Telegram Adds AI-Powered Custom Sticker Search and Video Improvements
Telegram Adds AI-Powered Custom Sticker Search and Video Improvements
Telegram added several new features to its platform on Thursday. The instant messaging platform is now expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) sticker search capability to show custom stickers created by the community. Additionally, there are several video-based upgrades. Users can now copy and share video links in the app with a specific time stamp. Telegram channel owners will also be able to add cover photos to the videos they share on the channel. Additionally, the platform will also allow users to resume a video exactly where they left it using saved progress.
Telegram Introduces New Features
In its third major update of the year, Telegram has added several quality-of-life features for users. The company detailed the new additions in a blog post, highlighting the new functionalities users can try out. The first is the expansion of the AI-powered sticker search feature.
It was first added in December 2024, and allowed users to search for stickers just by describing them in natural language. The platform uses an AI model to contextually understand the prompt and matches it with stickers that resemble the visual information. So far, it was only available for the stickers from Telegram’s official packs. However, now the feature supports millions of community-created custom stickers as well. The feature supports 29 languages including English, Spanish, Arabic and Hindi.
Another new feature is video time-stamps. Telegram users can copy and share video links on the platform, which is usually done to forward them to friends or family. Now, when sharing a video, users can go to a particular time that they want others to see, and share the video with the time-stamp. When another user opens it, it will directly start playing from that particular moment.
Telegram channel owners will now be able to select a cover photo for videos they post. The feature is similar to Telegram Stories and allows users to choose a specific frame from the video as its cover. Once selected, the cover can also be customised with text, stickers, and emojis via the app’s video editor tool.
Another video-focused update is saved progress. Telegram will now save users’ progress while watching videos, and will allow them to resume exactly where they left it. The company says this feature is helpful for long-form content and will save users’s time spent in scrolling through the video to find the spot they need to resume from.
Apart from this, the platform is also expanding its Star reaction functionality to allow users to react to posts in channels using their channel’s identity. Telegram says this will boost the visibility of content creators. Finally, users will also be able to explore similar bots from bot profiles.
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Motorcyclist Arrested After Wearing A Helmet Inside Walmart
Motorcyclist Arrested After Wearing A Helmet Inside Walmart
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Motorcyclist Arrested After Wearing A Helmet Inside Walmart
Back in August 2019, a motorcyclist in Sahuarita, Arizona in a full-face helmet, with the visor down, plus armored jacket and pants, wearing a backpack was arrested by police after he walked through a Walmart. His initial offense was not taking off his helmet while walking through the store, which sounds wild to some people. However, things escalated and the motorcyclist faced criminal charges.
Study claims adaptive cruise control linked to increase ****** rates.
According to the 22-year-old Freedom Pfaendler, he was riding to work when he decided to stop at Walmart for a few quick items. He left his helmet on and was listening to music inside the helmet, meaning he couldn’t hear anyone.
Image via Green Valley News & Sun/YouTube
A store manager tried asking the man, whose identity was fully obscured, to remove his helmet as he walked through the store, but Pfaendler claims he didn’t hear or see the man. What the guy might not have known or realized was just days before, someone walked into a Walmart and did a mass shooting.
Pfaendler’s gear, including the helmet, looked intimidating. Some might have thought it looked like military tactical gear. The backpack could have contained a small arsenal. That’s why the Walmart manager called police. When officers arrived, they found Pfaendler putting the items he purchased at a checkout inside his backpack, using a bench at the front of the store.
People are divided on how the exchange between cops and Pfaendler went. We’ve included the bodycam footage so you can make up your own mind. Some argue officers escalated the situation and that the sergeant on the scene violated the motorcyclist’s civil rights.
But others believe Pfaendler broke a serious item of courtesy and civility decent motorcycle riders follow of removing their helmet when they step inside a business.
Ultimately, Pfaendler was arrested for disorderly conduct, but the charges were dropped. Pfaendler in turn sued the city of Sahuarita and five members of the police force. The case was dismissed by the judge, but the motorcyclist’s attorney refiled it two weeks afterward.
Story continues
Image via Green Valley News & Sun/YouTube
The case was tied up in the courts for years.
In May 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the decision of a lower court, dismissing Pfaendler’s lawsuit. The judge said be believed officers did in fact have probable cause to arrest the motorcyclist and search his backpack, reports Green Valley News.
What this case means for motorcycle riders, and anyone else who wears a helmet, is you should always remove your helmet before going into businesses or any establishment. That should be common sense, but apparently that’s not all that common.
Images via Green Valley News & Sun/YouTube
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Tkachuk brothers propel Team USA to win over Finland in 4 Nations Face-Off opener – New York Post
Tkachuk brothers propel Team USA to win over Finland in 4 Nations Face-Off opener – New York Post
Tkachuk brothers propel Team USA to win over Finland in 4 Nations Face-Off opener New York Post United States routs Finland in 4 Nations Face-Off opener: Live updates and reaction The AthleticTkachuks deliver dream performance for U.S. in win against Finland at 4 Nations NHL.com4 Nations Face-Off: Highlights as Tkachuk brothers lead USA rout of Finland USA TODAYNHL 4 Nations Face-Off: Schedule, rosters, TV channel and how to stream NorthJersey.com
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Asus Refreshes Vivobook 16, 14, 14 Flip, S14, Zenbook 14, and Zenbook Duo in India; Gaming V16 Unveiled
Asus Refreshes Vivobook 16, 14, 14 Flip, S14, Zenbook 14, and Zenbook Duo in India; Gaming V16 Unveiled
Asus has refreshed the Vivobook S14, Vivobook 16, Vivobook 14, Zenbook 14, and Zenbook Duo laptops in India. Meanwhile, it also introduced the new Vivobook 14 Flip with a 360-degree hinge, and the Gaming V16 laptops. The laptops come with the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors. Notably, the Asus Zenbook Duo 2024 was introduced in the country in April 2024. The refreshed Asus laptops are currently available for purchase in the country via multiple online and offline retail outlets.
Asus Vivobook 16, 14, 14 Flip, S14, Gaming V16, Zenbook 14, Duo AI Price in India
The Asus Vivobook 14 Flip (TP3407SA) starts at Rs. 96,990, whereas the Asus Gaming V16 (V3607) starts at Rs. 84,990 and is offered in a Matte ****** finish. The Asus Zenbook 14 (UX3405CA) starts at Rs. 1,12,990.
Next, the Asus Vivobook 16 (X1607CA) has a starting price of Rs. 75,990, and the Asus Vivobook 14 (X1407CA) starts at Rs. 75,990. The Asus Vivobook S14 (S5406SA) starts at Rs. 99,990.
Finally, the Asus Zenbook Duo (UX8406CA) starts at Rs. 2,39,990.
The laptops are available via the Asus e-store, Flipkart, and Amazon. They can also be found in Asus Exclusive Stores, Croma, Vijay Sales, Reliance Digital, and other multi-brand retail outlets.
Asus Vivobook 14 Flip Features
The Asus Vivobook 14 Flip sports a 14-inch Lumina OLED touchscreen and is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 (Series 2) chipset backed with AI features. It supports 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD, which is upgradeable up to 1TB. The laptop supports AI features such as Windows Copilot, Windows Studio Effects v2, and the Asus StoryCube app for system assistance, video calls, and media organisation, respectively.
