Swiss villagers pack up for evacuation over fears of a rockslide
Swiss villagers pack up for evacuation over fears of a rockslide
GENEVA (AP) — Families in a tiny Swiss village were packing up Wednesday after authorities issued an evacuation order with a weekend deadline because of the threat of a possible rockslide from a Alpine mountainside overhead.
Authorities in charge of the eastern village of Brienz say they analyzed the potential danger with geology and natural-hazards specialists and recommended the precautionary evacuation by 1 p.m. Sunday, they said in a statement Tuesday.
********** Gartmann, a member of the crisis management board in the town of Albula, which counts Brienz in its jurisdiction, says inhabitants of the village, population 90, were preparing quickly. A similar evacuation took place 18 months ago.
“It has begun, immediately actually. People in the village organized themselves,” Gartmann said by phone.
Authorities advised villagers to take essential items, like computers, winter wear, school and work materials, for up to six months out of town, he said.
“It’s not a total moving-out,” Gartmann said, summarizing the order to locals as “take everything that you need for the next few months. If you have some cheap … sofa at home, leave it.”
Temporary lodging out of the village, which sits in between Italian and *******-speaking parts of southeastern Switzerland, has already been arranged for about three-quarters of residents, and some were staying nearby with friends or family, he said.
The main threat is posed by rocks that are already strewn along the mountainside, not a larger breakage, Gartmann said.
Prospects for a controlled ********** to trigger a rockslide to reduce the risk have been ruled out, in part because 300 tons of explosives would be needed, blasting crews would face their own risks, and a detonation could affect a nearby mountain, he said.
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Best 2025 NFL Draft options for teams vying for No. 1 overall pick
Best 2025 NFL Draft options for teams vying for No. 1 overall pick
The annual race to the bottom of the NFL has several participants this season — 11 teams are at three wins or fewer heading into Week 11.
Unlike last year, there is no consensus **** of gold at the other end of the ******** rainbow. There are elite players in the 2025 NFL Draft class, to be sure, but none of them play the positions we typically see go No. 1. There isn’t a no-doubt QB; the OT class is thin; the edge group is very raw.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the teams leading the race for the No. 1 overall pick and see what makes the most sense for each of them. Using The Athletic’s NFL projections model, here are the eight teams likeliest to land atop the draft:
GO DEEPER
NFL Draft 2025 Big Board: Travis Hunter takes No. 1 spot, 4 QBs in updated top 50
Projected record: 5-12
Don’t rule out Georgia’s Mykel Williams pushing himself past Carter and into the top edge spot before this season’s over — The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has Carter ranked as the No. 3 prospect and Williams No. 8 on his updated 2025 Big Board. However, as it stands now, I’d probably go with Micah Parsons’ understudy in Happy Valley.
The Panthers do not need to select another quarterback with that top pick — should they claim it — because they just did that in 2023. Carolina should work to continue developing Bryce Young and his offensive line while finding ways to add usable skill talent.
Defensively, Carolina has to find a culture. That’s hard to do without any impact players. There aren’t too many no-doubters defensively this year outside of Travis Hunter, but Carter’s a total freak, very young (age 20) and could be a pillar here.
Projected record: 5-12
You have no idea how badly I wanted to write down Malaki Starks name here. New England needs a safety, and Starks is one of the best prospects we’ve seen at that position in a long time. He also can play corner and is hands down the smartest defender in this class. He would change New England’s defense overnight. All that said, the Patriots would also have to explain drafting a safety No. 1 overall.
Campbell, as the best OT in this class, would require less justification. (He also might be a capable guard at the next level, depending on fit and situation.) This isn’t an elite tackle class, but New England could use help in front of Drake Maye.
GO DEEPER
NFL Power Rankings Week 11: Chiefs back at No. 1, plus quarterback confidence rankings
Projected record: 5-12
It’s still a back-and-forth thing, for me, right now between Cam Ward and Sanders as QB1 (Brugler’s board has it ranked Ward, Jalen Milroe, Sanders). In such an uncertain QB class, there’s no telling how it will ultimately play out, but Ward and Sanders have been steadily better than the rest of the crop this year. Ward has a better physical frame, but Sanders is closer to being ready for action right now — so long as your team can help him.
Let them know 2⃣@ShedeurSanders x #LEGENDARY
: FOX pic.twitter.com/EwiPkTe09x
— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) November 9, 2024
A current pro comp for Sanders might be a more athletic version of Bo Nix. Nix certainly has taken his lumps in Denver, but he’s a very smart processor with good quarterbacking instincts. Sanders is very much in that arena, only with a better arm and more impressive movement skills.
Having a bridge QB on the roster with Sanders would be ideal. But if the Raiders can surround him with a decent infrastructure, he might surprise everyone as a rookie.
Projected record: 5-12
I’m not even going to give the Browns another option, because they’d need to move this pick — even if they can’t land an all-time haul and just drop down a spot or two. The Browns have too many needs in too many areas, plus they are in an absolutely hellacious situation with Deshaun Watson. They cannot add a QB at No. 1 in April, and Campbell is the only OT in this class worth thinking about that high.
Cleveland is back in the first round for the first time since the disastrous Watson trade. Rather than immediately putting themselves back behind the eight ball, the Browns should find a way to cash a (hypothetical) No. 1 pick in for more capital.
Projected record: 5-12
It doesn’t look like Will Levis is the answer to anyone’s prayers, but he’s still only 25 years old and on a cheap contract. The Titans are in a weird spot, though, and it might get worse before it gets better.
A preferable option to going QB at No. 1: finding a decent veteran to compete with Levis while Tennessee builds out the rest of its roster. I’d love to say “draft Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan,” but Tennessee likely needs more than just a WR from a potential top spot.
Hunter, however, is “more than just a wide receiver.”
The Titans are one of the worst teams in football. They also started the year with an older roster, on average, than the Lions, Eagles, Packers and Chiefs. Tackle could also be a choice here, but — again — this might not be the right class to address that spot.
Projected record: 5-12
I’m only going to do this under the condition the Giants sign a bridge quarterback and let Ward sit and learn for a year. I’d say the same if Sanders were the match here. (Could Daniel Jones serve that purpose?)
The Giants, quite frankly, are not a quarterback away from being saved. I’m afraid if they select Ward or Sanders in the top five, they’ll wind up in two years where the Panthers and Colts are now: cold-sweat panicking about why their rookie hasn’t saved them by himself. No quarterback in this class is capable of strapping a team on his back and carrying it next year. If anyone’s hoping for that outcome, they’ll earn what they get.
All that said, Ward has improved every year he’s played — and has jumped up in competition levels multiple times.
There’s no way I’d draft a QB No. 1 this year, but I’m not in charge of a QB-desperate franchise that’s running out of choices.
Projected record: 5-12
We’ll see how things go (and, obviously, this job is still filled for the moment), but the Jaguars get my pre-vote for best opening of the impending 2025 NFL coaching cycle. That’s not just because the new coach would get Trevor Lawrence. There’s also a fair amount of young talent to work with on this roster, and the Jaguars currently have the most 2025 draft capital in the league.
Even though the 2025 draft class doesn’t look elite by any measure, it’s more than enough for the Jaguars — an aimless group that is better than its record — to turn their fortunes.
Hunter, the best college player in America, could help finally give Lawrence a real ******* and/or establish the Jaguars’ defensive culture. It’s a win-win. Easy fit.
GO DEEPER
Travis Hunter tracker: Clutch TD reception helps Colorado continue its playoff push
Projected record: 6-11
Talk about a team without a culture — what even are the Saints? Right now, they’re a team with an overpriced, low- to mid-tier starting quarterback surrounded by aging players from a bygone era. They’re also about to be starting over, again. Regardless of the direction this franchise takes with its coach (and perhaps its GM), New Orleans has to get better over the ball, on both sides of the line.
Graham’s ability to control the middle of a defensive front in several different ways from different spots gives off slight reminders of a younger (albeit better) Ndamukong Suh.
Graham’s motor is relentless, his grip strength might crush an apple, and his agility numbers at 320 pounds will be elite come evaluation time. Graham easily could’ve been the guy in high school voted “Most Likely to Wrestle an Actual Bear.”
