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Blood-soaked mattresses are strewn across the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Arab hospital, along with clothing and personal possessions left behind in the chaos that followed the blast and the huge fire it caused. In a nearby car park lie the smouldering wrecks of more than a dozen cars. The surrounding buildings are also damaged, apparently pockmarked by shrapnel. But no large impact crater is visible. There is an atmosphere of panic, with people struggling to understand what happened at a place that was supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law. "We left our home to come here," a woman who survived the explosion told the BBC. "We thought it would be safe, but then it got bombed."Doctors said that most of the victims were among the several thousand civilians who had been sheltering at the hospital since Friday. They fled there after the Israeli military told civilians to evacuate the north of the Gaza Strip, as it stepped up its air strikes on militant group Hamas. Many staying inside the courtyard were elderly or infirm, unable to leave for the south because they did not have access to transport. One witness told me that they had been sitting on the ground when it was rocked by a huge blast. People from all around the Gaza Strip soon arrived at the scene to try to help, he said. They collected bodies and began evacuating injured people. Those in a serious condition were taken away on motorbikes, while those less hurt had to make their way on foot to Shifa hospital, 3km (two miles) away. A second man said he heard something just before the blast but did not know what it was. He explained that he returned to the hospital afterwards because there was no other option. "Where else can we go? Are we leaving like in 1948?" he asked, referring to the first Arab-Israeli war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced or fled from their homes. Despite their protected status, 20 hospitals in the north, including Al-Ahli Arab, have received orders to evacuate their patients and staff, according to the World Health Organization. The UN agency has said the orders are impossible to carry out, given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, lack of ambulances, and shortage of beds elsewhere, and warned that it will "further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67147059

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As the holiday season approaches, we are excited to share that we have a new PS5 model launching. To address the evolving needs of players, our engineering and design teams collaborated on a new form factor that provides greater choice and flexibility. The same technology features that make PS5 the best to play are packed into a smaller form factor, along with an attachable Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive and a 1TB SSD for more internal storage. The new PS5 has been reduced in volume by more than 30%, and weight by 18% and 24% compared to the previous models. There are four separate cover panels, with the top portion in a glossy look, while the bottom remains in matte. If you purchase the PS5 Digital Edition, you can add the Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive for PS5 later, as it will also be sold separately for 79.99 USD | 119.99 EURO | 99.99 GBP | 11,980 JPY. The new PS5 model will be available starting this November in the U.S. at select local retailers and direct.playstation.com where available. It will continue to roll out globally in the following months. Once inventory of the current PS5 model has sold out, the new PS5 will become the only model available.A variety of PS5 Console Cover colors for the new model will be available starting in early 2024, including an all-matte Black colorway and the Deep Earth Collection colors in Volcanic Red, Cobalt Blue, and Sterling Silver. Prices for the PS5 Console Covers will start at 54.99 USD | 54.99 EURO | 44.99 GBP | 7,480 JPY. Additional colors will be released in the future. We are ten days away from the launch of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, with additional games including Alan Wake 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launching shortly after. With these fantastic games coming, in addition to recent releases such as EA Sports FC 24, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, and Baldur’s Gate 3, there’s plenty for gamers to play on PS5 this holiday season. https://blog.playstation.com/2023/10/10/new-look-for-ps5-console-this-holiday-season/?sf269561474=1

