Join Charles LeClerc on a hot lap of Monaco with first gameplay footage ...

Join Charles LeClerc on a hot lap of Monaco with first gameplay footage of F1 2018.

The first gameplay footage for F1 2018 shows off the visual enhancements that will be present in F1 2018 as Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 driver, Charles LeClerc gets behind the wheel to show us the twists and turns of the iconic Circuit de Monaco.



As you would expect, F1 2018 will include all the drivers, teams and circuits from the current 2018 season, and that means we’ll get a chance to hit Circuit Paul Ricard and the returning Hockenheimring.



Speaking about F1 2018, Charles said: “I love playing the F1 game! As soon as I get out of the car, I miss racing. So, when I am back home, I play for fun. This is the closest I can get to driving a Formula 1® car outside of the track, so it is always very enjoyable to play.”



On the recreation of Monaco in F1 2018 Charles added: “First of all, I was amazed at how realistic the scenery was. Being born in Monaco, I know the circuit very well. Well done for visualising the track so nicely in the game. My favourite part is the last sector because there is a great rhythm to the drive there.”



With regards to the visuals unveiled today in the new Monaco footage, Stuart Campbell, the new Art Director on F1 2018 said, “One of the biggest visual uplifts for F1 2018 are our revised lighting, sky, clouds and atmospherics systems. These systems work hand-in-hand and affect all aspects of the game rendering, making it more believable than ever before. Our new cloud tech more accurately represents the real world with improved cloud formations and response to light through the various weather scenarios that are a huge part of F1. Even on a clear day, the sky looks interesting with high level cloud detail and jet trails, while the new atmospherics system gives a true sense of depth in the scene and connects the sky and terrain in a more cohesive manner, making for some stunning vistas.”



One of several key improvements to the car physics system is also revealed briefly in the Monaco footage. Lee Mather, Game Director on the F1 Games, explained: “The inclusion of a player-managed Energy Recovery System has been added to vehicle physics for F1 2018 as we always strive to give as authentic recreation of the sport as possible. Augmenting the powerful internal combustion engine, the player will have multiple deployment modes to choose from. The inclusion of the ERS will not only give the player an even more authentic Formula 1 experience, but will serve to create even more varied and exciting races”.

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Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool's family atmosphere was a big lure

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool's family atmosphere was a big lure.

Klopp, speaking with Robbie Fowler of the Mirror, admits he had other offers - including from Manchester United - but Anfield suits him better.

He explained: “I love the history. I really am a football romantic. I knew I probably can help. They maybe really need me, in this time. I know what I'm good at. When they told me about the problems they had I thought 'ok, yeah, I am probably the really right manager for that club'.

"A little thing. Liverpool is a world class brand, big, big, big, but in Melwood, you know it Robbie, it is still a family, nothing else, and you can go in and feel that. I have to develop and improve, sure, but I don't want to go into the office in the morning to wear a tie. That is not me.

"So when you see the pictures – and I realise it as well, by the way – I look still like a player...that's not cool, but that's me. I go in with a baseball cap and they still respect me, I don't have to act in a specific way. They took me like I am, they didn't ask me to do anything else, so I could focus from the first day completely on football.

"It is a football club. A FOOTBALL club. I had talks with other clubs and they didn't sound like a football club. It sounded like marketing, image, you need to sign this, you need to sign that. And I thought wow, that's not the game I love. It's all part of football, but it can not be the number one, two, three, four, priority. First of all please try to improve the game we play. And that's what I am good in. All the rest can happen but it's not so important for me."#jurgenklopp #liverpool

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Why People Are So Terrified OF Google's New Robot Assistant - Google Duplex

This week, Google announced a whole range of new AI features. But it was just one of them that took almost all of the attention: Duplex.

That feature allows the assistant to call people on its owners behalf, booking them appointments or checking on the availability of restaurants. And it does so while sounding like a real human and without identifying itself, meaning that anyone speaking to it will probably think it is a real human.

The outcry was immediate, and vociferous. Many said that such a feature was immoral if it did not make clear it was a robot, and that such features that tricked people into think they are real could cause problems in the future.

Many commentators pointed out that, as such, the feature had been explicitly constructed to be deceptive, and to trick the people who use it. Google said that the phone calls it played during the demonstration were "real" and spoke positively about how the feature was able to route its way around any problems that were thrown up "gracefully".

Now, Google has said that the bot will identify itself as such. In Google's initial demo during its I/O conference, the voice sounded entirely natural and obscured the fact it was powered by AI – referring to its owner only as its client.

"We understand and value the discussion around Google Duplex – as we've said from the beginning, transparency in the technology is important," Google said in a statement. "We are designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we'll make sure the system is appropriately identified. What we showed at I/O was an early technology demo, and we look forward to incorporating feedback as we develop this into a product."

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Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift Recognized As Top Artists At 2018 Billboard Mus...

