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How the political consensus on climate change has shattered
Fri, 02 May 2025 14:16:59 GMT
In 2019, the UK committed in law to reducing its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Now the political climate has changed.
Match ID: 0 Score: 17.14 source: www.bbc.com age: 5 days
qualifiers: 8.57 climate change, 8.57 carbon
Genetic-engineered bacteria break down industrial contaminants
Wed, 07 May 2025 20:50:54 +0000
Five clusters of genes from different organisms put into a single bacterial strain.
Match ID: 1 Score: 15.00 source: arstechnica.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 15.00 toxic
NASA Statement on Nomination of Matt Anderson for Deputy Administrator
Wed, 07 May 2025 20:37:59 +0000
Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro issued the following statement regarding the nomination by President Donald Trump of Matt Anderson Wednesday to serve as the agency’s deputy administrator: “As a retired United States Air Force colonel and executive of the Space Force Association, Matt Anderson brings extensive knowledge of space operations, aeronautics expertise, and industry experience. […]
Match ID: 2 Score: 15.00 source: www.nasa.gov age: 0 days
qualifiers: 15.00 carbon
Key Portion of NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Clears Thermal Vacuum Test
Wed, 07 May 2025 18:14:00 +0000
One half of NASA’s nearly complete Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope just passed a lengthy test to ensure it will function properly in the space environment. “This milestone tees us up to attach the flight solar array sun shield to the outer barrel assembly, and deployable aperture cover, which we’ll begin this month,” said Jack […]
Match ID: 3 Score: 15.00 source: www.nasa.gov age: 0 days
qualifiers: 15.00 carbon
Ill winds are blowing for Labour’s 2030 deadline for clean energy
Wed, 07 May 2025 18:08:29 GMT
Loss of the vast Hornsea 4 offshore wind project is bad news but it reveals a big flaw in setting a deadline
“Immensely challenging” and pushing the limits “of what is feasibly deliverable”. That was the state-owned National Energy System Operator’s description of its own proposals on how to decarbonise electricity generation in Great Britain by 2030. In short, it thought clean power by that date, a key Labour manifesto pledge, was “credible” and “achievable” as long as little went wrong along the way.
Neso’s £200bn plan, detailing a rapid rollout of offshore wind, onshore wind, solar farms plus a major upgrade of the electricity grid, was adopted virtually unchanged by the government at the end of last year.
Continue reading...Australian Ethical, which holds $56m worth of QBE shares, calls on insurer to overhaul its policies which allow it to underwrite oil and gas projects without restriction before AGM
An ethical super fund is pushing for QBE to overhaul its coverage policies amid criticism the insurer can underwrite fossil fuel projects without restriction while blaming the climate crisis for steep premium rises.
The critique comes before QBE’s annual general meeting in Sydney on Friday, and against a backdrop of rapidly rising premiums that has priced some households out of insurance coverage altogether.
Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter
Continue reading...Do you work in the UK in any sector where there have been efforts to increase representation and have they been sustained?
Reform UK has said it will roll back diversity and inclusion initiatives in councils it controls. Nigel Farage said during a speech on Friday that he would advise staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek “alternative careers very, very quickly” after the party took control of Durham county council.
What has your experience of these policies been in the workplace? Do you work in any sector where there have been efforts to increase representation and have they been sustained?
Continue reading...Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytale
The fire that has just destroyed 500 hectares (1,230 acres) of Dartmoor should have been impossible. It should not be a fire-prone landscape. But sheep, cattle and ponies have made it so. They selectively browse out tree seedlings, preventing the return of temperate rainforest, which is extremely difficult to burn. In dry weather, the moor grass, bracken and heather covering the deforested landscape are tinder.
The plume of carbon dioxide and smoke released this week is one of the many impacts of livestock grazing. But several recent films, alongside celebrities, politicians, billionaires and far-right podcasts, seek to persuade us that cattle and sheep are good for the atmosphere and the living planet. This story, wrapped in romantic cottagecore, is now the most active and seductive frontier of climate-science denial. It is heavily promoted by the meat industry, which is as ruthless and machiavellian as the fossil fuel industry. It sows confusion among people desperately seeking to do the right thing in an age of misinformation.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...My father’s death from cancer showed me you need to look after your lungs. But apart from not smoking, what should you be doing? I headed to a laboratory, strapped on a mask and heart monitor and started pedalling …
Lungs are amazing. There they sit, inflating and deflating from dawn to dusk, dusk to dawn, sucking in air, stripping out oxygen and exchanging it for carbon dioxide. They do this 20,000 times a day, 7.5m times a year, 600m times in the average lifetime, keeping our trillions of cells ticking over and saving them from choking on their own exhaust fumes. And we ignore them until something goes wrong and we’re gasping, wheezing, panicking – or worse.
When I think about lungs, it’s often in the same breath as cancer, which killed my dad 39 years ago. He only realised his lungs were knackered after a heart attack, which was probably also down to smoking. Sixty Senior Service a day, cigarette number two often lit as soon as number one was stubbed out. He stopped overnight, but it was too late.
Continue reading...The small pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata) produces toxic slime, “a rare example of a poisonous predatory mollusc.”
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
SEMrush and Ahrefs are among
the most popular tools in the SEO industry. Both companies have been in
business for years and have thousands of customers per month.
If you're a professional SEO or trying to do digital
marketing on your own, at some point you'll likely consider using a tool to
help with your efforts. Ahrefs and SEMrush are two names that will likely
appear on your shortlist.
In this guide, I'm going to help you learn more about these SEO tools and how to choose the one that's best for your purposes.
What is SEMrush?
SEMrush is a popular SEO tool with a wide range of
features—it's the leading competitor research service for online marketers.
SEMrush's SEO Keyword Magic tool offers over 20 billion Google-approved
keywords, which are constantly updated and it's the largest keyword database.
The program was developed in 2007 as SeoQuake is a
small Firefox extension
Features
Ahrefs is a leading SEO platform that offers a set of
tools to grow your search traffic, research your competitors, and monitor your
niche. The company was founded in 2010, and it has become a popular choice
among SEO tools. Ahrefs has a keyword index of over 10.3 billion keywords and
offers accurate and extensive backlink data updated every 15-30 minutes and it
is the world's most extensive backlink index database.
