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The 25 Best Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now (February 2025)
Thu, 13 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000
Fly Me to the Moon, The Gorge, and Blitz are just a few of the movies you should be watching on Apple TV+ this month.
Match ID: 0 Score: 55.00 source: www.wired.com age: 2 days
qualifiers: 35.00 (best|good|great) (show|movie), 20.00 movie
The 25 Best Shows on Amazon Prime Right Now (February 2025)
Sat, 15 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000
Invincible, The Rig, and Fallout are just a few of the shows you should be watching on Amazon Prime Video this week.
Match ID: 1 Score: 35.00 source: www.wired.com age: 1 day
qualifiers: 35.00 (best|good|great) (show|movie)
Why are women still being sent to prison as ‘a place of safety’? | Eva Wiseman
Sun, 16 Feb 2025 08:00:03 GMT
Reports reveal the true harm done by incarcerating women under the guise of protecting them
Every now and then I learn something about the world today that sticks into me like a fish hook and I find myself asking friends, colleagues, “Wait, did you know this? Did you know this was happening?” The most recent felt like a horror-movie trope. It’s the part of the film, about a third of the way in, where a woman is locked up with the lie that the incarceration is for her own good.
It’s not just films, of course, not just fiction – countless women were institutionalised in the 19th century for “abnormal” behaviours, like disagreeing with their husbands, or following “unnatural” sexual impulses. Some were locked up for postnatal depression, some alcoholism, some “moral insanity”, which meant, somehow, infidelity. But what shocked me even more than historical reports on women like Elizabeth Packard, who was incarcerated by her husband in 1860 (the doctor’s reasons included her refusal to shake his hand and the fact that she was above the age of 40), what got me asking, saying wait, was the knowledge that something similar is still happening daily, in prisons across the country.
Continue reading...Renée Zellweger’s Bridget faces new challenges in parenting and love, but it’s the familiar faces around her who deliver heart and humour in this unexpectedly poignant fourth outing
There is something rather affecting about growing up and growing older alongside a fictional character. Particularly when, unlike the aspiration Barbies of Sex and the City, that character is permitted to show the inevitable wear-and-tear of being a middle-aged mum of two. Checking in with familiar faces – Jesse and Céline from Richard Linklater’s Before movies, for example; or in this case, Bridget Jones and her disreputable band of booze buddies – feels somehow more cherishable when those faces reflect the same rough patches and tough times we all endure.
It has been nearly a quarter of a century since Renée Zellweger first stumbled on to our screens as the gauche, accident-prone klutz Bridget Jones. And, in common with the core friendships that define us, our relationship with the character has evolved and deepened. The 2001 Bridget of Bridget Jones’s Diary was an insecure hot mess fuelled by vat-sized glasses of house white (or “party petrol” as Sally Phillips’s Shazza pithily describes it). Today’s Bridget achieved her happy-ever-after fairytale ending. She married Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), had two adorable kids and moved barely a yoga mat’s distance from Hampstead Heath, only to have it all snatched away. Mark, we learn, was killed while on a humanitarian mission in Sudan.
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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
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
Why are bananas so cheap to buy in the UK? In a big supermarket, a single banana costs about 15p, but presumably it has been shipped thousands of miles at some expense. Other individually sold fruit – even the stuff grown in the UK – seems to cost two or three times as much. Magdalena, by email
Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday.
Continue reading...Everyone hopes that they will get happier and wiser as well as older. And you know what? Sometimes they do
I met my younger self for coffee. She wore a crisp white Agnès B shirt and patent ballet pumps; I wore H&M elastic waisted trousers and the T-shirt I wore to the gym the day before. She ordered … hang on, hang on. First, isn’t this a time-travel no-no? And if it’s OK, I have questions. Say I met my 20-year-old self – is it 1995, meaning weak filter in the hippy cafe with cakes that taste like horse food? Or 2025, when every second shop serves violently acidic espressos? (Either way, I need to prepare my stomach.) And how have I lured her out? Because she may be naive, but no way would she agree to coffee with “your future self”. That’s plainly a trap.
This whimsy, you may not be surprised to hear, is a TikTok trend. Based on a poem by Jennae Cecelia, it has been enthusiastically adopted by the youth (how are you dewy-faced babies meeting your younger selves – what are they, foetuses?). The formulaic videos are set to the kind of acoustic crooning that makes my husband instantly switch the radio to Capital Dance and wow, are they earnest about their lost, hurting youthful selves and self-actualised current incarnations. Aren’t gen Z supposed to be jokey nihilists? “We hugged and I told her I am becoming everything she had ever wanted me to be,” goes TikToker @earthtoapryl’s version (2m views). “I told her she’s full of purpose and has taught 10 million people to love themselves,” says another, and if you aren’t cringing your entire body inside out reading that, you’re probably not a gen X cynic.
Continue reading...The UK imports more than £1bn worth of the Italian staple a year, but now sales are taking off for makers in Yorkshire, Cumbria and beyond
Nutty, chewy and with a chestnut-brown hue, it’s a far cry from the pasta you may be used to serving with your bolognese. But the Northern Pasta Co’s products, from rigatoni to fusilli, are part of a growing wave of the Italian staple being made in the UK.
The Cumbria-based company’s sales increased 357% in the year to February 2024, and from the spring its products will be sold on Ocado. Similarly, the Yorkshire Pasta Company, founded in 2019, is now stocked at more than 600 shops. Cornwall Pasta Co makes flavoured pastas, while Riverford sells pasta made by the Fresh Flour Company in Devon.
Continue reading...Critics warn of ‘political headlines over practical solutions’ as schools battle to cover cost of government’s flagship plan
The government’s flagship plan to set up free breakfast clubs in all primary schools is running into trouble as headteachers say that initial funding is inadequate and charities with experience of providing food in schools demand more flexibility over how they can be run.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson sees the provision of free breakfast clubs in all primary schools as vital to breaking what she calls the “unfair link between background and success” in education. Numerous academic studies show that a good breakfast improves attendance and pupil performance.
Continue reading...A bakery by day and a bistro by night, Don’t Tell Dad is sheer bliss for the lotus eaters of Queen’s Park
Don’t Tell Dad, 10-14 Lonsdale Road, London NW6 6RD. Snacks and small plates £5-£14, large plates £18-£29, desserts £9, wines from £36
Don’t Tell Dad in London’s Queen’s Park is a self-declared neighbourhood restaurant in a knowingly dishevelled neighbourhood. It sits on a part-cobbled, mews-style lane which was once home to stable blocks and very much looks like it. If you want to snoop at the red-rust frontage on Google Street View, however, you can’t. It’s a private street, through which Google’s cars may never pass. Lonsdale Road, once the property of the Church Commissioners, is now owned by a single landlord, Feldberg Capital, which is gently turning it into an ever-so-random-on-purpose leisure destination. Josh Katz’s Middle Eastern-influenced grill restaurant Carmel is here, as is the Australian-inspired Milk Beach and an outpost of Pizza Pilgrims, alongside a micro-brewery, a yoga studio, co-working spaces and a macrobiotic deli where they crochet their own fermented sea-vegetables. Perhaps I made the last one up.
