********** MUSIC **********
return to top
Filter efficiency 100.000 (0 matches/931 results)
********** TRAVEL **********
return to top
Can Solar Wind Make Water on Moon? NASA Experiment Shows Maybe
Tue, 15 Apr 2025 13:35:37 +0000
Scientists have hypothesized since the 1960s that the Sun is a source of ingredients that form water on the Moon. When a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind smashes into the lunar surface, the idea goes, it triggers a chemical reaction that could make water molecules. Now, in the most realistic lab […]
Match ID: 0 Score: 35.00 source: science.nasa.gov age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 travel(|ing)
US’s $2.36tn tourism business fears ‘Trump slump’ over tariff turmoil
Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:00:41 GMT
Warnings emerge even as effect of economic and political turbulence on the foreign visitors to the US is hard to define
Batman said business was so-so, and King Kong beat his chest in agreement. But neither could predict that it would improve. Gotham’s caped crusader and his muscular ape neighbour could only hope. As with Times Square’s superhero-themed visitor-photography business last week, so it is with the US tourism business at large.
The effect of economic and political turbulence on the number of foreign visitors coming to the US is for now hard to define. But both – whether through tariffs, currency exchange chaos, or fears over political ill-winds – are sending chills through the $2.36tn business, the world’s most powerful travel and tourism market.
Continue reading...It’s a lot easier to tease new cross-Channel rail services than it is to actually start running trains. I’m crossing my fingers anyway
Between environmental breakdown, economic crisis and Donald Trump, it often feels like there’s precious little reason to feel hopeful these days. So how’s this for a reason to cheer up: Italian state railway company, Trenitalia, is planning to run trains through the Channel tunnel before the decade is out. It’s studying the option of direct trains from the UK to Italy, too. Eagle-eyed readers may note that those are two separate propositions.
Trenitalia is no stranger to the British rail network: it already operates the C2C franchise, which connects London Fenchurch Street via south Essex to Southend. Last week the company announced a €1bn (£860m) plan to launch a new high-speed service connecting London and Paris by 2029, as a direct competitor to the long-established Eurostar. In addition, it’s reported to be “studying the possibility” of extending the route, to Lyon, Marseille and Milan, which could be reached by train from London in eight hours. (Trenitalia already runs from Milan to Paris in just over seven hours.)
Jonn Elledge is an author and former assistant editor of the New Statesman
The challenging 870-mile trail cuts diagonally across Romania and takes in mountain meadows, fairytale forests and medieval monasteries
It was about seven minutes into my cycle ride that the first signs of addiction became apparent. My ebike’s “power assist” button felt more like a morphine clicker as we climbed the misty hills of Bucovina in northern Romania. Sergiu, my group’s guide, knew what I was up to. “Be honest with yourself – only use ‘turbo’ if you have to!” he shouted. My thumb cowered under the handlebar.
On previous adventures I’ve resisted assistance, maintaining that battery power is the preserve of the unserious. Nowadays, though, my pins aren’t as powerful, and on these vertiginous hills the extra oomph was near essential. But as with all drugs, moderation is key. After all, one wouldn’t want to run out of juice on hills that are home to wolves, bears and lynx.
Continue reading...Journalist Joel Budd travels around Britain demolishing Brexit myths in a nuanced study of a social group too often reduced to a cartoon by politicians
On 13 November 1968, a 35-year-old Labour politician got to his feet in the House of Commons and had a go at the ranks of Conservative members who faced him. Six or so months after Enoch Powell had delivered his infamously racist “rivers of blood” speech in Birmingham, David Winnick – who was then the MP for Croydon South – had decided to attack the Tory fashion for bemoaning immigration to the UK from such countries as India and Pakistan and expressing faux sympathy with deprived communities in British cities. “Many of those who act as the champions of the white person against immigrants,” he said, “have not in the past gone out of their way to defend the interests of the white working class.”
As the Economist journalist Joel Budd points out in this nuanced, enlightening book about the people and places Winnick was referring to, this was the first time “white working class” had been used to describe a certain kind of Briton. And in that sense, that small parliamentary moment was a prescient glimpse of a subject that would explode half a century later, when hostility to immigration fed into the result of the 2016 referendum on Brexit. At that point, the term “white working class’” became more ubiquitous than ever, and an insurgent political right made up of Powell’s political heirs – split between Tory Brexiters and the forces led by Nigel Farage – affected to speak for a kind of voter they claimed had been neglected and betrayed.
Continue reading...This week: top tips for buying preloved; the best secateurs, tested; and genuinely great-smelling diffusers
While waiting for a show during London fashion week in February, I and a few fashion writers, stylists and editors were admiring each other’s outfits. Surprise, surprise, we discovered that the pieces we loved most were preowned (and largely from charity shops, I might add).
It’s no secret that industry insiders love secondhand fashion: Kate Moss is known for her love of vintage; British Vogue recently hosted a vintage sale in collaboration with eBay; celebrities such as Zendaya, Kendall Jenner and Miley Cyrus are turning to archive looks for their red carpet appearances; even Selfridges now offers Reselfridges, a range of preloved designer bags and accessories.
The best secateurs to save you time and effort when pruning your garden, tested
The best diffusers for your home: 22 genuinely great-smelling diffusers for every mood and budget
The best power banks and battery packs for reliable charging on the go, tested
‘Very pale and oddly wrinkly’: the best (and worst) supermarket hot cross buns for Easter, tested
Continue reading...If you have changed your travel plans about travelling to the US, we’d like to hear from you
According to the US National Travel and Tourism Office, overseas visits to the country was down 11.6% in March compared to the same month last year.
We’re interested in finding out more about your views of travelling to the US. Have you recently changed your travel plans or decided not to travel to the US? Or perhaps you have booked a trip this year or are planning to visit in the near future? Whatever your reasons for travelling, or not, we’d like to hear from you.
Continue reading...Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, says they have ‘no idea’ why they have been in jail for two months
An elderly British couple taken captive by the Taliban have been interrogated 29 times since they were imprisoned more than two months ago, and still have “absolutely no idea” why they have been incarcerated, their daughter has said.
No charges have been brought against Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who ran school training programmes and were arrested alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, in central Afghanistan, in February.
Continue reading...Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
Just weeks away from graduation, some international students at Arizona State University have been blocked from completing degrees.
The post At Least 50 Arizona State Students Have Now Had Visas Revoked, Lawyer Says appeared first on The Intercept.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...The “Tesla Takedown” protests reveal a major vulnerability of the Trump regime.
The post The Tesla Takedown Shows How We Can Make Oligarchs Feel the Pain appeared first on The Intercept.
Graham denounces her toxic family and begins a new relationship, before discovering her beau’s preteen daughter to be a tiny psychopath in a tutu
For younger readers not well versed in last-century cinema, Heather Graham was one of the hottest ingenues in Hollywood throughout the 1990s; her greatest performance was arguably as Rollergirl in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights. Recently, she’s taken up writer-director duties (she made her debut in 2018 with a comedy called Half Magic) while continuing to star as well, and this sophomore effort impresses with its mildly acidic observations of contemporary mores. There aren’t exactly belly laughs in this tale of single yoga instructor Ann (Graham), but quite a few of zingers and bits that stick the landing nicely thanks to fluent direction and good comic timing from Graham and her excellent supporting cast, which is filled out by cracking actors who might not often be given as much spotlight as they get here.
That’s entirely fitting given that the plot, as the title might suggest, is all about the greater value of the friends and loved ones you make throughout life as opposed to the toxic monsters you’re saddled with at birth. In Ann’s case, that pretty much goes for her whole nuclear family, from zealous Christian wingnut dad (Michael Gross) and narcissistic mom (Julie Halston) to her admittedly damaged but still totally vile sister Clio (Julia Stiles, having fun sinking her teeth into the role). Graham’s script perhaps makes Ann just a bit too nice and a co-dependent martyr to these nightmare people.
