Latest news with #Celestial
The Hindu
11-06-2025
- The Hindu
Starry nights and sunshine: Luxeglamp eco-resorts have launched the country's first eco-sensitive Luxe Chateau glass glamps, designed to offer an immersive experience with sustainable luxury
It's 6am and I awake to the sound of birds heralding the morning outside my glass dome. I am glamping at the brand new Luxe Chateau, a double-glass dome at Luxeglamp's eco-resort near Poombarai Hills in Kodaikanal. Shortly after I step out, the crisp forest air washes over my face and I catch the first rays of the sun rising over a breathtaking landscape — of a valley draped in layers of greenery amidst a cascading waterfall and acres of terraced fields. As the morning breeze carries the scent of the forest, I feast on freshly-baked pastries, fruits, and omelettes — all arranged on a wooden tray floating in my private infinity pool. Says Antony Thomas, CEO & Founder of Luxeglamp EcoResorts, 'We wanted to elevate our guests' connection with nature. Our new Glass Glamps offer an all-encompassing experience where guests can sleep under the stars and wake up to one of the most beautiful sunrises in Kodaikanal — all while staying warm and cozy.' Glamping or 'glamorous camping', is an outdoor experience that combines the excitement of camping with the luxury and comfort of a high-end hotel. Instead of traditional tents and sleeping bags, glamping accommodations often include stylish, fully furnished tents, domes, yurts, or cabins equipped with modern amenities. In India, glamping is rapidly growing due to the country's diverse landscapes, from mountains and beaches to deserts, and also because it combines the best of both worlds — of camping outdoors yet with the modern conveniences of a luxury star hotel. For example, Rajasthan offers glamping in luxury tents near the Thar Desert, Udaipur, and Jaipur, often combined with camel safaris and cultural experiences while in Kerala, the backwaters, tea plantations, and lush hills, provide serene glamping options, particularly in Munnar and Wayanad. States like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are also popular for glamping near scenic mountains, rivers, and valleys, especially in Manali, Shimla, Rishikesh, and Nainital. At Luxeglamp in Kodaikanal, one can choose from seven premium domes designed around Moroccan, Rodeo and Celestial themes that cost ₹ 17700 per day (all inclusive of tax and breakfast), or the exclusive glass dome at ₹29500 per day including tax, breakfast and one meal. The glass glamp features minimalist interiors inspired by the rustic homes of the Wild West, plush bedding, soft cushions, and warm lighting, a private deck for outdoor relaxation, electricity, and private bathroom. During the day, I bask in warm golden morning light that filters in and as night falls, the dome transforms into a dreamy setting for stargazing. From the comfort of my bed, I gaze at the large, panoramic roof window that frames the night sky like a canvas. As I snuggle up in my king-sized bed, I continue to watch the starlit expanse, of a glowing crescent and glimmering stars on a clear sky, and drift into blissful sleep. Guests can also try the afternoon tea experience, a scenic guided horse ride across the valley or an intimate candlelit outdoor dining experience under the stars. The food is continental, Indian, or regional, made from seasonal produce grown in nearby villages. The interiors of my luxury dome are designed for both functionality and aesthetics. Furnishings are selected to maximise space and comfort and provide a clear 360 degree view allowing one to enjoy uninterrupted views of the surrounding forests and starry night skies. As the glass dome uses double-glazed or insulated glass, it maintains the indoor temperature thereby reducing the need for artificial heating or cooling. This in turn lowers energy consumption and carbon footprint. As there are no permanent structures, there is no piling, and zero soil disturbance, which makes the dome an eco-conscious design. Besides, the property uses solar power for operations and some of the structures are made from recyclable materials including tempered glass and aluminium. There is also a ban on single use plastics at the property. 'While we have maximised the use of solar panels for energy needs so as to reduce fossil fuel reliance, all our structures are fully removable and temporary. This ensures that we don't leave a trace of waste in the forest,' explains Antony adding that Luxeglamp also has plans to introduce more thematic glamping experiences across its locations, including Munnar in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the UAE. For reservations, visit or call 9962159621. The author was at Luxeglamp eco-resorts at Kodaikanal on invitation
Irish Independent
10-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
UK court orders costs payment to unit of Irish leasing giant AerCap
The costs are linked to a $203m dispute over jets that were lost after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Volga-Dnepr has raised concerns that if it makes any payments, the company could be in breach of Western sanctions that were imposed on Russia after the 2022 invasion. However, the court has refused to postpone the 14-day deadline for payment to Celestial Aviation Trading, rejecting a proposal that it be paid whenever Volga-Dnepr secures a licence from the UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, or when it is no longer subject to sanctions. Last month, the UK High Court refused a request from the Dutch arm of Volga-Dnepr Logistics to vary an order that it make a $203m payment to the Irish bank account of AerCap's Ireland-based Celestial unit. The court ruled that the court order did not breach sanctions imposed on Russia. After the order was made, the Volga-Dnepr unit was deemed liable for Celestial's £245,000 costs in relation to the failed request to vary the $203m payment order. Last month, Celestial agreed to accept a lower payment of £134,000. However, the sum was not paid within the stipulated 14 days. Irish units of AerCap's Celestial Aviation, which were formerly