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Ballot deadlines add urgency for Democrats weighing Biden’s fitness to run
Wed, 10 Jul 2024 23:57:42 +0000
Experts say the party risks a complex and murky path if it attempts to change its presidential candidate once one has been formally nominated.
Match ID: 0 Score: 35.00 source: www.washingtonpost.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
House GOP subpoenas Biden aides, alleging ‘cover-up’ of president’s fitness
Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:42:12 +0000
Match ID: 1 Score: 35.00 source: www.washingtonpost.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
97-year-old judge loses lawsuit challenging suspension from the bench
Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:35:24 +0000
Judge Pauline Newman was suspended from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after she declined to participate in an investigation into her fitness.
Match ID: 2 Score: 35.00 source: www.washingtonpost.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
Everything Samsung Announced at Galaxy Unpacked in Paris
Wed, 10 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000
The long-awaited Galaxy Ring arrives alongside new folding smartphones, wireless earbuds, smartwatches, and a premium wearable that looks a lot like the Apple Watch Ultra.
Match ID: 3 Score: 35.00 source: www.wired.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
‘What we’ve been saying all along’: where do critical voters stand on Biden dropping out?
Wed, 10 Jul 2024 11:00:04 GMT
Critics were chastised as radical when bringing up Biden’s age before the debate – now it’s the center of discussion
Concerns about Joe Biden’s fitness for re-election on the left may have been muted over the last year. But they were not absent.
“There’s a lot of people, especially on the left, that have been talking about this,” said Alex Johnson, an IT worker in Atlanta.
Continue reading...You might have noticed that everyone has recently become a bit obsessed with blood sugar, or glucose. Wellness firms such as ZOE here in the UK – as well as Nutrisense, Levels and Signos – claim to offer insights into how our bodies process food based on monitoring our blood glucose, among other things. But many researchers have begun to question the science behind this. To find out what we know about blood glucose levels and our health, and whether the science is nailed down on personalised nutrition, Ian Sample hears from philosopher Julian Baggini, academic dietician Dr Nicola Guess of Oxford University and ZOE’s chief scientist, and associate professor at Kings College London, Dr Sarah Berry
Read Julian Baggini’s article about the ZOE programme
Continue reading...Actor charged with involuntary manslaughter over 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on film set
Almost three years after the fatal shooting on the movie set of Rust, prosecutors began to lay out their case against Alec Baldwin in a packed Santa Fe courtroom, painting a picture of an unsafe workplace on a tight budget with a lead actor who violated the “cardinal rules of firearm safety”.
Proceedings in the actor’s involuntary manslaughter trial kicked off on Wednesday with the prosecution and defense offering their opening statements. The courtroom was filled to capacity with dozens of media as well as Baldwin’s wife and brother, who sat just behind the actor.
Continue reading...A distractingly outsized performance is one of many unsuccessful elements in Osgood Perkins’ stylish yet progressively silly horror
In a rather gloomy period for the horror film – a string of commercial misfires causing some to question the usually profitable genre’s long-life reliability – the promise of nightmarish killer thriller Longlegs has felt like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Teased with an intricate campaign of the likes we rarely get in this era – withholding, drawn out, artful – buzz grew from online whispers to in-cinema screams with early reactions suggesting a bold and terrifying new original was here, sleep be damned.
Some of that promise does manage to creep onto the screen, almost all of it within the first creepier half, but writer-director Osgood Perkins, son of Psycho’s Anthony, just can’t quite edge his film into the territory it so wishes to be a part of, nestled alongside both recent indie breakouts like Hereditary and The Witch and truly cursed classics like Ringu and Possession. This isn’t Perkins’ first shot but it’s his biggest swing and ultimately his clumsiest miss, a grab bag of ideas and tricks that can’t be coerced into anything resembling a whole.
Continue reading...Feelings fly between Edgar-Jones’s tornado-halting scientist and AI-handsome Powell’s storm-chasin’ YouTuber. Just don’t mention climate change
Twister was the smash-hit 90s disaster film about tornadoes, co-scripted by Michael Crichton, which sent an innocent cow twirling up into the heavens. Now here’s the jeopardy-multiplying follow-up called Twisters – there are loads of them – although the title might lead some British audiences to assume it’s an affectionate biopic of racehorse trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.
Lee Isaac Chung, known for his autobiographical movie Minari, directs, and Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kate, a brilliant and courageous tornado researcher, or maybe tornado whisperer, chasing down the whirlwinds in Oklahoma: a country gal with an instinctive knack of knowing where they’re going to spring up. Kate is haunted by an awful event in her past and knows as much as anyone how tragically destructive tornadoes can be; her mom (Maura Tierney) points out that these days there are more twisters, more disasters, more extreme weather events and you’d think a scientist like Kate would name the obvious culprit. Yet this film seems weirdly coy about saying the words “climate change” out loud.
Continue reading...In a post-Barbie world, feminism plus toy equals box office paydirt – but after three years working on the script, Dunham decided she could no longer continue. Why?
Heartbreaking news from Hollywood: Lena Dunham is no longer involved in the forthcoming Polly Pocket movie. Speaking to the New Yorker, Dunham revealed she dropped out of the project because “I don’t think I have that in me.”
Clearly, there is a lot to unpack here. The first is, Christ, they’re going to make a Polly Pocket movie. People in Hollywood saw the success of Barbie and immediately started scouting around for other vaguely nostalgic toys that they could make a movie out of. And the fact that they initially chose Lena Dunham to write, direct and produce points to an even greater cynicism, as if some otherworldly algorithm had analysed Barbie and determined that the secret key to replicating its historic box office success was simply “toy plus feminism”.
Continue reading...More than 250 works by 40 stage talents are on display in London for an impressively wide-ranging event that supports the Theatre Artists Fund
A couple of years ago, two fine actors, Nancy Carroll and Christopher Villiers, found themselves playing minor roles in a movie about a male stripper, Magic Mike’s Last Dance. During the long hours of shooting in a London theatre, they discovered a shared passion for painting. Realising that their profession was filled with artists of all kinds, they set about organising an exhibition, Mama (Many Actors Make Art), which which was first mounted in 2023 in the basement of a building in Brixton, south London, called the Department Store. The second edition is now on and it is a real eye-opener.
Firstly, the scale is remarkable: there are 259 works by 40 artists. But Carroll tells me there is no attempt to curate “Actors,” she says, “are so used to rejection that Chris and I decided that nothing should be turned down. But we also wanted the show to be of some use so, while the actors are free to sell their work, a 10% commission goes to the Theatre Artists Fund set up by Sam Mendes and Netflix to provide help for hard-pressed freelancers. There is also a lucky dip, which means that, for a £20 donation, you get an unmarked envelope containing a surprise work.” I put down my money and am now the proud owner of a colourful portrait by James Fleet called Film Festival Sketchbook.
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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
John Healey acknowledges likely shift of US focus to China and says Britain and EU must raise military spending to counter Russia
Britain will be “the leading European nation” in Nato under a Labour government, the new defence secretary, John Healey, pledged in an interview at the Nato summit in Washington DC – though spending may have to rise significantly if the UK is to remain ahead of Germany.
The cabinet minister, appointed last Friday, acknowledged that European countries within Nato would have to take on more of the burden of defending the west against Russia – regardless of whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November.
Continue reading...Senator Michael Bennet said Trump may win ‘by a landslide’ while two more senators echoed his concerns
Joe Biden came under renewed moral pressure on Wednesday to abandon his presidential candidacy amid agonised appeals by a succession of senior Democrats for him to consider the broader picture.
Those calls came as the US president dug in his heels to make it hard to supplant him as the nominee.
Continue reading...Jamie Raskin says report on Ivan Raiklin, who calls himself Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’, is ‘deadly serious’
A senior Democrat called for congressional leaders to denounce a Trump loyalist’s claim to have compiled a “deep state target list”, of public figures to be detained if the former president returns to power next year.
“This is a deadly serious report,” Jamie Raskin, of Maryland, told Raw Story, regarding its extensive discoveries about Ivan Raiklin, a former US army reserve lieutenant colonel and US Defense Intelligence Agency employee the site said was seeking to enlist rightwing sheriffs while calling himself Donald Trump’s “future secretary of retribution”.
Continue reading...Trump reportedly dislikes beards, but brushed off subject in interview, saying Ohio senator ‘looks like a young Lincoln’
JD Vance is still in contention to be named Donald Trump’s running mate, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee indicated on Wednesday, despite the Ohio senator committing what Trump is reported to consider a heinous faux pas.
According to multiple reports, Vance’s offence does not lie in past decisions to call Trump “America’s Hitler” and Trumpism the “Opioid of the Masses”.
Continue reading...The actor says he talked to Biden at LA fundraiser and concluded: ‘We are not going to win with this president’
The Hollywood actor George Clooney, one of the Democratic party’s biggest fundraisers, has called on Joe Biden to step aside to save democracy from Donald Trump.
In an opinion article in the New York Times, Clooney expressed deep affection for the US president but said that personal interaction with him at a recent fundraising event in Los Angeles – the Democratic party’s most successful ever, raising more than $30m – suggested that the stumbling performance in last month’s debate in Atlanta was not an aberration.
Continue reading...The president might have wiggled out of a dire circumstance after his debate after Democrats missed their chance, but uncertainty still lingers
In his dotage and with images of his epic Georgia debate meltdown still fresh in the popular mind, Joe Biden is probably nobody’s idea of a Harry Houdini copycat.
