There are budget-friendly options when you browse laptop deals, but if you need a powerful machine for your daily activities, you may want to set your sights on a device like the Dell XPS 14 9440. Its on sale from Dell, with this particular configuration that usually goes for $2,060 available for $1,660. The $400 discount may disappear at any moment though, so if you dont want to lose this opportunity at huge savings on this high-performance laptop, you need to complete your transaction for it right now.The Dell XPS 14 is a new model in the acclaimed Dell XPS line of laptops following the Dell XPS reset, but its already a very popular device. Its gorgeous minimalist design is certainly a factor, with virtually no bezels surrounding its 14.5-inch display with Full HD+ resolution, an invisible trackpad, and large zero-lattice keycaps on the keyboard. The Dell XPS 14 also packs a lot of power under its hood with its Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM, so your everyday tasks will be a breeze.Our Dell XPS 14 versus Apple MacBook Pro 14 comparison revealed that the laptop is the most suitable rival to the MacBook Pro 14, and its the option that you should go for if you prefer the Windows platform over MacOS, and if you want to play the best PC games. The Dell XPS 14 ships with Windows 11 Pro, which provides access to the operating systems advanced features, and its pre-installed in a 1TB SSD that will give you ample storage space for all your files and software.RelatedTheres always high demand for Dell XPS deals, and thats going to stay true with this offer for the Dell XPS 14 9440. This configuration thats normally sold for $2,060 is on sale from Dell for a discounted $1,660, for savings of $400. You wont always get the chance to buy the Dell XPS 14 for a more affordable price than usual, so you need to act fast if youre interested in taking advantage of this bargain. Proceed with your purchase of the laptop as soon as possible, as you may regret missing out once its back to its regular price.Editors Recommendations

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsJohn Wick (2014)Heat (1995)Paddington (2014)Ideally, the first weekend of 2025 would be a nice, long three-day holiday. But since New Years Day fell on a Wednesday, were stuck with an ordinary two-day weekend. Thankfully, Hulu can keep you entertained with its fantastic lineup of newly added films. To narrow things down for you, weve chosen the three great Hulu movies that you need to stream this weekend.First up is one of the best action films of the 21st century, and that is not an exaggeration. Additionally, were throwing the spotlight on a crime thriller that will turn 30 in late 2025, as well as a selection thats suitable for everyone in your household, from the young to the young at heart.Recommended VideosWe also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max,andthe best movies on Disney+.RelatedSummit EntertainmentJohn Wick, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, is the movie that reestablished Keanu Reeves as an action star. Its the heartwarming tale of a grieving man who finds a new reason to live following the death of his wife, Helen (Bridget Moynahan). She arranged for John (Reeves) to adopt a dog and give it all of his love right up until some punk gangsters attack him, kill the canine, and steal his car.Iosef Tarasov (Game of Thrones star Alfie Allen) doesnt know how badly he screwed up by leaving John for dead without finishing him off. John is the most feared assassin of his era, and this little jerk pushed him out of his retirement and into a bloody rampage of revenge that will only end when both Iosef, and his crime lord father, Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), are just as dead as Mrs. Wick.Watch John Wick on Hulu.Warner Bros.Writer and director Michael Mann put together an extremely impressive cast for his 1995 crime epic, Heat, including Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman, William Fichtner, Dennis Haysbert, Hank Azaria, Danny Trejo, and more. But this film was all about the two men at the top of the credits: Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.Mann placed The Godfather Part II co-stars on opposite sides of the law. De Niro plays an aging thief, Neil McCauley, who is under intense pressure following a robbery gone wrong. Pacino portrays an LA cop, Lieutenant Vincent Hanna, who is driven to bring Neil and his crew down. Heat memorably brought both actors together on-screen for the first time, but its more than just a gimmick. Pacino and De Niro brought their A-games to the film and made Heat an instant classic.Watch Heat on Hulu.StudioCanalHows this for tonal whiplash? Going from Heat to Paddington may not seem like the obvious double feature, but the latter is a fantastic film in its own right and its also very family-friendly if you want to watch it with children. Theres an easy way to tell who the bad people are in this movie. If they dont like Paddington Bear (Black Dovesstar Ben Whishaw), then dont trust them.Nicole Kidmans Millicent Clyde fails the Paddington test (she wants to have him stuffed for her collection). Meanwhile, Paddington charms Henry (Hugh Bonneville) and Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins), as well as their children. The Browns take Paddington in after he arrives in England, and theyll have to ensure that he stays in one piece after Millicent sets her sights on him.Watch Paddington on Hulu.Editors Recommendations

