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NASA announced new delays in the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon, citing potential policy changes and technical issues. The program, first established under former President Trump, has faced increasing setbacks and costs. The latest postponement affects the Artemis II mission, now set for April 2026, and Artemis III, planned for 2027. These missions are vital components of NASA's goal to reestablish a human presence on the lunar surface and eventually pave the way toward Mars exploration. NASA administrators remain committed despite delays, underscoring competition with China in the race to the moon. The Artemis program undergoes rigorous evaluations, particularly regarding the Orion crew capsule's cracked heat shield following its debut uncrewed test mission in 2022. (With inputs from agencies.)Federal prosecutors seek records from company that deployed AI weapons scanner on NYC subway
Desperate to preserve humanity’s future, Earth’s last survivors have fled to a distant galaxy to rebuild civilization. Gather materials and construct a headquarters on land or an orbiting space station where experts can conduct business and research. Join or form factions along political, military, or economic lines to gain advantages and allies, then venture forth on missions to shape an everchanging player-driven economy.SpaceCraft is now available for wishlist on Steam.Shares of IonQ ( IONQ 7.57% ) stock popped 142.8% in November, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . The start-up is trying to revolutionize the quantum computing market and bring this nascent technology into commercial hands. With investors eating up growth and deep technology stocks at the moment, it is no surprise to see IonQ crushing the market in 2024. Shares are up close to 200% year to date (YTD) as of this writing on Dec. 5, 2024. Here's why IonQ stock was up more than 100% in November. Commercializing quantum computing Quantum computing uses quantum mechanics to solve complex problems much faster than traditional computing methods. The problem is that building and maintaining these computers is extremely tricky and requires intensely stable operating environments. IonQ is working to solve these issues and help scale quantum computing, now selling its services on the three big cloud providers: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. The idea is to use these rapid computing methods to solve problems with high computational intensity. Applications of quantum computing could include self-driving cars, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, and supply chain management. The possibilities are endless. For example, IonQ just partnered with advanced computer design simulation company Ansys to utilize quantum computing to perform faster and more advanced simulations for commercial design customers. So far, it looks like companies are lining up to spend money with IonQ. Last quarter, revenue grew over 100% year over year to $12.4 million. Perhaps more importantly, IonQ booked $63.8 million in new orders just in the third quarter. Investors likely celebrated these results, shooting up IonQ's stock after the earnings were released. There is clearly a ton of potential for these products. Should you buy IonQ stock? IonQ is clearly an exciting company. Personally, I hope they succeed and commercialize quantum computing, as it would be a phenomenal development that would further increase human prosperity. I don't think the stock is a buy at these prices, though. At a market cap of $8 billion, IonQ trades at a price-to-sales ( P/S ) ratio of 200. This is an absurd valuation that makes it extremely unlikely IonQ will ever generate positive returns for shareholders. The expectations embedded into the stock price are just too high. IonQ will be a fun company to watch, but don't go chasing the stock after its monster November returns.Sado, Nov 24 (AP) Japan held a memorial ceremony on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines, listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site after the country moved past years of historical disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the mines' dark history. However, it has not offered an apology. At these mines, hundreds of Koreans were forced to labour under abusive and brutal conditions during World War II, historians say. Japanese officials at Sunday's ceremony paid tribute for the first time to “all workers” including Korean labourers who died at the mines, without acknowledging they were forced labourers — part of what critics call a persistent policy of whitewashing Japan's history of sexual and labour exploitation before and during the war. The ceremony, supposed to further mend wounds, renewed tensions between the two sides. South Korea boycotted Sunday's memorial service citing unspecified disagreements with Tokyo over the event. “As a resident, I must say (their absence) is very disappointing after all the