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The Supreme Court Just Imperiled the Rights — and Lives — of All Trans People
Wed, 07 May 2025 19:35:26 +0000
The court let a military trans ban go into effect — potentially setting a precedent to accept the anti-trans myth behind Trump’s executive order.
The post The Supreme Court Just Imperiled the Rights — and Lives — of All Trans People appeared first on The Intercept.
A day after being attacked by a pro-Israel mob, protesters were shot by rubber bullets — whose use is restricted by California law.
The post Police Shot Them in the Head With Rubber Bullets. Now UCLA Gaza Protesters Are Suing. appeared first on The Intercept.
US president teases announcement with ‘big and highly respected country’ at 10am (3pm BST) in Washington
The Liberal Democrats treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper has reiterated the party’s position that any trade deal with the US should be put to parliament for approval before being ratified, saying Labour “should not be afraid” of a vote if they are confident a deal is in the country’s best interests.
Cooper, the MP for St Albans, said in a statement:
Parliament must be given a vote on this US trade deal so it can be properly scrutinised.
A good trade deal with the US could bring huge benefits, but Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned that it may include measures that threaten our NHS, undermine our farmers or give tax cuts to US tech billionaires.
If it’s correct, and you know, whilst we haven’t been named publicly, it does sound like something’s happening, nevertheless, it would be wholly speculative [to comment].
As you appreciate and know full well, with any deal like that, the devil is in the detail. What is the nitty gritty? What does it mean for individual sectors and so on.
I think if we don’t know at all what’s in it, or even if it’ll definitely happen, I think to try and sort of pre-judge what might or might not be in is not something I’m going to get into respectfully. I totally understand why you’re asking that. I think it’s an incredibly important issue, particularly with the wider challenge of tariffs and so on. I’m a big free trader. Our party wants us to see the UK growing by striking trade deals. But I just think you’ve got to wait and see, because who knows, quite frankly.
Continue reading...Martha says Dad doesn’t need to know her every move. Neil says following her on an app helps him feel connected. Who’s lost the plot? You decide
Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror
I like to keep Dad updated, but only for important things – and on my terms. I am 27!
Martha isn’t great at keeping in touch, so it’s nice to know she’s alive. It’s not stalking, it’s love
Continue reading...Lawyers say the Turkish national, who has been held in a Louisiana Ice center for two weeks, was illegally detained
A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted a judge’s order to bring a Turkish Tufts University student from a Louisiana immigration detention center back to New England for hearings to determine whether her rights were violated.
A judicial panel of the New York-based US second circuit court of appeals ruled in the case of Rümeysa Öztürk after lawyers representing her and the US justice department presented arguments at a hearing on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Judge confirms move would breach order as Libya’s rival governments say both would refuse any US deportees
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deport a group of immigrants to Libya, despite a judge’s efforts on Wednesday to block any such flights and the state department’s previous condemnation of the “life-threatening” prison conditions in the country.
Reuters cited three unnamed US officials as saying the deportations could happen this week. Two of the officials said the immigrants, whose nationalities are not known, could be flown to the north African country as soon as Wednesday, but they added the plans could still change. The New York Times also cited a US official confirming the deportation plans.
Continue reading...“We are concerned at the appearance of targeting publicly pro-union worker leaders,” said a union official about a raid in western New York.
The post “They Actually Had a List”: ICE Arrests Workers Involved in Landmark Labor Rights Case appeared first on The Intercept.
Israeli extremist officials deny the existence of famine in Gaza as they push for harsher measures to block food.
The post Famine Haunts the People of Gaza. Israel Is Trying to Convince You It’s Fake. appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s proposal cuts SpaceX competitors out of the NASA budget and could add billions to the company’s defense contracts.
The post Elon Musk Set to Win Big With Trump’s Trillion-Dollar Pentagon Budget appeared first on The Intercept.
“I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then,” Francesca Albanese said in an exclusive interview.
The post EU President Should Be Investigated for Complicity in Israel’s War Crimes, Says Top U.N. Expert on Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
With his new executive order on policing, Trump just wants to make sure he’s the one holding the lead.
The post Cops Are Already Unleashed. Trump Is Telling Them to Run Wild. appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. government is keeping American casualty numbers for the undeclared war on Yemen secret. This is not normal.
The post The Trump Administration Is Hiding American Casualties of War appeared first on The Intercept.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal talks to Akela Lacy about pushing Dems from the opposition to proposition party.
The post Rep. Jayapal: Democrats Need a Bold Agenda, Starting With Medicare for All appeared first on The Intercept.
Mike Obadal’s plan to keep his stock in Anduril if nominated as under secretary of the Army is a blatant conflict of interest, experts say.
The post Trump’s Pick for a Top Army Job Works at a Weapons Company — And Won’t Give Up His Stock appeared first on The Intercept.
In key victories for students, judges ruled to release Mohsen Mahdawi and allow Mahmoud Khalil’s case to advance in federal court.
The post Students Are Winning in Court Against Trump’s Deportation Regime appeared first on The Intercept.
Meta is suing NSO Group, basically claiming that the latter hacks WhatsApp and not just WhatsApp users. We have a procedural ruling:
Under the order, NSO Group is prohibited from presenting evidence about its customers’ identities, implying the targeted WhatsApp users are suspected or actual criminals, or alleging that WhatsApp had insufficient security protections.
[…]
In making her ruling, Northern District of California Judge Phyllis Hamilton said NSO Group undercut its arguments to use evidence about its customers with contradictory statements...
Pea and mung bean pancakes with fried eggs and coconut coriander chutney, pea broth with bread dumplings, and pasta with lemony pea pesto
My earliest memory of kitchen duties is sitting on a stool in our courtyard in Kenya with a sack of peas that was bigger than me. I spent hours coaxing them from their pods, munching as I went; the result was a red plastic bucket brimming with peas like gleaming green marbles. As with asparagus, they have a short season, so grab them while you can: throw them whole into salads, broths and curries, or grind them down and use their starchy goodness to make pestos, pancakes and fritters.
Continue reading...UN World Food Programme says $50m is urgently needed amid fears that Uganda may now begin forced repatriations
Food rations for a million people in Uganda have been cut off completely this week amid a funding crisis at the United Nations World Food Programme, raising fears that refugees will now be pushed back into countries at war.
The WFP in Uganda warned two weeks ago that $50m (£37m) was urgently needed to help refugees and asylum seekers fleeing conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
Continue reading...Asparagus is an annual springtime ritual, and this soup is a thrifty and wholesome way to celebrate it
According to the Guinness World Record’s official website, 351.7cm was the length of the asparagus presented by Harry and Carson Willemse at the Port Elgin Pumpkinfest in Ontario, Canada, on 2 October 2004. Sadly, however, the Pumpkinfest’s own archives hold only the records of master growers and weigh-offs dating back to 2017, and are almost entirely pumpkin-related. Gardening websites and Pinterest, however, offer more insight into how asparagus, left unpicked, quite quickly reaches 6ft and develops branches and soft, feathery foliage. I assume Harry and Carson must have pulled away the ferns in order for their spears to grow to 3½m, which is a metre more than the average UK ceiling and almost the same length as a Mini Cooper, and the equivalent of 16-20 average-length spears laid across the kitchen floor.
