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Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE
Mon, 14 Apr 2025 17:03:51 +0000
A green card holder, Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi faced attacks from pro-Israel activists.
The post Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE appeared first on The Intercept.
The Trump administration vows to seek the death penalty “whenever possible.” But federal cases move slowly, and few result in a death sentence at all.
The post Trump Will Be Long Gone Before Luigi Mangione Faces Execution appeared first on The Intercept.
The defense secretary’s focus on “lethality” could lead to “wanton killing and wholesale destruction and disregard for law,” one Pentagon official said.
The post Pete Hegseth Is Gutting Pentagon Programs to Reduce Civilian Casualties appeared first on The Intercept.
A little-known database logs hundreds of millions of wire transfers sent to or from Mexico, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
The post The Unusual Nonprofit That Helps ICE Spy on Wire Transfers appeared first on The Intercept.
Former City minister accused of illegally receiving plot of land from her aunt, ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
An arrest warrant for the former City minister Tulip Siddiq has been issued in Bangladesh with a new allegation accusing her of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt, the ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladeshi media reported the warrant was issued by a judge for 53 people connected to Hasina, including Siddiq. There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.
Continue reading...Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite Friday’s immigration court ruling, the legal fight to keep Khalil in the U.S. may stretch months or years.
The post What Comes Next in Mahmoud Khalil’s Fight Against Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
Death is the point.
The post Mahmoud Khalil and the Necropolitics of Trump’s Deportation Regime appeared first on The Intercept.
Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
The Trump administration filed no new evidence in its case against Khalil, according to a new filing ahead of Friday's hearing.
The post The Case Against Mahmoud Khalil Hinges on Vague “Antisemitism” Claim appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s attacks on the courts and Big Law are an existential threat to the legal system. Expect a reckoning.
The post The Clear and Present Danger to the American Rule of Law appeared first on The Intercept.
As part of Trump’s administrations ‘efficiency’ drive, staff running decades old program for energy assistance laid off
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), is facing new demands to release almost $400m allocated by Congress to help low-income US families keep the air conditioning on this summer.
The funds are under threat after the staff running a decades old program were fired – as part of the Trump administration’s so-called ‘efficiency’ drive.
Continue reading...Noboa made armed forces central, initially leading to drop in crime but also to surge in reports of rights violations
In an election seen as a referendum on his “war on drugs”, Ecuador’s rightwing president, Daniel Noboa, won Sunday’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftist candidate Luisa González.
With 97% of ballots counted, the incumbent had secured 55.65% of the vote, compared with 44.35% for the former congresswoman.
Continue reading...On the chopping block is the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, which tracks sexual violence in the military and supports victims.
The post Pentagon Considers Cutting Its Sexual Assault Rules appeared first on The Intercept.
The “Tesla Takedown” protests reveal a major vulnerability of the Trump regime.
The post The Tesla Takedown Shows How We Can Make Oligarchs Feel the Pain appeared first on The Intercept.
Protesters across the country have been rallying every weekend to try and drive Elon Musk’s car business into the ground.
The post Meet the Activists Motivated by Hatred of Elon Musk appeared first on The Intercept.
The veteran investigative journalist will cover U.S. military operations, national security issues, and foreign affairs through this yearlong fellowship.
The post Nick Turse Joins The Intercept as Inaugural National Security Reporting Fellow appeared first on The Intercept.
Questions about who profited from Trump’s tariff flip-flop revived the push to ban members of Congress themselves from trading stocks.
The post How Much Did Congress Make Off Market Turmoil and Why’re They Allowed to Make Anything at All? appeared first on The Intercept.
A conversation with the Massachusetts congresswoman on challenging executive authority and the ICE abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk.
The post Unchecked: Rep. Ayanna Pressley on the President’s Power Grab appeared first on The Intercept.
Going beyond their critique of the infamous Signal chat, progressives demanded to know the White House’s legal justification for its Yemen strikes.
The post Progressives Push to Assert Congress Power Over Yemen War appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. moved toward tariffs that protected U.S. workers, industry, and the environment, says one expert. Trump is undoing it all.
The post What Could Progressive Tariffs Actually Look Like? appeared first on The Intercept.
At a Congressional hearing earlier this week, Matt Blaze made the point that CALEA, the 1994 law that forces telecoms to make phone calls wiretappable, is outdated in today’s threat environment and should be rethought:
In other words, while the legally-mandated CALEA capability requirements have changed little over the last three decades, the infrastructure that must implement and protect it has changed radically. This has greatly expanded the “attack surface” that must be defended to prevent unauthorized wiretaps, especially at scale. The job of the illegal eavesdropper has gotten significantly easier, with many more options and opportunities for them to exploit. Compromising our telecommunications infrastructure is now little different from performing any other kind of computer intrusion or data breach, a well-known and endemic cybersecurity problem. To put it bluntly, something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable, and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made...
In “Secrets and Lies” (2000), I wrote:
It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.
It’s something a bunch of us were saying at the time, in reference to the vast NSA’s surveillance capabilities.
I have been thinking of that quote a lot as I read news stories of President Trump firing the Director of the National Security Agency. General Timothy Haugh.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote:
We don’t know what pressure the Trump administration is using to make intelligence services fall into line, but it isn’t crazy to ...
![[later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tariffs.png "[later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!")
Substantial spuds meet juicy fish in this warming suppertime classic
Put a deep pan of salted water on to boil. Peel 750g of potatoes, then cut them into large pieces. Cook them in the boiling water until tender to the point of a knife. About 12-15 minutes depending on their variety and the size you’ve cut them.
Place a salmon fillet, about 400g in weight, on a piece of foil, brush lightly with a little oil or butter, season with salt and cook under an overhead grill until the flakes of fish are just cooked. If they are slightly underdone in the centre, then all to the good.
