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Britain’s Sex Discrimination Act is turning 50, so how much longer until women have equal pay? | Yvonne Roberts
Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:00:05 GMT
The 1975 legislation paved the way for important change but progress has been slow and poverty is still informed by gender
BBC News reported confidently on the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) 1975 under the headline “New laws to end battle of the sexes”. Ronald Bell QC, Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, predicted catastrophe. “The good it will do will be microscopic and the harm will be immense,” he thundered in the House of Commons. Half a century later, as the 50th anniversary approaches, has the honourable gentleman been proved right or wrong?
The Sex Discrimination Act protected women and men from direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of sex or marital status. The new law covered employment, education, training, harassment and the provision of goods and services. Almost overnight, “firemen” became “firefighters”.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
Continue reading...President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6
Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election – despite negative poll indications, White House sources have said.
The US president has reportedly also said he made a mistake in choosing Merrick Garland as attorney general – reflecting that Garland, a former US appeals court judge, was slow to prosecute Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January 2021 insurrection while presiding over a justice department that aggressively prosecuted Biden’s son Hunter.
Continue reading...Whether you’re receiving guests, working from home or don’t like slippers at all, we’ve found the perfect pairs of slippers and bed socks for keeping every foot warm
If it’s true that you can judge a person by their shoes, then it is perhaps even more so when it comes to their slippers. What you choose to put on your feet in your own home is a window into what you value most. As such, buying the perfect pair for yourself is an act of self-nurture.
If that all feels too hyperbolic, it feels safe to say that they’re at least a reflection of your favourite mode of relaxation and how high you like to turn up the heating.
Continue reading...Tax experts say IRS whistleblower Charles Littlejohn’s leaks provided a public service — and fear Trump will take retribution.
The post He Leaked Trump’s Tax Returns. Will Biden Protect Him? appeared first on The Intercept.
Mike Lawler says Mike Johnson should remain speaker as cracks appear between Trump’s team and far right
The US House member Mike Lawler attempted on Sunday to tease out two pressing issues facing the new Congress beginning in 2025, telling an American political talkshow that this was not the moment for his fellow Republicans to have a “food fight” over leadership in Capitol Hill and that the country “needs an immigration system that works”.
Both issues have dominated political headlines in recent days, as potential policy splits become apparent between far-right congressional Republicans and the executive team being assembled for their party leader Donald Trump’s second presidency beginning in January.
Continue reading...People line streets to pay tribute to man who steered India through some of its most turbulent economic times
India bade farewell to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of the country’s economic transformation, with a state funeral in New Delhi, complete with full honours and a 21-gun salute.
Sikh priests chanted hymns as Singh’s flag-draped coffin, strewn with rose petals, was carried on a carriage through the capital, pulled by a ceremonially decorated army truck. Congress party supporters chanted: “As long as the sun and moon remain, your name will remain,” and “Long live Manmohan Singh” as Singh’s body was removed from the headquarters of the left-leaning party, where it had been lying in state.
Continue reading...A judge has found that NSO Group, maker of the Pegasus spyware, has violated the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by hacking WhatsApp in order to spy on people using it.
Jon Penney and I wrote a legal paper on the case.
The internal EU document may strip European foreign ministers of “plausible deniability” in Israeli war crimes in Gaza, experts said.
The post EU Officials Will Claim Ignorance of Israel’s War Crimes. This Leaked Document Shows What They Knew. appeared first on The Intercept.
Indiana wanted to kill Joseph Corcoran under the cover of darkness, but one journalist slipped in to witness.
The post Indiana’s Midnight Executions Are a Relic of Another Age appeared first on The Intercept.
The big news outlets used to say settlements would encourage more lawsuits. Trump is already targeting smaller newspapers.
The post The Real Danger of ABC News Settling Its Lawsuit With Donald Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
Share a tip on a peerless architectural or sculptural creation, ancient or modern – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break
The Seven Wonders of the World was a list of peerless architectural and sculptural creations from the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East drawn up in the 2nd century BC by Greek travellers following Alexander the Great’s conquests. Only one is still standing – the Great Pyramid of Giza. In 2001, the Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation came up with an updated list, which included Machu Picchu, Petra and the Taj Mahal. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so we would like you to tell us about your personal wonder of the world. It could be an ancient stone circle, a statue, a stately home, a temple or even a modern-day skyscraper.
If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition.
Continue reading...The U.S. political system is owned by corporations despised by the American people. Luigi Mangione is the result.
The post Health Insurance Execs Should Live in Fear of Prison, Not Murder appeared first on The Intercept.
The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
“The funds to CJA are critical for building community resilience against climate change threats.”
The post EPA Staffers Demand Biden Release Climate Funds Withheld Over Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden appears ready to sign the NDAA, despite objections from advocates and some Democrats about an insidious anti-trans rider.
The post Senate Approves Defense Bill Blocking Health Care for Thousands of Trans Youth appeared first on The Intercept.
Everyone from janitors to the Geek Squad could be forced to help the NSA spy — and Democrats barely put up a fight.
The post Top Senator Warns Sweeping New Surveillance Powers Will “Inevitably Be Misused” by Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
“When you imagine what the FTC is willing and able to do in the service of an authoritarian Trump administration, that takes you to some really terrifying places.”
The post Republicans Said the FTC Was Too Politicized. Now Trump’s FTC Pick Says It Should be Politicized — by Trump. appeared first on The Intercept.
For more than two decades, the U.S. has flown drones over the heads of millions of people — watching, recording, and even killing some of them.
The post America Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine: Drone Terror appeared first on The Intercept.
Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.
The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.
The new US president will almost certainly bring unpredictability but several themes will dominate the year ahead. Observer writers offer their guide on what lies ahead in politics, film, fashion, sport and more
The only thing that can be predicted with absolute certainty about Donald Trump’s second term as US president is that it will be unpredictable. Trump does not really know what he wants to do on a range of issues. He talks a good game, which is how he got re-elected. But he often seems to decide policy on the basis of what the last person he spoke to told him. Is he serious about mobilising the military to carry out mass deportations of “illegal” migrants? Will he use the justice department to hunt down political enemies and media critics? Will he impose sweeping tariffs on foreign imports and trigger a global trade war? Or will he act with greater circumspection, using these threats as bargaining tools? Who knows? He doesn’t yet.
Continue reading...Mike Lawler says Mike Johnson should remain speaker as cracks appear between Trump’s team and far right
The US House member Mike Lawler attempted on Sunday to tease out two pressing issues facing the new Congress beginning in 2025, telling an American political talkshow that this was not the moment for his fellow Republicans to have a “food fight” over leadership in Capitol Hill and that the country “needs an immigration system that works”.
Both issues have dominated political headlines in recent days, as potential policy splits become apparent between far-right congressional Republicans and the executive team being assembled for their party leader Donald Trump’s second presidency beginning in January.
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Colorado man arrested on suspicion of bias-motivated crimes and assault as hostility to journalists rises
A Colorado man attacked a TV news reporter while asking if he was a citizen and taunting him that this was life now in the US with Donald Trump’s second presidency looming, criminal court documents allege.
The man, Patrick Thomas Egan, was arrested on 18 December in Grand Junction on suspicion of bias-motivated crimes, second-degree assault and harassment.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Biden’s loan forgiveness efforts have faced major resistance, but people are bracing for worse under president-elect
Joe Biden has pushed during his presidency to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans. Now Donald Trump, who has branded such efforts “vile”, is preparing to succeed him – leaving borrowers at risk of losing relief they received, or had been waiting for.
Mary Ann Rockwell, 72, is a librarian in upstate New York. She has grappled with her student loans for years, as interest ballooned while she often struggled to afford to make payments.
Continue reading...It all seems like political theatre of the absurd – but the disrupter-in-chief has a habit of making the unthinkable inevitable
“Merry Christmas,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day with a photo of himself and his wife, Melania. So far, so traditional. But the US president-elect was just getting started.
In another post, Trump wished merry Christmas to all “including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama canal”. He poked fun at the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and claimed the US could annex Canada as its 51st state. For good measure, he addressed “the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the US to be there, and we will!”
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/HellYeahDamnWrite [link] [comments] |
Remarks follow social media posts from Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who vowed to go to ‘war’ to defend program
Donald Trump on Saturday sided with Elon Musk, a key supporter and billionaire tech CEO, in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.
Trump’s remarks followed a series of social media posts from Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late Friday to go to “war” to defend the visa program for foreign tech workers.
Continue reading...President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6
Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election – despite negative poll indications, White House sources have said.
The US president has reportedly also said he made a mistake in choosing Merrick Garland as attorney general – reflecting that Garland, a former US appeals court judge, was slow to prosecute Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January 2021 insurrection while presiding over a justice department that aggressively prosecuted Biden’s son Hunter.
Continue reading...Billionaire Trump adviser said his ‘significant investments’ in the country justify his wading into German politics
The tech entrepreneur and close adviser to Donald Trump Elon Musk has taken a stunning new public step in his support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), publishing a supportive guest opinion piece for the country’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper that has prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest.
