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lol646b Headlight Market to Illuminate $12.0 Billion by 2031, Driven by Technological Advancements: Allied Market Research

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Bills vs. 49ers Under Snow Weather Warning for NFL Week 13; 2-3 Feet in Forecast

Perryville football falls in 1A state semifinal to Fort Hill, 24-21The winter solstice is Saturday, bringing the shortest day and longest night of the year to the Northern Hemisphere — ideal conditions for holiday lights and warm blankets. For those who would rather have more sunlight, you can try to make your way to the Southern Hemisphere, where it is summer. Or be patient: Starting Sunday, days will get a little bit longer in the Northern Hemisphere every single day until late June. These annual changes in sunlight as the Earth revolves around the sun have been well known to humans for centuries. Monuments such as Stonehenge in England and the Torreon at Peru's Machu Picchu were designed in part to align with solstices. Here’s what to know about how the Earth's march around the sun splits up the year. As the Earth travels around the sun, it does so at an angle. For most of the year, the Earth’s axis is tilted either toward or away from the sun. That means the sun’s warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet. The solstices mark the times during the year when the Earth is at its most extreme tilt toward or away from the sun. This means the hemispheres are getting very different amounts of sunlight — and days and nights are at their most unequal. During the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, the upper half of the Earth is tilted away from the sun, creating the shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice falls between December 20 and 23.. Meanwhile, at the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is toward the sun, leading to the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between June 20 and 22. During the spring and fall equinoxes, the Earth’s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight. The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. That’s because on the equinox, day and night last almost the same amount of time — though one may get a few extra minutes, depending on where you are on the planet. The Northern Hemisphere’s spring — or vernal — equinox can land between March 19 and 21, depending on the year. Its fall – or autumnal — equinox can land between Sept. 21 and 24. These are just two different ways to carve up the year. Meteorological seasons are defined by the weather. They break down the year into three-month seasons based on annual temperature cycles. By that calendar, spring starts on March 1, summer on June 1, fall on Sept. 1 and winter on Dec. 1. Astronomical seasons depend on how the Earth moves around the sun. Solstices kick off summer and winter. Equinoxes mark the start of spring and autumn. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Indonesia Agrees to Repatriate ‘Bali Nine’ Drug Convicts to AustraliaNorwood Financial Corp Announces Pricing Of Common Stock Offering

It is that time of the year, where we not only need to be grateful for all the good that happened, but also hold a mirror to ourselves to see where we can be better. It is no different for us at bl.portfolio . Here, we take this annual ritual very seriously as we are in the business of giving ideas for your hard-earned money. In the world of investing, no one can predict the markets with certainty but what we can do is prefer prudence over popularity and rationalism over exuberance. That has always been our credo and in the same spirit, we curated our product every week this year. Here is an honest report card of all we did 2024: Caution has been the watchword in our approach to and writings on the equity markets in 2024. On the back of the nearly 20 per cent rally in the markets in 2023, our equity outlook for 2024, published on January 7 , set the tone saying that while there was no case for pessimism, there was ample case for caution this year. Our stance emanated from the market valuation at the beginning of the year (23.8 times trailing) being above long-term averages as well as heightened optimism on earnings growth. In this firm belief, even as the markets raced to their all-time highs well into the year until end-September, we gave more hold/sell/book profit calls on stocks (44) as against buy/accumulate (31). Looking back, we stand vindicated, with the markets now 10 per cent below the September peak and India Inc faced with a consumption slowdown, a slow pick-up in private capex as well as a cooling off in earnings growth. In our assessment period for our stock calls (July 2023 to June 2024), we gave 117 calls across the primary (42) and secondary markets (75). About one-third of the sell /book profits/avoid calls have worked for us, prominent among them being the calls on telecom and IT players such as Vodafone Idea, Indus Towers, Tata Communications and Birlasoft. With Nifty IT up 23 per cent this year on the back of last year’s 22 per cent, book profit calls on stocks such as HCL Tech haven’t worked well. But we continue to remain watchful on IT stocks, as we believe the rally has been driven by valuation multiple expansion rather than earnings growth. Our book profits call on PSUs such as Power Grid and NHPC worked well too, but calls to take money out on IRFC, RVNL and Mazagon Dock, though backed by sound fundamental arguments, were given a bit early, in hindsight. These stocks have eventually seen corrections since the September market peak. Reiterating our cautious views on overvalued PSUs especially in the defence space, we highlighted the significant risks in holding on to these stocks, despite their growth potential. In our edition dated July 7 , we had noted why the stocks trading at obscene valuations would be unable to ‘ avert a painful retreat when market cycle attacks with a vengeance .’ It was near-perfect timing given the significant fall in defence stocks since then. Our article on the underlying factors driving the PSU rally published on May 11, 2024, is one of the top-read articles this year from the bl.portfolio section on our website. That said, half of our well-researched ‘buys’ this year (six in 11 calls) have outperformed the bellwether and the broader markets. These include value-picks NCC, KNR Constructions and UTI AMC, international pick Alphabet as well as Godrej Agrovet and Motilal Oswal Financial Services. In-house expertise on international investing is our USP, but we do admit we have been very choosy this year due to our conservative stance. Apart from the call on Alphabet mentioned above, we recommended a partial book profit on Meta Platforms in February 2024. Investors would have made 5x returns from our earlier buy recommendation in our November 2022 edition in a 14-month timeframe on this stock. This year, we also consciously covered special situations such as buyback, open offers, buyouts etc. to give more actionable ideas to investors on their existing shareholdings. The call to tender the shares at ₹10,000 in the Bajaj Auto buyback citing the massive rally and the valuation expansion has worked well, with the shares now trading 11 per cent below. Ditto with the ‘subscribe’ recommendation to the Grasim Rights issue, which has paid off. On the other hand, we found that we did not see much success with ‘accumulate’ and ‘hold’ calls. Only six of our 20 ‘accumulate’ calls (Nippon AMC, Caplin Point Labs being examples) provided opportunities to accumulate on dips. We also found that the 15 ‘hold’ calls (expected to perform inline with the markets) didn’t work for us. But it is better to err on the side of caution. On the fixed income side, at the beginning of the year , we were very clear that while rate cuts may or may not happen in India in 2024 , interest rates have peaked and that investors should make the best of the rates available. We found both the short-end and the long-end of the yield curve attractive and recommended bonds/mutual funds at these ends. Fast forward to end-2024 and 10-year G-Sec yields have dropped to 6.79 per cent from 7.21 per cent a year ago and a similar pattern can be seen across maturities. Investors have thus benefitted from a rally in bond prices this year. Keeping in tune with our cautious stance on equities as well as the expectation of a peaking out of interest rates, we carefully showcased options in categories such as balanced advantage, equity savings, multi-asset, ultra short-term as well as gilt/long-duration funds in our weekly ‘Fund Call’ space in the mutual fund section. For the risk-averse investors, we also recommended safer FD options across tenures from banks and NBFCs whenever attractive options came up. If you bet on gold as a diversifier this year, you would not be disappointed. Post gold’s decent 13 per cent upside in 2023 to end at $2,063 an ounce, we had predicted it to touch $2,200 this year (technical analysis) in our annual outlook published on January 14. We further followed it up with a more bullish case for gold in our article ‘ Goldilocks moment for gold ’, published on March 17 , as it neared $2,200 in early March. At that point, expectations of US Fed rate cut amidst some uncertainty on whether inflation battle was actually won or not, geopolitical turmoil in West Asia, Russia-Ukraine war and high government debt and fiscal deficit levels in developed countries, made the case for gold too good to ignore. Gold went on to hit a high of $2,790 in October this year. Although it has cooled off marginally from those levels, investors who had taken a cue from our writing would have been solidly rewarded. Rupee depreciation, too, has added to gains for investors in gold in India, offsetting some of the impact of customs duty cut in the July Budget. While we have been receiving your feedback regularly through mail or social media, 2024 has been a landmark year for brand bl.portfolio in terms of making an on-ground connection with readers/investors. Towards this, the first of the ‘ bl.portfolio Investor Conclave ’ was held in Coimbatore in June with a presentation followed by a panel discussion with various experts on the topic of retirement planning. This event was extremely well-received and enabled us to understand the mindset of our audience. There is a plan to do more such events especially in tier-2 cities in the coming year. With bl.portfolio being entirely behind paywall on our website, online subscribers are a lifeline. To reach out to them, we initiated subscriber-exclusive webinars this year. We have so far done one on US investing and another on the market outlook for 2025 is being planned soon. Our in-house technical analysis has a great following and to add value to these readers, we commenced our YouTube Shorts video series for the ‘Today’s Pick’ column (BL Today’s Pick: Stocks to Buy or Sell) this year. Our Nifty Prediction Weekly Video series, which has a big fan base, crossed a milestone of 100 episodes in March this year with 139 having been completed so far. This year, we also experimented with guest stories written by readers based on their personal investing experience. SEBI’s report on F&O trading put out in late September gave us this opportunity. Reader response to our call was overwhelming and at the same time, heart wrenching as well. We carried a few stories with their permission to help the larger investor community take away important lessons. As the New Year dawns, bl.portfolio will see new leadership at the helm. I step down after what has perhaps been the best four-and-a-half years both for the product as well as for me, professionally. The structural changes and demands that the pandemic brought about has seen team bl.portfolio grow from strength to strength in this period and am glad that I have been able to do my bit. The show will go on and if you are looking for best parking places for your money, fresh and unbiased perspectives await you in 2025 too, at bl.portfolio . Keep reading us in print or online, tuning into our podcasts and watching our videos. Do share your valuable feedback too. Happy New Year! CommentsKey posts 3.51am Labor eyes last chance of 2024 to tick policy boxes 3.40am Here’s what to know about the new COP29 funding deal 3.29am What’s making headlines Hide key posts Posts area Latest 1 of 1 Latest posts Latest posts 3.51am Labor eyes last chance of 2024 to tick policy boxes By David Crowe Labor will harden its demands on the Greens to pass more than a dozen bills through parliament in the next four days in the belief that voters will blame the smaller party at the next election for blocking the government’s agenda. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is seeking to have the draft laws passed without a single deal with the Greens after months of argument over housing, the environment, university fees, school funding and other reforms. Loading The approach reflects a crucial calculation that the Greens have lost ground in recent state and local government elections and are at risk of losing federal seats because voters think the party has moved too far to the left on economic policy and the Middle East. But in two significant retreats, Labor shelved a bill on Sunday that sought to crackdown on misinformation and did not put forward a long-awaited ban on gambling advertising after earlier saying it would unveil the package before the end of the year. Read more about the bills before the parliament in the final sitting week of the year here. 3.40am Here’s what to know about the new COP29 funding deal In the wee hours Sunday at the United Nations climate talks, countries from around the world reached an agreement on how rich countries can cough up the funds to support poor