Checking the plumbing One less thing to worry about in 2025: Yellowstone probably wont go boom There's not enough melted material near the surface to trigger a massive eruption. John Timmer Jan 3, 2025 6:01 pm | 14 Credit: Deb Snelson Credit: Deb Snelson Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreIt's difficult to comprehend what 1,000 cubic kilometers of rock would look like. It's even more difficult to imagine it being violently flung into the air. Yet the Yellowstone volcanic system blasted more than twice that amount of rock into the sky about 2 million years ago, and it has generated a number of massive (if somewhat smaller) eruptions since, and there have been even larger eruptions deeper in the past.All of which might be enough to keep someone nervously watching the seismometers scattered throughout the area. But a new study suggests that there's nothing to worry about in the near future: There's not enough molten material pooled in one place to trigger the sort of violent eruptions that have caused massive disruptions in the past. The study also suggests that the primary focus of activity may be shifting outside of the caldera formed by past eruptions.Understanding YellowstoneYellowstone is fueled by what's known as a hotspot, where molten material from the Earth's mantle percolates up through the crust. The rock that comes up through the crust is typically basaltic (a definition based on the ratio of elements in its composition) and can erupt directly. This tends to produce relatively gentle eruptions where lava flows across a broad area, generally like you see in Hawaii and Iceland. But this hot material can also melt rock within the crust, producing a material called rhyolite. This is a much more viscous material that does not flow very readily and, instead, can cause explosive eruptions.The risks at Yellowstone are rhyolitic eruptions. But it can be difficult to tell the two types of molten material apart, at least while they're several kilometers below the surface. Various efforts have been made over the years to track the molten material below Yellowstone, but differences in resolution and focus have left many unanswered questions.Part of the problem is that a lot of this data came from studies of seismic waves traveling through the region. Their travel is influenced by various factors, including the composition of the material they're traveling through, its temperature, and whether it's a liquid or solid. In a lot of cases, this leaves several potential solutions consistent with the seismic datayou can potentially see the same behavior from different materials at different temperatures.To get around this issue, the new research measured the conductivity of the rock, which can change by as much as three orders of magnitude when transitioning from a solid to a molten phase. The overall conductivity we measure also increases as more of the molten material is connected into a single reservoir rather than being dispersed into individual pockets.This sort of "magnetotelluric" data has been obtained in the past but at a relatively low resolution. For the new study, a dense array of sensors was placed in the Yellowstone caldera and many surrounding areas to the north and east. (You can compare the previous and new recording sites as black and red triangles on this map.)Yellowstones plumbingThat has allowed the research team to build a three-dimensional map of the molten material underneath Yellowstone and to determine the fraction of the material in a given area that's molten. The team finds that there are two major sources of molten material that extend up from the mantle-crust boundary at about 50 kilometers below the surface. These extend upward separately but merge about 20 kilometers below the surface. Underneath Yellowstone: Two large lobs of hot material from the mantle (in yellow) melt rock closer to the surface (orange), creating pools of hot material (red and orange) that power hydrothermal systems and past eruptions, and may be the sites of future activity. Credit: Bennington, et al. While they collectively contain a lot of molten basaltic material (between 4,000 and 6,500 cubic kilometers of it), it's not very concentrated. Instead, this is mostly relatively small volumes of molten material traveling through cracks and faults in solid rock. This keeps the concentration of molten material below that needed to enable eruptions.After the two streams of basaltic material merge, they form a reservoir that includes a significant amount of melted crustal materialmeaning rhyolitic. The amount of rhyolitic material here is, at most, under 500 cubic kilometers, so it could fuel a major eruption, albeit a small one by historic Yellowstone standards. But again, the fraction of melted material in this volume of rock