Those average-length spears, however, are as much a sign of spring as blossom and barometric pressure-change lethargy (my tortoise and I are diametrically opposed for about 10 days every spring: him coming out of hibernation, me wishing I could enter it). Despite myself, we have been enjoying asparagus: boiled and covered with melted butter; rolled in salt and pepper, roasted on the griddle, then dressed with bitter orange; and turned into soup.
Continue reading...They are mocked by gen Z for everything from their trainer socks to their mom jeans and selfie technique. A maligned millennial asks: how did we get here?
Her right to a naked ankle is, in the end, the hill Natalie Ormond is willing to die on. Ormond, a millennial, simply cannot – will not – get her head around gen Z’s fondness for a crew sock, pulled up over gym leggings or skimming bare legs, brazenly extending over the ankle towards the lower calf. “I stand by trainer socks and I won’t budge,” says the 43-year-old. “The more invisible the sock, the better.”
A proclivity for socks hidden within low-top trainers is just one reason why millennials – anyone born between 1981-1996 – are now considered achingly uncool by the generation that came next: gen Z, AKA the zoomers, or zillennials. According to countless TikTok videos, other sources of derision for the generation that first popularised social media, millennial pink, and pumpkin-spice lattes are their choice of jeans (skinny and mom jeans are out; baggy hipsters are in); an obsession with avocado on toast (gen Z’s green grub of choice is matcha); their excessive use of the crying laughing face emoji (for a zoomer, the skull emoji indicates humour, representing phrases such as “I’m dying with laughter”); and the “millennial pause”, a brief moment of silence at the start of a millennial’s video or voice note, thought to be because – and this really does make them sound ancient – they like to check the device they’re using is actually recording. Millennials, typically self-deprecating, tend to join in, poking fun at themselves under the hashtags like #millennialsoftiktok.
Continue reading...National Gallery, London
It is one of the world’s greatest museums and this revamp starts with a thrilling embrace from Leonardo, unfolding to Titian, Van Eyck, Monet and more – all bolstered by cool new architecture and lighting. What a wonderland!
There are so many twists, turns and fascinating detours in the National Gallery’s rehang you have to pick up some kind of thread. In my case, perhaps distracted by the thought of the National’s new restaurant, Locatelli, it’s foodie still lifes.
Two huge paintings of cheese take pride of place in one of the Dutch rooms. In Floris van Dijck’s 1616 still life, a black gouda rests on top of a yellow one, their cut and recut surfaces like walls of fat. In another room you can see Gustave Courbet’s great, melancholy Still Life With Apples and a Pomegranate, which manages to express the defeat of the Paris Commune in battered, pockmarked fruits. Finally, at the climax of Britain’s free national collection of European art from the middle ages to the birth of modernism, three revolutionary still lifes hang together so you can see how Cézanne’s pictures of fruit begin to rip apart perspective and make way for Picasso’s mind-boggling 1914 cubist masterpiece Fruit Dish, Bottle and Violin.
Continue reading...Israeli extremist officials deny the existence of famine in Gaza as they push for harsher measures to block food.
The post Famine Haunts the People of Gaza. Israel Is Trying to Convince You It’s Fake. appeared first on The Intercept.
Donald Trump’s delusions | Reopening Alcatraz | Kevin in Germany | Biscuit topping | Alternative to digestives | Old kitchen objects
We’ve had Donald Trump stating his designs on Greenland, on Canada and now on the pope’s position (Trump accused of ‘mocking’ Catholics after posting image of himself as pope, 4 May). His Majesty had better watch out when Trump susses out the possibility of obtaining regal headgear if he visits later this year.
Peter Nias
Bradford
• I’m sure we can all name one convicted felon who could be locked up in Alcatraz (Trump orders reopening of Alcatraz prison for ‘most ruthless offenders’, 5 May).
Glenn Barr
Hornsea, East Yorkshire
They like ice-cream – but only homemade. Carrots – but only served whole. And don’t even think of cooking with any herb or spice livelier than parsley ...
Name: The Aristocrat Diet.
Age: As old as the aristocracy.
Continue reading...Artefacts from 11th century on display at British Library in London, alongside work of modern-day community group
“Being able to grow your own food is one of the most radical ways that you can express your freedom, your sovereignty, your liberation,” says Valerie Goode, the founder and chief executive of the Coco Collective, a Black-led community gardening organisation in south London.
“When you leave your food production in the hands of other people, you are leaving your health, your wellbeing, your sense of identity … in the hands of other people. When we reclaim our food, we reclaim our power.”
Continue reading...Cheese odds and ends, potatoes (and/or celeriac or beetroot), onions and cream, all crammed into a pastry case
Today’s comforting pie is super-adaptable and brilliant for using up any leftover bits of cheese. The classic homity pie filling of potatoes, onions and cream works beautifully with a jumble of cheese ends – cheddar, stilton, taleggio or whatever pungent blocks and rinds are lurking in your fridge drawer; it’s also a fantastic base for using up other root vegetables besides potatoes – celeriac, for example, bring earthiness, beetroot turns the entire filling a vibrant purple, while salsify adds a nutty note. Use whatever you have to hand, and waste nothing.
Continue reading...Released on his 99th birthday and presented in the context of his remarkable career, Sir David’s authority is matched only by nature’s grandeur in this visually stunning film
A visual marvel like all his work, governed by his own matchless authority and striking a steady tonal balance between warning and hope, David Attenborough’s new film about the oceans is absorbing and compelling. He makes a passionate case against the ruin caused by industrial overfishing and the sinister mega-trawlers which roam everywhere, raking the seabed with their vast metal nets, brutally and wastefully hoovering up fish populations of which the majority is often simply thrown away, depleting developing countries and fishing communities of their share. Attenborough says that this is the new colonialism. The film is released in cinemas in anticipation of the UN’s World Oceans Day in June, which is campaigning for 30% of the world’s oceans to be preserved from exploitation – at present, only around 3% is protected in this way.
As he arrives at his 99th birthday, Sir David presents this new documentary in the context of his own remarkable life and career, studying and thinking about the oceans as the last part of the world to be fully understood and also, perhaps, the last part to be exploited – and despoiled. As he says, until relatively recently, the ocean was regarded as a kind of mysterious, undifferentiated Sahara, a wilderness, of interest largely for providing an apparently endless supply of food. But he shows us an amazing vista of diversity and life, an extraordinary undulating landscape, a giant second planet of whose existence humanity has long been unaware but now seems in danger of damaging or even destroying.