countries in the face of climate change. It’s a far-from-perfect arrangement, with many parties still deeply unsatisfied but some hopeful that the deal will be a step in the right direction. An attendee reacts during a closing plenary session at the COP29 UN Climate Summit. Credit: AP Here’s how they got there: What was the finance deal agreed at climate talks? Rich countries have agreed to pool together at least $300 billion a year by 2035. It’s not near the full amount of $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, and that experts said was needed. But delegations more optimistic about the agreement said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that more money flows in the future. What will the money be spent on? The deal decided in Baku replaces a previous agreement from 15 years ago that charged rich nations $100 billion a year to help the developing world with climate finance. The new number has similar aims: it will go toward the developing world’s long laundry list of to-dos to prepare for a warming world and keep it from getting hotter. That includes paying for the transition to clean energy and away from fossil fuels. Countries need funds to build up the infrastructure needed to deploy technologies like wind and solar power on a large scale. Loading Why was it so hard to get a deal? Election results around the world that herald a change in climate leadership, a few key players with motive to stall the talks and a disorganized host country all led to a final crunch that left few happy with a flawed compromise. Developing nations also faced some difficulties agreeing in the final hours. Meanwhile, activists ramped up the pressure: many urged negotiators to stay strong and asserted that no deal would be better than a bad deal. But ultimately the desire for a deal won out. AP 3.29am What’s making headlines By Josefine Ganko Good morning and welcome to the national news blog from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. My name is Josefine Ganko, I’ll be with you on the blog for the first half of the day. It’s Monday, November 25. Here’s what’s making headlines this morning. Pressure is on the Albanese government to make headway on its long list of stalled legislation during the final sitting week of 2024. Peter Dutton will use a private Coalition meeting to calm MPs who are fearful that Labor’s teen social media ban is a Trojan Horse for government control of the internet. A media storm threatens to thwart plans to transfer five of the Bali Nine drug traffickers to Australia by the end of the year after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asked Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to approve the transfer during a meeting in Peru last week. Overseas, countries at the COP29 summit in Baku adopted a $460 billion a year global finance target on Sunday to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change. Latest 1 of 1 Latest Most Viewed in National Loading

INVESTOR worries could continue weighing on the stock market, analysts said, but bargain-hunting opportunities might provide some added lift after four straight week-on-week declines ended last Friday. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed at 6,780.13, up by 1.5 percent from the previous Friday. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.

Stalker 2's second patch cleans up a batch of progression blocking bugs in the middle of missions

Lea Miller-Tooley hopped off a call to welcome the Baylor women’s basketball team to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, where 80-degree temperatures made it easy for the Bears to settle in on Paradise Island a week before Thanksgiving. About 5,000 miles west of the Caribbean nation, similar climes awaited Maui Invitational men's teams in Hawaii. They’ve often been greeted with leis, the traditional Hawaiian welcome of friendship. College basketball teams and fans look forward to this time of the year. The holiday week tournaments feature buzzworthy matchups and all-day TV coverage, sure, but there is a familiarity about them as they help ward off the November chill. For four decades, these sandy-beach getaways filled with basketball have become a beloved mainstay of the sport itself. “When you see (ESPN’s) ‘Feast Week’ of college basketball on TV, when you see the Battle 4 Atlantis on TV, you know college basketball is back,” said Miller-Tooley, the founder and organizer of the Battle 4 Atlantis men's and women's tournaments. “Because it’s a saturated time of the year with the NFL, college football and the NBA. But when you see these gorgeous events in these beautiful places, you realize, ‘Wow, hoops are back, let’s get excited.’” The Great Alaska Shootout was the trend-setting multiple-team event (MTE) nearly five decades ago. The brainchild of late Alaska-Anchorage coach Bob Rachal sought to raise his program’s profile by bringing in national-power programs, which could take advantage of NCAA rules allowing them to exceed the maximum allotment of regular-season games if they played the three-game tournament outside the contiguous 48 states. The first edition, named the Sea Wolf Classic, saw N.C. State beat Louisville 72-66 for the title on Nov. 26, 1978. The Maui Invitational followed in November 1984, borne from the buzz of NAIA program Chaminade’s shocking upset of top-ranked Virginia and 7-foot-4 star Ralph Sampson in Hawaii two years earlier. Events kept coming, with warm-weather locales getting in on the action. The Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cancun Challenge in Mexico. The Cayman Islands Classic. The Jamaica Classic. The Myrtle Beach Invitational joining the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Numerous tournaments in Florida. Some events have faded away like the Puerto Rico Tipoff and the Great Alaska Shootout, the latter in 2017 amid event competition and schools opting for warm-weather locales. Notre Dame takes on Chaminade during the first half of a 2017 game in Lahaina, Hawaii. Marco Garcia, AP File Miller-Tooley’s push to build an MTE for Atlantis began as a December 2010 doubleheader with Georgia Tech beating Richmond and Virginia Tech beating Mississippi State in a prove-it moment for a tournament’s viability. It also required changing NCAA legislation to permit MTEs in the Bahamas. Approval came in March 2011; the first eight-team Atlantis men’s tournament followed in November. That tournament quickly earned marquee status with big-name fields, with Atlantis champions Villanova (2017) and Virginia (2018) later winning that season’s NCAA title. Games run in a ballroom-turned-arena at the resort, where players also check out massive swimming pools, water slides and inner-tube rapids surrounded by palm trees and the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s just the value of getting your passport stamped, that will never get old,” Miller-Tooley