Yet, with the Democratic party seemingly paralysed between the terror of a second Donald Trump presidency and fear of the consequences of taking decisive action, the US president may - barring mishaps - be on the verge of one of history’s great political escape acts.
Continue reading...Critics were chastised as radical when bringing up Biden’s age before the debate – now it’s the center of discussion
Concerns about Joe Biden’s fitness for re-election on the left may have been muted over the last year. But they were not absent.
“There’s a lot of people, especially on the left, that have been talking about this,” said Alex Johnson, an IT worker in Atlanta.
Continue reading...The term has become a useful way for Trump and his fellow Republicans to rearrange the goalposts of debate. So why is the US president now sinking to that level?
A quick quiz for you: define “the elite”. Perhaps you answered with something along the lines of “people with superior abilities”? Or maybe you defined it as: “the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world”? Neither of those is correct. Nope, “the elite” is now a derogatory term used by politicians to mean anyone who disagrees with them. It’s the defining political insult of our time.
Donald Trump kicked off this trend. The former president owns a multimillion-dollar Manhattan penthouse dripping with gold, but, starting around 2015, he has carefully distanced himself from evil media and political elites. The idea that he’s not included in the “elite” is so laughable that sometimes he’s even confused himself. At one point in 2018 he told a crowd in Minnesota: “You ever notice they always call the other side ‘the elite’? The elite! Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do … I’m richer than they are.”
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Since Biden’s poor performance in first TV debate against Donald Trump, his place on the ballot has been under threat. Joan E Greve reports
Since Joe Biden’s stumbling performance in a TV debate with Donald Trump, some Democrats have expressed concern about his suitability to be in the race.
“Voters have been voicing concerns about his age for a long time now,” senior political reporter for Guardian US Joan E Greve tells Helen Pidd. “If Democrats were going to have this argument about potentially replacing Biden on the ballot, it probably needed to happen a while ago.”
Continue reading...Prime minister holds first official bilateral talks with Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Nato summit in Washington
The new government will stick with plans to spend at least £3bn every year on military support for Ukraine for “as long as is it takes” in its conflict with Russia, Keir Starmer has said.
After his first official bilateral talks with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at the Nato summit in Washington, the prime minister confirmed the military aid would continue until at least 2030-31.
Continue reading...Dutch and Danish leaders say Ukraine will be ‘flying operational F-16s this summer’ as Kyiv seeks battlefield wins
The first F-16 fighter jets are on their way to Ukraine and will be flying sorties this summer, according to a statement from the Dutch and Danish governments that was released by the White House at the Nato summit.
Dick Schoof, the prime minister of the Netherlands, and Mette Frederiksen, his counterpart from Denmark, said the “transfer process” of F-16s to Kyiv was under way after months of pilot training and political negotiations.
Continue reading...Move leaves anybody who cooperates with ‘undesirable’ news outlet liable to prosecution
Russia has classed the Moscow Times as an “undesirable organisation”, outlawing its activities inside Russia and leaving anybody who cooperates with it open to prosecution.
The Kremlin has escalated a campaign against independent media and reporting since Russia launched a military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
Continue reading...Feelings fly between Edgar-Jones’s tornado-halting scientist and AI-handsome Powell’s storm-chasin’ YouTuber. Just don’t mention climate change
Twister was the smash-hit 90s disaster film about tornadoes, co-scripted by Michael Crichton, which sent an innocent cow twirling up into the heavens. Now here’s the jeopardy-multiplying follow-up called Twisters – there are loads of them – although the title might lead some British audiences to assume it’s an affectionate biopic of racehorse trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.
Lee Isaac Chung, known for his autobiographical movie Minari, directs, and Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kate, a brilliant and courageous tornado researcher, or maybe tornado whisperer, chasing down the whirlwinds in Oklahoma: a country gal with an instinctive knack of knowing where they’re going to spring up. Kate is haunted by an awful event in her past and knows as much as anyone how tragically destructive tornadoes can be; her mom (Maura Tierney) points out that these days there are more twisters, more disasters, more extreme weather events and you’d think a scientist like Kate would name the obvious culprit. Yet this film seems weirdly coy about saying the words “climate change” out loud.
Continue reading...Footage shows the extent of damage to children's hospital in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Russia hit the hospital with a missile on 8 July and launched missile attacks on other cities across Ukraine. At least 26 people were killed in the deadliest wave of airstrikes in months
How Kyiv is handling the aftermath of a strike on a children’s hospital
Zelenskiy says world can stop ‘Russian terror’ after attack on Kyiv children’s hospital
Residents of Kurakhove and Pokrovsk have been asked to evacuate. Most who remain want to stay to the very end
For the few residents remaining in Kurakhove, a city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region just seven miles from the frontlines, the worst-case scenario was all too easy to envision.
Nearby towns and cities such as Avdiivka and Bakhmut had been razed to the ground before falling, their names now synonymous with the devastating tactics employed by the Russian army in the 28-month-long war.
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Building bridges to Russia plays to India’s strategic interest, which is to insert itself between Beijing and Moscow
If bear-hugging a murderous autocrat is not your idea of a sensible foreign policy, then you aren’t thinking like the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. His fraternising with Vladimir Putin this week has included a private welcome at the latter’s sprawling estate outside Moscow, a lavish dinner and even a happy ride-around in an e-cart.
During the frivolities, Russia launched another series of airstrikes on targets in Ukraine, destroying a children’s hospital in Kyiv. But Modi would not let that derail the summit. He is playing for higher stakes. Modi knows well how to opportunistically turn someone else’s war to his advantage. His objective, after all, is to raise India’s profile – and his own – in the hope of becoming an indispensable power, one equally courted by democrats and dictators.
Sergey Radchenko is Wilson E Schmidt distinguished professor at the Henry A Kissinger Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Baltimore
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Campaign for better pay and benefits stepped up, says union representing about 30,000 staff in South Korea
Thousands of workers in South Korea have pledged to extend indefinitely the first strike at Samsung Electronics, ramping up a campaign for better pay and benefits at one of the world’s largest smartphone and AI chip makers.
A union representing about 30,000 staff – about a quarter of its employees in South Korea – said members were extending industrial action that was originally meant to last only three days, after management failed to give any indication that it would hold talks with them.
Continue reading...Indian prime minister travelled to Moscow for two-day summit and ‘chit-chat’ amid diplomatic complexities
As India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, landed in Moscow on Monday, it was straight into the warm embrace of Vladimir Putin. Modi said the visit – his first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – was to cement the “bonds of friendship” between the two countries, and later effusively described Russia as India’s “all-weather friend and trusted ally”.
The India-Russia relationship runs deep, dating back to the cold war, and Russia has long been the largest supplier of arms to India. Since he was elected in 2014, Modi has built up a much-publicised rapport with Putin, the two leaders having had more than 20 meetings.
Continue reading...ProPublica has a long investigative article on how the Cyber Safety Review Board failed to investigate the SolarWinds attack, and specifically Microsoft’s culpability, even though they were directed by President Biden to do so.
Three children – a two-year-old boy, six-year-old boy and five-month-old girl – died at the scene. Follow the day’s news live
The mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Paterson, spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier as authorities meet to determine whether a three-day curfew on the central Australian town will be extended.
He is “still waiting to hear” whether the curfew will be extended – a decision for the police commissioner. Asked whether he believes it should be extended, Paterson says:
It’s obviously worked in the CBD, but we are hearing that it is pushing crime out into the suburbs. So we’ll wait to see what happens. Ultimately, the community gets to have a breath while there’s extra resources and police in town, so we’ll just wait to see what’s decided …
The curfew is a reaction to events over the past week or so, and we can’t continue to put these in. We need to think about the long-term solutions.
Continue reading...Outlook says use of wind and solar power will surge – but forecasts for gas point to slowing in energy transition
BP has predicted that the world’s demand for oil will peak next year, bringing an end to rising global carbon emissions by the mid-2020s amid a surge in wind and solar power.
The energy company’s influential outlook report has found that oil use will increase by about 2m barrels a day to peak at about 102m in 2025 across both of its forecasts.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Letter from senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, says JPMorgan may have misled investors and public
JPMorgan Chase, the world’s biggest investor in fossil fuels, may have misled investors and the public by backtracking on its already weak climate and environmental commitments, six US senators have warned in a letter to the CEO Jamie Dimon.
Although a climate-disrupted world demands stronger action by the financial sector to reduce emissions and protect nature, the Wall Street firm is heading in the opposite direction, say the upper chamber legislators, who include Senate banking committee member Elizabeth Warren.
Continue reading...The World Architecture festival’s 2024 shortlist has been announced, revealing projects from around the world spanning categories such as childcare, energy, transport and science. The live event will take place in Singapore from 6-8 November 2024. This year’s finalists represent 71 countries, with five shortlisted: Australia, China, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom
Trip scheduled for Monday, with Delhi a key trading partner for Putin since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Narendra Modi will visit Russia on 8 and 9 July and hold talks with Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has said, in the Indian prime minister’s first trip to the country since it invaded Ukraine.
Modi and Putin will discuss “prospects for further development of traditionally friendly Russian-Indian relations, as well as relevant issues on the international and regional agenda,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Continue reading...Sir Keir Starmer is maintaining a difficult balance in acknowledging rising global security threats and the fiscal facts
When it comes to the defence budget, enormous pressure is being put on Sir Keir Starmer to do something he already intends to do. As a Nato member, Britain has signed up to a target of military spending at 2.5% of gross domestic product. The prime minister has made a “cast-iron” guarantee to honour that pledge, and restated it ahead of a Nato summit in Washington this week.