The commentary piece in German was launched online on Saturday before being published on Sunday in the flagship paper of the Axel Springer media group, which also owns the US politics news site Politico.
Continue reading...Tax experts say IRS whistleblower Charles Littlejohn’s leaks provided a public service — and fear Trump will take retribution.
The post He Leaked Trump’s Tax Returns. Will Biden Protect Him? appeared first on The Intercept.
The US president-elect’s ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and boxing, as well as World Wrestling Entertainment, might tell us about the kinds of sport he appreciates. But then there’s golf …
As the US prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympics during Trump’s presidency, Jonathan Freedland and Karim Zidan walk through his history with sport to see if it explains more about him
Archive: BBC, WWE, Fox 9 Minneapolis, NBC 10 Philadelphia, PBS Newshour, TMZ, MSNBC
Continue reading...A mysterious group linked to Patagonia has been accused of making what appear to be illegal “straw donor” contributions.
The post Patagonia’s Ties to a Dark-Money Operation Bankrolling Democratic Candidates appeared first on The Intercept.
On Truth Social, president-elect also lashes out at Chinese troops in Panama Canal and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
Donald Trump has told 37 people on death row who had their sentences commuted by Joe Biden to “go to hell” in a lacerating Christmas Day social media post.
The president-elect – long a vocal advocate of capital punishment – lashed out at Biden’s decision on his Truth Social platform, after wishing a merry Christmas to political opponents he addressed as “Radical Left Lunatics”.
Continue reading...Announcement comes as Trump has threatened to reassert control over canal, which US handed to Panama in 1999
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated the Miami-Dade county commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera to serve as ambassador to Panama.
Trump described Cabrera as “a fierce fighter for America First principles” who he said has been instrumental in driving economic growth and fostering international partnerships.
Continue reading...Jeju Air flight carrying 181 people burst into flames after plane hit wall at Muan airport, with two crew rescued
Dozens are feared dead after a plane skidded off the runway while attempting a landing without landing gear at Muan international airport in South Korea on Sunday morning
The exact casualty figures have not yet been tallied, though authorities are provisionally reporting that 28 people are believed to have died, according to news agency Newsis. Fire officials have warned that given the severe damage to the aircraft, the number of casualties could rise.
Jeju Air flight 2216 from Bangkok to Muan was carrying 181 people – 175 passengers and six crew – when it came down, skidded along the runway and hit fencing and a wall around the perimeter before catching fire.
Rescues are underway, with two people brought out of the wreckage so far. Emergency services are continuing their search operation.
The Boeing 737-800 may have suffered a bird strike that caused the landing gear to fail, according news agency Yonhap. The flight had reportedly attempted one landing before being forced to “go-around” when the landing gear failed to lower normally.
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, has ordered “all available equipment and personnel to be mobilised” for the rescue operations at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west and is heading to the crash site, about 300km from the capital, Seoul.
The pilot of Jeju Air flight 2216 from Bangkok appeared to be attempting a belly landing after the plane’s landing gear failed to deploy properly, Yonhap is reporting.
Continue reading...Flight data and cockpit voice recorders recovered from wreckage of Jeju Air flight 2216 at Muan airport
Distraught family members gathered at Muan international airport in South Korea on Sunday after a plane carrying 181 people from Bangkok crashed, killing all but two people onboard, in the country’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster.
Officials said all 175 passengers and four of the six crew members were killed when the Boeing 737-800 attempted an emergency landing, smashed into a wall and burst into flames at 9am local time at the airport, about 185 miles south-west of Seoul.
Continue reading...Experts say bird strikes are relatively common and should not have been enough to cause landing gear failure
No one knows for certain what caused Jeju Air flight 2216 to crash, killing all but two of its 181 passengers and crew. As darkness fell at Muan international airport in South Korea and officials fielded questions from distraught relatives of the dead, the most likely explanation was that the plane had been struck by one or more birds, triggering a sequence of events that prevented the pilot from deploying the landing gear.
Aviation officials focused on bird strikes – and, to a lesser extent, the weather – as the most probable cause, even as some experts said the relatively common phenomenon would not have been enough to cause a catastrophic failure of the landing gear.
Continue reading...President Aliyev says Moscow must ‘admit its guilt’ after downing plane, albeit unintentionally, with loss of 38 lives
Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev said the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticised Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue for days.
“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia … we are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done,” he told Azerbaijani state television.
Continue reading...Cecilia Sala, 29, was detained in Tehran three days after US warrant used to hold Swiss-Iranian businessman in Milan
The arrest of a renowned Italian journalist in Iran is reportedly in retaliation for the detention of a Swiss-Iranian businessman and suspected arms dealer in Italy three days earlier, according to media reports quoting the US state department.
Cecilia Sala, 29, a war correspondent and reporter who works for the Italian newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, was detained on 19 December while reporting in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and held in solitary confinement for a week.
Continue reading...Footage appears to show Boeing 737-800 skidding along runway at Muan airport before hitting wall and catching fire
All but two of 181 people onboard a plane that crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea are presumed to have died, in the country’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster.
Officials said they had confirmed that 177 people died in the crash on Sunday at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west, while two crew members – a man and a woman – had been rescued. Two people remained missing nine hours after the incident.
Continue reading...Incident highlights potential risks that instability at highest level of government poses to disaster response
As the year draws to a close, South Koreans must have hoped for respite from the political chaos visited on their country in recent weeks.
It was going to take something out of the ordinary to overshadow Friday’s impeachment of Han Duck-soo, the second South Korean leader to be removed from office by parliament in a fortnight.
Continue reading...An epic family saga, new novels from Natasha Brown and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, plus a David Szalay masterpiece … the coming year looks good
Next year may, at first glance, lack the dazzle of literary celebrity. That said, there are new books from two Nobel winners. First, in February, We Do Not Part (Hamish Hamilton) by Han Kang – a complex and unsettling novel about two white women in Korea wrestling with the weight of history. Then there’s Abdulrazak Gurnah in March with Theft (Bloomsbury), a characteristically poised and elegant story about three young people growing up in present-day Tanzania. One more big hitter: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count (4th Estate) is published in March – probably the major publication milestone of 2025. It’s embargoed, though, so I haven’t read it.
Of those I have read, what follows, month by month, are the books that stood out. As ever, I have left first novels to the Observer’s debut fiction feature.
To explore any of the books featured, visit guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
Continue reading...Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko pardons 20 people jailed for ‘extremism’
Italian police said on Saturday that they were investigating cyberattacks claimed by a pro-Russian group targeting several websites including Milan’s airports and the foreign ministry.
The websites of the ministry, Malpensa and Milan-Linate airport, and the transport systems in Siena and Turin were hit, according to national cybersecurity police spokesman Marco Valerio Cervellini, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands gather in central Seoul to protest against president suspended over martial law declaration
Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans flooded central Seoul on Saturday in the latest wave of protests demanding the removal of the country’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, a day after parliament voted to impeach his acting replacement.
Organisers claimed that more than 500,000 people participated in the rally, which took place amid a large police presence.
Continue reading...Russian airstrikes on Christmas Day, the aftermath of the fall of Assad, remembering the Indian Ocean tsunami and a Boxing Day swim in Scotland: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
Continue reading...Il Foglio war correspondent Cecilia Sala taken in by police while reporting in Tehran, says Italy’s foreign ministry
An Italian journalist has been arrested while reporting in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and held in solitary confinement for a week, according to Italy’s foreign ministry.
Cecilia Sala, 29, a war correspondent and reporter who works for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, was detained on 19 December, the ministry said, but her arrest was only made public on Friday.
Continue reading...Carrier suspends flights to five Russian airports after early findings of investigation into crash on Christmas Day
The aircraft that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 people, experienced “external physical and technical interference”, according to preliminary results of an investigation, Azerbaijan Airlines said on Friday.
The early findings led the carrier to suspend flights to five Russian airports, citing “potential risks to flight safety”, adding to the two routes that were suspended immediately after the crash.
Continue reading...Aircraft carrying 62 passengers and five crew was en route from Baku to Grozny in Chechnya
Twenty-nine people have survived after a passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines burst into flames as it crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after veering hundreds of miles off its planned route.
The flight was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members with 38 killed in the crash, according to Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister, Kanat Bozumbayev.
Continue reading...Ukraine official also says crash caused by Russian air defence fire, while Russia plays down involvement
Russia and Kazakhstan have sought to play down speculation about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, as a US official said there were early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane.
The assertion comes after a Ukrainian national security official and several sources in Azerbaijan claimed that the crash, which killed 38 people on Christmas Day, was caused by Russian air defence fire.
Continue reading...Sporting ecstasy comes in various forms and Exeter’s first league victory in 232 days was clearly a major relief for all associated with the previously winless Chiefs. “Better than sex,” was the instant verdict of Henry Slade on live television and the collective roar that greeted the final whistle suggested a few onlookers might have agreed with his breathless assessment.
