Until his choice to allow Lee to invade the Northone historian arguesDavis outfoxed the indecisive occupant of the White House.

Notre-Dame reopens after a devastating fire, Paul Schrader offers a fictional portrait of a dying documentarian in Oh, Canada, Sabrina Carpenter hosts a Christmas variety show on Netflix, and more.

Passing gas Supermassive black hole binary emits unexpected flares Their orbit periodically takes them through a cloud of gas, triggering flares. Elizabeth Rayne Dec 1, 2024 7:05 am | 10 Credit: Northwestern University Credit: Northwestern University Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWhat happens when a gargantuan cloud of gas swallows a pair of monster black holes with their own appetites? Feasting on the gas can cause some weird (heavenly) bodily functions.AT 2021hdr is a binary supermassive black hole (BSMBH) system in the center of a galaxy 1 billion light-years away, in the Cygnus constellation. In 2021, researchers observing it using NASAs Zwicky Transient Facility saw strange outbursts that were flagged by the ALerCE (Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events) team.This active galactic nucleus (AGN) flared so brightly that AT 2021hdr was almost mistaken for a supernova. Repeating flares soon ruled that out. When the researchers questioned whether they might be looking at a tidal disruption eventa star being torn to shreds by the black holessomething was still not making sense. They then compared observations they made in 2022 using NASAs Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to simulations of something else they suspected: a tidal disruption of a gas cloud by binary supermassive black holes. It seemed they had found the most likely answer.The variations in AT 2021hdr cannot be easily explained by any of the mechanisms usually associated to SMBHs, the team said in a study recently published in Astronomy and Astrophysics.However, we find that the behavior of AT 2021hdr broadly fits with models of the disruption and accretion of a gas cloud by a BSMBH.Unusual symptomsWhat made AT 2021hdr a bad match for some of the phenomena it was initially thought to be? Like other supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, both of the black holes in this system have accretion disks of material that spirals inward as it is pulled by their powerful gravity. The accretion disk glows as friction and collisions slows the material enough to be devoured by the black hole.But AT 20221hdr doesnt just glow. It flares every 60 to 90 days.The first thing that the researchers needed to find out was whether these flares were just variations in AGN behavior. The light intensity of an AGN can fluctuate over time as a result of changes in processes occurring close to a supermassive black hole, or in this case, a supermassive black hole binary. The flares of AT 2021hdr were not intense enough to indicate the presence of jets, which eliminated one potential source of variability.Because the team observed sudden increases in X-rays, they knew that the system was flaring. But in cases of random AGN flares known as quasi-periodic eruptions or QPEs, there are periods of quiescence, or inactivity. There was no quiescence observed in AT 2021hdr, and its flares were visible in UV and optical light in addition to the X-ray part of the spectrum.Tidal disruption of a star was also suggested as a cause of the flaring behavior in AT 2021hdr. Tidal disruption events (TDEs) happen when an unfortunate star passes close enough to a black hole to be shredded by the black holes gravity. Most TDEs do not flare, but one was recently observed flaring regularly. Could that also apply here?Has to be gasThe problem with the star hypothesis is that stars are not nearly as large as whatever was being consumed by this system. The strength of the flares seemed to imply that whatever the black holes were eating was much larger. After ruling out several phenomena as the cause behind AT 2021hdrs flares, the researchers landed on the possibility that fit their observations.In addition to stars, gas clouds can also be disrupted by SMBHs and their binaries, they said in the same study. The key difference is that the clouds can be comparable to or even larger than the binary separation, unlike stars, which are always much smaller. Looking at the results of a previous study that numerically modeled this type of situation also suggested a gas cloud. Just like the hypothetical supermassive black hole binary in the model, AT 2021hdr would accrete large amounts of material every time the black holes were halfway through orbiting each other and had to cross the cloud to complete the orbittheir gravity tears away some of the cloud, which ends up in their accretion disks, every time they cross it. They are now thought to take in anywhere between three and 30 percent of the cloud every few cycles. From a cloud so huge, thats a lot of gas.The supermassive black holes in AT 2021hdr are predicted to crash into each other and merge in another 70,000 years. They are also part of another merger, in which their host galaxy is gradually merging with a nearby galaxy, which was first discovered by the same team (this has no effect on the BSMBH tidal disruption of the gas cloud).How the behavior of AT 2021hdr develops could tell us more about its nature and uphold or disprove the idea that it is eating away at a gaseous cloud instead of a star or something else. For now, it seems these black holes dont just get gas from what they eatthey eat the gas itself.Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2024. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451305Elizabeth Rayne Elizabeth Rayne is a creature who writes. Her work has appeared on SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Grunge, Den of Geek, and Forbidden Futures. She lurks right outside New York City with her parrot, Lestat. When not writing, she is either shapeshifting, drawing, or cosplaying as a character nobody has ever heard of. Follow her on Threads and Instagram @quothravenrayne. 10 Comments Prev story

LifeWant to protect your young plants from the ravages of slugs and snails? A classic gardening tip is to use crushed eggshells to discourage them. Shame it doesn't work, says James Wong 27 November 2024 Broken eggshells around young plants but will they stop the slugs?BIOSPHOTO/AlamyFor as long as I have been gardening, there has been a tip I have come across at least once a week: the idea that a ring of crushed eggshells placed around plants is an effective, natural barrier to slugs and snails. With more and more gardeners keen to avoid the use of pesticides, could this age-old advice be ever more relevant to home growers? Lets take a look at the science.Here is how it is supposed to work: the sharp, rough edges of the crushed eggshells

President Joe Biden issued a pardon for his son, Hunter, for federal gun and tax evasion charges.Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to and was convicted of 12 counts carrying a max sentence of up to 42 years.The pardon comes ahead of sentencing hearings scheduled for mid-December.President Joe Biden has issued a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, for federal gun and tax evasion charges."Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter," Biden said in a statement released Sunday. "From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted."Biden, in his statement, described the charges against his son as a strategy by his political opponents to attack his family and oppose his election. He referenced a plea deal that collapsed last summer as the result of pressure from his opponents in Congress and evidence that the prosecution was politically motivated.The statement continued: "No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."In a series of high-profile cases, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to and was convicted of 12 counts carrying a max sentence of up to 42 years. The pardon comes ahead of sentencing hearings scheduled for mid-December.Joe Biden had previously and repeatedly insisted he would not use his pardon power to protect Hunter Biden from the verdicts in his cases. He addressed his change of heart in his statement, saying that politics has "infected" the justice system."Here's the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further," Joe Biden's statement read. "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."This is a developing story; please check back for updates.