Continue reading...Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
The U.S. moved toward tariffs that protected U.S. workers, industry, and the environment, says one expert. Trump is undoing it all.
The post What Could Progressive Tariffs Actually Look Like? appeared first on The Intercept.
Net zero is a target that countries should be striving for to stop the climate crisis. But beyond the buzzword, it is a complex scientific concept – and if we get it wrong, the planet will keep heating.
Biodiversity and environment reporter Patrick Greenfield explains how a loophole in the 2015 Paris climate agreement allows countries to cheat their net zero targets through creative accounting, and how scientists want us to fix it
Continue reading...
SEMrush and Ahrefs are among
the most popular tools in the SEO industry. Both companies have been in
business for years and have thousands of customers per month.
If you're a professional SEO or trying to do digital
marketing on your own, at some point you'll likely consider using a tool to
help with your efforts. Ahrefs and SEMrush are two names that will likely
appear on your shortlist.
In this guide, I'm going to help you learn more about these SEO tools and how to choose the one that's best for your purposes.
What is SEMrush?
SEMrush is a popular SEO tool with a wide range of
features—it's the leading competitor research service for online marketers.
SEMrush's SEO Keyword Magic tool offers over 20 billion Google-approved
keywords, which are constantly updated and it's the largest keyword database.
The program was developed in 2007 as SeoQuake is a
small Firefox extension
Features
Ahrefs is a leading SEO platform that offers a set of
tools to grow your search traffic, research your competitors, and monitor your
niche. The company was founded in 2010, and it has become a popular choice
among SEO tools. Ahrefs has a keyword index of over 10.3 billion keywords and
offers accurate and extensive backlink data updated every 15-30 minutes and it
is the world's most extensive backlink index database.
Features
Direct Comparisons: Ahrefs vs SEMrush
Now that you know a little more about each tool, let's
take a look at how they compare. I'll analyze each tool to see how they differ
in interfaces, keyword research resources, rank tracking, and competitor
analysis.
User Interface
Ahrefs and SEMrush both offer comprehensive information
and quick metrics regarding your website's SEO performance. However, Ahrefs
takes a bit more of a hands-on approach to getting your account fully set up,
whereas SEMrush's simpler dashboard can give you access to the data you need
quickly.
In this section, we provide a brief overview of the elements
found on each dashboard and highlight the ease with which you can complete
tasks.
AHREFS
The Ahrefs dashboard is less cluttered than that of
SEMrush, and its primary menu is at the very top of the page, with a search bar
designed only for entering URLs.
Additional features of the Ahrefs platform include:
SEMRUSH
When you log into the SEMrush Tool, you will find four
main modules. These include information about your domains, organic keyword
analysis, ad keyword, and site traffic.
You'll also find some other options like
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush have user-friendly dashboards,
but Ahrefs is less cluttered and easier to navigate. On the other hand, SEMrush
offers dozens of extra tools, including access to customer support resources.
When deciding on which dashboard to use, consider what
you value in the user interface, and test out both.
If you're looking to track your website's search engine
ranking, rank tracking features can help. You can also use them to monitor your
competitors.
Let's take a look at Ahrefs vs. SEMrush to see which
tool does a better job.
The Ahrefs Rank Tracker is simpler to use. Just type in
the domain name and keywords you want to analyze, and it spits out a report
showing you the search engine results page (SERP) ranking for each keyword you
enter.
Rank Tracker looks at the ranking performance of
keywords and compares them with the top rankings for those keywords. Ahrefs
also offers:
You'll see metrics that help you understand your
visibility, traffic, average position, and keyword difficulty.
It gives you an idea of whether a keyword would be
profitable to target or not.
SEMRush offers a tool called Position Tracking. This
tool is a project tool—you must set it up as a new project. Below are a few of
the most popular features of the SEMrush Position Tracking tool:
All subscribers are given regular data updates and
mobile search rankings upon subscribing
The platform provides opportunities to track several
SERP features, including Local tracking.
Intuitive reports allow you to track statistics for the
pages on your website, as well as the keywords used in those pages.
Identify pages that may be competing with each other
using the Cannibalization report.
Ahrefs is a more user-friendly option. It takes seconds
to enter a domain name and keywords. From there, you can quickly decide whether
to proceed with that keyword or figure out how to rank better for other
keywords.
SEMrush allows you to check your mobile rankings and
ranking updates daily, which is something Ahrefs does not offer. SEMrush also
offers social media rankings, a tool you won't find within the Ahrefs platform.
Both are good which one do you like let me know in the comment.
Keyword research is closely related to rank tracking,
but it's used for deciding which keywords you plan on using for future content
rather than those you use now.
When it comes to SEO, keyword research is the most
important thing to consider when comparing the two platforms.
The Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides you with thousands
of keyword ideas and filters search results based on the chosen search engine.
Ahrefs supports several features, including:
SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool has over 20 billion
keywords for Google. You can type in any keyword you want, and a list of
suggested keywords will appear.
The Keyword Magic Tool also lets you to:
Both of these tools offer keyword research features and
allow users to break down complicated tasks into something that can be
understood by beginners and advanced users alike.
If you're interested in keyword suggestions, SEMrush
appears to have more keyword suggestions than Ahrefs does. It also continues to
add new features, like the Keyword Gap tool and SERP Questions recommendations.
Both platforms offer competitor analysis tools,
eliminating the need to come up with keywords off the top of your head. Each
tool is useful for finding keywords that will be useful for your competition so
you know they will be valuable to you.
Ahrefs' domain comparison tool lets you compare up to five websites (your website and four competitors) side-by-side.it also shows you how your site is ranked against others with metrics such as backlinks, domain ratings, and more.
Use the Competing Domains section to see a list of your
most direct competitors, and explore how many keywords matches your competitors
have.
To find more information about your competitor, you can
look at the Site Explorer and Content Explorer tools and type in their URL
instead of yours.
SEMrush provides a variety of insights into your
competitors' marketing tactics. The platform enables you to research your
competitors effectively. It also offers several resources for competitor
analysis including:
Traffic Analytics helps you identify where your
audience comes from, how they engage with your site, what devices visitors use
to view your site, and how your audiences overlap with other websites.
SEMrush's Organic Research examines your website's
major competitors and shows their organic search rankings, keywords they are
ranking for, and even if they are ranking for any (SERP) features and more.
The Market Explorer search field allows you to type in
a domain and lists websites or articles similar to what you entered. Market
Explorer also allows users to perform in-depth data analytics on These
companies and markets.
SEMrush wins here because it has more tools dedicated to
competitor analysis than Ahrefs. However, Ahrefs offers a lot of functionality
in this area, too. It takes a combination of both tools to gain an advantage
over your competition.
When it comes to keyword data research, you will become
confused about which one to choose.
Consider choosing Ahrefs if you
Consider SEMrush if you:
Both tools are great. Choose the one which meets your
requirements and if you have any experience using either Ahrefs or SEMrush let
me know in the comment section which works well for you.
A green card holder, Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi faced attacks from pro-Israel activists.
The post Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE appeared first on The Intercept.
The “Tesla Takedown” protests reveal a major vulnerability of the Trump regime.
The post The Tesla Takedown Shows How We Can Make Oligarchs Feel the Pain appeared first on The Intercept.
Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
US president issues scathing view of Chinese counterpart’s motivations amid escalating trade war with Beijing
Xi Jinping’s tour of south-east Asia this week is probably intended to “screw” the United States, Donald Trump has suggested, as Xi embarks on a five-day tour of some of the nations hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs.
China’s president visited Hanoi on Monday, where he met the leader of Vietman’s Communist party, Tô Lâm, called for stronger trade ties and signed dozens of cooperation agreements, including on enhancing supply chains, before heading to Malaysia.
Continue reading...China has been flexing its maritime muscle in the Indo-Pacific – moves that pose a challenge for the US president
In the space of just five weeks, China held live-fire drills on the doorsteps of Australia, Taiwan and Vietnam. It tested new landing barges on ships that could facilitate an amphibious assault on Taiwan. And it unveiled deep-sea cable cutters with the ability to switch off another country’s internet access – a tool no other nation admits to having.