It mattered not that the Chiefs are still languishing in the lower reaches of the Premiership table or that Gloucester’s director of rugby, George Skivington, described the first half as his team’s worst of the season. Here, finally, was some respite from a string of painful defeats and a glimmer of hope that more uplifting times could lie ahead if the attitude and energy that delivered this long‑awaited outcome can be reproduced.
Continue reading...Launched as a challenger to traditional lenders, it profited from offering state-backed loans during Covid. But then the regulator came calling
In June, Raman Bhatia walked into the fifth-floor office at Starling Bank’s headquarters in east London with a clean slate. It was set to be an antidote to a turbulent two years steering his former employer, Ovo, through an energy crisis and fines for overcharging customers.
At the digital-only challenger bank, where he was taking over from the founder, Anne Boden, things looked more rosy, with a possible stock market listing on the horizon. He began his term by rubbing shoulders with new Labour ministers in No 10’s rose garden, and charming staff during a tour of Starling offices in Cardiff, London and Southampton.
Continue reading...Communities across the UK are fighting ‘catastrophic’ proposals to build new energy-from-waste plants
Labour faces a growing backlash across the country over proposals to build a new generation of more than 40 waste incinerators to burn household and commercial rubbish.
Communities are fighting plans for the new energy-from-waste incinerators which have been called the UK’s dirtiest form of power. The plants, some of which can burn more than 500,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, are often located in more deprived areas.
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Biden’s commutations for 37 of 40 people on death row brought relief for the men and their loved ones.
The post “And I Was Surprised”: On Federal Death Row, They Feared Biden Would Set Up Another Trump Killing Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
Prime minister of India who brought in economic reforms and forged a new relationship with the US
The distinguished economist Manmohan Singh, who has died aged 92, was one of India’s longest serving prime ministers (and the first Sikh to hold the office), yet he never won a direct parliamentary election. After nearly two decades as an economic bureaucrat, Singh was often seen as more of a civil servant than a politician. Unlike India’s more charismatic leaders, he humbly admitted to being a poor public speaker.
Yet, as India’s finance minister (1991-96) this unlikely politician played a crucial role in the economic reforms that led to the rapid growth of India’s GDP. Then, as prime minister from 2004, he forged a new relationship with the US, ended India’s nuclear isolation and passed groundbreaking social legislation. In all this, he was bolstered by his reputation for absolute honesty, a considerable asset in the world of Indian politics.
Continue reading...The internal EU document may strip European foreign ministers of “plausible deniability” in Israeli war crimes in Gaza, experts said.
The post EU Officials Will Claim Ignorance of Israel’s War Crimes. This Leaked Document Shows What They Knew. appeared first on The Intercept.
Indiana wanted to kill Joseph Corcoran under the cover of darkness, but one journalist slipped in to witness.
The post Indiana’s Midnight Executions Are a Relic of Another Age appeared first on The Intercept.
Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.
The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.
The big news outlets used to say settlements would encourage more lawsuits. Trump is already targeting smaller newspapers.
The post The Real Danger of ABC News Settling Its Lawsuit With Donald Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
“The funds to CJA are critical for building community resilience against climate change threats.”
The post EPA Staffers Demand Biden Release Climate Funds Withheld Over Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
“When you imagine what the FTC is willing and able to do in the service of an authoritarian Trump administration, that takes you to some really terrifying places.”
The post Republicans Said the FTC Was Too Politicized. Now Trump’s FTC Pick Says It Should be Politicized — by Trump. appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden is running out of time to stop another Trump execution spree.
The post Power of the Pardon appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. political system is owned by corporations despised by the American people. Luigi Mangione is the result.
The post Health Insurance Execs Should Live in Fear of Prison, Not Murder appeared first on The Intercept.
Everyone from janitors to the Geek Squad could be forced to help the NSA spy — and Democrats barely put up a fight.
The post Top Senator Warns Sweeping New Surveillance Powers Will “Inevitably Be Misused” by Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
For more than two decades, the U.S. has flown drones over the heads of millions of people — watching, recording, and even killing some of them.
The post America Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine: Drone Terror appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
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.
The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
Tax experts say IRS whistleblower Charles Littlejohn’s leaks provided a public service — and fear Trump will take retribution.
The post He Leaked Trump’s Tax Returns. Will Biden Protect Him? appeared first on The Intercept.
Mike Lawler says Mike Johnson should remain speaker as cracks appear between Trump’s team and far right
The US House member Mike Lawler attempted on Sunday to tease out two pressing issues facing the new Congress beginning in 2025, telling an American political talkshow that this was not the moment for his fellow Republicans to have a “food fight” over leadership in Capitol Hill and that the country “needs an immigration system that works”.
Both issues have dominated political headlines in recent days, as potential policy splits become apparent between far-right congressional Republicans and the executive team being assembled for their party leader Donald Trump’s second presidency beginning in January.
Continue reading...A mysterious group linked to Patagonia has been accused of making what appear to be illegal “straw donor” contributions.
The post Patagonia’s Ties to a Dark-Money Operation Bankrolling Democratic Candidates appeared first on The Intercept.
President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6
Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election – despite negative poll indications, White House sources have said.
The US president has reportedly also said he made a mistake in choosing Merrick Garland as attorney general – reflecting that Garland, a former US appeals court judge, was slow to prosecute Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January 2021 insurrection while presiding over a justice department that aggressively prosecuted Biden’s son Hunter.
Continue reading...Biden’s commutations for 37 of 40 people on death row brought relief for the men and their loved ones.
The post “And I Was Surprised”: On Federal Death Row, They Feared Biden Would Set Up Another Trump Killing Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: Josh Babarinde pushing for change in law after some abusers were part of autumn early release from prison
Officials are examining whether to change the way domestic violence crimes are recorded after a campaign by an MP who says the lack of a specific offence allows abusers to be freed early from jail.
Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrats’ justice spokesperson, said a change would also help highlight the prevalence of domestic violence, which he said was still too often hidden.
Continue reading...Biden’s loan forgiveness efforts have faced major resistance, but people are bracing for worse under president-elect
Joe Biden has pushed during his presidency to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans. Now Donald Trump, who has branded such efforts “vile”, is preparing to succeed him – leaving borrowers at risk of losing relief they received, or had been waiting for.
Mary Ann Rockwell, 72, is a librarian in upstate New York. She has grappled with her student loans for years, as interest ballooned while she often struggled to afford to make payments.
Continue reading...It all seems like political theatre of the absurd – but the disrupter-in-chief has a habit of making the unthinkable inevitable
“Merry Christmas,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day with a photo of himself and his wife, Melania. So far, so traditional. But the US president-elect was just getting started.
In another post, Trump wished merry Christmas to all “including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama canal”. He poked fun at the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and claimed the US could annex Canada as its 51st state. For good measure, he addressed “the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the US to be there, and we will!”
Continue reading...Prime minister of India who brought in economic reforms and forged a new relationship with the US
The distinguished economist Manmohan Singh, who has died aged 92, was one of India’s longest serving prime ministers (and the first Sikh to hold the office), yet he never won a direct parliamentary election. After nearly two decades as an economic bureaucrat, Singh was often seen as more of a civil servant than a politician. Unlike India’s more charismatic leaders, he humbly admitted to being a poor public speaker.
Yet, as India’s finance minister (1991-96) this unlikely politician played a crucial role in the economic reforms that led to the rapid growth of India’s GDP. Then, as prime minister from 2004, he forged a new relationship with the US, ended India’s nuclear isolation and passed groundbreaking social legislation. In all this, he was bolstered by his reputation for absolute honesty, a considerable asset in the world of Indian politics.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Frank Cottrell-Boyce says Conservative funding freeze over 14 years has created ‘enormous’ equality gap
The poor state of school buildings is exposing pupils to “irreparable” harm, the UK’s children’s laureate has said, after a Guardian investigation revealed that more than 1.5 million students in England were being taught in dilapidated schools.
The award-winning screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce said the Conservative party’s decision to freeze funding per pupil in England for 14 years had left the country with an “enormous” equality gap.
Continue reading...Sources close to Tory leader reject report amid tensions over Badenoch’s claim Reform faked membership numbers
Allies of Kemi Badenoch have dismissed as “nonsense” claims that she asked GB News to cut airtime for Nigel Farage.
It follows a row in which the Tory leader accused Reform of faking its membership numbers. Farage said Reform surpassed the Tories in membership on Boxing Day and has called on Badenoch to apologise for her accusations that the figures are manipulated.
Continue reading...The yawning gap between funding and demand means that parents are right to fear how the government will react
For millions of us who have children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), 2024 was a strange and often unsettling year. For a long time, we have been used to quietly fighting our battles in a political and media vacuum. But suddenly, everything has exploded: as the crisis in provision seems to constantly deepen, barely a week goes by without some or other Send story making it into the news.