Seoul city authorities want to tackle the loneliness epidemic with a $322 million plan.Lonely individuals can call a 24/7 counseling hotline and win rewards for attending local events.While the plan is a step in the right direction, experts say it will not address the problem's roots.Seoul's loneliness epidemic is eating the city from within.The city glitters, but there's a reason the locals call South Korea "Hell Joseon." Locals contend with crippling debt and pressure-cooker academic and work lives. Loneliness and isolation stem from and compound those problems. It's a scourge that manifests in different ways across the metropolis's sprawling cityscape, and a pressing issue the government is keen to address.According to a 2021 study from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, about 3.1% of those aged 19 to 39, or around 340,000 people, are considered to be lonely and reclusive.At the extreme end is "godoksa," or lonely death, where someone dies by suicide or illness after living in social isolation.Lonely deaths in South Korea increased from 3,378 in 2021 to 3,661 in 2023, per the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare's data.The South Korean government plans to spend over $322 million on measures that attempt to fix loneliness. However, experts told Business Insider this initiative fails to address the root causes of the problem and might not have the effect the government is hoping to achieve.A 'Seoul Without Loneliness'Titled "Seoul Without Loneliness," the initiative takes a multi-pronged approach to address the problem.City authorities said in an October statement that people experiencing loneliness can tap a 24/7 counseling hotline. They can also eat together in community spaces and collect perks and activity points for participating in sporting activities and attending local events."We will mobilize our resources to create a happy city where no one is isolated, implement the Seoul Without Loneliness initiative, and thoroughly manage the issue from prevention to healing, reintegration into society, and the prevention of re-isolation," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in the statement.When contacted by Business Insider, a representative for the Seoul Metropolitan Government said that the plan will involve all departments in the city's government collaborating to "establish a systematic support framework tailored to specific fields and life stages." "'Seoul Without Loneliness' is a bold challenge for the city and not an easy path to take," the representative said. "While numerous trials and errors are expected, and not all issues can be resolved at once, Seoul is confident that continuous efforts and various innovative attempts will eventually lead to achieving its goals." "Seoul will continue to do its utmost to create a city where all citizens can live happily," the representative added. Last year, the country's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said it would pay socially isolated youth around $500 a month to encourage them to mingle with society.Prevention is better than cure when it comes to tackling lonelinessPsychologists and sociologists that Business Insider spoke to said that while October's initiative is a step in the right direction, it's not a silver bullet."It may be helpful for those who feel they're isolated and who are willing to get out of their loneliness. But for those who do not want outside help, then these policies are probably irrelevant to them," Joonmo Son, a sociology professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI."The other issue we need to think of is that the policy itself does not prevent loneliness. Rather, it's to prevent the lonely deaths of those who are isolated," Son added.Eva Chen, a psychology professor at Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University, told BI that South Korea should address the country's competitive culture, which starts young.Last year, nearly 80% of children participated in private education programs like "hagwons" or cram schools,according to datafrom South Korea's National Statistics Office. Families also splashed out $19.4 billion on private education which can span all manner of supplementary drilling on schoolwork, from after-school "hagwon" sessions to tutoring."It's an incredibly competitive society, and you can see these issues start to appear when children start their formal schooling. You will notice that suicide rates among Korean students are fairly high when compared to neighboring countries," Chen said.In 2023, South Korea recorded a suicide rate of 27.3 out of 100,000 people, the highest rate among OECD countries like the US, UK, and Japan.Navigating such a competitive environment, Chen said, can result in people becoming more withdrawn and isolated."It sort of breaks down that willingness to be helpful. In young children, the natural tendency is toward empathy and valuing moral goodness over more superficial factors like your salary and your education," she continued.Kee Hong Choi, a psychology professor at Korea University, said that his country's education system needs to be "changed dramatically" to become less competitive."People become individualistic because they are emotionally hardened from social pressure and judgment," Choi said."Many people get traumatized by these kinds of social comparisons in an education system and start to develop depressive, or social anxiety symptoms," he added.Stakes are high for solving the problem of lonelinessSouth Korea's ongoing struggle with the loneliness epidemic poses both social and economic implications.Sohyun Kim, a psychology professor at Korea University, told BI that "the problem of loneliness is one of the most urgent social and economic problems" the country faces."Many of these individuals are also financially struggling, which is not surprising as all of these issues can affect various areas of our lives, including our productivity, and also those who are financially more limited have been found to be at higher risk of isolation," Kim said.Korea University's Choi said social isolation among youths could exacerbate the country's existing socio-economic problems, such as its birth rate.South Korea's fertility rate was 0.72 in 2023, the lowest in the world. It's even lower in Seoul, which recorded a fertility rate of 0.55 in the same year.Based on its current trajectory, the country's population of 51 million is expected to halve by 2100. That's another problem Seoul's government is trying to solve with its "birth encouragement" program to raise fertility rates. Nearly a fifth of South Korea's population lives in Seoul."Lonely individuals are, of course, less likely to form families. That's a huge problem for Korea right now, to produce the next generation of children, and more practically, the next generation of the workforce," National Tsing Hua University's Chen said.