Features
Direct Comparisons: Ahrefs vs SEMrush
Now that you know a little more about each tool, let's
take a look at how they compare. I'll analyze each tool to see how they differ
in interfaces, keyword research resources, rank tracking, and competitor
analysis.
User Interface
Ahrefs and SEMrush both offer comprehensive information
and quick metrics regarding your website's SEO performance. However, Ahrefs
takes a bit more of a hands-on approach to getting your account fully set up,
whereas SEMrush's simpler dashboard can give you access to the data you need
quickly.
In this section, we provide a brief overview of the elements
found on each dashboard and highlight the ease with which you can complete
tasks.
AHREFS
The Ahrefs dashboard is less cluttered than that of
SEMrush, and its primary menu is at the very top of the page, with a search bar
designed only for entering URLs.
Additional features of the Ahrefs platform include:
SEMRUSH
When you log into the SEMrush Tool, you will find four
main modules. These include information about your domains, organic keyword
analysis, ad keyword, and site traffic.
You'll also find some other options like
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush have user-friendly dashboards,
but Ahrefs is less cluttered and easier to navigate. On the other hand, SEMrush
offers dozens of extra tools, including access to customer support resources.
When deciding on which dashboard to use, consider what
you value in the user interface, and test out both.
If you're looking to track your website's search engine
ranking, rank tracking features can help. You can also use them to monitor your
competitors.
Let's take a look at Ahrefs vs. SEMrush to see which
tool does a better job.
The Ahrefs Rank Tracker is simpler to use. Just type in
the domain name and keywords you want to analyze, and it spits out a report
showing you the search engine results page (SERP) ranking for each keyword you
enter.
Rank Tracker looks at the ranking performance of
keywords and compares them with the top rankings for those keywords. Ahrefs
also offers:
You'll see metrics that help you understand your
visibility, traffic, average position, and keyword difficulty.
It gives you an idea of whether a keyword would be
profitable to target or not.
SEMRush offers a tool called Position Tracking. This
tool is a project tool—you must set it up as a new project. Below are a few of
the most popular features of the SEMrush Position Tracking tool:
All subscribers are given regular data updates and
mobile search rankings upon subscribing
The platform provides opportunities to track several
SERP features, including Local tracking.
Intuitive reports allow you to track statistics for the
pages on your website, as well as the keywords used in those pages.
Identify pages that may be competing with each other
using the Cannibalization report.
Ahrefs is a more user-friendly option. It takes seconds
to enter a domain name and keywords. From there, you can quickly decide whether
to proceed with that keyword or figure out how to rank better for other
keywords.
SEMrush allows you to check your mobile rankings and
ranking updates daily, which is something Ahrefs does not offer. SEMrush also
offers social media rankings, a tool you won't find within the Ahrefs platform.
Both are good which one do you like let me know in the comment.
Keyword research is closely related to rank tracking,
but it's used for deciding which keywords you plan on using for future content
rather than those you use now.
When it comes to SEO, keyword research is the most
important thing to consider when comparing the two platforms.
The Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides you with thousands
of keyword ideas and filters search results based on the chosen search engine.
Ahrefs supports several features, including:
SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool has over 20 billion
keywords for Google. You can type in any keyword you want, and a list of
suggested keywords will appear.
The Keyword Magic Tool also lets you to:
Both of these tools offer keyword research features and
allow users to break down complicated tasks into something that can be
understood by beginners and advanced users alike.
If you're interested in keyword suggestions, SEMrush
appears to have more keyword suggestions than Ahrefs does. It also continues to
add new features, like the Keyword Gap tool and SERP Questions recommendations.
Both platforms offer competitor analysis tools,
eliminating the need to come up with keywords off the top of your head. Each
tool is useful for finding keywords that will be useful for your competition so
you know they will be valuable to you.
Ahrefs' domain comparison tool lets you compare up to five websites (your website and four competitors) side-by-side.it also shows you how your site is ranked against others with metrics such as backlinks, domain ratings, and more.
Use the Competing Domains section to see a list of your
most direct competitors, and explore how many keywords matches your competitors
have.
To find more information about your competitor, you can
look at the Site Explorer and Content Explorer tools and type in their URL
instead of yours.
SEMrush provides a variety of insights into your
competitors' marketing tactics. The platform enables you to research your
competitors effectively. It also offers several resources for competitor
analysis including:
Traffic Analytics helps you identify where your
audience comes from, how they engage with your site, what devices visitors use
to view your site, and how your audiences overlap with other websites.
SEMrush's Organic Research examines your website's
major competitors and shows their organic search rankings, keywords they are
ranking for, and even if they are ranking for any (SERP) features and more.
The Market Explorer search field allows you to type in
a domain and lists websites or articles similar to what you entered. Market
Explorer also allows users to perform in-depth data analytics on These
companies and markets.
SEMrush wins here because it has more tools dedicated to
competitor analysis than Ahrefs. However, Ahrefs offers a lot of functionality
in this area, too. It takes a combination of both tools to gain an advantage
over your competition.
When it comes to keyword data research, you will become
confused about which one to choose.
Consider choosing Ahrefs if you
Consider SEMrush if you:
Both tools are great. Choose the one which meets your
requirements and if you have any experience using either Ahrefs or SEMrush let
me know in the comment section which works well for you.
South Korea passes annual tally for 2024 already, as Vietnam and Thailand continue to battle outbreaks
South Korea has recorded the highest number of measles cases in six years, adding to concerns that low vaccination rates combined with international travel are contributing to further outbreaks elsewhere in the region.
The country has confirmed 52 cases so far this year, exceeding the 49 recorded for the whole of 2024, the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said this week. It is the highest figure since 2019, when 194 cases were recorded.
Continue reading...Chinese leader is scheduled to attend Victory Day parade and hold talks with Vladimir Putin
Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for the start of a four-day visit during which he will attend Russia’s military parade commemorating the anniversary of the end of the second world war, known in Russia as Victory Day.
