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‘Natty or not?’: how steroids got big – podcast
Mon, 01 Jul 2024 04:00:40 GMT
Once upon a time, it was only hardcore bodybuilders who pumped themselves up with testosterone. Today it is no longer niche. But how dangerous is it? By Stephen Buranyi
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Steve Carell’s everyvillain starts a dull new life but nemesis Will Ferrell’s Maxime Le Mal has other ideas
Here’s something new in the saga of everysupervillain ordinariness featuring Gru the goofy animated megabaddie (voiced by Steve Carell), with his comedy bald head, pointy noise and foreign accent. We now reach the fourth film in the series; sixth, if you count the two spin-off films about his jabbering yellow sidekick minions.
This franchise from Illumination Entertainment has never come close to the inspired genius of its rival Pixar’s best work, despite the obvious indebtedness to Syndrome from Pixar’s The Incredibles; that mighty film’s influence looks even more obvious now, as Gru and his family have to be moved to a new city and given witness-protection-scheme-type new identities by their faintly exasperated handlers. But it has to be said that the Despicable Me franchise has marathon stamina; it relaxes into its long-established characterisation and storytelling and only a snob would deny this film’s unassuming consistency in delivering family entertainment. And this is, after all, the franchise that gave us the world-beatingly catchy Happy by Pharrell Williams, who returns to write songs for DM4.
Continue reading...A new documentary tells the stories of three Palestinian families as they have fought to survive nine months of genocide.
The post The Night That Won’t End in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
Sources close to the ousted prime minister say Khan also accuses Gen. Asim Munir for assassination attempt and cover-ups.
The post From Prison, Imran Khan Says Top Pakistani General Betrayed Secret Deal to Stay Out of Politics appeared first on The Intercept.
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Hollywood is beholden to the reboot, the safe bet trumping the imagination of something original. Into cinemas this month arrives an update to the 1996-tornado epic Twister, titled Twisters. How clever. And right until that moment, it seemed as if another sequel to a disaster film was in production, with Gareth Southgate’s England side ready to emulate their cataclysmic defeat by Iceland at the Euros eight years ago.
I happened to watch the clip of a recent performance by a popular English group whose cold play divides opinions. In a fashion similar to the countless criticisms aimed at Gareth Southgate, thousands of fans sang in unison about how they would try to Fix You. Here’s to a bone-igniting quarter-final now” – Peter Oh.
A doff of the cap to the England team for consistently proving throughout this tournament that Napoleon (emperor of France and king of Italy, not the cognac) was right and that it is better to be lucky than good. And it all worked out well for him. Oh …” – Noble Francis.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
Continue reading...The most dangerous precedent in the case against Assange is the idea that the U.S. government can decide how to define journalism.
The post Like Julian Assange, I Know How It Feels to Be Prosecuted for Acts of Journalism appeared first on The Intercept.
Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as Unite suspends Tata Steel strike and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally set to be largest party in France
UK mortgage approvals dipped slightly in May, but were right in line with expectations, according to new data from the Bank of England.
Net mortgage approvals for house purchases fell from 60,800 in April to 60,000 in May, while approvals for remortgaging decreased slightly from 29,900 to 29,600 over the same period, the Bank said.
Gridlock: The most likely outcome remains a hung parliament in which neither the far right nor the united left nor the Macron’s centrists can muster a majority. In this case, any (new) government would not get much done.
Worse than gridlock: Although the united left and RN are polar opposites on issues of migration, culture and identity, they have all opposed Macron’s pro-growth reforms. As a result, we see a risk that Le Pen’s party and parts of the left may still join forces in a hung parliament on a few select issues to soften Macron’s pension reform and enhance the “purchasing power” of citizens, for instance through lower VAT on energy products or via additional subsidies.
Marine Meloni: With a significantly lower probability than the first two scenarios, Le Pen’s party may still win a majority of seats and install RN boss Jordan Bardella as prime minister. If so, she would probably focus on winning the 2027 presidential election, staying on the more moderate track which she has signalled during the campaign. She may concentrate on some signature policies (e.g. being tough on immigration) rather than on expensive or disruptive fiscal promises. Put differently, Le Pen may try to largely follow the example of Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni. To do so, she may possibly explain to RN voters after a lengthy fiscal review that most of her original fiscal ideas could only be implemented slowly over time – or only if she became president in 2027.
Continue reading...Pyongyang calls ‘Freedom Edge’ drills involving fighter jets and nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier ‘provocative’
North Korea has criticised a joint military exercise by South Korea, Japan and the US held this month, state media have said, saying such drills show the relationship among the three countries has developed into “the Asian version of Nato”.
On Thursday, the three countries began the large-scale joint military drills called “Freedom Edge”, involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defences against missiles, submarines and air attacks.
Continue reading...Court rules former presidents entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution
Conservative bloc
Alito – Majority
Barrett – Majority
Gorsuch – Majority
Kavanaugh – Majority
Roberts – Majority
Thomas – Majority
Jackson – Minority
Kagan – Minority
Sotomayor – Minority
Continue reading...The ‘cowboy Catholic’ head of the Heritage Foundation is on a mission to align the right behind Trumpism, and has a plan in place to overturn the American government as it exists if Trump returns to power
Meet the election operators:
Steve Bannon
Charlie Kirk
Elites with a “sense of superiority” are ruining Washington, despite being “mere equals of the workers who shower after work instead of before”, writes Kevin Roberts in the introduction to Project 2025, the conservative manifesto for a second Trump administration.
Roberts is a historian and the PhD-holding president of the Heritage Foundation, a premier Washington conservative thinktank that drafted the plans to dismantle and reorganize US government.
Continue reading...Trump ally expected to begin serving four-month sentence for contempt of Congress
Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s longtime ally, is set to turn himself in to prison in Connecticut today after the supreme court rejected his last-minute appeal to avoid prison time.
The 70-year old was ordered by the supreme court on Friday to report to FCI Danbury, a minimum security federal prison in Connecticut, on 1 July. He is expected to serve a four-month sentence following his convictions over his defiance of subpoenas surrounding the House’s January 6 insurrection investigation.
Continue reading...The US president met with his family at Camp David, after a disastrous debate performance last week led to calls for him to drop out of the election
Joe Biden’s family have urged him stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance last week, according to reports in the US media, as senior democrats and donors have expressed exasperation at how his staff prepared him for the event.
The president gathered with his family at Camp David on Sunday, where discussions were reported to include questions over his political future. It came after days of mounting pressure on Biden, after a debate in which his halting performance highlighted his vulnerabilities and invited calls from pundits, media and voters for him to step aside.
Continue reading...Many want the president to quit his re-election bid following a catastrophic debate. His team must ask what is best for the US
The Democrats have no good options. The question now is which is the least dangerous of the bad ones. Democratic voters did not want Joe Biden to run again. Almost 70% judged him too old to serve another term as president when polled last year. Privately, many senior Democrats and donors shared their qualms. But with Mr Biden determined to stand, the consensus was to rally round. Now, after last Thursday’s catastrophic debate, the party is panicking. Only four months from the election, there is frenzied discussion of potential replacements.
That would almost certainly require Mr Biden’s agreement. His wife, Jill, seen as key to his decision, seems to be urging him on. He is said to believe that only he is capable of beating Mr Trump again. Few agree. The lack of a formal mechanism to remove him does not preclude the effects of political gravity. Slumping polls, drying up funds and private, or even public, demands for his departure from senior Democratic figures could yet change his mind. A growing chorus of previously supportive media figures is urging him to quit.
Continue reading...Many of bloc’s diplomats fear a six-month ‘fiasco’ with Viktor Orbán’s government overseeing the agenda
For months, it was rumoured that Hungary planned to use a reworked version of Donald Trump’s slogan for its upcoming EU presidency: Make Europe Great Again. That idea “sounded so lame and ridiculous that we refrained from reporting it”, Szabolcs Panyi, one of Hungary’s leading investigative journalists, wrote on X this month. “We were wrong.”
On 1 July, under that Trumpian banner, Hungary will take on the six-month rotating presidency of the EU council of ministers. As well as a spell in the diplomatic limelight, Viktor Orbán’s government will be setting the EU agenda for the rest of the year.
Continue reading...Trump’s racist remarks toward migrants and Palestinians were met with little more than “thank you, President Trump.”
The post Trump Used “Palestinian” as a Slur. Biden and Debate Moderators Didn’t Say a Word. appeared first on The Intercept.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden took to the debate stage in Atlanta, Georgia, for their first head to head of this year’s presidential campaign.
Jonathan Freedland and Nikki McCann Ramirez of Rolling Stone look at who did better on the night
Archive: CNN
Continue reading...Liberal Democrat leader’s latest stunt intended to urge voters to take leap of faith and vote for his party
Rishi Sunak is speaking at a campaign event in Staffordshire. As the advance briefing predicted, he has just told his audience.
I tell you this: once you have handed Keir Starmer and Labour a blank cheque, you won’t be able to get it back.
We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.
There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.
[In politics] some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision-maker. I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it …
Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better.
Continue reading...Gabriel Attal urges tactical voting in second round to keep party from forming country’s first far-right government
Marine Le Pen’s victory has been applauded by other far-right leaders in Europe. Santiago Abascal, who heads the far-right Vox party across the border in Spain, called it a “victory of hope, freedom and security for the French people”, while André Ventura, leader of Portugal’s Chega party, hailed “a great victory”, adding: “Europe is waking up! Soon, it will be Portugal!”
