Sun Launches Its Strongest Solar Flare of the Year So Far, Causing Radio Blackouts Around the World The new sunspot responsible for this powerful blast is rotating into view, which could bring more solar activity—and potential aurora-causing coronal mass ejections—to Earth in the coming days The sun launched a powerful solar flare on May 14, 2025, captured here by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. NASA / SDO The sun has had quite a busy week hurling solar flares at our planet, causing blackouts across the globe. “After weeks of calm, solar activity is suddenly high again,” reports Spaceweather.com. This is not totally unexpected, as scientists announced in the fall that the sun has reached the peak of its natural, 11-year cycle of activity, a high level known as the solar maximum. During this phase, the sun has more sunspots—dark, cool regions with tangled-up magnetic fields that can erupt material out into space. The recent flares came from a pair of sunspots, including a new one that emerged earlier this week. Called AR4087, the spot is not completely aligned with Earth, but it’s currently turning toward our planet. “If the explosions continue for a few more days, however, Earth will find itself squarely in the strike zone,” with the potential for aurora-causing coronal mass ejections (CMEs) to arrive, writes Spaceweather.com. Solar flares are bursts on the sun’s surface that send electromagnetic radiation, including X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV), hurtling through space—and sometimes, they’re pointed at Earth. These forms of energy can ionize, or charge, low layers of the planet’s ionosphere on the sun-facing side. That can affect high frequency radio waves used for long-distance communication, because they bounce off the ionosphere’s upper layers to get around the globe. When the lower layers are ionized, however, these waves lose energy or become completely absorbed, causing radio blackouts. A solar flare’s intensity is classified as either A, B, C, M or X, with X being the most powerful and each letter representing an increase in strength by a factor of ten. Radio blackout intensities are ranked on a scale from R1 to R5, with R1 corresponding to an M1 flare and R5 corresponding to X20, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). On Tuesday, a sunspot named AR4086 shot out an X1.2 solar flare. The very next day, the new sunspot AR4087 followed up with an M5.3 flare before a significantly stronger X2.7 flare—then topped it all off with another M7.7 flare, as reported by Live Science’s Jess Thomson. The AR4087 explosion caused “strong” R3 radio blackouts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, per Space.com’s Daisy Dobrijevic.Specifically, the X2.7 flare—the strongest so far this year—took place while the sun was over the Middle East and interrupted high frequency radio signals in the area for around ten minutes, explains Shawn Dahl, a space weather forecaster at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, to NBC News’ Denise Chow. “Other than the likelihood of [high-frequency] communication degradation due to some shortwave fade issues, we are unaware of any other likely or possible impacts,” Dahl says in a written statement to NBC News. However, as sunspot AR4087 rotates to face Earth head-on, we might be in for more solar activity. The powerful X2.7 flare also came with a CME, a burst of plasma and magnetic fields that can supercharge auroras. But rather than being pointed at Earth, that CME was launched at Mars, and it could cause auroras on the red planet this Sunday, per Live Science. “This is getting intense, especially as this active region turns closer into view,” Vincent Ledvina, an aurora chaser and photographer in Alaska, wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. “What does this AR have planned over the next days… we’ll have to wait and see.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

When we look at the relationship between 73-year-old legendary football coach Bill Belichick and his girlfriend and business partner, 24-year-old Jordon Hudson, it’s hard to know exactly what we’re seeing. Two grown-ups in love forging a dynamic business partnership? Elder abuse, as some have wildly speculated? Or is it, as the vitriolic comments in Hudson’s social media posts would have it, good old-fashioned gold digging? Gold digging is a misogynistic and retro term, but this scandal is a retro one. It’s a bizarre, slightly off-putting mystery that fits remarkably well into our current age of newly regressive gender politics.Hudson and Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl-winning former NFL coach, met on a flight in 2021 and went public with their relationship last December. While their nearly 50-year age gap has raised eyebrows amid observers, the scandal has only grown as Hudson has taken on an increasingly central role in Belichick’s professional world. It’s a bizarre, slightly off-putting mystery that fits remarkably well into our current age of newly regressive gender politics.Belichick requested Hudson be cc’ed on all publicity and media emails about him at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is now a college football coach. In public records, she’s listed as the manager of several companies that appear to be tied to Belichick. Insider accounts say she essentially cast herself in a Dunkin Donuts commercial in which Belichick appeared, and that she blocked a docuseries about Belichick’s career. But speculation around the relationship reached a fever pitch when Hudson interrupted during Belichick’s interview on CBS Sunday Morning in April. “How did you guys meet?” host Tony Dokoupil asked Belichick, referring to Hudson. “We’re not