The Chinese leader’s trip has coincided with mass Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital. Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said Russia’s air defence units destroyed at least 19 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/James_Lorde_DDS [link] [comments] |
A Chinese company has developed an AI-piloted submersible that can reach speeds “similar to a destroyer or a US Navy torpedo,” dive “up to 60 metres underwater,” and “remain static for more than a month, like the stealth capabilities of a nuclear submarine.” In case you’re worried about the military applications of this, you can relax because the company says that the submersible is “designated for civilian use” and can “launch research rockets.”
“Research rockets.” Sure.
...Half-point cut to be made to banks’ reserve requirement ratio and 1tn yuan released into banking system
China will cut interest rates and inject some much-needed liquidity into the domestic economy, as the country steels itself for a bruising trade war with the US.
The People’s Bank of China said on Wednesday it would make a half-point cut to the banks’ reserve requirement ratio, its benchmark interest rate, and release 1tn yuan (£103.6bn) into the banking system.
Continue reading...Arrests are the first case of the city’s national security law being used to target the relatives of pro-democracy campaigners
Human rights groups have condemned the arrest of relatives of Anna Kwok, an exiled pro-democracy activist who is wanted by the Hong Kong police, in the first example of the city’s national security law being used to target the family members of an activist living overseas.
Kwok, 28, is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, and is one of 19 overseas activists wanted by the national security police, who are offering bounties of HK$1m (£97,000) for information leading to arrest.
Continue reading...Row over exemption of national insurance contributions for Indian short-term workers overshadows deal
A multibillion-pound free trade agreement with India has long been touted as a big Brexit boon.
Cheaper clothes and shoes for British shoppers, a huge market for scotch whisky producers and luxury carmakers, and billions of pounds worth of extra trade are among the benefits of the agreement, which was finalised this week.
Continue reading...Both sides believe they are treading carefully, but without intercession the military clash following the murder of Hindu tourists in Kashmir could escalate
The familiarity of military confrontation between India and Pakistan is no cause for reassurance: this is the worst violence in years. Though neither wants full-blown conflict, the dispute over Kashmir has produced three wars and multiple crises over eight decades. When two nuclear-armed neighbours clash, we should worry.
One reason is that errors and misjudgments are always possible. Following its overnight strikes on Pakistan, which it accuses of involvement in the massacre of Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month, India said that it hit only terrorist infrastructure and that its actions were “not escalatory”. This is not a judgment that can be made unilaterally. Pakistan said India was “igniting an inferno” and that its military is authorised to take corresponding actions.
Continue reading...All-out war is unlikely but shifting of goalposts amid Gaza and Ukraine conflicts suggests Kashmir crisis could escalate
India’s string of attacks on Pakistan overnight – a response, Delhi says, to the killing of 26 in a terror attack in Kashmir last month – comes at a time when warfare has become increasingly normalised internationally and the restraints of the global diplomatic system weakened.
Though flare-ups between the two south Asian powers are nothing new, India’s Operation Sindoor is already notably more aggressive than recent military actions launched by Delhi against its neighbour in 2016 and 2019, raising the stakes for Pakistan’s promised response to what it says was “an act of war”.
Continue reading...Starmer instead talked about his India deal, while Badenoch insisted on catching up with last week’s news
You’d have thought it might have been a moment for contrition. Or failing that, a veneer of humility. At the very least a nano-second’s pause for self-reflection. An admission from Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch that voters had turned their backs on both of them at last week’s local elections. A potential kiss of death for England’s traditional two-party system.
Not a bit of it. Come prime minister’s questions and neither Keir nor Kemi was in the mood to give an inch. Everything was exactly as it should be. The locals – what locals? – had never happened. No one does amnesia better than politicians with their backs to the wall. It was almost as though they had signed a non-aggression pact. Just don’t mention the war. Snafu. Situation Normal All Fucked Up.
Continue reading...Fears raised of escalating conflict after Pakistan accused India of ‘igniting an inferno’ in Kashmir and Punjab
Pakistan has warned that it will “avenge” the death of 31 people killed in overnight missile attacks by the Indian air force, raising fears of an escalating conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries.
In a late night address to the nation late on Wednesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said: “We make this pledge, that we will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs.”
Continue reading...India claims to have attacked camps associated with a militant group in Pakistan – but what is its relationship with Islamabad?
As India launches missile strikes on what it says are camps associated with militant groups inside Pakistan in retaliation for last month’s massacre in Kashmir, attention has once again focused on India’s claimed relationship between Islamabad and armed groups involved in attacks in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, most prominently Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Continue reading...Rohit Sharma has retired from Test cricket, his announcement coming hours after reports emerged that he was to lose India’s red-ball captaincy. The 38-year-old, who quit T20 international cricket after leading India to victory at last year’s World Cup, will continue to represent his country in one-day internationals.
“Hello everyone, I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket,” Sharma posted on Instagram. “It’s been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites. Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format.”
Continue reading...The Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, reports on India’s strikes on Pakistan, and what they may mean for the conflict over Kashmir
In the early hours of Wednesday, India launched a series of strikes on Pakistan that killed at least 26 people – a serious escalation of the decades-long dispute between the two nuclear-armed countries over Kashmir.
As the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, reports, the onslaught was in response to a terrorist attack in Kashmir two weeks ago that left 26 dead. India claims the group responsible is backed by its neighbour – an accusation Pakistan denies.
Continue reading...A military attack on the same day as a trade deal with the UK reveals a nation keen to strut the world stage, but hampered by regional enmity and history
Concluding a “landmark” trade agreement with the UK and launching military operations against Pakistan on the same day: it is fair to say that, for India, the future and the past have collided this week. The agreement with Britain, which has been three years in the making, is one of several India is negotiating, including with the US and EU. It illustrates its appeal as a rising global power – the world’s most populous country and its fastest-growing major economy, which is also the fifth (and on course to be third) largest overall. In contrast, the military operations targeting Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir demonstrate how India continues to be bogged down by instabilities in its neighbourhood and held hostage to its history.
India’s military actions are in response to a terrorist attack last month in which 26 tourists were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir. The name of the military operation – Sindoor – refers to a symbol of marriage, alluding to the women who lost their husbands in the attack that selectively targeted Hindu men. New Delhi says it is trying to ensure the conflict remains limited between the nuclear-armed neighbours. It says its operations have targeted terrorist infrastructure rather than military facilities, although civilian casualties have been reported, and referred to its military action as a “precision strike” that has been “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”.