China has been flexing its maritime muscle in the Indo-Pacific to send a message of supremacy to its regional neighbours, experts say. But it’s also testing the thinking of a bigger rival further afield: Donald Trump.
Continue reading...The Wall Street Journal has the story:
Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret December meeting that Beijing was behind a widespread series of alarming cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring how hostilities between the two superpowers are continuing to escalate.
The Chinese delegation linked years of intrusions into computer networks at U.S. ports, water utilities, airports and other targets, to increasing U.S. policy support for Taiwan, the people, who declined to be named, said.
The admission wasn’t explicit:...
Unctad says many countries targeted with high tariff rates are unlikely to be a threat to US
The UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, is calling on Donald Trump to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest countries from “reciprocal” tariffs, or risk “serious economic harm”.
In a report published on Monday, Unctad identifies 28 nations the US president singled out for a higher tariff rate than the 10% baseline – despite each accounting for less than 0.1% of the US trade deficit.
Continue reading...Tech firm has reportedly flown 600 tonnes of handsets from Indian factories as Chinese goods face huge tariffs
Apple is reportedly chartering cargo flights to ferry iPhones from its Indian manufacturing plants to the US in an attempt to beat Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The tech company has flown 600 tonnes of iPhones, or as many as 1.5m handsets, to the US from India since March after ramping up production at its plants in the country, according to Reuters.
Continue reading...Protesters across the country have been rallying every weekend to try and drive Elon Musk’s car business into the ground.
The post Meet the Activists Motivated by Hatred of Elon Musk appeared first on The Intercept.
Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
NEU leader says union is ‘living rent free’ in Farage’s head after the politician accused him of ‘poisoning the minds of our kids’
Alison McGovern, minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, has commented on those latest job statistics, which showed that the number of payrolled workers in UK fell by 78,000.
The Labour MP for Birkenhead said:
We’re determined to get Britain working again as part of our plan for change by overhauling job centres, creating good jobs, transforming skills, transitioning to net zero and delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation.
This month, local areas are also starting to roll out their plans to tackle the root causes of inactivity as we get Britain back to health and back to work – backed by a share of £125m of investment.
Refusing a British Parliamentarian entry to Hong Kong for a private family visit, without reason, is an affront to UK-China diplomatic relations and will have a chilling effect on all UK politicians who speak up for freedom and democracy. That is why it is so important that we secure a statement setting out the Chinese authorities’ motivations for this act.
It’s now clearer than ever that the Chinese authorities aren’t going to play ball here. The foreign secretary needs to urgently take the exceptional step of summoning the Chinese ambassador in person to provide a clear and comprehensive account of why Wera was refused entry.
Continue reading...Carriers also asked to stop purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US firms, report says
China has reportedly ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets, the latest move in its tit-for-tat trade war with the US.
The Chinese government has asked carriers to stop purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from American companies, according to a Bloomberg News article, which cited people familiar with the matter.
Continue reading...The government needs to be clear-eyed about the threats China poses – not just accept them as the cost of doing business
Last week, my husband and I flew to Hong Kong with real excitement to see my family and meet our newborn grandson for the first time. Welcoming a family member is a precious moment and this was going to be a special trip. But what would have become an incredible memory – seeing our grandson for the first time – was snatched from us before we reached the baggage carousel.
Arriving at passport control, all seemed well. I handed my passport to a polite immigration official who put it into the computer system, and then paused. At this point I realised that something had been flagged up.
Continue reading...With extreme weather and Trump’s looming trade war, US farmers are reeling and resigned to needing more cash help
Farmers across the United States say they could face financial ruin – unless there is a huge taxpayer-funded bail out to compensate for losses generated by Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts and chaotic tariffs.
Small- and medium-sized farms were already struggling amid worsening climate shocks and volatile commodities markets, on top of being squeezed by large corporations that dominate the supply chain.
Continue reading...The defense secretary’s focus on “lethality” could lead to “wanton killing and wholesale destruction and disregard for law,” one Pentagon official said.
The post Pete Hegseth Is Gutting Pentagon Programs to Reduce Civilian Casualties appeared first on The Intercept.
Medical information will be available from UK Biobank, despite western intelligence agencies’ security fears
Researchers from China are to be allowed access to half a million UK GP records despite western intelligence agencies’ fears about the authoritarian regime amassing health data, the Guardian can reveal.
Preparations are under way to transfer the records to UK Biobank, a research hub that holds detailed medical information donated by 500,000 volunteers. One of the world’s largest troves of health data, the facility makes its information available to universities, scientific institutes and private companies. A Guardian analysis shows one in five successful applications for access come from China.
Continue reading...The deal signed last week between the centre-right CDU and centre-left SPD paves the way for vital investment in Europe’s biggest economy
Some years ago, hundreds of German finance ministry staff dressed in black and formed a giant zero to salute their boss, Wolfgang Schäuble, as he left office. It was a tribute to Mr Schäuble’s extreme fiscal conservatism, which had delivered Germany’s first balanced budget in the postwar period. Amid resurgent prosperity in the Angela Merkel years, the so-called black zero – symbolising a constitutional prohibition on public debt – had gradually acquired cult status.
As a new administration prepares to take power in Berlin, it seems unlikely that human euro signs will welcome the latest politician to take on Mr Schäuble’s former role. But in dramatic fashion, the spending taps are set to be turned on. Via a swiftly staged March vote in the outgoing Bundestag, “debt brake” dogma was consigned to history by the chancellor‑elect, Friedrich Merz. The way was thus paved for groundbreaking expenditure on defence, and the overhaul of an economy being left behind in a changed, suddenly menacing world.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...A little-known database logs hundreds of millions of wire transfers sent to or from Mexico, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
The post The Unusual Nonprofit That Helps ICE Spy on Wire Transfers appeared first on The Intercept.
The “Tesla Takedown” protests reveal a major vulnerability of the Trump regime.
The post The Tesla Takedown Shows How We Can Make Oligarchs Feel the Pain appeared first on The Intercept.
Journalist Joel Budd travels around Britain demolishing Brexit myths in a nuanced study of a social group too often reduced to a cartoon by politicians
On 13 November 1968, a 35-year-old Labour politician got to his feet in the House of Commons and had a go at the ranks of Conservative members who faced him. Six or so months after Enoch Powell had delivered his infamously racist “rivers of blood” speech in Birmingham, David Winnick – who was then the MP for Croydon South – had decided to attack the Tory fashion for bemoaning immigration to the UK from such countries as India and Pakistan and expressing faux sympathy with deprived communities in British cities. “Many of those who act as the champions of the white person against immigrants,” he said, “have not in the past gone out of their way to defend the interests of the white working class.”
As the Economist journalist Joel Budd points out in this nuanced, enlightening book about the people and places Winnick was referring to, this was the first time “white working class” had been used to describe a certain kind of Briton. And in that sense, that small parliamentary moment was a prescient glimpse of a subject that would explode half a century later, when hostility to immigration fed into the result of the 2016 referendum on Brexit. At that point, the term “white working class’” became more ubiquitous than ever, and an insurgent political right made up of Powell’s political heirs – split between Tory Brexiters and the forces led by Nigel Farage – affected to speak for a kind of voter they claimed had been neglected and betrayed.
Continue reading...The U.S. moved toward tariffs that protected U.S. workers, industry, and the environment, says one expert. Trump is undoing it all.
The post What Could Progressive Tariffs Actually Look Like? appeared first on The Intercept.
Australian defence minister Richard Marles says he has spoken to Indonesian counterpart about report Moscow filed official request over military aircraft
Indonesia’s defence minister has said reports Russia is seeking to base military aircraft in the country “are simply not true”, according to the Australian government, after Canberra made urgent calls to Jakarta.
The report from defence and security news website Janes said Moscow had filed an official request with Jakarta for permission for Russian aerospace forces (VKS) aircraft, including several long-range aircraft, to be based at a facility in Biak.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Battle of housing supply: who’s building more?