talking about this,” Hudson cut in tersely from off-camera. “Jordon was a constant presence during our interview,” Dokoupil informs viewers in voiceover, in a moment that launched a thousand TikTok reaction videos. In the midst of this controversy, the couple has been manufacturing social media content about their relationship that isn’t alarming so much as it is lightly uncanny, especially given Belichick’s famously gruff public persona. On Hudson’s Instagram account, she has posted beachside pictures of herself balancing athletically on Belichick’s outstretched legs, and of Belichick, dressed as a fisherman, reeling in a mermaid-tailed Hudson from the surf. (“Ouucchhhh!!!” goes the caption on that one.)A few have defended the relationship between Belichick and Hudson. Sports media personality Colin Cowherd has said that Hudson’s choice to hop into Belichick’s interview was normal for PR directors, if “kind of a cringy thing.” Right-wing sports outlet The Outkick has rallied to Hudson’s side on the grounds that she triggers the libs, saying, “If Jordon wants to spend her weekends at Bill’s house on Nantucket, soaking up the sun and enjoying Cisco Brewery on Bill’s dime, I say GO FOR IT.” But the most common reaction to the spectacle of Hudson and Belichick’s relationship is the one outlined by sports media personality Katie Nolan on a podcast in February: This is weird and seems like it has sinister undertones.“We’re already going, ‘You’re how much younger than him?’ And then you show up in a commercial. And then you hear that she’s in charge in his career.” Nolan said. “It seems like you could be taking advantage of the guy. And he’s obviously taking advantage of the girl.” Notably, it doesn’t appear to be much of a head-scratcher why a powerful septuagenarian would choose to be with a recent college graduate and pageant contestant. But the nefarious reason implied about why Hudson wants to be with Belichick is the one people are misogynistically and freely throwing around: gold digger.The resurgence of the gold digger I don’t know anything about Hudson and Belichick’s private relationship, and most likely, neither do you. I don’t want to make any claims about who is using whom or what their private life is like. But as a feminist pop culture critic, I am interested to see the term “gold digger” swim back up from the collective unconsciousness again, ready and willing to go to work. There’s something almost old-fashioned about it. The last time “gold digger” was thrown around in pop culture so much was when teenager Courtney Stodden skyrocketed to fame in 2011 after they got married at age 16 to 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison. Stodden would later describe their marriage as one characterized by grooming and sexual assault. Before that, the great pop culture gold digger was Anna Nicole Smith, the model turned paparazzi obsession who married oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994. Since Smith’s untimely death in 2007, she’s found a place in the pantheon of wronged women of the 1990s, someone we came to believe over the last decade was publicly mistreated — in part by her tarring as a gold digger. “It’s a bit provincial to look down one’s nose at a woman wanting something from a man and give a pass to a man who arguably would have never given her a second glance had she not been a beautiful, blonde Playboy Playmate,” essayist and sex work activist Laura LeMoon argued in 2023, writing about Smith in Salon. “Rather than singling out and condemning Anna Nicole Smith, we should be pointing our fingers at the inequities and systemic failures that put people like me and Smith in positions where obtaining money and resources from men, directly or indirectly, is our best option for survival.”“Gold digger” is a euphemism that allows us as a culture to talk around those systemic failures. It’s a way to deride women when they take seriously the idea that their financial well-being should depend on their relationships with men. So it’s odd to see the term becoming so popular during a moment when popular culture has become rather infatuated with the idea that life is most pleasant, simple, and straightforward when women’s finances do depend on romantic relationships with men.TikTok is full of tradwives explaining how their lives became better once they got out of the 9-to-5 grind to make cereal from scratch for their children and let their husbands do the breadwinning. (That the most successful of the tradwife influencers are actually the primary breadwinners in their homes is an irony the influencers themselves seldom discuss.) Or there are the stay-at-home girlfriends cooing over how taking care of their boyfriends without even the financial safety net of a marriage contract has been their ticket to the soft life. The gold digger is the tradwife as seen through a funhouse mirror: a woman living off her ability to attract a man, only here done crassly.Meanwhile, some of President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters are arguing that his tariffs will force women out of the workforce and make them once again financially dependent on men, either through marriage or through sex work, life paths these men treat as equivalent. Trump’s appeal to the dream of a lost American manufacturing economy is a nostalgic one. It’s an appealing fantasy to some of his more incel-adjacent fans: that under this economy, the sexes will revert to an older, allegedly more natural economic relationship, one in which women trade their sexuality and childrearing capabilities to men in exchange for financial security. The gold digger is the tradwife as seen through a funhouse mirror: a woman living off her ability to attract a man, only here done crassly, without the show of love to soften the crude edges of the transaction. The gold digger is simply a figure we can blame for how uncomfortable this dynamic makes us feel, without having to think through just what is so uncomfortable about it. So if we’re angry at Jordon Hudson, it’s worth asking the question: Are we angry with her, or with the fact that powerful people want to make gold digging one of a woman’s most viable career paths again?See More:

