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After a 10-Year Wait, Mt. Gox Bitcoin Is Finally Being Returned
Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:53:16 +0000
Former customers of bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox are preparing to be reunited with their lost bitcoin—and it’s a $9 billion windfall.
Match ID: 0 Score: 25.71 source: www.wired.com age: 3 days
qualifiers: 17.14 cryptocurrenc(y|ies), 8.57 bitcoin(|s)
Hackers Leaking Taylor Swift Tickets? Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
Sat, 06 Jul 2024 10:30:00 +0000
Plus: Researchers uncover a new way to expose CSAM peddlers, OpenAI suffered a secret cyberattack, cryptocurrency thefts jump in 2024, and Twilio confirms hackers stole 33 million phone numbers.
Match ID: 1 Score: 20.00 source: www.wired.com age: 2 days
qualifiers: 20.00 cryptocurrenc(y|ies)
Inside a Violent Gang's Ruthless Crypto-Stealing Home Invasion Spree
Fri, 28 Jun 2024 10:30:00 +0000
More than a dozen men threatened, assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped 11 victims in likely the worst-ever crypto-focused serial extortion case of its kind in the US.
Match ID: 2 Score: 4.29 source: www.wired.com age: 10 days
qualifiers: 2.86 cryptocurrenc(y|ies), 1.43 bitcoin(|s)
What is Blockchain: Everything You Need to Know (2022)
Mon, 18 Apr 2022 05:49:00 +0000
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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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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
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
A new vampire squid species was discovered in the South China Sea.
This week at Lord’s is about celebrating the greatest seam bowler of all time. There will never be another like him
There were times during my Test career, sitting in the dressing room reflecting on things quietly, when I almost could not believe how lucky I was to be in the same England team as Jimmy Anderson. He really is a once in a generation cricketer and, in my mind, the greatest seam bowler of all time.
The crazy thing is, I made my Test debut in 2014 when Jimmy was 31. So he was already 11 years an international, just short of 100 caps. He had won the Ashes home and away, formed an all-time great partnership with Stuart Broad and been central to a historic series win in India two years earlier. In that match, against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, he took seven wickets to bring up 350 Test wickets and apparently that was only a job half done. What a ridiculous player. A joke, really.
Continue reading...In 2021, dozens of Tamils were fleeing Sri Lanka for Canada when their boat sprang a leak. They were taken to Diego Garcia by the British navy. Three years later, they remain there in desperate, dangerous limbo
It was 10 days into the journey when the boat sprang a leak. Dozens of men, women and children were crowded on to a fishing boat, all Tamils fleeing persecution in their home country, Sri Lanka. They had hoped to reach sanctuary in Canada.
Instead, on 3 October 2021, as their vessel began to sink, they were spotted and rescued by British navy ships, then taken to the secretive US-UK military base on the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Continue reading...A reportage of stations along the circular JR Yamanote line in Tokyo, capturing the hustle and bustle at the heart of the world’s biggest urban area. In service since 1885, the line is the city’s oldest, most important and most famous, with millions cramming on to the 35km (22-mile) route’s distinctive green cars every day
Continue reading...Average number of heatstroke-related deaths each year has increased six fold since 1995
Japan’s meteorological agency has issued a heatstroke alert for 26 of the country’s 47 prefectures, urging people not to go outside unless absolutely necessary, to use their air conditioners during the day and at night, and to drink plenty of water.
Authorities in Japan issued the extreme heat warnings after the temperature reached 40C for the first time this year on Sunday, as the country swelters in the grip of another heatwave.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/branstarktreewizard [link] [comments] |
Iwao Hakamada, 88, who spent longer than anyone in the world awaiting execution, awaits murder retrial verdict
In the early hours of 30 June 1966 a fire swept through the home of the managing director of a miso maker in Shizuoka, central Japan. After the fire was put out, police found the bodies of the executive, his wife, and their two teenage children. They had all been stabbed to death.
Iwao Hakamada, who had worked for the firm as a live-in employee, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the family, setting fire to their home and stealing 200,000 yen (£973) in cash. Two years later he was found guilty of murder and arson and sentenced to hang. He maintained innocence throughout his 45 years awaiting execution – the longest any prisoner worldwide has spent on death row.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president vows to retaliate over strike that hit Ohmatdyt children’s hospital as Italy says attack must be condemned by international community
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, will conduct face-to-face talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Moscow on Monday, the Kremlin said.
A top Indian official said last week that fixing India’s trade imbalance with Russia and securing the discharge of Indian citizens who were misled into fighting in the Ukraine war would be among Modi’s top priorities in Moscow, according to Reuters.
Continue reading...Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie alleged to have incited acolytes to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’
The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has gone on trial on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in a macabre case that shocked the world.
The self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants.
Continue reading...New business secretary Jonathan Reynolds confirms that negotiations with owner Tata Steel are continuing
The UK will press for “job guarantees” in return for taxpayer-funded investment during talks with the Indian-owned Tata Steel about the future of its flagship Port Talbot site.
The new business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said he believed there was a “better deal available” for the south Wales site and the steel industry as a whole, as he confirmed on Sunday that negotiations with Tata were continuing.
Continue reading...Ministry will discuss investigation into claims that European producers are selling goods below market rates
China has ramped up its anti-dumping investigation into European brandy imports in what appears to be a retaliatory move as the EU imposed higher tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles from Friday.
The commerce ministry in Beijing said it would hold a hearing on 18 July to discuss an investigation into claims that European brandy producers are selling products in China below market rates.
Continue reading...Man dies in Harris County; tornado watch in area covering 7m people as parts of eastern Texas are on flood watch
The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, is receiving criticism from some online for posting about a business meeting in South Korea as Texas deals with extreme weather from Hurricane Beryl, the Houston Chronicle reported.
From the Chronicle:
While those on the Texas Gulf Coast awoke to the effects of Hurricane Beryl on Monday morning, Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted about a business meeting he had on his trip through Asia.
“Spent a very productive afternoon in Seoul,” he posted. “Met with @kita_net and business leaders from across South Korea to discuss economic opportunities in Texas to grow and succeed.
“I also met with executives from SK Signet to thank them for their investments in Texas.”
The timing of the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, drew backlash from those in the storm.
US justice department says proposed deal is for company to pay fine of nearly $250m and invest $455m in improving safety
Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a US criminal fraud charge stemming from the crashes of two 737 Max jetliners, angering the families of the hundreds of passengers killed who had wanted the case to go to trial.
Federal prosecutors had found that the American aircraft manufacturer was in violation of a 2021 agreement struck after the crashes, which had protected it from prosecution for more than three years.
Continue reading...Trip scheduled for Monday, with Delhi a key trading partner for Putin since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Narendra Modi will visit Russia on 8 and 9 July and hold talks with Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has said, in the Indian prime minister’s first trip to the country since it invaded Ukraine.
Modi and Putin will discuss “prospects for further development of traditionally friendly Russian-Indian relations, as well as relevant issues on the international and regional agenda,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Continue reading...Family members and eyewitnesses say they had to dig in mud to find survivors and some of the more than 120 killed
Relatives of victims of the deadly crowd crush during a Hindu religious gathering in northern India have accused the authorities of leaving their loved ones to die in the mud and on hospital floors due to a lack of medical staff and ambulances.
More than 120 people died at the religious gathering of about 250,000 people held on Tuesday as devotees surged forward, causing panic, with many falling over in the wet conditions.
Continue reading...The 12-metre high machine has coke bottle eyes and a crude Wall-E-like head, as well as large arms that can be fitted with blades or paint brushes
It resembles an enormous, malevolent robot from 1980s sci-fi but West Japan Railway’s new humanoid employee was designed with nothing more sinister than a spot of painting and gardening in mind.