Dr Chietigj Bajpaee is senior fellow for south Asia at the thinktank Chatham House
Continue reading...The US has brought the two sides back from the brink before, but the mood is very different with Trump
The uneasy calm that had settled over India and Pakistan in the past two weeks was swiftly shattered in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
In the days that followed the deadly attack that killed 25 Indian tourists and a guide in Kashmir in late March, the Indian government made it clear it held Pakistan responsible – and it intended to avenge the deaths.
Continue reading...With his new executive order on policing, Trump just wants to make sure he’s the one holding the lead.
The post Cops Are Already Unleashed. Trump Is Telling Them to Run Wild. appeared first on The Intercept.
After deploying AI tools in Israel and on the U.S. border, American tech companies are now powering domestic repression.
The post U.S. Companies Honed Their Surveillance Tech in Israel. Now It’s Coming Home. appeared first on The Intercept.
Applicants will be targeted by Home Office due to suspicions they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum
Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans applying to work or study in the UK face Home Office restrictions over suspicions that they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum, Whitehall officials have claimed.
The government is working with the National Crime Agency to build models to profile applicants from these countries who are likely to go on to claim asylum.
Continue reading...People’s Action party retains majority, with sample counts showing it winning all but 10 seats in 97-seat legislature
Singapore’s ruling party has notched a resounding win in general elections, official results have shown, giving the prime minister, Lawrence Wong, the clear mandate he sought from voters.
Wong’s long-ruling People’s Action party crossed the threshold of 49 seats early on Sunday to form a majority government in the wealthy city-state’s 97-seat unicameral legislature, with sample counts earlier showing the PAP winning all but 10 seats.
Continue reading...The court let a military trans ban go into effect — potentially setting a precedent to accept the anti-trans myth behind Trump’s executive order.
The post The Supreme Court Just Imperiled the Rights — and Lives — of All Trans People appeared first on The Intercept.
A day after being attacked by a pro-Israel mob, protesters were shot by rubber bullets — whose use is restricted by California law.
The post Police Shot Them in the Head With Rubber Bullets. Now UCLA Gaza Protesters Are Suing. appeared first on The Intercept.
Lawyers say the Turkish national, who has been held in a Louisiana Ice center for two weeks, was illegally detained
A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted a judge’s order to bring a Turkish Tufts University student from a Louisiana immigration detention center back to New England for hearings to determine whether her rights were violated.
A judicial panel of the New York-based US second circuit court of appeals ruled in the case of Rümeysa Öztürk after lawyers representing her and the US justice department presented arguments at a hearing on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Judge confirms move would breach order as Libya’s rival governments say both would refuse any US deportees
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deport a group of immigrants to Libya, despite a judge’s efforts on Wednesday to block any such flights and the state department’s previous condemnation of the “life-threatening” prison conditions in the country.
Reuters cited three unnamed US officials as saying the deportations could happen this week. Two of the officials said the immigrants, whose nationalities are not known, could be flown to the north African country as soon as Wednesday, but they added the plans could still change. The New York Times also cited a US official confirming the deportation plans.
Continue reading...“We are concerned at the appearance of targeting publicly pro-union worker leaders,” said a union official about a raid in western New York.
The post “They Actually Had a List”: ICE Arrests Workers Involved in Landmark Labor Rights Case appeared first on The Intercept.
“I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then,” Francesca Albanese said in an exclusive interview.
The post EU President Should Be Investigated for Complicity in Israel’s War Crimes, Says Top U.N. Expert on Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
Israeli extremist officials deny the existence of famine in Gaza as they push for harsher measures to block food.
The post Famine Haunts the People of Gaza. Israel Is Trying to Convince You It’s Fake. appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s proposal cuts SpaceX competitors out of the NASA budget and could add billions to the company’s defense contracts.
The post Elon Musk Set to Win Big With Trump’s Trillion-Dollar Pentagon Budget appeared first on The Intercept.
The only important woman in the Nazi movement entranced Hitler, directed Triumph of the Will – and spent the rest of her life alternately fearful and defiant
Andres Veiel’s sombre documentary tells the gripping, incrementally nauseating story of Helene “Leni” Riefenstahl, the brilliant and pioneering German film-maker of the 20th century who isn’t getting her name on a Girls on Tops T-shirt any time soon.
Riefenstahl was a dancer and actor in prewar movies by Arnold Fanck and GW Pabst, whose performance in 1932 in The Blue Light, her own Aryan romantic fantasy as director-star, entranced the Führer and secured her two historic directing commissions: Triumph of the Will in 1935, a monumentally euphoric and grandiose account of the Nazi party congress in Nuremberg, and Olympia, about the 1936 Berlin Games, with whose undoubtedly stunning images and choreography Riefenstahl effectively invented the modern-day Olympics with its opening and closing ceremonies and media coverage.
Continue reading...With his new executive order on policing, Trump just wants to make sure he’s the one holding the lead.
The post Cops Are Already Unleashed. Trump Is Telling Them to Run Wild. appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. government is keeping American casualty numbers for the undeclared war on Yemen secret. This is not normal.
The post The Trump Administration Is Hiding American Casualties of War appeared first on The Intercept.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal talks to Akela Lacy about pushing Dems from the opposition to proposition party.
The post Rep. Jayapal: Democrats Need a Bold Agenda, Starting With Medicare for All appeared first on The Intercept.
Mike Obadal’s plan to keep his stock in Anduril if nominated as under secretary of the Army is a blatant conflict of interest, experts say.
The post Trump’s Pick for a Top Army Job Works at a Weapons Company — And Won’t Give Up His Stock appeared first on The Intercept.
In key victories for students, judges ruled to release Mohsen Mahdawi and allow Mahmoud Khalil’s case to advance in federal court.
The post Students Are Winning in Court Against Trump’s Deportation Regime appeared first on The Intercept.
Meta is suing NSO Group, basically claiming that the latter hacks WhatsApp and not just WhatsApp users. We have a procedural ruling:
Under the order, NSO Group is prohibited from presenting evidence about its customers’ identities, implying the targeted WhatsApp users are suspected or actual criminals, or alleging that WhatsApp had insufficient security protections.
