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Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport
Tue, 14 Jan 2025 20:07:02 +0000
The Laken Riley Act authorizes state attorneys general to sue federal authorities to force deportations and block visas.
The post Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
The proposed new law will hand over artists’ copyright so their competitors can be trained for free. The government must reconsider
On Monday morning, a couple of hours after the UK government’s AI opportunities action plan was published, I started getting messages from artists. “We are not going to continue drawing so that the founders of [AI companies] can get rich. I am quitting this job now,” said one. Another told me: “I have given up at this point.” I’ve heard similar messages from people for months – they are abandoning their creative jobs because AI companies are taking their work without asking, and using it to train models that compete with them.
There is actually a lot I agree with in the action plan, which seeks to make the UK a global leader in artificial intelligence. Written by the venture capital investor Matt Clifford, it proposes making it easier for British AI companies to access “compute” (essentially the servers needed to train AI models), updating visa regulations to bring more AI experts to our shores, and much more besides. These are sensible ideas that could boost our economy.
Ed Newton-Rex is the founder of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that certifies generative AI companies that respect creators’ rights, and a visiting scholar at Stanford University
Continue reading...Public defenders and legal professionals said they never see the leniency offered to Trump given to other defendants.
The post A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Only Trump Gets Convicted of 34 Felonies and Receives No Punishment appeared first on The Intercept.
Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Trump’s Crypto Council Chief Teamed Up With Sketchy Trump-Themed Meme Coin appeared first on The Intercept.
Deal negotiated through Catholic church will involve ‘gradual’ release of 553 political prisoners, says Havana
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal the country’s communist government said would involve the “gradual” release of 553 political prisoners.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
Continue reading...Trump Pentagon pick grilled by Democrats at Senate confirmation hearing amid concerns of his personal history
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for US secretary of defense, defended his record in a contentious Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, acknowledging he was “not a perfect person” as Democratic lawmakers grilled the military veteran and Fox News host on allegations of sexual assault, excessive alcohol use and financial mismanagement.
Hegseth can only afford to lose the votes of three Senate Republicans, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination, but none appeared ready to break ranks despite some having previously voiced concerns about Hegseth’s personal history and his views on women in the military.
Continue reading...The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.
The post The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers appeared first on The Intercept.
The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
And why those that do aren’t just trading in meme coins for the lulz.
The post Congress Loves Crypto. So Why Do So Few Members Buy It? appeared first on The Intercept.
Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.
The post Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better. appeared first on The Intercept.
Rep. Sara Jacobs is trying to raise the alarm about the key U.S. ally’s conduct after the Christmas strike killed 10 civilians.
The post Nigeria’s Military Gets Billions in U.S. Aid. On Christmas Day, It Bombed Its Own Civilians Again. appeared first on The Intercept.
And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Trump’s Crypto Council Chief Teamed Up With Sketchy Trump-Themed Meme Coin appeared first on The Intercept.
In December, we published the 120th fiendishly tricky general knowledge paper from the Isle of Man school. Did you give it a try? Here are the answers
Click here to see the questions
1. Edward Norton (British Mount Everest Expedition)
Continue reading...Campaigners say pollution levels in street in Herne Hill were far higher when private schools were open
Parents driving children to private schools is associated with a 27% increase in air pollution and congestion in a south London street, according to campaigners who are calling for private schools to make greater use of sustainable transport.
The analysis by Solve the School Run found that nitrogen dioxide levels and fine particulates produced by vehicles in the street in Herne Hill were far higher when nearby private schools such as Dulwich college were open, compared with when only local state schools were open.
Continue reading...A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
The Laken Riley Act authorizes state attorneys general to sue federal authorities to force deportations and block visas.
The post Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Trump’s Crypto Council Chief Teamed Up With Sketchy Trump-Themed Meme Coin appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump Pentagon pick grilled by Democrats at Senate confirmation hearing amid concerns of his personal history
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for US secretary of defense, defended his record in a contentious Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, acknowledging he was “not a perfect person” as Democratic lawmakers grilled the military veteran and Fox News host on allegations of sexual assault, excessive alcohol use and financial mismanagement.
Hegseth can only afford to lose the votes of three Senate Republicans, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination, but none appeared ready to break ranks despite some having previously voiced concerns about Hegseth’s personal history and his views on women in the military.
Continue reading...The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.
The post The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers appeared first on The Intercept.
Contentious compensation clause likely to be removed after law paused over fears it could protect hate speech
Ministers are to revive legislation that aims to protect free speech on university campuses in England but a contentious clause allowing legal claims over compensation is likely to be removed.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, paused implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act shortly after last year’s general election, citing concerns that the law passed by the Conservative government potentially protected the use of hate speech while exposing universities and student unions to bureaucratic and legal costs.
Continue reading...New polling says much of the world will welcome Trump. Europe will need to be more transactional abroad – but less so at home
When returning US president Donald Trump eyes up Greenland, Panama and Canada, as Vladimir Putin once eyed Crimea and Xi Jinping eyes Taiwan, he is both symptom and cause of a new world disorder. Trumpism is just one variant of transactionalism, which is the leitmotif of this new disorder. Liberal democracies, especially those in Europe, need to wake up and smell the gunpowder.
Russia and China are now revisionist great powers, which aim to change or overthrow the existing order, while middle powers like Turkey, Brazil and South Africa are happy to play with all sides. This is also a world of wars – in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan. Most Europeans carry on pretty much as if we still lived in late 20th-century peacetime, but the world around us increasingly resembles the late 19th-century Europe of fiercely competing great powers and empires writ large. For the geopolitical stage is now planetary, and most of the players are non-western states. Trump’s United States is likely to behave more like those other transactional great powers than like, say, Germany or Sweden.
Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist. He co-authored the report on the ECFR global poll with Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard
Continue reading...Labor MP says parties must not ‘squabble over discrimination’ as Jillian Segal urges prime minister to convene meeting
The Labor MP Josh Burns says there are “clearly gaps in our legal framework” and has called on political parties “not to squabble over discrimination”, after Australia’s special envoy on antisemitism called for urgent action to address a spate of recent incidents she said were “terrorising Australia’s Jewish community”.
Jillian Segal on Wednesday urged the prime minister to convene a national cabinet meeting in response to a series of incidents, including the graffitiing of swastikas on Sydney synagogues on Friday and Saturday last week, and an arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne in December.
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Continue reading...There is a certain pathos to special prosecutor’s insistence that his unfulfilled investigation was not in vain
A forlorn note from Jack Smith to Merrick Garland, the attorney general, provides a poignant epitaph into the unfulfilled and ultimately fruitless two-year criminal investigation into Donald Trump.
“While we were not able to bring the cases we charged to trial, I believe the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law matters,” the special prosecutor wrote in a letter attached to the 137-page report, which concludes that the president-elect would have been criminally convicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election if he had not been re-elected four years later.
Continue reading...British arm of Heartland, which has taken oil and Republican funding, to be led by ex-Ukip head Lois Perry
Climate science deniers are lining up a political offensive in Britain after a US lobby group opened a UK branch which is already working with Nigel Farage.
The Reform UK leader was the guest of honour at the launch of Heartland UK/Europe, which is to be headed by a former leader of Ukip and climate denier.
Continue reading...More than 1,000 train services expected to be cancelled by end of Wednesday with warnings industrial action could cause further chaos on Thursday
Sydneysiders have been warned that more than 1,000 train services are expected to be cancelled by the end of Wednesday while those that do run could suffer hours-long delays, as the state government vows to explore legal action to quash “intolerable” industrial action from continuing into Thursday.
By Wednesday afternoon, about 400 services had been cancelled, with just 16% of services having run on time or at all. The T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra, T1 North Shore and Western and T8 Airport and South lines had been the worst affected by work bans from combined rail unions.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Wong ‘absolutely confident’ government can work with Trump as US president
Moving to another topic, Penny Wong was asked about her invite to Donald Trump’s inauguration in the US, and responded:
Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, and I’m honoured, on behalf of the country, to have been invited to his inauguration.
This includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial. So that is their obligation, [and] we will look at the facts when they have been ascertained.
But I want to be clear, all options are on the table. Those options include expelling the ambassador and recalling Australia’s ambassador in Russia … I need, as the foreign minister, to identify and ascertain the facts beforehand.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...Public defenders and legal professionals said they never see the leniency offered to Trump given to other defendants.
The post A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Only Trump Gets Convicted of 34 Felonies and Receives No Punishment appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
Prime minister will face questions from leader of the opposition and other MPs
PMQs is starting soon.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Continue reading...Changes to Legacy Act could lift block on former Sinn Féin president receiving payout for unlawful internment
The former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and 400 others interned during the Northern Ireland Troubles would be in line for compensation from the British government if Labour’s plan to ditch controversial laws dealing with the period goes ahead, it has been claimed.
Jonathan Caine, a former government adviser to three Northern Ireland secretaries, has urged the government to rethink its planned repeal of the Legacy Act 2023. Lord Caine told BBC Northern Ireland that Labour’s decision was “political”.
