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China’s defence chief repeats threat of force against Taiwanese independence
Sun, 02 Jun 2024 13:36:14 GMT
Dong Jun rails at length about democratic island’s ‘separatists’ during Shangri-La Dialogue defence conference in Singapore
The Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, has warned that anyone who dares pursue independence for Taiwan will be “crushed to pieces” and face “destruction”, as he accused external forces of dragging the island into “a dangerous situation”.
In a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s biggest defence summit, Dong said Beijing was committed to “peaceful unification” with Taiwan, but that it was prepared “for all kinds of extreme situations” and that any attempts to seek independence would be futile.
Continue reading...Ukrainians hold 70% of Vovchansk, says army; Zelenskiy in Singapore for security forum. What we know on day 830
Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged a group of top defence officials at a Singapore security conference to attend the Swiss summit this month on ending the Russian war on Ukraine. Zelenskyy told the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum on Sunday that he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance at the conference in about two weeks. The Ukrainian president did not specify any country by name, but the possible participation of China, Russia’s most important ally, has been seen as a key issue. The Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, spoke earlier in the day at the Shangri-La conference but did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.
Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he met with the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue. “We discussed what’s key: the defence needs of our country, the strengthening of the Ukrainian air defence system, the F-16 coalition and the preparation of a bilateral security agreement.”
A Russian missile strike on residences injured 13 people including eight children in Balakliia town, Kharkiv region, on Saturday, Ukrainian prosecutors said. Prosecutors also announced that recovery operations had concluded at the site of three missile strikes on Friday in the city of Kharkiv, with a death toll of nine, most in a badly damaged apartment building.
A military spokesperson, Nazar Voloshin, told national television on Saturday that Ukrainian forces controlled 70% of Vovchansk, 5km (three miles) inside the border, which Russian troops have been trying to capture.
Russian forces fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday morning, hitting energy sites, Ukrainian officials said. The air force said it shot down 35 of the missiles and all but one of the drones. Two thermal power plants were damaged, said their operator, DTEK operator.
Mourners and soldiers have laid flowers at a statue over the St Petersburg grave of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary leader who sent his forces into Ukraine for Vladimir Putin but then staged a mutiny against the Russian government before being killed when his plane was blown up. Putin, who said grenade fragments were found in the plane’s wreckage, called him a “talented” man who had made “serious mistakes”.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has estimated that the number of Russian troops killed or wounded since the war’s outbreak “has now likely reached 500,000”.
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has told the BBC that “we have no Plan B for a Russian victory, because then we would stop focusing on Plan A” – helping Ukraine push back the Russian invasion. “We should not give in to pessimism. Victory in Ukraine is not just about territory. If Ukraine joins Nato, even without some territory, then that’s a victory because it will be placed under the Nato umbrella.” Estonia’s government has given more than 1% of its GDP for Ukraine’s defence – concerned that Vladimir Putin might also turn his attention to the Baltics to bring countries like Estonia back under Moscow’s control.
Continue reading...An unforced error by the leader Minjee Lee on 3. From the first cut to the left of the fairway, just 50 yards out, she carves her wedge into sand to the right of the green. Then a blast out races hysterically across the dancefloor and nearly ends up in a bunker on the other side. The ball stops in the fringe but she’ll have a testing up-and-down to limit the damage to bogey.
Hinako Shibuno is the latest member of the leading pack to start moving backwards. A careless lip-out from a couple of feet on 3 costs the 25-year-old from Japan a shot. But there’s another player looking to make a late run and get themselves involved; Arpichaya Yubol, a 22-year-old from Thailand making her US Open debut this week, has opened her final round briskly with birdies at 1 and 4, and is homing in on the peloton at level par.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says Beijing is supporting efforts by Moscow to warn leaders off attending Swiss meeting
Volodomyr Zelenskiy has accused China of discouraging other countries from attending a peace summit in Switzerland later this month that is aimed at bringing peace to war-ravaged Ukraine.
Speaking at Asia’s biggest security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, the Ukrainian president sought to rally support among Asia-Pacific nations, urging them to attend the Swiss meeting.
Continue reading...I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to predict that artificial intelligence will affect every aspect of our society. Not by doing new things. But mostly by doing things that are already being done by humans, perfectly competently.
Replacing humans with AIs isn’t necessarily interesting. But when an AI takes over a human task, the task changes.
In particular, there are potential changes over four dimensions: Speed, scale, scope and sophistication. The problem with AIs trading stocks isn’t that they’re better than humans—it’s that they’re faster. But computers are better at chess and Go because they use more sophisticated strategies than humans. We’re worried about AI-controlled social media accounts because they operate on a superhuman scale...
Spacecraft to collect samples from rarely explored area after landing heralded as ‘enormous technical achievement’
China has landed its uncrewed Chang’e-6 lunar probe on the far side of the moon, marking an important step in the country’s 53-day mission to retrieve rock and soil samples from the “dark” lunar hemisphere, in what would be a world first.
The landing elevates China’s space power status in a global rush to the moon, where countries including the US are hoping to exploit lunar minerals to sustain long-term astronaut missions and moon bases within the next decade.
Continue reading...‘The campaign is playing on all fields,’ an adviser to Trump’s campaign tells Politico
Former president Donald Trump has joined social media platform TikTok and made his first post late Saturday night, a video featuring the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO, Dana White, introducing Trump on the social media platform.
The move came despite that fact that as president Trump pushed to ban TikTok by executive order due to the app’s parent company being based in China. Trump said in March 2024 that he believed the app was a national security threat, but later reversed on supporting a ban.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/branstarktreewizard [link] [comments] |
Last week’s conviction of dissidents came in the biggest case since introduction of a new national security law
The verdict wasn’t surprising but outside room no 2 of the West Kowloon courthouse, people still wept. The panel of Hong Kong national security judges had set down two days for the hearing but dispensed with the core business in about 15 minutes. In the city’s largest ever national security trial – involving the prosecution of pro-democracy campaigners and activists from a group known as the “Hong Kong 47” – almost all the defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion.
Their crime was trying to win an election, holding unofficial primaries in 2020 attended by an estimated 600,000 residents.
Continue reading...Found guilty on 34 counts by a New York jury, Trump might find himself campaigning behind bars.
The post These Convictions Thwart Trump’s Plan to Pardon Himself appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: Experts raise alarm over ‘national scandal’ that has hallmarks of trafficking and modern slavery
British social care agencies have been accused of exploiting foreign workers, leaving people living on the breadline as they struggle to pay off debts run up while trying to secure jobs that fail to materialise.
Dozens of people working for 11 different care providers have told the Guardian they paid thousands of pounds to agents to secure jobs working in UK care homes or residential care, with most finding limited or no employment when they arrived.
Continue reading...Unite move comes after Tata, which owns Port Talbot and Llanwern plants, threatened to cut redundancy pay
Union leaders are preparing to ramp up industrial action at two south Wales steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over almost 3,000 job losses that threatens to become a big general election issue.
Unite said such moves at the Port Talbot and Llanwern works are planned after the sites’ Indian owner, Tata Steel, threatened to cut redundancy pay as a response to members voting for an overtime ban.
Continue reading...In the week that the country’s election results are announced, this disturbing study of individuals imprisoned without trial illustrates Modi’s autocratic rule and the plight of minorities and dissenters
It began with a riot. On New Year’s Day 2018, thousands of historically oppressed Dalits arriving for an annual commemoration at Bhima Koregaon, a village in the west Indian state of Maharashtra, were pelted with stones by a mob of Hindu supremacists. One person was killed in the resulting violence and multiple others injured. The cops initially accused two local leaders connected to the Hindu right of inciting the upper-caste residents of the area against Dalits (who occupy the lowest rung of the caste order), but a few months later the investigation changed tack. By May, the police were linking the incident to an anti-caste interfaith public meeting that took place 20 miles away a day before and claiming that the organisers were part of a “chilling Maoist conspiracy” to assassinate the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
To those of us living in India since Modi was first elected in 2014, the lack of police impartiality wasn’t exactly a surprise; and yet you couldn’t help but despair at the pace with which the investigation transformed into a witch-hunt. In August that year, the police raided the homes of, among others, a leftwing political columnist, a cartoonist, a poet, a human rights lawyer, a Dalit scholar and a Jesuit priest. Many of them had never heard of Bhima Koregaon nor were they present at the anti-caste public meeting. Yet they were all imprisoned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA), a repressive 2008 anti-terror law that has been repurposed as a tool to punish dissenters.
Continue reading...Prime minister claims victory but opposition dismisses poll results as fixed and unscientific
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)-led alliance is projected to win a big majority in the general election that concluded on Saturday, TV exit polls said, suggesting it would do better than expected by most analysts.
Most exit polls projected the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win a two-thirds majority in the 543-member lower house of parliament, where 272 is needed for a simple majority. A two-thirds majority will allow the government to usher in far-reaching amendments to the constitution.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/Adult-Swim-2003 [link] [comments] |
Meteorologists found 52.9C reading to be false, though new record does appear to have been set
A record temperature registered this week for the Indian capital of 52.9C (127.22F) was too high by 3C, the Indian government has said.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had investigated Wednesday’s reading by the weather station at Mungeshpur, a densely packed corner of New Delhi, “and found a 3C sensor error”, the earth sciences minister, Kiren Rijiju, said.