It comes with Asus Pen 2.0, has Dolby Atmos 360-degree audio support and boasts military-grade durability. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, HDMI 2.1, a microSD slot, and a USB Type-C port. The laptop packs a 70Wh battery and is said to offer a battery life of up to 28 hours.
Asus Gaming V16 Features
The Asus Gaming V16 (V3607) has a 16-inch full-HD+ screen with a 144Hz refresh rate, a backlit Turbo Blue keyboard and transparent WASD keys. It is equipped with an Intel Core i7-240H processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. It supports up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. It comes with Asus IceCool thermal technology and carries a 1080p webcam, Dirac-tuned speakers, as well as AI-backed noise-cancellation features.
Asus Vivobook 16, 14 Features
Asus Vivobook 16 sports a 16-inch WUXGA display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and TÜV Rheinland certification for low blue light. Meanwhile, the Asus Vivobook 14 has a 14-inch WUXGA display. Both have a 180-degree hinge and measure 17.9 mm in thickness while offering a MIL-STD 810H durability certification. They are powered by Intel Core Ultra 5 (225H) chips, paired with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 512GB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. They support Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity as well as a full-HD IR webcam with a magnetic privacy shutter. The laptops are equipped with a backlit ErgoSense keyboard, a Smart Gesture touchpad, and Dirac-tuned stereo speakers.
Asus Zenbook 14 Features
The Asus Zenbook 14 (UX3405C) comes with a 14-inch 3K OLED NanoEdge display with 120Hz refresh rate, 100 percent DCI-P3, and VESA-certified DisplayHDR True ****** 500. It is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9-285H processor, Intel Arc Graphics, and AI Boost NPU, paired with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. It packs a 75Wh battery with a battery life of over 18 hours. The aluminium chassis has a 180-degree ErgoLift hinge, boasts 14.9mm thinness and weighs 1.28kg.
Asus Vivobook S14 Features
The Asus Vivobook S14 OLED (S5406S) flaunts a 14-inch ASUS Lumina OLED display with 600 nits brightness, 100 percent DCI-P3 colour accuracy, VESA-certified DisplayHDR 600 True ****** and low blue light support. It has an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor with Intel Arc Graphics, AI Boost NPU (47 TOPS), 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. It supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity and is equipped with an RGB backlit ErgoSense keyboard and Smart Gesture touchpad. It has a 13.9mm thin profile and weighs 1.3kg.
Asus Zenbook Duo Features
The Asus Zenbook Duo (UX8406C) is equipped with dual 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreens with a 120Hz refresh rate, VESA DisplayHDR True ****** 500, and 100 percent DCI-P3 colour accuracy. The Intel Core Ultra 9-285H chipset with Intel AI Boost NPU powers the laptop, paired with up to 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. It houses a 75Wh battery and supports Wi-Fi 7, Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, and USB 3.2 connectivity. It has a detachable keyboard and Asus Pen 2.0 support.
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Graham Potter: West Ham boss says Chelsea sacking made him ‘stronger person’
Graham Potter: West Ham boss says Chelsea sacking made him ‘stronger person’
West Ham boss Graham Potter said he “wasn’t in a good place” after he was sacked by Chelsea but that it made him a “stronger person”.
Potter was dismissed by Chelsea in April 2023, less than seven months after replacing Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge in September 2022.
The 49-year-old returned to coaching after 20 months when he was appointed West Ham’s new manager in January, succeeding Julen Lopetegui.
“At the time you can imagine I wasn’t in a good place because you are disappointed to lose your job and it hasn’t gone very well, or clearly as well as you’d like,” Potter told Football Focus.
“It was a tough moment.”
Potter won just 12 of his 31 games in charge of the Blues in all competitions, having spent more than £550m on new players during the 2022-23 season.
Asked what advice he would give himself in hindsight, following his Chelsea departure, Potter said: “Everything will be OK is the bit. I think it makes you better, it makes you a stronger person, it makes you a better coach.
“The worst that can happen is you can lose your job and you can still be alright, you can still move forward, still have something to offer, still grow as a person.
“That bubble we’re in, it can be a little too far down the rabbit hole. Be grateful for the good and the bad, just deal with it.”
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Strong start with three victories from Hockeyroos to open FIH Pro League account, Penny Squibb scores twice
Strong start with three victories from Hockeyroos to open FIH Pro League account, Penny Squibb scores twice
The Hockeyroos started their new FIH Pro League campaign in strong fashion, winning three of their four matches on *********** soil earlier this month.
FIH Pro League action was played in Australia for the first time in two years and the Hockeyroos banked two victories over Spain and one against China.
Tambellup-raised defender Penny Squibb was crucial to that success, scoring twice in the four games and earning a player of the match award as well.
Camera IconHockeyroos’ Penny Squibb. Credit: Andrew Wiseman
Squibb was one of four WA players in the Hockeyroos squad for the Sydney leg of the FIH Pro League.
Lexie Pickering, Karri Somerville and Aleisha Power were also part of the three Hockeyroos wins at Sydney Olympic Park
The Hockeyroos made a dream start with a 4-1 win over Spain on February 5, Squibb scoring a precision drag flick after half-time.
She was a rock in defence during the first-up win and was named player of the match as a result.
The Hockeyroos then beat China in a penalty shootout on February 6, after the two sides were locked at 2-all in regular time.
Grace Young and Courtney Schonell scored and goalie Power saved four shots to help the Hockeyroos notch a 2-1 shootout win.
Camera IconPenny Squibb, centre, listens to head coach Katrina Powell. Credit: ANDREW WISEMAN
On February 8, the Hockeyroos claimed an impressive 3-1 win over Spain after goals from ***** Smith, Maddison Brooks and Claire Colwill.
The Hockeyroos backed up with their final match against China on February 9, suffering their first loss of the campaign.
China’s pressure set up three goals within five minutes and the Hockeyroos never recovered despite a much-needed penalty corner conversion from Squibb in the second quarter.
The Kookaburras also started their FIH Pro League campaign with three wins from four matches in Sydney.
Australia’s national teams then remained in Sydney for a training camp ahead of the next round of the FIH Pro League.
The two sides travel to Argentina where they will compete against the hosts and Belgium on February 21-25.
Squibb, who recently played in the Indian Hockey League, has been rested by the selectors.
Emerging WA player Pippa Morgan has been included in the Hockeyroos squad for the overseas trip.
Morgan, who hails from Kondinin, has made only three appearances in the national women’s team but will get a chance to add to that when they tackle Argentina on February 21.
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Supercomputer runs largest and most complicated simulation of the universe ever
Supercomputer runs largest and most complicated simulation of the universe ever
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Credit: Argonne National Laboratory/U.S Dept of Energy
The potential for our understanding of the universe has taken a giant leap forward after Frontier, a supercomputer based in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), created a simulation of the universe at a scale never before achieved.
Frontier used a software platform called the Hardware/Hybrid Accelerated Cosmology Code (HACC) as part of ExaSky, a project that formed part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) $1.8 billion Exascale Computing Project — the largest software R&D initiative backed by the DOE.
Under Exasky, scientific applications were required to run up to 50 times faster than previous benchmarks, but Frontier and HACC quickly raced ahead of expectations — running almost 300 times faster than similar simulations of Saturn’s moon Titan. The DoE/HACC team had spent seven years since the first simulation enhancing the capabilities on exascale supercomputers like Frontier.