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and the leader of the far-right League party, accused Macron of undemocratic behaviour after the French president called for a united front to head off Le Pen’s National Rally in the second round.
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Shortbread biscotti with a big jammy ‘eye’ are found all across bars in Italy, and are a bit like giant jammy dodgers
Imagine a large and particularly neat fried egg with a well-centred extra-large yolk: these are the proportions of the biscotti occhi di bue, bullseye biscuits that sit behind glass-fronted counters in bars all over Italy. Pale pairs of shortbread biscuits stuck together with jam, a hole in the top biscuit exposing a large, smooth, orange eye. Sometimes there will be smaller bullseye biscuits, too, maybe with fluted edges and a jammy dodger-style strawberry heart instead of an eye. Nutella can also be used as a filling. But the most common eyes are big and apricot: a biscuit cyclops for breakfast.
When my son was small, and before the owner sold up to be a music producer, we used to go to a bar on the way home from the train station. I had noticed their biscuits, of course, but never eaten one until my son pleaded, as if his life depended on it, to have one for breakfast. Large for an adult, biscotti occhi di bue are enormous when you are four, overwhelming even, and he held it in front of his face and stared, hypnotised by the jam, all the way home. We were back in the kitchen when, after much staring and poking, he finally bit into his breakfast and discovered it was more biscuit than jam. The biscuit was passed over to me and, unthinking, I ate it with a cup of tea, which was hugely enjoyable, but not the right thing to do, because my son then remembered that his life depended on the biscuit, and he lay on the floor, face down and rigid, in protest. He has never forgotten this, and neither have I, which is why they are now known as jammy thief bullseye biscuits: smaller than those you find in a bar, and with a central hole made using the plastic cap of a milk bottle.
Discover this recipe and many more from your favourite cooks in the new Guardian Feast app, with smart features to make everyday cooking easier and more fun
Continue reading...Compared with others in war-scarred eastern Ukraine, the mining town of Toretsk was in a relatively sleepy sector of the frontline. Then suddenly, the Russian assaults began, and life there deteriorated drastically. And with the heavily increased amount of rockets and airstrikes that started raining down on Toretsk’s shaken residents many people decided to leave the town, while others decided to stay
Continue reading...Rainfall is down 40% since 2003 and experts predict a third of Sicily will be desert by 2030
Every morning, as soon as he wakes up, Luca Cammarata looks to the sky in the hope that some clouds on the horizon will bring a few drops of water. On his farm in the Sicilian interior, it hasn’t rained for months. Cammarata’s 200 goats graze on a parched landscape resembling a lunar surface, forced to eat dry weeds and drink from a muddy pond.
The 53-year-old has never experienced a drought like it. “If things continue like this,” he said, “I will be forced to butcher my livestock and close down my farm.”
Continue reading...A Russian missile killed seven people and wiped out the country’s main book printer in May. But moves are already afoot to rebuild Factor Druk
Olena Ninadovska was inside Ukraine’s biggest printing house when the Russian missile hit. She was working in the binding department. It was 10.20am. Two colleagues – Tetaina Khrapina and Olha Kurasova – stood next to her. The women were operating a row of book-sewing machines. Another employee, Sveta Arestova, had just stepped away to take a telephone call.
The S-300 missile came through the roof. There was no warning. It instantly killed Ninadovksa and the others at her workstation. Arestova was injured but survived. The blast flipped over a 10-tonne book-finishing machine, killing Svitlana Ryzhenko, who was sitting at the end of the assembly line. Two more workers died at an adjacent table. Another, Roman Stroyhi, was killed by shards from a guillotine machine.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nedum Onuoha and Nicky Bandini as the hosts win in controversial style and the holders bow out disgracefully
On the podcast today: A storm stops the match in Dortmund but can’t stop Germany beating Denmark with goals from Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala. Denmark were hard done by with the decisions, having been denied a goal and then conceding a penalty for a very harsh handball against Joachim Anderson.
Elsewhere, Switzerland knocked out the holders, Italy, with relative ease thanks to a dismal display from Luciano Spalletti’s side. The Swiss will now face the winners of England v Slovakia in the quarter-finals.
Continue reading...I filed a lawsuit to obtain the 6,700-page report with “excruciating detail” about the CIA’s abuses.
The post More Than 10 Years Later, the Senate Torture Report Is Still Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
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Unlikely alliance of unions and climate groups call for ‘clear and funded’ transition plan for communities reliant on dwindling industry
“In this city, everyone feels the decline of the North Sea,” says Chris Douglas, 39, who has lived in Aberdeen his whole life and began working as a taxi driver in the Granite City 20 years ago. He now has his own cab company, which in the past was entirely reliant on bookings from the oil and gas industry – today it’s “maybe 50%”, he says.
“You only have to look around: there are industrial estates decimated, hotels no longer trading. The good days are long gone,” he says. “And no political party is coming along to say they are going to rejuvenate the industry. There are just different plans for how to close it down.”
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We’ve been making short-term decisions about our planet for a long time. The consequences are horrific to behold
The slashing rain turned the dirt roads into muddy creeks, the bus’s wipers shoved the torrent back and forth across the windshield, and Don Schreiber handled the wheel like Sandra Bullock in Speed as he wisecracked from under a big gray moustache. The vehicle swerved and slid in the storm, lightning flashed on the horizon, thunder shook the air. Whether the old yellow bus would make it back to the ranch house, get stuck or slide and flip depended on his driving.
Don, in his white Stetson and a blue and white checked western shirt, was our tour guide on this land in northwestern New Mexico that he knew intimately and had dedicated his retirement to protecting. When he and his wife Jane Schreiber bought the ranchland about 200 miles north-west of Santa Fe in 1999 to retire to, they – like many westerners – found that they owned the land, but not the subsurface rights. The fracking boom came, and gas companies began gouging holes for gas wells, laying pipelines and cutting roads across the fragile desert soil. Big trucks rolled across the land night and day to service the wells that studded the landscape. At the well we stopped at, the pressure gauge was broken.
Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell’s Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility
Continue reading...Top Democrats used to go all in on protecting incumbents. That wasn’t the case for Bowman, who was defeated Tuesday.
The post Half-Hearted Efforts by Democratic Leaders Couldn’t Save Jamaal Bowman From AIPAC’s Attacks appeared first on The Intercept.
In April, President Joe Biden said he was “considering” dropping charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The post Julian Assange Strikes Plea Deal, Will Return to Australia appeared first on The Intercept.
Turnout estimated to be as low as 40%, a record low since the revolution and a rebuff for the regime
Iran is heading to a runoff election in a week’s time after the reformist lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian secured a narrow lead over the hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili but failed to secure more than 50% of the votes.
Turnout may end up low as 40%, a record low for an Iranian presidential election since the revolution in 1979.
Continue reading...The administration says the “Azov Brigade” is separate from the old, Nazi-linked “Azov Battalion.” The unit itself says they’re the same.
The post The U.S. Says a Far-Right Ukrainian Army Unit Can Now Get Aid. A Photo Shows Training Was Already Happening. appeared first on The Intercept.
As Republicans thirst for restarting federal executions, Absolute Standards told Connecticut lawmakers it hasn’t made or sold pentobarbital since December 2020.
The post Company Linked to Federal Execution Spree Says It Will No Longer Produce Key Drug appeared first on The Intercept.
Project 2025 — a road map for the next Trump White House — urges overturning Supreme Court precedent, and a trickle of bills may tee up challenges.
The post Can Conservatives Expand the Death Penalty Using the “Trigger Law” Playbook? appeared first on The Intercept.
Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...Increasing use of fans, air coolers and air conditioners is placing ‘serious’ strain on grid in north of country
Engineers in India have warned of the possibility of prolonged power outages in the north, where a heatwave has brought misery for millions of people.
Demand for electricity has soared due to fans, air coolers and air conditioners being run constantly, placing a strain on the grid in Delhi and elsewhere in the north. Manufacturers of air conditioners and air coolers report sales rising by 40-50% compared with last summer.
Continue reading...Despite the various factors that contributed to Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s loss, progressive strategists said there was one clear takeaway from the results.
The post Progressives on AIPAC’s Defeat of Bowman: “Now We Know How Much It Costs to Buy an Election” appeared first on The Intercept.
SNP fears resurgent Labour, while Starmer seeks credibility and Lib Dems eye status of third biggest party in Commons
Within 48 hours of the election being called, both main party leaders travelled to Scotland, keen to capitalise on the decline in support for the Scottish National party, which has dominated elections at Holyrood and Westminster for more than a decade. But the campaign has revealed that Scottish votes matter to parties for very different reasons.
Continue reading...Liberal Democrat leader’s latest stunt intended to urge voters to take leap of faith and vote for his party
Rishi Sunak is speaking at a campaign event in Staffordshire. As the advance briefing predicted, he has just told his audience.
I tell you this: once you have handed Keir Starmer and Labour a blank cheque, you won’t be able to get it back.
We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.
There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.
[In politics] some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision-maker. I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it …
Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look ahead to the final week of campaigning before the election
Continue reading...The US president met with his family at Camp David, after a disastrous debate performance last week led to calls for him to drop out of the election
Joe Biden’s family have urged him stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance last week, according to reports in the US media, as senior democrats and donors have expressed exasperation at how his staff prepared him for the event.
