********** TRAVEL **********
return to top
Titan submersible likely imploded due to shape, carbon fiber: Scientists
2024-05-05T19:52:29+00:00
 | submitted by /u/newzee1 [link] [comments] |
A buzzy town prom, plates of moules with chilled rosé and cycle rides to sandy beaches on Cap Ferret add up to happy holidays on the Atlantic coast
The Bay of Arcachon, on the south-west coast of France, is a happy place. It must be, because I’ve been visiting it with my family nearly every year for the past 15 years. We usually rent a small apartment in Arcachon town for four or five days, but such is the draw that we have been known to make a two-hour drive just to spend the day there when we’ve been in that part of the world. Everything about it speaks of summer joy: the promenade thrumming with cyclists and strollers; the parade of bistros serving moules, oysters and buckets of chilled rosé; families playing beach tennis on the sands; and a bay brimming with pleasure boats and ferries. It’s like a scene from a Raoul Dufy painting.
The first day begins at Halle Baltard, the town market, where we drink coffee with brioche and croissants, then head to the bike rental shop, and always the same one (Dingo Vélos), because you don’t need a car in this largely flat landscape. Next, we buy ferry tickets at the little beach cabins on Thiers jetty to take the ferry over the bay to Cap Ferret. The wait in the queue on the jetty is more Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday than huff and puff, the air thick with sunscreen and anticipation. Children wear inflatables around their waists and rest crab nets on their shoulders, parents sport sunnies and straw hats and carry overloaded picnic bags and rugs. There’s a babble of chatter as the ferry crew load bikes on the roof and passengers scramble for outside seats.
Continue reading...Emerging from Covid’s shadow, the city is resonating with glamour, politics and power – and the traffic jams are building up too
Call it a return to IRL (In Real Life). New Yorkers are experiencing a bracing resumption of the physical experience of living in the city, four years after the onset of the pandemic upended routines, pushed people online and left much of the population, as in so many places, wondering if normality would ever return.
Uptown, police have broken up student protests on the Columbia and City University campuses condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza. Downtown, a furious Donald Trump is commandeering attention from the courthouse on the edge of Chinatown, snarling up traffic as his motorcade travels to and fro. President Biden’s fundraising trips to the city to fund his re-election are having a similar effect.
Continue reading...From a hideaway with star-gazing spectacular enough to keep you off your phone to a ‘burnout’ retreat and a reimagined coastguard lookout
Bordering the Consall Nature Park, a nature reserve featuring 740 acres of woodland, heath and moor, is The Tawny, a “deconstructed hotel”. This means that instead of a single house with rooms there are a collection of boathouses, huts and treehouses scattered around the woodlands and lakes. At the top of the hill is a modern glass building, the Plumicorn restaurant, and a heated outdoor pool looking out over the gardens. Stargazing sessions and night-time meditation are on offer, while spa treatments can be booked in the thatched cottage onsite.
Huts from £240 B&B; thetawny.co.uk
Siblings Callum and Jake Robinson and US citizen Jack Carter Rhoad were travelling on a surfing holiday when they were reported missing
Three people have been arrested on charges of kidnapping after three bodies were found in an area of northern Mexico where two Australian brothers and an American friend went missing.
Perth siblings Callum and Jake Robinson, both in their 30s, were travelling in the region on a surfing holiday, with their friend Jack Carter Rhoad, a US citizen. The trio was reported missing when they failed to check into pre-arranged accommodation near the city of Ensenada last weekend.
Continue reading...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.
We would like to hear from people who have been affected by postponements and cancellations at the Co-op Live arena
The Co-op Live arena has postponed or cancelled several of its music and comedy shows in recent weeks due to technical problems at the venue. Olivia Rodrigo, Peter Kay and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie are among the performers whose gigs have been disrupted.
We would like to hear from people who have been affected by the disruptions at the Co-op Live arena. Had you planned to travel to see the show? Will you make it to a rescheduled show?
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...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.
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 web has become so interwoven with everyday life that it is easy to forget what an extraordinary accomplishment and treasure it is. In just a few decades, much of human knowledge has been collectively written up and made available to anyone with an internet connection.
But all of this is coming to an end. The advent of AI threatens to destroy the complex online ecosystem that allows writers, artists, and other creators to reach human audiences.
To understand why, you must understand publishing. Its core task is to connect writers to an audience. Publishers work as gatekeepers, filtering candidates and then amplifying the chosen ones. Hoping to be selected, writers shape their work in various ways. This article might be written very differently in an academic publication, for example, and publishing it here entailed pitching an editor, revising multiple drafts for style and focus, and so on...
The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers appeared first on The Intercept.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...Parisian bakers have claimed victory over rivals in Italy who created a baguette almost 133 metres long in 2019
For the past five years, bragging rights over the world’s longest baguette have belonged not to the residents of a small village or a city in France, but rather to a clutch of bakers 500 miles away in Como, Italy.
On Sunday a crop of 12 bakers from France set out to rectify this, spending hours kneading, shaping and baking their way back to victory.
Continue reading...UK demand growing for beverages made from fungi, but experts dismiss innovations as ‘health products you don’t need’
Sipping mushroom coffee sounds like a weird camping trip anecdote but more Britons are embracing this alternative morning pick-me-up as “mushroom mania” sweeps the high street.
With the food industry eager to cash in on demand for “functional foods” that promise extra health benefits, medicinal mushrooms – not the button kind you put in a stew – are turning up in hot drinks, supplements and even beer.
Continue reading...I’m tired of the dull, drab and mundane. Bring on the gold lamé dresses and pomegranate-scented potpourri
I devoured the journalist Hamish Bowles’s recent account of his recovery from a severe stroke, not just because good writing on life-altering events is my favourite genre, but for the way it explored the role of beauty in his recovery – and his life.
Bowles, who is World of Interiors’ editor-at-large, was pondering buying a “1930s gold lamé Lanvin dress” the day he was catapulted into the unlovely but life-saving surroundings of a stroke unit for 50 days, then into rehab for many more. He describes the things that first helped him to feel like himself, intubated and unable to speak, and those that shaped his long, slow convalescence. A “pomegranate-scented terracotta potpourri”, violet-scented face cream, lavender roses from Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and an “exquisite arrangement” delivered by Marc Jacobs, who wore a “wide-lapel jacket of shocking pink”. Bowles’s world gradually widens again in recovery, taking in Vermeer and Hockney exhibitions, and for his first trip home he wears a “vintage amethyst corduroy Dries Van Noten suit”.
Continue reading...A buzzy town prom, plates of moules with chilled rosé and cycle rides to sandy beaches on Cap Ferret add up to happy holidays on the Atlantic coast
The Bay of Arcachon, on the south-west coast of France, is a happy place. It must be, because I’ve been visiting it with my family nearly every year for the past 15 years. We usually rent a small apartment in Arcachon town for four or five days, but such is the draw that we have been known to make a two-hour drive just to spend the day there when we’ve been in that part of the world. Everything about it speaks of summer joy: the promenade thrumming with cyclists and strollers; the parade of bistros serving moules, oysters and buckets of chilled rosé; families playing beach tennis on the sands; and a bay brimming with pleasure boats and ferries. It’s like a scene from a Raoul Dufy painting.
The first day begins at Halle Baltard, the town market, where we drink coffee with brioche and croissants, then head to the bike rental shop, and always the same one (Dingo Vélos), because you don’t need a car in this largely flat landscape. Next, we buy ferry tickets at the little beach cabins on Thiers jetty to take the ferry over the bay to Cap Ferret. The wait in the queue on the jetty is more Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday than huff and puff, the air thick with sunscreen and anticipation. Children wear inflatables around their waists and rest crab nets on their shoulders, parents sport sunnies and straw hats and carry overloaded picnic bags and rugs. There’s a babble of chatter as the ferry crew load bikes on the roof and passengers scramble for outside seats.
Continue reading...Sofie Hagen loves sex – so why has it been 3,089 days since she’s had any? (1m27s); A flat white can now set you back up to £5.19 – but should we swallow it? (25m13s); and psychotherapist and Observer columnist Philippa Perry addresses a reader’s personal problem (43m51s).
Continue reading...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.
A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas
Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.
Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email.
Continue reading...
Video:
00:07:30
On the last day of his Huginn mission, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen takes us on a tour of the place he called home for 6 months: the International Space Station. From the beautiful views of Cupola to the kitchen in Node 1 filled with food and friends and all the way to the science of Columbus, the Space Station is the work and living place for astronauts as they help push science forward.
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
Continue reading... |
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
Tributes that were removed from public spaces after the end of Chiang Kai-shek’s brutal rule in 1975 now crowd a site west of Taipei
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek, known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling the island under brutal martial law.
“There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.”
Continue reading...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.
Eka Chavleishvili is superb as an unmarried fortysomething woman whose life is turned upside-down by romance in Elene Naveriani’s handsome drama
The local gossips, with their tittering, pitying glances, might find it hard to believe, but 48-year-old Etero (Eka Chavleishvili) is single by choice. Finally free from the overbearing chauvinism of her father and brother, she dedicates herself to the running of her austere little shop in a Georgian mountain village (she stocks a sparse selection of toiletries, cleaning products and sundry disappointments) and to her hobbies – picking blackberries near the river gorge and demolishing enormous, slab-like portions of cake. But then, suddenly and unexpectedly, love finds Etero. A passionate encounter with delivery man Murman (Temiko Chichinadze) next to the detergent boxes in her storeroom divests her of her virginity. Now she must balance her newfound yearning for emotional contact against her hard-won freedom.
Chavleishvili is terrific, delivering a performance that carries the picture and sets its tone. Her Etero displays a combination of severity and sensuality that should be incongruous but works beautifully. And the character is mirrored by the film’s Kaurismäkiesque colour palette, which seems gloomy at first glance but is revealed to be rich, full-blooded and strikingly handsome.
In UK and Irish cinemas now
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/chrisdh79 [link] [comments] |
I used to be an avid user of TikTok, but the algorithm serves much less delight and serendipity than it used to
TikTok is facing its most credible existential threat yet. Last week, the US Congress passed a bill that bans the short-form video app if it does not sell to an American company by this time next year. But as a former avid user whose time on the app has dropped sharply in recent months, I am left wondering – will I even be using the app a year from now?
Like many Americans of my demographic (aging millennial), I first started using TikTok regularly when the Covid-19 pandemic began and lockdowns gave many of us more time than we knew how to fill.
Continue reading...Emerging from Covid’s shadow, the city is resonating with glamour, politics and power – and the traffic jams are building up too
Call it a return to IRL (In Real Life). New Yorkers are experiencing a bracing resumption of the physical experience of living in the city, four years after the onset of the pandemic upended routines, pushed people online and left much of the population, as in so many places, wondering if normality would ever return.
Uptown, police have broken up student protests on the Columbia and City University campuses condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza. Downtown, a furious Donald Trump is commandeering attention from the courthouse on the edge of Chinatown, snarling up traffic as his motorcade travels to and fro. President Biden’s fundraising trips to the city to fund his re-election are having a similar effect.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/ardi62 [link] [comments] |
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.
Shyamol Banerji responds to an article by Mihir Bose on the country coming to terms with its colonial past
Mihir Bose’s experiences in the UK resonate somewhat with my own (I came to Britain from India, fulfilled a dream, and I say this: we’re a great country, but a work in progress, 30 April). In 1966, as a 14-year-old, I arrived at Tilbury Docks on a cold foggy morning aboard the SS Himalaya. My father, on temporary assignment in the UK, was able to get me admission to Westminster City grammar, a five-minute walk from Buckingham Palace. I was the only Indian; the racism I faced was not vicious but muted, often manifested through jokes and accent mimicry.
There is a certain advantage to being a minority of one versus a group. People are more accommodating. However, I still remember the first joke from school: “Did you hear about the Indian who lived with a cow?”
Continue reading...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...Former NSW premier’s threat to sue comes amid debate about whether New Zealand should join pillar two of Aukus pact
Australia’s former foreign minister and New South Wales premier, Bob Carr, says he intends to sue New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, for allegations made about Carr’s closeness to China as debate about Aukus ramps up.
Peters called Carr “nothing more than a Chinese puppet” on the national broadcaster RNZ on Thursday morning.
Continue reading...Move seen as continuation of Pacific country’s policy of growing closer to Beijing
Solomon Islands lawmakers have elected as their new prime minister Jeremiah Manele, a former foreign minister who has pledged to continue the Pacific country’s policy of embracing China.
Manele said outside parliament on Thursday “the people have spoken” and called for calm.
Continue reading...Officials say a landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday after torrential rain pounded the area
A flood and a landslide have hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 14 people, according to officials.
The landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday just after 1am local time, Abdul Muhari, spokesperson of Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), said in a statement.
Continue reading...Freedom to Write index says there are 107 people in prison for published content in China, with many accused of ‘picking quarrels’
The number of writers jailed in China has surpassed 100, with nearly half imprisoned for online expression.
The grim milestone is revealed in the 2023 Freedom to Write index, a report compiled by Pen America, published on Wednesday.
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.
Meta has threatened to pull WhatsApp out of India if the courts try to force it to break its end-to-end encryption.
After a long spell of intense heat and little rain, water levels have fallen to reveal parts of a sunken church, tombstones and foundations at Pantabangan
Ruins of a centuries-old town have emerged at a dam parched by drought in the northern Philippines.
After a prolonged spell of intense heat and little rain, water levels in the dam have fallen to reveal parts of a sunken church, tombstones and the foundations of structures from the 300-year-old town in Nueva Ecija province.
Continue reading...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...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.
The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers 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.
Supporters worry Khan’s life is in danger and with good reason: The military has a long history of killing deposed leaders.
The post Chuck Schumer Privately Warns Pakistan: Don’t Kill Imran Khan in Prison appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite eventual visa backflip by authorities, ABC’s south-Asia correspondent Avani Dias left after being made to ‘feel so uncomfortable’
The south-Asia correspondent for Australia’s national broadcaster, Avani Dias, has been forced out of India after her reporting fell foul of the Indian government, in a sign of the increasing pressure on journalists in the country under Narendra Modi.
Dias, who has been based in Delhi for the ABC since January 2022, said she felt the government had made it “too difficult” for her to continue to do her job, claiming it blocked her from accessing events, issued takedown notices to YouTube for her news stories, and then refused her a standard visa renewal.
Continue reading...South Dakota governor says she met North Korean dictator in same book in which she describes killing her dog
The South Dakota governor, Republican vice-presidential hopeful and self-confessed dog-killer Kristi Noem’s bizarre claim in a new book to have met the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has been dismissed by experts as “dubious” and not “conceivable”.
The Dakota Scout first reported Noem’s claim, which is in her forthcoming book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward.
Continue reading...The business and trade secretary played into the ideological tosh that the wonders of the Industrial Revolution were funded by beer brewers and sheep farmers
Britain ran an empire for centuries that at its peak 100 years ago occupied just under a quarter of the world’s land area. Yet if you believe “Imperial Measurement”, a report released last week from the rightwing Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the net economic impact of this vast empire on Britain was negligible, even negative.
If you thought the empire profoundly shaped our industry, trade and financial institutions, with slavery an inherent part of the equation, helped turbocharge the Industrial Revolution and underwrote what was the world’s greatest navy for 150 years, think again. The contribution of the transatlantic trade in enslaved people to our economy was trumped by domestic brewing and sheep farming, opines the IEA. The tax “burden” of defending this barely profitable empire was not worth the candle. Instead, it was free-market economics that unleashed British economic growth – a truth that must be restated before Marxists and reparation-seeking ex-colonies start controlling the narrative.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
Continue reading...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.
A tale of two Americas.
The post Cable News Viewers Have a Skewed Attitude Toward Gaza War, Survey Finds appeared first on The Intercept.
Republicans accuse president of weak response, but prominent Democrats claim he ‘has been very strong from the beginning’
Some Democrats rallied to the defense of Joe Biden on Sunday as the president came under increased criticism over his response to pro-Palestinian student protests and his handling of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Republicans have seized on Biden’s response to the protests, which have seen more than2,000 people arrested around the country, accusing him of a weak response. But prominent Democrats, including Biden re-election campaign co-chairperson Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, claimed the president “has been very strong about this from the beginning”.
Continue reading...Democrat says country is going off track after Trump compares Biden administration to Germany’s fascist secret police
Senior congressional Democrat James Clyburn has responded to remarks made by Donald Trump at a private event on Saturday in which he compared the Biden administration with the Gestapo secret police in fascist Germany, saying it was “incredible but it’s not surprising”.
The 83-year-old South Carolina Democrat added that Trump “is given to hyperbole on every subject that he ever approaches … The country got off track after that 1876 election and we are approaching the same kinds of elements today.”
Continue reading...South Dakota governor and possible Trump running mate says she made ‘a choice between [my children] and a dangerous animal’
The South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful Kristi Noem asked the American public to consider having to “make a choice between your children or a dangerous animal”, as she again defended her killing of a 14-month-old dog.
“I would ask everybody in the country to put themselves in that situation,” Noem told CBS’s Face the Nation about her decision to shoot the dog, named Cricket, after the animal ruined a pheasant hunt and killed a neighbor’s chickens.
Continue reading...Depending on the expert, either Biden or Trump is likely to pull ahead, but nothing about this election – especially events – is predictable
“You know what I hate?” Donald Trump asked in Freeland, Michigan, on Wednesday night. “When these guys get on television, they say – pundits, you know, the great pundits that never did a thing in their whole lives – ‘You know, we have two very unpopular candidates. We have Biden or we have Trump. These are very unpopular.’”
Watched by a crowd of adoring fans in Make America Great Again (Maga) regalia, against the backdrop of a plane marked “Trump” in giant gold letters, the former US president protested a little too much: “I’m not unpopular!”
Continue reading...Emerging from Covid’s shadow, the city is resonating with glamour, politics and power – and the traffic jams are building up too
Call it a return to IRL (In Real Life). New Yorkers are experiencing a bracing resumption of the physical experience of living in the city, four years after the onset of the pandemic upended routines, pushed people online and left much of the population, as in so many places, wondering if normality would ever return.
Uptown, police have broken up student protests on the Columbia and City University campuses condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza. Downtown, a furious Donald Trump is commandeering attention from the courthouse on the edge of Chinatown, snarling up traffic as his motorcade travels to and fro. President Biden’s fundraising trips to the city to fund his re-election are having a similar effect.
Continue reading...Last week, Conservative campaigning gave a chilling indication of the depths to which they will sink to retain power
In the psychedelic 60s stop-frame animation children’s television series Trumpton, all the characters have identifying proper names – the fireman Captain Flack, the state stormtrooper Police Constable Potter, and the mysterious dungeon-dwelling economist Gideon Pencils Osborne. The mayor of Trumpton, however, was known only as The Mayor, and neither his actual name nor his political affiliations were ever revealed, though he smelt of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs and too many rightwing meetings.
All over the land last week, Tory mayors dreamed of similar anonymity, hoping that if no one knew anything about them, and their campaign literature didn’t reveal they belonged to the Tory party, people might at least vote for them by accident, thinking they were someone else. “Oh! Andy Street was the West Midlands’ Tory mayor candidate? I thought I was voting for the glamorous, and now deceased, Welsh wrestler Adrian Street. I liked it when he pulled out Jimmy Savile’s hair in 1971.”
Stewart Lee’s new live show, Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf, opens in London in December before a national tour
As I found during last week’s assisted dying debate, it’s not wrong to agree with the other side
It’s not often you find yourself nodding along with those with whom you normally profoundly disagree, and raising an eyebrow at the contributions of those you would count as political allies. But it was the position I found myself in listening to MPs debate assisted dying last week.
What to make of my outbreak of fervent agreement with Conservative Danny Kruger and DUP MP Ian Paisley? Some may see this as the mark of a repressed rightwinger, or a born-again social conservative. If you agree with a member of tribe X, you must de facto be part of that tribe, or so the argument goes.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
Continue reading...At 84, The Handmaid’s Tale author is as outspoken as ever. She talks about aging, culture wars - and why “the orange guy” can’t be allowed back into the White House
“I’m the great sage on top of the mountain,” Margaret Atwood says with a smile, on a video call from her home in Toronto. “If you’ve lived to a certain age people think you know something because they haven’t got there yet.”
At 84, most writers could be forgiven for taking it easy, but especially Atwood, after a tumultuous few years that have seen The Handmaid’s Tale become a hit TV series; the publication of its long-awaited sequel The Testaments, joint winner of the Booker prize in 2019; and the death of her partner of nearly 50 years, novelist Graeme Gibson. He died of a stroke two days after the UK launch of the novel, and Atwood, with typical grit, carried on with the tour.
Continue reading...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.
Andrey Rublev overcame an opening set wobble to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the final of the Madrid Open on Sunday to win his second Masters 1000 title.
Auger-Aliassime was chasing his first Masters title and looked well set for victory before a resurgent Rublev, who had been struggling with a fever during the tournament, recovered to prevail in a little under three hours.
Continue reading...Authoritarian governments are extending their pursuit of critics far beyond their borders
Forty-five years ago, the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed in London with a poison-tipped umbrella as he made his way home from work. The horrifying case transfixed the British public.
So transnational repression is not new, including on British shores. But unless its target is unusually high-profile, or it uses startling tactics such as those employed by Markov’s killers – or in the attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal – much of it passes with minimal attention.
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...Parisian bakers have claimed victory over rivals in Italy who created a baguette almost 133 metres long in 2019
For the past five years, bragging rights over the world’s longest baguette have belonged not to the residents of a small village or a city in France, but rather to a clutch of bakers 500 miles away in Como, Italy.
On Sunday a crop of 12 bakers from France set out to rectify this, spending hours kneading, shaping and baking their way back to victory.
Continue reading...World’s smallest army, which is preparing to swear in its latest recruits, has in the past engaged in ferocious battles
With their feathered helmets, ruffled collars and coloured, puffed-sleeve uniforms, the Vatican Swiss Guards are often likened by curious visitors to medieval court jesters. But while they willingly pose for photographs, the watchmen are not there to entertain.
Since the early 16th century, when Swiss mercenaries, revered for their bravery and loyalty, marched to Rome to serve Pope Julius II, the world’s smallest army has been enlisted at the Vatican to protect the pope, his residence and the city’s borders.
Continue reading...Russian president attends service led by one of his staunchest backers while Zelenskiy asserts God is on Kyiv’s side
Orthodox Easter services in Ukraine and Russia have taken on a political tone, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy asserted that God had a “Ukrainian flag on his shoulder” and Vladimir Putin attended a church service led by a staunch supporter of Moscow’s invasion.
Noting that Ukraine had now been fighting Russia for 802 days, Zelenskiy called on Ukrainians to pray for each other and the soldiers on the frontline. “And we believe: God has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder,” said the president, dressed in a traditional embroidered Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt and khaki trousers. “So with such an ally, life will definitely win over death.”
Continue reading...Russians in separate compound and do not have access to US forces or equipment, says defence secretary
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has confirmed Russian security forces have been deployed to the same airbase as American troops in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.
It remains unclear when the Russian troops, who have been in Niger for weeks, were deployed to Airbase 101, which is next to Diori Hamani international airport in Niamey. It is also unclear how many troops are on the ground.
Continue reading...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.
Move comes after west African country’s military government had told US to withdraw its troops
Russian military personnel have entered an airbase in Niger that is hosting American troops, after a decision by Niger’s junta to expel US forces from the country.
The military officers ruling the west African country have told the US to withdraw its nearly 1,000 military personnel, which until a coup last year had been a key partner for Washington’s fight against insurgents who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more.
Continue reading...Aston Villa are running on fumes. The chance to go 10 points clear on Tottenham ended up reopening the door to the Champions League. Groggy from the short turnaround and shock result of their 4-2 Thursday defeat to Olympiakos, Unai Emery’s team could not replicate the energy of their manager, whose frantic touchline exhortations reflected a golden chance in danger of slipping away.
Ezri Konsa’s tired tackle on Simon Adingra served up a late penalty that Robin Olsen saved from João Pedro only for the Brazilian to nod home the rebound and score the first goal from a Brighton player since March.
Continue reading...Hackney Empire, London
An inspired cast of guests from Nadine Shah to Jim Sclavunos stand in for the late Shane MacGowan in a raucous run-through of the band’s debut album and other highlights
With late frontman Shane MacGowan replaced by a succession of guests, this 40th anniversary show for the Pogues’ debut album, Red Roses For Me, could so easily have been a pale imitation, glorified karaoke. And yet, it’s utterly triumphant. There are no overwrought speeches during this evening curated by the band’s co-founder Spider Stacy, only a brief dedication to MacGowan and other departed bandmates Darryl Hunt and Philip Chevron, and the Dubliners’ Ronnie Drew before The Irish Rover. Instead, they pay more fitting tribute by tapping back into the tornado of energy, passion and poetry that made the Pogues thrilling to begin with.
Within a nanosecond of opener Transmetropolitan, it’s pandemonium amid a sell-out crowd who burst instantly into a hundreds-strong mosh, bellowing back every word. The Battle Of Brisbane pushes things even higher; Greenland Whale Fisheries a notch higher than that. By Boys From The County Hell, it’s totally feral.
Continue reading...| | submitted by /u/chrisdh79 [link] [comments] |
Environmental campaign groups took joint action against decision to approve carbon budget delivery plan
The UK government’s climate action plan is unlawful, the high court has ruled, as there is not enough evidence that there are sufficient policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, will now be expected to draw up a revised plan within 12 months. This must ensure that the UK achieves its legally binding carbon budgets and its pledge to cut emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030, both of which the government is off track to meet.
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.
Google downplays its military work with Israel, but “Project Nimbus” documents tie the American tech giants to Israel’s deadly military capabilities.
The post Israeli Weapons Firms Required to Buy Cloud Services From Google and Amazon 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.
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.
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.
The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers appeared first on The Intercept.
Rights chief also warns Britain will be ‘judged harshly by history for its failure to help prevent civilian slaughter in Gaza’
The UK has been accused by Amnesty International of “deliberately destabilising” human rights on the global stage for its own political ends.
In its annual global report, released today, the organisation said Britain was weakening human rights protections nationally and globally, amid a near-breakdown of international law.
Continue reading...Supporters worry Khan’s life is in danger and with good reason: The military has a long history of killing deposed leaders.
The post Chuck Schumer Privately Warns Pakistan: Don’t Kill Imran Khan in Prison 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!
