********** WORLD AFFAIRS **********
return to top
Trump’s Big Lie Attorneys Are Back
Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:39:27 +0000
In lawsuits filed across the country, attorneys who worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat are alleging rampant voting fraud.
The post Trump’s Big Lie Attorneys Are Back appeared first on The Intercept.
Dr Guy Standing is worried about the implications of Wes Streeting’s suggestion that weight-loss drugs could be given to people who are unemployed and deemed to be obese
The proposal by the health secretary, Wes Streeting, that weight-loss drugs could be provided to unemployed people deemed to be obese, as a way to help them get back to work and ease the demands on the NHS caused by obesity, should raise ethical alarms (Employers should be fined for unhealthy workplaces, says thinktank, 16 October).
Would taking the drug be voluntary, or would it become a condition for entitlement to benefits? Recalling Labour’s previous support for conditionality and sanctions, one can guess which way it would go.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Group of UK MPs says foreign secretary must ‘engage with China as it really is’ amid rapprochement drive
David Lammy must “engage with China as it really is under the leadership of Xi Jinping” and raise human rights concerns during his trip to the country, UK parliamentarians who have been hit with sanctions by Beijing have said.
The foreign secretary is expected to hold high-level meetings in China this week. The visit forms part of an effort by Labour to improve relations with China after they deteriorated under successive Conservative governments. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, plans to travel to the country next year and restart high-level economic dialogue.
Continue reading...Millions are pouring into the race to unseat Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has resisted loosening crypto regulations.
The post Crypto Billionaires Could Flip the Senate to the GOP. Here’s What They Want. appeared first on The Intercept.
Kamala Harris appeared via video for Al Smith charity dinner, where Donald Trump took aim at transgender people
The Harris campaign, which has been praised for how it has managed to reach out to women, is now having to balance their attention and pitch some policies that would appeal to men.
But is it too little too late? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Richard Reeves, the president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, and Gloria Oladipo, a breaking news reporter for Guardian US, about why men could decide this year’s election and why both campaigns might be taking them for granted
Archive: ABC 7 Chicago, ABC news, CBS, CNN, First Post, Fox News, Global News, MSNBC, PBS Newshour, The National Desk,
Continue reading...This live coverage has ended, thanks for following along.
Here are some key takeaways from Kamala Harris’s Fox News interview, the Guardian’s Helen Sullivan reports:
1. Immigration
Continue reading...Rifle association workers wrote letter warning that inaction against Doug Hamlin will ‘destroy’ NRA’s comeback chances
The board of the National Rifle Association (NRA) is facing pressure to suspend the gun rights group’s chief executive, Douglas Hamlin, following revelations that Hamlin was involved in the sadistic killing of a cat.
The news broke as Donald Trump cancelled a planned appearance with Hamlin next week in Savannah, Georgia, where the Republican nominee for president was meant to give a keynote address to an NRA convention. Organizers said Trump had a scheduling conflict.
Continue reading...Report by independent panel convened by DHS secretary criticises ‘lack of critical thinking’ by agency
An independent investigation into the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump has warned that further such episodes will occur unless the Secret Service undergoes “fundamental reform”.
In a sometimes scathing 51-page report, a panel commissioned by the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, lambasted the agency for a spate of failings, including a “lack of critical thinking”, and said it had not engaged in sufficient “self-reflection” over the episode.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/vsv2021 [link] [comments] |
Reform UK leader received support for his American activities after becoming an MP but has not declared the services as a benefit
Nigel Farage has used a team of three US advisers to help him with “perception management” and public relations in America, as well as with settling a $3,500 hotel bill this summer, new documents show.
The official filings, made in the US, reveal that the leader of Reform UK and MP for Clacton has been assisted at least 15 times by CapitalHQ, a firm led by Alexandra Preate, who is a former press spokesperson for the controversial former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon.
