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Tariffs![[later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tariffs.png "[later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!")
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Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation
Tue, 08 Apr 2025 13:03:13 +0000
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.
China’s 84% tariffs against US products comes into force amid market relief at Donald Trump’s move to pause steep reciprocal tariffs around the world
Donald Trump’s trade war with China entered a new phase on Thursday, as Beijing’s 84% retaliatory tariffs came into effect hours after the US president announced a pause of steep reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries except China.
Markets rebounded after Trump’s announcement of the sudden pause, after the most volatile episode in financial markets since the pandemic.
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.
In today’s newsletter: White House officials send mixed messages over Trump’s stunning U-turn
Good morning. Two main pieces of news from Donald Trump yesterday: he has rolled back water efficiency standards to “make America’s showers great again”, because he likes “to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair”; and he has rolled back the exorbitant tariffs he applied to many countries last week to 10% – but increased them for China. “No longer will showerheads be weak and worthless,” the White House said. This will come as welcome news for the many investors who have recently been taking a bath.
It was a pretty chaotic change, all told: there were contradictory messages from Trump’s advisers on which countries would be affected, why he did it, and what Beijing should expect to happen next. Still, the markets breathed a large sigh of relief, and the S&P 500 had one of the strongest days of its postwar history. This morning, share indices in Asia have jumped in turn.
Gaza | Israeli aircraft struck a residential block in war-ravaged northern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people, including eight women and eight children health officials said, as the Israeli military is reportedly preparing to seize the entire city of Rafah.
Trade | The UK and India have agreed 90% of their free trade agreement, businesses were told on a call with negotiators this week. There are hopes the UK government will succeed in finalising a highly coveted trade deal with India, a booming economy of 1.4 billion people, this year.
Smartphones | Almost all schools in England have banned mobile phone use by pupils, according to a survey run by Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England. Among 15,000 schools, 99.8% of primaries and 90% of secondaries have some form of ban.
Defence | Hot weather is expected to bring highs of 24C to the UK as fire services continue to warn of wildfires across the country. The Met Office said temperatures would peak on Friday in London and south-east England, which could make it the hottest day of the year so far, while temperatures could hit 23C on Thursday.
BBC | A controversial sculpture outside the BBC’s headquarters has been restored and put back on display behind a screen after being vandalised, with the corporation saying it in no way condoned the “abusive behaviour” of its creator, Eric Gill. There have long been calls for Gill’s works to be removed since his diaries revealed he had sexually abused his two eldest daughters.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
Earlier today I brought you Donald Trump’s comments overnight on “major” tariffs to be announced “very shortly” on pharmaceuticals (9:20).
My colleague Lisa O’Carroll looked at the risks such measures could pose for Europe:
Pharmaceutical companies in the EU have warned of a “risk of exodus” to the US as stocks in the sector slid around the world on the back of Donald Trump’s renewed threat to impose tariffs on US drugs imports.
Drugmakers’ shares across Europe and India, another foreign drugs hub, slipped on Wednesday after Trump indicated further carnage was on the way in addition to the 20% “reciprocal tariffs” on imports that kicked in overnight.
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.
China’s 84% retaliatory tariffs on US goods, announced on Wednesday, are due to come into effect on Thursday
China and the European Union have exchanged views on strengthening their economic and trade cooperation in response to US tariffs, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday, according to Reuters news agency.
In a video call on Tuesday, China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao discussed with European trade and economic security commissioner Maros Sefcovic the restart of talks on trade relief and to immediately carry out negotiations on electric vehicle price commitments, the Chinese ministry statement said.
Continue reading...We examine potential consequences of US president’s market chaos, which could reach every corner of global finance and economy
Donald Trump may have stepped back from his huge tariff rises on every country, except China, which now faces 125%, but the impact of the market chaos is likely to continue in the UK and beyond. The rest of the world still faces a blanket 10% tariff on all US exports.
While much of the focus has been the direct impact of the tariffs on physical goods, Trump’s actions threaten to reach every corner of global finance and the economy.