Continue reading...Legislation has new life in wake of Los Angeles catastrophe but US fossil-fuel industry is already mobilizing against it
In the year preceding the devastating Los Angeles county wildfires, big oil fiercely lobbied to kill a “polluter pay” bill that moved through the California senate and would have forced major fossil fuel companies to help cover the costs of climate disasters.
Fossil-fuel industry lobbying in California spiked to record levels during the 2023-24 legislative session, and the polluter pay bill was among the most targeted pieces of legislation, a Guardian review of state lobby filings found.
Continue reading...The chancellor isn’t going anywhere – but clinging to Treasury orthodoxy threatens Labour’s transformative growth agenda
Rachel Reeves’s decisions don’t warrant her departure, but her missteps are steadily eroding her credibility. She entered office with public support and was tasked with repairing a country bruised by 14 years of Conservative rule. Ms Reeves’s embrace of fiscal discipline was cast as necessary to reassure markets and prevent capital flight. But this – and her emphasis on spending cuts – points to a fundamental misdiagnosis of Britain’s problems.
Sensing an opportunity, the Conservatives laid a trap and Ms Reeves walked into it. When the opposition encouraged speculation that rising bond yields would put the chancellor on track to miss her fiscal rules, the government backed “ruthless” state-shrinking as the appropriate remedial action. Ms Reeves should have immediately pointed out that the movement in long-term UK rates was down to an international shift in bond prices. She erred in thinking that claiming to be “tough” on public spending would earn her praise from the rightwing media. This lapse instead damaged her political standing, and only on Tuesday did she acknowledge her mistake, insisting global factors were largely behind rising UK government borrowing costs.
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...Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.
The post Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better. appeared first on The Intercept.
The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
First consecutive year of declining GDP since early 2000s highlights challenges facing Germany’s next government
• Business live – latest updates
Germany’s economy has shrank for a second consecutive year for the first time in more than two decades, highlighting the challenges the next government will face after snap elections in February.
As voters prepare to head to the polls amid heightened political uncertainty in Europe’s largest economy, official figures showed gross domestic product fell by 0.2% last year after dropping by 0.3% in 2023.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Findings suggest ‘weakening of west’ as relations become more transactional, say report’s authors
European anxiety about Donald Trump’s return to the White House is not shared in much of the world, a poll has shown, with more people in non-western powers such as China, Russia, India and Brazil welcoming his second term than not.
The 24-country poll, which also included Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkey, found that Switzerland, the UK, 11 EU nations surveyed and South Korea were alone in feeling Trump 2.0 would be bad for their country and for peace in the world.
Continue reading...And why those that do aren’t just trading in meme coins for the lulz.
The post Congress Loves Crypto. So Why Do So Few Members Buy It? appeared first on The Intercept.
Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
Electrical goods chain also says it intends to bring in more automation, despite market ‘perking up’ over Christmas
Currys has announced it is to bring in more automation and that it is entering a period of “depressed hiring” after changes to employers’ national insurance, though it said the consumer environment “perked up” over the festive period with shoppers snapping up coffee machines and AI-enabled laptops.
The electrical goods retailer said it would pay dividends to shareholders for the first time in two years after underlying sales rose 2% in the UK and Ireland and 1% in its Nordic stores. Both arms have not grown at the same time since 2021.
Continue reading...In an instant, Sam Pordale went from a world of privilege to becoming a refugee in imminent danger. He talks about how he lost everything and began to rebuild his life
On 15 August 2021, 21-year-old Sam Pordale and his father found themselves part of a huge, panicked crowd of people all trying to get to Kabul airport and away from the Taliban militants who, just hours earlier, had taken control of Afghanistan’s capital city.
Between the crowd and the entrance to the airport, Pordale could see a Taliban checkpoint, where heavily armed men were holding lists in their hands and checking people’s documents. Pordale, whose father had until that morning held a high-ranking position in the democratic government, knew that their chances of getting to the airport and on to an evacuation flight were blown.
Continue reading...The proposed new law will hand over artists’ copyright so their competitors can be trained for free. The government must reconsider
On Monday morning, a couple of hours after the UK government’s AI opportunities action plan was published, I started getting messages from artists. “We are not going to continue drawing so that the founders of [AI companies] can get rich. I am quitting this job now,” said one. Another told me: “I have given up at this point.” I’ve heard similar messages from people for months – they are abandoning their creative jobs because AI companies are taking their work without asking, and using it to train models that compete with them.
There is actually a lot I agree with in the action plan, which seeks to make the UK a global leader in artificial intelligence. Written by the venture capital investor Matt Clifford, it proposes making it easier for British AI companies to access “compute” (essentially the servers needed to train AI models), updating visa regulations to bring more AI experts to our shores, and much more besides. These are sensible ideas that could boost our economy.
Ed Newton-Rex is the founder of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that certifies generative AI companies that respect creators’ rights, and a visiting scholar at Stanford University
Continue reading...World Economic Forum says responses from experts in business, politics and academia also highlight climate crisis
Global leaders have said that escalating armed conflict is the most urgent threat in 2025 but the climate emergency is expected to cause the greatest concern over the next decade, according to the World Economic Forum.
Ahead of its yearly gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos next week, the WEF asked more than 900 leaders from business, politics and academia about the risks that most concern them.
Continue reading...After week of turbulence in markets, ONS data shows prices rose at slower rate last month than in November
UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after a week of turbulence in financial markets.
With the government under pressure on the economy, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November, meaning prices rose at a slower rate.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: With reports of a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations, a look at what the detail includes – and what its obstacles are
Good morning. After months of false starts, Israel and Hamas are close to agreeing a ceasefire that would involve the release of hostages and a major influx of aid into Gaza. Last night, both sides appeared to have accepted the outlines of a deal, with Reuters reporting that once Israel delivers maps showing how its forces will withdraw from Gaza, Hamas will give its response.
“It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said yesterday. “But, right now, as we sit here, we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”
Economy | UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after a week of turbulence in financial markets. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November.
UK politics | Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after accepting the furore over her close ties to her aunt, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh now accused of corruption, had become a distraction. An investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing but said a lack of records meant that it was not possible “to obtain comprehensive comfort” over properties linked to Sheikh Hasina.
South Korea | South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
Health | Doctors are proposing a “radical overhaul” of how obesity is diagnosed worldwide amid concerns that a reliance on body mass index may be causing millions of people to be misdiagnosed. Relying only on BMI is “ineffective” because it is not a direct measure of fat and does not provide information about a person’s health, a report by the Lancet commission said.
Comedy | The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 after a heart attack, his partner has announced. Slattery was known for his improvisations on the popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as well as his appearances on Just a Minute and Have I Got News for You.
Continue reading...Many local authorities facing bankruptcy as government criticised for lack of urgency
The crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England risks creating a “lost generation” of children, while putting “almost half” of all councils with an education remit in danger of bankruptcy within 15 months, parliament’s spending watchdog has warned.
MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC) expressed frustration with the government’s lack of progress in resolving the crisis, and complained their inquiry had found “no sense of urgency” among officials.
Continue reading...The cash to match the prime minister’s ambition will have to come from other budgets long before any benefits are seen
Keir Starmer made two predictions at the start of his week. He said that artificial intelligence will transform Britain’s economy in the coming years and that Rachel Reeves will continue to run the Treasury. Those were safe bets, but not guarantees. One is a forecast the prime minister makes eagerly, the other was bullied out of him. He would have preferred to talk about AI improving productivity, generating jobs and improving services, without being asked if he plans to sack the chancellor.
He doesn’t, and wouldn’t say even if he did. The question isn’t serious. It is a contrivance, a lobby ritual for turning speculation into news. Demand official comment on an improbable scenario, then interrogate the answer until it surrenders a headline. Starmer isn’t poised to jettison Reeves, but economic pressure on the pair is real. There is no growth. The pound is depreciating and debt costs are rising, gobbling resources that can’t then be used to upgrade the public realm.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Law to stop armed groups profiting from trade in gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum is being breached, rights groups say
The European Union has been urged to clamp down on illegal imports of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after evidence was found that current regulations had been breached.
The advocacy group Global Witness (GW) said there remained a “high risk” of the EU’s mineral imports being used to fund militias and state repression in several countries.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/NeverEndingDClock [link] [comments] |
Efforts by the plastics industry to thwart regulation come from a familiar playbook
As the public wake up to the risk of “forever chemicals”, or PFAS, the industry is fighting back with a campaign researchers have compared with big tobacco’s battle against restrictions on smoking. New findings about its intense lobbying efforts are highly concerning and require a response from the environment secretary, Steve Reed. A recent consultation by the European Chemicals Agency, regarding proposals for comprehensive regulation of the substances, which take an enormous length of time to degrade, was inundated with responses from business.
Varieties of these chemicals have been used in manufacturing and consumer goods since the 1950s. They protect equipment, remove grease and smooth skin – hence their appearance in kitchenware and cosmetics. But they can also leak into soil and water, and accumulate inside human tissues. Some have been linked to health problems including cancer and high cholesterol.