said. “Watching some of these kids, this may be their first and last time – and staff and families – that they ever travel outside the United States. ... You can see through these kids’ eyes that it’s really an unbelievable experience.” ACC Network analyst Luke Hancock knows that firsthand. His Louisville team finished second at Atlantis in 2012 and won that year’s later-vacated NCAA title, with Hancock as the Final Four's most outstanding player. “I remember (then-coach Rick Pitino) saying something to the effect of: ‘Some of you guys might never get this opportunity again. We’re staying in this unbelievable place, you’re doing it with people you love,’” Hancock said. “It was a business trip for us there at Thanksgiving, but he definitely had a tone of ‘We’ve got to enjoy this as well.’” Maui offers similar vibes, though 2024 could be a little different as Lahaina recovers from deadly 2023 wildfires that forced the event's relocation last year. North Carolina assistant coach Sean May played for the Tar Heels’ Maui winner in 2004 and was part of UNC’s staff for the 2016 champion, with both teams later winning the NCAA title. May said “you just feel the peacefulness” of the area — even while focusing on games — and savors memories of the team taking a boat out on the Pacific Ocean after title runs under now-retired Hall of Famer Roy Williams. “Teams like us, Dukes, UConns – you want to go to places that are very well-run,” May said. “Maui, Lea Miller with her group at the Battle 4 Atlantis, that’s what drives teams to come back because you know you’re going to get standard A-quality of not only the preparation but the tournament with the way it’s run. Everything is top-notch. And I think that brings guys back year after year.” That’s why Colorado coach Tad Boyle is so excited for the Buffaloes’ first Maui appearance since 2009. “We’ve been trying to get in the tournament since I got here,” said Boyle, now in his 15th season. And of course, that warm-weather setting sure doesn’t hurt. “If you talk about the Marquettes of the world, St. John’s, Providence – they don’t want that cold weather,” said NBA and college TV analyst Terrence Oglesby, who played for Clemson in the 2007 San Juan Invitational in Puerto Rico. “They’re going to have to deal with that all January and February. You might as well get a taste of what the sun feels like.” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo argues a call during the first half of a Nov. 16 game against Bowling Green in East Lansing, Michigan. Mi zzo is making his fourth trip to Maui. Carlos Osorio, Associated Press The men’s Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, got things rolling last week with No. 11 Tennessee routing No. 13 Baylor for the title. The week ahead could boast matchups befitting the Final Four, with teams having two weeks of action since any opening-night hiccups. “It’s a special kickoff to the college basketball season,” Oglesby said. “It’s just without the rust.” On the women’s side, Atlantis began its fourth eight-team women’s tournament Saturday with No. 16 North Carolina and No. 18 Baylor, while the nearby Baha Mar resort follows with two four-team women’s brackets that include No. 2 UConn, No. 7 LSU, No. 17 Mississippi and No. 20 N.C. State. Then come the men’s headliners. The Maui Invitational turns 40 as it opens Monday back in Lahaina. It features second-ranked and two-time reigning national champion UConn, No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 Iowa State and No. 10 North Carolina. The Battle 4 Atlantis opens its 13th men’s tournament Wednesday, topped by No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 16 Indiana and No. 17 Arizona. Michigan State Hall of Famer Tom Izzo is making his fourth trip to Maui, where he debuted as Jud Heathcote’s successor at the 1995 tournament. Izzo's Spartans have twice competed at Atlantis, last in 2021. “They’re important because they give you something in November or December that is exciting,” Izzo said. Any drawbacks? “It’s a 10-hour flight,” he said of Hawaii. In this image taken with a slow shutter speed, Spain's tennis player Rafael Nadal serves during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) Manu Fernandez A fan takes a picture of the moon prior to a qualifying soccer match for the FIFA World Cup 2026 between Uruguay and Colombia in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich) Santiago Mazzarovich Rasmus Højgaard of Denmark reacts after missing a shot on the 18th hole in the final round of World Tour Golf Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) Altaf Qadri Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Jalen Tolbert (1) fails to pull in a pass against Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dee Alford (20) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/ Brynn Anderson) Brynn Anderson India's Tilak Varma jumps in the air as he celebrates after scoring a century during the third T20 International cricket match between South Africa and India, at Centurion Park in Centurion, South Africa, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Themba Hadebe Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski warms up before facing the Seattle Kraken in an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Lindsey Wasson Kansas State players run onto the field before an NCAA college football game against Arizona State Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Manhattan, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) Charlie Riedel A fan rapped in an Uruguay flag arrives to the stands for a qualifying soccer match against Colombia for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico) Matilde Campodonico Brazil's Marquinhos attempts to stop the sprinklers that were turned on during a FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying soccer match against Venezuela at Monumental stadium in Maturin, Venezuela, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Ariana Cubillos Georgia's Georges Mikautadze celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the UEFA Nations League, group B1 soccer match between Georgia and Ukraine at the AdjaraBet Arena in Batumi, Georgia, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tamuna Kulumbegashvili) Tamuna Kulumbegashvili Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque, right, attempts to score while Minnesota Wild right wing Ryan Hartman (38) and Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) keep the puck out of the net during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt) Ellen Schmidt Mike Tyson, left, fights Jake Paul during their heavyweight boxing match, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Julio Cortez Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario misses the third goal during the Nations League soccer match between Italy and France, at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) Luca