Posting images of fabric swatches and interiors you admire can not only act as a virtual mood board for you, but it will also give potential clients a deeper understanding of your design eye.Dare to try a…dating app?Dating apps like Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder might have revolutionized the modern-day meet-cute, but for designer Kelly Martin those platforms helped her break into bolder projects and a new demographic. “A male friend of mine was talking about how ‘dudes’ apartments’ aren’t usually acceptable for bringing dates home,” she explains. “And that men would probably appreciate a designer’s eye to make them appear to have more taste and sophistication.”So, with the help of her friend, Martin created a profile to attract new clients. To keep her presence strictly professional, she filled her profile with marketing materials. Though Martin admits many of her suitors were more focused on dating than design, she said the tactic did draw in some prospective clients. “It was worth the ridiculousness for that,” she says.Conjure a Craigslist listingNowadays, Craigslist is a great destination for secondhand furniture and the occasional apartment listing. But over 15 years ago, it was how Dan Mazzarini forayed into residential design. “I was talking to a friend that I was helping with an apartment, and I think he said he had looked and posted for designers on Craigslist,” says the principal and creative director of AD PRO Directory studio BHDM. “When I got home I took a look, and there were all these posts for people looking for weekend warrior kinds of designers. So I tried a few!”Mazzarini would respond to ads looking for short-term projects—he says Trading Spaces influenced people’s desire for “quick fixes,” but the lack of modern technology made it trickier to DIY—and racked up some clients along the way. “I did help these roommates who lived in Harlem reupholster chairs,” he recalls. “They were in awe of how making the right decisions, and (a lot) of elbow grease totally changed their space. It was fun to work with them, and their gratitude was sincere.”In addition to getting some clients, these smaller jobs taught Mazzarini important lessons like navigating a tight budget or timeline and communicating with vendors. (Translation? Everything he needed to build his firm.) “My business has grown and evolved, but I still think there is no better reward than a happy residential client,” he says.Revive rejected clientsA client who might have initially passed on your proposal doesn’t mean it’s a “no” forever—just ask Noelle Harvey of Sunday House Interior Design in Portland, Oregon. Harvey’s AD PRO Directory firm presented a project scheme to a potential customer, who ultimately declined working together. Months later, a member of the design team went to a dental office for a teeth cleaning; the dentist turned out to be that could-have-been client. After chatting for a bit, the employee learned the client was unhappy with the work that had been done by another designer and hired Sunday House to make some updates for her.“Always remember that anyone could become a client,” Harvey advises. “The client got really comfortable with us and we became more than just a website and an email; it’s important to remember that everyone is human.”That said, Harvey admits there’s a fine line between persistent and pushy, so tread lightly. She says: “My team member went in with the mindset of not bringing it up if it didn’t come up, but if it did, letting it play out.”APPLY NOWGrow your business with the AD PRO DirectoryArrow

May 16, 20253 min readTornadoes Expected to Strike Multiple States This Weekend in One of the Worst Seasons This DecadeTornadoes are predicted across swaths of the U.S. in the coming days, likely adding to this year’s already high tally of such stormsBy Meghan Bartels edited by Dean Visser Thomas Trott/Getty ImagesTornadoes threaten huge swaths of the U.S. this weekend amid a season already marked by unusually high storm activity, even as the National Weather Service faces budget cuts likely to impede its ability to respond to severe weather.What to ExpectThe National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center has forecast severe thunderstorms with scattered tornadoes—some of them intense—across parts of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas and Ohio for the afternoon and evening of May 16.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.“Today we’re expecting a severe weather outbreak across the mid-Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys,” says Jenni Pittman, a meteorologist and deputy chief of the Science and Technology Integration division at the National Weather Service’s Central Region Headquarters. These regions stretch farther east than the historically prevalent “Tornado Alley” of the mid- to late 1900s.