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Judge partially lifts Trump gag order in hush-money case – as it happened
Tue, 25 Jun 2024 20:00:53 GMT
This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump’s trial, read our full coverage here.
While his primary contest may be too close to call, the vote count thus far shows Republican congressman Bob Good trailing his challenger John McGuire by a small amount.
Good is now casting aspersions on the fairness of the election, NBC News reports:
Good claimed during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast Monday that Lynchburg “did not secure their drop boxes.”
“There’s no accountability for when those boxes were opened,” Good said. “They were apparently left to be stuffed for two or three days after the election.”
Continue reading...Project 2025 — a road map for the next Trump White House — urges overturning Supreme Court precedent, and a trickle of bills may tee up challenges.
The post Can Conservatives Expand the Death Penalty Using the “Trigger Law” Playbook? appeared first on The Intercept.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph and the director and cast of Anatomy of a Fall are also among the 487 new artists and executives to judge the Academy Awards
Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone, Past Lives director Celine Song, and actors Jessica Alba, Catherine O’Hara and Fiona Shaw are among the 487 artists and entertainment executives invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisation announced on Tuesday.
Other invitees included Past Lives actors Greta Lee and Teo Yeo, Bottoms filmmaker Emma Seligman, New Zealand actor Rachel House – best known for her collaborations with Taika Waititi – and French director Alice Diop, whose feature debut, the legal drama Saint Omer, became an international festival darling in 2022.
Continue reading...Government policies should be judged by their effect on the life satisfaction of the population, not by economic growth alone, says Prof Richard Layard. Plus letters from Sarah Davidson and Ethan Oshoko
Your editorial rightly points out that GDP is not a good measure of how people are faring (19 June). As an alternative, you offer the UN’s human development index. But we already have a better British alternative – the measure of life satisfaction in the Office for National Statistics’ annual population survey.
The question asked is: “Overall, how satisfied are you with your life these days (0: not at all satisfied, 10: completely)?” The results are published every quarter. That is an excellent measure of the nation’s success. It provides a good account of how we are doing on average and of the degree of fundamental inequality in our society.
Continue reading...This case is nothing to be proud of. As politicians stood by, he suffered within a chaotic system they have done little to fix
Finally. After more than five years locked inside HMP Belmarsh, Britain’s most secure prison, and seven years confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange can breathe some fresh, free air. It is certainly a day to celebrate, but also one to demand answers. Why – why, for heaven’s sake – has it taken so long? And what about all the others who languish in crazily overcrowded British jails?
It seems appropriate that Assange’s release, on the basis of a deal that gives the US government the fig leaf of a guilty plea, occurred in the very week before a general election, in the country where he was detained for all those years. Voters seem likely to dispose of a government whose feeble home secretaries, from Priti Patel onwards, bowed the knee to the US on its extradition request when they could have easily followed the brave path that Theresa May took when she was home secretary in 2012, declining to allow the removal to the US of the hacker Gary McKinnon. But what lessons have any of our politicians – or our judges – learned?
Continue reading...Decision threatens Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government with collapse as Gaza conflict drags on
Israel’s supreme court has ruled that ultra-Orthodox Jewish men must be drafted into military service, a politically explosive decision that threatens the stability of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.
The unanimous ruling on Tuesday, from an expanded panel of nine judges, upheld an interim decision last month that the state had no authority to offer the current exemption for ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men. It found that yeshivas – Orthodox seminaries for Torah study – should be ineligible for state subsidies unless students enlisted in the military.
Continue reading...In April, President Joe Biden said he was “considering” dropping charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The post Julian Assange Strikes Plea Deal, Will Return to Australia appeared first on The Intercept.
Congressman Bowman defeated by George Latimer, backed by pro-Israel groups in most expensive House primary ever
Jamaal Bowman, the progressive Democratic congressman whose criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza made him a target for pro-Israel lobbying groups, lost his primary race on Tuesday night.
The Democratic primary in New York’s 16th district became the most expensive House primary in history after Bowman was challenged by George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist.