This allowed for hydrodynamic cosmology simulations, a far more computationally intensive computer model that incorporates principles like the expansion of the universe and the influence of dark matter. Previous models only incorporated measures of gravity, gas or plasma.
The power of exascale computing
The simulation, which was conducted in November 2024, used around 9,000 of Frontier’s computing nodes, all fitted with AMD Instinct MI250X graphics cards.
Frontier is the second-fastest supercomputer in the world and can hit 1.4 exaFLOPS of power. The performance of supercomputers is measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) — where one floating-point operation is a mathematical calculation.
Related: Nvidia’s mini ‘desktop supercomputer’ is 1,000 times more powerful than a laptop — and it can fit in your bag
Anything capable of more than 999 petaFLOPS (0.9 exaFLOPS) is referred to as an “exascale” supercomputer. The only other machine more powerful than Frontier is El Capitan — which can reach 1.7 exaFLOPS of power.
Beyond simulating the universe, Frontier has been used in other crucial research. In April 2023, scientists built the Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM) — a program that simulated an entire year of global climate data down to a resolution of just over 3km. One of the most complex climate models ever computed, it’s now a cornerstone in the analysis of complex interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and land to improve weather predictions and gather higher-fidelity data about climate change.
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In materials, Frontier has let designers come up with new substrates and geometries for enhanced-property substances, making them stronger, lighter and corrosion-proof. Its exascale computing capabilities have allowed researchers to model chemical interaction at the molecular scale to predict material behavior. The supercomputer has also been pivotal in finding new materials for energy storage, transport, manufacturing and nuclear medicine.
However, scientists are particularly excited about how exascale computing can supercharge artificial intelligence (AI). The speed of these machines lets programmers iterate algorithms and analyze large datasets rapidly, especially in tasks like faster large language models or the application of supercomputers to climate models and climate change prediction.
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Thousands of probationary employees fired as Trump administration directs agencies to carry out widespread layoffs – CNN
Thousands of probationary employees fired as Trump administration directs agencies to carry out widespread layoffs – CNN
Thousands of probationary employees fired as Trump administration directs agencies to carry out widespread layoffs CNNThousands fired in US government as Trump, Musk purge federal workers ReutersOPM advises agencies to fire probationary employees after ‘deferred resignation’ deadline Federal News NetworkHere’s a list of federal agencies that laid off probationary employees WUSA9.com
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Barry Humphries’ Dame Edna’s glasses auctioned for £37,800
Barry Humphries’ Dame Edna’s glasses auctioned for £37,800
A pair of Barry Humphries’ Dame Edna Everage glasses have sold at auction for more than 25 times their estimated value.
The glasses – which were expected to go for between £1,000 and £1,500 – sold for £37,800, according to Christie’s auction house.
Humphries died in 2023 of complications from hip surgery, aged 89. A state memorial was held at the Sydney Opera House in his honour.
Dame Edna, his most famous creation, became a hit in the *** in the 1970s and was known for her signature sunglasses.
Other items auctioned included a gown worn by Humphries as Dame Edna at the Royal Variety Show in 2013, which was sold for £21,420.
Along with Dame Edna’s glasses and outfits, Humphries’ personal collection ***** included artwork.
The most expensive item sold was Charles Conder’s painting Sand dunes, Ambleteuse which sold for £239,400.
His collection included books and manuscripts, including a first edition copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, inscribed by the author to his publisher, which fetched £138,600.
The *****, which realised a total of £4,627,224, including buyer’s premium, took place over nine hours.
“These fantastic results are a testament to Barry’s unique vision and lifelong passion for collecting,” said Benedict Winter of Christie’s London.
It’s not the first pair of famous spectacles to fetch a high price at auction this year.
Singer Robbie Williams revealed he cried “happy, childlike tears” after making the winning bid for comedy legend Eric Morecambe’s glasses and pipe at auction last month.
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Kylie Minogue confirms Perth arrival with RAC Arena prep and Crown Towers dance after days without sighting
Kylie Minogue confirms Perth arrival with RAC Arena prep and Crown Towers dance after days without sighting
Kylie Minogue has finally broken her cover in Perth, although virtually, posting a series of videos pinning her whereabouts as she prepares to launch her global Tension Tour 2025 at RAC Arena on Saturday night.
The 56-year-old Princess of Pop had initially posted a social media clip on Friday morning depicting her enforcing safety precautions, as the stage continued to be set behind her with less than 36 hours to showtime.
Minogue remained highly visible by wearing a bright orange safety vest and completed the look with a white hard hat.
The style icon pointed up to a LED sign inside the arena that read: “Workers above please ensure hard hats are worn at all times”.
She could then be heard having a giggle at her antics as the clip ended.
The video was captioned: “The ‘TENSION’ is BUILDING. See you LOVERS Saturday!!!”
Fans took to the comments section to share their excitement at finally seeing Minogue inside the venue.
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“See you soon,” one fan wrote.
Another said: “SO excited!!!!”
“Show the stage!!!,” a third fan added.
The short video was the only concert-related content Minogue has shared with her fans after arriving in Perth earlier this week, until posting a follow up from what appeared to be a Crown Towers balcony.
In wake of her new track with producer Alok titled Last Night I Dreamt I Fell In Love — which she released just one day before her tour begins — Minogue could be seen mouthing the words to her new bop from atop a Crown Towers balcony overlooking the Swan River.
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“Happy Valentines Lovers,” she captioned the post, accompanied by a love heart emoji.
And what better occasion to showcase her new music than on Saturday night with the world’s eyes and ears on Perth.
Minogue and her team have gone to great lengths to stay low-key.
The Padam Padam singer is still yet to make a public appearance as she concentrates on perfecting her live show after booking out the arena for six days.
Kylie-watchers have reported seeing the singer leave Crown Towers in the mid-afternoon, then being whisked away in a heavily-tinted van to rehearsals.
Minogue’s attempt to avoid publicity comes after ********* rapper Drake couldn’t stay away from the limelight while in WA.
He was spotted at the Cottesloe Beach Hotel and restaurant Gibney twice in the space of a few days.
Following Minogue’s Perth show, she will perform in Adelaide next Tuesday.
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Picking One Particular Boon in Destiny 2’s Nether Activity Can Often Result in Failed Nether Runs
Picking One Particular Boon in Destiny 2’s Nether Activity Can Often Result in Failed Nether Runs
Destiny 2 relies heavily on quick decision-making while making strategic runs, and boons play a major role. Boons in the game act as modifiers or buffs that affect the playstyles significantly at the cost of added difficulty.
Destiny 2 has some corrupted boons that should be avoided. Image Credit: Bungie
It is more of a trade that players make in exchange for benefits. However, not all the boons out there are beneficial; if chosen unwisely, they can create massive problems by making you weaker than before. It is very important to avoid such corrupted boons entirely; similarly, there is one such boon that seems to be causing massive problems in the Nether region at the moment.
Players need to avoid this cursed boon in Destiny 2
Boons can be very deceptive. Image Credit: Bungie
The boon in question is the one that might appear enticing at first look but is deceptively cruel once you understand what it has to offer. Destiny 2‘s nether activity usually has one corrupted boon that should be avoided at any cost.
This boon offers a damage buff in exchange for increased damage received, which will result in you getting one shot before you can make use of the damage buff. All in all, it is not worth the trade.