“Then we see a renewed chance for severe weather Sunday, continuing Monday and continuing Tuesday as well,” Pittman says. “A lot of the risks on Sunday through Tuesday are going to be from the High Plains pretty much through the Midwest.” National Weather Service maps show these risks concentrated in Kansas and Oklahoma.This weekend’s predicted tornadoes would follow a slight lull in the region, she adds. “We’ve had a little bit of a break here in May, which is typically a pretty busy severe weather month,” Pittman says. “April was very active, and the rest of May does look pretty active as well.”This Year in TornadoesAs of May 15, the National Weather Service has tallied 779 tornadoes in its local storm reports—a preliminary number but a helpful metric for tracking the season’s severity. For comparison, between 2005 and 2015, that same tally averaged 624; between 2010 and 2024, it was 592.“As of mid-May, the U.S. is running well above the typical number of tornadoes to this point in the year,” says Rich Thompson, chief of forecast operations for the Storm Prediction Center.This year to date also stands out against individual years. The most active tornado season of recent years was 2011, when hundreds of storms struck in late April; by mid-May the tally stood at more than 1,300 storms, with more than 2,200 by the end of the year.That year also demonstrated the close connection between just a few days of serious storms and a bad season. “Intense tornadoes are disproportionately responsible for damage, injuries and deaths, and such tornadoes are more common on a few ‘outbreak’ days,” Thompson says. “Thus, the number of outbreak days often determines the severity of the season, with 2011 being the prime example of multiple high-impact tornado outbreaks.”Overall, this year is more on par with last year, which had seen 815 tornado reports by this point in the season. Notably, one third of those storms have occurred during just three outbreak days in March and April, Thompson says.Matthew TwomblyWhat to KnowIf you live in an area where tornadoes are forecast, follow local weather and emergency response offices closely. In general, experts recommend having supplies available to shelter in place and having a safety plan for pets as well as humans. Pittman also recommends that people have multiple ways to stay on top of weather alerts (such as through broadcasts on television and on battery-powered radios, outdoor sirens and fully charged mobile phones).During an event, the National Weather Service recommends that people living where a severe thunderstorm watch is active head to “an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building.”If you’re caught away from shelter, the calculus becomes more complicated. In a vehicle, if a storm is still at a distance, you may be able evade it by driving at a right angle to the tornado’s apparent approach. If already caught in the winds, park instead, and either keep your seat belt fastened and protect your head and neck or get out of the car if there’s someplace safe to lie below the elevation of the roadway. Avoid sheltering under bridges, however, which don’t offer much protection, experts note.

A Russian-born gaming mogul has been named the UK’s richest person under 40 — in a ranking dominated by tech entrepreneurs. Dmitry Bukhman, 39, built his fortune after founding mobile gaming giant Playrix. His estimated wealth of £12.54bn tops The Sunday Times 40 Under 40 Rich List — and makes up over a third of its £36.2bn combined total. His net worth has nearly doubled since last year. As a child in post-Soviet Russia, Bukman taught himself to code. Alongside his older brother Igor, he built his first game with an old Pentium PC given to them by their grandfather. After founding Playrix in 2004, the duo turned their focus to free-to-play mobile games. Their biggest hits — including Homescapes, Fishdom, and Township — have come in the casual puzzle and simulation genres. The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!Most of their revenue derive from in-app purchases (IAP). In 2024, Playrix was the world’s fourth-largest mobile game publisher by IAP revenue, generating around $1.66 billion. The company has also faced accusations of pay-to-win mechanics and misleading advertising. The Bukhman brothers left Russia in 2016. They moved to Israel in 2016 and then relocated to the the UK four years later. In 2022, they shut down Playrix’s operations in their home country after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Bukhman is far from the only tech leader on the rich list — nearly half its members come from the sector. Five of them join Bukhman in the top 10: Herman Narula, the CEO of virtual worlds business Improbable, Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham, the co-founders of insurtech firm Marshmallow, and Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski, the co-founders of AI firm ElevenLabs. The rankings are a subset of The Sunday Times Rich List, which profiles the UK’s 350 wealthiest people and families. Their combined wealth is estimated at £772.8bn — more than the annual GDP of Switzerland. Story by Thomas Macaulay Managing editor Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he e (show all) Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse). Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with