is relatively low and not considered likely to enable eruptions.From there to the surface, there are several distinct features. Relative to the hotspot, the North American plate above is moving to the west, which has historically meant that the site of eruptions has moved from west to east across the continent. Accordingly, there is a pool off to the west of the bulk of near-surface molten material that no longer seems to be connected to the rest of the system. It's small, at only about 100 cubic kilometers of material, and is too diffused to enable a large eruption.Future risks?There's a similar near-surface blob of molten material that may not currently be connected to the rest of the molten material to the south of that. It's even smaller, likely less than 50 cubic kilometers of material. But it sits just below a large blob of molten basalt, so it is likely to be receiving a fair amount of heat input. This site seems to have also fueled the most recent large eruption in the caldera. So, while it can't fuel a large eruption today, it's not possible to rule the site out for the future.Two other near-surface areas containing molten material appear to power two of the major sites of hydrothermal activity, the Norris Geyser Basin and Hot Springs Basin. These are on the northern and eastern edges of the caldera, respectively. The one to the east contains a small amount of material that isn't concentrated enough to trigger eruptions.But the site to the northeast contains the largest volume of rhyolitic material, with up to nearly 500 cubic kilometers. It's also one of only two regions with a direct connection to the molten material moving up through the crust. So, while it's not currently poised to erupt, this appears to be the most likely area to trigger a major eruption in the future.In summary, while there's a lot of molten material near the current caldera, all of it is spread too diffusely within the solid rock to enable it to trigger a major eruption. Significant changes will need to take place before we see the site cover much of North America with ash again. Beyond that, the image is consistent with our big-picture view of the Yellowstone hotspot, which has left a trail of eruptions across western North America, driven by the movement of the North American plate.That movement has now left one pool of molten material on the west of the caldera disconnected from any heat sources, which will likely allow it to cool. Meanwhile, the largest pool of near-surface molten rock is east of the caldera, which may ultimately drive a transition of explosive eruptions outside the present caldera.Nature, 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08286-z (About DOIs).John TimmerSenior Science EditorJohn TimmerSenior Science Editor John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. 14 Comments

From Korea to Montenegro to NYC Do Kwon, the crypto bro behind $40B Luna/Terra collapse, finally extradited to US Kwon pled "not guilty" before a federal judge. Nate Anderson Jan 3, 2025 5:29 pm | 14 Do Kwon, during his time in Montenegro's custody. Credit: Filip Filipovic/Getty Images Do Kwon, during his time in Montenegro's custody. Credit: Filip Filipovic/Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe US government finally got its metaphorical hands on Do Hyeong Kwon, the 33-year-old Korean national who built a financial empire on the cryptocurrency Luna and the "stablecoin" TerraUSD, only to see it all come crashing down in a wipeout that cost investors $40 billion.As private investors filed lawsuits, and as the governments of South Korea and the United States launched fraud investigations, Do Kwon was nowhere to be found. In 2022, the Korean government filed a "red notice" with Interpol, seeking Kwon's arrest and his return to Korea. A few months later, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Kwon with fraud in the US.On September 17, 2022, Kwon famously tweeted, "I am not 'on the run' or anything similar"but he also wouldn't say where he was. He didn't help his case when he was arrested in March 2023 by the authorities in Montenegro. At an airport. With fake travel documents. On his way to a country with no US extradition agreement.After serving some time in a Montenegro prison, Kwon battled extradition to both Korea and the US. This delayed the process by some months, but on December 31, 2024, he was shipped off to US authorities. Today, he appeared in front of a federal judge in New York City, where he pled "not guilty" to fraud.The US Justice Department crowed about the extradition, with US Attorney General Merrick Garland pointing out that the US can sometimes get to people in surprising ways."We secured this extradition despite Kwons alleged attempt to cover his tracks by laundering proceeds of his schemes and trying to use a fraudulent passport to travel to a country that did not have an extradition treaty with the United States," Garland said in a statement. "This extradition from Montenegro is an example of the Justice Departments international partnerships, which enable the pursuit of criminals wherever they attempt to hide."Five alleged misrepresentationsAs