Apple today announced the availability of new software tools and technologies that enable developers to create groundbreaking app experiences for Apple Vision Pro — Apple’s first spatial computer. Featuring visionOS, the world’s first spatial operating system, Vision Pro lets users interact with digital content in their physical space using the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — their eyes, hands, and voice. Starting today, Apple’s global community of developers will be able to create an entirely new class of spatial computing apps that take full advantage of the infinite canvas in Vision Pro and seamlessly blend digital content with the physical world to enable extraordinary new experiences. With the visionOS SDK, developers can utilize the powerful and unique capabilities of Vision Pro and visionOS to design brand-new app experiences across a variety of categories including productivity, design, gaming, and more. Next month, Apple will open developer labs in Cupertino, London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo to provide developers with hands-on experience to test their apps on Apple Vision Pro hardware and get support from Apple engineers. Development teams will also be able to apply for developer kits to help them quickly build, iterate, and test right on Apple Vision Pro. “Apple Vision Pro redefines what’s possible on a computing platform. Developers can get started building visionOS apps using the powerful frameworks they already know, and take their development even further with new innovative tools and technologies like Reality Composer Pro, to design all-new experiences for their users,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “By taking advantage of the space around the user, spatial computing unlocks new opportunities for our developers, and enables them to imagine new ways to help their users connect, be productive, and enjoy new types of entertainment. We can’t wait to see what our developer community dreams up.” Developers can build new experiences that take advantage of the groundbreaking features of Apple Vision Pro by using the same foundational frameworks they already know from other Apple platforms, including powerful technologies like Xcode, SwiftUI, RealityKit, ARKit, and TestFlight. These tools enable developers to create new types of apps that span a spectrum of immersion, including windows, which have depth and can showcase 3D content; volumes, which create experiences that are viewable from any angle; and spaces, which can fully immerse a user in an environment with unbounded 3D content. To help developers optimize 3D content for their visionOS apps and games, an all-new tool available with Xcode called Reality Composer Pro lets them preview and prepare 3D models, animations, images, and sounds, so they look amazing on Vision Pro. Developers can also interact with their apps in the new visionOS simulator to explore and test various room layouts and lighting conditions. And every developer framework comes with built-in support for Apple’s innovative accessibility features to ensure spatial computing and visionOS apps are accessible to everyone. Starting next month, developers who have been building 3D apps and games with Unity’s robust authoring tools can port their Unity apps to Apple Vision Pro and take full advantage of its powerful capabilities. Developers who have previewed the visionOS SDK and APIs are excited for the potential of the platform and how it will enable them to create all-new app experiences for their users: “With Apple Vision Pro, Complete HeartX will help prepare medical students for clinical practice by using hyper-realistic 3D models and animations that help them understand and visualize medical issues, such as ventricular fibrillation, and how to apply their knowledge with patients,” said Jan Herzhoff, Elsevier Health’s president. “Learning through Complete HeartX on Apple Vision Pro will transform medical education and prepare future health professionals for practice.” “The djay app on Apple Vision Pro puts a fully featured DJ system right at a user’s fingertips. With a reimagined spatial interface, anyone can mix their favorite music and apply real-time effects using just their eyes and hands,” said Karim Morsy, Algoriddim’s CEO. “Whether for a beginner or a seasoned professional, djay on Vision Pro transforms the user’s surroundings with stunning environments that automatically react to their mix, enabling them to experience and interact with music in ways never before possible.”“JigSpace and Apple Vision Pro empower people and businesses to easily communicate their ideas or products in all-new ways,” said Zac Duff, JigSpace’s cofounder and CEO. “It uses the high-resolution CAD files companies already have, so their marketing, sales, product, or support teams can securely collaborate with colleagues or customers from anywhere in the world and get people to that ‘Aha!’ moment in a fraction of the time it usually takes. This level of fast, effective communication simply wasn’t possible before.”“Manufacturers can use AR solutions from PTC to collaborate on critical business problems by bringing interactive 3D content into the real world — from a single product, to an entire production line,” said Stephen Prideaux-Ghee, PTC’s chief technology officer of AR/VR. “With Apple Vision Pro, stakeholders across departments and in different locations can review content simultaneously to make design and operation decisions. This capability will unlock a level of collaboration previously not possible.”The visionOS SDK, updated Xcode, Simulator, and Reality Composer Pro are available for Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. Registered Apple developers have access to a variety of resources to help them design, develop, and test apps for Apple Vision Pro, including extensive technical documentation, new design kits, and updated human interface guidelines for visionOS. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/developer-tools-to-create-spatial-experiences-for-apple-vision-pro-now-available/

"Behold the 5-ton Mega-Karlach," states the deservedly proud lesser_panjandrum on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit as they post up a thrice-enlarged tiefling like they're showing off a genetically engineered golden retriever. To be fair, replace "genetically" with "magically" and that's almost what's happening here.As far as I can tell, this is an interaction between the Enlarge spell and the Elixir of the Colossus. The Enlarge spell doesn't stack by itself, but as long as you can get buffs that are technically different—as that Elixir seems to be—well, this happens. Giga-Karlach weighs in at 5,005kg, has a carrying capacity of 440kg (which lesser_panjamdrum notes is around '3,500 cups of flour') and is about 20ft tall, as noted by our friends over at GamesRadar. Her size category is also "Huge". As someone who's played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the system that Baldur's Gate 3 is based on, this has a lot of implications that are cracking me up.Here's an excerpt from the Player's Handbook: "The Size Categories table shows how much space a creature of a particular size controls in combat." Controls is the key word, here, as the book notes that size isn't an "expression of its physical dimensions … a Medium creature isn't 5 feet wide, for example."Still, do you want to know what space a Huge creature occupies on a D&D grid? I hopped into Roll20 and cooked up a friendly size comparison for you, with a normal-sized Karlach for scale.The tabletop version of ultra-Karlach would control a 15ft by 15ft space on a combat grid, or nine squares. A medium creature occupies one. If you were running this with pen and paper, Karlach would have to squeeze to get through basically any doorway, would likely give at least three-quarters cover, and would be able to grapple a Gargantuan creature. Yes, rules-as-written, there is nothing this lady cannot wrestle. Unfortunately, due to what I can only describe as a shocking lack of vision (note: entirely reasonable limitations of a game engine) Larian Studios didn't program any kaiju battles for this exact scenario, so we'll just have to be happy with what we get: a wonderfully chonky version of everyone's favourite barbarian who can throw just about anyone that looks at her the wrong way. Oh, she'd also be able to land on people to turn them into paste. 5,005kg is exactly as heavy as that Owlbear from the piledriver strat a while back, meaning that yes—ultra-Karlach from the top rope could deal around 800 to 1,000 damage which, as I noted back then, is enough to kill an adult red dragon four times. I'm not sure it's canon: but it should be.Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. https://www.pcgamer.com/power-hungry-baldurs-gate-3-player-stacks-karlach-with-enlargement-magic-until-shes-a-20ft-tall-5-ton-giantess-who-could-kill-a-dragon-by-jumping-on-it/