This was also the policy of the last Conservative government. There was no timetable for reaching the target until April this year, when Rishi Sunak declared that it would happen by 2030. Within a month, Mr Sunak had called an election. Those two things are related. The 2030 deadline was a partisan device to make the Tories look more hawkish than Labour.
Continue reading...Senator Michael Bennet said Trump may win ‘by a landslide’ while two more senators echoed his concerns
Joe Biden came under renewed moral pressure on Wednesday to abandon his presidential candidacy amid agonised appeals by a succession of senior Democrats for him to consider the broader picture.
Those calls came as the US president dug in his heels to make it hard to supplant him as the nominee.
Continue reading...Critics were chastised as radical when bringing up Biden’s age before the debate – now it’s the center of discussion
Concerns about Joe Biden’s fitness for re-election on the left may have been muted over the last year. But they were not absent.
“There’s a lot of people, especially on the left, that have been talking about this,” said Alex Johnson, an IT worker in Atlanta.
Continue reading...Readers respond to reports that as many as 400,000 people may have been prevented from voting last week
The news that voter ID rules may have stopped 400,000 taking part in the general election (Report, 8 July) shows that fears that the Tories’ electoral reforms would damage democracy were well founded. The Johnson administration introduced extreme photo ID requirements, stripped the Electoral Commission of its independence and designed electoral boundaries around a register missing millions of eligible citizens. Our system saw democratic backsliding.
The new government could begin to build a more inclusive democracy. It could repeal parts of the Elections Act, consolidate electoral law and introduce new innovations such as automatic voter registration. A new Representation of the People Act to strengthen elections for the 21st century is needed. The Electoral Integrity Project has a blueprint for reforms that were proposed by academics and civil society groups in the last parliament. There is now an opportunity to take them forward.
Prof Toby S James
University of East Anglia; co-director, Electoral Integrity Project
Since Biden’s poor performance in first TV debate against Donald Trump, his place on the ballot has been under threat. Joan E Greve reports
Since Joe Biden’s stumbling performance in a TV debate with Donald Trump, some Democrats have expressed concern about his suitability to be in the race.
“Voters have been voicing concerns about his age for a long time now,” senior political reporter for Guardian US Joan E Greve tells Helen Pidd. “If Democrats were going to have this argument about potentially replacing Biden on the ballot, it probably needed to happen a while ago.”
Continue reading...Jamie Raskin says report on Ivan Raiklin, who calls himself Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’, is ‘deadly serious’
A senior Democrat called for congressional leaders to denounce a Trump loyalist’s claim to have compiled a “deep state target list”, of public figures to be detained if the former president returns to power next year.
“This is a deadly serious report,” Jamie Raskin, of Maryland, told Raw Story, regarding its extensive discoveries about Ivan Raiklin, a former US army reserve lieutenant colonel and US Defense Intelligence Agency employee the site said was seeking to enlist rightwing sheriffs while calling himself Donald Trump’s “future secretary of retribution”.
Continue reading...Trump reportedly dislikes beards, but brushed off subject in interview, saying Ohio senator ‘looks like a young Lincoln’
JD Vance is still in contention to be named Donald Trump’s running mate, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee indicated on Wednesday, despite the Ohio senator committing what Trump is reported to consider a heinous faux pas.
According to multiple reports, Vance’s offence does not lie in past decisions to call Trump “America’s Hitler” and Trumpism the “Opioid of the Masses”.
Continue reading...The actor says he talked to Biden at LA fundraiser and concluded: ‘We are not going to win with this president’
The Hollywood actor George Clooney, one of the Democratic party’s biggest fundraisers, has called on Joe Biden to step aside to save democracy from Donald Trump.
In an opinion article in the New York Times, Clooney expressed deep affection for the US president but said that personal interaction with him at a recent fundraising event in Los Angeles – the Democratic party’s most successful ever, raising more than $30m – suggested that the stumbling performance in last month’s debate in Atlanta was not an aberration.
Continue reading...Ex-home secretary blames leadership rival and rest of the cabinet for letting Sunak take the party to electoral disaster
Suella Braverman has attacked her fellow leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch for comments that were leaked from a shadow cabinet meeting, as one poll of grassroots members put Badenoch as the members’ favourite.
The poll also found half of Conservative grassroots members are in favour of a merger with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Continue reading...French president appears to exclude far-right RN and radical left LFI in call for alliance of ‘republican forces’
Emmanuel Macron has called on political parties to “rise to the occasion and work together” to build a mainstream coalition with a solid majority after voters in a snap election returned a hung parliament with no obvious route to a government.
The French president, who has not spoken publicly since Sunday’s second round vote, said in a letter to the country that nobody had won the election, in which a left-green alliance come top but fell far short of an absolute majority.
Continue reading...Two years in Downing Street would have looked so much better on the CV, but he wanted to get the whole thing over with
Sliding doors. It had been a while since Rishi Sunak had had a decent night’s sleep. Even when he did manage the occasional few hours of uninterrupted unconsciousness, there was no liberation. His dreams were even more terrifying than reality. Always the same thoughts running through his head. Why had he done it? Why had he talked himself in to going for a July election when he could have waited another six months? When he could have at least enjoyed the summer. Two years in Downing Street would have looked so much better on his CV.
Round and round. The same circular ruminations. He had thought he was being so clever by doing the unexpected. But all he had succeeded in doing was wrongfooting his own party. Hell, he had even taken himself by surprise. He should have known it was a terrible mistake from the enthusiasm with which Oliver Dowden had greeted the idea. Oliver’s one talent was an unerring instinct for his own self-destruction. In a fairer political system, natural selection would have done for him long ago.
Continue reading...Dr Arun Midha and Dr Peter Estcourt respond to articles by Martin Kettle and Polly Toynbee on the urgent challenge ahead for Keir Starmer’s new government
Martin Kettle identifies that the real challenge for the new Labour government is to demand that MPs absorb the Nolan principles into their bloodstream (Starmer wants us to believe we can trust politicians again. That’s huge – but he has to mean it, 4 July).
I left the Commons standards committee in 2022, but in the preceding six years I had adjudicated on several prominent cases, including Boris Johnson (three times); Ian Paisley Jr, which led to the first triggering of the Recall of MPs Act 2015; Keith Vaz, which resulted in the longest suspension of an MP in recent times (six months); and Owen Paterson, for an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules, which also sparked an attempt by the government to sideline lay members and restructure the standards system.
Continue reading...The president might have wiggled out of a dire circumstance after his debate after Democrats missed their chance, but uncertainty still lingers
In his dotage and with images of his epic Georgia debate meltdown still fresh in the popular mind, Joe Biden is probably nobody’s idea of a Harry Houdini copycat.
Yet, with the Democratic party seemingly paralysed between the terror of a second Donald Trump presidency and fear of the consequences of taking decisive action, the US president may - barring mishaps - be on the verge of one of history’s great political escape acts.
Continue reading...People held before planned removal from UK under Sunak government face disruption and relocation after release
A Syrian asylum seeker who was one of 220 people arrested and detained in preparation for forced removal to Rwanda says he has lost everything after his release.
Critics described the high-profile mass roundups before the local elections in May as a “stunt” that needlessly disrupted the lives of many.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey are on two sides of the Atlantic this week. They discuss Keir Starmer’s first foreign trip, and whether the Conservatives can find the soul of their party
Continue reading...John Healey acknowledges likely shift of US focus to China and says Britain and EU must raise military spending to counter Russia
Britain will be “the leading European nation” in Nato under a Labour government, the new defence secretary, John Healey, pledged in an interview at the Nato summit in Washington DC – though spending may have to rise significantly if the UK is to remain ahead of Germany.
The cabinet minister, appointed last Friday, acknowledged that European countries within Nato would have to take on more of the burden of defending the west against Russia – regardless of whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November.
Continue reading...Sir Keir Starmer is maintaining a difficult balance in acknowledging rising global security threats and the fiscal facts
When it comes to the defence budget, enormous pressure is being put on Sir Keir Starmer to do something he already intends to do. As a Nato member, Britain has signed up to a target of military spending at 2.5% of gross domestic product. The prime minister has made a “cast-iron” guarantee to honour that pledge, and restated it ahead of a Nato summit in Washington this week.
This was also the policy of the last Conservative government. There was no timetable for reaching the target until April this year, when Rishi Sunak declared that it would happen by 2030. Within a month, Mr Sunak had called an election. Those two things are related. The 2030 deadline was a partisan device to make the Tories look more hawkish than Labour.
Continue reading...Bondholders are hoping to escape intact if Ofwat is sufficiently generous with its increases in bills
What is the new government’s policy on Thames Water? We’ll get a firmer guide – maybe – after regulator Ofwat gives its verdict on all the English and Welsh water companies’ business plans on Thursday. In the meantime, all we have to go on is this pre-election comment from Jonathan Reynolds, now the business secretary: “I wouldn’t want to see a nationalisation. I think there should be a solution that falls short of that.”
That statement raises more questions than it answers, unfortunately. Which type of nationalisation would Labour not wish to see? A full-fat, permanent return to public ownership? Or also the temporary “special administration” variety in which Thames’s balance sheet would be straightened out before a return to the private sector?