for the charges, the US also unsealed a massive indictment against Kwon today, which you can read here (PDF) if you want all the gory details.The basic claim is that Kwon "defrauded investors by falsely advertising the companys blockchain products as decentralized, reliable, and effective, and by engaging in market manipulation, ultimately resulting in more than $40 billion in investor losses," according to the US government. This, the government alleges, happened in five key ways:"The Stablecoin Misrepresentations: Kwon made misrepresentations about the effectiveness of the system that lay at the heart of Terraforms cryptocurrency empire, the Terra Protocol, which purportedly used a computer algorithm to maintain the value of Terraforms so-called stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, TerraUSD (UST), at a value of $1 for one UST. But as Kwon knew, after the Terra Protocol failed to cause the restoration of USTs $1 peg in May 2021, Kwon reached an agreement with executives at a high-frequency trading firm (the Trading Firm) so that the Trading Firm would purchase large amounts of UST in order to artificially support USTs $1 peg.The LFG Misrepresentations: Kwon made misrepresentations about the governance of the Luna Foundation Guard Ltd. (LFG), which Kwon claimed was managed by an independent governing body and was tasked with deploying billions of dollars worth of financial reserves to defend USTs peg. But as Kwon knew, he controlled both the LFG and Terraform. In addition, Kwon misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars in assets from the LFG.The Mirror Misrepresentations: Kwon made misrepresentations about the success and operation of an investing platform on Terraforms blockchain (the Terra blockchain) called Mirror Protocol (Mirror), that purportedly allowed users to create, buy, and sell synthetic versions of stocks listed on U.S. securities exchanges. Kwon claimed that Mirror operated in a decentralized manner and that he and Terraform played no role in Mirrors governance. But as Kwon knew, he and Terraform secretly maintained control over Mirror, and used automated trading bots to manipulate the prices of synthetic assets that Mirror issued...The Chai Misrepresentations: Kwon falsely claimed that the Terra blockchain was being used to process billions of dollars in financial transactions for the Korean payment-processing application Chai. In doing so, Kwon claimed that the Terra blockchain had real world applications or uses, as distinct from competing cryptocurrency platforms. But as Kwon knew, Chai processed transactions through traditional financial processing networks, not the Terra blockchain.The Genesis Coin Misrepresentations: Kwon made misrepresentations about the use of a supply of one billion stablecoins programmed into the Terra blockchain at its creation (the Genesis Stablecoins), which were purportedly held in reserve for Terraform for certain specified uses. But Kwon used at least $145 million worth of Genesis Stablecoins, among other things, to fund fake Chai blockchain transactions and trading bots to manipulate the prices of synthetic assets that Mirror issued."Kwon is facing charges of commodities fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.Nate AndersonDeputy EditorNate AndersonDeputy Editor Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds. 14 Comments

A fire devasted one of the world's largest secondhand clothing markets in Accra, Ghana.Kantamanto Market receives 15 million garments weekly and employs some 30,000 people.An advocacy group urged the global fashion industry to provide relief.A fire devastated one of the world's largest secondhand clothes markets in Accra, Ghana.The blaze started Thursday and destroyed as much as two-thirds of Kantamanto Market, which employs about 30,000 clothing traders and receives some 15 million garments weekly from wealthy countries like the US, the UK, and China.Thousands of people lost their stalls. Ghana National Fire Service said the fire was fully extinguished, and no injuries or fatalities were reported. They are still investigating the cause of the fire.Now, clean-up efforts are underway, and advocacy groups are calling on the global fashion industry to help provide relief."This is a critical moment for the global fashion ecosystem to show solidarity, not just by recognizing the value of secondhand markets, but by providing tangible help to rebuild and sustain them," Daniel Mawuli Quist, creative director of The Or Foundation, said in a statement.The fire calls attention to the global fashion industry's lack of alternatives for waste handling.Workers in Kantamanto Market resell and remanufacture millions of garments. But the rise of fast fashion has overwhelmed Accra with textile waste piling up in gutters, landfills, and beaches. An estimated 40% of garments go unsold, The Or Foundation found. The nonprofit in Ghana conducts research and offers grants and job training to workers in Kantamanto Market.The Or Foundation pledged $1 million to relief efforts and set up a fund to raise money for rebuilding the market and providing financial assistance to vendors.