Continue reading...“It’s hard to see this wildly disproportionate response as anything other than an attempt to chill speech on this issue.”
The post Columbia Coincidentally Rewrites Disciplinary Rules Just in Time to Screw Over Student Protesters appeared first on The Intercept.
All over the country, architecture firms make the case for bigger jails — then get hired to design them.
The post The Little-Known Reason Counties Keep Building Bigger Jails: Architecture Firms appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden's plan to cozy up to Arab dictators is right out of Donald Trump's playbook — but even worse.
The post Joe Biden’s Terrible Israel Policy Is Really About Getting in Bed With Saudi Arabia appeared first on The Intercept.
About 20-50 balloons an hour incoming, warns Seoul’s military, urging public to report but don’t touch
North Korea has sent about 600 more rubbish-filled balloons containing everything from cigarette butts to plastic across the border, Seoul’s military said on Sunday, adding that security personnel were collecting them as they landed.
“North Korea has resumed launching waste balloons towards South Korea” since around 8pm on Saturday, Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said.
Continue reading...Temperatures of more than 45C have left population of 29 million exhausted – but the poorest suffer most
As the water tanker drove into a crowded Delhi neighbourhood, a ruckus erupted. Dozens of residents ran frantically behind it, brandishing buckets, bottles and hoses, and jumped on top of it to get even a drip of what was stored inside. Temperatures that day had soared to 49C (120F), the hottest day on record – and in many places across India’s vast capital, home to more than 29 million people, water had run out.
Every morning, Tripti, a social health worker who lives in the impoverished enclave of Vivekanand Camp, is among those who has to stand under the blazing sun with buckets and pots, waiting desperately for the water tanker to arrive.
Continue reading...India is in the final stages of a general election, and almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister ,Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
The Guardian’s video team travelled through India to explore how fake news and censorship might be shaping the outcome of the election
Meteorological department examining data from Mungeshpur station amid soaring temperatures that came close to 50 degrees Celsius
Authorities in India are investigating whether a faulty sensor may have been behind a reading that showed temperatures in Delhi soaring past 50 degrees for the first time, amid a scorching heatwave in the capital.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said it was examining the data and sensors at the Mungeshpur station after an unusually large variation in temperatures was recorded at the station compared to others.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated while red alerts issued for unrelenting heat across north-western India and Pakistan
During the early hours of Saturday morning, an area of low pressure over the east-central Bay of Bengal intensified, and has been named Cyclone Remal.
Cyclone Remal made landfall between Sagar Island in West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh’s Khepupara region late on Sunday as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued warnings for heavy rain, strong winds, storm surges, and rough seas. Cumulative rainfall totals through the first half of this week could reach 200-300mm across the majority of Bangladesh, north-eastern states of India, and West Bengal. More than 150mm is also possible across southern parts of Bhutan and western Myanmar.
Continue reading...CEO Jensen Huang tells packed stadium in Taipei ‘next Industrial Revolution has begun’
Nvidia has unveiled new products and plans to accelerate the advance of artificial intelligence, with the AI hardware company’s chief executive telling a packed stadium in Taipei on Sunday that “the next Industrial Revolution has begun”.
Jensen Huang is in Taiwan for the island’s leading tech expo, Computex, along with the CEOs of some of the world’s biggest semiconductor companies – including AMD, Intel and Qualcomm – and their plans for a tech industry dominated by AI are top of the agenda.
Continue reading...We know turbulence is a common part of flying – but are some routes more prone? And where is it the worst? Turbulence is the leading cause of in-flight injuries to crew and passengers and after the fatal Singapore Airlines incident and injuries to passengers above Turkey on a Qatar Airways flight, you might be wondering if flights are about to get bumpier. Incidents of severe turbulence are on the rise – increasing by 55% between 1979 and 2020 – and the climate crisis is thought to be a responsible factor
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Continue reading...Kuo Chiu, known as KC to his friends, teaches urban design at Tunghai University in Taiwan. He’s also one of many of the country's citizens who practises rifle skills in his spare time, in case of a Chinese invasion.
The population of Taiwan has long grown familiar with Beijing’s pledge to one day ‘unify’ what it claims is a breakaway province. But recently, there has been a significant increase in aggressive and intimidatory acts.
Taiwan’s 160,000 active military personnel are vastly outnumbered by China’s 2 million-member armed forces, leading many civilians to turn to voluntary medical and combat training to protect themselves.
The Guardian's video team spent time with KC to see how he is preparing
Continue reading...Study confirms huge concentrations of potentially dangerous PFAS in rivers, lakes and taps in Dhaka
Rivers, lakes and tap water in areas of Bangladesh that host garment factories are swarming with dangerous levels of toxic “forever chemicals”, some with links to serious health issues, according to new research.
In the first study of its kind conducted in Bangladesh, a global fashion hub supplying international brands, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals, were found in 27 water samples collected close to textile factories in the capital, Dhaka.
Continue reading...He tells the world he intends to be an authoritarian. So why won’t journalists repeat it?
The post The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp the Danger of Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
From targeting humanitarian vehicles to standing by as mobs attack trucks, Israel is blocking aid from reaching Gaza.
The post The State Department Says Israel Isn’t Blocking Aid. Videos Show the Opposite. appeared first on The Intercept.
Khaled Al Serr, a young surgeon, vanished from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis two months ago. He hasn’t been heard from since.
The post Hundreds of Palestinian Doctors Disappeared Into Israeli Detention appeared first on The Intercept.
Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s
Continue reading...The BBC has come up with a celebratory, joyful love letter to queerness, from butch football types to ‘edgy femme’ bisexuals
I’ve always seemed to miss the point with reality TV. Watching Love Island felt like wasting my life. I never understood why people were hooked on something so well-known for its toxic impact on mental health, for viewers and contestants. But, since watching BBC Three’s wholesome new queer dating show I Kissed a Girl, I finally see what all the fuss is about. I’ve binged every episode, and now that it’s ending tonight I’m heartbroken.
If you haven’t seen I Kissed a Girl, the show begins with 10 single women entering the masseria – a fancy, villa-esque Italian farmhouse. Striding across poolside, they must greet their matches with a club-style snog. And it only gets gayer. Activities and challenges (think: lots of chat about feelings) are designed to test their compatibility. Extra girls are thrown in to spice things up. Every few days, couples decide whether to recommit in the brutal kiss-off: a back-to-back countdown, where they either turn to kiss their partner, or don’t and save it for someone else. Anyone left unkissed is off the show.
Florence Scordoulis is a freelance journalist covering LGBTQ+ rights, women’s lifestyle and travel
Continue reading...A decision from Unesco on giving the peat-rich Flow Country the same standing as the Great Barrier Reef is just weeks away
It is a land of mire, mist and midges that could soon be awarded a special status among the planet’s wild habitats. In a few weeks, Unesco is set to announce its decision on an application to allow the Flow Country in north Scotland to become a world heritage site.
Such a designation is only given to places of special cultural, historical or scientific significance and would put this remote region of perpetual dampness on the same standing as the Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon and the Pyramids.
Continue reading...Study confirms huge concentrations of potentially dangerous PFAS in rivers, lakes and taps in Dhaka
Rivers, lakes and tap water in areas of Bangladesh that host garment factories are swarming with dangerous levels of toxic “forever chemicals”, some with links to serious health issues, according to new research.
In the first study of its kind conducted in Bangladesh, a global fashion hub supplying international brands, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals, were found in 27 water samples collected close to textile factories in the capital, Dhaka.
Continue reading...SEMrush and Ahrefs are among
the most popular tools in the SEO industry. Both companies have been in
business for years and have thousands of customers per month.
If you're a professional SEO or trying to do digital
marketing on your own, at some point you'll likely consider using a tool to
help with your efforts. Ahrefs and SEMrush are two names that will likely
appear on your shortlist.
In this guide, I'm going to help you learn more about these SEO tools and how to choose the one that's best for your purposes.
What is SEMrush?
SEMrush is a popular SEO tool with a wide range of
features—it's the leading competitor research service for online marketers.
SEMrush's SEO Keyword Magic tool offers over 20 billion Google-approved
keywords, which are constantly updated and it's the largest keyword database.
The program was developed in 2007 as SeoQuake is a
small Firefox extension
Features
Ahrefs is a leading SEO platform that offers a set of
tools to grow your search traffic, research your competitors, and monitor your
niche. The company was founded in 2010, and it has become a popular choice
among SEO tools. Ahrefs has a keyword index of over 10.3 billion keywords and
offers accurate and extensive backlink data updated every 15-30 minutes and it
is the world's most extensive backlink index database.
Features
Direct Comparisons: Ahrefs vs SEMrush
Now that you know a little more about each tool, let's
take a look at how they compare. I'll analyze each tool to see how they differ
in interfaces, keyword research resources, rank tracking, and competitor
analysis.