Continue reading...Nik and Maria Payne were raising their ‘wild and free’ children in the Norwegian countryside when cancer turned their lives upside down. The reluctant stars of A New Kind of Wilderness talk about a world without Maria
Peace hangs over a farm in rural Norway. The last of the melting snow lingers in hummocks and bikes are strewn outside the Payne family’s small rented cottage. Nik Payne materialises from behind the barn where he has been feeding the cows. One of his three children, Falk, 12, is lying on the sofa with a fever and a Biggles novel; later, Freja, 15, and Ulv, nine (known as Wolf or Wolfie), return from school. Their home is as warm and chaotic as any family’s – boots and coats strewn in the hallway, a fridge covered in photos, shelves of books – but with a few differences: there is no television and behind the living room door is an unobtrusive, very personal shrine.
The Paynes find themselves the reluctant stars of a film, A New Kind of Wilderness, which has won awards at Sundance and other festivals around the world. This documentary begins, deceptively, as Variety put it, “like Swiss Family Robinson updated for the era of Instagram cottagecore”. The children, with their older half-sister Ronja, are being raised by Nik, an Englishman, and his Norwegian wife Maria to be “wild and free”: home-schooled, creative, growing their own food, living closely and gently with nature.
Continue reading...A sumptuous, Spanish celebration of spring, with a nod to the UK’s short but marvellous asparagus season
Even though the lamb is the star of this dish, it’s the asparagus that truly makes me happy. The arrival of asparagus season always feels like a little celebration of spring and longer, brighter days ahead. British asparagus, the best in the world, adds a fresh, seasonal touch that makes this rice really special. It’s the perfect one-pot recipe for the first al fresco meal of the year, with simple ingredients that come together beautifully, and with saffron bringing its delicate aroma and golden warmth. This is a great minimal-effort way to enjoy the new season – and every bite.
Continue reading...Britain’s traditional retailers were in decline for years. Then the pandemic changed how we buy food and boosted the fishing industry
The seafood chef and restaurateur Mitch Tonks recalls the moment things for him changed dramatically. It was March 2020, the start of Covid, when a local fishing boat skipper called him in a panic. “Nick was having a tough time; nobody was buying his catch, so I emailed our customer network,” he says.
Tonks asked people to bring cash and containers. The next morning, Nick landed his boat at Brixham, the south Devon port that is England’s largest fish market by value of catch sold. “About 150 people turned up to buy his fish. Many asked ‘why can’t we just buy fish straight off boats like this normally?’”
Continue reading...Team leading South Australian search says risk of disrupting other wildlife has made it hard to capture missing pet dog
New footage of Valerie the miniature dachshund, missing since 2023, shows her sniffing around a trap and capering with a food box.
But more than 500 days since she escaped from a pen on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Valerie is still at large.
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Continue reading...Spring sunshine boosted spending on gardening, DIY and food products, but households are still ‘prudently budgeting’ as bills rise
Warm weather in March helped give a lift to retailers despite a late Easter, with sales of gardening, DIY, food, and health and beauty products getting a boost from the spring sunshine.
Purchases for Mother’s Day also helped retail sales climb 1.1% last month, according to a British Retail Consortium-KPMG survey, keeping pace with February despite trading against a much stronger period a year before and a downturn in visitor numbers on high streets and in retail parks as more sales shifted online.
Continue reading...Giant giraffes, Alice in Wonderland, fondant faces, dragons and a sweet Ned Kelly were all on display as the Australian Cake Artists and Decorators Association hosted competitors vying for honours across a range of categories.
The three-day event in Brisbane also included classes where aspiring sugar artists could learn the craft from experts, as well as appearances from international celebrity chefs and artists
Continue reading...Authors from the We Are Not Numbers project on their dreams of becoming architects or artists, and a report on how a young woman found fulfilment in fast food
How Gaza inspired me to be a ‘surgeon’ for historic buildings
Continue reading...Israel renewed its bombing campaign on Gaza in March. Killings and food shortages have become the norm again.
The post “An Abrupt Plunge Into Hell”: Gaza After the Ceasefire appeared first on The Intercept.
Protesters across the country have been rallying every weekend to try and drive Elon Musk’s car business into the ground.
The post Meet the Activists Motivated by Hatred of Elon Musk appeared first on The Intercept.
Supermarkets love calling these seasonal treats ‘luxury’, but are they? Time for an Easter bake-off …
• Everything you need to make great sourdough
I’m a big fan of seasonal bakes – there’s something special about a treat reserved for a short window of time. Their rare appearance makes them something to look forward to, and to relish. Supermarkets like to push the limits of these seasons, though, and these days hot cross buns are available for a surprisingly long time – often appearing on shelves as early as January.
I know that, for many people, serving hot cross buns toasted is the only way to go, but for this test, I tried them straight from the packet, plain and with a little butter, so the toasted flavour didn’t hide any of the differences between the buns. To be honest, a lot of them tasted pretty similar and the spicing was almost universally far too subtle for my tastes. The differences mainly came in the quality of the dried fruit, the level of citrus and how dry some of the buns were. Even so, and while nothing beats a hot cross bun bought from a traditional bakery or one made at home, there were a couple of supermarket versions that are worth buying.
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...What happens when western billionaires try to ‘fix’ hunger in developing countries? Neelam Tailor investigates how philanthropic efforts by the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the organisation they set up to revolutionise African farming, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), may have made matters worse for the small-scale farmers who produce 70% of the continent's food.
From seed laws that criminalise traditional practices to corporate partnerships with agribusiness giants such as Monsanto and Syngenta, we explore how a well-funded green revolution has led to rising debt, loss of biodiversity and deepening food insecurity across the continent
Continue reading...Plastics are everywhere, but their smallest fragments – nanoplastics – are making their way into the deepest parts of our bodies, including our brains and breast milk.
Scientists have now captured the first visual evidence of these particles inside human cells, raising urgent questions about their impact on our health. From the food we eat to the air we breathe, how are nanoplastics infiltrating our systems?