Any boon that affects player effectiveness or restricts movements and causes environmental hazards should be avoided. Destiny 2 is a strategic game and requires players to plan things according to the objectives, especially while playing with a team, picking up the wrong buffs, and instantly impacting the entire team by creating massive internal imbalances. Destiny 2 is still one of the most popular games on the market.
Comment byu/RemoraWasTaken from discussion indestiny2
Comment byu/RemoraWasTaken from discussion indestiny2
Comment byu/RemoraWasTaken from discussion indestiny2
Bungie is known for modifying the game by adding new challenges and opportunities to keep the experience of playing fresh and exciting, and these corrupted boons might be strategically placed to make the game more challenging.
The added difficulty compels players to do better
Bungie compels players to always be on their toes. Image Credit: Bungie
It is important for a live service game to maintain its freshness if it wants to be a long-term contender in the market and attract players. Destiny 2 seems to be doing a great job at doing so by always raising the bar for what players expect from the game. It is not an easy game.
The added difficulty and challenges introduced by Bungie give players space to reflect and approach the game in new and creative ways that keep the player interaction tight and interesting.
Players learn from failed runs and come back stronger. If some boons appear to be overwhelming at first, one might figure out ways to utilize them in the long run by using them with some added buffs that cancel out the negative impact of that particular boon. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments below.
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Ukraine fears what Trump's peace might look like – BBC.com
Ukraine fears what Trump's peace might look like – BBC.com
Ukraine fears what Trump’s peace might look like BBC.comTrump has put the ball back in Putin’s court on Ukraine Financial TimesLive updates: Russia-Ukraine war at critical moment as Trump and Putin push to end conflict CNNTrump’s Russia-Ukraine moves unnerve Senate GOP The HillRussia claims Trump, Putin talk brought world from ‘brink of Apocalypse,’ EU warns of ‘dirty tricks’ Fox News
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What I saw during my 24 hours at London’s Royal Free Hospital
What I saw during my 24 hours at London’s Royal Free Hospital
Clive Myrie
Chief presenter
‘It’s going to be a long night’: Watch as Clive Myrie finds corridors filled with beds at London hospital
It’s just before 10:00 GMT at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.
Raymond Dubbery is 81 and suffering from pneumonia. His hair thinning and white, he’s very frail and very thin. The skin hangs from his limbs. Transferred here from his care home, he’s not eating much.
The hope is he could be discharged soon, but he doesn’t like his care home and doesn’t want to go back.
Dr Khai Lee Cheah, consultant in elderly care, holds his hand. Raymond tells her he wants to live somewhere he’ll be happy.
“I take your point completely,” she tells Raymond. “That your care home should be somewhere to live, and not just somewhere to die.”
I’m spending 24 hours at the Royal Free for a glimpse of the challenges facing the NHS as it grapples with intense winter pressures.
Raymond Dubbery was transferred to hospital from his care home
For patients like Raymond, who has no family, hospital staff have become social workers – a point of human contact at a time when the social care sector is under strain.
It’s a dilemma for the medical staff, with 15-30% of patients at the Royal Free medically fit to be discharged but unable to go home, for a myriad of reasons.
The hospital has its own discharge team – whose job it is to safely get patients out of the door, to free up beds for new admissions. Just under 14,000 people who are medically fit are still in English hospitals and can’t go home, through no fault of their own.
At the Royal Free London Trust, there are 275 people occupying beds who don’t need to, at three major sites. That makes up nearly 20% of all the beds the trust has.
Faye Rogers, on the discharge team, has been on the phone with a removals company. She’s trying to get someone to visit the home of a patient to shift a wardrobe in the bedroom, to make space for an essential hospital bed.
“This is the kind of issue we have to deal with everyday,” she says.
“Sometimes a family member has the keys to a patient’s house, and they’ve gone on holiday. Some patients forget the key code to their front door, so no one can get in. The problems are mundane and routine but make it difficult for people to be discharged and they’re a regular occurrence.”
As night falls, corridors full of patients
Mid-afternoon is easily the quietest time during our 24 hours at the Royal Free, with some of the ambulance staff we come across cautioning that things will change as day turns to night. And they are right.
From around 8pm, more and more patients turn up at A&E, on foot and by ambulance. All the assessment bays where patients are triaged on arrival fill up quickly and are in constant use for the next five hours.
That leads to a spillover into the corridors, with patients in wheelchairs, on hospital beds and gurneys filling all the available space. The wards on either side are full too. It’s cramped and depressing – but a familiar scene in hospitals right across England.
At around 10pm we come across Cathleen Hill who’s 86, sitting in a wheelchair among those in the corridor. She has a facial injury and a bloody nose.
She tells me she arrived at the hospital seven hours earlier. She has already seen a doctor but is now having to wait. Her white hospital bib, tucked into the collar of her grey jumper, is splattered with congealed blood.
I ask her if she’s with anyone. “No, I’ve been here on my own,” she tells me.
“On your own, the whole time?” I ask. “Yes,” she says, resigned to her predicament.
Less than 5ft (1.5m) away in the corridor a man lying on a gurney begins to groan. Islam Iskau, who’s 72, is wearing an oxygen mask and is grimacing from pains in his leg. He has been waiting in the corridor for around three hours.
His moans and groans grow louder, as he writhes on the gurney. Eventually a friend who is with him manages to find a nurse to get him some painkillers.
For patients waiting in the corridor, there is no privacy. Some might argue no dignity either, with their pain and ailments, oxygen bottles and intravenous drips all on public display.
Then suddenly, an emergency alarm goes off. A patient in one of the wards is having a seizure. The doctors and nurses on duty, professional as ever, head straight for her bed, at least six or seven people. They need to get her to the resuscitation area fast, to save her life. But they can barely make their way out of the ward, because of all the patients in the corridor.
A little later an ambulance drops off a man with mental health problems, who has cut himself in the lower abdomen with a knife. Despite the self-harm and his mental state, the ambulance staff tell the on-duty nurse that the outside mental health assessment service CASS, had refused to intervene, saying the patient wasn’t in crisis.
The duty nurse shakes her head in disbelief, writing down the details. Once again the Royal Free’s A&E is being left to carry the can for another agency.
Resident doctor Charlie Hall, who’s on duty, tells me he comes from a long line of doctors. “It’s not the health service I signed up for, at the age of 17,” he says.
“The access to services, I feel, are creaking for patients and the ability to provide high-quality care is creaking. A lot of patients are very dissatisfied with what’s going on, and I don’t blame them. We’re doing our level best in the hospital to give them the best treatment and the best options, but you can only apologise so much.”
When our filming is over, we learn that Raymond Dubbery has died on the ward.
For just 24 hours, we saw the NHS up close, fighting uphill battles every day.
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WA election 2025: GPs to diagnose and prescribe ADHD medication under Labor Government
WA election 2025: GPs to diagnose and prescribe ADHD medication under Labor Government
GPs will be able to prescribe ADHD medication to anyone over the age of 10 under a re-elected WA Labor Government, the health minister has announced.
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JPMorgan claims a millennial founder tricked them into buying her student loan startup. Now Charlie Javice is getting her day in court
JPMorgan claims a millennial founder tricked them into buying her student loan startup. Now Charlie Javice is getting her day in court
Charlie Javice is finally getting her day in court. On February 18, the millennial founder will try to rebut criminal allegations that she lied to JPMorgan Chase as part of a ploy to get the nation’s biggest bank to buy her startup for $175 million.