Continue reading...Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytale
The fire that has just destroyed 500 hectares (1,230 acres) of Dartmoor should have been impossible. It should not be a fire-prone landscape. But sheep, cattle and ponies have made it so. They selectively browse out tree seedlings, preventing the return of temperate rainforest, which is extremely difficult to burn. In dry weather, the moor grass, bracken and heather covering the deforested landscape are tinder.
The plume of carbon dioxide and smoke released this week is one of the many impacts of livestock grazing. But several recent films, alongside celebrities, politicians, billionaires and far-right podcasts, seek to persuade us that cattle and sheep are good for the atmosphere and the living planet. This story, wrapped in romantic cottagecore, is now the most active and seductive frontier of climate-science denial. It is heavily promoted by the meat industry, which is as ruthless and machiavellian as the fossil fuel industry. It sows confusion among people desperately seeking to do the right thing in an age of misinformation.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Aid officials and residents report breakdown in law and order as food and supplies run out during Israeli blockade
Gaza has been hit by a wave of looting and theft as increasingly desperate Palestinians struggle to get food while criminal gangs exploit a breakdown in law and order.
Aid officials and witnesses in the devastated territory describe armed men attacking humanitarian warehouses, firefights over remaining food stores and a spate of stealing of supplies vital for survival, such as solar chargers, batteries, phones and cooking pots.
Continue reading...“We are concerned at the appearance of targeting publicly pro-union worker leaders,” said a union official about a raid in western New York.
The post “They Actually Had a List”: ICE Arrests Workers Involved in Landmark Labor Rights Case appeared first on The Intercept.
Our in-house ferment fanatic Tom Hunt assesses a range of widely available versions of the increasingly popular Korean condiment
Spicy, salty, sweet and sour all at the same time, kimchi is perhaps the perfect condiment. This Korean staple is traditionally made by salting cabbage to preserve it and add crunch, then fermenting it in a pungent paste often made from glutinous rice porridge, gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes), onion and enough garlic to keep a vampire at bay. Fish sauce is another common addition, as is, sometimes, even raw seafood such as crab or squid, but most kimchi sold in the UK is plant-based, and so appeals to a much wider audience.
The magic behind kimchi lies in the lactic acid bacteria naturally present on vegetables. These beneficial microbes are encouraged to thrive during fermentation, creating the complex, tangy flavours and deep umami that make kimchi so distinctive. All kimchi brings bold flavour, but only raw, unpasteurised ones deliver the probiotic benefits that come from live fermentation, so look for the words “raw” and “unpasteurised” on the label. Gochugaru, meanwhile, is what gives kimchi its signature vermilion hue. The brightness of its red-orange colour is a good visual cue as to how much chilli has been used and, as a result, how spicy the kimchi is.
Continue reading...“I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then,” Francesca Albanese said in an exclusive interview.
The post EU President Should Be Investigated for Complicity in Israel’s War Crimes, Says Top U.N. Expert on Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
France does many foods exceptionally well, but certain areas offer unique and exceptional culinary experiences. We select 10 delicacies and the best regions in which to try them
Of course you can enjoy exquisitely crafted patisseries all over France, but Paris is home to many of the country’s best pâtissiers, and many of the individual gateaux have a connection to the city. As you delve into the layers of almond sponge, ganache and buttercream that form the opera cake, you may see how it was inspired by the ornate balconies of the Palais Garnier opera house; while the Paris-Brest, a wheel-shaped choux, was first made in 1910 to commemorate the famously brutal cycle race. Seek out a rum baba – a brioche-like treat soaked in rum‑infused syrup – and you might be told the story of how it was created by Nicolas Stohrer, the chef of the exiled Polish king Stanislas. The patisserie that bears his name has been at 51 rue Montorgueil since 1730 and is officially classed as a historic monument.
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...The best new music, film, TV, podcasts and more direct to your inbox, plus hidden gems and reader recommendations
From Billie Eilish to Billie Piper, Succession to Spiderman and everything in between, subscribe and get exclusive arts journalism direct to your inbox. Gwilym Mumford provide san irreverent look at the goings on in pop culture every Friday, pointing you in the direction of the hot new releases and the best journalism from around the world.
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
Continue reading...Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean
Scroll less, understand more: sign up to receive our news email each weekday for clarity on the top stories in the UK and across the world.
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
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Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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Trump’s proposal cuts SpaceX competitors out of the NASA budget and could add billions to the company’s defense contracts.
The post Elon Musk Set to Win Big With Trump’s Trillion-Dollar Pentagon Budget appeared first on The Intercept.
Disgruntled and politically footloose voters are impatient for action. Labour has to offer them a lot more than warm words
I get it. That was Sir Keir Starmer’s reaction as the inquest began into last week’s election victories for Reform UK, and for sure there are many lessons to be learned. Voters are unhappy with the government’s record. The Conservative brand is still toxic. Nigel Farage is a force to be reckoned with. But perhaps the biggest lesson is that class still matters in politics.
Labour’s response to losing the Runcorn and Helsby byelection and almost 200 local council seats was to announce extra funding to spruce up GP surgeries and to hint at a crackdown on student visa applications. There has also been talk, albeit denied, of a rethink on the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners. The issues that exercise working-class Britain – immigration, the NHS and the cost of living – are central to politics. For now at least, the politics of class trump the politics of identity.
Continue reading...As Reform UK reaches new highs in the polls, it feels more and more likely that Nigel Farage’s triumph at local elections will be remembered as a huge turning point in UK politics. With support for the Tories at historic lows, and Keir Starmer’s government in deep trouble, is there a way back for the mainstream parties?
John Harris is joined by the Guardian columnists Gaby Hinsliff and Polly Toynbee to make sense of what could be the biggest political change to hit the UK in living memory
Continue reading...Starmer instead talked about his India deal, while Badenoch insisted on catching up with last week’s news
You’d have thought it might have been a moment for contrition. Or failing that, a veneer of humility. At the very least a nano-second’s pause for self-reflection. An admission from Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch that voters had turned their backs on both of them at last week’s local elections. A potential kiss of death for England’s traditional two-party system.
Not a bit of it. Come prime minister’s questions and neither Keir nor Kemi was in the mood to give an inch. Everything was exactly as it should be. The locals – what locals? – had never happened. No one does amnesia better than politicians with their backs to the wall. It was almost as though they had signed a non-aggression pact. Just don’t mention the war. Snafu. Situation Normal All Fucked Up.
Continue reading...US president teases announcement with ‘big and highly respected country’ at 10am (3pm BST) in Washington
The Liberal Democrats treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper has reiterated the party’s position that any trade deal with the US should be put to parliament for approval before being ratified, saying Labour “should not be afraid” of a vote if they are confident a deal is in the country’s best interests.
Cooper, the MP for St Albans, said in a statement:
Parliament must be given a vote on this US trade deal so it can be properly scrutinised.