Neelam Tailor looks into the invisible invasion happening inside us all
Continue reading...Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
Continue reading... |
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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A little-known database logs hundreds of millions of wire transfers sent to or from Mexico, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
The post The Unusual Nonprofit That Helps ICE Spy on Wire Transfers appeared first on The Intercept.
The “Tesla Takedown” protests reveal a major vulnerability of the Trump regime.
The post The Tesla Takedown Shows How We Can Make Oligarchs Feel the Pain appeared first on The Intercept.
Protesters across the country have been rallying every weekend to try and drive Elon Musk’s car business into the ground.
The post Meet the Activists Motivated by Hatred of Elon Musk appeared first on The Intercept.
The Trump administration vows to seek the death penalty “whenever possible.” But federal cases move slowly, and few result in a death sentence at all.
The post Trump Will Be Long Gone Before Luigi Mangione Faces Execution appeared first on The Intercept.
Death is the point.
The post Mahmoud Khalil and the Necropolitics of Trump’s Deportation Regime appeared first on The Intercept.
There is a middle ground on tariffs. But Democrats’ free-trade advocacy allows Trump to play the populist
To tariff or not to tariff? Today’s tweet-length political discourse pretends this is a binary choice. Donald Trump has pitched across-the-board import levies as a panacea to rebuild American manufacturing, while Democrats insist the president’s proposals are an attempt to crash the economy, and that their party should tout its opposition to all tariffs.
But neither the policy nor politics of this moment are that neat and simple. While too few or too many tariffs can destroy economies, there is a Goldilocks zone that’s just right. It’s just being omitted from the conversation.
Continue reading...Questions about who profited from Trump’s tariff flip-flop revived the push to ban members of Congress themselves from trading stocks.
The post How Much Did Congress Make Off Market Turmoil and Why’re They Allowed to Make Anything at All? appeared first on The Intercept.
Going beyond their critique of the infamous Signal chat, progressives demanded to know the White House’s legal justification for its Yemen strikes.
The post Progressives Push to Assert Congress Power Over Yemen War appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s attacks on the courts and Big Law are an existential threat to the legal system. Expect a reckoning.
The post The Clear and Present Danger to the American Rule of Law appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. moved toward tariffs that protected U.S. workers, industry, and the environment, says one expert. Trump is undoing it all.
The post What Could Progressive Tariffs Actually Look Like? appeared first on The Intercept.
Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
In some of his most vocal criticism of the current administration, former president says move is ‘an attempt to stifle academic freedom’
Trump officials cut billions in Harvard funding
Former US President Joe Biden is expected to return to the national stage later today as he delivers his first major post-presidency speech.
The 82-year-old Democrat, who reluctantly dropped out of the presidential race last year amid concerns about his cognitive functioning, will talk about how social security is being threatened by the policies of the Trump administration.
Continue reading...Republican-controlled state house poised to pass legislation that imposes regulatory hurdles on data centers
Donald Trump’s plans to expand infrastructure to produce artificial intelligence in the US could face years of delays with the Republican-controlled Texas statehouse poised to pass legislation that imposes regulatory hurdles on data centers.
The Trump administration earlier this year announced that a joint venture called Stargate would construct a total of 20 data centers to provide computing power for AI as part of an effort to help the US compete against China for leadership of the technology and spur investors to pursue AI projects.
Continue reading...Elon Musk is obsessed with falling birth rates, as is the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. Why would leftwingers want to buy into their ‘pronatalist’ agenda?
‘Perpetuating humanity should be a cross-politics consensus,” read an article in the Atlantic last week, “but the left was mostly absent at a recent pronatalism conference.” It’s such a simple proposition – everyone loves babies and wants the species to perpetuate, right? – but pronatalism has provoked a ferocious battle on the American left. Should they be trying to engage meaningfully at a preposterous far-right conference? Or should the left stop self-flagellating and start organising?
But what is pronatalism – and is it really borderline fascist? I don’t want to think about slippery, bad-faith, rightwing claptrap any more than you do, but in an era in which US politics can sneeze and the world catches encephalitis, we do, regrettably, have to think about bad-faith everything, all the time.
Continue reading...Despite Friday’s immigration court ruling, the legal fight to keep Khalil in the U.S. may stretch months or years.
The post What Comes Next in Mahmoud Khalil’s Fight Against Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
The defense secretary’s focus on “lethality” could lead to “wanton killing and wholesale destruction and disregard for law,” one Pentagon official said.
The post Pete Hegseth Is Gutting Pentagon Programs to Reduce Civilian Casualties appeared first on The Intercept.
The good news is lower interest rates may help more people buy homes – but they also may be faced with paying off a bigger mortgage
The prospect of dramatically lower borrowing costs has emerged as a potential blessing and curse for Australians hoping to break into the property market, amid a brewing global trade war and competing local policies.
There are deep fears America’s protectionist policy will plunge the world’s biggest economy into recession and trigger a steep global growth slowdown. Economists believe the Reserve Bank of Australia will respond to this global trade turmoil with a rate cut to 3.85% at its next board meeting on 19-20 May. Financial markets are even pricing in a cash rate of 2.85% by November, or essentially cuts of 0.25 percentage points in each of the next five policy board meetings.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Labor urges state Liberal leader Brad Battin to ‘get a spine’ and rule out a repeal of Victoria’s nuclear ban
The Victorian Nationals have left the door open to working with a Dutton government to build a nuclear reactor in the Latrobe Valley, as the Liberal leader, Brad Battin, was urged to “get a spine” and rule out a repeal of the state’s nuclear ban.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, Battin distanced the Victorian Coalition from Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, saying the state opposition was instead focused on expanding onshore gas exploration.
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Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Battle of housing supply: who’s building more?
Both parties have said they’re the ones doing more on housing supply, while experts and economists have said neither is doing enough to address the supply versus demand issue.
What we’re doing is dealing with supply as well as demand. The Coalition’s plan will push up prices. Our plan will ensure that more homes are built. And what we’ve seen under my government is 28,000 of those social housing through the housing Australia Future Fund are either under construction or under planning.