The criminal trial, which will take place in lower Manhattan, caps a stunning fall from grace for Javice. In 2021, she was riding high as a media darling who sold her startup, Frank, to JPMorgan Chase after touting it as the “fastest growing college financial planning site.” (You can read Fortune’s full story of Javice and JPM here.) In a press release announcing the acquisition, the bank said Frank served five million students at more than 6,000 colleges across the country.
Months after the deal closed, however, JPMorgan feared they had been duped about the size of Frank. The realization came after the bank sent marketing emails to a batch of 400,000 supposed Frank customers. Only 28% of the emails were delivered, and just 1.1% were opened, according to JPMorgan Chase’s lawsuit against Javice. The bank alleged that Javice, along with codefendant Olivier Amar, Frank’s chief growth officer, used a data scientist to create millions of fake customer accounts that it used to dupe JPMorgan Chase. The bank ended up shutting down the Frank website in January 2023, just weeks after suing Javice in Delaware district court.
In April 2023, the DOJ and the Securities and Exchange Commission each filed complaints against Javice, who faces criminal charges including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud. Each of which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. She was also charged with one count of securities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Javice has since been free on a $2 million bond that was secured by her Miami Beach condo and co-signed by her mother and father. Late last year, she convinced Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing her case, to remove a clunky 24-hour ankle bracelet she was required to wear because it “impeded her work as a fitness instructor,” according to court filings.
Javice’s trial is expected to last three to four weeks with opening statements anticipated on Feb. 20.
One former prosecutor described Hellerstein, who is 91, as liberal and a good judge to draw for defendants. “Everyone loves him, he’s great,” they said. In September, Hellerstein denied Donald Trump’s attempt to move his hush-money case to federal court.
Unlike securities fraud or insider trading, Javice’s case is simple because it focuses on actual people and what they might have done to get money. “It centers around the fact of whether [Javice] knowingly lied about this company that she was trying to sell,” said the ex-prosecutor, who declined to speak on the record.
Story Continues
There is one big bump in Javice’s defense strategy—Amar, Javice’s codefendant, will present an “anticipated antagonistic defense,” according to a Jan. 21 letter from Amar’s attorneys to Hellerstein.
This means Amar will likely turn on his former boss, which prompted Javice last month to ask to be tried separately. Hellerstein, however, denied Javice’s bid to sever her trial from Amar. Javice’s spokesman maintained that her motion to sever is typical in these types of cases and held no malice. “It is common for cases with multiple defendants to sever their cases not only to preserve the issue for appeal but also for a cleaner trial,” a different attorney said.
Javice and Amar are also trying to have several expert witnesses testify at trial, including an M&A law professor as well as a professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science. Prosecutors are opposing the expert witnesses, claiming Javice and Amar are trying to “improperly shift blame to the victims in this case,” according to a Jan. 13 court filing. Hellerstein has yet to rule on the issue.
Javice has put together a top defense team, but it will be missing one big name.
Alex Spiro, the well-known celebrity defense lawyer, is no longer involved with Javice’s defense, her spokesman confirmed. Spiro, a former prosecutor who is now with law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, has represented several celebrities including Jay-Z, Elon Musk and Alec Baldwin. He led Javice’s defense when the Department of Justice charged her with four counts of fraud in April 2023. Spiro is still listed as part of her team of attorneys, but Javice has “decided to work with another lawyer to go to trial with,” the spokesman said.
Spiro could not be reached for comment.
Javice’s defense team still has a lot of star power. Jose Baez, a Florida attorney who successfully defended Casey Anthony, is serving as Javice’s primary lawyer, lead attorney and lead trial attorney, with Ron Sullivan, a Harvard law professor, acting as co-counsel, her spokesman said. Baez has experience with white collar cases, having defended David Demos, a former Cantor Fitzgerald managing director and Mark Nordlicht, the founder of Platinum Partners, who were each accused of bond fraud in separate trials. (Demos was found not guilty, while Nordlicht was convicted but sentenced to six months of home confinement.) Baez is best known for defending Anthony, who in 2011 was found not guilty of killing her two year old daughter.
For his part, Sullivan has a reputation for taking on cases that are considered impossible, where the defendants are written off as having no chance—and sometimes prevailing. In 2017, Sullivan secured an acquittal in the double ******* case of Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriot football player. Sullivan was part of the defense team for Demos and Nordlicht, who was acquitted of the five most serious securities fraud counts against him.
Along with Baez, Sullivan was also part of Harvey Weinstein’s defense team for a time. Weinstein is the powerful Hollywood producer whose 2020 felony sex crime conviction was overturned last year on appeal.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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Thousands of probationary employees fired as Trump administration directs agencies to carry out widespread layoffs – CNN
Thousands of probationary employees fired as Trump administration directs agencies to carry out widespread layoffs – CNN
Thousands of probationary employees fired as Trump administration directs agencies to carry out widespread layoffs CNNThousands fired in US government as Trump, Musk purge federal workers Reuters
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Fremantle Dockers sign South *********** small forward Isaiah Dudle on eve of Indigenous All Stars match
Fremantle Dockers sign South *********** small forward Isaiah Dudle on eve of Indigenous All Stars match
Fremantle have signed train-on forward Isiah Dudley as a rookie through the pre-season supplemental selection *******.
A week out from the deadline, the Dockers revealed that Dudley would take the final spot on their list ahead of the 2025 season,.
They made the announcement during a player lunch between Fremantle and the Indigenous All Stars teams at Optus Stadium on Friday.
Dudley, 21, has impressed since coming to WA out of Central Districts in the SANFL, where he was third in their fairest and best last year.
A crafty small forward, Dudley kicked 21 goals in 20 games last year for the Bulldogs while averaging 10 touches and three tackles.
Fremantle list boss David Walls said the club always looked to add talent to its list.
“Dudley was a very talented junior footballer and had a few injuries and things didn’t go his way, but we have kept an eye on him at Central Districts.” Walls said.
Camera IconIsaiah Dudley at Fremantle training. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West ***********
“He had high score assists in the SANFL and hits the scoreboard himself.
“He jumped at the chance to come across and train and has handled himself really well.
“He’s worked really hard and obviously still has work to do, but we are always looking to add talent in our front half.”
A spot on Fremantle’s list opened up because of a season-ending back injury to forward-ruck Odin Jones which required surgery in December.
Dudley has signed a one-year contract, with his addition meaning Fremantle have a full list heading into the 2025 season.
Former Geelong and Port Adelaide forward Quinton Narkle joined the Dockers in the same manor in November after he was delisted by Port Adelaide.
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As U.S. officials meet for the MSC, Europe must step-up on defense
As U.S. officials meet for the MSC, Europe must step-up on defense
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey and Turkey’s ambassador to NATO Zeki Levent Gumrukcu take part in a family photo during a NATO Defence Ministers meeting at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 13, 2025.
Yves Herman | Reuters
As the world’s defense and security elite gathers for the Munich Security Conference, the future of Ukraine, peace talks with Russia and reshaping Europe’s security and defense architecture will be at the ***** of discussions.
Top U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg, are among the delegates travelling to Germany on Friday for the start of the two-day summit, an annual event that brings together the most high-profile figures from the defense and security sectors.
