NetApp Joins the Vultr Cloud Alliance to Provide Scalable Data Management for Enterprise AI WorkloadsIndia says it wants the 2036 Olympics in what is seen as an attempt by Narendra Modi to cement his legacy but the country faces numerous challenges to host the biggest show on earth. The prime minister says staging the Games in a nation where cricket is the only sport that really matters is the "dream and aspiration" of 1.4 billion people. Experts say it is more about Modi's personal ambitions and leaving his mark on the world stage, while also sending a message about India's political and economic rise. Modi, who is also pushing for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, will be 86 in 2036. "Hosting the Olympics will, in a way, burnish India's credentials as a global power," said academic Ronojoy Sen, author of "Nation at Play", a history of sport in India. "The current government wants to showcase India's rise and its place on the global high table, and hosting the Olympic Games is one way to do it." Already the most populous nation, India is on track to become the world's third-biggest economy long before the planned Olympics. India submitted a formal letter of intent to the International Olympic Committee in October, but has not said where it wants to hold the Games. Local media are tipping Ahmedabad in Modi's home state of Gujarat, a semi-arid region where temperatures surge above 50 degrees Celsius (122F) in summer. Gujarat state has already floated a company, the Gujarat Olympic Planning and Infrastructure Corporation, with a $710 million budget. Ahmedabad has about six million people, its heart boasting a UNESCO-listed 15th-century wall which sprawls out into a rapidly growing metropolis. The city is home to a 130,000-seater arena, the world's biggest cricket stadium, named after Modi. It staged the 2023 Cricket World Cup final. The city is also the headquarters of the Adani Group conglomerate, headed by billionaire tycoon and Modi's close friend Gautam Adani. Adani was the principal sponsor for the Indian team at this summer's Paris Olympics, where the country's athletes won one silver and five bronze medals. Adani and his associates were Wednesday charged in the United States with paying more than $250 million in bribes to Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts. The Adani Group called the allegations "baseless". Despite its vast population India's record at the Olympics is poor for a country of its size, winning only 10 gold medals in its history. Sports lawyer Nandan Kamath said hosting an Olympics was an "unprecedented window of opportunity" to strengthen Indian sport. "I'd like to see the Olympics as a two-week-long wedding event," he said. "A wedding is a gateway to a marriage. The work you do before the event, and all that follows, solidifies the relationship." Outside cricket, which will be played at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, Indian strengths traditionally include hockey and wrestling. New Delhi is reported to be pushing for the inclusion at the Olympics of Indian sports including kabaddi and kho kho -- tag team sports -- and yoga. Retired tennis pro Manisha Malhotra, a former Olympian and now talent scout, agreed that global sporting events can boost grassroots sports but worries India might deploy a "top-down" approach. "Big money will come in for the elite athletes, the 2036 medal hopefuls, but it will probably end at that," said Malhotra, president of the privately funded training centre, the Inspire Institute of Sport. Veteran sports journalist Sharda Ugra said India's underwhelming sports record -- apart from cricket -- was "because of its governance structure, sporting administrations and paucity of events". "So then, is it viable for us to be building large stadiums just because we are going to be holding the Olympics? The answer is definitely no." The Indian Olympic Association is split between two rival factions, with its president P.T. Usha admitting to "internal challenges" to any bid. After Los Angeles, Brisbane will stage the 2032 Games. The United States and Australia both have deep experience of hosting major sporting events, including previous Olympics. India has staged World Cups for cricket and the Asian Games twice, the last time in 1982, but it has never had an event the size of an Olympics. Many are skeptical it can successfully pull it off. The 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi were marked by construction delays, substandard infrastructure and accusations of corruption. Many venues today are in a poor state. "India will need serious repairing of its poor reputation on punctuality and cleanliness," The Indian Express daily wrote in an editorial. "While stadium aesthetics look pretty in PowerPoint presentations and 3D printing, leaking roofs or sub-par sustainability goals in construction won't help in India making the cut."hacker game slot online 。

With this Cyber Monday deal ending soon and Apple finally bumping the base memory up to 16GB (from 8GB previously), there's no better time to buy a MacBook Air than right now. Cyber Monday MacBook deals are the best they'll be, considering the event is very nearly over, and if you hurry now, you can still get a huge discount on arguably Apple's greatest laptop. Head over to Currys to pick up the MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) for £1,129 (was £1,470) while the Cyber Monday sale runs! I chose the build with the powerful M3 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD for your apps, personal files, and even small games because I think it proves the most value for your money (especially at this discounted price point). Today's best MacBook Air M3 deals The Apple MacBook Air M3 earned a five-star review and a spot on our list of the best laptops you can own for a reason. Well, there are a number of reasons: the M3 performance is outstanding, the chassis is as sleek and lightweight as ever, the battery life holds up to everyday work and play, and the downsides are few. Usually, the price tag is one of them - but if you act now, you can take advantage of Curry's fantastic Cyber Monday MacBook deals. Apple's MacBook Air lineup has always gotten great reviews, and the 2024 M3 model is the best of the bunch. It has everything we're looking for in a portable computer, both for productivity and just browsing the web to kill some time. The gorgeous Liquid Retina display is the first thing you'll notice after the sleek outer shell. At 13.6 inches, it's the perfect size where you don't have to squint to see what you're reading, but you can still easily fit it in the laptop compartment of your backpack or slip it into a laptop bag and go mobile. Plus, it's got the performance to back up the looks. Apple took the hint the whole world was giving it to bump the base RAM configuration up from 8GB to 16GB, so now you can actually open Google Chrome and another app at the same time without your progress grinding to a halt. While not generally known for their affordability, MacBooks have dropped to pretty reasonable prices for Cyber Monday. That's coming to a close very soon, though, so if you've been eying Apple's latest portable powerhouse, jump on this sale before the price balloons back to normal. If you want a new laptop that feels like a MacBook, but you're not big into macOS, you might want to give the Dell XPS 13 a look. It's currently on sale for Cyber Monday too, but not for much longer! More of today's Cyber Monday sales in the UK Amazon: up to 68% off toothbrushes and TVs AO : savings on games consoles and appliances Argos: up to 50% off toys, Lego, TVs and gifts Boots : up to 50% off Dyson, Oral-B and Philips Currys: big deals on TVs, appliances, laptops Dell: laptops, desktops, monitors from £299 Dyson : up to £150 off Ebay : up to 50% off refurbished tech EE: up to £600 off Samsung and Apple John Lewis: up to £300 off appliances and TVs LG: £1,000 or more off TVs and appliances Samsung : up to £600 off TVs, phones and tablets Very: up to 30% off phones, appliances & clothing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Known across the globe as the stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hit the six-month mark in space Thursday with two more to go. The pair rocketed into orbit on June 5, the first to ride Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule on what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight. They arrived at the International Space Station the next day, only after overcoming a cascade of thruster failures and helium leaks. NASA deemed the capsule too risky for a return flight, so it will be February before their long and trying mission comes to a close. While NASA managers bristle at calling them stuck or stranded, the two retired Navy captains shrug off the description of their plight. They insist they're fine and accepting of their fate. Wilmore views it as a detour of sorts: "We're just on a different path." "I like everything about being up here," Williams told students Wednesday from an elementary school named for her in Needham, Massachusetts, her hometown. "Just living in space is super fun." Both astronauts lived up there before, so they quickly became full-fledged members of the crew, helping with science experiments and chores like fixing a broken toilet, vacuuming the air vents and watering the plants. Williams took over as station commander in September. "Mindset does go a long way," Wilmore said in response to a question from Nashville first graders in October. He's from Mount Juliet, Tennessee. "I don't look at these situations in life as being downers." Boeing flew its Starliner capsule home empty in September, and NASA moved Wilmore and Williams to a SpaceX flight not due back until late February. Two other astronauts were bumped to make room and to keep to a six-month schedule for crew rotations. Like other station crews, Wilmore and Williams trained for spacewalks and any unexpected situations that might arise. "When the crews go up, they know they could be there for up to a year," NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio found that out the hard way when the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement capsule for him and two cosmonauts in 2023, pushing their six-month mission to just past a year. Boeing said this week that input from Wilmore and Williams was "invaluable" in the ongoing inquiry of what went wrong. The company said it is preparing for Starliner's next flight but declined to comment on when it might launch again. NASA also has high praise for the pair. "Whether it was luck or whether it was selection, they were great folks to have for this mission," NASA's chief health and medical officer, Dr. JD Polk, said during an interview with The Associated Press. On top of everything else, Williams, 59, had to deal with "rumors," as she calls them, of serious weight loss. She insists her weight is the same as it was on launch day, which Polk confirms. During Wednesday's student chat, Williams said she didn't have much of an appetite when she first arrived in space. But now she's "super hungry" and eating three meals a day plus snacks, while logging the required two hours of daily exercise. Williams, a distance runner, uses the space station treadmill to support races in her home state. She competed in Cape Cod's 7-mile Falmouth Road Race in August. She ran the 2007 Boston Marathon up there as well. She has a New England Patriots shirt with her for game days, as well as a Red Sox spring training shirt. "Hopefully I'll be home before that happens — but you never know," she said in November. Husband Michael Williams, a retired federal marshal and former Navy aviator, is caring for their dogs back home in Houston. As for Wilmore, 61, he's missing his younger daughter's senior year in high school and his older daughter's theater productions in college. "We can't deny that being unexpectedly separated, especially during the holidays when the entire family gets together, brings increased yearnings to share the time and events together," his wife, Deanna Wilmore, told the AP in a text this week. Her husband "has it worse than us" since he's confined to the space station and can only connect via video for short periods. "We are certainly looking forward to February!!" she wrote.UConn women’s basketball remains No. 2 in AP Top 25 poll, Paige Bueckers named Big East Player of the Week