We have $5bn, which works with councils to release 500,000 blocks of land. We cut migration by 25%…
If you’ve got a house that you’ve just bought and you’ve got a $500,000 mortgage and your house goes down by $100,000 under Labor, and your mortgage is worth more than the house itself, then that’s not a good situation for you. So, no, we don’t want house prices to plummet.
We want sustainable growth. If you’re buying a house today, if you can find one – and if you can afford one under this government – you don’t want to wake up in two years’ time and find that the value of that house has gone down.
Continue reading...Both major parties spruik housing policies, with Anthony Albanese saying critics may not have read all the detail of Labor’s plan
Peter Dutton says he will help his son with a housing deposit “at some stage”, a day after dodging questions about whether he would use his family wealth and salary to assist his children to get into the market.
Dutton on Monday brought his 20-year-old son, Harry, on the campaign trail to talk about the difficulties of saving for a home. Harry said he and his sister, Rebecca, had both been “saving like mad” to scrape together deposits of their own.
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Continue reading...Education minister Ben Carroll says VCAA overhaul will aim to give families, students and schools full confidence in exams
The entire board of Victoria’s curriculum authority has been sacked after a review into the state’s VCE cheat sheet bungle last year.
The blunder, during last year’s year 12 exams in Victoria, saw the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) accidentally publish exam content weeks before students sat for the tests. The review found the sample cover pages containing exam content had been viewed about 6,000 times.
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Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: In describing the bombing of the city of Sumy as a “mistake” and sidelining dissenting voices, the White House’s passivity towards Russia questions its commitment to peace
Good morning. Russia claimed that its ballistic missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy was aimed at Ukrainian army commanders. But the truth is that the attack’s brutal toll was exacted against ordinary people.
The deaths of at least 34 people made it the worst single attack on civilians in Ukraine this year. But the most Donald Trump would say was that he had been told it was a “mistake”. It appears unlikely he will take up Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation, issued yesterday, to visit Ukraine and see the consequences of the invasion for himself.
British Steel | Senior Labour figures have urged the government to review Chinese investment in UK infrastructure in the wake of the British Steel crisis. Downing Street and the Treasury said they believed the row to be an isolated commercial dispute, even though the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has not ruled out deliberate Chinese sabotage of the Scunthorpe plant.
Sudan | Sudan is suffering from the largest humanitarian crisis globally and its civilians are continuing to pay the price for inaction by the international community, NGOs and the UN have said, as the country’s civil war enters its third year. The UK is hosting ministers from 20 countries in London on Tuesday in an attempt to restart stalled peace talks.
Politics | The former Conservative MP Craig Williams is among 15 people, including several other senior Tories, charged by the Gambling Commission for alleged cheating connected to bets based on the date of the 2024 UK general election.
UK news | Bin workers have “overwhelmingly” rejected a deal that would have ended an all-out strike in Birmingham, during which bin bags have piled up in the streets and the city has faced an influx of rats.
Space | Six women safely completed a trip to the edge of outer space on a rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos, the Amazon co-founder. The crew included Bezos’s fiancee, Lauren Sánchez, and the pop star Katy Perry, who said on landing that she was “really feeling that divine feminine right now”.
Continue reading...Familiarise yourself with the state of play ahead of the election with our data-driven electorate guide
In the election there will be a total of 150 electorates. This is one fewer than at the 2022 election, as two electorates were abolished due to redistributions by the AEC, and one new one – Bullwinkel in Western Australia – was created.
Continue reading...The deal signed last week between the centre-right CDU and centre-left SPD paves the way for vital investment in Europe’s biggest economy
Some years ago, hundreds of German finance ministry staff dressed in black and formed a giant zero to salute their boss, Wolfgang Schäuble, as he left office. It was a tribute to Mr Schäuble’s extreme fiscal conservatism, which had delivered Germany’s first balanced budget in the postwar period. Amid resurgent prosperity in the Angela Merkel years, the so-called black zero – symbolising a constitutional prohibition on public debt – had gradually acquired cult status.
As a new administration prepares to take power in Berlin, it seems unlikely that human euro signs will welcome the latest politician to take on Mr Schäuble’s former role. But in dramatic fashion, the spending taps are set to be turned on. Via a swiftly staged March vote in the outgoing Bundestag, “debt brake” dogma was consigned to history by the chancellor‑elect, Friedrich Merz. The way was thus paved for groundbreaking expenditure on defence, and the overhaul of an economy being left behind in a changed, suddenly menacing world.
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Continue reading...Operatives placed buttons at CSFN trying to link Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre with Donald Trump
Campaigners with Canada’s Liberal party had some very American-esque politicking over the weekend, when Liberal operatives were found to have planted “stop the steal” buttons at a conservative conference to link the Conservative party to Donald Trump.
Two Liberal party staffers infiltrated last week’s Canada Strong and Free Network Conference (CSFN) in Ottawa at which they strategically placed provocative buttons designed to create the false impression that Conservative supporters of party leader Pierre Poilievre were embracing Trump-style rhetoric, highlighting internal party divisions.
Continue reading...On the chopping block is the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, which tracks sexual violence in the military and supports victims.
The post Pentagon Considers Cutting Its Sexual Assault Rules appeared first on The Intercept.
A conversation with the Massachusetts congresswoman on challenging executive authority and the ICE abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk.
The post Unchecked: Rep. Ayanna Pressley on the President’s Power Grab appeared first on The Intercept.
Noboa made armed forces central, initially leading to drop in crime but also to surge in reports of rights violations
In an election seen as a referendum on his “war on drugs”, Ecuador’s rightwing president, Daniel Noboa, won Sunday’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftist candidate Luisa González.
With 97% of ballots counted, the incumbent had secured 55.65% of the vote, compared with 44.35% for the former congresswoman.
Continue reading...Unite union rejects pay offer from Birmingham city council as all-out strike causes bin bags to pile up in the streets and an influx of rats
Alison McGovern, minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, has commented on those latest job statistics, which showed that the number of payrolled workers in UK fell by 78,000.