preparations we made,” said Sado Mayor Ryugo Watanabe. “I wish we could have held the memorial with South Korean attendees.” The Associated Press explains the Sado mines, their history and the controversy. What are the Sado gold mines? The 16th-century mines on the island of Sado, about the size of the Pacific island of Guam, off the western coast of Niigata prefecture, operated for nearly 400 years, beginning in 1601, and were once the world's largest gold producer. They closed in 1989. During the Edo period, from 1603 to 1868, the mines supplied gold currency to the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate. Today, the site has been developed into a tourist facility and hiking site where visitors can learn about the changes in mining technology and production methods while looking at the remains of mine shafts and ore dressing facilities. Critics say the Japanese government only highlights the glory of the mines and covers up its use of Korean victims of forced labour and their ordeals. The mines were registered as a cultural heritage site in July after Japan agreed to include an exhibit on the conditions of Korean forced labourers and to hold a memorial service annually after repeated protests from the South Korean government. A few signs have since been erected, indicating former sites of South Korean labourers' dormitories. A city-operated museum in the area also added a section about Korean labourers, but a private museum attached to the main UNESCO site doesn't mention them at all. What's the controversy? At the UNESCO World Heritage Committee July meeting, the Japanese delegate said Tokyo had installed new exhibition material to explain the “severe conditions of (the Korean labourers') work and to remember their hardship.” Japan also acknowledged that Koreans were made to do more dangerous tasks in the mine shaft, which caused some to die. Those who survived also developed lung diseases and other health problems. Many of them were given meagre food rations and nearly no days off and were caught by police if they escaped, historians say. But the Japanese government has refused to admit they were “forced labour.” South Korea had earlier opposed the listing of the site for UNESCO World Heritage on the grounds that the Korean forced labourers used at the mines were missing from the exhibition. South Korea eventually supported the listing after consultations with Japan and Tokyo's pledge to improve the historical background of the exhibit and to hold a memorial that also includes Koreans. Historians say Japan used hundreds of thousands of Korean labourers, including those forcibly brought from the Korean Peninsula, at Japanese mines and factories to make up for labour shortages because most working-age Japanese men had been sent to battlefronts across Asia and the Pacific. About 1,500 Koreans were forced to work at the Sado mines, according to Yasuto Takeuchi, an expert on Japan's wartime history, citing wartime Japanese documents. The South Korean government has said it expects Japan to keep its pledge to be truthful to history and to show both sides of the Sado mines. “The controversy surrounding the Sado mines exhibit underscores a deeper problem” of Japan's failure to face up to its wartime responsibility and its growing “denialism” of its wartime atrocities, Takeuchi said. Who did the ceremony commemorate? All workers who died at the Sado mines were honoured. That includes hundreds of Korean labourers who worked there during Japan's 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean Peninsula. At Sunday's ceremony, four Japanese representatives, including central and local government officials and the head of the organising group, thanked all mine workers for their sacrifice and mourned for those who died. None offered any apology to Korean forced labourers for the harsh treatment at the mines. Attendants observed a moment of silence for the victims who died at the mines due to accidents and other causes. The ceremony dredged up long-standing frustrations in South Korea. About 100 people, including officials from Japan's local and central government, as well as South Korean Foreign Ministry officials and the relatives of Korean wartime laborers, were supposed to attend. Because of South Korea's last-minute boycott, more than 20 seats remained vacant. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday it was impossible to settle the disagreements between both governments before the planned event on Sunday, without specifying what those disagreements were. There has been speculation that the South Korean boycott might have been due to the presence of parliamentary vice minister Akiko Ikuina at Sunday's ceremony. In August 2022, Ikuina reportedly visited Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine, weeks after she was elected as a lawmaker. Japan's neighbours view Yasukuni, which commemorates 2.5 million war dead including war criminals, as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Her visit could have been seen as a sign of a lack of remorse. Some South Koreans criticised the Seoul government for throwing its support behind an event without securing a clear Japanese commitment to highlight the plight of Korean labourers. There were also complaints over South Korea agreeing to pay for the travel expenses of Korean victims' family members who were invited to attend the ceremony. How has Japan faced up to its wartime atrocities? Critics say Japan's government has long been reluctant to discuss wartime atrocities. That includes what historians describe as the sexual abuse and enslavement of women across Asia, many of them Koreans who were deceived into providing sex to Japanese soldiers at frontline brothels and euphemistically called “comfort women,” and the Koreans who were mobilised and forced to work in Japan, especially in the final years of World War II. Korean compensation demands for Japanese atrocities during its brutal colonial rule have strained relations between the two Asian neighbours, most recently after a 2018 South Korean Supreme Court ruling ordered Japanese companies to pay damages over their wartime forced labour. Japan's government has maintained that all wartime compensation issues between the two countries were resolved under the 1965 normalisation treaty. Ties between Tokyo and Seoul have improved recently after Washington said their disputes over historical issues hampered crucial security cooperation as China's threat grows in the region. South Korea's conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol announced in March 2023 that his country would use a local corporate fund to compensate forced labour victims without demanding Japanese contributions. Japan's then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later expressed sympathy for their suffering during a Seoul visit. Security, business and other ties between the sides have since rapidly resumed. Japan's whitewashing of wartime atrocities has risen since the 2010s, particularly under the past government of revisionist leader Shinzo Abe. For instance, Japan says the terms “sex slavery” and “forced labour” are inaccurate and insists on the use of highly euphemistic terms such as “comfort women” and “civilian workers” instead. Takeuchi, the historian, said listing Japan's modern industrial historical sites as a UNESCO World Heritage is a government push to increase tourism. The government, he said, wants “to commercialise sites like the Sado mines by beautifying and justifying their history for Japan's convenience.” (AP) GSP (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornoby has enjoyed a generally positive overall reception , despite launching with a few issues . But Stalker 2 released to near-unanimous praise from players in Ukraine, the country in which the game is set and the homeland of its developers. In fact, Ukrainian players were so eager to get their hands on GSC Game World's latest entry in the Stalker series that the game's launch quite literally broke the internet. Ukrainian players flocked to the game as soon as it launched, resulting in nationwide internet outages in the hours after its release, GSC creative director and executive producer Mariia Grygorovych said in a recent interview . "It's a bad thing because the Internet is important, but at the same time it's like, 'Whoa!'" Grygorovych said of Ukrainian players' enthusiasm for the game. "It touched everyone in the country." Grygorovych and the rest of the development team at GSC dealt with some truly harrowing experiences during the creation of Stalker 2, including a fire at GSC's studio caused by Russian shelling, and the death of colleague Volodymyr Yezhov , who lost his life fighting Russian forces. Russia's invasion of Ukraine added an enormous amount of strain on the studio and its developers, some of whom ultimately made the difficult choice to leave their home country to continue working on the game in safety. Currently, GSC Game World's staff is split between two locations: an office in Prague, and one in Kiev. The complicated (and often heartbreaking) story of Stalker 2's development is detailed in a documentary created by its developers. Entitled War Game: The Making of Stalker 2 , the film documents the immense hurdles GSC devs faced as they fought to finish the sequel to the iconic Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. But Stalker 2 was a labor of love, and Grygorovych says the sacrifices were worth it. "For us and our team, what's most important is [that] for some people in Ukraine, they feel a little bit happier [now] than they were before [Stalker 2's] release," Grygorovych said of the game's significance in Ukraine. "We did something for our home country, something good for them."CHICAGO — With a wave of her bangled brown fingertips to the melody of flutes and chimes, artist, theologian and academic Tricia Hersey enchanted a crowd into a dreamlike state of rest at Semicolon Books on North Michigan Avenue. “The systems can’t have you,” Hersey said