Wildfires have torn through Los Angeles, destroying homes and displacing residents.Major Hollywood productions have paused shooting.They include "Fallout," one Amazon's biggest hits last year, and "Grey's Anatomy."As the Los Angeles wildfires continue to tear through swathes of the city, Hollywood has responded by pausing multiple TV and film productions.As of 8 A.M ET, at least five people had died in the wildfires, and150,000 people had been evacuated from the greater Los Angeles area, including the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Pasadena.The Los Angeles Times reported that around 2,000 buildings had been destroyed, citing the LA Fire Department.Numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal and Paris Hilton have lost their homes. The Palisades fire burned over 17,000 acres of land, and a fifth fire, dubbed the Sunset Fire, started in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening.Here are the projects that have paused production.'Fallout' and 'Grey's Anatomy' are among the TV shows affected Ella Purnell in "Fallout" and Ellen Pompeo in "Grey's Anatomy." Amazon Prime Video/ABC Variety reported on Wednesday that Amazon had postponed restarting filming for "Fallout" season two until Friday.The show, based on the popular "Fallout" games by Bethesda Softworks, was one of the streamer's biggest hits of 2024.The outlet also reported that the Warner Bros. studio backlot in Burbank was closed, stopping work on "Abbott Elementary," "The Pitt," "All-American," and "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage."However, the city of Burbank said on Wednesday that there were no evacuation orders for the area.NBC Universal stopped production on "Suits: LA," the spinoff to Aaron Korsh's popular legal drama starring Stephen Amell, as well as "Ted," "Hacks," "Loot," and "Happy's Place."CBS Studios meanwhile paused work on "NCIS," "NCIS: Origins," "After Midnight," "The Neighborhood," and "Poppa's House." And Disney delayed work on "Grey's Anatomy," "Jimmy Kimmel Live," and "Doctor Odyssey."On Wednesday,FilmLA,which helps coordinate permits for movies and TV shows shooting in the city, said the LA County Fire Department told them to withdraw all permits for Altadena, La Crescenta, La Canada/Flintridge, and Unincorporated Pasadena, and others were possible.In an update on the same day, the company said that the LA Parks and Recreation Department had canceled all filming permits until January 14.The disruption from the wildfires comes as Hollywood tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and actor and writer strikes last year, which both led to numerous production delays for major and smaller studios alike.Mike Miller, the vice president of the film and TV crew union IATSE, told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that the organization would support those affected.He said: "We're going to be there to support them and I'm confident that we'll be able to come through this. But it is absolutely going to add additional burden to many people in our industry that are already struggling."Representatives for Amazon, NBC Universal, CBS, and Disney did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

A scientific narrative about what meditation does can offer a helpful lens on what is happening when you take your seat on the cushion. But no matter the story, theres no substitute for actually doing the practice. Which raises the question: If youre interested in exploring deeper meditation, how long will it take you to actually get somewhere? Theres no fixed relationship between how much time you put in and how much progress you get out. And even thinking about meditation in these terms time you spend meditating as an investment in particular outcomes will earn you smirks from some meditation teachers. But there are clear trends and useful benchmarks to help you think through how much daily meditation might actually deepen your practice.Meditation is more like learning physics than exercising Meditation is often compared to exercise, where the relationship between effort and outcomes is usually clear. The more time you put in, the more results you get. But its not quite as straightforward as that, whether in exercise or meditation.This was first published in More to MeditationMore to Meditation is Voxs five-day course on deepening your meditation practice. Sign up here!Take the Buddhist idea of Right Effort, which is kind of like learning proper weightlifting form. If you want to lift more weight, but your form is bad, the only thing your weightlifting actually measures is how close you are to injury, said Tucker Peck, a meditation teacher and clinical psychologist who specializes in working with advanced meditators. Given proper form, you might then expect a consistent relationship between how often you work out and the bulge of your biceps. But meditation outcomes can be jagged and unpredictable. As cognitive scientist and meditator Ruben Laukkonen explained to me last year, the amount of time you spend practicing isnt a reliable indicator of how much progress youve made.Instead, he suggested thinking of meditation like learning physics. Theres a lot to learn that does just require putting in the work memorizing all those equations and theories, mastering the math that underpins it. And you want to make sure youre learning correct ideas, rather than wasting your time on fake equations or disproved hypotheses.But theres also intuition at play, and flashes of insight can erupt at any point in the learning process. Meditation, too, can be quick and intuitive for some, or a long slog for others. Consider the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi (18791950). Among the hordes of gurus out there, hes widely considered one of the least assailable cases of being the spiritual real deal.At the age of 16 while hanging out at his uncles house, with no particular interest or commitment to meditation, Maharshi got the sudden feeling that he was going to die. So he laid down, observed the process, and a few minutes later, stood up, permanently enlightened, as the story goes. Now, Im not sure what that actually means, and Im skeptical of anyone who says they do. But the point is that some people can spend their entire lives meditating in search of some big psychological transformation, only for nothing much to happen. Others, like Maharshi, can get hit with what some traditions call sudden awakening, without any real prior meditation practice to speak of.And making progress in meditation, at least traditionally speaking, depends