Continue reading...Premier Chris Minns says government is still ‘grappling’ with issue that has already been outlawed in most states
The New South Wales government has been accused of failing renters by delaying legislation to end no-grounds evictions as demand for legal aid spikes across Sydney.
Despite both major parties pledging to abolish no-grounds evictions in the 2023 election, the government is yet to introduce legislation to implement the much-anticipated reforms.
Continue reading...Meet the Rees-Moggs will go behind the scenes of the ex-Tory MP’s life. The prospect of him acting like the world’s greyest-skinned Kardashian is enough to make you feel ill
One of the most fascinating parts of election night was watching the various ways that outgoing Conservative MPs reacted to the furious bloodbath to which they were subjected. Some, like Penny Mordaunt, made a decent fist of equanimity. Others, like Liz Truss, reacted to their loss like they’d just been clonked over the head with a leg of lamb. And then there was Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Throughout election night, Rees-Mogg adopted a slightly amused distance to the carnage around him, happily doing the media rounds before the votes were in before quoting Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in his concession speech. “From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success,” he said, shortly before warmly shaking the hand of one of his opponents, a man in a baked bean balaclava.
Continue reading...There was stunned silence at the far-right National Rally (RN) party headquarters as the results of France’s legislative elections came in. In stark opposition, ecstatic jubilation rocked Place de La République where leftwing New Popular Front (NFP) supporters had gathered. The leftist alliance unexpectedly took the top spot in the elections, ahead of the far right in a major upset that bars Marine Le Pen's National Rally from getting enough seats to form a government
Continue reading...Bob Blackman, picked as the 1922 Committee chair, will play a major role in shaping the contest to replace Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak remains leader of the Conservatives for now but the party’s most important figure is arguably a veteran backbencher with little national profile and zero ministerial experience.
Bob Blackman, the MP for Harrow East, has taken on a pivotal role in shaping his party’s forthcoming leadership contest after being elected as chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs.
Continue reading...A remarkable new archive documents the resilience of Bengalis who have built their lives in the UK. Comprised of images and testimonies donated by members off the East London Bengali community, it offers a unique insight to their struggles and place within British society. An accompanying exhibition, I Am Who I Am Now, runs at Four Corners Gallery in Bethnal Green, London, until 3 August
Continue reading...A leftwing alliance snatched victory from the far right in the final round of the French parliamentary elections. But will France now fall into political deadlock? Angelique Chrisafis reports
Last week, France faced a terrifying new era after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party secured a historic victory in the first round of parliamentary elections. It marked an unprecedented success for a far-right party in France in the years since the second world war.
But then came the fightback. French leftwing parties – from greens to socialists – banded together and encouraged their supporters to vote tactically, even withdrawing candidates so there would be no split political allegiances.
Continue reading...Three children – a two-year-old boy, six-year-old boy and five-month-old girl – died at the scene. Follow the day’s news live
The mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Paterson, spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier as authorities meet to determine whether a three-day curfew on the central Australian town will be extended.
He is “still waiting to hear” whether the curfew will be extended – a decision for the police commissioner. Asked whether he believes it should be extended, Paterson says:
It’s obviously worked in the CBD, but we are hearing that it is pushing crime out into the suburbs. So we’ll wait to see what happens. Ultimately, the community gets to have a breath while there’s extra resources and police in town, so we’ll just wait to see what’s decided …
The curfew is a reaction to events over the past week or so, and we can’t continue to put these in. We need to think about the long-term solutions.
Continue reading...Nato secretary general says group will ‘continue to support them on the irreversible path to Nato membership’
Here’s the schedule for today’s talks in Washington (all in local time).
8:15am: Nato secretary general’s doorstep
Continue reading...Hugh Bayley says NGOs would also benefit as he releases report on impact of UK programme in Afghanistan
The UK should consider restoring its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan to support Afghan women and to help monitor the impact of British aid, a commissioner for the official UK aid watchdog has suggested.
Hugh Bayley, who visited Kabul in May, said he believed Afghan women and NGOs would welcome more western diplomats to represent the opinions of women to the Taliban as he released a report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) on the effectiveness of the UK programme, which is the second largest operated by Britain.
Continue reading...Retired newsagent who fundraised £50,000 for legal battle was due to take case to court in autumn
A retired newsagent and “local legend” from Merseyside has said he feels marvellous after a Home Office U-turn granted him the right to live in the UK almost 50 years after he arrived.
Nelson Shardey, 75, launched legal action against the Home Office and fundraised almost £50,000 earlier this year after he was refused the right to stay in the UK permanently, despite living in the country since 1977 and running his shop, Nelson’s News, in Wirral for 31 years.
Continue reading...Dr Henrietta Hughes said focus on budgets had led to substandard care and dismissal of legitimate fears
NHS patients raising safety concerns are too often “gaslighted”, “fobbed off” or dismissed as “difficult women”, according to England’s patient safety commissioner, who criticised health leaders for a “relentless focus” on finance and productivity.
Dr Henrietta Hughes said patients and loved ones sounding the alarm about substandard care should be an early indicator of danger or potential harm, but far too frequently they were completely ignored. NHS trusts focusing too much on budgets meant that “the culture becomes toxic, and we’re just on the road back to the Mid Staffs scandal”, she added.
Continue reading...England’s patient safety commissioner says NHS patients raising concerns are dismissed as ‘difficult women’
England’s patient safety commissioner, Henrietta Hughes, has warned that NHS patients raising concerns are too often “gaslighted”, “fobbed off” or dismissed as “difficult women”.
“It shows a very dismissive and very old fashioned, patronising attitude to patients who have identified problems and need to have their voices heard,” she said.
Continue reading... ![]() | submitted by /u/chrisdh79 [link] [comments] |
Prime minister holds first official bilateral talks with Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Nato summit in Washington
The new government will stick with plans to spend at least £3bn every year on military support for Ukraine for “as long as is it takes” in its conflict with Russia, Keir Starmer has said.
After his first official bilateral talks with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at the Nato summit in Washington, the prime minister confirmed the military aid would continue until at least 2030-31.
Continue reading...Government to announce terms which could free more than 20,000 inmates in coming months to manage capacity
The “shocking” prisons crisis is even worse than feared, Keir Starmer has said as the government prepares to release tens of thousands of inmates early in a bid to prevent jails becoming full.
The prime minister suggested he was opposed to freeing violent criminals and sex offenders when ministers announce the terms of a new prisoner release scheme for England and Wales on Friday.
Continue reading...MP says she ‘won’t be silenced’ after posting on social media to celebrate ethnic diversity of her Westminster cohort
Dawn Butler has said she “won’t be silenced” over celebrating ethnic minority representation after she appeared to have been reported to the police online for praising the Labour government “showing off the melanin”.
After Monday’s meeting of the parliamentary Labour party, attended by all 411 MPs, Butler posted the phrase with three photographs on X, one of which featured her with eight colleagues: Kim Johnson, Zarah Sultana, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Apsana Begum, Florence Esholomi, Juliet Campbell, Miatta Fahnbulleh and Taiwo Owatemi.
Continue reading...Sir Keir Starmer’s No 10 meeting with metro mayors sent the right message. But big challenges loom
Over the years, England’s town halls have become used to being treated with a mixture of hostility, condescension and neglect. During the late 1980s, writing at the height of Margaret Thatcher’s ideological assault on leftwing councils, the political scientist Andrew Gamble warned that her centralising tendencies could pave the way to “the eventual abolition of local government”. In the 2010s, Conservative administrations blithely swung the wrecking ball once more, as punitive austerity hollowed out council budgets to an unsustainable degree.
Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to sit down with England’s metro mayors in Downing Street this week – the first meeting of its kind – was therefore both welcome and significant. Tuesday’s get-together largely amounted to warm words and selfies outside No 10. But Sir Keir’s announcement of a new council of regions and nations formalises a more equal and respectful relationship. It is a genuine statement of collaborative intent. The sense of a step-change was also conveyed by Angela Rayner’s decision to remove Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” slogan from the housing, communities and local government department that she now leads. Rarely has a political slogan generated so many ministerial speeches and column inches, to such little concrete effect.
Continue reading...Britain finally has a chance to reject the Sunak government’s claim that Israel enjoys impunity in Gaza
Should Benjamin Netanyahu be prosecuted? The Sunak government tried to stop it happening, but now the Starmer administration must decide where it stands.
Back in May, the prosecutor of the international criminal court applied for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for war crimes involving the indiscriminate bombing of civilians – more than 15,000 children have been killed so far – and the starvation of citizens in Gaza.
Continue reading...The markets haven’t imploded, sterling is solid, and there is no flight of investors. Given the circumstances, the only way is up
A Labour government that comes to power after a prolonged period of unbroken Conservative rule. A sense in the country that something has gone seriously wrong with the economy and that change is needed. A backdrop of rapid technological change. For 2024, read 1964. For Sir Keir Starmer, read Harold Wilson.
Wilson came to power with a national plan to grow the economy by 25% by the end of the 1960s. Starmer has a national mission to make the UK the fastest growing economy in the G7. We’ve been here before, but there is a chance – no more than that – that things may turn out better for Starmer than they did for Wilson.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Australian helicopter was outside Chinese territorial waters when forced to manoeuvre to avoid fighter jet flares in ‘unsafe’ operation
An Australian helicopter was flying south-east of China’s Shandong peninsula but outside its territorial waters when a Chinese fighter aircraft released flares in its path, new documents show.
