The roadmap for Marvel Rivals details what to expect next from the ongoing competitive romp through Marvel’s multiverse. At the moment, the official Marvel Rivals roadmap is pretty light on details, though developer NetEase Games says the launch slate of heroes, maps, and modes is just the beginner of what you can expect. In this Marvel Rivals guide, we’ll explain what we know about the Marvel Rivals roadmap as of season 0. Marvel Rivals roadmap as of season 0 NetEase Games release a bit of a roadmap for their game — posted a little less than a month from launch. This video mostly goes over what’s coming to the game at launch and the story the game is building toward. (Dr. Doom and universal meddling, a classic combo.) However, there is a bit of information in there about what’s coming to the game in the next few months. Most notably, Marvel Rivals season 1 will start in January 2025 , and will set the template for future seasons. While NetEase wasn’t specific about what new content we’d be getting in season 1, potential seasonal content could include new maps, modes, heroes, and Team-Up abilities. Each of these seasons comes with a battle pass for you to purchase (which lasts forever, unlike many other in-game battle passes), which will be twice the size of the one in season 0. Season 0 will last about a month. Starting with season 1, all future seasons will last about three months. For more Marvel Rivals guides, here’s a list of all maps and modes , plus a list of all Team-Up abilities . Guides Marvel Rivals guides PC PlayStation XboxNone
Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault chargeFox attorneys seek to dismiss shareholder lawsuit over reporting of vote rigging allegations in 2020None
Government departments are on a collision course with unions unsatisfied with proposals to raise pay for more than a million public sector workers by 2.8% next year. Inflation is predicted to average 2.5% this year and 2.6% next year, according to forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. The British Medical Association said the Government showed a “poor grasp” of unresolved issues from two years of industrial action, and the Royal College of Nursing called the pay recommendation “deeply offensive”. The National Education Union’s chief said teachers were “putting the Government on notice” that the proposed increase “won’t do”. The pay recommendations came after Chancellor Rachel Reeves called for every Government department to cut costs by 5%, as she started work on a sweeping multi-year spending review to be published in 2025. Independent pay review bodies will consider the proposals for pay rises for teachers, NHS workers and senior civil servants. The Department of Health said it viewed 2.8% as a “reasonable amount” to set aside, in its recommendations to the NHS Pay Review Body and the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration Board remit groups. A 2.8% pay rise for teachers in 2025/26 would “maintain the competitiveness of teachers’ pay despite the challenging financial backdrop the Government is facing”, the Department for Education said. The Cabinet Office also suggested pay increases for senior civil servants should be kept to no more than 2.8%. Paul Johnson, director of the influential economics think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said it was “not a bad ballpark figure” and feels “just about affordable” given the Government’s public spending plans. The downside, he said, is that public sector workers have lost out since 2010 and unions will be upset that this is not making up the gap, he told Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge. “But given the constraints facing the Chancellor I think it’s pretty hard to argue for more for public sector pay when public sector services ... are under real strain,” he said. Unions expressed their disappointment in the recommendations, with some hinting they could be willing to launch industrial action. The Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive called for “open direct talks now” to avoid “further escalation to disputes and ballots”. Professor Nicola Ranger said: “The Government has today told nursing staff they are worth as little as £2 extra a day, less than the price of a coffee. “Nursing is in crisis – there are fewer joining and too many experienced professionals leaving. This is deeply offensive to nursing staff, detrimental to their patients and contradictory to hopes of rebuilding the NHS. “The public understands the value of nursing and they know that meaningful reform of the NHS requires addressing the crisis in nursing. “We pulled out of the Pay Review Body process, alongside other unions, because it is not the route to address the current crisis. “That has been demonstrated today. “Fair pay must be matched by structural reform. Let’s open direct talks now and avoid further escalation to disputes and ballots – I have said that directly to government today.” Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of the British Medical Association’s council, urged the sector’s pay review body to “show it is now truly independent”. “For this Government to give evidence to the doctors’ and dentists’ pay review body (DDRB) believing a 2.8% pay rise is enough, indicates a poor grasp of the unresolved issues from two years of industrial action,” he said. He said the proposal is far below the current rate of inflation and that the Government was “under no illusion” when doctors accepted pay offers in the summer that there was a “very real risk of further industrial action” if “pay erosion” was not addressed in future pay rounds. “This sub-inflationary suggestion from the current Government serves as a test to the DDRB. “The BMA expects it to take this opportunity to show it is now truly independent, to take an objective view of the evidence it receives from all parties, not just the Government, and to make an offer that reflects the value of doctors’ skills and expertise in a global market, and that