Continue reading...Lucky Loser, by two New York Times journalists, reveals just how much Donald owes to his father (spoiler alert: everything)
The singular piece of publicity most helpful to The Apprentice, a film about Donald Trump that opened in the US last week and opens in the UK this Friday, is the fact its subject tried to block the movie’s release. The title refers to Trump’s adventures as a young man under the informal mentorship of the notorious New York lawyer Roy Cohn – former chief counsel for Joseph McCarthy, among other things – and from whom, the movie suggests, Trump picked up much of his conniving and ruthlessness. Trump is so lurid in life that he may be impossible to fictionalise, but the movie has a good crack. That it fails leaves one feeling vaguely cheated of an opportunity to deepen one’s loathing for Trump with a little more background and insight.
With the US election two and half weeks away, any representation of Trump, if it’s not up to scratch, risks looking like either an act of hubris or total obliviousness. The Apprentice, which languished in development for years before getting a boost when the actor Jeremy Strong agreed to play Cohn, is at best a tabloid romp in which Trump-as-playboy is compellingly rendered and at worst a piece of counterintuitivism so obvious it’s more predictable than a straightforward hatchet job. Sebastian Stan, as the young Trump, injects just the right level of nascent tics into his performance – the pursed lips, the flapping hands, the constant faffing with the hair – so that he appears physically very convincing. At the front end of the movie, the film-makers also make Trump appear gauchely, winningly, absurdly sympathetic.
Continue reading...Bret Baier interrupted Harris so much she could barely finish a sentence. She still injected some reality into Fox News’s world
Bret Baier started off his Wednesday evening interview with Kamala Harris with a barrage of combative questions about immigration, designed less to elicit substantive answers than to prove what a tough guy the Fox host could be.
His aggressive approach was understandable, in a way, since Baier had been under pressure for days from the Donald Trump faithful; they were convinced he was going to go easy on the Democratic nominee for president, and maybe even allow her campaign to edit the interview or see the questions in advance.
Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
Continue reading...During this election season there have been multiple extreme weather events, which continue to intensify as the climate crisis worsens. But paradoxically, many of the communities that are being battered by natural disasters are still choosing to back Donald Trump, a vocal climate denier. The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone head to south-west Louisiana to find out why
Continue reading...Polls that show Kamala Harris losing Black support have Democrats in a panic. The reality is more complicated
Are Black voters gravitating towards Donald Trump in meaningful numbers? Recent polls and articles, most notably the New York Times/Siena College poll, have set off alarm bells across the country with their survey results finding the former president garnering historic levels of support among African American voters.
The short answer is no, there is little credible evidence showing a meaningful shift in the levels of support Black voters give to Democrats. The longer answer is that the current chorus of media concern illuminates serious shortcomings in polling methodology, political interpretation of polling data, and the responsible communication of information to the public in an ostensible democracy.
Steve Phillips is the founder of Democracy in Color, and author of Brown Is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority and How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good
Continue reading...An incident in Mississippi provides a window into a dystopian future where postal workers and local cops can block people from accessing reproductive care.
The post Drug-Sniffing Police Dogs Are Intercepting Abortion Pills in the Mail appeared first on The Intercept.
Ukrainians face new airborne threat that has killed 24 civilians and injured hundreds more since July
Sasha Ustenko has survived three attacks by the Russian drones that stalk the streets of Kherson carrying fragmentation grenades to drop on anything that moves. The first, in late July, targeted a parked police car in central Kherson just as Ustenko walked past, throwing him to the ground. The second, in mid-August, hit a drinking water tanker as he queued for supplies, killing the driver. Ustenko was concussed, and came round to see a man lying in a pool of blood.
The third time, in late September, he heard the drone buzzing above and sprinted for shelter under the branches of a cherry tree. He hoped its leaves would hide him but the grenade tumbled through the canopy and landed barely a metre away.
Continue reading...Goal seems to be for people ‘to lose confidence in the system’, says head of industry body after devices found in Birmingham and Leipzig
If Russia is proved to be behind an incendiary device plot that caused fires at two parcels warehouses in July, it will be evidence that Moscow is aiming to disrupt western confidence, an expert has said.
The dangerous packages, which caught light at DHL sites in Birmingham and Leipzig, are not thought to have been sophisticated but in both cases appear to have evaded security checks. German authorities warned this week that a plane could have been downed if the devices, which were both sent by air, had ignited in flight.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/Wagamaga [link] [comments] |
Ukrainian membership would be part of five-point ‘victory plan’ to end war, president tells Brussels summit
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged European leaders to issue an “immediate invitation” to Ukraine to join Nato as he pitched his “victory plan”, which he said would end the war in 2025 at the latest.