User Interface
Ahrefs and SEMrush both offer comprehensive information
and quick metrics regarding your website's SEO performance. However, Ahrefs
takes a bit more of a hands-on approach to getting your account fully set up,
whereas SEMrush's simpler dashboard can give you access to the data you need
quickly.
In this section, we provide a brief overview of the elements
found on each dashboard and highlight the ease with which you can complete
tasks.
AHREFS
The Ahrefs dashboard is less cluttered than that of
SEMrush, and its primary menu is at the very top of the page, with a search bar
designed only for entering URLs.
Additional features of the Ahrefs platform include:
SEMRUSH
When you log into the SEMrush Tool, you will find four
main modules. These include information about your domains, organic keyword
analysis, ad keyword, and site traffic.
You'll also find some other options like
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush have user-friendly dashboards,
but Ahrefs is less cluttered and easier to navigate. On the other hand, SEMrush
offers dozens of extra tools, including access to customer support resources.
When deciding on which dashboard to use, consider what
you value in the user interface, and test out both.
If you're looking to track your website's search engine
ranking, rank tracking features can help. You can also use them to monitor your
competitors.
Let's take a look at Ahrefs vs. SEMrush to see which
tool does a better job.
The Ahrefs Rank Tracker is simpler to use. Just type in
the domain name and keywords you want to analyze, and it spits out a report
showing you the search engine results page (SERP) ranking for each keyword you
enter.
Rank Tracker looks at the ranking performance of
keywords and compares them with the top rankings for those keywords. Ahrefs
also offers:
You'll see metrics that help you understand your
visibility, traffic, average position, and keyword difficulty.
It gives you an idea of whether a keyword would be
profitable to target or not.
SEMRush offers a tool called Position Tracking. This
tool is a project tool—you must set it up as a new project. Below are a few of
the most popular features of the SEMrush Position Tracking tool:
All subscribers are given regular data updates and
mobile search rankings upon subscribing
The platform provides opportunities to track several
SERP features, including Local tracking.
Intuitive reports allow you to track statistics for the
pages on your website, as well as the keywords used in those pages.
Identify pages that may be competing with each other
using the Cannibalization report.
Ahrefs is a more user-friendly option. It takes seconds
to enter a domain name and keywords. From there, you can quickly decide whether
to proceed with that keyword or figure out how to rank better for other
keywords.
SEMrush allows you to check your mobile rankings and
ranking updates daily, which is something Ahrefs does not offer. SEMrush also
offers social media rankings, a tool you won't find within the Ahrefs platform.
Both are good which one do you like let me know in the comment.
Keyword research is closely related to rank tracking,
but it's used for deciding which keywords you plan on using for future content
rather than those you use now.
When it comes to SEO, keyword research is the most
important thing to consider when comparing the two platforms.
The Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides you with thousands
of keyword ideas and filters search results based on the chosen search engine.
Ahrefs supports several features, including:
SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool has over 20 billion
keywords for Google. You can type in any keyword you want, and a list of
suggested keywords will appear.
The Keyword Magic Tool also lets you to:
Both of these tools offer keyword research features and
allow users to break down complicated tasks into something that can be
understood by beginners and advanced users alike.
If you're interested in keyword suggestions, SEMrush
appears to have more keyword suggestions than Ahrefs does. It also continues to
add new features, like the Keyword Gap tool and SERP Questions recommendations.
Both platforms offer competitor analysis tools,
eliminating the need to come up with keywords off the top of your head. Each
tool is useful for finding keywords that will be useful for your competition so
you know they will be valuable to you.
Ahrefs' domain comparison tool lets you compare up to five websites (your website and four competitors) side-by-side.it also shows you how your site is ranked against others with metrics such as backlinks, domain ratings, and more.
Use the Competing Domains section to see a list of your
most direct competitors, and explore how many keywords matches your competitors
have.
To find more information about your competitor, you can
look at the Site Explorer and Content Explorer tools and type in their URL
instead of yours.
SEMrush provides a variety of insights into your
competitors' marketing tactics. The platform enables you to research your
competitors effectively. It also offers several resources for competitor
analysis including:
Traffic Analytics helps you identify where your
audience comes from, how they engage with your site, what devices visitors use
to view your site, and how your audiences overlap with other websites.
SEMrush's Organic Research examines your website's
major competitors and shows their organic search rankings, keywords they are
ranking for, and even if they are ranking for any (SERP) features and more.
The Market Explorer search field allows you to type in
a domain and lists websites or articles similar to what you entered. Market
Explorer also allows users to perform in-depth data analytics on These
companies and markets.
SEMrush wins here because it has more tools dedicated to
competitor analysis than Ahrefs. However, Ahrefs offers a lot of functionality
in this area, too. It takes a combination of both tools to gain an advantage
over your competition.
When it comes to keyword data research, you will become
confused about which one to choose.
Consider choosing Ahrefs if you
Consider SEMrush if you:
Both tools are great. Choose the one which meets your
requirements and if you have any experience using either Ahrefs or SEMrush let
me know in the comment section which works well for you.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to predict that artificial intelligence will affect every aspect of our society. Not by doing new things. But mostly by doing things that are already being done by humans, perfectly competently.
Replacing humans with AIs isn’t necessarily interesting. But when an AI takes over a human task, the task changes.
In particular, there are potential changes over four dimensions: Speed, scale, scope and sophistication. The problem with AIs trading stocks isn’t that they’re better than humans—it’s that they’re faster. But computers are better at chess and Go because they use more sophisticated strategies than humans. We’re worried about AI-controlled social media accounts because they operate on a superhuman scale...
The megadonor’s plan for a $25 million research center at Cornell fell apart. So he took his money to Texas A&M.
The post Leonard Leo Built the Conservative Court. Now He’s Funneling Dark Money Into Law Schools. appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden's plan to cozy up to Arab dictators is right out of Donald Trump's playbook — but even worse.
The post Joe Biden’s Terrible Israel Policy Is Really About Getting in Bed With Saudi Arabia appeared first on The Intercept.
In Fox interview, Trump derides his conviction and baselessly characterizes it as political weaponization of US justice system
Donald Trump on Sunday lauded the Republican party for rallying behind him in the wake of his conviction on 34 felony charges in a hush-money case aimed at influencing the 2016 election.
Trump made the comments in his first sit-down press interview since the guilty verdict was returned on Friday that held he falsified business records linked to an illicit affair with adult actor Stormy Daniels. The former US president appeared on Sunday in a taped interview on Fox & Friends, a friendly forum on the rightwing channel and in which he was served up a series of softball questions by a trio of Fox hosts.
Continue reading...In ‘mirror world’, Trump is martyr and Biden is autocrat, as calls for violence erupt on internet after ex-president’s conviction
The posts are ominous.
“Pick a side, or YOU are next,” wrote conservative talkshow host Dan Bongino on the Truth Social media platform in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions.
Continue reading...Ed Davey’s party is seeking to win over disillusioned Conservative voters in the Surrey Heath seat of outgoing minister Michael Gove
Shortly after Rishi Sunak got drenched in a downpour in Downing Street to call a surprise general election, a missive was sent out to party supporters in a key Surrey constituency to rally support.
Campaigners were urged to “safeguard the future” of the leafy Surrey Heath seat in the commuter belt and be “fully dedicated to making sure Michael Gove is re-elected”.
Continue reading...Found guilty on 34 counts by a New York jury, Trump might find himself campaigning behind bars.
The post These Convictions Thwart Trump’s Plan to Pardon Himself appeared first on The Intercept.
Party veteran says she has never been offered Lords seat and would not accept if offered
Diane Abbott has said she intends to “run and win” for Labour in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, days before a meeting of the party’s executive is expected to rubber-stamp her candidacy.
Keir Starmer said last week that Abbott was “free to stand” as a Labour candidate after regaining the whip after a long suspension. It followed days of speculation that Abbot would be blocked from standing, culminating in her accusing Labour of carrying out a “cull of leftwingers”.
Continue reading...‘The campaign is playing on all fields,’ an adviser to Trump’s campaign tells Politico
Former president Donald Trump has joined social media platform TikTok and made his first post late Saturday night, a video featuring the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO, Dana White, introducing Trump on the social media platform.
The move came despite that fact that as president Trump pushed to ban TikTok by executive order due to the app’s parent company being based in China. Trump said in March 2024 that he believed the app was a national security threat, but later reversed on supporting a ban.
Continue reading...The coronavirus pandemic had a huge effect on the justice system, but what else can the data show us?
“Justice delayed is justice denied” goes the old legal maxim – one that has captured the state of the court system in England and Wales in recent years.
The backlogs caused by the coronavirus pandemic are only one of the ways in which the justice and policing system has changed over the last 14 years – from cuts to legal aid and policing, to a more positive story on crime levels, much has changed since 2010.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer launched his campaign bus on Saturday with his senior shadow cabinet members, but Tory ‘big beasts’ appeared to have deserted PM in Redcar
We may be in an era when elections are fought with TikTok memes and Instagram reels, but one thing has stubbornly refused to give way in the digital age: the good old battle of the campaign buses. On Saturday, Rishi Sunak unveiled the Conservatives’ bus that will tour the country during the 2024 election, emblazoned with the slogan: “Clear plan. Bold action. Secure future.”