The president gathered with his family at Camp David on Sunday, where discussions were reported to include questions over his political future. It came after days of mounting pressure on Biden, after a debate in which his halting performance highlighted his vulnerabilities and invited calls from pundits, media and voters for him to step aside.
Continue reading...Many want the president to quit his re-election bid following a catastrophic debate. His team must ask what is best for the US
The Democrats have no good options. The question now is which is the least dangerous of the bad ones. Democratic voters did not want Joe Biden to run again. Almost 70% judged him too old to serve another term as president when polled last year. Privately, many senior Democrats and donors shared their qualms. But with Mr Biden determined to stand, the consensus was to rally round. Now, after last Thursday’s catastrophic debate, the party is panicking. Only four months from the election, there is frenzied discussion of potential replacements.
That would almost certainly require Mr Biden’s agreement. His wife, Jill, seen as key to his decision, seems to be urging him on. He is said to believe that only he is capable of beating Mr Trump again. Few agree. The lack of a formal mechanism to remove him does not preclude the effects of political gravity. Slumping polls, drying up funds and private, or even public, demands for his departure from senior Democratic figures could yet change his mind. A growing chorus of previously supportive media figures is urging him to quit.
Continue reading...“The Democratic Party is more invested in trying to maintain control than it is in trying to win an election in November,” said one DNC member.
The post Can Anything Stop the Democratic National Convention From Being a Biden Coronation? appeared first on The Intercept.
Top Democrats used to go all in on protecting incumbents. That wasn’t the case for Bowman, who was defeated Tuesday.
The post Half-Hearted Efforts by Democratic Leaders Couldn’t Save Jamaal Bowman From AIPAC’s Attacks appeared first on The Intercept.
Democratic leaders did not tell members to vote against an amendment to block the State Department from citing the Gaza Health Ministry’s statistics.
The post 62 Democrats Join 207 Republicans in Vote to Conceal Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.
For more than a decade, Conservatives have promised to crack down on illegal migration and slash the number of legal arrivals. Their repeated failure has infuriated voters – and further demonised immigrants to the UK
In his first major speech as UK prime minister, at the start of 2023, a hopeful Rishi Sunak announced “five promises” to show that his government would “always reflect the people’s priorities”. Alongside familiar pledges to reduce inflation and grow the economy, there was a bold new promise: to “stop the boats”.
“We will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed,” Sunak announced. “No tricks, no ambiguity, we’re either delivering for you or we’re not,” he told reporters – in an upbeat mood and a crisp white shirt, a long way from the rain-sodden and crestfallen prime minister we saw announcing the election last month.
Continue reading...The Reform leader plays on the politics of resentment – and that’s attractive to a generation that has known so much precarity
In an election of few surprises, a shocking development has been Nigel Farage’s sudden popularity among young people. Recent figures show the Reform leader – an antiquated figure who, with his pinstripes, tweeds and cigars, would be at home in a Thatcher cabinet – outperforms Labour on TikTok (in early June, Farage was beating Labour on a views-per-video basis by 30% – and the Tories by more than double). A YouGov survey on 18 June indicated that Farage’s popularity among 18- to 24-year-olds dwarfs that of the Conservatives; and Reform has scored its highest polling numbers since it originated as the Brexit party in 2018.
With young people often bashed for their “woke” politics (including by the Reform leader himself), it may surprise some that Farage – who has spouted rhetoric about Muslims not having British values, and suggesting diversity in hiring is “disastrous” – would resonate with this group. But his success relates to his courting of younger voters by aligning himself with misogynistic figures – most notably the influencer Andrew Tate – who have increasing cachet with young men in particular. In an appearance on the Strike It Big podcast (hosted by two 25-year-olds, who interviewed Tate as a guest last year), Farage described Tate as an “important voice” for the “emasculated”.
Continue reading...Unlikely alliance of unions and climate groups call for ‘clear and funded’ transition plan for communities reliant on dwindling industry
“In this city, everyone feels the decline of the North Sea,” says Chris Douglas, 39, who has lived in Aberdeen his whole life and began working as a taxi driver in the Granite City 20 years ago. He now has his own cab company, which in the past was entirely reliant on bookings from the oil and gas industry – today it’s “maybe 50%”, he says.
“You only have to look around: there are industrial estates decimated, hotels no longer trading. The good days are long gone,” he says. “And no political party is coming along to say they are going to rejuvenate the industry. There are just different plans for how to close it down.”
Continue reading...The PM’s unbending belief in Britain as a meritocracy blinded him to the realities of race, class – and his own flawed project
In Nairobi’s industrial South B district stands the Highway secondary school, alma mater of Rishi Sunak’s father. It was established for Asian boys in 1962, one year before Kenya’s independence, during a time when there were separate schools for whites, Asians and black Kenyans.
Days after Sunak became prime minister, the principal told the Kenyan press that his premiership was “an indication that with determination and focus, one can be anything in this world. We are not limited if the example of the UK premier is anything to go by.” The celebration reflected an aspirational approach to life, emerging from deep within the postcolonial experience, that conceives of the world in terms of centre and periphery, and in which success is defined by proximity to that centre. “Endeavour to excel”, the Highway school motto, is hand-painted neatly on a blue sash on its walls.
Continue reading...Across Britain, the impact of austerity has reached breaking point, but few believe Labour will turn things around
There were about 30 people standing outside Birmingham Central Mosque, and they formed as diverse a crowd as the city’s population. It was food bank day: inside a portable building in the car park, a team of four spirited women were efficiently sorting through crates of groceries and handing those who had finally reached the front of the line what they needed.
As they did their work, we had a snatched conversation. “The queues are getting longer,” one of them said.
Continue reading...There are only 18 seats at stake in the province this week, but the next UK government has a big political task on its hands there
Compared with the contests in the rest of the UK or in France, the one in Northern Ireland may seem like this week’s electoral sideshow. Devolved government there has finally been resumed. The Brexit protests have died down. And there are only 18 seats in Northern Ireland anyway, out of Westminster’s 650. The chance of the Northern Ireland results affecting the post-election balance of power, as they did in 2017, are vanishingly small this time.
All true. Yet the election in Northern Ireland matters all the same. It matters for Northern Ireland’s people, of course, not least because one in four of them are on an NHS treatment waiting list, a higher figure than in most of Britain. It matters too because, although the devolved institutions have resumed operation, there is too little by way of creative, cross-community, cooperative government to show for it. And it matters because, at least among unionists, the wounds of Brexit have not been fully healed.
Continue reading...The most dangerous precedent in the case against Assange is the idea that the U.S. government can decide how to define journalism.
The post Like Julian Assange, I Know How It Feels to Be Prosecuted for Acts of Journalism appeared first on The Intercept.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden took to the debate stage in Atlanta, Georgia, for their first head to head of this year’s presidential campaign.
Jonathan Freedland and Nikki McCann Ramirez of Rolling Stone look at who did better on the night
Archive: CNN
Continue reading...Sources close to the ousted prime minister say Khan also accuses Gen. Asim Munir for assassination attempt and cover-ups.
The post From Prison, Imran Khan Says Top Pakistani General Betrayed Secret Deal to Stay Out of Politics appeared first on The Intercept.
Gabriel Attal urges tactical voting in second round to keep party from forming country’s first far-right government
Marine Le Pen’s victory has been applauded by other far-right leaders in Europe. Santiago Abascal, who heads the far-right Vox party across the border in Spain, called it a “victory of hope, freedom and security for the French people”, while André Ventura, leader of Portugal’s Chega party, hailed “a great victory”, adding: “Europe is waking up! Soon, it will be Portugal!”
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and the leader of the far-right League party, accused Macron of undemocratic behaviour after the French president called for a united front to head off Le Pen’s National Rally in the second round.
Continue reading...Trans people ‘being used as a political football’ with heightened mainstream and social media coverage
Politics is unavoidable for the transgender and non-binary young adults Oscar Hoyle works with, he says. Many of them will be voting on Thursday for the first time. “They’re forced to engage from a young age because they’re scared about their future.”
Hoyle runs Blossom, a nationwide support service for LGBTQ+ members of gen Z, whose experiences and challenges have been described as “political footballs” in the run-up to the UK election.
Continue reading...Almost 12,000 fewer inmates completed offender management courses than when David Cameron took office
The number of prisoners completing rehabilitation programmes in England and Wales under consecutive Conservative governments has fallen by 74%, according to research.
Nearly 12,000 fewer prisoners took courses designed to change and improve their behaviour and reduce reoffending in 2023 compared with 2010, when David Cameron became prime minister.
Additional reporting by Ava Houston-Sidhu
Continue reading...The 45-year-old has the perfect CV for the role, with experience at the Bank of England and in private finance – but how has her background shaped her tough stance on public finances?
Continue reading...British Horseracing Authority says it has been preparing for a change of government for many months
Few could have guessed when the field came under starter’s orders for the general election in May that betting and the Gambling Commission would turn out to be such fixtures on the daily news grid. Or, for that matter, that Keir Starmer would suggest, in response to a question on his political punting habits, that he “only bets on the horses”.
Assuming the price of around 1-33 is correct and that a Labour administration with a significant majority takes the reins this week, that may well prove to be the first and last significant mention of the turf – or gambling, for that matter – by a member of the new government for some while.
Continue reading...Study reveals support for measures to maintain public services, regardless of impact on household finances
Twice as many Britons support tax increases to pay for public services as those who believe they should be reduced even if it means further public service cuts, according to new a report.