moves them visibly further along the path to full pay restoration.” The NEU’s general secretary, Daniel Kebede, said teachers’ pay had been cut by more than one-fifth in real terms since 2010. “Along with sky-high workload, the pay cuts have resulted in a devastating recruitment and retention crisis. Teacher shortages across the school system hit pupils and parents too. “A 2.8% increase is likely to be below inflation and behind wage increases in the wider economy. This will only deepen the crisis in education.” In a hint that there could be a return to industrial action he added: “NEU members fought to win the pay increases of 2023 and 2024. “We are putting the Government on notice. Our members care deeply about education and feel the depth of the crisis. This won’t do.” The offer for teachers is the “exact opposite of fixing the foundations” and will result in bigger class sizes and more cuts to the curriculum, Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The inadequacy of the proposed pay award is compounded by the Government’s intention that schools should foot the bill out of their existing allocations. “Given that per-pupil funding will increase on average by less than 1% next year, and the Government’s proposal is for an unfunded 2.8% pay award, it is obvious that this is in fact an announcement of further school cuts.” Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: This recommendation falls far short of what is needed to restore the competitiveness of the teaching profession, to enable it to retain experienced professionals and attract new talent. Unison head of health Helga Pile said: “The Government has inherited a financial mess from its predecessors, but this is not what NHS workers wanted to hear. “Staff are crucial in turning around the fortunes of the NHS. Improving performance is a key Government pledge, but the pay rise proposed is barely above the cost of living.”Hair removal, in any capacity, is not typically an enjoyable experience. Traditional removal methods come with irritation, tedium, and temporary fixes that require constant repeats — waxing or shaving means regular waxes and shaves. Laser hair removal technology is a breakthrough, but it also comes with side effects of its own like pain and discomfort. Plus, you have to visit a clinic every time you want that done. Ulike offers a unique technology, called IPL, that uses light to target melanin or pigment in the hair to disrupt its growth cycle. Over time, it helps prevent hair regrowth without damaging the skin. 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Within weeks one to four you conduct regular timed sessions to remove the hair. Beyond that, from weeks five to twelve, you only need minimal touch-ups. The biggest thing to note about the process is that it is most effective with lighter skin tones and darker hair colors. Ulike Holiday Gift Boxes make great presents You can always order the Ulike hair removal devices separately if you prefer. But for the holidays, there is a gift box option, as well, that includes accessories. In the box, you get the purple Ulike Air 10, two tubes of Aloe Vera gel, IPL goggles for eye protection, a prep razor, a travel case for bringing the device with you anywhere, and more. It’s a great gift idea for those fashionable people in your life who want to get rid of unsightly body hair. We all know someone. Come on, make their day. Normally $419, you can save $120 on that holiday gift set, bringing the price down to a cool $299.
Doctored images have been around for decades. The term "Photoshopped" is part of everyday language. But in recent years, it has seemingly been replaced by a new word: deepfake. It's almost everywhere online, but you likely won't find it in your dictionary at home. What exactly is a deepfake, and how does the technology work? RELATED STORY | Scripps News Reports: Sex, Lies, and Deepfakes A deepfake is an image or video that has been generated by artificial intelligence to look real. Most deepfakes use a type of AI called a "diffusion model." In a nutshell, a diffusion model creates content by stripping away noise. "With diffusion models, they found a very clever way of taking an image and then constructing that procedure to go from here to there," said Lucas Hansen said. He and Siddharth Hiregowdara are cofounders of CivAI, a nonprofit educating the public on the potential — and dangers — of AI. How diffusion models work It can get complicated, so imagine the AI – or diffusion model – as a detective trying to catch a suspect. Like a detective, it relies on its experience and training. It recalls a previous case -– a sneaky cat on the run. Every day it added more and more disguises. On Monday, no disguise. Tuesday, it put on a little wig. Wednesday, it added some jewelry. By Sunday, it's unrecognizable and wearing a cheeseburger mask. The detective learned these changes can tell you what it wore and on what day. AI diffusion models do something similar with noise, learning what something looks like at each step. "The job of the diffusion model is to remove noise," Hiregowdara said. "You would give the model this picture, and then it will give you a slightly de-noised version of this picture." RELATED STORY | Scripps News got deepfaked to see how AI could impact elections When it's time to solve the case and generate a suspect, we give it a clue: the prompts we give when we create an AI-generated image. "We have been given the hint that this is supposed to look like a cat. So what catlike things can we see in here? Okay, we see this curve, maybe that's an ear," Hiregowdara said. The "detective" works backward, recalling its training. It sees a noisy image. Thanks to the clue, it is looking for a suspect — a cat. It subtracts disguises (noise) until it finds the new suspect. Case closed. Now imagine the "detective" living and solving crimes for years and years. It learns and studies everything — landscapes, objects, animals, people, anything at all. So when it needs to generate a