt and dead skin cells. The best way to remove them is to go for a nose-pore strip or to try these homemade remedies. Step 6: Top it up with a toner to bring the Ph balance of your skin in place. Try using a toner which has extracts of witch hazel since it is a fast natural oil-absorbing element that will work wonders for your skin. End it with a hyaluronic acid moisturiser which is not oily yet hydrating for your skin.

Car firm Nissan is producing thousands of protective visors at its plant on Wearside for NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic. The car-maker has set up a parts processing line at its factory in Washington. Thousands of individual visor parts are being sorted and then packed in sets of 125. More than 77,000 visors are expected to be sent out this week, rising to 100,000 from next week. The visors are made up of an elastic headband, frame and see-through plastic front section. Once processed into a ready-to-assemble format, the packs will be distributed to an NHS procurement centre, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. The visors are shipped that way at the request of the NHS to minimise the risk of being damaged during transit and to ensure the maximum volume can be dispatched. Adam Pennick, Nissan's production director, said its staff were "experts in the logistics behind an effective supply chain". Car production at the plant was halted last month and the majority of its 7,000 staff furloughed.

Initial release date: February 17, 2015 Developer: Defiant Development Series: Hand of Fate Engine: Unity Genre: Action role-playing game Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, Macintosh operating systems I know what will happen when I spin the Wheel of the Gods. I’ve spun it before, and though probability tells me I have a 50/50 chance at a good outcome, I’ve failed so many times it doesn’t feel that way. But with the boss just around the corner, I need this. I spin the wheel again and am presented with four face-down outcome cards and told to choose. I make my pick and the card reveals itself. The card is called ‘Huge Failure’, and it’s not kidding. My hit points are set to the amount of food I have, and I was near starving to begin with. The gods have punished me, but I’ll still spin the stupid wheel next time it’s drawn. I never learn. Hand of Fate is an action-RPG with Oregon Trail-style decision making and a deckbuilding game all rolled into one. Most of your time is spent sitting at a table as a cloaked dealer lays encounter cards face-down to make a board. You move a game piece from card to card, each of which trigger events and decisions, making you battle skeletons in real-time hack ‘n’ slash combat, gamble with demons, or decide between giving your supplies to the needy or hoarding it for yourself. Most are as simple as reading the encounter’s text and making a decision, and not every encounter will be good for you, but they’re all focused around the idea of taking risks for greater reward. Importantly, you get to choose what encounter cards can be dealt to you before each level (as well as what equipment you have a chance to pick up), and unlock more beneficial cards for each new encounter you complete. But the dealer, who acts both as your guide and nemesis, will add his own cards to stack the odds against you. Shaping your own RPG via deck building is a unique idea that’s a blast to play. It created tense situations where I struggled to decide which resources were most important to me. Do I sell my equipment so I don’t starve to death, or do I gamble on finding that 'Food Wagon' card I added to the deck? Even when I knew I wouldn’t be able to kill the boss of a level in my current attempt, I could shift my focus and try to and explore as many new encounters as I could to unlock better cards for the next time I tried the level. You start each level with basic equipment and don’t get to keep your gear between attempts, but you do keep any new encounters you’ve unlocked, which you can add to your deck to make victory more likely the next time. When you aren’t staring down the dealer, you’re usually in one of the game’s combat environments. There are a bunch of lush, living settings to fight in, and the character models and environments are beautifully done. I’m only disappointed that Hand of Fate didn’t give me much time to appreciate any of this, thrusting me into combat and then quickly sweeping me back to the table. And though the levels are well-designed, the combat itself doesn’t share the same lasting appeal. Hand of Fate applies the combat formula from the Arkham games: swing at your enemies until one of them gets a ‘counter’ symbol over their head, then press a different button to counter. Ranged attacks can be reflected, certain attacks must be dodged, and you can shield bash to break guards. Though the core systems are replicated well, Hand of Fate doesn’t add any depth beyond a combo-counter, and landing a blow feels significantly less satisfying than in the games it seeks to emulate. Attack animations can be awkward, as countering will cut off your current animation—which resulted in me magically jumping between targets quite often. The combat system does a good job of matching the rhythm and pace of Arkham, but the lack of enemy variety, even against bosses, makes it tiring after a while. Difficulty is scaled up by increasing the number and strength of enemies, not in terms of how you go about defeating them. Hand of Fate generally has problems with excess repetition. Repeating encounters again and again is meant to express the experience of reliving your character’s memories, but I soured on the device about two thirds of the way through the game. A few of the Dealer’s added cards are excessively punishing, and forced me to restart one level more times than I can remember. The 'Endless Mode' is free of these imbalances