GO DEEPER
NFL QB stock report, Week 11: Caleb Williams’ flaws have followed him from college
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos of Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders and Abdul Carter: Doug Murray, Julio Aguilar, ****** Litzinger / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Mass ********** of Children Was Desperate Attempt to Combat Drought by Mexica
Mass ********** of Children Was Desperate Attempt to Combat Drought by Mexica
In a deeply moving revelation about pre-Hispanic life and beliefs, a recent examination of archaeological data links a mass offering of children to the Mexica rain **** Tlaloc to a devastating drought in 1454. Archaeologists believe that, during this environmental crisis, the Mexica sacrificed dozens of young children to appease Tlaloc and bring rains back to the Basin of Mexico.
Offering 48 corresponded to the construction stage IVa of the Great Temple, erected during the reign of Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. (Screenshot/INAH)
Discovery of Offering 48: Insights from the Templo Mayor
According to an INAH press release, the story of these tragic offerings began with an excavation in 1980-1981 by the Templo Mayor Project, where archaeologists uncovered the ******** of 42 young children in Offering 48. This ritual ******** was located in the northwest sector of the Templo Mayor, a monumental temple in the heart of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, dedicated to Tlaloc.
The offering included children adorned with ceremonial attire, including necklaces of precious stones, a green bead placed in each child’s mouth, and blue pigments used to anoint their bodies. Surrounding them were symbolic objects associated with Tlaloc: miniature jars, shells, bird bones, copal, and obsidian blades.
The sacrificial victims ranged from 2 to 7 years old and showed evidence of poor health, including malnutrition. Physical anthropologist Juan Alberto Román Berrelleza analyzed skeletal ******** and identified signs of porotic hyperostosis—a bone condition often linked to anemia and nutritional deficiency—in many of the children. This physical evidence indicates the population’s hardship, likely exacerbated by food shortages and drought-induced famine.
These findings were discussed in depth by Leonardo López Luján, director of the Templo Mayor Project (PTM) at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), and other prominent researchers during a panel on “Water and Life” at El Colegio Nacional.
For the Mexicas, offerings to Tlaloc supported daily life and agriculture. (Presentation screenshot/INAH)
Drought and Desperation: The Historical Context of 1454
The drought from 1452 to 1454 had devastating effects on the Mexica society and agriculture. With Lake Texcoco and its surrounding agricultural areas suffering from prolonged dry spells and erratic climate patterns, crop ******** was widespread, leading to severe food scarcity. This environmental catastrophe is detailed in both archaeological records and written chronicles from the 16th century, which describe how Mexica rulers attempted to ease the crisis by redistributing resources from royal granaries and conducting mass sacrifices.
Mass offering of infants dedicated to Tlaloc, coincided with the great drought of 1454 in the Basin of Mexico. (Screenshot/INAH)
The Mexica year ce tochtli (1 Rabbit) marked 1454 as a year of particular hardship. In response, the Mexica state authorized rituals to appease the tlaloque, Tlaloc’s divine attendants who were believed to control rainfall. The sacrificial offering of children was one of the most intense acts of devotion intended to sway the ****’s favor, seeking divine intervention to bring back the rains. According to historical records, the Mexica even exchanged enslaved individuals from other regions to supplement their offerings and alleviate their suffering.
Climate fluctuations profoundly influenced the economic and religious dynamics of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. (Screenshot/INAH)
A Multicultural Influence in Offering 48
Further investigation using isotope analysis on the ********, led by Dr. Diana Moreiras Reynaga at the University of British Columbia, revealed that some of the sacrificed children were not native to Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Instead, they originated from distant areas, including Oaxaca and the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala. This discovery underscores the Mexica’s far-reaching influence, drawing people from diverse regions into the cultural and ritual practices of the Mexica capital.
Despite the redistribution measures adopted by Moctezuma, many ******** families were forced to sell their offspring in exchange for provisions. (Screenshot/INAH)
Environmental Insights and the Role of Sacrifice in Mexica Society
The Mexica held deep reverence for water, rain, and agricultural fertility, and their calendar reflects this. Nine out of the 18 months in their agricultural year included ceremonies dedicated to Tlaloc and other rain deities. These events often culminated in sacrifices, some of which involved children who, according to belief, would join the tlaloque in assisting Tlaloc to bring rain.
However, the environmental pressures from prolonged drought eventually overwhelmed the Mexica state’s coping mechanisms, resulting in social and political strain. López Luján suggests that, faced with an enduring drought and diminishing food supplies, Mexica authorities resorted to ******** measures, including mass sacrifices and opening granaries to prevent social collapse.
Cultural Significance and Continuing Research
The Offering 48 discovery sheds light on the Mexica’s complex responses to environmental and social pressures, as well as their willingness to make extreme sacrifices for communal survival. Present-day researchers continue to study the ******** of this and other offerings to gain insights into the social and environmental challenges faced by pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.
This tragic yet revealing archaeological finding adds to our understanding of Mexica spiritual life and also highlights how ancient societies responded to crises with resilience and ritual. By dedicating these children to Tlaloc, the Mexica demonstrated the intense religious and cultural significance they placed on ensuring the community’s survival through any means necessary.
With the drought coming to an end in 1454, it would not be the cause of the end of the Mexica empire, but the invasion by the Spanish conquistadors 65 years later.
Top image: Offering 48 contained the skeletal ******** of at least 42 children sacrificed in honor of the **** Tlaloc. Source: Screenshot/INAH
By Gary Manners
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Outlast Writer on Writing the Scariest Horror Game of All Time That Didn’t Try to Mimic Alan Wake
Outlast Writer on Writing the Scariest Horror Game of All Time That Didn’t Try to Mimic Alan Wake
In the genre of horror gaming, few titles have managed to leave as lasting an impression as Red Barrels’ Outlast (2013). While Alan Wake (2010) had already established a successful formula of blending supernatural elements with meta-narrative storytelling, Outlast‘s creators deliberately chose to take their horror in a completely different direction.
A scene from Alan Wake 2 (2023). | Image Credit: Remedy Entertainment
As we reflect on what makes a truly scary game, especially in light of Alan Wake 2‘s recent success with its mind-bending psychological horror, it’s fascinating to revisit writer J.T. Petty’s approach to crafting Outlast‘s narrative. His philosophy on horror storytelling stands in stark contrast to the metaphysical elements that have become increasingly common in modern horror games.
A Different Kind of Horror Story
When Outlast first hit the shelves, it stood out for its commitment to realism in a genre often dominated by supernatural threats and psychological twists. In a 2013 interview with ******* Disgusting, Petty revealed the thought process behind this approach:
We tried to make sure that the hospital always felt like a functioning environment, and keep everything grounded.
This philosophy stands in sharp contrast to games like Alan Wake, which embrace the supernatural and meta-narrative elements as core parts of their identity.
While both approaches can be effective, Petty deliberately chose to avoid the easy route of explaining everything through madness or ghostly intervention:
As soon as you put a sane person in an asylum, the audience is waiting for a story about a person going crazy / discovering they’re crazy, (Shock Corridor, Shutter Island, etc.).
The decision to avoid these popular clichés was deliberate and calculated, and more importantly, it was a challenge that the team at Red Barrels wished to face head-on:
But insanity or ghosts would be too easy of a way out for this game.
This grounded approach has arguably aged like fine wine, especially when compared to more recent horror titles that often rely heavily on supernatural elements to drive their narratives forward.
The Evolution of Horror Gaming
The game has inspired countless others. | Image Credit: Red Barrels
Looking at the current horror gaming market, particularly with releases like Alan Wake 2 and more recently, Silent Hill 2 Remake pushing the boundaries of meta-narrative storytelling, it’s interesting to consider how Outlast‘s approach holds up. While Remedy’s latest masterpiece has rightfully earned acclaim for its innovative blend of psychological horror and meta-commentary, there’s something to be said for Outlast‘s more straightforward approach to *******.
The success of both styles raises an interesting question about the nature of horror in gaming. While complex narrative structures can create a unique kind of psychological dread, Outlast proves that sometimes the most effective scares come from keeping things grounded in a terrifying reality.
This contrast becomes even more striking when we consider that Red Barrel’s approach has influenced countless horror games since its release—even as the genre has evolved to embrace more complex and “artistic” storytelling methods. The game’s legacy lives on not just in its direct sequels, but in how it showed that sometimes the scariest stories are the ones that feel like… they could actually happen.