Guardian Australia can reveal that Australia’s HMAS Hobart warship was also being shadowed by a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy destroyer and another Chinese helicopter at the time of the 4 May standoff.
Continue reading...Attempted murderer also among the 25 people released before judgment that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, had released one murderer and one person convicted of “attempt or solicit murder” into community detention even before the high court ruled that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful.
In June Guardian Australia revealed that 25 of the then 153 people affected by the high court’s ruling had already been released into community detention by ministerial discretion but Giles refused to say if he was responsible for the release of those with the worst offending.
Continue reading...Counties in England which do not already have a first-class men’s team believe they are being frozen out of plans for a new second division for women’s cricket.
Only first-class men’s counties will have the chance to run a team in the top two tiers of women’s domestic cricket from the 2025 season, even though first-class status has never formally existed within women’s cricket and, historically, many county women’s sides have been stronger than some first-class ones.
Continue reading...Government adviser warns effort to halve violence against women and girls will increase numbers heading to nearly full jails
Keir Starmer’s pledge to halve violence against women will put more pressure on prisons, a Home Office adviser has warned, adding that there could be an additional 10,000 domestic abuse convictions if just one in three victims come forward.
Nicole Jacobs, the government’s domestic abuse commissioner, has written to the prime minister to highlight that the current prisons crisis is taking place at a time of historically low rates of convictions for those perpetrating domestic abuse.
Continue reading...Ahead of UK-US bilateral talks, PM says primary driver for cutting peers’ retirement age is size of Lords chamber
Keir Starmer has denied that his decision to bring in a retirement age of 80 for the House of Lords means he believes Joe Biden should stand down as US president.
Ahead of his first bilateral talks with Biden at the White House, the UK prime minister said the “primary driver” for bringing in a retirement age for peers was the size of the second chamber.
Continue reading...Building bridges to Russia plays to India’s strategic interest, which is to insert itself between Beijing and Moscow
If bear-hugging a murderous autocrat is not your idea of a sensible foreign policy, then you aren’t thinking like the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. His fraternising with Vladimir Putin this week has included a private welcome at the latter’s sprawling estate outside Moscow, a lavish dinner and even a happy ride-around in an e-cart.
During the frivolities, Russia launched another series of airstrikes on targets in Ukraine, destroying a children’s hospital in Kyiv. But Modi would not let that derail the summit. He is playing for higher stakes. Modi knows well how to opportunistically turn someone else’s war to his advantage. His objective, after all, is to raise India’s profile – and his own – in the hope of becoming an indispensable power, one equally courted by democrats and dictators.
Sergey Radchenko is Wilson E Schmidt distinguished professor at the Henry A Kissinger Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Baltimore
Continue reading...The term has become a useful way for Trump and his fellow Republicans to rearrange the goalposts of debate. So why is the US president now sinking to that level?
A quick quiz for you: define “the elite”. Perhaps you answered with something along the lines of “people with superior abilities”? Or maybe you defined it as: “the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world”? Neither of those is correct. Nope, “the elite” is now a derogatory term used by politicians to mean anyone who disagrees with them. It’s the defining political insult of our time.
Donald Trump kicked off this trend. The former president owns a multimillion-dollar Manhattan penthouse dripping with gold, but, starting around 2015, he has carefully distanced himself from evil media and political elites. The idea that he’s not included in the “elite” is so laughable that sometimes he’s even confused himself. At one point in 2018 he told a crowd in Minnesota: “You ever notice they always call the other side ‘the elite’? The elite! Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do … I’m richer than they are.”
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...He skied the chance to equalise against Spain but Kylian Mbappé’s eloquence has elevated his team
It is not because Kylian Mbappé spoke out, twice, about the necessity to take a stand against “the extremes” and, more to the point, the National Rally, that he skied a shot that would have brought France level with Spain in their semi-final. But it is because he and others, such as Marcus Thuram and Jules Koundé, did speak out that it will be possible to look back on France’s frustrating Euro 2024 with something like pride. “Never at such a moment, never such a player, never in such a trenchant, brilliant, mastered fashion, never in the history of the French national team, had we witnessed the conjunction of a major moment in French political life, the words of a captain and a great sporting event,” L’Équipe enthused.
The French sports daily had a point, even if other French footballers had taken political stances in the past. The Saint-Étienne forward Dominique Rocheteau had not hidden his unease about taking part in the World Cup held in General Videla’s Argentina in 1978, though he didn’t go as far as the Swedish players who lent their support to the mothers demonstrating on the Plaza de Mayo during the same tournament. More recently, Zinedine Zidane had called on the French electorate to vote against Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean‑Marie, in the 2002 presidential election, calling what was still the Front and not yet the Rassemblement National “a party that does not correspond at all to the values of France”. Kylian, Marcus, Jules et les autres are the heirs of Zizou in more ways than one.
Continue reading...Karamba Diaby’s announcement he wants to spend time with family comes after bullet and arson attacks on his office
The first black African-born MP to enter the German parliament has announced he will not be standing in next year’s federal election, weeks after he revealed the hate mail, including racist slurs and death threats, he and his staff had received.
Karamba Diaby, 62, who entered the Bundestag in 2013 in a moment hailed as historic by equality campaigners, said he wanted to spend more time with his family and to make room for younger politicians.
Continue reading...Charges against Selma Taha, Danae Thomas and Divina Riggon dropped with CPS finding no ‘realistic prospect of conviction’
The leader of an advocacy group representing black and minority ethnic women has criticised an “institutionally racist” and “unfair” legal system after an assault case against her and her two friends collapsed.
Selma Taha, 52, the executive director of Southall Black Sisters, Divina Riggon, 42, and Danae Thomas, 53, had been charged with assaulting a woman in King’s Cross underground station in London. The three women claimed they were victims of a violent racist attack.
Continue reading...We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2021: After growing up in a Zimbabwe convulsed by the legacy of colonialism, when I got to Oxford I realised how many British people still failed to see how empire had shaped lives like mine – as well as their own. By Simukai Chigudu
Continue reading...Struggling to fit everything in? Here’s how to cross off all the jobs on your list ... without really trying
‘If you get a tough job … and you haven’t got a way to make it easy, put a lazy man on it,” a Chrysler executive named Clarence Bleicher once explained to a US Senate committee on productivity. “After 10 days, he will have an easy way to do it.”
That quote is often misattributed to Walter Chrysler or Bill Gates. I know this because, fundamentally, I am a lazy man: left to my own devices, I will happily spend 20 minutes on Quote Investigator rather than hoovering the living room or, er, writing a feature about productivity.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair and Semra Hunter as Spain see off France to extend march towards glory
Follow Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today; Spain get a deserved 2-1 win over France as they progress to the final of Euro 2024. Lamine Yamal, how do you talk about him without mentioning he’s just 16? What a goal he scored.
Continue reading...By the time my wife got a diagnosis, her long and harrowing deterioration had already begun. By the end, I was in awe of her
My wife always said she would die of Alzheimer’s. It turns out she was right about that. For years, I insisted she would not. In the end, Vanessa clinched our little argument by dying last September, but we had known her fate since 2019, the year she was diagnosed, at the age of 49. For at least three years before that, though, the realisation dawned by hideous degrees which way the debate was going.
When we met, in the mid-00s, the proposition that Vanessa did not have Alzheimer’s, nor was about to develop it, was an easy motion to defend. She was dazzling and creative, with a successful career as a marketing executive. In that context, her preoccupation with this old person’s disease came across as a little absurd.
Continue reading...You might have noticed that everyone has recently become a bit obsessed with blood sugar, or glucose. Wellness firms such as ZOE here in the UK – as well as Nutrisense, Levels and Signos – claim to offer insights into how our bodies process food based on monitoring our blood glucose, among other things. But many researchers have begun to question the science behind this. To find out what we know about blood glucose levels and our health, and whether the science is nailed down on personalised nutrition, Ian Sample hears from philosopher Julian Baggini, academic dietician Dr Nicola Guess of Oxford University and ZOE’s chief scientist, and associate professor at Kings College London, Dr Sarah Berry
Read Julian Baggini’s article about the ZOE programme
Continue reading...Joining Grace this week is actor and director David Harewood, who found global fame in the hit CIA-thriller Homeland 13 years ago and hasn’t stopped working since. David was born and raised in Small Heath, Birmingham, where he lived with his older siblings and Barbadian parents. He tells Grace about how his mum kept the flavours of the West Indies alive in his childhood home, while he navigated the racist world of 1970s Britain growing up as a young black boy. Sitting down over his favourite comfort food, David talks about how messing about in school led to the ‘lightbulb moment’ when he realised he wanted to be an actor; arriving in 80s London to attend Rada and discovering the excitement of ‘filthy’ Soho; and the underrated wonders of corned beef
New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday
Continue reading...If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve noticed that I have written a lot about AI and democracy, mostly with my co-author Nathan Sanders. I am pleased to announce that we’re writing a book on the topic.
This isn’t a book about deep fakes, or misinformation. This is a book about what happens when AI writes laws, adjudicates disputes, audits bureaucratic actions, assists in political strategy, and advises citizens on what candidates and issues to support. It’s a book that tries to look into what an AI-assisted democratic system might look like, and then at how to best ensure that we make use of the good parts while avoiding the bad parts...
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...Tori Towey’s case was raised for second day in row in Irish parliament
The Irish premier, Simon Harris, has said that a travel ban imposed by Dubai authorities on Tori Towey, an Irish woman who was reportedly charged with attempted suicide, has been lifted.