Starting this month, the large machine with enormous arms, a crude, disproportionately small Wall-E-like head and coke-bottle eyes mounted on a truck – which can drive on rails – will be put to use for maintenance work on the company’s network.
Continue reading...If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve noticed that I have written a lot about AI and democracy, mostly with my co-author Nathan Sanders. I am pleased to announce that we’re writing a book on the topic.
This isn’t a book about deep fakes, or misinformation. This is a book about what happens when AI writes laws, adjudicates disputes, audits bureaucratic actions, assists in political strategy, and advises citizens on what candidates and issues to support. It’s a book that tries to look into what an AI-assisted democratic system might look like, and then at how to best ensure that we make use of the good parts while avoiding the bad parts...
New dating technique finds painting on island of Sulawesi is 6,000 years older than previous record holder
The world’s oldest known picture story is a cave painting almost 6,000 years older than the previous record holder, found about 10km away on the same island in Indonesia, an international team of archaeologists has said.
The painting, believed to be at least 51,200 years old, was found at Leang Karampuang cave on the east Indonesian island of Sulawesi, researchers from Griffith University, Southern Cross University and the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency wrote in the journal Nature.
Continue reading...Police report says 250,000 people had gathered at a Hindu event in Uttar Pradesh that had a capacity of 80,000
About 250,000 people had gathered at the Hindu religious congregation in northern India where 121 people died in a crowd crush, triple the capacity permitted by authorities, a police report has said.
The deadly crush took place on Tuesday at a religious function known as a satsang held in a village in Hathras, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, when hundreds of thousands of devotee turned up to see Bhole Baba, a popular self-styled guru.
Continue reading...Government opens hundreds of shelters for displaced people as heavy rains cause rivers to burst their banks
The death toll from floods in Bangladesh this week has risen to eight, leaving more than two million affected after heavy rains caused major rivers to burst their banks, officials have confirmed.
The south Asian country of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has experienced more frequent floods in recent decades.
Continue reading...Abu Zubaydah’s lawyer told a military review board that an unnamed country could admit the 22-year prisoner and surveil him for perpetuity.
The post Negotiations Are Underway for Guantánamo’s “Forever Prisoner” From Gaza to Be Released appeared first on The Intercept.
Sources close to the ousted prime minister say Khan also accuses Gen. Asim Munir for assassination attempt and cover-ups.
The post From Prison, Imran Khan Says Top Pakistani General Betrayed Secret Deal to Stay Out of Politics appeared first on The Intercept.
The Dream Tent, Smithfield, Birmingham
This staging of Michael Tippett’s complex opera, whose story of impoverished 80s Britain takes in sci-fi, street slang and electric guitar, is a remarkable feat
Michael Tippett’s fifth and final opera was written in the mid-80s, a time of social unrest in a Britain fearful of multiculturalism and grappling with the ghettoisation of its inner cities. Jo Ann, a youth worker in Terror Town who is afraid to leave her home, attracts the attention of time travellers from the future. Meanwhile, her foster-brother Donny, a young Black man, is struggling to connect with his African roots. Venturing out, he’s beaten by a brutal mob hunting a scapegoat to drive out the old year and ring in the new. Ultimately, it’s Jo Ann’s redemptive connection with the space pilot Pelegrin that enables her to move on.
As with all his operas, the composer wrote his own libretto for New Year, drawing on Jungian philosophy, street slang and TV sci-fi (Blake’s 7 was a reference). The wildly imaginative score jangles with electric guitars and saxophones and incorporates contemporary forms including blues and – new for Tippett – reggae and rap. Critics who had never liked his texts similarly pooh-poohed his attempts at creating an urban sound world.
Continue reading...Popular Dig Where You Stand project using Sheffield City Archives is bringing past to life in exhibitions around city
The word “archive” may usually conjure images of dusty boxes, white gloves and hushed silences. But a growing number of artists are finding that underneath the layers of protective paper there’s rich source material.
“Archives are like time travel,” says Désirée Reynolds, an artist in residence at Sheffield City Archives, who has been burrowing into the thousands of items in the northern city’s annals in search of black history since 2021.
Continue reading...Laura Davy, who travelled from Tasmania to take part in a protest at a coal terminal, will appeal prison sentence
A 21-year-old woman who secured herself to a piece of machinery during a climate protest at a Newcastle coal terminal has been sentenced to three months in prison.
The climate protest, which is now in its 14th day and has involved daily actions, was organised by Blockade Australia to call for a change to the economic and political system to achieve meaningful climate action.
Continue reading...It cost £1,009, had one bedroom instead of three, and no heating. It was so miserable that we left
My family and I stayed in a Spanish property booked on Vrbo that was blatantly different to the listing. Instead of the three bedrooms advertised, there was only one, accessible via an outdoor stone staircase. The listing also failed to mention that the bathroom was outside as well. Neither of the rooms had heating. To reach the toilet at night involved going down the flight of steps. Since it was raining during our stay, they were slippery and treacherous and we got very wet. Moreover, frequent power failures left us without running water, heating or wifi. We had paid £1,009 for the week, but it was so miserable we decamped to another house at an additional cost of £574 after three days.
Vrbo’s complaints process is impossible to navigate. You are repeatedly transferred to people in different teams and have to start from square one each time. So far, I have spent six hours on the phone to them. I feel its process is not designed to actually solve customer problems, but merely to wear people out so that they are forced to make their own arrangements, which then allows Vrbo to argue that they wouldn’t accept help.
KC, Sheffield
Top places go to smaller and independent parks, with Potters Resorts taking the no. 1 spot
The long-established Pontins has been rated the worst UK holiday park brand in a survey by the consumer organisation Which?, with smaller and independent resorts taking the top honours.
Top of the table was Potters Resorts, which has a base in the Essex countryside and another on the Norfolk coast.
Continue reading...Research suggests impact of pollution begins before conception by disrupting the development of the egg
Air pollution exposure can significantly decrease the chance of a live birth after IVF treatment, according to research that deepens concern about the health impacts of toxic air on fertility.
Pollutant exposure has previously been linked to increased miscarriage rates and preterm births, and microscopic soot particles have been shown to travel through the bloodstream into the ovaries and the placenta. The latest work suggests that the impact of pollution begins before conception by disrupting the development of eggs.
Continue reading...In the third episode of a new series of Anywhere but Westminster, John Harris and John Domokos travel around the West Midlands, and find a fascinating political mixture: hesitant Labour voters, a new crop of independents focused on Palestine and local cuts – and, amid deep social problems, lots of people who think the election hardly matters. Here, it seems, is the reality that all those opinion polls get nowhere near
Continue reading...A new documentary tells the stories of three Palestinian families as they have fought to survive nine months of genocide.
The post The Night That Won’t End in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...A new documentary tells the stories of three Palestinian families as they have fought to survive nine months of genocide.
The post The Night That Won’t End in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
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
Following our rundown of the best albums in the first half of the year, you responded with your own suggestions, from Kali Malone to Kim Gordon
Is it dream pop? Shoegaze? Grunge? No idea, but I adore it. It’s so immediate. The first time I played it, it was as if I’d been listening to it all of my life. It brought back memories of being a lovestruck teenager from more than four decades ago. I can just play it and float back to my youth – the good bits, fortunately – although it also soothed away some of the more traumatic episodes. I managed to catch them live, and it was glorious. David High, St Ives, Cambridgeshire
Continue reading...Turkish-style, pan-cooked flatbread, abundant with leopard spots and inspired by Italian cook Laura Lazzaroni, is suitable for every mood …
At the beginning of Fergus Henderson’s book Nose to Tail Eating, before the contents and the introduction, is a page titled “Four things I should mention.” The first of these is about the idiosyncratic order of service at Sweetings, a fish and oyster bar in the heart of the City of London. The last one reads: “Do not be afraid of cooking, as your ingredients will know and misbehave. Enjoy your cooking and the food will behave; moreover, you will pass the pleasure on to those who eat it.”
Now, while I like both parts of this last bit of advice, I prefer the first part, which, far from feeling like a warning, is reassuring, especially when you consider that the word “afraid” is interchangeable with terms such as out-of-sorts, tired, grumpy and busy. It is also an amusing way to think about cooking, and my inevitably volatile relationship with a kitchen full of potatoes, lemons, eggs or bottles of cream that behave or misbehave, depending on the day, weather and any other number of variables.
Discover Rachel’s recipes and many more from your favourite cooks in the new Guardian Feast app, with smart features to make everyday cooking easier and more fun. Start your free trial today.
Continue reading...‘It was a smash in loads of countries. When we played it at London’s Ministry of Sound club, there was a girl staring at Roger’s banjo like she’d never seen one before’
I met Dave Ball after I went to interview Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle for Strange Things Are Happening magazine, and we ended up making Jack the Tab, the UK’s first acid house album, under the guise of “various artists”. On the second day in the studio Gen brought in Dave. I was a bit wary because he’d been a proper pop star with Soft Cell, but NME put Jack the Tab on the cover and Warners offered us a deal even though – or perhaps because – the record contained the sounds of the bedroom antics of Gen and Paula P-Orridge and of howling wolves.
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Pitiably small, with a moth-eaten coat, he took food from my hand and liked to snuggle. Then my wife found him padding towards the nursery ...
During the pandemic, a lonely old man living in a ground-floor flat on my street in south London took in an orphaned fox. They watched daytime TV together on the sofa and snacked on bits of toast with Gentleman’s Relish. Then, one day, the man had to go in to hospital and never returned. At least, that was the backstory I imagined when a slightly ragged but curiously tame fox turned up at my back door.
I called him Reynard. My wife called him That Fox. As in: That Fox has pissed on my shoes again. That Fox has stolen all the eggs. That Fox is thinking about eating the baby.
Continue reading...One of the biggest consumers in a global market worth an estimated £2bn, trade in the cheap fish in the south American country is booming. But worried conservationists say most people do not realise they are eating shark
The bright blue skies and calm waters of the estuary belie rough conditions at sea, and there is no sign of activity among the colourful fishing boats moored around the harbour of Cananéia, a sleepy fishing town 160 miles south of São Paulo.
On the wharf, however, a delivery of frozen fish from Uruguay has just arrived and a few men in white gumboots are busy unloading pallets of beheaded specimens labelled Galeorhinus galeus – school shark.
Continue reading...Ministry will discuss investigation into claims that European producers are selling goods below market rates
China has ramped up its anti-dumping investigation into European brandy imports in what appears to be a retaliatory move as the EU imposed higher tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles from Friday.
The commerce ministry in Beijing said it would hold a hearing on 18 July to discuss an investigation into claims that European brandy producers are selling products in China below market rates.
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.
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Continue reading...The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc advances a key aim of the Project 2025 manifesto: “deconstruct the Administrative State.”
The post The Supreme Court’s Latest Power Grab: Regulatory Oversight appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite deciding not to decide, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority laid out a legal road map for anti-abortion zealots.
The post Alito’s Dissent in Emergency Abortion Case Provides “Building Blocks” for More Extreme Bans appeared first on The Intercept.
A new documentary tells the stories of three Palestinian families as they have fought to survive nine months of genocide.
The post The Night That Won’t End in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Michelle Roach bought a used ice-cream van in order to bring cheap, affordable food to Liverpool's struggling communities. She wanted a vehicle with freezers built in for frozen food, and also something cheerful that was able to break down stigmas around food poverty. Using a '10 items for £5' model, Michelle sources discount food from supermarket surplus and donations.
The Guardian's Christopher Cherry follows Michelle and the van on its rounds, with the service struggling to meet overwhelming demand as the cost of living crisis deepens, and the UK's general election fast approaches.
Continue reading...Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday
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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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Polling shows voters in south of England switched because of Conservative inaction on polluted rivers and beaches
The sewage crisis was a significant factor in the Tories’ losing support in the “blue wall” in the south of England, electoral polling suggests.
Seven out of 10 voters supported legal measures to eliminate sewage spills in ecologically sensitive areas by 2030, according to polling conducted for Greenpeace by Survation just before the election. Less than a third of voters thought the Conservatives were right to weaken their commitments on the climate crisis and the environment.
Continue reading...Philadelphia’s WURD says host violated editorial independence by accepting questions from Biden’s team
The Philadelphia radio host who conducted the first interview with Joe Biden following the president’s woeful 27 June debate performance has resigned from her job after she admitted she asked the president a handful of questions supplied by his aides.
Andrea Lawful-Sanders said Sunday on Instagram that WURD Radio had accepted her resignation after she tendered it.
Continue reading...The election dealt a blow to the DUP. With so few young people supporting its cause, a referendum on uniting Ireland is unavoidable
After 14 years of Conservative dominance, Britain has ushered in a new era of politics: record-breaking losses for the Conservative party, Keir Starmer’s whooping victory, the wipeout of the Scottish National party (SNP), growth for the Liberal Democrats and the return of Nigel Farage. But across the water lies another electoral earthquake that has utterly rearranged the political landscape of Northern Ireland: the fall of the house of Paisley.
With only 18 Westminster seats, Northern Ireland was low on the political agenda during the snap election – that is, until news began swirling of a shock loss in North Antrim for the Democratic Unionist party (DUP). North Antrim was considered the party’s safest seat. This was not only a unionist heartland but also Paisley-land. The seat has been held by a member of the Paisley family for 54 years – won by DUP founder Rev Ian Paisley in 1970 and held by his son Ian Paisley Jr since 2010. The loss of North Antrim by 450 votes ended the Paisley dynasty and has raised questions about the future not only of the DUP but also of unionism itself.
Continue reading...Brian Garcia, Heather Wishik and Guy Ottewell respond to the aftermath of the US president’s difficult debate with Donald Trump
Mehdi Hasan’s suggestion (Kamala Harris may be our only hope. Biden should step aside and endorse her, 3 July) addresses the perceived weaknesses of both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Let the man take a back seat and advise the Harris presidency. One term as president is what Biden is said to have promised anyway. Harris is young and fierce.
Let’s remember the woman who made Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Barr and Amy Coney Barrett look like fools. We need her to fight the unabashedly partisan and anti-precedent supreme court. Let’s remember the Harris who called John Kelly to demand he stop the Muslim ban at our airports. Let’s bring back the Harris who championed the Daca immigration policy. Let this Harris return and bring back our democracy.
Brian Garcia
University of California, Los Angeles
Trump administration officials and campaign staff helped draft the controversial playbook and appear in its videos.
The post Trump’s Camp Says It Has Nothing to Do With Project 2025 Manifesto — Aside From Writing It appeared first on The Intercept.
Labour has won a landslide victory, with Keir Starmer saying ‘change begins now’. Is this a new era for the country? The Guardian’s John Harris is joined by political editor Pippa Crerar and political correspondent Kiran Stacey
Continue reading...As voters look for another option, alternative Democratic leaders poll similarly or even better than Biden — even without name recognition.
The post Every Democrat Other Than Joe Biden Is Unburdened by What Has Been appeared first on The Intercept.
Venality, bribery, bullying, sexual and financial disgrace: all these must be swept away to win back voters’ trust
Winning the election was almost easy compared with the next task Keir Starmer has set himself. “The fight for trust is the battle that defines our age,” he has said, and it will define him. Fail, and he risks the rampant right and the righteous Greens and Liberal Democrats devouring his huge majority. The country purged the most corrupt and decadent government of modern times, but Labour’s victory was almost a byproduct of that vengeful impulse. How do you reclaim trust that is so lost that politics has never been held in such low repute?
Everyone knows the reasons why deep cynicism greets doorknocking MPs. Examples of Westminster venality, bribery, bullying, sexual and financial disgrace are too many to list, too wearily familiar to need recounting. That odour of pocket-lining self-interest was extra-shocking in a government stripping down public services while voters struggled to get by. Unjustly, people often make little distinction between the parties. That’s the mood Starmer confronts. Britons are among the least trusting of their politicians in the western world, with trust at a record low thanks in part to anger over Partygate lies. Nearly 80% are dissatisfied with how Britain is governed.
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...James Timpson hires ex-offenders and thinks many prisoners shouldn’t be in jail. His approach could be transformative
For those unconvinced that prime minister Keir Starmer really wants to fix Britain, look no further than his appointment of James Timpson as prisons minister. Timpson, chief executive of the eponymous family business best known for shoe fixing and key making, is not an MP and has been parachuted into the job by Starmer with a peerage and a seat in the Lords.
We’ve seen this done recently, but in a cronyist Conservative way that diminished the reputation of politics. Rishi Sunak lobbed David Cameron into the Lords so he could appoint him foreign secretary. But there is a big difference. Cameron was the discredited former prime minister who had enabled Brexit, helped destroy the country, then “scuttled off” to France to put “his trotters up” (in the words of Danny Dyer).
Continue reading...President signals irritation in TV appearance; Biden sends letter to congressional Democrats saying he has no plans to end campaign
Joe Biden is not alone in believing that all the talk of him dropping out is hurting the re-election efforts of Democrats nationwide.
Ritchie Torres, a Democratic congressman from New York, said much of the same earlier today:
Continue reading...New chancellor says she will make statement to MPs before summer recess about financial situation as she says UK economy has been ‘held back’
Rachel Reeves has finished the speech, in which she confirmed a range of measures to speed up planning. I will post a full summary shortly.
She is now taking questions.
I have repeatedly warned that whoever won the general election would inherit the worst set of circumstances since the second world war.
What I have seen in the past 72 hours has only confirmed that. Our economy has been held back by decisions deferred and decisions ducked. Political self-interest put ahead of the national interest. A government that put party first and country second.
New Treasury analysis I requested over the weekend exposed the opportunities lost from this failure.
Had the UK economy grown at the average rate of OECD economies since 2010, it would have been over £140bn larger.
Continue reading...Exclusive: 3.2% of those surveyed say they were turned away at least once, with minority ethnic people worse affected
More than 400,000 people may have been prevented from voting in the general election because they lacked the necessary ID, with those from minority ethnic communities more than twice as likely to have experienced this, polling has suggested.
Of those surveyed by More In Common, 3.2% said they were turned away at least once last Thursday, which if reflected across the UK would equate to more than 850,000 people. Of these, more than half said they either did not return or came back and were still unable to vote.
Continue reading...MPs will hear assessment this month as new chancellor tries to pin blame on Tories for tough decisions ahead
Rachel Reeves is to provide an emergency assessment of the government’s spending inheritance before MPs leave for their summer break as she attempts to pin the blame for looming tough decisions on the defeated Tories.
The new chancellor used her first speech since arriving at the Treasury to insist there would be no deviation from Labour’s hardline stance on reducing the national debt despite being bequeathed the “worst set of circumstances since the second world war”.
Continue reading...With all of the 650 seats declared, Keir Starmer has taken office as the new prime minister with a large Labour majority. Explore the results in full and find out how your constituency voted
The House of Commons is the main lawmaking body for the United Kingdom, the other being the unelected House of Lords. It consists of 650 members, each of whom is elected by a geographical constituency of roughly equal population.
Continue reading...Activists who protested Biden’s handling of the war during Democratic primaries say they will maintain pressure no matter the nominee.
The post Whether It’s Biden or Someone Else, Gaza Remains Top Priority for “Uncommitted” Voters appeared first on The Intercept.
From the moment six weeks ago that Rishi Sunak announced the election in pouring rain outside 10 Downing Street, his campaign has faced a series of setbacks, from the backlash triggered by his early return from a D-day commemoration, to a betting scandal in which a Conservative politician was discovered to have bet on the date of the election. The Guardian's political media editor, Jim Waterson, explains how the party's campaign fell apart and whether it stood a chance to begin with
Continue reading...Live coverage of business, economics and markets as Jonathan Haskel says UK ‘inflation will remain above target for quite some time’
Rachel Reeves has pledged to “get Britain building again” after saying the government will introduce mandatory housing targets in her first major speech as UK chancellor.
Local authorities will retain the power to decide on planning applications “in the first instance”, but can be overruled nationally if they fail to meet their targets. “The answer cannot always be ‘no’,” said Reeves, who is the first woman to be chancellor in the UK.
The deputy prime minister will take an interventionist approach to make sure we’ve got the housing that we need.
There is no time to waste. We will end the prevarication, and make the necessary choices to fix the foundations.
Continue reading...With a radical manifesto and an uneasy alliance, the left and green alliance has a difficult task ahead
The New Popular Front (NFP), a four-party left-green alliance, was the shock winner of Sunday’s French parliamentary election, returning 182 deputies to a 577-seat assembly now split between three large opposing blocs, none with a majority.
Here is a look at which parties make up the NFP, what it proposes, who its key figures are – and whether they may be able to continue to work together.
Continue reading...Former shadow attorney general says she is leaving cabinet but that nothing can detract from party’s ‘historic victory’
The former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry has said she is “very sorry and surprised” not to be appointed to the role in the new Labour cabinet, after Keir Starmer appointed the human rights barrister Richard Hermer to the role in government.
Thornberry, who was a longstanding member of the shadow cabinet under Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn, had been widely expected to get another post but has not so far been offered one.
Continue reading...Labour has emphasised its commitment to national security and also its historical connection with Nato
Keir Starmer flies out this week to a turbulent Washington DC for a Nato summit aiming to emphasise the UK’s commitment to Ukraine at a time when the forthcoming US election puts the medium-term American position in question.
It is the new prime minister’s first international visit, four days after the election, and Starmer can expect to be feted by fellow leaders who are facing either, in the case of Joe Biden, an uncertain future or, in the case of France’s Emmanuel Macron or Germany’s Olaf Scholz, unpopularity at home.
Continue reading...Independent MPs won support by harnessing anger over Gaza. Their success reflects a wider sense the party is not listening
It’s always telling, which votes are considered valid and which aren’t. Which ones are “tactical”, which express “legitimate concerns” and which are merely “sectarian”. The four independent candidates who won in last week’s election by harnessing frustrations about Gaza are already being treated as a worrying sign of the emergence of sectarian politics. The implication is that it’s only Muslims who care about Gaza, and that they do so at the expense of their domestic concerns and loyalties. The truth is that Gaza’s resonance stretches across diverse demographics. It is both connected to and informed by other political grievances, and it has become the expression of something that our political climate has made it difficult to countenance – that voters can have principles they care about without this being an indication of extremism or irrelevance.
There has been a persistent tendency to treat frustrations about Gaza as crude, separatist and confined to a small but vocal minority. Despite poll after poll indicating that the majority of the public supports a ceasefire, politicians – in particular the leadership of the Labour party – continued to ignore the issue. As a result, four candidates campaigning centrally on Gaza took four seats, one of them Leicester South: thereby deposing Jonathan Ashworth, the erstwhile shadow paymaster general. Labour HQ can comfort itself that it’s only a small number in the grand scheme of things, that Gaza is (hopefully) not a permanent issue, and that in five years’ time it will no longer be relevant. That it’s only Muslims who are concentrated in high numbers in a small number of seats. But those four independent candidates won because non-Muslims voted for them too, and because many people didn’t vote at all.
Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist
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New offences, laws and reforms across policing and justice system will be among plans outlined in king’s speech
Drug dealers who exploit children will face punishment under a new law as part of a crackdown on crime planned by the new Labour government.
The king’s speech, due on 17 July, is expected to outline measures including a new offence of child criminal exploitation, Labour sources confirmed, among a series of new laws and reforms across the policing and justice system.
Continue reading...There was stunned silence at the far-right National Rally (RN) party headquarters as the results of France’s legislative elections came in. In stark opposition, ecstatic jubilation rocked Place de La République where leftwing New Popular Front (NFP) supporters had gathered. The leftist alliance unexpectedly took the top spot in the elections, ahead of the far right in a major upset that bars Marine Le Pen's National Rally from getting enough seats to form a government
Continue reading...The PM’s biographer spent the evening of 4 July with the Labour leader and his family. Here he describes the occasion – and examines the battles ahead for Starmer
For a couple of minutes after the exit poll on Thursday night, nobody said a thing. About a dozen of Keir Starmer’s closest and longest-serving aides assembled at the back of the living room, turned and hugged each other. Some sobbed as aching exhaustion mixed with relief and joy.
Even more powerful feelings were on display in front of them. Starmer and his wife, Vic, along with their two teenage children, were lined up on the sofa watching the television almost like they were recreating the opening of the cartoon series The Simpsons. They tried to show they were relaxed in this upmarket house Starmer had borrowed from a friend. Their son wore his Arsenal shirt and their daughter, who has told him she has no intention of moving to Downing Street, gave everyone an excuse to laugh for a moment by letting out a long “Ewww” when her dad’s face appeared on the screen.
Continue reading...On a non-stop road and rail trip, John Harris and John Domokos go from Rishi Sunak's well to-do seat in Yorkshire via County Durham and Lanarkshire to arrive amidst the new-town community spirit of Milton Keynes on election day. Everywhere people are holding places together: will a victorious Labour party soak up those vibes?
Continue reading...The right-wing court is engaged in a radical revolution to upend U.S. democracy.
The post The Supreme Court Wants a Dictator appeared first on The Intercept.
The conservative megadonor’s network is plowing money into the Republican primary to support Will Scharf, Trump’s personal attorney.
The post Missouri’s Attorney General Isn’t MAGA Enough for Leonard Leo appeared first on The Intercept.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve noticed that I have written a lot about AI and democracy, mostly with my co-author Nathan Sanders. I am pleased to announce that we’re writing a book on the topic.
This isn’t a book about deep fakes, or misinformation. This is a book about what happens when AI writes laws, adjudicates disputes, audits bureaucratic actions, assists in political strategy, and advises citizens on what candidates and issues to support. It’s a book that tries to look into what an AI-assisted democratic system might look like, and then at how to best ensure that we make use of the good parts while avoiding the bad parts...
Keir Starmer is now the UK prime minister after winning the 2024 general election. Watch all the key moments from the last 24 hours: excitement as the first results came in, top Tory concession speeches, Rishi Sunak's resignation at Buckingham Palace, right up to when Starmer walked into No 10 with his wife, Victoria
Continue reading...The American comedian and actor is uncommonly politically engaged and open about his personal life. Ask him a question ahead of his appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine
The weekend has started well for Rob Delaney, who is celebrating the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn to his Islington North constituency as an independent candidate. Delaney is a committed campaigner on multiple issues, using his considerable X platform to advocate for the likes of the former Labour leader, the Green party, the continued nationalisation of the NHS, improvements to social care, an end to the bombings in Gaza, the resignation of Joe Biden and the abolition of voter ID.
Lots to ask him about there, but there’s also his own work to consider, not least the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, in which he reprises his role as Peter Wisdom, a regular guy encumbered by superpowers who joins Deadpool’s gang of mercenaries.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer has said the 'sunlight of hope' is bathing Britain again after Labour won a landslide UK election victory to bring a crushing end to 14 years of Conservative rule. Here's how his victorious night unfolded
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look ahead to the first week of the new Labour government. Plus, Pippa is going to be in Washington with Keir Starmer on his first foreign trip as prime minister
Continue reading...Keir Starmer vowed to put the country before his party as he appointed his cabinet and toured the four countries of the UK. Jonathan Freedland reports on what we have learned from the new prime minister’s first days in office
Keir Starmer wasted no time in appointing a cabinet with few surprises as he set about drawing clear lines between his new government and the outgoing one. He said he was determined to “end the era of noisy performance. Tread more lightly on your lives. And unite our country.”
As the columnist Jonathan Freedland tells Helen Pidd, his victory with a huge majority gives him a mandate for change but should not be read as a huge surge of enthusiasm for the Labour party. That must now be earned by effective administration and a focus on competence.
Continue reading...Hollywood’s great survivor discusses his band, politics, family, embracing change and learning selflessness; as pornography use soars, we meet the men who feel their behaviour is moving from a compulsion to an addiction; and, last week, a job advert emerged for a private tutor to an architecture student with potential earnings of more than £2m. One man who has worked with wealthy families describes what it takes.
Continue reading...No obvious candidate to replace Attal after leftwing NFP alliance becomes biggest force in French parliament but fails to win outright majority
“Deadlock” is the most likely outcome of the elections, with no “quick solution” likely in the coming days, according to economist and international law professor Armin Steinbach of HEC Paris business school. He says:
France has no political culture of making coalitions and compromises, like Germany or Italy. That is why it feels like a crisis for the French.
Much depends on whether the NFP will stay united and not break up into old conflicts.
This would be very unpopular and may trigger protests because he [Macron] clearly lost the election.
With his self-confidence he will probably stay on as president until 2027. In other countries, the head of state would resign after such a defeat. With this defeat, he lacks the legitimacy to appoint a new government.
Continue reading...President seeks to ensure stability during transition after green-left alliance’s surprise electoral win
Emmanuel Macron has asked Gabriel Attal to stay on temporarily as French prime minister to maintain stability after a snap general election left France facing a hung parliament and fraught negotiations to form a new government.
The president called the ballot last month after a humiliating defeat to the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen in European parliamentary elections, but on Sunday it was a green-left alliance that emerged as the surprise winner.
Continue reading...Tactical voting kept the far right from election victory – but with gridlock in parliament the future is unclear
France’s snap elections have produced the most fragmented parliament since Charles de Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic. The two-round majority electoral system was designed to avoid political instability and contain the extremes. The system failed to achieve the first, with a new hung parliament divided into three comparable groups that will keep any government that is formed under constant threat of no-confidence votes. It only partially succeeded on the second; stopping the far-right National Rally (RN) from taking power, but not preventing its exponential growth in parliamentary seats from eight to more than 120 between 2017 and 2024.
Rym Momtaz is a consultant research fellow for European foreign policy and security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
Continue reading...Indigenous Kanak Emmanuel Tjibaou becomes first pro-independence candidate to win seat in nearly four decades
New Caledonia has elected a pro-independence Indigenous Kanak candidate to France’s parliament for the first time in decades, in a move seen as a setback to French loyalists in the territory that has been gripped by unrest.
Over the weekend, voters in the French Pacific territory cast their ballots for their representatives in two seats in France’s national parliament. Emmanuel Tjibaou won out over a loyalist candidate in the second round of voting, while rightwing candidate and French loyalist Nicolas Metzdorf won New Caledonia’s second parliamentary seat.
Continue reading...As Labour takes power for the first time in 14 years, the Southall-raised novelist Jacqueline Crooks reflects on a more isolated and expensive city
As Labour takes power for the first time in 14 years, the Guardian has asked three writers to describe how their home towns changed under Conservative rule – and the challenges now facing Keir Starmer. Here, Jacqueline Crooks describes what has happened to London.
I grew up in Southall in the 70s and 80s not far from where I landed with my mother when we emigrated from Jamaica in the 1960s. I live in Camberwell now. As an author and the founder of a consultancy working with community groups across London, my work brings me face to face with people grappling with socioeconomic changes across the city.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Letter sent to No 10 calls for laws to be repealed, safe routes to UK and end to ‘perma-backlog’ of applicants
Hundreds of refugee and human rights organisations have written to Keir Starmer with a blueprint for asylum policy which urges him to change course from the policies of the previous government.
The letter, which includes signatories from 300 civil society organisations along with 534 individuals working with migrants, says the existing policy is “fundamentally broken”.
Continue reading...Stephen Fry and other celebrities join unions and activists in calling on PM to launch review of water ownership
Trade unions, celebrities and river activists are calling on the new UK government to halt attempts by the water industry to raise customer bills in England and Wales by up to 91% and immediately start a root-and-branch review of water ownership.
The author Michael Rosen and comedians Nish Kumar and Stephen Fry joined campaigners from Greenpeace, Surfers Against Sewage, River Action, the Rivers Trust and activists across the country in signing a letter to Keir Starmer urging him to step in, days before the regulator Ofwat is to announce whether it will approve huge increases in customer bills across England and Wales.
Continue reading...In 2021, dozens of Tamils were fleeing Sri Lanka for Canada when their boat sprang a leak. They were taken to Diego Garcia by the British navy. Three years later, they remain there in desperate, dangerous limbo
It was 10 days into the journey when the boat sprang a leak. Dozens of men, women and children were crowded on to a fishing boat, all Tamils fleeing persecution in their home country, Sri Lanka. They had hoped to reach sanctuary in Canada.
Instead, on 3 October 2021, as their vessel began to sink, they were spotted and rescued by British navy ships, then taken to the secretive US-UK military base on the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Continue reading...Manchester City are claiming the Premier League has treated them unfairly in assessing their commercial income by relying on the analysis of a data company that also works for their rivals. The Guardian has learned the league’s scrutiny of the fair market value of City’s deals was undertaken by Nielsen Sports, a global data and media valuation firm that has contracts with several top-flight clubs.
City are understood to have raised the Premier League’s use of Nielsen in their legal battle over associated party transactions (APT), in which clubs strike sponsorship or revenue deals with businesses linked to their owners, which was heard in private last month. A decision on the landmark case is expected soon, although it is unclear when it will be made public.
Continue reading...New foreign secretary has wasted no time in visiting some of his European counterparts to strike a new tone
It felt like a deeply symbolic, even cathartic, moment on Saturday lunchtime as, on take-off from Stansted, the pilot carrying the new foreign secretary, David Lammy, banked the government plane with the union jack livery sharply leftwards across the sodden and half-occluded fields of Essex and towards Europe.
For the first of what are likely to be innumerable overseas trips, Lammy had chosen Destination Europe, and Operation Reset. It was intended quite literally to be a flying start as he hurtled from his first cabinet meeting down the M11 and on to a flight to Berlin, Stockholm and Bydgoszcz, close to the pastoral family home of the Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
Continue reading...Exclusive: UK government appears unlikely to go ahead with legal bid, while Keir Starmer has spoken with Israeli PM over Gaza ceasefire
The new Labour government is expected to drop a bid to delay the international criminal court (ICC) reaching a decision on whether to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The development came as Keir Starmer, the new UK prime minister, told the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, that he believed the Palestinians had an undeniable right to a Palestinian state. Starmer spoke to Abbas on Sunday about the “ongoing suffering and devastating loss of life” in Gaza.
Continue reading...The journalist’s sickening account of how generations of Kennedys casually abused the women around them with impunity is a timely reminder of the dangers posed by damaged men who crave power
“Ask not,” said President Kennedy as he rallied young Americans to volunteer for national service in his inaugural address, “what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy had a stricter rule for the women in his life, as journalist Maureen Callahan reveals in her lacerating exposé: asking nothing in return, they were expected to do what their commander-in-chief required, which meant supplying him with sex whenever and wherever he fancied.
As a senator, JFK tried out his priapic power by impregnating a 15-year-old babysitter and positioning an aide beneath his desk to fellate him while he multitasked in his office. As president, he ushered White House secretaries upstairs after work for brief, brusque sessions of copulation and rewarded them with a post-coital snack of cheese puffs; at one lunchtime frolic in the basement swimming pool he instructed a young woman to orally relieve the tensions of a male crony and looked on in approval as she obeyed. His wife, Jackie, whom he infected with a smattering of venereal ailments, lamented that his assassination deprived her of the chance to vent her rage at him. Nevertheless, she embraced his naked body before it was placed in a casket at the Dallas hospital, bestowing a final, perhaps frosty kiss on his penis.
Continue reading...His belief in reading as the foundation of happiness ensures that young readers could not have a better advocate
The world’s most overrated book, according to the UK’s newly anointed children’s laureate, is William Golding’s dystopian Lord of the Flies. It is “an enjoyable romp that people have taken as a revelation about human nature, which could not be more wrong”, wrote Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
This opinion might sum up the aura of sunny optimism that surrounds one of the country’s most versatile and successful writers, who made the comment on publication of his own most recent novel for children, Noah’s Gold. But to insist that humanity is not innately bad is not to deny that urgent work is needed to enable it to release its potential. And the project starts with reading, said Mr Cottrell-Boyce at his investiture in Leeds. It means addressing the invisible privilege and inequality which give some children a bright future that is unimaginable to others.
Continue reading...Readers respond to George Monbiot’s article calling for European rearmament to face Russia and a potential Donald Trump presidency
We desperately need a higher level of debate on Russian imperialism than that provided by George Monbiot (I never thought I’d argue for rearmament. But a looming Trump presidency changes everything, 4 July). I accept that there are reasoned arguments for supporting Ukraine’s anti-colonial resistance. But increasing Britain’s conventional arms in order to “support other European nations” and “perhaps to defend ourselves”? The evidence that Russia might attack or invade European countries is feeble.
Russia is in no position to take on Nato. According to the Royal United Services Institute, Russia faces “increasing material challenges” with maintaining its defence industry and military operations just in Ukraine, and is only doing so right now by avoiding large-scale troop offensives and by taking inferior tanks and degraded ammunition out of storage.
Continue reading...Despite the various factors that contributed to Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s loss, progressive strategists said there was one clear takeaway from the results.
The post Progressives on AIPAC’s Defeat of Bowman: “Now We Know How Much It Costs to Buy an Election” appeared first on The Intercept.
France may rediscover a taste for moderate social democracy – and find out that compromise is not a dirty word
France has dodged a bullet. We have no idea how the country will be governed in the coming months with a hung parliament without any natural majority. But at least we know who won’t be in government for now, and that is an immense relief for millions of voters.
If the first round of this snap parliamentary election was a referendum against liberal centrist President Emmanuel Macron, the second round was a referendum against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), just when power appeared within the grasp of the far-right party.
Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre
Continue reading...With parliament roughly split into three blocs, it could take weeks for MPs in a typically conflictual system to build coalitions
For more than 50 years, whenever France held a parliamentary election, voters would know the next morning which party would be in government and with what political agenda.
This time it is different. After Emmanuel Macron called a surprise snap election, and after the shortest campaign in modern history, French people delivered a spectacular rush of tactical voting to hold back a surge of far-right support. The resulting political landscape is divided and the outcome is complicated. Macron will take time to let the dust settle, his entourage has said.
Continue reading...More than 3,000 staff could get right to bargain collectively for rights and pay for the first time
Workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse have begun voting in a “historic” trade union recognition ballot that could allow UK employees of the online retailer to bargain collectively for rights and pay for the first time.
More than 3,000 workers at the West Midlands hub will take part in the vote, which closes on Saturday, in a long-running battle over workers’ rights between trade unions and the US company.
Continue reading...End to Redstone family’s involvement in media group, which also owns CBS, Nickelodeon and the UK’s Channel 5
Paramount Global, one of Hollywood’s best-known companies, has agreed to a merger with the independent film studio Skydance, in a deal that ends its links with the Redstone family.
The Paramount chair, Shari Redstone, whose father, Sumner, bought the company in 1994, has given the green light to the sale of the family’s controlling stake in the company behind classic films such as The Godfather, Titanic and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Continue reading...Masoud Pezeshkian’s surprise victory suggests a recalibration by the regime, but he will have limited room for manoeuvre
Even when the regime unexpectedly approved the candidacy of a moderate, many Iranians opted out of the presidential election, suspecting that if voting really changed anything, the authorities would probably have made it illegal. That was reflected in the first round’s record low turnout: just 39.9%.
Yet Masoud Pezeshkian made it to the second round and has now swept to victory, beating his hardline opponent, Saeed Jalili, by 16.3m votes to 13.5m votes. Though some boycotted the runoff too, turnout shot up to 49.8% as the public realised that the former heart surgeon and health minister could make it to the top.
Continue reading...Top Democrats used to go all in on protecting incumbents. That wasn’t the case for Bowman, who was defeated Tuesday.
The post Half-Hearted Efforts by Democratic Leaders Couldn’t Save Jamaal Bowman From AIPAC’s Attacks appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: Government regulations reveal Australia will provide ‘further capability support and funding’ to PNG but dollar figure is confidential
The Albanese government will strike a new funding deal with Papua New Guinea (PNG) to support asylum seekers after the country threatened to send them back to Australia unless a fresh agreement was signed.
In December 2021 the Morrison government struck a secret deal for about 75 refugees and asylum seekers to stay in Port Moresby after the regional processing centre at Manus Island was closed.
Continue reading...Karamba Diaby’s announcement he wants to spend time with family comes after bullet and arson attacks on his office
The first African-born MP to enter the German parliament has announced he will not be standing in next year’s federal election, weeks after he revealed the hate mail, including racist slurs and death threats, he and his staff had received.
Karamba Diaby, 62, who entered the Bundestag in 2013 in a moment hailed as historic by equality campaigners, said he wanted to spend more time with his family and to make room for younger politicians.
Continue reading...Man dies in Harris County; tornado watch in area covering 7m people as parts of eastern Texas are on flood watch
The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, is receiving criticism from some online for posting about a business meeting in South Korea as Texas deals with extreme weather from Hurricane Beryl, the Houston Chronicle reported.
From the Chronicle:
While those on the Texas Gulf Coast awoke to the effects of Hurricane Beryl on Monday morning, Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted about a business meeting he had on his trip through Asia.
“Spent a very productive afternoon in Seoul,” he posted. “Met with @kita_net and business leaders from across South Korea to discuss economic opportunities in Texas to grow and succeed.
“I also met with executives from SK Signet to thank them for their investments in Texas.”
The timing of the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, drew backlash from those in the storm.
Sally Bolton said heavy rain and variability affected turnout and logistics in first week of tournament
Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Club, has blamed the “terrible” weather on lower attendance figures for Wimbledon after nearly a month’s worth of rain fell on the tournament in its first week.
Attendance in the first week of the championships dropped to 282,955 visitors, almost 4% fewer than the 293,681 who came in the same period last year.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barney Ronay, Jonathan Liew and Jonathan Wilson to preview the semi-finals, including England v Netherlands
Follow Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today; England are somehow within one game of the Euro 2024 final. It’s Gareth Southgate’s third semi-final in four tournaments, but how do we assess this one and how, if at all, will his approach change from here?
Continue reading...Gardens could be part of the solution to the climate and biodiversity crisis. But what are we doing? Disappearing them beneath plastic and paving. By Kate Bradbury
Continue reading...Ruling, based on constitutional rights for natural features like Quito’s Machángara River, appealed by government
A ruling described by activists as “historic”, a court in Ecuador has ruled that pollution has violated the rights of a river that runs through the country’s capital, Quito.
The city government appealed the ruling, which is based on an article of Ecuador’s constitution that recognizes the rights of natural features like the Machángara River.
Continue reading...Iwao Hakamada, 88, who spent longer than anyone in the world awaiting execution, awaits murder retrial verdict
In the early hours of 30 June 1966 a fire swept through the home of the managing director of a miso maker in Shizuoka, central Japan. After the fire was put out, police found the bodies of the executive, his wife, and their two teenage children. They had all been stabbed to death.
Iwao Hakamada, who had worked for the firm as a live-in employee, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the family, setting fire to their home and stealing 200,000 yen (£973) in cash. Two years later he was found guilty of murder and arson and sentenced to hang. He maintained innocence throughout his 45 years awaiting execution – the longest any prisoner worldwide has spent on death row.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Robyn Cowen and John Brewin as England set up a semi-final with the Dutch in Dortmund
Follow Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today: England beat Switzerland on penalties and are through to the semi-finals of Euro 2024. What a shootout it was, five brilliant penalties for England and redemption for Bukayo Saka, whose brilliant equaliser took the game to extra time.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Jonathan Fadugba as Spain beat Germany in a thriller and France defeated Portugal on penalties in a less exciting game
Follow Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today: Spain do it in the last minute of extra-time, Mikel Merino’s brilliant header securing their spot in the semi-finals. Florian Wirtz had earned Germany a deserved late equaliser in normal time, but it wasn’t to be for the host nation.
Continue reading...Democratic leaders did not tell members to vote against an amendment to block the State Department from citing the Gaza Health Ministry’s statistics.
The post 62 Democrats Join 207 Republicans in Vote to Conceal Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.
Two died in detention facility and one in hospital, officials say, after protests over Mohamed Ould Ghazouani’s win
Three protesters have died in detention in Mauritania, the interior ministry has said, after mass arrests during protests in the opposition stronghold of Kaédi after the north-west African country’s presidential election outcome.
Officials said protests had turned violent in the southern town near the border with Senegal late on Monday, prompting security forces to confront demonstrators.
Continue reading...“The Democratic Party is more invested in trying to maintain control than it is in trying to win an election in November,” said one DNC member.
The post Can Anything Stop the Democratic National Convention From Being a Biden Coronation? appeared first on The Intercept.
The most dangerous precedent in the case against Assange is the idea that the U.S. government can decide how to define journalism.
The post Like Julian Assange, I Know How It Feels to Be Prosecuted for Acts of Journalism appeared first on The Intercept.
Sources close to the ousted prime minister say Khan also accuses Gen. Asim Munir for assassination attempt and cover-ups.
The post From Prison, Imran Khan Says Top Pakistani General Betrayed Secret Deal to Stay Out of Politics appeared first on The Intercept.
I filed a lawsuit to obtain the 6,700-page report with “excruciating detail” about the CIA’s abuses.
The post More Than 10 Years Later, the Senate Torture Report Is Still Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
In the third episode of a new series of Anywhere but Westminster, John Harris and John Domokos travel around the West Midlands, and find a fascinating political mixture: hesitant Labour voters, a new crop of independents focused on Palestine and local cuts – and, amid deep social problems, lots of people who think the election hardly matters. Here, it seems, is the reality that all those opinion polls get nowhere near
Continue reading...In the latest episode of Anywhere but Westminster, John Harris and John Domokos go to Woking, Guildford and Aldershot. Most of England's south-east used to be loyally Conservative - now, however, people in the "blue wall" are struggling, cuts are biting, and Toryism today is leaving younger voters behind.
Continue reading...In the first video of a new series of Anywhere but Westminster, John Harris and John Domokos revisit Stoke-on-Trent, the once-loyal Labour city that went totally Tory in 2019. Has 'levelling up' money made up for swingeing local cuts? Will Labour win again? And what do people working hard to turn the place around think about the future?
Continue reading...Trump’s racist remarks toward migrants and Palestinians were met with little more than “thank you, President Trump.”
The post Trump Used “Palestinian” as a Slur. Biden and Debate Moderators Didn’t Say a Word. appeared first on The Intercept.
The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc advances a key aim of the Project 2025 manifesto: “deconstruct the Administrative State.”
The post The Supreme Court’s Latest Power Grab: Regulatory Oversight appeared first on The Intercept.
Michelle Roach bought a used ice-cream van in order to bring cheap, affordable food to Liverpool's struggling communities. She wanted a vehicle with freezers built in for frozen food, and also something cheerful that was able to break down stigmas around food poverty. Using a '10 items for £5' model, Michelle sources discount food from supermarket surplus and donations.
The Guardian's Christopher Cherry follows Michelle and the van on its rounds, with the service struggling to meet overwhelming demand as the cost of living crisis deepens, and the UK's general election fast approaches.
Continue reading...Abu Zubaydah’s lawyer told a military review board that an unnamed country could admit the 22-year prisoner and surveil him for perpetuity.
The post Negotiations Are Underway for Guantánamo’s “Forever Prisoner” From Gaza to Be Released appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite deciding not to decide, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority laid out a legal road map for anti-abortion zealots.
The post Alito’s Dissent in Emergency Abortion Case Provides “Building Blocks” for More Extreme Bans appeared first on The Intercept.
A new documentary tells the stories of three Palestinian families as they have fought to survive nine months of genocide.
The post The Night That Won’t End in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Richard Rojem’s death sentence was twice overturned by appellate courts, but his conviction itself has never been fully revisited.
The post Oklahoma Prepares to Kill Another Man Who Says He’s Innocent appeared first on The Intercept.
When asked about Hind’s killing, the U.S. said that, according to Israel, the Palestine Red Crescent Society and U.N. have not helped investigate.
The post Red Crescent Says Israel Never Reached Out About Hind Rajab’s Death, Despite State Department Claim That Israel Said Otherwise appeared first on The Intercept.
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...Research suggests impact of pollution begins before conception by disrupting the development of the egg
Air pollution exposure can significantly decrease the chance of a live birth after IVF treatment, according to research that deepens concern about the health impacts of toxic air on fertility.
Pollutant exposure has previously been linked to increased miscarriage rates and preterm births, and microscopic soot particles have been shown to travel through the bloodstream into the ovaries and the placenta. The latest work suggests that the impact of pollution begins before conception by disrupting the development of eggs.
Continue reading...This year’s annual art photography festival leads visitors to spooky subterranean work by Sophie Calle, devastating images of oceans under threat and some gigantic AI vegetables
‘Are you sure?” a man ascending the stairs asks before I venture down into Arles’ ancient cryptoporticus. At the bottom awaits Sophie Calle’s exhibition Neither Give or Throw Away. It’s one of the headline shows of this year’s Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, but I understand what the concerned passerby means. It’s spooky down here in the subterranean chambers, where the semi-dark is permeated only by the stagnant scent of underground damp, and pools of sepia water collect on the dirt floor.
I’ve walked into a funeral for photographs – a final farewell for Calle’s ill-fated series The Blind, when the French artist interviewed people attending an institute for the blind in Paris in 1986. She interviewed 23 individuals of all ages, and the series is composed of Calle’s haunting closeup photo portraits of them, with collections of photographs of the things they describe in text extracts as beautiful – the sea, leopard fur, the colour white, hair, their homes, their mothers. It’s a poetic and, at times, harrowing rumination on vision, and how images are constructed in the mind. But in 2023, the works were damaged after a storm hit Calle’s storeroom, and they became infested with mould spores. So this – at least according to Calle – is to be their final resting place, along with some other works she wasn’t sure what to do with. But in case you’re thinking of taking anything – as the title implies – don’t bother. As Calle warns in an introductory statement: they’re toxic.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/waozen [link] [comments] |
Copernicus Climate Change Service says results a ‘large and continuing shift’ in the climate
The world has baked for 12 consecutive months in temperatures 1.5C (2.7F) greater than their average before the fossil fuel era, new data shows.
Temperatures between July 2023 and June 2024 were the highest on record, scientists found, creating a year-long stretch in which the Earth was 1.64C hotter than in preindustrial times.
Continue reading...
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.
New offences, laws and reforms across policing and justice system will be among plans outlined in king’s speech
Drug dealers who exploit children will face punishment under a new law as part of a crackdown on crime planned by the new Labour government.
The king’s speech, due on 17 July, is expected to outline measures including a new offence of child criminal exploitation, Labour sources confirmed, among a series of new laws and reforms across the policing and justice system.
Continue reading...Decades after Nancy Valverde was first arrested for wearing masculine clothing, the city of Los Angeles finally honored her with its first public monument to a lesbian
From the age of 17, Nancy Valverde was repeatedly arrested by the Los Angeles police department for wearing masculine clothing. By the time she died, at age 92, the city had named a square in her honor, its first public monument to a lesbian.
Valverde, a proud Chicana butch lesbian, had refused to conform to social norms, even in the 1940s and 50s, when the city’s racist and homophobic police force frequently arrested people under anti-“masquerading” laws that criminalized them for wearing clothes officers judged to be unsuited to their gender.
Continue reading...President signals irritation in TV appearance; Biden sends letter to congressional Democrats saying he has no plans to end campaign
Joe Biden is not alone in believing that all the talk of him dropping out is hurting the re-election efforts of Democrats nationwide.
Ritchie Torres, a Democratic congressman from New York, said much of the same earlier today:
Continue reading...Trump administration officials and campaign staff helped draft the controversial playbook and appear in its videos.
The post Trump’s Camp Says It Has Nothing to Do With Project 2025 Manifesto — Aside From Writing It appeared first on The Intercept.
Activists who protested Biden’s handling of the war during Democratic primaries say they will maintain pressure no matter the nominee.
The post Whether It’s Biden or Someone Else, Gaza Remains Top Priority for “Uncommitted” Voters appeared first on The Intercept.
As voters look for another option, alternative Democratic leaders poll similarly or even better than Biden — even without name recognition.
The post Every Democrat Other Than Joe Biden Is Unburdened by What Has Been appeared first on The Intercept.
I filed a lawsuit to obtain the 6,700-page report with “excruciating detail” about the CIA’s abuses.
The post More Than 10 Years Later, the Senate Torture Report Is Still Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
Richard Rojem’s death sentence was twice overturned by appellate courts, but his conviction itself has never been fully revisited.
The post Oklahoma Prepares to Kill Another Man Who Says He’s Innocent appeared first on The Intercept.
The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc advances a key aim of the Project 2025 manifesto: “deconstruct the Administrative State.”
The post The Supreme Court’s Latest Power Grab: Regulatory Oversight appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite deciding not to decide, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority laid out a legal road map for anti-abortion zealots.
The post Alito’s Dissent in Emergency Abortion Case Provides “Building Blocks” for More Extreme Bans appeared first on The Intercept.
Democratic leaders did not tell members to vote against an amendment to block the State Department from citing the Gaza Health Ministry’s statistics.
The post 62 Democrats Join 207 Republicans in Vote to Conceal Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite the various factors that contributed to Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s loss, progressive strategists said there was one clear takeaway from the results.
The post Progressives on AIPAC’s Defeat of Bowman: “Now We Know How Much It Costs to Buy an Election” appeared first on The Intercept.
Top Democrats used to go all in on protecting incumbents. That wasn’t the case for Bowman, who was defeated Tuesday.
The post Half-Hearted Efforts by Democratic Leaders Couldn’t Save Jamaal Bowman From AIPAC’s Attacks appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
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