Murray Bartlett said that season two of "Nine Perfect Strangers" has "great twists and turns."The actor said that he plays a former children's TV host who has a puppet.Season two was filmed in Munich and Bartlett said it has a "gothic" aesthetic.After memorable turns in "The White Lotus" and "The Last of Us," Murray Bartlett is returning to the small screen for season two of Hulu's hit drama series "Nine Perfect Strangers." This time, he'll have a companion with him. "I'm an ex-children's TV host, and I have a puppet," Bartlett told Business Insider's Caralynn Matassa of his character while attending the Sundance premiere of his new film "Opus.""It's an amazing cast, there's some great twists and turns in the story this season, and we shot in the most beautiful locations," Bartlett added."It's kinda gothic this season.""Nine Perfect Strangers" is based on author Liane Moriarty's New York Times bestselling book of the same name. Season one stars Nicole Kidman as a mysterious health guru named Masha Dmitrichenko, who runs a boutique wellness retreat called Tranquillum House and welcomes nine guests hoping for a total transformation. Nicole Kidman in "Nine Perfect Strangers." Vince Valitutti/Hulu The eight-episode first season of "Nine Perfect Strangers" made a splash on Hulu upon its release in August 2021, setting a record as the most-watched Hulu original ever drama, comedy, limited series or unscripted on premiere day and after five days on the streamer."Nine Perfect Strangers" was renewed for season two in June 2023, with Kidman confirmed to return as Masha. Season two centers on guests at a new retreat location in the Swiss Alps."Swiss Alps and crazy!" Kidman, who also serves as an executive producer, told Deadline in April. "Hold on tight, cause it's going to get wild!"Bartlett told BI that season two of "Nine Perfect Strangers" was filmed in Munich and Austria."It was so beautiful, we had a really fun time," he said.In addition to Bartlett, season two includes a host of new characters played by Henry Golding, Mark Strong, Lena Olin, Annie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Dolly De Leon, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, King Princess, Aras Aydin, and Lucas Englander.The release date for season two has not been announced.

The White House shared first lady Melania Trump's official portrait for Donald Trump's second term.In the image taken by photographer Rgine Mahaux, Trump wears a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo suit.Mahaux told BI that the portrait shows the first lady is "ready to embrace her position."The White House released first lady Melania Trump's official portrait on Monday, marking her reentry into the role as President Donald Trump begins his second non-consecutive term.While the first lady remains an enigmatic figure, her White House portrait may provide some insight into how she'll approach the position.The photographer, Rgine Mahaux, has photographed Melania Trump before First lady Melania Trump's official White House portrait. Rgine Mahaux/The White House Rgine Mahaux, a Belgian photographer based in Paris, has photographed the Trump family for over 20 years, including family portraits in their Trump Tower residence in New York City.Mahaux also took Trump's official portrait during her husband's first term in 2017.Mahaux told Business Insider that Trump "has a great sense of humor" and maintains a "peaceful atmosphere" during their photo shoots."The first lady is a very creative person to do shootings with, which makes the job as an artist that much more interesting," Mahaux said. "She comes to do the shoot with deep respect for me and my crew. She has strong work ethics and morals. She gave me her trust and never took it back."Mahaux also shared that she chose to photograph Trump in black and white because "the first lady is a modern woman who has always been fond of black and white."Melania Trump wore a Dolce & Gabbana suitIn the new portrait, Trump wore Dolce & Gabbana's Twill Turlington tuxedo jacket, which retails for $3,245, wool gabardine tuxedo pants, which cost $1,495, and stretch poplin tuxedo shirt, which costs $925, according to the designer's website.Herv Pierre, who designed both of her inaugural gowns, styled the first lady for the photo shoot.Trump also wore a black Dolce & Gabbana suit in her 2017 White House portrait. Melania Trump's 2017 White House portrait. The White House via Getty Images The photo shows 'a woman who's ready to embrace her position'Trump's portrait was taken in the White House's Yellow Oval Room, which functions as the first family's formal living room. The Washington Monument, visible through the window in the background, adds gravitas to the shot.Dressed in a sharp suit, she leans on a table reminiscent of Donald Trump's boardroom in "The Apprentice." Mahaux said her portrait of Trump represents the first lady as "an active, hardworking woman" who is "strong, respectful, and elegant.""I find it to be powerful and it shows a woman who's ready to embrace her position," she said.Trump has already indicated a more public-facing presence for her second term in the White House. She published a memoir, "Melania,"in October, and serves as the executive producer of a forthcoming documentary about her life as first lady, which Amazon will reportedly license for $40 million.