Towey, 28, a flight attendant from Co Roscommon, was charged with attempted suicide and alcohol abuse after waking up in a police station after an attack, Irish parliamentarians were told.
Continue reading...The term has become a useful way for Trump and his fellow Republicans to rearrange the goalposts of debate. So why is the US president now sinking to that level?
A quick quiz for you: define “the elite”. Perhaps you answered with something along the lines of “people with superior abilities”? Or maybe you defined it as: “the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world”? Neither of those is correct. Nope, “the elite” is now a derogatory term used by politicians to mean anyone who disagrees with them. It’s the defining political insult of our time.
Donald Trump kicked off this trend. The former president owns a multimillion-dollar Manhattan penthouse dripping with gold, but, starting around 2015, he has carefully distanced himself from evil media and political elites. The idea that he’s not included in the “elite” is so laughable that sometimes he’s even confused himself. At one point in 2018 he told a crowd in Minnesota: “You ever notice they always call the other side ‘the elite’? The elite! Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do … I’m richer than they are.”
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Traveller stopped by customs as he sought to slip out of Hong Kong into the border city of Shenzhen
A man has been caught trying to smuggle more than 100 live snakes into mainland China by cramming them into his trousers, according to the country’s customs authority.
The unnamed traveller was stopped by customs officers as he sought to slip out of semi-autonomous Hong Kong and into the border city of Shenzhen, China Customs said in a statement on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Over an early summer weekend, three writer friends trek through the hills of Monmouthshire, mapping the medieval lordship of Three Castles
The castles of Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle lie west of the border. Just. For a millennium they’ve hunkered in that hinterland where England shoulders up against Wales. As we set off uphill from Grosmont there’s nothing more aggressive going on than a little haymaking, the hum of a distant tractor is masked by a brisk wind through oak leaves; but in the past there have been tensions. Building a castle – building three – is not, after all, an act of friendship. Strictly speaking, though, it wasn’t the English who flexed their muscles here but the French; Normans, who, in the wake of conquest, sat down on the doorsteps of Welsh chieftains and made themselves at home.
Continue reading...The grip of my shoes was nonexistent and I skidded as I ran for the tube. I threw my arm through the closing doors. For a second, I felt completely disembodied
The first feeling was embarrassment. What had happened was yet to catch up with me. All I knew was that I was looking into an open carriage, my body wedged into the gap between the tube and the platform, while strangers were staring from their seats in shock.
It was 2015. I was 20 and on my way back from the airport, having been on holiday in Barcelona with some friends. My final year of university would begin in a few weeks. I was travelling to Waterloo station to get a train home, freckled and wearing a sundress. I was changing tube lines and time was tight, so when I saw the train at the platform I ran the last few strides.
Continue reading...Indian prime minister travelled to Moscow for two-day summit and ‘chit-chat’ amid diplomatic complexities
As India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, landed in Moscow on Monday, it was straight into the warm embrace of Vladimir Putin. Modi said the visit – his first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – was to cement the “bonds of friendship” between the two countries, and later effusively described Russia as India’s “all-weather friend and trusted ally”.
The India-Russia relationship runs deep, dating back to the cold war, and Russia has long been the largest supplier of arms to India. Since he was elected in 2014, Modi has built up a much-publicised rapport with Putin, the two leaders having had more than 20 meetings.
Continue reading...From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...The World Architecture festival’s 2024 shortlist has been announced, revealing projects from around the world spanning categories such as childcare, energy, transport and science. The live event will take place in Singapore from 6-8 November 2024. This year’s finalists represent 71 countries, with five shortlisted: Australia, China, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom
Building bridges to Russia plays to India’s strategic interest, which is to insert itself between Beijing and Moscow
If bear-hugging a murderous autocrat is not your idea of a sensible foreign policy, then you aren’t thinking like the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. His fraternising with Vladimir Putin this week has included a private welcome at the latter’s sprawling estate outside Moscow, a lavish dinner and even a happy ride-around in an e-cart.
During the frivolities, Russia launched another series of airstrikes on targets in Ukraine, destroying a children’s hospital in Kyiv. But Modi would not let that derail the summit. He is playing for higher stakes. Modi knows well how to opportunistically turn someone else’s war to his advantage. His objective, after all, is to raise India’s profile – and his own – in the hope of becoming an indispensable power, one equally courted by democrats and dictators.
Sergey Radchenko is Wilson E Schmidt distinguished professor at the Henry A Kissinger Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Baltimore
Continue reading...A new vampire squid species was discovered in the South China Sea.
John Healey acknowledges likely shift of US focus to China and says Britain and EU must raise military spending to counter Russia
Britain will be “the leading European nation” in Nato under a Labour government, the new defence secretary, John Healey, pledged in an interview at the Nato summit in Washington DC – though spending may have to rise significantly if the UK is to remain ahead of Germany.
The cabinet minister, appointed last Friday, acknowledged that European countries within Nato would have to take on more of the burden of defending the west against Russia – regardless of whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Australian helicopter was outside Chinese territorial waters when forced to manoeuvre to avoid fighter jet flares in ‘unsafe’ operation
An Australian helicopter was flying south-east of China’s Shandong peninsula but outside its territorial waters when a Chinese fighter aircraft released flares in its path, new documents show.
Guardian Australia can reveal that Australia’s HMAS Hobart warship was also being shadowed by a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy destroyer and another Chinese helicopter at the time of the 4 May standoff.
Continue reading...Sixteen of the UK’s finest cooks and restaurateurs choose the kitchen blades that really cut it, from premium Japanese santokus to small, serrated dependables
A good knife is the cornerstone of any kitchen, but that’s not to say you need a full collection. Yes, there are chef’s knives, petty knives, Japanese santoku knives and bread knives, but think about how you really cook and equip accordingly. As Anthony Bourdain wrote in Kitchen Confidential: “Please believe me, here’s all you will ever need in the knife department: one good chef’s knife, as large as is comfortable for your hand.”
The quest for the perfect knife is, however, personal; what feels right (the shape, the weight) will differ from person to person. “You’ll only know the one when you pick it up,” says chef and restaurateur Tom Kerridge. “It must feel like an extension of your hand.” But with a bewildering number available, we asked some of the UK’s top chefs for their favourite knives. Whichever way you go, though, be sure to get a steel or whetstone while you’re at it, to keep that knife on point.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall flooded streets and triggered landslides in China’s south-western municipality of Chongqing, the state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday. In Kaizhou district, more than 450 people were displaced as water levels from the Nan and Puli rivers, tributaries of the Yangtze, reached 4 metres. In Badong county in Hubei province, rescuers evacuated residents from buildings and removed vehicles partly submerged in flood water
Continue reading...Traveller stopped by customs as he sought to slip out of Hong Kong into the border city of Shenzhen
A man has been caught trying to smuggle more than 100 live snakes into mainland China by cramming them into his trousers, according to the country’s customs authority.
The unnamed traveller was stopped by customs officers as he sought to slip out of semi-autonomous Hong Kong and into the border city of Shenzhen, China Customs said in a statement on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Hospitals are stretched to their limits during unseasonably early heatwave, as medical authorities liken public health risk to a ‘natural disaster’
Medical experts in Japan are to add a “most severe” category to the current heatstroke index, amid warnings that the extreme heat is straining medical services and causing damage to public health comparable to that in a “natural disaster”.
The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine said it would add a fourth category to the three-level classification later this year in an attempt to reduce deaths from heatstroke.
Continue reading...Guardian analysis shows web of agreements between Pacific countries and Australia, US and China, as experts raise concerns over rising militarisation
As competition for influence in the Pacific region intensifies, analysis by the Guardian has mapped a vast network of security, policing and defence agreements between the island countries and foreign partners – leading to concerns about militarisation of the region.
The Guardian examined agreements and partnerships covering security, defence and policing with the 10 largest Pacific countries by population. Australia remains the dominant partner in the region – accounting for more than half the deals identified – followed by New Zealand, the US and China.
Continue reading...US firm’s move, amid Beijing-Washington tensions, sparks rush to lure users to homegrown models
At the World AI Conference in Shanghai last week, one of China’s leading artificial intelligence companies, SenseTime, unveiled its latest model, SenseNova 5.5.
The model showed off its ability to identify and describe a stuffed toy puppy (wearing a SenseTime cap), offered feedback on a drawing of a rabbit, and instantly read and summarised a page of text. According to SenseTime, SenseNova 5.5 is comparable with GPT-4o, the flagship artificial intelligence model of the Microsoft-backed US company OpenAI.
Continue reading...Indian prime minister travelled to Moscow for two-day summit and ‘chit-chat’ amid diplomatic complexities
As India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, landed in Moscow on Monday, it was straight into the warm embrace of Vladimir Putin. Modi said the visit – his first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – was to cement the “bonds of friendship” between the two countries, and later effusively described Russia as India’s “all-weather friend and trusted ally”.
The India-Russia relationship runs deep, dating back to the cold war, and Russia has long been the largest supplier of arms to India. Since he was elected in 2014, Modi has built up a much-publicised rapport with Putin, the two leaders having had more than 20 meetings.
Continue reading...Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie alleged to have incited acolytes to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’
The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has gone on trial on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in a macabre case that shocked the world.
The self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants.
Continue reading...Campaign for better pay and benefits stepped up, says union representing about 30,000 staff in South Korea
Thousands of workers in South Korea have pledged to extend indefinitely the first strike at Samsung Electronics, ramping up a campaign for better pay and benefits at one of the world’s largest smartphone and AI chip makers.
