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BPSC aspirants continue their protest in Patna's Gandhi Maidan

WASHINGTON ― Pete Hegseth said Wednesday he won't drink "a drop of alcohol" if confirmed by the Senate to lead the Pentagon as President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary and vowed to fight through a tumultuous nomination process amid allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse. Hegseth's commitment follows a story published by the New Yorker that cited a whistleblower report alleging Hegseth was repeatedly intoxicated in his previous role as president of the nonprofit Concerned Veterans for America, even to the point of having to be carried out of the group's events. He has denied the report. In an interview with Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM show, Hegseth ‒ a former Fox News host and Army veteran ‒ referenced "general order number 1," which prohibits military personnel from consuming alcohol during deployment. "That's how I view this role as Secretary of Defense is, I'm not going to have a drink, at all. And it's not hard for me because it's not a problem for me," Hegseth said. More: Pete Hegseth's mother discusses angry email: 'He's redeemed, forgiven, changed' Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team. Bad Santa: Navy's top admiral kept spokesman after boozy party, sexual predator warning Hegseth added that he needs to make sure senators, U.S. troops, Trump and others know "when you call me 24/7, you're getting fully dialed-in Pete, just like you always did in Iraq and Afghanistan." "So this is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won't be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I'm doing it," he said. The New Yorker story cited three anonymous sources saying Hegseth stepped down from his leadership position at Concerned Veterans for America, which he held from 2013 to 2016, because of concerns about his mismanagement and alcohol use on the job. The publication also reported Hegseth was forced to leave a prior leadership post at the nonprofit Veterans for Freedom after the organization ran up substantial debt. The whistleblower report included a complaint that Hegseth was “totally sloshed” at a 2014 event in Virginia Beach and needed to be carried to his room because “he was so intoxicated.” It cited another instance at a Louisiana strip club in 2015 in which a drunk Hegseth allegedly had to be restrained from joining the dancers on the stage. More: Trump considering DeSantis to replace Hegseth for defense secretary post Hegseth denied the episodes happened, insisting to Kelly that he didn't even visit this club with his co-workers. "If they're making up an instance of something where I didn't even attend, how can you believe a single other thing that any of these people are saying in any instance, to include being carried up to my room?" Hegseth said. Hegseth faces an uphill Senate confirmation after revelations he was accused of sexual assault ‒ which he denies and for which he has never faced charges. Nevertheless, Hegseth vowed to push forward. "I spoke to the president-elect this morning. He said: 'Keep going, keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way,'" Hegseth told reporters Wednesday. "Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I'm here for the war fighters." Hegseth spent the day at the Capitol seeking to shore up support from Republican senators, while his mother, Penelope Hegseth, made an appeal for her son on Fox News. "Pete is a new person. He's redeemed, forgiven, changed," Penelope Hegseth said, addressing her own email she sent to her son in 2018 that said Hegseth was an “abuser of women” and that she has “no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego." Penelope Hegseth said she wrote the email out of “haste” and with “deep emotions.” She explained that her son had been going through a contentious divorce with his second wife at the time she wrote it. More: Pete Hegseth controversy explained: What to know amid backlash to Trump's Defense pick Although Trump has so far remained behind Hegseth publicly as his nominee for defense secretary, a source close to the Trump transition said the president-elect is considering replacing him with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump's 2024 Republican primary opponents. Contributing: Zac Anderson, Sudiksha Kochi. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol avoided an opposition-led attempt to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law , as most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote Saturday to deny a two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential power. The scrapping of the motion is expected to intensify public protests calling for Yoon’s ouster and deepen political chaos in South Korea, with a survey suggesting a majority of South Koreans support the president’s impeachment. Yoon’s martial law declaration drew criticism from his own ruling conservative People Power Party, but it is also determined to oppose Yoon’s impeachment apparently because it fears losing the presidency to liberals. After the motion fell through, members of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party rallied inside the National