The summit comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to start peace talks, and that he had instructed U.S. officials to begin negotiations immediately.
The substance of those talks, and what conditions and compromises Moscow and Kyiv — and the U.S. — are likely to demand as part of those negotiations will be a focal point for delegates at the MSC.
All the while, the role Europe will play in the discussions remains to be seen, despite Ukraine’s insistence that its most steadfast ally is included in talks.
Ahead of Trump’s peace talks bombshell on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a flavor of what was to come, stunning Ukraine and its allies by stating that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders and NATO membership for Ukraine were “unrealistic” objectives.
He also called on “capable European and non-European troops” to back any security guarantee for Ukraine, stating emphatically that U.S. troops would not be deployed to the country. There should be no NATO involvement in any peacekeeping mission Ukraine either, he added.
Analysts say Europe faces the choice of stepping-up and taking on more responsibility for Ukraine’s defense and, ultimately, its own security.
“President Trump has succumbed to Putin’s charm and historical narrative and will end most U.S. military involvement in the Russian war in Ukraine. There was no prior discussion with the Allies. It is as if the “ironclad commitment” never existed,” said David Roche, strategist at Quantum Strategy.
“That has knock on effects. U.S. support for NATO continues for now but, contradictorily, European security must be led by Europeans. In sum, Europe can no longer rely on NATO and must set up its own defence – an expensive exercise,” he said in emailed comments.
NATO’s wake-up call
Trump has long criticized NATO allies in Europe for not spending enough on defense and has called on member states to increase funding to 5% of GDP, with Defense Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday backing that demand.
As things stand, only 23 of NATO’s 32 members have reached the 2% target, as per NATO estimates for defense spending in 2024.
Some analysts defended the Trump administration’s position, stating that his “America First” plan for Ukraine could be the wake-up call that Europe needs.
“While Europe has sought to isolate Putin, Trump engaged. The ‘productive phone call’ between the two will have enraged Europe’s politicians – but what can they do unless they are prepared to fund Ukraine’s fight for freedom?,” Bill Blain, market strategist and founder of Wind Shift Capital, stated in emailed comments Thursday.
“Europe is Europe’s problem, and Ukraine is part of Europe … While there will be a lot of wailing about Trump’s America betraying Ukraine, and his unreliability towards Europe, perhaps it’s the ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ moment Europe needs,” Blain said, adding: “Ukrainian Peace will be Europe’s problem.”
Europe left reeling by Trump
Ukraine’s allies in Europe appear to have been blindsided by Trump’s unilateral move to force peace talks on Ukraine and Russia, with the continent’s top officials fearing that they could be left on the sidelines.
On Thursday, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said that any agreement reached behind the bloc’s back “wouldn’t work” and that the bloc would devise “new initiatives” to support Ukraine, if Kyiv decided to “resist” a deal. She offered no further details as to what these could be.
“Any quick fix is a dirty deal,” Kallas said, in comments reported by Reuters, adding that “we have seen that before, it won’t stop the killing.”
Ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday, Hegseth denied the accusation that the U.S. had betrayed Ukraine by seemingly imposing negotiations upon it.
“There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace,” Hegseth said, adding that talks “will require both sides recognising things they don’t want to.”
A detailed view as members of the Spain and Bulgarian armed forces take part during the NATO exercise Steadfast Dart on February 13, 2025 in Tsrancha, Bulgaria.
Hristo Rusev | Getty Images News | Getty Images
European officials also criticized the Trump’s administration’s gloomy stance on Ukraine’s future membership of NATO and the possibility of regaining all the territory it’s lost to Russia since 2014.
“It is regrettable, and I say this myself, but it is part of the truth. The Trump administration has already made public concessions to Putin before negotiations have even begun,” ******* Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Thursday.
“In my view, it would have been better to talk about Ukraine’s possible NATO membership or the country’s possible loss of territory at the negotiating table first and not take it off the table beforehand,” Pistorius added, in comments translated by Reuters.
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Watch These GameStop Price Levels as Stock Pops After Report Of Bitcoin Investment Plan – Investopedia
Watch These GameStop Price Levels as Stock Pops After Report Of Bitcoin Investment Plan – Investopedia
Watch These GameStop Price Levels as Stock Pops After Report Of Bitcoin Investment Plan InvestopediaGameStop is considering investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, sources say CNBCGameStop stock pops 10% after report company may invest in crypto Yahoo FinanceGameStop shares skyrocket as company considers crypto investments – CNBC By Investing.com Investing.comWhy a Social Media Post Boosted GameStop, MicroStrategy Stocks Monday Investopedia
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Simmons makes winning Clippers debut, Mavs’ Exum stars
Simmons makes winning Clippers debut, Mavs’ Exum stars
The much-criticised Ben Simmons has made a successful debut for the Los Angeles Clippers in an overtime victory against Utah.
In his first outing since being waived by Brooklyn, the NBA’s 2016 No.1 draft pick had 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals in a 120-116 road win on Thursday night (Friday AEDT).
The 28-year-old, hampered by back injuries during stints with Philadelphia and the Nets, played 27 minutes and converted four of five field-goal attempts, plus all four free throws.
Norman Powell scored a season-high 41 points and James Harden added 32 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals as the Clippers (31-23) clawed back from a 20-point deficit to beat the Jazz for the second time in three games.
Nine of Utah’s 11 first-quarter field goals were three-pointers, and LA did not take the lead until the fourth *******, going up 103-100 when Powell tipped in a lay-up and Harden hit a step-back triple to cap an 11-1 run. Isaiah Collier made two free throws with 45 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Simmons’ *********** teammate Patty Mills didn’t see any game time in Salt Lake City.
In Dallas, another Aussie in Dante Exum scored a season-high 27 points, one short of his career high, as the Mavericks beat Miami 118-113.
It was the first time the 29-year-old has led the Mavs in scoring in 62 regular-season games. Exum banked 11 of his 13 shots, including both from three-point range and all three from the charity stripe, and also registered three boards and four assists in 24 minutes on court.
Max Christie added 19 points, Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 and Kessler Edwards finished with season highs of 15 points and nine rebounds as undermanned Dallas (30-26) won for the fourth time in five games.
Kyrie Irving (shoulder) and Klay Thompson (foot) were two of eight players listed on the Mavericks’ injury report.
Tyler Herro scored 40 points for the Heat (25-28), who have lost four consecutive games.
Naz Reid had 27 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for Minnesota in a 116-101 victory over Oklahoma City that stopped their seven-game winning streak.
Anthony Edwards scored 23 points and Jaden McDaniels added 21 to propel the Timberwolves (31-25) into the All-Star break with an inspired performance against the West-leading Thunder (44-10).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead OKC.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA ‘s leading scorer at 32.6 points per game entering the night, had his streak of 25-point games end at 22.
Elsewhere, Stephen Curry scored 27 points as Golden State withstood a late surge to win 105-98 in Houston.
CJ McCollum scored 37 of his 43 points after halftime – including 11 points in overtime – as New Orleans snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 140-133 victory over Sacramento.
With AP.
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Texas executes man for 2004 double killing in a dispute with his strip club manager
Texas executes man for 2004 double killing in a dispute with his strip club manager
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who killed his strip club manager and another man, then later prompted a massive lockdown of the state prison system when he used a cellphone smuggled onto death row to threaten a lawmaker, was executed Thursday night.