Fugees star Pras Michel, who was convicted in April on charges of conspiring to make straw campaign donations, witness tampering and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China, appears to be breaking new legal ground by calling for a new trial by claiming his defense attorneys allegedly relied on artificial intelligence to compile their final argument for the jury. In a withering motion filed Monday night with a federal judge in Washington, Michel’s new attorneys argued that his Los Angeles-based lawyer David Kenner relied on the fledgling technology at critical points in Michel’s trial, contributing to “prejudicial ineffective assistance of counsel.”Kenner “used an experimental artificial intelligence (AI) program to draft the closing argument, ignoring the best arguments and conflating the charged schemes, and he then publicly boasted that the AI program ‘turned hours or days of legal work into seconds,’” Michel’s new defense team from D.C.-based ArentFox Schiff wrote. “It is now apparent that Kenner and his co-counsel appear to have had an undisclosed financial stake in the AI program, and they experimented with it during Michel’s trial so they could issue a press release afterward promoting the program — a clear conflict of interest.” “Michel’s prior publicist also informed members of the current defense team that Kenner proudly stated at the end of the trial words to the effect of ‘AI wrote our closing,’” former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg wrote in a declaration accompanying the motion. Zeidenberg pointed to a press release a firm called Eyelevel appears to have issued in May, which included a photo of Michel and boasted that the company’s technology “made history last week, becoming the first use of generative AI in a federal trial.” The release quotes Kenner calling the AI tool “an absolute game changer for complex litigation.” The announcement does not mention that, after a three-week trial featuring a diverse set of witnesses ranging from Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, jurors took less than three days to convict Michel on all 10 felony charges he faced. Kenner and another defense attorney on the case, Alon Israely, did not immediately respond to messages late Monday night seeking comment on the claims in the new filing. Federal prosecutors claimed Michel took staggering sums of money — about $88 million — from wealthy Malaysian businessman Jho Low in a bid to enhance his influence in the U.S. and later to derail the investigation and prosecution of Low on fraud charges stemming from the collapse of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MBD. The hip-hop star who came to prominence in the 1990s was accused of arranging to donate money from foreign nationals to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012 and making intensive efforts to influence President Donald Trump’s administration to drop or resolve the charges against Low.Michel has been free on bond since the first charges were filed in the case in 2019 U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who oversaw the trial, allowed him to remain free pending sentencing. That hasn’t yet been scheduled. Partly due to a court order freezing his assets, Michel was in dire financial straits before and during the trial. He sold the rights to his past recordings and also sought to raise $2.6 million for his defense by pledging part of his frozen assets or his future earnings, Reuters reported in March. Michel is set to kick off a Fugees reunion tour Tuesday night linked to the 25th anniversary of Lauryn Hill’s solo album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” The announced schedule — beginning Tuesday night in Newark, N.J., and passing through Washington on Saturday — features more than 20 concerts, including two in Canada. It’s unclear whether Michel plans to attend all the gigs. Beyond the claims related to AI, the motion also makes a slew of other arguments criticizing Kenner’s handling of the case. Michel’s new attorneys argue that Kenner had a conflict of interest due to potential contempt of court citation over claims the defense leaked stamped grand jury exhibits to a Bloomberg reporter just prior to the start of the trial. The new lawyers also say Kenner was “deficient” by failing to seek separate trials for Michel on the straw donation charges related to the Obama campaign and the foreign-influence related charges from the Trump era. That decision may have been influenced by a “flat fee” Kenner agreed to with Michel, the new-trial motion says. “Michel’s counsel was deficient throughout, likely more focused on promoting his AI program and saving himself from the contempt proceeding than zealously defending Michel,” Zeidenberg wrote. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/16/pras-michel-fugees-trial-ai-closing-argument-00121900