Addressing the EU’s 27 leaders at a Brussels summit, Ukraine’s president outlined his five-point plan, which urges allies to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons on military targets inside Ukraine’s occupied territories and Russia, as well as to help increase air defences.
Continue reading...Inspector dismissed emergency services’ concerns that incident was similar to Skripal poisonings, KC says
Police officers urged paramedics and firefighters to treat the second novichok incident in 2018 as a drug overdose despite warnings from the ambulance and fire services that it had similarities to the first poisoning four months earlier in Salisbury, a public inquiry has heard.
The UK government believes the novichok was brought into Britain by agents tasked by Vladimir Putin to target the former spy Sergei Skripal, who had been settled in Salisbury after a spy exchange, the inquiry heard earlier this week. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned on 4 March 2018 and both survived.
Continue reading...The Department of Defense wants technology so it can fabricate online personas that are indistinguishable from real people.
The post The Pentagon Wants to Use AI to Create Deepfake Internet Users appeared first on The Intercept.
Monopoli, south-east of Bari, is home to PhEST, an ambitious photo festival that sees dozens of exhibitions and events take over the old town and features artists from around the world working in different media
Continue reading...Perfectl in an impressive piece of malware:
The malware has been circulating since at least 2021. It gets installed by exploiting more than 20,000 common misconfigurations, a capability that may make millions of machines connected to the Internet potential targets, researchers from Aqua Security said. It can also exploit CVE-2023-33246, a vulnerability with a severity rating of 10 out of 10 that was patched last year in Apache RocketMQ, a messaging and streaming platform that’s found on many Linux machines.
The researchers are calling the malware Perfctl, the name of a malicious component that surreptitiously mines cryptocurrency. The unknown developers of the malware gave the process a name that combines the perf Linux monitoring tool and ctl, an abbreviation commonly used with command line tools. A signature characteristic of Perfctl is its use of process and file names that are identical or similar to those commonly found in Linux environments. The naming convention is one of the many ways the malware attempts to escape notice of infected users...
Community energy group hopes for local electricity trading as part of its ‘better system’ of supply and ownership
In the shadow of the Didcot power station in Oxfordshire, a small group of people sat around a kitchen table and thought “let’s replace it” with green community energy.
That was in 2011. Now, in 2024, that little group has become the Low Carbon Hub with 1,773 members and 55 renewable energy installations around Oxford, including two hydroelectric dams on the River Thames. Meanwhile, the Didcot power station is half-demolished, no longer burning coal or belching greenhouse gases into the air.
Continue reading...Chronic fatigue syndrome is as physiological as a broken leg. For the sake of those who have it, we must learn all we can from this tragic case
How could this happen in the 21st century? This question could apply to many issues, but this one sends you reeling. A brilliant and lively young woman with a common illness was repeatedly disbelieved, dismissed and given inappropriate treatment, until she starved to death. It is a terrible result of the most remarkable situation I’ve ever encountered in either medicine or journalism.
Last week, the coroner at the inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill published her damning report on the prevention of future deaths. Maeve was suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a condition afflicting hundreds of thousands in the UK. ME/CFS robs those who have it of energy. Severe cases can shut down every aspect of their lives.
Continue reading...We’ve put together three outfits that will help you channel main character energy
Continue reading...Thinktank says government should set up arm’s-length company to buy Harland & Wolff site, which is in administration
The UK government should set up an arm’s-length company to buy the Harland & Wolff naval shipyard in Belfast as part of a drive to repurpose arms manufacturing towards producing green infrastructure, according to a report.
The study from the thinktank Common Wealth is launching what it describes as a “Lucas Plan for the 21st century” setting out how the UK’s military industrial capacity can be transformed into a supply pipeline for green energy, benefiting workers, communities and the environment.