Continue reading...Thousands of Ukrainians who call Cleveland home are in limbo as fate of temporary protected status remains murky
Mykola Vashchuk may be thousands of miles from Kyiv, his home town, but life has never been busier.
He runs pierogi food businesses here in Cleveland and back in Ukraine, works part-time for a local charity, while studying for a law degree at Cleveland State University. His wife works at a daycare and the couple is raising two sons. He and his family have built a new life on the shores of Lake Erie, having fled Ukraine after a Russian bomb blew out two windows of their Kyiv apartment in December 2022.
Continue reading...Whose tortelloni are pillows of pasta perfection, and whose taste like postage stamps? Our quick-cook columnist has the answers …
• The best food processors and mixers – chosen by chefs
Shop-bought ravioli and tortelloni are staples in my kitchen – I’ve even been known (with some chutzpah) to serve bowls of the stuff to friends, including well-known food writers, albeit improved with brown butter, crisp sage and hazelnuts, or in my signature ravioli lasagne.
In an ideal packet, I’m looking for a well-seasoned filling, nice and light from the ricotta, and not too processed or stodgy in texture. Similarly, the pasta shouldn’t taste plasticky; the closer it is to homemade, the better.
Continue reading...Trend towards more extreme-weather events will continue to hit crop yields and create price spikes, Inverto says
Extreme weather events are expected to lead to volatile food prices throughout 2025, supply chain analysts have said, after cocoa and coffee prices more than doubled over the past year.
In an apparent confirmation of warnings that climate breakdown could lead to food shortages, research by the consultancy Inverto found steep rises in the prices of a number of food commodities in the year to January that correlated with unexpected weather.
Continue reading...Agriculture minister says rising prices have ‘had a significant impact on people’s lives’ amid record heat, surges in demand and distribution problems
Japan is to flood the market with almost a quarter of a million tonnes of stockpiled rice in an unprecedented attempt to arrest soaring prices caused by record summer heat, panic buying and distribution problems.
The government will release up to 210,000 tonnes of rice, the agriculture minister, Taku Eto, said on Friday, as consumers battled a surge in prices of more than 50% in recent months.
Continue reading...Women are traditionally expected to buy chocolates for male colleagues on Valentine’s Day but teenage boys are shunning the one-sided custom
It has been several years since Japanese women first signalled their contempt for the long tradition of showering male colleagues with chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Now the country’s young people are slaying another sacred cow associated with Friday’s orgy of commercialised romance: one-sided gift giving.
Traditionally, women are expected to buy gift-wrapped chocolates for the men in their working lives, usually senior colleagues and others to whom they feel indebted – a tradition called giri choco, literally “obligation chocolates”.
Continue reading...We’re inviting you to share your questions, insights, or what you’ve always wondered about PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have become such a pervasive part of modern life, from food packaging to clothing, cosmetics to cookware, these chemicals are all around us. But what do we really know about their long-term impact on our health and the environment?
We hope to shed some light on PFAS, known as “forever chemicals”, with our new video podcast on The Guardian’s new YouTube channel, It’s Complicated. We want to explore the uncertainties, misconceptions, and surprising truths about these pollutants, asking how these chemicals become so widespread? What are they doing to our health? Is there anything we can do to get rid of them? These are a few questions we have but we would like to hear from you.
We’re inviting you to share your questions, insights, or what you’ve always wondered about PFAS.
Your responses will help guide our research and may be answered by guest experts in our video podcast. Join the conversation by filling out the form below — your thoughts are invaluable as we navigate this complex topic together.
A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas
Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.
Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email.
Continue reading...Palestinians from Gaza responded with outrage to Trump’s proposal to expel them from their homes.
The post “You Don’t Own Gaza, Donald Trump”: Palestinians Vow to Remain and Rebuild appeared first on The Intercept.
In South Africa, a 36-year-old living with HIV since childhood fears she will lose access to treatment due to Trump’s policy.
The post Global HIV Care Thrown Into Chaos by Trump: “I Will Be Sick and Maybe Die” appeared first on The Intercept.
After plunging USAID and its network of contractors into chaos, communications breakdowns and bureaucratic snafus leave projects stalled.
The post Marco Rubio’s USAID “Humanitarian Waiver” Isn’t Helping Restart Lifesaving Programs appeared first on The Intercept.
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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“What he’s done is testing the limits of his power in a way we have never seen in this country,” says retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner.
The post Constitutional Crisis Looms appeared first on The Intercept.
In the span of just weeks, the US government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history—not through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.
First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the US Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the department’s roughly ...
CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger could barely contain his excitement about the Laken Riley Act and Trump’s anti-immigration executive orders.
The post Private Prison CEO on Trump Deportation Surge: “One of the Most Exciting Periods in My Career” appeared first on The Intercept.
And that’s how he wants to keep it, his executive orders and memos from Attorney General Pam Bondi show.
The post Trump Is Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Federal Prisons Are Purposely Inhumane appeared first on The Intercept.
The government’s attempt to court Reform voters by penalising asylum seekers who arrive by the wrong route could backfire
Last Monday, the government quietly added a few short lines to Home Office guidance that amount to a huge change in refugee policy. By amending the “good character” guidance for immigration staff processing asylum applications, ministers have effectively removed the right of refugees to apply for British citizenship if they arrived in the UK illegally or via a dangerous route, such as in a small boat or stowed away in a lorry.
This cruel change means that refugees fleeing conflict, torture and human rights abuses, and who have long been granted protection and the right to live and work in the UK, will no longer be able to become British citizens. There is no justification for it. Although the government has said that the home secretary retains the discretion to grant citizenship on an exceptional basis, that is likely to be highly unusual. While immigration caseworkers have the discretion to disregard illegal entry for refugees who arrived in the UK as children, there is far from any guarantee that this will happen, and, given the high citizenship application fee, this measure will ensure that even child refugees are penalised as adults for their method of arrival. The immigration lawyer Colin Yeo has said these changes amount to a contravention of the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Britain was a founding signatory.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
Continue reading...50501 group gained national force with Musk as a target and is now working globally to thwart Trump administration
When protesters showed up at state capitols around the country and at a host of federal agencies this month, they carried signs with messages about the unelected billionaire running a slash-and-burn government-cutting campaign that moved them to action.