A Russian-born gaming mogul has been named the UK’s richest person under 40 — in a ranking dominated by tech entrepreneurs. Dmitry Bukhman, 39, built his fortune after founding mobile gaming giant Playrix. His estimated wealth of £12.54bn tops The Sunday Times 40 Under 40 Rich List — and makes up over a third of its £36.2bn combined total. His net worth has nearly doubled since last year. As a child in post-Soviet Russia, Bukman taught himself to code. Alongside his older brother Igor, he built his first game with an old Pentium PC given to them by their grandfather. After founding Playrix in 2004, the duo turned their focus to free-to-play mobile games. Their biggest hits — including Homescapes, Fishdom, and Township — have come in the casual puzzle and simulation genres. The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!Most of their revenue derive from in-app purchases (IAP). In 2024, Playrix was the world’s fourth-largest mobile game publisher by IAP revenue, generating around $1.66 billion. The company has also faced accusations of pay-to-win mechanics and misleading advertising. The Bukhman brothers left Russia in 2016. They moved to Israel in 2016 and then relocated to the the UK four years later. In 2022, they shut down Playrix’s operations in their home country after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Bukhman is far from the only tech leader on the rich list — nearly half its members come from the sector. Five of them join Bukhman in the top 10: Herman Narula, the CEO of virtual worlds business Improbable, Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham, the co-founders of insurtech firm Marshmallow, and Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski, the co-founders of AI firm ElevenLabs. The rankings are a subset of The Sunday Times Rich List, which profiles the UK’s 350 wealthiest people and families. Their combined wealth is estimated at £772.8bn — more than the annual GDP of Switzerland. Story by Thomas Macaulay Managing editor Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he e (show all) Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse). Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with

An environment conference opened in Nepal on Friday to discuss global climate change, including the impact on the highest Himalayan peaks where snow and ice are melting.The three-day conference in Kathmandu titled, “Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity,” is expected to include discussions of critical climate issues.“From the lap of Sagarmatha (Everest), the world’s highest peak, we send this message loud and clear that to protect the mountains is to protect the planet. To protect the mountains is to protect our seas. To protect the mountains is to protect humanity itself,” Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli told participants at the opening meeting.Nepal is home to eight of the tallest mountains in the world including Mount Everest. A high level of glaciers melting in the Himalayan mountains because of global warming has raised signficant concerns. Melting snow and ice have exposed the mountains and increased the risk of rock slides, landslides and avalanches.Scientists have warned the Himalayan mountains could lose up to 80% of their glaciers if the Earth warms in coming decades or centuries. They say flash floods and avalanches also could become more likely in coming years, in part because of climate change.“The tragedy is that the Himalayas are facing an unprecedented stress test in real time today, exposing not only the fragile nature of our mountain ecosystems but also a glaring evidence of the lack of meaningful global climate action,” Nepal Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba said. “As a mountainous country with high disaster risk vulnerability, Nepal faces a stark predicament.”Nepal has experienced a series of severe weather events in the recent past with devastating impacts on people and their livelihoods, Deuba said.“Floods and glacial lake outbursts have caused large-scale destruction and damage, and droughts, water scarcity and forest fires have brought untold suffering to the people across the country,” she said.Ministers from neighboring India, Bhutan, and Maldives are attending the conference.Organizers have said they intend to publish a Kathmandu declaration after the discussions end Sunday. —Binaj Gurubacharya, Associated Press

Oh it’s fun to have good news! The latest set from the Pokémon TCG, Scarlet & Violet Destined Rivals, is a top-notch collection of cards bursting with Team Rocket antics, which sports (in my limited experience, at least) pull rates I don’t believe we’ve seen in this era. Having torn open 55 packs, I have a generous spread of rares and ex cards the likes of which I’ve not seen since S&V began. Also, unlike the awful previous set Journey Together, it’s an excellent collection of Trainer Pokémon to really charge up the live game.Suggested ReadingWhat’s Coming Out Beyond Pokémon: The Indigo Disk | The Week In Games Share SubtitlesOffEnglishview videoSuggested ReadingWhat’s Coming Out Beyond Pokémon: The Indigo Disk | The Week In Games Share SubtitlesOffEnglishYou know, if you can buy it.While it’s delightful to report that The Pokémon Company has really knocked it out of the park with Destined Rivals, unfortunately this hasn’t coincided with addressing the wild shortages of cards for regular customers. It’s a problem that only just repeated itself with last week’s website-crashing launch of the next sets, White Fire and Black Bolt—the first ever split-set English-language collection—that looks likely to be as impossible to buy as just about everything else this year. Or, if you do, you’ll be paying way over MSRP to scalpers, and please don’t do that.However, smart players will know that the best way to get cards for any set is to attend a pre-release event at their local store or club, where everyone receives seven or more packs, generally for less than $30. Those are taking place Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18, although I hear that even these were booking up fast weeks ago. If you can, I really recommend making the effort for Destined Rivals. It’s a bunch of fun, and if the 55 packs I opened are an accurate sample (thanks to The Pokémon Company for sending them over), you’re likely to pick up a good handful of super-pretty full-art cards.Image: The Pokémon Company / KotakuSo why am I so excited for this set? It’s a combination of things. It’d be silly to pretend that the first appearance of Team