Three more games are free to play this weekend: Call of Duty: WW2 multiplayer, XCOM 2, and Offworld Trading Company. Steam and Xbox One users have plenty of games to play this weekend – for free. PC users can play Call of Duty: WW2 multiplayer, Offworld Trading Company, and XCOM 2. The latter is also free to play for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. XCOM 2 is free to play with Xbox Live Gold now through 11:59pm PT May 6, 2:59am ET, 7:59am UK, May 7. PC users can play it free until Sunday, May 6 at 1pm PT, 4pm ET, 9pm UK. It is also on sale for up to 67% off for PC and Xbox One. Offworld Trading Company can be played for free on Steam now through Sunday, May 6 at 1pm PT, 4pm ET, 9pm UK. It is also 50% off until Monday. Finally, Call of Duty: WW2 multiplayer is free now through Sunday, May 6 at 1pm PT, 4pm ET, 9pm UK. You can also pickup the game up for 35% off until Monday. And don’t forget: Just Cause 3 is free to play on Xbox One with Gold this weekend, and For Honor is too for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Welcome to Invitehawk

Welcome to Invitehawk

Welcome to Invitehawk

Welcome to Invitehawk

Welcome to Invitehawk

Welcome to Invitehawk

With Sony running a sale on the PlayStation Store and Microsoft doing the same on the Xbox Store, it's about time Nintendo joined the festivities. This week, the company has put a number of Switch and 3DS games on sale on the Nintendo Eshop. We've combed through the deals and highlighted the best of the bunch below. Read on to save money on these digital games. On Switch, you can grab the fairly new crossover game Bridge Constructor Portal for $10, down from $15. It has you build bridges and deploy portals to guide a forklift from point A to point B through each hazardous level. Also on sale is Lego Worlds ($15), an open-world, procedurally-generated game that's not unlike Minecraft, but with blocks that look like actual Legos. For a more action-oriented experience, you might try the Metroidvania game Axiom Verge ($18), the hack-and-slash game Slain: Back from Hell ($10), or the mascot platformer Sonic Forces ($24). Trivia and party game junkies should check out The Jackbox Party Pack 4 ($19). Over on 3DS, you can get the well-regarded JRPG 7th Dragon III Code: VFD for half off at $20. The Legend of Legacy is currently $15, while the turn-based strategy game Stella Glow is down to $15. And if a music game starring "the most famous virtual singer" in the world is your kind of game, you can get Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX for $20. Nintendo Switch deals Axiom Verge -- $18 Bridge Constructor Portal -- $10 The Jackbox Party Pack 4 -- $19 Lego Worlds -- $15 Slain: Back from Hell -- $10 Sonic Forces -- $24 Nintendo 3DS deals 7th Dragon III Code: VFD -- $20 Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX -- $20 The Legend of Legacy -- $15 Stella Glow -- $15

A major update is on the way to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on PC. The patch is being deployed tonight, May 2, and will be preceded by a round of maintenance, during which time servers will be taken offline as developer PUBG Corp. rolls the new content out to the live game. Update #12 arrives shortly after the end of PUBG's current ranked season, which formally concluded on May 1. Maintenance is scheduled to begin at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET (3 AM BST on May 3) and is expected to last approximately four hours, although there is always a chance it may wrap up sooner or later than estimated. Following the maintenance period, the update will be available for all players on PC. It introduces a new gun to the game--the SLR--as well as the ability to choose which map you'd prefer to be matched up on. PUBG Corp. has also added a new vehicle to Miramar: the Mirado, a four-seat car that can be found in downtown areas and on main city streets. Additionally, Update 12 makes sweeping changes to weapon balance. PUBG Corp. says the reason for these adjustments is to ensure that no specific weapon feels "objectively better" than the others. The update also introduces a slate of new attachments, including the duckbill for shotguns, several grips, and two new scopes. Finally, the new patch makes an assortment of bug fixes and a handful of improvements to Miramar, namely adding and removing some buildings and cover. You can find the full patch notes for Update 12 on Steam.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has slammed Washington for “bullying” other nations against Tehran, and condemned EU states that are dancing to the US tune over the nuclear deal at the expense of Iran. In a statement published on Thursday on his YouTube channel, Zarif once again lambasted the US for shaking the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The minister reiterated that Iran had never shifted away from the 2015 deal, which has been repeatedly confirmed by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). However, some other signatories, and the US in particular, failed to show the same commitment to its obligations, according to Zarif. “In contrast, the US has consistently violated the nuclear agreement, especially by bullying others from doing business with Iran,” he said. The minister added that, while US President Donald Trump is “unhappy” with the JCPOA, “the response from some Europeans has been to offer the United States more concessions from our pocket.” Indeed, Trump’s constant criticism and demands to “fix” the supposed flaws of the 2015 deal did not fully amend the position of its European signatories – the UK, France and Germany – the leaders of which are against scrapping the agreement. But they now want to address“important elements that the deal does not cover,” including Iranian ballistic missiles. Tehran argues that any new deal would cover “defensive capabilities and regional influence” among other things that were excluded from the outset of the negotiations in 2015. "Let me make it clear absolutely and once for all: we will neither outsource our security, nor will we renegotiate or add on to a deal we have already implemented in good faith," Zarif stated. As the deadline looms for Trump to sign the waiver for the JCPOA, which caps Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability in exchange for economic sanctions relief, Tehran is still warning the US against pulling out. “The US is well advised to finally start honoring its commitments, or it, and only it, will have to accept responsibility for the consequences of not doing so,” the foreign minister concluded. Earlier on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also stood up in defense of the Iran nuclear deal. He warned that, so long as there is no better alternative, the agreement should be preserved.

Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday that US demands to change its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers were unacceptable. US President Donald Trump has warned that unless European allies rectify the “terrible flaws” in the international accord by May 12, he will refuse to extend US sanctions relief for the oil-producing country. “Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a video message posted on YouTube. A senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warned Europeans on Thursday over “revising” the nuclear deal, Reuters reports. “Even if US allies, especially the Europeans, try to revise the deal… one of our options will be withdrawing from it,” state television quoted Ali Akbar Velayati as saying.

By the end of this column, it will be clear which country the United States will invade and topple next. Or failing that, it will be clear which country our military-intelligence-industrial complex will be aching to invade next. We all want to know why America does what it does. And I don’t mean why Americans do what we do. I think that question still will be pondered eons from now by a future professor showing his students a video mind-meld of present-day UFC fighters booting each other in the head while thrilled onlookers cheer (not for either of the fighters but rather for more booting in the head). But we all seem to assume that America—the entity, the corporation—has some sort of larger reasoning behind the actions it takes, the actions put forward by the ruling elite. And almost all of us know that the reasons we’re given by the press secretaries and caricature-shaped heads on the nightly news are the ripest, most fetid grade of bullshit. We now know that the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction. We now know that the crushing of Libya had nothing to do with “stopping a bad man.” If one does even a cursory check of what dictators around the world are up to recently, you’ll find that the US doesn’t care in the slightest whether they are bad or good, whether they’re using their free time to kill thousands of innocent people or to harmonize their rock garden. In fact, the US gives military aid to 70 percent of the world’s dictators. (One would hope that’s only around the holidays though.) So if it’s not for the stated reasons, why does the US. overrun, topple and sometimes occupy the countries it does? Obviously, there are oil resources or rare minerals to be had. But there’s something else that links almost all of our recent wars. As The Guardian reported near the beginning of the Iraq War, “In October 2000, Iraq insisted on dumping the US dollar—the currency of the enemy—for the more multilateral euro.” However, one example does not make a trend. If it did, I would be a world-renowned beer pong champion rather than touting a 1-27 record. (I certainly can’t go pro with those numbers.) But there’s more. Soon after Libya began moving toward an African gold-based currency—and lining up all its African neighbors to join it—we invaded it as well, with the help of NATO. Author Ellen Brown pointed this out at the time of the invasion: "[Moammar Gadhafi] initiated a movement to refuse the dollar and the euro, and called on Arab and African nations to use a new currency instead, the gold dinar." John Perkins, author of “Confessions of an Economic Hitman,” also has said that the true reason for the attack on Libya was Gadhafi’s move away from the dollar and the euro. This week, The Intercept reported that the ousting of Gadhafi, which was in many ways led by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, actually had to do with Sarkozy secretly receiving millions from Gadhafi, and it seemed that his corruption was about to be revealed. But, the article also noted, “[Sarkozy’s] real military zeal and desire for regime change came only after [Hillary] Clinton and the Arab League broadcasted their desire to see [Gadhafi] go.” And the fact that Gadhafi was planning to upend the petrodollar in Africa certainly provides the motivation necessary. (It doesn’t take much to get the US excited about a new bombing campaign. I’m pretty sure we invaded Madagascar once in the 1970s because they smoked our good weed.) Right now you may be thinking, “But, Lee, your theory is ridiculous. If these invasions were about the banking, then the rebels in Libya—getting help from NATO and the United States—would have set up a new banking system after bringing down Gadhafi.” Actually, they didn’t wait that long. In the middle of the brutal war, the Libyan rebels formed their own central bank. Brown said, “Several writers have noted the odd fact that the Libyan rebels took time out from their rebellion in March to create their own central bank—this before they even had a government.” Wow, that sure does sound like it’s all about the banking. Many of you know about Gen. Wesley Clark’s famous quote about seven countries in five years. Clark is a four-star general, the former head of NATO Supreme Allied Command, and he ran for president in 2008 (clearly he’s an underachiever). But it’s quite possible that 100 years from now, the one thing he’ll be remembered for is the fact that he told us that the Pentagon said to him in 2002: “We’re going to take down seven countries in five years. We’re going to start with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, then Libya, Somalia, Sudan. We’re going to come back and get Iran in five years.” Most of this has happened. We have, of course, added some countries to the list, such as Yemen. We’re helping to destroy Yemen largely to make Saudi Arabia happy. Apparently our government/media care only about Syrian children (in order to justify regime change). We couldn’t care less about Yemeni children, Iraqi children, Afghan children, Palestinian children, North Korean children, Somali children, Flint (Michigan) children, Baltimore children, Native American children, Puerto Rican children, Na’vi children … oh wait, I think that’s from “Avatar.” Was that fiction? My memories and 3-D movies are starting to blur together. Brown goes even further in her analysis of Clark’s bombshell: "What do these seven countries have in common? … [N]one of them is listed among the 56 member banks of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). That evidently puts them outside the long regulatory arm of the central bankers’ central bank in Switzerland. The most renegade of the lot could be Libya and Iraq, the two that have actually been attacked." What I’m trying to say is: It’s all about the banking. So right now you’re thinking, “But, Lee, then why is the US so eager to turn Syria into a failed state if Syria never dropped the dollar? Your whole stupid theory falls apart right there.” First, I don’t appreciate your tone. Second, in February 2006, Syria dropped the dollar as its primary hard currency. I think I’m noticing a trend. In fact, on Jan. 4, it was reported that Pakistan was ditching the dollar in its trade with China, and that same day, the US placed it on the watch list for religious freedom violations. The same day? Are we really supposed to believe that it just so happened that Pakistan stopped using the dollar with China on the same day it started punching Christians in the nose for no good reason? No, clearly Pakistan had violated our religion of cold hard cash. This leaves only one question: Who will be next on the list of US illegal invasions cloaked in bullshit justifications? Well, last week, Iran finally did it: It switched from the dollar to the euro. And sure enough, this week, the US military-industrial complex, the corporate media and Israel all got together to claim that Iran is lying about its nuclear weapons development. What are the odds that this news would break within days of Iran dropping the dollar? What. Are. The. Odds? The one nice thing about our corporate state’s manufacturing of consent is how predictable it is. We will now see the mainstream media running an increasing number of reports pushing the idea that Iran is a sponsor of terrorism and is trying to develop nuclear weapons (which are WMDs, but for some strange reason, our media are shying away from saying, “They have WMDs”). Here’s a 2017 PBS article claiming that Iran is the top state sponsor of terrorism. One must assume this list of terror sponsors does not include the country that made the arms that significantly enhanced Islamic State’s military capabilities. (It’s the US) Or the country that drops hundreds of bombs per day on the Middle East. (It’s the US) But those bombs don’t cause any terror. Those are the happy bombs, clearly. Apparently, we just drop 1995 Richard Simmons down on unsuspecting people. Point is, as we watch our pathetic corporate media continue their manufacturing of consent for war with Iran, don’t fall for it. These wars are all about the banking. And millions of innocent people are killed in them. Millions more have their lives destroyed. You and I are just pawns in this game, and the last thing the ruling elite want are pawns who question the official narrative. Lee Camp is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and activist. Dubbed by Salon as the “John Oliver of Russia Today”, Camp is the host of RT America’s first comedy news show Redacted Tonight, which tackles the news agenda with a healthy dose of humor and satire. Lee’s writing credits are vast, having written for The Onion, Comedy Central and Huffington Post, as well as the acclaimed essay collections Moment of Clarity and Neither Sophisticated Nor Intelligent. Lee’s stand-up comedy has also been featured on Comedy Central, ABC’s Good Morning America, Showtime’s The Green Room with Paul Provenza, Al-Jazeera, BBC’s Newsnight, E!, MTV, and Spike TV.