Much of what Donald Trump has done in his first eight days back in the White House is legally unjustifiable. Whats uncertain is whether the Supreme Court will do anything to stop him.In two particularly egregious cases, Trump ordered an end to birthright citizenship for many Americans, and ordered the federal government to pause spending on a wide range of federal grants and loans already approved by Congress. While the order announcing the pause is confusing, early reporting suggests that tens of billions of dollars could be cut off (although the White House argued the order is more limited than it appears).In both cases, the law is clear. The Reagan-appointed federal judge who blocked Trumps birthright citizenship order said that in his 40 years on the bench he cant remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. (Birthright citizenship is a right enshrined in the Constitution.)Similarly, the Department of Justice has long warned that there is no argument to justify a presidents decision not to spend money appropriated by Congress. As future Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in a 1969 DOJ memo, it is in our view extremely difficult to formulate a constitutional theory to justify a refusal by the President to comply with a congressional directive to spend.Assuming that Trump actually wants these orders to take effect and its possible that they are nothing more than political stunts he appears to be making a risky bet. The premise of many of Trumps executive actions appears to be that the Supreme Court will let him get away with things that arent just illegal, but that, until recently, werent even considered debatable. Sadly, the outcome of this bet is uncertain. A year ago, the idea that presidents are allowed to use their official powers to commit crimes was also considered laughable. Among other things, why would then-President Gerald Ford have pardoned former President Richard Nixon in 1974, for crimes Nixon allegedly committed using the power of the presidency, if Nixon were already immune from prosecution?And yet, the Supreme Courts Republican majority did not simply give Trump immunity from many of the crimes he allegedly committed during his first term, they went out of their way to specify that Trump can order the DOJ to target his enemies and nothing can be done to him.The Republican Courts hands-off approach to Trump contrasts sharply with the extraordinary oversight it applied to Democratic President Joe Biden. During the Biden administration, the Republican justices fabricated entire legal doctrines such as its so-called major questions doctrine which allowed it to strike down policies that were explicitly authorized by federal law. The Supreme Court, in other words, functions less and less like a court of law, and more and more like another arena for partisan politics. Both parties choose justices based largely on whether those appointees are likely to toe a partisan line on a long list of legal questions. And all nine justices have behaved more or less as youd expect someone chosen through such a partisan process to behave.All of that said, the Court does sometimes balk at the most outlandish right-wing legal arguments that land on its doorstep. The Supreme Court routinely reverses the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, for example, which has become a breeding ground for far-right legal theories that would do lasting harm to the Republic if they were ever taken seriously. Last term, a 7-2 Supreme Court rejected a Fifth Circuit decision that could have seized up the entire US mortgage industry and caused an economic depression in the process.So, if youre asking whether this Court will block any of Trumps illegal actions, the only honest answer that any lawyer can give is I dont know. The current panel of justices are more partisan than any of their predecessors. But they do sometimes reject legal arguments supported by the rightmost fringe of the Republican Party.3 reasons to think that the Supreme Court might still act as a check on TrumpAfter the Courts Trump immunity decision, it is a dangerous game to predict the outcome of any future Supreme Court decision. Still, when the Court has ruled against Trump, or against aggressive right-wing legal arguments made by other litigants, those decisions have tended to fit into one of three boxes.1) At least some of the Republican justices and especially Chief Justice John Roberts will sometimes punish very conservative litigants for bad lawyering. Recall, for example, that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for undocumented youth survived the first Trump administration largely due to that administrations refusal to correct a paperwork error. Similarly, in a Census Bureau case, Roberts essentially accused the Trump administration of lying about why they wanted to change the 2020 census form in a way that was likely to discourage noncitizens from