Continue reading...Bitter intraparty fight is one of two elections that could help determine control of Congress in November
Despite a series of personal scandals, Lauren Boebert, a hard-right Colorado Republican who narrowly avoided defeat in 2022, won out over a crowded field of other Republican primary candidates in the fourth congressional district – previously led by Ken Buck – which leans more heavily Republican.
Boebert’s primary win is one of the most closely watched results of Colorado’s primary elections, which chose the winners in several bitter intra-party fights among the state’s Republicans, including in two competitive House districts that could help determine control of Congress in November.
Continue reading...Top Democrats used to go all in on protecting incumbents. That wasn't the case for Jamaal Bowman, who was defeated Tuesday.
The post Half-Hearted Efforts by Democratic Leaders Couldn’t Save Jamaal Bowman From AIPAC’s Attacks appeared first on The Intercept.
The administration says the “Azov Brigade” is separate from the old, Nazi-linked “Azov Battalion.” The unit itself says they’re the same.
The post The U.S. Says a Far-Right Ukrainian Army Unit Can Now Get Aid. A Photo Shows Training Was Already Happening. appeared first on The Intercept.
If the Biden administration is serious about protecting press freedoms, officials from Washington might want to have a stern talk with federal prosecutors in Detroit.
The post Federal Prosecutors Attacked Me for My Reporting — and They’re Doing It to Hide Info From the Public appeared first on The Intercept.
The donation, one of the largest in the school’s history, was made as right-wing megadonor Leo shopped a new law school center.
The post Texas A&M Wants to Keep Emails About Leonard Leo’s $15 Million Gift Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
From the jump, the lawsuit challenging the legality of mifepristone was a cynical, propagandistic endeavor. In a 9-0 opinion, the Supreme Court threw it out.
The post GOP States Double Down on Fighting Medication Abortion After Supreme Court Keeps It Legal appeared first on The Intercept.
There is a lot written about technology’s threats to democracy. Polarization. Artificial intelligence. The concentration of wealth and power. I have a more general story: The political and economic systems of governance that were created in the mid-18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. They don’t align incentives well. And they are being hacked too effectively.
At the same time, the cost of these hacked systems has never been greater, across all human history. We have become too powerful as a species. And our systems cannot keep up with fast-changing disruptive technologies...
“I don’t want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people.”
The post “Utterly Dismayed”: Air Force Engineer Resigns as Dissent Against Gaza War Slowly Spreads Within Military appeared first on The Intercept.
The task force revealed its plans not in a communiqué to faculty and students — but instead in an Israeli newspaper article.
The post Columbia Task Force for Dealing With Campus Protests Declares That Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism appeared first on The Intercept.
UAVs continually kill civilians, but the U.S. military wants to expand its arsenal with an army of new, mass-produced kamikaze AI drones.
The post Cheap and Lethal: The Pentagon’s Plan for the Next Drone War appeared first on The Intercept.
“They attacked in the middle of the day. People were going to the market. They gave no warning.”
The post Medical Aid Worker Describes the Bloody Aftermath of Israel’s Hostage Rescue appeared first on The Intercept.
The Republican amendment to the annual defense budget is just one of several proposals to restrict humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The post House Votes to Block U.S. Funding to Rebuild Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...We would like to hear about the best album you have heard this year so far and why
The Guardian’s music writers are compiling their favourite albums of the year so far – and we’d like to hear about yours, too.
Have you listened to a new album that has had you hooked? Or one you’d recommend? Tell us your nomination and why you like it below.
Continue reading...Global demand for renewable energy is surging so why make solar panels, wind turbines and EVs dearer for western consumers?
With historic heatwaves sweeping across the US and other parts of the northern hemisphere, June is expected to be the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures. The primary cause, of course, is the enormous amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Despite the existential threat posed by rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, emissions continue to increase at a faster pace than previously anticipated.
On one front, however, progress in the fight against the climate crisis has exceeded expectations. Amid the global shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles and the accelerated adoption of solar and wind power, demand for renewable energy is rapidly rising in the US and the EU.
Continue reading...Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Stephen Kunken’s Republican ringmaster narrates this account of the negotiation of the first international treaty on tackling climate change
Key sections of the RSC’s latest world premiere feature characters arguing over whether a comma should be used instead of a full stop and if the sentence should then be enclosed within square brackets.