As liberal protesters find their footing in the second Donald Trump era, Elon Musk is proving a potent target.
Continue reading...For some members of the WhatsApp group, speaking out for Palestine and criticizing Israel are tantamount to supporting Hamas.
The post The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters appeared first on The Intercept.
At least some sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) may relate to non-human intelligence, says Prof Michael Bohlander. Plus, letters from Andrew Robinson and Aideen Carty
Much as in the US, with the recent congressional hearings on unidentified anomalous phenomena, the UK government is apparently less than transparent in its handling of UAP sightings (formerly called UFOs) – as your article about the Calvine photo shows (What really happened in Calvine? The mystery behind the best UFO picture ever seen, G2, 11 February). And, as in the US, any hope for imminent and trustworthy disclosure about what these objects may be is probably futile.
Those who do not a priori consider this topic ludicrous, or exploit it in a sensationalist manner, are increasingly taking a more nuanced and independent approach. If there are such phenomena, it stands to reason that they can and should be studied with the necessary rigour.
Continue reading...Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s chaotic approach to reform is upending government operations. Critical functions have been halted, tens of thousands of federal staffers are being encouraged to resign, and congressional mandates are being disregarded. The next phase: The Department of Government Efficiency reportedly wants to use AI to cut costs. According to The Washington Post, Musk’s group has started to run sensitive data from government systems through AI programs to analyze spending and determine what could be pruned. This may lead to the elimination of human jobs in favor of automation. As one government official who has been tracking Musk’s DOGE team told the...
Musk has emerged as Trump’s far-right-hand man, creating some awkwardness for the president’s Democratic foes.
The post Democrats Swear They’ll Fight Elon Musk. But What About the Cash They Took From SpaceX? appeared first on The Intercept.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is trying to eliminate all Defense Department DEI efforts. It hasn’t been entirely successful.
The post Pentagon Official: Hegseth’s Campaign to Scrub DEI History Is a “Dumb” Distraction appeared first on The Intercept.
ICE wants to hire contractors to monitor social media for threats. Those who criticize the agency could be pulled into the dragnet.
The post ICE Wants to Know If You’re Posting Negative Things About It Online appeared first on The Intercept.
Even with Jordan and Egypt refusing to take in expelled Palestinians, Trump is charging on with his real estate development plan.
The post Trump Is Bullying Jordan and Egypt to Help in Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza. It Isn’t Working. appeared first on The Intercept.
The Washington Post is reporting that the UK government has served Apple with a “technical capability notice” as defined by the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, requiring it to break the Advanced Data Protection encryption in iCloud for the benefit of law enforcement.
This is a big deal, and something we in the security community have worried was coming for a while now.
The law, known by critics as the Snoopers’ Charter, makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government has even made such a demand. An Apple spokesman declined to comment...
In South Africa, a 36-year-old living with HIV since childhood fears she will lose access to treatment due to Trump’s policy.
The post Global HIV Care Thrown Into Chaos by Trump: “I Will Be Sick and Maybe Die” appeared first on The Intercept.
If the State Department takes over USAID, experts fear foreign assistance will stop unless it has a perceived benefit for Trump.
The post Trump’s Attacks on USAID Spark Fear That Lifesaving Care Will Become “Transactional” appeared first on The Intercept.
Betar U.S. said it has shared with the Trump administration a list of the “names of hundreds of terror supporters.”
The post The Far-Right Group Building a List of Pro-Palestine Activists to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
Everyone hopes that they will get happier and wiser as well as older. And you know what? Sometimes they do
I met my younger self for coffee. She wore a crisp white Agnès B shirt and patent ballet pumps; I wore H&M elastic waisted trousers and the T-shirt I wore to the gym the day before. She ordered … hang on, hang on. First, isn’t this a time-travel no-no? And if it’s OK, I have questions. Say I met my 20-year-old self – is it 1995, meaning weak filter in the hippy cafe with cakes that taste like horse food? Or 2025, when every second shop serves violently acidic espressos? (Either way, I need to prepare my stomach.) And how have I lured her out? Because she may be naive, but no way would she agree to coffee with “your future self”. That’s plainly a trap.
This whimsy, you may not be surprised to hear, is a TikTok trend. Based on a poem by Jennae Cecelia, it has been enthusiastically adopted by the youth (how are you dewy-faced babies meeting your younger selves – what are they, foetuses?). The formulaic videos are set to the kind of acoustic crooning that makes my husband instantly switch the radio to Capital Dance and wow, are they earnest about their lost, hurting youthful selves and self-actualised current incarnations. Aren’t gen Z supposed to be jokey nihilists? “We hugged and I told her I am becoming everything she had ever wanted me to be,” goes TikToker @earthtoapryl’s version (2m views). “I told her she’s full of purpose and has taught 10 million people to love themselves,” says another, and if you aren’t cringing your entire body inside out reading that, you’re probably not a gen X cynic.
Continue reading...Walking and cycling tours, family holidays, great places to stay, blockbuster exhibitions and more launching this year
The Cilento coast in Campania has long attracted Italian holidaymakers, but overseas visitors tend to head further north to the better-known Amalfi coast. That is starting to change – the Natural Adventure Company reports that UK Google searches for the Cilento coast are up 110% over the past 12 months. The company has run a self-guided walking holiday there since 2022 (from £915 for eight nights’ B&B and three dinners).
Continue reading...Jonathan Reynolds says Britain has not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato
The UK hopes to act as a bridge between Europe and Donald Trump’s US, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has said before what could be a crucial week of diplomacy in deciding Ukraine’s future.
With Keir Starmer expected to travel to Paris on Monday for an emergency summit of European leaders, in advance of a possible trip to Washington the following week, Reynolds said the UK had still not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato.
Continue reading...Some 400 million devotees will attend this year’s Kumbh Mela festival. Pilgrims and politicians explain why it’s bigger than ever
They sat quietly together on the banks of the Ganges river, heads bowed in sombre meditation. Some men were naked, their bodies smeared grey with ash. Others had a simple saffron cloth tied around their waist. Nearby, barbers balanced on their haunches, shaving the head of each man clean with a flick of their knives, save for a small strand at the back.