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...Readers respond to the recall to prison of a 78-year-old woman who was convicted of causing a public nuisance in a protest on the M25
Zoe Williams does well to highlight the absurdity of Gaie Delap’s case (This 77-year-old climate activist should never have been jailed – and now faces a Kafkaesque struggle to get out, 9 January). Recalling a 78-year-old woman convicted of a non-violent, peaceful protest to prison on a technicality makes a mockery of our justice system.
Irrespective of opinions on Delap’s activism and actions and whether she should have been given a custodial sentence in the first place, it’s clear that she has been unfairly punished by an electronic tag system that is unfit for purpose, and a judicial process that is farcically failing. And this should be of significant concern to James Timpson, the prisons minister and the chair of the recently announced Women’s Justice Board – a board that will have a remit to reduce the number of people in prison and make innovative use of technological solutions in community sentencing.
Continue reading...Sanctions can play an important role in deterring the operation of criminal networks, writes Alex Prezanti; plus a letter from Ian Mynot
I read with great interest the foreign secretary’s opinion piece announcing the development of legislation for a new sanctions regime that specifically targets irregular migration and organised immigration crime (Journal, 8 January).
As a fellow barrister specialising in human rights, anti-corruption and sanctions, I am very curious about the scope and powers of the proposed law. Sanctions can play an important role in deterring the operation of criminal networks, by freezing their UK assets and cutting them off from UK financial and other services. Similar to tactics used by US prosecutors to bring down Al Capone in the 1930s, UK-based members of human trafficking networks may be easier to prosecute for violating sanctions than for the trafficking itself.
Continue reading...Zuckerberg, Musk and Bezos are falling over themselves to suck up to the incoming president. And he’s just as keen to let them
Over the past month, we’ve learned that Donald Trump’s inauguration fund has received million-dollar donations from, among others, Google, Meta overlord Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple boss Tim Cook. Hard to know whether it’s encouraging or quite the opposite to find them being so public about it. Traditionally when industrialists have made knee-bending gestures to incoming self-confessed authoritarians, they’ve preferred to do it in a back room somewhere, rather than on a publicly available list that also risks implying they like Carrie Underwood’s music.
So let’s deal first with the entertainers. Underwood will perform at Trump’s inauguration, having previously insisted it was absolutely impossible to put her in some kind of ideological box. “I feel like more people try to pin me places politically,” she mused a few years ago. “I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins. It’s crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it’s black and white. And it’s not like that.” Update: it now is like that.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Natural England furious that years of work has been undone, with minister urged to push policy through
Downing Street has blocked plans to release wild beavers in England because officials view it as a “Tory legacy”, the Guardian can reveal.
Natural England, the government’s nature watchdog, has drawn up a plan for reintroductions of the rodent, which until about 20 years ago had been extinct in Britain for 400 years, having been hunted for their fur, meat and scent oil. Beavers create useful habitats for wildlife and reduce flooding by breaking up waterways, slowing water flow, and creating still pools.
Continue reading...As legislation returns to the Commons, hopes rise of an end to no-fault evictions in England, but some fear loopholes
When Nicola Jalland, 62, was served with a section 21 no-fault eviction in March 2022 – which means a landlord can oust a tenant for no reason – she was upset to leave the property she had lived in for 11 years. She had made the home a sanctuary, with a garden full of flowers.
But when Jalland got her second no-fault eviction in two years in November 2023, she was angry. “It was an incredible feeling of imbalance of power,” she says. “The second time it happened, I literally felt worthless.”
Continue reading...MP accused of misusing her position to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt Sheikh Hasina
Authorities in Bangladesh have filed a criminal case against the UK Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, accusing her of misusing her position as an MP to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Siddiq has faced mounting calls to resign over her links to Hasina, who was toppled in August after mass protests across Bangladesh and is facing charges of corruption and crimes against humanity.
Continue reading...His meal-replacement business is worth hundreds of millions, but Collier’s rise to the top has been far from easy. He discusses bodybuilding, bullies and why nutrition is more polarising than politics
When James Collier got married to Melanie nearly 10 years ago, his dad paid for the honeymoon. Collier’s businesses weren’t exactly booming, but he had a good feeling about a new venture. “I was on the beach checking my emails, and I said to Mel: ‘I think this is going to do all right, this one.’ And that was an underestimation.”
It certainly was. Sales of Huel, the meal-replacement brand Collier launched in 2015, topped £214m last year. Pre-tax profits tripled to £13.8m. Huel – a product mainly made of oats, pea protein and flaxseeds, which comes in powder, drink, snack bar and meal-pot forms – is sold in 25,000 shops worldwide, including 70% of UK supermarkets. The company was most recently valued at £440m, but has since had investment from Morgan Stanley. Just how rich is Collier now?
Continue reading...Verdict of crimes against humanity for kidnap of mixed-race children could pave way for wider justice, activists say
A historic court ruling that found Belgium guilty of crimes against humanity during its colonial rule of central Africa has been hailed as a turning point that could pave the way for compensation and other forms of justice.
Belgium’s court of appeal ruled last month that the “systematic kidnapping” of mixed-race children from their African mothers in Belgian-ruled Congo, Rwanda and Burundi was a crime against humanity. The case was brought by five women who were removed from their Congolese mothers as small children between 1948 and 1953, and who now live in Belgium and France. Each was awarded €50,000 (£42,000) in damages.
Continue reading...As the TikTok ban goes up before the Supreme Court on Friday, TikTok creator Pearlmania500, Shawn Musgrave, and Jessica Washington discuss what’s at stake.
The post TikTok SCOTUS Battle appeared first on The Intercept.
Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
Penny Sharpe says ‘mystery’ debris sent for testing and beaches not closed as there were so few balls
More ball-shaped debris has washed ashore at Sydney’s Bondi, Coogee, Maroubra and Cronulla beaches, the New South Wales government has confirmed.
The office of the acting premier, Penny Sharpe, told Guardian Australia on Wednesday that “small numbers of balls” – some only pea-sized – had washed up on the four beaches in the past few days.
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Continue reading...Decision comes after alleged assault on 63-year-old Claudia Campomayor Watt on Monday
Coles will stop selling kitchen knives after the stabbing of one its employees in a south-east Queensland supermarket – an alleged assault that prompted the state’s premier to promise further crackdowns on youth crime.
Claudia Campomayor Watt, 63, was allegedly stabbed in the back on Monday while working at a Coles in Ipswich’s Yamanto Central shopping centre. The knife was taken from the supermarket’s shelves.
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Continue reading...A job listing for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show offers $12 per hour — part of a long pattern of host-city residents getting the short shrift.
The post Everyone’s Making Millions But the Super Bowl Haltime Show Wants to Hire New Orleans Locals for $12 an Hour appeared first on The Intercept.
Culture secretary says it should go ahead despite pressure for it to be cancelled over Taliban’s treatment of women
England should be allowed to play next month’s cricket match against Afghanistan, the culture and sport secretary has said, despite calls for a boycott over the Taliban government’s treatment of women.
Lisa Nandy backed a decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to allow the game to go ahead, saying on Friday that cancelling it would “deny sports fans the opportunity that they love”.
Continue reading...Struggling water firm tells regulator for England and Wales proposals would make it hard to attract talent to sector
Troubled Thames Water has threatened to increase the salaries of its executives if the industry regulator sees through on plans to limit bonuses for the bosses of water companies.
The company, which serves more than 16 million customers across the London area and the Thames valley, is attempting to stabilise its debt-laden finances. It has told Ofwat that it intends to raise base executive pay.
Continue reading...Company reveals plans to cut about 5% of its global workforce days after saying it would get rid of factcheckers
Meta, the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, is to cut about 5% of its global workforce, with its poorest-performing employees most likely to leave.
In a memo to staff, the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said he had decided to “move out low-performers faster”, ahead of what he said would be an “intense year”, and would be accelerating the company’s usual performance management system.
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 2022: Despite the rise of headline-grabbing megafires, fewer fires are burning worldwide now than at any time since antiquity. But this isn’t good news – in banishing fire from sight, we have made its dangers stranger and less predictable. By Daniel Immerwahr
Continue reading...Gabrielle Canon reports from Los Angeles on the wildfires destroying homes and communities
As the Los Angeles wildfire spread closer to his home, George Elmaraghi was anxiously waiting for an evacuation order.
“When I saw the fire, from our backyard, almost parallel to our house, I was like, OK, we gotta go.”
George’s home in Altadena was destroyed in what is now the city’s most destructive wildfire. That fire is still burning and George and his family, along with 150,000 other displaced people, are now grappling with trauma, homelessness, insurance claims – and the ultimate decision of whether to rebuild or walk away.
For Gabrielle Canon, the Guardian’s extreme weather correspondent, this unprecedented fire must be understood as a compound climate disaster: the disastrous end result of a chain of events exacerbated by the climate crisis.
Gabrielle explains to Michael Safi why popular anger is growing around the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, and unpacks the potential climate crisis implications of incoming US president Donald Trump’s record on misinformation, fossil fuel extraction and federal disaster response.
Continue reading...Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Jamie Spangher, and Sophie Downey to review the weekend’s FA Cup games
On the podcast today: the panel reviews a busy weekend of FA Cup action as Wolves and Rugby Borough make history in making joining the fifth round alongside dominant performances from WSL sides. How important is the competition for lower-tier teams, and how can it impact their development?