Kyoto by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, which dramatises the negotiation of the first international treaty on tackling climate change, in Japan in 1997, makes such verbal pedantry tense and gripping. It joins a subset of plays about high-stakes textual hesitation: Oslo by JT Rogers, which recreated the Israel-Palestine peace accord of the 1990s; David Edgar’s Written on the Heart, about the negotiations over the King James Bible; and Owen McCafferty’s Agreement, a dramatisation of the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...There has been a lot of toxicity in the comments section of this blog. Recently, we’re having to delete more and more comments. Not just spam and off-topic comments, but also sniping and personal attacks. It’s gotten so bad that I need to do something.
My options are limited because I’m just one person, and this website is free, ad-free, and anonymous. I pay for a part-time moderator out of pocket; he isn’t able to constantly monitor comments. And I’m unwilling to require verified accounts.
So starting now, we will be pre-screening comments and letting through only those that 1) are on topic, 2) contribute to the discussion, and 3) don’t attack or insult anyone. The standard is not going to be “well, I guess this doesn’t technically quite break a rule,” but “is this actually contributing.”...
There is a lot written about technology’s threats to democracy. Polarization. Artificial intelligence. The concentration of wealth and power. I have a more general story: The political and economic systems of governance that were created in the mid-18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. They don’t align incentives well. And they are being hacked too effectively.
At the same time, the cost of these hacked systems has never been greater, across all human history. We have become too powerful as a species. And our systems cannot keep up with fast-changing disruptive technologies...
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.
Looking for ethical and delicious seafood? Here’s our pick of shacks, cafés and shops selling shellfish, seaweed and fish
At Pam Brunton and Rob Latimer’s restaurant, they want a direct, traceable connection to the sea – they have a fish-purchasing policy that they send to suppliers. “We buy nothing knowingly from dredgers and trawlers,” Pam says, instead taking fin fish from smaller boats that fish off the English shore. Shellfish comes from a local, Mary, who coordinates a few small boats, all of which use traditional creel methods, and hand-dive for scallops, while oysters are bought from Judith at Caledonian Oysters on Loch Creran. Pam’s innovative food is served with a view of the loch outside – in summer, diners may even spot the mackerel for the next day’s menu being caught by a neighbour.
Strathlachlan PA27 8BU; inverrestaurant.co.uk
The coastline near Marsala is the perfect spot to practise your Superman moves on a residential kitesurfing course
There’s no escaping it: kitesurfing is a daunting sport for beginners. Don’t be fooled by the name – it is nothing like flying a kite in a park. On the first day of a week-long kitesurfing course in Sicily, I found myself in the sea attached to an enormous polyester wing that was powerful enough to lift me clear of the water and send me hurtling through the air.
Despite my nerves, I could see that the Stagnone Lagoon near Marsala, western Sicily, is a great place to learn. The lagoon is shallow enough to stand up in, has no waves and is protected by four islands – Isola Grande, San Pantaleo, Santa Maria and La Schola – that create a natural wind tunnel; there is a consistent breeze from spring to the end of October. The area is popular with kitesurf schools, including mine, UCPA Planète, but doesn’t feel overcrowded.
Continue reading...In April, President Joe Biden said he was “considering” dropping charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The post Julian Assange Strikes Plea Deal, Will Return to Australia appeared first on The Intercept.
If the Biden administration is serious about protecting press freedoms, officials from Washington might want to have a stern talk with federal prosecutors in Detroit.
The post Federal Prosecutors Attacked Me for My Reporting — and They’re Doing It to Hide Info From the Public appeared first on The Intercept.
There is a lot written about technology’s threats to democracy. Polarization. Artificial intelligence. The concentration of wealth and power. I have a more general story: The political and economic systems of governance that were created in the mid-18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. They don’t align incentives well. And they are being hacked too effectively.
At the same time, the cost of these hacked systems has never been greater, across all human history. We have become too powerful as a species. And our systems cannot keep up with fast-changing disruptive technologies...
“I felt helpless watching my family dying and not able to help them. It is a nightmare that I will never wake up from.”
The post These “Tent Massacre” Survivors Couldn’t Afford to Leave Rafah. The Next Israeli Attack Nearly Wiped Their Family Out. appeared first on The Intercept.
Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
Almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto discusses Venezuela’s bid to join the BRICS alliance, the impacts of U.S. sanctions, and the battle over Citgo.
The post The Venezuelan Perspective appeared first on The Intercept.
The defiant Russia-North Korea friendship pact raises big questions for Washington and Seoul – but also for Beijing
A quarter of a century ago, Vladimir Putin flew to Pyongyang to sign a “friendship treaty” with Kim Jong-il that helped revive Russia’s relations with North Korea without obliging the two sides to come to each other’s aid in case of a military attack.
With his visit last week, Putin has in effect gone further into the past, signing a deal with Kim Jong-un reminiscent of the 1961 security pact that existed under the Soviet Union during the cold war. But today Russia is engaged in a hot war in Ukraine that Putin has made his foreign policy priority, and a nuclear North Korea has become a crucial lifeline of munitions for his military.
Continue reading...The administration says the “Azov Brigade” is separate from the old, Nazi-linked “Azov Battalion.” The unit itself says they’re the same.
The post The U.S. Says a Far-Right Ukrainian Army Unit Can Now Get Aid. A Photo Shows Training Was Already Happening. appeared first on The Intercept.
International criminal court issues arrest warrants for Russia’s former defence minister Sergei Shogu and military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov
President Maia Sandu welcomed the start of the EU accession talks with Moldova, stressing that her country is within the European family.
“We are stronger together,” she said on X.
Continue reading...Army chief and ex-minister of defence accused over missile attacks on civilian targets including power plants
The international criminal court (ICC) at The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s ex-minister of defence and current army chief of staff for alleged war crimes in Ukraine after a missile campaign targeting Ukrainian power plants and other civilian infrastructure during the full-scale invasion.
Ex-minister of defence Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, Valery Gerasimov, are accused of the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects and of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects. They are also accused of crimes against humanity.
Continue reading...Robert O’Brien explains his outline to sever US-China economic ties would only be to send in ‘fighting force’
Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien – tipped to play a leading role if the ex-president returns to the White House – backtracked on parts of his proposal to sever US-China economic ties, an aspect of which called for sending the entire US Marine Corps to Asia.
O’Brien, who recently submitted a 5,000-word article outlining his thinking to Foreign Affairs, explained on Sunday that instead of the “entire US Marine Corps”, it would be only the “fighting force”. And he said some Marines would still be stationed at bases like California’s Camp Pendleton and North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune.
Continue reading...Follow the day’s news live
The Queensland government plans to establish a new greater glider forest park as part of a $200m plan to reform the state’s timber industry.
The premier, Steven Miles, will today announce he will ban logging in between 50,000 and 60,000 hectares of high value ecosystem within the Eastern Hardwoods region in Wide Bay, north of Brisbane.
In addition, a new park to protect the greater glider will be established in the south-east Queensland bioregion.
The state government will also appoint an advisory group to develop a 30-year plan for the sector. It will include representatives from the timber industry, forestry experts, the conservation sector, First Nations peoples, the Australian Workers’ Union, construction sector and outdoor recreational groups.
Queensland’s timber industry is the backbone of the housing and building sectors.
That’s why I’m doing what matters to support timber workers and the industry to continue building our state, while also increasing our protected area estate.
The terms of reference released today map out our priorities as a government – that is, timber supply security, environmental protections, jobs and diverse employment opportunities.
The consumer price index increased to its highest level in 2024, indicating the Reserve Bank is unlikely to cut interest rates soon
Australia’s monthly inflation rate increased to its highest level in 2024 in the latest indication that the Reserve Bank won’t be cutting interest rates soon and might yet hike again.
Consumer prices rose 4% last month from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That compared with the 3.6% pace recorded for April, and the 3.8% rate expected for May by economists.
The jump in May’s inflation was propelled in part by automotive fuel prices, which were up 9.3% from a year earlier even as they retreated 5.1% during the month itself.
This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump’s trial, read our full coverage here.
While his primary contest may be too close to call, the vote count thus far shows Republican congressman Bob Good trailing his challenger John McGuire by a small amount.