My 18-year-old son, James, is autistic, and a student at a specialist school – so I watch all this very closely. Local councils in England say that “overspending” on special needs education – manifested in an annual funding gap of at least £3bn, even after the government put in extra money – now threatens more municipal bankruptcies. In the media, meanwhile, culture-warrior columnists now habitually question whether the word “needs” is even appropriate. Increases in the incidence of such conditions as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), they say, may be a scam partly perpetrated by the merchants of identity politics, and families who manage to get dedicated help are the recipients of “golden tickets”: by implication, if people in power want to save money, there is no end of waste and mollycoddling to tackle.
Continue reading...The prime minister should resolve in 2025 to enthuse about his vision, and leave moaning about the Tories and fiscal hardship to his chancellor
Who is dreading the new year more: Keir Starmer or Rachel Reeves? Most people look forward to the turn of the year as a chance that better things might be on the way, but it’s hard for the prime minister and chancellor to glance ahead to the next few months and expect 2025 to be any more fun than the latter half of 2024. Reeves has a spending review where she is expecting ministers to find 5% efficiencies in their departments, so is nailed on for another 12 months of being the least popular person at the cabinet table. For Starmer, though, the misery isn’t inevitable. Or at least, it might not be if he changed the way he operates, as most people try to at this time of year.
One of the reasons Labour has managed to make governing look quite so hard is that both Starmer and Reeves are playing the bad cop at the moment. Good cop, bad cop is supposed to work as a negotiating tactic when one half of a partnership is negative and hostile while the other partner comes across as upbeat, friendly and encouraging. The bad cop is supposed to start the negotiating, and then the good cop sweeps in to appear as though they’re on the side of the person the pair are trying to win over.
Continue reading...The US president-elect’s ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and boxing, as well as World Wrestling Entertainment, might tell us about the kinds of sport he appreciates. But then there’s golf …
As the US prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympics during Trump’s presidency, Jonathan Freedland and Karim Zidan walk through his history with sport to see if it explains more about him
Archive: BBC, WWE, Fox 9 Minneapolis, NBC 10 Philadelphia, PBS Newshour, TMZ, MSNBC
Continue reading...Analysts say ‘measurable, lasting outcomes’ require long-term planning after Tory cuts of up to 78% in some cases
The Treasury needs to rethink public spending to focus on prevention of the UK’s health, crime and homelessness problems after cuts of up to 78% under the Tories, a report from Demos and the Health Foundation has found.
It said prevention spending should be carved out and protected just like capital spending was from the 1990s onwards so that departments are better able to preserve budgets with long term benefits.
Continue reading...A simpler system | Waspi response | WhatsApp on holiday | Intrusive work emails | Smartphones | Eyes off the Eddies
Rather than chase after people who have not claimed what they are owed (Forget ‘benefit cheats’ – £23bn a year is going unclaimed. How do we get that to vulnerable people?, 23 December), the restoration of universal benefits without means tests, for all children and all pensioners, would be simpler and fairer. The better-off then pay their share through higher income tax. That is how a welfare state works.
Dr Sebastian Kraemer
London
• My husband and I received letters from the DWP recently to say we’d not be getting our fuel allowance this year, total value around £300. However, the same department failed to write and inform me of my six years’ loss of pension, total value in excess of £50,000. Where is the logic in that (Letters, 22 December)?
Kate Rous
Walpole, Suffolk
| | submitted by /u/marketrent [link] [comments] |
Exclusive: Full structural surveys to be carried out on representative sample of about 100 system-built blocks
Ministers have ordered intrusive structural surveys of a group of ageing, postwar school buildings in England amid mounting concern about hidden defects that could lead to structural failures.
After the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) crisis, which closed schools and prompted mass inspections, the government is concerned about thousands of “system-built” school structures that could pose a safety risk.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Report finds poorer areas particularly affected by varying availability and cost of charging electric cars
The UK is at risk of a drastic slowdown in its transition to electric cars because of big disparities in the availability and cost of charging points, especially in poorer areas, a report says.
The study, by the consultancy Stonehaven, argues that given rapid advances in batteries and car range, persuading more people to move to electric vehicles is now less an issue of technology than one of “urban management and social equity”.
Continue reading...Four months on from the far-right violence that shocked the UK, what happened to the men living in a hotel that was targeted?
The Holiday Inn Express on Manvers Way, just outside Rotherham, stands quiet and empty. There are hints that something has happened here: cracks in some of the windows, and round the back, if you know where to look, remnants of police tape. But there are no obvious signs of the violence that took place in August, nor of the danger faced by the hotel’s former residents, who, many say, were lucky to escape with their lives when the hotel was set alight during a far-right riot.
It was hot on Sunday 4 August when what had been advertised on Facebook as a peaceful protest, triggered by the murders of three girls in Southport, turned violent. At its height, about 750 people gathered, some from the local area but many from much farther afield.
Continue reading...While Labour’s critics are circling, pay growth is resilient and inflation is cooling
Not everything has gone smoothly for Keir Starmer. At the end of Labour’s first calendar year in power since Gordon Brown was in Downing Street a decade and a half ago, the prime minister is on the back foot after a run of disappointing economic updates.
With a backlash over several unpopular tax and spending decisions, and as pressure mounts for a change in course early in the new year, the new government is in danger of losing control of its primary mission to revive Britain’s misfiring economy.
Continue reading...New powers come amid concerns that cyber-attacks and outages could put the country’s financial stability at risk
City regulators will begin cracking down in the new year on tech firms providing “critical” services to UK banks amid concerns that cyber-attacks and outages at companies such as Google or Amazon could put the country’s financial stability at risk.
From 1 January, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority will be handed powers to regulate companies that are becoming a crucial part of the day-to-day operations of the increasingly digital banking and payments sector.
Continue reading...London landmark puts symbol of empire at the centre of a new exhibition exploring colonial taxes on commodity
A potent symbol of empire that has been hidden for decades at one of London’s landmarks will be open to the public from February.
The restored Salt Stair at Somerset House will be home to an exhibition exploring the pivotal role played by the Salt Office, which collected colonial taxes on the commodity.
Continue reading...As democracy’s opponents peddle hate, anger and division, our job is to act like citizens of a better country
So, 2025… Will you finish us off or just leave us with ineradicable psychic and emotional scarring? Will our hyper-capitalist special economic zones ooze out to meet our hyper-capitalist freeports and offer us exciting new opportunities to be indentured serfs, or work abroad as trafficked persons, or perhaps just lurk dangerously in the depths of the very toxic harbour sludge that provoked our mutation into new, nauseating life forms. I hope I get fangs. I’ve always wanted fangs. And a tail.
Like many of you, I’m unsure if 2025 will be able to scar me emotionally – after the past decade, my soul already looks like Deadpool. That’s not the peak cute Ryan Reynolds at the start of the movie, or the snazzy mask and cool moves – I mean the naked wealed and welted freak with the face of a Halloween pumpkin in late December. What’s left to scar, 2025?
AL Kennedy’s new novel, Alive in the Merciful Country, is published by Saraband on 9 January
Continue reading...More walkouts planned in 2025 at V&A, Natural History and Science museums as workers demand living wage
Three of the UK’s biggest museums face the threat of strike action in 2025 by security guards over pay and conditions.
Guards at the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum are in dispute with the external contractor, Wilson James. They want a basic pay rate of £16 an hour to cope with the cost of living crisis.
Continue reading...Communities across the UK are fighting ‘catastrophic’ proposals to build new energy-from-waste plants
Labour faces a growing backlash across the country over proposals to build a new generation of more than 40 waste incinerators to burn household and commercial rubbish.
Communities are fighting plans for the new energy-from-waste incinerators which have been called the UK’s dirtiest form of power. The plants, some of which can burn more than 500,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, are often located in more deprived areas.
Continue reading...The new US president will almost certainly bring unpredictability but several themes will dominate the year ahead. Observer writers offer their guide on what lies ahead in politics, film, fashion, sport and more
The only thing that can be predicted with absolute certainty about Donald Trump’s second term as US president is that it will be unpredictable. Trump does not really know what he wants to do on a range of issues. He talks a good game, which is how he got re-elected. But he often seems to decide policy on the basis of what the last person he spoke to told him. Is he serious about mobilising the military to carry out mass deportations of “illegal” migrants? Will he use the justice department to hunt down political enemies and media critics? Will he impose sweeping tariffs on foreign imports and trigger a global trade war? Or will he act with greater circumspection, using these threats as bargaining tools? Who knows? He doesn’t yet.
Continue reading...Remarks follow social media posts from Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who vowed to go to ‘war’ to defend program
Donald Trump on Saturday sided with Elon Musk, a key supporter and billionaire tech CEO, in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.
Trump’s remarks followed a series of social media posts from Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late Friday to go to “war” to defend the visa program for foreign tech workers.