The January transfer window is in full swing, with Everton and Manchester United among the busiest clubs. The panel discusses key moves so far, the importance of the loan system and what the second half of the season could bring for struggling sides.
Continue reading...As wildfires continue to cause devastation in Los Angeles, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Albert van Dijk, professor of water science and management at the Australian National University, about how rising temperatures are causing rapid swings in extreme weather
Clips: CBS News, CBS Sunday Morning, King 5 Seattle
Climate crisis ‘wreaking havoc’ on Earth’s water cycle, report finds
Continue reading...The Intercept found dozens of government websites exploited by spammers to redirect to porn. Here’s how this hack happened.
The post Government Sites Across the U.S. Are Awash in Hardcore Porn appeared first on The Intercept.
First of five hearings into martial law declaration lasts only minutes, while Yoon Suk Yeol remains holed up inside his presidential compound
The first hearing in the impeachment trial of South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, ended after just a few minutes on Tuesday as Yoon failed to appear at the constitutional court.
The court’s justices have about five months to decide whether to strip Yoon of his presidential duties over his short-lived declaration of martial law on 3 December or return him to office.
Continue reading...Factchecker Jesse Stiller and technology journalist Chris Stokel-Walker explore why Mark Zuckerberg has announced dramatic changes to Meta’s social platforms, and what they will mean for their 3.3 billion users
When Mark Zuckerberg announced dramatic changes to Meta’s social platforms last week – including Facebook, Instagram and Threads – he admitted: “We’re going to catch less bad stuff.”
Zuckerberg said Meta would get rid of factcheckers, overhaul its content moderation and boost political content in users’ feeds – all 3.3 billion of them. He argued the company was doing it because the political winds had changed: the public no longer viewed these safeguards as a way of preventing the spread of misinformation, hate speech, or even real-world violence, but as censorship by other means.
Continue reading...Alfred Bourgeois’s daughter is convinced of his innocence. In the four years since his execution, she has waged a sometimes-lonely battle to prove it.
The post She Lost Her Dad to Trump’s Killing Spree. Now She Wants Biden to Clear His Name. appeared first on The Intercept.
Deal negotiated through Catholic church will involve ‘gradual’ release of 553 political prisoners, says Havana
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal the country’s communist government said would involve the “gradual” release of 553 political prisoners.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
Continue reading...Anti-money laundering officials ask banks for information on UK minister and seven of her family members
Anti-money laundering officials in Bangladesh have demanded bank account details for Tulip Siddiq, the UK anti-corruption minister, in the latest escalation of the inquiries into her family’s financial interests.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), which investigates money laundering and suspicious transactions, wrote to the country’s main banks on Tuesday asking them to provide account details for Siddiq and seven of her family members.
Continue reading...Ohio has become the latest state to allow police to charge high fees for access to footage.
The post Ohio Puts Police Bodycam Footage Behind a Paywall appeared first on The Intercept.
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...Rep. Sara Jacobs is trying to raise the alarm about the key U.S. ally’s conduct after the Christmas strike killed 10 civilians.
The post Nigeria’s Military Gets Billions in U.S. Aid. On Christmas Day, It Bombed Its Own Civilians Again. appeared first on The Intercept.
Lentils are cheap, nutritious and good for the planet. Here are three delicious ways to get more into your meals
My pantry is stocked with an abundance of lentils: tiny red ones that take moments to cook, which I throw into soups; buttery yellow ones for khichdi; French green ones to add heft to salads; glossy black beluga; and pebbly puy. They’re cheap, nutritional powerhouses that have a low carbon footprint, require little water to grow and improve the health of depleted soil, making them good for our planet, too. What’s not to love? Dal might be the obvious choice when cooking lentils, but there is so much more you can do with them.
Continue reading...Cooling services and ‘core’ inflation (excluding food and energy) pave way for for February interest rate cut, economists say; government borrowing costs fall
In her response to the inflation figures, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, vowed to “fight every day” to deliver economic growth and “put more money in the pockets of working people”. She said:
There is still work to be done to help families across the country with the cost of living. That’s why the government has taken action to protect working people’s payslips from higher taxes, frozen fuel duty and boosted the national minimum wage.
In our Plan for Change, we were clear that growth is our number one priority to put more money in the pockets of working people. I will fight every day to deliver that growth and improve living standards in every part of the UK.
Continue reading...Nicole Kidman’s Babygirl, which features an erotic dairy-based scene, is the latest reminder of the debate about mature milk-drinkers
Several years ago, I tried to impress a new girlfriend (now my wife) with my cultural credentials by dragging her to an off-off-off-off-Broadway play about psychedelics in a tiny East Village theatre. I can’t remember much about the play – other than it was terrible – but I will never forget the young man sitting in front of us. He arrived late, awkwardly clambered over a few people to get to his seat, and then proceeded to down a carton of milk. The lateness and the clambering I could excuse. But the milk-drinking? That was horrifying. There is something undeniably unsettling about adults who drink cold cow’s milk in public.
I have tried to scrub the East Village milkman from my mind but I was reminded of the incident last week when Nicole Kidman chugged a glass of milk while accepting her award for best actress in the film Babygirl (which features an erotic milk-based scene) at the National Board of Review Awards. Babygirl isn’t the first film to use milk, a liquid strongly associated with childhood and innocence, in a symbolic manner. “Adult milk-drinking has long been used to evoke creepiness in films,” Vice proclaimed in a 2022 piece that cited the milk bar in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971) and the famous milk scene in Inglourious Basterds (2009).
Continue reading...RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, rockets to top of US app stores, along with ByteDance’s Lemon8
New users have piled in to the Chinese social media app RedNote just days before a proposed US ban on the popular social media app TikTok, as the lesser-known company rushes to capitalize on the sudden influx while walking a delicate line of moderating English-language content.
In a live chat dubbed “TikTok Refugees” on RedNote on Monday, more than 50,000 US and Chinese users joined the room. Veteran Chinese users, with some sense of bewilderment, welcomed their American counterparts and swapped notes with them on topics such as food and youth unemployment. Occasionally, however, the Americans veered into riskier territory.
Continue reading...Thirty-six bodies brought to surface amid claims 109 are dead and between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped
Thirty-six bodies have been brought out of an illegal goldmine in South Africa and 82 people have been taken out alive since Monday, after police blocked supplies of food, water and medicine to the workers underground in October in an attempt to force them out.
On Thursday, a letter brought up to the surface claimed there were 109 dead bodies underground. A video circulated by the NGO Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) appeared to show more than 50 wrapped bodies laid out in a tunnel.
Continue reading...Study has linked a soft and liquid diet to smaller jaw size in children, but others say evolution is more likely the cause
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have caused concern among experts for their potential impact on human health, but now scientists have warned they might also affect how our bodies develop, in particular our jaws.
We take a look at the issue and explore what, if anything, should be done.
Continue reading...His meal-replacement business is worth hundreds of millions, but Collier’s rise to the top has been far from easy. He discusses bodybuilding, bullies and why nutrition is more polarising than politics
When James Collier got married to Melanie nearly 10 years ago, his dad paid for the honeymoon. Collier’s businesses weren’t exactly booming, but he had a good feeling about a new venture. “I was on the beach checking my emails, and I said to Mel: ‘I think this is going to do all right, this one.’ And that was an underestimation.”
It certainly was. Sales of Huel, the meal-replacement brand Collier launched in 2015, topped £214m last year. Pre-tax profits tripled to £13.8m. Huel – a product mainly made of oats, pea protein and flaxseeds, which comes in powder, drink, snack bar and meal-pot forms – is sold in 25,000 shops worldwide, including 70% of UK supermarkets. The company was most recently valued at £440m, but has since had investment from Morgan Stanley. Just how rich is Collier now?
Continue reading...Phone video shared by mining NGO appears to show dozens of wrapped bodies in underground tunnel
The South African government has launched a mission to bring to the surface potentially hundreds of people in an illegal mine who last year had supplies of food, water and medicine blocked by police in an attempt to force them out.
The government agreed to the attempt on Friday after the sister of one of those underground initiated a court case in response to letters from miners brought to the surface on Thursday.
Continue reading...This week: what we learned testing toothbrushes, fitness kit worth the investment, and slow cookers for warming winter feasts
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When the Filter asked me to write a roundup of the best electric toothbrushes, I didn’t see any reason not to. After all, I’ve been reviewing battery-powered gadgets for more than a decade, and I have all 32 teeth and a comfortable toothpaste budget, which makes me as qualified as anybody else.
Or does it? Actually, in the absence of professional toothbrushing leagues*, how would I know if I’m an expert in the art of oral hygiene or not? Conventional (and, as it turns out, likely bogus) wisdom suggests that anyone can become an expert in anything with 10,000 hours of practice.
The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and tested, from Ninja to Nutribullet
14 of the best men’s boots for winter, from Chelsea to brogues to western
The best slow cookers for effortless homemade meals, tried and tested
Continue reading...A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
From Whole Earth and Meridian to supermarket staples, which is the best crunchy peanut butter, and how much do you really need to spend on it?