A new Overwatch update is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and it presents some significant changes for the game. Blizzard has not just introduced the new map, Rialto, but it's also released significant balance updates for several character--with the biggest of the bunch being the long-awaited revamp of Hanzo. Blizzard has been working on an update for Hanzo for some time. As detailed in the full patch notes, this finally implements the changes that have been tested on the PTR recently. He loses his Scatter Arrow ability, which has long been a frustrating component of his kit for enemies. In its place, he gets Storm Arrows, which lets him rapidly fire as many as six arrows. Each of these does less damage than a standard arrow, but they're each fired at max power. Another new ability for Hanzo is Lunge. By pressing jump while he's in mid-air, he's able to leap horizontally. Additionally, his default attack gets a tweak, with his arrows moving more quickly. Sonic Arrow, which is used to highlight the location of enemies near its landing spot, has been adjusted to be used more often but last for a shorter duration. Its cooldown is now 12 seconds (down from 20), its duration is six seconds (down from 10), and its radius is seven meters (down from 10). "The goal of these Hanzo changes is to allow him to have new options and maintain his high damage output, while removing the frustration of fighting against the old Scatter Arrow," Blizzard explained. "Hanzo is now much more mobile with his new Lunge ability, and with the combination of the bow projectile speed increase and the new Storm Arrows ability he can now deal his high damage more consistently than ever before." Other hero updates are less impactful but still noteworthy. The projectile size of Junkrat's Frag Launcher is now smaller, and his RIP-Tire is slightly slower. Lucio's Wall Ride should generally be more reliable and now even lets him go around corners without leaving the wall. His Soundwave ability also doesn't consume ammo and can be activated while he's reloading. Tracer's Pulse Bomb loses a chunk of its damage, a change which is meant to make it less deadly to tanks (while still allowing it to kill other characters). The hitbox size of Genji's deflect is now smaller, and the cone angle of Brigitte's Shield Bash has been reduced. The remainder of the patch deals primarily with fixing some lingering bugs and adding some options for custom games. Those include the ability to disable Mercy's passive, Regeneration.