came to the end of my degree and thought: “Oh my goodness, I’ve got to get a job. What can I do?” It was a combination of enjoying drama, theatre and public speaking, as well as spending time looking at books, that led me to train as a barrister. There are certainly lots of theatrics in court. Traditionally, you never wash your wig. When you start practising, your wig is shiny and white, so it’s obvious that you are new to the job. Once you have become seasoned, your wig will be dull and beaten up, which oddly gets you more respect. Court is an inherently formal environment – and the more formal the environment, the more amusing it is when someone gets something wrong. The public should refer to a high court judge as “my lord” or “my lady”, but I heard one witness use “mate”. An elderly client referred to a very dry, middle-aged judge as “young man”, which raised a snigger in the courtroom. Another guy, for reasons I never understood, called everyone “Dipper”. Outside the courtroom, he referred to me as Dipper. He referred to my client as Dipper. Then, in court, he referred to the judge as Dipper, which they found very irritating.Once, the opposing client didn’t have a solicitor – which is highly unusual and not recommended – and hadn’t made any contact, so we assumed they weren’t going to turn up. Then the door burst open and in he came. The first thing the judge said was: “You haven’t produced any evidence to support your case at all. Why shouldn’t I dismiss your claim straight away?” They pulled out a plastic bag, packed full of mouldy, musky-smelling documents, and emptied it all over the judge’s desk. The judge went absolutely berserk. I haven’t detected much change in people’s attitudes due to the pandemic. Sadly, human nature means just as many arguments still end up in legal disputes, although a lot of hearings are now online. This also means that people have trouble dealing with technology. One court attender couldn’t hear what was going on and got increasingly cross. He was effing and blinding that the system was rubbish, even though everyone in court could hear him. Suddenly, his son appeared in the background and said: “Dad, you’ve still got your headphones plugged in.” Naturally, people are far more relaxed addressing a judge on the screen at home than they would be in court. When I called one of my witnesses to appear before the judge, she appeared on the screen in her dressing gown, looking as if she was on holiday, smoking a cigarette. I sent an urgent text message: “Can you please at least put on a jumper and put out your cigarette when you are giving your evidence?” In another case, a farmer lost a litigation that resulted in him having to pay thousands of pounds to a neighbour. He went to the bank, asked for the thousands he owed in 2p coins, then mixed it into a huge pile of manure, loaded it on to a tractor, drove to his neighbours’ and tipped it all over their front garden. I had to admire his creativity. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jun/03/the-judge-went-absolutely-berserk-my-life-as-a-barrister-in-badly-behaved-britain

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no @VollmeR

Pro Interested in the server! Know the rules perfectly and respects them! Good activity! (improve it and done) Very good behavior, both with the admins and the players! Activity is also good but I please you make it better. Help others players!! I wish you Good luck

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Nick movie: THANK YOU CS:GO (Tribute) Time: Virre CSGO Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 8 minutes - 22 sec Trailer:

If you make music on a computer, be that a PC or a Mac, your DAW - or Digital Audio Workstation, to give it its full name - is the most important tool in your creative arsenal. As such, finding the best DAW for you is vitally important. Yes, you’ll likely have a MIDI keyboard, audio interface, set of studio monitor speakers and possibly a microphone or two in your home recording setup as well, but your music production software sits at the centre of everything, and if it's not working for you, your level of creativity is likely to be compromised. As such, it’s important to get a DAW that you’re happy with - and, perhaps even more importantly, a digital audio workstation that will enable you to turn your ideas into music as quickly and painlessly as possible. Put simply, the best DAW for you is the one that makes it easiest for you to make music, and inspires you to keep creating. To help you find that DAW, we’ve put together an expert guide to what we consider to be the best Digital Audio Workstations on the market today, including full reviews for many of our choices. In truth, any one of these products will enable you to make music - and we're not saying that any one is definitively better than all the others - but they’re all slightly different in the way that they operate, so it’s worth taking the time to consider your options carefully and try out demo versions wherever possible.If you want a great entry-level option, it’s hard to look past Apple’s GarageBand, which is free - and a no-brainer - if you have a Mac (or, indeed, an iOS device). Acoustica’s Mixcraft is probably the closest PC equivalent, though you’ll have to pay for that one. In terms of value for money, Cockos’s Reaper is hard to beat - this is a serious DAW at a stupidly low price - and Logic Pro offers significant bang for your buck, too (again, that’s Mac-only, though). Then there’s Image-Line’s FL Studio, which is notable for its impressive lifetime free updates. This could save you some serious money in the long term. Finally, we have to mention Ableton Live, undoubtedly the big digital audio workstation success story of the past two decades. Whether it’s the best DAW is open to debate, obviously, but with its fast and fluid workflow it’s certainly made a massive impression, and is used by more artists than we’d care to mention. https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-daws-the-best-music-production-software-for-pc-and-mac