Ex-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani risks being held in contempt in federal court in Manhattan.Two GA election workers said he repeatedly ignored court orders in their federal defamation case.If he's found in contempt, Trump could not issue a pardon or commute his sentence.Rudy Giuliani took the witness stand in federal court in New York on Friday, battling a potential contempt-of-court finding sought by two Georgia election workers and Donald Trump can't come to his rescue if he loses.If a judge decides Giuliani has flouted court orders by failing to turn over assets and evidence in the three-year-old defamation case, he could fine Giuliani or send him to jail until he complies.The federal pardon and commutation powers Trump regains on his return to the White House next month do not extend to civil contempt sentences.According to experts in constitutional law and federal pardons, Giuliani would not be able to rely on his former client to save him from jail or fines."Generally criminal contempt is within the power of the president, but civil contempt is not," said Margaret Love, a lawyer who served as the Justice Department pardon attorney in the 1990s.Giuliani was combative on the stand on Friday, at a daylong contempt-of-court hearing overseen by US District Judge Lewis Liman in a courthouse in downtown Manhattan.The hearing, which will continue next week, is part of a suite of civil cases brought by mother-daughter Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss."This is monstrously overbroad," Giuliani complained of Moss-Freeman asset-document requests during questioning at one point on Friday. "It's abusive and overbroad."A federal judge in Washington, DC, found in 2023 that Giuliani defamed the pair and subjected them to a barrage of racist death threats by repeatedly and falsely accusing them of voter fraud, including by lying that they had tallied suitcases full of illegal ballots for Joe Biden.In December 2023, a jury ordered Giuliani to pay Freeman and Moss $148 million. In recent weeks, the two plaintiffs have sought to have him held in contempt in DC and in Manhattan to force him to comply with judges' demands that he cease defaming them and turn over assets and evidence as ordered.The contempt hearing is scheduled to continue Monday morning.Giuliani's defense has focused on his recent switch of lawyers from Kenneth Caruso, an experienced New York-based attorney he has known for nearly 50 years, to Joseph Cammarata, best known for representing a woman who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.Giuliani swapped lawyers sometime in November. Giuliani said that changing attorneys had made it a challenge to meet deadlines an excuse that the pair's lawyers did not accept.Cammarata said in court Friday that his client has completed "substantial compliance" with his obligations and should not be held in contempt.He said that Giuliani, who is 80 years old, has struggled to deal with an avalanche of legal proceedings against him, including criminal investigations. Prosecutors in Arizona and Georgia have brought cases against Giuliani over his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump."Mayor Giuliani, as this court knows, has multiple litigations going on in multiple states, both civil and criminal in nature," Cammarata said.Giuliani took the stand struggling up a step by the podium after the court's lunch break. At the beginning of the break, he complained to Jane Rosenberg, a courtroom artist, about how she depicted him in one of her pastel drawings."You made me look like my dog," he told her, Rosenberg said.Giuliani was cross-examined by Meryl Conant Governski, an attorney representing Freeman and Moss, about two sworn declarations he had submitted to the court saying that he's abided by all of the judge's orders and provided proper responses to information requests and interrogatories.He said that the turnaround time required for discovery requests was "unusually short" even though his previous attorney, Caruso, had agreed to the 14-day response deadlines.In the morning, Cammarata cross-examined Aaron Nathan, an attorney representing Freeman and Moss, over how he determined whether the former New York mayor had failed to account for his property. Many of the questions concerned Giuliani's framed Joe DiMaggio jersey that once hung over the fireplace in his Manhattan apartment.When Nathan gained access to the apartment in October and searched the residence, it was gone."This jersey has been at the forefront of the case," Cammarata said in one heated moment. "There have been accusations that my client absconded with the jersey. And that is not the case."Cammarata, in winding and plodding cross-examination, pointed out that the photo of the jersey in the apartment was taken in the summer of 2023, and time had passed before Nathan went into the apartment and saw the location himself."Your honor, if I may, I want to take his testimony about the passage of time," Cammarata objected after the judge cut off his questioning on the subject.The day before Friday's hearing, Giuliani asked for permission to attend virtually, due to "medical issues with his left knee and breathing problems due to lung issues discovered last year," as his lawyer, explained it in a letter to the judge.The breathing problems are "attributable to Defendant Rudolph W. Giuliani being at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001," Cammarata wrote.Giuliani attended in person after the judge warned he'd otherwise be barred from testifying on his own behalf.Should Giuliani be found in contempt, "the executive pardon power would not extend to a civil contempt sentence," even in a federal court, said former federal prosecutor Ephraim Savitt.That's because Giuliani's jailing wouldn't be a punishment for a past infraction instead, it would be a remedial sentence, meant to force his compliance with the judge's orders."Civil contempt sentences are essentially open-ended," meaning Giuliani could only be freed once he had complied, said Savitt."It's a means of coercing a party to take some action, to compel compliance," said Michel Paradis, who teaches constitutional law at Columbia Law School."So long as Giuliani has the keys to his own cell, and can be freed by simply complying with the judge's order, then there is no crime to be pardoned or punishment to be reprieved," he added.