Continue reading...(Atlantic)
This concept album based on Walter Hill’s 1979 film features megastar rappers, Hamilton alumni and styles from metalcore to salsa – it is pulled off with breathtaking brio
The bravura title sequence of the 1979 thriller The Warriors builds up a head of steam by following waves of gangs as they hit the streets of New York. There’s a posse of dandies sporting pink waistcoats, an army in fatigues, even a bunch dressed as mimes. Like Coney Island’s leather vest-wearing Warriors, each leaves their home turf for a midnight meeting in the Bronx to unite every crew in the city through a truce. Within minutes, director Walter Hill has set out his stall: the film’s turnstile-vaulting energy, grimy vistas, jangling tension and puckish comedy are all here.
In their adaptation, a concept album that raises the tantalising prospect of a future staging, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis achieve something similar. The blistering, kaleidoscopic opener is presided over by dancehall dynamo Shenseea as a DJ introducing MCs for each borough. Amid punchy fanfares, they are deftly delineated: Chris Rivers as a raspy Bronx, Nas cranking up intrigue as Queens, Cam’ron smoothly humorous as Manhattan (“when you say New York, we’re actually what you mean”), Busta Rhymes’ explosively gruff Brooklyn and Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah and RZA spinning ethereal suspense for Staten Island, repeating the detail of their arduous route to the Bronx, “taking a train to a boat to another train”.
Continue reading...The script is thick with jokes, Simon Bird and co are a joy to behold and scenes just zip along. This take on an ultra-conservative church is reinvigorating old-school comedy
How do you make the old-school sitcom – with its improbable plotlines, cartoonish characters and gimmicky setting – feel fresh and relevant in 21st-century Britain? Apparently, the answer is to shun the modern world altogether. Following the devout Lewis family, Everyone Else Burns pitches up in a Manchester-based evangelical church (and doomsday cult) where misogyny, homophobia and a shockingly dated sense of community are all alive and well. It’s deliberately unrelatable material presented in doggedly artificial, stupid hairdo-heavy style. As a contemporary comedy it shouldn’t work, but – by God – it really does.
The brilliance of Everyone Else Burns – now returning for a second series – is partly the result of a script thick with quirky jokes, but mainly down to a cast who are simply a joy to behold. As pathologically incompetent patriarch David, The Inbetweeners’ Simon Bird somehow walks the line between heinously oppressive and heart-rendingly naive: a devotee of his sect’s misogynistic creed, he has zero qualms about being a dinner table despot, yet his unworldliness (he believes that gazing upon the Sun-Maid girl constitutes marital infidelity) and Bird’s utterly un-alpha energy mean he’s more fool than tyrant.
Continue reading...National energy company, which launched this week, is Labour’s strategy to end dependence on fossil fuels
Aberdeen, the centre of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas industry for the past six decades, witnessed the launch of a new company this week that aims to sweep away Britain’s dependence on fossil fuels for ever.
Great British Energy is at the heart of the recently elected Labour government’s pitch to decarbonise the UK’s power sector by 2030. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, told an audience in Aberdeen on Thursday that the company would “harness the potential we have to truly lead the world in renewables jobs”.
Continue reading...Oil majors’ conduct can constitute reckless endangerment due to fossil fuels’ effect on global heating, advocates claim
New York state prosecutors could press criminal charges against big oil for its role in fueling hurricanes and other climate disasters, lawyers wrote in a new prosecution memorandum that has been endorsed by elected officials across the state.
The 50-page document, published by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and the progressive prosecutors network Fair and Just Prosecution on Thursday, comes as the US south-east struggles to recover from the deadly hurricanes Helene and Milton, both of which scientists have found were exacerbated by the climate crisis. It details the havoc wrought on New York by 2021’s Hurricane Ida and 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, and other deadly climate events such as extreme heatwaves across the US this past summer.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/chilladipa [link] [comments] |
Without massive, unconditional U.S. military subsidies, Israel would have had to practice diplomacy with their neighbors years ago.
The post U.S. Foreign Policy Has Created a Genocidal Israel appeared first on The Intercept.
Report also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done before the 2021 announcement
The Australian government’s view that the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine project is “too big to fail” could heighten the risk of cost blowouts, a US congress research report has warned.