Assembly, chanting slogans calling for Yoon's impeachment or resignation. The party's floor leader, Park Chan-dae, said it will soon prepare for a new impeachment motion. “We'll surely impeach Yoon Suk Yeol, who is the greatest risk to Republic of Korea,” party leader Lee Jae-myung said. “We'll surely bring back this country to normal before Christmas Day or year's end.” Despite escaping the impeachment attempt, many experts worry Yoon won’t be able to serve out his remaining 2 1⁄2 years in office. They say some ruling party lawmakers could eventually join opposition parties’ efforts to impeach Yoon if public demands for it grow further. On Saturday, tens of thousands of people densely packed several blocks of roads leading up to the National Assembly, waving banners, shouting slogans and dancing. Protesters also gathered in front of PPP’s headquarters near the Assembly, angrily shouting for its lawmakers to vote to impeach Yoon. A smaller crowd of Yoon’s supporters, which still seemed to be in the thousands, rallied in separate streets in Seoul, decrying the impeachment attempt they saw as unconstitutional. Impeaching Yoon required support from two-thirds of the National Assembly, or 200 of its 300 members. The Democratic Party and five other small opposition parties, which filed the motion, have 192 seats combined. But only three lawmakers from PPP participated in the vote. The motion was scrapped without ballot counting because the number of votes didn’t reach 200. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik called the result “very regrettable” and an embarrassing moment for the country’s democracy that has been closely watched by the world. “The failure to hold a qualified vote on this matter means we were not even able to exercise the democratic procedure of deciding on a critical national issue,” he said. Opposition parties could submit a new impeachment motion after a new parliamentary session opens next Wednesday. If Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. If he is removed, an election to replace him must take place within 60 days. Earlier Saturday, Yoon issued a public apology over the martial law decree, saying he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration and promising not to make another attempt to impose martial law. He said would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.” “The declaration of this martial law was made out of my desperation. But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot,” Yoon said. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has struggled to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and grappled with low approval ratings amid scandals involving himself and his wife. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” bogging down state affairs and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.” The turmoil resulting from Yoon’s bizarre and poorly-thought-out stunt has paralyzed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners like the U.S. and Japan. Tuesday night saw special forces troops encircling the parliament building and army helicopters hovering over it, but the military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn the decree, forcing Yoon to lift it before daybreak Wednesday. The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea. Eighteen lawmakers from the ruling party voted to reject Yoon’s martial law decree along with opposition lawmakers. PPP later decided to oppose Yoon's impeachment motion. Yoon’s speech fueled speculation that he and his party may push for a constitutional amendment to shorten his term, instead of accepting impeachment, as a way to ease public anger over the marital law and facilitate Yoon’s early exit from office. Lee told reporters that Yoon’s speech was “greatly disappointing” and that the only way forward is his immediate resignation or impeachment. His party called Yoon’s martial law “unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup.” Lawmakers on Saturday first voted on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate stock price manipulation allegations surrounding Yoon’s wife. Some lawmakers from Yoon’s party were seen leaving the hall after that vote, triggering angry shouts from opposition lawmakers. On Friday, PPP chair Han Dong-hun, who criticized Yoon’s martial law declaration, said he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law Yoon ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities.” Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing Friday that Yoon had ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians. The targeted politicians included Han, Lee and Woo, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting. The Defense Ministry said Friday it suspended three military commanders including the head of the defense counterintelligence unit over their involvement in enforcing martial law. Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho has told parliament that Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun ordered the deployment of troops to the National Assembly after Yoon imposed martial law. Opposition parties accused Kim of recommending to Yoon to enforce martial law. Kim resigned Thursday, and prosecutors imposed an overseas travel ban on him.