2018 Billboard Music Awards Winners.

Kendrick Lamar for Top Streaming Song Artist, Top Male Rap Artist, Top Rap Album, Top Billboard 200 Album for DAMN, and Top Streaming (Audio) for "Humble."



Bruno Mars also brought home five awards, namely Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Male Artist, Top R&B Tour, Top R&B Album for 24K Magic, Top R&B Song Title for "That's What I Like."



Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee are named as Top Collaborators for their hit song "Despacito" alongside Justin Bieber. The track is also recognized as Top Hot 100 Song, Top Streaming Song (Video), Top Latin Song, and Top Selling Song.



Imagine Dragons, BTS, Camila Cabello, Khalid, U2, and Janet Jackson were also recognized for their contributions to the music industry.



Kelly Clarkson Hosts Awards Show

Hosted by Kelly Clarkson, this year's Billboard Music Awards aired on NBC. The American Idol winner also took the stage to perform. Other artists who also showed off their singing chops include Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, Cabello, Dua Lipa, and BTS.



This year's awards presenters include Ciara, Derek Hough, Nick Jonas, French Montana, Ne-Yo, Simon Cowell, Alison Brie, Grace VanderWaal, Julia Michaels, Jenna Dewan. Justin Hartley, Hailey Baldwin, Chrissy Metz, Ashlee Simpson, The Chainsmokers, Tyra Banks, Hasley, and more.



Santa Fe High School Shooting

Clarkson also took her hosting as an opportunity to address Friday's shooting at Santa Fe High School. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, opened fire and killed some of his classmates.

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Fastest-growing black hole discovered "A monster blackb hole"

AUSTRALIAN researchers have discovered the fastest-growing black hole known in the universe which is swallowing up the surrounding cosmos.



The astronomers from the Australian National University described it as a monster that devours a mass equivalent to our sun every two days.



The astronomers have looked back more than 12 billion years to the early dark ages of the universe, when this supermassive black hole was estimated to be the size of about 20 billion suns with a one per cent growth rate every one million years.



According to Dr Christian Wolf from the ANU’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, as its lurks in deep space the mega black hole emits huge amounts of energy which is mostly ultraviolet light but also radiated X-rays.



“This black hole is growing so rapidly that it’s shining thousands of times more brightly than an entire galaxy due to all of the gases it sucks in daily that cause lots of friction and heat,” she said.



“If we had this monster sitting at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, it would appear 10 times brighter than a full moon. It would appear as an incredibly bright pinpoint star that would almost wash out all of the stars in the sky.”

The news has gone around the world with New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer tweeting the ANU press release, joking that Earth’s sun doesn’t stand a chance against the swallowing black mass.



“Astronomers find a hungry black hole that could gobble up our sun in two days,” he warned his followers. Then adding the caveat: “(It’s billions of light years away, so don’t cancel your weekend plans.)”

Such large and rapidly growing black holes are extremely rare, with the latest spotted by the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite as it measured tiny motions of celestial objects.

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SpaceX Launches New Rocket - SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5

The newly minted Block-5 edition of the Falcon 9 - equipped with about 100 upgrades for greater power, safety and reusability than its Block-4 predecessor - lifted off at 4:14 p.m. EDT (2014 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center.
Minutes later, the rocket's main-stage booster flew itself back to Earth to achieve a safe return landing on an unmanned platform vessel floating in the Pacific Ocean.

The recoverable Block-5 booster is designed to be reused at least 10 times with minimal refurbishment between flights, allowing more frequent launches at lower cost - a key to the SpaceX business model.

Enhanced rocket reusability also is a core tenet of SpaceX owner and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's broader objectives of making space travel commonplace and ultimately sending humans to Mars.
SpaceX has safely return-landed 24 of its boosters and reflown 11 of them.

Friday's flight marked the ninth SpaceX launch so far this year, compared to five orbital-class missions the company had logged at the same point in 2017, according to Musk.

It came a day after the original launch countdown was halted one minute before blastoff time due to a technical problem detected by the rocket's onboard computers. Friday's second attempt by SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, appeared to have gone off without a hitch.

The rocket's payload, the Bangladeshi government's first communications satellite, Bangabandhu-1, was placed into Earth orbit at 4:47 p.m. EDT, just 33 minutes after launch, according to SpaceX.

The achievement was hailed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a livestream appearance from her country's capital, Dhaka.

"Today is a very delightful and glorious day for our motherland, Bangladesh, and Bangalee nation," she said. "With launching of Bangabandhu Satellite-1, we are hoisting our national flag in the space."

The Block-5 also marks another milestone for Musk's California-based company. It is expected to be the first SpaceX vehicle to satisfy NASA's standards for its Commercial Crew Program to carry agency astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA requires seven successful flights before the new rocket receives final certification for a manned mission.

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North Korea to hold 'ceremony' for dismantling nuclear test site this month

North Korea has said it will invite international journalists to witness the dismantlement of its nuclear test site and explosive demolition of the site's tunnel system later this month, according to state media.