participating in the census. In a 2023 voting rights case, Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh shocked pretty much everyone who follows this area of the law by leaving in place legal protections against racial gerrymandering. Robertss majority opinion mocked the lawyers seeking to eliminate those protections for relying on arguments that run headlong into our precedent.So its, at least, possible that the Court will punish the second Trump administration for making legal arguments that no reasonable lawyer would make. The Court may decide that the arguments against birthright citizenship, for example, are so weak that they should be rejected.2) Most of the Republican justices are cautious about legal arguments that would cause massive harm to the US economy. In CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association (2024), for example, the Fifth Circuit declared the entire Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unconstitutional. As the banking industry warned the justices in an amicus brief, without the CFPB, banks would have no idea what rules they need to comply with in order to issue many loans. The entire US mortgage market could have seized up if the Fifth Circuit were affirmed.But that didnt happen. The Supreme Court ruled that the CFPB is legal in a 7-2 opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas.Similarly, in Collins v. Yellen (2021), several Fifth Circuit judges tried to unravel about $124 billion in transactions a federal agency engaged in to rescue the housing market during the 2008 recession. That case also could have generated enough chaos to cause an economic depression. But it didnt. The Supreme Court largely rejected the case against these transactions in an 8-1 decision by Justice Samuel Alito.Some of Trumps proposed economic policies, such as the high tariffs he keeps threatening to impose, could do such severe damage that some of the justices may see them the same way they saw the CFPB and the Collins case.3) Three of the Republican justices Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett have fairly consistently voted with the Courts Democratic minority in cases involving the First Amendment. These three justices joined the Democrats in rejecting Texass attempt to seize control of content moderation on the major social media platforms, for example. They also joined the Democrats in ruling that the Biden administration may ask social media companies to voluntarily pull down content such as terrorist recruitment videos or false medical advice which the government believes to be harmful.Its hard to know how much significance to read into these cases, since most of Trumps executive actions so far do not raise First Amendment concerns. But Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barretts First Amendment decisions do indicate that there are still some areas of the law where they will act consistently with longstanding precedents. That suggests there may be other areas where these three justices will follow existing law and not whatever legal theories come out of the Trump administration.Taken together, these three buckets suggest that the Supreme Court is likely to impose some limits on Trumps ability to govern as a dictator. But, its also possible that the Court decides to support Trumps efforts to expand presidential power. And, after the Trump immunity decision, it is no longer possible to predict where these justices will behave like judges, and where they will behave as Republican political operatives. 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:

Whether you're a billionaire or someone looking for a new game to play, there's a lot to like about both Path of Exile 2 and Diablo 4 read our comparison of both to help make up your mindTech18:51, 28 Jan 2025Diablo 4 was a huge hit at launch(Image: Grab)If you've been around social media in recent weeks, you'll no doubt have seen Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2 coming up in relation to a certain billionaire social media platform owner.And, while Elon Musk has seen his 'gamer credentials' shattered in recent weeks, there's no denying that the controversial figure has put more eyes on the ARPG genre than we really expected a man who has the ear of the returning president to.If all of the talk about leaderboards and loot has got you curious, then you're in the right place as we're going to help you pick the right ARPG for you, as well as try to introduce you to the magic of the genre. Ready? Let's get started.Elon Musk's gaming skills have been called into question in recent weeks(Image: AFP via Getty Images)You may have heard the term RPG, which refers to Role-Playing Games. These are games where, traditionally, you create a character and build their stats out as you see fit.That's a very loose definition, but it helps illustrate that ARPG is 'Action RPG', a genre that's got all the fun of building a character