A fire has left a home “not livable” until repairs can be undertaken, the deputy chief for the North Cowichan Fire Department says. Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, crews were called to the home in the 3600 block of Cowichan Lake Road for a house fire. “Upon arrival, they saw significant smoke coming from a two-storey building,” Chris Jancowski, deputy fire chief, said in a Zoom interview. “Crews quickly made entry, located the area of the fire, extinguish the fire shortly after.” No one was home when the fire started, but the homeowner arrived to find the fire and called 911. Jancowski says there were no injuries to the homeowner or firefighters. However, the family is not living in the home following the fire due to the damage. “Unfortunately, due to the fire area and then significant amount of smoke being created by fire, the home is not livable at this point, it will have to undergo some repairs,” he said. “The family has been supported by the local emergency social services function of the Regional District, and they’re being taken care of the next 72 hours.” Story continues below The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but it started in the basement area. However, Jancowski says this time of year comes with a fire risk with holiday decorations and urges people to take precautions. “Just a general fire prevention message. As we get closer to the Christmas season, making sure that we keep any natural trees watered and wet, and we also make sure we keep a very close eye on any kind of open flame, so candles, those kind of activities, can cause accidental fires,” he said. “ Smoke alarms , I can’t see enough spring and fall, check your batteries, make sure you have an active, working smoke alarm in every floor of your home.” RELATED: Working smoke alarm in just 45% of 2022 home fires in B.C.: report

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — Garry Clark scored 15 points as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beat Prairie View A&M 109-74 on Saturday night. Clark also contributed five rebounds for the Islanders (5-3). Dian Wright-Forde shot 5 of 6 from the field and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line to add 14 points. Jordan Roberts shot 4 of 6 from the field, including 2 for 4 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 5 from the line to finish with 14 points. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

With its latest lifestyle sneaker, PUMA is embarking on a new experimental path informed by its archival designs. The new PUMA Inverse was conceived with the aid of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and refined with human-made finishing touches. The design began with the Y2K-era PUMA Inhale , originally introduced in 2000 and recently revived under the brand’s collaborative line with rapper A$AP Rocky . From there, generative AI tools were used to reinterpret and iterate on the design with new features. Compared to the archival reference, the Inverse boasts a much sleeker profile and a mesh-forward materiality. Curvilinear overlays enhance the model with an aerodynamic look and the midsole cage provides a technical sensibility to the visual character. The inaugural colorway delivers the heat with a firey red mesh upper, along with black and amethyst purple accents throughout. Lead Product Line Manager Scottie Gurwitz shared, “Inverse is a deep dive into a new design mindset. Our goal was to bridge the human experience with experimental technology. AI doesn’t abide by the same rules as human designers, and that can help us see things in new ways and be a good experimental tool for us as we move through the design process.” The PUMA Inverse launches today from the brand’s official web store , PUMA flagship stores and selected retailers.

USU football: Aggies stock up on high school talent on signing daySpurs travel to Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday reeling from a disappointing home loss to Ipswich before the international break. The club’s problems have multiplied during the past fortnight with midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur handed a seven-match domestic ban on Monday and Cristian Romero (toe) joining a lengthy list of absentees. However, Postecoglou remains bullish about Tottenham’s progress and acutely aware of the scrutiny set to come his way if they stay 10th. “Christmas is a joyous occasion, irrespective, and I think it should be celebrated. If we’re still 10th then people won’t be happy, I won’t be happy, but we might not be 10th,” Postecoglou pointed out before nine games in 30 days. “Certainly for us I think it’s a significant period because you look at those games and we’ve got the league where we’ve got to improve our position and a couple of important European fixtures that can set us up for the back half of the year, also a Carabao Cup quarter-final. “At the end of that period we could be in a decent position for a strong second half of the year, so for us it is an important period. “You know there’s no more international breaks, so the full focus is here. You can build some momentum through that, or if things don’t go well you could get yourself into a bit of a grind. Ready for 👊 Go behind the scenes of training ahead of our trip