Continue reading...Billionaire Trump adviser said his ‘significant investments’ in the country justify his wading into German politics
The tech entrepreneur and close adviser to Donald Trump Elon Musk has taken a stunning new public step in his support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), publishing a supportive guest opinion piece for the country’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper that has prompted the commentary editor to resign in protest.
The commentary piece in German was launched online on Saturday before being published on Sunday in the flagship paper of the Axel Springer media group, which also owns the US politics news site Politico.
Continue reading...Conservationists issue warning as figures show three-quarters of SSSI sites have had no recent assessments
Conservationists have said wildlife could be “disappearing in the dark” after figures showed that three-quarters of England’s most precious habitats, wildlife and natural features have had no recent assessment of their condition.
The warning follows the publication of figures covering assessments of protected natural sites known as sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) in the last five years. SSSIs are legally protected because they contain special features such as threatened habitats or rare species, and together they cover more than 1.1m hectares (2.7m acres), about 8% of England’s land area.
Continue reading...On Truth Social, president-elect also lashes out at Chinese troops in Panama Canal and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
Donald Trump has told 37 people on death row who had their sentences commuted by Joe Biden to “go to hell” in a lacerating Christmas Day social media post.
The president-elect – long a vocal advocate of capital punishment – lashed out at Biden’s decision on his Truth Social platform, after wishing a merry Christmas to political opponents he addressed as “Radical Left Lunatics”.
Continue reading...Announcement comes as Trump has threatened to reassert control over canal, which US handed to Panama in 1999
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated the Miami-Dade county commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera to serve as ambassador to Panama.
Trump described Cabrera as “a fierce fighter for America First principles” who he said has been instrumental in driving economic growth and fostering international partnerships.
Continue reading...“When you imagine what the FTC is willing and able to do in the service of an authoritarian Trump administration, that takes you to some really terrifying places.”
The post Republicans Said the FTC Was Too Politicized. Now Trump’s FTC Pick Says It Should be Politicized — by Trump. appeared first on The Intercept.
Salome Zourabichvili tells protesters she will leave presidential palace as far-right successor Mikheil Kavelashvili takes power
Georgia’s pro-western president, Salome Zourabichvili, has said she will leave the palace but remain the country’s legitimate officeholder, after refusing to hand over the keys to her successor in the wake of a controversial general election.
Zourabichvili spoke as thousands of protesters gathered in the capital, Tblisi, to demonstrate against the inauguration of Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football player turned far-right politician backed by the ruling pro-Moscow and increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream (GD) party, who was sworn in as president at a parliamentary ceremony.
Continue reading...Gemfields makes decision over ruby mining after groups ‘took advantage’ of situation to try to invade its site
The London-listed mining company Gemfields said it had temporarily halted its ruby mining operation in Mozambique after groups “took advantage” of political unrest to set fire and attempt to invade its site, resulting in two deaths.
Gemfields, one of the world’s largest miners of coloured gemstones, said more than 200 people associated with illegal ruby mining attempted to invade the residential village built by the company next to its Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) operation in northern Mozambique on Christmas Eve.
Continue reading...The U.S. political system is owned by corporations despised by the American people. Luigi Mangione is the result.
The post Health Insurance Execs Should Live in Fear of Prison, Not Murder appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether you prefer to pop the cork on prosecco, English fizz or alcohol-free, these sparkling wines are the best around
A celebratory bottle of bubbly doesn’t just mean champagne any more. Sure, it could be champagne, but it also could be méthode Tasmanoise, crémant or even English or Indian sparkling wine.
Whether it’s dryness, flavour, or a specific country of origin or you’re looking for, there is a fizz to fit the bill. Here’s a selection of the best supermarket, wine club and online picks to raise a glass with. Bottoms up!
Continue reading...Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
Everyone from janitors to the Geek Squad could be forced to help the NSA spy — and Democrats barely put up a fight.
The post Top Senator Warns Sweeping New Surveillance Powers Will “Inevitably Be Misused” by Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
A significant potential rival for Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham emerged on the final day of Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting on Sunday, as Brighterdaysahead, a five-year-old mare trained by Gordon Elliott, came home 30 lengths clear of her rivals in the Grade One Neville Hotels Hurdle, with State Man, the reigning champion over timber, only third in a race that he had won for the past two seasons.
State Man set off as the 4-9 favourite for the race on Sunday, despite having had his first defeat in a completed start in Ireland when finishing a close second behind Brighterdaysahead at Punchestown in November. While Brighterdaysahead had made her own running there, however, she had a pacemaker for the rematch in her stable companion, King Of Kingsfield, and the pair steadily built a lead of about a dozen lengths by halfway.
Continue reading...The late feminist artists explored ideas of doubling and twinship, as well as helping to redefine notions of craft skills
The photographer Colleen Kenyon made this new year portrait of her identical twin sister Kathleen in 1977. At the time the two of them were embarking on a shared artistic journey that put them at the forefront of feminist artists interested in reclaiming and redefining “craft” skills, using photomontage and hand-colouring techniques to celebrate and ironise traditionally “domestic” artistic expression, such as scrapbooking. Over the subsequent 25 years the twins, born in 1951, pursued this practice at the Center for Photography at Woodstock in upstate New York, where Colleen became executive director in 1981 and her sister joined her as associate director. Together they developed the exhibition space and a programme of workshops to make the institution a prime mover in the advancement of women in the arts, and for artists of colour.
Their own distinctive photographic ideas developed both individually and in tandem in those years. Colleen focused on intricate print-making techniques and delicate hand-colouring of female portraits, while Kathleen pursued her interest in collage, often manipulating mass-produced images of women to give them a pointed comic or political edge. Frequently, the sisters explored ideas of doubling and twinship – their academic parents had dressed them identically until they were 10, before they each insisted on making their own fashion choices – and their art examines their shared genetics and discrete characters in multiple ways.
Continue reading...Fast-talking, finger-jabbing Jeff Goldblum on vanity, mortality and becoming a father in his 60s. Elon Musk (father of 11) supports their cause, thousands follow their ideology: to make it easier for everyone to have multiple children. Enter the unsettling world of Malcolm and Simone Collins, America’s premier pronatalists
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Will Unwin, Jonathan Fadugba and Lars Sivertsen after a batch of intriguing results on Boxing Day including losses for Chelsea and Manchester United
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today; a Boxing Day for the ages as Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs all lose while Manchester City drop points against Everton.
Continue reading...Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.
From July: In 2024, libraries are unofficial creches, homeless shelters, language schools and asylum support providers – filling the gaps left by a state that has reneged on its responsibilities. By Aida Edemariam
Continue reading...Twenty-three years after Mohammed Ayaz fell from the wheel bay of a plane coming in to land at Heathrow, his brother visits the car park where the body was found. Esther Addley reports
This week we are revisiting some of our favourite episodes from 2024. This episode was first broadcast on 9 September.
In 2001, Mohammed Ayaz climbed into the wheel bay of a British Airways Boeing 777 heading from Bahrain to London Heathrow. His body fell from the plane as it descended, and was discovered in a car park in Richmond.
Continue reading...The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden appears ready to sign the NDAA, despite objections from advocates and some Democrats about an insidious anti-trans rider.
The post Senate Approves Defense Bill Blocking Health Care for Thousands of Trans Youth appeared first on The Intercept.
The internal EU document may strip European foreign ministers of “plausible deniability” in Israeli war crimes in Gaza, experts said.
The post EU Officials Will Claim Ignorance of Israel’s War Crimes. This Leaked Document Shows What They Knew. appeared first on The Intercept.
A newly obtained document sheds light on how the disavowed “excited delirium” diagnosis infiltrated the Rochester Police Department before Prude’s death.
The post What Killed Daniel Prude? The Cops and New York AG Said a Diagnosis That’s Since Been Debunked. appeared first on The Intercept.
The big news outlets used to say settlements would encourage more lawsuits. Trump is already targeting smaller newspapers.
The post The Real Danger of ABC News Settling Its Lawsuit With Donald Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
People line streets to pay tribute to man who steered India through some of its most turbulent economic times
India bade farewell to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of the country’s economic transformation, with a state funeral in New Delhi, complete with full honours and a 21-gun salute.
Sikh priests chanted hymns as Singh’s flag-draped coffin, strewn with rose petals, was carried on a carriage through the capital, pulled by a ceremonially decorated army truck. Congress party supporters chanted: “As long as the sun and moon remain, your name will remain,” and “Long live Manmohan Singh” as Singh’s body was removed from the headquarters of the left-leaning party, where it had been lying in state.
Continue reading...“The funds to CJA are critical for building community resilience against climate change threats.”
The post EPA Staffers Demand Biden Release Climate Funds Withheld Over Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.
The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.
Indiana wanted to kill Joseph Corcoran under the cover of darkness, but one journalist slipped in to witness.
The post Indiana’s Midnight Executions Are a Relic of Another Age appeared first on The Intercept.
For more than two decades, the U.S. has flown drones over the heads of millions of people — watching, recording, and even killing some of them.
