2024 was a brutal year for the Amazon rainforest, with rampant wildfires and extreme drought ravaging large parts of a biome that's a critical counterweight to climate change. A warming climate fed drought that in turn fed the worst year for fires since 2005. And those fires contributed to deforestation, with authorities suspecting some fires were set to more easily clear land to run cattle. The Amazon is twice the size of India and sprawls across eight countries and one territory, storing vast amounts of carbon dioxide that would otherwise warm the planet. It has about 20% of the world's fresh water and astounding biodiversity, including 16,000 known tree species. But governments have historically viewed it as an area to be exploited, with little regard for sustainability or the rights of its Indigenous peoples, and experts say exploitation by individuals and organized crime is rising at alarming rates. "The fires and drought experienced in 2024 across the Amazon rainforest could be ominous indicators that we are reaching the long-feared ecological tipping point," said Andrew Miller, advocacy director at Amazon Watch, an organization that works to protect the rainforest. "Humanity's window of opportunity to reverse this trend is shrinking, but still open." There were some bright spots. The level of Amazonian forest loss fell in both Brazil and Colombia. And nations gathered for the annual United Nations conference on biodiversity agreed to give Indigenous peoples more say in nature conservation decisions. "If the Amazon rainforest is to avoid the tipping point, Indigenous people will have been a determinant factor," Miller said. Wildfires and extreme drought Forest loss in Brazil's Amazon — home to the largest swath of this rainforest — dropped 30.6% compared to the previous year, the lowest level of destruction in nine years. The improvement under leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva contrasted with deforestation that hit a 15-year high under Lula's predecessor, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, who prioritized agribusiness expansion over forest protection and weakened environmental agencies. In July, Colombia reported historic lows in deforestation in 2023, driven by a drop in environmental destruction. The country's environment minister, Susana Muhamad, warned that 2024's figures may not be as promising because a significant rise in deforestation had already been recorded by July due to dry weather caused by El Nino, a weather phenomenon that warms the central Pacific. Illegal economies continue to drive deforestation in the Andean nation. "It's impossible to overlook the threat posed by organized crime and the economies they control to Amazon conservation," said Bram Ebus, a consultant for Crisis Group in Latin America. "Illegal gold mining is expanding rapidly, driven by soaring global prices, and the revenues of illicit economies often surpass state budgets allocated to combat them." In Brazil, large swaths of the rainforest were draped in smoke in August from fires raging across the Amazon, Cerrado savannah, Pantanal wetland and the state of Sao Paulo. Fires are traditionally used for deforestation and for managing pastures, and those man-made blazes were largely responsible for igniting the wildfires. For a second year, the Amazon River fell to desperate lows, leading some countries to declare a state of emergency and distribute food and water to struggling residents. The situation was most critical in Brazil, where one of the Amazon River's main tributaries dropped to its lowest level ever recorded. Cesar Ipenza, an environmental lawyer who lives in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, said he believes people are becoming increasingly aware of the Amazon's fundamental role "for the survival of society as a whole." But, like Miller, he worries about a "point of no return of Amazon destruction." It was the worst year for Amazon fires since 2005, according to nonprofit Rainforest Foundation U.S. Between January and October, an area larger than the state of Iowa — about 15.1 million hectares of Brazil's Amazon — burned. Bolivia had a record number of fires in the first 10 months of the year. "Forest fires have become a constant, especially in the summer months and require particular attention from the authorities who don't how to deal with or respond to them," Ipenza said. Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Guyana also saw a surge in fires this year. Indigenous voices, rights made headway The United Nations conference on biodiversity — this year known as COP16 — was hosted by Colombia. The meetings put the Amazon in the spotlight and a historic agreement was made to give Indigenous groups more of a voice on nature conservation decisions, a development that builds on a growing movement to recognize Indigenous people's role in protecting land and combating climate change. Both Ebus and Miller saw promise in the appointment of Martin von Hildebrand as the new secretary general for the Amazon Treaty Cooperation Organization, announced during COP16. "As an expert on Amazon communities, he will need to align governments for joint conservation efforts. If the political will is there, international backers will step forward to finance new strategies to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest," Ebus said. Ebus said Amazon countries need to cooperate more, whether in law enforcement, deploying joint emergency teams to combat forest fires, or providing health care in remote Amazon borderlands. But they need help from the wider world, he said. "The well-being of the Amazon is a shared global responsibility, as consumer demand worldwide fuels the trade in commodities that finance violence and environmental destruction," he said. Next year marks a critical moment for the Amazon, as Belem do Para in northern Brazil hosts the first United Nations COP in the region that will focus on climate. "Leaders from Amazon countries have a chance to showcase strategies and demand tangible support," Ebus said.Noneslot game volatility 。