Richard Lee Tabler, 46, was given a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The time of death was 6:38 p.m. CST, 15 minutes after a lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital was administered in his arms.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t regret my actions,” Tabler said, strapped to the death chamber gurney, looking at relatives of his victims who watched through a window a few feet away.
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“I had no right to take your loved ones from you, and I ask and pray, hope and pray, that one day you find it in your hearts to forgive me for those actions,” Tabler said. “No amount of my apologies will ever return them to you.”
He expressed to love to his family and friends, lawyers and supporters, and he thanked prison officials for their compassion and “the opportunity to show you that I can change and become a better man and rehabilitate.”
After apologizing several more times and saying this was the beginning of a new life for him in heaven, he told the warden: “I am finished.”
As the drugs began, he mouthed once again, “I’m sorry,” then began breathing quickly. After about a dozen breaths, all movement stopped.
Tabler — the second person executed in Texas in a little over a week, with two more scheduled by the end of April — was condemned for the Thanksgiving 2004 shooting deaths of Mohammed-Amine Rahmouni, 28, and Haitham Zayed, 25, in a remote area near Killeen in Central Texas.
Rahmouni was the manager of a strip club where Tabler worked until he was banned from the place. Zayed was a friend of Rahmouni, and police said both men were killed in a late-night meeting to buy some stolen stereo equipment that was actually a planned ambush.
Tabler also confessed to killing two teenage girls who worked at the club, Tiffany Dotson, 18, and Amanda Benefield, 16. He was indicted but never tried in their killings.
Dotson’s father, George, was among the witnesses. He declined to comment on Tabler’s apologies, saying he needed time to process what he had just seen but was glad to have seen it.
“I couldn’t wait,” he said. “It took me 20 years to get here.”
“Today is for Tiffany,” said her godfather, Tom Newton. “And this is justice.”
Tabler had repeatedly asked the courts that his appeals be dropped and that he be put to death. He also has changed his mind on that point several times, and his attorneys have questioned whether he is mentally competent to make that decision. Tabler’s prison record includes at least two instances of attempted suicide, and he was previously granted a stay of execution in 2010.
“Petitioner has spent the last twenty years in the Courts, and see’s no point in wasting this Courts time, nor anyone else’s,” Tabler wrote to the state Court of Criminal Appeals on Dec. 9, 2024 after his current execution date was set.
Tabler’s death row phone calls in 2008 to state Sen. John Whitmire, who is now the mayor of Houston, prompted an unprecedented lockdown of more than 150,000 inmates in the the nation’s second-largest prison system. Some were confined to their cells for weeks while officers swept more than 100 prisons to seize hundreds of items of contraband, including cellphones.
Whitmire led a Senate committee with oversight of state prisons, and said at the time that Tabler warned him that he knew the names of his children and where they lived. Whitmire, through a spokesperson at the mayor’s office, declined to comment on Tabler’s pending execution.
The ACLU appealed Tabler’s case to the U.S. Supreme Court last year, claiming he was denied adequate legal representation during his lower court appeals by attorneys who refused to participate in hearings at what they said was his request.
The ACLU appeal argued that Tabler’s attorneys ignored a psychological exam that determined he had a “deep and severe constellation of mental illnesses ” that had been ignored since childhood. The court refused to halt his execution.
The club Tabler worked at was called TeaZers. Investigators said he had a conflict with his boss, Rahmouni, who allegedly said he could have Tabler’s family “wiped out” for $10.
Tabler recruited a friend, Timothy Payne, a soldier at nearby Fort Cavazos, and lured Rahmouni and Zayed to a meeting under the guise of buying the stolen stereo equipment. Tabler shot them both in their car, then pulled Rahmouni out and had Payne video him shooting Rahmouni again.
Tabler later confessed to the killings. During the sentencing phase of his trial, prosecutors introduced Tabler’s written and videotaped statements saying he also killed Dotson and Benefield days later because he was worried they would tell people he killed the men.
Investigators said that before he was arrested, Tabler called the Bell County Sheriff’s office to taunt deputies about the murders and threatened to kill more employees and undercover law enforcement at the strip club.
Also Thursday, in Florida, a man convicted of killing a husband and wife during a fishing trip at a remote farm while their toddler looked on was put to death by lethal injection in that state’s first execution this year.
___
Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.
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How China’s DeepSeek could boost the already booming data center market
How China’s DeepSeek could boost the already booming data center market
The emergence of cheaper and more efficient AI models off the back of China’s DeepSeek could reshape demand for data centers, boosting a sector that investors were already heavily betting would continue to *****.
For years now, analysts have forecast exponential growth in data centers — the critical infrastructure required for powering the world’s digital transition and the training of large language models (LLMs).
China’s startup DeepSeek AI model sent investors in jitters in late January, as the launch of its R1 model raised questions about U.S. dominance in the AI sector and whether the developer’s efficiency gains could dent demand for data center capacity.
Data centers often take at least two years to build and orders have largely already been factored in for 2025 — meaning that the launch of the disruptive R1 model is unlikely to have any immediate impact. While the launch of DeepSeek’s R1 initially led to some analysts tempering their forecasts as they questioned whether money pumped into the sector might have been somewhat “misguided,” experts told CNBC that models built more cheaply and with less powerful chips could ultimately become an accelerant for the market.
Bullish outlook
DeepSeek highlights how data centers are vulnerable to shifts in narratives around AI spending, according to analysts at Barclays. If the efficiency claims made by the ******** startup are confirmed, the development shows that the “hundreds of billions of dollars dedicated to AI development, therefore, appears misguided and hyperscalers capital spending plans could be reconsidered,” analysts led by Brendan ******, said in a note published on Jan. 27.
They added that, if AI requires less infrastructure, it will be the “lowest quality facilities” — which are the least energy efficient — that could face weaker demand and weaker pricing.
UBS analysts meanwhile noted that around one third of current data center market growth projections rely on the build-out and development of generative artificial intelligence — AI that can create images from written prompts. These forecasts did not factor in a radical improvement in efficiency, UBS said in a Jan. 28 note.
UBS initially forecast in April last year that the global data center equipment market would grow 10-15% across a three-year ******* to 2028. This week, the bank’s analysts said new data and calls from experts ultimately leads to a more bullish market outlook. The firm now expects sector revenues to grow 20% in 2025 and sees “scope to be towards the higher end” of the 10-15% growth range for at least the start of the 2026-2028 *******, analysts said in a note out Wednesday.
The jury is “still out” on whether DeepSeek needed 20 to 30 times less computing power per query for inference, Andre Kukhnin, equity research analyst at UBS, told CNBC — referring to the process of running data through an AI model to make a prediction or solve a task.
“While it is more efficient per token, it needs more tokens per query because it is a reasoning model rather than ‘flow of speech’… The bottom line is that we do not think it substantially reduces demand for power for inference,” Kukhnin explained.
Goldman Sachs’ research department forecasts the balance of data center supply and demand will “tighten” in the coming years, reaching a peak in late 2026 and then moderating from 2027 onwards.
If efficiency gains drive lower capital expenditure (capex) levels from major investors, that could, “mitigate the risk of long-term market oversupply we see in 2027 and beyond — which we think is an important consideration that could drive more durability and less cyclicality in the data center market,” James Schneider, senior equity research analysts at Goldman Sachs, noted in a Feb. 4 report.