The Labour MP for Birkenhead said:
We’re determined to get Britain working again as part of our plan for change by overhauling job centres, creating good jobs, transforming skills, transitioning to net zero and delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation.
This month, local areas are also starting to roll out their plans to tackle the root causes of inactivity as we get Britain back to health and back to work – backed by a share of £125m of investment.
Refusing a British Parliamentarian entry to Hong Kong for a private family visit, without reason, is an affront to UK-China diplomatic relations and will have a chilling effect on all UK politicians who speak up for freedom and democracy. That is why it is so important that we secure a statement setting out the Chinese authorities’ motivations for this act.
It’s now clearer than ever that the Chinese authorities aren’t going to play ball here. The foreign secretary needs to urgently take the exceptional step of summoning the Chinese ambassador in person to provide a clear and comprehensive account of why Wera was refused entry.
Continue reading...Ethical doubts over role of campaign backers and investors with financial ties to president worth hundreds of millions
Some of Donald Trump’s biggest campaign donors and investors, who collectively have hundreds of millions of dollars in financial ties to the US president, are positioned to potentially profit from any American takeover of Greenland, raising even more ethical questions around Trump’s controversial pursuit of the Arctic territory.
The administration is in part aiming to secure rare minerals that are essential for the US tech industry and national security, and to potentially reopen oil and gas exploration: “This is about critical minerals, this is about natural resources,” Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, recently said.
Continue reading...Former president says move is an ‘attempt to stifle academic freedom’. Plus, the people forming relationships with AI chatbots
Good morning.
The US education department is freezing about $2.3bn in federal funds to Harvard University, the agency said yesterday, a move that the former US president Barack Obama called “unlawful and ham-handed”.
What did Obama say about the decision? In some of his most vocal criticism of this Trump administration, the former president praised Harvard, the country’s oldest university, for setting an example for other higher education institutions to reject federal overreach into its governance practices.
What did they say? “The ruling solely stated that if this individual, at El Salvador’s sole discretion, was sent back to our country, we could deport him a second time,” said Trump’s policy chief, Stephen Miller.
Continue reading...Chris Columbus calls cameo ‘an albatross’ but worries he’d ‘have to go back to Italy or something’
Film-maker Chris Columbus says he has come to regard Donald Trump’s cameo in his movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York as “an albatross” that he wishes to remove.
But, Columbus added, he fears the president’s administration would deport him if he followed through with nixing the scene from more than 30 years ago.
Continue reading...Wages rise 5.9% in three months to February, while unemployment unchanged at 4.4%
The number of workers on UK company payrolls has fallen at the fastest pace since the height of the Covid pandemic amid mounting global uncertainty and warnings that Rachel Reeves’s budget measures could lead to job losses.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the number of people employed in at least one job paid through pay as you earn fell by 78,000 in March after a revised fall of 8,000 in February.
Continue reading...Notices show Trump administration setting stage for levies on both sectors on national security grounds
The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors into the US as part of an attempt to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the Federal Register on Monday showed.
The filings scheduled to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission of public comment on the issue and indicate the administration intends to pursue the levies under authority granted by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Such inquiries need to be completed within 270 days after being announced.
Continue reading...Vice-president says Donald Trump ‘loves’ the UK and there is good chance of reaching mutually beneficial agreement
The US is optimistic it can negotiate a “great” trade deal with the UK, JD Vance has said.
Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports to the US several weeks ago, sending the global economy into turmoil as stock prices tumbled and fears of a global recession mounted.
Continue reading...Universities, a key plank of our economy, face a bonfire of jobs. But are they the jobs Starmer wants to be seen to be saving?
It’s hard to get romantic about the death of office jobs.
Nobody waxes lyrical about the glory days of working in payroll, and Bruce Springsteen doesn’t fill stadiums with soaring anthems about middle management headcount. But whether the recipient’s collar is white or blue, getting made redundant is getting made redundant, and it hurts.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Accountants’ institute says first quarter of 2025 was ‘harrowing’ for companies amid tax rises and US tariffs
UK business confidence has fallen to the lowest level for more than two years amid growing concern over tax rises and Donald Trump’s escalating trade war, according to a survey.
Highlighting the risks to the economy, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said the first quarter of the year had been “harrowing” for companies across Britain.
Continue reading...Ireland holds the algorithm off-switch. Ursula von der Leyen must force Dublin to use it
Europe is scrambling to remilitarise. The European Commission is raising a €150bn (£129bn) defence fund and is calling on EU countries to invest €650bn (£561bn) more. Germany has cast aside its government debt limit to invest hundreds of billions of euros in defence. Poland will train every male of fighting age for battle, and envisages an army 500,000 strong. Latvia’s president has urged the rest of Europe to conscript citizens, as Latvia does. Even neutral Ireland is buying combat jets. No wonder Europe’s defence industry is booming. In just a few months, the share prices of several big weapons manufacturers have nearly doubled and doubled again. But, despite this new martial pulse, the continent is still sleepwalking towards disaster.
Europe can harden its shell and sharpen its claws, but it has done little to protect its soft underbelly against political manipulation. The US is capitulating to Russia over Ukraine because of political implosion at home, not military defeat. This story has been repeated many times in Europe’s history. Thucydides recounted how ancient Athens and Sparta sowed discord and cultivated traitors in each other’s camps. Europe’s leaders must remember this lesson and confront three new realities.
Johnny Ryan is director of Enforce, a unit of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Administration advances new misrepresentations of US supreme court order in case of Kilmar Abrego García
The Trump administration on Monday misrepresented a US supreme court decision that compelled it to return a man wrongly deported to El Salvador, using tortured readings of the order to justify taking no actions to secure his release.
The supreme court last week unanimously ordered the administration to “facilitate” the release of Kilmar Abrego García, who was supposed to have been protected from deportation to El Salvador regardless of whether he was a member of the MS-13 gang.