to Manchester 🎥⤵️ — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) “Of course if we had beaten Ipswich, we’d be third and I reckon this press conference would be much different wouldn’t it? “I’m not going to let my life be dictated by one result, I’m sorry. I take a wider perspective on these things because I know how fickle it can be, but we need to address our position for sure. “And if we’re 10th at Christmas, yeah it won’t be great. There’d be a lot of scrutiny and probably a lot of scrutiny around me, which is fair enough, but that’s not where I plan for us to be.” Tottenham’s immediate efforts to move up the table will require them ending City’s two-year unbeaten home run in the Premier League. The champions have lost their last four matches in all competitions, but have some key personnel back for Saturday’s clash and will aim to toast Pep Guardiola’s new contract with a victory. Postecoglou was pleased to see Guardiola commit to a further two seasons in England, adding: “I love the fact that there’s a massive target out there that can seem insurmountable. “I look at it the other way. I go, ‘imagine if you knock him off, that’d be something’. “I’m at the stage of my life where I’d rather have the chance of knocking him off than missing that opportunity. “When greatness is around, you want to be around it. And hopefully it challenges you to be like that as well.” Saturday’s fixture will be Postecoglou’s 50th league game in charge of Spurs and he knows what is required to bring up three figures. “No European football, significant player turnover, change of playing style. Where did I think we’d be after 50 games? God knows. “It could have been a whole lot worse, but when you look at it in the current prism of we’re 10th, you’re going ‘it doesn’t look good’ and I understand that and we have to improve that. “But over the 50 games, I think there’s enough there that shows we are progressing as a team and we are developing into the team we want. “The key is the next 50 games, if they can be in totality better than the first 50? First, that means I’m here but second, I think we’ll be in a good space.”

British Japanese director Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentaries are a process of trying to understand the culture in which she grew up. “Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams” (2019) used a high school baseball tournament as a window into Japanese society. “Monk by Blood” (2013) and “Temple Family” (2021) meditated on the age-old tussle between tradition and progress, via the story of a priest-to-be with a taste for DJing. For her latest feature, Yamazaki spent a year filming at an elementary school in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, with the aim of showing how the citizens of tomorrow are formed. Her thesis, echoed by various characters in the documentary, is that primary education in Japan is about more than just academic subjects: It’s teaching students how to live in society. Starting in spring 2021, “The Making of a Japanese” is an intimate chronicle of a turbulent year defined by the strictures of the coronavirus pandemic. Face masks are mandatory, even outdoors; hand sanitizer is omnipresent. Teachers get to grips with using Zoom during classes, to varying degrees of success. While posing for a photo with another student on the first day of school, a 6-year-old grumbles that he can’t socially distance.Artificial intelligence has changed how people work and live in 2024, as companies create tools that can write code, generate images, and solve complex problems. The technology is seemingly everywhere, and while the advances have brought excitement, they have also kindled concern about AI's growing influence. Reflecting on another big year for AI, Creatie.ai curated five of the biggest AI stories in 2024. Issues of copyright and intellectual property, creative control, and how AI is being leveraged in business topped the list. "There's still a pretty wide delta that exists between a power user who's using it [AI] in their workflows, every different way, who has multiscreens, multitools... and those who are still resistant, saying they don't want to get involved with it," Brandon Z. Hoff told Stacker. Hoff, the founder of RUDI AI, a consultancy that helps organizations implement AI technology responsibly, found this "shocking" given that AI is "really one of the most revolutionary technologies of our time." As more people integrate AI tools into their personal and professional lives, questions emerge about privacy and fairness. Some businesses praise AI's ability to speed up productivity, while civil liberties groups and data privacy organizations worry about data protection and job security. Government officials have also stepped in to figure out how best to implement guardrails on this fast-moving technology while also allowing room for it to evolve. Some of 2024's biggest AI headlines came from policymakers working to establish safe practices. In the U.S., the Colorado AI Act was the first state legislation of its kind intended to set requirements for high-risk AI systems used in education, financial services, and other critical industries. It also sought consumer protections and accountability measures. It was modeled after the EU Artificial