The latest live event for Pokemon Go is a test of strength. A special "Battle Showdown" starting today makes Fighting-type Pokemon appear more frequently, gives you some extra XP for battles, and offers other incentives for visiting Gyms. Brawlers like Machop and Makuhita will show up more in the wild. Through May 14, you'll get a double XP bonus for Gym Battles and Raid Battles. Raid Battles will also grant a guaranteed 3,000 Stardust just for playing, and you'll get at least one Rare Candy for a win. Gyms are also getting various bonuses, like a double Badge multiplier for visiting one that you visit frequently. Spinning a Photo Disc will get you more items as well. Pokemon Go has received pretty regular support since launch. Most recently it wrapped up an Earth Day themed event with Ground- and Water-type monsters, and gave bonuses for participating in special clean-up events. After this fighting event wraps up, the game will host the May Community Day. That will feature a Charizard, and Lure Modules will last for three hours. You'll also get triple Stardust for capturing Pokemon. The May Community Day kicks off on May 19, and the time will vary by region. In the US, it starts at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET and ends at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET; in Europe and Africa, it will place from 10 AM - 1 PM UTC; and in the Asia-Pacific region, the event lasts from 12 PM - 3 PM JST

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party wants to amend the constitution to ensure that the EU cannot force the country to resettle migrants, Reuters reported. The amendment was submitted to parliament by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in 2016, but it failed to muster the required two-thirds majority after opposition party Jobbik blocked its passage. In the April 8 election, Orban’s party won a third straight term with more than two thirds of the seats, giving it the power to pass constitutional amendments. Fidesz lawmaker Mate Kocsis was quoted by MTI on Thursday, stating that the party also wants parliament to discuss a “Stop Soros” bill, which would tighten rules on non-governmental organisations, including those of Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros.

Less than a year after China deployed troops to its first overseas base in Djibouti, near the Horn of Africa, located next to the key oil transit chokepoint, the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the US military has warned fighter jet pilots to beware of laser attacks near China’s military base amid what the SCMP said were "increasing signs of friction between the two armed forces in the Horn of Africa." According to the WSJ, the Pentagon issued a Notice to Airmen, later reproduced on the US Federal Aviation Administration’s website, that there had been multiple events “involving a high-power laser” just 750 metres (2,400ft) from China’s base in Djibouti. “Use extreme caution when transiting near this area,” the notice cautioned. Quoted by the WSJ, Maj. Sheryll Klinkel, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said "the U.S. has notified airmen to exercise caution when flying in certain areas in Djibouti" adding "this notice was issued due to lasers being directed at U.S. aircraft on a small number of separate occasions over the last few weeks." “Lasers pointed at aircraft have the potential to cause serious harm to the aircrew and the surrounding area,” she said. According to a report in Jane’s Defence Weekly last month, multiple intelligence sources reported the Chinese garrison in Djibouti is suspected of operating a high-power laser weapon to temporarily blind pilots at the base or on a ship offshore. However, according to SCMP, Chinese military observers said the lasers might have been used to scare off birds near the airfield or disrupt possible spy drones, rather than targeting foreign US pilots. They also pointed out that China is a signatory to the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, which bans the use of lasers that cause permanent blindness. Which, of course, would never stop China from attempting precisely that. “The Chinese and US bases in Djibouti are really close, so one could disturb the other if the two sides don’t have a proper communication mechanism,” said Zhou Chenming, a Beijing-based military analyst was quoted by the Hong Kong publication. Zhou noted that China has already publicly demonstrated its use of laser weapons against drones at air exhibitions. Some experts said the use of the laser amounted to the kind of aggression the Chinese have displayed on other occasions. In 2014 over the South China Sea, a Chinese jet fighter pilot, conducted so-called barrel rolls around an American P-8 surveillance jet. That incident led the U.S. to lodge a formal diplomatic complaint with Chinese officials and the pilot was ultimately removed from the unit, according to American officials at the time. China’s Defense Ministry publicly dismissed the U.S. complaint as groundless at the time. * * * As we reported last year, the Chinese military base in Djibouti is just a few miles northwest of Camp Lemonnier, the only permanent US military base in Africa and home to 4,000 US military personnel. Camp Lemonnier was established after the 9/11 attacks, and is mainly used as a counterterrorism hub in the region. A 2013 Washington Post report said the Djibouti government had forced it to stop drone flights – which numbered up to 16 a day – from the base due to safety fears and relocate its unmanned spy aircraft to a more remote location. With the US increasingly viewing China as a strategic superpower rival, the peculiar proximity of the two bases in Djibouti means the two sides will be involved in a “quiet contest” to gather information about each other, according to Ni Lexiong, a Shanghai-based military expert, although neither side “would announce this openly”. Work began on the 36-hectare Chinese base in 2016, which was to be used a logistics hub to resupply vessels taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia. Weeks after the base opened at the start of August 1 the troops based there started live-fire drills. Djibouti sits in a vital strategic location, right off the Bab el-Mandeb and close to the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, and offers troops stationed there easy access to trouble spots such as Sudan, Somalia and Yemen and could provide a base for aerial missions over Iraq and Syria. The government has been happy to provide facilities for other countries’ armed forces, and France, Spain and Japan all have opened facilities there. In 2016 Japan announced that it would increase the size of its base following the announcement that Chinese was planning to open its own facility there. That year a Japanese warship was reported by Chinese state media to have dispatched frogmen to collect information on Chinese vessels that had docked nearby before they were driven away by “strong lights” and verbal warnings. The Japanese side denied the claims, saying the divers were checking their own ships.