This ceremony, in which millions of pilgrims seek to cleanse their sins to break the cycle of reincarnation has been taking place at the Kumbh Mela festival for centuries. It is mandatory for thousands of sadhus – Hindu holy men who live an austere life of strict spiritual discipline. Among the most sacred events in the Hindu calendar, the festival occurs every 12 years across four sacred locations in India where it is believed the Hindu god Vishnu once spilled drops of the nectar of immortality.
Continue reading...A bakery by day and a bistro by night, Don’t Tell Dad is sheer bliss for the lotus eaters of Queen’s Park
Don’t Tell Dad, 10-14 Lonsdale Road, London NW6 6RD. Snacks and small plates £5-£14, large plates £18-£29, desserts £9, wines from £36
Don’t Tell Dad in London’s Queen’s Park is a self-declared neighbourhood restaurant in a knowingly dishevelled neighbourhood. It sits on a part-cobbled, mews-style lane which was once home to stable blocks and very much looks like it. If you want to snoop at the red-rust frontage on Google Street View, however, you can’t. It’s a private street, through which Google’s cars may never pass. Lonsdale Road, once the property of the Church Commissioners, is now owned by a single landlord, Feldberg Capital, which is gently turning it into an ever-so-random-on-purpose leisure destination. Josh Katz’s Middle Eastern-influenced grill restaurant Carmel is here, as is the Australian-inspired Milk Beach and an outpost of Pizza Pilgrims, alongside a micro-brewery, a yoga studio, co-working spaces and a macrobiotic deli where they crochet their own fermented sea-vegetables. Perhaps I made the last one up.
Continue reading...Rush broke out as travellers scrambled to board trains in India’s capital to go to world’s largest religious gathering
At least 18 people have died in a crush at a railway station in India’s capital when surging crowds scrambled to catch trains to the world’s largest religious gathering, officials have said.
The Kumbh Mela attracts tens of millions of Hindu faithful every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj, and has a history of crowd-related disasters – including one last month, when at least 30 people died in another crush at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
Continue reading...Train workers claim Fair Work Commission win as rail union warns of more potential delays and disruptions across network
Sydney commuters have been urged to work from home or check travel apps before leaving on Monday to avoid being caught up in potential public transport chaos amid rail unions’ ongoing standoff with the New South Wales government.
The warning comes as the Fair Work Commission on Sunday ruled high rates of sick leave by Sydney train drivers and guards on Friday did not constitute industrial action.
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Continue reading...Indian photographer Sayan Bose celebrates the cultural heritage of Bengal in this striking image of a young farmer
Sayan Bose had travelled two hours from his home in Kolkata, India, for a day of documentary photography in Sangrampur, West Bengal. “I was roaming around the village, capturing the local people’s lifestyle, asking about their daily lives and jobs and struggles,” Bose says. “I got talking to a 17-year-old called Ariful Alam. He was a farmer at a large sunflower garden. He was youthful and fun-loving, and agreed to pose in the field for me.”
Alam wears a Chou, or Chhau, mask. “They hold a significant place in Bengal’s rich cultural heritage,” Bose says. “They’re used in a traditional folk dance, the Purulia Chhau, which narrates mythologies and folklores, and also as decorative pieces. I chose to use the mask that depicts a character named Mahisha, from Mahishasura Mardini, a 21-verse stotra from Hindu mythology.”
Continue reading...When the contractor started a two-month job in the Persian Gulf, he said it was his final lengthy posting. Six weeks later, he was dead, and a co-worker charged with his murder. Now his partner is struggling to make sense of what happened
In October 2022, Robbie Robson, 38, a British offshore worker, travelled to Qatar for an eight-week contract in the oilfields of the Persian Gulf. Robson was handsome, ambitious, and determined to do well by his family. The job was an attractive opportunity: after years working on vessels, and as a pipelayer, he was pursuing safer and more lucrative positions piloting the remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that are used to monitor underwater structures. It was a long stint away, but at least he’d be back to enjoy Christmas in South Tyneside with his partner, Kristie Graham, 39, her daughter Willow, 10, and Sefa, their 17-month-old son, in the new house they’d just bought.
Until then, his home would be the Seafox Burj, a three-legged jack-up rig planted in the shallow waters of the Al-Shaheen oil field, 80km from land. Robson hated being away, but stayed connected to Graham and his friends over WhatsApp. From his vantage point in the middle of the Gulf, he’d take photos of dramatic sunsets and send them to Graham. It was a window into the strange world of offshore workers and a sign, for her, of the way he could always find the positive in any situation.
Continue reading...In a tweet announcing his attack on the Climate Justice Alliance, EPA head Lee Zeldin linked it to the group’s protected speech about Palestine.
The post Trump’s EPA Kills Grant to Climate Nonprofit Over Its Support for Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
Palestinians from Gaza responded with outrage to Trump’s proposal to expel them from their homes.
The post “You Don’t Own Gaza, Donald Trump”: Palestinians Vow to Remain and Rebuild appeared first on The Intercept.
In South Africa, a 36-year-old living with HIV since childhood fears she will lose access to treatment due to Trump’s policy.
The post Global HIV Care Thrown Into Chaos by Trump: “I Will Be Sick and Maybe Die” appeared first on The Intercept.
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A group of volunteers is spending two months lying in bed—with their feet up and one shoulder always touching the mattress—even while eating, showering, and using the toilet. But why? This extreme bedrest study is helping scientists understand how space travel affects the human body and how to keep astronauts healthy on long missions.
Microgravity causes muscle and bone loss, fluid shifts, and other physiological changes similar to those experienced by bedridden patients on Earth. By studying volunteers here on Earth, researchers can develop better countermeasures for astronauts and even improve treatments for medical conditions like osteoporosis.
In this study, participants are divided into three groups: one stays in bed with no exercise, another cycles in bed to mimic astronaut workouts, and a third cycles while being spun in a centrifuge to simulate artificial gravity. Scientists hope artificial gravity could become a key tool in protecting astronauts during deep-space missions.
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...The betrayal of Ukraine is a final warning to the UK and its continental allies to put a lot more energy and money into rebuilding their defences
It was, Sir Keir Starmer told members of his inner circle, one of his most meaningful visits abroad. In the middle of last month, he flew to Kyiv to double-down on the commitment to back Ukraine’s struggle for freedom, a pledge he first made a defining feature of his leadership when Labour was in opposition. Hands were warmly clasped with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wailing air raid sirens greeted a Russian drone attack, financial promises were made, and signatures were inscribed on a 100-year partnership treaty. The prime minister solemnly intoned the western mantra about backing the resistance to Russian tyranny “for as long as it takes” for Ukraine to become “free and thriving once again”.