It is – arguably – a slightly snappier version of John Major’s bus in 1997, which bore the words: “You can only be sure with the Conservatives.”
Continue reading...New poll gives Labour its biggest lead since Liz Truss meltdown as ‘Tory towns’ gain most from new funds
The Tory general election campaign hit more trouble on Saturday as Rishi Sunak faced accusations of using levelling up funds to win votes and Labour opened its biggest poll lead since the disastrous premiership of Liz Truss.
As Sunak tried to fire up his party’s campaign before the first crucial TV debate with Keir Starmer on Tuesday, it emerged that more than half of the 30 towns each promised £20m of regeneration funding on Saturday were in constituencies won by Tory MPs at the last election.
Continue reading...Prime minister claims victory but opposition dismisses poll results as fixed and unscientific
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)-led alliance is projected to win a big majority in the general election that concluded on Saturday, TV exit polls said, suggesting it would do better than expected by most analysts.
Most exit polls projected the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win a two-thirds majority in the 543-member lower house of parliament, where 272 is needed for a simple majority. A two-thirds majority will allow the government to usher in far-reaching amendments to the constitution.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak is so convinced he can’t win he’s promising any old mad thing, while the Lib Dems are deliberately falling off paddleboards – Marina Hyde on the election. The couple on a mission to make it easier for everyone to have multiple children – Elon Musk (father of 11) is a supporter. Few of us have the money to take a long pause from work – but, as Anita Chaudhuri discovers, even a day can make a difference
Continue reading...Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
Revisited: Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland speaks to Sam Levine about how Donald Trump became the first US president, sitting or former, to become a convicted criminal
Today, we are sharing Politics Weekly America’s latest episode with Today in Focus listeners.
Donald Trump has made history again, becoming the first US president, sitting or former, to be a convicted criminal. Late on Thursday a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. Within minutes of leaving the courtroom, Trump said he would appeal.
Continue reading...Hardly seen since Rish! called the election, the health secretary appeared ready for at least five years of R&R in opposition
She lives! I must admit I had been getting worried about Victoria Atkins. Ever since Rishi Sunak called the general election she has been missing in action. As indeed have all of her cabinet colleagues. Poor Rish! has been left to tour the home counties – he’s hardly ventured anywhere north of Birmingham – on his own while the rest of his team have slipped off the radar. She couldn’t even be bothered to make an appearance when junior doctors announced they were continuing strike action. Obviously that was of no interest to a health secretary.
So it was a relief to discover that Vicky has not died and is not otherwise incapacitated. Well, not much. Either that or she sent a body double on to the Sunday morning politics’ shows to speak on behalf of the government and to show that – for an hour at least – she was right behind the Conservatives’ campaign to get re-elected. Though she might well go back into hiding after that. Any Tory MP with serious career ambitions is trying to distance themselves from Rish!.
Continue reading...Starmer’s belief in international law and the rise of Labour Friends of Israel offer clues to potential stance on Palestinian statehood
A snap election, and the certainty that the Gaza crisis will not be resolved by polling day, means Keir Starmer already knows the first foreign policy challenge of his expected premiership.
Even if the peace proposal announced by Joe Biden on Friday is accepted by both Israel and Hamas, something a Labour-run Foreign Office would encourage, vast issues remain concerning the future role of Hamas and Iran in Middle Eastern politics, as well as Israel’s conduct in the conflict, and restoration of faith in the universality of international law.
Continue reading...The Greens have their sights set on Britain’s most pro-migrant constituency, where people once rioted over a new Tesco
Is this the one seat Labour is set to lose on election night – not to an imploded Conservative party, but rather to the Greens? It would be easy, but ultimately facile, to write off Bristol Central as an outlier. It is a trendy, bohemian enclave of the south-west, where locals once rioted over the opening of a new Tesco, and which polling suggests is the most pro-migrant constituency in Britain.
And there are certainly ingredients here that are particularly favourable to a left-of-Labour message: estimates from 2021 suggested most residents are under 35, about half are private renters and about a quarter are born in another country. But with research suggesting that millennials are the first generation not to move rightwards with age, the number of private renters in England and Wales doubling this century, and Britain becoming ever more diverse, Bristol Central could simply be a window to the near future.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
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...With elections affecting half the world’s population this year, campaigners offer their views on the chances of real change
This year elections are taking place across the globe, covering almost half of the world’s population. It is also likely to be, yet again, the hottest year recorded as the climate crisis intensifies. The Guardian asked young climate activists around the world what they want from the elections and whether politics is working in the fight to halt global heating.
Continue reading...National service? Abolishing university places? This absurd flurry of announcements is to make it seem, once Sunak has gone, that they did everything they could
The Tories are full of ideas at the moment. They’ve announced three major new policies in the past week. It feels like someone asked Rishi Sunak, “What would you do if you were prime minister?”, and he got really into answering. Then he must have remembered that, weirdly, he is prime minister. And the accurate answer would be: “Not much other than pander to the right-wing of my party by attempting to deport refugees to Rwanda and wait for an economic miracle while being relentlessly photographed in a hard hat.”
But what a productive burst of enthusiasm! Suddenly the Conservatives are announcing plans to bring back national service for 18-year-olds, introduce a “triple lock plus” to protect pensioners from income tax and abolish more than 100,000 university places. Is all this an attempt to stick it to the young for being overwhelmingly likely to vote Labour (if they vote at all)? Was it a response to Keir Starmer’s proposed extension of the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds, which would certainly enhance the leftwing vote?
David Mitchell’s new book, Unruly, is now out in paperback (Penguin, £10.99)
Continue reading...One Liberal MP said it would be a ‘terrible look’ to ask 31-year-old Amelia Hamer, who has been preselected for the seat, to step aside
Liberal MPs are split over whether Josh Frydenberg should get another chance to nominate for his old seat of Kooyong, after proposed changes to seats in Victoria gave the opposition more optimism of regaining the blue-ribbon electorate.
Frydenberg didn’t put up his hand to recontest the seat when preselections were held earlier this year. The successful candidate, 31-year-old Amelia Hamer, is unlikely to step aside and says the changes to the boundaries of Kooyong may work in her favour.
Continue reading...The rightwing media are full of faux outrage about Labour’s plans to apply VAT to fees
Given that the overwhelming majority of people are state educated and receive zero, or less, benefit from private schools, there is something almost impressive – when it doesn’t look actively demented – about current media campaigns to represent the application of VAT to school fees as a burning election issue.
From the first, Labour’s proposal to end private schools’ exemption and spend the revenue on state schools had a dramatic impact on Tory-sympathising news sources previously unbothered about the private sector becoming, as Civitas summarised it, “roughly twice as expensive in one generation”. Overnight, thanks to Keir Starmer’s plan, it was understood that British private schools, far from being an ever more exclusive service for the most affluent, are dear to countless immiserated parents whom the Mail, highlighting their plight, goes so far as to call “poor”. Some of them are so hard up, journalists report, they live in modest houses, drive “old bangers” and, when they don’t “sacrifice” meals out, deny themselves West End shows. The forgoing of one possible purchase for the sake of another is invariably known, in the lexicon of pro-private school coverage, as a sacrifice.
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...Donald Trump has made history again, becoming the first US president, sitting or former, to be a convicted criminal. Late on Thursday a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. Within minutes of leaving the courtroom, Trump said he would appeal.
On a historic night for American politics, Jonathan Freedland and Sam Levine look at what the verdict will mean – both for Trump himself, and for the election in November
Archive: CNN, CBS, MSNBC, ITV, NBC
Continue reading...After 30 years in power, the African National Congress, which took 40.2% of the vote, must engage in tricky coalition talks with rivals
The African National Congress’s (ANC) three decades of political dominance in South Africa has come to an end after it was announced that it had won just 40.2% of the vote in last week’s general election.
The ANC’s dramatic decline – the first time it has failed to win a majority of the votes since Nelson Mandela led it to victory in the first democratic election in 1994 – will lead to a chaotic round of coalition negotiations, with all of its potential partners posing difficulties.
Continue reading...Collapse in support means ANC may not reach 50% vote share needed to rule alone. Which parties are contenders for coalition?
South Africa is facing the uncertain possibility of a coalition government after a collapse in support for the ruling African National Congress party in Wednesday’s election meant it probably will not reach the 50% vote share needed for it to rule on its own. Here is a guide to the three main contenders for coalition partners:
Continue reading...G20 countries will discuss proposals to make the world’s wealthiest individuals pay more towards funding public goods. The debate is overdue
In his book The Society of Equals, the leading French sociologist Pierre Rosanvallon identifies the rise of the global super-rich as inimical to a shared social order. “The secession of the wealthy,” writes Prof Rosanvallon, means that “the richest sliver of the population now lives in a world unto itself”.
Tax avoidance is perhaps the most obvious and resented way in which this “separatism” of the rich manifests itself. Whether through silting their money away in tax havens, or exploiting loopholes and using creative accounting, the world’s billionaires these days pay a far smaller proportion of their income to fund public goods than the rest of us. In the 1960s, the 400 richest Americans paid more than half their income in taxes. By 2018, it was less than a quarter.
