A new TV series based on the award-winning fantasy game "Baldur's Gate" is in development, while Google employees are demanding the company cut ties with ICE, and a species of Bermuda snail, once thought extinct, is thriving again. These are among the top stories making headlines today.
The "Baldur's Gate" TV series will be helmed by Craig Mazin, known for HBO's "The Last of Us" adaptation and the 2019 hit "Chernobyl," according to BBC Technology. The show will continue the narrative of the game series, which achieved monumental critical and commercial success with "Baldur's Gate 3" in 2023, selling over 20 million copies and winning all five major Game of the Year awards. However, developers Larian Studios will not be directly involved in the TV adaptation, raising questions about the creative direction of the project.
Meanwhile, Google executives are facing pressure from nearly 900 full-time employees over the company's ties to the U.S. government's immigration enforcement, as reported by BBC Technology and BBC Business. The employees, in an open letter published on Friday, demanded greater transparency regarding how Google's technology is being used by federal agencies. Google has contracts to provide cloud services and is linked to work on immigration enforcement. One Google employee of seven years expressed concern, finding it "mind-boggling" that the company was maintaining these ties, according to the BBC.
In other news, a conservation effort has led to the resurgence of the greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis), a species once believed extinct. The Guardian reported that after a decade of work, conservationists bred and released over 100,000 of the button-sized molluscs. The snail, found in the fossil record, was thought to have vanished from its Bermudian home until a remnant population was discovered. Special pods at Chester Zoo aided the breeding and release program.
Finally, a report from National Highways revealed that many smart motorways are not delivering the expected value for money. According to BBC Business, two schemes, including sections of the M25 and M6, were found to offer "very poor" value. While most projects delivered safety benefits, only three out of sixteen were on track to meet financial expectations. The AA, representing motorists, called the schemes a "catastrophic waste of time, money and effort."
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