All of which now sounds for the birds, thanks to Donald Trump. It was with his trademark contempt for his country’s traditional allies that the US president blindsided them by announcing that he had initiated peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin over the heads of Ukraine and the European members of Nato. The UK received no more warning of this bombshell than anyone else. So much for the vaunted “special relationship”. The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, then unleashed another punch to the solar plexus of European security by publicly declaring that Ukraine would have to accept the surrender of large chunks of its territory and should forget about becoming a member of Nato. The future defence of Ukraine, he went on to declare, would be down to Europe, because the US wouldn’t be sending any of its troops to sustain a security guarantee.
Continue reading...The former UK prime minister says democracy in Europe and across the globe is ‘under threat’
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has warned against “over-dramatising” the meeting between European leaders in Paris on Monday.
France is due to host the summit of European leaders to discuss the Ukraine war and European security as the continent scrambles to respond to US president Donald Trump’s unilateral approach to the conflict.
Continue reading...Paris meeting aims to retake initiative on talks about Ukraine’s future as US and Russian delegates prepare to meet
Emmanuel Macron will press ahead with a Paris summit of European defence powers to try to retake the initiative and demand the US ends its lockout of Europe from talks on Ukraine’s future.
With the US and Russia due to send high-powered delegations for talks in Riyadh this week – the first such meetings in two years – there are fears in Europe that Russia will relaunch its plan for imposed Ukrainian neutrality and a joint US-Russia carve-up with agreed spheres of influence.
Continue reading...Jonathan Reynolds says Britain has not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato
The UK hopes to act as a bridge between Europe and Donald Trump’s US, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has said before what could be a crucial week of diplomacy in deciding Ukraine’s future.
With Keir Starmer expected to travel to Paris on Monday for an emergency summit of European leaders, in advance of a possible trip to Washington the following week, Reynolds said the UK had still not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato.
Continue reading...As Donald Trump and his officials rip up three years of US rhetoric on supporting Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is walking an unenviable diplomatic tightrope
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has had some tough weeks in the past three years, but this past one may be up there with the worst of them.
Back on Monday, in an hour-long interview with the Guardian at his Kyiv offices, the Ukrainian president was in a cautiously optimistic frame of mind. He said he had received “positive signals from the Americans” over upcoming negotiations. His team was working to fix a date for a meeting with Donald Trump, he said, and he was sure that the US president understood the importance of coordinating his position with Kyiv before talking to Russia.
Continue reading...Principled, charismatic and humorous, the murdered Russian opposition leader was everything Vladimir Putin is not
It is exactly one year since Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best-known opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, was murdered in an Arctic penal colony by Vladimir Putin’s regime. Countless other political opponents, critics and dissidents have been killed, jailed or exiled since Putin first became president 25 years ago.
All vestiges of an open society, democratic accountability, independent media and free speech in Russia have been eviscerated in that time. Accused of war crimes in Ukraine, which he invaded three years ago this month, Putin poses an undeniable threat to Europe and Britain – as well as to his own people. Yet this is the man with whom Donald Trump now wants to be friends.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
Continue reading...Thousands of Ukrainians who call Cleveland home are in limbo as fate of temporary protected status remains murky
Mykola Vashchuk may be thousands of miles from Kyiv, his home town, but life has never been busier.
He runs pierogi food businesses here in Cleveland and back in Ukraine, works part-time for a local charity, while studying for a law degree at Cleveland State University. His wife works at a daycare and the couple is raising two sons. He and his family have built a new life on the shores of Lake Erie, having fled Ukraine after a Russian bomb blew out two windows of their Kyiv apartment in December 2022.
Continue reading...Trump’s diplomatic trolling has sparked disbelief and defiance – but also revived questions of national identity
A lone figure takes to the stage, a giant maple leaf flag rippling on a screen behind him as he gingerly approaches the microphone.
“I’m not a lumberjack, or a fur trader,” he tells the crowd. “I have a prime minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not American. And I pronounce it ‘about’ – not ‘a boot’.”
Continue reading...Elon Musk’s crazed takeover of America’s financial plumbing risks shattering confidence in US institutions and in turn global financial stability
When Donald Trump gave an in-flight press conference en route to the Super Bowl last week, it generated a flurry of news, from the fresh threat of steel tariffs to the declaration of “Gulf of America Day”.
Much less remarked upon was a throwaway comment about the US’s financial obligations, which underlined the fact that tariffs are far from the only way in which Trump is jeopardising economic stability.
Continue reading...Defense and tech firms – including Musk’s own – await potential contracts as Doge decimates US agencies
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has vowed to oversee a radical hollowing out of government agencies, asserting this week that some should be “deleted entirely” as he defunds public programs and lays off federal workers. While the immense cuts are framed as a means of removing waste, they may also become a boon to private companies – including Musk’s own businesses – that the government increasingly relies on for many of its key initiatives.
Musk and his allies in the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), the unofficial committee acting as the operations arm of his cost-cutting efforts, have targeted a range of major government departments. They have moved to close the United States Agency for International Development, slashed the Department of Education and taken over the General Services Administration that controls federal IT structures. Doge staffers have also gained access to the treasury department, as well as set their sights on the Department of Defense, energy department, Environmental Protection Agency and at least a dozen others.
Continue reading...For some members of the WhatsApp group, speaking out for Palestine and criticizing Israel are tantamount to supporting Hamas.
The post The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters appeared first on The Intercept.
Claudia Scheinbaum warns of reciprocal action if Washington designates country’s cartels as terrorist groups
Mexico’s president has warned US gunmakers they could face fresh legal action as accomplices of organized crime if Washington designates the country’s cartels as terrorist groups.
The Latin American country, which is under mounting pressure from Donald Trump to curb illegal drug smuggling, wants its neighbor to crack down on firearms trafficking in the other direction.
Continue reading...In a tweet announcing his attack on the Climate Justice Alliance, EPA head Lee Zeldin linked it to the group’s protected speech about Palestine.
The post Trump’s EPA Kills Grant to Climate Nonprofit Over Its Support for Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
Claudia Sheinbaum gives riposte to Trump’s accusation of ‘intolerable alliance’ between Mexican government and gangs
Mexico’s president has accused the US of harboring drug cartels and American citizens of working with organized crime groups in Mexico, in a riposte to Donald Trump’s allegation of an “intolerable alliance” between traffickers and her government.
“There is also organized crime in the United States and there are American people who come to Mexico with these illegal activities,” Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference on Thursday. “Otherwise who would distribute fentanyl in the cities of the United States?”
Continue reading...In the span of just weeks, the US government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history—not through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.
First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the US Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the department’s roughly ...