The Congressional Research Service also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done prior to the project’s announcement by Australia, the US and the UK in 2021.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...Jeremy Loffredo was taken into custody on suspicion of “assisting an enemy in war” for his reporting on Iran’s missile attack.
The post U.S. Journalist Jeremy Loffredo Released After Being Detained by Israel for Four Days appeared first on The Intercept.
At oral arguments Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito appeared indifferent to the state AG’s insistence that Glossip’s conviction is unconstitutional.
The post The Supreme Court May Force Oklahoma to Kill Richard Glossip appeared first on The Intercept.
With border crossings reaching record highs in recent years, US immigration has returned as the election’s most toxic issue. As Donald Trump continues to push a policy of mass deportation, and Kamala Harris responds by shifting further to the right, what happens to the people caught in the middle trying to seek a better life? The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone head to Arizona’s southern border with Mexico to investigate
Continue reading...In a new series of Anywhere but Washington, the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to the crucial swing state of Georgia, where election deniers and rightwing conspiracy theorists are facing a new generation of Gen Z candidates and voters who could tip the race in favor of the Democrats
Continue reading...Advocates hope the graphic videos, which were shared with The Intercept, will help rally support for the ballot initiative.
The post Secret Recordings Show Ugly Conditions Ahead of Denver’s Slaughterhouse Ban Referendum appeared first on The Intercept.
In today’s newsletter: The architect of the 7 October attack is dead, but Benjamin Netanyahu gave no indication that the war is about to end
• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition
Good morning.
Yesterday, Israel confirmed that its forces had killed the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, architect of the 7 October attacks that killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and in which a further 250 were taken hostage.
Budget | Rachel Reeves is considering raising the tax on vaping products in her budget this month as figures show that a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds in England have used e-cigarettes.
Home Office | The Home Office has recruited 200 staff to clear a backlog of 23,300 modern slavery cases left by the last government, a minister has told the Guardian. It follows reports that some have been waiting years to be defined as victims of modern slavery.
China | Labour has backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition that China’s treatment of the Uyghurs is genocide in the run-up to David Lammy’s trip to the country. The foreign secretary is expected to arrive in Beijing today for high-level meetings before travelling to Shanghai on Saturday.
AI | Child sexual abuse imagery generated by artificial intelligence tools is becoming more prevalent on the open web and reaching a “tipping point”, according to the Internet Watch Foundation, a safety watchdog.
Conservatives | Almost half of Conservative councillors polled this week have said neither Robert Jenrick nor Kemi Badenoch will be able to win the next election, while a significant minority said they did not plan to vote in the leadership contest.
Continue reading...PoW Charles Hare, 19, escaped in rare uniform with tall feathered hat and travelled back to Lincolnshire – accompanied by his dog
A handwritten manuscript detailing the daring escape of a British prisoner of Napoleon’s troops – with the flamboyant French uniform in which he disguised himself as he fled – have gone on display at the National Maritime Museum in London after being carefully preserved for more than two centuries by the prisoner’s descendants.
The “rare and very special” uniform, including its tall and exuberantly feathered hat, was worn in August 1809 by the 19-year-old naval midshipman Charles Hare as he escaped a military prison in what is now western Germany and travelled by coach, river boat, ship and on foot back to his home in Lincolnshire, accompanied by his pet dog.
Continue reading...Kate, 49, and Abby, 52, struck up a conversation on a flight from New York to London in the 90s. They have been close friends ever since
As a friendly student who loved to travel, striking up a conversation on a flight wasn’t unusual for Kate. But when she boarded a plane headed from New York to London in January 1996, she had no idea she would be making a friend for life. “I’d spent the previous summer interning for Rolling Stone magazine and a publishing company in New York, and I was returning for New Year to visit pals,” she says. “I was then going back to university in London.”
She introduced herself to Abby, in the neighbouring seat. “I’d studied in Bristol during my junior year in college and fallen in love with a British boy,” says Abby. “After completing my studies in the States and training at culinary school, I was on my way back to the UK to gain experience working in restaurants for three months.” She was also “incredibly excited” to be seeing her boyfriend again.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Party drops plan for formal recognition laid out last year by David Lammy, who will visit Beijing on Friday
Labour has backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide in the run-up to David Lammy’s trip to the country this weekend.