Berlin’s much-delayed airport hasn’t handled a single passenger yet, but its operators are already planning to grow, AP reports. An additional terminal will be built to handle up to 28 million passengers when Berlin Brandenburg Airport is scheduled to open in October 2020, according to operators. The new airport was meant to open in 2011, but construction problems and technical delays saw the date pushed back repeatedly, leaving the German capital reliant on two small and aging Cold War-era airports. The projected cost has risen from €2 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2006 to €5.3 billion ($6.36 billion) currently. The new terminal will cost a mere €100 million ($119.7 million), a spokesman for the airport, Hannes Hoenemann, said on Thursday.

Germany wanted to get chemical arms from US to use against USSR in case of war: Cold War-era files Just 20 years after WWII, the West German army proposed a plan to use chemical weapons against the Soviet Union and its allies in the event of war. It asked the US for munitions and training, declassified Cold War files reveal. West Germany’s military (the Bundeswehr) was planning to wage all-out chemical warfare against Soviet Union and its Warsaw Treaty allies in case of war, arguing the deadly weapons were a more cost-efficient “deterrent” than nuclear projectiles. This is according to a declassified military paper obtained by NDR and WDR broadcasters and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. The top-secret document, dated 1964 and entitled“Planning work in the field of atomic, biological and chemical warfare,” details how and why chemical warfare agents should be deployed using artillery and warplanes. Claiming the Warsaw Pact’s troops were able to easily crush NATO defenses during the first days of war, the Bundeswehr paper argued “the flaws of our own preparedness – as well as the lack of deterrent – might invite the enemy to deploy the corresponding weapons.” Notably, Germany was forbidden from using or manufacturing chemical weapons under international treaties of the day. West Germany was banned from possessing nuclear, biological or chemical weapons by both the 1954 Paris Accords and Germany's War Weapons Control Act. However, legal obligations did not stop the Bundeswehr from promoting their plan to the US. The whole plan heavily relied on the US obtaining chemical weapons, according to NDR. Written in blunt military language, the document maintains that “only retaliatory capabilities that involve biological and chemical weapons can ensure lasting deterrent effect.” Other documents cited by the broadcaster showed the military suggested procuring 14,000 tons of chemicals from the US. Building up chemical arsenals would have been a more realistic option for the West German army than acquiring nuclear projectiles, the document asserted. “Nuclear weapons … are only available to the Bundeswehr under certain, very limited conditions,” lamented the military planners. Moreover, “the cost of equipping the Bundeswehr with chemical weapons…will be significantly lower than that of acquiring nuclear weapons,” they said. The Pentagon was initially willing to greenlight the plan and “equip and train the Bundeswehr in offensive deployment of biological and chemical weapons.” But the effort stalled when the Department of State expressed serious reservations. “That was very serious business. The political problem would be immense,” Matthew Meselson, a chemical weapons expert and a US government adviser at the time, told NDR. The formerly top-secret files reveal how the West Germans planned to brush the Geneva Protocol away. The German Defense Ministry’s legal team justified stockpiling, developing and using poisonous agents by saying such move would become permissible if the enemy were to use such weapons first. Publicly, the Bundeswehr had for decades vehemently denied nurturing plans of obtaining or using chemical weapons, dismissing media investigations in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But even now, it was reluctant to shed light on the issue. Asked for comment by NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung for comment, German Defense Ministry said it had no information about the chemical plans given the amount of time that elapsed. “No chemical weapons exist today on German soil in either German hands or those of NATO allies,” a military spokesman said. Throughout history, the German military gained notoriety owing to the use of poisonous gases during wartime. The Germans used chlorine, mustard gas and other agents during World War I on both Western and Eastern fronts. The majority of chemical weapons were developed by German chemists, including Zyklon B, an infamous chemical used by the Nazis during the Holocaust at extermination camps.

China has significantly boosted oil imports from Russia, while the latter has been selling less crude to Europe. An analyst told RT that Beijing has become a more preferable partner in the oil trade for Moscow. RT’s source in Russia’s largest oil exporter Transneft has said that since January 1, the country is pumping more oil to China, while exports to Europe have plunged. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Russia will have shipped 19 percent less oil through its ports on the Baltic and Black Seas in the first five months of 2018, and sold 43 percent more oil to China through March. Russia is the largest seller of oil to both Europe and China. An analyst interviewed by RT has said that shipping more crude to Asia can be regarded as a defensive mechanism in the time of Western sanctions. “Given the current geopolitical conditions, the shift towards China from Europe is a protective measure. This shift in oil trade allows the Russian Federation to some extent to secure the oil industry from the sanctions of the West,” said Anton Pokatovich, chief analyst of Binbank. The Chinese economy has been developing at a high pace, and selling more oil is also profitable for economic reasons as well, the analyst explains. China is the largest buyer of oil, and has been increasing its imports. “This perspective makes the Chinese energy market one of the most desired for Russian exporters,” he told RT. Russia supplied 5.052 million tons, or 1.32 million barrels per day (bpd), to China in February – up 17.8 percent from a year earlier. The increase in volume happened as a result of a second Sino-Russian oil pipeline, which began operations on January 1. It doubled China’s capacity to pump oil from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) system. ESPO connects Russia and China with a direct pipeline. With the launch of oil futures in renminbi, both China and Russia have said they could reduce the use of the US dollar in oil trade.