Israeli PM and US secretary of state express joint support for ‘bold vision’ that would force 2 million people to leave
Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government is working closely with the US to implement Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, which involves US ownership of the coastal strip, the removal of more than 2 million Palestinians and the redevelopment of the occupied territory as a resort.
The Israeli prime minister was speaking after a meeting in Jerusalem with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who defended the Trump plan as bold and visionary. Rubio and Netanyahu blamed Iran for the violence in the Middle East and insisted Tehran would be stopped from developing nuclear weapons.
Continue reading...CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger could barely contain his excitement about the Laken Riley Act and Trump’s anti-immigration executive orders.
The post Private Prison CEO on Trump Deportation Surge: “One of the Most Exciting Periods in My Career” appeared first on The Intercept.
Oversight laws about foreign influence were already limited. Now the Trump administration is shredding them.
The post How Many Trump Officials Have Taken Money From Qatar? appeared first on The Intercept.
Lib Dem leader compares PM to child trying to avoid trouble and says calling out US president is ‘the patriotic thing to do’
Keir Starmer’s approach to Donald Trump is like that of a child in a playground hoping “the bully doesn’t notice them” and he should be more brave in standing up to the US president, Ed Davey has said.
In a direct challenge to the prime minister, the Liberal Democrat leader said that while the UK must engage with Trump it was “the patriotic thing to do” to call him out rather than try to indulge or placate him.
Continue reading...Demonstrations across the US against tycoon’s ties to Trump highlight potential risks to firm’s reputation and sales
Protesters gathered outside Tesla dealerships across the US on Saturday in response to Elon Musk’s efforts to shred government spending under the president, Donald Trump.
Groups of demonstrators up to 100-strong gathered outside the electric carmaker’s showrooms in cities including New York, Seattle, Kansas City and across California. Organisers said the protests took place in dozens of locations.
Continue reading...50501 group gained national force with Musk as a target and is now working globally to thwart Trump administration
When protesters showed up at state capitols around the country and at a host of federal agencies this month, they carried signs with messages about the unelected billionaire running a slash-and-burn government-cutting campaign that moved them to action.
As liberal protesters find their footing in the second Donald Trump era, Elon Musk is proving a potent target.
Continue reading...President has begun slashing federal workforce while hobbling labor watchdogs NLRB and EEOC
As a presidential candidate last fall, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to battle for US workers, but ever since he returned to the White House, he has taken a surprisingly large number of anti-worker actions, labor experts say. Some of those moves, among them hobbling the National Labor Relations Board, will help Trump’s billionaire business friends, most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
In his first few weeks back in office, Trump fired the acting chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), leaving the US’s top labor watchdog without a quorum to enforce laws that protect workers’ right to unionize. Trump has designated Musk, a vehemently anti-union billionaire, to launch an all-out war against the federal bureaucracy and workforce, and Trump and Musk have essentially treated the country’s 2 million-plus federal employees as if they were disposable.
Continue reading...Republican Bill Cassidy calls state surgeon general’s halt to promotion of mass vaccination a disservice to parents
Bill Cassidy, the Republican US senator, has said his home state of Louisiana’s recent decision to cancel the promotion of mass vaccination against preventable diseases is a disservice to parents who want to keep their children healthy.
Nonetheless, before those remarks, the medical doctor-turned-politician who has clashed with Donald Trump joined 51 of his fellow Republicans in voting to confirm anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of the US’s health and human services department. Cassidy had also previously voted to advance Trump’s nomination of Kennedy as national health secretary from the committee level to the full Senate.
Continue reading...Storm over White House bid to halt corruption charges against mayor Eric Adams in row over migrant shelter
Manhattan’s Roosevelt hotel, with its faded Renaissance revival facade, last week became the focal point of a fast-moving political battle enveloping New York City’s mayor, the state governor and the department of justice in the service of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.
Trump’s new head of homeland security, Kristi Noem, claims the formerly luxurious 1,025-room hotel, now a shelter for mostly Central and South American immigrants, is a “base of operations” for Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan prison gang.
Continue reading...And that’s how he wants to keep it, his executive orders and memos from Attorney General Pam Bondi show.
The post Trump Is Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Federal Prisons Are Purposely Inhumane appeared first on The Intercept.
The president’s full-court press to dominate media and control cultural institutions is straight out of the authoritarian playbook
Bigger than the Super Bowl, claimed Donald Trump, sitting in a big leather chair beside a big map. Then came an announcement over the public address system. “Air Force One is currently in international waters,” declared the flight crew of the US presidential jet, “for the first time in history flying over the recently renamed Gulf of America.”
As his aides clapped and whooped, Trump gloated: “Isn’t that nice? We’re about ‘Make America Great Again’, right? That’s what we care about.” He proceeded to sign a proclamation declaring 9 February “Gulf of America Day” as Air Force One flew over the body of water previously known as the Gulf of Mexico.
Continue reading...From Home Alone to Succession and A Real Pain, the actor has added a unique twist to his roles and is tipped for a best supporting role award this weekend
On Sunday evening, Kieran Culkin is up for the best supporting actor award at the Baftas. If he wins, he will probably give one of his startled, free-wheeling and characteristically funny speeches, though by now he may struggle to express surprise, given his extended run of triumphs at these events.
In 2024, he picked up a Golden Globe for best actor in a television drama series for his performance as Roman Roy in Jesse Armstrong’s Succession. Last month, he nabbed the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his role as Benji Kaplan in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain (he seems to respond well to direction from men called Jesse), which also landed him the four major American film critics awards, made him an odds-on favourite for an Oscar next month, and accounts for his Bafta nomination.
Continue reading...US secretary of state is making his first trip to region and is expected to advocate Trump’s plan to create ‘Riviera of the Middle East’
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will discuss the Gaza ceasefire with Israel’s prime minister in Jerusalem, launching a Middle East tour a day after the latest hostage-prisoner exchange.
On his first visit to the region as Washington’s top diplomat, Rubio is expected to push the US president Donald Trump’s widely condemned proposal to take control of the Gaza Strip and relocate its more than 2 million residents – which experts say would amount to ethnic cleansing.
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This blog is now closed, you can read more of our Middle East coverage here:
Several media are quoting a statement released by Hamas this morning, in which it says Israel will only be able to repatriate the remaining hostages if it implements in full all terms of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
Hamas added that the release of hostages is being carried out after it received guarantees from mediating countries that Israel will uphold the agreements, Haaretz reported.
Continue reading...Hostages and prisoners reunited with loved ones as political concerns turn to second phase of truce
• Middle East crisis – live updates
Hamas has freed three Israeli hostages from Gaza and Israel has released 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in its custody, the sixth exchange in a fragile month-old ceasefire that almost collapsed earlier this week.