on more than just doing the actual meditation. Across almost every school of both Buddhism and Hinduism, getting your ethics in order sla, or moral conduct in Buddhism comes before sitting down to practice. According to Buddhist scripture, no matter how long you sit for, you wont be able to access the jhnas states of deep meditative absorption unless your mind is relatively free from the five hindrances (which are obstacles to deep concentration like ill will, sloth, or restlessness). And as the Buddhas teaching of the Eightfold Path holds, establishing moral thought, speech, action, and livelihood all come before getting to mindfulness practice.All of which is to say, theres no obvious formula here, and a lot of moving parts. Still, whether youre looking to drop every ounce of tension youve stored up in your muscles, deconstruct some harmful mental habits, or embark upon a first-person investigation into the nature of mind, we can flesh out a bit more detail on different approaches to daily meditation. How much of my day will I have to sink into advanced meditation practices?Lets assume you wont spontaneously launch into the deep end of meditation experiences with a Ramana-style sudden awakening (but you never know). Theres no blanket answer to how long you should meditate, of course. But if youre interested in deepening your meditation practice, there are at least two general principles to follow:Its more important to practice regularly than to sporadically do longer sessions. 20 minutes a day is a better bet than 60 minutes once a week.Therefore, you should do the most meditation that you will actually do every day (within reason, which well get to).As mindfulness has gone mainstream, though, much shorter sessions have become the vogue. Many of the stress-relief meditations on popular apps like Headspace or Calm cluster around 10-minute sessions.Some teachers especially those coming from non-dual traditions that believe were all already enlightened but just dont know it say that even short, 5- or 10-minute meditations can be powerful stuff. Nondual meditation teacher Loch Kelly teaches mindful glimpses that take no more than a few minutes, but, he told me, can give a real peek into deep states of meditation. Though he added that it then takes about three years of practice to stabilize those glimpses. Glimpses, stress relief, and sudden awakenings aside, most meditation teachers I spoke with agree that youll have to sit for more than 10 minutes per day to really get acquainted with meditations deeper practices. Even the formal method of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which trojan-horsed mindfulness into Western science more than 40 years ago, is an eight-week course that recommends 45 minutes of daily meditation. Jon Kabat-Zinn meditation teacher, former biologist, and MBSRs creator settled on 45 minutes as a middle ground between longer sessions that could get you past the initial fidgety phases of meditation, while being somewhat realistic for people to actually do on their own (though a 2017 review found that people wind up doing more like 30 minutes). MBSRs timeframe is pretty close to that of Transcendental Meditation, a technique based on silently repeating a personal mantra thats been practiced by a range of celebrities, from the Beatles to David Lynch, which prescribes two 20-minute sessions per day. And meditation teacher Leigh Brasington, who well hear from later in this course, recommends a minimum of 45 minutes per day if you want to get into states of deep concentration like the jhnas.So if youre used to shorter meditations, or none at all, work upwards incrementally. Try starting with at least a 20-minute session per day. Jack Kerouac, a writer who introduced much of the 20th-century Beat Generation to Buddhism, wrote to his fellow poet Allen Ginsberg that it takes twenty minutes to quiet the machine motor of the mind. Despite his competing infatuation with benzos and wine, I think he was on to something.If you think back to yesterdays newsletter, quieting the motor of the mind is equivalent to doing enough focused attention practice to release the minds first layer of priors or habits. A quiet mind is one where attention no longer gets snagged on mental activity, clearing the path to deeper open-monitoring or nondual practices. And 20 minutes can be a helpful benchmark for getting there.But instead of using a timer, try using a stopwatch, and practicing to intuitively stop around the time youre shooting for. This might be tricky at first, but it gets easier. And that way, if you find yourself in the midst of a particularly spacious and comfortable meditation, you can stretch it a bit longer without being jolted out by a timer. Or, if your sit is getting particularly tortuous, or your back hurts, you can just stop with less grief about not lasting the whole time.As an added bonus, youll begin to develop an internal clock for meditation duration, which is actually something advanced practitioners train to do anyway.Peck, the meditation teacher and psychologist, suggests that if youre doing anything more than 45 minutes, you should be checking in with a teacher every now and then. Longer sessions are more likely to send you into deeper states, where meditation shifts from relaxing to potentially transformative. But theres no guarantee that things change for the better, which is where experienced teachers can help steer your practice. Ive seen quite a number of people become psychotic from meditating six hours a day in their room without talking to anybody, he said. A word on the under-studied risks of meditationResearch on the risks of meditation is unsurprisingly lagging behind the benefits. A 2020 systematic review of 83 meditation studies found that the prevalence of meditation adverse events, which can include anything from anxiety and depression to suicidal behaviors, hovered around 8.3 percent. But experts I spoke with are all over the map on whether that number looks too high or too low. The relative lack of knowledge about the risks has given rise to various organizations trying to fill in the gaps. Networks of scholars and practitioners are looking to educate healthcare professionals on how to support people going through challenging meditation experiences. Communities like Cheetah House offer direct support, alongside training meditation teachers to better handle difficult experiences. And resources like psychotherapist David Treleavens book, Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, can help guide people through a more supported approach