I came late to the peanut butter party, and my mum remains convinced that it’s extremely unhealthy stuff, which, to be fair to her, is probably true of the sugary versions of my childhood. In the past few years, however, peanut butter has gone back to its health-food roots. It is now championed for its protein and monounsaturated fat content, as brands stripped of their sweeteners and emulsifiers have occupied the premium end of the market. Given that these new-wave natural peanut butters tend to contain nothing but peanuts – give or take the odd pinch of salt – the difference between supermarket own-label and luxury jars tends to be slight. The biggest variations are largely in the sourcing and quality of the peanuts themselves.
This means that peanut butter is a handy thing to have in the cupboard at all times. Personally, I prefer a loose, crunchy consistency; for all the claims about sustainable palm oil, there’s simply no need for it in peanut butter, which, like tahini, separates naturally over time and is just as easily stirred back together. To slow the separation, simply beat the oil back in, then store the jar upside down in the fridge – assuming it lasts that long.
Continue reading...A job listing for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show offers $12 per hour — part of a long pattern of host-city residents getting the short shrift.
The post Everyone’s Making Millions But the Super Bowl Haltime Show Wants to Hire New Orleans Locals for $12 an Hour appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether you’re making comforting curries, casseroles or chilli con carne, we’ve tested the top slow cookers for serving up winter warmers
• The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and tested, from Ninja to Nutribullet
As January beds in and our craving for cosiness increases, you may be minded to dig out the slow cooker. Coming home to a warm, bubbling meal – with very little effort – is a real treat in the cold and dark. Plus, slow cooking can be an economical method of cooking.
If you have yet to experience the comfort and joy of a slow cooker, or if your ancient model has finally died a death, it could be time to treat yourself to a season of stews, casseroles, curries and more. I’ve spent weeks testing slow cookers to compile a shortlist of the most functional, useful and well-designed recommendations to transform your dinner time.
Best overall slow cooker:
GreenPan slow cooker
£200 at GreenPan
Best basic slow cooker:
ProCook digital slow cooker
£49 at ProCook
Best multi-cooker:
Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 PossibleCooker
£119 at Appliances Direct
Best pressure-cooking slow cooker:
Sage Fast Slow Pro
£179.95 at Sage Appliances
Hi Reddit! We’re a team of tech journalists from MIT Technology Review, excited to answer all of your questions about emerging tech in 2025 and beyond.
We are:
We just published our annual list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Every year, our reporters and editors look for promising technologies poised to have a real impact on the world. We consider dozens of advances across the fields of AI, biotech, computing, and climate. We can’t see the future, but we expect these ten breakthroughs to affect our world in a big way, for decades to come.
Here are the ten items on this year’s list:
Ask us anything! (We’ll be here responding to your questions this Friday, January 10 at 12 p.m. EST, but feel free to get 'em in early.) Proof pics here.
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.
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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
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Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Findings suggest ‘weakening of west’ as relations become more transactional, say report’s authors
European anxiety about Donald Trump’s return to the White House is not shared in much of the world, a poll has shown, with more people in non-western powers such as China, Russia, India and Brazil welcoming his second term than not.
The 24-country poll, which also included Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkey, found that Switzerland, the UK, 11 EU nations surveyed and South Korea were alone in feeling Trump 2.0 would be bad for their country and for peace in the world.
Continue reading...New polling says much of the world will welcome Trump. Europe will need to be more transactional abroad – but less so at home
When returning US president Donald Trump eyes up Greenland, Panama and Canada, as Vladimir Putin once eyed Crimea and Xi Jinping eyes Taiwan, he is both symptom and cause of a new world disorder. Trumpism is just one variant of transactionalism, which is the leitmotif of this new disorder. Liberal democracies, especially those in Europe, need to wake up and smell the gunpowder.
Russia and China are now revisionist great powers, which aim to change or overthrow the existing order, while middle powers like Turkey, Brazil and South Africa are happy to play with all sides. This is also a world of wars – in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan. Most Europeans carry on pretty much as if we still lived in late 20th-century peacetime, but the world around us increasingly resembles the late 19th-century Europe of fiercely competing great powers and empires writ large. For the geopolitical stage is now planetary, and most of the players are non-western states. Trump’s United States is likely to behave more like those other transactional great powers than like, say, Germany or Sweden.
Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist. He co-authored the report on the ECFR global poll with Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Wong ‘absolutely confident’ government can work with Trump as US president
Moving to another topic, Penny Wong was asked about her invite to Donald Trump’s inauguration in the US, and responded:
Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, and I’m honoured, on behalf of the country, to have been invited to his inauguration.
This includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial. So that is their obligation, [and] we will look at the facts when they have been ascertained.
But I want to be clear, all options are on the table. Those options include expelling the ambassador and recalling Australia’s ambassador in Russia … I need, as the foreign minister, to identify and ascertain the facts beforehand.
Continue reading...Australia summons Russian ambassador over PoW’s reported death; Lavrov says open for discussions with Trump. What we know on day 1,057
Continue reading...Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’
Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.
US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that involved hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.
Continue reading...And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Trump’s Crypto Council Chief Teamed Up With Sketchy Trump-Themed Meme Coin appeared first on The Intercept.
Responses range from conciliation to retaliation, including cutting off electricity and halting the purchase of US liquor
Canada’s provincial premiers are sharply divided on how to prepare for US trade tariffs, less than a week before Donald Trump takes office with a threat to dramatically reshape the relationship between the two countries.
Canadian officials have sought to defuse the crisis with personal appeals to the president-elect, multimillion-dollar advertising sprees and targeted threats, but the country remains gripped by uncertainty over how Trump’s tariffs might take effect. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the incoming US administration is weighing hiking tariffs by 2%-5% a month to avoid spiking inflation.
Continue reading...Sanctions can play an important role in deterring the operation of criminal networks, writes Alex Prezanti; plus a letter from Ian Mynot
I read with great interest the foreign secretary’s opinion piece announcing the development of legislation for a new sanctions regime that specifically targets irregular migration and organised immigration crime (Journal, 8 January).
As a fellow barrister specialising in human rights, anti-corruption and sanctions, I am very curious about the scope and powers of the proposed law. Sanctions can play an important role in deterring the operation of criminal networks, by freezing their UK assets and cutting them off from UK financial and other services. Similar to tactics used by US prosecutors to bring down Al Capone in the 1930s, UK-based members of human trafficking networks may be easier to prosecute for violating sanctions than for the trafficking itself.
Continue reading...The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
UK firm in vanguard of companies arguing SMRs are quicker and cheaper option than large Hinkley-sized nuclear plants
The Hinkley Point C power plant in Somerset is gargantuan. The 176-hectare (435-acre) plant will provide 3.2 gigawatts of power, enough for 6m homes. It is not just the project that is huge: the cost is as well. With a price tag that has ballooned to a reported £48bn, and delayed by at least five years, it has become a symbol of the pitfalls of nuclear power.
But a clutch of companies argue they have a quicker, cheaper option than large Hinkley-sized plants in the form of small modular reactors (SMRs), which can be built in a factory and then slotted together on site.
Continue reading...Gabrielle Canon reports from Los Angeles on the wildfires destroying homes and communities
As the Los Angeles wildfire spread closer to his home, George Elmaraghi was anxiously waiting for an evacuation order.
“When I saw the fire, from our backyard, almost parallel to our house, I was like, OK, we gotta go.”
George’s home in Altadena was destroyed in what is now the city’s most destructive wildfire. That fire is still burning and George and his family, along with 150,000 other displaced people, are now grappling with trauma, homelessness, insurance claims – and the ultimate decision of whether to rebuild or walk away.
For Gabrielle Canon, the Guardian’s extreme weather correspondent, this unprecedented fire must be understood as a compound climate disaster: the disastrous end result of a chain of events exacerbated by the climate crisis.
Gabrielle explains to Michael Safi why popular anger is growing around the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, and unpacks the potential climate crisis implications of incoming US president Donald Trump’s record on misinformation, fossil fuel extraction and federal disaster response.
Continue reading...Deal negotiated through Catholic church will involve ‘gradual’ release of 553 political prisoners, says Havana
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal the country’s communist government said would involve the “gradual” release of 553 political prisoners.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
Continue reading...The Laken Riley Act authorizes state attorneys general to sue federal authorities to force deportations and block visas.
The post Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump Pentagon pick grilled by Democrats at Senate confirmation hearing amid concerns of his personal history
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for US secretary of defense, defended his record in a contentious Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, acknowledging he was “not a perfect person” as Democratic lawmakers grilled the military veteran and Fox News host on allegations of sexual assault, excessive alcohol use and financial mismanagement.
Hegseth can only afford to lose the votes of three Senate Republicans, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination, but none appeared ready to break ranks despite some having previously voiced concerns about Hegseth’s personal history and his views on women in the military.
Continue reading...There is a certain pathos to special prosecutor’s insistence that his unfulfilled investigation was not in vain
A forlorn note from Jack Smith to Merrick Garland, the attorney general, provides a poignant epitaph into the unfulfilled and ultimately fruitless two-year criminal investigation into Donald Trump.