On April 11, 2022, just weeks after Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the writer and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was arrested outside his home in Moscow. He was charged with spreading deliberately false information, Kremlin-speak for criticizing the war in Ukraine. A year later, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison before later being transferred to a remote Siberian penal colony where he was held in an isolation cell.Kara-Murza, who had already survived two earlier poisonings that had been linked to Russias security services, continued writing in prison, including regular columns for the Washington Post, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He expected to die in prison, as his fellow dissident Alexei Navalny did earlier this year.Then, in August of 2024, Kara-Murza a dual Russian-British citizen found himself suddenly released and expelled from Russia as part of the massive international prisoner exchange that also freed the American journalist Evan Gershkovich. Last week, Kara-Murza sat down with Vox for an extended interview on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum, where he had just received the events John McCain Prize for Leadership. (The award was particularly meaningful for Kara-Murza, who was a friend of the late Arizona senator and a pallbearer at his funeral.) In an interview with Vox, which has been edited for length and clarity, Kara-Murza talked about the surreal experience of sudden freedom, the lessons of history for the war in Ukraine, and why Putins regime might not be as stable as it seems. When this conference was happening a year ago, you were still in prison. Is the experience of being out still strange for you? It is completely surreal. For the last three months, Ive felt as if Im watching some kind of a film. Frankly, its a very good film, but it does not feel real. I was absolutely convinced that I was going to die in that Siberian prison. And what happened on August 1, I can only describe it as a miracle, because the last time that there was an international prisoner exchange that actually freed Russian political prisoners not just Western citizens held in Russian jails, but Russian political prisoners was in October 1986.It was a miracle, but in many ways, a human-made miracle, because this exchange was made possible by the relentless efforts of so many good people in democratic nations who never stopped advocating and speaking and shouting about this growing crisis with political prisoners in Russia. We have more political prisoners in Russia today than there were in the whole of the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s. This is the situation in Russia under Putin.And so yes, it still feels totally surreal. I havent really had any transition. Thats another problem. I went from solitary confinement in a maximum security prison in Siberia to being in four or five different countries every week. And thats not really the way it should be done after the prison experience, but I just feel I have no choice. Because, you know, while people are prepared to listen, I have to speak, because I do feel that responsibility now that Ive been rescued from that hell. Given whats happened to a number of prominent critics of the Russian government abroad, do you still feel like theres some threat to your safety, even outside of Russia?When our plane was landing in Ankara on the day of the exchange, one of the FSB [Russias state security service] officers who was accompanying us turned to Ilya Yashin [another Russian opposition activist freed as part of the exchange] and to me, and said, Dont think that you guys will be safe over there. Krasikov can come for you too. [Vadim Krasikov is the Russian security service hitman, released as part of the prisoner exchange, who had been serving a life sentence in Germany for the assassination of a former Chechen rebel in Berlin.] He didnt mean literally Krasikov, of course. They have a whole desk of Krasikovs. Ive been in Russian opposition politics for 25 years. We all know what can happen to people who publicly oppose the Putin regime. My closest friend, my mentor, the godfather to my younger daughter, Boris Nemtsov [the former Russian Deputy Prime Minister turned opposition leader, killed in 2015], was gunned down, literally in front of the Kremlin, on Putins direct orders. Other people have been poisoned, including myself, and we know that these attacks have happened not just on Russian soil, but abroad. And so look, we all know the risks. We all know what it involves, but frankly, I just dont think about it, because, well, I dont want to become paranoid, and its not possible just to live every day with that thought in your mind. I know that what Im doing is the right thing to do, and Im going to carry on anyway. But whats even more important is that Im not just a politician. Im a historian by education. And we know that the arc of history may not bend as fast as wed like, but it does bend towards liberty, and we know that the future belongs to democracies and not to one-man, personalistic, archaic dictatorships, like the dictatorship led by Putin. And so the bottom line is, even if Vladimir Putin gets rid of all of us who are the current leaders, the current faces of the Russian opposition, all it means is that others will come in our place. Kara-Murza laying flowers on a bridge. Mihail Siergiejevicz/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesLooking at the number of Russian casualties that are coming back from Ukraine, why doesnt this seem to have more of an impact on Russian society? And how long can this situation be sustainable for the Russian government? We do not know whether or not it is having an impact, because its not possible to objectively assess the state of public opinion in a country that imprisons you for expressing it. And thats the problem with authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. They seem stable and strong and secure, and then suddenly they collapse. Thats the problem with authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. They seem stable and strong and secure, and then suddenly they collapse. Both the czarist regime and the communist regime in Russia went down in a matter of days, literally, and nobody saw it coming. Theres a book by the Berkeley anthropologist Alexei Yurchak about the later years of the Soviet Union I have not read it because it came out while I was in prison, but I love the title: Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More. And this is exactly how it happened in Russia, and this is exactly how its going to happen next time. In these repressive, tyrannical regimes, you dont know whats happening beneath the surface. [Czech dissident and later President] Vclav Havel writes about this in The Power of the Powerless, that there may be problems developing for the regime, but nobodys aware of them until they come out of the open and suddenly everything collapses. So the honest answer is, we dont know what the real impact of the war is on Russian society. What we do know for certain is that there are a lot of people in Russia who are against this war. We dont know it from opinion polls. Those are useless. But you have to look at what I call little glimpses of reality. One of the most vivid ones came in February in the middle of our so-called presidential election campaign, which youll remember was just