A high-speed passenger train collided with a fire engine at a crossing on Saturday in Florida, injuring three firefighters and at least a dozen train passengers, authorities said. The crash happened at 10.45am in crowded downtown Delray Beach, multiple news outlets reported. The Brightline train was stopped on the tracks, its front destroyed, about a block away from the Delray Beach fire rescue truck, its ladder ripped off and strewn in the grass several yards away, The Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported. The Delray Beach Fire Rescue said in a social media post that three Delray Beach firefighters were in stable condition at a hospital. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue took 12 people from the train to the hospital with minor injuries. Emmanuel Amaral rushed to the scene on his golf cart after hearing a loud crash and screeching train brakes from where he was having breakfast a couple of blocks away. He saw firefighters climbing out of the window of their damaged truck and pulling injured colleagues away from the tracks. One of their helmets came to rest several hundred feet away from the crash. “The front of that train is completely smashed, and there was even some of the parts to the fire truck stuck in the front of the train, but it split the car right in half. It split the fire truck right in half, and the debris was everywhere,” Mr Amaral said. Brightline officials did not immediately comment on the crash. A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board said it was still gathering information about the crash and had not decided yet whether it will investigate. The NTSB is already investigating two crashes involving Brightline’s high-speed trains that killed three people early this year at the same crossing along the railroad’s route between Miami and Orlando. More than 100 people have died after being hit by trains since Brightline began operations in July 2017 – giving the railroad the worst death rate in the United States. But most of those deaths have been either suicides, pedestrians who tried to run across the tracks ahead of a train or drivers who went around crossing gates instead of waiting for a train to pass. Brightline has not been found to be at fault in those previous deaths.Deputy Speaker Receives Over 3,000 Defectors To APC In Abia

Does Cloud Gaming on PlayStation Portal Mark the End for Consoles?WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith moved to abandon two criminal cases against Donald Trump on Monday, acknowledging that Trump’s return to the White House will preclude attempts to federally prosecute him for retaining classified documents or trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. The decision was inevitable, since longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. Yet it was still a momentous finale to an unprecedented chapter in political and law enforcement history, as federal officials attempted to hold accountable a former president while he was simultaneously running for another term. In court filings, Smith's team emphasized that the move to abandon their prosecutions was not a reflection of the merit of the cases but a recognition of the legal shield that surrounds any commander in chief. “That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” the prosecutors wrote in one of their filings. Smith’s team said it was leaving intact charges against two co-defendants in the classified documents case — Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira — because “no principle of temporary immunity applies to them.” Steven Cheung, Trump's incoming White House communications director, welcomed the decision to drop the prosecutions against the president-elect, describing it as a “major victory for the rule of law.” "The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country,” Cheung said in a statement. Trump has long described the investigations as politically motivated, and he has vowed to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January. Now he will re-enter the White House free from criminal scrutiny by the government that he will lead. The election case brought last year was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing Trump as he tried to reclaim the White House. He was indicted for plotting to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in 2020, an effort that climaxed with his supporters' violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But the case quickly stalled amid legal fighting over Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution for acts he took while in the White House. The U.S. Supreme Court in July ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial. The case was just beginning to pick up steam again in the trial court in the weeks leading up to this year’s election. Smith’s team in October filed a lengthy brief laying out new evidence they planned to use against him at trial, accusing him of “resorting to crimes” in an increasingly desperate effort to overturn the will of voters after he lost to Biden. The separate case involving classified documents had been widely seen as legally clear cut, especially because the conduct in question occurred after Trump left the White House and lost the powers of the presidency. The indictment included dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructing federal efforts to get them back. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. The case quickly became snarled by delays, with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon slow to issue rulings — which favored Trump’s strategy of pushing off deadlines in all his criminal cases — while also entertaining defense motions and arguments that experts said other judges would have dispensed with without hearings. In May, she indefinitely canceled the trial date amid a series of unresolved legal issues before dismissing the case outright two months later. Smith’s team appealed the decision, but now has given up that effort. ___ Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this story. Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker And Chris Megerian, The Associated PressOTTAWA — Peter Anholt tried to keep things light as he emerged from one of the elevators at Canada's hotel. The temperature had been turned way up on the veteran hockey executive and the country's under-20 program after a stunning upset some 12 hours earlier. "You only want to talk to me when things are bad, eh?" Anholt joked to reporters Saturday morning. "Is that how this works?" That is indeed what happens when a powerhouse with a record 20 gold medals expected to roll over an opponent suffers one of its worst all-time defeats at the tournament. Canada was embarrassed on home soil 3-2 by Latvia — a country it had thumped by a combined 41-4 score across four previous meetings — in a shocking shootout Friday. Coming off a disastrous fifth-place finish last year in Sweden and having talked a lot about upping their compete level and preparation, the Canadians looked disjointed for long stretches against the plucky, hard-working Latvians. The power play finally clicked late in the third period, but stands at 1-for-7 through two games, while the top line of Easton Cowan, Calum Ritchie and Bradly Nadeau has yet to translate its pre-tournament chemistry into success in the spotlight. "We're certainly trying to problem solve, but not throw the baby out with the bath water," said Anholt, who heads the world junior setup. "We've got to be really careful." Canada, which picked up a solid 4-0 victory over Finland to open its tournament Thursday, had plenty of offensive zone time and directed 57 shots at Latvian goaltender Linards Feldbergs. Included in that total, however, were far too many one-and-done efforts from the perimeter with little traffic in front. There were, of course, desperate spurts — especially late in regulation and in 3-on-3 overtime — but not nearly enough for a roster peppered with first-round NHL draft picks and top prospects. "We played really, really hard," Anholt said in defending his players. "We controlled the puck lots. We created some chances. Their goalie was really good and they defended really good ... 99 times out of 100 we win that game." Hoping for a big response Sunday against Germany before meeting the United States on New Year's Eve to tie a bow on round-robin action in Group A, Canada will have to push ahead minus one of its best players. Star defenceman Matthew Schaefer was injured Friday and is done for the tournament after he slammed into Latvia's net and skated off favouring his left shoulder area. "Tough blow for the kid," Anholt said. "The way he plays the game, he plays it at such a high speed." Cowan, a Toronto Maple Leafs first-round selection, said Canada remains confident despite Friday's ugly result in the nation's capital. "We're good," said the 19-year-old from Mount Brydges, Ont. "Everyone's lost a hockey game before." But not like that — or to that opponent on that stage. "Bit of a (crappy) feeling," said Nadeau, a Carolina Hurricanes prospect from St-Francois-de-Madawaska, N.B. "We all know what this group is capable of. Losing that game is not our standard. "We'll bounce back." Some corners of social media exploded following the Latvian debacle, with heavy criticism directed at head coach Dave Cameron and the team's overall roster construction. "We're not really worried about it," defenceman and Ottawa native Oliver Book, who like Cowan is back from last year's team, said of the outside noise. "We know we didn't play well." Canada appears poised to mix things up against the Germans. Vancouver Canucks prospect Sawyer Mynio of Kamloops, B.C., is set draw in for Schaefer, while Anholt indicated there's a good chance forward Carson Rehkopf will get his first crack at the 2025 tournament as a returnee. The 19-year-old Seattle Kraken second-round pick from Vaughan, Ont., has scored a combined 78 goals over his last 97 regular-season and playoff games in the Ontario Hockey League. "Great player," Cowan said. "He finds ways." Anholt said taking a big-picture approach is key in challenging moments. "Let's not panic," he said. "The world hasn't fallen in. It's hard, but we'll learn from it." It's something Canada will have to do under intense scrutiny. "People are gonna love you and people are gonna hate you," said Cowan, who has a goal an assist through two games. "Gotta keep doing you." Anholt, who was also at the helm 12 months ago when Canada never got in gear, isn't getting 2024 vibes from this year's group. "Not even in any way, shape or form," he said. "We've just got to take care of business." They get a first shot at redemption Sunday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2024. Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian PressIs Outlook down? Thousands of Microsoft 365 users report outage issues

Stock futures fall slightly with Wall Street on track for a winning week: Live updates - CNBC

Let's face it: PlayStation consoles are really cool-looking devices. Apart from the games, Sony knows how to design machines that look great sitting in your living room, bedroom, or setup. This Japanese manufacturer has designed and produced some of the most iconic consoles that have defined generations of gaming. However, every once in a while, they've missed the mark. From awkwardly bulky shapes to strange color schemes, a few PlayStation models have committed design sins that still haunt gamers. Sure, they might have played the hottest games of their time, but you wouldn't exactly call them eye candy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of these awkward designs occur with limited editions and brand partnerships, as they have often struggled. Some of its main releases also make the list, and with good reason. With that in mind, here are the worst-looking PlayStation consoles ever made. The PlayStation Classic has often been cited as one of the most disappointing entries in PlayStation's lineup, both in terms of performance and design. It was a miniature version of the original PlayStation, maintaining a similar design, but it could only load 20 games. To make matters worse, compared to its contemporaries like the cool and curvy Nintendo 64 or the colorful Sega Saturn variations, the PlayStation Classic's simple design left a lot to be desired. The giant circular disc tray dominates the console's face, making it look like a glorified CD player. The gray color is a choice, but not a great one. It's dull and lifeless, doing nothing to make the console feel exciting or inviting. Even the logo, while iconic today, looks more like an afterthought; slapped onto the device without much thought for the overall aesthetic. This little-known and peculiar entry in the world of special-edition consoles was released as part of a collaboration between Sony and the Jordan F1 racing team. This console aimed to celebrate Formula 1, not Michael Jordan, as you might have thought. Instead of standing out as a sleek, limited-edition masterpiece, the Team Jordan PlayStation sticks out like a highlighter in a sea of understated consoles, and not for the right reasons. The Team Jordan Grand Prix PS1 was painted a bright yellow, matching the signature livery of the Jordan F1 team. While bold, this yellow shade clashed with the original gray PlayStation 1 aesthetic. It's not just that the yellow is a blinding, banana-hued explosion that makes you wonder if someone accidentally spilled paint on a perfectly fine PS1 and called it a day. The problem was that for a limited edition brand partnership, it isn't a subtle nod to racing. The Jordan 197-inspired disc lid didn't help either, and the cool autograph-like signature on the top right did little to redeem this. The crux of the problem is the color, and while some consoles can pull off bright colors with finesse, this one looks cheap and overdone. The PlayStation 3 "Fat" Launch Model is one of the most infamous PlayStation designs due to its sheer size and controversial aesthetics. It is a beast, but not in a good way. While it was a technological powerhouse at launch, its physical appearance left much to be desired, delivering a glossy, oversized monstrosity. The massive console weighs 11 pounds and looks more like a bulky home appliance than a sleek gaming console. It wasn't the kind of system you could casually place on your TV stand without drawing unwanted attention, and its size made you think twice about moving it. Apart from the size, it has a glossy black finish, and though it seems luxurious at first glance, the second you touch it, it turns into a fingerprint magnet. Dust, smudges, and scratches are also not left out, as the PS3 Fat collected them all like a trophy case. Instead of feeling premium, it looked grimy and worn out way too quickly. However, this overstated look took nothing away from its classic features that holds nostalgic value in the hearts of gamers. The PlayStation 2 Ceramic White "SingStar Bundle" was a special edition of the iconic PS2 console, bundled with the popular karaoke game "SingStar." The PS2 is renowned for its sleek, timeless design, but this limited edition variant went completely off-key. First, the ceramic white finish might sound fancy, but in reality, it makes the console look bland compared to the glossy, black