Good is now casting aspersions on the fairness of the election, NBC News reports:
Good claimed during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast Monday that Lynchburg “did not secure their drop boxes.”
“There’s no accountability for when those boxes were opened,” Good said. “They were apparently left to be stuffed for two or three days after the election.”
Continue reading...Newly revealed photos show Trump’s ‘cluttered’ collection of personal keepsakes mixed with classified documents
Special counsel prosecutors scoffed at Donald Trump’s claim that the classified documents case should be tossed because the order of documents in the boxes were slightly changed, arguing in a Monday night court filing it did not matter since the contents of the boxes were already so haphazardly stored.
“Trump personally chose to keep documents containing some of the nation’s most highly guarded secrets in cardboard boxes along with a collection of other personally chosen keepsakes of various sizes and shapes from his presidency” prosecutors wrote.
Continue reading...Top Democrats used to go all in on protecting incumbents. That wasn't the case for Jamaal Bowman, who was defeated Tuesday.
The post Half-Hearted Efforts by Democratic Leaders Couldn’t Save Jamaal Bowman From AIPAC’s Attacks appeared first on The Intercept.
This case remains alarming despite his release. The battle for press freedom must be vigorously pursued
Julian Assange should never have been charged with espionage by the US. The release of the WikiLeaks founder from custody in the UK is good news, and it is especially welcome to his family and supporters. He is due to plead guilty to a single charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents at a hearing early on Wednesday, but is not expected to face further jail time. The court in Saipan, a remote Pacific island which is a US territory, is expected to approve the deal, crediting him for the five years he has already spent on remand in prison.
His opportunity to live with his young family comes thanks to Australian diplomacy under the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who had made clear his desire for a resolution, and the Biden administration’s keenness to get a controversial case off its plate, particularly in an election year. Seventeen of the charges have been dropped. The one that remains, however, is cause for serious alarm. It was the Trump administration that brought this case. But while the Biden administration has dropped 17 of the 18 charges, it insisted on a charge under the 1917 Espionage Act, rather than the one first brought against him of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
Continue reading...Former US president made the claim in a fundraising email that advertised coffee mugs featuring his mugshot
Donald Trump has been met with a chorus of online mockery after claiming that he was “tortured” while being processed at the Fulton county jail in Georgia last August, an occasion that generated the mugshot that he has since turned into a money-making device as he campaigns for a second presidency.
The outlandish and unsubstantiated claim came in a fundraising email and drew at least one unflattering comparison with one of the former president’s political nemeses: John McCain, the former Republican senator for Arizona whose real experience of torture and incarceration during the Vietnam war was a target for Trump’s mockery.
Continue reading...From selling Bibles to extolling the Ten Commandments, Trump has been courting evangelicals all year. And despite his shortcomings, it is working as well as ever
What were you doing at 1.22am on Friday morning? I was engaged in my favourite hobby: sleeping. Donald Trump, it seems, was also busy with his favourite pastime: being unhinged on social media. In the early hours of Friday, Trump hit the well-worn caps lock key on his digital device and started “truthing” on his Truth Social platform.
“I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER,” he wrote. “READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG??? THIS MAY BE, IN FACT, THE FIRST MAJOR STEP IN THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION, WHICH IS DESPERATELY NEEDED, IN OUR COUNTRY. BRING BACK TTC!!! MAGA2024”
Continue reading...In April, President Joe Biden said he was “considering” dropping charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The post Julian Assange Strikes Plea Deal, Will Return to Australia appeared first on The Intercept.
As Republicans thirst for restarting federal executions, Absolute Standards told Connecticut lawmakers it hasn’t made or sold pentobarbital since December 2020.
The post Company Linked to Federal Execution Spree Says It Will No Longer Produce Key Drug appeared first on The Intercept.
Several balloons were spotted in and around the airport boundaries, as one balloon landed on the tarmac near passenger terminal two
Takeoffs and landings at South Korea’s Incheon international airport have been disrupted for about three hours because of balloons launched by North Korea filled with refuse, an airport spokesperson said.
One balloon landed on the tarmac near passenger terminal two and the three runways at Incheon were temporarily shut down on Wednesday, the spokesperson said.