A union representing about 30,000 staff – about a quarter of its employees in South Korea – said members were extending industrial action that was originally meant to last only three days, after management failed to give any indication that it would hold talks with them.
Continue reading...A rising number of lawsuits in courts around the world are holding governments and corporations to account for their treatment of the seas and those who rely on them
A few years ago, Anna von Rebay gave up her lucrative job in a corporate law firm specialising in art law to concentrate on her passion for the ocean. “All threats to the sea come from humans, who behave as though nature is nothing more than a resource,” says Von Rebay, who works in Germany and Indonesia. “But the ocean can’t stand up for itself.”
Inspired by a rising wave of lawsuits seeking to hold governments and companies to account for climate action, she set up Ocean Vision Legal, a law firm with a unique remit: to litigate on the ocean’s behalf.
Continue reading...Trip scheduled for Monday, with Delhi a key trading partner for Putin since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Narendra Modi will visit Russia on 8 and 9 July and hold talks with Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has said, in the Indian prime minister’s first trip to the country since it invaded Ukraine.
Modi and Putin will discuss “prospects for further development of traditionally friendly Russian-Indian relations, as well as relevant issues on the international and regional agenda,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Continue reading...Government opens hundreds of shelters for displaced people as heavy rains cause rivers to burst their banks
The death toll from floods in Bangladesh this week has risen to eight, leaving more than two million affected after heavy rains caused major rivers to burst their banks, officials have confirmed.
The south Asian country of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has experienced more frequent floods in recent decades.
Continue reading...If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve noticed that I have written a lot about AI and democracy, mostly with my co-author Nathan Sanders. I am pleased to announce that we’re writing a book on the topic.
This isn’t a book about deep fakes, or misinformation. This is a book about what happens when AI writes laws, adjudicates disputes, audits bureaucratic actions, assists in political strategy, and advises citizens on what candidates and issues to support. It’s a book that tries to look into what an AI-assisted democratic system might look like, and then at how to best ensure that we make use of the good parts while avoiding the bad parts...
Fire expected to burn for days as local residents warned to avoid nearby waterways
Residents in Melbourne’s west have been told to avoid lingering fumes and potentially contaminated runoff after a chemical factory fire sent toxic smoke billowing over the city.
Firefighters battled the blaze throughout the day and night after a large explosion at the Derrimut factory on Wednesday morning.
Continue reading...Dr Henrietta Hughes said focus on budgets had led to substandard care and dismissal of legitimate fears
NHS patients raising safety concerns are too often “gaslighted”, “fobbed off” or dismissed as “difficult women”, according to England’s patient safety commissioner, who criticised health leaders for a “relentless focus” on finance and productivity.
Dr Henrietta Hughes said patients and loved ones sounding the alarm about substandard care should be an early indicator of danger or potential harm, but far too frequently they were completely ignored. NHS trusts focusing too much on budgets meant that “the culture becomes toxic, and we’re just on the road back to the Mid Staffs scandal”, she added.
Continue reading...Outlook says use of wind and solar power will surge – but forecasts for gas point to slowing in energy transition
BP has predicted that the world’s demand for oil will peak next year, bringing an end to rising global carbon emissions by the mid-2020s amid a surge in wind and solar power.
The energy company’s influential outlook report has found that oil use will increase by about 2m barrels a day to peak at about 102m in 2025 across both of its forecasts.
Continue reading...Feelings fly between Edgar-Jones’s tornado-halting scientist and AI-handsome Powell’s storm-chasin’ YouTuber. Just don’t mention climate change
Twister was the smash-hit 90s disaster film about tornadoes, co-scripted by Michael Crichton, which sent an innocent cow twirling up into the heavens. Now here’s the jeopardy-multiplying follow-up called Twisters – there are loads of them – although the title might lead some British audiences to assume it’s an affectionate biopic of racehorse trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.
Lee Isaac Chung, known for his autobiographical movie Minari, directs, and Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kate, a brilliant and courageous tornado researcher, or maybe tornado whisperer, chasing down the whirlwinds in Oklahoma: a country gal with an instinctive knack of knowing where they’re going to spring up. Kate is haunted by an awful event in her past and knows as much as anyone how tragically destructive tornadoes can be; her mom (Maura Tierney) points out that these days there are more twisters, more disasters, more extreme weather events and you’d think a scientist like Kate would name the obvious culprit. Yet this film seems weirdly coy about saying the words “climate change” out loud.
Continue reading...With toxic, sexist content flooding the phones and devices of many teenage boys, we ask experts what can be done to break the cycle
If you’ve had the misfortune of stumbling across misogynist videos from influencers online, you’ll be aware how toxic this content can be. But did you know that more than two-thirds of boys aged 11 to 14 have been exposed to this kind of harmful, damaging “manosphere” content? Or that 70% of teachers noticed a rise in sexist language being used in the classroom over the 12 months to February 2024?
This research was brought to life in a powerful short film earlier this year, called The Rise of the Aggro-rithm. It follows a boy’s gradual descent into misogynistic thinking – a journey that leaves him lonely and sad, with negative feelings towards his female teacher and even his own sister.
Continue reading...SEMrush and Ahrefs are among
the most popular tools in the SEO industry. Both companies have been in
business for years and have thousands of customers per month.
If you're a professional SEO or trying to do digital
marketing on your own, at some point you'll likely consider using a tool to
help with your efforts. Ahrefs and SEMrush are two names that will likely
appear on your shortlist.
In this guide, I'm going to help you learn more about these SEO tools and how to choose the one that's best for your purposes.
What is SEMrush?
SEMrush is a popular SEO tool with a wide range of
features—it's the leading competitor research service for online marketers.
SEMrush's SEO Keyword Magic tool offers over 20 billion Google-approved
keywords, which are constantly updated and it's the largest keyword database.
The program was developed in 2007 as SeoQuake is a
small Firefox extension
Features
Ahrefs is a leading SEO platform that offers a set of
tools to grow your search traffic, research your competitors, and monitor your
niche. The company was founded in 2010, and it has become a popular choice
among SEO tools. Ahrefs has a keyword index of over 10.3 billion keywords and
offers accurate and extensive backlink data updated every 15-30 minutes and it
is the world's most extensive backlink index database.
Features
Direct Comparisons: Ahrefs vs SEMrush
Now that you know a little more about each tool, let's
take a look at how they compare. I'll analyze each tool to see how they differ
in interfaces, keyword research resources, rank tracking, and competitor
analysis.
User Interface
Ahrefs and SEMrush both offer comprehensive information
and quick metrics regarding your website's SEO performance. However, Ahrefs
takes a bit more of a hands-on approach to getting your account fully set up,
whereas SEMrush's simpler dashboard can give you access to the data you need
quickly.
In this section, we provide a brief overview of the elements
found on each dashboard and highlight the ease with which you can complete
tasks.
AHREFS
The Ahrefs dashboard is less cluttered than that of
SEMrush, and its primary menu is at the very top of the page, with a search bar
designed only for entering URLs.
Additional features of the Ahrefs platform include:
SEMRUSH
When you log into the SEMrush Tool, you will find four
main modules. These include information about your domains, organic keyword
analysis, ad keyword, and site traffic.
You'll also find some other options like
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush have user-friendly dashboards,
but Ahrefs is less cluttered and easier to navigate. On the other hand, SEMrush
offers dozens of extra tools, including access to customer support resources.
When deciding on which dashboard to use, consider what
you value in the user interface, and test out both.
If you're looking to track your website's search engine
ranking, rank tracking features can help. You can also use them to monitor your
competitors.
Let's take a look at Ahrefs vs. SEMrush to see which
tool does a better job.
The Ahrefs Rank Tracker is simpler to use. Just type in
the domain name and keywords you want to analyze, and it spits out a report
showing you the search engine results page (SERP) ranking for each keyword you
enter.
Rank Tracker looks at the ranking performance of
keywords and compares them with the top rankings for those keywords. Ahrefs
also offers:
You'll see metrics that help you understand your
visibility, traffic, average position, and keyword difficulty.
It gives you an idea of whether a keyword would be
profitable to target or not.
SEMRush offers a tool called Position Tracking. This
tool is a project tool—you must set it up as a new project. Below are a few of
the most popular features of the SEMrush Position Tracking tool:
All subscribers are given regular data updates and
mobile search rankings upon subscribing
The platform provides opportunities to track several
SERP features, including Local tracking.
Intuitive reports allow you to track statistics for the
pages on your website, as well as the keywords used in those pages.
Identify pages that may be competing with each other
using the Cannibalization report.
Ahrefs is a more user-friendly option. It takes seconds
to enter a domain name and keywords. From there, you can quickly decide whether
to proceed with that keyword or figure out how to rank better for other
keywords.
SEMrush allows you to check your mobile rankings and
ranking updates daily, which is something Ahrefs does not offer. SEMrush also
offers social media rankings, a tool you won't find within the Ahrefs platform.
Both are good which one do you like let me know in the comment.
Keyword research is closely related to rank tracking,
but it's used for deciding which keywords you plan on using for future content
rather than those you use now.
When it comes to SEO, keyword research is the most
important thing to consider when comparing the two platforms.
The Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides you with thousands
of keyword ideas and filters search results based on the chosen search engine.
Ahrefs supports several features, including:
SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool has over 20 billion
keywords for Google. You can type in any keyword you want, and a list of
suggested keywords will appear.
