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Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space! To the shock of no one, ever, NASA announced that the next Artemis mission is delayed to no earlier than April 2026, and the subsequent Artemis III mission is delayed to mid-2027. It will be interesting to see how Artemis changes under Jared Isaacman’s leadership — more on that below... Want to reach out with a tip? Email Aria at aria.techcrunch@gmail.com or send a message on Signal at 512-937-3988. You can also send a note to the TechCrunch crew at tips@techcrunch.com . For more secure communications , click here to contact us , which includes SecureDrop instructions and links to encrypted messaging apps. Story of the week I’ll admit that I was a bit surprised this week when I learned that incoming President Donald Trump is nominating entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman to the role of NASA Administrator. The NASA Administrator oversees a $25 billion budget and a workforce of more than 18,000 people — as well as guiding major scientific initiatives that help us understand climate change, the solar system, and so much more. I took a stab at trying to understand how Isaacman — who is not a political figure, and has never held public office — would lead the space agency through what could end up being one of the most consequential periods in NASA history. Scoop of the week Many people have wondered what exactly is going on with SpinLaunch, a startup that’s developing an alternative system for delivering satellites and other payloads to orbit. I wasn’t able to get to the bottom of it, but I did learn something interesting: While SpinLaunch recently closed $11 million in new funding (after raising a $71 million Series B in 2022), they were mulling a much, much higher sum earlier this year. This week in space history It’s fitting that we’ve talked so much about the future of the Artemis program this week, because for this week’s “This week in space history” segment, we’re looking back at Apollo 17 — aka the last time humans walked on the moon. The mission, which took place from December 7-19, 1972, was the last crewed lunar landing under NASA’s Apollo program. Click the link above to learn more about the mission.A Nevada commissioner has rejected Rupert Murdoch’s bid to change his family trust to consolidate control of his media empire in the hands of his son Lachlan, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing a sealed court document. Nevada commissioner Edmund Gorman concluded in a decision filed on Saturday that Rupert Murdoch and his eldest son, Lachlan, who is the head of Fox News parent Fox Corp and News Corp, had acted in “bad faith” in their effort to amend the irrevocable trust, the Times reported. The court docket indicates it issued a recommendation or order Saturday under seal. The trust currently would divide control of the company equally among Rupert Murdoch’s four oldest children—Lachlan, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence—after his death. | Potentially, three of the heirs could out-vote a fourth, setting up a battle over the future of the companies, even as Lachlan Murdoch runs Fox and is sole chair of News Corp. A spokesman for Rupert Murdoch, 93, could not immediately be reached for comment. Rupert Murdoch’s proposed amendment would have blocked any interference by three of Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate. In his opinion, Gorman said the plan to change the trust was a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the empire “regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the family trust, the Times said. A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch, Adam Streisand, said they were disappointed with the ruling and intended to appeal, the Times reported. —Dawn Chmielewski, Katharine Jackson, and Eric Beech, Reuters The extended deadline for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards is this Friday, December 13, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.Eoin Hayes (37) pipped Sinn Féin incumbent Chris Andrews to the final seat in Dublin Bay South in last month’s general election, less than six months after being elected to Dublin City Council for the Social Democrat s in the Kimmage-Rathmines ward. Born in Limerick, he lived in Pennsylvania in the US until he was 14. He returned to Ireland and completed a degree in chemical engineering at UCC, and a masters in management at London Business School, before heading back to America to work. He returned to Ireland in 2018 and started a consultancy firm, Cantillon Labs, advising small businesses and start-ups, mainly software and technology companies, on their finances. However, a story in the Irish Daily Mail last week about his past employment, and shareholding in a software company, sparked controversy. [ Eoin Hayes returns part of €2,500 donation received as part of general election GoFundMe campaign Opens in new window ] Between 2015 and 2017, when based in New York, Hayes worked for Palantir Technologies, a data firm cofounded by billionaire Peter Thiel with investment from the CIA. The company built programmes to mine data including social media posts, phone and internet records, providing companies and governments with controversial surveillance technology. Its offering expanded to supplying AI technology to businesses and armies including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This software, used in Gaza, has the capacity to identify specific targets for drone attacks and air strikes. As part of his salary package, Hayes received shares in the company. After he was elected to the council in June, Hayes made a declaration of assets, which said he had divested from all holdings “within the last 12 months”. The form was dated June 26th, before he sold his shares. The party said it was an “unfortunate typo” as he had not submitted the form until July 24th after he sold the shares. During a shambolic press conference on Tuesday, Hayes, under persistent questioning, repeatedly said he had sold the shares before he entered politics, but declined to say exactly when and for how much. He said “as soon as I became aware that Israel had very close relationships