in your image and levelling up, while also offering the immediacy of killing just about anything on screen at any point in time.Diablo was arguably one of the progenitors of the genre (although some will debate this), but the idea is simple kill things, get loot, kill even bigger things. It's a loop that's stood the test of time, and has bled into everything from Final Fantasy 7 Remake to MMO-like experiences such as Destiny.Diablo launched in 1997, and while the series has been through some changes and some controversies, Diablo 4 (which launched in 2023) has grown into a fine example of an ARPG after taking a few seasonal updates to get going.On the other hand, Path of Exile 2 launched in December of 2024 in Early Access (more on that in a moment), but it's hardly the new kid on the block. The first game launched in 2013, just a year after Diablo 3, and it found an audience thanks to its polish and fantastic sense of customisation.The state of play now is that Diablo 4 is in its seventh season of content, while Path of Exile 2 is still in development but players can pay to play what's there now.Both have been catapulted into the mainstream by Elon Musk's gaming 'prowess' after the Tesla and X boss claimed to have been one of the best players in the world at both games.So, now that the stage is set, which one should you play?Season 7 of Diablo 4 is here(Image: Blizzard)Diablo 4 launched in a pretty impressive state back in 2023, but a lack of endgame left die-hard fans disappointed. That's something that's been fixed since, and each of its character classes is an absolute blast to play as (except Necromancer, which still feels slow to me).The campaign is pretty lengthy, and there's the optional Vessel of Hatred expansion that adds additional systems, another campaign, and the excellent Spiritborn class.There are new Witchcraft powers in Diablo 4(Image: Blizzard)In a genre where half of the fun is 'breaking' the game with character builds that blow through whole hordes of enemies, Diablo 4 certainly scratches that itch. The new season, Season of Witchcraft, launched last week and within a night of playing, I have a poisonous Rogue build that can literally kill some enemies without me needing to hit a button.It's the best kind of power fantasy, but it ramps up nicely in difficulty, and it's excellent fun to play with friends. Higher difficulties offer better loot, and with the base game now on Xbox Game Pass, it's easier than ever to introduce buddies.There's plenty to do in the endgame now, too, but even if you just want to slay some monsters and see that XP bar tick up, Diablo 4 is surprisingly accessible. It really can be as deep as you want it to be.Path of Exile 2 is a complex game, but one well worth investing time in(Image: Grinding Gear Games)I didn't play the first Path of Exile, but I picked up the sequel looking for something to inspire my cravings for bloodlust in a relatively quiet period for Diablo 4 and I'm so glad I did.There's a certain heft to everything in Path of Exile 2, which pairs with a sort of friction that makes for an intoxicating experience but one that'll leave you on your a*** if you're not careful. I mowed down early enemies with glee, less focused on loot (although it's still important) but more keen on filling out the almost overwhelmingly exhaustive skill tree.Path of Exile 2 features some fantastic boss mechanics and challenging gauntlets(Image: Grinding Gear Games)Diving into dungeons, earning loot,and then heading back to sell my wares before teleporting back became a compulsive loop, but what really kept me around were bosses. Diablo has them, sure, but Path of Exile 2's border on Souls-like enemies at times.One early-game baddie kept me bashing my head against a wall for what felt like hours before I switched out my loadout and skills to counteract his strengths. It remains the most exhilarating, hard-fought victory of the game so far for me, but that's not to say there's no power fantasy to be found here.Just as with Diablo, the right combination of skills, gear, and stats can make you feel almost godlike, but there's also excitement in knowing the next boss could cause you to rethink everything you've learned so far.All of this depth comes with a couple of caveats. For one, the game's not finished yet, so on the way to the endgame you can expect to play the first half of the game twice. The fact I'm still not at endgame is more a comment on my busy schedule than how fun Path of Exile 2 is, though.The other consideration is that Path of Exile 2 is a complex game. The community are thankfully wonderful, but there's a lot of learning as you play that may put some players off.It's a cop-out, sure, but there really is no clear winner because both games offer polished examples of the ARPG genre that do things differently.Whereas Path of Exile 2 can be tough to acclimatise to, it's endlessly rewarding. Diablo 4, on the other hand, is easy to get to grips with but can take some time to ramp up in challenge.Article continues belowThere's also something to be said about other games in the genre. Last Epoch is a great example of an ARPG that came about from a group of fans that clubbed together to build something they wanted to play, while Lost Ark transplants ARPG combat to an MMO setting.Musk or no, there's never been a better time to be an ARPG fan, and that's something worth celebrating.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