A good trade deal with the US could bring huge benefits, but Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned that it may include measures that threaten our NHS, undermine our farmers or give tax cuts to US tech billionaires.
If it’s correct, and you know, whilst we haven’t been named publicly, it does sound like something’s happening, nevertheless, it would be wholly speculative [to comment].
As you appreciate and know full well, with any deal like that, the devil is in the detail. What is the nitty gritty? What does it mean for individual sectors and so on.
I think if we don’t know at all what’s in it, or even if it’ll definitely happen, I think to try and sort of pre-judge what might or might not be in is not something I’m going to get into respectfully. I totally understand why you’re asking that. I think it’s an incredibly important issue, particularly with the wider challenge of tariffs and so on. I’m a big free trader. Our party wants us to see the UK growing by striking trade deals. But I just think you’ve got to wait and see, because who knows, quite frankly.
Continue reading...New emblems approved by city councils in defiance of bans on ‘unofficial flags’ on government property
Earlier this year, Utah and Idaho’s Republican-controlled legislatures passed bans on flying the rainbow pride flags and other “unofficial flags” on government property.
Leaders in both states’ capital cities, Salt Lake City and Boise, recently devised an inventive workaround – changing their official flags.
Continue reading...Northern Territory senator switches from Nationals to Liberals where she believes she can be more ‘effective’ in fighting for best interests of all Australians
The firebrand Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has defected to the Liberals in a move that could have major implications in the race to replace Peter Dutton.
The Country Liberal senator announced on Thursday she would switch from the Nationals to the Liberal party room, where she believed she could be more “effective” in fighting for the “best interests of all Australians”.
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Continue reading...President taps wellness influencer after withdrawing initial pick, former Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat
Donald Trump has tapped Dr Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, as nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the influential health post.
The US president said in a social media post on Wednesday that Means has “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials” – referring to the “make America healthy again” slogan – and that she will work to eradicate chronic disease and improve the health and wellbeing of Americans.
Continue reading...The court let a military trans ban go into effect — potentially setting a precedent to accept the anti-trans myth behind Trump’s executive order.
The post The Supreme Court Just Imperiled the Rights — and Lives — of All Trans People appeared first on The Intercept.
African country looks to position itself as a useful option for countries’ anti-migration policies
Talks between Rwanda and the US to host deported migrants are the latest move by the African country to position itself as a useful option for the anti-migration policies of allied governments.
Previous high-profile attempts, however, including with the UK, Israel and Denmark, failed after becoming beset by controversy.
Continue reading...Sam Rae, Daniel Mulino and Tim Ayres will be winners from Labor’s looming reshuffle
Senior ministers Mark Dreyfus and Ed Husic have been sensationally dumped from Anthony Albanese’s cabinet, after the prime minister opted not to protect the pair in a factional fight over frontbench positions.
Victorian MPs Sam Rae and Daniel Mulino, along with New South Wales senator Tim Ayres, will be winners from the looming reshuffle, in deals Labor insiders described as increasingly ruthless after the party’s landmark election victory.
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Continue reading...Jury in Western Australia finds two men guilty of 15-year-old’s murder and another guilty of manslaughter
The mother of a murdered Indigenous teenager who was chased into bushland and bashed with a metal pole says her son was “hunted down for days” and identified his killers before he died.
Cassius Turvey, a Noongar Yamatji boy, died in hospital 10 days after he was “deliberately struck to the head” in Perth’s eastern suburbs on 13 October 2022, causing nationwide outrage.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Announcement of desire to focus on MP role means Adrian Ramsay must decide whether to find new co-candidate
Carla Denyer has announced she will not stand again as the Greens’ co-leader, breaking up the party’s most electorally successful leadership duo, which delivered four MPs at last year’s general election.
Denyer, who won the Bristol Central seat from Labour, said in a statement to the Guardian that she wanted to put all her efforts into her parliamentary role.
Continue reading...Cardinals will be back for more votes tomorrow with up to four rounds of voting
If you’d rather get up to date on the pomp and the politics of the conclave, the process to elect Pope Francis’s successor, good news: we’ve got you covered.
It is, as Guardian journalist Harriet Sherwood explains, an election rich in ceremony and ritual. Yet it can get very dirty too: cardinals lobbying in corridors and Vatican gardens; allegations of leaks to the media to discredit rivals; even the emergence of a video of one cardinal – a bookies’ favourite to be the next pope – singing ‘atheist anthem’ Imagine by John Lennon.
Continue reading...With his new executive order on policing, Trump just wants to make sure he’s the one holding the lead.
The post Cops Are Already Unleashed. Trump Is Telling Them to Run Wild. appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: Conservatives ask Keir Starmer to stand ‘against indefinite occupation’ and ‘reinforce international law’
More than a dozen senior Conservative MPs and peers have written to the prime minister calling for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, breaking ranks with their own party to do so.
Seven MPs and six members of the House of Lords have signed the letter to Keir Starmer urging him to defy the Israeli government and give formal recognition to Palestine in advance of key UN talks next month.
Continue reading...Israeli extremist officials deny the existence of famine in Gaza as they push for harsher measures to block food.
The post Famine Haunts the People of Gaza. Israel Is Trying to Convince You It’s Fake. appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. government is keeping American casualty numbers for the undeclared war on Yemen secret. This is not normal.
The post The Trump Administration Is Hiding American Casualties of War appeared first on The Intercept.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal talks to Akela Lacy about pushing Dems from the opposition to proposition party.
The post Rep. Jayapal: Democrats Need a Bold Agenda, Starting With Medicare for All appeared first on The Intercept.
A day after being attacked by a pro-Israel mob, protesters were shot by rubber bullets — whose use is restricted by California law.
The post Police Shot Them in the Head With Rubber Bullets. Now UCLA Gaza Protesters Are Suing. appeared first on The Intercept.
Mike Obadal’s plan to keep his stock in Anduril if nominated as under secretary of the Army is a blatant conflict of interest, experts say.
The post Trump’s Pick for a Top Army Job Works at a Weapons Company — And Won’t Give Up His Stock appeared first on The Intercept.
This blog is now closed
Ben Raue’s predictions for Menzies, Bullwinkel and Bradfield
Analyst Ben Raue also predicted that Labor’s Gabriel Ng lead by 1,145 votes in Menzies, Victoria, will “grow slightly”.
Continue reading...No 10 says prime minister will give update later after Donald Trump said he was ready to announce ‘major trade deal’
The UK and United States are expected to announce a trade agreement, the first by the White House since Donald Trump announced global tariffs.
Downing Street said Keir Starmer would make a statement on trade talks with the US on Thursday. The Guardian US reported that the UK has reached an agreement with Trump.
Continue reading...Suspicious activity ruled out after investigation into blaze that left London hub and homes without power
Investigators have so far failed to find the root cause of a large fire at a substation six weeks after it left almost 70,000 homes without power and shut Heathrow airport.