with that company I divested”. However, after the press conference, he issued a statement in which he admitted this was “not true” and apologising unreservedly. He said he worked in “areas like HR and IT” for Palantir and “had absolutely no role in anything related to any military contracts, for the Israeli military or anyone else”. “As part of my salary package, I was provided with shares. The conditions attaching to those shares meant I was unable to sell them until 2021, six months after the company had gone public. “Throughout the course of the past year, Palantir’s support for the Israeli military has markedly increased. In January, the company signed a new strategic partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry. I should have sold my shares then and I deeply regret that I did not. “I had 7,000 shares in the company, all of which dated from my employment nearly a decade ago, and sold them in July 2024 for a pretax figure of €199,000.” After Tuesday’s press conference, Hayes issued the statement clarifying what had actually happened. Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan then issued his own statement, saying: “Eoin provided incorrect information to the media when he stated he had sold his shares before he entered politics . . . This is a serious matter which the party is now reviewing.” An hour later, in another statement, O’Callaghan, who had defended Hayes at the press conference, said Hayes’s initial explanation about selling the shares before entering politics “was not true”. “This is a serious matter. It is imperative that the media, who hold politicians to account on behalf of the public, can rely on the information they receive from elected representatives,” he said. “For that reason, Eoin Hayes has been suspended from the Social Democrats parliamentary party with immediate effect.” Hayes remains a TD and will sit as an Independent when the Dáil returns next week. In a third statement, issued late on Tuesday evening, he said he hoped “to earn back the trust of the Social Democrats and will work hard to do so”. The party has given no indication of how long the suspension will last, but the unprecedented incident has seriously damaged the party’s reputation. When Hayes went through the party candidate selection and development process, he said he was upfront about his shareholdings. The party will have strengthen its selection processes and ask more detailed questions about such matters in future. Marie O'Halloran is Parliamentary Correspondent of The Irish Timesmnl168 online casino register login download 。

Syrian government services come to ‘complete halt’ as workers stay at homeGun found on suspect in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO matches shell casings at scene, police say ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — New York City’s police commissioner says the gun found on the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO matches shell casings found at the crime scene. Commissioner Jessica Tisch also said Wednesday that lab results matched suspect Luigi Mangione’s prints to a water bottle and a snack bar wrapper found near the scene of the killing. Police had said earlier that they believed the gunman bought the items at a nearby coffee shop while awaiting his target. Mangione is jailed in Pennsylvania on weapon and forgery charges, but he also has been charged with murder in Brian Thompson's death. Arguments over whether Luigi Mangione is a 'hero' offer a glimpse into an unusual American moment Memes and online posts in support of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who's charged with killing UnitedHealthcare's CEO, have mushroomed online. Some cast Mangione as a hero. That's too far, says Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a rising Democrat who was almost the Democratic vice presidential nominee this year. CEO Brian Thompson's death touched off off these ripples. They offer a glimpse into how so many different aspects of 21st-century life can be surreally connected, from public violence to politics, from health care to humor, or attempts at it. The Trump and Biden teams insist they're working hand in glove on foreign crises WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t think much of Joe Biden’s foreign policy record. He frequently casts the outgoing Democratic president as a feckless leader who shredded American credibility around the world during his four-year term. But the Trump and Biden national security teams have come to an understanding that they have no choice but to work together as conflicts in Gaza, Syria and Ukraine have left a significant swath of the world on a knife’s edge. It’s fuzzy how much common ground Biden and Trump’s teams have found as they navigate crises that threaten to cause more global upheaval as Trump prepares to settle back into the White House. FBI Director Wray says he intends to resign at end of Biden's term in January WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Christopher Wray says he plans to resign at the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January. The announcement Wednesday comes a week and a half after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate loyalist Kash Patel for the position. At a town hall meeting with the bureau workforce, Wray said he would be stepping down “after weeks of careful thought.” Wray had previously been named by Trump and began the 10-year term. a length meant to insulate the agency from the political influence of changing administrations — in 2017, after Trump fired then-FBI Director, James Comey. Syrians flock to morgues looking for loved ones who perished in Assad's prisons DAMASCUS (AP) — Many bodies have been found in Syrian detention centers and prisons since President Bashar al-Assad's government fell. Now Syrians around the world are circulating images of the corpses in hopes that they will see slain loved ones whose fate had been a mystery. At the morgue visited by The Associated Press on Wednesday in Damascus, families flocked to a wall where some of the pictures were pinned in a haunting gallery of the dead. Relatives desperately scanned the images for a recognizable face. Some of the prisoners died just weeks ago. Others perished months earlier. US warns Russia may be ready to use new lethal missile against Ukraine again in 'coming days' WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says Russia could launch its lethal new intermediate-range ballistic missile against Ukraine again soon. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh cited a U.S. intelligence assessment in telling reporters on Wednesday that an attack could come “in the coming days.” She says the U.S. does not consider the Oreshnik missile a game changer on the battlefield. But that Russia is using the weapon to intimidate Ukraine as both sides wrestle for an advantage that will give them leverage in any negotiations to end the war. The Russian Defense Ministryalso is warning it may retaliate against Kyiv for an attack on a military base in the Rostov region in southern Russia on Wednesday. Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 33 including children, Palestinian medics say DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 33 people. One of the strikes hit a home where displaced people were sheltering in the isolated north, killing 19. A separate strike outside nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital killed a woman and her two children, and another strike in central Gaza killed at least seven people. Israel's military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and accuses militants of hiding among them, putting their lives in danger. Local health officials say Israel’s retaliatory offensive after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 has killed over 44,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Biden's pardon of his son Hunter, an AP-NORC poll finds WASHINGTON (AP) — Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter after earlier promising he'd do no such thing. That's according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey found that only a small share of Americans “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the president's decision. About half “strongly” or “somewhat” disapprove of it, and about one-quarter said they neither approve nor disapprove. Nevertheless, about 4 in 10 Americans said they approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president. That's roughly where his approval rating has stood in AP-NORC polling since 2022. Malibu wildfire grows, thousands remain evacuated but firefighters get break from improving weather MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Weather conditions are forecast to improve this week in Southern California and aid firefighters in their battle against a wildfire that’s forced up to 20,000 people from their homes. The blaze grew to more than 6 square miles by Wednesday morning. It was not immediately known how the fire started. It tore through part of Malibu, a community of about 10,000 people on the western edge of Los Angeles renowned for its stunning scenery of seaside bluffs and Zuma Beach featured in Hollywood films. Celebrities, including performers Cher and Dick Van Dyke, were among the evacuees. Google forges ahead with its next generation of AI technology while fending off a breakup threat SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google on Wednesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence designed to tackle more of the work and thinking done by humans as it tries to stay on technology’s cutting edge while also trying to fend off regulatory threats to it internet empire. The next generation of Google’s AI is being packaged under the Gemini umbrella unveiled a year ago. Google is framing its release of Gemini 2.0 as a springboard for AI agent built to interpret images shown through a smartphone, perform a variety of tedious chores, remember the conversations they have with people, help video game players plot strategy and even tackle the task of doing online searches.

House approves $895B defense bill with military pay raise, ban on transgender care for minors

The Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team has gotten off to a fast start this season in more ways than one. The No. 16 Bearcats have raced to a 5-0 record while outscoring their opponents by more than 31 points per game, with just one team (Northern Kentucky) coming within 16 points. Cincinnati is averaging a robust 87 points per game with one of the more efficient offenses in college basketball. Cincinnati will look to continue that hot streak when it plays host to Alabama State in nonconference action Wednesday evening. Cincinnati has punished opposing defenses in a variety of ways this season. Despite being the No. 14 offense in the nation in Ken Pomeroy's efficiency ratings, the Bearcats aren't among the nation's leaders in pace. Still, they take advantage of those opportunities when they are there. "Us playing fast is something we want to do," Cincinnati forward Dillon Mitchell said. "When I was being recruited here, that was something Coach (Wes) Miller wanted to do. "There could be games where we're not making shots or something is off, but one thing is we're gonna push the ball, play hard and play fast. That's something he preaches. We'll be in shape and get rebounds." Mitchell is fresh off a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds in Cincinnati's 81-58 road win at Georgia Tech Saturday. He is one of four Bearcats to average double figures in scoring this season. That balance was on display once again against the Yellow Jackets, with Connor Hickman and Jizzle James also scoring 14 points each and Simas Lukosius contributing 12 points. In that game, Cincinnati sank 51.6 percent of its shots while regularly getting out into transition with 16 fastbreak points, while winning the rebounding battle 36-29. "Any time you get a road win over a quality, Power 4 team, you're gonna feel good about it," Miller said. "I was pleased with our effort." Lukosius is scoring 16.6 points per game, while James is at 14.0 points, followed by Mitchell at 12.4, while he also grabs a team-best 8.6 rebounds. Alabama State (3-3) has a tough task ahead, especially when considering its 97-78 loss at Akron Sunday, which ended a three-game winning streak. The Hornets allowed the Zips to shoot 46.4 percent from the field and were 53-32 