Continue reading...The conversation between Lloyd Austin and Andrei Belousov was the first such call in over a year. What we know on day 854
The US and Russian defence chiefs spoke by telephone on Tuesday, in a rare conversation between the two powers and with tensions rising after Moscow blamed Washington for a deadly Ukraine attack over the weekend on the Russian-annexed Crimea. The two sides gave widely divergent accounts of the discussion – the first between US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and Russia’s defence minister Andrei Belousov.
Austin initiated the conversation and it was the first such call since March 2023, Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder told reporters. Russia’s defense ministry, however, said that Belousov warned Austin of the dangers of continued US arms supplies to Ukraine.
The international criminal court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russia’s former defence minister and its military chief of staff on Tuesday, for attacking civilian targets in Ukraine. The court is accusing Sergei Shoigu and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ukraine applauded the ICC’s issuing of the arrest warrants, saying it was “an important decision”. Shoigu and Gerasimov “bear individual responsibility … [They] will held be responsible for evil”, the presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram.
Russia’s security council said the arrest warrants were part of a hybrid war against Moscow, the state-run Tass news agency reported. Shoigu is the security council’s secretary.
Ukrainian troops trying to hold their ground on the eastern front in Donetsk region may still be outnumbered by Russian forces but the “shell hunger” that plagued them for months as ammunitions started to run out is now behind them, Reuters reported.
An elderly woman was killed, four people injured and scores of buildings damaged in multiple air attacks by Ukraine on the southern Russian region of Belgorod, the governor said on Tuesday. Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems destroyed 29 Ukraine-launched drones over the region.
Russia and Ukraine each handed back 90 prisoners of war on Tuesday, in the latest of several periodic swaps in their conflict, with the United Arab Emirates overseeing the exchange as an intermediary. The last exchange took place on 31 May, when each side handed over 75 prisoners of war – the first exchange in nearly four months.
Russia said it was banning access inside Russia to the broadcasts of 81 different media outlets from the EU including Agence France-Presse and Politico in retaliation for a similar EU ban on several Russian media outlets. Moscow accused the outlets of “systematically distributing inaccurate information” about what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine. The EU said in May it was suspending the distribution of what it described as four “Kremlin-linked propaganda networks”.
Moscow expects to sign a new deal on comprehensive cooperation with Iran soon, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said. “We expect that this agreement will be signed in the very near future, since work on the text is already close to completion,” Russia’s state RIA news agency cited Andrei Rudenko as saying in an interview published on Tuesday. “All the necessary wording has been found.”
Continue reading...The 13-member band, whose sales last year were only beaten by Taylor Swift, perform both as a full ensemble and in smaller units
While household names including Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Shania Twain abound on the Glastonbury roster this year, one of the biggest acts on the festival’s main Pyramid Stage might not be so well known in the UK.
But sales of the boyband Seventeen – which has 13 members – last year surpassed those of every other pop act worldwide bar Taylor Swift.
Continue reading...Didier Deschamps has conceded France have made life difficult for themselves after failing to top Group D but said he is optimistic his team will fully click in the last 16 and that they should treat the knockout stage as “a new competition”. France, two-time European champions, finished second after recording a single victory and failing to score a goal themselves in open play.
Kylian Mbappé’s penalty on his return was not enough to secured victory against the eliminated Poland, with the former Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski equalising from the spot in the 79th minute.
Continue reading...John Podesta, Biden’s top climate official, calls for other big economies to step in to help poorer states
The US will “continue to be a leader” in climate finance, the White House’s top climate official has promised, though without specifying how much it would provide to poor countries.
John Podesta, senior adviser to Joe Biden on international climate policy, also defended the large-scale US expansion of gas production, saying the world was fortunate America was strengthening its supply, given the demand for non-Russian sources after the invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Continue reading...Activist says threat of up to 11 years in prison ‘still scares me a lot’ and she intends to speak up for prisoners’ rights
An Italian activist who was released from house arrest in Hungary after she was elected as an MEP has spoken of her gratitude to the voters who gave her back her freedom and vowed to continue to fight for the rights of prisoners and against the rise of neofascist groups in Europe.