owned by Gecas, sued Volga-Dnepr in May 2022 claiming that events of default or events of loss had occurred under the lease agreements for eight aircraft. The Dutch subsidiary had guaranteed the obligations under the leases. Following a hearing last February, the Dutch arm of Volga-Dnepr was ordered by the UK court to make an interim payment of $202.8m to Celestial in respect of its liabilities under the guarantees it made in relation to the leasing of the eight jets. The company was also ordered to pay £50,000 in costs to Celestial. Both payments were to be made by February 25 into a bank account in Ireland, but had not been made by that time. In relation to the costs associated with the failed effort to vary the order, High Court deputy judge Nigel Cooper said he was not persuaded that there were any good reasons why he should make any order other than one requiring Volga-Dnepr to pay the assessed costs within 14 days.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Intel "Xe4" and AMD "GFX13" codenames surface for next-gen 'Druid' GPUs
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It seems that the software divisions at AMD and Intel are setting the stage for their next-generation GPU offerings. The internal codenames for these GPUs, Intel's Xe4 and AMD's GFX13, have been spotted by Kepler and x86isdeadandback at X, as noted by VideoCardz. While this does not allude to the specifications, it shows that both teams are actively pouring resources into the development of their future graphics products. Intel officially confirmed its fourth-generation Arc GPUs would be codenamed Druid, employing the Xe4 architecture, a while back. The firm has been notably quiet regarding its future GPU roadmap following Alchemist. With limited pre-launch hype, the desktop launch of Battlemage (Xe2) last December was also somewhat of a surprise. That being said, the successor to Battlemage, codenamed Celestial (Xe3), will arrive with Intel's Panther Lake CPUs, which are scheduled for HVM (High Volume Manufacturing) later this year. Based on employee reports, Celestial has reportedly reached pre-silicon validation, where hardware design flaws are identified and resolved before committing to manufacturing. Tom Peterson's comments support this, stating Celestial's hardware is "baked", with software optimization the remaining task. He also added that the hardware teams have moved on to the next project, Druid (Xe4). Based on commits to the Dawn repository, developers are starting to integrate support for Xe4, which should fall under Intel's Gen15 umbrella. Internally, AMD uses GFXxx codenames to represent or identify different GPU IP blocks. We often find these designations, tied to the GPU architecture, like GFX12 for RDNA 4, in Linux kernel patches or firmware packages. According to a patch shared by leaker Kepler, AMD's next-generation GPUs will be part of the GFX13 series. As of now, the exact architecture has not been revealed, so the likely choices are between UDNA 1 and RDNA 5. AMD has outlined its intent to unify the genome of its gaming-centric RDNA and compute-centric CDNA families under the banner of UDNA, similar to Vega. For comparison, Nvidia has taken a mixed approach with its products. Volta and Turing were separate architectures for data centers and consumers. Ampere combined the two foundations, but with the rise of generative AI, Nvidia dissected the two again with Hopper and Ada Lovelace. Blackwell now serves as the unified backbone of these two segments. A unified architecture leads to simplified development and better software support, but it might require compromising on specialized applications, which in this case will probably be gaming, if not carefully handled. That being said, we're still several years away from both of these GPU launches. Since Celestial on desktop is anticipated for a 2026-27 reveal, it would be logical to expect Druid to follow sometime in 2028 or later. Assuming AMD adheres to its typical two-year cadence between GPU launches, desktop products based on GFX13 might be slated for late 2026 or early 2027. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Intel Nova Lake CPUs reportedly get a GPU overhaul — Xe3 Celestial and Xe4 Druid IPs used for graphics, media, and display
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Intel's upcoming Nova Lake chips are expected to advance their modular design philosophy by bringing together future Xe3 and Xe4 IPs to handle different engines on the chip. Jaykihn, an avid Intel leaker, asserts that Nova Lake-S will allegedly use Celestial for its graphics engine. At the same time, Druid will handle media and display functions, likely on a separate SoC Tile. The disaggregated chiplet design, introduced for consumers with Meteor Lake, provides Intel with the flexibility to manufacture less critical chip elements using mature and cheaper fabrication nodes. Meteor Lake splits the media and display capabilities from core graphics. The media and display units were placed on a separate System-on-Chip (SoC) chiplet, manufactured using TSMC's N6 process, while the graphics engine resided on a separate tile produced with TSMC's N5 technology. A similar strategy has been observed in Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake, however, Nova Lake reportedly is poised to advance Intel's chiplet approach by using separate and specialized IPs for these blocks. Jaykihn claims that the integrated graphics (iGPU) on Nova Lake-S (S: Desktop) will be powered by Xe3 (Celestial), meanwhile, the graphics and media engine move to the more advanced Xe4 (Druid). This means that while the integrated GPU will be impressive, the most notable improvements could be in hardware codec support, owing to the shift to a next-generation architecture. Meanwhile, Bionic_Squash reports that the graphics engine will utilize a slightly modified version of Xe3, for better or worse. Should it be an improvement over vanilla Xe3, which we'll see in Panther Lake, it might be comparable to the evolution from Meteor Lake's Xe-LPG to Arrow Lake's Xe-LPG+ (mobile-only), the latter of which introduced XMX engines. Beyond Nova Lake, this is a positive indication for future graphics products from Intel. We could see the first Druid-powered engines by as early as 2026, while Celestial, which is already undergoing pre-validation, is slated to power Panther Lake CPUs next year. It is plausible to say Nova Lake might serve as a test vehicle for Druid, serving as a precursor to a full-fledged product in the future that employs Druid graphics as well. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Could phonics solve California's reading crisis? Inside the push for sweeping changes