in the rebounding battle. Alabama State gave up a season high in points, after playing the likes of LSU and UNLV earlier this season. Akron standout Nate Johnson lit up Alabama State for 25 points, as the game got away from the Hornets in the second half to keep them winless in true road games. Alabama leading scorers CJ Hines and TJ Madlock still got theirs against Akron, scoring 19 and 17 points, respectively. They were joined in double figures by reserve Tyler Mack (18 points), but recent history says they'll need more help to keep up with the Bearcats. Hines leads the Hornets with 15.7 points per game, while Madlock contributes 14.5 points. In previous Akron Basketball Classic wins last week against Omaha and Lamar, Alabama State featured at least four double-digit scorers in each game. --Field Level MediaAs Germany heads for February 23 elections the grey winter weather has become a hot campaign topic because of its impact on the country's shaky green energy transition. Twice in recent months electricity prices temporarily spiked in Europe's top economy because of a lack of both sunlight and wind to power its solar panels and turbines. The phenomenon -- dubbed a "dark lull" -- briefly sent the price soaring to 936 euros ($972) per megawatt hour on December 12, twelve times the average for the preceding weeks. Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz, whose CSU/CDU is widely expected to win the elections, seized on the issue to attack centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In Europe's interconnected energy market, Merz told Scholz that "your energy policies are setting teeth on edge across the European Union, which is very angry with Germany". The comment was rejected by the Greens, who have long been the political driving force behind Germany's transition away from fossil fuel and nuclear power and toward clean renewables. The Greens' Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck hit back that previous CDU/CSU-led governments under Angela Merkel had been "blind" to Germany's energy challenges. To help fight climate change, Germany has pledged to phase out fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels, and become carbon-neutral by mid-century. The recent price spikes prompted some of Germany's most energy-intensive firms to temporarily limit or even halt production. In the December 12 incident, Germany bought electricity at the European Energy Exchange in Leipzig, causing a spike in prices in neighboring countries. Meanwhile the German energy sector is ringing alarm bells. Markus Kreber, head of the biggest energy supplier RWE, said the recent dips in renewable supply "would not have been manageable on another day with a higher peak load, for example in January". He warned that the system is currently operating "at its limits". The situation after the most recent dip soon stabilized as renewables production picked up again, and households and most businesses remain shielded from day-to-day price fluctuations by fixed tariffs. The Scholz government defended the green energy transition despite the occasional "temporary phenomenon" of a dark lull that can drive up prices on the spot market. "There are phases in which the sun shines a lot, the wind blows a lot, and electricity is produced very cheaply in Germany, which is then gladly exported and supplies our neighboring countries with electricity," said spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. Renewables have become an ever more important part of Germany's energy mix, accounting for an average 60 percent of its electricity production so far this year. Traditional sources of energy are being wound down, with coal power stations gradually shutting down after the last three nuclear power stations were taken off the grid last year. But many experts say the world's third biggest economy can ill afford such supply fluctuations when it's already struggling with a lack of competitiveness in other areas. Analysts say Germany needs to scale up energy storage capacity and also develop other sources of production, such as gas and hydrogen, to pick up the slack when necessary. "If the state establishes a good regulatory framework, then it should be possible to avoid shortages through investing in storage and having flexibility in supply," Georg Zachmann, energy and climate specialist at the Bruegel think tank, told AFP. However, he said there was "a big concern that the framework will not be sufficient to quickly develop" the necessary infrastructure. "It takes on average seven years to construct a wind power facility but just seven months to build a liquified natural gas terminal," said Claudia Kemfert, energy expert at the DIW institute. "It ought to be the other way around." For now, Germany faces months of political paralysis after the collapse of Scholz's three-way coalition government. The coalition's demise also means the scrapping of a key draft law for a project to build a network of gas and hydrogen power stations as part of the transition away from coal. A new government will likely take several months to emerge after February's election and then set out its own energy policy. The frontrunner Merz has already pledged to study a return to nuclear power.Giants' 10th straight loss showed once again that they need a young QB

Hitting it out of the park: What’s Juan Soto’s net worth after signing $765m deal with the Mets?Fresh off its biggest win of the season, Penn State plays its first true road game Tuesday when it visits Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J. Aces will be wild for the Nittany Lions (8-1, 1-0 Big Ten) and the Scarlet Knights (5-4, 0-1) as Penn State's Ace Baldwin Jr. will square off against Ace Bailey of Rutgers. Baldwin is the Nittany Lions' leading scorer at 15.1 points per game and dishes out 8.1 assists -- fourth in the nation entering Monday's action. He registered 17 points and six assists Thursday in an 81-70 victory over then-No. 8 Purdue in a game where Penn State led by as many as 27. Freddie Dilione V chipped in 14 points for the Nittany Lions, who had not defeated a Top 10 team since 2019. "A win like that's a statement win," Dilione said. "I just think it's going to put everybody on notice. We're just a