to meditation.The goals and benefits of meditation change over timeAccording to the original framework for meditative development presented in Buddhist scripture the four-path model as your practice develops, real, durable changes to your psychology set in. Different traditions have their own maps of what making progress in your contemplative practice looks like and yes, some teachers will ridicule the idea of spiritual progress as precisely the goal-oriented approach that undermines development but most share the idea that if you keep up your practice over time, deeper stages begin to unfold. So instead of thinking about meditation as just a daily practice, then, we can also think about what it means to make progress over time. Are there benchmarks of progress in meditation? If you spent 30 minutes a day meditating over the next decade, youd rack up about 1,800 hours of practice. Would the benefits of that much effort justify the opportunity cost of other things you mightve done with about 75 days of your life?One of the few studies to explore the relationship between lifetime hours spent meditating and benefits was published in 2022 by psychologists from the University of Melbournes Contemplative Studies Centre. They surveyed 1,668 English-speaking adult meditators with an average of 1,095 lifetime meditation hours. (On the spectrum of expertise, this is still fairly low. For comparison, when Harvard neuroscientist Matthew Sacchet studied an advanced meditator in his lab earlier this year, they had roughly 23,000 hours of lifetime practice).The psychologists looked at the correlation between lifetime meditation hours and four variables: life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and psychological distress. Across all four cases, two things immediately jumped out.First, steeper benefits show up in the first 500 hours of practice. In the cases of life satisfaction and positive affect (basically, pleasure), the sharpest gains registered within the first 200 hours. The authors point out a range of limitations to their study, from sampling bias to basing lifetime practice hours on an extrapolation of prior-month self-reported meditation time. But overall, they come away with two conclusions: Meditation outcomes appear non-linear with time spent practicing, and the strongest gains seem to show up in the first 500 hours of practice.I found that strange. If you look at the range of claims people make about their meditation practice, my read is that they get more intense, not less, as someones practice develops.So I reached out to Nicholas Bowles, PhD student in psychology and lead author of the study, to ask if he really thought the beginning stages of meditation are more potent than the later ones. He explained that in his more recent research, hes finding that as meditators practice more, their goals and motivations change. People who have practiced less tend to value mental health, improving relationships, etc, while people who have practiced more tend to value spiritual growth, he said via email.Peck said that he sees this pattern of changing motivations with almost every student. That peoples motivations change is universal. When you first start meditating, your mind is just wasting most of its energy on this idiotic, circular rambling. You have no sensory clarity, you dont really understand whats going on deeper in your mind. Which means that theres no single metric that can capture the thrust of meditations effects from 0 hours of practice out to 1,000, let alone 23,000. If you find major improvements to life satisfaction in the first 200 hours that level off afterward, that could be because the category of life satisfaction no longer captures the sort of benefits youre getting out of sustained practice. Overall then, Bowles added, the gains from practice for experienced practitioners probably continue to be quite impactful, but perhaps theyre impactful in different ways.Guests practice yoga at Team Milks Every Womans Marathon Wellness Fair & Expo on November 15, 2024, in Savannah, Georgia. Carol Lee Rose/Getty Images for Every Womans MarathonHow do movement and meditation fit together? Q+A with Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher Chandra EastonIn my early 20s, I spent some time at a Zendo in southern India. During sesshins, which are like Zens form of silent meditation retreats, our daily schedule would mostly alternate between periods of sitting meditation (zazen) and walking meditation (kinhin).After sitting for something like 10 hours a day, walking was obviously crucial for my Western joints, as well as my sanity. But kinhin isnt supposed to be just a respite from the tyranny of crossed legs its meditation, too. But I struggled to really believe that.To my mind, the real meditation was sitting still, and walking was mostly a concession we make on account of having bodies that need movement. If you think back to our framework for how meditation deconstructs the predictive mind, I saw movement as just a part of the first layer of focused attention practices. The deeper stuff requires sitting still.Now, I think of sitting still in meditation as training wheels for the real practice, which is finding the same states of deeper awareness while your mind is thrashing around and navigating the stuff of daily life, whether the subway in Manhattan, the grocery store aisles the day before Thanksgiving, or while your kids are screaming. Thats when you find out if your meditation practice is actually working. Ram Dass has another good quip: If you think youre enlightened, go spend a week with your family.But moving engages the mind, so if meditative depth is about shutting down the predictive mind, and moving triggers it, arent these opposing forces? Hows it possible to progress into deeper open-monitoring and non-dual states while doing yoga poses, walking, or dancing?To explore these questions, I spoke with Chandra Easton, a meditation teacher, yoga instructor, and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts. This excerpt of our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.Youve been teaching a class that combines meditation, mantra, and movement. How do these three fit together?In Buddhism, the body, speech, and mind are called the three doors, or gates. We can work through each of those different doorways into the same space. Theres one big room: presence.Sitting in stillness is the ultimate body door. But thats not easy for a lot of us to do. So in my class, I designed it to touch on those three doors and give people different access