The post America Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine: Drone Terror appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden is running out of time to stop another Trump execution spree.
The post Power of the Pardon 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...“I have a fundamental right to be protected by my government, especially in times of war. My children and I deserve to return to the safety of the U.S.”
The post Americans Stuck in Gaza Sue the U.S. for Leaving Them “Trapped in a War Zone” appeared first on The Intercept.
Topped with Charli xcx’s swaggering yet vulnerable Brat, here are the year’s finest LPs as decided by 26 Guardian music writers
• More best music of 2024
• More on the best culture of 2024
***
Continue reading...A second-half double from substitute Hamza Igamane rescued a 2-2 draw for Rangers at Motherwell but the disjointed visitors fell further behind Premiership leaders Celtic.
Philippe Clement came under fresh fire following the 2-1 Boxing Day defeat at St Mirren and there was uproar among the travelling supporters as Apostolos Stamatelopoulos put the hosts ahead in the 16th minute before Tawanda Maswanhise added a second in the 35th minute. Half-time replacement Igamane reduced the deficit in the 50th minute before Well boss Stuart Kettlewell was shown a red card by referee Kevin Clancy, possibly for dissent.
Continue reading...Travel disruption expected as forecaster issues weather warnings for almost all of UK from Monday to Thursday
Revellers could see their New Year’s Eve plans curtailed or cancelled as heavy rain, snow and strong winds are forecast to hit the UK, causing travel disruption for most of this week.
The Met Office issued multiple yellow weather warnings for Monday to Thursday, with almost all of the country affected by at least one alert.
Continue reading...Amid a US mental health crisis, police officers, firefighters and paramedics are flying to Mexico for treatments they say are transformative
In mid-September, after the fire season in the American west largely went quiet but before hurricanes ravaged the south-east, seven first responders from across the US traveled to Mexico seeking a therapy they hoped would transform their lives.
They had embarked on a sort of pilgrimage, journeying thousands of miles to an airy villa outside the humid beachside city of Puerto Vallarta, where over the course of three days a team would guide them through ceremonies with psilocybin, the psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT and tobacco.
Continue reading...Electric toothbrushes promise healthier teeth and gums and can transform your oral hygiene. We put more than 20 models to the test to reveal the best for every budget
If you grew up using a conventional toothbrush – essentially a stick with bristles on the end – you may be surprised to learn just how long the electric toothbrush has been around. The first was designed in the late 1930s, but that model was a long way from the sleek, feature-packed and Bluetooth-enabled beasts you can buy today.
There are now dozens of ultra-advanced versions on the market, but which ones are worth your cash? For the past two months, my teeth have become figurative guinea pigs to help you find the answer to that question. I put a bunch of electric toothbrushes from Oral-B, Philips, Suri, Ordo, Silk’n, Foreo and more through their paces to separate the best from the rest. Here are my conclusions.
Best electric toothbrush overall:
Spotlight Sonic Pro
£150 at Look Fantastic
Best value electric toothbrush:
Icy Bear Next-Generation sonic toothbrush
£64.99 at Icy Bear Dental
Best premium electric toothbrush:
Philips Sonicare Smart 9400
£160.99 at Amazon
Best oscillating toothbrush:
Oral-B iO3
£60 at Boots
Best electric toothbrush for sustainability:
Suri sonic toothbrush
£80.75 at Boots
Exclusive: Report finds poorer areas particularly affected by varying availability and cost of charging electric cars
The UK is at risk of a drastic slowdown in its transition to electric cars because of big disparities in the availability and cost of charging points, especially in poorer areas, a report says.
The study, by the consultancy Stonehaven, argues that given rapid advances in batteries and car range, persuading more people to move to electric vehicles is now less an issue of technology than one of “urban management and social equity”.
Continue reading...Two cities just a few hours distant, yet miles apart in terms of culture, crowds, and metropolitan swagger
Would you like to meet Arthur?” asked the well-groomed American tourist in the scalloped booth next to ours. We felt perplexed as the man seemed to be sitting on his own, but then we realised that perched on a soft cushion and gently lapping at a saucer of organic yoghurt, was an elderly poodle. “Arthur loves Strasbourg,” he explained. “This is his 16th visit!” The dog stared unblinkingly at us, his pink tongue licking a spot of white yoghurt from his black whiskers. “Really,” I said. “What does he like so much about the place?” The man looked at us with amazement: “Well, the breakfasts, of course!”
I also like breakfasts – and the city of Strasbourg – but this is only my third visit. This time, my wife, Juliet, and I are here for the weekend as surprise guests at a close friend’s 60th birthday (somehow we managed to keep our visit a secret until the moment he and his French wife entered the tiny restaurant we were waiting in).
Continue reading...Time flies when you’re… in a boring routine, according to research, which shows that new experiences, from foreign travel to a walk in nature, can alter our perception of time
It’s the time of the year for endless cliches. From “tis the season” and “the gift that keeps on giving” to “new year, new you”, there’s nowhere to hide from tired old phrases. One of my favourites is “Christmas comes around quicker each year” – which ignores the fact that one year equals one trip around the sun.
There’s often a kernel of truth in a cliche, though. A recent study by Ruth Ogden from Liverpool John Moores University and colleagues showed that the vast majority of people in both the UK and Iraq really did experience Christmas (or Ramadan) approaching more rapidly every year. This may be down partly to festive decorations appearing ever earlier in the season. But it’s also a result of how we perceive time psychologically.
Continue reading...There are deep wells of culinary talent across the UK, ably battling the challenging economics facing the sector
In the matter of restaurants, it is always better to travel hopefully, and in 2024 my optimism was richly rewarded. The very first review of the year found me in Guildford at Gordo’s, a comfortable canteen of a place hung with gashes of colour. There chef Rafael Onate and his family were showing the locals an exceedingly good time courtesy of fabulous tacos, chimichangas, quesadillas and slowly turning skewers of pork al pastor, kept in place by roasting pineapple. The instinct to cheerlead may be strong, but there is no point pretending. This year has been a difficult one for the restaurant business. Reports of closures piled up in the “news bites” that appear online below this column, like so much hurricane debris. And yet what’s striking is the way superb small restaurants, like Gordo’s, offering something specific, will be supported by the locals if the quality is there.
In Aberystwyth in May it was at Arabic Flavour where I got to tell the story of Ghofran Hamza, a gifted cook still in her 20s, who grew up in Syria, but who was forced to flee with her family by the chaos of war, eventually landing on the west coast of Wales. Dishes like tabbouleh and hummus, falafel and baba ghanoush, might have sounded familiar, but each carried the fat thumb print of a personal and distinctive story. I just hope she managed to find a few extra hands to help her out in the kitchen. In Stoke in September, it was at Little Dumpling King, where chef Rob McIntrye channelled his love of huge, banging flavours into a menu of raucous, mostly Japanese-inspired small plates. His pearly skinned haggis dumplings, swamped in crispy chilli oil, weren’t subtle. But by god, they were delicious. His salt sprinkled deep-fried Mars bar wasn’t bad either.
Continue reading...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
Share a tip on a peerless architectural or sculptural creation, ancient or modern – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break
The Seven Wonders of the World was a list of peerless architectural and sculptural creations from the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East drawn up in the 2nd century BC by Greek travellers following Alexander the Great’s conquests. Only one is still standing – the Great Pyramid of Giza. In 2001, the Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation came up with an updated list, which included Machu Picchu, Petra and the Taj Mahal. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so we would like you to tell us about your personal wonder of the world. It could be an ancient stone circle, a statue, a stately home, a temple or even a modern-day skyscraper.
If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition.
Continue reading...The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
For more than two decades, the U.S. has flown drones over the heads of millions of people — watching, recording, and even killing some of them.
The post America Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine: Drone Terror appeared first on The Intercept.
As the diplomatic row over the embargo escalates, the U.S. sent Israel millions of pounds of ammunition through Spanish territory.
The post U.S. Defied Spanish Embargo on Arms Bound for Israel by Making Enforcement More Difficult appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...
As democracy’s opponents peddle hate, anger and division, our job is to act like citizens of a better country
So, 2025… Will you finish us off or just leave us with ineradicable psychic and emotional scarring? Will our hyper-capitalist special economic zones ooze out to meet our hyper-capitalist freeports and offer us exciting new opportunities to be indentured serfs, or work abroad as trafficked persons, or perhaps just lurk dangerously in the depths of the very toxic harbour sludge that provoked our mutation into new, nauseating life forms. I hope I get fangs. I’ve always wanted fangs. And a tail.
Like many of you, I’m unsure if 2025 will be able to scar me emotionally – after the past decade, my soul already looks like Deadpool. That’s not the peak cute Ryan Reynolds at the start of the movie, or the snazzy mask and cool moves – I mean the naked wealed and welted freak with the face of a Halloween pumpkin in late December. What’s left to scar, 2025?
