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Stop Shein listing on the FTSE, workers’ rights campaigners urge
Sun, 09 Jun 2024 16:13:40 GMT
Groups issue call to next government amid criticism of online fashion retailer’s labour practices and accusations of copying
Workers rights campaigners have called for the UK’s next government to oppose the online fashion business Shein joining the FTSE, arguing that a London listing would be “yet another betrayal to working people everywhere and the planet”.
Alena Ivanova, campaigns lead at Labour Behind the Label, said it had heard the news of senior British politicians courting Shein’s £50bn listing “with dismay” given what she claimed was a lack of transparency about its supply chain and ethical concerns.
Continue reading...Workers for US defence contractor KBR concerned after colleagues die on island with no hospital-grade health facility
Migrant workers employed by the US defence contractor KBR on the British-owned island of Diego Garcia have expressed concerns for their safety after the recent deaths of two of their colleagues, the Observer has learned.
The most recent death on Diego Garcia, which is host to a strategic American military base in the British Indian Ocean Territory, came on 5 January. Relemay Fabula Gan, 41, from the Philippines, died after suffering a collapsed lung following several weeks of illness after a Covid diagnosis, her family said.
Continue reading...George Ford has been ruled out of England’s tour of Japan and New Zealand starting this month with an achilles injury, leaving Marcus Smith and Fin Smith going head to head for the No 10 jersey. Ford started all five Six Nations matches this year at fly-half but Steve Borthwick and Sale Sharks have agreed that due to the pre-existing injury, the 31-year-old should stay in England.
Fin Smith suffered an injury scare in Northampton’s Premiership final victory over Bath on Saturday but the Saints director of rugby, Phil Dowson, revealed afterwards that his fly-half had been struggling with cramp, ensuring he will be named in Borthwick’s squad on Monday along with his namesake Marcus.
Continue reading...I had always called myself ‘a collector’. Then I saw that holding on to things had become my way of coping with hard times
Was it the crate of saved wrapping paper, carefully archived by colour? Or the sheath of car tax discs, dating back to my first vehicle (owned 16 years ago), stored in a monogrammed wallet that did not bear my initials? No, it was the sweet little pillbox, shiny in its innocence, that revealed the greatest horror: every tooth I have ever lost. Further grotesque inspection determined that, alongside fragmented baby fangs were wisdom teeth – suggesting that the filing system had been upheld for quite some years. If I’d kept them this long, perhaps I should still hang on to them, I reasoned. As always, an attempt to chuck things out had been thwarted.
I have always collected. It started with pencils, soaps and china animals, progressing to more mainstream hobbyist items: stamps, coins and gem stones. My childhood fossil collection expanded into acquiring rocks and stones more generally, until my bedroom was full of museum-like pockets, each group neatly curated. As a Brownie, my collector’s badge was awarded for my collection of collections, the assessor agog at the sheer number of cigarette cards, beads and Fimo models on display. I loved books and sheet music, too, and it was broadly accepted that this need to keep and arrange things – often in ways that made no sense to others – was part and parcel of a curious mind.
Claire Jackson is a journalist who writes about classical music, art and animals
Continue reading...At 75 years young, Donn Delson specialises in large-scale, often abstract aerial images shot from ‘doors off’ helicopters at heights up to 4,000 metres (12,000ft). Strapped into a doorless helicopter over two miles above ground, Delson has spent more than 300 hours watching the world from a bird’s eye view, travelling from Japan to The Netherlands, England to Israel, and across the US
Continue reading...Live tattooing, non-simulated sex, flesh hook body hoisting and an ejaculating helicopter – these are commonplace in the astonishing shows of Europe’s hottest director. But is her latest just too shocking?
Loud cries of extreme discomfort are echoing around a former warehouse on the outskirts of the German city of Schwerin as six women, all clad in black, edge towards the limits of their pain. “Oh,” one woman wails as she squirms on her plastic chair, “this one is so hard.”
Austrian choreographer Florentina Holzinger is famous for working with performers who can endure more pain than most: the all-female casts of her shows regularly include sword-swallowers, pole-dancers, Japanese bondage artists and “hair hangers” – who are able to suspend their entire bodyweights from their ponytails.
Continue reading...Experts believe Beijing will retaliate with measures that could hit European exports from cheese to cognac
The EU is expected to notify China that it will impose tariffs on electric vehicle imports this week, firing the starting gun on a potential summer trade war with Beijing.
A formal pre-disclosure of tariffs could happen as early as Wednesday, after a lengthy investigation into China’s state subsidies for its car manufacturing, which is predicted to conclude that massive support continues to be concentrated on the EV sector.