By Thomas Maxwell Published January 28, 2025 | Comments (0) | Bookshop.org is launching an e-book store that supports local bookstores. Getty Bookshop.org, the benevolent alternative to Amazon for online book purchases, has entered the e-book game. The company announced today the launch of its own e-book store along with a reader app for Android, iOS, and the web. For those who do not know, Bookshop.org launched in 2020 as a place for local mom and pop bookstores to easily sell paperbacks online. The site lets users choose their local store, which can offer its own recommendations and lists through Bookshop. When a user orders a book on Bookshop.org, their local bookstore receives the profit. The company says it has raised $35 million to date for local bookstores. Bookshop.org told The Verge that launching e-books was essential for bookstores to keep up with the times. The new digital store is launching with roughly one million titles, and the deal with local bookstores will remain the samethey will receive roughly 30 percent of the list price when a book is sold through their storefront. When a customer on Bookshop.org has not selected a specific bookstore to support, the company distributes the profit across all of its stores and keeps a small cut for itself. The company hopes that particular selling point will convince people to choose its store over Amazon. Although physical books have remained stubbornly more popular than e-books, studies have found that e-book readers tend to read more on average. Bookshop.org CEO Andy Hunter argues that e-books have remained unpopular due to a lack of innovation caused in large part by Amazons stranglehold on the market. The companys Kindle is synonymous with e-books, accounting for 75% of the marketmost people who want e-books simply buy a Kindle and where the books actually come from is secondary. Amazon has recently released new versions of the Kindle, including one with a color screen for the first time. Other companies have created color e-readers before but do not stand a chance against Amazon.That dominance is problematic for two reasons: Similar to Apples iPhone, the Kindle only allows users to buy e-books from Amazons store and read them on a Kindle, and Amazon has agreements with publishers that books in the Kindle store must be comparable to versions sold elsewhere. These two points stifle competition from alternative stores and devices, making it difficult to support a model like Bookshop.org. If you own a Kindle, you buy from Amazons store. Alternative e-readers cannot offer a better price on books or any bonus content, so they do not have much in the way to entice people away from the Kindle. To add insult to injury, Hunter told Gizmodo that because Apple takes a 30% cut on in-app purchases, Bookshop.org cannot sell e-books through its iOS reader app. Users must buy books through its website and then open them in the app.Hunter hopes the first step to loosening Amazons control is asking it to allow Bookshop.org books onto the Kindle so readers can at least support local. If it says no, he hopes lawyers will step in and try to force its hand through legal action. When consumers buy a piece of hardware like a Kindle, he argues, they should be able to load whatever they choose onto it. Anyone who has been following antitrust cases in the U.S. knows they move incredibly slowly. Just about all the tech giants have been fighting such cases for years now with little practical change. iPhone owners in the United States still cannot download an alternative app store, for instance, even though it is now the law of the land in Europe. Hunter says he hopes that his company will be able to ultimately create its own e-reader where people can read e-books from Bookshops store, but it will not be coming anytime soon. That will likely make it challenging for the companys digital store to succeed. The vast majority of e-book readers who are in Amazons ecosystem are effectively shut out of Bookshop.Another possible way forward here could be making e-books transferable so people in the Amazon ecosystem can freely leave with their collections, but that is unlikely to happen soon. For now, at least, Bookshop.org hopes supporting local bookstores will be enough to convince people to shop from its store despite the limitations.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Cheryl Eddy Published January 27, 2025 By Justin Carter Published January 26, 2025 By AJ Dellinger Published January 22, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published January 21, 2025 By Matt Novak Published January 20, 2025 By Matt Novak Published January 16, 2025