A study released by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, a research body set up by the fund manager, said the public are willing to support policies that they don’t think will benefit their own finances, despite almost two in five (39%) of households now classed as having serious financial difficulties. The number of households with finances in distress has increased by 2.9 million since the last election in 2019, when 28% were in that situation.
Continue reading...The ‘cowboy Catholic’ head of the Heritage Foundation is on a mission to align the right behind Trumpism, and has a plan in place to overturn the American government as it exists if Trump returns to power
Meet the election operators:
Steve Bannon
Charlie Kirk
Elites with a “sense of superiority” are ruining Washington, despite being “mere equals of the workers who shower after work instead of before”, writes Kevin Roberts in the introduction to Project 2025, the conservative manifesto for a second Trump administration.
Roberts is a historian and the PhD-holding president of the Heritage Foundation, a premier Washington conservative thinktank that drafted the plans to dismantle and reorganize US government.
Continue reading...Artwork holding dummies of migrants interpreted by some as commentary on continuing loss of life in Channel
The home secretary, James Cleverly, has condemned a Banksy artwork of an inflatable boat holding dummies of migrants at the Glastonbury music festival as a “celebration of loss of life”.
The artist was confirmed to be behind the mock migrant boat being released into the crowd during a set by the Bristol punk band Idles. It was crowd-surfed above the audience during a song that began with the lyrics “My blood brother is an immigrant. A beautiful immigrant”.
Continue reading...Reset with Europe is priority for man who is on course to be foreign secretary, amid two wars and crisis in France
David Lammy will be the first Labour foreign secretary succeeding a Conservative government since Robin Cook in 1997, if his party triumphs in the general election. On his arrival in office, Cook’s first two acts were to expand the Foreign Office newspaper subscription list to include the Racing Post, and, perhaps more momentously, give an interview to the Observer hailing “an end to xenophobia”.
Lammy will be less bothered about racing tips, but he is tempted to send a broadly similar signal to Cook’s about how the UK under Labour is going to reconnect with the world.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Alan Milburn, Jacqui Smith and Sally Morgan would be contenders to take over from Richard Meddings
Labour is poised to axe the chair of NHS England if it wins the election and replace him with a party loyalist to help implement its plans to revive the “broken” health service.
The party is considering replacing Richard Meddings with the former health secretary Alan Milburn, the ex-home secretary Jacqui Smith, or Sally Morgan, who served as Tony Blair’s political secretary.
Continue reading...In part two of our miniseries on how 14 years of Tory rule have impacted the UK, Jonathan Freedland explores how chaos from Brexit to Partygate destroyed trust in politics
In the second episode of a two-part series examining the legacy of 14 years of Conservative rule in the UK, Jonathan Freedland and Helen Pidd lay out the chaos that followed David Cameron’s departure from Downing Street.
Cameron’s reign ended abruptly in the summer of 2016, when his gamble to hold a referendum on EU membership backfired and the UK voted to leave. He retired to his shepherd’s hut in his garden to write his memoirs and a period of mayhem began.
The king of chaos was arguably Boris Johnson, who barely had time to celebrate his landslide victory in the winter of 2019 before a global pandemic forced him to lock down the country. He imposed strict restrictions on the rest of us but neglected to follow the rules himself. Liz Truss became PM, only to be outlasted by an iceberg lettuce.
And now, with just a few days before the country goes to the polls, Rishi Sunak’s campaign is being overshadowed by allegations that a stream of Tory insiders placed bets on the date of the election.
Costs of trying to deport asylum seekers cannot be recovered if Labour wins and disbands policy
More than £320m spent by the government on the controversial scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is likely to be lost if the Conservatives are voted out of power at Thursday’s general election.
The sum has been spent on economic development money for Rwanda, along with set-up costs for the scheme, which cannot be recovered if it does not go ahead.
Continue reading...Readers respond to an editorial on the inadequacy of first past the post, and the need for electoral reform
Your editorial on electoral reform (21 June) rightly points out the inadequacy of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system. However, it is not enough simply to call for proportional representation (PR), as there are a range of different systems under that label. It seems obvious to me that we need a royal commission on achieving a better system.
One option that might be considered could be based on the alternative vote (AV), which was offered – but not seriously – in a referendum in 2011. There are problems with any form of PR, which would be met by AV. The constituencies would be far bigger – leading to fewer people identifying with them and their representatives.
Continue reading...The standard of the election’s televised encounters between party leaders could have been a lot higher, argue Richard Bryant, Daryl Birden and Peter Wrigley
Has there ever been such a wretchedly dismal general election campaign (The Guardian view on televised election debates, the voters deserve better, Editorial, 27 June)? Such a miserable indictment of the current state of our politics and thoroughly rotten political system. This has culminated in the sordid betting furore, as potential MPs – public servants, let us remember – gamble on the “game” that is our shared future.
The final straw was last Wednesday’s desperate “debate” (it was no such thing) between the two leaders, one of whom will be our prime minister as of Friday. Who on earth thinks there is any value in the increasingly impolite exchange of unsubstantiated claims and counter-claims?
Continue reading...I filed a lawsuit to obtain the 6,700-page report with “excruciating detail” about the CIA’s abuses.
The post More Than 10 Years Later, the Senate Torture Report Is Still Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
A finance bill was the trigger, but the backdrop is government debt and blinkered interventions from western institutions
There is as yet no resolution after an unprecedented week in Kenyan politics. What began as protests against a rushed-through finance bill has revealed a crisis of legitimacy within the executive, the legislature and the police that were sent to do the government’s bidding. And while the protesters have been very clear about their demands – reject the finance bill – outsiders who are accustomed to simplistic narratives about African politics have been scrambling and failing to understand what these events really mean.
Kenya is experiencing a polycrisis of sorts. The finance bill is the immediate trigger: an annually produced document that lays out the government’s fiscal strategy, and which normally passes without much comment. But this year it attracted an unprecedented level of attention because it contained several proposals for the taxation of everyday goods, including bread, sanitary towels and more. Kenyans were already struggling with the effects of a collapsing currency and the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis. However, the government was not merely looking to meet its financial obligations but to increase year-on-year spending from the last finance bill, which had already introduced a number of new taxes.
Nanjala Nyabola is a writer, political analyst and author of Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming Politics in Kenya
Continue reading...Trump’s racist remarks toward migrants and Palestinians were met with little more than “thank you, President Trump.”
The post Trump Used “Palestinian” as a Slur. Biden and Debate Moderators Didn’t Say a Word. appeared first on The Intercept.
In the third episode of a new series of Anywhere but Westminster, John Harris and John Domokos travel around the West Midlands, and find a fascinating political mixture: hesitant Labour voters, a new crop of independents focused on Palestine and local cuts – and, amid deep social problems, lots of people who think the election hardly matters. Here, it seems, is the reality that all those opinion polls get nowhere near
Continue reading...Look out for surplus fingers, compare mannerisms with real recordings and apply good old-fashioned common sense and scepticism, experts advise
In a crucial election year for the world, with the UK, US and France among the countries going to the polls, disinformation is swirling around social media.
There is much concern about deepfakes, or artificial intelligence-generated images or audio of leading political figures designed to mislead voters, and whether they will affect results.
Continue reading...The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc advances a key aim of the Project 2025 manifesto: “deconstruct the Administrative State.”
The post The Supreme Court’s Latest Power Grab: Regulatory Oversight appeared first on The Intercept.
Abu Zubaydah’s lawyer told a military review board that an unnamed country could admit the 22-year prisoner and surveil him for perpetuity.
The post Negotiations Are Underway for Guantánamo’s “Forever Prisoner” From Gaza to Be Released appeared first on The Intercept.
Charlotte Edwardes interviews the Labour leader as he closes in on power, but who exactly is the man who wants to run Britain? Plus the extraordinary story of the woman who stepped in as a surrogate for her daughter’s baby, and Sam Pyrah examines the latest scientific understanding about why we dream what we do
Continue reading...Despite deciding not to decide, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority laid out a legal road map for anti-abortion zealots.
The post Alito’s Dissent in Emergency Abortion Case Provides “Building Blocks” for More Extreme Bans appeared first on The Intercept.
Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as Unite suspends Tata Steel strike and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally set to be largest party in France
UK mortgage approvals dipped slightly in May, but were right in line with expectations, according to new data from the Bank of England.
Net mortgage approvals for house purchases fell from 60,800 in April to 60,000 in May, while approvals for remortgaging decreased slightly from 29,900 to 29,600 over the same period, the Bank said.
Gridlock: The most likely outcome remains a hung parliament in which neither the far right nor the united left nor the Macron’s centrists can muster a majority. In this case, any (new) government would not get much done.
Worse than gridlock: Although the united left and RN are polar opposites on issues of migration, culture and identity, they have all opposed Macron’s pro-growth reforms. As a result, we see a risk that Le Pen’s party and parts of the left may still join forces in a hung parliament on a few select issues to soften Macron’s pension reform and enhance the “purchasing power” of citizens, for instance through lower VAT on energy products or via additional subsidies.
Marine Meloni: With a significantly lower probability than the first two scenarios, Le Pen’s party may still win a majority of seats and install RN boss Jordan Bardella as prime minister. If so, she would probably focus on winning the 2027 presidential election, staying on the more moderate track which she has signalled during the campaign. She may concentrate on some signature policies (e.g. being tough on immigration) rather than on expensive or disruptive fiscal promises. Put differently, Le Pen may try to largely follow the example of Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni. To do so, she may possibly explain to RN voters after a lengthy fiscal review that most of her original fiscal ideas could only be implemented slowly over time – or only if she became president in 2027.