The Keyword Magic Tool also lets you to:
Both of these tools offer keyword research features and
allow users to break down complicated tasks into something that can be
understood by beginners and advanced users alike.
If you're interested in keyword suggestions, SEMrush
appears to have more keyword suggestions than Ahrefs does. It also continues to
add new features, like the Keyword Gap tool and SERP Questions recommendations.
Both platforms offer competitor analysis tools,
eliminating the need to come up with keywords off the top of your head. Each
tool is useful for finding keywords that will be useful for your competition so
you know they will be valuable to you.
Ahrefs' domain comparison tool lets you compare up to five websites (your website and four competitors) side-by-side.it also shows you how your site is ranked against others with metrics such as backlinks, domain ratings, and more.
Use the Competing Domains section to see a list of your
most direct competitors, and explore how many keywords matches your competitors
have.
To find more information about your competitor, you can
look at the Site Explorer and Content Explorer tools and type in their URL
instead of yours.
SEMrush provides a variety of insights into your
competitors' marketing tactics. The platform enables you to research your
competitors effectively. It also offers several resources for competitor
analysis including:
Traffic Analytics helps you identify where your
audience comes from, how they engage with your site, what devices visitors use
to view your site, and how your audiences overlap with other websites.
SEMrush's Organic Research examines your website's
major competitors and shows their organic search rankings, keywords they are
ranking for, and even if they are ranking for any (SERP) features and more.
The Market Explorer search field allows you to type in
a domain and lists websites or articles similar to what you entered. Market
Explorer also allows users to perform in-depth data analytics on These
companies and markets.
SEMrush wins here because it has more tools dedicated to
competitor analysis than Ahrefs. However, Ahrefs offers a lot of functionality
in this area, too. It takes a combination of both tools to gain an advantage
over your competition.
When it comes to keyword data research, you will become
confused about which one to choose.
Consider choosing Ahrefs if you
Consider SEMrush if you:
Both tools are great. Choose the one which meets your
requirements and if you have any experience using either Ahrefs or SEMrush let
me know in the comment section which works well for you.
Judgement deems one of Baghdadi’s widows complicit in crimes against Yazidi women
An Iraqi court has issued a death sentence against one of the widows of the late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, alleging that she was complicit in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by the militant group.
The ruling comes weeks before the 10-year mark since IS launched a series of attacks against the Yazidi religious minority in the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar in early August 2014, killing and capturing thousands – including women and girls who were subjected to human trafficking and sexual abuse. The UN said the campaign against the Yazidis amounted to genocide.
Continue reading...East London venue, previously known as the Museum of Childhood, described by judges as ‘truly inspirational’
The Young V&A in east London has won the prestigious Museum of the Year award, fighting off competition from the National Portrait Gallery to win the £120,000 prize.
Judges described the museum as a “truly inspirational” institution that engaged with the local community of Bethnal Green and radically rethought the museum with young people in mind.
Continue reading...Officials at Nottingham and Birmingham can evict student activists after judge ruled human rights were not affected
Two universities in the UK have been permitted to clear student encampments from their campuses, after a judge said protesters had “no prospect” of showing that their human rights would be affected.
Nottingham and Birmingham universities had sought to remove the student encampments – set up in May to protest Israel’s invasion of Gaza – but faced objections from students that their rights to free speech and assembly would be infringed.
Continue reading...Senator Michael Bennet said Trump may win ‘by a landslide’ while two more senators echoed his concerns
Joe Biden came under renewed moral pressure on Wednesday to abandon his presidential candidacy amid agonised appeals by a succession of senior Democrats for him to consider the broader picture.
Those calls came as the US president dug in his heels to make it hard to supplant him as the nominee.
Continue reading...Jamie Raskin says report on Ivan Raiklin, who calls himself Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’, is ‘deadly serious’
A senior Democrat called for congressional leaders to denounce a Trump loyalist’s claim to have compiled a “deep state target list”, of public figures to be detained if the former president returns to power next year.
“This is a deadly serious report,” Jamie Raskin, of Maryland, told Raw Story, regarding its extensive discoveries about Ivan Raiklin, a former US army reserve lieutenant colonel and US Defense Intelligence Agency employee the site said was seeking to enlist rightwing sheriffs while calling himself Donald Trump’s “future secretary of retribution”.
Continue reading...Vive la révolution with oeufs en meurette (or poached eggs with red wine, bacon, mushrooms and onion), sole fillets in a tangy, brown butter sauce, and roast mashed potato rosettes on the side
My wife Lucy and I recently opened a neighbourhood French bistro in west London, inspired by and named after my grandmother Joséphine. It’s our first joint venture, and our most personal project to date, with the restaurant reminiscent of the bouchons typical of my home town, Lyon. We serve the food my grandma used to cook, and the menu features many dishes that are unique to Lyon, as well as a few familiar French bistro classics. Like Lyonnaise cooking, today’s recipes are rustic and hearty, as well as a great way to celebrate Bastille Day on 14 July.
Continue reading...Yes he’s a nepo baby, but 13-year-old Buddy Oliver tackles something that would terrify most adult chefs: letting kids loose with sharp implements on camera
It’s possible that Jamie Oliver’s production company did not perform an exhaustive auditioning process before hiring the host of their new CBBC show. In Cooking Buddies, a teen presenter meets someone who is roughly his own age and teaches them how to cook a dish, which they then make for their family. In return, the guest gives the presenter a crash course in their favourite hobby. That presenter is Buddy Oliver, a 13-year-old food YouTuber who is also Jamie’s son.
Cookery telly is already disproportionately Oliver-flavoured, to some viewers’ distaste. Now there is a new generation of cheeky chappy to contend with, and a new “nepo baby” to discuss. But, sadly for those ready to dump on Cooking Buddies, it points up the flipside of the idea that flooding our culture with the children of the famous – and more broadly with the children of the rich, who can afford a creative freedom that is increasingly denied to the less well-off – is corrosively unfair. That this is true and should, generally, be resisted does not necessarily mean that the posh kids’ projects stink, and Cooking Buddies works just fine.
Continue reading...Sixteen of the UK’s finest cooks and restaurateurs choose the kitchen blades that really cut it, from premium Japanese santokus to small, serrated dependables
A good knife is the cornerstone of any kitchen, but that’s not to say you need a full collection. Yes, there are chef’s knives, petty knives, Japanese santoku knives and bread knives, but think about how you really cook and equip accordingly. As Anthony Bourdain wrote in Kitchen Confidential: “Please believe me, here’s all you will ever need in the knife department: one good chef’s knife, as large as is comfortable for your hand.”
The quest for the perfect knife is, however, personal; what feels right (the shape, the weight) will differ from person to person. “You’ll only know the one when you pick it up,” says chef and restaurateur Tom Kerridge. “It must feel like an extension of your hand.” But with a bewildering number available, we asked some of the UK’s top chefs for their favourite knives. Whichever way you go, though, be sure to get a steel or whetstone while you’re at it, to keep that knife on point.
Continue reading...A step-by-step guide to making these chewy-crisp, airy little meringue-like sandwiches
When I first tackled macarons, back in 2012, they’d just taken over from the cupcake as the patisserie du jour – from the glossy American teen TV series Gossip Girl to French branches of McDonald’s, these brightly coloured little meringue sandwiches seemed to be everywhere. These days, they feel rather special again, especially if you’ve wielded the piping bag yourself.
Prep 40 min
Cook 15 min
Makes About 10
From pith-free citrus to shaking your grapes, we put five techniques from fruit experts and online renegades under the knife
A few weeks ago I opened the fridge at work to find an avocado a colleague had cut into. Instead of slicing down through the stem and around the pit to create two symmetrical halves, they’d lopped off the narrow top, creating a small opening out of which to scoop the flesh of the avocado. I, mindlessly committed to symmetry, was baffled; I could not understand it.
The next day I found out who the culprit was. There was a logic to it, they claimed – cutting it from the top meant less of the flesh was exposed, minimising oxidation and moisture loss and keeping the avocado fresher for longer.
Continue reading...You might have noticed that everyone has recently become a bit obsessed with blood sugar, or glucose. Wellness firms such as ZOE here in the UK – as well as Nutrisense, Levels and Signos – claim to offer insights into how our bodies process food based on monitoring our blood glucose, among other things. But many researchers have begun to question the science behind this. To find out what we know about blood glucose levels and our health, and whether the science is nailed down on personalised nutrition, Ian Sample hears from philosopher Julian Baggini, academic dietician Dr Nicola Guess of Oxford University and ZOE’s chief scientist, and associate professor at Kings College London, Dr Sarah Berry
Read Julian Baggini’s article about the ZOE programme
Continue reading...Joining Grace this week is actor and director David Harewood, who found global fame in the hit CIA-thriller Homeland 13 years ago and hasn’t stopped working since. David was born and raised in Small Heath, Birmingham, where he lived with his older siblings and Barbadian parents. He tells Grace about how his mum kept the flavours of the West Indies alive in his childhood home, while he navigated the racist world of 1970s Britain growing up as a young black boy. Sitting down over his favourite comfort food, David talks about how messing about in school led to the ‘lightbulb moment’ when he realised he wanted to be an actor; arriving in 80s London to attend Rada and discovering the excitement of ‘filthy’ Soho; and the underrated wonders of corned beef
New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday
Continue reading...A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas
Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.
Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email.
Continue reading...Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
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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![]() |
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
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