Continue reading...As I discovered then, global problems need international responses. By working together, we can protect jobs and living standards
No more than a narrow window of opportunity remains if we are to prevent an unnecessary global recession. As China and the US decouple, disruptive trade wars are intensifying and threaten to descend into currency wars; import, export, investment and technology bans; and financial fire sales that will destroy millions of jobs worldwide. It seems barely credible that the world is being brought to its knees by one economy, outside of which live 96% of the population, who produce 84% of the world’s manufactured goods. But even though US officials have previously talked of a tariff policy of “escalate to de-escalate”, Donald Trump’s aim is to force manufacturing back to the US, and his 90-day relaxation of some tariffs does not mean he intends to defuse the crisis.
On Monday, Keir Starmer warned that the world will never be the same again, and reminded us that “attempting to manage crises without fundamental change just leads to managed decline”. He is right. As I learned in the financial crisis of 2008, global problems require globally coordinated solutions. We need a bold, international response that measures up to the scale of the emergency. In the same way that, to his great credit, the prime minister has been building a coalition in defence of Ukraine, we need an economic coalition of the willing: like-minded global leaders who believe that, in an interdependent world, we have to coordinate economic policies across continents if we are to safeguard jobs and living standards.
Continue reading...Former PM says it is also the moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU
Gordon Brown has called for an “economic coalition of the willing” to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs with coordinated economic policies, including a reduction of interest rates.
The former prime minister also said it was a moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU, suggesting it should mean “collaboration that is even more extensive than removing post-Brexit trade barriers”.
Continue reading...With the country enveloped in gloom and facing mayhem from the US and Russia, it’s hard to imagine a more fraught time to take power
Germany is about to get a new fitness trainer. So declared Markus Söder, one of the political leaders who have just announced a coalition agreement. In one of the quirks of the country’s constitution, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) will play a significant role in the new administration, and Söder used his moment in the limelight to play the entertainer.
It was a curious way to announce the arrival of a new government, expected to be sworn in during the first week of May. Since the elections of 23 February, Germany will have been in limbo for two and a half months, and all while Donald Trump rampages across the world.
John Kampfner is the author of In Search of Berlin, Blair’s Wars and Why the Germans Do It Better
Continue reading...The IEA forecast indicates a sharp rise in the requirements of AI, but said threat to the climate was ‘overstated’
The global rush to AI technology will require almost as much energy by the end of this decade as Japan uses today, but only about half of the demand is likely to be met from renewable sources.
Processing data, mainly for AI, will consume more electricity in the US alone by 2030 than manufacturing steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Continue reading...Australian dollar recovers ground, rising to US61.5c after threatening to plunge below US59c earlier this week
Donald Trump’s decision to pause steep tariffs against most nations has ignited a share market rally set to erase most of the losses suffered over the past week, even as Australia grapples with how to navigate an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Wall Street soared overnight after Trump unveiled a 90-day pause on tariffs above 10% on dozens of countries, with the notable exception of China.
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Continue reading...Ukraine president says more than 150 Chinese involved in fighting for Russia; US lawmakers criticise reports of planned troop pullbacks in Europe. What we know on day 1,142
Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the recruitment of Chinese nationals to fight for Russia, adding he believed the US was “very surprised” by the revelation. The Ukrainian leader said Kyiv has obtained passport details of at least 155 fighters from China in the war. While Zelenskyy said Beijing knew its citizens were there, he didn’t believe the country had given “some kind of command” they join the fight.
Zelenskyy added he believes Russia is using social media, including TikTok, to recruit. He said he was prepared to exchange captured Chinese soldiers with Ukrainian servicemen in detention.
China called those claims “groundless”, saying they are contrary to an effort to find a political solution to the ongoing war. “The Chinese government always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones,” a spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry said. Russia has not commented on the existence of Chinese nationals joining its side.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs at least 10 Patriot missile systems to intercept Russian ballistic weapons, just days before a summit at the Ramstein airbase in Germany. “We have repeatedly raised this issue with the American side and with everyone in Europe who is in a position to help. We are counting on decisions,” he wrote on X.
Russian drones attacked Kyiv early Thursday. Local officials said one person was trapped in a destroyed house and a downed drone started a fire in a storage area of the city.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers sharply criticised reports the Trump administration is looking to reduce the number of American troops in Europe. The US has maintained a force of about 100,000 in Europe in recent years, an increase of 20,000 since Russia invaded Ukraine.
