ijlou has added a photo to the pool:
banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:
View of Mount Kurohime from Lake Kagami (鏡池), "Mirror Lake" in English, in the Togakushi Shrine area of Nagano Prefecture.
GRONINGEN (ANP) - Bij een steekincident in Groningen is in de nacht van donderdag op vrijdag een man gewond geraakt. Dat meldt de politie op X.
De man zou zijn neergestoken in de omgeving van het Martinikerkhof. Voor hem is hulpverlening ingeschakeld. De politie hield even later ook een verdachte aan en doet verder onderzoek naar de toedracht.
BEND (ANP/AFP/RTR) - Bij de schietpartij op een basisschool in de Amerikaanse staat Oregon zijn drie kinderen en een lerares omgekomen. Dat bevestigde de politie in de plaats Bend donderdagavond plaatselijke tijd. De jonge slachtoffers waren 5, 8 en 11 jaar oud. Een 7-jarig kind en een lerares verkeren in kritieke toestand.
De schutter was een 16-jarige. Hij is in de school doodgeschoten door een omstander die hem de school in zag lopen en achterna is gegaan, meldde het hoofd van de politie tijdens een persconferentie. De tiener was een inwoner van Bend, een plaats met ruim 100.000 inwoners. De politie wilde volgens NBC News tijdens de persconferentie niet ingaan op de vraag of de schutter iemand op de school kende of een oud-leerling was.
De politie kreeg donderdagmiddag in eerste instantie een melding dat er bij de school op een auto was geschoten. Kort daarop volgden meerdere meldingen dat de jongeman de school in was gegaan en daar schoten loste. Toen de politie enkele minuten later arriveerde, was de schutter al doodgeschoten.
KYIV (ANP/DPA) - In delen van de Oekraïense hoofdstad Kyiv en de omliggende regio is de elektriciteit uitgevallen na een Russische aanval op cruciale energie-infrastructuur. Dat meldt het Oekraïense ministerie van Energie. Volgens burgemeester Vitali Klitsjko heeft schade bij een nutsbedrijf ook gezorgd voor problemen met de waterdruk in de stad.
In de westelijke regio Wolynië, aan de grens met Polen, zitten volgens Volodymyr Zelensky zo'n 15.000 mensen zonder stroom na Russische aanvallen. Herstelwerkzaamheden kunnen volgens de president pas van start gaan als er geen risico meer is op nieuwe aanvallen.
Eerder donderdag voerde Oekraïne een aanval uit op een Russische olieraffinaderij, nadat Zelensky in een interview met de Financial Times had aangegeven niet langer gehoor te geven aan het Amerikaanse verzoek om geen energiefaciliteiten aan te vallen.
The remains of Edward Lelburian Jackson were first discovered in 2022, and an initial autopsy revealed he was killed decades ago
After four years, a piece of the haunting mystery uncovered in the waning waters of drought-stricken Lake Mead has been solved.
Since the remains of an unknown homicide victim were discovered stuffed inside a barrel in 2022, Las Vegas investigators have been searching not for his killer – but for his identity. At a press conference on Thursday, Clark county coroner Melanie Rouse shared his name publicly for the first time: Edward Lelburian Jackson.
Continue reading...UK defence secretary says Pete Hegseth assured him satellite communications system back up and running in Ukraine. What we know on day 1,696
Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s Starlink had been restored, according to UK defence secretary Wes Streeting. Ukraine said Starlink services had been restricted on Wednesday, hampering the country’s attack and air-defence drone missions, and triggering a new rift between Washington and Kyiv. On Thursday, Streeting said his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, had assured him in a face-to-face meeting that the vital satellite communications system was back up and running. He said it was unclear what had caused the disruption, but added: “This is not the first time we’ve seen a falling out between Washington and Kyiv.”
The order to limit Starlink access came from inside the White House, according to a report by Reuters, citing two US officials and a western official briefed on the matter. The officials said leaders at the defence department received a message that the service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not specify who in the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order. The Pentagon is the biggest customer of Starshield, which is the military-grade version of the Starlink service.
Amid growing doubts about long-term US commitment to Ukraine, Ukrainoan president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Nato chief Mark Rutte in Brussels and held a string of bilateral meetings with European leaders before he was set to join an EU summit on Friday. French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said it was “crucial” that Ukraine receive “all the means necessary to protect itself” after meeting Zelenskyy. “I can reassure you, dear Ukrainian friends and President Zelenskyy: YOU ARE NOT ALONE,” Polish prime minister Donald Tusk posted online.
Vladimir Putin has said that recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries had not caused significant damage and vowed that Moscow would respond. “They hit here and there. Nothing particularly significant. Nevertheless they are carrying on,” the Russian president was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. His comments came after a major Ukrainian drone attack ignited a fire at an oil refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region on Thursday morning, according to the regional governor. It was the first confirmed Ukrainian attack on a Russian energy facility since US president Donald Trump abruptly declared an “energy ceasefire” that neither Russia nor Ukraine said they had agreed to.