To look inside Julie Celestial's kindergarten classroom in Long Beach is to peer into the future of reading in California. During a recent lesson, 25 kindergartners gazed at the whiteboard, trying to sound out the word "bee." They're learning the long 'e' sound, blending words such as 'Pete' and 'cheek' — words that they'll soon be able to read in this lesson's accompanying book. Celestial was teaching something new for Long Beach Unified: phonics. 'It's pretty cool to watch,' she said. 'I'm really anticipating that there's going to be a lot less reluctant readers and struggling readers now that the district has made this shift.' These phonics-based lessons are on the fast track to become law in California under a sweeping bill moving through the Legislature that will mandate how schools teach reading, a rare action in a state that generally emphasizes local school district control over dictating instruction. The bill is the capstone to decades of debate and controversy in California on how best to teach reading amid stubbornly low test scores. Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged his support, setting aside $200 million to fund teacher training on the new approach in the May revise of his 2025-26 budget proposal. "It's a big deal for kids, and it's a big step forward — a very big one," said Marshall Tuck, chief executive of EdVoice, an education advocacy nonprofit that has championed the change. California has long struggled with reading scores below the national average. In 2024, only 29% of California's fourth-graders scored "proficient" or better in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. The proposed law, which would take effect in phases beginning in 2026, would require districts to adopt instructional materials based on the "science of reading," a systemic approach to literacy instruction supported by decades of research about the way young children learn to read, from about transitional kindergarten through third grade. The science of reading consists of five pillars: phonemic awareness (the sounds that letters make), phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. 'It's finite. There's only 26 letters and 44 sounds," said Leslie Zoroya, who leads an initiative at the Los Angeles County Office of Education that helps districts transition to a science-of-reading approach. "Phonics isn't forever." Read more: New test score labels seek positivity, ditching the term 'standard not met' for 'below basic' After a failed effort last year, the bill gained the support this year of the influential California teachers unions and at least one advocacy group for English-language learners. In a compromise, school districts would have more flexibility to select which instructional materials are best for their students and the option to decline teacher training paid for by the state. For decades, most school districts in California have been devoted to a different approach called "whole language" or "balanced literacy," built on the belief that children naturally learn to read without being taught how to sound out words. Teachers focus on surrounding children with books intended to foster a love of reading and encourage them to look for clues that help them guess unknown words — such as predicting the next word based on the context of the story, or looking at the pictures — rather than sounding them out. "The majority of students require a more intentional, explicit and systematic approach," Zoroya said. "Thousands of kids across California in 10th grade are struggling in content-area classes because they missed phonics." California embraced the whole language approach to literacy, which took hold in the 1970s and 1980s, said Susan Neuman, a New York University professor who served as assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education under former President George W. Bush. The state became a national leader in what was considered a progressive and holistic approach to teaching literacy, with a focus on discovering the joy of reading, rather than learning specific skills, she said. Bush then incorporated a phonics-heavy approach in an initiative that was part of his 2002 launch of No Child Left Behind, which increased the federal role in holding schools accountable for academic progress and required standardized testing. States, including California, received grants to teach a science-of-reading approach in high-poverty schools. But many teachers in the state disliked the more regimented approach, and when the funding ended, districts largely transitioned back to the whole language approach. In the years since, science of reading continues to draw opposition from teachers unions and advocates for dual-language learners. Read more: California school enrollment continues to drop as poor and homeless student numbers rise Many California teachers are passionate about the methods they already use and have chafed at a state-mandated approach to literacy education. Some don't like what they describe as "drill and kill" phonics lessons that teach letter sounds and decoding. Advocates for multiple-language learners, meanwhile, vociferously opposed adopting the most structured approach, worried that children who were still learning to speak English would not receive adequate support in language development and comprehension. A 2022 study of 300 school districts in California found that less than 2% of districts were using curricula viewed as following the science of reading. But the research has become clear: Looking at the pictures or context of a story to guess a word — as is encouraged in whole language or balanced literacy instruction, leads to struggles with reading. Children best learn to read by starting with foundational skills such as sounding out and decoding words. "Anything that takes your eyes off the text when a kid is trying to figure out a word activates the wrong side of the brain," Zoroya said. In the last few years, several larger districts in California have started to embrace more structured phonics learning, including Los Angeles Unified, Long Beach Unified and Oakland Unified. Recently, these districts have started to see improvement in their reading test scores. At Long Beach Unified, for example, the district's in-house assessment shows significant gains among kindergarten students. In 2023-24, 78% of them met reading standards, up 13 percentage points from the previous school year. Proficiency rates across first and second grade were above 70%, and transitional kindergarten was at 48%. The district's goal is to hit 85% proficiency across grades by the end of each school year. In 2019, LAUSD introduced a pilot science-of-reading based curriculum, and adopted it across all schools for the 2023-24 academic year. After the first year, LAUSD reading scores improved in every grade level and across every demographic, chief academic officer Frances Baez said. From the 2022-23 to the 2023-24 school years, LAUSD's English Language Arts scores improved by 1.9 percentage points — five times more than the state as a whole, which improved by 0.3, she said. Teresa Cole, a kindergarten instructor in the Lancaster School District, has been teaching for 25 years. So when Lancaster asked her to try out a new way of teaching her students to read three years ago, she wasn't thrilled. "I was hesitant and apprehensive to try it,' she said, but decided to throw herself into a new method that promised results. Teaching kindergarten is a challenge, she said, because children come in at vastly different stages. Many are just learning to hold a pencil; others can already read. She was seeing many children under "balanced literacy" lessons slip through the cracks — especially those with limited vocabularies. When she asked them to read words they didn't know, "it almost felt like they were guessing.' But as she began to teach a phonics lesson each morning and have them read decodable books — which have children practice the new sound they've learned — she noticed that her students were putting together the information much faster and starting to sound out words. "The results were immediate," she said. "We were blown away.' She was so impressed with the new curriculum that she started training other teachers in the district to use it as well. Read more: As children's book bans soar, sales are down and librarians are afraid. Even in California Looking back at her old method of teaching reading, 'I feel bad. I feel like maybe I wasn't the best teacher back then," Cole said. Part of the change, she said, was learning about the science behind how children learn to read. "I would never say to guess [a word] anymore," she said. This kind of buy-in and enthusiasm from teachers has been key to making the new curriculum work, said Krista Thomsen, Lancaster's director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Department. In schools where the teachers are implementing the program well, scores have started to rise. 'But it's a steep learning curve," she said, especially for teachers who have long taught a balanced literacy approach. "We are stumbling through this process trying to get it right and making sure that every one of our kids has equitable access to learning how to read,"Thomsen said. "But we have every faith and every intention, and the plan is in place to get it where it should be going." A bill introduced by Assemblymember Blanca E. Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) last year requiring a science-of-reading approach in California public schools did not even get a first hearing. This year, Rubio introduced another version — Assembly Bill 1121 — that would have required teachers to be trained in a science-of-reading approach. Opponents included the California Teachers Assn. and English-language learner advocates, who said in a joint letter that the bill would put a "disproportionate emphasis on phonics," and would not focus on the skills needed by students learning English as a second language. The groups also voiced concern that the bill would cut teachers out of the curriculum-selection process and that mandated training "undermines educators' professional expertise and autonomy to respond to the specific learning needs of their students." Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together, said the group opposed both bills because they were too narrow in their focus on skills such as phonics. 'They're essential. But English learners need more, right?' she said. "They don't understand the language that they're learning to read.' Rubio said she was shocked by the pushback. 'I was thinking it was a no-brainer. It's about kids. This is evidence-based." Rubio, a longtime teacher, was born in Mexico, and was herself an English-language learner in California public schools. In 2024, just 19% of Latino students and 7% of Black students scored at or above "proficient" on the fourth-grade NAEP reading test. But with the support of Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), the groups reached a compromise that not all teachers would be required to participate in the teacher training. Hernandez said she was pleased that the compromise included more of an emphasis on oral language development and comprehension, which is vital for multi-language learners to succeed. AB1454 requires the State Board of Education to come up with a new list of recommended materials that all follow science of reading principles. If a district chooses materials not on the list, they have to vouch that it also complies. The state will provide funds for professional development, though districts can choose whether to accept it. This article is part of The Times' early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