and was a welcome inclusion, but it doesn't add anything else to shake up the formula and grew old for me as well. Hand of Fate becomes frustrating instead of challenging too often, but I still commend it for its unique mix of concepts, which works better than I had imagined. I was disappointed when the combat grew stale and I encountered the cruel 'Lost in Swamp' card for the twentieth time, because I wanted this inventive game to be fun throughout, but it eventually lost me. For the rest of it—I’d say my first seven hours—I enjoyed Hand of Fate for the difficult decisions it forced me to make and the fresh way it expressed its story through its systems. Not a huge failure at all, then, but ultimately a limited success. System Requirements _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ CPU: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/XP/Vista (32 or 64 bit) VIDEO CARD: Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 or Radeon HD 4850 - 512 MB of VRAM PIXEL SHADER: 4.0 VERTEX SHADER: 4.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE : 5 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 512 MB

Art knows no boundaries and keeping this philosophy on the forefront, a group of theatre practitioners have started a welfare fund for Tricity artists, intending to provide basic support to young artists who are struggling to find means to run their daily lives and kitchens. The idea was floated by Vijay Machal from Mask Theatre, who reached out to various artist groups from the Tricity for coming together to help needy artists in these taxing emotional and financial times. The thought, which initially needed a lukewarm response, adds Chakresh Kumar of Alankar Theatre, needed more persistence and following up and Kumar decided to pursue it as he believed in these times, more than ever before, artists must come together on a platform, communicate and gear up to work together as a family. The first step was to draft an application, which was done by Punjabi theatre director Sahib Singh, that was sent to the North Zone Cultural Centre and Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi on behalf of all the theatre groups of the Tricity, where it was proposed that both the cultural organisations support this welfare fund by giving the groups five shows each, which the groups would later perform on stage. From the oldest group Abhinet to the very new ones, the letter changed the perspective of many theatre groups, as the letter was sent to the Ministry of Culture, Departments of Culture of Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and also many bureaucrats. “The point was to start a drive where all of us, part of the Association of Tricity Artists began work on the Artists’ Welfare Fund, and the first contribution came from Vijay, and was followed by many senior artists pitching in with their support, even from outside the city and Canada,” shares Kumar. The fund was first opened to freelance and struggling artists, with ration and rent money provided to many, with many young theatre artists also distributing cooked food to those who were new to the city. “We told kariana shops in the sectors to provide ration to some artists and we paid them online so that everybody who needed had food on their tables. I called a very senior actor who has worked with almost all the groups in the city and lives on her own, and she broke down after receiving my call, as she said that just the fact that I called her to ask about her welfare, was enough. I feel we are a family and if we have been able to show each other that we care, we all can take forward our demand of an Artists’ Welfare Board, where artists from various disciplines are given support in such a crisis. Art is a mirror of society and we work for society’s betterment and the government must support us, for the survival of artists is paramount. We are still waiting for a reply from various cultural organizations, but our work continues on an individual level, as we have been able to circulate funds according to needs,” sums up Kumar. Elsewhere, getting up, close and personal with some of the essential needs and requirements of front-line workers like doctors, nurses and paramedics amongst others, who are running essential services, staking their lives so that we are safe is ‘Care for Caregivers’, a campaign under project Nanhi Jaan. The NGO which has done exemplary work in paediatric care is committed to providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the medical fraternity. “None of us would be in doubt on the nightmare that would follow if the medical fraternity is not protected and gets infected as may already be happening. Any work for this cause would go a long way to help us to deal better with this situation as our lives are affected by the Coronavirus in one way or the other and our hopes are tied in the hands of our doctors, nurses and paramedics,” shares Dr Sandeep S Chhatwal, Managing Trustee of the NGO. The fund-raising for the campaign began about three weeks back, with an overwhelming response from people of all walks of life, with the project striving to strengthen the facilities and protect the caregivers working to provide care to COVID-19 patients. “On the auspicious day of Baisakhi, wishing peace, strength, prosperity and health for all, Nanhi Jaan handed over 1000 PPE coveralls to PGIMER, 200 PPE Coveralls to GMCH-32, and 50 face shields each to both hospitals, reaching out to the Resident Doctors’ Association. Besides this, we have already donated around 1,000 sanitisers, 450 eyes protective wear, as also upgraded ICU’s with devices in GMCH-32 and PGIMER. We plan to extend the Care for Caregivers campaign even beyond the Chandigarh City if funds permit, and we will continue to run the campaign till the Caregivers are fighting this battle, as the smallest help counts,” sums up the doctor.