The foreign secretary is expected to arrive in Beijing on Friday for high-level meetings before travelling to Shanghai on Saturday.
Continue reading...State courts refused to review Roberson’s case, clearing the way for his execution based on the junk science of shaken baby syndrome.
The post Texas Is About to Execute Robert Roberson for a Crime That Never Happened appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: Group of UK MPs says foreign secretary must ‘engage with China as it really is’ amid rapprochement drive
David Lammy must “engage with China as it really is under the leadership of Xi Jinping” and raise human rights concerns during his trip to the country, UK parliamentarians who have been hit with sanctions by Beijing have said.
The foreign secretary is expected to hold high-level meetings in China this week. The visit forms part of an effort by Labour to improve relations with China after they deteriorated under successive Conservative governments. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, plans to travel to the country next year and restart high-level economic dialogue.
Continue reading...The Biden administration has consistently said Israel should not kill civilians as it sends Israel more weapons to kill civilians.
The post One Year of Empty Rhetoric From the White House on Israel’s Wars appeared first on The Intercept.
Majdi Fathi is a freelance photojournalist living and working from al-Aqsa hospital, the only functioning facility in central Gaza. Along with many other journalists based there, he evacuated from northern Gaza and now works in incredibly difficult conditions, with dwindling food, water and electricity, and the constant threat of missile strikes from Israel.
He documented his past year living and reporting from the war, travelling all around the Gaza Strip, and also looking after his young family, in a conflict that has claimed the lives of over 40,000 people according to local authorities.
Continue reading...In a new series of Anywhere but Washington, the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to the crucial swing state of Georgia, where election deniers and rightwing conspiracy theorists are facing a new generation of Gen Z candidates and voters who could tip the race in favor of the Democrats
Continue reading...What would you do if you won the Euromillions jackpot? Would you keep it quiet? We all say we would, including writer Ben Henry – but apparently that wouldn’t stop him from building a full-scale replica of the Gladiators assault course
I’ve often wondered what I would do if I won the EuroMillions jackpot. In those moments of procrastination throughout the day – and believe me, there are many – it’s a daydream I regularly fall into. What would I give to friends and family? Which dream holiday would I go on first? How much money would I realistically have to win in order to buy a home in London that’s not in zone 84 with a bed directly above the cooker? All of which is to say, I think I’m something of an expert on the subject matter. I’m not sure if I’d actually tell people I’d won the jackpot – but there would be signs. What would I spend my money on in my first week as a EuroMillions winner? I’m so glad you asked.
I think my main goal is to live one of those soft and gentle lives you see blasted all over TikTok, so my first port of call is day-to-day travel and I’m going big: I want to buy a tube carriage on every Victoria line train. I like to think I’d remain modest, down to earth and humble if I won a life-changing chunk of money, so you wouldn’t catch me paying for chauffeur-driven cars or anything like that. I’ll happily take the tube. I just don’t want to be shoved under a stranger’s armpit at 9:30am on a Monday morning while basking in the aroma of someone’s Saturday night rosé breath that they’ve tried to conceal with a double espresso, all while stewing in a climate identical to the seventh circle of hell. A personal tube carriage should do the trick. I’m thinking a couple of sofas, some decorative cushions, the fancy incense from Diptyque. I might even buy some LED screens to cover the windows and make it look like I’m frolicking through the Swiss countryside instead of hurtling towards the darkest depths of central London. Phase one of living a gentle life, complete!
Continue reading...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...Karla Sofía Gascón is the first openly trans actor to win best actress at Cannes for her role in Jacques Audiard’s audacious musical. She talks about awful corsets, riding motorbikes and suing her critics
When Madonna posted an image of the Spanish actor Karla Sofía Gascón on Instagram recently, the word she scrawled above it in vivid pink letters captured what most viewers will think after seeing her in the award-winning noir-musical Emilia Pérez: “WOW”. The 52-year-old Gascón, who was born and raised near Madrid and has spent the bulk of her career acting in Mexican telenovelas, plays the drugs kingpin Manitas, who fakes his death, transitions from male to female and reinvents herself as Pérez, a socially conscious activist. Emilia Pérez the movie, like Emilia Pérez the character, is a one-off. After all, there can’t be many films that feature brutal Mexican drug cartels and a singalong about vaginoplasties.