Continue reading...Rival parties engage in frantic bargaining and tactical voting plans after National Rally wins first round
France’s left and centrist parties are scrambling to cobble together a united front after Marine Le Pen’s resounding victory in the first round of snap parliamentary elections on Sunday brought her far-right, anti-immigration party a step closer to power.
Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and its allies on the right finished first with 33% of the vote, followed by the leftwing New Popular Front alliance (NFP) with 28%, while President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc came third with 20% of the vote.
Continue reading...Donald Tusk warns of politicians advocating for Putin while Marine Le Pen’s allies celebrate RN’s gains
Mainstream European politicians have warned about the advance of the far right, after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) made historic gains in France’s snap elections, bringing the anti-immigration party closer than ever to power.
Official results showed the RN and its allies received 33% of the national vote, well ahead of the leftwing alliance New Popular Front on 28%, with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc reduced to third place with 20% of the vote. It remains unclear whether Le Pen’s party will emerge as the largest in the final round of voting next Sunday, or if the French president will be confronted with a hung parliament, leaving the EU’s second-largest economy in chaotic stasis.
Continue reading...Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration party is in reach of becoming the biggest political force in parliament. Plus: the songs of summer
Good morning.
After the first round of the French parliamentary elections, the far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies won 33% of the national popular vote, the interior ministry has said.
What happens next? Should RN increase its 88 seats in parliament to a majority of 289 – something that is still seen as a steep challenge – it will be the first time in French history that a far-right party has won a parliamentary election and forms a government. In that scenario, President Emmanuel Macron – who called the snap poll three weeks ago after his party came a distant second to the RN in the European elections – would have to share power. If the RN wins the largest number of seats but falls short of a majority, Macron could then find himself with a hung parliament unable to govern the EU’s second biggest economy and its top military power.
Has the RN’s recent victories deepened division? RN has touted programs singling out groups such as dual nationals and those born and raised in France by foreign parents. In the past three weeks, rights groups have reported a rise in racist, homophobic and transphobic attacks.
Continue reading...France can look in the mirror and ask what went wrong – or vote for the left to limit the National Rally’s grip on power
For all of my adult life, the Le Pen family has felt like a shadow hanging over my head. Jean-Marie, the father, used to make jokes about the Holocaust. He was a former French paratrooper in Algeria who was accused of torturing prisoners. Then along came his daughter, Marine, who looked less threatening but more ambitious. Then her niece, Marion, who proved even more reactionary.
The Le Pen influence appeared to be growing, but I always had the naive idea that “reasonable” people, from the right as well as from the left, would never let them win. It proved true in 2002 when Jean-Marie Le Pen made it to the second round of the presidential election: the French then voted massively for Jacques Chirac. It proved true again in 2017 and 2022, when Marine also reached the second round and was defeated by Emmanuel Macron, the promising young outsider who wanted to dismantle the left-right dividing line. It’s no longer true.
Pierre Haski is a former foreign correspondent and a former deputy editor of the French daily Libération. He is also president of the press freedom NGO Reporters without Borders
Continue reading...| | submitted by /u/Hrmbee [link] [comments] |
Trump ally expected to begin serving four-month sentence for contempt of Congress
Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s longtime ally, is set to turn himself in to prison in Connecticut today after the supreme court rejected his last-minute appeal to avoid prison time.
The 70-year old was ordered by the supreme court on Friday to report to FCI Danbury, a minimum security federal prison in Connecticut, on 1 July. He is expected to serve a four-month sentence following his convictions over his defiance of subpoenas surrounding the House’s January 6 insurrection investigation.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Continue reading...Debt-laden utility urged to show greater transparency as it faces investigation by industry regulator Ofwat
Thames Water has been urged to show greater transparency over its finances and was accused of “financial chicanery” after it emerged its board had approved a £150m dividend hours before its shareholders U-turned on providing emergency funding.
The Guardian revealed last week that the board of the struggling water supplier agreed to the payout at a meeting on 27 March.
Continue reading...Agency rejected FOI request about potential conflicts of financial and business interests held by regional directors
The Environment Agency is refusing to provide campaigners with details of potential conflicts of interests with water companies held by its directors across England.
The refusal to provide the information comes after the head of the agency, Philip Duffy, admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is “embarrassing”.
Continue reading...Rajesh Nair, UK boss of Tata Steel, offers new round of discussions about future investment at site
A strike at the Port Talbot steelworks has been called off after its owner, Tata Steel, offered to engage in fresh talks with trade unions over future investment in a plant destined to lose 2,800 jobs and close its last remaining blast furnaces.
Members of the Unite trade union had been due to begin industrial action on 8 July, days after Tata plans to begin a process that will ultimately end more than 70 years of making steel from scratch at the plant.
Continue reading...Inquest begins into death of Pippa White, with deputy state coroner examining whether she received appropriate care
The doctor who first examined a two-year-old girl before she died of septic shock in regional New South Wales has told a coronial inquest into her death he thought she “might” have had sepsis but she didn’t meet the criteria for blood testing.
Pippa White died on 13 June 2022, two months before her third birthday, after doctors at two central west hospitals wrongly assumed she had an acute viral illness rather than the bacterial infection that resulted in her death.
Continue reading...Paul Hogan fell more than three metres to concrete ground while collecting balls from roof of Spotswood school, WorkSafe Victoria says
A teacher has died after falling through a skylight of a primary school in Melbourne’s west while attempting to retrieve balls from a roof.
WorkSafe Victoria said they believe the 61-year-old man, who has been identified as Paul Hogan, was retrieving balls from the roof of St Margaret Mary’s Spotswood when he fell more than three metres to the concrete ground below at about 2.30pm on Thursday.
Continue reading...WA senator says she will reflect on her future while accusing some members of trying to ‘intimidate’ her to quit Senate
The Western Australia Labor senator Fatima Payman has claimed she has been “exiled” by the party and colleagues after warning she might cross the floor again on votes relating to Palestinian statehood.
The senator issued a statement on Facebook on Monday afternoon claiming she had been removed from group chats, caucus meetings and ostracised from colleagues.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Aly believes amended motion on recognition of Palestine was stronger than Greens motion
The Greens motion that Fatima Payman voted for, called for recognition of Palestinian statehood. Labor amended the motion to say that recognition of Palestinian statehood was part of a peace process that ended in a two-state solution.
I think actually our motion strengthened it because the I think just saying the night to recognise a Palestinian state without any context is in some ways tokenistic. I don’t want this to be tokenistic. I want this to be a very clear message to the Palestinian people that Australia supports their aspirations for statehood.
And as I say, I was hoping that that would have a resolution, would have got passed. And unfortunately, it didn’t.
There’s never one opinion here and you know, different people in the Muslim communities will have different views.
And I’ve been in contact with quite a few who have a very different view, who argue one of those things, or they’re they’re saying that, you know, the way to make change may not necessarily be the way that Fatima has chosen.
Continue reading...Rain expected to ease but no respite from cold nights in New South Wales and Victoria until well into July, with just 1C forecast for Melbourne on Wednesday
Many Australians will be weathering cold winter nights well into July before rising daytime temperatures bring averages up, after parts of the country’s east coast faced their coldest start to the season in decades.
Melbourne is forecast to record its coldest day yet this year on Wednesday, with residents expected to wake up to a brisk 1C morning, followed by a string of sub-4C overnight temperatures.
Continue reading...Claimants who were onboard BA149 claim airline and Thatcher’s government knew of risk before they landed in 1990
British Airways (BA) passengers and crew taken hostage in Kuwait and used as human shields during Saddam Hussein’s invasion are suing the airline and the UK government.
The claimants, who were subjected to torture, including mock executions, say they have evidence that BA and the government knew the invasion had taken place hours before the plane landed in Kuwait. They also claim that the flight was used to secretly transport a special ops team for immediate and covert deployment to the battlefield, “regardless of the risk this posed to the civilians onboard”.
Continue reading...One of the continent’s leading medics, Jean Kaseya, has made it his mission to help the 116m people in African countries with mental health conditions
Jean Kaseya would hear regularly from his younger brother, an army officer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, until the day in 2018 when all contact stopped. “Suddenly, we didn’t have any information,” remembers Dr Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
It was two years before an acquaintance approached the family to say his brother, Dieudonné, was alive, but in jail in the north of the country. Kaseya was able to have him brought back to the capital, Kinshasa. “I went to see him. Honestly, this person deserved to be at a hospital, not to be jailed.
Continue reading...Rwandan-backed rebels seize Kanyabayonga, says official, already home to thousands driven from their homes by conflict
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have seized a strategic town in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s volatile east, a local official said.
“Kanyabayonga has been in the hands of the M23 since Friday evening,” the administrative official said, under condition of anonymity.
Continue reading...Britain to make legal arguments over jurisdiction in case of alleged war crimes by the Israeli PM
An intervention by the UK government at the international criminal court is expected to delay a decision over whether an arrest warrant can be issued against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Judges at the ICC ruled on Thursday they would allow the UK to make legal arguments in the case as they consider whether to approve requests made by the ICC’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Continue reading...A new documentary tells the stories of three Palestinian families as they have fought to survive nine months of genocide.