Rocket in the game in 25 years isn’t a big part of the thrill, and the set is rammed full of the nefarious group and their signature monsters. Among the Pokémon boosted by Team Rocket are Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno, along with newcomer Spidops, classics like Meowth and Mewtwo, and that most evil of Pokémon, Flaaffy. Meanwhile, for the forces of good, Cynthia, Misty, Ethan and Arven all join, again bringing back some favorites like Milotic, Gyarados, Psyduck and Ho-oh. It’s a real crowd-pleaser.Secondly, those pull-rates. When I get these boxes of cards from TPCi, I sit down and open them with my 10-year-old. It’s a really solid way of gauging the levels of satisfaction, his spirit draining out of him when we’re tearing through a set like Journey Together and just getting endless bulk. But with Destined Rivals, even my Pokémon-uninterested wife wanted in, so fun was it to have a strong chance of finding an exciting card. Where Journey Together only had 31 full-art cards, Destined Rivals has an amazing 62! Double! Admittedly, that’s on top of a wild 182 regular cards (included ex), making this the biggest set since Surging Sparks, but with—in my admittedly unscientific sample—a seemingly much better chance of finding the special stuff.We were especially lucky to pull the Team Rocket’s Ariana Special Illustration Rare, along with one of my chase cards, the Illustration Rare of Misty’s Psyduck. No Mewtwo, sadly, but we also got 12 regular ex cards (only two duplicates), and 11 full-arts! If you include ex in the figures, that’s a pull-rate of almost one in two! Remove the regular ex cards and you’ve still got one in five for something Ultra Rare or better. Those included the wildly gorgeous Rapidash by Rond, Mori Yuu’s extraordinarily detailed Clamperl, the delightful Team Rocket’s Murkrow (with Ariana and the Pokémon staring at one another in front of a skyline of skyscrapers) by Akira Komayama, and the splendidly silly Team Rocket’s Raticate by Mekayu (the artist who gave us the glorious Drampa from Temporal Forces).Image: The Pokémon Company / KotakuAnd thirdly, the game itself! Journey Together was supposed to be the reintroduction of Trainer Pokémon to the live game, but it was such a damp squib. This time, things are really going to get mixed up! Team Rocket arrive with an array of brand new tricks and cheats, and while people are obviously going to build decks around Misty and Ethan, it’ll be the baddies that once more prove the most fun.There’s the addition of Team Rocket’s Energy, which provides two energy to any Team Rocket Pokémon, and can be either Dark or Psychic or both! Meanwhile, Team Rocket’s Venture Bomb lets you flip a coin to find out if it’s going to do 20 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon, or 20 specifically to your own Active Pokémon—but being an Item card, you can do this silliness as many times as you have cards in a single turn. Giovanni, meanwhile, offers a classic evil move: you can play him to swap out your current Active Pokémon, but also do the same to your opponent, and choose which of their benched Pokémon goes in. Team Rocket’s Great Ball lets you flip a coin and then pull either an Evolution or Basic Pokémon from your deck depending on the result. And then Stadium card Team Rocket’s Watchtower renders all Pokémon without abilities! That’s going to destroy so many players’ tactics!Oh, and there’s a card called Team Rocket’s Bother Bot, and while its ability is fascinating—you can flip one of your opponent’s prize cards, then pick a random card from their hand, and then choose if you want them to swap them over—I’m mostly mentioning it because I find its name very funny.Then the Team Rocket Pokémon themselves do some real mischief. Arbok, for instance, stops your opponent playing any card with an ability (unless it’s a Team Rocket), and also does 30 damage to every single Pokémon your opponent has on the board. Articuno can prevent all attack effects just by being on the bench. Dottler lets you look at the top five cards on your opponent’s deck, and then put them back in your preferred order! Ha!Nidoran ♀ and ♂ offer their usual teamwork options, but super-powerfully. Once you’ve evolved to Nidorina, you can do an attack that lets you search your deck to evolve any two of your benched monsters, and then Stage 2's Nidoqueen will do 180 damage for one energy if you have a Nidoking in play. Oh, and Ampharos, Flaaffy’s ultimate form, has an ability that means any time your opponent evolves a Pokémon, they automatically put 40 damage on it! That’s monstrous.Image: The Pokémon Company / KotakuIt’s going to be so interesting to see how people manipulate these new additions into the meta, not least when yet more cards are deliberately designed to mess up current favorite decks—Mimikyu lets you steal Tera Pokémon attacks, for instance. I think this should finally offer the shake-up the game needs in its third year of this era, before (and this is still just a rumor, but quite a likely one) next year’s switch to Mega Pokémon instead of a fourth year of S&V.Now, as I’ve said, my sample of 55 packs isn’t big enough to be indicative, and perhaps we just got weirdly lucky. But I have high hopes here. We’ll get a proper idea when the likes of Danny Phantump have put together their pull-rate data. Either way, there’s such a wealth of beautiful cards in the set, so much incredible art to collect, and a bunch that’ll make the live game so very interesting. Which is pretty much all I can ask for from a Pokémon TCG set. Other than, you know, being able to buy it. Which is going to be very, very hard to do.Destined Rivals officially releases on May 30, with pre-release events taking place this weekend, May 17-18..