suspect or an image, it remembers its training and creates an image. Deepfakes and faceswaps Many deepfake images and videos employ some type of face swapping technology. You've probably experienced this kind of technology already — faceswapping filters like on Snapchat, Instagram or Tiktok use technology similar to diffusion models, recognizing faces and replacing things in real time. "It will find the face in the image and then cut that out kind of, then take the face and convert it to its internal representation," Hansen said. The results are refined then repeated frame by frame. The future and becoming our own detectives As deepfakes become more and more realistic and tougher to detect, understanding how the technology works at a basic level can help us prepare for any dangers or misuse. Deepfakes have already been used to spread election disinformation, create fake explicit images of a teenager, even frame a principal with AI-created racist audio. "All the netizens on social media also have a role to play," Siwei Lyu said. Lyu is a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor at the University of Buffalo's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the director of the Media Forensics Lab. His team has created a tool to help spot deepfakes called "DeepFake-o-meter." "We do not know how to handle, how to deal, with these kinds of problems. It's very new. And also requires technical knowledge to understand some of the subtleties there," Lyu said. "The media, the government, can play a very active role to improve user awareness and education. Especially for vulnerable groups like seniors, the kids, who will start to understand the social media world and start to become exposed to AI technologies. They can easily fall for AI magic or start using AI without knowing the limits." RELATED STORY | AI voice cloning: How programs are learning to pick up on pitch and tone Both Lyu and CivAI believe in exposure and education to help combat any potential misuse of deepfake technology. "Our overall goal is that we think AI is going t impact pretty much everyone in a lot of different ways," Hansen said. "And we think that everyone should be aware of the ways that it's going to change them because it's going to impact everyone." "More than just general education — just knowing the facts and having heard what's going to happen," he added. "We want to give people a really intuitive experience of what's going on." Hansen goes on to explain CivAI's role in educating the public. "We try and make all of our demonstrations personalized as much as possible. What we're working on is making it so people can see it themselves. So they know it's real, and they feel that it's real," Hansen said. "And they can have a deep gut level feel for tthe impact that it's going to have." "A big part of the solution is essentially just going to be education and sort of cultural changes," he added. "A lot of this synthetic content is sort of like a new virus that is attacking society right now, and people need to become immune to it in some ways. They need to be more suspicious about what's real and what's not, and I think that will help a lot as well."
Investors were already wary of Korean stocks. Then the country descended into chaos
By Simon Lewis and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has asked Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group to help locate and free missing American journalist Austin Tice as it liberates the country's prisons in the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad's overthrow, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. Washington is telling all parties in Syria that Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012, is a top U.S. priority, Miller told a press briefing. Miller said that message had been sent via intermediaries to HTS, the faction that led the rebel operation that unseated Assad and which the U.S. considers to be a terror group, as well as other entities operating in Syria. "In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice," he said. "We want anyone who's operating on the ground in Syria to be on the lookout for him, and if they do find him, to return to him to us safely as soon as possible." President Joe Biden has said he believes Tice is alive and has dispatched hostage-affairs envoy Roger Carstens to the region as part of intensive efforts to free him. HTS is using the right words in its statements, but the United States would judge it by its actions, Miller said, declining to say whether Washington would change the group's designation as a foreign terrorist organization, which prevents the U.S. from assisting the group. "We have seen over the years, any number of militant groups who have seized power, who have promised that they would respect minorities, who have promised that they would respect religious freedom, promised that they would govern in an inclusive way, and then see them fail to meet those promises," Miller said. "So we really do mean it when we say what's important is watching how they actually behave in the coming weeks." Miller said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Tuesday about the situation in Syria with counterparts from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt. Earlier on Tuesday, Blinken issued a statement saying the United States fully supports Syria's political transition process and wants it to lead to credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian governance that meets international standards of transparency and accountability. (Reporting by Simon Lewis, David Ljunggren and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Next year, people riding the MuscaBus will have some designer artwork to examine as they are waiting for their ride to arrive, after the city begins a project to decorate the bus shelters with local art. During Thursday’s Muscatine City Council meeting, the council gave its approval for Muscatine Public Works to begin adding art in the form of vinyl