Continue reading...The US says it can’t aid in his return as he’s in El Salvador; El Salvador says to help would be like ‘smuggling’ him back
It is difficult to find a term more fitting for the fate of the Maryland father Kilmar Abrego García than Kafkaesque.
Abrego García is one of hundreds of foreign-born men deported under the Trump administration to the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador as part of a macabre partnership with the self-declared “world’s coolest dictator”, Nayib Bukele.
Continue reading...Prison Officers’ Association official says staff are furious after attack by Hashem Abedi
Inmates in the jail where three guards were allegedly attacked by the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber were allowed in a kitchen with knives despite being assessed as being so dangerous they should be isolated from other prisoners, according to claims by a union official.
The prime suspect for the attack is Hashem Abedi, 28, brother of the Manchester Arena bomber. The attacker used a makeshift sharp weapon fashioned out of metal during the sustained attack, as well as cooking fat. One officer suffered third degree burns.
Continue reading...Trump officials claim they’re not legally bound to bring Kilmar Abrego García back despite supreme court ruling
The president of El Salvador said in a meeting with Donald Trump in the White House on Monday that he would not order the return of a Maryland man who was deported in error to a Salvadorian mega-prison.
“The question is preposterous,” Nayib Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday, where he was welcomed by Trump and spoke with the president and members of his cabinet. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I’m not going to do it.”
Continue reading...Saffron Cordery says too many staff are worn out and suffering low morale, while Dr Geoffrey Searle reflects on years of ‘efficiency savings’. Plus one reader on the stress their daughter is facing as a newly qualified doctor
NHS trusts are right behind government ambitions to shift more care of patients from hospitals to the community and to do more to prevent ill health in the first place (Editorial, 8 March). But nobody should be under any illusion that this is going to happen overnight. Despite the recent budget boost for the NHS, finances for hospitals, mental health, community and ambulance services are stretched to the limit.
People are the backbone of the NHS, but growing demand and workloads, vacancies and financial pressures have left far too many staff feeling worn out and suffering low morale. This has driven up the rate of people leaving the health service. Worries about staffing cuts as trusts try to balance their books are going to make an already tough situation even harder for overstretched frontline teams.
Continue reading...Former City minister denies allegations she received land illegally from her aunt, the ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
The former City minister Tulip Siddiq has said an arrest warrant issued against her in Bangladesh over allegations she illegally received a plot of land from her aunt, the country’s ousted former prime minister, is a “politically motivated smear campaign”.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Hampstead and Highgate MP said: “No one from the Bangladeshi authorities has contacted me. The entire time they’ve done trial by media. My lawyers proactively wrote to the Bangladeshi authorities, they never responded.
Continue reading...Unctad says many countries targeted with high tariff rates are unlikely to be a threat to US
The UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, is calling on Donald Trump to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest countries from “reciprocal” tariffs, or risk “serious economic harm”.
In a report published on Monday, Unctad identifies 28 nations the US president singled out for a higher tariff rate than the 10% baseline – despite each accounting for less than 0.1% of the US trade deficit.
Continue reading...The Wall Street Journal has the story:
Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret December meeting that Beijing was behind a widespread series of alarming cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring how hostilities between the two superpowers are continuing to escalate.
The Chinese delegation linked years of intrusions into computer networks at U.S. ports, water utilities, airports and other targets, to increasing U.S. policy support for Taiwan, the people, who declined to be named, said.
The admission wasn’t explicit:...
Winston Jones, who for a decade was unable to return home from Jamaica, almost didn’t apply for compensation, fearing it was a trap
Winston Jones has worked hard to rebuild his life after Home Office errors meant he was unable to return to his family in the UK for 10 years after taking a short holiday in Jamaica in 2005, enduring a decade of near destitution and homelessness in Kingston.
Jones, 64, a former bakery manager at Sainsbury’s, has used the money he received from the Windrush compensation scheme to set up a podcast studio and music recording unit in Manchester, working with his son to create opportunities for local young people.
Continue reading...Secretary of state says ‘criminals’ were taken to country thanks to alliance between Trump and Nayib Bukele
The US has deported another 10 people that it alleges are gang members to El Salvador, secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Sunday, a day before that country’s president is due to visit the White House.
“Last night, another 10 criminals from the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua Foreign Terrorist Organizations arrived in El Salvador,” Rubio said in an X/Twitter post.
Continue reading...Former City minister accused of illegally receiving plot of land from her aunt, ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
An arrest warrant for the former City minister Tulip Siddiq has been issued in Bangladesh with a new allegation accusing her of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt, the ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladeshi media reported the warrant was issued by a judge for 53 people connected to Hasina, including Siddiq. There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.
Continue reading...Foreign minister Penny Wong has demanded full review into wounding of Ranem Abu-Izneid in November but legal team claim there have been ‘no updates’
Lawyers for an Australian dentistry student who lost her eye after being struck by shrapnel in the occupied West Bank say they doubt Israel is investigating the matter despite the foreign minister, Penny Wong, demanding a comprehensive probe.
Palestinian-Australian student Ranem Abu-Izneid, 20, was sheltering with her friend on 15 November 2024 at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, when she says a bullet fired by Israeli forces penetrated the window. She later lost her right eye.
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Continue reading...Team leading South Australian search says risk of disrupting other wildlife has made it hard to capture missing pet dog
New footage of Valerie the miniature dachshund, missing since 2023, shows her sniffing around a trap and capering with a food box.
But more than 500 days since she escaped from a pen on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Valerie is still at large.
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Continue reading...A green card holder, Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi faced attacks from pro-Israel activists.
The post Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE appeared first on The Intercept.
Senior Tories charged after Guardian story about alleged bets placed on July poll days before date was announced
The former Conservative MP Craig Williams is among 15 people, including several other senior Tories, charged by the Gambling Commission for alleged cheating connected to bets based on the date of the 2024 UK general election.