original that oozed sophistication. The matte white lacks any character or charm, and feels like an afterthought. It's not bright enough to be bold, and it's not subtle enough to feel elegant. Then there's the SingStar branding, which is not incorporated anywhere on the console. Perhaps it was for the best. Also, the bundle included two white microphones and a copy of SingStar, but the controllers retained the standard black color. This mismatch made the setup lack a cohesive design appeal. The PSP Go (2009) was Sony's bold attempt to reimagine portable gaming. It tried to take handheld gaming to the next level in that era, but it stumbled out of the gate with a design that was more confusing than compelling. Despite some innovative features, the overall execution left fans divided, with many feeling the design missed the mark. In prioritizing a pocket-sized design, Sony sacrificed much of what made earlier PSP models so appealing. Paired with underwhelming performance, the PSP Go's struggles didn't surprise most observers. Starting with the most obvious, the PSP Go's sliding screen design departed from the classic PSP models. It was supposed to be the console's "wow" factor, but the mechanism was a bit out of place for a gaming device. A smaller screen size compounded the issue. The display felt cramped thanks to a reduced screen-to-body ratio compared to the spacious displays of the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000. In a partnership with Disney Channel mega star Hannah Montana, the PlayStation Portable Hannah Montana Edition was targeted at younger, predominantly female audiences. Sony rightfully attempted to expand its product's demographic with the Hannah Montana brand. On paper, it was a great idea. A PSP in lilac sounds like a fun, bold choice, particularly for its target market. In reality, it's a pastel-colored trainwreck that came off as a toy not many people wanted to play with. The branding was especially poorly executed. Plastering the console with Hannah Montana branding made it feel less like a serious gaming product and more like a gimmicky promotional item. The bundled extras only reinforced this opinion. Alongside the console, you also got three episodes from the show's latest season and a PSP-exclusive Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show video game. Another PlayStation with a size issue makes our list. The PlayStation 3 Super Slim was the third and final iteration of the PS3 console, and much like the first, it failed to deliver in terms of design. Even after correcting the size problems of the PS3 Fat model with the PS3 Slim, Sony set out to make an even lighter, more compact version of the PS3 that would be more cost-effective than its predecessors. Fair play to them, as they succeeded in reducing the size and price of the system. However, the manufacturers cut many corners in doing so, making some questionable design choices. The first obvious error was the sliding disc tray, which lacked the smooth, slot-loading drive of the original and Slim models. The ridged matte plastic top and gloss finish on the front and back also don't do it any favors. In short, the Super Slim just looks like a plastic experiment gone wrong. It might have been practical for saving space, but it sacrificed too much in the style department, lacking the bold identity of the original and the understated elegance of the Slim. The Taco Bell Limited Edition PS4 from 2015 is a wild example of how a promotional console can go hilariously off the rails. This unexpected duo came together in 2015, and while the collaboration helped promote the console, it didn't sit well design-wise. The console was dubbed the "Gold PS4," but it was really gold and black, which is, nevertheless, a great color scheme if only its execution were better. The lack of Taco Bell-specific design elements beyond the promotional context made it feel like a missed opportunity to fully embrace the theme. One would expect the Taco Bell logo to be included on the console like it was on the packaging. Then again, the Taco Bell logo is a huge, glowing bell that would look completely out of place and make the console look even worse. Another limited edition PS4 design that missed the mark is the PlayStation 4 Pro 500 Million Limited Edition. It was released to celebrate the remarkable milestone of over 500 million PlayStation consoles sold since the brand's debut in 1994. Upon release, it was an overly flashy and awkwardly designed console that left many scratching their heads. The console featured a dark translucent blue casing with copper accents that, to its credit, emitted a sleek, aesthetic look. That sleek, aesthetic look, unfortunately, made this console a dust and fingerprint magnet, so good luck keeping it clean and smudge-free. The design also bordered on gimmicky and didn't align with the typical minimalist elegance of PlayStation hardware. The bronze accents, including the PlayStation logo and the serial number plate, don't really match the midnight blue color. Then there's the LED lighting; while some fans might enjoy the glowing effect, it can come off as trying too hard to be cool instead of just being cool. Sometimes, simplicity speaks louder than trying to do it all, whereas the latter runs the risk of resulting on some of the strangest special edition consoles ever .