Intelligence Act , which set guidelines for high-risk AI system providers and worked to safeguard transparent and safe development of AI applications. The year's biggest developments in AI illustrate the technology's rapid shift from a future possibility into a present reality. Read on to see where AI made the most significant impact. OpenAI debuted AI models in 2024 called o1-preview and o1-mini that can tackle harder problems by working through solutions. The company offered o1-preview for general users, while o1-mini provided a faster, cheaper option for writing code, according to the company's official system card . These tools mark an important shift in AI's capacity for reasoning , Northwestern University researchers explain. Instead of just giving quick answers like earlier AI, these new models work through problems step-by-step, more like how humans solve complex tasks. OpenAI reported that tests showed significant improvements in the system's abilities. The model could solve 83% of complex math competition problems, while older versions only solved 13%, illustrating how this slower, more careful approach dramatically improved results. In analyzing chemistry, physics, and biology problems, the new model outperformed PhD-level scientists in problem-solving proficiency. However, these advances worry experts in the field. In an interview with Newsweek, computer science professor and AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio called the improvement in AI's reasoning and potential for deception "particularly dangerous" and called for better regulation. Two Nobel Prizes recognized AI's growing impact on science in 2024, marking the first time artificial intelligence received such prestigious recognition. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton received the Nobel Prize in physics for laying the groundwork for modern machine learning, while Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and researcher John Jumper shared half the chemistry prize for using AI to solve a 50-year-old protein structure problem, according to the Nobel Committee. The awards highlighted AI's potential and risks should the technology fall into the wrong hands. Hinton, dubbed the "godfather of AI," uses his Nobel platform to warn about the technology's potential for "getting out of control," The New York Times reported. He had previously told MIT Technology Review that he was deeply concerned that AI will surpass a human's ability to learn, creating a superintelligence that could too easily cause widespread harm, manipulation, or warfare in the hands of bad actors. Hassabis compared AI's risks to climate change, telling The Guardian that "we can't afford the same delay with AI." "This is more a Nobel moment for AI risk , rather than for AI itself," Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at Tufts University, wrote in Foreign Policy. He noted the prizes served as recognition of AI's transformative growth and a warning about its unchecked development. Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Google began building AI directly into everyday devices, bringing it to broader audiences in 2024. Features like enhanced photos, text-to-speech tools, personalized recommendations, and myriad other AI optimizations helped integrate AI into everyday tasks. Adoption varied widely, however. In CNBC's bi-annual survey of executives on its Technology Executive Council in October, 79% said their company was using Microsoft Copilot AI —though many questioned its $30 monthly per-user cost. Google's Gemini chatbot attracted 42 million active users and 1.5 million developers since its May launch, according to the Business of Apps. Apple followed with its own AI Intelligence that works across devices, though it's initially limited to its newest phones and computers with specific chips, the company announced in October. Samsung introduced Galaxy AI, which lets users translate conversations in real time and edit photos with simple taps, according to the company. The focus shifted from standalone AI tools to integrated features, but questions about data security were raised. While Apple emphasized the importance of privacy through on-device processing, sending personal data to company servers could expose it to government agencies, employees, or bad actors, according to security experts The New York Times interviewed in June. "We should be really looking at the cost benefit in terms of what we give up and what we get in exchange," said Hoff, who shares insights on AI and digital intelligence with his 14,000 TikTok followers. "Tools like Google's suite are free because they're tracking our information to sell to advertisers. Now, large language models are aggregating all our data at once, putting everything into an algorithmic black box that nobody really knows how works." Despite significant concerns, businesses increasingly embraced AI tools in 2024. "Business executives were, I think, resistant," Hoff said. "And now there's definitely an opening and receptiveness and a fear of missing out that exists on the private side." When it launched in June 2024, Claude 3.5 Sonnet changed how coders work, quickly becoming a Silicon Valley favorite. The AI model solved 64% of coding problems in internal testing, according to