[…]
In making her ruling, Northern District of California Judge Phyllis Hamilton said NSO Group undercut its arguments to use evidence about its customers with contradictory statements...
 | submitted by /u/bradicality [link] [comments] |
Reporting on the rise of fake students enrolling in community college courses:
The bots’ goal is to bilk state and federal financial aid money by enrolling in classes, and remaining enrolled in them, long enough for aid disbursements to go out. They often accomplish this by submitting AI-generated work. And because community colleges accept all applicants, they’ve been almost exclusively impacted by the fraud.
The article talks about the rise of this type of fraud, the difficulty of detecting it, and how it upends quite a bit of the class structure and learning community...
A day after being attacked by a pro-Israel mob, protesters were shot by rubber bullets — whose use is restricted by California law.
The post Police Shot Them in the Head With Rubber Bullets. Now UCLA Gaza Protesters Are Suing. appeared first on The Intercept.
After being banned from campus buildings following peaceful sit-ins, students said the disciplinary processes broke from school policies.
The post NYU Demands Law Students Renounce Protests or Be Barred From Sitting Final Exams appeared first on The Intercept.
This blog has now closed. You can read more of our US politics coverage here
Britain is in “active discussions” with US officials over the extraordinary 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the US proposed by Donald Trump, as it tries to protect one of its biggest creative industries.
“We are already in active discussions with the top of the US administration on this subject. We are working hard to establish what might be proposed, if anything, and to make sure our world-beating creative industries are protected,” creative industries minister Chris Bryant told parliament.
Continue reading...Oscar-winning actor gives first interview to Variety since working with Trump on plan to shake up Hollywood
Jon Voight, the actor who inspired Donald Trump’s surprise statement about placing a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, has given his first interview on the supposed plan to “give people back their dignity and their jobs”.
“Something has to be done, and it’s way past time,” the 86-year-old actor told Variety while he was, according to the magazine, “driving through what sounded like a car wash”.
Continue reading...Locals welcome plan but fear being pushed out of homes by theme park
When it was announced that Universal Pictures, one of the largest movie studios in the world, was opening its first theme park in Bedfordshire, fans were ecstatic.
Social media was filled with questions: Which film franchises will appear? How many rides would there be? Will there be a section dedicated to the Minions?
Continue reading...Ryan Coogler’s smash hit horror focuses on the opening of a juke joint, a one-time mainstay in Black southern culture
In Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, the Smokestack twins – a gangster pair played by Michael B Jordan – return to their Mississippi Delta home town to open a juke joint and make a fast buck, only to wind up hunkered inside when danger literally comes knocking. But the juke joint is more than a safe space from vampires; for Black people during segregation, it was an escape from the horrors of the so-called “separate-but-equal” US economy. “The juke joint represents, as the film suggests, this multifaceted connection to the foundation of Black experience,” says William Ferris, a University of North Carolina history professor who has made documenting blues music and southern culture his life’s work. “It’s a safe haven from racial violence.”
During the late 19th and early 20th century the juke joint was a southern social institution, the place to drink and unwind over live music. The vast majority of them were owned and operated by Black people. In fact the word juke (also spelled jook) is said to derive from Gullah, a creole language that has been spoken by Black people on the south-eastern coast for generations; it means to dance, act disorderly or engage in rowdy behavior – fun that juke joints were known for.
Continue reading...Forget modern edicts and prepare for the return of power dressing, big hair, short skirts and movie-star-in-a-convertible sunglasses
Boom boom is this year’s new vibe. It’s a vibe, not just a trend, meaning it takes tectonic rumblings in culture and gives them expression in what we wear and say and drink and watch on TV.
Boom boom is a new weather system that is sweeping away pretty much everything we thought we knew about modern fashion (gender fluidity, quiet luxury, elevated basics, ethical brands) and replacing it with ambitious power dressing for day, and traditional tropes of feminine and masculine sexual allure for evening. It is fur (real or fake), gold watches, big hair, wearing ties, sexy dancing. It is a silhouette that has inflection points at the shoulders (big), the breasts (important) and the waist (tiny) instead of worshipping a peachy bum or flat abs.
Continue reading...The only important woman in the Nazi movement entranced Hitler, directed Triumph of the Will – and spent the rest of her life alternately fearful and defiant
Andres Veiel’s sombre documentary tells the gripping, incrementally nauseating story of Helene “Leni” Riefenstahl, the brilliant and pioneering German film-maker of the 20th century who isn’t getting her name on a Girls on Tops T-shirt any time soon.
Riefenstahl was a dancer and actor in prewar movies by Arnold Fanck and GW Pabst, whose performance in 1932 in The Blue Light, her own Aryan romantic fantasy as director-star, entranced the Führer and secured her two historic directing commissions: Triumph of the Will in 1935, a monumentally euphoric and grandiose account of the Nazi party congress in Nuremberg, and Olympia, about the 1936 Berlin Games, with whose undoubtedly stunning images and choreography Riefenstahl effectively invented the modern-day Olympics with its opening and closing ceremonies and media coverage.
Continue reading...
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
Ticket website also faces uncertainty over hit to foreign travel and government plan for UK rail booking system
The online rail ticket retailer Trainline has warned of “headwinds”, including the expansion of London’s contactless travel zone and economic uncertainty denting foreign travel.
Shares in the London-listed company tumbled by as much as 8% on Wednesday, before recovering slightly to a fall of 4%, despite reporting surging profits for the year to 28 February.
Continue reading...Cast in bronze by sculptor Andy Edwards and containing the legendary Motörhead frontman’s DNA, the effigy underscores the West Midlands’ rock heritage
“That’s the street where Lemmy lived,” says sculptor Andy Edwards as we drive into the town of Burslem in the north of Stoke-on-Trent, past terrace houses and a ceramics factory. This Friday, a motorcade will travel the same route to Burslem’s Market Place to unveil a statue of the late Motörhead frontman, 10 years since his death – and 50 years since the metal band’s founding.
Phil Campbell, Motörhead’s longest-serving guitarist, will be there, placing a portion of Lemmy Kilmister’s ashes into the plinth. “It’ll be wonderful, finally getting an incredible statue in his home town,” says Campbell. “It’ll be solemn in a way, with enshrining his ashes, but also a celebration of the music and the fantastic character he was. Anything to do with Lem is significant and really special. He’s missed by many. He’s still in my dreams two or three times a week, getting on my case about something.”