The post The Night That Won’t End in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
France manager Didier Deschamps has a full squad at his disposal and is expected to recall Antoine Griezmann to his starting line-up, with either Adrian Rabiot or Bradley Barcola likely to make way. Ousmane Dembele could also miss out after failing to impress in the group stages and should he drop to the bench, Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram is likely to get the nod.
Axel Witsel and Thomas Meunier are both injury concerns for Belgium, whose winger Dodi Lukebakio is available for selection after missing out on his side’s unimpressive stalemate with Ukraine through suspension. He or Yannick Carrasco may come in for Leandro Trossard, who contributed very little to the national cause in that stalemate. Kevin De Bruyne aside, few of Belgium’s players impressed in that game so it would be no great surprise to see a few changes.
Continue reading...European Commission objects to ‘pay or consent’ model for users of Facebook and Instagram
The European Commission has accused Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta of breaching the EU’s new digital laws with an advertising model that charges users for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.
Meta launched a “pay or consent” model last year in an effort to comply with the bloc’s data privacy rules, under which users pay a monthly fee for an ad-free version of Facebook or Instagram that does not use their personal data for advertising purposes. If users do not pay, their data is used to tailor personalised adverts that appear in their social media feeds.
Continue reading...Euro rises against dollar as far right makes gains but investors believe result could have been worse
Shares on the French stock market have risen after the first round of voting in the country’s parliamentary election eased concerns about an outright victory for the rightwing National Rally (RN) party.
The euro rose against the dollar, while the risk premium investors demand for holding French government bonds fell as the markets took the view that the result could have been worse.
Continue reading...High mortgage interest rates and soaring bills hitting affordability despite wages rising above inflation
House prices in the UK remain unaffordable for many households despite wages rising above inflation for the typical earner, Nationwide has said.
Britain’s largest building society said prices had risen slightly in June amid the impact of higher mortgage costs, with a 0.2% month-on-month increase.
Continue reading...Rights groups report rise in racist, homophobic and transphobic attacks in run-up to first round of voting
The sense of unease loomed over the Pride parade in Paris on Saturday, hinted at by the banner reading: “The far right is the mortal enemy of LGBTI people.”
The gloom persisted, even as tens of thousands of people turned up for the march. “We hope that this Pride march won’t be our last,” one attender told Le Monde, as organisers warned that the rise to power of the far-right National Rally (RN) could sharply curtail LGBTQ+ rights.
Continue reading...Turnout estimated to be as low as 40%, a record low since the revolution and a rebuff for the regime
Iran is heading to a runoff election in a week’s time after the reformist lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian secured a narrow lead over the hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili but failed to secure more than 50% of the votes.
Turnout may end up low as 40%, a record low for an Iranian presidential election since the revolution in 1979.
Continue reading...Mohamed Ould Ghazouani expected to be re-elected in region of Africa where coups have been commonplace
An estimated 2 million people are expected to vote in the presidential election in Mauritania in what could be the desert nation’s first civilian-to-civilian transition.
After independence from France in 1960, the west African state experienced multiple coups in the following years. The fledging democracy has been somewhat stable since 2019, when Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was elected president.
Continue reading...Project 2025 — a road map for the next Trump White House — urges overturning Supreme Court precedent, and a trickle of bills may tee up challenges.
The post Can Conservatives Expand the Death Penalty Using the “Trigger Law” Playbook? appeared first on The Intercept.
Rights groups protesting at Modi government’s view that criminalising sexual assault violates ‘sanctity’ of marriage
Campaigners angry that marital rape is not to be criminalised under India’s long-awaited new penal code have been promised a ruling on the issue by the supreme court next month.
Human rights organisations, including the All India Democratic Women’s Association, have been petitioning India’s supreme court to make it a criminal offence. The court has in turn asked the government for a response.
Continue reading...Félix-Antoine Hamel ran in federal election to protest the country’s lack of electoral reforms
A Canadian man has made history by receiving zero votes in a contested federal election, after running as part of a protest over the lack of electoral reforms in the country.
“When I saw the result, I was like: ‘Well, I am the true unity candidate. Everyone agrees not to vote for me,’” Félix-Antoine Hamel told CBC News.
Continue reading...In April, President Joe Biden said he was “considering” dropping charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The post Julian Assange Strikes Plea Deal, Will Return to Australia appeared first on The Intercept.
Richard Rojem’s death sentence was twice overturned by appellate courts, but his conviction itself has never been fully revisited.
The post Oklahoma Prepares to Kill Another Man Who Says He’s Innocent appeared first on The Intercept.
When asked about Hind’s killing, the U.S. said that, according to Israel, the Palestine Red Crescent Society and U.N. have not helped investigate.
The post Red Crescent Says Israel Never Reached Out About Hind Rajab’s Death, Despite State Department Claim That Israel Said Otherwise appeared first on The Intercept.
‘The studio was hesitant about suggesting Xena and Gabrielle were in a romantic relationship. But as time went on, they decided to look the other way and just let us get on with it’
I was in a meeting with an executive from Renaissance Pictures when he mentioned a series they were going to do: “A hip, updated version of Hercules.” Xena was a character in that, compellingly brought to life by Lucy Lawless. When Hercules: The Legendary Journeys became a big hit, they decided to spin her off into her own series. That’s when I became involved.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s top rugby official says the introduction of 20-minute red cards at all levels of the game is an increasingly urgent necessity if the sport is to remain relevant to younger fans. He has also warned that rugby needs to think more about its paying public if it is serious about enhancing the game’s appeal in the longer term.
With the All Blacks due to face England in the first of two back-to-back Tests in Dunedin on Saturday, New Zealand Rugby’s chief executive, Mark Robinson, has renewed calls for the red card system to be reformed this year, urging World Rugby to extend its current closed trials to the entire global game.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Rise in dealmaking likely to be reflected in spring bonus season as interest rate hike cycle ends
London’s investment bankers are expected to rake in bigger bonuses this financial year, as the City begins to recover from a two-year slump in deals caused by surging interest rates.
Demand for investment banking services – such as facilitating mergers and acquisitions, advising companies and governments on fundraising, and underwriting new stock and bonds – was hit by a sharp increase in borrowing rates after the pandemic, as central banks acted to tame runaway inflation. Jobs and pay were cut as investment banks sought to reduce costs.
Continue reading...Once upon a time, it was only hardcore bodybuilders who pumped themselves up with testosterone. Today it is no longer niche. But how dangerous is it? By Stephen Buranyi
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nedum Onuoha and Nicky Bandini as the hosts win in controversial style and the holders bow out disgracefully
On the podcast today: A storm stops the match in Dortmund but can’t stop Germany beating Denmark with goals from Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala. Denmark were hard done by with the decisions, having been denied a goal and then conceding a penalty for a very harsh handball against Joachim Anderson.
Elsewhere, Switzerland knocked out the holders, Italy, with relative ease thanks to a dismal display from Luciano Spalletti’s side. The Swiss will now face the winners of England v Slovakia in the quarter-finals.
Continue reading...As Republicans thirst for restarting federal executions, Absolute Standards told Connecticut lawmakers it hasn’t made or sold pentobarbital since December 2020.
The post Company Linked to Federal Execution Spree Says It Will No Longer Produce Key Drug appeared first on The Intercept.
Every year, hundreds of Kenyans head off to study at elite universities in the US and UK. On graduating, many find themselves in a strange position: unable to fit in abroad, but no longer feeling like they belong back home. By Carey Baraka
Continue reading...In the run-up to July's general election, the Guardian video team is touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. After swimmers and rowers fell sick from sewage discharges into the River Thames we went to the seat of Henley and Thame to see how environmental concerns rank for voters in a seat that has been Conservative for more than 100 years
Continue reading...Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
In the run-up to July's election, the Guardian video team is touring the UK looking at issues that matter to communities. In the town of Port Talbot, in the Aberafan Maesteg constituency, many voters are worried about the future of the steelworks where at least 2,800 jobs are on the line. We spoke to businesses, food banks and charities and politicians, all worried about the knock-on effect on families who have been steelworkers for generations. We also heard voters' other concerns and asked politicians what people were saying about the steelworks on the doorstep
Continue reading...In the run-up to July's election, the Guardian video team will be touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. In a week when an attack on a refugee camp in Rafah and the Labour party's treatment of Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen dominated the headlines, we spoke to voters in Ilford – North and South – who were protesting locally about Gaza. We asked whether these issues would make a difference to how they vote in the election, met canvassers getting behind independent candidates, and spoke to business owners about their political priorities
Continue reading...Over 200 signatories urge government to reverse decision enabling action against writer under anti-terrorism law
More than 200 Indian academics, activists and journalists have published an open letter urging the Indian government to withdraw last week’s decision sanctioning the prosecution of the Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy under the country’s stringent anti-terrorism law.
“We … deplore this action and appeal to the government and the democratic forces in the country to ensure that no infringement of the fundamental right to freely and fearlessly express views on any subject takes place in our nation,” the group said in the letter.
Continue reading...If you’ve had any problems with your ballot, get in touch
As the 2024 UK general election will take place during the summer, many will be opting to vote through the post.
We would like to hear from those who are using a postal vote this UK general election. Have you experienced any issues at all?