points into awareness or presence.Can you go as deep into meditation during movement as you can when youre sitting still?Its true that stillness allows us to access very deep states of attention. When we move, the mind moves. So we tell people dont move if you dont have to, because youre just stirring up the dust again. But ones not better than the other, it just depends where you are in the arc of your own practice.For me, Ive had some challenging chronic pain issues. So sitting still in traditional meditation posture is not always an option. Its forced me to find other ways to practice, and its been really liberating and helpful.Ive practiced through walking meditation, and supine [lying on your back] meditation. I was in such bad shape that I had to lie down while teaching meditation. And that was a really good thing for me to do in public. People would come up and say thank you for teaching us how to tend to our bodies.A lot of people deal with chronic pain, which can be a boundary for people to get into meditation. There were periods when I was in so much pain that I had to do moving meditation, like yoga, qi gong, or tai chi. For many years, I taught a style called shadow yoga, which is based on Hatha Yoga and South Indian dance and martial arts. Theres a quality of slow, mindful movement. Currently, I practice Tibetan yoga and shadow yoga adapted for my situation, and I teach elements of these in my courses to help prepare people for meditation. So for people who are facing illness or chronic pain, moving meditation options are really important. Thats also why working with a skillful teacher is very important, somebody who can help the student navigate different phases of their lives in different circumstances.I think Ive been a little biased against movement meditation because when I think of meditation, I picture the Buddha sitting quietly under the Bodhi tree. A lot of people dont know that after the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and got liberated from the roots of suffering, he got up and he walked. He taught for 45 years, and he spent more time walking than sitting. And that doesnt get communicated to a lot of us Westerners. So we get this perception that seated meditation is the most important thing. And there are times in our life when that should be the case so we can train the mind to go into deep concentration. But then, the advanced practice is getting up from that and blending the meditative state with the post-meditative state. The true advanced practice is to blend the awareness that we steep in and touch during [still] meditation with all our life, our movement or driving or parenting or cooking. All the mundane things.Want to dive deeper into meditation?Check out Voxs free meditation course. For five days, staff reporter Oshan Jarow breaks down what you need to know to fit meditation into your everyday life, features exclusive interviews with different meditation experts, and offers bite-size meditation practice exercises. Sign up here!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:

In the city of Nablus in the West Bank, Rasheed Abueideh owns a nut roastery, where he works to provide for his family. He is also an award-winning game developer. A decade ago, as the 2014 Gaza war raged, he created a harrowing video game called Lilya and the Shadows of War, about a man trying to find safety for his daughter and himself but as missiles fall around them, it quickly becomes clear that there is no safety. When the game was released in 2016, it was initially rejected by Apple on the grounds of inappropriate content, a decision reversed after a week of outcry.Despite the acclaim and attention that Lilya received, however, Abueideh has not been able to raise funding for his next game through conventional means. The game he envisions, Dreams on a Pillow, is about the 1948 Nakba, told through a folk tale about a mother in the Arab-Israeli war, in which more than half the Palestinian population was displaced. He tells me that his game has been rejected almost 300 times, by publishers and providers of cultural grants, for being too controversial, too much of a risk. Talking about the Palestinian story was always forbidden, he says.Historical context the games timeline switches between lead character Omms past, and her terrifying present. Photograph: Rasheed AbueidehNow, once again, war rages in Abueidehs home. The developer fears for his safety, and he is determined to tell this Palestinian story. With the help of a small team of developers and advisers from the region and beyond, he launched a crowdfunding campaign in the hopes of making Dreams on a Pillow a reality.Crowdfunding was our only option, but even that would not work for me because all the major crowdfunding platforms do not recognise Palestine, says Abueideh. The team turned to LaunchGood, a Muslim-focused platform, where it met its funding goal on 7 January. Its enough to cover at least half the games development costs, and he hopes that once the game starts to take shape, it will be easier to find the rest. I am overjoyed, he says. The support on social media and on the campaign page has been overwhelming, demonstrating how much people care about the Palestinian story I didnt expect this level of success.I want to deliver a message Rasheed Abueideh in his nut roastery in Nablus. Photograph: Rasheed AbueidehThe folk tale that inspired Dreams on a Pillow tells of a mother who rushes into her home to retrieve her baby before fleeing, only to realise that she has escaped with a pillow instead. In the game, she spends her days trying to make her way to Lebanon after the massacre at Tantura, and the nights dreaming of the Palestine she knew as a child. Putting the pillow down lets her move through the games scenarios more freely, but invites nightmares and hallucinations. Abueideh estimates that it will take two years to complete; heartbreakingly, the crowdfunding page contains an assurance that a clear plan for the completion of the game has been put in place to ensure continuity in the case of Rasheeds disappearance, injury or demise at the hand of the continuously expanding Israeli aggression in the West Bank.The goal is to let the player feel and understand what happened to the Palestinians during this dark era, which is still shaping our daily lives, says Abueideh. I want to deliver a message that the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is an ongoing process that started in 1948. At that point, [players] will be able to understand what is happening today and can take a stand.

