2026 World Cup: Breaking Records, Spiky Charts and Reliability at Scale - Engineering at Meta

Picture a shape called 'Bouba'. What features does it have? Is it angular, rounded, soft, hard? What about a shape called 'Kiki'? There's no correct answer to this – the words are made up. But for some strange reason, most people who are asked this question – regardless of the language or alphabet they use to speak or write – agree that Kiki is spiky, and Bouba is round. This fascinating psychological experiment was first conceived in the 1920s, and it suggests there may be something universal about the way we humans connect visual information, like shapes, with sounds. Now, a new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences suggests even our canine companions might follow this trend. The shapes used in the 'bouba/kiki' experiments. (Andrew Dunn/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0)Animal behaviorist Eleonora Biffi at the University of Parma in Italy led the research. She and her team recruited 70 domestic dogs to participate in two almost identical experiments. The first experiment involved 51 dogs and their owners. Each dog/owner pair entered a room set up with a screen and a speaker to the left, and another screen and speaker to the right.

Israeli settlers have attacked European diplomats, including a French mayor, near the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank. The delegation was visiting Palestinian olive harvesters on Saturday when the Israeli attackers confronted the group. The attack comes a day after settlers assaulted a US journalist north of Ramallah. In Saturday’s incident, the settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said. “A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged,” Prevot said, linking the attack to what he called Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and pledging to push for further European Union sanctions. French mayor Bernard Baudoux, who was assaulted, told the AFP news agency that the violence suggests that “there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government” towards settler violence. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said the settlers surrounded the diplomats’ vehicles, pelted them with stones and smashed their windows.

AtlanticNova ScotiaNew BrunswickPrince Edward Island Newfoundland and LabradorCalgaryLethbridgeKitchenerGuelphNorthern OntarioSudburyNorth BaySault Ste. MarieTimminsOttawaKingstonBrockvillePembrokeReginaYorktonSaskatoonPrince AlbertTorontoWatchWeatherPeelHamiltonDurhamYorkHaltonNiagaraQueen's ParkToronto City HallIn PicturesVancouverVancouver IslandCanadaLocal SpotlightRoyal FamilyPoliticsNanosPower PlayQuestion PeriodFederal Election 2025WorldMideast ConflictRussia-Ukraine WarWatchLatestCaptured on CameraPoliticsLifestyleConsumerHealthExplainedEntertainmentTechnologyDeception DecodedAutosEnvironmentBusinessInflationReal EstateAutos

Masked Israeli settlers attacked a group of European diplomats on Saturday during a visit to the occupied West Bank on Saturday, Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prevot said. The attackers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives in the village of Taybeh, 5 kilometres northeast of Jerusalem, according to Prevot.

Drought conditions could develop or worsen for parts of the northwestern U. S. in the coming months, as meteorologists expect El Niño to help shape the winter season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its winter outlook this week. In it, the agency outlined how the climate pattern could influence temperature and rainfall during winter and said drought conditions are favored to develop or worsen across parts of the northern Rockies. What Is El Niño? El Niño is a naturally recurring climate pattern associated with warmer waters in the Pacific that can influence temperatures and rainfall worldwide. In the U. S., typical El Niño effects can include stormier weather across southern regions, drier conditions in some northern areas and changes in hurricane activity. The Climate Prediction Center said earlier this month that El Niño had continued to strengthen, with chances remaining high for a “strong-to-very strong” event through January to March 2027.

What researchers uncovered through lab testing and surveillance footage, prosecutors said, was a plot by his fellow graduate student to intentionally poison him.