Both parties have said they’re the ones doing more on housing supply, while experts and economists have said neither is doing enough to address the supply versus demand issue.
What we’re doing is dealing with supply as well as demand. The Coalition’s plan will push up prices. Our plan will ensure that more homes are built. And what we’ve seen under my government is 28,000 of those social housing through the housing Australia Future Fund are either under construction or under planning.
We have $5bn, which works with councils to release 500,000 blocks of land. We cut migration by 25%…
If you’ve got a house that you’ve just bought and you’ve got a $500,000 mortgage and your house goes down by $100,000 under Labor, and your mortgage is worth more than the house itself, then that’s not a good situation for you. So, no, we don’t want house prices to plummet.
We want sustainable growth. If you’re buying a house today, if you can find one – and if you can afford one under this government – you don’t want to wake up in two years’ time and find that the value of that house has gone down.
Continue reading...We’d like to hear from small business owners in the UK and elsewhere about any impact of changing tariffs
China has raised tariffs on US imports to 125% in an escalation of the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.
US tariffs on Chinese goods now total 145%, while most other countries, including the UK, have maintained a 10% tariff on goods following Donald Trump’s announcements on Wednesday pausing “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days.
Continue reading...Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, to stand trial for plotting multiday slaughter carried out by 10 Islamist gunmen
A Pakistan-born Canadian citizen wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege has landed in New Delhi after his extradition from the United States.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, arrived at a military airbase outside the Indian capital under heavily armed guard late on Thursday, and will be held in detention to face trial.
Continue reading...Just weeks away from graduation, some international students at Arizona State University have been blocked from completing degrees.
The post At Least 50 Arizona State Students Have Now Had Visas Revoked, Lawyer Says appeared first on The Intercept.
Plan comes after Donald Trump reiterated import threats and chipmaker’s CEO dined at US president’s resort
The chip designer Nvidia has said it will build up to $500bn (£378bn) worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US over the next four years, in a sign of manufacturers investing in operations on American soil amid Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The announcement comes after Trump reiterated threats on Sunday to impose imminent tariffs on the semiconductors that Nvidia makes mostly in Taiwan, and after the chipmaker’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, dined at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month.
Continue reading...Notices show Trump administration setting stage for levies on both sectors on national security grounds
The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors into the US as part of an attempt to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the Federal Register on Monday showed.
The filings scheduled to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission of public comment on the issue and indicate the administration intends to pursue the levies under authority granted by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Such inquiries need to be completed within 270 days after being announced.
Continue reading...The veteran investigative journalist will cover U.S. military operations, national security issues, and foreign affairs through this yearlong fellowship.
The post Nick Turse Joins The Intercept as Inaugural National Security Reporting Fellow appeared first on The Intercept.
At a Congressional hearing earlier this week, Matt Blaze made the point that CALEA, the 1994 law that forces telecoms to make phone calls wiretappable, is outdated in today’s threat environment and should be rethought:
In other words, while the legally-mandated CALEA capability requirements have changed little over the last three decades, the infrastructure that must implement and protect it has changed radically. This has greatly expanded the “attack surface” that must be defended to prevent unauthorized wiretaps, especially at scale. The job of the illegal eavesdropper has gotten significantly easier, with many more options and opportunities for them to exploit. Compromising our telecommunications infrastructure is now little different from performing any other kind of computer intrusion or data breach, a well-known and endemic cybersecurity problem. To put it bluntly, something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable, and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made...
Former City minister denies allegations she received land illegally from her aunt, the ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
The former City minister Tulip Siddiq has said an arrest warrant issued against her in Bangladesh over allegations she illegally received a plot of land from her aunt, the country’s ousted former prime minister, is a “politically motivated smear campaign”.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Hampstead and Highgate MP said: “No one from the Bangladeshi authorities has contacted me. The entire time they’ve done trial by media. My lawyers proactively wrote to the Bangladeshi authorities, they never responded.
Continue reading...Former City minister accused of illegally receiving plot of land from her aunt, ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
An arrest warrant for the former City minister Tulip Siddiq has been issued in Bangladesh with a new allegation accusing her of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt, the ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladeshi media reported the warrant was issued by a judge for 53 people connected to Hasina, including Siddiq. There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.
Continue reading...China has dramatically increased military activities around Taiwan, with more than 3,000 incursions into Taiwan's airspace in 2024 alone. Amy Hawkins examines how Beijing is deploying 'salami-slicing' tactics, a strategy of gradual pressure that stays below the threshold of war while steadily wearing down Taiwan's defences. From daily air incursions to strategic military exercises, we explore the four phases of China's approach and what it means for Taiwan's future
Continue reading...
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, Daniel Neuenschwander, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Vice President for Exploration and Human Spaceflight, Mayumi Matsuura, have signed a new statement of intent focused on Moon and Mars activities. This statement marks their intention towards a step forward in space exploration cooperation between ESA and JAXA, and lays the groundwork for expanded collaboration between the two agencies in advancing science, technology and international partnerships.
A green card holder, Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi faced attacks from pro-Israel activists.
The post Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE appeared first on The Intercept.
The Trump administration vows to seek the death penalty “whenever possible.” But federal cases move slowly, and few result in a death sentence at all.
The post Trump Will Be Long Gone Before Luigi Mangione Faces Execution appeared first on The Intercept.
The defense secretary’s focus on “lethality” could lead to “wanton killing and wholesale destruction and disregard for law,” one Pentagon official said.
The post Pete Hegseth Is Gutting Pentagon Programs to Reduce Civilian Casualties appeared first on The Intercept.
Allison Riggs won in November – but a court ruling has put ballots in North Carolina under threat. The stakes are high
Allison Riggs, a Democratic justice on the North Carolina supreme court, is battling to keep her seat after a recent court ruling paved the way to overturn her election victory, telling the Guardian in an interview: “This is not just a North Carolina problem. This is an existential threat to democracy.”
In November, Riggs won an election for the state supreme court by a razor-thin 734 votes. But on Friday, the North Carolina supreme court ordered the state board of elections to give certain overseas voters 30 days to prove their eligibility in order to have the votes they cast more than five months ago count.
Continue reading...A little-known database logs hundreds of millions of wire transfers sent to or from Mexico, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
The post The Unusual Nonprofit That Helps ICE Spy on Wire Transfers appeared first on The Intercept.
Former City minister accused of illegally receiving plot of land from her aunt, ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
An arrest warrant for the former City minister Tulip Siddiq has been issued in Bangladesh with a new allegation accusing her of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt, the ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladeshi media reported the warrant was issued by a judge for 53 people connected to Hasina, including Siddiq. There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.
Continue reading...Despite Friday’s immigration court ruling, the legal fight to keep Khalil in the U.S. may stretch months or years.
The post What Comes Next in Mahmoud Khalil’s Fight Against Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
Death is the point.
The post Mahmoud Khalil and the Necropolitics of Trump’s Deportation Regime appeared first on The Intercept.
Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
The Trump administration filed no new evidence in its case against Khalil, according to a new filing ahead of Friday's hearing.
The post The Case Against Mahmoud Khalil Hinges on Vague “Antisemitism” Claim appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s attacks on the courts and Big Law are an existential threat to the legal system. Expect a reckoning.
The post The Clear and Present Danger to the American Rule of Law appeared first on The Intercept.
Noboa made armed forces central, initially leading to drop in crime but also to surge in reports of rights violations
In an election seen as a referendum on his “war on drugs”, Ecuador’s rightwing president, Daniel Noboa, won Sunday’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftist candidate Luisa González.
With 97% of ballots counted, the incumbent had secured 55.65% of the vote, compared with 44.35% for the former congresswoman.
Continue reading...On the chopping block is the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, which tracks sexual violence in the military and supports victims.
The post Pentagon Considers Cutting Its Sexual Assault Rules appeared first on The Intercept.
