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Baltic fund manager EfTen has announced the acquisition of the Ryo shopping centre in Panevežys, Lithuania, from the Finnish family-owned company Pontos.

Amazon reportedly believes the staff had been abusing their access to an internal database.

Amazon reportedly believes the staff had been abusing their access to an internal database.

<p>A little kindness goes a very long way, especially when you’re flying.</p><p>On American Airlines Flight 588 from Orlando to Philadelphia on Dec. 6, a generous passenger sitting in <a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/feel-like-flying-first-class-hacks" target="_blank">first class</a> decided to give up his seat for a mother traveling with her 11-month-old daughter who was wearing an oxygen machine.</p><p>According to <em><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/good-samaritan-gives-first-class-plane-seat-mother-baby-traveling-hospital-treatment-best-day-174957893.html" target="_blank">Yahoo</a></em>, Kelsey Zwick and her daughter Lucy were traveling to Philadelphia so Lucy, born premature, could be treated for a chronic lung disease at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. When Zwick and her daughter sat in their original seats, Zwick was surprised to see a flight attendant approach and tell her that a man in first class was waiting to switch seats with her.</p><p><strong>Related: </strong><a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/syndication/flight-attendant-hand-delivers-breast-milk-left-on-plane" target="_blank">An Exhausted Mom Left Her Breast Milk on a Plane, so a Flight Attendant Hand-delivered It to Her</a></p><p>On Zwick’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10113814031412134&amp;set=p.10113814031412134&amp;type=3&amp;theater" target="_blank">Facebook post</a> she wrote, “To the man in 2D. Today you were traveling from Orlando to Philly. I don’t know you, but I imagine you saw us somewhere. I was pushing a stroller, had a diaper bag on my arm and also lugging an oxygen machine for my daughter.”</p><p>She added. “You were giving up your comfortable, first class seat to us. Not able to hold back tears, I cried my way up the aisle while my daughter Lucy laughed! She felt it in her bones too... real, pure, goodness.”</p><p>Zwick told <em>Yahoo</em> that she did not get to see the man who was kind enough to switch seats with her, but the gesture was overwhelming.</p><p>“It wasn’t just the seat; it was the culmination of everything we’ve been through the past two years,” Zwick told <em>Yahoo</em>. After pregnancy struggles, Lucy’s (and her sister Eva’s) premature birth led Zwick and her family down a long road of hospital visits and treatments that, up until Lucy started to receive treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, were disappointing.</p><p>At the moment, Lucy only uses her oxygen tank at night and when she travels due to low cabin pressure. The first class seat allowed for some extra room for the tank plus a few comforts as the mother and baby flew to their destination.</p><p>“We did have extra room. Lucy enjoyed the cheese plate and the little luxuries,” Zwick told <em>Yahoo</em>.</p><p>Zwick hoped her Facebook post would catch the attention of the kind traveler, especially since she didn’t get a chance to thank him personally.</p><p>“Sooo... thank you. Not just for the seat itself but for noticing. For seeing us and realizing that maybe things are not always easy. For deciding you wanted to show a random act of kindness to US. It reminded me how much good there is in this world. I can’t wait to tell Lucy someday. In the meantime... we will pay it forward,” Zwick wrote on Facebook.</p><p>And her post did reach him. “I guess it was his birthday, and he did reach out to us,” Zwick <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/good-samaritan-gives-first-class-plane-seat-mother-baby-traveling-hospital-treatment-best-day-174957893.html" target="_blank">told <em>Yahoo</em></a>. “He was thanking me for a birthday to remember. It was the best day. He said it made him and his wife cry, and he said, ‘I am so glad we were on the same flight.’”</p>

TIME reminds Donald Trump of the journalists worldwide who have given their lives or their freedom in an effort to tell the truth.

Two Michelin star chef Emma Bengtsson took to the stage at the Food on the Edge symposium in Galway, to describe the changes she is making to kitchen culture

An additional 3,591 women have not received information after a failure to send out letters, says Capita.

Filed under: Audi,Quick Spins,Crossover,SUV,Luxury

It may not be the sportiest crossover, but it sure nails down luxury.

Continue reading 2018 Audi Q5 Drivers' Notes Review | Style and substance

2018 Audi Q5 Drivers' Notes Review | Style and substance originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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US lawmakers accused firm of "programming" bias against conservative views into its algorithms.

US lawmakers accused firm of "programming" bias against conservative views into its algorithms.

US lawmakers accused firm of "programming" bias against conservative views into its algorithms.

Filed under: Green,Porsche,Convertible,Coupe,Hybrid,Performance

The battery in the hybrid 911s will go in the front for better balance.

Continue reading Here's how Porsche plans to electrify the 911

Here's how Porsche plans to electrify the 911 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's been little interesting speculation about what the Cubs can do to improve their lineup. Here are some suggestions, topped by the Yankees' switch-hitting center fielder, who is only a year away from free agency and possibly available in a trade.

Norman Lamb calls for government regulation of the production, distribution and sale of cannabis.

The 'Peppermint' actress reportedly 'has slowed things down' with her new boyfriend after it was revealed that they're dating.