After an urgent investigation ordered by the government, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) said it had ruled out any suspicious activity.
Continue reading...The forecast said low growth would place the Bank of England in difficult position ahead of next interest rate decision
Slow growth and persistent inflation will wreck Rachel Reeves’ budget plans and increase the likelihood of further tax rises in the autumn, according to forecasts by a leading economic thinktank.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the UK was on course to suffer a long period of stagnation, cutting tax receipts and forcing the chancellor to balance the books only months after a tough budget in March that reduced welfare benefits.
Continue reading...UN World Food Programme says $50m is urgently needed amid fears that Uganda may now begin forced repatriations
Food rations for a million people in Uganda have been cut off completely this week amid a funding crisis at the United Nations World Food Programme, raising fears that refugees will now be pushed back into countries at war.
The WFP in Uganda warned two weeks ago that $50m (£37m) was urgently needed to help refugees and asylum seekers fleeing conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
Continue reading...President Trump’s tariffs have plunged the world economy into chaos. But history counsels against despair – and the left should seize on capitalism’s crisis of legitimacy
Since Donald Trump launched his chaotic trade war earlier this year, it has become a truism to say he has plunged the world economy into crisis. At last month’s spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, where policymakers and finance ministers from all over congregated, the attenders were “shellshocked”, the economist Eswar Prasad, a former senior IMF official who now teaches at Cornell, told me. “The sense is that the world has changed fundamentally in ways that cannot easily be put back together. Every country has to figure out its own place in this new world order and how to protect its own interests.”
Trump’s assault on the old global order is real. But in taking its measure, it’s necessary to look beyond the daily headlines and acknowledge that being in a state of crisis is nothing new to capitalism. It’s also important to note that, as Karl Marx wrote in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon: “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please.” Even would-be authoritarians who occupy the Oval Office have to operate in the social, economic and political environment that is bequeathed to them. In Trump’s case, the inheritance was one in which global capitalism was already suffering from a crisis of legitimacy.
Continue reading...This blog has now closed. You can read more of our US politics coverage here
Britain is in “active discussions” with US officials over the extraordinary 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the US proposed by Donald Trump, as it tries to protect one of its biggest creative industries.
“We are already in active discussions with the top of the US administration on this subject. We are working hard to establish what might be proposed, if anything, and to make sure our world-beating creative industries are protected,” creative industries minister Chris Bryant told parliament.
Continue reading...New York Times reports Elon Musk’s Doge agency has created spreadsheet of federal grants earmarked for cuts
The Trump administration is reportedly eyeing dozens of grants across the National Park Service for termination, according to reporting from the New York Times, one of several moves destabilizing the US’s investment in public lands.
According to the newspaper, staff members at Elon Musk’s unofficial “department of government efficiency” have created a spreadsheet of federal grants earmarked for cuts, with total funding cuts amounting to some $26m.
Continue reading...Trump says ‘it’s possible that’s right’ about the vice-president’s remarks amid frustrations with Russia
JD Vance has said that Russia is asking for “too much” in its negotiations with Ukraine in the latest sign of growing frustration from Washington with ceasefire talks to end the war between the two countries.
Speaking at a security conference of senior military and diplomatic leaders in Washington, the US vice-president said that the White House is focused on getting the two sides to hold direct talks and is ready to walk away if certain benchmarks are not reached.
Continue reading...Row over exemption of national insurance contributions for Indian short-term workers overshadows deal
A multibillion-pound free trade agreement with India has long been touted as a big Brexit boon.
Cheaper clothes and shoes for British shoppers, a huge market for scotch whisky producers and luxury carmakers, and billions of pounds worth of extra trade are among the benefits of the agreement, which was finalised this week.
Continue reading...Move sparks outrage in Iran as diplomats try to broker deal between Tehran and Washington over nuclear programme
Donald Trump plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the US will now refer to the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia rather than the Persian Gulf.
The move has prompted outrage from Iranian leaders, and last-minute efforts are being made to persuade Trump to pull back from offending Iran in the midst of vital talks on the future of the Iranian nuclear programme. “If Trump went ahead with the proposal he would manage to unite every Iranian, pro- or anti-regime, against him, and that is a near impossible achievement,” one diplomat said.
Continue reading...Benjamin Gascoigne, who is leading an inquiry into new towns and expanded settlements, is calling for public involvement
Polly Toynbee is right to point out the atmosphere of urgency around Labour’s ambitious proposal for a new towns programme and the new towns taskforce’s investigation (Inside Labour’s top-secret plan for new towns, I see signs of hope, 24 April). The government’s sweeping planning policy reforms have demonstrated its commitment to a programme that will have major consequences for the construction sector, local and regional authorities, existing and would-be homeowners, and future generations, to say the least. This policy cuts across issues of critical national importance, from infrastructure and economic growth to communities and the environment. Now is the time for persistent, thoughtful inquiry into the government’s plans for new towns.
As chair of the built environment committee in the House of Lords, I’m proud to be leading our inquiry into new towns and expanded settlements. The first module of our inquiry is officially under way, and we’re conducting public evidence sessions focusing on the practical delivery of new towns. Our panels of experts are giving us invaluable insights into the merits and risks of different strategies, which you can read on our website. If the government chooses the right model for this generation of new towns, there could be substantial benefits for all. But a wrong move now could send their plans the way of the 2000s ecotowns policy, wasting another opportunity to deliver attractive, viable, livable housing at scale.
Continue reading...Judge confirms move would breach order as Libya’s rival governments say both would refuse any US deportees
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deport a group of immigrants to Libya, despite a judge’s efforts on Wednesday to block any such flights and the state department’s previous condemnation of the “life-threatening” prison conditions in the country.
Reuters cited three unnamed US officials as saying the deportations could happen this week. Two of the officials said the immigrants, whose nationalities are not known, could be flown to the north African country as soon as Wednesday, but they added the plans could still change. The New York Times also cited a US official confirming the deportation plans.
Continue reading...The government’s preferred candidate to become the independent regulator of English football has warned the Premier League and EFL they have less than 18 months to agree a deal on financial redistribution.
David Kogan sat before the culture, media and sport select committee in parliament on Wednesday in a pre-appointment hearing to assess his suitability. Across two hours he set out his vision for a job he said had become “more important and more pressing” since it was first proposed and argued the regulator’s job was “to help the pyramid survive”.
Continue reading...A military attack on the same day as a trade deal with the UK reveals a nation keen to strut the world stage, but hampered by regional enmity and history
Concluding a “landmark” trade agreement with the UK and launching military operations against Pakistan on the same day: it is fair to say that, for India, the future and the past have collided this week. The agreement with Britain, which has been three years in the making, is one of several India is negotiating, including with the US and EU. It illustrates its appeal as a rising global power – the world’s most populous country and its fastest-growing major economy, which is also the fifth (and on course to be third) largest overall. In contrast, the military operations targeting Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir demonstrate how India continues to be bogged down by instabilities in its neighbourhood and held hostage to its history.