Over the last month or so, a few announcements have been made about gaming hardware. Most of the items below are for PC gamers, so sorry console gamers. Did I miss any of your favorite hardware announcements from recent history?First, Bungie and SteelSeries launched a collection of themed gaming gear for the release of Destiny 2: Lightfall. This includes the Arctis 7+ wireless headset ($179.99), Aerox 5 wireless gaming mouse ($149.99), and QcK Prism XL mousepad ($69.99). Bungie also teamed up with KontrolFreek for some performance thumbsticks ($19.99) for PS4/5 and Xbox One/Series X|S consoles. You can head on over to the official sites to purchase these items and more now.Next, we have a couple of items from Razer. The team at Razer launched the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro gaming keyboard. This features the Razer Command Dial, dedicated macro keys and media controls, and of course the required Chroma RGB lighting (how else will we know it’s for gaming?). The keyboard will be available with either Green Clicky or Yellow Linear mechanical switches and also features two layers of sound dampening foam, USB 2.0 passthrough, and more.You can purchase it for $229.99 from your favorite Razer retailers or direct from Razer themselves.The other item from Razer is the new Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop. Available now starting at $2,499.99, the new Razer Blade 15 gives you the power of up to an Intel i7 13800H CPU and up to an RTX 4070 to power your games on the go. The QHD screen has a 240 Hz refresh rate and 2.5ms response time to make sure your games aren’t hindered. You can also configure the machine with up to 4TB of M.2 storage and up to 64GB DDR5-5200MHz RAM for crazy gaming and productivity.If you prefer desktops, you cna now design and order desktop PCs from MAINGEAR with the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs with AMD 3D V-Cache. As I understand it, these CPUs are killer for gamers thanks to that 3D V-Cache technology. These PCs will run you a pretty penny though with the minimum configuration starting around $1,800 to have the Ryzen 9 7900X3D and an RTX 3050. Finally, PowerA has announced two new gaming clips for mobile gaming. You can now purchase the MOGA Mobile Gaming Clip for either DualSense and DualShock 4 or Xbox to fit your favorite controller while you play games on your phone. I’ve used clips like this before to play Xbox games through the mobile streaming and cloud gaming features and it’s been great for moments when the TV is being used by someone else and I want to get some gaming in. One nice thing about the Xbox version of the MOGA is that it includes a 1500 mAh power bank to charge your phone while playing. The Xbox version is available starting March 14 from PowerA (affiliate link) and Amazon for $29.99 while the PlayStation version will launch on March 21 for $19.99 also from PowerA and Amazon. https://geektyrant.com/news/gaming-hardware-news-round-up-march-2023

The developers of Indie RPG Inkbound will remove all the in-game monetization from it at the end of this month. Starting October 27, 2023, there will no longer be any battle pass or cosmetic shop inside Inkbound. They were already quite unobtrusive, but now they're going away entirely. "We tried to make these as generous and straightforward as possible while simultaneously being 100% optional, cosmetic-only, with no impact on gameplay, and with no FOMO," said developer Shiny Shoe in an update on Steam. "However, it’s clear that industry and player sentiment is trending against the presence of these features. For that reason we are removing in-game monetization completely." There's a bit more to it, but suffice to say that those who already bought the equivalent of a battle pass or any cosmetics are getting compensated, or getting all that material automatically unlocked, and the equivalent material will be moved to a new, freely accessible, "Cosmetic Vault." The previous free unlock tracks of the Leveling Passes will move into that vault.Inkbound's especially notable to us at PC Gamer because it's developed by Shiny Shoe, the people behind Monster Train. PC Gamer called Monster Train the best card game of 2020. I'd contend that it's still pretty dang good a few years later and I think most right-thinking people would agree with me.Inkbound itself is a pretty cool game. It's a fusion of roguelike RPG with turn-based battles that allow you to execute your turns alongside co-op partners in real time. The unique system lets you strategize and use abilities in real-time on the player turn, so you minimize waiting for the others you're playing with to act. Inkbound is set in a world where stories come to life, encouraging you to build crazy broken builds to work with your friends and take down nasty boss monsters. It's neat—the latest season lets you play as a kind of retro sci-fi space captain alongside the more traditional wizards and warriors. You can find Inkbound on Steam for $20. Anyway, if this is the kind of thing you support, you should probably consider voting with your wallet here.Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun. https://www.pcgamer.com/monster-train-dev-cuts-all-the-monetization-from-its-tactical-battler-inkbound/