Much is yet to be determined about the impact of the nascent technology, less than three weeks since DeepSeek published its data. R1 isn’t enough on its own to “shift the needle” when it comes to demand, according to Andrew McMillan, partner at RPC law firm.
“Investor appetite will be tempered if this can be shown to be replicable, and therefore there will be much lower demand for data processing in the future than there is now, or at least it won’t continue on the same growth path,” said McMillan, who specializes in M&A and data governance.
“I think over the longer term, it’ll be really interesting to see whether that structural approach is capable of taking hold, and I think that can affect the shape of the market.”
‘Fuel to the fire’
Stocks vulnerable to shifts in the data center market plummeted on Jan. 27. Schneider Electric, the most-exposed European firm to data centers according to UBS, lost more than 9%, Siemens Energy shares shed 20% and ABB closed 6% lower on the day.
Some stocks have since recouped their losses, recovering from the knee-jerk reaction from markets. Earnings statements from mega-hyperscales such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta also instilled confidence, as both firms committed to multi-billion dollar investments following the tech sell-off.
There hasn’t been “much room for error” in the sector, said UBS’ Kukhnin. “That’s why some of the stocks have tumbled and are not immediately being bought back, because people already own a lot of the shares and are now trying to figure out whether this is the opportunity to add or if it’s the opposite.”
He added that lower costs indicate a potential democratization of AI, which could lead to an acceleration in the adoption of the technology — which is “something that’s very difficult to quantify.”
The data center market will also continue to be fueled by the digital transition, which takes place separately from advancements in AI. “Generative AI was kind of almost icing on the cake, but has become a very thick layer of icing, certainly in terms of future growth,” Kukhnin said.
AI ***** thrusts Europe between power-hungry data centers and environmental goals
Bruce Owen, EMEA president at Equinix, said the firm is “well positioned as the AI technology curve is bent,” adding that he expects the advent of more efficient models to be an “accelerant,” for AI.
“An additional dynamic that we might see is the ‘Jevons paradox,’ which posits that increased efficiencies of a resource can lead to greater consumption of that resource,” he told CNBC.
Ryan Cox, head of AI, at consultation firm Synechron, also expects the Jevons Paradox effect to see more efficient technology ultimately lead to more data center demand.
“It’s a really complex equation,” he told CNBC, noting that there are several headwinds and tailwinds when it comes to determining potential shifts in demand. He shared that Synechron’s clients are pursuing “safe” options to indirectly use DeepSeek, such as via Hugging Face, a repository for AI models.
“Overall, I think that efficiency will fuel adoption, and I think it will continue to push up the usage, even as these costs go down. The race towards these more advanced models and the broader applications, the use of AI, means that the overall data center demand, will rise and not fall,” Cox noted.
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Jessica Chastain Had to Remove Her Personal Politics to Lead Michel Franco’s ‘Dreams’ – Hollywood Reporter
Jessica Chastain Had to Remove Her Personal Politics to Lead Michel Franco’s ‘Dreams’ – Hollywood Reporter
Jessica Chastain Had to Remove Her Personal Politics to Lead Michel Franco’s ‘Dreams’ Hollywood Reporter
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Ukraine fears what Trump’s peace might look like
Ukraine fears what Trump’s peace might look like
James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent
Reporting fromMalokaterynivkaBBC/Matthew Goddard
Oleksandr is out of work after the loss of his fishing business
“I have no plans for the future at all,” says Oleksandr Bezhan, standing next to an empty, frozen paddock where he used to work as a fisherman on the bank of the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine. “If I wake up in the morning, that’s already pretty good.”
Malokaterynivka sits just 15km (9 miles) north of the front line in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
If US President Donald Trump succeeds in halting the war, Malokaterynivka is hoping to end up on the right side of that front line.
I last visited this area in 2023, when Ukraine launched a much-anticipated counter-offensive.
At the time, Ukrainians dared to dream of winning this war. They had, after all, won the battle of Kyiv and liberated swathes of territory elsewhere.
But 18 months on, thunder-like artillery exchanges reflect the failure of that operation, and Russia’s dominance.
The front line here is broadly in the same place – but the broad expanse of river has gone.
When the Russian-occupied Kakhovka dam downstream was destroyed, this became a vast, uninterrupted expanse of scrubland.
The barren surroundings reflect the frozen limbo Ukraine finds itself in. The White House wants to end the war, but it’s not as simple as blowing a full-time whistle.
“If the front line becomes a border, it would be scary… fighting could break out at any moment,” explains Oleksandr.
The exposed riverbed separates our location from Russian-occupied territory. Distant sunlight bounces off the metallic Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in Moscow’s grip since 2022.
Ukraine and the US both want peace, but that is where the consensus seems to end.
Washington’s vision of it, along with battlefield realities, means Russia will likely keep hold of the Ukrainian land it’s seized.
Ukraine wants meaningful security guarantees that would prevent invading forces from pushing across the river.
Instead, Donald Trump has denied Kyiv’s dream of joining the Nato alliance as he focuses on Russia.
Having watched and reported on Ukraine’s fight for more than three years, it is an especially tough hand for the country to receive.
There are feelings of betrayal. Commentators criticise either Ukrainian President Zelensky or the new foreign policy of its biggest ally.
“The border wouldn’t depend on us,” says Oleksandr. “It probably won’t work out, but Seoul is 30km from North Korea, and they somehow live and prosper.”
BBC/Matthew Goddard
Natalya (centre) held a ******** for her husband recently, which had to be cut short due to the threat of artillery
Malokaterynivka’s challenge of finding a new purpose lies at the heart of Ukraine’s future.
And while politicians talk about talks, Ukrainians continue to fight and die.
Villagers gather for the ******** of a local soldier, also named Oleksandr. Half of the graves in the cemetery are freshly dug.
The ceremony can’t last more than 25 minutes because of the threat of artillery. Mourners flinch and duck for cover when his comrades fire off a gun salute.
“I don’t have hope for a ceasefire,” says his widow Natalya, who nevertheless wants to be proved wrong.
“They just keep sending more and more of our boys to the front. If only they could find some way to end it.”
Alongside the river is a disused rail line surrounded by barbed wire.
“It’s to stop Russian agents from sabotaging the track,” explains Lyudmyla Volyk, who’s lived in Malokaterynivka her whole life.
Trains used to run all the way to Crimea in the south.
“We hope that one day it will be restored,” says the 65 year old, optimistically. “And that one day we’ll go to our Crimea.”
The peninsula’s eleven years of Russian occupation makes it hard to imagine.
BBC/Matthew Goddard
Lyudmyla looks out over the empty reservoir which has drained her town of life
President Zelensky insists he won’t sign any agreement which doesn’t include Ukraine, so does Lyudmyla trust him to get a deal which protects her?
“We want to believe,” she replies after a deep breath.
If Donald Trump does bring peace to Ukraine, it would be welcomed in many quarters.
The prospect of uninterrupted nights, sirens falling silent and soldiers returning home is yearned for.
But as things stand, any relief would quickly be swamped by the unanswered questions of how a ceasefire would hold and who would enforce it.
Kyiv will see this absence of detail as something still to play for. The problem for Ukraine, is that so will Russia.
Additional reporting by Svitlana Libet, Toby Luckhurst and Hanna Chornous
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