Continue reading...Michelle Roach bought a used ice-cream van in order to bring cheap, affordable food to Liverpool's struggling communities. She wanted a vehicle with freezers built in for frozen food, and also something cheerful that was able to break down stigmas around food poverty. Using a '10 items for £5' model, Michelle sources discount food from supermarket surplus and donations.
The Guardian's Christopher Cherry follows Michelle and the van on its rounds, with the service struggling to meet overwhelming demand as the cost of living crisis deepens, and the UK's general election fast approaches.
Continue reading...Israel denied the attack, but a four-month investigation shows the Agence France-Presse office came under direct tank fire.
The post The Day Israeli Tanks Fired Directly at AFP’s Gaza Bureau appeared first on The Intercept.
Emmanuel Macron stunned politicians and the public by announcing a snap general election after the far-right National Rally party won about 32% of the French vote. But it wasn’t just in France that the far right was celebrating. In Germany and Austria, parties on the populist right made stunning gains. Despite that, the pro-European centre appeared to have held in a set of results likely to complicate EU lawmaking
EU elections: populist right makes gains but pro-European centre holds
Fears for Green Deal as number of MEPs from climate-denying parties set to rise
Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
Almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
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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Discover the stories behind our latest short films, learn more about our international film-makers, and join us for exclusive documentary events. We’ll also share a selection of our favourite films, from our archives and from further afield, for you to enjoy. Sign up below.
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Continue reading...The administration says the “Azov Brigade” is separate from the old, Nazi-linked “Azov Battalion.” The unit itself says they’re the same.
The post The U.S. Says a Far-Right Ukrainian Army Unit Can Now Get Aid. A Photo Shows Training Was Already Happening. appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...Film starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Weller marks a high-profile world premiere for the festival, now in its 68th year
Blitz, a new drama from Steve McQueen set in London during the second world war, is to open the capital’s film festival in October.
The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Rita, the mother of nine-year-old George (Elliott Heffernan), who sends him to safety in the countryside. But the evacuee is determined to return and travels solo home, while his distraught relatives search for him in the city.
The BFI London film festival will run from 9 to 20 October.
Continue reading...On the third leg of his South American trip, our writer heads to the remote city of Iquitos and braves a swim in the Amazon – despite the fearsome reputation of the local fish
Part 1: The alternative Inca Trail
Part 2: Exploring Lake Titicaca
It is an absolute truth, hard-wired into every explorer’s tales, that the Amazon is deadly dangerous. If the electric eels, piranhas, sting rays and caimans don’t get you, the hordes of biting insects and snakes will. Every living thing is ready to devour you or lay eggs under your skin.
And, in a world of water, swimming is particularly risky. When the naturalist, explorer and writer Redmond O’Hanlon ventured upriver, he claimed to have adapted a cricketers’ protective box to pee through: a barrier for the dreaded candiru fish that allegedly swims up the urethra and gets stuck. For men, amputation could be the only solution. But then in the world of old-fashioned exploration, it was mainly men who got to be explorers, and presumably, those who survived were cricketers, or had extremely tight-fitting swimming trunks.
Continue reading...When Fiona Burke saw the shocking images in lockdown, she knew she had to help. Now she spends four months each winter volunteering on the border, helping migrants who are battling the odds
When travel resumed after the first pandemic lockdown in 2020, Fiona Burke, who was 60, boarded a plane to Austin, Texas. She was one of the first post-Covid volunteers to arrive at a migrant centre for people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the US-Mexico border. “Stuck at home during lockdown and seeing images of children in cages, I felt compelled to help,” says Burke.
This idea of helping others, she believes, was drilled into her from a young age, growing up in Ireland and attending a Catholic school. “I am not a practising Catholic and have rebelled against the church in many ways but the nuns had a very big influence on me, subliminally. I always wanted to help people and we were fed that message a lot,” she says. This idea informed Burke’s first career as a Montessori teacher before she moved into a finance job later in life.
Continue reading...SNP fears resurgent Labour, while Starmer seeks credibility and Lib Dems eye status of third biggest party in Commons
Within 48 hours of the election being called, both main party leaders travelled to Scotland, keen to capitalise on the decline in support for the Scottish National party, which has dominated elections at Holyrood and Westminster for more than a decade. But the campaign has revealed that Scottish votes matter to parties for very different reasons.
Continue reading...Storm is forecast to glance off Barbados on Sunday before heading through Caribbean and toward the Yucatán
Tropical Storm Beryl is forecast to become the first hurricane of the season before skirting the southern tip of Barbados in the south-eastern Caribbean on Sunday.
Beryl currently holds maximum sustained winds of 60mph (95km/h) and is traveling west at 21mph (34km/h), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center.
Continue reading...In the third episode of a new series of Anywhere but Westminster, John Harris and John Domokos travel around the West Midlands, and find a fascinating political mixture: hesitant Labour voters, a new crop of independents focused on Palestine and local cuts – and, amid deep social problems, lots of people who think the election hardly matters. Here, it seems, is the reality that all those opinion polls get nowhere near
Continue reading...We would like to hear from people who have had emergency NHS care after travelling abroad for treatment
The NHS is having to provide emergency care to patients suffering serious complications following weight loss surgery and hair transplants abroad amid a “boom” in medical tourism, doctors have warned.
If you have had medical treatment abroad and have returned to the UK for follow up care, we would like to hear from you. What treatment did you receive and what were your reasons for travelling abroad? What complications did you experience and how did the NHS help?
Continue reading...A new documentary tells the stories of three Palestinian families as they have fought to survive nine months of genocide.
The post The Night That Won’t End in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
In April, President Joe Biden said he was “considering” dropping charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The post Julian Assange Strikes Plea Deal, Will Return to Australia appeared first on The Intercept.
Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
Almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
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...Clampdown follows fatal stabbing of Chinese woman who tried to stop attack on Japanese mother and child
China’s internet companies have announced a crackdown on “extreme nationalism” online, particularly anti-Japanese sentiment, after a Chinese woman was fatally stabbed while protecting a Japanese mother and child in Suzhou.
Tencent and NetEase, two of the biggest firms, said at the weekend that they would be investigating and banning users who stirred up hatred.
Continue reading...Pyongyang calls ‘Freedom Edge’ drills involving fighter jets and nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier ‘provocative’
North Korea has criticised a joint military exercise by South Korea, Japan and the US held this month, state media have said, saying such drills show the relationship among the three countries has developed into “the Asian version of Nato”.
On Thursday, the three countries began the large-scale joint military drills called “Freedom Edge”, involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defences against missiles, submarines and air attacks.
Continue reading...Minister says sale could ‘disturb stability in the region and potentially threaten Norwegian interests’
The Norwegian government has called off a plan to sell the last privately owned piece of land on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard in order to prevent its acquisition by China.
The remote Sore Fagerfjord property in south-west Svalbard – 60 sq miles (sq km) of mountains, plains and a glacier – was on sale for €300m (£277m).
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Some 68,000 people are expected to die alone and unnoticed in Japan this year, police say, as the population continues to age
“We occasionally greet each other, but that’s all. If one of my neighbours died, I’m not sure I would notice,” says Noriko Shikama, 76. She lives alone in a flat Tokiwadaira, in Tokyo’s commuter belt and has come to the Iki Iki drop-in centre to catch up with residents over cups of coffee served by volunteers.
Here, amid the everyday discussions about the merits or otherwise of dyeing grey hair, people also share news about the latest lonely death, or kodokushi – officially defined as one in which “a person dies without being cared for by anyone, and whose body is found after a certain period”.
Continue reading...Company Space Pioneer says first stage of its Tianlong-3 launched during test after ‘structural failure’ and crashed in hills near city of Gongyi
The space rocket of a Chinese private company crashed and exploded into flames near a city on Sunday, after it accidentally launched during a test.
The first stage of the Tianlong-3 rocket left its launch pad due to a structural failure at the connection between the rocket and the test stand, said company Beijing Tianbing, also known as Space Pioneer, in a statement on its official WeChat account. The rocket landed in a hilly area of the city of Gongyi in central China, it said.
Continue reading...Leaked documents from Philip Morris reveal ‘secret’ strategy to market its heated tobacco product IQOS
The tobacco company Philip Morris International has been accused of “manipulating science for profit” through funding research and advocacy work with scientists.
Campaigners say that leaked documents from PMI and its Japanese affiliate also reveal plans to target politicians, doctors and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of the multinational’s marketing strategy to attract non-smokers to its heated tobacco product, IQOS.
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Li Shangfu, who vanished from public life last year, and Wei Fenghe accused of accepting gifts and facilitating benefits
The Chinese Communist party has expelled two former defence ministers for corruption, including Li Shangfu, who disappeared from public view along with other senior figures last year.
Li was sacked as defence minister in October, two months after he disappeared from public life. He served just seven months as defence minister. No explanation was given for his sudden removal, which temporarily destabilised efforts to rebuild US-China defence dialogues.
Continue reading...Rights groups protesting at Modi government’s view that criminalising sexual assault violates ‘sanctity’ of marriage
Campaigners angry that marital rape is not to be criminalised under India’s long-awaited new penal code have been promised a ruling on the issue by the supreme court next month.
Human rights organisations, including the All India Democratic Women’s Association, have been petitioning India’s supreme court to make it a criminal offence. The court has in turn asked the government for a response.
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Themes of displacement and diaspora explored in collaborative textile project as part of The Spirits of Maritime Crossing exhibition in Venice and Bangkok
The Koung Jor refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border is just three and half hours from Jakkai Siributr’s home in Chiang Mai. But it was only during a visit in 2019 that the Thai textile artist learned about the ordeals of the Shan refugees living there.