AL Kennedy’s new novel, Alive in the Merciful Country, is published by Saraband on 9 January
Continue reading...The poet talks about newspapers and television, coffee and strawberries, and how Monday’s gloomy presence hangs over every Sunday
Sunday habits? A favourite is Desert Island Discs on Radio 4. Or I’ll watch a re-run of Match of The Day on BBC One at 7.30am since I missed it working Saturday.
Then what? My local newsagents only order about three copies of each newspaper, so I have to get on the bike to snatch them. Then I read them. That’s my Sunday pursuit.
Sunday brekkie? I’m a creature of habit. My breakfast is always the same. A quarter pint of espresso. A couple of baked goods – a danish here, a croissant there – and an entire punnet of strawberries.
Sunday lunch? I’m not a lunch guy, but I do have a huge… we call it tea. My wife’s French, a terrific cook. The pleasures of the table are close to my heart.
What’s on the menu? She does a great chicken with ratatouille, and a chicken featuring 60 unpeeled cloves of garlic. Sixty! Count them. I like Mediterranean grub. I like a nice ragu, but the sauce must be rich and the base baked on Italian stone.
Sunday evening? There’s never been a better time to own a television set. It’s one irresistible programme after the other, starting with Antiques Road Show. My favourite is The Footage Detectives on Freeview, where people send in Super 8 footage of their lives. You can guess what year it is by the cars and clothes. It’s all people on holiday at British seaside resorts in 1958. It’s a terrific show.
Sundays growing up? Everything was closed, but Higher Broughton in Greater Manchester was a Jewish area, so you could buy fresh baked goods because they weren’t open on the Saturday. The only other places open were movie theatres, and we had eight within walking distance.
Dread Mondays? Monday’s gloomy presence hangs over every Sunday. It is the ruination of Sunday.
John Cooper Clarke’s In Celebration of World Poetry Day tours London, Nottingham and Manchester in March 2025. See livenation.co.uk
Continue reading...The new US president will almost certainly bring unpredictability but several themes will dominate the year ahead. Observer writers offer their guide on what lies ahead in politics, film, fashion, sport and more
The only thing that can be predicted with absolute certainty about Donald Trump’s second term as US president is that it will be unpredictable. Trump does not really know what he wants to do on a range of issues. He talks a good game, which is how he got re-elected. But he often seems to decide policy on the basis of what the last person he spoke to told him. Is he serious about mobilising the military to carry out mass deportations of “illegal” migrants? Will he use the justice department to hunt down political enemies and media critics? Will he impose sweeping tariffs on foreign imports and trigger a global trade war? Or will he act with greater circumspection, using these threats as bargaining tools? Who knows? He doesn’t yet.
Continue reading...Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama was chilling, Lily Farhadpour charmed in Iran and Paul Mescal was tremendous in a fantasy-romance as our critics select their standout picks of the year
• The best films in the US
• More on the best culture of 2024
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Continue reading...The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
Mike Lawler says Mike Johnson should remain speaker as cracks appear between Trump’s team and far right
The US House member Mike Lawler attempted on Sunday to tease out two pressing issues facing the new Congress beginning in 2025, telling an American political talkshow that this was not the moment for his fellow Republicans to have a “food fight” over leadership in Capitol Hill and that the country “needs an immigration system that works”.
Both issues have dominated political headlines in recent days, as potential policy splits become apparent between far-right congressional Republicans and the executive team being assembled for their party leader Donald Trump’s second presidency beginning in January.
Continue reading...The TV personality, chef, musician and author has made her cultural mark, but has faced her fights – racism, violence, grief, poverty as a single mum. How did this nascent national treasure turn trauma into triumph?
There’s a stockpot simmering on Andi Oliver’s stove – for days, the broth has been bubbling. A mugful of the rib-sticking, rich elixir lands in front of me as I’m ushered into her east London kitchen from the cold. She ladles out a flask-full for Garfield, her boyfriend of 30 years, then peers into the saucepan. “I’ve not been well,” says Oliver, “and this has healed me.” She spent the past two months filming in Stratford-upon-Avon, where she always had a similar soup on the go. “It’s giving yourself the care you need. And sharing it with other people doesn’t just fix you, but briefly, the world around you.” Supplies depleted, she begins to rebuild the brew from its bones: pinches of cloves, juniper and star anise are dropped in. A glug of white wine. Taste, then season. No measurements, just instinct. “I started cooking young,” Oliver explains. “To me, it’s everyday magic. Giving you that broth is sharing a little bit of myself – a soul exchange.” Briefly, there’s a moment of serenity.
Scout, the ageing family dog, comes in barking. The phone rings, twice. Unidentified clattering upstairs. Hers is a house that’s lived in. “Just to flag,” Oliver warns, “anyone might just appear. This place is like Piccadilly Circus.” A steady stream of people do wander through. First, Kelly, close colleague and confidante. Garfield next. Then Oliver’s mum pootles through, nonplussed by a stranger’s presence. Soon to turn 88, she moved in a couple of years back. “Oh, and that’s Amanda Mealing,” Oliver says, as the former Holby City star pops her head around the door. “We met doing a play with Paul O’Grady – Lily Savage was one of her son’s godmothers, and I’m the other one.” There might be other houseguests, Oliver can’t be certain.
Continue reading...There are deep wells of culinary talent across the UK, ably battling the challenging economics facing the sector
In the matter of restaurants, it is always better to travel hopefully, and in 2024 my optimism was richly rewarded. The very first review of the year found me in Guildford at Gordo’s, a comfortable canteen of a place hung with gashes of colour. There chef Rafael Onate and his family were showing the locals an exceedingly good time courtesy of fabulous tacos, chimichangas, quesadillas and slowly turning skewers of pork al pastor, kept in place by roasting pineapple. The instinct to cheerlead may be strong, but there is no point pretending. This year has been a difficult one for the restaurant business. Reports of closures piled up in the “news bites” that appear online below this column, like so much hurricane debris. And yet what’s striking is the way superb small restaurants, like Gordo’s, offering something specific, will be supported by the locals if the quality is there.
In Aberystwyth in May it was at Arabic Flavour where I got to tell the story of Ghofran Hamza, a gifted cook still in her 20s, who grew up in Syria, but who was forced to flee with her family by the chaos of war, eventually landing on the west coast of Wales. Dishes like tabbouleh and hummus, falafel and baba ghanoush, might have sounded familiar, but each carried the fat thumb print of a personal and distinctive story. I just hope she managed to find a few extra hands to help her out in the kitchen. In Stoke in September, it was at Little Dumpling King, where chef Rob McIntrye channelled his love of huge, banging flavours into a menu of raucous, mostly Japanese-inspired small plates. His pearly skinned haggis dumplings, swamped in crispy chilli oil, weren’t subtle. But by god, they were delicious. His salt sprinkled deep-fried Mars bar wasn’t bad either.
Continue reading...From Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s ‘life on a plate’ to Rose Matafeo introducing our puzzle special, the best original photographs from the Observer commissioned in December 2024
Continue reading...Deliveries of vital food and medical supplies will help 200,000 families, say aid groups and local volunteers
An aid convoy has reached a besieged area of Khartoum for the first time since Sudan’s civil war broke out in April 2023, bringing food and medicines in a country where half of the people are at risk of starvation.
The 28 trucks arrived in southern Khartoum on 25 December, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), which provided 22 trucks loaded with 750 tonnes of food.
Continue reading...Whether you prefer to pop the cork on prosecco, English fizz or alcohol-free, these sparkling wines are the best around
A celebratory bottle of bubbly doesn’t just mean champagne any more. Sure, it could be champagne, but it also could be méthode Tasmanoise, crémant or even English or Indian sparkling wine.
Whether it’s dryness, flavour, or a specific country of origin or you’re looking for, there is a fizz to fit the bill. Here’s a selection of the best supermarket, wine club and online picks to raise a glass with. Bottoms up!
Continue reading...A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas
Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.
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Continue reading...Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
As the diplomatic row over the embargo escalates, the U.S. sent Israel millions of pounds of ammunition through Spanish territory.
The post U.S. Defied Spanish Embargo on Arms Bound for Israel by Making Enforcement More Difficult appeared first on The Intercept.
Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.
The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
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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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Flight data and cockpit voice recorders recovered from wreckage of Jeju Air flight 2216 at Muan airport
Distraught family members gathered at Muan international airport in South Korea on Sunday after a plane carrying 181 people from Bangkok crashed, killing all but two people onboard, in the country’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster.
Officials said all 175 passengers and four of the six crew members were killed when the Boeing 737-800 attempted an emergency landing, smashed into a wall and burst into flames at 9am local time at the airport, about 185 miles south-west of Seoul.
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It all seems like political theatre of the absurd – but the disrupter-in-chief has a habit of making the unthinkable inevitable
“Merry Christmas,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day with a photo of himself and his wife, Melania. So far, so traditional. But the US president-elect was just getting started.
In another post, Trump wished merry Christmas to all “including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama canal”. He poked fun at the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and claimed the US could annex Canada as its 51st state. For good measure, he addressed “the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the US to be there, and we will!”