Continue reading...From reporting the loss to getting a replacement, act fast to ease your travel
Your passport serves as a gateway to travel abroad and allows you to identify as a citizen of a country. So losing it or having it stolen provides a number of headaches, especially if you are travelling at the time. If it does go missing, the most important thing is to act fast.
The first thing you must do is report it to the Home Office via Gov.uk so that it can be cancelled. Only then can you apply for a new one.
Cancelling can be done via a webpage that will guide you through the process. Doing so quickly means you reduce the chances of identity theft.
If you know that your passport has been stolen, you should report the theft to the police. You can do this by calling 101 in the UK.
If you are abroad and you know it has been stolen, you should also tell the local police and ask for a written report – you may need this for insurance purposes to claim for any losses due to upset travel plans. You may also need it when applying for a new passport. Some police authorities may not give you a report, but the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) recommends you always ask so you can demonstrate that you have tried to report the loss.
When you report it lost or stolen, you will be asked for the nine-digit passport number. You can proceed with the cancellation without it but it is useful to have it so take a photocopy or a picture of the passport for your files before you travel or if you have it in your possession now. Otherwise the number may be available on a travel booking, frequent flyer account or a visa application.
Once you have reported it gone, you can get a replacement by applying online. This will cost £94.50 and you will need a digital photo, which is less than a month old and follows all the necessary requirements, and a debit or credit card. Someone will need to confirm your identity online if you are replacing a lost or stolen passport. You can also apply using a paper application form, available from the Post Office, but this is more expensive at £107. The processing time is about three weeks.
If the passport is urgent and you are in the UK, you can go through a one-week fast-track process, which costs £178 for an adult document or £145 for a child’s.
If you are abroad, you can apply from the country that you are in but this is only if it is not urgent. If you need to travel within six weeks, you can apply for an emergency travel document, usually valid for a single or return journey. You can apply for this online. You will need to check whether the country you need to leave, or countries you need to travel through and to accept this form of travel document however. The application costs £125.
Record the number: this is the nine digits printed on the biodata page of the passport. This will help if you have to apply for another if it is lost or stolen again. The FCO has advised in the past taking two photocopies of the page and leaving one with friends or relatives while you travel and holding on to the other one yourself. You can also take a picture with your phone and share it.
When you are travelling, your passport is not always safer with you when you are out and about and should only be carried if the local law requires you to. Store it in a hotel safe if you have access to one.
At home, the safest place to store your passport is in a secure, fire-resistant and water-resistant safe. Alternatively you could use a lockable filing cabinet.
Continue reading...South Korea passes annual tally for 2024 already, as Vietnam and Thailand continue to battle outbreaks
South Korea has recorded the highest number of measles cases in six years, adding to concerns that low vaccination rates combined with international travel are contributing to further outbreaks elsewhere in the region.
The country has confirmed 52 cases so far this year, exceeding the 49 recorded for the whole of 2024, the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said this week. It is the highest figure since 2019, when 194 cases were recorded.
Continue reading...Saved from tourist development by a ‘favourite daughter of Andalucía’, Cabo de Gata is a spectacular national park perfect for an adventure on foot
If you study a map of Spain, in the south-east corner you’ll see a strip of empty space along the edge of the Mediterranean. It contains no major towns and barely any roads. Its coastline is equally barren – no ports or resorts; just a few tiny villages tucked away in intriguingly named coves – “raven”, “coal”, “bitter water”. This patch of emptiness is the Cabo de Gata-Níjar national park, a protected haven of desert wilderness on the edge of Europe.
Having been forced to cancel an expedition to the Algerian Sahara earlier in the year, this park appears to be the answer to my yearning for the arid warmth and stark beauty of desert travel. Zooming in on the satellite view, a network of paths appears, suggesting a walking route of around 40 miles (64km) – from the Cabo itself, up the coast, along the cliffs, to the beach town of Agua Amarga. My husband, a keen Iberophile and relentless explorer of España vacia (literally, empty Spain) is always up for a wilderness adventure, so we get in the van and head south.
Continue reading...Tell us about a visit to an unsung garden – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break
The UK has an extraordinary collection of gardens open to the public, from the manicured grounds of grand estates to more intimate green spaces where the owners have made their mark. Whether it’s a “secret” walled garden, a favourite urban green oasis or an unheralded horticultural wonder, we’d love to hear about it.
The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet, will win a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.
Continue reading...Ten years ago, the late land artist Charles Jencks created Crawick Multiverse out of an ugly open-cast mine in southern Scotland. Today, it is an inspiring exploration of the universe
The sun warms my face as I pause between the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies to gaze at the rolling hills of Dumfries and Galloway beyond. I am not, surprisingly enough, in outer space. I’m at the Crawick Multiverse, a cosmos-themed land art installation in the south of Scotland that was built on the site of an old open-cast coal mine and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
The galaxies here are huge, spiralling mounds of earth, their perimeters reaching out towards one another but never quite touching.
Continue reading...Raynor Winn’s tale of 630-mile forced hike around south west coastal path should boost visitor numbers, tourism bosses hope
They walk the path for a variety of reasons. For the challenge, the exercise, the views. To find companionship or seek solitude. Some walk with a sense of escaping problems, others with the idea of striding towards a goal.
Many more are expected to head to the South West Coast Path, the 630-mile route around the shores of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset as the film The Salt Path hits cinema screens.
Continue reading...France does many foods exceptionally well, but certain areas offer unique and exceptional culinary experiences. We select 10 delicacies and the best regions in which to try them
Of course you can enjoy exquisitely crafted patisseries all over France, but Paris is home to many of the country’s best pâtissiers, and many of the individual gateaux have a connection to the city. As you delve into the layers of almond sponge, ganache and buttercream that form the opera cake, you may see how it was inspired by the ornate balconies of the Palais Garnier opera house; while the Paris-Brest, a wheel-shaped choux, was first made in 1910 to commemorate the famously brutal cycle race. Seek out a rum baba – a brioche-like treat soaked in rum‑infused syrup – and you might be told the story of how it was created by Nicolas Stohrer, the chef of the exiled Polish king Stanislas. The patisserie that bears his name has been at 51 rue Montorgueil since 1730 and is officially classed as a historic monument.