The US Surgeon General recommended disclosing the cancer risk of alcoholic beverages on Friday.While just a recommendation, the advisory sent shares of some big alcohol manufacturers lower.It also presents a fresh opportunity for makers of alternatives to alcohol.The US Surgeon General's finding Friday that alcohol causes cancer led to stock declines for some of the beverage industry's biggest names and an opportunity for some newer entrants.Drinking is a major cause of preventable cancer, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in the advisory, which also recommended placing a notice about the cancer risk on beer, wine, and spirits similar to how packs of cigarettes include warnings about their health risks.On its own, the recommendation doesn't mean that labels on booze will change. That would require an act of Congress.Murthy is also part of President Joe Biden's administration and will be replaced by President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for surgeon general after he takes office on January 20. That nominee, Janette Nesheiwat, could take a different view on the advisory if she's confirmed by the Senate.However, the advisory prompted a response from some companies and the markets today. Here's what it might mean:Shares of alcohol companies like Diageo and AB InBev lost outStocks of some of the biggest alcohol companies in the world were down Friday after the surgeon general released his advisory.Shares of Budweiser-maker Anheuser-Busch InBev closed down 2.8% in Belgium. In London, shares of Diageo, the company behind Captain Morgan rum and Ketel One vodka, closed nearly 4% lower.Still, there's reason to doubt that the surgeon general's advisory will lead to a lot less drinking and fewer sales for the big booze makers, Kate Bernot, lead analyst at Sightlines, which researches the alcohol space, told Business Insider.Annual per-capita alcohol consumption in the US has hovered around 2 gallons since 2012, Bernot said, citing data from the National Beer Wholesalers Association. Gallup polling shows that the percentage of Americans who say that they drink alcohol has mostly stayed between 60% and 65% since the early 1990s, she added.That stability in habits comes despite previous research into the link between alcohol consumption and cancer as well as the growth of "Dry January," a commitment drinkers make to avoid drinking during this time of the year."Maybe some people change their behavior, but I don't think we're going to see population-level dramatic shifts in alcohol consumption," Bernot said.Makers of non-alcoholic beer and spirits could get a boostEven if there is a nationwide shift away from alcohol, many of the big producers already have alcohol-free options that they have been ramping up for years. In 2023, for instance, Constellation released a non-alcoholic version of Corona beer."The diversification has been happening as a result of consumers' potential thoughts about alcohol's effect on their health," Bernot said.Murthy's advisory came right as many drinkers are trying to cut back on their alcohol consumption in the new year or embarking on a Dry January.That's a potential win for many other brands that make alcohol-free beer, wine, gin, and other drinks.The CMO of non-alcoholic spirit brand Spiritless, Tom Santangelo, told BI he sees these comments as the "front end of a tipping point.""My guess is that for a lot of America, this surgeon general statement is kind of the message they need to come to a realization that this is something serious," Santangelo said.He said the industry has already grown significantly in the last few years as alcohol moderation and abstention have become increasingly normalized. Similar to cigarettes, change may not come quickly, but he said, "It's a message that's going to carry a lot of weight."Milan Martin, the CEO of non-alcoholic spirit brand The Free Spirits Company, told BI that the US Surgeon General's comments are another "nugget" of insight that will contribute to cultural change around drinking."All of these teeny little nuggets sit in our minds and sit there at the point where we're ready to order our third drink and impact our choice," Martin said, adding that conversations among peers and in the media around drinking are contributing to changes in drinking culture.Athletic Brewing, which sells non-alcoholic beer, similarly said that while it is "aware of the ongoing discussions about alcohol and health," it "has never been anti-alcohol.""We believe the alcohol and non-alcoholic sectors are synergistic," the company told BI.Innovative soft drinks, from seltzer to kava, could benefitBesides alcohol-free beer and cocktails with all the ingredients other than the, well, alcohol, there are other beverages that have attracted attention from the sober-curious and could benefit if people cut back on booze.Celebrity seltzer and soda brands often pitch themselves as upscale, healthier soft drinks, BI reported last year.Others have turned to kava, a beverage that's common to the Pacific and is supposed to help you relax and put you in a better mood. While the most authentic kava is served on its own, brands that have added juice, sugar, and coloring before canning it have popped up over the last few years. Some point to their kava as a healthier choice than a cold beer or cocktail.Cannabis products could become more attractivePeople looking to cut back on alcohol sometimes turn to cannabis as a replacement, especially as governments loosen restrictions. That could be good news for makers of everything from CBD-infused beverages to marijuana dispensaries. Cannabis company Canopy Growth, for example, rose more than 2% Friday.In 2022, the number of daily or near-daily cannabis users outpaced the number of daily or near-daily drinkers, research from Carnegie Mellon University found.Some states, such as Minnesota and Texas, already allow liquor stores to sell drinks that contain THC, the main psychoactive component in marijuana, right alongside liquor.