by Lawrence Allan 20 April 2020 Ford’s muscle car icon, the Mustang, will enter its next generation in 2022 – and Autocar understands it will be brought into a new era with its first hybrid powertrain. An electrified variant of the Mustang will join the electric Mustang Mach-E, which is due to be delivered to customers from this autumn, as Ford’s electrification roll-out gathers momentum. Ford plans to launch 18 mild-hybrid and full-hybrid models by 2022, and the next Mustang is thought to be one of those. The firm is hoping for the new model to build on the success of the current, S550-generation car, which has been on sale since 2015 and was the first Mustang to be marketed and sold globally. This meant the first-ever right-hand-drive Mustang sales were finally made possible. Ford has shifted 55,000 examples of the current car across Europe – more than ever before in the Mustang’s history. The next-generation Mustang, codenamed S650, will follow that template by making a return to mainland Europe in left-hand drive and the UK in right-hand drive, Autocar understands. The new Mustang would have arrived far sooner were it not for a reversal of product plans. In 2017, Ford announced it would bring a hybrid Mustang to market in 2020. But that same year, Jim Hackett stepped up to the role of Ford CEO and decided instead to prioritise getting a Mustang-inspired EV, the Mach-E, to market as its long-awaited first mass-production electric car. Now that the Mach-E has been developed and its launch is around the corner, attention has turned back to the standard coupé and convertible Mustang models, which are still expected to dominate sales of the nameplate for some time yet. Ford is hoping to appease its loyal following of enthusiasts by retaining the V8 option, but this time it will be mated to a fuel-saving hybrid system. A US patent filed by Ford in 2017, when the original plan was in place, refers to technical drawings of a “twin-motor drive system for hybrid vehicle”. These show an eight-cylinder engine in a vee formation sending power to the rear wheels – a classic Mustang trait. But the filing also details battery assistance in the form of two electric motors “mounted directly to opposing sides of the engine”. This means such a model would have four-wheel drive, with electric-only power heading to the front axle and, in performance driving, stepping into play when the car’s rear wheels lose traction. The system could offer torque vectoring, too. In more eco-minded modes, that same set-up would allow the engine to be shut off in situations with low power demand and high battery charge, boosting efficiency. A similar powertrain concept is used in the recently launched Ford Explorer Hybrid in the US. A likely factor in the decision to go hybrid is Ford’s intention to base the next Mustang on the same CD6 platform as the Explorer SUV and its sibling, the Lincoln Aviator. In 2018, the company announced it was streamlining its platform line-up with five highly modular underpinnings, including one to cover all rear-wheel-drive/ four-wheel-drive unibody-construction cars (such as the new Explorer and next Mustang, among others). However, it remains to be seen whether Ford will offer alongside the hybrid a cheaper, non-hybrid V8 option and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, as are available today. Ford recently dropped automatic versions of the four-pot Ecoboost Mustang in the UK due to their low efficiency. It’s also unlikely that a traditional V8 without some form of electrification would continue in Europe, given the need to meet stringent fleet average emissions targets. As for the new Mustang’s design, we’re expecting it to stray not too far from the formula so well loved by its customer base. The muscle car’s shape has gently evolved over the decades and, given the Mach-E takes inspiration from today’s Mustang and will be on sale alongside the new car, it should be recognisable, albeit with a more modernist approach to the detailing. However, we’ve yet to see any disguised test mules to give us a clear indication of its shape. It’s likely that a convertible version will again appear, despite some makers moving away from that market, because the drop-top still makes up a significant proportion of Mustang sales. Inside, expect the Mustang to be more driver-focused than the tech-heavy and space-maximised Mach-E. The infotainment and driver assistance systems on that car are expected to be moderated for their introduction in the Mustang. The four-seat layout should continue largely as it is today, with engineering developments ensuring the hybrid system has a minimal effect on interior space.