Learning a new language correctly takes time. Fortunately for you, in this case time does not equal money, because a lifetime subscription to Babbel the worlds top-selling language app is 71% off right now at StackSocial. That takes the price of this one-time-use-forever purchase down from $599 to $170, and then when you use the code LEARN40 at checkout, you get another $40 off.See at StackSocialAll 14 languages currently available on Babbel, along with any more they may be adding in the future, are covered under this lifetime subscription. Combine the opportunity to learn as many of those new tongues as you want with a literal lifetime to do it, and add in the $469 in savings you get from this offer, and its a truly spectacular deal.A World of OpportunityA lifetime subscription to Babbel can be used literally worldwide. Courses in Spanish, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Indonesian, Norwegian, Danish, Russian, and English are available, and all of them are broken down into manageable sessions only 10 to 15 minutes long.Babbels lessons concentrate on practical vocabulary and phrases that you need for everyday conversations, rather than getting lost in the minutia of arcane grammar and stilted sentences youd never use again. And Babbel uses advanced speech-recognition technology to help you with your pronunciation.Learn as you Go, AnywhereBabbel is easily synced across all your devices, including tablets, laptops, and desktops. You can knock out a quick lesson anywhere, and if you get interrupted and have to put one down halfway through, you can pick up exactly where you left off on any of your other devices. If youre headed somewhere thats not Wi-Fi friendly, you can download as many lessons as you want ahead of time and access them wherever and whenever you like. If you already have a trip abroad planned to a country where youre already somewhat familiar with the language, a quick brushing-up with Babbel ahead of time or even on the plane can be invaluable.StackSocials 71% off deal on a lifetime subscription to Babbel is stackable with the LEARN40, making this best-selling $599 language software an incredible $130 deal that youll be able to use for years to come without monthly renewal or update fees. You can join over 15 million subscribers who have already signed up for Babbel and are adding as many as 14 new languages and countless life opportunities every day.See at StackSocial

The right time to buy a generator is before you need one. It also helps if that generator is on sale. Right now, Walmart has a variety of Westinghouse generators cheaper than youll find anywhere else online. This $399 model is $529 at most other retailers right now, and thats lower than the typical price. Even if youre not worried about emergency preparedness, this model is great for everything from travel (with its built-in RV outlet) to tailgating. Save $280 now and worry less later.Westinghouse 4650 Peak Watt Dual Fuel Portable Generator with RV Outlet and CO Sensor $399 (was $679)WestinghouseSee ItThis dual-fuel generator can run off of a four-gallon gas tank or a 20-pound propane tank. It can run for 14 hours off of gas or up to 16.5 hours with a single tank of propane. At 104 pounds, this isnt a light model, but it is easy to move around thanks to its ergonomic cage design. Plus, that size comes with power, 4,650 peak watts or 3,600 running wattsa solid balance of performance and efficiency. Its easy to start and offers a pair of standard outlets, as well as a pair of 30A high-power outlets for bigger jobs.More generator dealsWestinghouse 6600 Peak Watt Home Backup Portable Gas Generator, Recoil Start, RV Ready Outlet, CO Sensor $529 (was $679)Westinghouse 12,500 Peak Watt Dual Fuel Portable Generator, Gas/Propane, Transfer Switch Ready, CO Sensor $1,049 (was $1,399)PowerSmart 2500W Portable Inverter Gas Generator, CO Detect Super Quiet Low Oil Shutdown,for Camping $339 (was $619)Westinghouse 14,500 Watt Tri-Fuel Portable Generator with CO Sensor $1,499 (was $1,699)The post Walmart has this 4,650-watt generator $129 cheaper than any other retailer right now appeared first on Popular Science.

Nature, Published online: 28 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00252-7Industrial projects in Chile threaten clear views of the Universe

Nature, Published online: 28 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00063-wOur weekly dip into Natures archive features progress in radiotherapy for cancer treatment a century ago, and bumblebees cheating to beat their competition.

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has released a new image generator, Janus-Pro-7B, which the company says is better than competitors.