Bruno President-elect Donald Trump attends UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Evan Vucci Fans argue in stands during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between France and Israel at the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Thursday Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Thibault Camus St. John's guard RJ Luis Jr. (12) falls after driving to the basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against New Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith) Pamela Smith Katie Taylor, left, lands a right to Amanda Serrano during their undisputed super lightweight title bout, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Julio Cortez Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver DJ Turner, right, tackles Miami Dolphins wide receiver Malik Washington, left, on a punt return during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Lynne Sladky UConn's Paige Bueckers (5) battles North Carolina's Laila Hull, right, for a loose ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Greensboro, N.C., Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown) Ben McKeownCES 2025 is looming around the corner, and while the annual tech show is usually full of high-tech goodies, this year is going to be especially important for gamers. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is hosting the big CES keynote this year, so you can expect Team Green to be going big. Likewise, we haven’t seen new graphics cards from AMD, so it’s a very strong possibility that CES is going to usher in an entirely new generation of graphics hardware . CES 2025 officially kicks off on January 7, 2025. However, the real show starts a day earlier, on January 6, when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang takes the stage for the CES 2025 keynote at 6:30pm PST. CES 2025 will wrap up around January 10. We expect announcements to happen throughout the week, as the hundreds of tech companies all vie for attention. Companies like Intel, AMD, Samsung and Sony all have their own keynotes scheduled, likely brimming with announcements of their own. There’s going to be a lot of stuff. CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is an annual tech convention, where tech companies big and small show off concepts and new products for the new year. Unlike some other trade shows, a big part of CES has always been concepts that give a glimpse into the future, rather than just the products we’ll see at our local Best Buy later in the year – though the latter is still a huge part of the show. You can expect everything from gaming laptops to flying cars to make an appearance at CES, though this year we suspect the former is going to be the star of the show. While CES usually has a wide variety of technology on offer, and likely will this year too, the thing we’re most interested in is new GPUs. After all, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is hosting the big keynote that kicks the event off, and I couldn’t imagine Team Green not taking that opportunity to announce something big. We’re overdue for new graphics cards anyway. Typically, new graphics cards – both from AMD and Nvidia – release on a roughly two-year cycle. Given that the RTX 4090 launched in October 2022 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX launched in December of the same year, we’re officially overdue for a new generation of graphics cards. It doesn’t hurt that Intel beat both of these companies to the punch with its new graphics card, the Intel Arc B580, either. With the Intel card already out in the wild, and with the company’s disappointing Core Ultra 200S processors already out, it’s less clear what Intel will have to bring to the table. The Lunar Lake architecture behind AI PCs has been out since September, and it's unlikely that Team Blue will have a follow-up to that architecture already. However, we are still waiting on a new generation of H-series processors from the company. H-series processors are typically reserved for gaming laptops, and offer substantially better performance than the chips behind your thin and light devices. If AMD does announce new graphics, it’s possible that we might at least get a sneak peak at the AMD Z2 – or whatever the follow-up to the Z1 Extreme will be called. Handheld gaming PCs have blown up over the last year or so, with hits like the Asus ROG Ally X and the Lenovo Legion Go really taking the idea popularized by the Steam Deck and running with it. MSI is heading into the show with the MSI Claw 8 AI already up for preorder, and we can’t imagine it’s the only manufacturer with a handheld to show. After all, we’re still waiting for Alienware to make its Concept UFO from CES 2020 a reality. Given that it’s been 4 years, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it make an appearance. Beyond PC gaming, though, Sony and Samsung both have major press conferences at the show. While it’s exciting to see Sony at the show, it’s likely that the company is going to focus primarily on their non-gaming segments – think TVs, audio, etc. Likewise, I don’t expect Samsung to announce new phones at the show, though with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra being nearly a year old at this point, we could be surprised. Like any year, though, there’s no way to predict everything that will be at the show. There are hundreds of companies showing off what they’ve been cooking up, and there is always something huge that takes everyone by surprise. Luckily, because we’ll be on the ground, we’ll be updating this article with all the cool stuff we see in Las Vegas in January, so be sure to keep this page bookmarked. Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

A terrible December for dictatorsDecember 17, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlightedthe following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread by Dresden University of Technology Superbugs, bacteria that are immune to multiple antibiotics, pose a great challenge to modern medicine. Researchers from the B CUBE—Center for Molecular Bioengineering at TUD Dresden University of Technology and Institut Pasteur in Paris identified a weakness in the bacterial machinery that drives antibiotic resistance adaptation. Their findings, published in the journal Science Advances, could pave the way to boosting the effectiveness of existing antibiotics. Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, antibiotics have changed medicine, allowing us to easily combat bacterial infections. However, with the invention of antibiotics, we have also entered a never-ending arms race with bacteria. They adapt rapidly to drugs, rendering many existing treatments ineffective. Such antibiotic-resistant bacteria, often dubbed "superbugs," pose a critical threat to patients with chronic illnesses and weakened immune systems. "Rather than developing new antibiotics , we wanted to understand exactly how bacteria adapt their resistances," says Prof. Michael Schlierf, research group leader at B CUBE, TU Dresden, the leader of the study. In doing so, the groups discovered why it takes longer for some bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance , while others adapt very quickly. Their findings open up new possibilities for the development of counter-strategies. A genetic toolbox in action "Our work focuses on the integron system, a genetic toolbox that bacteria use to adapt to their environment by exchanging genes, including those for antibiotic resistance," says Prof. Didier Mazel, research group leader at Institut Pasteur in Paris, whose group worked together with the Schlierf team. The integron system is like a toolbox. It allows bacteria to store and share resistance genes with their offspring and neighboring cells. It operates via a molecular "cut and paste" mechanism driven by special proteins, known as recombinases. The integron system has been researched a lot. Some bacteria gain new resistance very fast and for others, it takes considerably longer. It turned out that the variety of DNA sequences is at the heart of this difference. "The sequences inside the integron system are flanked by special DNA hairpins. They are called like this because this is exactly how they look like, like little U-shaped pins sticking out of the DNA. The recombinases are built to bind to these hairpins and form a complex that can then cut out one fragment and paste in another one," explains Prof. Mazel. The Schlierf group used a cutting-edge microscopy setup to study how strongly a recombinase protein binds the different DNA hairpin sequences. They found that the complexes with the strongest binding between the protein and the DNA are also the ones that are the most efficient at gaining resistance genes. Using the force Using an advanced microscopy technique known as optical tweezers , the Schlierf group measured the tiny forces it takes to pull the different protein-DNA complexes apart. "With the optical tweezers, we use light to, sort of, grab a single strand of DNA from both sides and pull it apart. Think of it as pulling on a cord to undo a knot," says Dr. Ekaterina Vorobevskaia, a scientist in the Schlierf lab who carried out the project. The group saw a clear correlation between the force it took to dismantle a protein-DNA complex and the efficiency of the cut-and-paste machinery. "If you have a complex that is strongly bound to the DNA, it can perform its job very well. Cut the DNA and paste a new resistance gene very fast. On the other hand, if you have a protein-DNA complex that is rather weak and keeps falling apart, it has to be reassembled again and again. This is why some bacteria gain antibiotic resistance faster than others," adds Dr. Vorobevskaia. Exploiting the weakness "The integron system has been studied by microbiologists for decades. What we bring to the table now is adding the biophysical data and explaining the behavior of this system with physics," says Prof. Schlierf. "Maybe this vulnerability to force is a more general phenomena for varying efficiencies in biology." The scientists believe that the weakness in the system can be used to develop supplemental treatments that will take advantage of, or create, the unstable DNA-protein complexes. It could accompany existing antibiotics and give them an additional time advantage over bacteria . More information: Ekaterina Vorobevskaia et al, The recombination efficiency of the bacterial integron depends on the mechanical stability of the synaptic complex, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp8756 Journal information: Science Advances Provided by Dresden University of Technology

Youth advocate and educator Daniel Principe on healthy masculinitySupport Independent Arts Journalism As an independent publication, we rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. If you value our coverage and want to support more of it, consider becoming a member today . Already a member? Sign in here. Support Hyperallergic’s independent arts journalism for as little as $8 per month. Become a Member HELSINKI — In Tove Jansson’s first Moomins novel, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945), the titular characters travel through a frightening forest before a rainstorm causes an epic flood, covering the land in danger and darkness. When the waters begin to recede, the Moomins find they have been swept into a beautiful fertile valley. They decide to stay. Published during the last months of the Second World War, it is easy to read the book as an allegory, with the flood representing the inescapable horrors of war and Moominvalley as an Edenic sanctuary. As an outspoken pacificist, Jansson spent the war years and beyond both protesting conflict and seeking an escape from it. Tove Jansson: Paradise at Helsinki Art Museum captures both aspects of Jansson’s life and work, with a focus on her public art commissions from the 1940s through ’50s. Most of her paintings avoid depicting the realities of war, but two tiny, tatty-edged works on paper speak volumes. Both are city scenes inspired by her travels in Germany in the late 1930s, during which she witnessed the terrifying rise of Nazism. One features a prominent swastika flag, while the other depicts a murky street surrounded by oppressive black buildings. A crowd of shadowy figures moves towards a tiny dot of orange light in an open doorway; are they refugees fleeing toward the hopeful glimmer, or are they fascists rushing to stamp it out? This is the world Jansson wished to escape, especially with an older brother fighting at the front. As she wrote to a friend in 1944, “I’ve never dreamt and planned as much as I have in these past few years. Not as a game — but as an absolute necessity.” As this exhibition shows, Jansson saw dreaming and playfulness as essential relief from the deprivations of war, which continued even after the armistice. Get the latest art news, reviews and opinions from Hyperallergic. Daily Weekly Opportunities In bombed-out Helsinki and beyond, a government rebuilding program created opportunities for artists, and Jansson was able to earn a living for the first time through her Moomin comic strip and a series of public commissions. In both endeavors, she turned to images of paradise, forests, and fairytales to craft a unique imaginative world that appeals to adults as much as to children. Moomin characters make cameos in many of her murals, such as her frescoes “Party in the City” and “Party in the Countryside” (both 1947). In the first of these, Jansson depicts herself gazing out at the viewer, her back turned defiantly on her lover Vivica Bandler, with whom she had recently broken up with acrimoniously. A little Moomintroll lurks on the table beside her, a mascot, perhaps, that represents