A Russian family who fled to the US after protesting against the war are asking to leave on their own terms after working their way through the labyrinthine immigration process, only to get ensnared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I left home so that I wouldn’t be afraid to be put into prison again,” a member of the family said. “When I came here, I thought, worst case they can refuse us asylum. But I didn’t expect that something like this could happen. Not again.”
Continue reading...This blog has now closed. You can follow our latest blog here
Today’s tariffs follow Trump’s 10% tariff on all imports from many countries, including Australia, which came into effect at the weekend.
US customs agents began collecting the unilateral tariff at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses on Saturday. Today’s measures are higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president says at least 155 fighters have been uncovered, and that Russia is recruiting via social media
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is aware of at least 155 Chinese nationals fighting for Russia and accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to their recruitment and allowing them to participate in the invasion of his country.
Officials released two dossiers naming, and in some cases picturing, Chinese men who were said to have signed up, though Ukraine did not suggest this meant Beijing was seeking to enter the war alongside Russia.
Continue reading...Beijing is braced for turbulence due to swingeing tariffs. But it sees a bigger, more promising story of US hegemonic decline
No one, least of all consumers and workers, will win the ferocious trade war that Donald Trump has unleashed. This is “a game of who can bear more pain”, in the words of one analyst. And because trade is at the heart of US ties with its biggest tariff target, China, the rest of the bilateral relationship is likely to deteriorate. That too is concerning.
Yet China, despite the economic struggles of recent years, may see a longer-term opportunity in the current crisis. Beijing’s response to the initial US tariff announcements was measured. Now it vows to “fight to the end” and has imposed an additional 50% tariff on US goods – taking the total to 84% – in retaliation for tariffs that Mr Trump now says will hit 125%.
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...This battle between the US and China goes far beyond market turmoil – it has killed off the liberal dream of a borderless world
Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 125% tariff on Chinese imports into the US has raised stakes in the struggle between the world’s two biggest economies. If the markets have been spooked by the events of the past week then that’s hardly surprising.
Over the past few decades, phoney trade wars have been commonplace. Rival nations have squared off against each other, indulged in a bit of sabre-rattling, but eventually agreed on a deal. Headlines that screamed “trade war looms” were quickly replaced by those that read “trade war averted”.
This time it’s different. The battle between the US and China prompted by Trump’s tariffs is no pretend trade war. It is the real deal – and it will have real consequences. Tariffs operate as a tax, adding to the costs of doing business and raising prices for consumers. Growth will slow and inflation rates will rise. The global economy was already growing only slowly. As things stand, it is now heading for recession.
Trump seems prepared for this, making it clear that he is ready for some short-term pain for what he thinks will be long-term gains: a revitalised US industrial base and higher exports. This also represents a shift in approach. In the past, US policymakers have tended to take fright at big falls on Wall Street and have eased policy to limit the damage.
But only up to a point. The spread of the panic to the bond market seems to have forced something of a rethink. Hence the announcement of a 90-day tariff pause for all countries other than China. Perhaps this is Trump’s Liz Truss moment, where he has been forced into a partial U-turn by a sell-off in US assets. Important though they are, the market turmoil and the heightened risk of recession are only part of the story. Trade will continue despite Trump’s tariffs and China’s tit-for-tat response to them. Talk of the end of globalisation is exaggerated. Rather, the dawn of a new protectionist era represents the end of a particular model of globalisation, an imagined liberal nirvana in which all barriers – to movement of goods, people and money – would be dismantled.
This hyper-liberalised dream world has been on its way out ever since the global financial crisis of 2008, and all that was needed was a final shove, which Trump has just administered. From now on, migration will be restricted, supply chains will be shorter, hands-on industrial strategies will be back in favour, trade barriers will be removed only slowly.
Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...‘This woman was nine months pregnant but had never had a checkup. Anisa is listening to the baby’s heartbeat with a stethoscope. After foreign aid cuts, including Trump’s, she is now out of a job’
My home country, Japan, is one of the safest places in the world to give birth: it has one of the very lowest mortality rates in Asia. A few years ago I had the opportunity to work on a story about midwives in Japan, and I became very interested in their role. In November 2023 I travelled to Badakhshan province in the northeast of Afghanistan, the country with the highest maternal mortality rate in Asia. I wanted to meet midwives there and see how they support women.
The Badakhshan province is far from Kabul, with rugged terrain and poor transportation and medical infrastructure. In winter, heavy snowfall blocks roads for months. Women who are about to give birth are sometimes carried on donkeys escorted by family members or neighbours on multi-day trips to clinics. The literacy rate for women there is extremely low compared with other provinces – less than 10% – which is partly why there’s a serious shortage of midwives. This combination of geographic, social and cultural factors means there are often delays responding to emergencies, and deaths from complications like excessive bleeding or infection, which might otherwise have been preventable.
Continue reading...Up to five sites with power-hungry supercomputers and datacentres planned to drive AI ‘moonshots’
The EU has revealed details of a €20bn (£17bn) plan to create new sites equipped with vast supercomputers in Europe to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence models, while opening the door to amending its landmark law that regulates the technology.
Publishing a strategy to turn Europe into an “AI continent”, the European Commission vice-president Henna Virkkunen said the technology was at the heart of making Europe more competitive, secure and technologically sovereign, adding: “The global race for AI is far from over.”
Continue reading...Since Trump’s first trade war with China in 2018, Beijing has ramped up trade with other countries, making it less dependent on the US
The opening shots seem like a distant memory. Back in January, US president Donald Trump threatened to impose a tariff of 10% on Chinese imports. Less than three months later, the rate is now 125%.
China has condemned the tariffs. As well as applying its own reciprocal tariff of 84% on US imports, Beijing has been fighting a war of words.
Continue reading...Chinese government asks: ‘Who represents the real threat?’ after US defense secretary vows to keep canal secure
US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the Panama canal faces ongoing threats from China but that together the United States and Panama will keep it secure.
Hegseth’s remarks triggered a fiery response from the Chinese government, which said: “Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgement.”
Continue reading...US president had trailed ‘direct talks’ and said Iran would be in ‘great danger’ if they failed
Iran, wrongfooted by Donald Trump’s revelation that “direct talks” between the US and Iran on its nuclear programme are set to start in Oman on Saturday, insisted the talks would actually be in an indirect format, but added that the intentions of the negotiators were more important than the format.
Trump on Monday threw Tehran off guard by revealing the plan for the weekend talks and saying that if the talks failed Iran would be in “great danger”. There has been an unprecedented US military buildup across the Middle East in recent weeks, and Trump’s decision to make the talks public looks designed to press Iran to negotiate with urgency.
Continue reading...At a Congressional hearing earlier this week, Matt Blaze made the point that CALEA, the 1994 law that forces telecoms to make phone calls wiretappable, is outdated in today’s threat environment and should be rethought:
In other words, while the legally-mandated CALEA capability requirements have changed little over the last three decades, the infrastructure that must implement and protect it has changed radically. This has greatly expanded the “attack surface” that must be defended to prevent unauthorized wiretaps, especially at scale. The job of the illegal eavesdropper has gotten significantly easier, with many more options and opportunities for them to exploit. Compromising our telecommunications infrastructure is now little different from performing any other kind of computer intrusion or data breach, a well-known and endemic cybersecurity problem. To put it bluntly, something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable, and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made...
As wealth in India has grown, so has the number of arts patrons championing both India’s 20th century modern masters and the next generation
For over seven decades, the masterpiece had gathered dust as it hung in the corridors of a Norwegian hospital. But last month, the monumental 13-panel 1954 painting Untitled (Gram Yatra) – one of the most significant pieces of modern south Asian art – sold for a record-breaking $13.7m in New York.
The auction of the painting sent ripples through the art world. It was not only the highest price ever paid for a painting by Maqbool Fida Husain, one of India’s most celebrated modern artists, but it was the highest ever paid for any piece of modern Indian art at auction – going for four times the estimated price. It also happened to be the most expensive artwork auctioned so far in 2025.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Question of visas for Indian workers said to be nearly resolved and deal may be finalised this year
The UK and India have agreed 90% of their free trade agreement, businesses were told on a call with negotiators this week.