“While we were not able to bring the cases we charged to trial, I believe the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law matters,” the special prosecutor wrote in a letter attached to the 137-page report, which concludes that the president-elect would have been criminally convicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election if he had not been re-elected four years later.
Continue reading...François Bayrou said France must look global powers ‘face on’ in reference to Donald Trump’s return to office
The French prime minister has said the country must stand firm in the face of figures such as Elon Musk, who represents a “new world disorder”.
In his first policy speech to parliament on Tuesday, François Bayrou, a veteran centrist, said there was “a new world disorder, that threatens all equilibrium and all rules of defence. There are a certain number of people who embody this without complex, such as Elon Musk.”
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/digital-didgeridoo [link] [comments] |
 | submitted by /u/a_Ninja_b0y [link] [comments] |
Zuckerberg, Musk and Bezos are falling over themselves to suck up to the incoming president. And he’s just as keen to let them
Over the past month, we’ve learned that Donald Trump’s inauguration fund has received million-dollar donations from, among others, Google, Meta overlord Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple boss Tim Cook. Hard to know whether it’s encouraging or quite the opposite to find them being so public about it. Traditionally when industrialists have made knee-bending gestures to incoming self-confessed authoritarians, they’ve preferred to do it in a back room somewhere, rather than on a publicly available list that also risks implying they like Carrie Underwood’s music.
So let’s deal first with the entertainers. Underwood will perform at Trump’s inauguration, having previously insisted it was absolutely impossible to put her in some kind of ideological box. “I feel like more people try to pin me places politically,” she mused a few years ago. “I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins. It’s crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it’s black and white. And it’s not like that.” Update: it now is like that.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Photojournalist JM Giordano has followed the rise of Donald Trump, from the carnival-like kick-off at his first rally in 2015, to the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January 2021, when many thought his political career was over. Trump is unseen, but looms over Giordano’s new book, Trumpland, published by Nighted Life
Continue reading...Factchecker Jesse Stiller and technology journalist Chris Stokel-Walker explore why Mark Zuckerberg has announced dramatic changes to Meta’s social platforms, and what they will mean for their 3.3 billion users
When Mark Zuckerberg announced dramatic changes to Meta’s social platforms last week – including Facebook, Instagram and Threads – he admitted: “We’re going to catch less bad stuff.”
Zuckerberg said Meta would get rid of factcheckers, overhaul its content moderation and boost political content in users’ feeds – all 3.3 billion of them. He argued the company was doing it because the political winds had changed: the public no longer viewed these safeguards as a way of preventing the spread of misinformation, hate speech, or even real-world violence, but as censorship by other means.
Continue reading...The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.
The post The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers appeared first on The Intercept.
Today’s fluff has a thousand-yard stare
As the fallout from Arsenal’s absurdly wasteful FA Cup defeat to Manchester United – and Gabriel Jesus’s season-ending injury – rolls on, the gossip machine has gone into overdrive trying to identify someone who can put away their chances. While Benjamin Sesko is the name on everyone’s lips, it wouldn’t be a transfer window without them being linked with Dusan Vlahovic.
The tea in Italy is that Juventus are willing to cash in their chips. The Serbia striker’s contract runs to 2026 and negotiations are apparently at a standstill, meaning the Bianconeri have limited opportunities to recoup their investment, and with Randal Kolo Muani on his way from Paris Saint-Germain they have a ready-made replacement, so it all makes sense, possibly.
Continue reading...Impeached president questioned over martial law declaration a month after first arrest attempt ended in stalemate
South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
His detention makes him the first sitting president in the nation’s history to be arrested.
Continue reading...World Economic Forum says responses from experts in business, politics and academia also highlight climate crisis
Global leaders have said that escalating armed conflict is the most urgent threat in 2025 but the climate emergency is expected to cause the greatest concern over the next decade, according to the World Economic Forum.
Ahead of its yearly gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos next week, the WEF asked more than 900 leaders from business, politics and academia about the risks that most concern them.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: With reports of a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations, a look at what the detail includes – and what its obstacles are
Good morning. After months of false starts, Israel and Hamas are close to agreeing a ceasefire that would involve the release of hostages and a major influx of aid into Gaza. Last night, both sides appeared to have accepted the outlines of a deal, with Reuters reporting that once Israel delivers maps showing how its forces will withdraw from Gaza, Hamas will give its response.
“It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said yesterday. “But, right now, as we sit here, we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”
Economy | UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after a week of turbulence in financial markets. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November.
UK politics | Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after accepting the furore over her close ties to her aunt, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh now accused of corruption, had become a distraction. An investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing but said a lack of records meant that it was not possible “to obtain comprehensive comfort” over properties linked to Sheikh Hasina.
South Korea | South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
Health | Doctors are proposing a “radical overhaul” of how obesity is diagnosed worldwide amid concerns that a reliance on body mass index may be causing millions of people to be misdiagnosed. Relying only on BMI is “ineffective” because it is not a direct measure of fat and does not provide information about a person’s health, a report by the Lancet commission said.
Comedy | The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 after a heart attack, his partner has announced. Slattery was known for his improvisations on the popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as well as his appearances on Just a Minute and Have I Got News for You.
Continue reading...Police came better prepared than for their first attempt two weeks ago while supporters on both sides of the political divide came out to protest
By 4.30am, the streets around Yoon Suk Yeol’s hilltop residence felt like rush hour, packed with police and protesters despite the early hour.
Roads were completely sealed off and thousands of officers were in position on the freezing winter morning, while hundreds of pro-Yoon supporters chanted aggressively while clutching red light sticks and American flags.
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First of five hearings into martial law declaration lasts only minutes, while Yoon Suk Yeol remains holed up inside his presidential compound
The first hearing in the impeachment trial of South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, ended after just a few minutes on Tuesday as Yoon failed to appear at the constitutional court.
The court’s justices have about five months to decide whether to strip Yoon of his presidential duties over his short-lived declaration of martial law on 3 December or return him to office.
Continue reading...Files released by National Archives reveal moment double agent was confronted by MI6 officer Nicholas Elliot
Cambridge spy Kim Philby said his choice was “between suicide and prosecution” in a confession shortly before the high-ranking M16 double agent fled on a Russian steamer in 1963, according to previously secret documents.
Philby, the “third man” in the Cambridge Five ring, was confronted by his friend, the MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott, who had been sent by the British security services to persuade Philby to confess.
Continue reading...Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed coup attempt in December plunged country into worst political crisis in decades
The impeached South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, will receive a pay rise, official documents revealed, as he continues to resist arrest over his ill-fated martial law declaration.
Yoon suspended civilian rule on 3 December, sending soldiers into parliament and plunging the country into its worst political crisis in decades. He was forced to backtrack hours later.
Continue reading...A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
Alfred Bourgeois’s daughter is convinced of his innocence. In the four years since his execution, she has waged a sometimes-lonely battle to prove it.
The post She Lost Her Dad to Trump’s Killing Spree. Now She Wants Biden to Clear His Name. appeared first on The Intercept.
Public defenders and legal professionals said they never see the leniency offered to Trump given to other defendants.
The post A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Only Trump Gets Convicted of 34 Felonies and Receives No Punishment appeared first on The Intercept.
Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.
The post Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better. appeared first on The Intercept.
And why those that do aren’t just trading in meme coins for the lulz.
The post Congress Loves Crypto. So Why Do So Few Members Buy It? appeared first on The Intercept.
Cooling services and ‘core’ inflation (excluding food and energy) pave way for for February interest rate cut, economists say; government borrowing costs fall
In her response to the inflation figures, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, vowed to “fight every day” to deliver economic growth and “put more money in the pockets of working people”. She said:
There is still work to be done to help families across the country with the cost of living. That’s why the government has taken action to protect working people’s payslips from higher taxes, frozen fuel duty and boosted the national minimum wage.
In our Plan for Change, we were clear that growth is our number one priority to put more money in the pockets of working people. I will fight every day to deliver that growth and improve living standards in every part of the UK.
Continue reading...Legislation has new life in wake of Los Angeles catastrophe but US fossil-fuel industry is already mobilizing against it
In the year preceding the devastating Los Angeles county wildfires, big oil fiercely lobbied to kill a “polluter pay” bill that moved through the California senate and would have forced major fossil fuel companies to help cover the costs of climate disasters.
Fossil-fuel industry lobbying in California spiked to record levels during the 2023-24 legislative session, and the polluter pay bill was among the most targeted pieces of legislation, a Guardian review of state lobby filings found.
Continue reading...After week of turbulence in markets, ONS data shows prices rose at slower rate last month than in November
UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after a week of turbulence in financial markets.
With the government under pressure on the economy, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November, meaning prices rose at a slower rate.
Continue reading...With Tottenham next up at home, Gunners manager must restore the positivity of the 2022-23 season
Mikel Arteta was sitting in the Emirates Stadium away dugout when he realised the scale of the task that awaited him. It was December 2019, and although he was still nominally the assistant manager of Manchester City, cruising to a 3-0 victory against Arsenal, thoughts were naturally beginning to turn towards the project he had secretly decided to take on. And – to put it mildly – he was alarmed.