What do you think about these different approaches to horror gaming? And, more importantly, did we make you recall the nightmares you had after your first Outlast playthrough? Let us know in the comments!
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Czechoslovak intelligence operations in Cyprus during the Cold War revealed
Czechoslovak intelligence operations in Cyprus during the Cold War revealed
Cyprus. Credit: Hert Niks on Unsplash
Dr. Jan Koura, a researcher from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, Prague, reveals the Czechoslovak intelligence operations that shaped political dynamics on the island of Cyprus during the Cold War. This work sheds light on how Czechoslovakia, as part of the Eastern Bloc, leveraged covert strategies to influence events in one of the world’s most geopolitically sensitive regions.
Dr. Koura’s research, published in the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, illustrates how Czechoslovakia, through its Nicosia-based intelligence spy station, developed sophisticated collaborations with Cypriot officials after the island’s division in 1974. These efforts extended beyond Cyprus to affect broader regional politics, particularly relations between NATO countries Greece and Turkey.
One of the study’s most compelling revelations is the scope of active measures undertaken by Czechoslovak collaborators. Using psychological tactics and disinformation campaigns, they aimed to weaken Cyprus inter-community dialogue and NATO’s southeastern wing.
Czechoslovak agents collected intelligence from Cypriot officials, recruited collaborators, and even monitored British military bases on the island. In one notable case, a Cypriot high-ranking police officer collaborated with Czechoslovak intelligence, receiving financial rewards.
According to Dr. Koura, “This research underscores the complexity of Cold War alliances and how smaller states like Czechoslovakia utilized intelligence operations to assert influence. Cyprus served not only as a focal point in NATO’s security framework but also as a platform for Eastern Bloc countries to challenge Western dominance in the region.”
Beyond its Cold War implications, the study also provides a unique perspective on Cyprus’ political landscape.
Eastern Bloc intelligence networks, such as Czechoslovakia’s, often intersected with Cypriot nationalist movements, giving these operations a complex blend of ideological, political, and sometimes even personal motivations.
More information:
Jan Koura, In the Service of the Eastern Bloc: Czechoslovak Intelligence and the Cyprus Conflict 1974–1989, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies (2024). DOI: 10.1080/19448953.2024.2379661
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Ex-boxer fights US government over legality of Sky ECC cryptophone intercepts
Ex-boxer fights US government over legality of Sky ECC cryptophone intercepts
Lawyers representing a former boxer charged with serious ***** trafficking offences are challenging the legality of the US government’s use of intercepted messages obtained by a ********* police hacking operation against the world’s largest cryptophone network.
The former heavyweight boxer from Montenegro, Goran Gogic, faces charges over his alleged involvement in the import of large quantities of ********. His lawyers accuse prosecutors of bypassing US legal protections by relying on overseas partners to conduct surveillance.
The case will test the validity of evidence obtained by French law enforcement from the hacking and mass interception of 170,000 users of Sky ECC phones in a ****** operation with Belgian and Dutch police in the US courts.
Joseph Corozzo, a lawyer for Gogic, said the case is the first time legal arguments used to exclude evidence obtained through the ******** of individuals outside of the US have been applied in an attempt to exclude overseas intercept material.
Corozzo said his client, as a non-US citizen, did not benefit from Fourth Amendment protections against government surveillance under the US Constitution.
“If he were a US citizen, we feel strongly that the court would suppress [the intercept material] very quickly. Since he is a non-US citizen, it’s a greater burden to us to establish all the factors involved,” he added.
US prosecutors argue that the intercepted text messages used as evidence against Gogic in the case are “broadly similar” to the communications data that the government regularly receives from telecoms and social media companies in the US.
Even if Gogic did have rights under the Fourth Amendment, the conduct of French law enforcement agencies in seizing the data “does not shock the conscience” and the US did not act with “an intention to evade the constitution”. they claim.
Operation Argus
Sky Global, a company with headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, began developing encrypted phones in 2008, which were later sold through a network of distributors and resellers.
Dutch and Belgian police seized Sky ECC phones in ***** raids in 2016
Belgian police began investigations into the use of Sky ECC phones by organised ********** in 2016, after seizing the encrypted phones in a ***** trafficking operation in the port of Antwerp. Dutch police began parallel investigations following their own seizures of Sky ECC phones.
By late 2018, Sky ECC was gaining international attention, and more than 20 police officers from the US, Canada, Australia and Belgium met at an international conference in Sydney to discuss ways of breaking the Sky ECC encryption.
French investigators began intercepting encrypted messages from Sky ECC in June 2019. A breakthrough by Dutch technicians who discovered how to decrypt the platform led to the live interception and decryption of all Sky ECC messages from February 2021.
French, Belgian and Dutch police launched an “action day” against Sky ECC users on 9 March 2021, making large numbers of arrests, searches and seizures in the three countries. The operation, dubbed Operation Argus, led to the interception of one billion messages.
***** imports
Gogic was arrested in Miami in October 2022 and faces charges under the US Maritime ***** Law Enforcement Act.
His arrest came after police seized a shipment of 18 tonnes of ******** in Philadelphia, in an operation described as one of the largest ******** seizures in US history.
The case stems from federal investigation into a “vast network” of international narcotics traffickers who smuggled ******** from South America to the US and Europe in commercial container ships.
Tacit agreement between US and Dutch
Gorgic’s lawyers argue in a “motion to suppress” that US investigators engaged in “forum shopping” to circumvent US law and constitutional protections.
They claim the US put its own investigation into Sky ECC on hold to obtain intercept material from France that would otherwise be inadmissible in the US.
An internal French police report shows that during a meeting in Europol in May 2019, Belgian and Dutch investigators learned that the US intended to arrest Sky’s executives, based in Canada.
However, the US agreed with the Dutch to suspend US investigations until after ********* police forces completed their investigation into Sky ECC.
“A tacit agreement between the ********* and Dutch authorities allowed the ********* investigations to continue, with the Americans suspending further operations pending the outcome of ongoing investigations,” the report states.
Belgium, France and Holland closed their investigation into Sky ECC in March 2021, making multiple arrests and seizures of drugs and firearms.
Three days later, US prosecutors indicted Sky Global’s ********* CEO, Jean-Francois Eap, and a former phone distributor, Thomas Herdman, for racketeering and knowingly facilitating the import and distribution of drugs and the ***** of encrypted communications devices. Their cases have not been heard in court.
The FBI seized Sky Global’s website in March 2021
By receiving intercepted material from France, rather than carrying out its own interception, the “US could maintain the façade of keeping its hands clean during the interception and then receive the same evidence anyway through requests for mutual legal assistance”, Gogic’s defence lawyers claim.
They point to evidence that Dutch police carried out a similar forum shopping exercise by obtaining intercept material from France that would not be admissible if carried out under Dutch law.
According to a Dutch court document, in 2019, a Dutch magistrate refused an order to seize full copies of the Sky ECC servers as “it could not be established that the users of Sky ECC were using the system exclusively for ******** purposes”.
The magistrate found that because there was no concrete suspicion against individual users, it would be “too far reaching” to grant unconditional permission to search the messages of all Sky ECC users.
Dutch police ultimately obtained intercepted messages of all incoming and outgoing communications from Sky ECC from French law enforcement.
Gogic’s lawyers claim that the Dutch authorities “successfully circumvented the Amsterdam investigative judge’s 2018 denial of their application to copy the Sky ECC servers by getting the same relief they had been denied from a different venue: France”.
Gaps in chain of evidence
Defence lawyers are also pressing US prosecutors to disclose all documentation of how the US obtained Sky ECC data from ********* law enforcement.
According to the motion, filed in the Eastern District of New York, “a major problem from an evidentiary standpoint is that digital data is at a significantly higher risk of (intentional) manipulation or (unintentional) alterations”.
An expert who examined spreadsheets of intercepted messages provided by the US has found evidence that the files were modified on multiple dates.
The motion claims there are thousands of missing media files and numerous other anomalies in the data supplied by US prosecutors.
Defence lawyers are pressing US prosecutors to disclose the underlying raw data and “hash values” that would allow experts to check that data provided in evidence had not been modified.
They point to a case in Panama where a judge acquitted 28 defendants after finding the leaked documents that formed the basis of the charges against them did not comply with digital evidence principles, and lacked the “hash values” necessary for verifying the authenticity and accuracy of digital data.