The “Tesla Takedown” protests reveal a major vulnerability of the Trump regime.
The post The Tesla Takedown Shows How We Can Make Oligarchs Feel the Pain appeared first on The Intercept.
Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
Protesters across the country have been rallying every weekend to try and drive Elon Musk’s car business into the ground.
The post Meet the Activists Motivated by Hatred of Elon Musk appeared first on The Intercept.
The veteran investigative journalist will cover U.S. military operations, national security issues, and foreign affairs through this yearlong fellowship.
The post Nick Turse Joins The Intercept as Inaugural National Security Reporting Fellow appeared first on The Intercept.
Questions about who profited from Trump’s tariff flip-flop revived the push to ban members of Congress themselves from trading stocks.
The post How Much Did Congress Make Off Market Turmoil and Why’re They Allowed to Make Anything at All? appeared first on The Intercept.
A conversation with the Massachusetts congresswoman on challenging executive authority and the ICE abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk.
The post Unchecked: Rep. Ayanna Pressley on the President’s Power Grab appeared first on The Intercept.
Going beyond their critique of the infamous Signal chat, progressives demanded to know the White House’s legal justification for its Yemen strikes.
The post Progressives Push to Assert Congress Power Over Yemen War appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. moved toward tariffs that protected U.S. workers, industry, and the environment, says one expert. Trump is undoing it all.
The post What Could Progressive Tariffs Actually Look Like? appeared first on The Intercept.
At a Congressional hearing earlier this week, Matt Blaze made the point that CALEA, the 1994 law that forces telecoms to make phone calls wiretappable, is outdated in today’s threat environment and should be rethought:
In other words, while the legally-mandated CALEA capability requirements have changed little over the last three decades, the infrastructure that must implement and protect it has changed radically. This has greatly expanded the “attack surface” that must be defended to prevent unauthorized wiretaps, especially at scale. The job of the illegal eavesdropper has gotten significantly easier, with many more options and opportunities for them to exploit. Compromising our telecommunications infrastructure is now little different from performing any other kind of computer intrusion or data breach, a well-known and endemic cybersecurity problem. To put it bluntly, something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable, and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made...
In “Secrets and Lies” (2000), I wrote:
It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.
It’s something a bunch of us were saying at the time, in reference to the vast NSA’s surveillance capabilities.
I have been thinking of that quote a lot as I read news stories of President Trump firing the Director of the National Security Agency. General Timothy Haugh.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote:
We don’t know what pressure the Trump administration is using to make intelligence services fall into line, but it isn’t crazy to ...
A little-known database logs hundreds of millions of wire transfers sent to or from Mexico, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
The post The Unusual Nonprofit That Helps ICE Spy on Wire Transfers appeared first on The Intercept.
The “Tesla Takedown” protests reveal a major vulnerability of the Trump regime.
The post The Tesla Takedown Shows How We Can Make Oligarchs Feel the Pain appeared first on The Intercept.
Protesters across the country have been rallying every weekend to try and drive Elon Musk’s car business into the ground.
The post Meet the Activists Motivated by Hatred of Elon Musk appeared first on The Intercept.
The Trump administration vows to seek the death penalty “whenever possible.” But federal cases move slowly, and few result in a death sentence at all.
The post Trump Will Be Long Gone Before Luigi Mangione Faces Execution appeared first on The Intercept.
Death is the point.
The post Mahmoud Khalil and the Necropolitics of Trump’s Deportation Regime appeared first on The Intercept.
Questions about who profited from Trump’s tariff flip-flop revived the push to ban members of Congress themselves from trading stocks.
The post How Much Did Congress Make Off Market Turmoil and Why’re They Allowed to Make Anything at All? appeared first on The Intercept.
Going beyond their critique of the infamous Signal chat, progressives demanded to know the White House’s legal justification for its Yemen strikes.
The post Progressives Push to Assert Congress Power Over Yemen War appeared first on The Intercept.
Allison Riggs won in November – but a court ruling has put ballots in North Carolina under threat. The stakes are high
Allison Riggs, a Democratic justice on the North Carolina supreme court, is battling to keep her seat after a recent court ruling paved the way to overturn her election victory, telling the Guardian in an interview: “This is not just a North Carolina problem. This is an existential threat to democracy.”
In November, Riggs won an election for the state supreme court by a razor-thin 734 votes. But on Friday, the North Carolina supreme court ordered the state board of elections to give certain overseas voters 30 days to prove their eligibility in order to have the votes they cast more than five months ago count.
Continue reading...Trump’s attacks on the courts and Big Law are an existential threat to the legal system. Expect a reckoning.
The post The Clear and Present Danger to the American Rule of Law appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. moved toward tariffs that protected U.S. workers, industry, and the environment, says one expert. Trump is undoing it all.
The post What Could Progressive Tariffs Actually Look Like? appeared first on The Intercept.
Imagine that all of us—all of society—have landed on some alien planet and need to form a government: clean slate. We do not have any legacy systems from the United States or any other country. We do not have any special or unique interests to perturb our thinking. How would we govern ourselves? It is unlikely that we would use the systems we have today. Modern representative democracy was the best form of government that eighteenth-century technology could invent. The twenty-first century is very different: scientifically, technically, and philosophically. For example, eighteenth-century democracy was designed under the assumption that travel and communications were both hard...
President threatens to tax leading US university like a political organization after it defies demands including shutting down DEI programs
Former US President Joe Biden is expected to return to the national stage later today as he delivers his first major post-presidency speech.
The 82-year-old Democrat, who reluctantly dropped out of the presidential race last year amid concerns about his cognitive functioning, will talk about how social security is being threatened by the policies of the Trump administration.
Continue reading...Elon Musk is obsessed with falling birth rates, as is the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. Why would leftwingers want to buy into their ‘pronatalist’ agenda?
‘Perpetuating humanity should be a cross-politics consensus,” read an article in the Atlantic last week, “but the left was mostly absent at a recent pronatalism conference.” It’s such a simple proposition – everyone loves babies and wants the species to perpetuate, right? – but pronatalism has provoked a ferocious battle on the American left. Should they be trying to engage meaningfully at a preposterous far-right conference? Or should the left stop self-flagellating and start organising?
But what is pronatalism – and is it really borderline fascist? I don’t want to think about slippery, bad-faith, rightwing claptrap any more than you do, but in an era in which US politics can sneeze and the world catches encephalitis, we do, regrettably, have to think about bad-faith everything, all the time.
Continue reading...Despite Friday’s immigration court ruling, the legal fight to keep Khalil in the U.S. may stretch months or years.
The post What Comes Next in Mahmoud Khalil’s Fight Against Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
The defense secretary’s focus on “lethality” could lead to “wanton killing and wholesale destruction and disregard for law,” one Pentagon official said.
The post Pete Hegseth Is Gutting Pentagon Programs to Reduce Civilian Casualties appeared first on The Intercept.
The good news is lower interest rates may help more people buy homes – but they also may be faced with paying off a bigger mortgage
The prospect of dramatically lower borrowing costs has emerged as a potential blessing and curse for Australians hoping to break into the property market, amid a brewing global trade war and competing local policies.
There are deep fears America’s protectionist policy will plunge the world’s biggest economy into recession and trigger a steep global growth slowdown. Economists believe the Reserve Bank of Australia will respond to this global trade turmoil with a rate cut to 3.85% at its next board meeting on 19-20 May. Financial markets are even pricing in a cash rate of 2.85% by November, or essentially cuts of 0.25 percentage points in each of the next five policy board meetings.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter
Continue reading...Exclusive: Labor urges state Liberal leader Brad Battin to ‘get a spine’ and rule out a repeal of Victoria’s nuclear ban
The Victorian Nationals have left the door open to working with a Dutton government to build a nuclear reactor in the Latrobe Valley, as the Liberal leader, Brad Battin, was urged to “get a spine” and rule out a repeal of the state’s nuclear ban.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, Battin distanced the Victorian Coalition from Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, saying the state opposition was instead focused on expanding onshore gas exploration.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Battle of housing supply: who’s building more?