Continue reading...There are deep wells of culinary talent across the UK, ably battling the challenging economics facing the sector
In the matter of restaurants, it is always better to travel hopefully, and in 2024 my optimism was richly rewarded. The very first review of the year found me in Guildford at Gordo’s, a comfortable canteen of a place hung with gashes of colour. There chef Rafael Onate and his family were showing the locals an exceedingly good time courtesy of fabulous tacos, chimichangas, quesadillas and slowly turning skewers of pork al pastor, kept in place by roasting pineapple. The instinct to cheerlead may be strong, but there is no point pretending. This year has been a difficult one for the restaurant business. Reports of closures piled up in the “news bites” that appear online below this column, like so much hurricane debris. And yet what’s striking is the way superb small restaurants, like Gordo’s, offering something specific, will be supported by the locals if the quality is there.
In Aberystwyth in May it was at Arabic Flavour where I got to tell the story of Ghofran Hamza, a gifted cook still in her 20s, who grew up in Syria, but who was forced to flee with her family by the chaos of war, eventually landing on the west coast of Wales. Dishes like tabbouleh and hummus, falafel and baba ghanoush, might have sounded familiar, but each carried the fat thumb print of a personal and distinctive story. I just hope she managed to find a few extra hands to help her out in the kitchen. In Stoke in September, it was at Little Dumpling King, where chef Rob McIntrye channelled his love of huge, banging flavours into a menu of raucous, mostly Japanese-inspired small plates. His pearly skinned haggis dumplings, swamped in crispy chilli oil, weren’t subtle. But by god, they were delicious. His salt sprinkled deep-fried Mars bar wasn’t bad either.
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Prime minister of India who brought in economic reforms and forged a new relationship with the US
The distinguished economist Manmohan Singh, who has died aged 92, was one of India’s longest serving prime ministers (and the first Sikh to hold the office), yet he never won a direct parliamentary election. After nearly two decades as an economic bureaucrat, Singh was often seen as more of a civil servant than a politician. Unlike India’s more charismatic leaders, he humbly admitted to being a poor public speaker.
Yet, as India’s finance minister (1991-96) this unlikely politician played a crucial role in the economic reforms that led to the rapid growth of India’s GDP. Then, as prime minister from 2004, he forged a new relationship with the US, ended India’s nuclear isolation and passed groundbreaking social legislation. In all this, he was bolstered by his reputation for absolute honesty, a considerable asset in the world of Indian politics.
Continue reading...People line streets to pay tribute to man who steered India through some of its most turbulent economic times
India bade farewell to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of the country’s economic transformation, with a state funeral in New Delhi, complete with full honours and a 21-gun salute.
Sikh priests chanted hymns as Singh’s flag-draped coffin, strewn with rose petals, was carried on a carriage through the capital, pulled by a ceremonially decorated army truck. Congress party supporters chanted: “As long as the sun and moon remain, your name will remain,” and “Long live Manmohan Singh” as Singh’s body was removed from the headquarters of the left-leaning party, where it had been lying in state.
Continue reading...Russian airstrikes on Christmas Day, the aftermath of the fall of Assad, remembering the Indian Ocean tsunami and a Boxing Day swim in Scotland: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
Continue reading...On Truth Social, president-elect also lashes out at Chinese troops in Panama Canal and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
Donald Trump has told 37 people on death row who had their sentences commuted by Joe Biden to “go to hell” in a lacerating Christmas Day social media post.
The president-elect – long a vocal advocate of capital punishment – lashed out at Biden’s decision on his Truth Social platform, after wishing a merry Christmas to political opponents he addressed as “Radical Left Lunatics”.
Continue reading...Jeju Air flight carrying 181 people burst into flames after plane hit wall at Muan airport, with two crew rescued
Dozens are feared dead after a plane skidded off the runway while attempting a landing without landing gear at Muan international airport in South Korea on Sunday morning
The exact casualty figures have not yet been tallied, though authorities are provisionally reporting that 28 people are believed to have died, according to news agency Newsis. Fire officials have warned that given the severe damage to the aircraft, the number of casualties could rise.
Jeju Air flight 2216 from Bangkok to Muan was carrying 181 people – 175 passengers and six crew – when it came down, skidded along the runway and hit fencing and a wall around the perimeter before catching fire.
Rescues are underway, with two people brought out of the wreckage so far. Emergency services are continuing their search operation.
The Boeing 737-800 may have suffered a bird strike that caused the landing gear to fail, according news agency Yonhap. The flight had reportedly attempted one landing before being forced to “go-around” when the landing gear failed to lower normally.
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, has ordered “all available equipment and personnel to be mobilised” for the rescue operations at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west and is heading to the crash site, about 300km from the capital, Seoul.
The pilot of Jeju Air flight 2216 from Bangkok appeared to be attempting a belly landing after the plane’s landing gear failed to deploy properly, Yonhap is reporting.
Continue reading...Experts say bird strikes are relatively common and should not have been enough to cause landing gear failure
No one knows for certain what caused Jeju Air flight 2216 to crash, killing all but two of its 181 passengers and crew. As darkness fell at Muan international airport in South Korea and officials fielded questions from distraught relatives of the dead, the most likely explanation was that the plane had been struck by one or more birds, triggering a sequence of events that prevented the pilot from deploying the landing gear.
Aviation officials focused on bird strikes – and, to a lesser extent, the weather – as the most probable cause, even as some experts said the relatively common phenomenon would not have been enough to cause a catastrophic failure of the landing gear.
Continue reading...Footage appears to show Boeing 737-800 skidding along runway at Muan airport before hitting wall and catching fire
All but two of 181 people onboard a plane that crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea are presumed to have died, in the country’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster.
Officials said they had confirmed that 177 people died in the crash on Sunday at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west, while two crew members – a man and a woman – had been rescued. Two people remained missing nine hours after the incident.
Continue reading...Incident highlights potential risks that instability at highest level of government poses to disaster response
As the year draws to a close, South Koreans must have hoped for respite from the political chaos visited on their country in recent weeks.
It was going to take something out of the ordinary to overshadow Friday’s impeachment of Han Duck-soo, the second South Korean leader to be removed from office by parliament in a fortnight.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands gather in central Seoul to protest against president suspended over martial law declaration
Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans flooded central Seoul on Saturday in the latest wave of protests demanding the removal of the country’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, a day after parliament voted to impeach his acting replacement.
Organisers claimed that more than 500,000 people participated in the rally, which took place amid a large police presence.
Continue reading...The ex-politician was admitted to hospital on Thursday after his health deteriorated
Manmohan Singh, India’s first Sikh prime minister and the architect of the big-bang economic reforms that set the stage for the country’s emergence as a global powerhouse, has died aged 92.
A hospital statement attributed Singh’s death to “age-related medical conditions”.
Continue reading...Whether you prefer to pop the cork on prosecco, English fizz or alcohol-free, these sparkling wines are the best around
A celebratory bottle of bubbly doesn’t just mean champagne any more. Sure, it could be champagne, but it also could be méthode Tasmanoise, crémant or even English or Indian sparkling wine.
Whether it’s dryness, flavour, or a specific country of origin or you’re looking for, there is a fizz to fit the bill. Here’s a selection of the best supermarket, wine club and online picks to raise a glass with. Bottoms up!
Continue reading...A dropout’s burgeoning affection for his gran makes him rethink his plan of benefiting from her fortune in a shamelessly sentimental crowd-pleaser
Thailand’s submission for the international Oscar category (the film has now made it on to the shortlist), How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is a crowd-pleasing family comedy drama that’s been a breakout success throughout Asia.
It’s a droll, perceptive and shamelessly sentimental look at generational tensions. M (Putthipong Assaratanakul), a cynical twentysomething university dropout, moves in with his ailing granny – a star-making turn from 78-year-old first-time actor Usha Seamkhum – in the hope of boosting his inheritance. But when M finds himself competing with his equally venal extended family for granny’s savings, he realises that the genuine affection that has developed between them is worth more than any cash windfall.
In UK and Irish cinemas
Continue reading...Pizza Hut in Taiwan has a history of weird pizzas, including a “2022 scalloped pizza with Oreos around the edge, and deep-fried chicken and calamari studded throughout the middle.”
Biden’s commutations for 37 of 40 people on death row brought relief for the men and their loved ones.
The post “And I Was Surprised”: On Federal Death Row, They Feared Biden Would Set Up Another Trump Killing Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
What a year of telly! A true story made for groundbreaking (and controversial) viewing, a chalk-and-cheese pair finally got it on – and a gorgeous Japanese epic became an instant classic
• More on the best culture of 2024
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Continue reading...Indiana wanted to kill Joseph Corcoran under the cover of darkness, but one journalist slipped in to witness.
The post Indiana’s Midnight Executions Are a Relic of Another Age appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden is running out of time to stop another Trump execution spree.
The post Power of the Pardon appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
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