Continue reading...The Guardian is reporting from the constituency of Midlothian to find out what issues people there care about most – and we want your help
The Guardian will be reporting from Midlothian ahead of the general election. This will be part of a series of pieces from across the country focused on finding out what matters most to the people who live there.
If you live in the constituency of Midlothian, can you tell us what will decide your vote? We’d like to understand the big issues facing you and your family and which policies matter to you. How happy are you with the state of housing, work, public transport, local facilities for young people, policing and health services? What local issues should we be looking at?
Continue reading...The Guardian is reporting from the constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington to find out what issues people there care about most – and we want your help
The Guardian will be reporting from Hackney North and Stoke Newington – the constituency of Diane Abbott MP – ahead of the general election. This will be part of a series of pieces from across the country focused on finding out what matters most to the people who live there.
Diane Abbott has promised to stay on as MP for as “long as possible” setting up a possible clash with Keir Starmer after a deal for her to retire from parliament broke down.
Continue reading...Early election count puts African National Congress on 42% of the vote, compared with 57% in final tally in 2019
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party looks set to lose its majority for the first time since it swept to power at the end of apartheid, in a watershed moment for the country, as support for the former liberation movement collapsed below 50% in partial results.
With 41.1% of votes counted on Thursday night, South Africa was on the precipice of an era of national coalition government. The ANC had 42.6% of the vote, with the pro-business Democratic Alliance on 23.8%.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer aims to turn the spotlight onto Sunak’s career before politics in the lead up to the first TV debate about the general election
Rishi Sunak must face questions about the fortune he earned at a hedge fund which engineered a deal at the heart of the financial crash, Labour has said, as it prepares to launch its first major attack on the prime minister ahead of the election debates.
The party aims to turn the spotlight onto Sunak’s time before politics in the days before the first TV debate between the two leaders, after a week dominated by rows over Diane Abbott’s candidacy. On Sunday, she confirmed she would stand as Labour’s candidate.
Continue reading...Unite move comes after Tata, which owns Port Talbot and Llanwern plants, threatened to cut redundancy pay
Union leaders are preparing to ramp up industrial action at two south Wales steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over almost 3,000 job losses that threatens to become a big general election issue.
Unite said such moves at the Port Talbot and Llanwern works are planned after the sites’ Indian owner, Tata Steel, threatened to cut redundancy pay as a response to members voting for an overtime ban.
Continue reading...Starmer’s chief of staff came with a reputation as an inquisitor and is not one to work in the shadows
Continue reading...In the week that the country’s election results are announced, this disturbing study of individuals imprisoned without trial illustrates Modi’s autocratic rule and the plight of minorities and dissenters
It began with a riot. On New Year’s Day 2018, thousands of historically oppressed Dalits arriving for an annual commemoration at Bhima Koregaon, a village in the west Indian state of Maharashtra, were pelted with stones by a mob of Hindu supremacists. One person was killed in the resulting violence and multiple others injured. The cops initially accused two local leaders connected to the Hindu right of inciting the upper-caste residents of the area against Dalits (who occupy the lowest rung of the caste order), but a few months later the investigation changed tack. By May, the police were linking the incident to an anti-caste interfaith public meeting that took place 20 miles away a day before and claiming that the organisers were part of a “chilling Maoist conspiracy” to assassinate the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
To those of us living in India since Modi was first elected in 2014, the lack of police impartiality wasn’t exactly a surprise; and yet you couldn’t help but despair at the pace with which the investigation transformed into a witch-hunt. In August that year, the police raided the homes of, among others, a leftwing political columnist, a cartoonist, a poet, a human rights lawyer, a Dalit scholar and a Jesuit priest. Many of them had never heard of Bhima Koregaon nor were they present at the anti-caste public meeting. Yet they were all imprisoned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA), a repressive 2008 anti-terror law that has been repurposed as a tool to punish dissenters.
Continue reading...Migrants seek redress for ‘immense distress’ from deportations now thrown into chaos by election announcement
Asylum seekers detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation to Rwanda are set to take legal action against the government after Rishi Sunak admitted that no flights will take place before the general election.
The Home Office started raiding accommodation and detaining people who arrived at routine immigration-reporting appointments on 29 April in a nationwide push codenamed Operation Vector.
Continue reading...The Guardian is reporting from the constituency of Thurrock to find out what issues people there care about most – and we want your help
The Guardian will be reporting from Thurrock ahead of the general election. This will be part of a series of pieces from across the country focused on finding out what matters most to the people who live there.
If you live in the constituency of Thurrock, can you tell us what will decide your vote? We’d like to understand the big issues facing you and your family and which policies matter to you. How happy are you with the state of housing, work, community relations, policing and health services? What local issues should we be looking at?
Continue reading...ANC says demands that President Cyril Ramaphosa must step down is ‘no-go area’ as rival Jacob Zuma stokes fears of violence
Final results from Wednesday’s seismic South Africa elections have confirmed that the African National Congress (ANC) party has lost its majority for the first time in 30 years of full democracy, firing the starting gun on unprecedented coalition talks.
The ANC, which led the fight to free South Africa from apartheid, won just 159 seats in the 400-member national assembly on a vote share of just over 40%. High unemployment, power cuts, violent crime and crumbling infrastructure have contributed to a haemorrhaging of support for the former liberation movement.
Continue reading...Claudia Sheinbaum is the presidential frontrunner, with 20,000 other posts up for grabs in the country’s biggest election ever
Mexican voters go to the polls on Sunday in an election that seems certain to deliver the country’s first female president – and may also give her party enough power in congress to change the constitution and rewire the democracy of Latin America’s second-largest economy.
Frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, has vowed to continue the policies of her populist predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who founded the Morena party and forged a bond with voters who had become disenchanted with democracy.
Continue reading...Ex-president’s uMkhonto we Sizwe party erodes vote share of African National Congress, which has been in power for three decades
South Africa is facing the uncertain possibility of a coalition government after the former president Jacob Zuma’s new party upended the country’s elections, contributing to the African National Congress party’s vote share collapsing well below half, with 97% of voting stations counted.
By Saturday, the ANC, which has governed South Africa with a large majority since Nelson Mandela led it to power 30 years ago after the end of apartheid, had 40.14% of the vote.
Continue reading...Shadow home secretary stops short of setting target, saying Conservatives have failed when they have done so
Yvette Cooper has said she expects net migration to the Uk to fall “swiftly” under a Labour government, but refused to say by how much.
The shadow home secretary told broadcasters on Sunday that it was clear net immigration must come down. She stopped short of setting a target, however, saying the Conservatives had failed when they had done so.
Continue reading...Charity founded in 1984 highlights that work still needs to be done to eradicate inequality between the sexes in sport
In what year were women allowed to compete in an Olympic marathon for the first time? The answer, 1984, may not only come as quite a shock but may help explain why a gamechanging charity was formed that spring.
As Women in Sport marks its 40th birthday, its chief executive, Stephanie Hilborne, is eager to celebrate the real progress over the past four decades while also emphasising why anyone assuming that sporting inequality belongs to the past is, sadly, very much mistaken.
Continue reading...Government prosecutors claimed they didn’t know a former detainee recanted his testimony in interviews with the government.
The post Guantánamo Prosecutors Accused of “Outrageous” Misconduct for Trying to Use Torture Testimony appeared first on The Intercept.
Britain’s first black female MP faced hostility from the media and political establishment from the start. Nearly 40 years on, she is still not giving up. By Andy Beckett
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ukrainian leader says bad peace deal in event of Trump victory would mean end of US as global ‘player’
Donald Trump risks being a “loser president” if he wins November’s election and imposes a bad peace deal on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, saying it would mean the end of the US as a global “player”.
In an interview with the Guardian in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said he had “no strategy yet” for what to do if Trump returned to the White House, and that the former British prime minister Boris Johnson had approached him on his behalf.
Continue reading...The PM is talking up her underdog credentials ahead of this week’s European elections. But many in an impoverished Rome neighbourhood are sceptical
Sitting in the dark, cramped dining room of her home in Tor Bella Monaca, a densely populated council estate on the outskirts of Rome, Giovanna has just returned from one of several cleaning jobs the 70-year-old does to keep her family afloat. Her husband works on construction sites intermittently. The couple, whose youngest son, Cristian, 26, lives at home, might be depicted as borgatara, a slur in Roman dialect that, loosely translated, means a poor person living on the socially deprived fringes of the Italian capital.
Referring to her own upbringing in Garbatella, a traditionally working-class district within easy reach of Rome’s famed monuments, the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said earlier this month she was “a proud borgatara”.
Continue reading...The Guardian is reporting from the constituency of Burnley to find out what issues people there care about most – and we want your help
The Guardian will be reporting from Burnley ahead of the general election. This will be part of a series of pieces from across the country focused on finding out what matters most to the people who live there.
In 2019, the Lancashire town elected its first Conservative MP in more than a century. If you live in the constituency of Burnley, can you tell us what will decide your vote? We’d like to understand the big issues facing you and your family and which policies matter to you. How happy are you with the state of housing, work, community relations, policing and health services? What local issues should we be looking at?