Waving a Palestinian flag or singing a chant advocating freedom for Arabs in the region may be a criminal offence, Suella Braverman has told senior police officers. In a letter to chief constables in England and Wales, the home secretary urged them to clamp down on any attempts to use flags, songs or swastikas to harass or intimidate members of the Jewish community. Her words, which follow deadly attacks by Hamas on Israelis and a military response, will deeply concern freedom of speech advocates and members of the Muslim community. In the letter, Braverman said police should not restrict themselves to potential offences related to the promotion of Hamas, a proscribed organisation.“It is not just explicit pro-Hamas symbols and chants that are cause for concern. I would encourage police to consider whether chants such as: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ should be understood as an expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world, and whether its use in certain contexts may amount to a racially aggravated section 5 public order offence. “I would encourage police to give similar consideration to the presence of symbols such as swastikas at anti-Israel demonstrations. Context is crucial. Behaviours that are legitimate in some circumstances, for example the waving of a Palestinian flag, may not be legitimate such as when intended to glorify acts of terrorism. “Nor is it acceptable to drive through Jewish neighbourhoods, or single out Jewish members of the public, to aggressively chant or wave pro-Palestinian symbols at. Where harassment is identified, I would encourage the police to take swift and appropriate enforcement action. “I encourage all chief officers to ensure that any protests which could exacerbate community tensions by way of offensive placards, chants, or behaviours that could be construed as incitement or harassment, have a strong police presence to ensure perpetrators are appropriately dealt with, and that communities feel protected,” she wrote. Home Office sources confirmed her words had been approved by government lawyers.Decisions on arrests are an operational matter for the police, Braverman wrote. “However, I would urge you to ensure your forces use all available powers to prevent disorder and distress to our communities, and that your officers will act if there are any incidents that stray into criminality,” she said. The human rights barrister Shami Chakrabarti said “[that] the letter had been so readily press-released suggests that the intervention is at best virtue signalling and at worst seeking to compromise operational independence”, adding: “Police chiefs know their powers and duties. Anxious and vulnerable minority communities are not made safer by the politicisation of policing in difficult and dangerous times.” Braverman’s letter was sent after Rishi Sunak vowed that anyone in the UK supporting Hamas would be “held to account” in the aftermath of the attack on Israel. The prime minister said the government was ready to support any British citizens in need of help, during a visit in Staffordshire on Tuesday.A “significant number” of British-Israeli dual nationals have been caught up in the conflict in Israel and Gaza, said the foreign secretary, James Cleverly. Sunak confirmed his support for Israel, saying he stood in solidarity with the state and its people “in the face of these barbaric acts of terrorism”. Discussing his visit to a synagogue in north London on Monday night, Sunak said he had been “unequivocal with them that we will make sure that they feel safe at this time”. He said police had “been given very clear guidance and advice from the government to do everything that they can to keep the community safe”. Officers will “clamp down on any behaviour that falls foul of the law”, Sunak said. He added: “I’d just remind everyone that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation. People should not be supporting Hamas and we will make sure that we hold people to account if they are.” The number of Britons caught up in the violence in Israel and Gaza has yet to be confirmed, with ministers wary that official estimates of casualties and those injured are still being compiled. Sunak said he understood there were families in the UK “anxious about their loved ones in the region”. He added: “I want to reassure them we’re doing everything we can, working very closely with the Israeli authorities to establish what is happening on the ground, provide support to people where it’s needed. “I’d urge anyone there to contact the Foreign Office so that they have their details, follow the advice locally from the Israelis but also from the Foreign Office, and we stand ready to support everyone as best we can.” Earlier, Cleverly called on supporters of Palestine to stay at home, after protests in London. The foreign secretary said: “There is no need, there’s no necessity for people to come out. It causes distress. This is a difficult, delicate situation.” You've read 6 articles in the last year. The scenes we are seeing unfold in Israel and Gaza mark a new chapter in the Middle East conflict. The consequences and scale of losses are already devastating, and last weekend’s attack - and the war that now follows - is likely to shape global politics for years to come. With correspondents on the ground and reporters liveblogging events 24/7, the Guardian is well-placed to provide comprehensive, fact-checked reporting, to help all of us make sense of this perilous moment for the Middle East. Thank you for joining us from Egypt. Reader-funded and free from commercial influence, we can report fearlessly on world events as they develop. We believe everyone deserves equal access to accurate news. Help power the Guardian’s journalism and enable us to keep our quality reporting open for everyone. If you can, please support us on a monthly https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/10/people-supporting-hamas-in-uk-will-be-held-to-account-says-rishi-sunak