into the microphone, reading mantras while leading the crowd in a group daydreaming exercise on a recent Tuesday night. The South Side native tackles many of society’s ills — racism, patriarchy, aggressive capitalism and ableism — through an undervalued yet impactful action: rest. Hersey, the founder of a movement called the Nap Ministry, dubs herself the Nap Bishop and spreads her message to over half a million followers on her Instagram account, @thenapministry . Her first book, “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto,” became a New York Times bestseller in 2022, but Hersey has been talking about rest online and through her art for nearly a decade. Hersey, who has degrees in public health and divinity, originated the “rest as resistance” and “rest as reparations” frameworks after experimenting with rest as an exhausted graduate student in seminary. Once she started napping, she felt happier and her grades improved. But she also felt more connected to her ancestors; her work was informed by the cultural trauma of slavery that she was studying as an archivist. Hersey described the transformation as “life-changing.” The Nap Ministry began as performance art in 2017, with a small installation where 40 people joined Hersey in a collective nap. Since then, her message has morphed into multiple mediums and forms. Hersey, who now lives in Atlanta, has hosted over 100 collective naps, given lectures and facilitated meditations across the country. She’s even led a rest ritual in the bedroom of Jane Addams , and encourages her followers to dial in at her “Rest Hotline.” At Semicolon, some of those followers and newcomers came out to see Hersey in discussion with journalist Natalie Moore on Hersey’s latest book, “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape,” released this month, and to learn what it means to take a moment to rest in community. Moore recalled a time when she was trying to get ahead of chores on a weeknight. “I was like, ‘If I do this, then I’ll have less to do tomorrow.’ But then I was really tired,” Moore said. “I thought, ‘What would my Nap Bishop say? She would say go lay down.’ Tricia is in my head a lot.” At the event, Al Kelly, 33, of Rogers Park, said some of those seated in the crowd of mostly Black women woke up in tears — possibly because, for the first time, someone permitted them to rest. “It was so emotional and allowed me to think creatively about things that I want to work on and achieve,” Kelly said. Shortly after the program, Juliette Viassy, 33, a program manager who lives in the South Loop and is new to Hersey’s work, said this was her first time meditating after never being able to do it on her own. Therapist Lyndsei Howze, 33, of Printers Row, who was also seated at the book talk, said she recommends Hersey’s work “to everybody who will listen” — from her clients to her own friends. “A lot of mental health conditions come from lack of rest,” she said. “They come from exhaustion.” Before discovering Hersey’s work this spring, Howze said she and her friends sporadically napped together in one friend’s apartment after an exhausting workweek. “It felt so good just to rest in community,” she said. On Hersey’s book tour, she is leading exercises like this across the country. “I think we need to collectively do this,” Hersey explained. “We need to learn again how to daydream because we’ve been told not to do it. I don’t think most people even have a daydreaming practice.” Daydreaming, Hersey said, allows people to imagine a new world. Hersey tells her followers that yes, you can rest, even when your agenda is packed, even between caregiving, commuting, jobs, bills, emails and other daily demands. And you don’t have to do it alone. There is a community of escape artists, she said of the people who opt out of grind and hustle culture, waiting to embrace you. The book is part pocket prayer book, part instruction manual, with art and handmade typography by San Francisco-based artist George McCalman inspired by 19th-century abolitionist pamphlets, urging readers to reclaim their divine right to rest. Hersey directs her readers like an operative with instructions for a classified mission. “Let grind culture know you are not playing around,” she wrote in her book. “This is not a game or time to shrink. Your thriving depends on the art of escape.” The reluctance to rest can be rooted in capitalist culture presenting rest as a reward for productivity instead of a physical and mental necessity. Hersey deconstructs this idea of grind culture, which she says is rooted in the combined effects of white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism that “look at the body as not human.” American culture encourages grind culture, Hersey said, but slowing down and building a ritual of rest can offset its toxicity. The author eschews the ballooning billion-dollar self-care industry that encourages people to “save enough money and time off from work to fly away to an expensive retreat,” she wrote. Instead, she says rest can happen anywhere you have a place to be comfortable: in nature, on a yoga mat, in the car between shifts, on a cozy couch after work. Resting isn’t just napping either. She praises long showers, sipping warm tea, playing music, praying or numerous other relaxing activities that slow down the body. “We’re in a crisis mode of deep sleep deprivation, deep lack of self-worth, (and) mental health,” said Hersey. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2022 , in Illinois about 37% of adults aren’t getting the rest they need at night. If ignored, the effects of sleep deprivation can have bigger implications later, Hersey said. In October, she lectured at a sleep conference at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, where her humanities work was featured alongside research from the world’s top neuroscientists. Jennifer Mundt, a Northwestern clinician and professor of sleep medicine, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, praises Hersey for bringing the issue of sleep and rest to the public. In a Tribune op-ed last year, Mundt argued that our culture focuses too heavily on sleep as something that must be earned rather than a vital aspect of health and that linking sleep to productivity is harmful and stigmatizing. “Linking sleep and productivity is harmful because it overshadows the bevy of other reasons to prioritize sleep as an essential component of health,” Mundt wrote. “It also stigmatizes groups that are affected by sleep disparities and certain chronic sleep disorders.” In a 30-year longitudinal study released in the spring by the New York University School of Social Work, people who worked long hours and late shifts reported the lowest sleep quality and lowest physical and mental functions, and the highest likelihood of reporting poor health and depression at age 50. The study also showed that Black men and women with limited education “were more likely than others to shoulder the harmful links between nonstandard work schedules and sleep and health, worsening their probability of maintaining and nurturing their health as they approach middle adulthood.” The CDC links sleeping fewer than seven hours a day to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and more. Although the Nap Ministry movement is new for her followers, Hersey’s written about her family’s practice of prioritizing rest, which informs her work. Her dad was a community organizer, a yardmaster for the Union Pacific Railroad Co. and an assistant pastor. Before long hours of work, he would dedicate hours each day to self-care. Hersey also grew up observing her grandma meditate for 30 minutes daily. Through rest, Hersey said she honors her ancestors who were enslaved and confronts generational trauma. When “Rest Is Resistance” was released in 2022, Americans were navigating a pandemic and conversations on glaring racial disparities. “We Will Rest!” comes on the heels of a historic presidential election where Black women fundraised for Vice President Kamala Harris and registered voters in a dizzying three-month campaign. Following Harris’ defeat, many of those women are finding self-care and preservation even more important. “There are a lot of Black women announcing how exhausted they are,” Moore said. “This could be their entry point to get to know (Hersey’s) work, which is bigger than whatever political wind is blowing right now.” Hersey said Chicagoans can meet kindred spirits in her environment of rest. Haji Healing Salon, a wellness center, and the social justice-focused Free Street Theater are sites where Hersey honed her craft and found community. In the fall, the theater put on “Rest/Reposo,” a performance featuring a community naptime outdoors in McKinley Park and in its Back of the Yards space. Haji is also an apothecary and hosts community healing activities, sound meditations and yoga classes. “It is in Bronzeville; it’s a beautiful space owned by my friend Aya,” Hersey said, explaining how her community has helped her build the Nap Ministry. “When I first started the Nap Ministry, before I was even understanding what it was, she was like, come do your work here.” “We Will Rest!” is a collection of poems, drawings and short passages. In contrast to her first book, Hersey said she leaned more into her artistic background; the art process alone took 18 months to complete. After a tough year for many, she considers it medicine for a “sick and exhausted” world. “It’s its own sacred document,” Hersey said. “It’s something that, if you have it in your library and you have it with you, you may feel more human.” lazu@chicagotribune.com
Keir Starmer may not be the best storyteller but he will be ultimately judged on his government's deliveryEli Lilly to invest $3B in Wisconsin plant expansion
NoneFrom Chili's 'triple dipper' to The Cheesecake Factory, restaurant chains are reviving malls