India’s military actions are in response to a terrorist attack last month in which 26 tourists were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir. The name of the military operation – Sindoor – refers to a symbol of marriage, alluding to the women who lost their husbands in the attack that selectively targeted Hindu men. New Delhi says it is trying to ensure the conflict remains limited between the nuclear-armed neighbours. It says its operations have targeted terrorist infrastructure rather than military facilities, although civilian casualties have been reported, and referred to its military action as a “precision strike” that has been “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”.
Dr Chietigj Bajpaee is senior fellow for south Asia at the thinktank Chatham House
Continue reading...King’s Head theatre, London
Roy Jenkins, Denis Healey and Anthony Crosland debate among themselves in Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky’s look at the big beasts of 70s Westminster
Denis Healey, Roy Jenkins and Anthony Crosland were all born between 1917 and 1920, then educated at Oxford before serving in Labour governments. This homogenous gang of three, as this play’s title identifies them, fail to claim the highest political prizes because they believe the inevitable winner is one of them.
Written by political faction specialists Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky – whose earlier works Coalition, Kingmaker and Brexit examined aspects of the Cameron and Johnson years – the play shows the self-chosen big three of the Labour centre-right debating which of them should become deputy party leader in 1972 and 1976, prime minister in 1976 and leader of the opposition in 1980.
At the King’s Head theatre, London, until 1 June
Continue reading...Do you work in the UK in any sector where there have been efforts to increase representation and have they been sustained?
Reform UK has said it will roll back diversity and inclusion initiatives in councils it controls. Nigel Farage said during a speech on Friday that he would advise staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek “alternative careers very, very quickly” after the party took control of Durham county council.
What has your experience of these policies been in the workplace? Do you work in any sector where there have been efforts to increase representation and have they been sustained?
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A Chinese company has developed an AI-piloted submersible that can reach speeds “similar to a destroyer or a US Navy torpedo,” dive “up to 60 metres underwater,” and “remain static for more than a month, like the stealth capabilities of a nuclear submarine.” In case you’re worried about the military applications of this, you can relax because the company says that the submersible is “designated for civilian use” and can “launch research rockets.”
“Research rockets.” Sure.
...Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some wonderful new paperbacks, from a genre-bending memoir to a sexy novel about finding meaning in life
Continue reading...As Trump talks of a ceasefire with the Houthis, soldiers in the Middle East have faced steady and seldom discussed attacks.
The post U.S. Troops Are Being Attacked Every Other Day in the Middle East appeared first on The Intercept.
Daniel Lozano-Camargo, 20, was deported in March in violation of a legal settlement over his asylum application
The identity of a second man illegally deported from the US by the Trump administration in defiance of a court order and now in detention in El Salvador has been revealed.
Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan, was deported to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot terrorism confinement facility in March under the White House’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, Politico reported.
Continue reading...The suit says Michigan is the only state with a policy directive to use body cameras on women in invasive searches, showers, and even on the toilet.
The post Michigan Prison Films Women in Showers — and Caught Guards Saying Lewd Things, Lawsuit Says appeared first on The Intercept.
Applicants will be targeted by Home Office due to suspicions they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum
Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans applying to work or study in the UK face Home Office restrictions over suspicions that they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum, Whitehall officials have claimed.
The government is working with the National Crime Agency to build models to profile applicants from these countries who are likely to go on to claim asylum.
Continue reading...A Wall Street auto analyst says the Big Three American carmakers are unlikely to benefit much, while Musk’s Tesla gets a leg up for now.
The post Trump’s Auto Tariff Relief “Helps Tesla a Lot” — Leaving Other Carmakers Behind appeared first on The Intercept.
After deploying AI tools in Israel and on the U.S. border, American tech companies are now powering domestic repression.
The post U.S. Companies Honed Their Surveillance Tech in Israel. Now It’s Coming Home. appeared first on The Intercept.
In a market where big names have struggled to turn profits, a flood of new titles are connecting with audiences online
For an entire weekend this March, romcom fever gripped Nigerian social media. Thousands of Nigerians, even in the diaspora, debated fervently about Love in Every Word, in which an affair takes off after a smooth-talking, free-spending businessman hires a dance troupe to get an advertising executive’s phone number.
Critics poked holes in the plot but the movie’s melodrama appealed to many. Clips and memes were shared online as viewers spun fantasies about their own odogwu, an Igbo word used to refer to an influential or well-to-do man.
Continue reading...Israel plans to expand military operations in Gaza and establish a “sustained presence” there. Bethan McKernan reports
On Monday, Israeli officials announced they are planning a new military offensive in Gaza, with aims of “conquering” the land and establishing a “sustained presence” there.
“The offensive is called Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” Bethan McKernan, the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, tells Lucy Hough. “It’s designed to make sure that there is an indefinite Israeli presence in the strip. That implies that there is no day after the war now.
Continue reading...Arsenal dominated the start of the match, as they knew they had to, but without a genuine centre-forward it was all in vain
How to lose a game of football part 94: losing while appearing to win, advanced level. It will be tempting to see in the opening 27 minutes of this Champions League semi-final second leg a perfect little miniature, an executive summary of a team and a mini-era, out there under the hard white lights of the Parc des Princes, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal pinned and wriggling on the wall.
The club’s supporters will feel the pain more keenly because for the first 26 of those 27 minutes this was a slick, luminous, dominant Arsenal away performance. They flooded the midfield, controlled the ball, won it back aggressively. Martin Ødegaard squirrelled about, all malevolent invention. Arsenal had 75% possession, six shots and 10 crosses. They were all over this game, arms on both lapels, pressing PSG back against the edge of things.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, reports on India’s strikes on Pakistan, and what they may mean for the conflict over Kashmir
In the early hours of Wednesday, India launched a series of strikes on Pakistan that killed at least 26 people – a serious escalation of the decades-long dispute between the two nuclear-armed countries over Kashmir.
As the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, reports, the onslaught was in response to a terrorist attack in Kashmir two weeks ago that left 26 dead. India claims the group responsible is backed by its neighbour – an accusation Pakistan denies.
Continue reading...Artefacts from 11th century on display at British Library in London, alongside work of modern-day community group
“Being able to grow your own food is one of the most radical ways that you can express your freedom, your sovereignty, your liberation,” says Valerie Goode, the founder and chief executive of the Coco Collective, a Black-led community gardening organisation in south London.
“When you leave your food production in the hands of other people, you are leaving your health, your wellbeing, your sense of identity … in the hands of other people. When we reclaim our food, we reclaim our power.”
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/chrisdh79 [link] [comments] |
It’s a year since teachers in St Albans asked parents not to give younger children smartphones. How successful have they been? What do the kids think about it? And has it made the adults think about their own ‘addiction’?