a gateway to a more fantastical world. Moomin characters feature more frequently in works designed explicitly for children’s spaces, such as her diptych “Fairytale Panorama,” produced for a kindergarten in 1949. The two paintings are delightful flights of fancy, crammed with whimsical details of princesses, magical landscapes, and fantastical creatures. But even here, as in all of her paradisal paintings, there are subtle hints of menace: Bats flutter, lightning bolts threaten a storm, and cats stalk hungrily. This is not pure escapism, but an expression of a state in which joy and fear are allowed to coexist. Many of these murals, including the “Fairytale Panorama,” were made for specific sites and aren’t present in the exhibition. However, the recent discovery of several rolls of preparatory charcoal drawings at 1:1 scale in a corner of the artist’s studio makes some form of presentation here possible. These are not rough sketches but fully worked-out scenes, and merit viewing as artworks in their own right. With their monochrome shadowy strokes, they bear an accidental affinity to Jansson’s earlier sketch of a Nazi-ridden city, and certainly offer a more solemn perspective on the final vibrantly colorful frescoes, which are seen in projections alongside the drawings. A handful of Jansson’s paradise paintings read uncomfortably through a contemporary postcolonial lens, such as one piece produced for a rubber company depicting idealized workers on a plantation. Another pair of paintings, probably produced in 1939 and 1940, are Gaugin-like in their delineation of an imaginary sunny Polynesian island populated by happily unclothed people. Jansson made a number of works in this style with the belief that they would sell and make her some much-needed cash during the brutal Winter War of 1939–40, during which the Soviet Union invaded Finland. She was mistaken; it turned out to be the Moomin comic strips and public commissions that provided her with both the creative and financial lifeline she needed. Jansson’s cross-disciplinary oeuvre demonstrates a radical commitment to the profound necessity of play, dreams, and escapism. She took children seriously, which is reflected in the exhibition’s thoughtful, unobtrusive design. Paintings are hung low to the ground, Moomin creatures hide among the architecture, and there are doors to open and kaleidoscopes to look through. The exhibition — infused with the same knowing nostalgia as her works — is both comforting and subtly subversive. Tove Jansson: Paradise continues at the Helsinki Art Museum (Eteläinen Rautatiekatu 8 , Helsinki, Finland) through April 6, 2025. The exhibition was organized by Heli Harni. We hope you enjoyed this article! Before you keep reading, please consider supporting Hyperallergic ’s journalism during a time when independent, critical reporting is increasingly scarce. Unlike many in the art world, we are not beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Our journalism is funded by readers like you , ensuring integrity and independence in our coverage. We strive to offer trustworthy perspectives on everything from art history to contemporary art. We spotlight artist-led social movements, uncover overlooked stories, and challenge established norms to make art more inclusive and accessible. With your support, we can continue to provide global coverage without the elitism often found in art journalism. If you can, please join us as a member today . Millions rely on Hyperallergic for free, reliable information. By becoming a member, you help keep our journalism free, independent, and accessible to all. Thank you for reading. Share Copied to clipboard Mail Bluesky Threads LinkedIn Facebook

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Support Independent Arts Journalism As an independent publication, we rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. If you value our coverage and want to support more of it, consider becoming a member today . Already a member? Sign in here. Support Hyperallergic’s independent arts journalism for as little as $8 per month. Become a Member HELSINKI — In Tove Jansson’s first Moomins novel, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945), the titular characters travel through a frightening forest before a rainstorm causes an epic flood, covering the land in danger and darkness. When the waters begin to recede, the Moomins find they have been swept into a beautiful fertile valley. They decide to stay. Published during the last months of the Second World War, it is easy to read the book as an allegory, with the flood representing the inescapable horrors of war and Moominvalley as an Edenic sanctuary. As an outspoken pacificist, Jansson spent the war years and beyond both protesting conflict and seeking an escape from it. Tove Jansson: Paradise at Helsinki Art Museum captures both aspects of Jansson’s life and work, with a focus on her public art commissions from the 1940s through ’50s. Most of her paintings avoid depicting the realities of war, but two tiny, tatty-edged works on paper speak volumes. Both are city scenes inspired by her travels in Germany in the late 1930s, during which she witnessed the terrifying rise of Nazism. One features a prominent swastika flag, while the other depicts a murky street surrounded by oppressive black buildings. A crowd of shadowy figures moves towards a tiny dot of orange light in an open doorway; are they refugees fleeing toward the hopeful glimmer, or are they fascists rushing to stamp it out? This is the world Jansson wished to escape, especially with an older brother fighting at the front. As she wrote to a friend in 1944, “I’ve never dreamt and planned as much as I have in these past few years. Not as a game — but as an absolute necessity.” As this exhibition shows, Jansson saw dreaming and playfulness as essential relief from the deprivations of war, which continued even after the armistice. Get the latest art news, reviews and opinions from Hyperallergic. Daily Weekly Opportunities In bombed-out Helsinki and beyond, a government rebuilding program created opportunities for artists, and Jansson was able to earn a living for the first time through her Moomin comic strip and a series of public commissions. In both endeavors, she turned to images of paradise, forests, and fairytales to craft a unique imaginative world that appeals to adults as much as to children. Moomin characters make cameos in many of her murals, such as her frescoes “Party in the City” and “Party in the Countryside” (both 1947). In the first of these, Jansson depicts herself gazing out at the viewer, her back turned defiantly on her lover Vivica Bandler, with whom she had recently broken up with acrimoniously. A little Moomintroll lurks on the table beside her, a mascot, perhaps, that represents a gateway to a more fantastical world. Moomin characters feature more frequently in works