Dutch developed AI software to analyse Sky ECC
Dutch police developed AI software known as Chat-X to access and analyse intercepted messages. According to Dutch lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz, the artificial intelligence (AI)-based software was used to search millions of intercepted messages for keywords associated with threats to life, and later to automatically identify chat messages referring to money laundering and other *******.
Chat-X also provided access to metadata, including the location from which a message was sent, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number (a unique identifying number for each handset), the Access Point Name (APN) and the IMSI (a unique identifying number for each SIM card).
Defence lawyers claim that the US government has ******* to disclose the metadata from the messages used as evidence in the case, which could be used, for example, to establish whether Gogic was present when the messages were sent. They have also asked the court to order the disclosure of the Chat-X software.
Silver platter doctrine
US law allows evidence supplied by other countries to be used in US courts under the “silver platter doctrine”.
But defence lawyers argue that the interception of Sky ECC amounted to a “global fishing expedition” and that there was no probable cause to suspect every one of the individuals placed under surveillance of criminality.
The fact that Sky ECC phones were sold for cash by dealers who met clients in person, they say, “does not establish reasonable suspicion, let alone probable cause, that ********* activity is afoot”.
Government did not evade constitution
Prosecutors argue that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to searches and seizures made against non-US nationals on foreign soil.
Even if it did, the conduct of French law enforcement agencies in seizing the data from Sky ECC “does not shock the conscience” and was upheld by French courts.
There is “no plausible” claim that the “government cooperated with the Europeans with the intent to evade constitutional requirements”, according to a prosecution motion.
The most the facts show is that the US extended a courtesy to ********* law enforcement by delaying overt investigation and enforcement actions that could harm the ********* investigation.
That is not a case where ********* officials use foreign officials to intercept phone calls made from the US to a foreign country to circumvent constitutional requirements that would apply if the same phone calls were intercepted in the US, they say.
A sworn statement from the law enforcement officer who received the data from France would be all that is needed to prove its authenticity.
Questions around “chain of custody” should only have a bearing on the weight of evidence, not its authenticity, according to the prosecutors. “There is no reason to believe that materially different data exists, nor that it would be favourable to the defendant if it did,” they added.
Corello said US prosecutors were following the same argument as prosecutors in Europe – that the court should honour the prosecutorial activities of France based on the French court’s finding that the conduct was permissible.
“They’re not addressing in any fashion the issues of reliability and chain of custody,” he added.
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3 Stocks With Special Dividends: Big Payouts for Savvy Investors
3 Stocks With Special Dividends: Big Payouts for Savvy Investors
Special dividends, also called supplemental dividends, are irregular and often large dividend payments.
These add to a stock’s regular dividends, increasing its dividend yield.
These three stocks have shown their willingness to reward special dividends in the past.
Special dividends are an added potential benefit for shareholders in certain companies. These payments are separate from a stock’s regular dividend, which is usually paid on a quarterly basis. Special dividends happen irregularly and tend to be much larger than regular dividends. Due to this, they can provide a large temporary boost to the dividend yield investors earn from a stock. These payments often occur when a company’s performance is particularly strong.
By their nature, no one exactly knows when a company will decide to reward its investors with a special dividend. However, there are stocks that have shown patterns of paying special dividends. This provides data to understand which companies may be more likely to pay special dividends in the future. Below are three well-known stocks that have histories of paying special dividends.
1. Costco: Big Boxes, Big Special Dividends
Costco (NASDAQ:), the membership-based consumer staples stock not only pays a regular dividend, but also special dividends. Currently, the company’s regular dividend payment is $1.16 per share. With the company’s share price over $900, the stock has a dividend yield of only around 0.5% annually. However, the company’s massive special dividends have sometimes bumped this number up considerably. The company paid a special dividend in 2015, 2017, 2020, and at the beginning of 2024. Each time, the payment grew significantly. It started at $5 in 2015, went up to $7, then $10, and most recently, a whopping $15.
When accounting for the firm’s 2024 special dividend, its dividend yield jumps up to 2.1%. The yield reached nearly 6% in 2017, and edged over 4% in early 2021 due to the 2020 special dividend. Still, the company’s dividend yield has been dropping consistently over time. However, that is largely due to the fact that the shares are up nearly 500% since the beginning of 2017. The company’s regular and special dividend payments have both risen substantially as well, but just not enough to keep up with the stock that has risen nearly three times more than the S&P 500 since 2017. This is what caused the yield to fall.
2. ConocoPhillips: A Different Approach to Special Dividends
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:) is another big-name U.S. firm that has shown a willingness to pay shareholders back with special dividends. It has performed this three times in 2024, using a variable return of cash (VROC). This is a type of special dividend that usually is smaller but more frequent. They can occur when a company meets short-term performance goals. It made these VROC payments along with its dividend payments nearly every quarter from 2022 to 2024.
As of the company’s latest earnings report, it has decided to fully incorporate the VROC into its regular dividend. In Q2, the regular dividend was $0.50 per share, while the VROC was $0.28. In Q3, the regular dividend was simply the combination of the two at $0.78. This means the company expects to have more consistency in its ability to provide a higher regular dividend.
Although the VROC is not part of the company’s future, its use does signal that the firm may be willing to provide a larger, less frequent special dividend going forward. The company’s outsized $1.40 VROC in Aug. 2022, which was over three times larger than the regular dividend that quarter, provides some evidence of this. The company also said it is looking to grow its dividend at a faster rate than 75% of companies.
3. Ford: Adding to Its Big Yield With Extra Payments
Ford (NYSE:) has returned to paying investors a strong dividend. Based on the company’s $0.15 regular dividend paid last quarter, its dividend yield is 5.3%. When incorporating the $0.18 special dividend paid in March, the figure jumps to nearly 7%. Ford also made a much larger $0.65 special dividend payment in March 2023. It also paid a special dividend each year from 2016 to 2018.
Ford’s dividend yield sits way above the 1.2% figure provided by the (SPY) over the last twelve months. It is also way above that of all other U.S. automakers. Unfortunately, Ford has still provided a total return of -30% over the past three years, which is a dreadful showing. It is interesting to note that ********* car companies take the cake when it comes to dividend yield; some have the figure in double digits.
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Special counsel Jack Smith plans to have left Justice Department by the time Trump takes office
Special counsel Jack Smith plans to have left Justice Department by the time Trump takes office
Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith is expected to have departed the Justice Department by the time President-elect Donald Trump takes office in late January, two sources familiar with his plans told CBS News, as he and his team make plans to wind down the two federal prosecutions against the incoming president.
By leaving before the start of Trump’s second term, Smith would keep the president-elect from ******* him, as Trump has said repeatedly he plans to do. The special counsel is expected to issue a final report, as required by Justice Department rules, though it will likely be more historical than factual.
It’s unclear when the report will be submitted to Attorney General Merrick Garland and likely sent to Congress, as the attorney general has done with reports from other special counsels before they were made public. The New York Times first reported Smith’s plans to step down.
Smith was appointed by Garland two years ago to take over the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump: the first involving his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving office at the end of his first term; and the second related to an alleged scheme to subvert the transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election.
The special counsel brought charges last year against Trump as a result of both probes. The president-elect was charged with 40 counts related to the documents marked classified recovered from his South Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, and his alleged attempts to interfere with the Justice Department’s investigation. He was also charged with four counts stemming from what prosecutors said was an unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the last presidential election.
Proceedings in the case related to the 2020 election were paused for several months as Trump pursued claims that he was shielded from federal prosecution by presidential immunity. The Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents cannot face charges arising from official actions taken while in the White House.
The president-elect pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied any wrongdoing.
But Trump’s defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris last week is likely to bring both prosecutions to a close, and CBS News reported last week that the Justice Department and special counsel’s office are engaged in active discussions about how to wind down the cases.
The Justice Department has a longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith last week asked the federal judge overseeing the case related to the 2020 election to cancel the current deadlines to allow he and his team more time to assess the “unprecedented circumstances” arising out of his election to a second term in the White House.
Smith told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan the additional time was necessary to “determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”
Chutkan swiftly granted the request and ordered Smith to submit to her a report “indicating its proposed course for this case going forward” by Dec. 2.
While Smith’s final report is expected to be focused on the history of the cases, the public has gotten a look at the evidence collected by the special counsel and his investigators in court filings.