Rounding up interviews and rumors about The Elder Scrolls 6: when it could be announced, predicted release date, and location within Tamriel. At this point, any twitch of Todd Howard's eyebrows will be desperately scrutinized as a clue about The Elder Scrolls 6. Anticipation for another entry in the legendary RPG series keeps on building, but four years after The Elder Scrolls Online and seven years after Skyrim, we still know almost nothing. When will The Elder Scrolls 6 be announced? What's its likely release date? Where in Tamriel will it take place? For now, Bethesda isn't ready to share details, but here's everything we know about The Elder Scrolls 6 so far, based on rumors and interviews about release date, location, and more. Keep track of this hub for updates as we learn more. Is Bethesda actually working on The Elder Scrolls 6? Yes and no. It's complicated. At E3 2016, Howard affirmed that "of course we are [making Elder Scrolls 6]" but dated its appearance to an oh-so-specific "long way off" in the face of tech catching up with the acclaimed designer's planned vision. Nevertheless, a new Elder Scrolls game was thought to make up one part of a trio of major developments equal in size with Skyrim or Fallout. (Another possible part is Starfield, Bethesda's under-wraps science-fiction RPG.) Shortly after Howard's comments, Bethesda frontman Pete Hines hit the brakes hard, flatly tweeting, "We aren't working on TES6 at the moment." As press headlines subsequently caught on fire, Hines then clarified that Howard's message entailed a mere intention of developing TES6 and not a declaration the studio was currently working on it. That's more or less been the official company line as the years march on. In 2017, Hines reiterated his "not yet" response when asked about TES6's progress after the release of Skyrim: Special Edition rekindled the hunger for updates. "There's still two major, multiplatform releases that the team has to work on first, and so TES6 isn't happening until those games happen," Hines said in a PCGamesN interview. "Big, multiplatform, triple-A stuff that they do takes multiple years, so you can do the math. It ain't anytime soon." Another factor prolonging TES6's debut is that Howard's crew doesn't want to be known as just the Elder Fallout Guys. "I think Todd and his team have earned the right, given the quality of this stuff, to be able to say, 'We know everybody really wants [TES6], but we as creative people want to be able to do stuff that we're really passionate about,'" Hines explained to GameSpot last year. "They wanted to be able to self-determine things they worked on next, whether it was existing stuff or whether it was new IP." That, and a recent tweet from Hines in February, establishes breathing room for the sizable scope of Bethesda's unannounced productions to stand firm alongside its titanic roleplaying attractions. So, in essence: The Elder Scrolls 6 will be made. (Yay.) It's seemingly not being made right now. (Boo.) What is The Elder Scrolls 6's release date? It's unlikely we'll get a locked-in date until TES6 is good and ready. Oblivion, Fallout 4, and Skyrim were unveiled in near-finished states with relatively small waits leading up to their launches (Oblivion was scheduled for a November 2005 release; it was delayed to March 2006), and Bethesda is probably priming TES6 for a similar sequence. Hines told us in 2016 that the next Elder Scrolls won't be teased along both as a mark of quality and as a balm for the development team to craft the game proper instead of diverting resources for vertical slice demos. Until a public reveal, we're stuck with an impenetrable shroud of secrecy—one not even Howard's son can pierce. Where does The Elder Scrolls 6 take place? Our best guess at The Elder Scrolls 6's location is as good as poking a finger onto a map of Tamriel blindfolded. Still, we can somewhat narrow down the possibilities through simple process of elimination. With High Rock, Hammerfell, Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim already covered, that leaves the regions of Summerset Isle, Valenwood, Elsweyr, and Black Marsh, home of the High Elves, Wood Elves, Khajiit, and Argonians, respectively. A significant swath of these southern Tamrielic lands makes up a good chunk of the nationalistic Aldmeri Dominion, a union of elvenkind bent on ruling over everyone else just because their ears aren't pointy enough. Should TES6 take place after Skyrim's Nord uprising and civil unrest, its setting is sure to be a political hotbed as the Dominion extends its reach across old kingdoms and ancient borders. Timeline jumps are fair game, too—Skyrim's events occurred a whopping 200 years after Oblivion's demonic invasion, for one. A possible wildcard is the presence of parent company ZeniMax's Elder Scrolls Online which has quietly added to its far-reaching playable zones since launching in 2014. The recent inclusion of the High Elven realm of Summerset Isle has ballooned ESO's geographical coverage far beyond its singleplayer counterparts. If TES6 follows tradition in staging a piece of Tamriel not yet seen by any Elder Scrolls game, the Khajiiti deserts of Elsweyr would be the sole choice. Then again, the shrinking range of uncharted territory in Tamriel could prompt TES6 to boldly cast its direction overseas to the mysterious continent of Akavir, an exotic land hosting friendly-sounding races such as the Snow Demons of Kamal and the vampiric, snake-like Tsaesci. There's also the possibility that The Elder Scrolls 6 could return to a previous province, like Daggerfall's High Rock, and recreate it in far greater detail. Will The Elder Scrolls 6 support mods? Modding Bethesda RPGs is kind of a crucial cornerstone of PC gaming. (There's just something about a player community given the freedom to create some truly spectacular works that makes everything feel right in the world.) Any answer other than an emphatic "yes" would be crazy talk for an Elder Scrolls game, but that assertion could be asterisked in terms of implementation. The ripples of Bethesda's rocky Creation Club rollout still haven't fully subsided, and it's reasonable to expect TES6 will ship with a built-in mod shop framework from day one. Luckily, Bethesda seems more aware than ever of open modding's touchy nature, and there's hardly any evidence threatening the studio's longstanding embracement of a wild mod frontier. "People can continue to do whatever the hell they want, have fun, it's modding, play with what you want, create what you want, go nuts," Hines said in an interview with Tek Syndicate at last year's PAX West. With that, it's safe to look forward to the continued legacy of Thomas the Tank Engine, Destroyer of Worlds.