Putin and a couple of handpicked clowns. But there was one guy, a lawyer and former member of parliament named Boris Nadezhdin, who announced that he was running as a presidential candidate on an anti-war platform. And the public response in Russia was just unbelievable. All across the country, in large cities and small towns, you had these long, massive, hours-long lines of people who were waiting at his campaign headquarters to sign petitions to get him on the ballot. And of course, he was not allowed to. He was barred from running as an opposition candidate in Putins Russia. But that was almost beside the point, because suddenly everyone saw through this lie pushed by Putins propaganda that everybody in Russia backs this regime, that everybody in Russia supports this war. You can fake election results. You can rig the opinion poll numbers, but you cannot hide the sight of hundreds of thousands of people all over the country literally voting with their feet for the anti-war candidate. And I got a lot of letters in prison, and in February, almost all my letters were about these lines all over the country.Ill never forget, there was one woman, one young woman, who wrote to me from Novorossiysk, which is a town on the Black Sea coast in the south of Russia. And she was describing how she waited in that long, long line of like-minded, mostly young people, to sign [Nadezhdins] ballot access petition. And then she wrote, I never realized how many of us there are. Its these glimpses of reality that really matter for sort of trying to assess what the actual situation is. But do you think the government is really feeling insecure? Its certainly not reflected in the economic numbers, which show Russia is still rapidly growing. Last month, we saw Putin host half a dozen world leaders at the BRICS summit in Kazan. This doesnt seem like an isolated leader whos feeling the pressure. Theres a lot of pressure. The economists tell us that this sort of formal growth that the Russian statistics are producing is all, in a major sense, artificial. This is all just fueled by the war machine. And as soon as this is over, economists are forecasting some very hard times ahead, because this is not a real economy. This is not a consumer economy or a free-market economy in the full sense of this term. Everything is geared towards the military-industrial machinery.And in terms of how the regime is feeling, I would say that the best way to gauge that is to actually look at their own behavior. Because you know, on the one hand, that propaganda says that, you know, Putin is very popular, his regime is stable and secure. But to me, actions are always more important than words. If that were really the case, why would they need to arrest somebody for a social media post and send them for seven years to prison? Why would they be so afraid of allowing, for example, that anti-war candidate on the ballot, if that position is as unpopular as they claim? Why not just let him on the ballot and let him get his 1 percent? When this war ends, what do you think it will take to repair the anger and distrust between Russian and Ukrainian societies? First of all, I can tell you that Ive had very good contacts, very good dialogue with my Ukrainian friends and colleagues over these last few months that Ive been out of prison. I also got letters from Ukrainians while I was in prison. So you know, lets not also pretend that its total. Reasonable people can distinguish between a dictatorial regime and its society, and they dont blame all 140 million Russians. But of course, there is a lot of pain, there is a lot of grief, theres a lot of emotion on the Ukrainian side, and it could not have been otherwise when every day people are hearing bombs falling on their towns, and every day children are dying and civilians are dying. Not only do I totally understand this this is why I could not stay silent in the first place. Russians will have a very long and very difficult road ahead of us once this is all over and once, of course, theres a different political situation in Russia. It will be a long and difficult path to reconciliation, to finding a way to speak to each other again, to look into each others eyes again. Its going to be long, its going to be difficult, but I fully believe that its going to be possible. And what gives me this hope is, again, my background is as a historian, because we know that this has happened in history before. Just a couple of months ago in September, I was in Strasbourg in France for the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. They invited me to give a speech at the plenary session. The easiest way to get to Strasbourg is to fly to Frankfurt and just get a rental car and drive for a couple of hours.Im a historian. I know what Alsace-Lorraine [a much fought-over border region, now part of France] is. I know how much blood was spilled over that piece of land between the Germans and the French. I know how many thousands of people are buried in that land because they fought over it in the Franco-Prussian War, in the First World War, in the Second World War. It must have seemed like this hatred would be eternal, that it would never be possible to overcome it. But when I was driving from Frankfurt to Strasbourg, I wasnt even sure if I was still in Germany or already in France, because theres an open border. Theres a single currency. People are living in peace and friendship with each other, even when there are still people alive today who fought in the Second World War. So this all happened within the life of a single generation. The French and the Germans were able to find that way to reconcile, and I have no doubt, Russians and Ukrainians will. Youve referred to your training as a historian. Are there moments from history that you think can help us better understand this current moment were in, both the war and the political situation in Russia?So first, Ill answer the negative side of your question, and this links to your question about the next US administration and this talk we hear about possibly cutting a deal with Putin over Ukraine. I think one lesson from history that we must never forget is that the appeasement of dictators never brings peace. It always leads to more aggression, more suffering, more wars, because dictators do not see compromise as an invitation to compromise back. They see it as a sign of weakness, and they become more aggressive. We know this from the history of the 1930s. We know this also from the history of the past 25 years of Western dealings with Putin because for a lot of that time, Western leaders on both sides of the Atlantic basically engaged in the policy of appeasement, and this is where it led us. And so I think that its very important that whatever agreement, whatever settlement is made to to end this war, that settlement has to take into account the interests of Ukraine, and that settlement cannot be done in such a way as to allow Vladimir Putin to present himself as being the victor, whos being triumphant, because if that happens, that would be a disaster for everybody. On the more positive side, I mentioned how quickly political changes happen in Russia. I remember 1991. I was 10 at the time, I was a child, but you know, when the revolution is happening in front of your eyes, its not something you can forget. And I remember those days in Moscow the very smell of the air, the freedom. And to me, this was, in many ways, a