In the case related to the 2020 election, Chutkan made public last month a key legal brief submitted by Smith that provided an extensive look at the information prosecutors amassed in their case against Trump. And in the documents case, prosecutors included in numerous filings photos from the FBI that showed how Trump kept keepsakes alongside sensitive material in various places at Mar-a-Lago, as well as boxes stacked in a ballroom stage and in a bathroom next to a shower and *******.
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Tech Life: The dangerous job of online moderating
Tech Life: The dangerous job of online moderating
We hear from a former moderator in Kenya who was left traumatised by his previous job.
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Joel Embiid’s return gives Sixers hope again — but they’ve heard this song before
Joel Embiid’s return gives Sixers hope again — but they’ve heard this song before
PHILADELPHIA — Not much changed in the ending.
The Philadelphia 76ers walked off their home floor again, with a bevy of New York fans again chanting “Let’s Go Knicks,” after another road win by Tom Thibodeau and company in the City of Brotherly Love. This time, Karl-Anthony Towns got the walk-off love as he left the court at Wells Fargo Center with his dad in tow, quickly followed by Josh Hart and Miles McBride.
Joel Embiid and his Sixers had long since left the floor.
Their season, already off to such a horrendous start, filled with injuries and doubts and an awful moment of confrontation, continued its spiral Tuesday in a 111-99 loss to the Knicks, dropping Philly to 2-8. But this is where Philadelphia hopes things bottom out.
Well, maybe that comes Wednesday, when the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers play here.
For now, all the Sixers have to comfort themselves was Embiid’s return to action Tuesday after he missed the first six games of the season while continuing to rehab his left knee, followed by a three-game suspension levied by the NBA after Embiid shoved a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist during a postgame incident Nov. 2. The columnist had written several incendiary opinion pieces about Embiid’s conditioning but also referenced Embiid’s late brother Arthur and Embiid’s son, also named Arthur, in an Oct. 23 column. That set off the 30-year-old Embiid.
Tuesday, Embiid was far from his dominant self. He was rusty, finishing just 2-of-11 from the floor, scoring 13 points in 26 minutes. His old, and perhaps now former nemesis, Towns, had the upper hand all night, finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Towns finished the game for New York, while Embiid sat the last few minutes to keep him from racking up more than the 25 to 30 minutes the Sixers had plotted for him pregame.
“You can do whatever you want in practice and scrimmage, but the game is a different story,” Embiid said afterward. “I’ll be fine.”
His words, a franchise’s worries.
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Embiid hasn’t been fine most springs, when championships are decided, after suffering injuries late in the regular season or in the playoffs. Last year, he missed two months with a meniscus injury in his left knee, then suffered a bout of Bell’s palsy during Philadelphia’s series loss to the Knicks. So the Sixers and their superstar agreed this season he’d be held out of a bunch of regular-season games to give him the best chance of getting to April and May healthy. The organization’s misrepresenting statements cost the Sixers $100,000, but one doubts they cared much. Embiid says playing is up to him, but of course, it isn’t, not really.
Yes, Embiid played for Team USA in the Olympics, including a huge game against Nikola Jokić and Serbia in the semifinals, showing up when the ******* States needed him most. But that stint was two-plus months before the start of training camp, and the time off showed.
Against New York on Tuesday, he missed his first five shots from the floor, not scoring a field goal until he hit a 3-pointer with nine minutes left in the third. Embiid, as ever, got to the line, making 8 of 8 free throws in the first half. But Embiid was noticeably lagging throughout the second half. He was pulling on his shorts after his first stint of the second half. And though he asked the crowd to rise up late in the third quarter, he couldn’t lift up Philly in the fourth, as New York pulled away.
“When he’s playing well, he’s kind of got command of the game at the offensive end,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said afterward. “He’s either creating good shots for himself or creating a lot of defensive schemes against him, which is creating much easier shots for our guys. That’s part of rhythm, that’s part of conditioning, all that kind of stuff. He’s a great shooter. That’ll come back, too, I think.”
The Sixers now have to hot-wire their hopes of finding continuity with yet another new core group.
Paul George, the premier free-agent acquisition of the offseason, is just coming back himself from a preseason bone bruise that cost him the first five games of the season. He looked great Tuesday, though, looking exactly like the silky smooth scorer and facilitator the Sixers hope he can be, finishing with a game-high 29 points. But guard Tyrese Maxey, who took such a big step last season playing alongside Embiid, missed his third straight game with a pulled hamstring. It doesn’t leave Nurse a lot of time to evaluate who plays best with whom.
For example: Philly brought in Guerschon Yabusele, who starred on the French national team in the Olympics, helping lead Les Bleus to a silver medal. He was sensational. The Sixers hoped he could play for them in small-ball units at center. And with Embiid out, they got a good long look at him. Through the first nine games, he shot better than 43 percent on 3s on decent volume. Now, though, Nurse will have to play Yabusele and Embiid together, with Yabusele playing more power forward. The shots are different. The rhythm is different. Whom Yabusele now guards at the other end is different.
Nurse got exactly what he wanted to see late in the first quarter, when Embiid returned after a few minutes on the bench, drew two Knicks to him at the top of the key and fed an open Yabusele on the wing for a 3. But that was the only shot Yabusele hit all night in seven attempts.
Still, it’s crystal clear how formidable the Sixers can be when Embiid gets back to his old self, flanked by a healthy George and Maxey; solid role players such as Kelly Oubre Jr., Yabusele, Caleb Martin; rookie Jared McCain, who’s utterly fearless; and vet stashes such as Reggie Jackson, Kyle Lowry and Andre Drummond. Philadelphia’s offensive potential is staggering once everyone is healthy, so the Sixers are doubly fortunate their awful start hasn’t ******* their playoff chances in the less-than-fully-functional Eastern Conference; the Sixers entered play Tuesday just a game out of the Play-In round.
George knows the pressure Embiid is under. He was a franchise player for the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, and then a co-franchisee with the LA Clippers alongside Kawhi Leonard. That weight of being the man feels like you’re wearing a burlap jersey and concrete Nikes.
“I think it’s no pressure for him,” George said. “He is the piece. He is The Process. I think he just finds his way, as he should. We’re here to kind of keep things going afloat until he gets back to himself. But I don’t think there’s pressure for him to do anything extra. He’ll find his rhythm as the games go on, as we learn how to play off of him and play around him. I’ve seen it in practice, so I know he’s not too far off.”
I asked Embiid if the urgency of the 2-8 start, and the ticking down of his prime years, is pushing him to come back sooner rather than working through the regular season more slowly, as had been the long-term plan. He recalled his rookie season, after he’d missed two years rehabbing following multiple foot surgeries. Embiid roared out of the gate, finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting — even though the Sixers held him out of all but one game of the second half of the season.
“We were still really competitive,” he said of what became a 28-54 season. “And even that year, if they would have let me finish the year, I thought we actually had a chance of making the playoffs. So, urgency, sure. But you’ve also got to understand, we haven’t been healthy. Everybody’s getting back. Like I said, based on how it’s gone the last couple of years, with us on the floor (together), I think we’ve got a pretty good chance.”
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold,” William Butler Yeats wrote a century ago, about something else entirely. But it’s up to Embiid to make sure people here don’t start seeing a connection.
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(Photo: David Dow / NBAE via Getty Images)
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Honkai: Star Rail's Leaked Astral Express NPC Shush Explained
Honkai: Star Rail's Leaked Astral Express NPC Shush Explained
Honkai: Star Rail has referenced installments in the Honkai franchise before, but Shush could cause big implications for the games lore.
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********* eArchiving project aims at eternal archive with smart metadata
********* eArchiving project aims at eternal archive with smart metadata
To make data archives that last is an urgent task. That’s the message of the ********* Commission’s eArchiving initiative, which has just announced version 2.0 of its architecture and that its funding has been renewed for another two years.
Under the tutelage of the commission, the initiative will define processes – using open formats and metadata – that mean organisations won’t have to keep old IT equipment hanging around just in case they need it to read old data.
“There are a number of problems when you want to restore very old data,” said Gregor Završnik, a researcher at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, who is a consultant in geospatial data archiving and a member of the eArchiving initiative. “For sure, you have to be able read the storage media and read the file format – but there is worse. When you have finally extracted data from an Excel table, you don’t have the context.