As befits a project that began life as a libretto, the movie is operatic in its emotions. “Madonna was crying so much after the screening in New York,” says Gascón, perched demurely on the edge of a chaise longue in a London hotel room. Her thick chestnut hair brushes the shoulders of her black dress, which has white collars and white-trimmed short sleeves. “She told me: ‘You’re amazing!’ She was crying and crying. I said: ‘Madonna, please. It’s only a film. Be happy!’”
Continue reading...Lucky Loser, by two New York Times journalists, reveals just how much Donald owes to his father (spoiler alert: everything)
The singular piece of publicity most helpful to The Apprentice, a film about Donald Trump that opened in the US last week and opens in the UK this Friday, is the fact its subject tried to block the movie’s release. The title refers to Trump’s adventures as a young man under the informal mentorship of the notorious New York lawyer Roy Cohn – former chief counsel for Joseph McCarthy, among other things – and from whom, the movie suggests, Trump picked up much of his conniving and ruthlessness. Trump is so lurid in life that he may be impossible to fictionalise, but the movie has a good crack. That it fails leaves one feeling vaguely cheated of an opportunity to deepen one’s loathing for Trump with a little more background and insight.
With the US election two and half weeks away, any representation of Trump, if it’s not up to scratch, risks looking like either an act of hubris or total obliviousness. The Apprentice, which languished in development for years before getting a boost when the actor Jeremy Strong agreed to play Cohn, is at best a tabloid romp in which Trump-as-playboy is compellingly rendered and at worst a piece of counterintuitivism so obvious it’s more predictable than a straightforward hatchet job. Sebastian Stan, as the young Trump, injects just the right level of nascent tics into his performance – the pursed lips, the flapping hands, the constant faffing with the hair – so that he appears physically very convincing. At the front end of the movie, the film-makers also make Trump appear gauchely, winningly, absurdly sympathetic.
Continue reading...With Gladiator II thrusting into cinematic arenas next month, we hand out laurels to the greatest sword-and-sandal movies of them all
In this heavy-going British Technicolor adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play, Claude Rains’s oddly relaxed Julius Caesar plays father figure to Vivien Leigh’s implausibly girlish Cleopatra, schooling her in the art of power with just a hint of May to December flirtation. The two leads are just about charismatic enough to compel interest despite Shaw’s ponderous dialogue.
Continue reading...
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
In lawsuits filed across the country, attorneys who worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat are alleging rampant voting fraud.
The post Trump’s Big Lie Attorneys Are Back appeared first on The Intercept.
Although choosing a venue is not uncommon, northern district stands out because it’s not where X is located
Elon Musk’s X has updated its terms of service to steer any disputes from users of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to a federal court in Texas whose judges frequently deliver victories to conservative litigants in political cases.
New terms of service that will take effect on 15 November specify that any lawsuits against X by users must be exclusively filed in the US district court for the northern district of Texas or state courts in Tarrant county, Texas.
Continue reading...Although he was less extroverted than his bandmates, his impressive vocals made him a cornerstone of the era’s defining boyband. So why did he struggle to accept his own greatness?
At One Direction’s first audition together on The X Factor in 2010, Liam Payne – who died yesterday – is given the opening line. Singing Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn to Simon Cowell and Sinitta, Payne is only 16 yet has seemingly absorbed decades of pop stagecraft. It’s a difficult opening verse to sell to the judges – downbeat and low-register – but Payne nails it. Rippling vibrato denotes his trembling heart and matinee-idol acting sells the line “she showed me what it was to cry” as he glances off to one side as if slapped by the painful memory all over again.