Continue reading...The US Justice Department has dismantled an enormous botnet:
According to an indictment unsealed on May 24, from 2014 through July 2022, Wang and others are alleged to have created and disseminated malware to compromise and amass a network of millions of residential Windows computers worldwide. These devices were associated with more than 19 million unique IP addresses, including 613,841 IP addresses located in the United States. Wang then generated millions of dollars by offering cybercriminals access to these infected IP addresses for a fee...
Modi becomes second leader in Indian history to win three consecutive terms, but opposition leaders snub ceremony
Narendra Modi has been sworn in as prime minister of India for a historic third term, ushering in a new era of coalition politics for India’s strongman leader.
The ceremony, which took place at the presidential palace on Sunday evening, marked Modi’s return to power, only the second leader in India’s history to win three consecutive terms.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Dramas pay homage to Waldemar Haffkine, who created vaccines for bubonic plague and cholera
A bestselling author is seeking to restore the reputation of a wronged Jewish scientist, who saved millions of lives by creating the world’s first vaccines against the bubonic plague and cholera – only to fall victim to antisemitism and to be almost air-brushed from history since his death in 1930.
In dramas planned for the stage and screen, Paul Twivy will pay tribute to the extraordinary achievements of Waldemar Haffkine, a pioneering microbiologist recognised by the scientist, Joseph Lister, as a saviour of humanity – but who was brought down by racist doctors within the British Raj while he was working in India.
Continue reading...Campaigners say election shows rejection of ‘hate politics’ after marginalised groups vote to deny BJP a majority
It was widely described as the week that India’s beleaguered democracy was pulled back from the brink. As the election results rolled in on Tuesday, all predictions and polls were defied as Narendra Modi lost his outright majority for the first time in a decade while the opposition re-emerged as a legitimate political force. On Sunday evening, Modi will be sworn in as prime minister yet many believe his power and mandate stands diminished.
For one opposition politician in particular, the humbling of the strongman prime minister was a moment to savour. Late last year, Mahua Moitra, one of the most outspoken critics of Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), found herself unceremoniously expelled from parliament and kicked out of her bungalow, after what she described as a “political witch-hunt” for daring to stand up to Modi.
Continue reading...Indian high commission made claim bronze depicting Tirumankai Alvar which it believes may have been looted
Oxford University has announced it is to hand back a 500-year-old sculpture of a Hindu saint to India.
The almost 60cm-tall bronze statue, which depicts Tirumankai Alvar, had been on display at the university’s Ashmolean Museum.
Continue reading...We would like to hear from British Indians across the UK about their thoughts on the election result in India
We would like to hear from British Indians across the UK about their reaction to the election result in India declared on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) retained power in the national elections by winning the most seats, but not enough to pass the 272 parliamentary majority mark. Modi was forced to rely on coalition partners to return to power.
The opposition alliance, which goes by the acronym INDIA, collectively won more than 230 of the total 543 seats.
Continue reading...Democracy campaigners welcome move by Lord Sumption and Lord Collins, who cited political situation in statement
Two of the last remaining British judges to sit on Hong Kong’s top court have resigned, with one citing the political situation in the former colony.
Lawrence Collins and Jonathan Sumption, former UK supreme court justices, announced their resignations on Thursday. “I have resigned from the court of final appeal because of the political situation in Hong Kong, but I continue to have the fullest confidence in the court and the total independence of its members,” Lord Collins said.
Continue reading...Seoul says it will install loudspeakers on the border with North Korea after detecting 330 more balloons in its territory
South Korea says it will restart loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts into the North, after Pyongyang sent hundreds more rubbish-filled balloons across the border.
“We will install loudspeakers against North Korea today and carry out the broadcast,” the president’s office said in a statement on Sunday.
Continue reading...Critics label as ‘absurd’ idea from government-backed thinktank as country seeks to address population decline
A government thinktank in South Korea has sparked anger after suggesting that girls start primary school a year earlier than boys because the measure could raise the country’s low birthrate.
A report by analysts at the Korea Institute of Public Finance said creating a one-year age gap between girls and boys at school would make them more attractive to each other by the time they reached marriageable age.
Continue reading...Microsoft recently caught state-backed hackers using its generative AI tools to help with their attacks. In the security community, the immediate questions weren’t about how hackers were using the tools (that was utterly predictable), but about how Microsoft figured it out. The natural conclusion was that Microsoft was spying on its AI users, looking for harmful hackers at work.
Some pushed back at characterizing Microsoft’s actions as “spying.” Of course cloud service providers monitor what users are doing. And because we expect Microsoft to be doing something like this, it’s not fair to call it spying...
Sanmu Chen appeared to write the date of massacre in the air as anniversary becomes increasingly sensitive in Hong Kong
Hong Kong police detained an artist on Monday night after he appeared to write “8964” in the air with his hand, a reference to the date of the Tiananmen Square massacre, hours before Tuesday’s 35th anniversary.