“So, you don’t know what the numbers you have restored correspond to. How were they collected? With what level of precision? Are they authentic?” he added, when talking to French sister site LeMagIT during a recent IT Press Tour event.
The eArchiving initiative builds on the E-Ark project, which is a community of developers that has worked since 2014 to create universal and perennial tools to validate, reformat and archive data. The key challenge is to make archives interoperable via common encoding but also to conforming to regulatory needs.
From researcher project to ********* initiative
“At the start of E-Ark, we imagined we’d create a universal format for archiving,” said Završnik. “But as we progressed, we realised these archives are mostly kept by those who created the data originally, and that everyone thinks that this data will be commercially valuable even way in the future. So, what we need is to create a standard that allows an enterprise to restore its own archives after several years.”
A key challenge, however, has been that the E-Ark project has struggled to bring together the big players in storage and backup. It is made up of a dozen teams, but these are overwhelmingly from the world of research.
The challenge at the level of the ********* Commission is that to transform E-Ark into eArchiving, the technical content of the project needs to become an accepted standard in the market. A key early stage is that the universal archive format imagined by E-Ark is standardised and will correspond to the new revision of ISO 14721, the reference model for an open archival information system.
“If the commission demands that the public sector in the EU adopts our archive format, it can’t oblige enterprises to do the same,” said Završnik. “But it can say to them that if they use an open format, they won’t be locked in for eternity to a technology that necessitates use of commercial tools. And what’s more, it will allow free exchange of data between each other.”
CSIP format allows for specialised metadata
The file format proposed by the initiative is Common Specification for Information Packages (CSIP), which has its own dedicated portal for those wanting to convert data to a perennial archive format or for software houses that want to implement it in products.
“The format is free of any commercial licencing and is documented and structured to be able to be re-read, freely useable in whatever software, allowing for a unique numeric ID for each archive and definition of dependencies to other data,” said Završnik.
LeMagIT understood this to be data dependencies related to Linux packages, or software that triggers third-party libraries needed to function, such as when a land registry archive needs to work with mapping from another archive.
CSIP is implemented via a management platform known as OAIS (Open Archival Information Package). That comprises tools to convert source data using SIP (Submission Information Package), to preserve it after reformatting via AIP (Archival Information package), and to redistribute it with only the data required for a particular profession or application using DIP (Dissemination Information Package).
Each sub-format has its own particular metadata. For example, DIP has metadata that allows for archive contents to be used in medical (file), commercial (SQL), architectural (3D modelling) or cartographic (vectorised imagery) contexts.
The new version, v 2.0, brings improvements in the detail of the format. Notably, this sees the categorisation of metadata into six groups: strategy, business, application, technology, implementation and migration. For each of these there are the settings: passive structure, behaviour, active structure and motivation.
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Inflation progress stalls in US in October
Inflation progress stalls in US in October
Price increases in the US picked up last month, as progress toward stabilising prices appeared to stall.
Consumer prices rose 2.6% over the 12 months to October, the Labor Department said.
That marked a slight uptick from 2.4% the month before, as housing and food costs marched higher.
The latest figures added to speculation that the US central bank might not lower rates as much as had been expected in the months ahead.
The Federal Reserve wants to see inflation, the rate at which prices rise, fall back to about 2%.
It started cutting interest rates in September, noting the significant improvement since June 2022, when prices were surging at a rate of more than 9%.
But analysts are warning of new risks, as President-elect Donald Trump promises a mix of tax cuts, tariffs and migrant deportations that some say are likely to keep pressure mounting on businesses and consumers.
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Amazon’s ***** TV Stick 4K Max drops to a record low of $33 for ****** Friday
Amazon’s ***** TV Stick 4K Max drops to a record low of $33 for ****** Friday
Amazon is marking down a slew of its products for ****** Friday and that includes its streaming devices. Currently, the ***** TV Stick 4K Max is down to $33 from $60 — a 45 percent discount that brings it to a new all-time low price. This device is Amazon’s most powerful streaming stick, supporting a 4K Ultra HD display, with an enhanced Alexa Voice Remote and Wi-Fi 6E support. You can, of course, use it to access Amazon Prime Video, along with Netflix, Disney+ and all your favorite streamers.
While the Amazon ***** TV Stick 4K Max is a good option for streaming, we also use it for something a bit different: playing retro games. Our senior reporter Jeff Dunn bought one to play games from the PS1, Game Boy, Genesis, old arcade games and more. He finds it works much better than having to lug around any ******* devices. However, using your ***** TV Stick 4K Max to play old games requires a bit of setup so, if you’re interested in trying it, may I direct you to Dunn’s helpful guide here.
Amazon
Amazon’s ***** TV Cube is also discounted as part of a larger ***** on ***** TV devices for ****** Friday. Right now, you can pick up the streaming device for 29 percent off, dropping to $100 from $140. The Cube is your pick if you want access to ethernet and hands-free use with Alexa. It’s more powerful than the 4K Max, but, for the price difference, it’s a tough call if it’s worth it.
Check out all of the latest ****** Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.
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Flexible statistical method powers research on health, climate, financial data
Flexible statistical method powers research on health, climate, financial data
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
Machine learning and artificial intelligence wouldn’t be possible without the statistical models that underpin their analytic capabilities. A Cornell statistician and his colleague have developed a revolutionary new method to analyze complex datasets that’s more flexible, accurate and easy to use.
Dan Kowal, associate professor of statistics and data science, a shared department in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, is lead author of “Monte Carlo Inference for Semiparametric Bayesian Regression,” which was published Oct. 1 in the Journal of the ********* Statistical Association. The co-author is Bohan Wu, now a Ph.D. student at Columbia University.
“This method gives people more power when they’re working with messy data and trying to untangle the complexities of various effects,” Kowal said. “I want people to be using reliable models so that they can really tease out the signal from the noise. We’ve found empirically that this method can do that across a broad array of different data types, distributions and settings. It’s exactly the kind of contribution that excites me as a statistician.”
Bayesian regression analysis enables researchers to predict a range of outcomes instead of a single estimate. Kowal’s model is specifically designed to analyze “messier data” that doesn’t fit nicely into a bell curve, he said. It can analyze and make predictions on a huge variety of topics, including health care utilization, family incomes, financial markets and climate events.
For example, doctors sometimes ask their patients to self-report on their mental health with questions like, “How many days in the last 30 days was your mental health not good?” A large number of people answer “0,” and another large number answer “30,” and the rest generally estimate by answering in increments of 5 or 7, Kowal said.
“With data like this, you get these spikes in the response that are more about the self-reporting than they are about the data itself,” he said.
“If I’m trying to plan for health care capacity, I shouldn’t make decisions based on whether people are answering 14 vs. 15 vs. 16. But having models that can appropriately stretch out or compress these clumped data points enables your analysis to make more sense and ultimately be more useful.”
Kowal’s new method is also easier for researchers to use. Bayesian regression analyses typically require use of a complex algorithm (called Markov chain Monte Carlo) that requires a huge amount of computing power and multiple diagnostics to ensure the algorithm itself doesn’t break. Kowal’s method avoids that algorithm.
“When people use Markov chain Monte Carlo, they have to do all types of diagnostics to make sure things are working well. The algorithm requires its own effort, independent of the model and the data you really care about,” he said. “In this paper, we actually completely circumvent that but still retain model flexibility and accuracy in predicting outcomes.”
Kowal has built a website with documentation and examples of how to use his new method, and he’s published free, downloadable software on CRAN, the premier website for open-source programming for statistical computing.
More information:
Daniel R. Kowal et al, Monte Carlo Inference for Semiparametric Bayesian Regression, Journal of the ********* Statistical Association (2024). DOI: 10.1080/01621459.2024.2395586
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Politician on Trial For Sharing ****** Verse, ********** Views Reveals Why She Refuses to Back Down as Supreme Court Case Looms
Politician on Trial For Sharing ****** Verse, ********** Views Reveals Why She Refuses to Back Down as Supreme Court Case Looms
A member of Finland’s parliament who has faced a years-long legal battle after sharing a ****** verse on social media refuses to back down from her freedom ******.
Päivi Räsänen told “Higher Ground With Billy Hallowell” her legal battle began more than five years ago, when she challenged Finland’s main religious body, the Evangelical Lutheran *******, questioning why it had “decided to support, financially and publicly” a local Pride parade.