One alleged GameStop employee has seemingly confirmed that Nintendo Switch 2 accessories have been added to the company's store here's all we've learned about the must-have console of the yearTech13:56, 09 Jan 2025Is this the Nintendo Switch 2?(Image: @KirPinkFury/X)Nintendo's hotly anticipated follow-up to the Switch, reportedly called the Switch 2, is leaking all over the place at the moment.Reports have suggested it'll use AI upscaling for 4K visuals, have new magnetic Joy-Con controllers, and it could welcome a AAA title as a third-party launch game.Just days after a Switch accessory maker claimed to have a Switch 2 and even predicted a release month, one Reddit user has posted GameStop's stock-keeping system which showcases a series of Switch 2 accessories that hint at a big upgrade from the first model.According to the post, GameStop is expecting to be able to sell a variety of MicroSD cards, and a joy-con charger grip.None of those are particularly surprising, of course, but a follow-up suggests there are cases, and tempered glass screen protectors planned, too.Again, not all that surprising, but it looks like it'll be using Express microSD cards which have drastically faster speeds than current SD cards. That could help with the AI upscaling since it'll be done on-device, so speed will be important.Aside from comments wondering how the poster is able to share this without getting a telling off, many seem to think next week could be the perfect time for the Switch 2 to be revealed.That would be after CES in Las Vegas has concluded, and before the Xbox Developer Direct reportedly coming on January 23.Time will tell, but it's interesting that we're seemingly hearing a lot about the console just not from Nintendo again.For more on handheld consoles, be sure to check out why your next system should be a Steam Deck OLED.Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.RECOMMENDED

Freedom Wars Remastered is as big as this weeks releases get (Bandai Namco)The most up to date video game release schedule for 2025 continues this week, with Freedom Wars Remastered.Last year wasnt overburdened with big name releases but 2025 is clearly going to be very different, if only for the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 and the Nintendo Switch 2.As ever, a lot of games are supposed to be scheduled for 2025 but dont actually have a release date yet, including not just GTA 6 but multiformat games like Borderlands 4, Doom: The Dark Ages, andElden Ring Nightreign. Theres also big name first party titles to look forward to, including Fable, Ghost Of Ytei, and Metroid Prime 4. And thats not including whatever new games the Switch 2 will bring into the world.Well update this article at least once a week, usually on a Thursday, so feel free to bookmark it and keep it for future reference, as new games and release dates are announced.Tuesday 7 January 2025Ys Memoire: The Oath In Felghana (PS4/NS/PS5)Sea Fantasy (XO/XSX/PC)Thursday 9 January 2025Freedom Wars Remastered (NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Friday 10 January 2025Nothing scheduledTuesday 14 January 2025Threefold Recital (PC)Thursday 16 January 2025Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (NS)Blade Chimera (NS/PC)Things Too Ugly (XO/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Morkull Ragasts Rage (XSX/PC)Friday 17 January 2025Dynasty Warriors: Origins (XSX/PS5/PC)Tales Of Graces f Remastered (NS)Monday 20 January 2025IDUN Frontline Survival (PC)Wednesday 22 January 2025Popotinhos Adventures (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5)Thursday 23 January 2025Synduality: Echo Of Ada (XSX/PS5/PC)Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (PC)Guilty Gear -Strive- Nintendo Switch Edition (NS)Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Gravitators (NS)Friday 24 January 2025Nothing scheduledMonday 27 January 2025Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. (PC)Tuesday 28 January 2025The Stone Of Madness (NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Tails Of Iron 2: Whiskers Of Winter (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Neptunia Riders Vs Dogoos (PS4/NS/PS5)Cuisineer (NS)Thursday 30 January 2025Sniper Elite: Resistance (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero (PS4/NS/PS5)Hello Kitty Island Adventure (NS)Marvels Spider-Man 2 (PC)Friday 31 January 2025Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (XSX/PS5/PC)Genso Mange (NS/PC)Tuesday 4 February 2025Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (XSX/PS5/PC)Wednesday 5 February 2025Rift Of The NecroDancer (PC)Thursday 6 February 2025Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator (XSX/PS5/PC)Moons Of Darsalon (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5)Friday 7 February 2025Nothing scheduledTuesday 11 February 2025Sid Meiers Civilization 7 (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Thursday 13 February 2025Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Friday 14 February 2025Assassins Creed Shadows (XSX/PS5/PC/Luna)The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2 (PS4/NS/PS5/PC)Date Everything! (NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)Other video game release dates 2025:18 February Avowed (XSX/PC)21 February Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii (XO/PS4/XSX/PS5/PC)28 February Monster Hunter Wilds (XSX/PS5/PC)4 March Two Point Museum (XSX/PS5/PC)6 March Split Fiction (XSX/PS5/PC)20 March Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (NS)25 March Tales Of The Shire: A The Lord Of The Rings Game (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC)27 March Atomfall (XO/PS4/NS/XSX/PS5/PC) Avowed Microsofts first big release of the year (Xbox Game Studios)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.ArrowMORE: Games Inbox: Will GTA 6 be out in 2025? 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