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Applause and cheering rings out every night in the huddled streets around 12 Octubre hospital in Madrid, hailing the 6,000 staff who work there as heroes. "We're not heroes; we're health workers," insists Hernando Trujillo, a doctor tackling the coronavirus emergency in the working-class south of the capital. The hospital has capacity for 1,300 beds and, at the height of the Covid-19 epidemic, close to 1,000 were being used to treat coronavirus patients. "There was almost no transition. It was really quiet and then suddenly a mad rush. The collapse came in a day," says Laura Andújar, a 37-year-old emergency nurse. Epicentre of Spain's pandemic Spain has seen more than 20,000 deaths and the Madrid region is at the heart of it: a capital city blighted by this virus. This city has seen 7,000 deaths, more than other European capitals. The contagion spread at a remarkable rate through the densely po[CENSORED]ted city and its cluster of suburbs. The real death toll could be considerably higher as Madrid's regional government has revealed only 800 of 4,260 care home residents suspected of dying from Covid-19 were tested. How health collapse came all at once The first local infection is believed to have been detected on 27 February. By 15 March, there were 3,544 confirmed cases. At the peak on 31 March, 3,419 new cases were reported here on a single day. "What followed was two weeks of madness," says Laura Andújar. 'I avoided Ebola but got this straight away' Another emergency department nurse, Eugenia Cuesta, is no stranger to epidemics. She has dealt with cholera in Haiti and Ebola in Sierra Leone as a Red Cross volunteer. "We collapsed. On a normal bad winter flu day you might get 100 people waiting. We had 220 from Covid-19, and people ended up sleeping in corridors," she remembers. And in this outbreak they were not prepared for the onslaught. "Five days in, I got a cough and tested positive." "The protective equipment arrived late and is still insufficient. I avoided cholera and Ebola infection, and I got this straight away," she says. When she came back at the end of March she found "the same degree of disorganisation". Her colleagues had become used to chaos and were too exhausted to consider working in other ways, she believes. Doctors at the hospital admit they had a lot to learn, and fast. "At the start, just as the po[CENSORED]tion is very nervous about coronavirus, so were we as doctors," admits Dr Trujillo, a 35-year-old Mexican kidney and intensive care specialist who accepts he is not an expert in contagious disease. "But as days go by and medical publications start coming out, we have learned a lot. The hospital committee meets every day to discuss different treatments and what to look out for in analysis," he adds. Did medics fall ill through poor protection? Health workers' unions have accused hospital authorities of failing to provide the best personal protective equipment (PPE) for doctors and nurses. This could be the main reason why Spain has one of the largest known levels of infection among health professionals in the world, with more than 27,500 catching Covid-19. 12 de Octubre hospital declined to comment on the issues raised in this article, but staff paint a mixed picture of the availability of PPE. Enrique Morales, a 52-year-old kidney specialist, says he had full use of plastic protective equipment when visiting Covid-19 patients, but for other work has only had a paper gown as protection. "The shortages we had anyway have been brutally exposed," he told the BBC. From the second week of the crisis, PPE became scarce, says Dr Trujillo. Respirator masks ran out so they had to use two surgical masks as an alternative. "We doctors can stand back from patients, so it's more important for nurses. Because there was not enough protective equipment, nurses said they had to overuse what they had, sometimes wearing it for an entire shift. Eugenia Cuesta says the risks are far too high. The mortality rate is nothing like Ebola, say, so we end up accepting the lack of security," she says. Like her colleague, Laura