At 3.12pm on a sunny spring afternoon in St Albans, Yasser Afghen reaches for the iPhone in his jeans pocket, hoping to use the three minutes before his son emerges from his year 1 primary class to scroll through his emails. As he lifts the phone to his face, Matthew Tavender, the head teacher of Cunningham Hill school, strides across the playground towards him. Afghen smiles apologetically, puts his phone away, and spends the remaining waiting time listening to the birdsong in the trees behind the school yard.
A one-storey 1960s block with 14 classrooms backing on to a playing field, Cunningham Hill primary feels like an unlikely hub for a revolution. But a year ago, Tavender and the school’s executive head, Justine Elbourne-Cload, began coordinating with the heads at other primary schools across the city, then sent a joint letter to parents and carers across St Albans: the highly addictive nature of smartphones was having a lasting effect on children’s brains. The devices were robbing children of their childhood. Could parents, the letter asked, please avoid giving them smartphones until they turned 14?
Continue reading...Direct to consumer tests that claim to tell us our biological – as opposed to chronological – age are getting a lot of attention, but what can they really tell us about our health? Science editor Ian Sample talks to Dr Brian H Chen, an epidemiologist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, who has conducted research into a variety of these tests called epigenetic clocks. He explains what exactly they are measuring and whether, once we have the results, there are any evidence-based strategies we can adopt to lower our biological age
Real age versus biological age: the startups revealing how old we really are
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Continue reading...“We are concerned at the appearance of targeting publicly pro-union worker leaders,” said a union official about a raid in western New York.
The post “They Actually Had a List”: ICE Arrests Workers Involved in Landmark Labor Rights Case appeared first on The Intercept.
After being banned from campus buildings following peaceful sit-ins, students said the disciplinary processes broke from school policies.
The post NYU Demands Law Students Renounce Protests or Be Barred From Sitting Final Exams appeared first on The Intercept.
“I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then,” Francesca Albanese said in an exclusive interview.
The post EU President Should Be Investigated for Complicity in Israel’s War Crimes, Says Top U.N. Expert on Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
The company doesn’t keep logs, so couldn’t turn over data:
Windscribe, a globally used privacy-first VPN service, announced today that its founder, Yegor Sak, has been fully acquitted by a court in Athens, Greece, following a two-year legal battle in which Sak was personally charged in connection with an alleged internet offence by an unknown user of the service.
The case centred around a Windscribe-owned server in Finland that was allegedly used to breach a system in Greece. Greek authorities, in cooperation with INTERPOL, traced the IP address to Windscribe’s infrastructure and, unlike standard international procedures, proceeded to initiate criminal proceedings against Sak himself, rather than pursuing information through standard corporate channels...
This week, the Channel Islands celebrate 80 years since liberation from Nazi occupation, but the fascinating bunkers, tunnels and towers that remain have found a new lease of life
I’m woken by a tractor uprooting jersey royals in the potato field next door. In my simple hexagonal room, dawn illuminates five high slit windows marked with military coordinates and a compass etched into the ceiling. But heading downstairs, I timeslip into a 19th-century lounge where gothic-style windows frame sea views in three directions.
During the second world war, Jersey’s occupying forces requisitioned Nicolle Tower, a whimsical two-storey folly, and added an extra level. In what is now the bedroom, German soldiers kept lookout for an allied invasion that never came.
Continue reading...Cast in bronze by sculptor Andy Edwards and containing the legendary Motörhead frontman’s DNA, the effigy underscores the West Midlands’ rock heritage
“That’s the street where Lemmy lived,” says sculptor Andy Edwards as we drive into the town of Burslem in the north of Stoke-on-Trent, past terrace houses and a ceramics factory. This Friday, a motorcade will travel the same route to Burslem’s Market Place to unveil a statue of the late Motörhead frontman, 10 years since his death – and 50 years since the metal band’s founding.
Phil Campbell, Motörhead’s longest-serving guitarist, will be there, placing a portion of Lemmy Kilmister’s ashes into the plinth. “It’ll be wonderful, finally getting an incredible statue in his home town,” says Campbell. “It’ll be solemn in a way, with enshrining his ashes, but also a celebration of the music and the fantastic character he was. Anything to do with Lem is significant and really special. He’s missed by many. He’s still in my dreams two or three times a week, getting on my case about something.”
Continue reading...South Korea passes annual tally for 2024 already, as Vietnam and Thailand continue to battle outbreaks
South Korea has recorded the highest number of measles cases in six years, adding to concerns that low vaccination rates combined with international travel are contributing to further outbreaks elsewhere in the region.
The country has confirmed 52 cases so far this year, exceeding the 49 recorded for the whole of 2024, the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said this week. It is the highest figure since 2019, when 194 cases were recorded.
Continue reading...Saved from tourist development by a ‘favourite daughter of Andalucía’, Cabo de Gata is a spectacular national park perfect for an adventure on foot
If you study a map of Spain, in the south-east corner you’ll see a strip of empty space along the edge of the Mediterranean. It contains no major towns and barely any roads. Its coastline is equally barren – no ports or resorts; just a few tiny villages tucked away in intriguingly named coves – “raven”, “coal”, “bitter water”. This patch of emptiness is the Cabo de Gata-Níjar national park, a protected haven of desert wilderness on the edge of Europe.
Having been forced to cancel an expedition to the Algerian Sahara earlier in the year, this park appears to be the answer to my yearning for the arid warmth and stark beauty of desert travel. Zooming in on the satellite view, a network of paths appears, suggesting a walking route of around 40 miles (64km) – from the Cabo itself, up the coast, along the cliffs, to the beach town of Agua Amarga. My husband, a keen Iberophile and relentless explorer of España vacia (literally, empty Spain) is always up for a wilderness adventure, so we get in the van and head south.
Continue reading...Tell us about a visit to an unsung garden – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break
The UK has an extraordinary collection of gardens open to the public, from the manicured grounds of grand estates to more intimate green spaces where the owners have made their mark. Whether it’s a “secret” walled garden, a favourite urban green oasis or an unheralded horticultural wonder, we’d love to hear about it.
The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet, will win a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.
Continue reading...Ten years ago, the late land artist Charles Jencks created Crawick Multiverse out of an ugly open-cast mine in southern Scotland. Today, it is an inspiring exploration of the universe
The sun warms my face as I pause between the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies to gaze at the rolling hills of Dumfries and Galloway beyond. I am not, surprisingly enough, in outer space. I’m at the Crawick Multiverse, a cosmos-themed land art installation in the south of Scotland that was built on the site of an old open-cast coal mine and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
The galaxies here are huge, spiralling mounds of earth, their perimeters reaching out towards one another but never quite touching.