“It was a disappointment and even shock to me and many others,” she said. “Many of my friends decided to resign the *******, and I was also praying … ‘What should I do now?’ I was very worried about this very public statement of the leadership of the *******, because I was worried that it will undermine people’s trust on [the] ****** and its authority.”
Räsänen decided to take to X — then Twitter — to share text from Romans 1, where the Apostle Paul addresses ******* ethics. She added a question to ******* leadership about their position supporting Pride.
“After that, some citizen made a ********* complaint and the police started to investigate the case,” Räsänen continued. “At the beginning, I didn’t believe it. I just read it from the newspaper that police [had] started to investigate the case and I phoned to the policeman and he said, ‘Yes, we are investigating it.’”
Then, more ********* complaints emerged, with an old pamphlet she wrote about marriage also catching negative attention. Plus, a radio program she appeared on came into the crosshairs.
“I was interrogated in the police station all together 13 hours about very theological issues — biblical issues,” Räsänen said. “Police [were] asking me … ‘What is the main message of the Book of Romans? And so on.”
Listen to her share her shocking story:
She said it was “absurd and [a] very unreal situation” and felt like a “dream,” especially considering the religious freedom available in Finland.
Those interrogations ended up landing Räsänen in court with charges filed against her.
“They [were] accusing me of breaking … the law about agitation against minorities,” Räsänen said, noting she was essentially accused of hate *******. “We have that kind of law in Finland, as in almost all ********* countries.”
But she said she has always affirmed “people are equal and all people are valuable, created by **** in His image.” Ultimately, though, she found herself facing two separate legal battles, both of which she won.
Yet, even after Räsänen was acquitted, prosecutors decided to appeal and take her case to Finland’s Supreme Court — something she said was “unbelievable.”
Regardless of the international nature of Räsänen’s story and the chaos surrounding it, she’s not willing to back down because the stakes are high.
“I think that it would have very, very dangerous consequences because I would even say that it would start the time of persecution of Christians in Finland and in ********* countries,” Räsänen said of a potential loss at the high court. “Because then it would mean that you are not anymore allowed to agree publicly with the ******.”
She continued, “I think that the most dangerous consequence and punishment would be the ban to my writings in order to take away … my Twitter postings and my book, and it would not be only a punishment against me, it would be also against thousands and thousands of Christians who have published similar opinions and statements.”
Räsänen said the case hasn’t been easy to ******, but she’s committed to continuing to take a stand for her ******. Regardless of what unfolds, she said the entire ordeal is in “****’s hands.”
“This has been my calling,” she said. “This process has given so many chances to me in public to testify about Gospel, about ****** — who is the solution to the problem of sin.”
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly ********** perspective.***
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The Last Of Us Season 2 Tees Off In Spring 2025
The Last Of Us Season 2 Tees Off In Spring 2025
While not a specific premiere date, HBO has announced a release window for The Last of Us Season 2. Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are set to be seen together on the small screen again in Spring 2025.
IGN reports that HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys revealed the spring window for the video game adaptation during a presentation to journalists yesterday, November 12. Earlier this week, a Max trailer for 2025 unveiled new footage for The Last of Us Season 2. The clips hint at distance growing between Joel and Ellie, as well as an infected swarm charging what is likely the town of Jackson.
Previously, The Last of Us Season 2 was planned to launch in 2025–even before the historic Hollywood strikes last year. In September, Bloys hinted that the show would return in the first half of next year. The first season premiered in January 2023 on HBO (as well as streamed on Max).
The sophomore season of the series will see a time jump, but Ellie won’t be recast. Additionally, The Last of Us Season 2 won’t cover all of the events from the video-game sequel, so be prepared for a third season, and possibly more. That said, the show’s writer, Craig Mazin, has stated before that The Last of Us won’t overstay its welcome.
Along with Pascal and Ramsey, The Last of Us Season 2 will star Kaitlyn Dever in the prominent role as Abby. Other new cast members include Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Catherine O’Hara in an unspecified role.
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What next for ******* of England after Justin Welby’s resignation?
What next for ******* of England after Justin Welby’s resignation?
PA Media
After a turbulent week and the dramatic resignation of the man that leads it, the ******* of England is trying to take stock at what is a precarious moment.
There are many within the ****** who have experienced this as a deeply painful time and for whom the direction the institution takes now is profoundly important.
For some, including ****** victims, that pain has come from the stark reminders that the ******* is still not a place people can trust to do all the right things when it comes to keeping people safe.
Among them, there will be relief that Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has stepped aside as someone who had lost credibility on the issue which would make it difficult to sanction other clergy for not doing enough.
But some Anglicans have been upset because they feel that Justin Welby had done much good and, however slowly, was trying to steer the ******* in a better direction.
As a dispassionate observer of lots of ****** institutions, I have felt there are few that match the ******* of England for its wide range of views within the same fold.
While there are women bishops, there are also male bishops who are allowed to refuse to ordain women.
While the ******* has voted to move to introduce prayers for same-**** couples, clergy will also be allowed not to lead such blessings if they feel they do not want to.
Attending the *******’s national assembly, its General Synod, is eye-opening in the ferocity of debate over issues across the board, often reflecting the polarisation in modern Britain on many issues.
But at the end of each day, people who have been at each other’s throats during debates, come together in worship.
Mr Welby has undoubtedly seen it as a big part of his job to hold together very different factions within the ******* of England and, even more difficult, in the wider global *******, the Anglican Communion of 85 million people.
For him this has been about the survival of a ******* that, at home, is already experiencing falling numbers, with the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as “**********” falling below 50% for the first time, with a huge rise in those who do not align themselves with any religion
He has expended a huge amount of energy in this endeavour of finding common ground through 12 years during which there has been other momentous social change, and at times has shown himself to be an astute political operator.
Early in his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, he was credited with helping usher through the vote that allowed women to become bishops, being supportive of the move through often tempestuous division.
On the question of sexuality and same-**** unions, Mr Welby has had a complicated journey – shifting from a very ************* position to one where he was supportive of the measure that was eventually voted through to allow the blessing of same **** unions.
But observers saw it as a bit of a fudge by the ******* and by Mr Welby.
Debate did not start with the premise that gay people were equals in the ******* and deserved marriage equality (something that was not even put to a vote), and the result did not represent a significant change in ******* teaching.
But neither did ******* leaders condemn gay unions as some traditionalists had wanted. There was even later clarification to ******** Churches that the blessing prayers that were voted through were to bless the individuals in the same-**** union and not bless the union itself.
It has been a theme that in being so focused on holding things together, and sometimes appearing to try to be all things to all people, Mr Welby has been viewed by many on both right and left as not taking a principled stand.
He has behaved like a politician and in some ways has faced the downfall of a politician or executive, rather than that of spiritual leader.
What some Anglicans are calling for now is more of a theologian to lead the ******* rather than someone seen more of an executive, but in a modern world with modern responsibilities, others worry that there needs to be an element of the executive leader that is needed.
The tribalism and polarisation that is often evident in the ******* makes some anxious that a skilled politician at the top is the only way the institution does not start to fracture.
Whatever skill set Archbishop Welby may have had, in not doing enough on the important issue of safeguarding through rigorously pursuing ****** cases when they were brought to his attention and ensuring others did the same, much trust in the ******* was lost.
Dealing decisively with that one crucial issue might well have helped in his mission to build unity and in helping stem a decline in the numbers of faithful.
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Pelican News
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How many people play Farming Simulator 25? Player count
How many people play Farming Simulator 25? Player count
Farming Simulator 25 allows players to create and develop their very own farms, with a plethora of animals, products, and crops to choose from. Raising animals and harvesting crops is a rewarding experience, and many love the realism and progression Farming Simulator offers.
You’ll need to put in the hours though, as farm work isn’t easy. Speaking of which, if you’re wondering how many are online dedicating their time to their virtual farm, here’s the Farming Simulator 25 player count.
Farming Simulator 25 player count
Farming Simulator 25 has 44,265 live players on Steam at the time of writing (November 13, 2024), and an all-time peak player count of 126,761 on Valve’s platform, according to SteamDB. The all-time peak was reached on its release date of November 12, 2024, which saw players flocking to start their farming journey.
These numbers are only for players enjoying the game via Steam on PC, and as the game is available through other platforms on PC and also consoles, the player count is likely much higher than what’s found on SteamDB.