life-defining lesson of those three days in August of democratic revolution. Because, as you know, of course, that began as an attempted hardline coup dtat led by the leadership of the Soviet Communist part of the KGB, the military. And it seemed that everything was on the side of those coup plotters, right? They had everything to themselves. They had the whole machinery, the whole apparatus of the Soviet state. They had the whole propaganda apparatus. They had the police, the military, and of course, they had the KGB, the worlds most powerful machine of repression. And the people who opposed that coup, who wanted to stand up for Russian democracy, they were not armed with anything except their dignity and their determination to defend their own freedom, but they went into the streets in hundreds of thousands my dad was among those people and they literally stood there on the streets of Moscow in front of the tanks, and then the tanks stopped and turned away. The lesson here is that however strong, however stable, however secure a dictatorial regime may seem, if enough people are willing to stand up to it, they succeed.Russia can change unexpectedly, and we have to be ready for it. Russia can change unexpectedly, and we have to be ready for it. How can we get ready for it?What happened in the 1990s was that the Soviet system collapsed so suddenly that people were not prepared, and people made mistakes, both on the Russian domestic side and on the international side. And we have to learn from those mistakes.On the domestic side, we know that any country that wants to overcome the trauma of totalitarianism and successfully transition to democracy has to undergo some sort of a process of public reckoning, a public reflection of the crimes that are being committed. We saw this in South Africa after apartheid. We saw this in Argentina after its military dictatorship. We saw this in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. Of course, we saw this in Germany after 45, and then again, after 89 in the eastern parts. This is a process where society is made aware of all the horrendous crimes that have been committed in its name by the previous regime. So the archives are opened and these crimes are made public. The people responsible for these crimes are made accountable. The institutions that have been committing these crimes, like the secret services, are dismantled, and so on. None of this happened in Russia in the 90s. And we know that when evil is not publicly reflected on and publicly condemned, its going to come back. And this is exactly what we saw with a former KGB officer coming to power in Russia. We must never make this mistake again. So this is our homework for the Russian opposition, for the Russian democratic forces. But theres also an important international aspect, and that is that, you know, for many of the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, the former Warsaw Pact in the 1990s, the promise of Euro-Atlantic integration, served as the most powerful incentive to successfully complete their reforms. When Vclav Havel addressed the US Congress in February of 1990, he termed the entire process of post-communist transformation in Czechoslovakia as, I quote, returning to Europe.And that light at the end of the tunnel is very important for these countries to continue their reforms and successfully complete them. Russia never really got the promise of the 1990s. It was sort of kept to the doorstep. When President Boris Yeltsin in December of 1991 wrote to Manfred Wrner, the then-Secretary General of NATO, for the first time officially and publicly raising the question of future Russian membership in NATO, he did not even receive a response. We have to be ready the next time this happens, because what happens in Russia affects everyone. To go back to the question of Ukrainians and Russians, it seems like what youre proposing will require the West to take a leap of faith on Russia after the war. Here at this conference, weve heard a lot of slogans like Make Russia Small Again, and its not unusual to hear people talk about Russia needing to be demilitarized or carved up. All this talk that you just referenced, thats an amazing gift to Putins propaganda, because all he needs to do is just amplify those voices and tell people, all these people in the West, theyre so Russophobic. They hate all Russians. Their quarrel is not with me, with Putin, they hate all of you. And frankly, it is really damaging, really shortsighted and really counterproductive to hear.So theres now been years of discussions, analysis, and legal proceedings regarding the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. As this new American administration comes in, what do you think are kind of the best- and worst-case scenarios? What are your expectations for how this administration will handle Russia?I think a character trait that we definitely know about Mr. Trump is that hes famously unpredictable, so I think that its anybodys guess what the actual policy will be. To be honest, I was really heartened by the selection of the secretary of state. Ive known Senator Marco Rubio for many years. I know he cares about the issues of democracy and human rights, and standing up to dictatorial regimes. Hes spent a lot of his Senate career on these issues. He has advocated on behalf of political prisoners in Russia, in Belarus, of course, in Venezuela and Cuba.Im an optimist about Russia, and Im certainly an optimist about the United States. Something thats very close to my heart: After Boris Nemtsov was assassinated, we launched this international initiative to commemorate him with street designations around the world. And the first city that did this was Washington, DC. And today, if you go to the Russian embassy, youll see that it stands on Boris Nemtsov Plaza. The original sponsor of the Senate bill that did that was Marco Rubio. A lot of Americans are worried now about the future of their own democracy. Polls show that was top of mind for a large number of voters. As someone whos seen authoritarianism firsthand, do you think its reasonable for people in the US or other democracies to be worried about their countries remaining democracies? Well, first of all, I do think its right to never be complacent about this, to never take things for granted. I think it was President Reagan who said that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. That is unfortunately, absolutely true, and we all have to be vigilant about this. But you know, Im an optimist about Russia, and Im certainly an optimist about the United States. Youve had two-and-a-half centuries of democratic institutions and democratic traditions. Thats not going to suddenly be undone because of any single person in the space of four years. So I dont share these alarmist sorts of views and predictions. But its right that people are concerned because we always have to stand guard and make sure that we protect these democratic institutions.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