walkover team. We're always going be the underdogs, and that's our mentality. We've just got to come in every game and just punch everybody in the mouth." Penn State must be careful not to suffer a letdown against a talented Rutgers squad led by freshmen Dylan Harper (23.1 points per game) and Bailey (17.9). The duo combined for 30 points in the Scarlet Knights' last game -- an 80-66 setback at Ohio State. The defeat was the fourth in the last five games for Rutgers, which plays seven of its next eight in New Jersey. "We've got to get better," Scarlet Knights coach Steve Pikiell said. "We got to get some more consistency out of a lot of things, especially our defense. Can't give up 80 points on the road and expect to win in this league." In last season's meeting with Penn State, it was offense that was Rutgers' biggest issue. The Scarlet Knights shot just 1-of-17 from 3-point range and 34 percent overall in a 61-46 home defeat. "(It's about) finding ways of how to bounce back as a team and staying together," Harper said. "Even though we lose, we're still going to find a way." --Field Level Media

Greenland not for sale, its leader says in response to TrumpCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government on Monday survived a third vote of no confidence in as many months, brought by his main Tory rival. The minority Liberal government got the support of the New Democratic Party (NDP), a small leftist faction once aligned with the ruling Liberals, to defeat the motion 180-152. The text of the proposition echoed NDP leader Jagmeet Singh's own past criticisms of Trudeau since breaking off their partnership in late August, calling him "too weak, too selfish." Neither Singh nor Trudeau were present for the vote. The House of Commons has been deadlocked most of this fall session by an unprecedented two-month filibuster by the Conservatives. But Speaker Greg Fergus, in a rare move, ordered a short break in the deadlock to allow for this and other possible confidence votes, and for lawmakers to vote on a key spending measure. MPs are scheduled to vote Tuesday on the spending package, which includes funds for social services, disaster relief and support for Ukraine. With a 20-point lead in polls, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been itching for an election call since the NDP tore up its coalition agreement with the Liberals. But the NDP and other opposition parties, whose support is needed to bring down the Liberals, have so far refused to side with the Conservatives. Two no-confidence votes brought by the Tories in September and October failed when the NDP and the separatist Bloc Quebecois backed the Liberals. In Canada's Westminster parliamentary system, a ruling party must hold the confidence of the House of Commons, which means maintaining support from a majority of members. The Liberals currently have 153 seats, versus 119 for the Conservatives, 33 for the Bloc Quebecois, and the NDP's 25. Trudeau swept to power in 2015 and has managed to hold on through two elections in 2019 and 2021. amc/bs/bjt

One of my top shows of 2024 actually premiered in 2021. That’s because it took a couple of years for the Australian series “The Newsreader” to make its way Stateside. Alas, it was only legal to stream in the U.S. for a handful of weeks in September and then — pffft! — it was gone before most people had even heard of it. Well, I have great news. The show will be available once again, this time via Sundance Now (accessible through the AMC+ streaming platform), which has licensed the first season. Premiering Dec. 19, it stars Anna Torv (“Fringe”) and Sam Reid (“Interview with the Vampire”) as TV reporters in Melbourne, circa 1986. At the outset, Reid’s character exudes big loser energy, which is such an amusing contrast to his work as Lestat. The show is unexpectedly funny and terrifically Machiavellian in its portrayal of small-time office politics, and I’m thrilled audiences in the U.S. will get another shot at watching it. Overall, 2024 offered a modestly better lineup than usual, but I’m not sure it felt that way. Too often the good stuff got drowned out by Hollywood’s pointless and endless pursuit of rebooting intellectual property (no thank you, Apple’s “Presumed Innocent” ) and tendency to stretch a perfectly fine two-hour movie premise into a saggy multi-part series (“Presumed Innocent” again!). There were plenty of shows I liked that didn’t make this year’s list, including ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ “Ghosts” (it’s heartening to see the network sitcom format still thriving in the streaming era), as well as Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside” (Ted Danson’s charisma selling an unlikely premise) and Hulu’s “Interior Chinatown” (a high-concept parody of racial stereotypes and cop show tropes, even if it couldn’t sustain the idea over 10 episodes). Maybe it just felt like we were having more fun this year, with Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple” (Nicole Kidman leading a traditional manor house mystery reinterpreted with an American sensibility) and Hulu’s “Rivals” (the horniest show of 2024, delivered with a wink in the English countryside). I liked what I saw of Showtime’s espionage thriller “The Agency” (although the bulk of episodes were unavailable as of this writing). The deluge of remakes tends to make me cringe, but this year also saw a redo of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” on Netflix that was far classier than most of what’s available on the streamer. Starring Andrew Scott, I found it cool to the touch, but the imagery stayed with me. Shot in black and white, it has an indelible visual language courtesy of director of photography Robert Elswit, whether capturing a crisp white business card against the worn grain wood of a bar top, or winding stairways that alternately suggest a yawning void or a trap. As always, if you missed any of these shows when they originally premiered — the aforementioned titles or the Top 10 listed below — they are all available to stream. Top 10 streaming and TV shows of 2024, in alphabetical order: The least cynical reality show on television remains as absorbing as ever in Season 4, thanks to the probing questions