Andújar also caught coronavirus. First came diarrhoea before the more typical fever, aching limbs and loss of taste and smell. She believes they should all have been screened to prevent contagion among the hospital team. Dr Morales needed hospital treatment after catching Covid-19 and agrees failure to test health workers whether they had symptoms or not has put the system under greater pressure. Hard choices in tough times Under Spain's lockdown laws hospital patients cannot have visitors, and for some patients that feeling of absolute solitude has aggravated the illness. "You're like a plague victim, with no visits allowed," says Dr Morales, "stuck between four walls and just the occasional health worker saluting you from afar." For all the health workers, the crisis has posed impossible dilemmas. Nurse Cuesta speaks of separating elderly couples when one tests positive and the other has to go home alone.

Celebrities are practising social distancing and staying indoors to restrict the spread of novel coronavirus. To reach out to their fans and followers amid the COVID-19 lockdown, actors are posting videos, pictures, holding live sessions, Q&A on their social media pages. Actress Dia Mirza also took to her Instagram to educate people to make productive use of their quarantine time. The video that Dia posted on her page was recorded for World Environment Day 2019. In the video, the Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mei (RHTDM) actress is seen talking about how she co Dia then adds that the compost waste is then used as manure for the garden in her complex. “As we stay home, stay safe, we must consider the opportunity to make a big difference at this time!” she wrote sharing the post. The post further mentioned Dia saying that segregation of waste and composting wet waste or kitchen waste as a daily practice is a wonderful contribution towards our society and environment. mposts her wet kitchen waste. "One of the best ways to beat air pollution is to compost waste," she said.

When most people take issue with the quality of media coverage of a certain issue – for instance, the adequacy of electric cars to travel from London to Edinburgh, depending only on a nascent public charging infrastructure to juice up – they might take the time to shoot off a quick email of indignation to the offending outlet. Or in the case of Robert Llewellyn, write a wonderful refutation of the effort on their blogsite. Then there's David Peilow, a Tesla superfan who knows a thing or two about long distance trips in an EV. He has chosen confrontation. Ok, let's back up for a second. The BBC's Brian Milligan decided to make the aforementioned 484 mile (779 km) trip in a Mini E to see if, despite recent advances in battery technology, electric cars are still only good for making trips to the supermarket. One doesn't actually need to make the trip to imagine the result. The Mini E has a sub-100 mile range and charging the batteries on a 13 amp outlet will take a serious amount of time. If that's not a dubious enough challenge, consider there are not even charging stations available to use along the last stretch of the proposed journey. This is, perhaps not by coincidence, slightly longer than the converted BMW's range in cold weather. Right, then. Enter our protagonist. ADVERTISEMENT Outraged by this obvious injustice of the BBC's "test," Mr. Peilow decided to jump in an electric car himself and head the propaganda-party off at the pass. He dialed up the London Tesla dealership for assistance and soon enough David was driving in Roadster-style across the British winter landscape. The plan is to arrive in one day, the same distance as the BBC has taken three days to traverse and meet them upon their arrival later today. Sweet, but will he make it? To ride along with the Roadster you can follow the hashtag #electriccars on Twitter and also read about the trip and the events leading up to it on Tesla Motors Club forum. Also, make sure to it the jump to watch an impromptu version of Fully Charged as host Robert Llewellyn sees David off at the Tesla dealership and discusses the plan.