Both parties have said they’re the ones doing more on housing supply, while experts and economists have said neither is doing enough to address the supply versus demand issue.
What we’re doing is dealing with supply as well as demand. The Coalition’s plan will push up prices. Our plan will ensure that more homes are built. And what we’ve seen under my government is 28,000 of those social housing through the housing Australia Future Fund are either under construction or under planning.
We have $5bn, which works with councils to release 500,000 blocks of land. We cut migration by 25%…
If you’ve got a house that you’ve just bought and you’ve got a $500,000 mortgage and your house goes down by $100,000 under Labor, and your mortgage is worth more than the house itself, then that’s not a good situation for you. So, no, we don’t want house prices to plummet.
We want sustainable growth. If you’re buying a house today, if you can find one – and if you can afford one under this government – you don’t want to wake up in two years’ time and find that the value of that house has gone down.
Continue reading...Both major parties spruik housing policies, with Anthony Albanese saying critics may not have read all the detail of Labor’s plan
Peter Dutton says he will help his son with a housing deposit “at some stage”, a day after dodging questions about whether he would use his family wealth and salary to assist his children to get into the market.
Dutton on Monday brought his 20-year-old son, Harry, on the campaign trail to talk about the difficulties of saving for a home. Harry said he and his sister, Rebecca, had both been “saving like mad” to scrape together deposits of their own.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter
Continue reading...Education minister Ben Carroll says VCAA overhaul will aim to give families, students and schools full confidence in exams
The entire board of Victoria’s curriculum authority has been sacked after a review into the state’s VCE cheat sheet bungle last year.
The blunder, during last year’s year 12 exams in Victoria, saw the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) accidentally publish exam content weeks before students sat for the tests. The review found the sample cover pages containing exam content had been viewed about 6,000 times.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter
Continue reading...The deal signed last week between the centre-right CDU and centre-left SPD paves the way for vital investment in Europe’s biggest economy
Some years ago, hundreds of German finance ministry staff dressed in black and formed a giant zero to salute their boss, Wolfgang Schäuble, as he left office. It was a tribute to Mr Schäuble’s extreme fiscal conservatism, which had delivered Germany’s first balanced budget in the postwar period. Amid resurgent prosperity in the Angela Merkel years, the so-called black zero – symbolising a constitutional prohibition on public debt – had gradually acquired cult status.
As a new administration prepares to take power in Berlin, it seems unlikely that human euro signs will welcome the latest politician to take on Mr Schäuble’s former role. But in dramatic fashion, the spending taps are set to be turned on. Via a swiftly staged March vote in the outgoing Bundestag, “debt brake” dogma was consigned to history by the chancellor‑elect, Friedrich Merz. The way was thus paved for groundbreaking expenditure on defence, and the overhaul of an economy being left behind in a changed, suddenly menacing world.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Operatives placed buttons at CSFN trying to link Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre with Donald Trump
Campaigners with Canada’s Liberal party had some very American-esque politicking over the weekend, when Liberal operatives were found to have planted “stop the steal” buttons at a conservative conference to link the Conservative party to Donald Trump.
Two Liberal party staffers infiltrated last week’s Canada Strong and Free Network Conference (CSFN) in Ottawa at which they strategically placed provocative buttons designed to create the false impression that Conservative supporters of party leader Pierre Poilievre were embracing Trump-style rhetoric, highlighting internal party divisions.
Continue reading...On the chopping block is the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, which tracks sexual violence in the military and supports victims.
The post Pentagon Considers Cutting Its Sexual Assault Rules appeared first on The Intercept.
A conversation with the Massachusetts congresswoman on challenging executive authority and the ICE abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk.
The post Unchecked: Rep. Ayanna Pressley on the President’s Power Grab appeared first on The Intercept.
Noboa made armed forces central, initially leading to drop in crime but also to surge in reports of rights violations
In an election seen as a referendum on his “war on drugs”, Ecuador’s rightwing president, Daniel Noboa, won Sunday’s presidential runoff, defeating the leftist candidate Luisa González.
With 97% of ballots counted, the incumbent had secured 55.65% of the vote, compared with 44.35% for the former congresswoman.
Continue reading...Department previously investigated only 50% of earnings limit alerts, meaning many carers fell into debt
Ministers have announced an overhaul of the way carer’s allowance overpayments are checked in an attempt to fix the failing system which has left thousands with life-changing debts,fines and criminal records.
In a significant policy change, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to hire extra staff to investigate 100% of the carer’s allowance earnings breach alerts it receives and swiftly notify carers if they are at risk of falling into debt.
Continue reading...The majority of Britons are sick of privatisation and value public ownership. Labour must now listen to them and offer a radical alternative
British Steel is heading for nationalisation – against the will of the government. This is an important point, because it speaks to dogma colliding with practical reality. Here is a private company defeated by the “sink or swim” laws of the free market ideology that produced it, demanding instead that taxpayers come to its rescue – by threatening to make shortsighted business decisions with damaging consequences for the country’s future. What happened in Scunthorpe is not an outlier in the failed experiment of privatisation, and the government’s emergency takeover tells us that public ownership is a realistic solution if there is a political will.
Here’s another example: water. Even the City editor of the Financial Times – hardly a bastion of radical socialism – concluded that its privatisation looked like “little more than an organised rip-off”. Since privatisation in 1989, water companies have piled up more than £60bn in debt, while our water bills have continued to rise. Yet despite rivers and seas being blighted with raw sewage, and the loss of 1tn litres of water from leaky pipes in 2021 alone, shareholders raked in more than £85bn since this most basic of human necessities was flogged off.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...NEU leader says union is ‘living rent free’ in Farage’s head after the politician accused him of ‘poisoning the minds of our kids’
Alison McGovern, minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, has commented on those latest job statistics, which showed that the number of payrolled workers in UK fell by 78,000.
The Labour MP for Birkenhead said:
We’re determined to get Britain working again as part of our plan for change by overhauling job centres, creating good jobs, transforming skills, transitioning to net zero and delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation.
This month, local areas are also starting to roll out their plans to tackle the root causes of inactivity as we get Britain back to health and back to work – backed by a share of £125m of investment.
Refusing a British Parliamentarian entry to Hong Kong for a private family visit, without reason, is an affront to UK-China diplomatic relations and will have a chilling effect on all UK politicians who speak up for freedom and democracy. That is why it is so important that we secure a statement setting out the Chinese authorities’ motivations for this act.
It’s now clearer than ever that the Chinese authorities aren’t going to play ball here. The foreign secretary needs to urgently take the exceptional step of summoning the Chinese ambassador in person to provide a clear and comprehensive account of why Wera was refused entry.
Continue reading...International meeting’s objectives modestly set at seeking unity of response to civil war and lifting of restrictions on aid
A conference convened by the UK in London on the second anniversary of Sudan’s civil war must map out a “pathway to end the suffering and the appalling disregard for human life” in the country, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said.
The one-day conference is being co-hosted by the UK, France, Germany, the EU and the African Union, and attended by ministers from 14 other countries, as well as representatives from bodies including the UN. Officials have said it does not constitute an attempt at mediation or aid-pledging, but instead intends to build greater political coherence about Sudan’s future among the many countries that have claimed a stake in the country.
Continue reading...The government needs to be clear-eyed about the threats China poses – not just accept them as the cost of doing business
Last week, my husband and I flew to Hong Kong with real excitement to see my family and meet our newborn grandson for the first time. Welcoming a family member is a precious moment and this was going to be a special trip. But what would have become an incredible memory – seeing our grandson for the first time – was snatched from us before we reached the baggage carousel.
Arriving at passport control, all seemed well. I handed my passport to a polite immigration official who put it into the computer system, and then paused. At this point I realised that something had been flagged up.
Continue reading...Email to Massachusetts lawyer warned her to ‘depart the US immediately’ even though removing US citizens is illegal
A Massachusetts immigration lawyer who is a US-born American citizen is speaking out after she received an email from Trump administration immigration authorities telling her she needed to leave the country.