Its been a contentious 24 hours in South Korean politics, after impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol narrowly avoided arrest for insurrection on Friday, a month after his martial law declaration. Its the latest development in a month-long political meltdown that has not only thrown Korean politics into turmoil, but surfaced the countrys deep political polarization, evidenced most dramatically by dueling protest movements one calling for Yoons ouster and arrest, and a smaller but still vocal one trying to protect him.The crisis took a dramatic new turn on Friday, when officials with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) tried to enter Yoons residence to arrest him for his martial law declaration on December 3 and possible attempted self-coup. Though many South Koreans took to the streets demanding the arrest, counterprotesters blocked the road leading to the presidential palace and used social media to insist that an arrest was illegal.CIO officials eventually called off the attempt to detain Yoon after his presidential security detail, aided by military personnel, blocked the CIOs entry to the palace. Regarding the execution of the arrest warrant today, it was determined that the execution was effectively impossible due to the ongoing standoff, according to a CIO statement. Concern for the safety of personnel on-site led to the decision to halt the execution.That doesnt mean Yoons troubles are over, however; there is an ongoing case against him in South Koreas constitutional court which will ultimately decide whether the impeachment stands and Yoon will be permanently removed from power and the arrest warrant is still valid through Monday. If he is detained, he will be the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested. (While Yoon has not yet been removed from office, an acting president has been carrying out his duties since the National Assemblys December 14 vote to impeach him.)The intensity and instability of the past month means theres no clear sense of what comes next for South Korea. As Fridays unrest underscored, however, whatever the fate of Yoons political career, the future will likely revolve around the divide between the countrys two main political parties: Yoons conservative People Power Party and the more liberal Democratic Party.How did we get here?When Yoon declared martial law, he was in the second year of his five-year term (South Korean presidents are allowed to serve just one term). During his tenure, his approval rating fell below 20 percent, as his political agenda stalled in South Koreas legislature, the National Assembly, which is controlled by the center-left Democratic Party.According to Celeste Arrington, a professor at George Washington Universitys Elliott School of International Affairs and director of the George Washington Institute for Korean Studies, Yoon certainly is unpopular and frustrated by an inability to do politics.Yoon is the first president in democratic South Korea to rule without his party in the majority in the National Assembly, and so he has been stymied in all of his legislative initiatives by a national assembly thats quite opposed to his ideas, Arrington said in December in an interview with Vox. Those frustrations appear to have contributed to Yoons decision to declare martial law, which he first announced in a televised statement claiming, without evidence, that the opposition party to his government was in the midst of an insurgency and trying to overthrow the free democracy. The move to declare martial law for the first time in South Korea since 1980 took Yoons political opponents and allies alike, as well as the South Korean public and the world, by surprise.In theory, the South Korean Constitution allows the president to declare martial law under certain national emergency states but Yoon appears to have exceeded that authority, also deploying troops in an attempt to block the National Assembly from convening. Ultimately after some legislators were forced to scale walls to enter the assembly building the body voted unanimously to vote down the martial law decree. Yoons declaration was almost universally unpopular within South Korea, reinvigorating fears of the countrys repressive 20th-century dictatorship, which only ended in the 1980s following mass demonstrations demanding democracy and direct presidential elections. Decades later, South Korean citizens turned out in the thousands to protest Yoons move and call for his ouster.The end of Yoons tenure wouldnt fix South Koreas political problemsWhile the past month in South Korean politics has been extraordinary, it also points to the underlying tension in the countrys politics, which in recent years has been defined by a high level of polarization between its two major political parties and their supporters. Through each election thats taken place in the last few years, it swings either from very conservative to very liberal, most recently being very conservative, Emma Whitmyer, a senior program officer for the Asia Society Policy Institute, told Vox. Both progressives and conservatives claim they are protecting democracy. But what