designed explicitly for children’s spaces, such as her diptych “Fairytale Panorama,” produced for a kindergarten in 1949. The two paintings are delightful flights of fancy, crammed with whimsical details of princesses, magical landscapes, and fantastical creatures. But even here, as in all of her paradisal paintings, there are subtle hints of menace: Bats flutter, lightning bolts threaten a storm, and cats stalk hungrily. This is not pure escapism, but an expression of a state in which joy and fear are allowed to coexist. Many of these murals, including the “Fairytale Panorama,” were made for specific sites and aren’t present in the exhibition. However, the recent discovery of several rolls of preparatory charcoal drawings at 1:1 scale in a corner of the artist’s studio makes some form of presentation here possible. These are not rough sketches but fully worked-out scenes, and merit viewing as artworks in their own right. With their monochrome shadowy strokes, they bear an accidental affinity to Jansson’s earlier sketch of a Nazi-ridden city, and certainly offer a more solemn perspective on the final vibrantly colorful frescoes, which are seen in projections alongside the drawings. A handful of Jansson’s paradise paintings read uncomfortably through a contemporary postcolonial lens, such as one piece produced for a rubber company depicting idealized workers on a plantation. Another pair of paintings, probably produced in 1939 and 1940, are Gaugin-like in their delineation of an imaginary sunny Polynesian island populated by happily unclothed people. Jansson made a number of works in this style with the belief that they would sell and make her some much-needed cash during the brutal Winter War of 1939–40, during which the Soviet Union invaded Finland. She was mistaken; it turned out to be the Moomin comic strips and public commissions that provided her with both the creative and financial lifeline she needed. Jansson’s cross-disciplinary oeuvre demonstrates a radical commitment to the profound necessity of play, dreams, and escapism. She took children seriously, which is reflected in the exhibition’s thoughtful, unobtrusive design. Paintings are hung low to the ground, Moomin creatures hide among the architecture, and there are doors to open and kaleidoscopes to look through. The exhibition — infused with the same knowing nostalgia as her works — is both comforting and subtly subversive. Tove Jansson: Paradise continues at the Helsinki Art Museum (Eteläinen Rautatiekatu 8 , Helsinki, Finland) through April 6, 2025. The exhibition was organized by Heli Harni. We hope you enjoyed this article! Before you keep reading, please consider supporting Hyperallergic ’s journalism during a time when independent, critical reporting is increasingly scarce. Unlike many in the art world, we are not beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Our journalism is funded by readers like you , ensuring integrity and independence in our coverage. We strive to offer trustworthy perspectives on everything from art history to contemporary art. We spotlight artist-led social movements, uncover overlooked stories, and challenge established norms to make art more inclusive and accessible. With your support, we can continue to provide global coverage without the elitism often found in art journalism. If you can, please join us as a member today . Millions rely on Hyperallergic for free, reliable information. By becoming a member, you help keep our journalism free, independent, and accessible to all. Thank you for reading. Share Copied to clipboard Mail Bluesky Threads LinkedIn FacebookOur community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Janey Godley forgave a large number of people ahead of her death - but she still singled out Donald Trump for harsh criticism. During the comedian's funeral service this morning, a priest opened up on the conversations he had had with Janey in her later days. Hundreds of mourners wearing bright colours gathered at St Mary's Cathedral, Great Western Road, Glasgow on Saturday morning to say their final goodbyes to the late comic. And the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St Mary's Cathedral, told of his meetings with Janey, who passed away after a battle with ovarian cancer earlier this month. At the service, Rev Holdsworth mentioned one particularly funny conversation he had with Janey had about the controversial American President-elect. Speaking during her service, he said: "Janey, knowing that she was dying, was making lists of people to forgive and that is what real religion and real humanity is made out of. Janey had a great deal to forgive, bad things had been done to her, I asked her how she was going to do that. "She said she was going to forgive everyone, including everyone who was going to be at the funeral because her love was bigger than anything that anyone could have done to her and by the way that's a lot of love. "I said 'Really Janey? Everyone? Can you really forgive everyone? She said 'yes everyone', I said 'what about American politics? Have you changed your mind on that?' Friends, Janey Godley died having forgiven everyone but she still believed to her dying day that Trump is a country mile away from anyone who should come near to power." The priest's comments had mourners in fits of laughter as they remembered Janey's viral ' Trump is a c***' protest. The comedian was one of many people who gathered to protest at Trump's Turnberry golf course in 2018. In typical fashion, Janey arrived at the demonstration wielding a poster containing her famed flowery language. It was one of the exploits that put her on the map, gaining global attention. Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon , Still Game's Gavin Mitchell, River City's Tom Urie and comic Susie McCabe were amongst those in attendance to pay tribute to Janey, who tragically passed away at the Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow on November 2 following a battle with ovarian cancer. Janey's daughter Ashley Storrie, who is also a comedian, gave a moving eulogy in which she spoke beautifully about her mum's incredible life. After telling stories of her memories of Janey , Ashley concluded: "She was a comedian, that was her thing first and foremost, she tried acting, she hated it, she was a terrible singer, she couldny knit, she tried, there's pictures of Liam Neeson with a hideous scarf to prove it. "But what she was, was a comedian so for one last time as I sit back down can you please put your hands together for my ma, Janey Godley ." Those that had gathered within the cathedral then gave Janey one final standing ovation, as an emotional Ashley was comforted by loved ones in the front row. Yesterday, the star was accompanied by a 100-strong female choir and best pal Shirley Doig as she made a "final tour" of Edinburgh . Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.