When the satellites zoomed in, you could see the panels gleaming from space. Pairing images taken miles above the Earth with Chinese customs records, BloombergNEF solar analyst Jenny Chase and her team discovered this year that the rooftops of homes and factories across Pakistan are blanketed with solar panels. Catching their own government by surprise, Pakistanis have been installing a massive amount of solar power.In the process, Pakistan has gone from an inconsequential solar market to the sixth-largest in the world. The country of 242 million has a power grid with a peak capacity of 46 gigawatts thats less than 4 percent of the US power supply for a country with more than two-thirds as many people. In the last three years, Pakistanis have imported more than 25 gigawatts of solar panels from China. This disorganized, bottom-up boom has increased Pakistans power supply by 50 percent.The solar surge is driven by high local electricity costs. At 16.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, Pakistans electricity rate for businesses is 37 percent higher than its neighbor India, and more than double the average rate in Asia. Agreements made in the 1990s have kept the state stuck in expensive contracts with independent power producers, and power plants burn lots of liquefied natural gas, which became costlier after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. That same year, Pakistan fell into a foreign exchange crisis as the countrys dollar reserves plunged, which made everything more expensive.All of this opened an opportunity for businesses and better-off Pakistanis to begin importing solar panels from China, which can pay for themselves in as little as two years and free their users from the expensive, unreliable grid. The middle class has started to do the same. The state has come under pressure to raise rates for the conventional grid to satisfy its contracts with power producers which the increasingly shrinking, poorer customer base struggles even more to afford. Consumers who have made the switch to solar panels, like the owner of a factory that makes soccer balls in Sialkot, told the Financial Times, Allah has given us this gift to get out of this mess.But theres a bigger story here, beyond one nations problems with its power grid. Whats happening in Pakistan is the latest sign that energy authorities are underestimating how much clean power the world demands and that energy models can suffer from the same biases as their makers. Those failures in number-crunching are not merely abstract. Failing to grasp how much energy is wanted, and the things people in places like Pakistan might be willing to do to get it, leaves the world unprepared to build, fund, and plan for a cleaner future.Why our energy demand projections are always wrongHistory has shown that cheap energy creates its own demand. When steam engines got more efficient in 19th century Britain, coal consumption grew. When oil got cheap and plentiful after World War II, humans didnt enjoy the savings. They built more cars. More recently, in 2000, when estimating an industrializing Chinas electricity demand for 2005, the Energy Information Administrations projections were off by 25 percent.Modelers try to project how much energy will be demanded years into the future. But those projects often fail to distinguish between how much energy is needed and how much is wanted.In part, this is about the particular outperformance of solar, whose growth the International Energy Agency (IEA), an intergovernmental organization that oversees the global energy sector, has drastically underestimated every year since 2006 as have countries own renewable energy targets. The IEAs Net Zero by 2050 report, a plan for how to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by the mid-21st century, was seen as ambitious when it came out in 2021. It called for the world to add 630 gigawatts of solar power annually by 2030. This is actually proving a very easy target: The world is already on track to add nearly 600 gigawatts in 2024 334 gigawatts in China, 53 gigawatts in the US, and, stunningly, at least 16 gigawatts in Pakistan. The pattern is that Western energy forecasters are continually surprised by how much energy people in developing countries will consume. As countries like Pakistan grow wealthier, their people are going to demand the same energy-dependent conveniences that people in wealthy countries already do and our energy forecasts must reflect that reality or were going to keep getting it wrong.One recent projection illustrates the problem. Working with Pakistans energy authorities, the Danish Energy Agency examined in 2023 how Pakistans electricity sector might develop to align with the IEAs net-zero-by-2050 pathway. It expected Pakistani electricity generation to reach about 350,000 gigawatt-hours (a unit of energy use over time) in 2045, doubling its 2022 capacity of 173,000 gigawatt-hours. But that would still leave the hundreds of millions of people living in future Pakistan to get by with much less power than Texas generates today, with a fraction of Pakistans population.But that estimate fails to account for Pakistans middle class, which is almost 100 million strong with millions more on the cusp of exiting poverty and joining its ranks. As people get richer, they ask for and use more electricity. Today, only 11 percent of Pakistani households have air-conditioning. In six days this June, when temperatures in southern parts of the country hit 120 degrees Fahrenheit, at least 568 people died. In a 3 degrees Celsius scenario, which is what we are on track for by 2100, South Asias major cities will face multiple heat waves every year that last an average of 23 days nearly twice as long as they do today. Even if air conditioners grow increasingly efficient, in a scenario in which power production merely doubled between now and 2045, a large share of the population would lack protection from the deadly temperatures of the 2040s. Either the rising middle class of Pakistan will continue to endure heat waves like this years without using technology to ease their suffering or they are going to end up using a lot more power than prominent forecasts for energy consumption assume. That would have precedent: global demand for energy to power air-conditioning and other cooling measures grew from 300 terawatt-hours in the 1990s to 800 terawatt-hours in 2023, which is one reason why worldwide carbon emissions still havent peaked. In Pakistan, a recent study found that higher temperatures will help drive electricity demand to grow twice as fast (6 to 8 percent annually) as current estimates. The IEA itself has once again revised its forecasts for electricity demand growth upward by 6 percent, adding that demand for air-condition is a key uncertainty.Models of energy and climate systems are full of assumptions that often dont filter through to those reading the headline findings: some scholars call it status quo bias. When an energy agency in Paris or Copenhagen posits that the world can reach net-zero with millions of Pakistanis having just enough power to spin ceiling fans, they are postulating certain limits on how much power could be installed in Pakistan, and how much Europeans could cut emissions to leave Pakistan space for growth. When seemingly apolitical integrated assessment models, which evaluate the economic results of climate change, tell policymakers which temperature targets are possible or desirable, they are also revealing political assumptions that are often mistaken. Accepting his Nobel Prize in 2018, William Nordhaus, the godfather of integrated assessment models, asserted that the cost-benefit optimum [for warming] rises to 3C in 2100. In other words, the most cost-effective outcome of climate change in terms of how much we spend to stop it and how much damage it inflicts is a global average temperature increase of 3 degrees Celsius, twice the warming target set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement (a target the world is well on its way to missing). But whose cost, and whose optimum? Models like Nordhaus assume economic development can protect people from the climate change that the same economic activity causes. This line of thinking assumes there is a limit to how much the worlds wealthy countries can slow down (or green) their energy consumption to arrest climate change and that therefore there is a limit on how much new energy can be allocated for poorer countries with their rapidly developing economies.The worlds growing middle class isnt waiting for permission to buy air conditioners. The task now is to make sure that the energy that powers them is clean and that means having more than enough solar panels for Lahore as well as Copenhagen.