Anthropic, the AI safety and research company behind Claude. The system could write new code and update old programs with fewer errors than previous versions, making it one of the most proficient—and popular—models powering AI-based software development tools such as Cursor. In October, Anthropic announced new features that let Claude use computers similarly to humans. The model could move a mouse, click buttons, and read screens to complete tasks. Tests by GitLab, a major software development platform, showed a 10% improvement in development tasks with these updates, spurring debates about AI's growing role in software development and its impact on programming jobs. Many current top-scoring AI software development agents are already based on Claude. Letting the model control computers directly could unlock even further productivity gains for businesses. In addition to coding, the model has been praised for its uncanny analytical ability and capacity to understand what users want. Many users have reported success using Claude as a sounding board to help them think through complex problems and make decisions in their personal lives. Skateboarding cats, dazzlingly beautiful crystals, and politicians in compromising situations are just some of the ways Flux, a new AI image generation system from Black Forest Labs, churned up viral buzz around its hyper-realistic images. The system launched in August with $31 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz. The model uses 12 billion parameters to create images, making it more powerful than previous systems, according to the company. Advancements in parameters like fractal dimension and relative smoothness all contribute to Flux's ability to render extraordinary detail in human features, deft animations, and high-quality images. The model quickly drew the attention of the tech world. X (formerly Twitter) chose it to power image generation in its Grok-2 AI system, making the technology available to millions of users. However, this wide availability raised concerns about potential misuse, particularly around creating misleading images of political figures and spreading false content. Story editing by Alizah Salario. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Photo selection by Ania Antecka. This story originally appeared on creatie.ai and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.

Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Stuck on what to watch, read and listen to during the holidays? Our culture reporters have done the hard work for you. Here are their picks of the best shows, films, podcasts and books from 2024. If it’s good enough for them, it’s definitely good enough for you. Share your favourites in the comments below. Film Challengers (Amazon Prime) Zendaya with Mike Faist (left) and Josh O’Connor in Challengers. Luca Guadagnino’s horny tennis/threesome drama has fallen out of the conversation as a main contender this awards season , but it’s still, hands down, one of my favourite films of the year. And the soundtrack – a pulsating original score of techno bangers composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – has been on my main rotation while exercising or frantically writing to deadlines since the film’s release in April. If you missed it completely (which means you’ve sadly also missed some of the year’s best memes ), the film follows a 13-year love triangle between an injured tennis star turned coach (Zendaya), her husband now limping towards the end of his successful career (Mike Faist), and his one-time best friend still chasing his shot at glory (Josh O’Connor). It’s a feverish film with frenetic cuts and pounding synth melded through moments of emotional intensity. And while that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I think it’s exactly what we need more of in cinema: original stories about somewhat regular adult relationships that take big creative swings. If nothing else, it’ll change the way you watch the Australian Open. Meg Watson TV Hit Man (Netflix) Adria Arjona as Madison and Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man. Credit: Brian Roedel/Netflix Who would have thought a straight-to-streaming movie would top my list this year? Certainly not me, but that was before I saw Richard Linklater’s ridiculously rewatchable rom-com-thriller Hit Man . Inspired by a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth, the film has a mild-mannered professor (Glen Powell) picking up a gig impersonating assassins for the police. However, his entire moral code is turned on its head after he falls for a woman (Adria Arjona) who hires him to kill her abusive husband. It’s a crime that this film missed out on a proper theatrical release – not only because it stars Powell (surely 2024’s Hollywood sweetheart after Anyone But You and Twisters ) but because of its expert weaving of comedy into a compelling examination of identity and morality. The leading pair ooze chemistry on-screen, Powell somehow makes three-quarter denim pants look hot, and the ending is entirely unpredictable. It’s refreshing to watch something this fun again. So Richard Linklater, thanks for the hit, man. Nell Geraets Ripley (Netflix) Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley in a scene from Ripley. For