conservatives are largely concerned with, experts told Vox, is upholding the stability of the government which happens to be a democracy not ensuring that democratic systems are preserved and utilized. The conservative vision, Arrington said the vision of Yoons party and supporters is rooted in a post-Cold War conception of democracy as oppositional to communism, and centers broadly on making sure that no one threatens the state rather than ensuring that democratic principles remain intact. This political faction was heavily influenced by government propaganda about anti-Communism, and [the] North Korean threat, Joan Cho, a professor of Korean politics at Wesleyan University, told Vox. In their view, whoever is trying to protest against the government, they are North Korean spies. Theyre pro-Communist.In contrast, according to Arrington, supporters of South Koreas Democratic Party grew up in an era of pro-democracy protests in the 1970s and 1980s, which has become a guiding force of their politics and which theyve passed along to the younger generation. I think the contentiousness and concerns surrounding stability [have] to do with the polarization, and its at both elite level and the mass level, Cho said. I think that first became obvious with the impeachment [of former President Park Geun-hye] that was more obvious at the mass level because of these pro-impeachment, anti-impeachment protests that were going on.On a mass level, polarization is expressed through South Koreas strong protest culture; on an elite level, it looks like the kinds of legislative challenges Yoon experienced with a Democratic Party-dominated National Assembly.According to Whitmyer, Yoons impeachment on top of that of Park, who was impeached in December 2016 and removed the next year has created a sense of frustration with the system, even though Yoons actions were also hugely unpopular.There is starting to become this feeling that, [one impeachment] was one thing, but now its happened again, and again, Whitmyer said. Whoever the next president [will be], whether theyre a liberal or a conservative, are they going to face many of the same challenges from the opposition wanting to impeach them, either for legitimate reasons or for maybe more petty or smaller claims?The sense of chaos and ineffectiveness has fueled distrust in the government, but experts say theres no clear path for reform that would allow for a political compromise to reemerge and may not bode well for the future. According to Whitmyer, It seems that the pendulum has swung very far in both directions, [and] there really is no longer a middle ground for both sides to work together. 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 Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters later this year, itll mark the fourth time something has happened in a row. Four times over the past four decades a newly rebooted Fantastic Four movie has been made. And, if you can believe it, theyve all happened almost exactly 10 years apart. Does that bode well for this new film or does it point to a newly rebooted film coming in 2035? Lets break it down.Arguably the most famous Fantastic Four movie to date is the one released in July 2005. Directed by Tim Story, it starred Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis as Marvels first family. Despite mixed reviews, it was a big enough hit to get a sequel in 2007 with Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. That was not a hit through and, alas, this iteration of the Fantastic Four was dead (until Evans resurfaced in Deadpool & Wolverine of course). Ten years (and one month) later, in August 2015, a new version of the team was revealed. It was directed by Josh Trank, and Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell played the group this time around. The film had its moments but a troubled production ended up manifesting on screen, and in the end, the film was a critical and financial failure.Now its been another 10 years and in July again, yet another Fantastic Four team is on the way. Directed by Matt Shankman, this time the group is comprised of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The difference now, however, is that since Disney bought Fox, these Fantastic Four are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And no, we didnt forget about the OG. Roger Cormans Fantastic Four film never got an official release due to rights issues, but it first hit the public consciousness in the summer of 1994. That throws off our exactly 10 years hypothesis, but only by a few months.So, aside from the oddity that, since the 1990s, new Fantastic Four teams have introduced in movies almost exactly a decade apart (1994, 2005, 2015, and 2025 respectively), what does this say about the franchise? Its pretty obvious, is it not? None of the creative teams behind the scenes have nailed the alchemy that has made the comic book characters, who originated in 1961, so successful. But maybe, just made, the fourth time will be the charm. At least we hope so. What do you think? Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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