On Saturday morning, Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad deployed about 200 fighters to take part in a choreographed handover ceremony in a square in the southern town of Khan Younis.
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Marina Hyde on Keir Starmer’s palid imitation of Trumpism. The sole survivor of a landslide describes the pain, the fear and the long, winding path of recovery. After Kendrick Lamar lands another savage blow at the Super Bowl, a crisis expert advises on how Drake can return to relevance. And, ‘I feel happier and healthier when not around my mother’ – Philippa Perry advises one reader
Continue reading...How exactly the IRS will use the SuperPod AI hardware is unclear. But it comes amid a push for automation in government.
The post The IRS Is Buying an AI Supercomputer From Nvidia appeared first on The Intercept.
Israel warned Thursday that Hamas must release three living hostages this weekend or face a resumption of the war in Gaza
The Israeli government has signalled it intends to stick to the hostage release schedule agreed in the ceasefire deal with Hamas, but warned that if the anticipated three surviving hostages were not released on Saturday, it would go back to war in Gaza.
The statement from the prime minister’s office ends nearly three days of confusion after Donald Trump’s declaration that Israel should demand Hamas release all the remaining hostages, more than 70 people, by Saturday or failing that, end the ceasefire.
Continue reading...People from Afghanistan, Iran, China and other countries flown out as Trump’s deportation effort intensifies
The US has sent undocumented immigrants from several Asian countries whose governments have refused to accept them to Panama, in a move signalling an intensification of the Trump administration’s deportation effort.
A military plane carrying 119 immigrants from countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Pakistan flew from California to Panama City on Wednesday in what was expected to be the first of three migrants flights to the country.
Continue reading...Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s chaotic approach to reform is upending government operations. Critical functions have been halted, tens of thousands of federal staffers are being encouraged to resign, and congressional mandates are being disregarded. The next phase: The Department of Government Efficiency reportedly wants to use AI to cut costs. According to The Washington Post, Musk’s group has started to run sensitive data from government systems through AI programs to analyze spending and determine what could be pruned. This may lead to the elimination of human jobs in favor of automation. As one government official who has been tracking Musk’s DOGE team told the...
“What he’s done is testing the limits of his power in a way we have never seen in this country,” says retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner.
The post Constitutional Crisis Looms appeared first on The Intercept.
Musk has emerged as Trump’s far-right-hand man, creating some awkwardness for the president’s Democratic foes.
The post Democrats Swear They’ll Fight Elon Musk. But What About the Cash They Took From SpaceX? appeared first on The Intercept.
On the first day of his second term in office, Donald Trump suggested he wanted the US to ‘expand’ its territory. Few thought he could actually mean taking Canada and making it the 51st state. But could he actually do that?
Jonathan Freedland speaks to the reporter Leyland Cecco in Toronto about the possibility of the two North American allies merging, what Canadians think about it, and why this existential threat has had an impact on Canadian national politics
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Continue reading...Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is trying to eliminate all Defense Department DEI efforts. It hasn’t been entirely successful.
The post Pentagon Official: Hegseth’s Campaign to Scrub DEI History Is a “Dumb” Distraction appeared first on The Intercept.
For 20 years, the UK has been inflating sentences despite little evidence it deters crime. But a new review offers a glimmer of hope
We’ve heard a lot about prisons in recent months; specifically, the fact that they were full when the new government took office last summer. Labour introduced emergency measures to release thousands of prisoners early, which eased the immediate pressure. The government has committed to building four new prisons as well as adding blocks to existing prisons, creating 14,000 new prison spaces over the next seven years. But when the prison system gets bigger, so do the problems within it. And none of this answers the more complicated question of what happens next.
So far, we have seen sticking-plaster solutions to a systemic crisis that has been created, in no small part, by the desire of successive governments to appear tough on crime. Any serious attempt to turn things around requires consideration of how we got here. The UK’s prison population is at record levels; it has almost doubled in the past 30 years. England and Wales have the highest per capita prison population in western Europe, and in the wider continent, only Russia and Turkey jail more people. Amid endemic overcrowding and understaffing, conditions are often poor, with inmates routinely confined to their cells – usually shared – for 23 hours a day. The suicide rate in our jails is twice the European average. Waiting lists for rehabilitative work – behaviour courses, education, training – are so long that some inmates might never access them at all. Most people would probably agree that none of this is desirable; it certainly doesn’t do much to lower the crime rate.
Samira Shackle is a freelance journalist and the author of Karachi Vice
Continue reading...Queues of people risk possible arrest at Moscow cemetery while European leaders condemn Kremlin
European leaders have condemned the Kremlin’s “ultimate responsibility” in the death of Alexei Navalny, as supporters of Russia’s best-known opposition politician held remembrance events a year after he died in an Arctic penal colony.
A steady queue of people braved freezing temperatures and possible arrest in Moscow to visit Navalny’s grave in Borisovskoye cemetery, while his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, was due to address a memorial ceremony in Berlin, where she is living in exile.
Continue reading...Walking and cycling tours, family holidays, great places to stay, blockbuster exhibitions and more launching this year
The Cilento coast in Campania has long attracted Italian holidaymakers, but overseas visitors tend to head further north to the better-known Amalfi coast. That is starting to change – the Natural Adventure Company reports that UK Google searches for the Cilento coast are up 110% over the past 12 months. The company has run a self-guided walking holiday there since 2022 (from £915 for eight nights’ B&B and three dinners).
Continue reading...An investigation has exposed the tech firm’s cooperation with autocratic regimes to remove unfavourable content
Google has cooperated with autocratic regimes around the world, including the Kremlin in Russia and the Chinese Communist party, to facilitate censorship requests, an Observer investigation can reveal.
The technology company has engaged with the administrations of about 150 countries since 2011 that want information scrubbed from their public domains.
Continue reading...The radio and television presenter and her best friend, Clare Hamilton, on behaving badly on shoots, hanging out with the stars after The Girlie Show, and a major wardrobe malfunction
Born in Bolton, Greater Manchester, in 1974, Sara Cox began her career as a model before becoming a presenter on Channel 4’s The Girlie Show in 1996. In 2000, she took over BBC Radio 1’s breakfast show, hosting for three years. She now presents for BBC Radio 2, fronted TV shows including Between the Covers, and has published two novels. Cox lives in London with her husband, Ben Cyzer, and three children. This month, she and her best friend Clare Hamilton launch Teen Commandments, a podcast about parenting adolescents.