Dehydrated cheese from 1944 US parachute packs, 75 year old wholegrain biscuits, Italian combat pasta are just some of the delicacies this YouTuber gets to eat.

Filed under: Kia,Long-Term Garage,Sedan,Luxury,Performance

The Stinger GT is compelling in many different ways.

Continue reading 2018 Kia Stinger GT Long-Term Review Update | What living with the Stinger is like

2018 Kia Stinger GT Long-Term Review Update | What living with the Stinger is like originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Desert Child is a game of modern ambitions and sensibilities wrapped up in a retro aesthetic. It looks like an early-'90s DOS game rendering of a future where humanity has colonized Mars and built a city that feels like a mix between a Cowboy Bebop planet and modern-day Australia. The game's unique look, chilled vibe, and strong concept make for a great first impression, but unfortunately, by the end of it you'll realize that there's not much more to Desert Child than what you got in those opening minutes.

You play as a young man who leaves Earth in the game's opening, looking to conquer Mars' speeder bike circuit and earn enough money to prove himself in an upcoming championship. At the beginning of the game, you choose between four weapons to have mounted on the front of your vehicle, each with a different difficulty rating depending on how useful they are. All races are one-on-one and play out on a 2D plane viewed from a side-on perspective, which is a strange--but also a strangely enjoyable--way to compete. There are a handful of different tracks, all with unique obstacles, and when you start up a race you'll be thrown into one of them at random. While there are obstacles to avoid, winning comes down to using your boost effectively and firing your weapon at TVs planted around the track. Each TV you take out gives you a speed boost, and to maintain your maximum speed you need to consistently destroy the televisions on the track before your opponent does.

The first few times you race in Desert Child, it's thrilling. Your hoverbike controls well--it's floaty and fast but precise--and blasting away at everything in front of you and timing your boosts well is fun. The game captures the inherent excitement of hoverbike racing, but once it becomes clear that every race is going to be more-or-less the same, that excitement dulls considerably. You can't switch guns mid-game, the tracks all play very similarly, and the only real difference between opponents is that the very last one in the game is more difficult to beat than the others. I couldn't highlight a uniquely cool moment from any of the races I took part in across two playthroughs of the game, or a race where the game showed off a new trick or idea.

Desert Child also has the thin veneer of an RPG system. You spend much of the game's short running time wandering around a Martian city, exploring and poking at its different stores, NPCs, and the odd jobs it offers. There are only a handful of different environments for your unnamed protagonist to mosey through, and while they're lovely to look at the first few times, the game's small scale begins to feel limiting when you realize that the game world never changes in any significant way. After each race or job you take, the day progresses, and while some NPCs shift around and store stocks change, Mars very quickly starts to feel small and static.

Your major objective is to raise $10,000 for a tournament while keeping yourself well fed, your bike in good working order, and not attracting the law by taking on too many dodgy missions in the nightlife district. The goal seems to be to capture some of the tedium of life in this town--there's a lot of walking around, visiting ramen stores, and switching between odd jobs. Some of these jobs are fun, but generally only for the first few times that you play them. For example, you can work as a pizza delivery person, riding a bicycle through one of the game's tracks while shooting pizza boxes at people; you can herd kangaroos, which involves following a group of them through a field and maneuvering your hoverbike behind any slackers so that they don't drop away from the pack; you can enter and intentionally lose a race for the local crime boss.

There are a few different minigames like this, but ultimately none of them really offers anything that feels like a meaningful twist on the existing racing (with the possible exception of the "hacking" minigame, in which you're attacked by floating Windows logos and marble busts--I could not figure out this job's victory conditions). Once you've quickly seen everything Mars has to offer, and especially once you've bought the game's entire soundtrack from the record shop (which is worth doing, because the music is great), there's nothing exciting to find or unlock.

There are a lot of references in Desert Child that will hit harder with an Australian audience. There's a bridge dedicated to the welfare program Centrelink, complete with a job board that you can access different tasks from; the constant casual profanity is very Aussie; and there are little nods to local cultural touchstones dotted around Mars. The "Bring Back Tim Tams" graffiti might not hold the same appeal for all players, but it made me smile.

Before long, your focus will shift to saving up for the tournament, which boils down to racing and completing tasks over and over while storing your earnings in your bank to accrue interest. It's an uninteresting progression model, and the tournament itself is unexciting--you race three times, and if you lose any of them you must start again. You earn huge amounts of money even if you lose the first two races, which lets you buy all your hoverbike's potential upgrades and make things a bit easier on yourself. Winning the third race promptly ends the game, even though, narratively and mechanically, it really feels like things are just getting started.

Desert Child exhibits a number of smaller issues, too. While the numerous misspellings feel like they could plausibly be an intentional part of the game's aesthetic, the lack of a pause option during races feels like an oversight, as does the fact that selecting "New Game" from the menu automatically starts up a new game without warning you that all previous data is going to be erased. Sometimes the equipment I'd put on my bike, like a laser sight for my gun, arbitrarily wouldn't work during a race, and I could never figure out why there were TVs scattered around during the pizza delivery game with seemingly no way to destroy them. Problems like this pop up all over Desert Child, and while most of them are minor, they add up.