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to records Tuesday after Donald Trump’s latest talk about tariffs created only some ripples on Wall Street, even if they could roil the global economy were they to take effect. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to top the all-time high it set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 123 points, or 0.3%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6% as Microsoft and Big Tech led the way. Stock markets abroad mostly fell after President-elect Trump said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China once he takes office. But the movements were mostly modest. Stock indexes were down 0.1% in Shanghai and nearly flat in Hong Kong, while Canada’s main index edged down by less than 0.1%. Trump has often praised the use of tariffs , but investors are weighing whether his latest threat will actually become policy or is just an opening point for negotiations. For now, the market seems to be taking it more as the latter. The consequences otherwise for markets and the global economy could be painful. Unless the United States can prepare alternatives for the autos, energy products and other goods that come from Mexico, Canada and China, such tariffs would raise the price of imported items all at once and make households poorer, according to Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists at High Frequency Economics. They would also hurt profit margins for U.S. companies, while raising the threat of retaliatory tariffs by other countries. And unlike tariffs in Trump’s first term, his latest proposal would affect products across the board. General Motors sank 9%, and Ford Motor fell 2.6% because both import automobiles from Mexico. Constellation Brands, which sells Modelo and other Mexican beer brands in the United States, dropped 3.3%. The value of the Mexican peso fell 1.8% against the U.S. dollar. Beyond the pain such tariffs would cause U.S. households and businesses, they could also push the Federal Reserve to slow or even halt its cuts to interest rates. The Fed had just begun easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high a couple months ago to offer support for the job market . While lower interest rates can boost the economy, they can also offer more fuel for inflation. “Many” officials at the Fed’s last meeting earlier this month said they should lower rates gradually, according to minutes of the meeting released Tuesday afternoon. The talk about tariffs overshadowed another mixed set of profit reports from U.S. retailers that answered few questions about how much more shoppers can keep spending. They’ll need to stay resilient after helping the economy avoid a recession, despite the high interest rates imposed by the Fed to get inflation under control. A report on Tuesday from the Conference Board said confidence among U.S. consumers improved in November, but not by as much as economists expected. Kohl’s tumbled 17% after its results for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. CEO Tom Kingsbury said sales remain soft for apparel and footwear. A day earlier, Kingsbury said he plans to step down as CEO in January. Ashley Buchanan, CEO of Michaels and a retail veteran, will replace him. Best Buy fell 4.9% after likewise falling short of analysts’ expectations. Dick’s Sporting Goods topped forecasts for the latest quarter thanks to a strong back-to-school season, but its stock lost an early gain to fall 1.4%. Still, more stocks rose in the S&P 500 than fell. J.M. Smucker had one of the biggest gains and climbed 5.7% after topping analysts’ expectations for the latest quarter. CEO Mark Smucker credited strength for its Uncrustables, Meow Mix, Café Bustelo and Jif brands. Big Tech stocks also helped prop up U.S. indexes. Gains of 3.2% for Amazon and 2.2% for Microsoft were the two strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. All told, the S&P 500 rose 34.26 points to 6,021.63. The Dow gained 123.74 to 44,860.31, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 119.46 to 19,174.30. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following their big drop from a day before driven by relief following Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary. The yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.29% from 4.28% late Monday, but it’s still well below the 4.41% level where it ended last week. In the crypto market, bitcoin continued to pull back after topping $99,000 for the first time late last week. It’s since dipped back toward $91,000, according to CoinDesk. It’s a sharp turnaround from the bonanza that initially took over the crypto market following Trump’s election. That boom had also appeared to have spilled into some corners of the stock market. Strategists at Barclays Capital pointed to stocks of unprofitable companies, along with other areas that can be caught up in bursts of optimism by smaller-pocketed “retail” investors. AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.Will Utah State or Boise State forfeit vs. San Jose State in the Mountain West semifinals?
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