There are hopes the UK government will succeed in finalising a highly coveted trade deal with India, a booming economy of 1.4 billion people, this year.
Continue reading...It may take at least six months for retailers like JD Sports to know the real-world effects of Trump’s trade warfare
“There are no tariffs on webcasts,” joked Régis Schultz, chief executive of JD Sports, as he opened the sportswear retailer’s strategy update to the City.
Unfortunately, that was the limit of his insights into the effects of Trumpian economic warfare on a business that likes to point out that its 2,500 state-side stores make it bigger in the US than local icon Footlocker. The boast sounded better before the US whacked 40%-plus tariffs on countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia, the manufacturing source of many of the trainers and “athleisure” apparel in the shops.
Continue reading...Leaders around the world have reacted with a mix of a mix of confusion and concern after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on some of its largest trading partners, upending decades of US trade policy and starting a possible global trade war. The tariffs range from 10% to 49% on all goods imported from abroad
‘Nowhere on earth is safe’: Trump imposes tariffs on uninhabited islands near Antarctica
War-torn and struggling countries among those facing steepest Trump reciprocal tariffs
We’d like to hear from people about the impact Trump’s tariffs might have on them and their businesses
Donald Trump has unveiled his global tariffs on US trading partners including 10% on UK exports to the US, 20% on the EU and 34% on China. However, the US’s closest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, have been exempt from the latest round of tariffs.
Wherever you are in the world, we’d like to hear how you might be affected by the tariffs. What preparations or changes are you making to your business? Do you have any concerns?
Continue reading...Police say man landed on island in attempt to meet the Sentinelese people – a tribe untouched by the industrial world
Indian police said on Thursday they had arrested a US tourist who sneaked on to a highly restricted island carrying a coconut and a can of Diet Coke to a tribe untouched by the industrial world.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, set foot on the restricted territory of North Sentinel – part of India’s Andaman Islands – in an attempt to meet the Sentinelese people, who are believed to number only about 150.
Continue reading...Three claimants allege Mumbai-based consultancy firm discriminated against them during restructuring
A UK division of the Indian conglomerate Tata “deliberately orchestrated” a redundancy programme in a way that unfairly targeted older, non-Indian nationals, an employment tribunal has heard.
Three claimants allege the Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is valued at almost £110bn on the BSE stock exchange in Mumbai, discriminated against them on grounds of age and nationality during a restructuring that began in mid-2023.
Continue reading...Brother of Jagtar Singh Johal claims he is being ‘mentally tortured’ through unwarranted detention
The British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal, detained for seven years in an Indian jail, has been placed into solitary confinement and under 24-hour surveillance despite being acquitted of all terrorism charges against him by a Punjab court on 4 March, his family have claimed.
Johal is still facing the exact same charges in a parallel case in a clear example of double jeopardy, his brother Gurpreet said when giving testimony at Westminster to an all party committee on arbitrary detention. He said the Indian courts have not granted his brother bail, despite the prosecutor’s failure to produce any credible evidence or witnesses in the Punjab court.
Gurpreet said UK consular staff met his brother in jail on Tuesday and were told he had been put into solitary confinement with a 24-hour guard, adding no explanation had been given.
Continue reading...In what may be an American first, President Donald Trump pardoned a company sentenced to $100 million in fines for breaking money laundering laws.
The post Trump Just Pardoned … a Corporation? appeared first on The Intercept.
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...US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who started the now-infamous group chat coordinating a US attack against the Yemen-based Houthis on March 15, is seemingly now suggesting that the secure messaging service Signal has security vulnerabilities.
"I didn’t see this loser in the group," Waltz told Fox News about Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Waltz invited to the chat. "Whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean, is something we’re trying to figure out."
Waltz’s implication that Goldberg may have hacked his way in was followed by a ...
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.
Actions allow the detained men to fight the government’s attempt to remove them under rarely invoked law
Federal judges in New York and Texas on Wednesday took legal action to block the government from moving five Venezuelans out of the country until they can fight the government’s attempt to remove them under a rarely invoked law that gives the president the power to imprison and deport noncitizens in times of war.