Desert Child has a wonderful sense of style, and there are moments when it clicks. When you jet across the water on your bike firing a shotgun blast that shatters several televisions in front of you, or when you first start to wrap your head around the aesthetic of Mars, the game briefly, but brightly, shines. But Desert Child doesn't quite hang together, and by the end of its very brief runtime the things that seemed exciting just an hour prior have lost most of their luster. This could be a lovely proof of concept for a bigger game; as it stands, it's hard not to get caught up thinking about all that it could have been.

<p>“If you don’t like purple and peacock feathers, you better check out right away,” laughs L’Oscar London’s gracious general manager, Michael Voigt. He’s only half joking: In this 5-star, 39-room hotel, every surface seems festooned with eggplant-colored velvet or feathers embroidered into stiff silk upholstery and leather wallpaper.</p><img alt="Baptist Bar at L'Oscar London "src="https://cdn-image.travelandleisure.com/sites/default/files/styles/1600x1000/public/1543610303/baptist-bar-l-oscar-london-LOSCAR1218.jpg?itok=ZQ7uArny"><p><strong>Related: </strong><a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/hotels-in-downtown-london" target="_blank">The Top 10 London City Hotels</a></p><p>A former 1901 Baptist church located in Holborn, a quirky West End London neighborhood of boutiques and restaurants within an easy walk to Covent Garden, <a href="https://www.loscar.com/" target="_blank">L’Oscar</a> <em>(doubles from $504, including breakfast)</em> has embraced its heritage with a whimsical cheekiness. With its interior design overseen by Jacques Garcia, who is responsible for Paris’ Hotel Côstes and the latest incarnation of Marrakesh’s La Mamounia, the building’s heritage protection means that original details like the black and white marble floors, mahogany banisters, and fireplaces in every room remain. The church’s former chapel still soars towards the heavens, but it is now home to the dimly-lit, impossibly sexy Baptist bar, which serves “Old Testament” cocktails (“Humility,” “Charity,” and “Kindness”) and “New Testament” concoctions named in honor of the seven deadly sins.</p><p><strong>Related: </strong><a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/meghan-markles-favorite-london-hotel" target="_blank">This Is Meghan Markle’s Favorite Hotel in London</a></p><img alt="Exterior of L'Oscar London "src="https://cdn-image.travelandleisure.com/sites/default/files/styles/1600x1000/public/1543610303/exterior-l-oscar-london-LOSCAR1218.jpg?itok=SDC8u_h0"><p>For all of its light-hearted pleasure, from the house music soundtrack to a glamorous staff dressed in uniforms of burnished velvet, silk brocade, and lamé, L’Oscar takes comfort very seriously. Every velvet upholstered couch — and they are placed liberally throughout the hotel — is plush and perfect for curling up with a book. The luxe guest rooms, which boast soothing red walls and dramatic hand-embroidered headboards, show the attention given by Voigt during the eight-year renovation: He has spent at least one night in each, anticipating the needs of guests who indulge in the heaviest ply towels and bathrobes available, his and her signature Roja bath products, a Nespresso machine, and a complimentary mini bar. As for the impossibly sumptuous duvets that cover the beds, Voigt proudly attests that it took two years to acquire them: stuffed with baby Eiderdown, “We didn’t pluck their feathers. We waited for them to fall.”</p><img alt="Room 103 Bedroom at L'Oscar London "src="https://cdn-image.travelandleisure.com/sites/default/files/styles/1600x1000/public/1543610303/room-103-bedroom-at-l-oscar-london-LOSCAR1218.jpg?itok=8-_Y-GLX"><img alt="Bedroom 104 at L'Oscar London "src="https://cdn-image.travelandleisure.com/sites/default/files/styles/1600x1000/public/1543610303/bedroom-104-l-oscar-london-LOSCAR1218.jpg?itok=RL_oFsyY"><p>Should you be inspired, you may take one home for $14,000, but better just to revel in your stay, where the ratio of guests to staff results in feeling like you are at a country manor reimagined by both James Ivory and Stanley Kubrick, one short block from the Underground. While L’Oscar proudly wears its causal vibe — this is a place to be yourself — it never feels distracted.</p><p>Walk in after a dinner at Michelin-star chef Tony Fleming’s Baptist Grill — Voigt scoured markets to provide Edwardian silver napkin rings and the purses worn by the waitresses — and you will find four additional American-friendly phone chargers added to your one, neatly curled up in outlets. A butler is assigned to each room; waiters in the café and bar effortlessly remember your breakfast and drink orders from the day before. </p><img alt="Reception at L'Oscar London "src="https://cdn-image.travelandleisure.com/sites/default/files/styles/1600x1000/public/1543610303/reception-l-oscar-london-LOSCAR1218.jpg?itok=ZTsIo1JA"><p>Regardless of your feelings about purple and peacock feathers, this is a hotel you will want to check into, and stay.</p>

Dungeons & Dragons reveals that we have the innate ability to become better, more thoughtful leaders. Here are eight best practices and leadership lessons from the most interesting Dungeon Masters out there - all to teach you how to be a better leader today.