PUNE: As the recent floods ravaged Delhi, a massive animal rescue operation ensued, involving various animal welfare organizations and dedicated volunteers. Hundreds of animals had earlier found themselves stranded, seeking shelter and safety amidst rising flood waters. The rescuers worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of the stranded animals. Expert catchers from Friendicoes, an animal welfare organization, was part of the rescue efforts along with animal welfare activists Gaurav Dar, Tarana Singh, Sanjay Mohapatra, Rashim Sharma, Ayesha Christina, among others. Volunteers from Life For Strays, Akash Singh and Prabhjeet Singh were also part of the rescue operations.Volunteers from Life For Strays, Akash Singh and Prabhjeet Singh were also part of the rescue operations. Powered By VDO.AI PauseUnmute Fullscreen PFA (People for Animals) provided back-end support, facilitating communication with the administration to secure boats and tractors for the animal evacuations. The rescue operation began on July 12, when a routine call to an animal helpline reported dogs and cattle stranded in the Yamuna Khader area after heavy rains. However, the situation escalated as floodwaters isolated animals in areas already evacuated by humans. Responding to the crisis, a network of animal welfare organizations formed, rallying help from various sources. Volunteers bravely ventured into the floodwaters, rescuing dogs from trees, rooftops, and swimming to safety. As night fell, news arrived that several animal shelters were submerged. Volunteers evacuated around 350 dogs from one shelter and 100 dogs from another, transporting them through chest-high water to waiting trucks. Rescuing cattle posed a more significant challenge. A gaushala housing 400 cows required a coordinated effort. On July 13, teams of dedicated gaushala volunteers, along with NDRF veterans, worked throughout the night, relocating the cows to higher ground as floodwaters reached levels not seen years. The scale of the disaster prompted a flood of requests for boats from local administrations. Disaster relief planners had to adjust their response plans to accommodate the animal rescue efforts. Social media was abuzz with visuals of abandoned cattle, dogs, terrified cats and even rabbits and guinea pigs that needed help. And help arrived from all over. As the waters receded, rescuers cheered as six dogs, three goats, and a little pup were offloaded from a boat to safety. Delhi based animal lover Monika Singh said, "The massive animal rescue effort during the Delhi floods demonstrated the compassion and dedication of the animal welfare community. Their efforts saved the lives of hundreds of animals in distress, offering hope amidst the devastation caused by the floods." https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/hundreds-of-animals-rescued-during-delhi-floods/articleshow/101804785.cms?from=mdr

FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: All fixtures, results, goalscorers, and group standings - complete list All the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 football results and scorers from the games in Australia and New Zealand. Get group points tables, and scorecards from the knockout rounds, including the final. 8 min By Eleanor Lee 20 August 2023 15:10 GMT+3 disciplineFootball Spain celebrate their FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 semi-final victory over Sweden (2023 Getty Images) The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand saw a total of 32 national teams from five confederations fight for the title of football world champions from 20 July to 20 August, with the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) as two-time defending champions. England and Spain faced off in the final with La Roja winning their first ever world title. Sweden took the bronze. The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 followed a familiar format of 32 teams divided into eight groups - Group A to H - of four teams each. The teams in each group competed in a single-headed round-robin format in the group stage of the competition. Each team played three games and two nations in each group with the most points qualified for the knockout stages. Teams were awarded three points for each win, one point each for a draw, and no points for a defeat. If a country finished the group stage level on points with another nation, the two were separated based on who had the higher goal difference (goals scored, minus goals conceded). If teams still could not be separated, the team with the greater number of goals scored was placed higher in the group. The full list of tie-breakers can be found on theAfter the group stage, the top two teams from each of the eight groups will move on to the knockout phase, which begins with the round of 16. The final will be played on August 20 while the third-place match will be played August 10. All matches of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 will played across 10 venues in and around Australia and New Zealand. Get all FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 results, points tables standings, and goalscorers for each group match, and all scores for the knockout rounds, including the final, here. https://olympics.com/en/news/fifa-women-world-cup-2023-results-scores-standings-points-table