Continue reading...India is in the final stages of a general election, and almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister ,Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
The Guardian’s video team travelled through India to explore how fake news and censorship might be shaping the outcome of the election
Michelle Roach bought a used ice-cream van in order to bring cheap, affordable food to Liverpool's struggling communities. She wanted a vehicle with freezers built in for frozen food, and also something cheerful that was able to break down stigmas around food poverty. Using a '10 items for £5' model, Michelle sources discount food from supermarket surplus and donations.
The Guardian's Christopher Cherry follows Michelle and the van on its rounds, with the service struggling to meet overwhelming demand as the cost of living crisis deepens, and the UK's general election fast approaches.
Continue reading...Letter signatories from Steve Coogan to Paloma Faith urge Keir Starmer to ‘take stand’ for human rights and international law
Actors including Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes and Juliet Stevenson have joined forces with musicians, writers and directors in calling on Keir Starmer to halt arm sales to Israel if elected prime minister.
The singer Paloma Faith, the film-maker Mike Leigh and the author Michael Rosen are among the more than 100 celebrities who have signed a joint letter, coordinated by Artists for Palestine UK, that urges the Labour leader to “take a stand against the ongoing atrocities committed by Israel” in Gaza.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Experts raise alarm over ‘national scandal’ that has hallmarks of trafficking and modern slavery
British social care agencies have been accused of exploiting foreign workers, leaving people living on the breadline as they struggle to pay off debts run up while trying to secure jobs that fail to materialise.
Dozens of people working for 11 different care providers have told the Guardian they paid thousands of pounds to agents to secure jobs working in UK care homes or residential care, with most finding limited or no employment when they arrived.
Continue reading...An ex-UK envoy’s compelling account of the chaotic military withdrawal from the country is full of telling details, while Seierstad’s latest work drives home the cruel reality of women’s lives after the return of Taliban rule
In August 2021, Britain’s last ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, climbed on to a table holding a kitchen knife. He and a member of his security team had a small but important task. They unscrewed a portrait of the queen from the wall. Around them was “incessant gunfire”. Some of it came from heavy calibre weapons. A large TV screen nearby relayed the news on a loop. It was grim. The Taliban were at the gates of Kabul.
From time to time, Bristow recalls, there were great crashes from the roof as soldiers destroyed sensitive equipment. The UK was shutting its embassy and relocating to a military facility inside Kabul airport. Soon, soldiers and diplomats would depart. The US-led campaign in Afghanistan – a 20-year saga of wishful thinking and blunders – was ending in ignominy and farce. And, as Bristow describes in his compelling memoir Kabul: Final Call, with betrayal and human disaster.
Continue reading...Andrew Giles says tribunal did not apply ‘common sense’ when assessing visa cancellations – but sometimes common sense requires clear direction
All week in parliament, Anthony Albanese and Andrew Giles have expressed frustration that in overturning visa cancellations affecting foreign-citizen convicted criminals, the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) did not apply enough “common sense”.
With further comments from their cabinet colleague Murray Watt on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday, it is finally clear what they mean. The clue is in the use of numbers and letters.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Legal challenge discloses number of non-citizens already released by ministerial discretion higher than first thought
Twenty-five of the 153 people affected by the high court’s ruling on indefinite detention had already been released into community detention by ministerial discretion, including one murderer and one convicted of “attempt or solicit murder”.
Court documents in the legal challenge against ankle bracelets and curfews reveal new details about the background of all 153 non-citizens, including that the number who were already living in the community is higher than first thought.
Continue reading...From plant names to notions of native species, many aspects of the natural world are shaped by empire. We need to decolonise, says the author of a new book – but not all experts agree
When Banu Subramaniam thinks about whether plants should be renamed so as not to honour white supremacist colonialists – Cecil Rhodes, for example, is commemorated in the names of 126 plant species – she contrasts it with how, for so many years in our patriarchal system, women were expected to change theirs. “That wasn’t considered complicated… and yet those in power give any number of reasons why this is,” says the professor of women’s and gender studies at Wellesley College, outside Boston, Massachusetts.
Subramaniam is the author of the provocative new book, Botany of Empire. The book challenges plant science to better see the ways in which it has been profoundly shaped by European colonialism and how imperial attitudes, theories and practices endure. Colonialism and colonial logic remains “sedimented at every level”, argues Subramaniam, who also looks at what a more widespread and serious effort to “decolonise” might look like, even if such a project is never-ending. The book focuses on three subfields: taxonomy, plant reproductive biology and invasion biology (the science of the spread of introduced species).
Continue reading...Thinktank says £1 lost in every £13 basic payment to repay debts to private landlords and utility firms and correct tax office errors
Half of those on universal credit are losing money on every payment because of automatic deductions by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), according to research.
Claimants are losing £1 in every £13 of basic payment to repay debts to private landlords and utility companies and correct mistakes made by the tax office, said the New Economics Foundation (NEF), a left-leaning thinktank. Each household with money deducted lost an average of £63 a month. This amounted to a total loss of £1.3bn from benefits support in 2022-23, NEF found through a series of parliamentary questions.
Continue reading...Dong Jun rails at length about democratic island’s ‘separatists’ during Shangri-La Dialogue defence conference in Singapore
The Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, has warned that anyone who dares pursue independence for Taiwan will be “crushed to pieces” and face “destruction”, as he accused external forces of dragging the island into “a dangerous situation”.
In a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s biggest defence summit, Dong said Beijing was committed to “peaceful unification” with Taiwan, but that it was prepared “for all kinds of extreme situations” and that any attempts to seek independence would be futile.
Continue reading...The art gallery boss on the role of museums today, the politics of sponsorship and how Cornelia Parker influenced her decision-making
Maria Balshaw, 54, has been the director of Tate since 2017, the first woman to hold the position. She grew up in Northampton, and after university worked as an academic. In 2002, she switched careers, as the director of Creative Partnerships, a government programme that aimed to develop creativity in young people by bringing schools and artists together. In 2006, she became the director of the Whitworth in Manchester, where she oversaw a building project that doubled its space; in 2011, she took on the role of director of Manchester City Galleries as well. In 2015, she was made a CBE. Her new book, Gathering of Strangers: Why Museums Matter, is based on the lectures she gave in 2022 at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, when she was Slade professor of fine art.
Did you change your mind about anything while you were working on this book?
Yes. It helped me firm up my thoughts on things where our intention was good, but we didn’t get it right, like the Hogarth show [Hogarth and Europe, in 2022, widely criticised for its disapproving, culture wars tone]. We were too didactic, and we’ve learned from that. I’ve started to understand that the problem with the [museum] paradigm is that you’re supposed to be the authority. Actually, what’s more useful is not to be frightened of your expertise while also accepting that others will want different positions and views, too.
Premier Roger Cook said the update was part of a wider plan to toughen the state’s firearm laws
The Coalition has questioned why the government is using drones to monitor people released from immigration detention.
Cabinet minister Murray Watt confirmed on Insiders earlier that “drones are being used as part of this operation, but more in the sense of monitoring the accommodation that people are living in, in for example ensuring that it’s not too close to schools or other areas that they’re not supposed to be living close to.”
There’s a couple of issues here. One, either Andrew Giles accidentally and casually disclosed a previously secret drone surveillance program operating domestically in Australia in a Sky News interview with your colleague Kieran Gilbert. Or he made it up and it’s not actually happening at all.
And in a fresh statement provided by the Department of Home Affairs to SBS, I understand yesterday afternoon, they refer to using aerial surveillance to look at people’s locations and other buildings in the area.
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A senior USAID adviser said he was pressured to resign days after the agency censored his presentation.
The post He Made a PowerPoint on Mothers Starving in Gaza. Then He Lost His Government Job. appeared first on The Intercept.
Clip on social media showed Jon Benjamin aiming assault rifle at colleague in region rife with drug gangs
The British ambassador to Mexico was quietly removed from his post earlier this year after he pointed an assault rifle at a local embassy employee, it emerged when footage of the incident was posted on social media.
The Financial Times reported that Jon Benjamin was on an official trip to Durango and Sinaloa, two states with strong organised crime groups, when he looked down the gun’s sights at a colleague, who gestures uncomfortably in the five-second clip.
Continue reading...Sol Mamakwa gave first-ever Indigenous-language speech to Ontario provincial legislature, following rule change
A First Nations lawmaker in Ontario has addressed the province’s legislature in Anishininiimowin, in a “historic” milestone that repudiates a centuries-long colonial “war” on Indigenous languages.
Sol Mamakwa, a New Democratic party member from the community of Kingfisher Lake First Nation, rose on Tuesday to give the province’s first-ever Indigenous language speech in Queen’s Park, telling colleagues the moment left him feeling “thankful and proud”.
Continue reading...Two-thirds of Ingria near Turin are competing for positions including a mother and son in rival camps
The last time Igor De Santis ran for mayor in Ingria, a tiny village surrounded by forests and mountains near Turin, he won an easy landslide victory. But he faces a tough challenge in his bid for a fourth mandate, after his mother joined a rival camp.
Ingria, one of the smallest villages in Italy, is home to 46 inhabitants. A further 26 people, registered to vote from abroad, make up the electorate.