Continue reading...After deploying AI tools in Israel and on the U.S. border, American tech companies are now powering domestic repression.
The post U.S. Companies Honed Their Surveillance Tech in Israel. Now It’s Coming Home. appeared first on The Intercept.
Pea and mung bean pancakes with fried eggs and coconut coriander chutney, pea broth with bread dumplings, and pasta with lemony pea pesto
My earliest memory of kitchen duties is sitting on a stool in our courtyard in Kenya with a sack of peas that was bigger than me. I spent hours coaxing them from their pods, munching as I went; the result was a red plastic bucket brimming with peas like gleaming green marbles. As with asparagus, they have a short season, so grab them while you can: throw them whole into salads, broths and curries, or grind them down and use their starchy goodness to make pestos, pancakes and fritters.
Continue reading...In the unlikely event you have some asparagus left over, blitz it into a lovely rubble and layer into this outstanding springtime lasagne
As Yotam Ottolenghi once said here before, a lasagne doesn’t have to contain ragu and bechamel. In the broadest sense, lasagne is just a layered pasta dish using various fillings and sauces and, as such, the world is your lasagne. This particular one came about because I was so extremely excited about British asparagus arriving early this year that I bought far too much of it, so had to come up with a starring role for it at the dinner table. I hithered and thithered about baking the asparagus, in case it lost its freshness, but I needn’t have: it’s still fresh-tasting and, like any good lasagne, comforting to boot.
Continue reading...National Gallery, London
It is one of the world’s greatest museums and this revamp starts with a thrilling embrace from Leonardo, unfolding to Titian, Van Eyck, Monet and more – all bolstered by cool new architecture and lighting. What a wonderland!
There are so many twists, turns and fascinating detours in the National Gallery’s rehang you have to pick up some kind of thread. In my case, perhaps distracted by the thought of the National’s new restaurant, Locatelli, it’s foodie still lifes.
Two huge paintings of cheese take pride of place in one of the Dutch rooms. In Floris van Dijck’s 1616 still life, a black gouda rests on top of a yellow one, their cut and recut surfaces like walls of fat. In another room you can see Gustave Courbet’s great, melancholy Still Life With Apples and a Pomegranate, which manages to express the defeat of the Paris Commune in battered, pockmarked fruits. Finally, at the climax of Britain’s free national collection of European art from the middle ages to the birth of modernism, three revolutionary still lifes hang together so you can see how Cézanne’s pictures of fruit begin to rip apart perspective and make way for Picasso’s mind-boggling 1914 cubist masterpiece Fruit Dish, Bottle and Violin.
Continue reading...Israeli extremist officials deny the existence of famine in Gaza as they push for harsher measures to block food.
The post Famine Haunts the People of Gaza. Israel Is Trying to Convince You It’s Fake. appeared first on The Intercept.
Donald Trump’s delusions | Reopening Alcatraz | Kevin in Germany | Biscuit topping | Alternative to digestives | Old kitchen objects
We’ve had Donald Trump stating his designs on Greenland, on Canada and now on the pope’s position (Trump accused of ‘mocking’ Catholics after posting image of himself as pope, 4 May). His Majesty had better watch out when Trump susses out the possibility of obtaining regal headgear if he visits later this year.
Peter Nias
Bradford
• I’m sure we can all name one convicted felon who could be locked up in Alcatraz (Trump orders reopening of Alcatraz prison for ‘most ruthless offenders’, 5 May).
Glenn Barr
Hornsea, East Yorkshire
They like ice-cream – but only homemade. Carrots – but only served whole. And don’t even think of cooking with any herb or spice livelier than parsley ...
Name: The Aristocrat Diet.
Age: As old as the aristocracy.
Continue reading...Artefacts from 11th century on display at British Library in London, alongside work of modern-day community group
“Being able to grow your own food is one of the most radical ways that you can express your freedom, your sovereignty, your liberation,” says Valerie Goode, the founder and chief executive of the Coco Collective, a Black-led community gardening organisation in south London.
“When you leave your food production in the hands of other people, you are leaving your health, your wellbeing, your sense of identity … in the hands of other people. When we reclaim our food, we reclaim our power.”
Continue reading...Jaguars, giant armadillos and ocelots among species threatened by shrinking habitat in one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world
In the Gran Chaco forest, vast green expanses – home to jaguars, giant armadillos and howler monkeys – have turned to fields of dust. The forest once brimmed with life, says Bashe Nuhem, a member of the Indigenous Qom community, but then came a road, and soon after that logging companies. “It was an invasion. Loggers came without any consultation and families moved away. Those that stayed were left with only a cemetery of trees,” she says.
The Gran Chaco is South America’s second-largest forest after the Amazon; its 100m hectares (247m acres) stretch across Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia. It is also one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world – host to more than 3,400 species of plants, 500 birds, 150 mammals, 120 reptiles and 100 amphibians.
Continue reading...Cheese odds and ends, potatoes (and/or celeriac or beetroot), onions and cream, all crammed into a pastry case
Today’s comforting pie is super-adaptable and brilliant for using up any leftover bits of cheese. The classic homity pie filling of potatoes, onions and cream works beautifully with a jumble of cheese ends – cheddar, stilton, taleggio or whatever pungent blocks and rinds are lurking in your fridge drawer; it’s also a fantastic base for using up other root vegetables besides potatoes – celeriac, for example, bring earthiness, beetroot turns the entire filling a vibrant purple, while salsify adds a nutty note. Use whatever you have to hand, and waste nothing.
Continue reading...Released on his 99th birthday and presented in the context of his remarkable career, Sir David’s authority is matched only by nature’s grandeur in this visually stunning film
A visual marvel like all his work, governed by his own matchless authority and striking a steady tonal balance between warning and hope, David Attenborough’s new film about the oceans is absorbing and compelling. He makes a passionate case against the ruin caused by industrial overfishing and the sinister mega-trawlers which roam everywhere, raking the seabed with their vast metal nets, brutally and wastefully hoovering up fish populations of which the majority is often simply thrown away, depleting developing countries and fishing communities of their share. Attenborough says that this is the new colonialism. The film is released in cinemas in anticipation of the UN’s World Oceans Day in June, which is campaigning for 30% of the world’s oceans to be preserved from exploitation – at present, only around 3% is protected in this way.