and insights from the show’s resident therapist, Dr. Orna Guralnik. Everything is so charged. And yet the show has a soothing effect, predicated on the idea that human behavior (and misery) isn’t mysterious or unchangeable. There’s something so optimistic in that outlook. Whether or not you relate to the people featured on “Couples Therapy” — or even like them as individuals — doesn’t matter as much as Guralnik’s reassuring presence. Created by and starring Diarra Kilpatrick, the eight-episode series defies categorization in all the right ways. Part missing-person mystery, part comedy about a school teacher coming to grips with her impending divorce, and part drama about long-buried secrets, it has tremendous style right from the start — sardonic, knowing and self-deprecating. The answers to the central mystery may not pack a satisfying punch by the end, but the road there is as entertaining and absorbing as they come. We need more shows like this. A comedy created by and starring Brian Jordan Alvarez (of the antic YouTube series “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo”), the show has a sensibility all its own, despite a handful of misinformed people on social media calling it a ripoff of “Abbott Elementary.” There’s room enough in the TV landscape for more than one sitcom with a school setting and “English Teacher” has a wonderfully gimlet-eyed point of view of modern high school life. I’m amused that so much of its musical score is Gen-X coded, because that neither applies to Alvarez (a millennial) nor the fictional students he teaches. So why does the show feature everything from Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to Exposé’s “Point of No Return”? The ’80s were awash in teen stories and maybe the show is using music from that era to invoke all those tropes in order to better subvert them. It’s a compelling idea! It’s streaming on Hulu and worth checking out if you haven’t already. A one-time tennis phenom accuses her former coach of coercing her into a sexual relationship in this British thriller. The intimacy between a coach and athlete often goes unexplored, in real-life or fictional contexts and that’s what the show interrogates: When does it go over the line? It’s smart, endlessly watchable and the kind of series that would likely find a larger audience were it available on a more popular streamer. There’s real tenderness in this show. Real cruelty, too. It’s a potent combination and the show’s third and strongest season won it an Emmy for best comedy. Jean Smart’s aging comic still looking for industry validation and Hannah Einbinder’s needy Gen-Z writer are trapped in an endless cycle of building trust that inevitably gives way to betrayal. Hollywood in a nutshell! “Hacks” is doing variations on this theme every season, but doing it in interesting ways. Nobody self-sabotages their way to success like these two. I was skeptical about the show when it premiered in 2022 . Vampire stories don’t interest me. And the 1994 movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt wasn’t a persuasive argument to the contrary. But great television is great television and nothing at the moment is better than this show. It was ignored by Emmy voters in its initial outing but let’s hope Season 2 gets the recognition it deserves. Under showrunner Rolin Jones, the adaptation of Anne Rice’s novels is richly written, thrillingly inhabited by its cast and so effortlessly funny with a framing device — the interview of the title — that is thick with intrigue and sly comedy. I wouldn’t categorize the series as horror. It’s not scary. But it is tonally self-assured and richly made, rarely focused on the hunt for dinner but on something far more interesting: The melodrama of vampire existence, with its combination of boredom and lust and tragedy and zingers. Already renewed for Season 3, it has an incredible cast (a thrilling late-career boost for Eric Bogosian) and is well worth catching up with if you haven’t already. It’s been too long since the pleasures of banter fueled a romantic comedy in the spirit of “When Harry Met Sally.” But it’s all over the place in “Nobody Wants This,” one of the best shows on Netflix in recent memory. Renewed for a second season, it stars Kristen Bell as a humorously caustic podcaster and Adam Brody as the cute and emotionally intelligent rabbi she falls for. On the downside, the show has some terrible notions about Jewish women that play into controlling and emasculating stereotypes. You hate to see it in such an otherwise sparkling comedy, because overall Bell and Brody have an easy touch that gives the comedy real buoyancy. I suspect few people saw this three-part series on PBS Masterpiece, but it features a terrific performance by Helena Bonham Carter playing the real-life, longtime British soap star Noele “Nolly” Gordon, who was unceremoniously sacked in 1981. She’s the kind of larger-than-life showbiz figure who is a bit ridiculous, a bit imperious, but also so much fun. The final stretch of her career is brought to life by Carter and this homage — to both the soap she starred in and the way she carried it on her back — is from Russell T. Davies (best known for the “Doctor Who” revival). For U.S. viewers unfamiliar with the show or Gordon, Carter’s performance has the benefit of not competing with a memory as it reanimates a slice of British pop culture history from the analog era. The year is 1600 and a stubborn British seaman piloting a Dutch ship washes ashore in Japan. That’s our entry point to this gorgeously shot story of power games and political maneuvering among feudal enemies. Adapted from James Clavell’s 1975 novel by the married team of Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, it is filled with Emmy-winning performances (for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada; the series itself also won best drama) and unlike something like HBO’s far clunkier “House of the Dragon,” which tackles similar themes, this feels like the rare show created by, and for, adults. The misfits and losers of Britain’s MI5 counterintelligence agency — collectively known as the slow horses, a sneering nickname that speaks to their perceived uselessness — remain as restless as ever in this adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slough House spy novels. As a series, “Slow Horses” doesn’t offer tightly plotted clockwork spy stories; think too deeply about any of the details and the whole thing threatens to fall apart. But on a scene-by-scene basis, the writing is a winning combination of wry and tension-filled, and the cumulative effect is wonderfully entertaining. Spies have to deal with petty office politics like everyone else! It’s also one of the few shows that has avoided the dreaded one- or two-year delay between seasons, which has become standard on streaming. Instead, it provides the kind of reliability — of its characters but also its storytelling intent — that has become increasingly rare. Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.