Continue reading...Even with Jordan and Egypt refusing to take in expelled Palestinians, Trump is charging on with his real estate development plan.
The post Trump Is Bullying Jordan and Egypt to Help in Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza. It Isn’t Working. appeared first on The Intercept.
The award-winning British dramatist had a huge hit with her Richard Hawley musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Her latest, Otherland, is a much more personal piece – and, she says, frightening
A few years back, Chris Bush, the 38-year-old playwright from Sheffield, was working on two projects pretty much simultaneously. One was called Faustus: That Damned Woman, a radical, gender-switching retelling of the Faust myth (the deal-with-the-devil guy), which she was producing with the groundbreaking Headlong theatre company. It was, she was sure, the best piece she had ever written. “In my mind, because it’s Faustus, it’s proper literature, so I was very excited,” Bush recalls. “I was already being a dickhead, going: ‘Oh yeah, this is the thing that’s going to transfer into the West End. And win me my first Olivier.’”
The other show was a jukebox musical drawing from the back catalogue of singer-songwriter Richard Hawley. The Crucible in Sheffield had already started selling tickets for the show, but the narrative of the play was a disaster and director Rob Hastie called in Bush a few months before opening to do a page-one, conceptual overhaul of the existing script. “Maybe this sounds grand,” she says, “but my energy coming into it was a bit: ‘Oh, I’m doing a favour for a theatre that I love dearly and respect, and a director who I respect and love dearly, to try to get this show on.’”
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New data reveals a huge rise in complaints, especially at British Gas, putting stress on consumers
Britain’s big energy providers have paid more than £20m in compensation to customers for billing mistakes over the past five years, analysis by Guardian Money has found, with British Gas paying out more than a fifth of the total.
We analysed cases handled by the Energy Ombudsman, the service which steps in if a customer and energy company are unable to resolve a complaint within eight weeks of it being made.
Continue reading...Wildlife charity backs policy of exploitation of small number of some endangered species for economic purposes – such as trophy hunting
The wildlife charity WWF has been working to support the trade in polar bear fur at the same time as using images of the bears to raise money, it can be revealed.
Polar bears are severely affected by the loss of Arctic sea ice, which makes seeking prey harder and forces the bears to use more energy. In some regions, polar bears are showing signs of declining physical condition, having fewer cubs, and dying younger.
Continue reading...ICE wants to hire contractors to monitor social media for threats. Those who criticize the agency could be pulled into the dragnet.
The post ICE Wants to Know If You’re Posting Negative Things About It Online appeared first on The Intercept.
From Ukraine to Afghanistan, independent media organisations across the world are being forced to lay off staff or shut down after losing USAid funding
Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze will lead to a decline in the number of independent media outlets across the world, causing a surge in misinformation and playing into the hands of state propagandists, media organisations have warned.
The US president has suspended billions of dollars in projects supported by USAid, including more than $268m (£216m) allocated to support “independent media and the free flow of information”.
Continue reading...“Are you going to be a coward?” Zül-Qarnain Nantambu asked himself before taking the field for Kendrick Lamar’s show. “Are you going to take a stand?”
The post Gaza Protester Who Interrupted Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl Halftime Show Speaks Out appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: Military experts raise concerns over change to protocols on Pakistan border to allow project that was handed to billionaire Gautam Adani
The Indian government relaxed national security protocols along the Pakistan border to make way for a renewable energy park, a project ultimately handed to one of India’s richest men, Gautam Adani, official documents reveal.
The Adani Group is constructing the Khavda plant, the largest renewable project in the world, in the state of Gujarat. The conglomerate is controlled by Adani, whose close relationship with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has recently been under intense scrutiny.
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Trump told reporters that he wants to expel “all” Palestinians from Gaza — not just during a period of reconstruction, but permanently.
The post Trump: “The U.S. Will Take Over the Gaza Strip” appeared first on The Intercept.
If the State Department takes over USAID, experts fear foreign assistance will stop unless it has a perceived benefit for Trump.
The post Trump’s Attacks on USAID Spark Fear That Lifesaving Care Will Become “Transactional” appeared first on The Intercept.
An FBI official urged the American Academy of Forensic Sciences to cancel a conference presentation titled “Taking on the FBI.”
The post Forensics Experts Challenged the FBI. So the FBI Tried to Censor Their Conference. appeared first on The Intercept.
Palestinians from Gaza responded with outrage to Trump’s proposal to expel them from their homes.
The post “You Don’t Own Gaza, Donald Trump”: Palestinians Vow to Remain and Rebuild appeared first on The Intercept.
In South Africa, a 36-year-old living with HIV since childhood fears she will lose access to treatment due to Trump’s policy.
The post Global HIV Care Thrown Into Chaos by Trump: “I Will Be Sick and Maybe Die” appeared first on The Intercept.
Democrats struggle to counter Trump’s renewed agenda.
The post Why Are Dems Surprised? appeared first on The Intercept.
After plunging USAID and its network of contractors into chaos, communications breakdowns and bureaucratic snafus leave projects stalled.
The post Marco Rubio’s USAID “Humanitarian Waiver” Isn’t Helping Restart Lifesaving Programs appeared first on The Intercept.
Betar U.S. said it has shared with the Trump administration a list of the “names of hundreds of terror supporters.”
The post The Far-Right Group Building a List of Pro-Palestine Activists to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. Guterres warned against 'any form of ethnic cleansing' in Gaza as he addressed the UN committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, a day after Donald Trump announced plans for the US to take control of the strip and for Palestinians to be 'resettled' in neighbouring countries. 'In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse,' the UN chief said. He said that any durable peace will require 'tangible, irreversible and permanent' progress toward the two-state solution as well as the establishment of an 'independent Palestinian state with Gaza as an integral part'
Continue reading...An American Airlines passenger jet with 64 people onboard was coming in to land at Reagan National airport when it collided with a military helicopter. Here is a video timeline of the incident
Trump claims military helicopter in Washington collision ‘flying too high’
Victims of the Washington DC plane crash – the full list so far
Efforts at stopping population movement by force often fail to stop people migrating across borders. But for many politicians, that can be a good thing. Josh Toussaint-Strauss explores how immigration is being exploited for business, to boost political agendas, and as a weapon of war
Continue reading...As the second Trump presidency begins, John Harris and John Domokos go to a Staffordshire town whose economy went from coal to Amazon warehousing to find out if 21st century populism is cutting through. At a byelection down the road, meanwhile, there's a big question facing voters: Labour or Reform UK?
Continue reading...
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space in Italy to lead European aerospace companies in building the Argonaut Lunar Descent Element, ESA’s first lunar lander.
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