Nicole Micheroni described receiving an email on 11 April – and that its heading was “notice of termination of parole”.
Continue reading...Harvard faces a funding freeze as elite universities warn of growing threats to free inquiry and civil rights
Barack Obama, Yale and other academic institutions have come out in support of Harvard after the Trump administration elected to cut $2bn of its federal grants after the Ivy League school in Massachusetts rejected what it said was an attempt at “government regulation” of the university.
“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” said a statement from Obama, the US president from 2009 to 2017. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”
Continue reading...GMB in pay dispute with council in Peterborough and Aberdeen staff to strike over working conditions
Bin strikes could spread to other council areas across the country as cash-strapped local authorities make further cuts, a union leader has warned as the dispute between refuse workers and the city council in Birmingham continues.
There have been warnings of a public health emergency in Birmingham as bin bags have piled up in the streets and there has been an influx of rats, more than a month after refuse collectors launched an all-out indefinite strike.
Continue reading...No dramatic shakeout so far, but jobs data may yet look like a snapshot of the calm before the storm of Trump’s tariffs
The UK jobs market continues to cool but Rachel Reeves will be relieved that there is little sign as yet in the latest data that her tax increase on employers is leading to mass job losses.
Targeting employer national insurance contributions (NICs) to raise an extra £25bn in October’s budget sparked a furious business backlash and dire warnings about the impact for workers.
Continue reading...With extreme weather and Trump’s looming trade war, US farmers are reeling and resigned to needing more cash help
Farmers across the United States say they could face financial ruin – unless there is a huge taxpayer-funded bail out to compensate for losses generated by Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts and chaotic tariffs.
Small- and medium-sized farms were already struggling amid worsening climate shocks and volatile commodities markets, on top of being squeezed by large corporations that dominate the supply chain.
Continue reading...Warnings emerge even as effect of economic and political turbulence on the foreign visitors to the US is hard to define
Batman said business was so-so, and King Kong beat his chest in agreement. But neither could predict that it would improve. Gotham’s caped crusader and his muscular ape neighbour could only hope. As with Times Square’s superhero-themed visitor-photography business last week, so it is with the US tourism business at large.
The effect of economic and political turbulence on the number of foreign visitors coming to the US is for now hard to define. But both – whether through tariffs, currency exchange chaos, or fears over political ill-winds – are sending chills through the $2.36tn business, the world’s most powerful travel and tourism market.
Continue reading...Ethical doubts over role of campaign backers and investors with financial ties to president worth hundreds of millions
Some of Donald Trump’s biggest campaign donors and investors, who collectively have hundreds of millions of dollars in financial ties to the US president, are positioned to potentially profit from any American takeover of Greenland, raising even more ethical questions around Trump’s controversial pursuit of the Arctic territory.
The administration is in part aiming to secure rare minerals that are essential for the US tech industry and national security, and to potentially reopen oil and gas exploration: “This is about critical minerals, this is about natural resources,” Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, recently said.
Continue reading...Notices show Trump administration setting stage for levies on both sectors on national security grounds
The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors into the US as part of an attempt to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the Federal Register on Monday showed.
The filings scheduled to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission of public comment on the issue and indicate the administration intends to pursue the levies under authority granted by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Such inquiries need to be completed within 270 days after being announced.
Continue reading...Vice-president says Donald Trump ‘loves’ the UK and there is good chance of reaching mutually beneficial agreement
The US is optimistic it can negotiate a “great” trade deal with the UK, JD Vance has said.
Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports to the US several weeks ago, sending the global economy into turmoil as stock prices tumbled and fears of a global recession mounted.
Continue reading...Universities, a key plank of our economy, face a bonfire of jobs. But are they the jobs Starmer wants to be seen to be saving?
It’s hard to get romantic about the death of office jobs.
Nobody waxes lyrical about the glory days of working in payroll, and Bruce Springsteen doesn’t fill stadiums with soaring anthems about middle management headcount. But whether the recipient’s collar is white or blue, getting made redundant is getting made redundant, and it hurts.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Administration advances new misrepresentations of US supreme court order in case of Kilmar Abrego García
The Trump administration on Monday misrepresented a US supreme court decision that compelled it to return a man wrongly deported to El Salvador, using tortured readings of the order to justify taking no actions to secure his release.
The supreme court last week unanimously ordered the administration to “facilitate” the release of Kilmar Abrego García, who was supposed to have been protected from deportation to El Salvador regardless of whether he was a member of the MS-13 gang.
Continue reading...The US says it can’t aid in his return as he’s in El Salvador; El Salvador says to help would be like ‘smuggling’ him back
It is difficult to find a term more fitting for the fate of the Maryland father Kilmar Abrego García than Kafkaesque.
Abrego García is one of hundreds of foreign-born men deported under the Trump administration to the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador as part of a macabre partnership with the self-declared “world’s coolest dictator”, Nayib Bukele.
Continue reading...Prison Officers’ Association official says staff are furious after attack by Hashem Abedi
Inmates in the jail where three guards were allegedly attacked by the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber were allowed in a kitchen with knives despite being assessed as being so dangerous they should be isolated from other prisoners, according to claims by a union official.
The prime suspect for the attack is Hashem Abedi, 28, brother of the Manchester Arena bomber. The attacker used a makeshift sharp weapon fashioned out of metal during the sustained attack, as well as cooking fat. One officer suffered third degree burns.
Continue reading...Trump officials claim they’re not legally bound to bring Kilmar Abrego García back despite supreme court ruling
The president of El Salvador said in a meeting with Donald Trump in the White House on Monday that he would not order the return of a Maryland man who was deported in error to a Salvadorian mega-prison.
“The question is preposterous,” Nayib Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday, where he was welcomed by Trump and spoke with the president and members of his cabinet. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I’m not going to do it.”
Continue reading...Saffron Cordery says too many staff are worn out and suffering low morale, while Dr Geoffrey Searle reflects on years of ‘efficiency savings’. Plus one reader on the stress their daughter is facing as a newly qualified doctor
NHS trusts are right behind government ambitions to shift more care of patients from hospitals to the community and to do more to prevent ill health in the first place (Editorial, 8 March). But nobody should be under any illusion that this is going to happen overnight. Despite the recent budget boost for the NHS, finances for hospitals, mental health, community and ambulance services are stretched to the limit.
People are the backbone of the NHS, but growing demand and workloads, vacancies and financial pressures have left far too many staff feeling worn out and suffering low morale. This has driven up the rate of people leaving the health service. Worries about staffing cuts as trusts try to balance their books are going to make an already tough situation even harder for overstretched frontline teams.
Continue reading...Former City minister denies allegations she received land illegally from her aunt, the ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
The former City minister Tulip Siddiq has said an arrest warrant issued against her in Bangladesh over allegations she illegally received a plot of land from her aunt, the country’s ousted former prime minister, is a “politically motivated smear campaign”.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Hampstead and Highgate MP said: “No one from the Bangladeshi authorities has contacted me. The entire time they’ve done trial by media. My lawyers proactively wrote to the Bangladeshi authorities, they never responded.
Continue reading...Unctad says many countries targeted with high tariff rates are unlikely to be a threat to US
The UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, is calling on Donald Trump to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest countries from “reciprocal” tariffs, or risk “serious economic harm”.
In a report published on Monday, Unctad identifies 28 nations the US president singled out for a higher tariff rate than the 10% baseline – despite each accounting for less than 0.1% of the US trade deficit.
Continue reading...The Wall Street Journal has the story:
Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret December meeting that Beijing was behind a widespread series of alarming cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring how hostilities between the two superpowers are continuing to escalate.
The Chinese delegation linked years of intrusions into computer networks at U.S. ports, water utilities, airports and other targets, to increasing U.S. policy support for Taiwan, the people, who declined to be named, said.
The admission wasn’t explicit:...