panels to the shelters, but kept the right to have the final say in what goes on the shelters. Council member John Jindrich and council member Nadine Brockert had some concerns. Brockert said that she didn’t want to see the art devoted to one specific person. She was also concerned about vandalism. Jindrich said he was worried there may be political undertones of someone specifically chosen to be on a shelter. “We don’t want our bus shelters to cause a controversy,” he said. “I think it’s kind of a touchy situation for me as to how you are going to choose the people to be on the shelters.” He said that he likes plain shelters but commented that it may be a good idea to rotate the themes. Public works director Brian Stineman said it is only the concept that is being proposed at this point. Council member Angie Lewis said she believes the plan is a good one but commented that the council would have to answer for whatever went on the shelters and so should have the final say. The tentative decoration of the first shelter — located in front of city hall — is based on a book recently published by the Stanley Center for Peace and Security chronicling the life of Susan Clark. Muscatine transit supervisor Amy Fortenbacher, whose idea was to begin decorating the shelters, said that she had collaborated with Muscatine Art Center director Melanie Alexander and the Muscatine Public Art Advisory Commission. Alexander said this is a good opportunity for several art committees to be showcased. The art will be brought back to the city council during a future meeting for approval. Fortenbacher said, the department would start looking for other people or organizations to partner with to share the cost of decorating the other 11 shelters. She hopes to sponsor one or two a year. The vinyl panels are expected to last about four to seven years and not fade with age. Stineman said that the concepts for art on the shelters would be vetted by the art council before being brought to council. Council member Peggy Gordon called it a “great project.” Council member Don Lampe had said he had hoped for an overall plan. He said that the art can be used to help educate the public about what the city has to offer. “There are 12 of them” he said. “This is a huge opportunity.” Stineman called the ideas for each shelter “limitless.” Duct-taped banana sells for $6.2 million at art auction A piece of conceptual art consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $6.2 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday. AI art is facing a copyright problem. Here's what it means for creators. Verbit examined news articles and legal research to see what the rise of artificial intelligence means for creators. (c)2024 Muscatine Journal, Iowa Visit Muscatine Journal, Iowa at www.muscatinejournal.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield embarrassed the woeful Giants with his arm and legs, and if that wasn't enough, he rubbed it in by mimicking New York fan favorite Tommy DeVito's celebratory dance after scoring a touchdown. Mayfield catapulted into the end zone on a spectacular 10-yard scramble for one of Tampa Bay's four rushing TDs, and the Buccaneers beat the Giants and new starting quarterback DeVito 30-7 on Sunday, snapping a four-game losing streak and extending New York's skid to six. With both teams struggling and coming off byes, most of the focus leading up to the game was on the Giants' decisions this week to bench and then release quarterback Daniel Jones. The brash DeVito was given the starting job and asked to spark coach Brian Daboll's team, as he did last season. Instead, Mayfield provided the energy with his play and his trolling of DeVito. “Tribute to Tommy,” said a straight-faced Mayfield, who was 24 of 30 for 294 yards. “He’s a good dude, that’s why. Most of the times, I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s spontaneous.” Mayfield was asked several times about the gesture and admitted he wanted to give Giants fans something they liked, adding he met DeVito at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas in February. “He had his chain blinged out, swag walking through the casino. It was awesome,” Mayfield said. “It was like a movie scene, honestly.” DeVito did nothing to help the NFL's lowest-scoring offense. He threw for 189 yards, mostly in the second half with New York well on its way to its sixth straight loss at home, where it is winless. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers dominated in every phase in a near-perfect performance that featured TD runs of 1 yard by Sean Tucker, 6 yards by Bucky Irving and 1 yard by Rachaad White. After recent losses to the Ravens, 49ers and Chiefs, Tampa Bay (5-6) moved within one game of idle Atlanta in the NFC South. “We’re hoping it builds confidence,” Mayfield said. “We have a belief that we are still sitting and controlling our own destiny.” Tampa Bay scored on five of its on first six possessions to open a 30-0 lead, and none was more exciting than Mayfield's TD run with 12 seconds left in the first half. On a second-and-goal from the 10, he avoided pressure and went for the end zone. He was hit by Cor'Dale Flott low and Dru Phillips high around the 2-yard line, and he was airborne when he crossed the goal line. The ball came loose when he hit the turf but he jumped up and flexed, DeVito-style, as the Bucs took a 23-0 lead. DeVito said players talked about the celebration in the locker room but he did not see it. Daboll was asked about the gesture and said Mayfield played well. He said the Giants' poor performance had nothing to do with Jones being released. “No excuse on that,” said Daboll, whose job is on the line despite making the playoffs in 2022. “We just didn’t do a good enough job.” “We played soft, and they beat the (expletive) out of us,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence added. Mayfield's favorite target Mike Evans returned to the lineup after missing three games with a hamstring injury and had five catches