This wasn’t simply a case of how bad Arsenal were on the pitch. Performance is a fickle thing. There are known variables, measurable objectives. Performance you can fix. But the energy in the stadium, the disgruntlement, the disconnect between the players on the pitch and the fans in the stands: as Arteta contemplated his first job in management, this was the challenge that worried him the most.
Continue reading...Women with little formal education trained to become solar technicians, transforming villages and tackling patriarchal norms
In a dimly lit corridor of a mud-walled house nestled among coconut trees, Sharifa Hussein stripped red and black cables, a screwdriver voltage tester balanced between her lips and rolls of cable lying by her feet.
Then, with the help of three other women, she attached the two wires to an electronic device nailed on the wall.
Continue reading...Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
In a speech to Israel’s parliament, Jonathan Greenblatt admits the ADL’s battle against antisemitism is losing — but blows it on what to do.
The post ADL Chief Invokes Pager Attack as Inspiration for Taking on Internet Trolls appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
From the Washington Post:
The sanctions target Beijing Integrity Technology Group, which U.S. officials say employed workers responsible for the Flax Typhoon attacks which compromised devices including routers and internet-enabled cameras to infiltrate government and industrial targets in the United States, Taiwan, Europe and elsewhere.
For the first group of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve, two intensive months of Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) have come to a close. During this initial training phase, members of the ESA Astronaut Reserve Sara García Alonso from Spain, Andrea Patassa from Italy, Arnaud Prost from France, Amelie Schoenenwald from Germany, and Aleš Svoboda from Czechia were introduced to essential skills required for future space exploration and scientific research.
When our honeymoon flight was cancelled it confirmed we’d be repaid in full. Nothing happened
The day before we were due to fly to Barbados on our honeymoon, Virgin Atlantic notified us that our flight had been cancelled due to an impending hurricane. We chose the option of a refund and received confirmation that the £1,932 would be paid in full. Nothing happened.
After more than three weeks, I called and was told that it had not been actioned due to an error. Five days later I was told that my request had been closed a month earlier. On my fourth call I found we’d been wrongly registered as “no shows” which was why the refund had not been processed. More promises ensued, but still no money.
Continue reading...Airbnb and Booking.com are the market leaders, but a new wave of smaller accommodation platforms are offering an alternative – and trying to give something back to local communities
Accounts of tenants illegally subletting rental properties by listing them on Airbnb and Booking.com, without the permission of their landlords, have hit the headlines in recent months. While there’s no denying that the convenience of these accommodation booking platforms has transformed holidays – making independent travel more accessible and affordable – that convenience often comes at a cost. In tourism hotspots like Barcelona, which banned short-term rentals in 2021 (and will ban all apartment rentals to tourists by late 2028), platforms such as Airbnb are being blamed for driving up rents and house prices for residents.
However, there are alternatives to these search engine and booking monoliths, with an increasing number of smaller websites offering hand-picked owner-run, independent B&Bs, home swaps, or rental properties that are primary homes (rather than fuelling a second home market). With a focus on passionate, local hosts who know their patch inside out, using these platforms can also take some of the pain out of researching a destination. Better for locals and better for your holiday; it’s often a win-win.
Continue reading...When a neighbour let me see inside his hive, it set me on a path to an extraordinary life second act
I was first introduced to bees when I was invited to visit a neighbour’s apiary one April afternoon, 20 years ago. Like most people, I was terrified of stinging insects, but I was fond of the honey they produced, which I would drizzle into my tea to soothe a scratchy throat.
An invitation to meet honeybees was unusual. At the time, I was a freelance designer and illustrator, and spent my days working from my tiny red cottage in rural Connecticut. Occasionally, I took day trips into New York City to meet with clients and a few times each year travelled to China to oversee manufacturing of giftware for a small import company
Continue reading...A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Alfred Bourgeois’s daughter is convinced of his innocence. In the four years since his execution, she has waged a sometimes-lonely battle to prove it.
The post She Lost Her Dad to Trump’s Killing Spree. Now She Wants Biden to Clear His Name. appeared first on The Intercept.
“The consistent defunding of other city programs in order to give the LAPD billions a year has consequences,” said a local activist.
The post LA Budgeted Money For Cop Jobs While Cutting Fire Department Positions. Now the City Is Burning. appeared first on The Intercept.
A new Syria is emerging from the shadow of the brutal Assad regime. The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan and Ayman Abu Ramouz meet people celebrating their hard-won freedom, but also those grappling with a traumatic past. The pair travel to the notorious Sednaya prison, where they meet a former prisoner who was liberated by his family just days before
Resistance was not a choice’: how Syria’s unlikely rebel alliance took Aleppo
'The Syrian regime hit us with chemical weapons: only now can we speak out' – video
Syria’s disappeared: one woman’s search for her missing father
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...Exclusive: Findings suggest ‘weakening of west’ as relations become more transactional, say report’s authors
European anxiety about Donald Trump’s return to the White House is not shared in much of the world, a poll has shown, with more people in non-western powers such as China, Russia, India and Brazil welcoming his second term than not.
The 24-country poll, which also included Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkey, found that Switzerland, the UK, 11 EU nations surveyed and South Korea were alone in feeling Trump 2.0 would be bad for their country and for peace in the world.
Continue reading...Tropical storm batters eastern parts of Africa, including French territory still recovering from Cyclone Chido
Over the weekend, eastern parts of Africa were threatened by Tropical Cyclone Dikeledi. What started as a slight tropical disturbance between Indonesia and Australia on 2 January progressed westwards while developing into a depression over the week that followed.
The depression strengthened into a moderate tropical storm with heavy downpours and gusty winds exceeding 39mph (63km/h) across central parts of the Indian Ocean. At this time, the system was named Dikeledi. It continued westwards and deepened into a tropical cyclone on the evening of 10 January as maximum sustained wind speeds hit 74mph – the equivalent of becoming a category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
Continue reading...New polling says much of the world will welcome Trump. Europe will need to be more transactional abroad – but less so at home
When returning US president Donald Trump eyes up Greenland, Panama and Canada, as Vladimir Putin once eyed Crimea and Xi Jinping eyes Taiwan, he is both symptom and cause of a new world disorder. Trumpism is just one variant of transactionalism, which is the leitmotif of this new disorder. Liberal democracies, especially those in Europe, need to wake up and smell the gunpowder.
Russia and China are now revisionist great powers, which aim to change or overthrow the existing order, while middle powers like Turkey, Brazil and South Africa are happy to play with all sides. This is also a world of wars – in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan. Most Europeans carry on pretty much as if we still lived in late 20th-century peacetime, but the world around us increasingly resembles the late 19th-century Europe of fiercely competing great powers and empires writ large. For the geopolitical stage is now planetary, and most of the players are non-western states. Trump’s United States is likely to behave more like those other transactional great powers than like, say, Germany or Sweden.
Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist. He co-authored the report on the ECFR global poll with Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard
Continue reading...Troubling new HBO docuseries An Update on Our Family looks at YouTube families and Myka Stauffer, the mom who ‘rehomed’ her adopted son
In May 2020, the vlogger parents Myka and James Stauffer tearfully revealed to their nearly 1 million followers that the son they adopted from China just three years before had been “rehomed”. The child, Huxley, who was only five at the time and lived with autism, had been the star in so many YouTube videos sharing the Stauffer family’s joys, struggles and brand partnerships. But in the month leading up to that May 2020 upload, titled “an update on our family”, followers noticed that he had been phased out, old videos featuring Huxley had been removed and comments from followers inquiring as to his whereabouts promptly deleted while Myka continued posting homemaking videos.
After the Stauffers came clean, the backlash was (predictably) swift and unforgiving, calling out the family, which includes four other biological children, for exploiting Huxley to gain clicks and views, packaging his trauma as an adoptee into content, before deciding they were ultimately ill-equipped to meet his needs (“I apologize for being so naive,” a statement from Myka read). However, the internet’s response, much of it furiously leaning into not just critical commentary but also wild conspiracy theory geared for even more clicks and views, became knock-on content perhaps as craven and predatory as the inciting behaviour.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: With reports of a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations, a look at what the detail includes – and what its obstacles are
Good morning. After months of false starts, Israel and Hamas are close to agreeing a ceasefire that would involve the release of hostages and a major influx of aid into Gaza. Last night, both sides appeared to have accepted the outlines of a deal, with Reuters reporting that once Israel delivers maps showing how its forces will withdraw from Gaza, Hamas will give its response.
“It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said yesterday. “But, right now, as we sit here, we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”
Economy | UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after a week of turbulence in financial markets. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November.
UK politics | Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after accepting the furore over her close ties to her aunt, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh now accused of corruption, had become a distraction. An investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing but said a lack of records meant that it was not possible “to obtain comprehensive comfort” over properties linked to Sheikh Hasina.
South Korea | South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
Health | Doctors are proposing a “radical overhaul” of how obesity is diagnosed worldwide amid concerns that a reliance on body mass index may be causing millions of people to be misdiagnosed. Relying only on BMI is “ineffective” because it is not a direct measure of fat and does not provide information about a person’s health, a report by the Lancet commission said.