As the four other members join Payne, you can almost see Cowell’s eyes whirling like a fruit machine. These lads can harmonise. They can soulfully extemporise. Each of them is handsome in the subtly different ways teen idols need to be handsome, from boyish to smouldering. They seem entirely comfortable wearing the ratty scarves of the era. Here is something British – even global – pop has been sorely missing: a genuinely convincing boyband.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/crates-of-bigfoots [link] [comments] |
Genaro García Luna was accused of taking millions of dollars from the Sinaloa cartel for shielding members
Genaro García Luna, the official who for several years led Mexico’s fight against the country’s violent drug trade, was sentenced to more than 38 years in US prison for accepting bribes from the cartels he was supposed to fight.
The US district judge Brian Cogan announced the sentence at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday.
Continue reading...State courts refused to review Roberson’s case, clearing the way for his execution based on the junk science of shaken baby syndrome.
The post Texas Is About to Execute Robert Roberson for a Crime That Never Happened appeared first on The Intercept.
From drag queens without costumes to wrestlers touching each other tenderly, these monochrome images wowed the judges
Continue reading...Blistering sharemarket rally of recent weeks recedes as expectations cool towards long-awaited ‘bazooka stimulus’ for ailing property sector
China posted its slowest growth in a year and a half on Friday, as Beijing struggles to steady an economy shaken by sluggish consumer spending and persistent property sector woes.
Officials have in recent weeks unveiled a string of measures to reignite the world’s number-two economy, with an eye to achieving its official annual growth target of 5%.
Continue reading...Report also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done before the 2021 announcement
The Australian government’s view that the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine project is “too big to fail” could heighten the risk of cost blowouts, a US congress research report has warned.
The Congressional Research Service also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done prior to the project’s announcement by Australia, the US and the UK in 2021.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...Her call for a ceasefire was prescient. Now Rep. Cori Bush says the Biden administration must stop enabling Israel’s violence.
The post A Year Since Their Ceasefire Resolution, Progressives Say Only an Arms Embargo Can Stop Israel appeared first on The Intercept.
An incident in Mississippi provides a window into a dystopian future where postal workers and local cops can block people from accessing reproductive care.
The post Drug-Sniffing Police Dogs Are Intercepting Abortion Pills in the Mail appeared first on The Intercept.
Crypto big shots have spent more than three times on her opponent as small donors.
The post Elizabeth Warren’s Crypto Haters Are Burning Cash in Her Senate Race appeared first on The Intercept.
ESA and Thales Alenia Space have signed a contract amendment today at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan to extend the Lunar View refuelling module for the lunar Gateway.
Muslim business owners in two states fear policy will lead to targeted attacks or economic boycotts
Muslims in India say they have been fired from their jobs and face the closure of their businesses after two states brought in a “discriminatory” policy making it mandatory for restaurants to publicly display the names of all their employees.
The policy was first introduced by Yogi Adityanath, the hardline Hindu monk who is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Last month the state of Himachal Pradesh, governed by the opposition Congress party, announced it would also make it compulsory for all names of workers and employees to be put on display.
Continue reading...Millions are pouring into the race to unseat Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has resisted loosening crypto regulations.
The post Crypto Billionaires Could Flip the Senate to the GOP. Here’s What They Want. appeared first on The Intercept.
In July, I wrote about my new book project on AI and democracy, to be published by MIT Press in fall 2025. My co-author and collaborator Nathan Sanders and I are hard at work writing.
At this point, we would like feedback on titles. Here are four possibilities:
Shahawar Matin Siraj is one of many Muslim men convicted in informant-related terrorism cases. Now he’s seeking compassionate release.
The post An Informant Pushed Him to Plot a Subway Bombing. After 20 Years Behind Bars, He Has a Chance at Freedom. appeared first on The Intercept.
Jeremy Loffredo was taken into custody on suspicion of “assisting an enemy in war” for his reporting on Iran’s missile attack.
The post U.S. Journalist Jeremy Loffredo Released After Being Detained by Israel for Four Days appeared first on The Intercept.
An exchange with spokesperson Matt Miller over one year of U.S. military aid to Israel totaling more than $22.76 billion raised more questions than it answered.
The post How Much Does Israel’s War Cost the U.S.? Don’t Ask the State Department. appeared first on The Intercept.
The Biden administration has consistently said Israel should not kill civilians as it sends Israel more weapons to kill civilians.
The post One Year of Empty Rhetoric From the White House on Israel’s Wars appeared first on The Intercept.
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!