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Could there have been a secret delay? (Nintendo)The Monday letters page thinks Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 would be the final straw for fans, as one reader looks forward to more Mario RPGs on the Switch 2.To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.ukLess than a rumourI think theres one possibility that people dont seem to have really talked about in terms of the Switch 2 at the moment and thats what if the reason it hasnt been announced yet is because its been delayed? When Nintendo said it would be announced before April that just meant this financial year, I dont think anyone thought they were going to do it on March 31.Nintendo might not have said anything about a delay, but looking at things from the outside thats exactly what it looks like to me. Whether its to do with these Trump tariffs or not I dont know (obviously) but it could just as easily be because their launch games arent ready yet or a combination of a dozen other things.What Im saying is that I think we should both prepare ourselves for disappointment and not assume we know anything about whats going on until theres confirmation. Who knows how long a delay could go on for, but I certainly wouldnt bet on seeing it in early 2025. Im not saying thats not possible, but a lot of people seem to think thats all but confirmed at this point and yet its barely even rumoured its just what fans assume and hope.ZeissNowhere to goI think its clear that Nintendo has a huge problem ahead of it for almost all its franchises, and not just Zelda. Theyre basically in uncharted territory now, where nobody has any idea what theyre going to do. That doesnt mean Nintendo cant figure out something good but there are basically no easy or obvious ways to go now, and that is both exciting and filled with risk.I can imagine maybe Mario is slightly easier than others, just because the series is so malleable anyway and the rumours of a Donkey Kong focus sound like something different, but I have to say I have no idea what you do for the next Zelda or Mario Kart.I do feel Metroid has a lot more room to expand but that probably all depends on how well Metroid Prime sells. That whole universe is kind of underdeveloped at the moment but previous attempts to expand it have had mixed result, to say the least.JohnsonForza futureIf Forza Horizon goes to PlayStation 5 then thats the final straw as Xbox goes as a console format. If Forza is multiformat then heres no reason Halo and Gears Of War wont be either and at that point whats the point in owning an Xbox console?I know they say that doesnt matter now but I dont want to do all my gaming via streaming. Game Pass isnt on PlayStation so what does Xbox mean to me except just another third party publisher? I dont know how they think they have a future as anything else and I just hope Sony doesnt go the same way.All the This is an Xbox feels like the last days of Dreamcast to me and its kind of sad.GribbyEmail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.ukRoboCop-o-visionFollowing on from Grackles letter the other day, Id also heartily recommend RoboCop: Rogue City for the paltry sum of 17-ish on the PlayStation Store.There have been several top notch licensed games over the years but few that make you feel youre actually in the shoes of a legendary character.GoldenEye 007 was great for tons of reasons but to me its greatest success was making you feel you were Bond, to the extent you fancied a vodka martini once youd holstered your Walther PPK. Suffice to say Im practically craving baby food playing as RoboCop.I think the first person perspective definitely helps with the immersion its a reason I think the new Indiana Jones game could work really well, and why the many Batman games, whilst mostly terrific, never leave me thinking Im Batman!.Theres one obvious exception though that I havent played yet unfortunately, and thats Batman: Arkham Shadow and it seems to me RoboCop would be an even more perfect character to bring to life in VR. I mean, imagine the fun developers could have with your visor if you breached the fourth directive, and because Murphy isnt known for being the most mobile of characters the pace seems uniquely suited to VR.I know Inbox magic has been summoned a few times recently but if theres any left?Andrew WrightGC: Arkham Shadow is great but youre right, RoboCop VR would be a good idea too. Watch Dogs probably wont be in London again (Ubisoft)Local knowledgeThe thing that annoys me about Watch Dogs: Legion is that because it was a flop Ubisoft and others will take that as proof that games shouldnt be set in another countries and the next one will be just America again. They wont take into account that it was both a bad game and a bad representation of London, by people that clearly werent very familiar with it.Although to be fair, I guess it must be difficult for anyone to make a game about a city or culture theyre not familiar with, which is why everything is always just America because nobodys going to set up a new developer in London or Rio de Janeiro or wherever just to make one game.StimpsonRegional variationsIn response to a reader who claimed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Star Wars Outlaws were not really discounted for Black Friday, I am not sure where they were looking for discounts for these games or how much they think a decent discount is.From the week of its release, physical copies of Dragon Age: The Veilguard have been 30%+ off via Amazon.com.au here. Currently discounted copies are between 30% to 35% off, depending on the version you wish to buy.Star Wars Outlaws is currently on sale between 40% to 60% off, pretty big discount in my books.If the reader was only looking on the PlayStation Store, then no, very minimal to no discount. Just goes to show that physical media is not only better for game preservation, but also often much cheaper for games in general. In my opinion digital games should actually automatically be cheaper for the customer since distribution costs are much less for the publishers.SigmarPS: Evidence provided for GC on prices.GC: In the UK, Star Wars Outlaws has certainly been discounted, but perhaps not as much as some expected. The cheapest on PlayStation 5 is 44% off at Argos, but most retailers have it at around 35% off. There have been no significant cuts for Dragon Age: The Veilguard over Black Friday, so we guess Australia has it better in that regard.Not Resident EvilRE: Silent Hill 2 remake. Ive found Ive