That visit inspired a collaborative embroidery project, with participation from 20 girls and women from the Shan ethnic minority living in the camp in northern Thailand, who were invited to sew images and words of their choice.
Continue reading...Abu Zubaydah’s lawyer told a military review board that an unnamed country could admit the 22-year prisoner and surveil him for perpetuity.
The post Negotiations Are Underway for Guantánamo’s “Forever Prisoner” From Gaza to Be Released appeared first on The Intercept.
Liberal Democrat leader’s latest stunt intended to urge voters to take leap of faith and vote for his party
Rishi Sunak is speaking at a campaign event in Staffordshire. As the advance briefing predicted, he has just told his audience.
I tell you this: once you have handed Keir Starmer and Labour a blank cheque, you won’t be able to get it back.
We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.
There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.
[In politics] some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision-maker. I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it …
Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better.
Continue reading...Over 200 signatories urge government to reverse decision enabling action against writer under anti-terrorism law
More than 200 Indian academics, activists and journalists have published an open letter urging the Indian government to withdraw last week’s decision sanctioning the prosecution of the Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy under the country’s stringent anti-terrorism law.
“We … deplore this action and appeal to the government and the democratic forces in the country to ensure that no infringement of the fundamental right to freely and fearlessly express views on any subject takes place in our nation,” the group said in the letter.
Continue reading...Sources close to the ousted prime minister say Khan also accuses Gen. Asim Munir for assassination attempt and cover-ups.
The post From Prison, Imran Khan Says Top Pakistani General Betrayed Secret Deal to Stay Out of Politics appeared first on The Intercept.
Kuo Chiu, known as KC to his friends, teaches urban design at Tunghai University in Taiwan. He’s also one of many of the country's citizens who practises rifle skills in his spare time, in case of a Chinese invasion.
The population of Taiwan has long grown familiar with Beijing’s pledge to one day ‘unify’ what it claims is a breakaway province. But recently, there has been a significant increase in aggressive and intimidatory acts.
Taiwan’s 160,000 active military personnel are vastly outnumbered by China’s 2 million-member armed forces, leading many civilians to turn to voluntary medical and combat training to protect themselves.
The Guardian's video team spent time with KC to see how he is preparing
Continue reading...Project 2025 — a road map for the next Trump White House — urges overturning Supreme Court precedent, and a trickle of bills may tee up challenges.
The post Can Conservatives Expand the Death Penalty Using the “Trigger Law” Playbook? appeared first on The Intercept.
As Republicans thirst for restarting federal executions, Absolute Standards told Connecticut lawmakers it hasn’t made or sold pentobarbital since December 2020.
The post Company Linked to Federal Execution Spree Says It Will No Longer Produce Key Drug appeared first on The Intercept.
Increasing use of fans, air coolers and air conditioners is placing ‘serious’ strain on grid in north of country
Engineers in India have warned of the possibility of prolonged power outages in the north, where a heatwave has brought misery for millions of people.
Demand for electricity has soared due to fans, air coolers and air conditioners being run constantly, placing a strain on the grid in Delhi and elsewhere in the north. Manufacturers of air conditioners and air coolers report sales rising by 40-50% compared with last summer.
Continue reading...Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
Almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
We know turbulence is a common part of flying – but are some routes more prone? And where is it the worst? Turbulence is the leading cause of in-flight injuries to crew and passengers and after the fatal Singapore Airlines incident and injuries to passengers above Turkey on a Qatar Airways flight, you might be wondering if flights are about to get bumpier. Incidents of severe turbulence are on the rise – increasing by 55% between 1979 and 2020 – and the climate crisis is thought to be a responsible factor
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Continue reading...Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s
Continue reading...For more than a decade, Conservatives have promised to crack down on illegal migration and slash the number of legal arrivals. Their repeated failure has infuriated voters – and further demonised immigrants to the UK
In his first major speech as UK prime minister, at the start of 2023, a hopeful Rishi Sunak announced “five promises” to show that his government would “always reflect the people’s priorities”. Alongside familiar pledges to reduce inflation and grow the economy, there was a bold new promise: to “stop the boats”.
“We will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed,” Sunak announced. “No tricks, no ambiguity, we’re either delivering for you or we’re not,” he told reporters – in an upbeat mood and a crisp white shirt, a long way from the rain-sodden and crestfallen prime minister we saw announcing the election last month.
Continue reading...I filed a lawsuit to obtain the 6,700-page report with “excruciating detail” about the CIA’s abuses.
The post More Than 10 Years Later, the Senate Torture Report Is Still Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: ‘Vital’ recognition of migrant care worker’s plight may pave way for more cases, says union leader
A migrant nurse could be eligible for a significant payout from a British healthcare company after an employment judge ruled he was likely to win his case for unfair dismissal, in a judgment that could pave the way for dozens of other such cases.
Natasha Joffe, an employment judge, ruled that Clinica Private Healthcare, a London-based healthcare provider, may have to pay Kirankumar Rathod £13,000 in unpaid wages after it dismissed him in 2023. Rathod was dismissed after raising concerns about the lack of work being offered to him and other colleagues who had also moved to the UK on the promise of full-time employment.
Continue reading...Sebastien Lai tells Australian audience the idea that rule of law remains in Hong Kong amid imprisonment of pro-democracy protesters ‘is not true at all’
The son of detained Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai has urged foreign judges to carefully consider whether they should continue to serve in judicial roles “in this place that imprisons pro-democracy protesters”.
Speaking during a visit to Australia, Sebastien Lai said Hong Kong “has more than 1,800 political prisoners and these political prisoners are there for their pro-democracy protesting”.
Continue reading...Many want the president to quit his re-election bid following a catastrophic debate. His team must ask what is best for the US
The Democrats have no good options. The question now is which is the least dangerous of the bad ones. Democratic voters did not want Joe Biden to run again. Almost 70% judged him too old to serve another term as president when polled last year. Privately, many senior Democrats and donors shared their qualms. But with Mr Biden determined to stand, the consensus was to rally round. Now, after last Thursday’s catastrophic debate, the party is panicking. Only four months from the election, there is frenzied discussion of potential replacements.
That would almost certainly require Mr Biden’s agreement. His wife, Jill, seen as key to his decision, seems to be urging him on. He is said to believe that only he is capable of beating Mr Trump again. Few agree. The lack of a formal mechanism to remove him does not preclude the effects of political gravity. Slumping polls, drying up funds and private, or even public, demands for his departure from senior Democratic figures could yet change his mind. A growing chorus of previously supportive media figures is urging him to quit.
Continue reading...Britain to make legal arguments over jurisdiction in case of alleged war crimes by the Israeli PM
An intervention by the UK government at the international criminal court is expected to delay a decision over whether an arrest warrant can be issued against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Judges at the ICC ruled on Thursday they would allow the UK to make legal arguments in the case as they consider whether to approve requests made by the ICC’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Continue reading...Trump ally expected to begin serving four-month sentence for contempt of Congress
Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s longtime ally, is set to turn himself in to prison in Connecticut today after the supreme court rejected his last-minute appeal to avoid prison time.
The 70-year old was ordered by the supreme court on Friday to report to FCI Danbury, a minimum security federal prison in Connecticut, on 1 July. He is expected to serve a four-month sentence following his convictions over his defiance of subpoenas surrounding the House’s January 6 insurrection investigation.
Continue reading...The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc advances a key aim of the Project 2025 manifesto: “deconstruct the Administrative State.”
The post The Supreme Court’s Latest Power Grab: Regulatory Oversight appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite deciding not to decide, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority laid out a legal road map for anti-abortion zealots.
The post Alito’s Dissent in Emergency Abortion Case Provides “Building Blocks” for More Extreme Bans appeared first on The Intercept.
Democratic leaders did not tell members to vote against an amendment to block the State Department from citing the Gaza Health Ministry’s statistics.
The post 62 Democrats Join 207 Republicans in Vote to Conceal Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.
Richard Rojem’s death sentence was twice overturned by appellate courts, but his conviction itself has never been fully revisited.
The post Oklahoma Prepares to Kill Another Man Who Says He’s Innocent appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite the various factors that contributed to Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s loss, progressive strategists said there was one clear takeaway from the results.
The post Progressives on AIPAC’s Defeat of Bowman: “Now We Know How Much It Costs to Buy an Election” appeared first on The Intercept.
In April, President Joe Biden said he was “considering” dropping charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The post Julian Assange Strikes Plea Deal, Will Return to Australia appeared first on The Intercept.
Top Democrats used to go all in on protecting incumbents. That wasn’t the case for Bowman, who was defeated Tuesday.
The post Half-Hearted Efforts by Democratic Leaders Couldn’t Save Jamaal Bowman From AIPAC’s Attacks appeared first on The Intercept.
Project 2025 — a road map for the next Trump White House — urges overturning Supreme Court precedent, and a trickle of bills may tee up challenges.
The post Can Conservatives Expand the Death Penalty Using the “Trigger Law” Playbook? appeared first on The Intercept.
The administration says the “Azov Brigade” is separate from the old, Nazi-linked “Azov Battalion.” The unit itself says they’re the same.
The post The U.S. Says a Far-Right Ukrainian Army Unit Can Now Get Aid. A Photo Shows Training Was Already Happening. appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading... |
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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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.
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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
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