The case of Ilaria Salis, a teacher from Monza, near Milan, sparked anger and diplomatic protests in Italy when she brought to court in Hungary in chains in January. She had been arrested nearly a year earlier at a counter-demonstration to a neo-Nazi rally in Budapest and charged with three counts of attempted assault and membership of an extreme leftwing organisation – charges that carry a potential prison sentence of 11 years.
Continue reading...The coastline near Marsala is the perfect spot to practise your Superman moves on a residential kitesurfing course
There’s no escaping it: kitesurfing is a daunting sport for beginners. Don’t be fooled by the name – it is nothing like flying a kite in a park. On the first day of a week-long kitesurfing course in Sicily, I found myself in the sea attached to an enormous polyester wing that was powerful enough to lift me clear of the water and send me hurtling through the air.
Despite my nerves, I could see that the Stagnone Lagoon near Marsala, western Sicily, is a great place to learn. The lagoon is shallow enough to stand up in, has no waves and is protected by four islands – Isola Grande, San Pantaleo, Santa Maria and La Schola – that create a natural wind tunnel; there is a consistent breeze from spring to the end of October. The area is popular with kitesurf schools, including mine, UCPA Planète, but doesn’t feel overcrowded.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, George Elek and Nicky Bandini as Italy score a stoppage-time equaliser that sees them through to the round of 16 at Euro 2024
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On the podcast today; a fantastic finish from Mattia Zaccagni sees Italy progress ahead of Croatia. It wasn’t a particularly thrilling game of football but Italy ultimately got the job done.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall in Guangdong causes flooding, landslides and mudslides, while northern China gripped by heatwave
Guangdong province in southern China has once more experienced severe flooding, two months after the late April floods and landslides led to more than 50 deaths.
On Sunday 16 June, heavy rainfall affected the area, with an average of 199mm falling in Pingyuan county. The town of Sishui experienced the highest rainfall totals of 367mm, with three others in the area recording more than 300mm.
Continue reading...Project 2025 — a road map for the next Trump White House — urges overturning Supreme Court precedent, and a trickle of bills may tee up challenges.
The post Can Conservatives Expand the Death Penalty Using the “Trigger Law” Playbook? appeared first on The Intercept.
Global demand for renewable energy is surging so why make solar panels, wind turbines and EVs dearer for western consumers?
With historic heatwaves sweeping across the US and other parts of the northern hemisphere, June is expected to be the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures. The primary cause, of course, is the enormous amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Despite the existential threat posed by rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, emissions continue to increase at a faster pace than previously anticipated.
On one front, however, progress in the fight against the climate crisis has exceeded expectations. Amid the global shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles and the accelerated adoption of solar and wind power, demand for renewable energy is rapidly rising in the US and the EU.
Continue reading...The England head coach, Steve Borthwick, will not be joining Andy Farrell’s British & Irish Lions management team for next year’s tour of Australia. Borthwick wants to concentrate on reshaping England’s fortunes and is not set to be involved in the 2025 series against Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies.
Borthwick toured with the 2017 Lions to New Zealand alongside Farrell as forwards coach and his specialist lineout knowledge remains in high demand. His work ethic is also second to none but since taking his current role 18 months ago he has devoted all his time and energy to upscaling English rugby.
Continue reading...Israel destroyed much of Gaza’s internet infrastructure. A Saudi proposal to rebuild it was watered down after Israeli and U.S. protests.
The post Israel Opposes Rebuilding Gaza’s Internet Access Because Terrorists Could Go Online appeared first on The Intercept.
Officers had sought $1.42m in damages, claiming former ACT chief prosecutor defamed them in complaint about Bruce Lehrmann prosecution
The federal court has dismissed a defamation case brought by a group of Australian federal police officers against the former ACT top prosecutor Shane Drumgold.
On Tuesday a court registrar dismissed the case, which had sought $1.42m in damages, alleging that Drumgold defamed the officers in a written complaint about their handling of the Bruce Lehrmann prosecution.
Continue reading...Insults hurled at Lindsay Selby, who has not yet entered a plea, while leaving Brisbane court after being charged over a fatal CBD bus crash
A bus driver charged after a Brisbane CBD crash in which 18-year-old Tia Cameron died has been abused while leaving court.