Winston Jones, who for a decade was unable to return home from Jamaica, almost didn’t apply for compensation, fearing it was a trap
Winston Jones has worked hard to rebuild his life after Home Office errors meant he was unable to return to his family in the UK for 10 years after taking a short holiday in Jamaica in 2005, enduring a decade of near destitution and homelessness in Kingston.
Jones, 64, a former bakery manager at Sainsbury’s, has used the money he received from the Windrush compensation scheme to set up a podcast studio and music recording unit in Manchester, working with his son to create opportunities for local young people.
Continue reading...Secretary of state says ‘criminals’ were taken to country thanks to alliance between Trump and Nayib Bukele
The US has deported another 10 people that it alleges are gang members to El Salvador, secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Sunday, a day before that country’s president is due to visit the White House.
“Last night, another 10 criminals from the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua Foreign Terrorist Organizations arrived in El Salvador,” Rubio said in an X/Twitter post.
Continue reading...Former City minister accused of illegally receiving plot of land from her aunt, ousted PM Sheikh Hasina
An arrest warrant for the former City minister Tulip Siddiq has been issued in Bangladesh with a new allegation accusing her of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt, the ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladeshi media reported the warrant was issued by a judge for 53 people connected to Hasina, including Siddiq. There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.
Continue reading...Foreign minister Penny Wong has demanded full review into wounding of Ranem Abu-Izneid in November but legal team claim there have been ‘no updates’
Lawyers for an Australian dentistry student who lost her eye after being struck by shrapnel in the occupied West Bank say they doubt Israel is investigating the matter despite the foreign minister, Penny Wong, demanding a comprehensive probe.
Palestinian-Australian student Ranem Abu-Izneid, 20, was sheltering with her friend on 15 November 2024 at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, when she says a bullet fired by Israeli forces penetrated the window. She later lost her right eye.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...A green card holder, Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi faced attacks from pro-Israel activists.
The post Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE appeared first on The Intercept.
Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, says they have ‘no idea’ why they have been in jail for two months
An elderly British couple taken captive by the Taliban have been interrogated 29 times since they were imprisoned more than two months ago, and still have “absolutely no idea” why they have been incarcerated, their daughter has said.
No charges have been brought against Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who ran school training programmes and were arrested alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, in central Afghanistan, in February.
Continue reading...The Trump administration filed no new evidence in its case against Khalil, according to a new filing ahead of Friday's hearing.
The post The Case Against Mahmoud Khalil Hinges on Vague “Antisemitism” Claim appeared first on The Intercept.
As demand for smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles has soared, so has demand for the minerals - such as cobalt and coltan - for the batteries that power them. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has vast reserves of these minerals, and their extraction is fuelling the country's civil war. Josh Toussaint-Strauss finds out more about how global demand for tech is causing human suffering in central Africa, and how we, and western powers and companies, are complicit
Continue reading...Sixty-one media organizations and press freedom advocates filed an amicus brief warning of the chilling effect on First Amendment rights.
The post Press Coalition Challenges Trump’s Executive Order Threatening Press Freedom and Legal Representation appeared first on The Intercept.
Plan comes after Donald Trump reiterated import threats and chipmaker’s CEO dined at US president’s resort
The chip designer Nvidia has said it will build up to $500bn (£378bn) worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US over the next four years, in a sign of manufacturers investing in operations on American soil amid Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The announcement comes after Trump reiterated threats on Sunday to impose imminent tariffs on the semiconductors that Nvidia makes mostly in Taiwan, and after the chipmaker’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, dined at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month.
Continue reading...Robin McKie reflects on his 40 years as science editor for the Observer and tells Madeleine Finlay about the game-changing discoveries and scientific controversies that he’s reported on during that time. He describes how the discovery of the structure of DNA revolutionised science, what he learned about misinformation from the HIV/AIDS pandemic and why cold fusion and the millennium bug failed to live up to their hype.
What I’ve learned after 40 years as the Observer’s science editor
Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod
Continue reading...We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2021: After 32 years of establishment lies, media smears, inquests, trials and retrials, the families of the Hillsborough dead have yet to see anyone held accountable
By David Conn. Read by Gavin Skelhorn
Continue reading...What does the British Steel crisis reveal about the UK’s critical infrastructure? Jasper Jolly reports
On Saturday, when MPs were supposed to be on their Easter holidays, a rare emergency sitting was called. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, told the House of Commons that they were meeting “in exceptional circumstances to take exceptional action in what are exceptional times”.
MPs passed a bill to save the Scunthorpe steelworks, a vital part of the UK’s critical infrastructure and the last remaining maker of mass-produced virgin steel. The emergency legislation allowed the government to instruct the Chinese owners of the British Steel plant, Jingye, to keep Scunthorpe open or face criminal penalties.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Mark Pougatch and Sam Dalling as Newcastle’s form puts them fourth in the Premier League
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today; the race for fifth place in the Premier League is just about all that’s left to play for this season and Newcastle hammer Manchester United to move fourth. Can they now reel in Nottingham Forest? Nuno Espírito Sant’s side have now lost back-to-back games to leave them looking over their shoulder at the chasing pack.
Continue reading...She spent her life in northern France doing exhausting, back-breaking work – and yet she turned her anger against people who had done no wrongs to her. But as much as I couldn’t stand her rants, I was forced to accept her as she was
By Didier Eribon. Read by Mark Noble
Continue reading...Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
The post Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation appeared first on The Intercept.
Just weeks away from graduation, some international students at Arizona State University have been blocked from completing degrees.
The post At Least 50 Arizona State Students Have Now Had Visas Revoked, Lawyer Says appeared first on The Intercept.
At a Congressional hearing earlier this week, Matt Blaze made the point that CALEA, the 1994 law that forces telecoms to make phone calls wiretappable, is outdated in today’s threat environment and should be rethought:
In other words, while the legally-mandated CALEA capability requirements have changed little over the last three decades, the infrastructure that must implement and protect it has changed radically. This has greatly expanded the “attack surface” that must be defended to prevent unauthorized wiretaps, especially at scale. The job of the illegal eavesdropper has gotten significantly easier, with many more options and opportunities for them to exploit. Compromising our telecommunications infrastructure is now little different from performing any other kind of computer intrusion or data breach, a well-known and endemic cybersecurity problem. To put it bluntly, something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable, and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made...
The veteran investigative journalist will cover U.S. military operations, national security issues, and foreign affairs through this yearlong fellowship.
The post Nick Turse Joins The Intercept as Inaugural National Security Reporting Fellow appeared first on The Intercept.
In “Secrets and Lies” (2000), I wrote:
It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.
It’s something a bunch of us were saying at the time, in reference to the vast NSA’s surveillance capabilities.
I have been thinking of that quote a lot as I read news stories of President Trump firing the Director of the National Security Agency. General Timothy Haugh.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote:
We don’t know what pressure the Trump administration is using to make intelligence services fall into line, but it isn’t crazy to ...
A GP surgery in one of the most deprived areas in the north-east of England is struggling to provide care for its patients as the health system crumbles around them. In the depths of the winter flu season, the Guardian video producers Maeve Shearlaw and Adam Sich went to Bridges medical practice to shadow the lead GP, Paul Evans, as he worked all hours keep his surgery afloat. Juggling technical challenges, long waiting lists and the profound impact austerity has had on the health of the population, Evans says: 'We are seeing the system fail'
Continue reading...
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
Be the first to see our latest thought-provoking films, bringing you bold and original storytelling from around the world
Discover the stories behind our latest short films, learn more about our international film-makers, and join us for exclusive documentary events. We’ll also share a selection of our favourite films, from our archives and from further afield, for you to enjoy. Sign up below.
Can’t wait for the next newsletter? Start exploring our archive now.
Continue reading...RSS Rabbit links users to publicly available RSS entries.
Vet every link before clicking! The creators accept no responsibility for the contents of these entries.
Relevant
Fresh
Convenient
Agile
We're not prepared to take user feedback yet. Check back soon!