Comedy | The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 after a heart attack, his partner has announced. Slattery was known for his improvisations on the popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as well as his appearances on Just a Minute and Have I Got News for You.
Continue reading...When a neighbour let me see inside his hive, it set me on a path to an extraordinary life second act
I was first introduced to bees when I was invited to visit a neighbour’s apiary one April afternoon, 20 years ago. Like most people, I was terrified of stinging insects, but I was fond of the honey they produced, which I would drizzle into my tea to soothe a scratchy throat.
An invitation to meet honeybees was unusual. At the time, I was a freelance designer and illustrator, and spent my days working from my tiny red cottage in rural Connecticut. Occasionally, I took day trips into New York City to meet with clients and a few times each year travelled to China to oversee manufacturing of giftware for a small import company
Continue reading...RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, rockets to top of US app stores, along with ByteDance’s Lemon8
New users have piled in to the Chinese social media app RedNote just days before a proposed US ban on the popular social media app TikTok, as the lesser-known company rushes to capitalize on the sudden influx while walking a delicate line of moderating English-language content.
In a live chat dubbed “TikTok Refugees” on RedNote on Monday, more than 50,000 US and Chinese users joined the room. Veteran Chinese users, with some sense of bewilderment, welcomed their American counterparts and swapped notes with them on topics such as food and youth unemployment. Occasionally, however, the Americans veered into riskier territory.
Continue reading...Tech company rejects as ‘pure fiction’ a report that a deal could take place if it fails to avoid an impending ban
Chinese officials have reportedly held preliminary talks about a potential option to sell TikTok’s operations in the US to the billionaire Elon Musk, should the short-video app be unable to avoid an impending ban. Another option is that Musk acts as a broker in a deal to sell the app.
Beijing officials prefer that TikTok remains under the control of its Chinese parent, Bytedance, but have discussed other options including a sale to Musk, Bloomberg reported. The Financial Times reported on the same day that the officials had discussed the preliminary possibility of Musk functioning as a go-between for Bytedance and any potential buyer that would prevent the app from being shut down.
Continue reading...Tokyo remains, in the world’s imagination, a place of sophistication and wealth. But with economic revival forever distant, ‘tourism pollution’ seems the only viable plan
The yen is low, and everybody is coming to Tokyo. If that sounds familiar, it’s not because I’m being coy or hedging my bets; it is the only information to be found in most English-language coverage of Japan’s capital in the aftermath of the pandemic. I can’t stop reading these accounts. After nine years in the country, you’d think I would have learned enough Japanese to liberate myself from the Anglo-American internet, but I’m afraid I’m stuck with flimsy stories about the tourist uptick for the time being.
Part of the reason that so much coverage of the city where I live errs on the side of optimism is that Tokyo remains lodged in the postwar American imagination as a place of sophistication and wealth, good taste and cultural authenticity, with a reputation for deferential hospitality. Never mind that this was the calculated effect of bilateral postwar public relations campaigns, a boom in exportable middlebrow culture and fearmongering about Japanese industrial dominance.
Continue reading...Lentils are cheap, nutritious and good for the planet. Here are three delicious ways to get more into your meals
My pantry is stocked with an abundance of lentils: tiny red ones that take moments to cook, which I throw into soups; buttery yellow ones for khichdi; French green ones to add heft to salads; glossy black beluga; and pebbly puy. They’re cheap, nutritional powerhouses that have a low carbon footprint, require little water to grow and improve the health of depleted soil, making them good for our planet, too. What’s not to love? Dal might be the obvious choice when cooking lentils, but there is so much more you can do with them.
Continue reading...The Laken Riley Act authorizes state attorneys general to sue federal authorities to force deportations and block visas.
The post Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
The grand version of the 12-yearly Hindu pilgrimage is expected to draw more than 400 million devotees
The world’s largest religious gathering kicked off on Monday as millions of Hindu devotees gathered on the banks of Ganges in India to mark the beginning of the Maha Kumbh Mela.
The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage takes place every 12 years and is widely seen as the “festival of festivals” in the Hindu religious calendar in India, attended by a vibrant mix of sadhus or holy men, ascetics, pilgrims and tourists. This year’s celebration is particularly significant as the Maha or grand Kumbh Mela only takes places every 144 years, marking the 12th Kumbh Mela and a special celestial alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter.
Continue reading...Impeached president questioned over martial law declaration a month after first arrest attempt ended in stalemate
South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
His detention makes him the first sitting president in the nation’s history to be arrested.
Continue reading...Police came better prepared than for their first attempt two weeks ago while supporters on both sides of the political divide came out to protest
By 4.30am, the streets around Yoon Suk Yeol’s hilltop residence felt like rush hour, packed with police and protesters despite the early hour.
Roads were completely sealed off and thousands of officers were in position on the freezing winter morning, while hundreds of pro-Yoon supporters chanted aggressively while clutching red light sticks and American flags.
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 2022: Despite the rise of headline-grabbing megafires, fewer fires are burning worldwide now than at any time since antiquity. But this isn’t good news – in banishing fire from sight, we have made its dangers stranger and less predictable. By Daniel Immerwahr
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...First of five hearings into martial law declaration lasts only minutes, while Yoon Suk Yeol remains holed up inside his presidential compound
The first hearing in the impeachment trial of South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, ended after just a few minutes on Tuesday as Yoon failed to appear at the constitutional court.
The court’s justices have about five months to decide whether to strip Yoon of his presidential duties over his short-lived declaration of martial law on 3 December or return him to office.
Continue reading...Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed coup attempt in December plunged country into worst political crisis in decades
The impeached South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, will receive a pay rise, official documents revealed, as he continues to resist arrest over his ill-fated martial law declaration.
Yoon suspended civilian rule on 3 December, sending soldiers into parliament and plunging the country into its worst political crisis in decades. He was forced to backtrack hours later.
Continue reading...News:
A sponge made of cotton and squid bone that has absorbed about 99.9% of microplastics in water samples in China could provide an elusive answer to ubiquitous microplastic pollution in water across the globe, a new report suggests.
[…]
The study tested the material in an irrigation ditch, a lake, seawater and a pond, where it removed up to 99.9% of plastic. It addressed 95%-98% of plastic after five cycles, which the authors say is remarkable reusability.
The sponge is made from chitin extracted from squid bone and cotton cellulose, materials that are often used to address pollution. Cost, secondary pollution and technological complexities have stymied many other filtration systems, but large-scale production of the new material is possible because it is cheap, and raw materials are easy to obtain, the authors say...
Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.
The post Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better. appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
From the Washington Post:
The sanctions target Beijing Integrity Technology Group, which U.S. officials say employed workers responsible for the Flax Typhoon attacks which compromised devices including routers and internet-enabled cameras to infiltrate government and industrial targets in the United States, Taiwan, Europe and elsewhere.
Quake damaged buildings in Shigatse and could be felt hundreds of kilometres away in Nepal and the Indian state of Bihar
A strong earthquake has struck near Shigatse, one of Tibet’s holiest cities, killing scores of people, damaging buildings, and sending people running to the streets in neighbouring Nepal and India.
Chinese state media said at least 126 people had died, more than 188 had been injured, and about 1,000 houses were damaged in the quake, which hit at 9.05am on Tuesday. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred in the Tibet region at a depth of about 10km (6 miles). It measured the tremor at magnitude 7.1, while China recorded it as 6.8.
Continue reading...The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: ‘Grotesque’ footage shows previously undocumented incidents on day PM Sheikh Hasina fled country
Bangladeshi police killed or injured at least 20 unarmed protesters in two previously undocumented incidents during the demonstrations that engulfed the country last year, according to newly examined video footage.
The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), a rights group that documents alleged abuses, has analysed video footage of two incidents in Dhaka on 5 August – the day that Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country – and found evidence that officers deliberately targeted peaceful civilians.
Continue reading...MP accused of misusing her position to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt Sheikh Hasina
Authorities in Bangladesh have filed a criminal case against the UK Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, accusing her of misusing her position as an MP to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Siddiq has faced mounting calls to resign over her links to Hasina, who was toppled in August after mass protests across Bangladesh and is facing charges of corruption and crimes against humanity.
Continue reading...After 30 years of relentless growth and capitalism, a new trend has emerged in China. The search for a simpler, calmer life is leading some Chinese people to seek a life abroad. The trend is so popular that it’s gained its own internet buzzword: the 'run philosophy'.
Chiang mai, in northern Thailand is the country’s second biggest city. It’s a tourist hotspot popular with backpackers but has recently become an unlikely second home for thousands of Chinese people seeking alternative lifestyles.
Continue reading...Ohio has become the latest state to allow police to charge high fees for access to footage.
The post Ohio Puts Police Bodycam Footage Behind a Paywall appeared first on The Intercept.
Anti-money laundering officials ask banks for information on UK minister and seven of her family members
Anti-money laundering officials in Bangladesh have demanded bank account details for Tulip Siddiq, the UK anti-corruption minister, in the latest escalation of the inquiries into her family’s financial interests.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), which investigates money laundering and suspicious transactions, wrote to the country’s main banks on Tuesday asking them to provide account details for Siddiq and seven of her family members.
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