By Matthew Gault Published January 9, 2025 | Comments (0) | Takeshi Ebisawa posing with a rocket launcher during a meeting with two undercover agents from the Denmark Police (left) and a photo allegedly sent by Ebisawa showing plutonium with a Geiger counter (right) Image: U.S. Department of Justice Takeshi Ebisawa is done posing with rocket launchers, he's facing a lifetime in federal custody after pleading guilty to multiple guns, weapons, and nuke charges. In February of last year, Japanese Yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa entered our hearts when he posed with a rocket launcher for a photo. This year, hell be entering federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to sell weapons-grade plutonium, drugs, and weapons to undercover federal agents.According to the Justice Department, Ebisawa is part of a large-scale criminal network that spanned Japan, Thailand, Bruma, Sri Lanka, and the U.S that moves drugs and weapons across South East Asia. Ebisawa was a known entity to the feds, who set up a sting operation to catch him. He wanted surface-to-air missiles left over from Americas war in Afghanistan that he planned to sell to armed groups in Burma. According to the feds, Ebisawa would partially pay for some of these weapons using amphetamine and heroin bound for the U.S. street market. The Yakuza leader also wanted to sell an additional 500 kilograms of meth and heroin as a separate transaction.And then theres the weapons-grade nuclear material. As part of the sting, Ebisawa tried to sell what he claimed was thorium and uranium to an undercover agent posing as an Iranian general. The Yakuza boss sent pics of a rocky substance next to a Geiger counter along with pictures of what he claimed were lab reports to the fake general. Ebisawa then offered to supply the General with plutonium that would be even better and more powerful than uranium for this purpose, the Justice Departments press release about the guilty verdict said.Ebisawa claimed he had 2,000 kilograms of Thorium-232, more than 100 kilograms of uranium in its yellowcake form. He promised he could get another five tons of nuclear material from his contacts in Burma. He provided samples and when the feds tested it they found that Ebisawa did, indeed, have weapons-grade nuclear material. He pleaded guilty to all six counts against him: conspiracy to traffick nuclear materials, actually trafficking the nuclear materials, money laundering, and three charges related to the drugs and firearms. A judge will determine sentencing, but the weapons charges alone carry a life sentence. Our investigation into Takeshi Ebisawa and his associates exposed the shocking depths of international organized crime from trafficking nuclear materials to fueling the narcotics trade and arming violent insurgents, DEA administrator Anne Milgram, said in a press release about the case. DEA remains positioned to relentlessly pursue anyone who threatens our national security, regardless of where they operate. Protecting the American people from such evil will always remain DEAs top priority.A prosecution of someone trafficking nuclear materials is incredibly rare. The business is tightly controlled. Only nine countries in the world have access to nuclear weapons and the nuclear power industry is heavily regulated. The International Atomic Energy Agency has recorded only 4,243 incidents of illegal activities involving nuclear material since 1993.In 2023, it reported 168 incidents in 31 states and said that it was in line with historical averages. But the nuclear power industry is growing. Russia, China, and the U.S. are in a new nuclear arms race. Nuclear weapons and power are big again and more nuclear means more points of failure, more complicated supply chains, and more places for nuclear material to get lost or stolen along the way.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Matthew Gault Published December 24, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published December 21, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published December 13, 2024 By Todd Feathers Published November 18, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published November 14, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published November 13, 2024