for 68 yards. Irving had 87 yards rushing and six catches for 64 yards. The Bucs held New York to three first downs and 45 yards in the first half, and they finished with 450 yards to the Giants' 245. DeVito had a 17-yard run in the fourth quarter to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Devin Singletary. The brash New Jersey native was sacked four times, including once in the fourth quarter, which forced him to go to the bench for one play. Injuries Buccaneers: LT Tristan Wirfs (knee) did not play and Justin Skule replaced him. ... Tampa Bay lost OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka to an ankle injury in the second quarter and safety Jordan Whitehead to a pectoral injury in the fourth quarter. Giants: LT Jermaine Eluemunor (quad) and OLB Azeez Ojulari (toe) were hurt in the first quarter and did not return. Up next Buccaneers: At Carolina next Sunday. Giants: At Dallas on Thanksgiving AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflWASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans teed up a vote this week on bipartisan legislation to gradually expand by 66 the number of federal judgeships across the country. Democrats, though, are having second thoughts now that President-elect has won a second term. The White House said Tuesday that if President were presented with the bill, he would veto it. A Congress closely divided along party lines would be unlikely to overturn a veto, likely dooming the bill’s chances this year. It’s an abrupt reversal for legislation that the Senate passed unanimously in August. But the GOP-led House waited until after the election to act on the measure, which spreads out the establishment of the new district judgeships over about a decade to give three presidential administrations the chance to appoint the new judges. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said the bill was negotiated with the understanding that three unknown, future presidents would have the chance to expand and shape the judiciary. No party would be knowingly given an advantage. He said he begged GOP leadership to take up the measure before the presidential election. But they did not do so. “It was a fair fight and they wanted no part of it,” Nadler said. Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, explained the timing this way: “We just didn’t get to the legislation.” The change of heart about the bill from some Democrats and the new urgency from House Republicans for considering it underscores the contentious politics that surrounded federal judicial vacancies. Senate roll-call votes are required for almost every judicial nominee these days, and most votes for the Supreme Court and appellate courts are now decided largely along party lines. Lawmakers are generally hesitant to hand presidents from the opposing party new opportunities to shape the judiciary. Nadler said that the bill would give Trump 25 judicial nominations on top of the 100-plus spots that are expected to open up over the next four years. “Donald Trump has made clear that he intends to expand the power of the presidency and giving him 25 new judges to appoint gives him one more tool at his disposal to do that,” Nadler said. Nadler said he’s willing to take up comparable legislation in the years ahead and give the additional judicial appointments to “unknown presidents yet to come,” but until then, he was urging colleagues to vote against the bill. Still, few are arguing against the merits. Congress last authorized a new district judgeship more than 20 years ago, while the number of cases being filed continues to increase with litigants often waiting years for a resolution. “I used to be a federal court litigator, and I can tell you it’s desperately needed,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said of the bill. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., first introduced the bill to establish new judgeships in 2020. Last year, the policy-making body for the federal court system, the Judicial Conference of the United States, the creation of several new district and court of appeals judgeships to meet increased workload demands in certain courts. “Judges work tirelessly every day to meet growing demands and resolve cases as quickly as possible, but with the volume we have and the shortage of judges we have, it just makes it a very difficult proposition,” Judge Timothy Corrigan, of the Middle District of Florida, said in a recent on the website of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The blog post states that caseloads are creating delays that will erode public confidence in the judicial process, but the bill would meet many of the federal judiciary’s needs for more judges. Jordan said that as of June 30th, there were nearly 750,000 pending cases in federal district courts nationwide, with each judge handling an average of 554 filings. When asked if House Republicans would have brought the bill up if Vice President Kamala Harris had won the election, Jordan said the bill is “the right thing to do” and that almost half of the first batch of judges will come from states where both senators are Democrats, giving them a chance to provide input on those nominations before Trump makes them. But in its veto threat, the White House Office of Management and Budget said the bill would create new judgeships in states where senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies. “These efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of the law,” the White House said. Shortly before the White House issued the veto threat, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would be curious to hear Biden’s rationale for such action. “It’s almost inconceivable that a lame-duck president could consider vetoing such an obviously prudential step for any reason other than selfish spite,” McConnell said.
Bamboo, Belle, Moira, and more gear up for amazing performances at Smart’s 5G Max event this Saturday
Aston Villa march on in Champions League after beating RB Leipzig