If you’ve ever wanted to give For Honor a try, you can do so for free starting today for the entire weekend. Ubisoft has announced For Honor is free to play May 3-6 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Players will have access to the full game, including all multiplayer modes, and the ability to play the campaign solo or with a friend online. The original roster of 12 heroes will be available for all who play For Honor over the free weekend. All progress made during the period will be transferable should the game be purchased. The promotion has already kicked off on PS4, and Xbox One and will start at 10am PT, 6pm BST on PC. You will need PlayStation Plus and/or Xbox Live Gold to play, though. During the free weekend, Ubisoft will re-introduce the Warrior Training Program. The initiative rewards existing and new players who work together. Current players who complete five matches while grouped with Free Weekend players who do not own the game will receive two weeks of revamped Champion Status. Valued at 8,000 Steel, this will deliver more XP boosts to players and their team as well as more loot following a match. For Honor will also be on sale for up to 75% off through all digital stores until May 15.

Based on the real-life story of Greville Wynne, the film is being directed by Dominic Cooke ('On Chesil Beach') from a script by Tom O'Conner ('The Hitman's Bodyguard') Benedict Cumberbatch may have had a minor role in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but the Brit star is set to up his espionage credentials thanks to upcoming thriller Ironbark. The film, being directed by Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach) from a script by Tom O'Conner (The Hitman's Bodyguard), is based on the true story of Greville Wynne (Cumberbatch), a British businessman who helped the CIA penetrate the Soviet nuclear program during the Cold War. Wynne and his Russian source, Oleg Penkovsky, provided the crucial intelligence that helped end the Cuban Missile Crisis. FilmNation is financing and will handle international sales, starting in Cannes later this month. UTA will rep U.S. sales. 42’s Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken (In Darkness, Sand Castle) will produce the feature, alongside Adam Ackland (The Current War), SunnyMarch and FilmNation Entertainment. Cumberbatch, Cooke and O’Connor will executive produce along with Josh Varney (Watership Down) from 42 and Leah Clarke of SunnyMarch. The deal was negotiated by UTA Independent Film Group along with Alison Cohen for FilmNation. “Tom O’Connor has written a masterful script, and with Dominic Cooke directing and Benedict Cumberbatch starring, we’re looking forward to collaborating with this uniquely talented team to bring Ironbark to the screen," said Pugh and Aitken. Added Glen Basner, FilmNation CEO: “We are delighted to be working with Benedict again and to have his abundant creativity on both sides of the camera. Dominic is a master director and he and Benedict's work together on The Hollow Crown produced breathtaking results. We anticipate a very exciting second collaboration on Ironbark."

Director Julius Avery is in negotiations to reteam with J.J. Abrams and Paramount after his latest made a splash at Cinemacon last week. With his World War II zombie movie Overlord catching early buzz, director Julius Avery is once again teaming with J.J. Abrams and Paramount. Avery is in negotiations to board to helm The Heavy, a superhero movie Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing for the studio. Daniel Casey wrote the script, whose details are being suppressed. The project is, however, described as a subversive take on the superhero genre. The studio is bullish on the project and hopes to get it before cameras this year, say insiders. Avery, who hails from Australia, caught Hollywood’s eye with his feature debut, Son of a Gun, a crime thriller that starred Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites. That trampolined him to meet with Bad Robot and land the gig to direct Overlord. The movie, a Nazi zombie mash-up, made a sensational splatter at Paramount’s Cinemacon presentation last week, and opens Oct. 26.