The destruction of the site, which follows a pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, will take place sometime between May 23 and 25 depending on weather conditions.



The country's central news agency said it would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts.



North Korea's six known nuclear tests have taken place in Punggye-ri, a location in the north-eastern part of North Korea where a system of tunnels has been dug under Mount Mantap.



"The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test," said the announcement.



The North said it planned to invite journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain to inspect the process.



The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump said he would hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.

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Alex Ferguson recovering in hospital following brain surgery

Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in Manchester United's history, underwent emergency surgery on Saturday for a brain haemorrhage, the club said.

"The procedure has gone very well but he needs a period of intensive care to optimise his recovery," a statement said. "His family request privacy in this matter."

United captain Michael Carrick tweeted: "Absolutely devastated to hear about Sir Alex being unwell in hospital. All my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. Be strong boss."

Ferguson's son Darren, the manager of Doncaster Rovers, was reported to have missed his team's match on Saturday for family reasons.
The 76-year-old was United manager from 1986 to 2013, winning the Champions League twice, the Premier League 13 times and five FA Cups.

He was knighted in 1999, the year United achieved a treble by winning those three trophies in one season.

He made his managerial reputation in his native Scotland with Aberdeen, winning three Scottish League titles and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

After taking Scotland to the 1986 World Cup following the death of Jock Stein, Ferguson joined United in November 1986 after Ron Atkinson was sacked.

It took three and a half years to achieve his first success with them, the FA Cup title in 1990.

From there he was unstoppable, quickly achieving his ambition to "knock Liverpool off their perch" as United became the team of the 90s and beyond.

In 2001 he decided to leave the following year but was persuaded by his family to change his mind and stayed on until 2013.

He remained a regular visitor to Old Trafford and was there last Sunday to make a presentation to old rival Arsene Wenger on the Arsenal manager's last appearance at the ground before he leaves the London club.

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Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano - latest New

The Kilauea volcano spewed fountains of lava into communities on Hawaii's Big Island on Friday (local time), forcing more than 1,700 people, including many retirees, to flee from their mountainside homes.
The volcano, one of five on the island, began erupting on Thursday (local time) after a series of earthquakes over the past week, the US Geological Survey reported on its website.

The latest earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.9, struck about 12:15pm on Friday (local time).

The Hawaii governor activated the National Guard to help with evacuations and provide security to about 770 structures left empty when residents sought shelter.
County, state and federal officials had been warning residents all week they should be prepared to evacuate, as an eruption would give little warning.

The geological survey raised the volcano's alert level to warning status, the highest possible, meaning a hazardous eruption was imminent, underway or expected.

Residents in Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions, home to about 1,700 people, were ordered to evacuate after public works officials reported steam and lava burbling up from cracks in the road, the county's Civil Defence said.
Hawaii officials said two homes in one of the rural subdivisions had been burned by lava from the erupting volcano.
Authorities are still assessing the extent of the damage. No injuries or deaths were reported.
"It felt like there was something under the house — like a big snake was moving under the house," said Lee, who added this was the first time in eight years of living by the volcano that he had had to evacuate.
Civil defence officials have warned the public about high levels of sulfur dioxide near the volcano, one reason for the evacuation orders. The gas can cause skin irritations and breathing difficulties.

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AGRA, India: Huge dust storm and Lightning strikes

AGRA, India: Huge dust storm and Lightning strikes.

Charan Singh, a scientist at India Meteorological Department, said winds of 132 kph hit Agra while even in the capital Delhi there were gusts of 59 kph.

Power was cut in many parts of Rajasthan as thousands of electricity pylons were destroyed. Officials said it could take more than two days to restore power.

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Georges Méliès: Google celebrates French illusionist with first ever VR Doodle

Georges Méliès: Google celebrates French illusionist with first ever VR Doodle.
An illusionist and stage magician before he turned his hand to cinema in its earliest days in belle epoque Paris, he was an extraordinary visual stylist and technician who is still much admired a century on.
Best known for the unforgettable image of a scowling celestial body annoyed that a rocket ship has crashed into its eye in A Trip to the Moon (1902), Melies was most recently seen in Martin Scorsese's film Hugo (2011) where he was played in old age by Sir Ben Kingsley.


He was born in 1861, the son of luxury shoemakers who - after attending the prestigious Lycee Louis-le-Grand, completing military service and serving an apprenticeship as a clerk in London - shunned the family business to work as a conjurer at the Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris.

Here, Melies developed a fondness for stagecraft and visual effects, working with mechanical automata, trapdoors and lighting, eventually selling his boot factory shares to his brothers and buying the theatre outright.

After seeing the Lumiere Brothers sensational moving picture camera in action in 1895, Melies rushed out to establish his own studio and began making films that featured clever illusions and tricks created by experimenting with double exposure, cutting and rewinding, building on his theatrical innovations.
Using elaborate painted sets akin to those of Paris's music halls, Melies was a true pioneer who played a key role in the evolution of cinematic technique and the medium's storytelling grammar.

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