The men were identified as belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang, a claim their lawyers dispute.
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.
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.
Series of actions this week including at Princeton and in a tiny town, offer hope that courageous voices can make a difference
Given the constant flow of bad news – recession nearing, markets tanking, federal agencies run amok – a victory in court for a news wire service might seem trivial.
But the Associated Press’s win against the Trump administration this week is meaningful for two reasons. It underscores the judiciary’s commitment to the first amendment, and it suggests that standing up for one’s principles may not be just a gesture made in vain.
Continue reading...Foreign ministers will gather in London and seek to exert diplomatic pressure demanding a ceasefire
The British government is bringing together foreign ministers from nearly 20 countries and organisations in an attempt to establish a group that can drive the warring factions in Sudan closer towards peace.
The conference at Lancaster House in London on 15 April comes on the second anniversary of the start of a civil war that has led to the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, but has been persistently left at the bottom of the global list of diplomatic priorities. Half of Sudan’s population are judged to be desperately short of food, with 11 million people internally displaced.
Continue reading...Chinese government asks: ‘Who represents the real threat?’ after US defense secretary vows to keep canal secure
US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the Panama canal faces ongoing threats from China but that together the United States and Panama will keep it secure.
Hegseth’s remarks triggered a fiery response from the Chinese government, which said: “Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgement.”
Continue reading...We want to hear about a community-based project or travel company that made your trip memorable. The best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break
When it comes to planning a trip, how we travel is just as important as where we go – the connections we make, the insights into different cultures and, hopefully, a sense that our visit is having a positive impact on the communities that host us. We’d love to hear about the community tourism initiatives that you’ve encountered on your travels, whether it was a wilderness lodge or trekking company owned and run by locals, a cultural exchange programme, or a conservation project perhaps.
If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition.
Continue reading...In what may be an American first, President Donald Trump pardoned a company sentenced to $100 million in fines for breaking money laundering laws.
The post Trump Just Pardoned … a Corporation? appeared first on The Intercept.
South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away.
The post Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners appeared first on The Intercept.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasts he’s nixing contracts and grants amid DOGE’s cost-cutting campaign. But those trims won’t hit SpaceX.
The post DOGE’s Pentagon Budget Cuts Don’t Touch Elon Musk’s SpaceX 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.
Nasa cuts contract that convened USGCRP, which released assessments impacting environmental decision-making
The White House is ending funding for the body that produces the federal government’s pre-eminent climate report, which summarizes the impacts of rising global temperatures on the United States.
Every four years, the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is required by Congress to release a new national climate assessment to ensure leaders understand the drivers of – and threats posed by – global warming. It is the most comprehensive, far-reaching and up-to-date analysis of the climate crisis, playing a key role in local and national decision making about agriculture, energy production, and land and water use.
Continue reading...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 ...
She lost her job at Emerson College after screening a film critical of Israel. Her lawsuit seeks to leverage an unusual Massachusetts free speech law.
The post This College Staffer Lost Her Job After Showing a Film Critical of Israel. Now She’s Suing Over Free Speech. appeared first on The Intercept.
Republicans need to worry about getting bullied by Elon Musk, and Democrats need to worry about AIPAC, Sanders said.
The post Trying to Block Arms to Israel, Bernie Sanders Denounces AIPAC’s Massive Election Spending appeared first on The Intercept.
John Kelsey and I wrote a short paper for the Rossfest Festschrift: “Rational Astrologies and Security“:
There is another non-security way that designers can spend their security budget: on making their own lives easier. Many of these fall into the category of what has been called rational astrology. First identified by Randy Steve Waldman [Wal12], the term refers to something people treat as though it works, generally for social or institutional reasons, even when there’s little evidence that it works—and sometimes despite substantial evidence that it does not...
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who started the now-infamous group chat coordinating a US attack against the Yemen-based Houthis on March 15, is seemingly now suggesting that the secure messaging service Signal has security vulnerabilities.
"I didn’t see this loser in the group," Waltz told Fox News about Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Waltz invited to the chat. "Whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean, is something we’re trying to figure out."
Waltz’s implication that Goldberg may have hacked his way in was followed by a ...
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