Williams was the MP for Montgomeryshire and Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary, but lost the support of the Conservative party after a Guardian story about alleged bets placed on a July election just days before the date was announced.
Continue reading...Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, says they have ‘no idea’ why they have been in jail for two months
An elderly British couple taken captive by the Taliban have been interrogated 29 times since they were imprisoned more than two months ago, and still have “absolutely no idea” why they have been incarcerated, their daughter has said.
No charges have been brought against Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who ran school training programmes and were arrested alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, in central Afghanistan, in February.
Continue reading...The Trump administration filed no new evidence in its case against Khalil, according to a new filing ahead of Friday's hearing.
The post The Case Against Mahmoud Khalil Hinges on Vague “Antisemitism” Claim appeared first on The Intercept.
Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
As demand for smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles has soared, so has demand for the minerals - such as cobalt and coltan - for the batteries that power them. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has vast reserves of these minerals, and their extraction is fuelling the country's civil war. Josh Toussaint-Strauss finds out more about how global demand for tech is causing human suffering in central Africa, and how we, and western powers and companies, are complicit
Continue reading...Sixty-one media organizations and press freedom advocates filed an amicus brief warning of the chilling effect on First Amendment rights.
The post Press Coalition Challenges Trump’s Executive Order Threatening Press Freedom and Legal Representation appeared first on The Intercept.
Plan comes after Donald Trump reiterated import threats and chipmaker’s CEO dined at US president’s resort
The chip designer Nvidia has said it will build up to $500bn (£378bn) worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US over the next four years, in a sign of manufacturers investing in operations on American soil amid Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The announcement comes after Trump reiterated threats on Sunday to impose imminent tariffs on the semiconductors that Nvidia makes mostly in Taiwan, and after the chipmaker’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, dined at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month.
Continue reading...Robin McKie reflects on his 40 years as science editor for the Observer and tells Madeleine Finlay about the game-changing discoveries and scientific controversies that he’s reported on during that time. He describes how the discovery of the structure of DNA revolutionised science, what he learned about misinformation from the HIV/AIDS pandemic and why cold fusion and the millennium bug failed to live up to their hype.
What I’ve learned after 40 years as the Observer’s science editor
Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod
Continue reading...We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2021: After 32 years of establishment lies, media smears, inquests, trials and retrials, the families of the Hillsborough dead have yet to see anyone held accountable
By David Conn. Read by Gavin Skelhorn
Continue reading...What does the British Steel crisis reveal about the UK’s critical infrastructure? Jasper Jolly reports
On Saturday, when MPs were supposed to be on their Easter holidays, a rare emergency sitting was called. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, told the House of Commons that they were meeting “in exceptional circumstances to take exceptional action in what are exceptional times”.
MPs passed a bill to save the Scunthorpe steelworks, a vital part of the UK’s critical infrastructure and the last remaining maker of mass-produced virgin steel. The emergency legislation allowed the government to instruct the Chinese owners of the British Steel plant, Jingye, to keep Scunthorpe open or face criminal penalties.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Mark Pougatch and Sam Dalling as Newcastle’s form puts them fourth in the Premier League
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today; the race for fifth place in the Premier League is just about all that’s left to play for this season and Newcastle hammer Manchester United to move fourth. Can they now reel in Nottingham Forest? Nuno Espírito Sant’s side have now lost back-to-back games to leave them looking over their shoulder at the chasing pack.
Continue reading...She spent her life in northern France doing exhausting, back-breaking work – and yet she turned her anger against people who had done no wrongs to her. But as much as I couldn’t stand her rants, I was forced to accept her as she was
By Didier Eribon. Read by Mark Noble
Continue reading...Just weeks away from graduation, some international students at Arizona State University have been blocked from completing degrees.
The post At Least 50 Arizona State Students Have Now Had Visas Revoked, Lawyer Says appeared first on The Intercept.
At a Congressional hearing earlier this week, Matt Blaze made the point that CALEA, the 1994 law that forces telecoms to make phone calls wiretappable, is outdated in today’s threat environment and should be rethought:
In other words, while the legally-mandated CALEA capability requirements have changed little over the last three decades, the infrastructure that must implement and protect it has changed radically. This has greatly expanded the “attack surface” that must be defended to prevent unauthorized wiretaps, especially at scale. The job of the illegal eavesdropper has gotten significantly easier, with many more options and opportunities for them to exploit. Compromising our telecommunications infrastructure is now little different from performing any other kind of computer intrusion or data breach, a well-known and endemic cybersecurity problem. To put it bluntly, something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable, and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made...
As part of Trump’s administrations ‘efficiency’ drive, staff running decades old program for energy assistance laid off
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), is facing new demands to release almost $400m allocated by Congress to help low-income US families keep the air conditioning on this summer.
The funds are under threat after the staff running a decades old program were fired – as part of the Trump administration’s so-called ‘efficiency’ drive.
Continue reading...The veteran investigative journalist will cover U.S. military operations, national security issues, and foreign affairs through this yearlong fellowship.
The post Nick Turse Joins The Intercept as Inaugural National Security Reporting Fellow appeared first on The Intercept.
The shape of the Trump 2.0 White House has spurred serious concerns about public health and reproductive rights, and left military leaders 'stunned' and former intelligence experts 'appalled'. From a vaccine skeptic in charge of running the department of health, to a wrestling mogul in charge of the country's education, and even a ‘deep state conspiracy theorist’ becoming head of the FBI, the Guardian US live news editor Chris Michael takes us through the six most controversial members, and what their appointments could mean for the country
Continue reading...In “Secrets and Lies” (2000), I wrote:
It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.
It’s something a bunch of us were saying at the time, in reference to the vast NSA’s surveillance capabilities.
I have been thinking of that quote a lot as I read news stories of President Trump firing the Director of the National Security Agency. General Timothy Haugh.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote:
We don’t know what pressure the Trump administration is using to make intelligence services fall into line, but it isn’t crazy to ...