As he arrives at his 99th birthday, Sir David presents this new documentary in the context of his own remarkable life and career, studying and thinking about the oceans as the last part of the world to be fully understood and also, perhaps, the last part to be exploited – and despoiled. As he says, until relatively recently, the ocean was regarded as a kind of mysterious, undifferentiated Sahara, a wilderness, of interest largely for providing an apparently endless supply of food. But he shows us an amazing vista of diversity and life, an extraordinary undulating landscape, a giant second planet of whose existence humanity has long been unaware but now seems in danger of damaging or even destroying.
Continue reading...Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytale
The fire that has just destroyed 500 hectares (1,230 acres) of Dartmoor should have been impossible. It should not be a fire-prone landscape. But sheep, cattle and ponies have made it so. They selectively browse out tree seedlings, preventing the return of temperate rainforest, which is extremely difficult to burn. In dry weather, the moor grass, bracken and heather covering the deforested landscape are tinder.
The plume of carbon dioxide and smoke released this week is one of the many impacts of livestock grazing. But several recent films, alongside celebrities, politicians, billionaires and far-right podcasts, seek to persuade us that cattle and sheep are good for the atmosphere and the living planet. This story, wrapped in romantic cottagecore, is now the most active and seductive frontier of climate-science denial. It is heavily promoted by the meat industry, which is as ruthless and machiavellian as the fossil fuel industry. It sows confusion among people desperately seeking to do the right thing in an age of misinformation.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Aid officials and residents report breakdown in law and order as food and supplies run out during Israeli blockade
Gaza has been hit by a wave of looting and theft as increasingly desperate Palestinians struggle to get food while criminal gangs exploit a breakdown in law and order.
Aid officials and witnesses in the devastated territory describe armed men attacking humanitarian warehouses, firefights over remaining food stores and a spate of stealing of supplies vital for survival, such as solar chargers, batteries, phones and cooking pots.
Continue reading...“We are concerned at the appearance of targeting publicly pro-union worker leaders,” said a union official about a raid in western New York.
The post “They Actually Had a List”: ICE Arrests Workers Involved in Landmark Labor Rights Case appeared first on The Intercept.
They will feed you, water you, give you a good time and make you feel carefree and cosseted
As a name, One Club Row sounds a bit like the title of a 1990s lads’ mag, but it’s actually a purposely shabby-chic room above a pub in Shoreditch that serves martinis, oysters and schnitzels in a heady, tipsy, twinkly atmosphere that itself may well remind you of the 1990s. Or at least it will if you were “on the scene” back then. These days, the 90s are synonymous with louche, raffish semi-pandemonium, mainly because today feels so saintly in comparison. No 90s restaurateur ever offered reclaimed spud peelings as a starter or a kombucha-led, alcohol-free drinks flight to spare your liver, complete with an earnest lecture on zero-waste hospitality. Puritanism was definitely out there back then, yes, though mainly only in The Cranks Recipe Book. But mindfulness? Not so much.
What One Club Row and similar London establishments such as the Devonshire in Piccadilly and the Plimsoll in Finsbury Park seem to offer, is a thrilling, retro glimpse of mindlessness. Battered stuff, things in buns, strong drinks – and the sense that, at any point, you might cop off with one of Shed Seven or Wendy from Transvision Vamp.
Continue reading...Our in-house ferment fanatic Tom Hunt assesses a range of widely available versions of the increasingly popular Korean condiment
Spicy, salty, sweet and sour all at the same time, kimchi is perhaps the perfect condiment. This Korean staple is traditionally made by salting cabbage to preserve it and add crunch, then fermenting it in a pungent paste often made from glutinous rice porridge, gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes), onion and enough garlic to keep a vampire at bay. Fish sauce is another common addition, as is, sometimes, even raw seafood such as crab or squid, but most kimchi sold in the UK is plant-based, and so appeals to a much wider audience.
The magic behind kimchi lies in the lactic acid bacteria naturally present on vegetables. These beneficial microbes are encouraged to thrive during fermentation, creating the complex, tangy flavours and deep umami that make kimchi so distinctive. All kimchi brings bold flavour, but only raw, unpasteurised ones deliver the probiotic benefits that come from live fermentation, so look for the words “raw” and “unpasteurised” on the label. Gochugaru, meanwhile, is what gives kimchi its signature vermilion hue. The brightness of its red-orange colour is a good visual cue as to how much chilli has been used and, as a result, how spicy the kimchi is.
Continue reading...“I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then,” Francesca Albanese said in an exclusive interview.
The post EU President Should Be Investigated for Complicity in Israel’s War Crimes, Says Top U.N. Expert on Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
France does many foods exceptionally well, but certain areas offer unique and exceptional culinary experiences. We select 10 delicacies and the best regions in which to try them
Of course you can enjoy exquisitely crafted patisseries all over France, but Paris is home to many of the country’s best pâtissiers, and many of the individual gateaux have a connection to the city. As you delve into the layers of almond sponge, ganache and buttercream that form the opera cake, you may see how it was inspired by the ornate balconies of the Palais Garnier opera house; while the Paris-Brest, a wheel-shaped choux, was first made in 1910 to commemorate the famously brutal cycle race. Seek out a rum baba – a brioche-like treat soaked in rum‑infused syrup – and you might be told the story of how it was created by Nicolas Stohrer, the chef of the exiled Polish king Stanislas. The patisserie that bears his name has been at 51 rue Montorgueil since 1730 and is officially classed as a historic monument.
Continue reading...A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas
Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.
Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email.
Continue reading...The best new music, film, TV, podcasts and more direct to your inbox, plus hidden gems and reader recommendations
From Billie Eilish to Billie Piper, Succession to Spiderman and everything in between, subscribe and get exclusive arts journalism direct to your inbox. Gwilym Mumford provide san irreverent look at the goings on in pop culture every Friday, pointing you in the direction of the hot new releases and the best journalism from around the world.
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
Continue reading...Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean
Scroll less, understand more: sign up to receive our news email each weekday for clarity on the top stories in the UK and across the world.
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
Continue reading... |
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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