Lindsay Francis Selby, 70, was also targeted by some of Cameron’s supporters outside Brisbane magistrates court on Wednesday in heated scenes.
Continue reading...Prof Andrew McNaughton also warns plan to build Sydney-Newcastle route is ‘doomed’ to fail unless a shorter stretch to Gosford comes first
Ensuring Australia’s decades-long high-speed rail project maintains enough support to be built requires the public to be constantly reminded of its benefits, such as easing property prices, providing better job opportunities and even widening the dating pool, a British expert has urged.
Prof Andrew McNaughton, the chair of the UK’s Network Rail High Speed, also warns that the Albanese government’s push to build high-speed rail along Australia’s east coast, starting with a Sydney-Newcastle section, is “doomed” to fail unless planners split the first stage into an even smaller, achievable stretch to Gosford.
Continue reading...Two-page letter written by physicist and fellow scientist, for sale at Christie’s, urged US government to invest in research
A two-page letter written by Albert Einstein warning Franklin D Roosevelt – then the president of the US – that Nazi Germany might harness nuclear research to invent an atomic bomb is going up for sale at Christie’s auctioneers in September with an estimate value of $4m.
Einstein’s letter – one of two the theoretical physicist drafted in a cabin on the north shore of New York’s Long Island with a fellow scientist, Leo Szilard – warned that the German government was actively supporting nuclear research and could make “extremely powerful bombs” like the kind that were eventually deployed by the US at the end of the second world war.
Continue reading...Analysis of high-resolution drone imagery concludes 97% of corals died at a Lizard Island reef between March and June this year
At least 97% of corals on a reef in the Great Barrier Reef’s north died during one of the worst coral bleaching events the world’s biggest reef system has ever seen, according to new analysis.
Scientists at several institutions used high-resolution drone imagery to track the bleaching and death of corals on a reef at Lizard Island.
Continue reading...Fiery former foreign minister enters campaign to elect consensual reformist Masoud Pezeshkian
Javad Zarif, the former foreign minister and probably the Iranian politician best known to the west, has thrown himself into the campaign to elect the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian as the country’s president.
Zarif emerged from academia back to frontline politics to face heckling at public rallies, outright bans from one university and allegations that he is seeking to settle scores with those who thwarted his foreign policy when in office between 2013 and 2021.
Continue reading...Mayor Clover Moore says procurement and investment should be examined to potentially ‘put additional pressure towards a ceasefire’ in Gaza
The City of Sydney will consider tearing up contracts with suppliers targeted by the boycott Israel campaign, in a move the lord mayor, Clover Moore, hopes could “put additional pressure towards a ceasefire and an end to the humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
On Monday night, Moore backed a Greens motion for the council to prepare a report on the council’s investment policy regarding “companies involved in, or profiting from, any human rights violations including the illegal occupation of the settlements in Palestinian territories and the supply of weapons”.
Continue reading...There is a lot written about technology’s threats to democracy. Polarization. Artificial intelligence. The concentration of wealth and power. I have a more general story: The political and economic systems of governance that were created in the mid-18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. They don’t align incentives well. And they are being hacked too effectively.
At the same time, the cost of these hacked systems has never been greater, across all human history. We have become too powerful as a species. And our systems cannot keep up with fast-changing disruptive technologies...
“I don’t want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people.”
The post “Utterly Dismayed”: Air Force Engineer Resigns as Dissent Against Gaza War Slowly Spreads Within Military appeared first on The Intercept.
Increasing use of fans, air coolers and air conditioners is placing ‘serious’ strain on grid in north of country
Engineers in India have warned of the possibility of prolonged power outages in the north, where a heatwave has brought misery for millions of people.
Demand for electricity has soared due to fans, air coolers and air conditioners being run constantly, placing a strain on the grid in Delhi and elsewhere in the north. Manufacturers of air conditioners and air coolers report sales rising by 40-50% compared with last summer.
Continue reading...Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
UAVs continually kill civilians, but the U.S. military wants to expand its arsenal with an army of new, mass-produced kamikaze AI drones.
The post Cheap and Lethal: The Pentagon’s Plan for the Next Drone War appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...
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