The US treasury department has extended a sanctions waiver on Russian oil company Lukoil for service stations outside Russia through April 2027. Thursday’s announcement allows Lukoil-branded stations in countries like the US to continue serving customers until 24 April next year. The extension comes a week after Trump said he had secured an agreement with Russia to supply diesel to American and global markets, with the US treasury issuing a temporary licence to enable flows. The latest licence, like an earlier one, does not allow the “transfer of funds to any person or account located in the Russian Federation”.
Three people were killed and six others injured after the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine came under a Russian drone attack lasting more than 10 hours, Ukraine’s emergency services said Thursday. Between midnight and Thursday morning, Russia launched more than 850 drones at Ukraine, Zelenskyy said on X. He added that the barrage came “precisely at a time when the speed of our defensive capabilities is being artificially restricted,” an apparent reference to the Starlink restrictions on drones. Russian aerial attacks hit 15 Ukrainian regions, he said.
Continue reading...Meta says Muse excels at ‘multi-step reasoning’ and ‘complex software engineering’ as it races to catch up to Chinese rivals
Meta on Thursday launched a new open-weight AI model which it claims rivals, and in some cases outperforms, similar products from leading Chinese developers.
Muse Spark Open “is the most capable US open-weight model to date,” Meta’s chief of AI Alexandr Wang wrote on X.
Continue reading...
Solune | Strategy & Visual Identity Brand strategy, visual identity, and motion design for Solune, a forward thinking solar energy brand redefining how renewable energy is captured, stored, and distributed. Built around the idea of Energy Beyond Daylight, the identity combines geometric precision, bold typography, and a distinctive color palette to create a modern and recognizable brand system. The identity comes to life through motion design by Jon Nuredini, bringing an additional layer of energy and movement to the visual experience.
Obnoxious weed woven into massive mullet sculpture.
The 5-metre fish sculpture was never meant to reach the scale it did, but as its Gold Coast creators became more invested, it kept expanding.
In his latest Notes on the Crises, Nathan Tankus reflects on the lives and deaths of three great lights of heterodox economics: Robert Skidelsky, Anwar Shaikh and Perry Mehrling. "I keep having whiplash between how reflecting on these three giants highlights how fortunate I've been and the sadness their deaths bring me. How generous people have been with me; how extraordinary my opportunities and life has already been."
"Along with the dangers of continuing cyberattacks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that the threat of an AI market crash is putting the global markets at risk," writes Slashdot reader databasecowgirl, citing the IMF's latest semiannual Global Financial Stability Report. Here's a summary: Three salient risks could trigger a sharp tightening of financial conditions and market turmoil. Weaker or less durable investment and profitability in artificial intelligence could lead to a correction in AI-related asset prices, amplified by rising leverage and concentrated exposures. Resurgent inflation or fiscal concerns could drive a sharp rise in sovereign bond yields, with potentially broad repercussions across financial markets. Meanwhile, increasingly sophisticated cyber threats pose growing risks as finance becomes more digital and interconnected.
Underlying financial vulnerabilities could amplify these risks and turn market stress into systemic events. Although the global banking system remains broadly resilient, pockets of weaker banks persist. Liquidity mismatches among insurers and pension funds have increased, while rising leverage and contingent liquidity risks in private credit could amplify stress.
While hedge funds support market functioning in calm times, their use of leverage and exposure to crowded trades could exacerbate market stress too and create spillovers to prime brokers. Some emerging markets have seen policy buffers erode, and frontier economies have increasingly relied on less transparent forms of financing.
Finally, although markets for tokenized assets remain small and could offer efficiency gains in several areas, they can create new channels for the buildup of leverage and mismatches in liquidity and maturity, in addition to elevating risks related to technology and infrastructure. These vulnerabilities underscore the need for policies that strengthen resilience, enhance transparency, contain excessive leverage, and improve preparedness for future shocks. The full report can be found here (PDF).
Underlying financial vulnerabilities could amplify these risks and turn market stress into systemic events. Although the global banking system remains broadly resilient, pockets of weaker banks persist. Liquidity mismatches among insurers and pension funds have increased, while rising leverage and contingent liquidity risks in private credit could amplify stress.
While hedge funds support market functioning in calm times, their use of leverage and exposure to crowded trades could exacerbate market stress too and create spillovers to prime brokers. Some emerging markets have seen policy buffers erode, and frontier economies have increasingly relied on less transparent forms of financing.
Finally, although markets for tokenized assets remain small and could offer efficiency gains in several areas, they can create new channels for the buildup of leverage and mismatches in liquidity and maturity, in addition to elevating risks related to technology and infrastructure. These vulnerabilities underscore the need for policies that strengthen resilience, enhance transparency, contain excessive leverage, and improve preparedness for future shocks. The full report can be found here (PDF).
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