Continue reading...Raynor Winn’s tale of 630-mile forced hike around south west coastal path should boost visitor numbers, tourism bosses hope
They walk the path for a variety of reasons. For the challenge, the exercise, the views. To find companionship or seek solitude. Some walk with a sense of escaping problems, others with the idea of striding towards a goal.
Many more are expected to head to the South West Coast Path, the 630-mile route around the shores of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset as the film The Salt Path hits cinema screens.
Continue reading...France does many foods exceptionally well, but certain areas offer unique and exceptional culinary experiences. We select 10 delicacies and the best regions in which to try them
Of course you can enjoy exquisitely crafted patisseries all over France, but Paris is home to many of the country’s best pâtissiers, and many of the individual gateaux have a connection to the city. As you delve into the layers of almond sponge, ganache and buttercream that form the opera cake, you may see how it was inspired by the ornate balconies of the Palais Garnier opera house; while the Paris-Brest, a wheel-shaped choux, was first made in 1910 to commemorate the famously brutal cycle race. Seek out a rum baba – a brioche-like treat soaked in rum‑infused syrup – and you might be told the story of how it was created by Nicolas Stohrer, the chef of the exiled Polish king Stanislas. The patisserie that bears his name has been at 51 rue Montorgueil since 1730 and is officially classed as a historic monument.
Continue reading...After deploying AI tools in Israel and on the U.S. border, American tech companies are now powering domestic repression.
The post U.S. Companies Honed Their Surveillance Tech in Israel. Now It’s Coming Home. appeared first on The Intercept.
From a New Forest giant inspiring an asthmatic teen to a herd of animal puppets walking to the Arctic Circle, theatre far and wide is taking action – but with energy and optimism, rather than doom-laden tales
Climate stories are typically defined by despair. The future we are told of is such a tragic, barren dystopia, it’s hard to look at head-on. But a flood of theatre-makers are writing their way past fear into something more useful, inspiring action through love, music, puppetry and folklore. “The ones who profit most from the idea that we’re doomed are the oil companies and the people massively polluting our planet,” reasons playwright Flora Wilson Brown. “If we allow ourselves to think there’s nothing we can do, we won’t do anything. There’s still time to act.”
Wilson Brown rejects this nightmarish narrative in her play, The Beautiful Future Is Coming, at Bristol Old Vic. Exploring the impact of the climate crisis through the eyes of three couples, the play jumps between 1856, 2027 and 2100. In the scenes set in the past, life is returned to Eunice Foote, the real scientist who discovered the greenhouse effect years before the man who took credit for it; in the future, we visit the Svalbard seed vault, where humanity has stashed the ambition of life on another planet. “It’s about making the impact emotional,” Wilson Brown says, “rather than statistical.”
Continue reading...Disgruntled and politically footloose voters are impatient for action. Labour has to offer them a lot more than warm words
I get it. That was Sir Keir Starmer’s reaction as the inquest began into last week’s election victories for Reform UK, and for sure there are many lessons to be learned. Voters are unhappy with the government’s record. The Conservative brand is still toxic. Nigel Farage is a force to be reckoned with. But perhaps the biggest lesson is that class still matters in politics.
Labour’s response to losing the Runcorn and Helsby byelection and almost 200 local council seats was to announce extra funding to spruce up GP surgeries and to hint at a crackdown on student visa applications. There has also been talk, albeit denied, of a rethink on the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners. The issues that exercise working-class Britain – immigration, the NHS and the cost of living – are central to politics. For now at least, the politics of class trump the politics of identity.
Continue reading...Study finds human-caused climate change made four-day rainfall across central Mississippi valley 40% more likely
The four-day historic storm that caused death and destruction across the central Mississippi valley in early April was made significantly more likely and more severe by burning fossil fuels, rapid analysis by a coalition of leading climate scientists has found.
Record quantities of rain were dumped across eight southern and midwestern states between 3 and 6 April, causing widespread catastrophic flooding that killed at least 15 people, inundated crops, wrecked homes, swept away vehicles and caused power outages for hundreds of thousands of households.
Continue reading...Loss of the vast Hornsea 4 offshore wind project is bad news but it reveals a big flaw in setting a deadline
“Immensely challenging” and pushing the limits “of what is feasibly deliverable”. That was the state-owned National Energy System Operator’s description of its own proposals on how to decarbonise electricity generation in Great Britain by 2030. In short, it thought clean power by that date, a key Labour manifesto pledge, was “credible” and “achievable” as long as little went wrong along the way.
Neso’s £200bn plan, detailing a rapid rollout of offshore wind, onshore wind, solar farms plus a major upgrade of the electricity grid, was adopted virtually unchanged by the government at the end of last year.
Continue reading...Do you work in the UK in any sector where there have been efforts to increase representation and have they been sustained?
Reform UK has said it will roll back diversity and inclusion initiatives in councils it controls. Nigel Farage said during a speech on Friday that he would advise staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek “alternative careers very, very quickly” after the party took control of Durham county council.
What has your experience of these policies been in the workplace? Do you work in any sector where there have been efforts to increase representation and have they been sustained?
Continue reading...Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytale
The fire that has just destroyed 500 hectares (1,230 acres) of Dartmoor should have been impossible. It should not be a fire-prone landscape. But sheep, cattle and ponies have made it so. They selectively browse out tree seedlings, preventing the return of temperate rainforest, which is extremely difficult to burn. In dry weather, the moor grass, bracken and heather covering the deforested landscape are tinder.
The plume of carbon dioxide and smoke released this week is one of the many impacts of livestock grazing. But several recent films, alongside celebrities, politicians, billionaires and far-right podcasts, seek to persuade us that cattle and sheep are good for the atmosphere and the living planet. This story, wrapped in romantic cottagecore, is now the most active and seductive frontier of climate-science denial. It is heavily promoted by the meat industry, which is as ruthless and machiavellian as the fossil fuel industry. It sows confusion among people desperately seeking to do the right thing in an age of misinformation.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...My father’s death from cancer showed me you need to look after your lungs. But apart from not smoking, what should you be doing? I headed to a laboratory, strapped on a mask and heart monitor and started pedalling …
Lungs are amazing. There they sit, inflating and deflating from dawn to dusk, dusk to dawn, sucking in air, stripping out oxygen and exchanging it for carbon dioxide. They do this 20,000 times a day, 7.5m times a year, 600m times in the average lifetime, keeping our trillions of cells ticking over and saving them from choking on their own exhaust fumes. And we ignore them until something goes wrong and we’re gasping, wheezing, panicking – or worse.
When I think about lungs, it’s often in the same breath as cancer, which killed my dad 39 years ago. He only realised his lungs were knackered after a heart attack, which was probably also down to smoking. Sixty Senior Service a day, cigarette number two often lit as soon as number one was stubbed out. He stopped overnight, but it was too late.
Continue reading...The small pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata) produces toxic slime, “a rare example of a poisonous predatory mollusc.”
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
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.
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