Continue reading...Last week’s conviction of dissidents came in the biggest case since introduction of a new national security law
The verdict wasn’t surprising but outside room no 2 of the West Kowloon courthouse, people still wept. The panel of Hong Kong national security judges had set down two days for the hearing but dispensed with the core business in about 15 minutes. In the city’s largest ever national security trial – involving the prosecution of pro-democracy campaigners and activists from a group known as the “Hong Kong 47” – almost all the defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion.
Their crime was trying to win an election, holding unofficial primaries in 2020 attended by an estimated 600,000 residents.
Continue reading...The battalion has a dedicated U.S. nonprofit to support its operations — whose president is supporting AIPAC’s political agenda.
The post This AIPAC Donor Funnels Millions to an IDF Unit Accused of Violating Human Rights appeared first on The Intercept.
In the survey of Democrats and independents in five battleground states, 2 in 5 voters said a ceasefire and conditioning aid would make them more likely to vote for Biden.
The post Conditioning Aid to Israel Would Boost Support for Biden in Key States, New Poll Finds appeared first on The Intercept.
Is this what the “pro-life” movement wanted?
The post Sterilization, Murders, Suicides: Bans Haven’t Slowed Abortions, and They’re Costing Lives appeared first on The Intercept.
All over the country, architecture firms make the case for bigger jails — then get hired to design them.
The post The Little-Known Reason Counties Keep Building Bigger Jails: Architecture Firms appeared first on The Intercept.
CEO Jensen Huang tells packed stadium in Taipei ‘next Industrial Revolution has begun’
Nvidia has unveiled new products and plans to accelerate the advance of artificial intelligence, with the AI hardware company’s chief executive telling a packed stadium in Taipei on Sunday that “the next Industrial Revolution has begun”.
Jensen Huang is in Taiwan for the island’s leading tech expo, Computex, along with the CEOs of some of the world’s biggest semiconductor companies – including AMD, Intel and Qualcomm – and their plans for a tech industry dominated by AI are top of the agenda.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Jonathan Fadugba for the final pod of the domestic season
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; Real Madrid are outplayed for large parts of the game as Borussia Dortmund miss chance after chance in the first half but none of that matters does it? Because Real Madrid always win.
Continue reading...Harry Davies and Yuval Abraham report on how Israeli intelligence agencies tried to derail an ICC war crimes investigation
This week, an investigation by the Guardian and the Israeli-based magazines +972 and Local Call revealed how Israel has run a nine-year “war” against the international criminal court (ICC).
Investigative reporters Harry Davies and Yuval Abraham tell Michael Safi about the findings. The investigation found that Israeli intelligence spied on the communications of numerous ICC officials, including the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, and his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, intercepting phone calls, messages, emails and documents.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew, Mark Langdon and Stephen Kountourou as Olympiakos win their first major European trophy
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: Olympiakos are the first Greek team to win a major European trophy, and while the final itself wasn’t a classic, success for teams like them is surely why the Conference League was created. What a night for manager José Luis Mendilibar and heartache for Fiorentina, who lose in the final again.
Continue reading...He tells the world he intends to be an authoritarian. So why won’t journalists repeat it?
The post The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp the Danger of Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
From targeting humanitarian vehicles to standing by as mobs attack trucks, Israel is blocking aid from reaching Gaza.
The post The State Department Says Israel Isn’t Blocking Aid. Videos Show the Opposite. appeared first on The Intercept.
Javier Milei to hold private talks with Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman as Argentina faces worst economic crisis in decades
Javier Milei, Argentina’s president, is set to meet with the leaders of some of the world’s largest tech companies in Silicon Valley this week. The far-right libertarian leader will hold private talks with Sundar Pichai of Google, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Tim Cook of Apple.
Milei also met last month with Elon Musk, who has become one of the South American president’s most prominent cheerleaders and repeatedly shared his pro-deregulation, anti-social justice message on X (formerly Twitter). Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire, has also twice visited Milei, flying to Buenos Aires to speak with him in February and May of this year.
Continue reading...With FDA approval on the horizon, an internal document lays out measures to treat PTSD and stanch the suicide crisis.
The post The VA Is Quietly Fast-Tracking MDMA Therapy for Veterans appeared first on The Intercept.
Keir Starmer appeared in Dover and Deal alongside the Labour party’s newest MP, the former Tory Natalie Elphicke, to announce the scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme if Labour is elected. The Guardian spoke to people in Dover to get their reaction
Continue reading...
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
The Intercept’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft shows how digital outlets are uniquely vulnerable.
The post Scarlett Johansson Isn’t Alone. The Intercept Is Getting Ripped Off by OpenAI Too. appeared first on The Intercept.
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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Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
Biden's plan to cozy up to Arab dictators is right out of Donald Trump's playbook — but even worse.
The post Joe Biden’s Terrible Israel Policy Is Really About Getting in Bed With Saudi Arabia appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: Ukrainian leader says bad peace deal in event of Trump victory would mean end of US as global ‘player’
Donald Trump risks being a “loser president” if he wins November’s election and imposes a bad peace deal on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, saying it would mean the end of the US as a global “player”.
In an interview with the Guardian in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said he had “no strategy yet” for what to do if Trump returned to the White House, and that the former British prime minister Boris Johnson had approached him on his behalf.
Continue reading...Ukrainians hold 70% of Vovchansk, says army; Zelenskiy in Singapore for security forum. What we know on day 830
Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged a group of top defence officials at a Singapore security conference to attend the Swiss summit this month on ending the Russian war on Ukraine. Zelenskyy told the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum on Sunday that he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance at the conference in about two weeks. The Ukrainian president did not specify any country by name, but the possible participation of China, Russia’s most important ally, has been seen as a key issue. The Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, spoke earlier in the day at the Shangri-La conference but did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.
Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he met with the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue. “We discussed what’s key: the defence needs of our country, the strengthening of the Ukrainian air defence system, the F-16 coalition and the preparation of a bilateral security agreement.”
A Russian missile strike on residences injured 13 people including eight children in Balakliia town, Kharkiv region, on Saturday, Ukrainian prosecutors said. Prosecutors also announced that recovery operations had concluded at the site of three missile strikes on Friday in the city of Kharkiv, with a death toll of nine, most in a badly damaged apartment building.
A military spokesperson, Nazar Voloshin, told national television on Saturday that Ukrainian forces controlled 70% of Vovchansk, 5km (three miles) inside the border, which Russian troops have been trying to capture.
Russian forces fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday morning, hitting energy sites, Ukrainian officials said. The air force said it shot down 35 of the missiles and all but one of the drones. Two thermal power plants were damaged, said their operator, DTEK operator.
Mourners and soldiers have laid flowers at a statue over the St Petersburg grave of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary leader who sent his forces into Ukraine for Vladimir Putin but then staged a mutiny against the Russian government before being killed when his plane was blown up. Putin, who said grenade fragments were found in the plane’s wreckage, called him a “talented” man who had made “serious mistakes”.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has estimated that the number of Russian troops killed or wounded since the war’s outbreak “has now likely reached 500,000”.
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has told the BBC that “we have no Plan B for a Russian victory, because then we would stop focusing on Plan A” – helping Ukraine push back the Russian invasion. “We should not give in to pessimism. Victory in Ukraine is not just about territory. If Ukraine joins Nato, even without some territory, then that’s a victory because it will be placed under the Nato umbrella.” Estonia’s government has given more than 1% of its GDP for Ukraine’s defence – concerned that Vladimir Putin might also turn his attention to the Baltics to bring countries like Estonia back under Moscow’s control.
Continue reading...The megadonor’s plan for a $25 million research center at Cornell fell apart. So he took his money to Texas A&M.
The post Leonard Leo Built the Conservative Court. Now He’s Funneling Dark Money Into Law Schools. appeared first on The Intercept.
An ex-UK envoy’s compelling account of the chaotic military withdrawal from the country is full of telling details, while Seierstad’s latest work drives home the cruel reality of women’s lives after the return of Taliban rule
In August 2021, Britain’s last ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, climbed on to a table holding a kitchen knife. He and a member of his security team had a small but important task. They unscrewed a portrait of the queen from the wall. Around them was “incessant gunfire”. Some of it came from heavy calibre weapons. A large TV screen nearby relayed the news on a loop. It was grim. The Taliban were at the gates of Kabul.
From time to time, Bristow recalls, there were great crashes from the roof as soldiers destroyed sensitive equipment. The UK was shutting its embassy and relocating to a military facility inside Kabul airport. Soon, soldiers and diplomats would depart. The US-led campaign in Afghanistan – a 20-year saga of wishful thinking and blunders – was ending in ignominy and farce. And, as Bristow describes in his compelling memoir Kabul: Final Call, with betrayal and human disaster.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/branstarktreewizard [link] [comments] |
In Fox interview, Trump derides his conviction and baselessly characterizes it as political weaponization of US justice system
Donald Trump on Sunday lauded the Republican party for rallying behind him in the wake of his conviction on 34 felony charges in a hush-money case aimed at influencing the 2016 election.