started enjoying the game more since I switched the combat down to easy. The game is brimming with atmosphere but then I have to do another boring melee fight with a monster, and it was starting to ruin the game for me.I feel like a cheat, but its meant I can just enjoy the setting rather than worry about if I have enough health potions. The hospital was so good and had me thinking not in a million years would I go there which is what I wanted.SimonGC: Thats a perfectly reasonable approach, the combat is a minor part of the games appeal.Full controlCrazy to think about The Witcher 4 in the next few years, alongside possibly Elder Scrolls 6! It was great that CD Projekt Red acknowledged Cyberpunk 2077 as a launch that should not have happened the way it did, but I thought they were forced into it to hit a deadline of which the powers that be needed to be hit no matter what!Whereas No Mans Skys launch was mainly the developers; an incomplete game needing more work and development time, which the company definitely made up for with continuous, well-designed patches and free updates!It was different for CD Projekt Red, who I believe would have wanted to finish it properly even if it took them another year and a half! But, like No Mans Skys development team Hello Games, CD Projekt Red have patched up and updated Cyberpunk 2077 and it is now near what the original dream was for the game.I know waiting many birthdays is how long big games are likely to take to create, and this raises other questions. An entire console generation can come and go as technology keeps racing on ahead! Luckily there are enough games companies for now to fill the space until The Witcher 4 and Elder Scrolls 6. Like for example Beyond Good And Evil 2 which should be about ready by now oh, wait! At least the indie gaming world will fill in the gap whilst the triple-A games companies continue their gaming quest.AlucardGC: Thats not true at all. Cyberpunk 2077 was published by CD Projekt themselves, nobody set the deadlines or okayed the release but them.Inbox also-ransSo with all three of the Mario role-playing games having recently got new games or remakes that basically guarantees that theres going to be a new one for the Switch 2, right? I wonder if itll be a sequel or a brand new franchise combing elements of all three? Thats be my preference.SanjGC: Nothing is guaranteed with Nintendo, but that is one bet we would take.Is Metaphor: ReFantazio going to get a directors cut like all the Persona games? The likelihood is what put me off buying it, even when it was cheap during Black Friday.OscarGC: Nothing has been announced, but this is also something we wouldnt bet against.More TrendingEmail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.ukThe small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Readers Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.You can also leave your comments below and dont forget to follow us on Twitter.ArrowMORE: Games Inbox: Is Half-Life 2 a bad game nowadays? GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

My plan to revive Dino Crisis involves a Capcom All-Stars RPG Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished December 1, 2024 9:00am Dino Crisis everything is better with dinosaurs (Capcom)A reader comes up with multiple suggestion of how to bring back Dino Crisis and they all revolve around Capcom company crossovers.I feel I am speaking to a sympathetic audience when I say I wish Capcom would bring back Dino Crisis. It has become a running joke on this site that there are not enough dinosaurs in video games and while it is a joke I feel its also true. Jurassic World movies dont end up making $1 billion every time, despite being terrible, because people are tuning in for the script and characters.Why there arent more dinosaurs in general in games I dont know but Capcoms attitude is particularly weird because they have Dino Crisis right there a beloved game, very similar in style and tone to Resident Evil (and by the same director). Theyve also seen great success with their Resident Evil remakes and yet are now running out of games to remake, but they refuse to do the obvious and make Dino Crisis next.That is the obvious thing to do but if that doesnt tempt them, I do have another suggestion: a crossover game. The Capcom equivalent of Kingdom Hearts but where the world of Dino Crisis can intermingle with Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Breath Of Fire, and everything else that makes sense (and those that dont).First off, Id say that it would be the simplest thing in the world to say that Dino Crisis and Resident Evil are set in the same universe. Theres been talk of Easter eggs suggesting this over the years, but I dont believe any of them have been proven as intentional. But really, if youre worried a Dino Crisis remake wont be successful just confirm its in the Resi universe and youve got an instant selling point right there.Ignoring that though my influences here, other than Kingdom Hearts itself, is Marvel Vs. Capcom and Project X Zone. I think everyone would agree that Capcom has the best portfolio of classic franchises outside of Nintendo, superior even to Sega. If they had ever wanted to, they could have easily made their own console and populated it with their own games, just like Nintendo.I love the Marvel Vs. Capcom franchise, not because I have any deep interest in Marvel, but because I love seeing all the weird cameos and interactions from classic Capcom characters. I would love a Capcom vs. Capcom game even more than Marvel Vs. Capcom 4, but I dont see much chance of that happening. A new Marvel Vs. Capcom does seem possible though, especially after the recent remaster collection, so Ill be fine with that.Project X Zone is not something most people have heard of for the good reason that its not very good, but it is much closer to my idea. The games predecessor was Namco X Capcom on the PlayStation 2, which unfortunately was also not very good. The games are tactical role-players but theyre very boring in terms of both story and gameplay, despite having characters from Capcom, Namco, and Sega in it.So you can see my idea is not completely crazy, things like it have been attempted before, they just havent been executed well. What I suggest is a sort of shared Capcom universe where different characters and franchises can interact in an action role-playing game similar to Kingdom Hearts. Although in my imagination itd have a really good script and the gameplay would be fun.I do not say this for the sake of fan service though, which is where Project X Zone went wrong. I say this as a way to reintroduce people to classic Capcom franchises and to make people that have never even played them before want a new game. I feel this did happen to a degree with Marvel Vs. Capcom but not only have we not had a new one for ages but fighting games arent necessarily that popular with everyone.More TrendingAnyone can enjoy a good action role-player though, especially nowadays, and because theyre partially story-based you can explain who all these whacky characters are and where they come from. I know its not going to happen (Ive always wanted Nintendo to do something similar too) but Im just putting it out there as an idea. Then once theyve brought back Dino Crisis they can do Ghosts N Goblins nextBy reader Gannet Capcom do enjoy a good crossover (Capcom)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy