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Bookkeeping with a bang: Manchester’s stage spectacular The Accountants – in pictures
Tue, 07 May 2024 08:22:02 GMT
A world premiere presented by Factory International, The Accountants combines one tale of two auditing firms with another of friends who have connected British Indian and British Chinese heritages
Continue reading...Online fashion retailer £95m in red amid competition from Shein and Temu as well as resurgent high street
Boohoo has cut more than 1,000 jobs and dived into debt after its losses soared and sales slumped 13% amid heavy competition from the Chinese online seller Shein and the revival of the high street after the pandemic lockdowns.
The online fashion specialist, which owns Debenhams, Warehouse, Dorothy Perkins and Pretty Little Thing, said it had built up net debts of £95m in the year to the end of February – down from almost £6m of net cash a year before – after losses widened 76% to £160m.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
CFMEU welcomes funding of 15,000 fee-free construction Tafe places in budget
The CFMEU has welcomed a funding boost for apprenticeships and traineeships in the upcoming budget.
This investment will mean more apprentices and trainees will get the training they need to build critical housing and infrastructure that Australia desperately needs …
There’s an often-overlooked distinction between apprenticeships and traineeships but thankfully the government recognises the importance of both – that’s critical to addressing construction skills gaps.
If they don’t mobilise this government into real action I just don’t know what will. Half of all threatened species becoming extinct is an intolerable outcome.
Report after report has shown the terrible decline of biodiversity in NSW, and the Ken Henry review of biodiversity laws gave the government very clear recommendations on how to slow and reverse this trend, but the government still hasn’t responded after seven months.
Continue reading...Tim Pallas’ comments come after government delayed Melbourne Airport rail project by four years
The battle over a rail line to Melbourne’s airport has escalated, with Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, threatening to consider building a train station at Avalon Airport if the four-year stoush continues.
Pallas told reporters on Wednesday he was “no longer playing games” with the operators of Melbourne Airport, after delaying the long-awaited project by at least four years in the state budget.
Continue reading...Steve Christou claims ban has ‘overwhelming’ community support despite petition opposing the ban gaining almost 10,000 signatures in less than 24 hours
A Western Sydney councillor has doubled down on Cumberland’s blanket ban on same-sex parenting books from local libraries despite the policy breaching the state’s library act and possibly contravening anti-discrimination laws.
At a meeting last week, former mayor and current councillor Steve Christou successfully passed the amendment that the council take “immediate action” to “rid” same-sex parent books and materials from its eight council-run libraries.
Continue reading...Increase in cases reflects changing mood across continent towards Chinese threats, say experts
As China’s president, Xi Jinping, arrived in Serbia for the second leg of his European tour, authorities across the continent were grappling with a wave of allegations about Chinese spying.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, revealed that a “malign actor” had compromised British military payroll records, with reports pointing the finger at China.
Continue reading...Explicit image allegedly sent to 19-year-old by NSW police officer Glen Coleman who was handling her sex-crime complaint, jury hears
After allegedly raping a teen complainant in a western Sydney police station, a sex crimes detective took a naked photo of himself on a bed and sent it to the woman, a jury has heard.
Glen Coleman is on trial accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman from March to May 2022 and abusing his position in the New South Wales police force.
Continue reading...Gaza solidarity encampment claims property destroyed, items stolen and students threatened and harassed
A police investigation is under way after alleged attacks on a pro-Palestine camp at Monash University, as protesters vow they “won’t be cowed or intimidated”.
The Gaza solidarity encampment alleged repeated incursions have been made since it was established a week ago, with property destroyed, items stolen and students threatened and harassed.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Vast web of fake shops touting designer brands took money and personal details from 800,000 people in Europe and US, data suggests
More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China.
An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Monde gives a rare inside look at the mechanics of what the UK’s Chartered Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created.
Continue reading...Chinese president hails two countries’ friendship before his arrival, after visiting Pyrenees with Macron
Chinese flags adorned highways as Serbia got ready to give a home-from-home welcome to Xi Jinping, contrasting tensions on the first leg of the Chinese president’s six-day European tour over a potential trade war with the EU.
Xi prepared for his arrival in Belgrade on Tuesday night by hitting out against Nato for its 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital, in which three Chinese journalists were killed.
Continue reading...Beijing joins France in urging Israel against Rafah offensive in latest effort to make its diplomatic mark
Xi Jinping, sensing a diplomatic opening, is stepping up China’s intervention in the Middle East crisis, issuing a joint statement with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to urge Israel not to go ahead with an offensive in Rafah.
The rare moment of Sino-European synergy is the latest effort by China to make its diplomatic mark in a region in which it has deep economic interests, but more shallow diplomatic moorings.
Continue reading...Foreign ministry says Chinese jet pilot took ‘necessary measures at the scene’ after Australia claimed flares were released in front of helicopter
China’s foreign ministry has accused an Australian navy helicopter of deliberately flying “within close range” of Chinese airspace in a “provocative move” in the latest military altercation between the two nations.
The Australian government said China released flares in front of the helicopter in the Yellow Sea as HMAS Hobart participated in an operation to enforce United Nations sanctions against North Korea.
Continue reading...A study has found that more than two dozen US coastal cities are sinking by more than 2mm a year. It’s a similar picture across the world. Nearly half of China’s major cities, as well as places such as Tehran and Jakarta, are facing similar problems. These issues are compounded by sea level rises caused by global heating. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Prof Manoochehr Shirzaei of Virginia Tech University and Prof Robert Nicholls of the University of East Anglia to find out what’s making our cities sink and whether anything can be done to rescue them from the sea
Clips: Global News, CNBC, WRDW
Continue reading...Chinese premier meets Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen for talks, with trade and Ukraine on agenda
The trilateral meeting has kicked off.
Xi Jinping has arrived at the Élysée palace.
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orbán among leaders Xi is meeting, with several key issues on the table
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has begun a three-country tour of Europe – his first state visit to the continent in five years – at a time when China-EU ties are under strain from trade disputes and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Continue reading...John Hostettler of Indiana, whom pro-Israel groups deemed ‘antisemitic’, loses to Mark Messmer, who led opponents with 40% of vote
Republican John Hostettler has lost his House primary in Indiana, delivering a victory to pro-Israel groups who sought to block the former congressman from returning to Washington. The groups attacked Hostettler as insufficiently supportive of Israel at a time when criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has hit new highs because of the war in Gaza.
When the Associated Press called the eighth district primary race at 7.49pm ET, less than an hour after the last polls closed in Indiana, Mark Messmer led his opponents with 40% of the vote. Messmer, the Indiana state senate majority leader, will advance to the general election in November, which he is heavily favored to win because of the district’s Republican leanings. The victor will replace Republican congressman Larry Bucshon, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
Continue reading...The British-Indian writer relives his horrific 2022 stabbing in shocking detail – and opens up about how heading back to the scene of the crime helped him
‘One of the first things I thought when I saw him coming at me was: ‘Oh, it’s you … ’ I did wonder if someone was going to jump out of an audience one day.” When news broke in August 2022 that the novelist Salman Rushdie had been stabbed by a man who invaded the stage during a literary event in Chautauqua, New York, the impact of what had happened was unique: it was shocking but not surprising. Nobody wondered why on earth anyone would suddenly attack an ageing British-Indian writer.
Salman Rushdie: Through a Glass Darkly gives Rushdie the chance to recall the attack in his own words, as he has in his new memoir, Knife. The film also fills in the backstory, although it sketches it lightly on the assumption that viewers will know it already. In 1988, a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s assassination was imposed on him by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, after the publication of Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses. Rushdie at first lived under police protection, not appearing in public; gradually he re-emerged as the threat, it was assumed, subsided.
Continue reading...The bipartisan duo also praised schools that brought in police to violently quell protests and connected the demonstrations to the TikTok ban.
The post In No Labels Call, Josh Gottheimer, Mike Lawler, and University Trustees Agree: FBI Should Investigate Campus Protests appeared first on The Intercept.
University faculty have put their bodies and livelihoods on the line amid a brutal, violent response to student protests for Gaza.
The post From UCLA to Columbia, Professors Nationwide Defend Students as Politicians and Police Attack appeared first on The Intercept.
Congress party’s Arun Reddy held over fake video of interior minister Amit Shah
Indian police have said they have arrested the social media chief of the country’s main opposition party over a doctored video widely shared during the ongoing national election.
Arun Reddy of the Congress party was detained late on Friday in connection with the edited footage, which falsely shows India’s powerful interior minister, Amit Shah, vowing in a campaign speech to end affirmative action policies for millions of poor and low-caste Indians.
Continue reading...Inadvertent poisoning of scavengers across Indian subcontinent is forcing some communities to give up ancient custom
Traditional Zoroastrian burial rites are becoming increasingly impossible to perform because of the precipitous decline of vultures in India, Iran and Pakistan.
For millennia, Parsi communities have traditionally disposed of their dead in structures called dakhma, or “towers of silence”. These circular, elevated edifices are designed to prevent the soil, and the sacred elements of earth, fire and water, from being contaminated by corpses.
Continue reading...Prime minister said there were ‘credible allegations’ that India was behind killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Canadian police have charged three members of an alleged hit team for their role in the assassination of the Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the first arrests in a high-profile killing that officials believe was masterminded by India.
The arrests come nearly a year after the prominent activist was killed in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh gurdwara on the evening of 18 June in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. In what investigators previously described as a carefully orchestrated operation, two assailants fired about 50 bullets at Nijjar and escaped the area in a grey car.
Continue reading...Malaysia’s football association has recommended players consider hiring bodyguards and Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) have beefed up security for their squad after their midfielder Safiq Rahim became the third player to be attacked over the past week.
Safiq, a former national team captain, had his car windscreen smashed by unknown assailants late on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The famed scholar on why reducing Hamas to a terrorist label sanctions Israel’s war on Palestinians.
The post Judith Butler Will Not Co-Sign Israel’s Alibi for Genocide appeared first on The Intercept.
Warnings of dangerous temperatures across parts of Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh and India as hottest months of the year are made worse by El Niño
Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia are facing sweltering temperatures, with unusually hot weather forcing schools to close and threatening public health.
Thousands of schools across the Philippines, including in the capital region Metro Manila, have suspended in-person classes. Half of the country’s 82 provinces are experiencing drought, and nearly 31 others are facing dry spells or dry conditions, according to the UN, which has called for greater support to help the country prepare for similar weather events in the future. The country’s upcoming harvest will probably be below average, the UN said.
Continue reading...Meta has threatened to pull WhatsApp out of India if the courts try to force it to break its end-to-end encryption.
When police attacked student protesters, a lone trash can was the only damaged property I saw around City College of New York.
The post I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged. appeared first on The Intercept.
Parties clash over communal issues in increasingly charged campaign amid concerns unseasonably hot weather affecting voter numbers
India has held the second phase of the world’s biggest election, with prime minister Narendra Modi and his rivals hurling accusations of religious discrimination and threats to democracy amid flagging voter turnout.
Almost 1 billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general election that began on 19 April and concludes on 1 June, with votes set to be counted on 4 June.
Continue reading...Evidence points to Absolute Standards as the source of a lethal drug the Trump administration used to restart federal executions after 17 years.
The post “Little Home Market”: The Connecticut Company Accused of Fueling an Execution Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
Lots of complicated details here: too many for me to summarize well. It involves an obscure Section 230 provision—and an even more obscure typo. Read this.
In today’s newsletter: As an assault on a key route for aid is underway, we look at how the humanitarian crisis will unfold and the prospects for a ceasefire
• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition
Good morning. Israel has threatened to expand its military operation in Rafah after it seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing – which was the key remaining land route to get desperately needed aid into Gaza, where millions of people are suffering an escalating humanitarian crisis.
The Israeli military said it had taken “operational control” of the border with Egypt in a “precise and limited operation”, but gave notice that it will soon be followed by an “extreme force” ground offensive that the UN warns could lead to the “slaughter of civilians”. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has begun dropping flyers on relief camps in Rafah, ordering Palestinians – many of whom have already fled the conflict, sometimes several times – to immediately evacuate.
Israel-Gaza war | Joe Biden’s administration paused a shipment of weapons to Israel last week in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official has said. Israel has launched a major military offensive against Hamas forces in Gaza’s southernmost city, seizing control of a key border crossing and cutting off most aid a day before indirect talks on a ceasefire deal are due to restart.
US | Donald Trump’s criminal trial entered a new stage on Tuesday with testimony from Stormy Daniels, an adult film star at the center of his hush-money scandal. Daniels told jurors that she had a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006 that left her nervous and ashamed.
Scotland | The new Scottish National party leader John Swinney will become Scotland’s seventh first minister after winning the backing of MSPs. Swinney won the vote eight days after Humza Yousaf announced his departure.
Health | The Cass review “absolutely” did not set an unfairly high bar for evidence, its author has said, as she addressed “significant misinformation” about her assessment of healthcare provision for gender-questioning young people in England and Wales.
Garrick Club | The men-only Garrick Club in London has finally voted to allow women to become members, 193 years after it first opened its doors. 562 members (59.98%) voted in favour and 375 (40.02%) against, in a private meeting where several hundred members spent two hours debating whether to permit women to join.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest report and key takeaways below:
Trump attorney Susan Necheles reveals that Stormy Daniels is expected to be the prosecution’s second witness for the day.
She’s fighting to keep details about the alleged sex act between Daniels and Donald Trump under wraps.
Continue reading...Jury hears from adult film star on 13th day of ex-president’s criminal trial in New York
Donald Trump’s criminal trial entered a new stage on Tuesday with testimony from Stormy Daniels, an adult film star at the center of his hush-money scandal, who told jurors that they had a sexual liaison in 2006 that left her nervous and ashamed.
“My hands were shaking so hard that I was having a hard time getting dressed,” said Daniels, who told jurors that she had gone to Trump’s Lake Tahoe hotel room under the belief that they would be getting dinner after meeting there.
Continue reading...NSO Group, which makes Pegasus spyware, keeps trying to extract information from Citizen Lab researchers — and a judge keeps swatting it down.
The post They Exposed an Israeli Spyware Firm. Now the Company Is Badgering Them in Court. appeared first on The Intercept.
Nahla Al-Arian lost more than 200 relatives in Israel's attacks on Gaza. Then Eric Adams said she was the reason police raided Columbia.
The post NYC Mayor Smeared a Grandmother as an “Outside Agitator” to Justify NYPD Assault on Columbia appeared first on The Intercept.
John Hostettler of Indiana, whom pro-Israel groups deemed ‘antisemitic’, loses to Mark Messmer, who led opponents with 40% of vote
Republican John Hostettler has lost his House primary in Indiana, delivering a victory to pro-Israel groups who sought to block the former congressman from returning to Washington. The groups attacked Hostettler as insufficiently supportive of Israel at a time when criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has hit new highs because of the war in Gaza.
When the Associated Press called the eighth district primary race at 7.49pm ET, less than an hour after the last polls closed in Indiana, Mark Messmer led his opponents with 40% of the vote. Messmer, the Indiana state senate majority leader, will advance to the general election in November, which he is heavily favored to win because of the district’s Republican leanings. The victor will replace Republican congressman Larry Bucshon, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
Continue reading...The bipartisan duo also praised schools that brought in police to violently quell protests and connected the demonstrations to the TikTok ban.
The post In No Labels Call, Josh Gottheimer, Mike Lawler, and University Trustees Agree: FBI Should Investigate Campus Protests appeared first on The Intercept.
The Israel lobby failed to take down Rep. Summer Lee. They’ve now set their sights on Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
The post Let’s Check In on AIPAC’s Assault on the Squad appeared first on The Intercept.
Congress party’s Arun Reddy held over fake video of interior minister Amit Shah
Indian police have said they have arrested the social media chief of the country’s main opposition party over a doctored video widely shared during the ongoing national election.
Arun Reddy of the Congress party was detained late on Friday in connection with the edited footage, which falsely shows India’s powerful interior minister, Amit Shah, vowing in a campaign speech to end affirmative action policies for millions of poor and low-caste Indians.
Continue reading...The pro-Israel group is funneling money through a “pro-science” PAC, according to two members of Congress.
The post AIPAC Is Secretly Intervening in Portland’s Congressional Race to Take Down Susheela Jayapal, Sources Say appeared first on The Intercept.
The Israel lobby is expected to start a $20 million ad blitz backing its handpicked candidate against the incumbent Squad member.
The post AIPAC’s Next Top Target? Rep. Jamaal Bowman appeared first on The Intercept.
University faculty have put their bodies and livelihoods on the line amid a brutal, violent response to student protests for Gaza.
The post From UCLA to Columbia, Professors Nationwide Defend Students as Politicians and Police Attack appeared first on The Intercept.
For years, the political establishment opportunistically railed against sex trafficking. Then came Pizzagate.
The post QAnon Was Born Out of the Sex Ad Moral Panic That Took Down Backpage.com appeared first on The Intercept.
Evidence points to Absolute Standards as the source of a lethal drug the Trump administration used to restart federal executions after 17 years.
The post “Little Home Market”: The Connecticut Company Accused of Fueling an Execution Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
Nigeria has gotten billions in U.S. security assistance, even as its counterterrorism campaign has a massive civilian death toll.
The post Biden Says He Told Nigeria to Kill Fewer Civilians — but Nigeria Keeps Killing Lots of Civilians appeared first on The Intercept.
A measure passed by the House seeks to block Americans from traveling to Iran on U.S. passports.
The post House Responds to Israeli-Iranian Missile Exchange by Taking Rights Away From Americans appeared first on The Intercept.
The bipartisan duo also praised schools that brought in police to violently quell protests and connected the demonstrations to the TikTok ban.
The post In No Labels Call, Josh Gottheimer, Mike Lawler, and University Trustees Agree: FBI Should Investigate Campus Protests appeared first on The Intercept.
John Hostettler of Indiana, whom pro-Israel groups deemed ‘antisemitic’, loses to Mark Messmer, who led opponents with 40% of vote
Republican John Hostettler has lost his House primary in Indiana, delivering a victory to pro-Israel groups who sought to block the former congressman from returning to Washington. The groups attacked Hostettler as insufficiently supportive of Israel at a time when criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has hit new highs because of the war in Gaza.
When the Associated Press called the eighth district primary race at 7.49pm ET, less than an hour after the last polls closed in Indiana, Mark Messmer led his opponents with 40% of the vote. Messmer, the Indiana state senate majority leader, will advance to the general election in November, which he is heavily favored to win because of the district’s Republican leanings. The victor will replace Republican congressman Larry Bucshon, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
Continue reading...The pro-Israel group is funneling money through a “pro-science” PAC, according to two members of Congress.
The post AIPAC Is Secretly Intervening in Portland’s Congressional Race to Take Down Susheela Jayapal, Sources Say appeared first on The Intercept.
The Israel lobby is expected to start a $20 million ad blitz backing its handpicked candidate against the incumbent Squad member.
The post AIPAC’s Next Top Target? Rep. Jamaal Bowman appeared first on The Intercept.
Former minister is launching bid to push Sunak to right on immigration policy
Good morning. We’re a few days on from the local elections, and the party has got a new leader. But that’s the SNP, not the Conservative party, where the much-anticipated, post-locals leadership challenge aimed at Rishi Sunak never materialised. Today he will take PMQs for the first time since the plotters called off the dogs, and accepted that Sunak will lead the party into the next election.
But that does not mean the feuding has stopped, and this morning Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, is launching a bid to push Sunak to the right on immigration policy. He has written a report with Neil O’Brien, another former minister, and Karl Williams, research director at the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank, with more than 30 recommendations that would slam the brakes on mass immigration into the UK. Jenrick is clearly gearing up to run for the leadership after the general election and, as Sam Blewett argues in his London Playbook briefing for Politico, today’s intervention “has the whiff of something planned a while back by the rebel faction”, when it was assumed that this week Sunak would be facing a no confidence vote.
Instead of banning smoking or regulating London’s pedicabs, the government could use the time left in the parliamentary session to deliver the post-Brexit immigration system voters were promised. We shouldn’t wait to save conservative policies for our manifesto when we are 20 points behind in the polls in an election year – that would be government by posturing and an abdication of duty. The Government has a solid majority and could deliver these today.
The local election results reaffirmed two clear trends, obvious to those of us who spend time on the doorsteps listening to voters. First, Conservative voters feel badly let down and are struggling to find reasons to back us. Second, we are haemorrhaging support to the Reform Party. This is primarily because of mass migration and the allied and growing problem of extremism, although clearly other factors are also at play.
Continue reading...The last big protests cost $150 million in NYPD overtime — with tens of millions more in lawsuit settlements.
The post How much money did the NYPD waste quashing student protests? We tallied it up. appeared first on The Intercept.
It was the moment Donald Trump was dreading. The former president could only sit and watch as the adult film actor Stormy Daniels told her version of events from an alleged sexual encounter they had in 2006. Prosecutors say that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen shuttled a $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, to keep her from talking to anyone about her alleged encounter with Trump.
So how bad was Daniels’ testimony for the presumptive GOP candidate? Jonathan Freedland and the political commentator Molly Jong-Fast discuss an extraordinary day in a Manhattan courtroom
Archive: Fox News 5 and CBS News
Continue reading...Activists doubt Labour’s cautious strategy, but many voters are looking for a ‘Weetabix candidate’ – reassuring and uncontroversial
Amid the cacophony of post-election analysis over the weekend, one item struck me as especially bleak for Rishi Sunak. It wasn’t the byelection defeat or the seismic swing away from the Tories. It wasn’t even in a news programme. It was an advert.
“Britain hasn’t been so great of late,” says a pastiche scientist. “Economical, societal and sporting performance has dropped.” The reason: not enough Weetabix.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...MPs and election candidates to be given guide about conspiracy theories covering topics such as 5G and the climate crisis
MPs and election candidates are being provided with a guide on recognising conspiracy theories – ranging from false claims about 5G technology to others about vaccines and global organisations such as the International Monetary Fund.
The guide was commissioned by Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, who launched it on Tuesday with the shadow leader, Lucy Powell, amid concern about the impact of conspiracies theories, in many cases with antisemitic overtones.
Continue reading...Multi-millionaire Bassim Haidar says ending the non-dom tax status is a mistake. He plans to leave the UK and says other non-doms will do the same. Should the government change their mind?
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced in his spring budget that the government was going to scrap the “non-domicile” regime, which has allowed the multi-millionaire Bassim Haidar and 68,800 other non-doms to avoid paying UK tax on their overseas income for the past 225 years. It will raise £2.7bn a year.
The Guardian’s wealth correspondent, Rupert Neate tells Hannah Moore about interviewing Haidar over his decision to leave the UK because of the end of the non-dom regime. From next year, people can avoid taxes only in the first four years of residency in the UK, compared with the previous 15-year threshold.
Continue reading...The famed scholar on why reducing Hamas to a terrorist label sanctions Israel’s war on Palestinians.
The post Judith Butler Will Not Co-Sign Israel’s Alibi for Genocide appeared first on The Intercept.
University faculty have put their bodies and livelihoods on the line amid a brutal, violent response to student protests for Gaza.
The post From UCLA to Columbia, Professors Nationwide Defend Students as Politicians and Police Attack appeared first on The Intercept.
With national leaders facing war, political division and economic crisis, backing the EU chief for a second term is their best hope of unity
As 400 million EU citizens prepare to cast their votes in June’s European elections, a new poll shows that it is Ursula von der Leyen who has caught voters’ attention like no EU chief before her.
Our survey suggests that a large majority of Europeans today are aware that she is the European Commission president, considered to be the most powerful political office in the EU. Previous EU chief executives have been largely unknown to the public. But almost 75% are able to correctly identify von der Leyen’s name and recognise her face. Five years ago, her predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, scored only 40% recognition.
Catherine De Vries is Generali chair in European policies and professor at Bocconi University in Milan
Isabell Hoffmann is senior expert on Europe at the Bertelsmann Stiftung
Continue reading...Cathy Nori is one of just three women elected to Solomon Islands’ 50-seat parliament in last month’s election
In the final days of her election campaign, Cathy Nori considered giving up. The 57-year-old had been trekking up a mountain, near her home in Isabel province, Solomon Islands, when she was overcome with exhaustion.
“I couldn’t help but question my purpose, silently asking … why I was enduring such hardship,” Nori says in an interview with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Nick Moss says the former home secretary would have known that the resources to support those on IPP sentences didn’t exist. Plus a letter from Gillian Kelly
Simon Hattenstone writes about David Blunkett’s latest mea culpa regarding imprisonment for public protection sentences (Martin Myers tried and failed to steal a cigarette. Why has he spent 18 years in prison for it?, 1 May). Blunkett’s statements of regret should not be allowed to pass. He admits that the resources were not in place to provide “offending behaviour” courses for those on indeterminate sentences. But as home secretary, he would have known this full well in 2003.
IPP sentences were just one aspect of an enthusiastic authoritarianism practised by Blair and co. Between 1995 and 2009, the prison population rose by 66%. In its 2001 general election manifesto, Labour stated: “We plan the most comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system since the war – to catch, convict, punish and rehabilitate more of the 100,000 persistent offenders.”
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 2019: In an era of bewildering upheaval, how will the past decade be remembered? By Andy Beckett
Continue reading...It’s a moment of truth for Biden’s policy on Israel and the Palestinians – and at the least will make continued prevarication harder to disguise
When Israeli troops paraded through the Rafah crossing with an oversized star of David on Tuesday morning, they were making a point to Hamas – and at the same time driving up to the very edge of Joe Biden’s “red line”.
The Biden administration avoids that phrase at all costs. Its top officials also served Barack Obama, who drew a red line he did not enforce over Syria’s chemical weapons. But there is no hiding from the fact that they have clearly and repeatedly stated US opposition to a Rafah offensive, absent proper humanitarian provision for the more than 1 million people sheltering there.
Continue reading...Ahead of the byelection in Blackpool South, the Guardian takes the temperature in the once prosperous northern coastal town, with many voters expressing complete apathy and disdain for the state of politics.
The area is going to the polls because the former Tory MP Scott Benton resigned after being found guilty of breaching standards rules in a lobbying scandal. Labour is hopeful of taking back the seat, which Benton won with a majority of 3,690 in 2019
Polls open in England’s local elections with Tories braced for heavy losse
Analysis: Will Tories dump Rishi Sunak if election results worse than expected?
Congress party’s Arun Reddy held over fake video of interior minister Amit Shah
Indian police have said they have arrested the social media chief of the country’s main opposition party over a doctored video widely shared during the ongoing national election.
Arun Reddy of the Congress party was detained late on Friday in connection with the edited footage, which falsely shows India’s powerful interior minister, Amit Shah, vowing in a campaign speech to end affirmative action policies for millions of poor and low-caste Indians.
Continue reading...The Israel lobby failed to take down Rep. Summer Lee. They’ve now set their sights on Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
The post Let’s Check In on AIPAC’s Assault on the Squad appeared first on The Intercept.
A tale of two Americas.
The post Cable News Viewers Have a Skewed Attitude Toward Gaza War, Survey Finds appeared first on The Intercept.
Nahla Al-Arian lost more than 200 relatives in Israel's attacks on Gaza. Then Eric Adams said she was the reason police raided Columbia.
The post NYC Mayor Smeared a Grandmother as an “Outside Agitator” to Justify NYPD Assault on Columbia appeared first on The Intercept.
Mothin Ali has not been suspended from city council despite outcry over remarks
A Green party councillor at the centre of an antisemitism row has apologised “for the upset caused” by his remarks but hit back at “Islamophobic” attacks against him.
The Green party has launched an investigation into Mothin Ali, who was elected to Leeds city council last week, but has declined to suspend him.
Continue reading...Tax breaks aren’t the reason I live here. Many wealthy people like me want to pay our fair share, and contribute to investment in the UK
The recent decision to abolish the non-dom status, which allows a small group of very rich UK residents to earn money abroad without paying tax on it in Britain, has sparked numerous conversations about whether this will force people to leave the country. As a millionaire living in the UK who has benefited from the non-dom status, I feel differently. Having a tax break is not the reason I live here, and having to pay my share in taxes does not make me want to leave. On the contrary, it represents a promise of more investment, and a better country. I’d like to think there are plenty of non-doms in the UK who will happily pay the tax that is expected of them, and who won’t be going anywhere.
After all, living somewhere is about so much more than the taxes you pay. There are so many benefits from living in this country. I’ve built a strong foundation for my family, with my friends, and I feel welcomed everywhere I go. I enjoy a wonderful lifestyle, access to superb culture, and I get to meet incredible people from all over the world. I particularly appreciate having access to the most forward-thinking professionals in impact investing and strategic philanthropy. My family benefits from a full life, access to healthcare that’s free at the point of use, great public transport (in London at least!) and so much more. Paying more in tax for all this is not something that concerns me – nor does it concern the wealthy people I know.
Gio Notarbartolo is an impact investor, entrepreneur and member of Patriotic Millionaires
Continue reading...Legislation needed to limit use of stay applications and ensure justice for child abuse survivors, independent MP says
New South Wales parliament will consider a bill to further restrict churches and other institutions from using stay applications to prevent abuse survivors having their cases heard.
Last year, Guardian Australia revealed the widespread use of stay applications to permanently halt civil cases brought by survivors where perpetrators had died.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
CFMEU welcomes funding of 15,000 fee-free construction Tafe places in budget
The CFMEU has welcomed a funding boost for apprenticeships and traineeships in the upcoming budget.
This investment will mean more apprentices and trainees will get the training they need to build critical housing and infrastructure that Australia desperately needs …
There’s an often-overlooked distinction between apprenticeships and traineeships but thankfully the government recognises the importance of both – that’s critical to addressing construction skills gaps.
If they don’t mobilise this government into real action I just don’t know what will. Half of all threatened species becoming extinct is an intolerable outcome.
Report after report has shown the terrible decline of biodiversity in NSW, and the Ken Henry review of biodiversity laws gave the government very clear recommendations on how to slow and reverse this trend, but the government still hasn’t responded after seven months.
Continue reading...Tim Pallas’ comments come after government delayed Melbourne Airport rail project by four years
The battle over a rail line to Melbourne’s airport has escalated, with Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, threatening to consider building a train station at Avalon Airport if the four-year stoush continues.
Pallas told reporters on Wednesday he was “no longer playing games” with the operators of Melbourne Airport, after delaying the long-awaited project by at least four years in the state budget.
Continue reading...Exclusive: 1,871 possible trafficking or modern slavery victims left open to exploitation after falling out of UK system, FoI data reveals
Hundreds of children identified as potential victims of trafficking are being abandoned by the Home Office and left vulnerable to exploitation, new data reveals.
Released following a freedom of information (FoI) request, figures show that in 2022, 1,871 children identified as possible victims of trafficking or modern slavery dropped off the UK government system conceived to support them once they turned 18.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As an assault on a key route for aid is underway, we look at how the humanitarian crisis will unfold and the prospects for a ceasefire
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Good morning. Israel has threatened to expand its military operation in Rafah after it seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing – which was the key remaining land route to get desperately needed aid into Gaza, where millions of people are suffering an escalating humanitarian crisis.
The Israeli military said it had taken “operational control” of the border with Egypt in a “precise and limited operation”, but gave notice that it will soon be followed by an “extreme force” ground offensive that the UN warns could lead to the “slaughter of civilians”. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has begun dropping flyers on relief camps in Rafah, ordering Palestinians – many of whom have already fled the conflict, sometimes several times – to immediately evacuate.
Israel-Gaza war | Joe Biden’s administration paused a shipment of weapons to Israel last week in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official has said. Israel has launched a major military offensive against Hamas forces in Gaza’s southernmost city, seizing control of a key border crossing and cutting off most aid a day before indirect talks on a ceasefire deal are due to restart.
US | Donald Trump’s criminal trial entered a new stage on Tuesday with testimony from Stormy Daniels, an adult film star at the center of his hush-money scandal. Daniels told jurors that she had a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006 that left her nervous and ashamed.
Scotland | The new Scottish National party leader John Swinney will become Scotland’s seventh first minister after winning the backing of MSPs. Swinney won the vote eight days after Humza Yousaf announced his departure.
Health | The Cass review “absolutely” did not set an unfairly high bar for evidence, its author has said, as she addressed “significant misinformation” about her assessment of healthcare provision for gender-questioning young people in England and Wales.
Garrick Club | The men-only Garrick Club in London has finally voted to allow women to become members, 193 years after it first opened its doors. 562 members (59.98%) voted in favour and 375 (40.02%) against, in a private meeting where several hundred members spent two hours debating whether to permit women to join.
Continue reading...Trade unions leaders want to go through policy with party leader after warning there should be no watering down of pledges
Trade unions leaders will meet Keir Starmer next Tuesday after several expressed public reservations about changes to the party’s workers’ rights policy – and warned there should be no watering down of what has been pledged.
It comes as party sources admitted that only draft legislation would be published within 100 days of taking power – rather than a full bill before parliament.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Litigation such as that spearheaded by Alan Bates could become harder if advice from senior figure at Labour peer’s Global Counsel given effect
The advisory firm founded by Peter Mandelson has worked for a campaign that critics say would stifle mass lawsuits such as that taken recently by post office operators against the Post Office.
The Labour peer, who has advised Keir Starmer, serves as president of Global Counsel, a strategic advisory company that he established and part owns.
Continue reading...The adult film star testifies in a hush-money trial that could land the ex-president and Republican frontrunner behind bars
At 10.30am Tuesday in a New York City courtroom, five words changed the course of American history: “The people call Stormy Daniels.”
Daniels, now a household name, is an adult film actor at the center of a hush-money criminal trial that could land Donald Trump, the former president and present Republican presidential frontrunner, behind bars.
Continue reading...Treasury committee says ‘debanking’ and use of personal guarantees for loans is putting small businesses at risk
Unfair banking practices and “damaging” financial regulators are harming small businesses and putting innovation and growth at risk, parliament’s Treasury committee has warned.
A report from the committee’s inquiry into access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) said a lack of supportive policies were compounding problems for firms that had survived a “torrid” five years, which included the global pandemic and energy crisis.
“Confidence amongst SMEs in accessing finance has fallen and acceptance rates for business credit has lowered significantly,” the report said.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves missed a chance to recast a policy that cuts government spending while shovelling state cash into private banks
The Labour party has in mind new institutions that will capitalise future-facing industries, create good jobs and see Britain catch up with its peers. That is one message from Rachel Reeves’s speech. Her Labour colleague John Eatwell suggests she is inspired by Alexander Gerschenkron, whose seminal work concludes that the way the state was organised influences its ability to adopt income-enhancing technologies. Many of Labour’s proposals, such as Great British Energy, are welcome. But this column has been sceptical about whether they would meet the scale of the challenges Britain faces without substantial funding or effective mechanisms for socially directing investment.
The Bank of England’s role remains particularly unsettling in shrinking the fiscal space available to ministers. Both the opposition and the government hide behind the Bank’s independence. However, MPs on the Treasury select committee raised concerns about whether it was playing a productive economic role this year. They warned that the rapid sale of bonds the Bank purchased through quantitative easing (QE) potentially had “worrying implications for public spending”.
Continue reading...Andrew Mitchell says military action on city will not eradicate Hamas and priority is to secure a permanent ceasefire
An Israeli military offensive on the city of Rafah would break international humanitarian law and not lead to the eradication of Hamas, Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s deputy foreign minister, said on Tuesday, but he held back from spelling out any planned British consequences if a full-scale invasion goes ahead.
The line, agreed with the US, is aimed at limiting the options of the Israeli government so that it will accept a version of the three-stage peace deal adopted by Hamas. The UK said its aim was to secure a permanent and sustained ceasefire, and the removal of Hamas from the future governance of Gaza.
Continue reading...New SNP leader seventh to hold the office, vacated after Humza Yousaf axed deal with Greens
The new Scottish National party leader John Swinney will become Scotland’s seventh first minister after winning the backing of MSPs.
As is traditional, opposition leaders stood against Swinney in the vote, which he won just eight days after Humza Yousaf dramatically announced his departure, with the backing of 64 SNP MSPs, while the seven Scottish Greens abstained.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak warns of ‘unacceptable rise’ as Gaza protests escalate and 10 students vow to go on hunger strike
University bosses are to attend a Downing Street summit to discuss antisemitism on campuses, as Palestinian solidarity protests continue to escalate at UK universities, with 10 students now vowing to go on hunger strike.
Rishi Sunak told his cabinet on Tuesday that there had been an “unacceptable rise in antisemitism” on campuses and vice-chancellors would meet to talk about “the need for our universities to be safe for our Jewish students”.
Continue reading...Readers respond to the party’s watered-down plan to appease businesses
It is disheartening to read that not only is Labour planning to further dilute its employee rights package but that it is doing so to appease businesses (Labour’s ‘new deal for workers’ will not fully ban zero-hours contracts, 1 May). Your article appeared online on May Day. You don’t have to wrap yourself in the red flag and sing The Internationale to recognise that having a motivated, educated and supported workforce is good for business, the economy and society.
Both the party and those in business lobbying for the changes are ignoring the lessons of recent history and are taking a depressingly narrow view of labour market flexibility and efficiency. The introduction of the minimum wage 25 years ago has been hailed as one of the great postwar economic policy successes. But at the time, business groups warned, wrongly, of mass job losses.
Continue reading...Peter Hebblethwaite appears in front of MPs two years after saying lowest-paid agency worker would earn £5.15 an hour
The boss of P&O Ferries has been asked if he is “a pirate” who appears to be “robbing staff blind” – as he confirmed to MPs that the group’s seafarers had been receiving pay rates even lower than he had previously told parliament.
Peter Hebblethwaite previously appeared in front of a joint transport and business committee in March 2022 to respond to P&O Ferries sacking 786 staff and replacing them with low-paid agency workers.
Continue reading...More weddings would help Britain tackle its epidemic of loneliness, according to the Centre for Social Justice. And nothing says ‘romance’ like the offer of a cash bonus
Name: Weddings.
Age: The first record of a marriage ceremony between a woman and man (it tended to be in those days) dates from about 2350BC in Mesopotamia (roughly Iraq).
Continue reading...The Israeli PM has rejected the latest deal. Both he and Hamas’s leadership must stop playing politics with people’s lives
The latest twists and turns in negotiations to end the war in Gaza appear labyrinthine and confusing. But it’s really not that complicated. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, must compromise on the outstanding details of the proposed ceasefire deal and Hamas’s weekend counter-offer – and immediately halt Israel’s criminal bombing of Gaza and reckless military incursions into refugee-populated areas around Rafah.
For its part, Hamas must honour previous understandings about the staged release of Israeli hostages and cease its crude, last-minute haggling, especially about exactly how many Palestinian detainees, and which ones, are freed in return. Its priority should be alleviating the plight of Gaza’s civilians, not scoring points. Its demands that Israel agree a “permanent” end to the war at this stage were always unrealistic.
Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator
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...He’s not the man to lead Scotland to independence, but after a turbulent few years, he’s the safe pair of hands the party needs
John Swinney’s accession to the leadership of the Scottish National party has been called a “coronation”. Yet the smooth handover of power that took place yesterday was not a given. That the party avoided another acrimonious battle – like the one last year between his predecessor Humza Yousaf and former finance secretary Kate Forbes – was down to his deft handling of would-be rivals.
After her defeat last year, Forbes, a social conservative who opposes same-sex marriage, became a rallying point for internal disaffection. Had she stood again, as she clearly intended to, the SNP’s divisions – between left and right, between opposing views on trans rights – would have become further entrenched. Instead, Swinney persuaded Forbes to throw her weight behind him by promising her a senior cabinet position – a masterstroke that also brought her most vocal backers to heel.
Dani Garavelli is a freelance journalist and columnist for the Herald
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.
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About 52,000 people are eligible under the scheme, but a government spokesperson said Kigali would accept ‘thousands’
Rwanda has admitted it cannot guarantee how many people it will take from the UK under Rishi Sunak’s deportation scheme.
The east African country did not give assurances that the estimated 52,000 asylum seekers in the UK who are eligible to be sent to Kigali would be accepted, instead saying it would be “thousands”.
Continue reading...Mulino, who won 34.3% of vote, pledges to welcome business and investment without forgetting ‘those who are hungry’
José Raúl Mulino, a former security minister, has emerged from a chaotic campaign to become Panama’s next president — and will now have to address a cocktail of social discontent with just a fraction of the seats in parliament.
Amid record turnout, Mulino won 34.3% of the vote, followed by the lawyer Ricardo Lombana on 24.8% and former president Martín Torrijos on 16%.
Continue reading...Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno widely expected to win poll as observers voice doubts over electoral process
Chad goes to the polls on Monday in its first presidential election in three decades without Idriss Déby, the former president, in contention.
Ten men will be on the ballot, but Déby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, who seized power at the head of a junta on the day rebels shot and killed his father in April 2021, is widely expected to win.
Continue reading...The UN says two camps for displaced people were hit near the city of Goma where thousands are seeking refuge from fighting in surrounding areas
Bomb attacks on two camps for displaced people in eastern Congo have killed at least 12 people, including children, according to the UN.
The bombs hit the camps in Lac Vert and Mugunga, near the city of Goma, the UN said in a statement, calling the attacks a “flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime”.
Continue reading...Glossy promotional leaflet handed out to asylum seekers detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy
Asylum seekers who have been detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy are being handed a colourful promotional document entitled: “I’m being relocated to Rwanda. What does it mean to me?”
The news came as the government faced a second legal challenge over the prime minister’s £500m policy and it emerged that dozens of asylum seekers were being forcibly taken to detention centres.
Continue reading...Hundreds of protesters prevented an attempt to collect asylum seekers from a south London hotel and transfer them to the Bibby Stockholm barge. The Guardian witnessed crowds blocking the bus and the road outside the Best Western hotel in Peckham before police were able to move in and break up the protest. The bus eventually left the area after seven hours, with no asylum seekers onboard
London protesters block transfer of asylum seekers to Bibby Stockholm
Continue reading...Civil servant Josie Stewart spoke to media after government presented ‘dishonest account’, tribunal told
A Foreign Office civil servant felt “morally compelled” to speak to the media about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after the government presented a “dishonest account” of what happened, an employment tribunal has heard.
Josie Stewart was sacked by the Foreign Office (FCDO) after blowing the whistle on the failures of the withdrawal from Kabul and disclosing emails indicating Boris Johnson’s involvement in an “outrageous” decision to prioritise the evacuation of staff from the animal charity Nowzad, despite his denials.
Continue reading...The far right are on the march in Germany and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany has become the most popular party in several states. Immigration and a sense of being economically left behind have been driving factors in the rise in popularity but the Green party and the federal government’s climate policies have also borne the brunt of public anger. The Guardian travelled to Görlitz, on the German border with Poland, to find out to what extent Germany’s green policies are fuelling the far right
• How climate policies are becoming focus for far-right attacks in Germany
Continue reading...In 2019, ex-offender Marc Conway helped hold down a knifeman who killed two people in a terror attack. But by doing so he risked being recalled to prison. Simon Hattenstone reports
On 29 November 2019, Marc Conway was about to give a speech in London’s Fishmonger’s Hall. Conway, who works for the Prison Reform Trust, had been on a life-changing project while serving time in prison that brought together inmates and Cambridge students. Now it was its fifth anniversary and he had been asked to say some words at the celebration for it.
But when he stepped out for a cigarette break, another former offender from the course launched a terrorist attack, stabbing two Cambridge graduates dead. Conway was among those who gave chase to the attacker, who was wearing a fake suicide vest, and held him down.
Continue reading...Although chief executive Murray Auchincloss has left himself room to pump more oil and gas, renewables should start generating greater returns
The market’s guessing game at BP is waiting for Murray Auchincloss, the chief executive who has been in post permanently only since January, to blink. That is to say, waiting for him to tone down climate targets and decide to pump more oil and gas than planned.
Tuesday was not the day. BP’s first-quarter numbers were slightly weaker than the market had expected – profits of $2.7bn versus City forecasts of $2.9bn – but there wasn’t a twitch on the strategic tiller. Auchincloss trotted out his refrain about going from “IOC to IEC” – from international oil company to integrated energy company. The only fresh news was the promise of $2bn of cost savings over the next couple of years, but that’s the sort of thing energy firms announce routinely.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/MarvelsGrantMan136 [link] [comments] |
Faye and Suzy are joined by Anita Asante and Jenna Schillaci to round up a dramatic weekend in the WSL, check in on what’s happening lower down the pyramid and preview the Women’s FA Cup final
Chelsea lost, then Manchester City lost then Chelsea won – that’s the week in a nutshell. After Emma Hayes waved the white flag on Wednesday, by Sunday she declared “it’s not over!”
The panel also preview Sunday’s FA Cup final between Manchester United and Tottenham.
Continue reading...In February, a cold front turned into a storm causing millions in damage – and highlighted a new and urgent need for adaptation and mitigation projects
On 5 and 6 February, a combination of heavy rain and tides hit Jamaica’s north coast about 130 miles west of the capital, Kingston. The storm destroyed a breakwater, causing flooding as well as damage to boats throughout the region.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. The sea rose to the top and rushed through the facilities,” says Travis Graham, a fisher in Oracabessa, Saint Mary, and the executive director of the GoldenEye Foundation, an NGO promoting sustainable development on the island. “The dock was destroyed. Two large vessels used to stay in the bay, and we’ve seen them withstand even hurricanes. This event was different; it easily dragged them ashore after they crashed into each other.”
Continue reading...Last week one was sentenced to 11 years, another had to flee the country, a third could be arrested at any moment. And what were Manahel, Maryam and Fawzia al-Otaibi’s ‘crimes’? A few social media posts that outraged Saudi Arabia’s conservatives
In September 2022, Fawzia al-Otaibi was a week into a trip to her home country of Saudi Arabia, staying with a friend near the Bahrain border, when her phone rang. As soon as she heard the male voice on the other end of the line, she realised that returning had been a terrible mistake.
It was a police officer who, in 2019, had tracked her down and fined her for public indecency after she had posted a video on her Snapchat account, showing her dancing in jeans and a baseball cap at a concert in Riyadh. She and her two sisters, Maryam and Manahel, had become targets in a campaign of arrests, threats and intimidation by the Saudi authorities after they had used their popular social media channels to post about women’s rights. For her, the dancing clip wasn’t a political statement; it was just about sharing a happy moment with her followers.
Continue reading...A study has found that more than two dozen US coastal cities are sinking by more than 2mm a year. It’s a similar picture across the world. Nearly half of China’s major cities, as well as places such as Tehran and Jakarta, are facing similar problems. These issues are compounded by sea level rises caused by global heating. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Prof Manoochehr Shirzaei of Virginia Tech University and Prof Robert Nicholls of the University of East Anglia to find out what’s making our cities sink and whether anything can be done to rescue them from the sea
Clips: Global News, CNBC, WRDW
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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Barney Ronay and Lucy Ward as both Arsenal and Manchester City refuse to blink in the Premier League title race
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; Arsenal comfortably beat Bournemouth before Manchester City comfortably beat Wolves, will this be the story until the end of the season?
Continue reading...For years, the political establishment opportunistically railed against sex trafficking. Then came Pizzagate.
The post QAnon Was Born Out of the Sex Ad Moral Panic That Took Down Backpage.com appeared first on The Intercept.
Evidence points to Absolute Standards as the source of a lethal drug the Trump administration used to restart federal executions after 17 years.
The post “Little Home Market”: The Connecticut Company Accused of Fueling an Execution Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
A new report reveals details of the massacres by a longtime U.S. ally and counterterrorism partner.
The post U.S.-Trained Burkina Faso Military Executed 220 Civilians appeared first on The Intercept.
Nigeria has gotten billions in U.S. security assistance, even as its counterterrorism campaign has a massive civilian death toll.
The post Biden Says He Told Nigeria to Kill Fewer Civilians — but Nigeria Keeps Killing Lots of Civilians appeared first on The Intercept.
Parties clash over communal issues in increasingly charged campaign amid concerns unseasonably hot weather affecting voter numbers
India has held the second phase of the world’s biggest election, with prime minister Narendra Modi and his rivals hurling accusations of religious discrimination and threats to democracy amid flagging voter turnout.
Almost 1 billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general election that began on 19 April and concludes on 1 June, with votes set to be counted on 4 June.
Continue reading...A measure passed by the House seeks to block Americans from traveling to Iran on U.S. passports.
The post House Responds to Israeli-Iranian Missile Exchange by Taking Rights Away From Americans appeared first on The Intercept.
The Department of Education is probing claims that the school discriminated against Palestinian and Arab students amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
The post “Kill All Arabs”: The Feds Are Investigating UMass Amherst for Anti-Palestinian Bias appeared first on The Intercept.
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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