Health experts are appalled as the new government plans to repeal the policy to fund tax cuts.

Police in western India say a tire blowout caused a bus to lose control and crash into a road divider and burst into flames, killing 25 people

Shelley Smith, who died on Tuesday, August 8, was a part of several TV shows, including 'The Associates', 'Simon & Simon', and 'For Love and Honor'

After nearly two years and $69 billion, Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is finally complete. The Xbox maker and the game developer are joining together in the biggest purchase in gaming history. It is a vast business undertaking that will define the future of the two companies and the gaming industry more broadly. But what will it actually mean for the gamers who use Microsoft’s platforms and play Activision’s games – as well as those that don’t? What happened in the deal? Microsoft first announced that it wanted to buy Activision Blizzard in January last year. Microsoft makes the Xbox and Activision Blizzard makes many of the worlds biggest games – it is often associated with Call of Duty, but also makes World Of Warcraft, Overwatch and mobile giant Candy Crush, and more. In the time since, the deal has been hit by opposition from rivals, primarily PlayStation maker Sony, and has been undergoing scrutiny from regulators, who worried that it would give Microsoft too much power in the gaming market, and harm players as a result. Regulators across the world expressed those reservations, and in some cases required Microsoft to make changes to the deal. Chief among those changes were Microsoft’s decision to give French gaming company Ubisoft the rights to distribute Activision games in the cloud. This was a response to concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which expressed concern specifically that the deal would give Microsoft too much power over cloud gaming. But there were a host of less dramatic and expensive commitments. That included signing deals with other companies such as Sony and Nintendo to commit to keep Call of Duty games on their platforms. What will it mean for Xbox players? At least initially, the biggest consequences of the deal are likely to be for Xbox’s Game Pass, the subscription platform that allows players to download and play games in return for a monthly fee. More Activision games are expected to come to that platform as a result of the acquisition. But even that won’t happen straight away, at least with all games. Activision said in a statement this week – before the deal closed – that its big titles won’t be coming to Game Pass this year, and has not made any commitments about which games will do so or when. “While we do not have plans to put Modern Warfare III or Diablo IV into Game Pass this year, once the deal closes, we expect to start working with Xbox to bring our titles to more players around the world,” Activision wrote in a tweet. “And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year.” What will it mean for gamers on other platforms? Much of the discussion with regulators has been about this question. And many of the concessions that Microsoft gave over the deal were done with the aim of ensuring that the answer is: not that much, at least at first. Xbox has committed to keep making its games available on other platforms such as PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, as well as on cloud platforms. And Xbox chief Phil Spencer echoed that commitment in the announcement that the deal was completed. “Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you are welcome here - and will remain welcome, even if Xbox isn’t where you play your favourite franchise. Because when everyone plays, we all win,” he wrote. But the bigger question might be about new games, especially those that come out after the initial commitments are over. Microsoft has committed to keep Call of Duty on rival platforms for 10 years, for instance – but things could change in the years after that, and with other, new games. When Microsoft bought another game developer Bethesda in 2020, for instance, there were questions over what it would mean for players on other platforms, and whether its games would be exclusive to Microsoft. Its most recent game Starcraft was available only on the Xbox and PC, and the upcoming Elder Scrolls VI is likely to be the same. Read More Nasa launches Psyche mission to study an ancient metal asteroid Microsoft buys Call of Duty developer in biggest deal in gaming history Microsoft gets go-ahead to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Nasa launches Psyche mission to study an ancient metal asteroid Microsoft buys Call of Duty developer in biggest deal in gaming history Microsoft gets go-ahead to buy Call of Duty maker Activision

Pakistan’s army and civil authorities are planning to evacuate 80,000 people to safety along the southern coast, and thousands in neighboring India have sought shelter ahead of Cyclone Biparjoy

Kiki Iriafen had 30 points and 17 rebounds, and No. 4 Stanford beat No. 13 Florida State 100-88 on Friday in the championship game of the Ball Dawgs Classic

Coco Gauff said critics who doubted her ability to win a major title fuelled her breakthrough Grand Slam victory at...

Girls Aloud singer Cheryl’s six-year-old pointed out some “weird” details about the band’s old concerts as the group announced a reunion tour. The girl group first rose to fame after the five individual contestants were put together in a band that won the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. Now, Cheryl Tweedy, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh have announced a 2024 UK and Ireland tour that will celebrate the life of bandmate Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in 2021. Speaking to BBC News about the announcement, the band members revealed that their former concerts have raised a few talking points among their young children. Cheryl revealed that her six-year-old son, Bear, who she shares with former One Direction star Liam Payne, said she looked “weird” in old concert DVD footage. “He says to me, ‘You look different, you sound different, this is weird. Why the nakedness? What's with your voice?’” Cheryl said. But, Cheryl wasn’t the only bandmate whose child had something to say about their mother and their early noughties fame. Speaking about her daughter Anaíya, Nadine Coyle explained: “She's never really liked any of the Girls Aloud stuff because I don't smile enough, so I don't look like myself to her.” Kimberley, who has three children, deduced: “They don’t think you should have existed before they were alive, that’s all it is. “Mine are starting to get interested. People are saying stuff about Girls Aloud and they want to know what the fuss is about. “But it’ll be weird for them. They’ll be coming to see us do something so different to normal. We usually just have playdates round at each other’s houses." Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday 1 December at 9am. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Michael Strahan worked closely with the coach of the Colorado Buffaloes football team to make personalized suits for each player

The mother of a 22-year-old transgender Dallas woman who was fatally shot in 2019 has tearfully insisted to the man who pleaded guilty in the slaying that she’s carrying on the advocacy work her daughter started

Austin Majors was staying at a homeless housing facility in Los Angeles when he, as per a source, ingested a fatal amount of the synthetic opioid

By Elena Fabrichnaya MOSCOW Russia's biggest bank Sberbank expects a sharp cooling of the mortgage market following an