Commuters in the New York City and New Jersey area are in for what is likely to be a weekend of increased congestion and more limited transit options after the engineers who run the New Jersey Transit rail system voted to go on strike. That strike is now in effect and could continue throughout the weekend—and potentially even longer. Here’s what you need to know about the NJ Transit strike. What’s happened? On Thursday, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced that its members who run the trains in the New Jersey Transit Corporation, better known as NJ Transit, were officially on strike. The strike came after the BLET and NJ Transit failed to reach a deal on a new contract for the approximately 450 engineers and trainees who run the railway and are represented by the union. The main issue centers around a disagreement on wage increases for the workers. News of the strike is no doubt a disappointment to the 100,000 NYC and NJ commuters who use the line daily, especially after both sides were reportedly “close” to a deal. Talks between both sides went on for 15 hours on Thursday and ended shortly before 10 p.m., reports CNN. The strike then officially began at 12:01 a.m., today, Friday, May 16. It is the first time union members working for New Jersey Transit have gone on strike in 42 years. The last time NJ Transit workers took to the picket lines was in 1983. What do the striking rail workers want? The BLET’s union members are striking because no acceptable deal was reached on wage increases for its members. In a notice announcing the strike, BLET says that its NJ Transit members have not received a raise for five years. The union also notes that NJ Transit engineers “make at least $10 less per hour” than the engineers for other passenger railroads that share the same train platforms as the ones used by NJ Transit. “NJ Transit has a half-billion dollars for a swanky new headquarters and $53 million for decorating the interior of that unnecessary building,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a prepared statement. “They gave away $20 million in revenue during a fare holiday last year. They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their front-line workers. Enough is enough. We will stay out until our members receive the fair pay that they deserve.” In addition to the strike now in effect, from 4 a.m. this morning BLET members began picketing at multiple locations, including NJ Transit’s Newark headquarters, New York’s Penn Station, and the Atlantic City Rail Terminal in Atlantic City. The union says that “despite the transit agency having the funds for a raise,” NJ Transit managers walked out of talks before 10 p.m. on Thursday. What does NJ Transit say? NJ Transit, for its part, has posted a fact sheet about the strike, which lays out six claims and what the transit agency says are the “facts” about the claims. NJ Transit says that it offered BLET members a “competitive wage and benefits package that all 14 other rail labor unions accepted in 2021.” It also says that under its offer, NJ Transit locomotive engineers would have seen their average total earnings rise from $135,000 per year now to $172,856 as of July 1, 2027.  The transit agency says these wages are “competitive within the region” and higher than the wages Philadelphia’s SEPTA workers receive. It concedes that the wages are lower than those received by MTA (Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road) workers in New York, but it adds, “It isn’t reasonable to live and work in New Jersey, but demand to be paid like you live and work in New York.” How long could the strike last? That is impossible to tell at this point.  In theory, NJ Transit and BLET could agree to return to the negotiating table at any time—although that’s unlikely to happen today. However, on Thursday, NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said that both sides are currently scheduled to start negotiating again on Sunday. But just because negotiations are scheduled—or even begin—doesn’t mean the strike will be called off anytime soon. Indeed, if BLET would call off the strike, it may lessen the pressure on NJ Transit to meet their demands. CNN notes that when Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) workers went on strike in the 1980s, the strike lasted for 108 days. A strike of Metro-North workers lasted 42 days, and a strike of Long Island Railroad workers lasted 11 days.  What should I do if I plan to use NJ Transit today? You should rethink your travel plans.  NJ Transit has posted a notice warning of the “complete suspension” of services on its rail lines. The agency says it “strongly encourages all those who can work from home to do so and limit traveling on the NJ TRANSIT system to essential purposes only.” However, if you do need to commute, the agency says that it is “adding very limited capacity” to existing New York commuter routes on its bus services. The agency also says that from May 19, its regional Park & Ride service “will operate on a first come, first served basis.” Commuters who need to use NJ transit during the strike are strongely encouraged to check out the agency’s rail strike information page here. What if I’m seeing the Shakira or Beyoncé concerts? From this weekend, there are also two large music events planned in the area that NJ Transit normally serves. The first is the Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight, May 16. Then, Beyoncé is scheduled to perform at the same stadium for five nights between May 22 and May 29. MetLife Stadium has posted some travel options for concertgoers who are seeing the Shakira show tonight. The stadium points out that there will be no NJ Transit bus or rail service to the stadium tonight. It says that those coming to the concert from New York City may be able to use the Coach USA bus service, which it says will be “limited.” The venue also asks people who plan to arrive by car to please carpool and arrive early to help ease congestion. Will Congress step in? When it comes to transportation strikes, Congress does have the authority to act and compel workers to accept a deal and return to their jobs, notes CNN. The last time Congress did this was in December 2022 when it voted to force workers from the country’s four major freight railroads to accept a deal. However, CNN points out that Congress likely felt more compelled to step in at that time because the strike affected most of the country. The NJ Transit strike is a local affair, which means Congress may be more reluctant to interfere.