Leaders around the world have reacted with a mix of a mix of confusion and concern after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on some of its largest trading partners, upending decades of US trade policy and starting a possible global trade war. The tariffs range from 10% to 49% on all goods imported from abroad
‘Nowhere on earth is safe’: Trump imposes tariffs on uninhabited islands near Antarctica
War-torn and struggling countries among those facing steepest Trump reciprocal tariffs
A GP surgery in one of the most deprived areas in the north-east of England is struggling to provide care for its patients as the health system crumbles around them. In the depths of the winter flu season, the Guardian video producers Maeve Shearlaw and Adam Sich went to Bridges medical practice to shadow the lead GP, Paul Evans, as he worked all hours keep his surgery afloat. Juggling technical challenges, long waiting lists and the profound impact austerity has had on the health of the population, Evans says: 'We are seeing the system fail'
Continue reading...
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...It’s a lot easier to tease new cross-Channel rail services than it is to actually start running trains. I’m crossing my fingers anyway
Between environmental breakdown, economic crisis and Donald Trump, it often feels like there’s precious little reason to feel hopeful these days. So how’s this for a reason to cheer up: Italian state railway company, Trenitalia, is planning to run trains through the Channel tunnel before the decade is out. It’s studying the option of direct trains from the UK to Italy, too. Eagle-eyed readers may note that those are two separate propositions.
Trenitalia is no stranger to the British rail network: it already operates the C2C franchise, which connects London Fenchurch Street via south Essex to Southend. Last week the company announced a €1bn (£860m) plan to launch a new high-speed service connecting London and Paris by 2029, as a direct competitor to the long-established Eurostar. In addition, it’s reported to be “studying the possibility” of extending the route, to Lyon, Marseille and Milan, which could be reached by train from London in eight hours. (Trenitalia already runs from Milan to Paris in just over seven hours.)
Jonn Elledge is an author and former assistant editor of the New Statesman
The challenging 870-mile trail cuts diagonally across Romania and takes in mountain meadows, fairytale forests and medieval monasteries
It was about seven minutes into my cycle ride that the first signs of addiction became apparent. My ebike’s “power assist” button felt more like a morphine clicker as we climbed the misty hills of Bucovina in northern Romania. Sergiu, my group’s guide, knew what I was up to. “Be honest with yourself – only use ‘turbo’ if you have to!” he shouted. My thumb cowered under the handlebar.
On previous adventures I’ve resisted assistance, maintaining that battery power is the preserve of the unserious. Nowadays, though, my pins aren’t as powerful, and on these vertiginous hills the extra oomph was near essential. But as with all drugs, moderation is key. After all, one wouldn’t want to run out of juice on hills that are home to wolves, bears and lynx.
Continue reading...Journalist Joel Budd travels around Britain demolishing Brexit myths in a nuanced study of a social group too often reduced to a cartoon by politicians
On 13 November 1968, a 35-year-old Labour politician got to his feet in the House of Commons and had a go at the ranks of Conservative members who faced him. Six or so months after Enoch Powell had delivered his infamously racist “rivers of blood” speech in Birmingham, David Winnick – who was then the MP for Croydon South – had decided to attack the Tory fashion for bemoaning immigration to the UK from such countries as India and Pakistan and expressing faux sympathy with deprived communities in British cities. “Many of those who act as the champions of the white person against immigrants,” he said, “have not in the past gone out of their way to defend the interests of the white working class.”
As the Economist journalist Joel Budd points out in this nuanced, enlightening book about the people and places Winnick was referring to, this was the first time “white working class” had been used to describe a certain kind of Briton. And in that sense, that small parliamentary moment was a prescient glimpse of a subject that would explode half a century later, when hostility to immigration fed into the result of the 2016 referendum on Brexit. At that point, the term “white working class’” became more ubiquitous than ever, and an insurgent political right made up of Powell’s political heirs – split between Tory Brexiters and the forces led by Nigel Farage – affected to speak for a kind of voter they claimed had been neglected and betrayed.
Continue reading...This week: top tips for buying preloved; the best secateurs, tested; and genuinely great-smelling diffusers
While waiting for a show during London fashion week in February, I and a few fashion writers, stylists and editors were admiring each other’s outfits. Surprise, surprise, we discovered that the pieces we loved most were preowned (and largely from charity shops, I might add).
It’s no secret that industry insiders love secondhand fashion: Kate Moss is known for her love of vintage; British Vogue recently hosted a vintage sale in collaboration with eBay; celebrities such as Zendaya, Kendall Jenner and Miley Cyrus are turning to archive looks for their red carpet appearances; even Selfridges now offers Reselfridges, a range of preloved designer bags and accessories.
The best secateurs to save you time and effort when pruning your garden, tested
The best diffusers for your home: 22 genuinely great-smelling diffusers for every mood and budget
The best power banks and battery packs for reliable charging on the go, tested
‘Very pale and oddly wrinkly’: the best (and worst) supermarket hot cross buns for Easter, tested
Continue reading...If you have changed your travel plans about travelling to the US, we’d like to hear from you
According to the US National Travel and Tourism Office, overseas visits to the country was down 11.6% in March compared to the same month last year.
We’re interested in finding out more about your views of travelling to the US. Have you recently changed your travel plans or decided not to travel to the US? Or perhaps you have booked a trip this year or are planning to visit in the near future? Whatever your reasons for travelling, or not, we’d like to hear from you.
Continue reading...Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, says they have ‘no idea’ why they have been in jail for two months
An elderly British couple taken captive by the Taliban have been interrogated 29 times since they were imprisoned more than two months ago, and still have “absolutely no idea” why they have been incarcerated, their daughter has said.
No charges have been brought against Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who ran school training programmes and were arrested alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, in central Afghanistan, in February.
Continue reading...Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
Just weeks away from graduation, some international students at Arizona State University have been blocked from completing degrees.
The post At Least 50 Arizona State Students Have Now Had Visas Revoked, Lawyer Says appeared first on The Intercept.
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...
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