Credits to Giants Software
Is there a player count for Farming Simulator 25 on consoles?
Farming Simulator 25 is also available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles, but unfortunately, we do not have access to the player count numbers on these platforms. However, it’s safe to assume that the player count would be much higher if the player count was accumulated for all the platforms the game is available on.
The game also features cross-platform play and a multiplayer feature for up to 16 players on a dedicated server and up to 6 on console servers. The multiplayer feature is very popular for Farming Simulator and it’s likely one of the main reasons for its high player count, as people are hopping on to create a farm on the massive maps with friends.
If the devs, Giants Software, ever decide to release details on the Farming Simulator 25 player count or sales numbers across all of the platforms the game is available on, we’ll be sure to update this piece with all the relevant information.
If you’re one of the many playing Farming Simulator 25, how are you finding the game? Let us know in the Insider Gaming forum.
Interested in more Farming Simulator 25 guides? Check out everything you need to know about the Collectors Edition and all the new additions in Farming Simulator 25.
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Pelican News
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Red Magic 10 Pro+, Red Magic 10 Pro With Snapdragon 8 Elite ‘Extreme Edition’ Chip Launched: Price, Specifications
Red Magic 10 Pro+, Red Magic 10 Pro With Snapdragon 8 Elite ‘Extreme Edition’ Chip Launched: Price, Specifications
Red Magic 10 Pro+ and Red Magic 10 Pro were launched in China as the latest gaming-focused smartphones from ZTE sub-brand Nubia. Both models have similar internals, aside from the battery and charging speeds. They run on a Snapdragon 8 Elite “Extreme Edition” version paired with up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage. Both handsets sport a 1.5K resolution display and feature a triple rear camera setup. The Red Magic 10 Pro+ has a 7,050mAh battery with support for 120W fast charging, while the Red Magic 10 Pro has a smaller 6,500mAh battery that can be charged at 80W.
Red Magic 10 Pro+, Red Magic 10 Pro Price and Availability
RedMagic 10 Pro+ pricing starts at CNY 5,999 (roughly Rs. 72,000) for the 16GB + 512GB version, and it is available in a Dark Knight colourway. The Deuterium Front Transparent Dark Night and Silver Wing colour variants (translated from ********) are priced at CNY 6,299 (roughly Rs. 74,000) for the same RAM and storage configuration. The 24GB + 1TB variant is priced at CNY 7,499 (roughly Rs. 88,000).
The special edition Red Magic 10 Pro Golden Saga model with 24GB and 1TB of storage and a golden finish is priced at CNY 9,499 (roughly Rs. 1,11,000).
Meanwhile, the Red Magic 10 Pro price starts at CNY 4,999 (roughly Rs. 58,000) for the 12GB + 256GB model. It is priced at CNY 5,499 (roughly Rs. 64,000) for the 12GB + 512GB version. It also comes in Dark Knight, Deuterium Front Transparent Dark Night and Transparent Silver Wing colours.
Both models are currently up for pre-orders in China and deliveries are slated to begin on November 18.
Red Magic 10 Pro+, Red Magic 10 Pro Specifications
The dual-SIM (Nano) Red Magic 10 Pro+ and Red Magic 10 Pro runs on Android 15-based Redmagic AI OS 10.0 and sports a 6.8-inch 1.5K(1,216×2,688 pixels) BOE Q9+ AMOLED display with up to 144Hz refresh rate, a 960Hz touch sampling rate, up to 2,000nits peak brightness, and 2,592Hz PWM dimming. The new handsets run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite ‘Extreme Edition’, paired with up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
RedMagic 10 Pro Photo Credit: Nubia
For optics, the Red Magic 10 Pro+ and Red Magic 10 Pro feature a triple rear camera setup, comprising a 50-megapixel OmniVision OV50E40 sensor, a 50-megapixel ultrawide sensor and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. Selfies and video calls are handled by a 16-megapixel under-display front-facing camera.
The Red Magic 10 Pro series is equipped with the company’s ICE X cooling technology that comprises a 5,200 sq mm superconducting copper foil and has a 12,000 sq mm 3D vapour chamber for thermal management. Both handsets have a dual X-axis linear motor for haptics. Connectivity options on the smartphones include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. They have 520Hz gaming shoulder keys, three microphones and stereo speakers.
Nubia has equipped the Red Magic 10 Pro+ with a 7,050mAh battery that supports 80W fast charging, while the Red Magic 10 Pro has a 6,500mAh battery with 120W charging support.
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Pelican News
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Elon Musk, Trump will meet with House *********** conference
Elon Musk, Trump will meet with House *********** conference
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., left, and former US President Donald Trump, prior to a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, US, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.
Justin Merriman | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Elon Musk on Wednesday will join President-elect Donald Trump for his first post-election meeting with the House *********** conference in Washington, D.C., an adviser to Trump told NBC News. Trump and Musk flew to the nation’s capital together from Florida aboard Trump’s plane.
The development is the latest example of how Musk, the world’s richest man and one of the top backers of Trump’s winning campaign, has grown his presence and influence in the future president’s orbit.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has spent the last week in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump, from his resort home Mar-a-Lago, has been assembling his second administration. Musk has been alongside Trump in nearly every meeting, The New York Times reported.
Read more CNBC politics coverage
On Tuesday evening, Trump announced that “the Great Elon Musk” and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would lead an outside commission called the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which aims to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy” and cut regulations.
The announcement included a quote from Musk: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
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#Elon #Musk #Trump #meet #House #*********** #conference
Pelican News
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******* leader Scholz to seek December confidence vote
******* leader Scholz to seek December confidence vote
******* Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he will ask for a vote of confidence on December 16, paving the way forward for an early parliamentary election in February.
Scholz declared his plans for a vote of confidence during a speech in parliament on Wednesday, one week after his three-party coalition government collapsed.
He had initially wanted to have an early election only by late March – before the vote that is regularly scheduled for September 2025.
However, the centre-right opposition pushed for a quicker vote in the parliament to speed up the next election.
In the end, party leaders across the political spectrum agreed on Wednesday on the two dates for the vote of confidence and the new election.
Scholz on Wednesday also appealed to parties in parliament to pass measures in the time left before the election, stressing that Germans did not need to make a choice between security and prosperity.
He said there should be agreement on increasing child benefit and tackling fiscal drag.
Scholz also said Europe had a responsibility towards Ukraine but that aid money should not lead to cuts in pensions or care at home.
“Let us work together for the good of the country until the new election,” he said.
with Reuters
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Pelican News
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Secret Level creator says he hopes the Concord episode will show the potential the story had
Secret Level creator says he hopes the Concord episode will show the potential the story had
The creator of Prime Video’s upcoming video game anthology series Secret Level says he hopes the Concord episode will show the potential the game had.
Secret Level, which was announced during Gamescom‘s Opening Night Live presentation this year, is a new “******-animated anthology series” featuring original stories set within the worlds of various video game series.
There are 15 episodes in total, including stories set in the worlds of such video games as Pac-Man, Armored Core, Mega Man, Spelunky, The Outer Worlds 2, Sifu, Unreal Tournament and Exodus.
Now, in an interview with Rolling Stone, series creator Tim Miller said there were never any plans to remove the Concord episode, following the game’s disastrous launch and Sony’s decision to remove it from ***** after just 11 days.
Miller – who directed Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate and Love, ****** & Robots – said that during the course of the three years he spent working on the series, he enjoyed a healthy relationship with the team at Concord developer Firewalk and feels bad that their efforts ended badly.
“There was no nicer, more invested group of developers than the team on Concord,” he recalled. “I honestly don’t understand why it didn’t work. I know that they were trying to do the best they could, and they were a talented group of artists, so I feel terrible for that.”
He also notes that while Concord will never return as a game, and while Firewalk has since been closed down, he hopes its presence as part of Secret Level will show what could have been, and highlight the story that could have won players over.
“I don’t feel bad that it’s a part of the show,” he explained, “because I think it’s an episode that turned out really well, and you can kind of see the potential of this world and the characters.
“If it’s the remaining vestige of that product, I hope the developers feel that it’s in some way worthy, just a little bit, of the blood, sweat, and tears they put into it.”
Secret Level will arrive on Amazon Prime Video on December 10
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Pelican News
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