The man convicted of killing Kristin Smart, the California college student who disappeared in 1996 and whose body has never been found, was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in state prison. The sentencing of Paul Flores marks the culmination of a case that has drawn worldwide attention for over a quarter century. Flores, who had long been considered a prime suspect in Smart's death, was arrested in 2021 and found guilty of first-degree murder last October. Smart was 19 years old when she vanished while returning to a dorm at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Flores was also a student at the school. Smart's remains have never been found, but she was declared legally dead in 2002. Prosecutors maintained that Flores, now 46, killed Smart during an attempted rape on May 25, 1996, in his dorm room at the university, where both were first-year students. He was the last person seen with Smart as he walked her home from an off-campus party. Flores was arrested in 2021 along with his father, who was accused of helping to hide Smart's body. The trial was held in Salinas, in Monterey County, about 110 miles north of San Luis Obispo, after the defense argued that the case's notoriety prevented Flores and his father from receiving a fair trial in their own county. A jury found Flores guilty of first-degree murder in October. A separate jury acquitted Ruben Flores, 81, of being an accessory.At Paul Flores' trial, defense attorney Robert Sanger tried to pin the killing on someone else. Sanger noted that Scott Peterson, who was later convicted at a sensational trial of murdering his pregnant wife and the fetus she was carrying, was also a student at the campus about 200 miles up the coast from Los Angeles. Sanger filed motions on Feb. 24 in Monterey County Superior Court requesting that charges be dismissed and his client acquitted. Sanger disputed forensic evidence offered by the prosecution. He contended that Flores' right to a fair trial was violated because of prosecution errors and "the admission of junk science as evidence." "There is a reason that a case against Paul Flores was not brought for 25 years," the motion said. "There was no evidence of a murder or that Paul Flores committed it." Paul Flores had long been considered a suspect in the killing. He had a black eye when investigators interviewed him. He told them he got it playing basketball with friends, who denied his account. He later changed his story to say he bumped his head while working on his car, according to court records. Investigators conducted dozens of fruitless searches for Smart's body over two decades. In the past two years they turned their attention to Ruben Flores' home in the community of Arroyo Grande, about 12 miles south of California Polytechnic State. Behind latticework beneath the deck of his large house on a dead end street, archaeologists working for police in March 2021 found a soil disturbance about the size of a casket and the presence of human blood, prosecutors said. The blood was too degraded to extract a DNA sample. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paul-flores-sentenced-kristin-smart-murder/

GANDHINAGAR, INDIA — G20 finance chiefs ended talks in India Tuesday with disagreement over Russia's war in Ukraine, limited progress on debt restructuring and warnings that divisions between rich and poor nations risked deepening poverty. Many countries are still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and drastic commodity price surges triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while climate change is affecting some of the poorest countries least able to cope. The Group of 20 major economies failed to agree on a joint statement "because we still don't have a common language on the Russia-Ukraine war", but progress had been made on key issues, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters after the two-day summit of finance ministers and central bank governors in Gandhinagar. The conflict in Ukraine created a devastating global economic impact sending food prices soaring, with diplomatic loyalties torn between Russia and the West. "The world today is more shock-prone and fragile, with climate change, pandemics, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine all causing widespread turmoil," International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said Tuesday. 'Impact poorer nations' US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday insisted redoubling support for war-stricken Ukraine was the "single best" way to aid the global economy, saying she would "push back" on criticism there was a tradeoff between aid to Kyiv and developing nations.As talks took place, Russia refused to extend a deal on Monday allowing critical Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, sparking outrage from the United Nations, which has warned millions of the world's poorest would "pay the price". Sitharaman said that "several members" had condemned Russia's stoppage, while German central bank chief Joachim Nagel told AFP it had been "really strange" to have been "discussing how to help the vulnerable countries" as Moscow withdrew from the grain deal. It will "likely to have an impact on food prices, which will more heavily impact poorer nations", South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said. Any discussion on Ukraine is awkward for India, which has not condemned Russia's invasion but is also part of the Quad grouping alongside Australia, the United States and Japan. 'Paying the price' The new head of the World Bank said Tuesday that growing divides between rich and poor nations risked deepening poverty in the developing world. "The thing that keeps me up at night is a mistrust that is quietly pulling the Global North and South apart at a time when we need to be uniting," Ajay Banga said Tuesday. "The Global South's frustration is understandable. In many ways they are paying the price for our prosperity," said Indian-born Banga, a naturalised American citizen who took up the bank post last month after being nominated by US President Joe Biden. "When they should be ascendant, they're concerned promised resources will be diverted to Ukraine's reconstruction, they feel energy rules aren't applied evenly, constraining ambition, and they're worried the grip of poverty will pull down another generation." The World Bank said it is working to increase its financial capability -- including by raising hybrid capital from shareholders -- to spur growth and jobs, but said the future economy could not rely on expansion at the cost of the environment. "The simple truth is: We cannot endure another period of emission-intensive growth," Banga said. The United States says efforts to reform multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and other regional institutions could unlock $200 billion over the next decade. Debt distress G20 finance ministers also discussed multilateral development banks' reform, tax, cryptocurrency regulations and climate change adaption finance. Debt restructuring deals for low-income nations were also a key focus. China, the world's second-largest economy and a major lender to several stressed, low-income countries in Asia and Africa, has so far resisted any one-size-fits-all debt restructuring formula. China's finance ministry said multilateral creditors should handle debt "in accordance with the principle of common action and fair burden", and that the G20 should "objectively analyse the causes of debt problems of vulnerable countries". Several G20 suggested Beijing was reluctant on a deal, but Sitharaman called China's response "encouraging". IMF chief Georgieva said the debt restructuring process "still needs to be speedier and more effective", adding that the costs of delay were being borne by those "least able to bear this burden". https://www.voanews.com/a/divided-g20-split-over-ukraine-slow-progress-on-debt-/7185716.html