Game Informations : Initial release date: August 8, 2018 Designer: David Maletz Developers: Fancy Fish Games, SnöBox Studio Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh operating systems Publishers: Fancy Fish Games, Whitethorn Digital Aground is a game that exceeded my expectations. The sheer amount of content vastly betrays its simplistic retro visuals. In fact, there is a whole lot about the game I don’t wish to spoil in this review as it would ruin some of the surprise. In any case, Aground also has a very generous Demo right on the developer’s website, or you can try the demo on Steam. (I’m not kidding, it has around 8 hours of content and you can transfer your saves.) I would advise every reader to check it out for themselves. You play as a shipwrecked character who has just been stranded on an unknown island. You find other survivors and work together with them to build a settlement and slowly explore and grow. Eventually, you will surpass your meager beginnings and progress with technology or magic to a place where the sky literally is not the limit. You can customize the appearance of your character at the start of the game. The options are limited, but it’s still a nice feature. The first thing I need to be clear about is Aground is not actually a survival game, not in the normal sense. It’s far more of an RPG and adventure game. You hunt and grow food, but its used to heal your health and stamina, to feed pets and more. You don’t have a hunger meter or anything like that and if you die, you reload a save. It isn’t a roguelike. Its closer to Terraria than say, Don’t Starve. However Aground is more story and progression focused. You get quests from your fellow survivors and you look to ever progress forward as opposed to simply surviving. The various characters that join your little settlement have a bit of life to them as well. They aren’t just standing around. They move about the place and contribute resources to your stockpile, give you tasks and have varying amounts of dialogue. You will be collecting wood, mining ore, and crafting tools. You will also be doing things such as capturing boars and wyrms, raising baby dragons, sailing ships and at some point, you may even become a space-faring hero, hardly resembling the shipwrecked survivor from many hours past. The progressional incline is pretty incredible. They did not do it half-assed, its done in a very well balanced and fun manner. The controls are almost entirely keyboard based. I did find this somewhat clunky so I plugged in a controller and found the controls more to my liking. The visual style is a bit hard on the eyes initially, but once your vision adjusts its kind of charming, especially with retro style music to accompany it. Graphics after all, rarely make the game, some of my all time favorites have simplistic visuals and you would be foolish to dismiss Aground for it. Each island is pretty big, and you can only carry so much weight before your stamina begins draining. You will need to build helpful systems such as mine carts and railways to help you mine those deeper ores. Combat is also a large part of the game, it’s pretty simple and a lot of it is related to statistics. It is still pretty fun and you do have a lot of options at your disposal between ranged and melee, pets, traps, and potions. The longer you play, the more your options are expanded. The game gives you very little instruction on how to do certain tasks. I honestly recommend that you don’t wiki every problem. The solutions generally make rational sense and solving them is part of the enjoyment. You also level up as you play and have a wide variety of stats you can increase, from attack and defense, to carry weight, stamina, and bargaining. It’s entirely freeform and it’s up to you how your character grows. The inventory can be a little bit clunky at times and I did run it weird stuttering that would cause my game to hiccup for a half a second every 30 seconds or so. It was irritating but not game breaking and I don’t think its a widespread issue. You can always try the demo to see for yourself in any case. Not only is it fun to play, but you can also feel the progression in ways that similar games fall flat. Starting with nothing and building up to a level that’s nearly a different game is amazing. Aground is certainly a product of shooting for the stars. The sheer amount of things you can do shocked me for a game of this style, especially for being in early access.. It’s not a survival game either and even though survival games are some of my personal favorites. This makes Aground approachable by nearly anyone, and I think everyone should at least give the demo a shot. The full game itself is only $10, Yes its early access, but Aground is more complete now than many games are at launch. Fancy Fish Games seem to be reliable on adding updates and content to the game, and they have a handy roadmap on Reddit. Future updates will include a multiplayer mode. I’d say it’s definitely worth taking the plunge. I’ll most certainly be returning when the game exits early access. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Requirements Memory:2 GB Graphics Card:NVIDIA GeForce 6200 CPU:Intel Pentium 4 2.00GHz Aground File Size:500 MB OS:Windows