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NoneFormer New York Yankees fielder Juan Soto stunned the baseball world this weekend by reportedly agreeing to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the club’s crosstown rivals, the New York Mets. The staggering contract is largest in U.S. pro baseball history, with one columnist warning that the Mets’ ability to ink such deals, thanks to funding from billionaire hedge fund investor and team owner Steve Cohen, might “break” the sport altogether . According to the deal’s fine print, the total sum could climb even higher than $765 million. The contract includes an opt-out provision after five seasons. But the Mets can void the clause after the 2029 season, providing they bump up the annual payout on the contract from $51 million to $55 million. That would bring the total value of the contract to $805 million, notes to MLB.com . Taken with Soto’s estimated $80.1 million in career earnings so far playing for the Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres, and Yankees since his 2018 debut, the new contract could one day help Soto become a baseball billionaire. Soto already appeared to be setting the stage for a financial windfall before the Mets deal was reported. As rivals sought to woo the 26-year-old free agent in November, he starred in an ad for Celsius energy drink, in which he announced he was joining their team, a spoof on big-league signing announcements. “Juan Soto smartly using his free agency to fuel an endorsement,” Sportico editor Scott Sochnick wrote in praise of the move. Sportico estimated that in 2024, Soto earned $3 million from his endorsements with Under Armor, Wilson, Sorare, New Era, and Topps. The bilingual Dominican slugger has a large following on social media, with approximately 1.75 million followers across Instagram, X and TikTok. Observers believe that Soto’s on-field performance will drive the kind of profits and fan enthusiam to justify the expense to the Mets. In six seasons, he’s already won a World Series with the Nats and led the Yankees to the American League pennant in 2024. “If they’re winning consistently” the Soto contract “can pay for itself,” Dennis Mannion, former president and CEO of the Dodgers, told The New York Post ahead of the Mets deal. Outside of his eye-popping contracts, Soto appears to have maintained more modest investments, at least by pro athlete standards. In 2023, he sold a $1.1 million home in Virginia, according to Realtor.com .SAN DIEGO , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuvve Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: NVVE) ("Nuvve" or "the Company") would like its shareholders to vote in its upcoming Special Meeting of Stockholders ("Special Meeting") on January 13, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern ( 11:00 am Pacific) Time. The methods for voting and submitting proxies are described in the distributed proxy materials for the Special Meeting. The record date for the Special Meeting is December 6, 2024 . For assistance with voting your shares, please contact Advantage Proxy, Inc. toll-free at 1-877-870-8565 or by e-mail at ksmith@advantageproxy.com . Nuvve asks that all shareholders vote their proxy, no matter how many shares they own. Nuvve strongly encourages all its shareholders to read the company's definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on December 16, 2025 (the "Proxy Statement"), which are available free of charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov . About Nuvve Nuvve (Nasdaq: NVVE) is a global technology leader accelerating the electrification of transportation through its proprietary vehicle-to-grid (V2G) platform. Nuvve's mission is to lower the cost of electric vehicle ownership while supporting the integration of renewable energy sources, including solar and wind. For more information, please visit nuvve.com . Nuvve Investor Contact investorrelations@nuvve.com +1 (619) 483-3448 Nuvve Press Contacts press@nuvve.com +1 (619) 483-3448 Nuvve Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "may," "will," "expects," "believes," "aims," "anticipates," "plans," "looking forward to," "estimates," "projects," "assumes," "guides," "targets," "forecasts," "continue," "seeks" or the negatives of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the Company's expectations, plans, intentions, strategies, prospects, business plans, product and service offerings, new product launches, potential clinical successes, and other statements that are not historical facts. Nuvve cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Nuvve. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. Some of these risks and uncertainties can be found in Nuvve's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov , http://investors.nuvve.com/ or on request from Nuvve. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in the Nuvve's filings with the SEC. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and Nuvve disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers of this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, since there can be no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. This cautionary statement is applicable to all forward-looking statements contained in this press release. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nuvve-holding-corp--announces-date-of-special-meeting-of-stockholders-302338578.html SOURCE Nuvve Holding Corp.