the first couple of episodes of Steve Zaillian’s take on the chameleonic serial killer Tom Ripley, I wondered why I was watching, and why it existed. After all, Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley did such beautiful justice to Patricia Highsmith’s creation (Ripley appears not just in the 1955 novel of that name, but in another four) that it was hard to see what more could be said. But by the third episode, I was completely won over by the slow accretion of detail and lugubrious pacing, by the stunning black-and-white cinematography, and above all by Andrew Scott’s portrayal . In his hands, Ripley is not the young aspirational social climber Matt Damon gave us. Rather, he’s a mid-career petty conman almost at the end of his tether who happens to get incredibly lucky. But he’s such a bumbler that he very nearly blows it, repeatedly. The character, like the show itself, is a tightrope walk, never more than one dreadful misstep from collapse. By its end I wasn’t just grateful to Zaillian for going there, I couldn’t wait to see where he, and Ripley, might take us next. Karl Quinn Podcast Binchtopia Binchtopia podcast hosts, Eliza McLamb (left) and Julia Hava. Credit: Instagram If you want a laugh or just to keep up to speed with internet culture, then the Binchtopia podcast is for you. It will have you speaking like a TikTok-addicted Gen Z after a few episodes, without having to actually watch TikToks. Hosts Julia Hava and Eliza McLamb, the “girlies”, will take you on a journey as they explore concepts such as doomsday prep, lead you down ridiculous Reddit threads, and take on more serious and complex issues such as eating disorders. Highly researched and organically funny, the podcast is ideal listening for lying on the beach or taking a road trip. It strikes a balance between informative and light-hearted, served with a confronting (at first) but endearing vocal fry. Beware – it’s addictive listening. Kayla Olaya Books Playground by Richard Powers Richard Powers, author of The Overstory and Playground. Credit: David Levenson/Getty Weeks after reading this, I am still thinking about it; it’s the best thing I’ve read in 2024. Powers, whose 2018 novel The Overstory was shortlisted for The Booker and also won the Pulitzer for fiction, has essentially written a book that, once you reach the end, has you rethinking the entire story. Longlisted for this year’s Booker, Playground is tricky to describe without spoiling. It follows the intertwined stories of Todd, a billionaire tech giant, Rafi, his college best friend, Rafi’s Polynesian girlfriend Ina and a famous oceanographer, Evie, over several decades. But it’s also a story about the climate crisis, AI, colonialism, the wonders of the ocean and mortality. And in Powers’ hands, each theme is deftly rendered. I’m already thinking about a re-read. Kylie Northover The Passenger and Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy The late author Cormac McCarthy. Credit: AP The best books you read in a year are often not from that year. So I’m happy to stretch the brief and cite Cormac McCarthy’s masterful final novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris , which were published six weeks apart in late 2022. They tell the stories of Bobby Western and his sister Alicia respectively – complex, wounded geniuses struggling to survive in marginalised America, haunted by their father’s work developing the atomic bomb and their feelings for each other. McCarthy’s writing so erudite, so rich with ideas and so evocative that these two interconnected novels would be the high-water marks of most writers’ careers. But he has also been acclaimed for All The Pretty Horses , Blood Meridian , No Country For Old Men and The Road . I’ve struggled to read McCarthy for years, finding his books too unsettling and emotionally bruising. But that’s changed. I’ve just started his first novel, The Orchard Keeper, and plan to work my way through the rest. Garry Maddox The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard Shirley Hazzard, author of The Transit of Venus. Credit: David Levenson Where the hell have you been, you might well ask when I nominate reading this Australian novel as my fave culture moment of the year; after all, it was published in 1980. The story of orphaned Australians Caroline and Grace Bell making new lives in England starts in the 1950s and ends some time in the 1970s, yet it feels absolutely timeless. Hazzard has a clear eye for personality and character, unflinching but not cruel. She captures, especially in the early pages, the sometimes uneasy relationship between Australians and the world they desperately long to be part of. And she has a deft way with plot: one character’s ultimate demise is signalled soon after we first meet him, though it comes decades in the future; another’s, right at the end, is a shock, a twist, a punch to the guts. Hazzard’s way with language impresses most, especially the way she crafts sentences that are unfinished yet complete. Full of empathy for the desires that guide us and the wrong choices we make, and the fleeting moments of perfection that are so easy to miss, The Transit of Venus is achingly sad and blindingly beautiful. Karl Quinn The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday .