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The ‘Largest Illicit Online Marketplace’ Ever Is Growing at an Alarming Rate, Report Says
Tue, 14 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0000
Huione Guarantee, a gray market researchers believe is central to the online scam ecosystem, now includes a messaging app, stablecoin, and crypto exchange—while facilitating $24 billion in transactions.
Match ID: 0 Score: 30.00 source: www.wired.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 20.00 cryptocurrenc(y|ies), 10.00 bitcoin(|s)
Judge Ends One Man’s 11-Year Quest to Recover $765 Million in Bitcoin by Digging Up a Landfill
Mon, 13 Jan 2025 20:25:06 +0000
A UK judge ruled against James Howells, who has been trying to get a hard drive with private keys to a cryptocurrency fortune out of a landfill for over a decade.
Match ID: 1 Score: 30.00 source: www.wired.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 20.00 cryptocurrenc(y|ies), 10.00 bitcoin(|s)
Rich Men Rule the World
Mon, 13 Jan 2025 11:00:00 +0000
The holders of the vast majority of the world’s wealth? Men. So many men—from Trump and Musk and Putin to every CEO, crypto schmo, and solar bro in between.
Match ID: 2 Score: 20.00 source: www.wired.com age: 1 day
qualifiers: 20.00 cryptocurrenc(y|ies)
The Government Wants to Protect Robux From Hackers
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 14:00:00 +0000
In a new proposal issued Friday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to regulate virtual currencies used in Roblox and other video games like US dollars.
Match ID: 3 Score: 14.29 source: www.wired.com age: 4 days
qualifiers: 14.29 cryptocurrenc(y|ies)
Congress Loves Crypto. So Why Do So Few Members Buy It?
Wed, 08 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0000
And why those that do aren’t just trading in meme coins for the lulz.
The post Congress Loves Crypto. So Why Do So Few Members Buy It? appeared first on The Intercept.
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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
Come for wonderful walks on Box Hill and the Happy Valley trail, stay for cosy inns, great food and a sense of discovery
If Surrey were a restaurant, it would be a drive-thru. Sandwiched between London and England’s south coast, famous for its wealthy commuter-belt towns and the great thick scar of the M25, it’s a place people whip through on their way to somewhere else. I’ve spent several decades doing it; back and forth between Sussex and London, occasionally meeting friends in Guildford or Dorking, but never really exploring any further.
My husband and I had our first date in a pub in the Surrey Hills (an AONB since 1958, the second in the country) – the lovely Fox Revived at Norwood Hill – and I remember thinking at the time, “Oh, this is quite pretty.” A decade later, sitting in the same pub, and slightly less distracted by first-date nerves, I decided it was somewhere I really should get to know.
Continue reading...It’s free, it’s sensible and it makes workers happy. The government needs to accept that this is the new normal
You would be hard-pressed to find a single positive side-effect of the pandemic. If there is one, it is the growing numbers of people who now work from home. Half of workers work from home for at least part of the week now, and many workplaces have thrived because of it. Zoom meetings save time and wasteful travel, employers are free to hire talent from anywhere in the country, and employees have escaped escalating property prices in London and steep commuting costs. Working from home (WFH) has been a boon for the climate, too; according to one US study, two to four days of remote working a week lowers carbon emissions by between 11% and 29%.
Yet WFH is now coming under accelerating attack. JP Morgan will now require employees to spend five days a week in the office and other big companies may soon follow suit. A perverse strain of rightwing thought opposes almost any social progress that improves other people’s lives. This Scrooge-like instinct yearns to make work as grindingly hard and low-paid as possible. Recall Jacob Rees-Mogg pacing civil service offices like the Child Catcher, leaving “sorry you were out when I visited” notes on employees’ desks in 2022. The same age-old sentiment prompted the CBI chair, Rupert Soames, to savage Labour’s flagship anti-gig economy employment rights bill on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, warning that the new bill would force businesses to let people go.
Continue reading...Wang Xing was abducted in Thailand by increasingly bold crime gangs operating in Myanmar, putting an entire tourism industry at risk
Wang Xing thought he was travelling to a casting call with film producers in Thailand.
The 22-year-old Chinese actor, also known by his stage name Xing Xing, had been communicating on WeChat with people he believed were Chinese employees of a major Thai entertainment firm, according to Thai police. One of them greeted him at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport and led him through security, before telling him that the plan – to stay at a nearby hotel – had changed. Instead they drove 500km to Mae Sot in western Thailand.
Continue reading...As national populist parties gain ground in the west, progressives must put social and climate priorities ahead of market interests
Different year, same direction of travel. The likely formation of the first far-right-led government in Austria’s postwar history, after the breakdown this month of coalition talks between mainstream parties, is the latest confirmation of the illiberal drift in western democracies. Only a few years ago, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary remained a troublesome outlier in the European Union. These days, variations on Mr Orbán’s ethno-nationalist approach to 21st-century politics are flourishing across the continent. And in a week’s time, Donald Trump will be back in the White House.
In an era of stagnating living standards and rising inequality, the growing appeal of national populism should not come as a surprise. The targeting of immigration, “liberal elites” and globalisation has channelled resentments felt in deindustrialised regions, where good jobs and a sense of identity were lost as capital and investment moved elsewhere. The migration of the less well-off towards parties of the far right is a symptom of times in which trust in mainstream politics has collapsed.
Continue reading...A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Alfred Bourgeois’s daughter is convinced of his innocence. In the four years since his execution, she has waged a sometimes-lonely battle to prove it.
The post She Lost Her Dad to Trump’s Killing Spree. Now She Wants Biden to Clear His Name. appeared first on The Intercept.
“The consistent defunding of other city programs in order to give the LAPD billions a year has consequences,” said a local activist.
The post LA Budgeted Money For Cop Jobs While Cutting Fire Department Positions. Now the City Is Burning. appeared first on The Intercept.
A new Syria is emerging from the shadow of the brutal Assad regime. The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan and Ayman Abu Ramouz meet people celebrating their hard-won freedom, but also those grappling with a traumatic past. The pair travel to the notorious Sednaya prison, where they meet a former prisoner who was liberated by his family just days before
Resistance was not a choice’: how Syria’s unlikely rebel alliance took Aleppo
'The Syrian regime hit us with chemical weapons: only now can we speak out' – video
Syria’s disappeared: one woman’s search for her missing father
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...Pete Hegseth faces potentially combative confirmation hearing as senators question whether former Fox News host is fit to lead US military
Donald Trump will come in to power with a “trifecta” of governmental control after his Republican party won the House of Representatives, the Senate and the presidency in the 2024 US election. It will give Trump significant power to enact his agenda on the economy, immigration and other major issues.
House Democrats are said to be prioritising taking control of Congress in 2026 over everything else, with Axios reporting that the House Democrats’ two largest ideological factions – the Progressive Caucus and the centre-left New Democrat Coalition – are trying to smooth over any disagreements ahead of Trump returning to the White House on 20 January. The two factions contain roughly 100 House Democrats. Who was to blame for the loss in the presidential election and the Biden administration’s policy towards Israel during its war on Gaza are among the topics of disagreement between some House Democrats.
Continue reading...Bitter battle expected at Senate hearing but Republicans appear confident Pete Hegseth will be confirmed
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s controversial pick for US secretary of defense, will testify at a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, as the military veteran and Fox News host faces intense scrutiny over allegations of sexual assault, excessive alcohol use and financial mismanagement.
The Senate armed services committee will convene at 9.30am ET on Tuesday to question Hegseth, who faces an uncertain path to confirmation. Hegseth can only afford to lose the votes of three Senate Republicans, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination, and several Republican members have voiced concerns about Hegseth’s personal history and his views on women in the military.
Continue reading...The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.
The post The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers appeared first on The Intercept.
Fascism in power in the 1930s brought the world to genocidal war. But memories have faded, as has the stigma attached to the far-right – and that’s dangerous
Democracy is dying across the globe. This may sound alarmist and generate a follow-up question: what does that actually mean? Will there be no elections? Will the opposition be criminalised? If these are the metrics, then Vladimir Putin’s Russia remains a democracy. Six political parties are represented in the State Duma, its federal parliament, and there are more than 20 registered political parties. Well, as you probably understand, Russia is no democracy: indeed, this is a nation veering past authoritarianism and into totalitarianism, with more Russians being persecuted for political activity than since the days of Joseph Stalin.
Faith in democracy is unquestionably on the decline. A new study finds that a fifth of Britons under 45 believe that the best system for running a country effectively is “a strong leader who doesn’t have to bother with elections” compared with 8% of their older counterparts. That mirrors other findings across the world. A study by Cambridge researchers in 2020 examined attitudes in 160 countries and found that younger generations “have become steadily more disillusioned with democracy”. And according to the Pew Research Center, nearly two-thirds of citizens in 12 high-income nations were dissatisfied with democracy in 2024, up from just under half in 2017.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Bills crafted to stop what is widely viewed a loophole as abortion pills have helped mitigate bans dotting the US
As the Texas legislature convenes in Austin on Tuesday for the first day of its 2025 session, a number of anti-abortion bills have already been filed, largely aimed at halting the flow of abortion pills into the state.
The bills were crafted to stop what is widely viewed as a loophole in abortion bans across the country, as pills have helped mitigate the impact of the bans now dotting the US. Texas Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion advocacy group, has had a hand in drafting a number of the bills, and is encouraging men to sue people who have supported their partners’ abortions.
Continue reading...Report by Jack Smith says evidence ‘was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction’ had Trump not won re-election in 2024
Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 but for his victory in last year’s US presidential election, according to the special counsel who investigated him.
Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released by the justice department early on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.
The post Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better. appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
Reeves says that Tories have no policies and says she is dealing with ‘14 years of stagnant economic growth’
Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, has told MPs that the future of Greenland is a matter for the people who live there. And he said that he made this clear in a meeting with Greenland’s foreign minister.
But he did not explicitly criticise Donald Trump for threatening to use military force to seize the island for the US.
Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and the future of their constitutional arrangements is a matter for the people and government of Greenland and indeed the Kingdom of Denmark. It would be wrong to speculate on any policy decisions the incoming administration of President-elect Trump may make.
Those are messages I delivered in a meeting with the Greenlandic foreign minister yesterday, but there are rightly important concerns about security in the Arctic, which is why I was proud to be one of the first British ministers in 10 years to attend the Arctic Circle Assembly and meet partners to discuss these issues just a few months ago.
Continue reading...Public investment in technology is the right move. But ministers must not become boosters for an industry that causes harm as well as good
Digital technology companies have reshaped our world and will continue doing so. Sir Keir Starmer knows his government must seek a role in shaping this new order – and avoid ceding all control to the US and China. According to official estimates, the UK is the third-largest AI market. Its universities are important incubators of talent. Google DeepMind, two of whose scientists won a Nobel chemistry prize last year, was a British company until Google bought it in 2014. But the world’s two largest economies, and particularly the US corporations that dominate our online lives, are a long way ahead. The danger for the rest of the world is being swept along in an AI wave over which it has little control.
Expanding Britain’s publicly owned computing resource – a national asset known as sovereign compute capacity – is a necessary step toward securing technological independence. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is right to warn of a coming battle to ensure democratic control of computing. Countering private-sector dominance with new public investment is part of that. Plans to boost the AI industry, beginning with a new growth zone in Oxfordshire, make sense as part of a 21st-century industrial strategy.
Continue reading...And why those that do aren’t just trading in meme coins for the lulz.
The post Congress Loves Crypto. So Why Do So Few Members Buy It? appeared first on The Intercept.
Public defenders and legal professionals said they never see the leniency offered to Trump given to other defendants.
The post A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Only Trump Gets Convicted of 34 Felonies and Receives No Punishment appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...National reconstruction fund to buy stake in Arafura Rare Earth’s planned facility 135km north of Alice Springs
The federal government will pour another $200m into the Gina Rinehart-backed Arafura Rare Earths, taking the total volume of taxpayer support for the critical minerals venture beyond $1bn.
The industry and science minister, Ed Husic, will on Wednesday announce that the commonwealth’s national reconstruction fund will take an equity stake in Arafura’s planned mining and processing facility 135km north of Alice Springs.
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Continue reading...Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
US announces $65m bounty for arrest of president, who has led country since 2013 and failed to prove he won recent vote
Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, has been accused of a shameless and fraudulent power-grab after swearing himself in for a third term, despite domestic outrage and a chorus of international condemnation at his alleged theft of last year’s election.
“This is a great victory for Venezuelan democracy,” the 62-year-old autocrat boasted during a sparsely attended oath-taking ceremony in Caracas that was boycotted by the leaders of democratic nations.
Continue reading...Tory leader says new inquiry should look at background of perpetrators as well as why some in authority did not act
Kemi Badenoch has said “peasants” from “sub-communities” in some countries are the ones in grooming and rape gangs, and that a national inquiry would seek to identify those in authority who did not act.
“There are some places where, when people behave in that way, a mob turns up and burns their homes down, and then they know that they can’t do that sort of thing,” the Conservative leader told GB News.
Continue reading...As national populist parties gain ground in the west, progressives must put social and climate priorities ahead of market interests
Different year, same direction of travel. The likely formation of the first far-right-led government in Austria’s postwar history, after the breakdown this month of coalition talks between mainstream parties, is the latest confirmation of the illiberal drift in western democracies. Only a few years ago, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary remained a troublesome outlier in the European Union. These days, variations on Mr Orbán’s ethno-nationalist approach to 21st-century politics are flourishing across the continent. And in a week’s time, Donald Trump will be back in the White House.
In an era of stagnating living standards and rising inequality, the growing appeal of national populism should not come as a surprise. The targeting of immigration, “liberal elites” and globalisation has channelled resentments felt in deindustrialised regions, where good jobs and a sense of identity were lost as capital and investment moved elsewhere. The migration of the less well-off towards parties of the far right is a symptom of times in which trust in mainstream politics has collapsed.
Continue reading...Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look at just how serious warnings about the UK’s financial position really are, and what this means for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. Plus, why the government is hoping AI could be the magic bullet that revives our economy
Click here to vote for Politics Weekly UK in the iNHouse Political Podcast Awards’ people’s choice category.
Continue reading...The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
The latest actions of Musk and Zuckerberg are a sign of things to come, but the EU already has the power to give people back control
Elon Musk’s latest attempts at direct political interference illustrate the grave danger that Europe is facing. He has suggested overthrowing the UK government, asking if “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”. Three days after that, he hosted Germany’s far-right candidate for chancellor in forthcoming federal elections in a livestream discussion on the social media platform X, which he owns. It is likely that his rigging of X’s algorithm helped push both into millions of people’s feeds. It also emerged last week that Musk’s SpaceX may start providing a major part of Italy’s defence network.
Europe’s leaders should view this conduct as a sign of things to come. We foolishly allowed control of digital media and infrastructure to concentrate in the hands of a few US tech oligarchs. Now US big tech is Donald Trump’s tool.
Johnny Ryan is director of Enforce, a unit of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties
Continue reading...As the TikTok ban goes up before the Supreme Court on Friday, TikTok creator Pearlmania500, Shawn Musgrave, and Jessica Washington discuss what’s at stake.
The post TikTok SCOTUS Battle appeared first on The Intercept.
Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
In report David Weiss sharply criticizes Joe Biden for maligning justice department when pardoning his son
The criminal charges against Hunter Biden “were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics”, the prosecutor who led the inquiries said in a report that sharply criticized Joe Biden for having maligned the US justice department when the president pardoned his son.
“Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations,” said Monday’s report from special counsel David Weiss, whose team filed gun and tax charges against the younger Biden that resulted in felony convictions that were subsequently wiped away by a presidential pardon from his father.
Continue reading...The self-styled misogynist has announced his intention to enter UK politics - and unfortunately, when it comes to influence, we can’t just laugh him off
‘The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever becoming one,” the comedian Billy Connolly once said. Never has this been truer. There was a time when unapologetic narcissists and sociopaths thrived on reality TV. Now they all seem to be pivoting to podcasts and politics.
The latest would-be politico is Andrew Tate, the British American self-styled misogynist and influencer who was humiliated by Greta Thunberg. He is suddenly very interested in becoming prime minister of Britain – which I suppose makes sense when you look at the legal mess he’s in. Tate and his brother, Tristan, are being investigated by Romanian authorities for alleged crimes including forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. As the convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser Donald Trump has demonstrated, you can get away with absolutely anything as long as you’re powerful enough. There is no better get-out-of-jail-free card than being the guy in charge of the jails.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Natural England furious that years of work has been undone, with minister urged to push policy through
Downing Street has blocked plans to release wild beavers in England because officials view it as a “Tory legacy”, the Guardian can reveal.
Natural England, the government’s nature watchdog, has drawn up a plan for reintroductions of the rodent, which until about 20 years ago had been extinct in Britain for 400 years, having been hunted for their fur, meat and scent oil. Beavers create useful habitats for wildlife and reduce flooding by breaking up waterways, slowing water flow, and creating still pools.
Continue reading...Angela Rayner amends renters’ rights bill to limit rent that can be charged in advance, as MPs prepare to debate bill
Landlords in England would be banned from charging more than a month’s rent upfront under changes MPs are due to vote on on Tuesday.
Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, has amended her renters’ rights bill to limit the amount of money property owners can demand before a tenant moves in, as part of a package of new protections for those in rented accommodation.
Continue reading...As legislation returns to the Commons, hopes rise of an end to no-fault evictions in England, but some fear loopholes
When Nicola Jalland, 62, was served with a section 21 no-fault eviction in March 2022 – which means a landlord can oust a tenant for no reason – she was upset to leave the property she had lived in for 11 years. She had made the home a sanctuary, with a garden full of flowers.
But when Jalland got her second no-fault eviction in two years in November 2023, she was angry. “It was an incredible feeling of imbalance of power,” she says. “The second time it happened, I literally felt worthless.”
Continue reading...MP accused of misusing her position to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt Sheikh Hasina
Authorities in Bangladesh have filed a criminal case against the UK Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, accusing her of misusing her position as an MP to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Siddiq has faced mounting calls to resign over her links to Hasina, who was toppled in August after mass protests across Bangladesh and is facing charges of corruption and crimes against humanity.
Continue reading...For years I’ve overlooked the many good reasons for leaving the social media platform. But now there is no other choice
Jaron Lanier was chief scientist of the engineering office of Internet2 back in the day, which is to say, definitely one of the godfathers of the internet. In 2018, he set out the reasons to get rid of your social media in his book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. When I read it, I shorthanded it to: “Facebook. I really should just close down my Facebook account.” There was no way back then I would have got rid of Twitter. It was where I went to complain about Brexit, and that’s all I did. Also, seven years ago, Twitter wasn’t just porn and chatbots.
Regarding Facebook, though, all Lanier’s propositions were laid out in a buffet: in politics, it creates a bias “not towards the left or right, but downwards”. Any position that could be less evidenced, more stupid, would be the one that would fly.
Continue reading...High court had ruled government was not meeting legal duty to clean up Costa Beck near Pickering
The UK environment secretary, Steve Reed, is pursuing legal action against a group of anglers who are trying to restore the ecosystem of a river.
Lawyers for Reed will argue on Tuesday in the court of appeal that cleaning up individual rivers and streams devastated by pollution is administratively unworkable.
Continue reading...It’s free, it’s sensible and it makes workers happy. The government needs to accept that this is the new normal
You would be hard-pressed to find a single positive side-effect of the pandemic. If there is one, it is the growing numbers of people who now work from home. Half of workers work from home for at least part of the week now, and many workplaces have thrived because of it. Zoom meetings save time and wasteful travel, employers are free to hire talent from anywhere in the country, and employees have escaped escalating property prices in London and steep commuting costs. Working from home (WFH) has been a boon for the climate, too; according to one US study, two to four days of remote working a week lowers carbon emissions by between 11% and 29%.
Yet WFH is now coming under accelerating attack. JP Morgan will now require employees to spend five days a week in the office and other big companies may soon follow suit. A perverse strain of rightwing thought opposes almost any social progress that improves other people’s lives. This Scrooge-like instinct yearns to make work as grindingly hard and low-paid as possible. Recall Jacob Rees-Mogg pacing civil service offices like the Child Catcher, leaving “sorry you were out when I visited” notes on employees’ desks in 2022. The same age-old sentiment prompted the CBI chair, Rupert Soames, to savage Labour’s flagship anti-gig economy employment rights bill on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, warning that the new bill would force businesses to let people go.
Continue reading...His meal-replacement business is worth hundreds of millions, but Collier’s rise to the top has been far from easy. He discusses bodybuilding, bullies and why nutrition is more polarising than politics
When James Collier got married to Melanie nearly 10 years ago, his dad paid for the honeymoon. Collier’s businesses weren’t exactly booming, but he had a good feeling about a new venture. “I was on the beach checking my emails, and I said to Mel: ‘I think this is going to do all right, this one.’ And that was an underestimation.”
It certainly was. Sales of Huel, the meal-replacement brand Collier launched in 2015, topped £214m last year. Pre-tax profits tripled to £13.8m. Huel – a product mainly made of oats, pea protein and flaxseeds, which comes in powder, drink, snack bar and meal-pot forms – is sold in 25,000 shops worldwide, including 70% of UK supermarkets. The company was most recently valued at £440m, but has since had investment from Morgan Stanley. Just how rich is Collier now?
Continue reading...Starmer is banking on AI to save him. It’s not as if other technologies have had unforeseen consequences, is it?
“We are at a pivotal moment in history. AI is not just a tool for the future, it is already reshaping our lives in profound ways.” No kidding. That’s just a couple of sentences out of an entire speech written by ChatGPT when it was asked to come up with one on AI in the style of Keir Starmer.
Much of it wasn’t a million miles away. OK, AI hasn’t yet learned Starmer’s particular gift with language. The unfortunate persistent note of regret. As if he knows he can’t help making even the most interesting subjects just a wee bit dull. What should be engaging too frequently dies on the tongue. It’s his cross to bear. Integrity he can do with ease. Enthusiasm takes a little longer.
Continue reading...Responding to an article on increased input from private healthcare, John Newman calls for grants for training medical personnel, Stephen Farrington-Bell for greater productivity and Bernadette Roden for more care at home
I cannot have been the only person staggered by the figure – £16bn – that the government is proposing to pay to the private sector in its attempts to reduce waiting lists for planned care (Private sector’s role in cutting NHS waiting lists in England to rise by 20%, 6 January).
Your report and the response to the proposal from Keep Our NHS Public raise the issues that everyone should be concerned about, ie how the private sector proposes to staff their treatment facilities, and what the effects on an already demoralised and stretched NHS will be.
Continue reading...Dr Itziar Castelló says the move raises concerns about the quality of deliberation on its platforms and will ultimately harm democracy. Tony Cima reflects on the cloak of anonymity. Plus a letter from Phil Goddard
Meta’s move to scrap factcheckers is not about “complexity”, as it says (Report, 8 January), but to support Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s agenda.
It is widely agreed that effective, fast and unbiased factchecking is essential for the proper functioning of social media platforms. Similarly, principles of free speech are foundational to fostering communication and public debate in a healthy democratic society. Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Meta is to follow X in introducing user-generated notes raises serious concerns.
Continue reading...Verdict of crimes against humanity for kidnap of mixed-race children could pave way for wider justice, activists say
A historic court ruling that found Belgium guilty of crimes against humanity during its colonial rule of central Africa has been hailed as a turning point that could pave the way for compensation and other forms of justice.
Belgium’s court of appeal ruled last month that the “systematic kidnapping” of mixed-race children from their African mothers in Belgian-ruled Congo, Rwanda and Burundi was a crime against humanity. The case was brought by five women who were removed from their Congolese mothers as small children between 1948 and 1953, and who now live in Belgium and France. Each was awarded €50,000 (£42,000) in damages.
Continue reading...Chancellor’s mission to Beijing weighted with greater expectations
Rachel Reeves hailed a new era of “respectful and consistent future relations with China” as pressure grew on the embattled chancellor to deliver on her government’s central promise to fire up UK economic growth.
After meeting China’s vice-premier, He Lifeng, in Beijing, Reeves said Britain’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy would be “frank and open on areas where we disagree”, while stressing it would be pragmatic in “finding opportunities for safe trade and investment”.
Continue reading...US president moves to shield roughly 230,000 Salvadorans and 600,000 Venezuelans against Trump administration
The Biden administration on Friday extended temporary humanitarian protections for about 230,000 Salvadorans and 600,000 Venezuelans living in the US, in an effort to shield those groups from an incoming Trump administration that has promised to deport them.
The decision in the dying days of Joe Biden’s presidency came after immigrant advocates and lawmakers urged the Department of Homeland Security to extend temporary protected status (TPS), designed to protect immigrants from being deported to countries that are engulfed in disaster or conflict.
Continue reading...Feed picky nippers with dips and chips made from veg, perhaps some crackers, cheese, eggs – anything with some colour to attract the eye
Where there are picky eaters, there needs to be a gameplan. For Alissa Timoshkina, author of Kapusta, that means slipping vegetables into an existing favourite, be that pasta, pancakes or muffins. “You can’t go wrong with a veg-rich pasta sauce or pasta salad with roast vegetables [courgette, peppers and tomatoes, say] and mini mozzarella balls,” she says. Meanwhile, courgette, pea and sweetcorn pancakes, and cheddar and courgette muffins are other firm favourites round at Timoshkina’s: “You could add a few chopped green olives as well.”
Failing that, she goes for colour: “Think something that would be appealing and exciting to the eye, and therefore likely to entice children to dig in.” Give them options and keep things customisable: “Offer a platter-style selection of fruit and veg, and pair it with cheese, a dip and crackers.” More practically, for Timoshkina that means a small cheese sandwich, crudités (carrots, celery, peppers, cucumber), hummus or guacamole, olives, nori sheets (“instead of crisps”), grapes, clementines and/or dried fruit. “If you have a bento-style box, that’s even better.”
Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Karlsruhe police say they have opened inquiry into ‘persons unknown on suspicion of incitement of racial hatred’
German police have launched an investigation after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party distributed flyers designed to resemble plane tickets for deportation that were addressed to “illegal immigrants” as part of an increasingly provocative campaign for next month’s general election.
People from immigrant communities in the south-western city of Karlsruhe found the flyers in their letterboxes, although it was not immediately clear if they had been directly targeted.
Continue reading...Australian government holds ‘grave concerns’ for welfare of Oscar Jenkins, a 32-year-old teacher from Melbourne
The Australian government is “making urgent inquiries” after reports of the death of an Australian citizen captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine.
Oscar Jenkins, a 32-year-old teacher from Melbourne, was serving alongside Ukraine’s armed forces when he was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers last year as a prisoner of war. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in military fatigues, speaking English and Ukrainian, confirming his name and nationality, and being asked if he was a mercenary.
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Continue reading...Council worker hospitalised after jumping from second storey of home as it collapsed on Penny Lane in McCrae south-east of Melbourne
A man whose house on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula collapsed down a cliff in a landslide on Tuesday morning, has said he is thankful nobody was killed in the incident.
The house on Penny Lane in McCrae collapsed shortly before 9am, injuring a council worker, who was hospitalised.
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Continue reading...Premier of most populous province says rhetoric clouds trade relationship worth hundreds of billions of dollars
The United States will “feel pain” if Donald Trump doesn’t back down from his threat to impose steep tariffs on its northern neighbour, the leader of Canada’s most populous province has warned.
After a tumultuous week that left Canadian leaders flailing for a coherent national response to Trump’s provocations – including the suggestion that the US would annex its closest ally – the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, told the Guardian: “We will never be for sale.”
Continue reading...Culture secretary says it should go ahead despite pressure for it to be cancelled over Taliban’s treatment of women
England should be allowed to play next month’s cricket match against Afghanistan, the culture and sport secretary has said, despite calls for a boycott over the Taliban government’s treatment of women.
Lisa Nandy backed a decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to allow the game to go ahead, saying on Friday that cancelling it would “deny sports fans the opportunity that they love”.
Continue reading...Edmundo González, widely believed to have won July election, gives address after autocrat sworn in for third term
The man widely believed to be the real victor of last year’s presidential election in Venezuela has accused Nicolás Maduro of staging a coup and “crowning himself dictator” after the South American autocrat claimed another six years in power.
Maduro, a former union leader who has governed since 2013, in increasingly authoritarian fashion, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite claims that he stole the election from the actual winner, the retired diplomat Edmundo González.
Continue reading...A job listing for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show offers $12 per hour — part of a long pattern of host-city residents getting the short shrift.
The post Everyone’s Making Millions But the Super Bowl Haltime Show Wants to Hire New Orleans Locals for $12 an Hour appeared first on The Intercept.
The Intercept found dozens of government websites exploited by spammers to redirect to porn. Here’s how this hack happened.
The post Government Sites Across the U.S. Are Awash in Hardcore Porn appeared first on The Intercept.
First of five hearings into martial law declaration lasts only minutes, while Yoon Suk Yeol remains holed up inside his presidential compound
The first hearing in the impeachment trial of South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, ended after just a few minutes on Tuesday as Yoon failed to appear at the constitutional court.
The court’s justices have about five months to decide whether to strip Yoon of his presidential duties over his short-lived declaration of martial law on 3 December or return him to office.
Continue reading...As wildfires continue to cause devastation in Los Angeles, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Albert van Dijk, professor of water science and management at the Australian National University, about how rising temperatures are causing rapid swings in extreme weather
Clips: CBS News, CBS Sunday Morning, King 5 Seattle
Climate crisis ‘wreaking havoc’ on Earth’s water cycle, report finds
Continue reading...Factchecker Jesse Stiller and technology journalist Chris Stokel-Walker explore why Mark Zuckerberg has announced dramatic changes to Meta’s social platforms, and what they will mean for their 3.3 billion users
When Mark Zuckerberg announced dramatic changes to Meta’s social platforms last week – including Facebook, Instagram and Threads – he admitted: “We’re going to catch less bad stuff.”
Zuckerberg said Meta would get rid of factcheckers, overhaul its content moderation and boost political content in users’ feeds – all 3.3 billion of them. He argued the company was doing it because the political winds had changed: the public no longer viewed these safeguards as a way of preventing the spread of misinformation, hate speech, or even real-world violence, but as censorship by other means.
Continue reading...Max Rushden, Jonathan Wilson, Jonathan Liew and Nedum Onuoha review all the action from the FA Cup third round
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today: Manchester United win on penalties at Arsenal. Altay Bayindir was the hero for the visitors, but Arsenal missed so many chances – are you ready for another conversation about whether they need a striker?
Continue reading...During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection had to protect it from fire, rodents – and hunger. By Simon Parkin
Continue reading...Alfred Bourgeois’s daughter is convinced of his innocence. In the four years since his execution, she has waged a sometimes-lonely battle to prove it.
The post She Lost Her Dad to Trump’s Killing Spree. Now She Wants Biden to Clear His Name. appeared first on The Intercept.
Anti-money laundering officials ask banks for information on UK minister and seven of her family members
Anti-money laundering officials in Bangladesh have demanded bank account details for Tulip Siddiq, the UK anti-corruption minister, in the latest escalation of the inquiries into her family’s financial interests.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), which investigates money laundering and suspicious transactions, wrote to the country’s main banks on Tuesday asking them to provide account details for Siddiq and seven of her family members.
Continue reading...The Louisiana Republican blamed “wokeness” in part for police’s failure to stop the New Orleans attack that left 15 dead.
The post Steve Scalise Knows Exactly What Led to the Bourbon Street Attack: DEI Initiatives appeared first on The Intercept.
Ohio has become the latest state to allow police to charge high fees for access to footage.
The post Ohio Puts Police Bodycam Footage Behind a Paywall 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...Rep. Sara Jacobs is trying to raise the alarm about the key U.S. ally’s conduct after the Christmas strike killed 10 civilians.
The post Nigeria’s Military Gets Billions in U.S. Aid. On Christmas Day, It Bombed Its Own Civilians Again. appeared first on The Intercept.
As he prepares to retire from journalism, James Risen warns of press missteps in the Trump era.
The post Media’s Biggest Failures appeared first on The Intercept.
Investigation finds very high levels of lead and arsenic in homes near a factory processing US toxic waste
Raquel Villarreal lives in a bright-yellow house in Mexico’s Monterrey metropolitan area with her family and nine cats. Here, the emergency medicine doctor has raised three daughters, one of whom died at the age of 14.
Just steps away is an industrial plant that operates 24 hours a day, emitting pollution that neighbors say blankets the neighborhood and which Villarreal says is hard to remove from her car.
Continue reading...Allocation of funds from Inflation Reduction Act makes it harder for president-elect to halt green initiatives
The Biden administration has raced to allocate $74bn of funding for climate initiatives before Donald Trump’s inauguration, leaving $20bn vulnerable to potential rollback by the incoming president, new figures reveal.
As the inauguration of Trump looms, the outgoing administration has been accelerating its allocation of cash for climate change and clean energy programs before they are throttled by the incoming US president.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...It’s free, it’s sensible and it makes workers happy. The government needs to accept that this is the new normal
You would be hard-pressed to find a single positive side-effect of the pandemic. If there is one, it is the growing numbers of people who now work from home. Half of workers work from home for at least part of the week now, and many workplaces have thrived because of it. Zoom meetings save time and wasteful travel, employers are free to hire talent from anywhere in the country, and employees have escaped escalating property prices in London and steep commuting costs. Working from home (WFH) has been a boon for the climate, too; according to one US study, two to four days of remote working a week lowers carbon emissions by between 11% and 29%.
Yet WFH is now coming under accelerating attack. JP Morgan will now require employees to spend five days a week in the office and other big companies may soon follow suit. A perverse strain of rightwing thought opposes almost any social progress that improves other people’s lives. This Scrooge-like instinct yearns to make work as grindingly hard and low-paid as possible. Recall Jacob Rees-Mogg pacing civil service offices like the Child Catcher, leaving “sorry you were out when I visited” notes on employees’ desks in 2022. The same age-old sentiment prompted the CBI chair, Rupert Soames, to savage Labour’s flagship anti-gig economy employment rights bill on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, warning that the new bill would force businesses to let people go.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Costs of UK cleanup will reach £9.9bn a year in UK if emissions of ‘forever chemicals’ remain uncontrolled
The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found.
The number of British pollution hotspots is also on the rise. If emissions remain unrestricted and uncontrolled, the costs of cleanup will reach £9.9bn a year in the UK, according to the findings of a year-long investigation by the Forever Lobbying Project, a cross-border investigation involving 46 journalists and 18 experts across 16 countries.
Continue reading...“The consistent defunding of other city programs in order to give the LAPD billions a year has consequences,” said a local activist.
The post LA Budgeted Money For Cop Jobs While Cutting Fire Department Positions. Now the City Is Burning. appeared first on The Intercept.
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.
Crunchy tortillas, beans, salsa and creamy avocado – this seriously good brunch bowl has it all
You wouldn’t think of nachos as a natural way to start the day, but then nachos are simply a (more delicious) copy of a dish found throughout Mexico, where the tortillas from the day before are fried or baked until crisp and tossed in a salsa of your choice. Here, I use the acidity of tomatillo, which is given some smokiness and heat by chipotle chillies, and add a fried or poached egg and a squeeze of lime to make a seriously good brunch.
Continue reading...Feed picky nippers with dips and chips made from veg, perhaps some crackers, cheese, eggs – anything with some colour to attract the eye
Where there are picky eaters, there needs to be a gameplan. For Alissa Timoshkina, author of Kapusta, that means slipping vegetables into an existing favourite, be that pasta, pancakes or muffins. “You can’t go wrong with a veg-rich pasta sauce or pasta salad with roast vegetables [courgette, peppers and tomatoes, say] and mini mozzarella balls,” she says. Meanwhile, courgette, pea and sweetcorn pancakes, and cheddar and courgette muffins are other firm favourites round at Timoshkina’s: “You could add a few chopped green olives as well.”
Failing that, she goes for colour: “Think something that would be appealing and exciting to the eye, and therefore likely to entice children to dig in.” Give them options and keep things customisable: “Offer a platter-style selection of fruit and veg, and pair it with cheese, a dip and crackers.” More practically, for Timoshkina that means a small cheese sandwich, crudités (carrots, celery, peppers, cucumber), hummus or guacamole, olives, nori sheets (“instead of crisps”), grapes, clementines and/or dried fruit. “If you have a bento-style box, that’s even better.”
Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com
Continue reading...How long does it take to change a habit? It varies, but one paper suggests it takes an average of 66 days. We ask writers to change one thing in their lives within that timeframe … and tell us if it works
I drink a lot of Pepsi Max. A slab of 30 cans has been known to disappear within a week. That’s upward of four 375ml cans a day – one and a half litres of sugar-free cola every 24 hours. Not enough to end up on My Strange Addiction but enough to concern friends. “Those things will kill you,” they tell me.
To be clear, there’s no evidence that Pepsi Max will kill anybody. Breathe easy, PepsiCo.
Continue reading...Ham, gammon, bacon, salami and some dairy products banned after Germany’s first reported case in nearly 40 years
Britain has banned the import of German ham, bacon and salami as well as many other meat and dairy products after a case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed on the outskirts of Berlin last week.
The government said that while there were no cases of the livestock disease in Britain, the ban would help stop it spreading and protect British farmers and their livelihoods.
Continue reading...A dazzlingly exotic fruit salad for a fine midweek treat
A dazzling salad for a winter’s dessert, or as something with which to start the day.
Halve 8 passion fruit, scoop out the seeds and juice with a spoon into a mixing bowl. Halve and squeeze 4 clementines, or 1 large orange, and stir into the passion fruit.
Continue reading...Fifteen bodies brought to surface amid claims 109 are dead and between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped
Fifteen bodies have been brought out of an illegal goldmine in South Africa and 44 people have been taken out alive since Monday, after police blocked supplies of food, water and medicine to the workers underground in October in an attempt to force them out.
On Thursday, a letter brought up to the surface claimed there were 109 dead bodies underground. A video circulated by the NGO Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) appeared to show more than 50 wrapped bodies laid out in a tunnel.
Continue reading...Study has linked a soft and liquid diet to smaller jaw size in children, but others say evolution is more likely the cause
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have caused concern among experts for their potential impact on human health, but now scientists have warned they might also affect how our bodies develop, in particular our jaws.
We take a look at the issue and explore what, if anything, should be done.
Continue reading...Coffee chain reverses policy introduced in North America in 2018 that lets anyone use its facilities
Starbucks has said that people using its coffee shops in North America need to buy something, U-turning on a policy that allowed anyone to use its toilets even if they had not made a purchase.
The world’s biggest coffee chain this week published a new code of conduct to be displayed in every US and Canadian shop saying “Starbucks spaces are for use by our partners and customers – this includes our cafes, patios and restrooms”.
Continue reading...Pizzeria adds eye-watering price-tag to divisive Hawaiian variant to put customers off ordering it
A pizzeria is asking its customers to put their dough where their mouth is if they want to eat a Hawaiian – charging £100 for a ham and pineapple-topped pizza.
The owners and staff of Lupa pizza in Norwich are so revolted by the Hawaiian that they have reluctantly added the topping to their delivery menu but only with the eye-watering price tag.
Continue reading...Come for wonderful walks on Box Hill and the Happy Valley trail, stay for cosy inns, great food and a sense of discovery
If Surrey were a restaurant, it would be a drive-thru. Sandwiched between London and England’s south coast, famous for its wealthy commuter-belt towns and the great thick scar of the M25, it’s a place people whip through on their way to somewhere else. I’ve spent several decades doing it; back and forth between Sussex and London, occasionally meeting friends in Guildford or Dorking, but never really exploring any further.
My husband and I had our first date in a pub in the Surrey Hills (an AONB since 1958, the second in the country) – the lovely Fox Revived at Norwood Hill – and I remember thinking at the time, “Oh, this is quite pretty.” A decade later, sitting in the same pub, and slightly less distracted by first-date nerves, I decided it was somewhere I really should get to know.
Continue reading...More than 150 Nobel and World Food prize laureates sign open letter calling for immediate ramping up of food production
More than 150 Nobel and World Food prize laureates have signed an open letter calling for “moonshot” efforts to ramp up food production before an impending world hunger catastrophe.
The coalition of some of the world’s greatest living thinkers called for urgent action to prioritise research and technology to solve the “tragic mismatch of global food supply and demand”.
Continue reading...His meal-replacement business is worth hundreds of millions, but Collier’s rise to the top has been far from easy. He discusses bodybuilding, bullies and why nutrition is more polarising than politics
When James Collier got married to Melanie nearly 10 years ago, his dad paid for the honeymoon. Collier’s businesses weren’t exactly booming, but he had a good feeling about a new venture. “I was on the beach checking my emails, and I said to Mel: ‘I think this is going to do all right, this one.’ And that was an underestimation.”
It certainly was. Sales of Huel, the meal-replacement brand Collier launched in 2015, topped £214m last year. Pre-tax profits tripled to £13.8m. Huel – a product mainly made of oats, pea protein and flaxseeds, which comes in powder, drink, snack bar and meal-pot forms – is sold in 25,000 shops worldwide, including 70% of UK supermarkets. The company was most recently valued at £440m, but has since had investment from Morgan Stanley. Just how rich is Collier now?
Continue reading...Phone video shared by mining NGO appears to show dozens of wrapped bodies in underground tunnel
The South African government has launched a mission to bring to the surface potentially hundreds of people in an illegal mine who last year had supplies of food, water and medicine blocked by police in an attempt to force them out.
The government agreed to the attempt on Friday after the sister of one of those underground initiated a court case in response to letters from miners brought to the surface on Thursday.
Continue reading...This week: what we learned testing toothbrushes, fitness kit worth the investment, and slow cookers for warming winter feasts
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When the Filter asked me to write a roundup of the best electric toothbrushes, I didn’t see any reason not to. After all, I’ve been reviewing battery-powered gadgets for more than a decade, and I have all 32 teeth and a comfortable toothpaste budget, which makes me as qualified as anybody else.
Or does it? Actually, in the absence of professional toothbrushing leagues*, how would I know if I’m an expert in the art of oral hygiene or not? Conventional (and, as it turns out, likely bogus) wisdom suggests that anyone can become an expert in anything with 10,000 hours of practice.
The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and tested, from Ninja to Nutribullet
14 of the best men’s boots for winter, from Chelsea to brogues to western
The best slow cookers for effortless homemade meals, tried and tested
Continue reading...A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
From Whole Earth and Meridian to supermarket staples, which is the best crunchy peanut butter, and how much do you really need to spend on it?
I came late to the peanut butter party, and my mum remains convinced that it’s extremely unhealthy stuff, which, to be fair to her, is probably true of the sugary versions of my childhood. In the past few years, however, peanut butter has gone back to its health-food roots. It is now championed for its protein and monounsaturated fat content, as brands stripped of their sweeteners and emulsifiers have occupied the premium end of the market. Given that these new-wave natural peanut butters tend to contain nothing but peanuts – give or take the odd pinch of salt – the difference between supermarket own-label and luxury jars tends to be slight. The biggest variations are largely in the sourcing and quality of the peanuts themselves.
This means that peanut butter is a handy thing to have in the cupboard at all times. Personally, I prefer a loose, crunchy consistency; for all the claims about sustainable palm oil, there’s simply no need for it in peanut butter, which, like tahini, separates naturally over time and is just as easily stirred back together. To slow the separation, simply beat the oil back in, then store the jar upside down in the fridge – assuming it lasts that long.
Continue reading...A job listing for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show offers $12 per hour — part of a long pattern of host-city residents getting the short shrift.
The post Everyone’s Making Millions But the Super Bowl Haltime Show Wants to Hire New Orleans Locals for $12 an Hour appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether you’re making comforting curries, casseroles or chilli con carne, we’ve tested the top slow cookers for serving up winter warmers
• The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and tested, from Ninja to Nutribullet
As January beds in and our craving for cosiness increases, you may be minded to dig out the slow cooker. Coming home to a warm, bubbling meal – with very little effort – is a real treat in the cold and dark. Plus, slow cooking can be an economical method of cooking.
If you have yet to experience the comfort and joy of a slow cooker, or if your ancient model has finally died a death, it could be time to treat yourself to a season of stews, casseroles, curries and more. I’ve spent weeks testing slow cookers to compile a shortlist of the most functional, useful and well-designed recommendations to transform your dinner time.
Best overall slow cooker:
GreenPan slow cooker
£200 at GreenPan
Best basic slow cooker:
ProCook digital slow cooker
£49 at ProCook
Best multi-cooker:
Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 PossibleCooker
£119 at Appliances Direct
Best pressure-cooking slow cooker:
Sage Fast Slow Pro
£179.95 at Sage Appliances
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...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
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
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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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