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Apple’s plans to manufacture foldable devices keep leaking with some regularity. These leaks suggest that Apple is actively researching technologies related to foldable iPhone and MacBook/iPad devices and that such devices might hit stores in the coming years. Some past rumors claimed that might launch a foldable before it makes a foldable iPhone, but more recent leaks suggest the reverse might happen. A few days ago, display experts familiar with the various innovations in the field said that . When it drops, that foldable iPhone should reignite sales in the foldable smartphone niche. Back in August, Ming-Chi Kuo said that , citing technical challenges that prevent Apple from starting manufacturing in the first half of 2026. Kuo said at the time that Apple has pushed back its schedule to the end of 2027 or 2028. A few months later, we have a purported roadmap that shows Apple’s display needs for the various iPads and MacBooks it plans to launch in the coming years. The documentation reportedly comes from research firm Omdia. One obvious thing from the leaked slide is the transition to OLED panels for many Apple iPads and MacBooks in the next few years. Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there. By signing up, I agree to the and have reviewed the The foldable MacBook project also stands out immediately. If the information is accurate, then we’re looking at a 2028 release for the foldable MacBook, and that’s assuming things go as planned. According to leaker , the iPad mini will get an OLED panel in mid-2025, followed by the iPad Air a year later. Also, in mid-2025, the MacBook Pro will get its OLED panels. Then, in mid-2027, the iPad Pro, foldable MacBook, and the MacBook Air will move to OLED panels. I’ll point out these aren’t release windows for the unreleased iPad and MacBook generations I’ve mentioned. Instead, we’re probably looking at development/manufacturing periods for the OLED screens. How do I know? The big tandem OLED display upgrade that the M4 iPad Pro introduced earlier this year has a mid-2023 window on the roadmap. If accurate, the document suggests that Apple might have finalized development plans for the M4 iPad Pro panels in the second half of 2023. Its supply chain partners, including Samsung and LG, started manufacturing in the months preceding the M4 iPad Pro launch. I’ll also remind you of the various display reports that preceded the M4 iPad Pro launch that detailed the manufacturing issues Apple and its suppliers might have experienced. Even older reports claimed that Samsung at one point refused to manufacture Apple’s tandem panels for the OLED iPad Pro before agreeing to build them. What I’m getting at is that roadmaps from research firms are one thing, while real-life development plans are another. With that in mind, the mid-2027 window the analysts set for the 18.8-inch foldable OLED panel Apple will need for a foldable MacBook indicates the actual product might ship about a year later or mid-2028. The analysts refer to the 18.8-inch foldable device as a “Tablet/NotePC/Monitor” product without using identifiers. What’s interesting to me is that the foldable MacBook will feature the same technology as the 2028 iPad Pro models. We’re looking at “RGB Tandem + LTPO TFT + TSP on TFE + Pol-less” display tech, which will make a dynamic frame rate possible. That’s another synonym for dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, which Apple calls ProMotion on the iPhone and iPad. Interestingly, the same, or almost the same, display tech will be used on . According to the leaked presentation, these will also probably launch in mid-2028. And yes, the same OLED display tech would also apply to the first OLED MacBook Pro models, which could launch at some point next year or in 2026. Even if the information in the table is accurate, don’t expect any confirmations anytime soon. We’ll have to wait and see what Apple does next in terms of display innovations. The iPad mini 7 and M4 MacBook Pro models were just released, so we’ll have to wait a while to see upgrades. According to the table, these are the first Apple products to get OLED panels after this year’s M4 iPad Pro.

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