Gaming enthusiasts, take note Samsungs premium Odyssey G5 Ultra-wide just hit a price thats turning heads. This massive 34-inch curved gaming display has built quite a reputation for combining immersive ultra-wide gameplay with high-end performance features. If youve been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your gaming setup or finally make the switch to ultra-wide, this deal might be exactly what youve been looking for.See at AmazonThanks to Amazon, you can get the Samsung Odyssey G5 Ultra-wide Gaming Monitor for just $341, saving you a hefty $209 (38%) off its regular $550 price tag. We probably dont even have to tell you how great this deal actually is.Level up your gaming battlestationFor the spec-hunters out there, this monitor delivers all the goods: a deeply immersive 1000R curved panel that matches your natural field of view, sharp WQHD resolution, and gamer-focused features like 165Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. Youre also getting AMD FreeSync Premium to keep your gameplay smooth and tear-free, plus HDR10 support for vivid colors that pop.The panel also gives you those deep blacks and rich contrasts that make games look their best, whether youre exploring dark dungeons or bright, open worlds. And while gaming is clearly the focus here, that ultra-wide format is a game-changer for productivity too perfect for anyone who uses their setup for work and play.You dont have to use this monitor for gaming, but thats where itll shine. Sure, you could use it to create a theatrical experience at your desk, but its put to its best use when youre peeking around the corner in a first-person shooter game or when youre exploring a colorful new world in an adventure title. Its slight curve means you can feel like youre in the middle of things, no matter whats going on, and itll be a much-needed change from what youre likely used to.At this new low price, the Odyssey G5 hits a sweet spot between premium features and value thats hard to ignore. Whether youre a seasoned gamer or you plan to be one, or you just want a fantastic new monitor thatll tick all the boxes for you, this is one deal youre not going to want to miss out on. Be sure youre ready and pounce before this price goes away and youre left scratching your head, wondering what happened. Youll be the envy of all your gamer friends and tech buddies.See at Amazon

Discovering bones in ancient Roman quarry shafts is not unusualfinding a hand-painted dog penis bone, however, is. Bioarchaeologist Ellen Green from the University of Reading in the UK has uncovered a painted dog baculum, or penis bone, dating back over 2,000 years. Scientists found the painted bone within a first-century BCE Roman shaft in Surrey, England. Archaeologists discovered the bone among other skeletal remains, and it might have been used in fertility or good luck rituals, as first reported by Live Science. Green describes the red-stained artifact in a study published on December 25 in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. Archaeologists discovered the 13.1-foot-deep (4-meter-deep) ancient Roman shaft (a former quarry, not the penis) in 2015 at a site called Nescot near the town of Ewell, and uncovered hundreds of human and animal skeletal remains. The researchers specifically uncovered the remains of over 280 domestic animals, including dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, and horses. Most were without evidence of butchering, disease, or burning. Of those animals, almost 200 of them were dogsbut only one of their penises was painted.Green used X-ray fluorescence (a non-destructive technique that determines an objects elemental composition) to determine that the red paint was iron oxide, a chemical compound whose color ranges from light yellow to a deep red. She then narrowed down the explanation behind the artifacts pigmentation to two scenarios: either the ochre was applied directly to the bone, staining it red, or the baculum was kept in a cloth dyed with ochre which then decomposed, staining the bone, the bioarchaeologist wrote in the study. Ochre is a natural pigment mainly composed of iron oxide.That said, no other bones appear to have been painted, archaeologists found no metal artifacts in the shaft that could have stained the bone with rust, and naturally occurring red ochre was absent from the Nescot site. As a result, Green concluded that someone intentionally painted the penis bone with red ochre before tossing it into the shaft, making it a truly special find. I could not find any other similar cases of Roman use of red ochre on bone, nor any examples from the British Iron Age, Green told Live Science. It is a very unique artifact from a very unique site, but it is ultimately a bit of a mystery. While Green describes how the bone was likely painted, many questions still remain as to why. In the study, she suggests the artifact may have been used as a ritual item, citing an already strong association between dogs and fertility within Roman Britain. Within the greater Roman world, the penis also represented good luck and protection against the evil eye, though this is the only example I could find of an actual penis having potentially been used as a ritual object, she added, according to Live Science.This claim, however, misses plenty of examples of penis bones being used in rituals across cultures. The Saami of northern Scandinavia, for example, attached bear bacula to sacred drums, while Indigenous Alaskan groups polished polar bear penis bones for knife hilts. These practices point to a wider tradition of genitalia symbolizing power, fertility, protection, and possibly even luck.The entire shaft, which was used as a burial site nine separate times over the course of about half a century after it was disused as a quarry, likely also served a broader ritualistic purpose. This is indicated by the presence of many young animals, as well as many animals born in the spring and summer, which tentatively points towards a connection with agricultural fertility, according to the study. While Green told The Independent that the idea of ritual shafts being associated with fertility is not new, it certainly brings ancient phallic symbolism to a whole new level. Maybe its time for us to replace the rabbit foot keychain.