The studio plans to produce and finance four to six films a year. Miramax has secured a $300 million revolving, multi-bank credit facility led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and MUFG Union Bank that extends for five years, the company said Thursday. The deal provides financing for the studio, which plans to ramp up its slate and which will be attending the Cannes Film Festival, to produce and finance four to six films a year as well as deficit finance two to three television series per year. Miramax CEO Bill Block and Miramax EVPs of finance Dennis Hands, Jeremy Gross and David Cragnotti negotiated the deal on behalf of the studio. Randy Hua, senior vp of the Los Angeles-based Technology, Media & Entertainment Group, handled the deal on behalf of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “We are thrilled to commence a valued partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and MUFG Union Bank,” Block said. “The credit facility allows Miramax to efficiently finance its current and future production slate as we shift to increase our growth.” ”Bank of America Merrill Lynch is proud to support Miramax, a valued client and one of the most successful content companies in the entertainment business,” Hua commented. “This credit facility will allow Miramax the flexibility to continue to strategically grow their film and television capabilities with innovative and exciting content.” ”Union Bank is excited to support Bill’s leadership of Miramax as it endeavors to bolster its premier library assets with an ambition for a robust film and television content creation slate,” Bryan LaCour, head of Union Bank’s entertainment finance team, added.

At Fox Broadcasting, cutting a check to star producer Ryan Murphy, the backer of popular series like “9-1-1” and “Glee,” may be an easier task than cutting back on TV commercials. The 21st Century Fox-owned network has spent several weeks telling top media buyers that it intends to enact a massive 40% reduction in the number of TV ads it runs during its Sunday primetime schedule, the better to engage a generation of fans of “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers” who don’t have to deal with the same number of commercial interruptions when they interact with Netflix or Hulu. Now, some of those details may be in flux. Fox still expects to offer a night with a reduced advertising schedule, according to executives and media buyers familiar with the plans, but it may be on a different night of the week. Fox is also discussing a concept called a “Fox Block,” or a long form commercial that might run before or after a Fox show and could last up to six minutes. Media buyers, who have been talking to Fox in preliminary discussions leading up to the industry’s annual “upfront” ad sales negotiations, said executives had pitched the new ad concepts as if they were ready. Fox isn’t the only TV network giving new consideration to cutting back advertising. NBCUniversal has vowed to reduce ad inventory by 10% in original runs of primetime shows on both its NBC broadcast network and its various cable outlets. They follow Turner’s TruTV, which in 2015 unveiled a plan to run more programming and fewer commercials. But doing all this isn’t done with a press release and a snap of the fingers. Yanking the bulk of commercials from a rotation represents a reorganization of many long held structures that govern TV. Showrunners might have to tailor the flow of dramas and comedies to accommodate a different number of ad breaks. Transitions between programs could be affected, as could the number of promos a network runs on its air to tout other series and events. One idea Fox has considered is sure to raise eyebrows. The network has mulled several ways to make use of local ad time, inventory normally allocated to affiliates, so as to reduce ad interruptions in primetime, according to people familiar with the matter. Local time is likely to remain in the broadcasts, one of these people says, and Fox expects to talk to stations about its plans. NBCUniversal, meanwhile, has no plans to cut local ads from its primetime schedule, a person familiar with the matter says, even as it sets about to run fewer commercials. Local TV executives might blanch at shaking up their allotment of primetime ads, typically some of the most expensive commercial inventory they sell. “The goal was to eliminate local time in those shows,” said one ad buying executive who was briefed on the ideas Fox was considering. Doing so, this buyer suggested, would bolster the presentation of the handful of national ads for which Fox intends to seek higher prices. Under its current plan, Fox would run 11 ad breaks between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. with just a minute of commercials in each, according to buyers and other executives. Fox declined to comment on its plans for local ads. Fox has made no formal request to stations that run its programming, according to two people familiar with the matter. A spokesman for Meredith Corp., which operates some Fox affiliates, declined to comment. A spokesman for Nexstar Media said the company would not comment on a “rumor.” Two other Fox station owners, Sinclair Broadcasting and Raycom Media, did not respond to queries seeking comment. Devising new ways to monetize TV advertising in a world where more viewers have found methods to avoid seeing it perhaps even more critical for Fox than for some of its competitors. Fox Broadcasting is expected to place more emphasis in the coming season live sports broadcasts, including the start of a new five-year run of “Thursday Night Football,” for which its parent company is said to be paying more than $650 million per year to air. The company has also been snatching up rights to lesser sports draws, like bowling, that will surface on Fox Broadcasting. 21st Century Fox has agreed to sell the bulk of its assets, including its TV-studio units, to Walt Disney Co., and has indicated a new focus on live sports and news programming. Fox seems interested in borrowing from its past to build its future. The new proposal bears similarity to a tactic Fox tested to some acclaim last decade. In 2002 and 2003, Fox broadcast commercial-free season premieres of its hit drama “24.” Ford Motor got to run longer-than-usual ads before and after the episodes. In at least one year, those commercials imitated the storylines of the famous series. But the network recognized repeating the feat would be difficult. Getting a commercial-free broadcast meant convincing affiliates to give up their ad time in the hour, and finding other kinds of inventory to offer them in exchange. Fox is likely to seek better pricing for ads that run in its new commercial pods. The Sunday programs would seem to offer a natural roost for the experiment, as they are largely animated comedies that play well with younger viewers. The average cost of a 30-second ad in “The Simpsons,” long a Sunday staple, came to $121,374 in 2017, according to Variety’s annual chart of primetime ad prices. A 30-second ad in “Family Guy” cost an average of $128,329, while a 30-second spot in “Bob’s Burgers” could be had for an average of $76,412.