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" The British Pavilion, which was awarded a Special Mention for National Participation at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, is presenting GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.The Rift Valley is a geological feature that extends from southeast Africa via Mozambique, Kenya, and Ethiopia, along the Red Sea, through Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon, to southern Turkey, is the geographical, geological, and conceptual focal point of the show.Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025The exhibition is curated by a multidisciplinary team of curators, including Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi of the Nairobi-based architecture studio Cave_bureau, UK-based curator and writer Owen Hopkins, and academic Professor Kathryn Yusoff, collaborated on the show. A variety of international practitioners, such as Mae-ling Lokko and Gustavo Crembil, Thandi Loewenson, and the Palestine Regeneration Team / PART - Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari, and Murray Fraser, have commissioned installations in addition to the curatorial team's creations.Entrance to the British Pavilion. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025"A dialogue between Great Britain and Kenya about reparation and renewal" earned the British Pavilion a Special Mention from the jury. The Pavilion displays an extraction-defined architecture that leads to degradation of the environment and inequity. The Venice Fellowships Programme is a noteworthy project for knowledge exchange between Venice, Great Britain, and Kenya. The jury also highlights attempts to envision a new relationship between architecture and geology.Room 2: “Rift Room,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hokins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025"We are hugely honoured that GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair has been recognised by the jury. The exhibition creates a vital space for dialogue and collaboration between our two countries that builds on their difficult, traumatic and deeply unbalanced past relationship, to imagine different possible futures," said curators Kabage Karanja, Stella Mutegi, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. "Architecture has a unique capacity to further repair, renewal and restitution and we are delighted that this message has so resonated for the jury. We have already been overwhelmed by the visitor response to the exhibition, and we hope it will continue to challenge and inspire those who visit over the coming months," the curators added.Room 2: “Rift Room,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hokins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025"The British Council, the curators and I are honoured to be awarded a Special Mention by the jury of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition and we would like to extend our thanks to the jury and La Biennale di Venezia," Sevra Davis, Director of Architecture Design and Fashion at the British Council and Commissioner of the British Pavilion."GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair confronts difficult conversations of the role played by architecture in extractive relations while also creating opportunities for hope, optimism and joy.""I am immensely proud of the curators and our partners for their work on this historic collaboration between the UK and Kenya which celebrates connection between the two countries - in line with our mission of building understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide," Davis added.Room 5: “Lumumba’s Grave,” Dr Thandi Loewenson. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision (detail). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 5: “Lumumba’s Grave,” Dr Thandi Loewenson. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 2: “Rift Room,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hokins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 5: “Lumumba’s Grave,” Dr Thandi Loewenson. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision (detail). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision (detail). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 3: “Objects of repair” - Palestine Regeneration Team/PART (Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari, Murray Fraser). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 3: “Objects of repair” - Palestine Regeneration Team/PART (Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari, Murray Fraser). Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 6: “Vena Cava,” Mae Ling Lokko and Gustavo Crembil. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 4: “Shimoni Slave Cave,” Cave_bureau with Phil Ayres and Jack Young, Centre for Biohybrid Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 4: “Shimoni Slave Cave,” Cave_bureau with Phil Ayres and Jack Young, Centre for Biohybrid Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 4: “Shimoni Slave Cave,” Cave_bureau with Phil Ayres and Jack Young, Centre for Biohybrid Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Room 1: “Earth Compass,” Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025Additionally, at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in 2023, the British Pavilion received a Special Mention for Dancing Before the Moon. Since 1937, the British Council has been the organizer of the British Pavilion, which features the top UK artists, architects, designers, and curators in the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia.The British Pavilion serves as a significant forum for conversation about modern art and architecture thanks to these exhibitions and the British Council's Venice Fellowships program, which was launched in 2016.GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair can be visited at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 which runs from Saturday 10 May to Sunday 23 November 2025.Find out all exhibition news on WAC's Venice Architecture Biennale page. Exhibition factsTitle: GBR – Geology of Britannic RepairCommissioner: Sevra Davis British Council; Curators: Owen Hopkins, Kathryn Yusoff, Kabage Karanja, Stella Mutegi; Exhibitors: cave_bureau, Palestine Regeneration Team (PART), Mae Ling Lokko & Gustavo Crembil, Thandi Loewenson; Venue: GiardiniThe exhibition will run from Saturday 10 May to Sunday 23 November 2025The British Pavilion is commissioned and managed by British Council Architecture.The top image in the article: Cave_bureau, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, Double Vision. Installation view, GBR - Geology of Britannic Repair, British Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2025. All images © Chris Lane, British Council.> via The British Pavilion