Yuyarina Pacha Community Library / Al BordeSave this picture! JAG StudioLibrarySan Vicente de Huaticocha, EcuadorArchitects: Al BordeYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:JAG StudioMore SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Yuyarina Pacha means 'Space-Time to Think' in Kichwa. This project is located in the community of Huaticocha, in the buffer zone of the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 2019, the Laboratorio Creativo Sarawarmi and Witoca, an agricultural association focused on coffee in the community of Huaticocha started a pilot non-formal education project with local children. What began as a reading club quickly evolved into a space for holistic learning. The library and reading club are more than just a place to look at books; they are a safe space where local children can learn, play, and create.Save this picture!The reading club was a great success. The small space in which it was held needed to become a full-fledged library, and since there was no community meeting space available, it also needed to fulfill that function. These needs led to the final configuration of the project, where the program is divided into three floors: An open ground floor for art and science workshops that involves water, plastics, food, etc., which also serves as a space for informal events for the Association and other spontaneous gatherings.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The first floor is for activities without water, where the bibliographic collections are housed and children can access the books in an open shelf format; this is one of the Association's largest spaces, so meetings and other activities are also held there; and aSave this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The second floor focused on digital languages, where tablets and computers are used to store audio collections of stories aimed at preserving the community's oral memory; it also houses the magazine collection, which can be enjoyed at a balcony reading table connected to the central void of the first floor.Save this picture!The main structure of the project is made of Chonta, an Amazonian palm known for its incredible durability and strength. For generations, traditional houses in the region have relied on Chonta for construction, as its structure can be anchored directly into the ground without the need for waterproofing. The architecture embraces the pragmatic value of the region's ancestral building practices and adapts them to contemporary needs.Save this picture!Save this picture!Millimetric precision is a challenge in this architecture because the materials are organic and irregular. Therefore, the design considers potential variations and adapts to the imperfections of the materials. The thatched roof, characterized by its steep pitch, responds to the region's rainy climate. For the library, a glass skylight was incorporated into the ridge, providing natural overhead lighting and facilitating the construction and maintenance of the project. The ridge of a thatched roof is the most complex part to build and requires the most care and maintenance. This community project is a commitment to durability and self-management. The appropriation of the site began with a local event even before construction was completed. The Yuyarina Pacha Community Library is not only a space for knowledge, but also a testimony to the ability of rural communities to take charge of their development, despite being neglected by the state, and to a culture that maintains a more harmonious relationship with the place it inhabits.Save this picture!Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:San Vicente de Huaticocha, EcuadorLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeAl BordeOfficePublished on January 09, 2025Cite: "Yuyarina Pacha Community Library / Al Borde" [Biblioteca comunitaria Yuyarina Pacha / Al Borde] 09 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025453/yuyarina-pacha-community-library-al-borde&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Stack CommerceShareWe may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more Tired of clunky software that makes productivity feel like a chore? Microsoft Office 2024 Home is here to change that. Its packed with AI-powered features, real-time collaboration tools, and a sleek, user-friendly interface.And for just $119.97 (regularly $149), its a one-time investment that will level up your home office, family projects, and everyday tasks without any recurring fees.Whether youre writing reports in Word, crunching numbers in Excel, creating dazzling presentations in PowerPoint, or keeping track of lifes chaos in OneNote, Office 2024 makes it all easier, faster, and smarter.This isnt the old-school Microsoft Office your parents used. Office 2024 is flush with modern features, including AI integrations that make repetitive tasks a thing of the past. Think intelligent formatting suggestions, real-time data analysis, and natural language processing that make finding insights in your documents and spreadsheets as easy as asking a question.The contextual ribbon navigation keeps the tools you need front and center, minimizing distractions and simplifying your workflow. Need to adjust a table? The right options appear automatically. Need to collaborate with your family or roommates on a shared project? The co-authoring and chat features make it seamless.And lets talk about Excelbecause data nerds need some news. With dynamic arrays, Excel can now handle formulas like FILTER and UNIQUE, automatically updating outputs in real-time. Its like having your very own data assistant on call 24/7.Heres where Office 2024 really shines: the AI-powered features. These arent just gimmickstheyre real tools that can make your life run smoother.Imagine opening a report in Word, and the AI suggests ways to tighten up your writing. Or using Excel to crunch some numbers, and it highlights trends you hadnt noticed. Even PowerPoint can now help you design a more engaging presentation without you having to lift a finger.Need to manage your household budget, plan a family vacation, or help your kid with a school project? Office 2024s AI tools take the heavy lifting off your plate so you can focus on what really matters.Dont miss Microsoft Office 2024, while its just $119.97 (regularly $149).StackSocial prices subject to change.Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC: One-Time Purchase $119.97Get It Here