Trump made the comments in his first sit-down press interview since the guilty verdict was returned on Friday that held he falsified business records linked to an illicit affair with adult actor Stormy Daniels. The former US president appeared on Sunday in a taped interview on Fox & Friends, a friendly forum on the rightwing channel and in which he was served up a series of softball questions by a trio of Fox hosts.
Continue reading...‘The campaign is playing on all fields,’ an adviser to Trump’s campaign tells Politico
Former president Donald Trump has joined social media platform TikTok and made his first post late Saturday night, a video featuring the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO, Dana White, introducing Trump on the social media platform.
The move came despite that fact that as president Trump pushed to ban TikTok by executive order due to the app’s parent company being based in China. Trump said in March 2024 that he believed the app was a national security threat, but later reversed on supporting a ban.
Continue reading...In ‘mirror world’, Trump is martyr and Biden is autocrat, as calls for violence erupt on internet after ex-president’s conviction
The posts are ominous.
“Pick a side, or YOU are next,” wrote conservative talkshow host Dan Bongino on the Truth Social media platform in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions.
Continue reading...War in Gaza, Donald Trump in New York, voting in South Africa and an eruption in Iceland: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
Continue reading...Revisited: Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland speaks to Sam Levine about how Donald Trump became the first US president, sitting or former, to become a convicted criminal
Today, we are sharing Politics Weekly America’s latest episode with Today in Focus listeners.
Donald Trump has made history again, becoming the first US president, sitting or former, to be a convicted criminal. Late on Thursday a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. Within minutes of leaving the courtroom, Trump said he would appeal.
Continue reading...Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
Donald Trump has made history again, becoming the first US president, sitting or former, to be a convicted criminal. Late on Thursday a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. Within minutes of leaving the courtroom, Trump said he would appeal.
On a historic night for American politics, Jonathan Freedland and Sam Levine look at what the verdict will mean – both for Trump himself, and for the election in November
Archive: CNN, CBS, MSNBC, ITV, NBC
Continue reading...Found guilty on 34 counts by a New York jury, Trump might find himself campaigning behind bars.
The post These Convictions Thwart Trump’s Plan to Pardon Himself appeared first on The Intercept.
Two-thirds of Ingria near Turin are competing for positions including a mother and son in rival camps
The last time Igor De Santis ran for mayor in Ingria, a tiny village surrounded by forests and mountains near Turin, he won an easy landslide victory. But he faces a tough challenge in his bid for a fourth mandate, after his mother joined a rival camp.
Ingria, one of the smallest villages in Italy, is home to 46 inhabitants. A further 26 people, registered to vote from abroad, make up the electorate.
Continue reading...Ministers at Riyadh meeting agree daily limit of 2m barrels should be in place until end of next year
The Opec+ group of oil producers have agreed to extend most of their production curbs into next year, in an attempt to shore up crude prices.
After a ministerial meeting in Riyadh on Sunday, the Opec cartel and allies including Russia decided to extend a cut of 2m barrels a day until the end of 2025, rather than ending it at the end of 2024.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Leaked internal documents show Pravfond has spent millions of euros to finance propaganda and legal campaigns
Leaked internal documents have exposed the activities of a Russian state-backed legal defence foundation that European intelligence agencies and analysts say is in fact a Kremlin influence operation active in 48 countries across Europe and around the world.
Internal documents from the Fund for Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad (Pravfond) indicate that the foundation finances propaganda websites targeted at Europeans, helped pay for the legal defence of the convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout and the assassin Vadim Krasikov, and has employed a number of former intelligence officers as the directors of its operations in European countries.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Jonathan Fadugba for the final pod of the domestic season
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; Real Madrid are outplayed for large parts of the game as Borussia Dortmund miss chance after chance in the first half but none of that matters does it? Because Real Madrid always win.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says Beijing is supporting efforts by Moscow to warn leaders off attending Swiss meeting
Volodomyr Zelenskiy has accused China of discouraging other countries from attending a peace summit in Switzerland later this month that is aimed at bringing peace to war-ravaged Ukraine.
Speaking at Asia’s biggest security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, the Ukrainian president sought to rally support among Asia-Pacific nations, urging them to attend the Swiss meeting.
Continue reading...About 20-50 balloons an hour incoming, warns Seoul’s military, urging public to report but don’t touch
North Korea has sent about 600 more rubbish-filled balloons containing everything from cigarette butts to plastic across the border, Seoul’s military said on Sunday, adding that security personnel were collecting them as they landed.
“North Korea has resumed launching waste balloons towards South Korea” since around 8pm on Saturday, Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said.
Continue reading...Even her toughest opponents admit she’s played it cleverly. Yet the long-term aims of Italy’s prime minister remain unclear
When she became Italy’s prime minister in October 2022, Giorgia Meloni looked like Brussels’ worst nightmare. Until then, the fiery leader of the Brothers of Italy – a party with neofascist roots – had seemed anything but EU-friendly.
For years, railing against the bloc had been Meloni’s stock in trade: the euro amounted to enslavement, the European Commission was effectively a loan shark. “Bring down this EU!” she urged the 2019 conservative CPAC conference in the US.
Continue reading...Family and friends pay tribute to British record-holder Bren Orton, 29, who disappeared in the Melezza River
A British man who went missing while kayaking in Switzerland has been found dead, Swiss police have confirmed.
Bren Orton, 29, went missing on 16 May. Authorities searched for the professional kayaker for two weeks before a body was discovered in Lake Maggiore, which straddles Switzerland and Italy. His body was discovered by a sailor who contacted emergency services.
Continue reading...The PM is talking up her underdog credentials ahead of this week’s European elections. But many in an impoverished Rome neighbourhood are sceptical
Sitting in the dark, cramped dining room of her home in Tor Bella Monaca, a densely populated council estate on the outskirts of Rome, Giovanna has just returned from one of several cleaning jobs the 70-year-old does to keep her family afloat. Her husband works on construction sites intermittently. The couple, whose youngest son, Cristian, 26, lives at home, might be depicted as borgatara, a slur in Roman dialect that, loosely translated, means a poor person living on the socially deprived fringes of the Italian capital.
Referring to her own upbringing in Garbatella, a traditionally working-class district within easy reach of Rome’s famed monuments, the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said earlier this month she was “a proud borgatara”.
Continue reading...Brian Krebs reports on research into geolocating routers:
Apple and the satellite-based broadband service Starlink each recently took steps to address new research into the potential security and privacy implications of how their services geolocate devices. Researchers from the University of Maryland say they relied on publicly available data from Apple to track the location of billions of devices globally—including non-Apple devices like Starlink systems—and found they could use this data to monitor the destruction of Gaza, as well as the movements and in many cases identities of Russian and Ukrainian troops...
ICC warrants against Israeli officials would mean they can’t travel — and their patrons in the U.S. would be pressured over continued arms sales.
The post Can a U.S. Ally Actually Be Held Accountable for War Crimes in the ICC? appeared first on The Intercept.
Is this what the “pro-life” movement wanted?
The post Sterilization, Murders, Suicides: Bans Haven’t Slowed Abortions, and They’re Costing Lives appeared first on The Intercept.
He tells the world he intends to be an authoritarian. So why won’t journalists repeat it?
The post The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp the Danger of Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
New paper: “Zero Progress on Zero Days: How the Last Ten Years Created the Modern Spyware Market“:
Abstract: Spyware makes surveillance simple. The last ten years have seen a global market emerge for ready-made software that lets governments surveil their citizens and foreign adversaries alike and to do so more easily than when such work required tradecraft. The last ten years have also been marked by stark failures to control spyware and its precursors and components. This Article accounts for and critiques these failures, providing a socio-technical history since 2014, particularly focusing on the conversation about trade in zero-day vulnerabilities and exploits. Second, this Article applies lessons from these failures to guide regulatory efforts going forward. While recognizing that controlling this trade is difficult, I argue countries should focus on building and strengthening multilateral coalitions of the willing, rather than on strong-arming existing multilateral institutions into working on the problem. Individually, countries should focus on export controls and other sanctions that target specific bad actors, rather than focusing on restricting particular technologies. Last, I continue to call for transparency as a key part of oversight of domestic governments’ use of spyware and related components...
Shalev Hulio is remaking his image but is still involved in a web of cybersecurity ventures with his old colleagues from NSO Group.
The post After Pegasus Was Blacklisted, Its CEO Swore Off Spyware. Now He’s the King of Israeli AI. appeared first on The Intercept.
The battalion has a dedicated U.S. nonprofit to support its operations — whose president is supporting AIPAC’s political agenda.
The post This AIPAC Donor Funnels Millions to an IDF Unit Accused of Violating Human Rights appeared first on The Intercept.
In the survey of Democrats and independents in five battleground states, 2 in 5 voters said a ceasefire and conditioning aid would make them more likely to vote for Biden.
The post Conditioning Aid to Israel Would Boost Support for Biden in Key States, New Poll Finds appeared first on The Intercept.
Engineers warned Meta that nations can monitor chats; staff fear Israel is using this trick to pick assassination targets in Gaza.
The post This Undisclosed WhatsApp Vulnerability Lets Governments See Who You Message appeared first on The Intercept.
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