Public acknowledgment of the events of 4 June 1989, when Chinese soldiers shut down a weeks-long peaceful protest with violence, killing anything from several hundred to several thousand people – is banned in mainland China and increasingly sensitive in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...Public consultation found widespread support to allow cats in the city’s Housing and Development Board flats, in which 80% of the population live
Tommy is, without doubt, the head of his household. If he wants the air conditioning switched on, he simply glares at the unit on the wall. If he wants an early night, he’ll miaow for the TV to be silenced.
But, until now, he has been living in violation of a law that bans cats from much of Singapore’s housing.
Continue reading...Trump fans say his conviction is an overreach. But a close look at another recent fraud trial shows his case was run-of-the-mill.
The post To Understand the Trump Verdict, Look at the Case Against Shukhratjon Mirsaidov appeared first on The Intercept.
Muhammad Yunus tells the Guardian charges against him are politically motivated, and expresses concern about personal attacks from politicians
The Nobel peace laureate and microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus has said that years of fighting what he calls “dirty” politically motivated attacks on his work to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh have made life “totally miserable”.
Yunus told the Guardian he had come under 20 years of pressure from the Bangladeshi government for his work, which is credited with improving the lives of millions of poor people, particularly women.
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...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...
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.
“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.
Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
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.
Tinned chickpeas are flying off the shelves at Tesco. Vegan influencer Christina Soteriou and child nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed explain why – and share their tips for recipes and moreish snacks
“Chickpeas are flying off the shelves, so our priority is making sure they’re always available when customers want them,” says Ashley Wainaina, Tesco’s canned pulses buyer. “We’ve even changed our stocking system to make it more efficient, so we can keep up with demand.”
As the UK’s largest food retailer, Tesco is helping customers make better choices when they shop by highlighting better foods, such as snacks containing under 100 calories or foods that are high in fibre or low in sugar, through its Better Baskets campaign. Chickpeas are loaded with protein and fibre, they’re filling, a third of a tin counts as one of your five a day, and they can be cooked in a plethora of different ways. They’ve been eaten for millennia across the Middle East, India and the Mediterranean, and their popularity has soared here recently, too.
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...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...In Gainesville, Florida, children are on the front lines of the hazards long ignored by local and state government officials.
The post For Decades, Officials Knew a School Sat on a Former Dump — and Did Little to Clean Up the Toxins appeared first on The Intercept.
More than 400 scientists write to political parties urging ambitious action or risk making Britain and the world ‘more dangerous and insecure’
After five years of record heat and record floods, one might assume British politicians would also pay record attention to the climate issue in the current election campaign.
But with the manifestos due this week, concerns are growing that the response of the two main parties will range from tepid progress to a great leap backwards, despite the certainty of further climate chaos during the next parliament.
Continue reading...Exit polls suggest support for Greens fell in Germany and France, leading to fears of weakening of climate ambitions
Green parties have shed seats in the European elections, provisional results suggest, raising fears that the continent may be on the verge of weakening its climate ambitions. Projections for the new European parliament showed the Green faction pushed from fourth into sixth place, with 53 seats, amid a broader shift to the right.
In Germany, a core Green stronghold, the party’s vote share appears to have nearly halved since the last election in 2019. Exit polls suggested it fell 8.5 percentage points from 20.5% to 12%. In France, where the far right was leading and President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections, support for the Greens fell by the same amount.
But the party scored smaller victories elsewhere. In Denmark counting showed the Greens with three seats, a gain of one, while in Sweden they were expected to have held three seats. A Green-Left coalition looked to have narrowly beaten the far-right for first place in the Netherlands.
Bas Eickhout, one of the two lead candidates for the Green party, said he was not disheartened by the projected results and pledged to push for an acceleration of the Green Deal.
“I wouldn’t say that this is a referendum on the Green Deal itself,” said Eickhout, referring to a package of environmental policies whose cross-party support started to fray in the final months of the outgoing parliament.
“Even if that were [the case], there are mixed results,” he added. “We have become the biggest in the Netherlands. Would you then say the Netherlands is in full support of the Green Deal – and Germany not? I think that’s too simplistic.”
The Greens did unusually well at the last elections in 2019 as student protesters led by Greta Thunberg forced climate change up the political agenda. But the faction is expected to lose votes as war and economic troubles crowd out environmental concerns in the minds of voters.
They could still play a key role in choosing the next EU Commission president, depending on the level of support for centrist parties.
In Germany, where the Greens are in a coalition government, the losses were met with disappointment from the party and climate activists. They have traditionally been buoyed by younger voters, some of whom now appear to have drifted to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), as well as newer parties, according to polling data from public broadcaster ZDF.
Across Germany, the Greens’ biggest losses appear not to have gone to another party – but to people who did not vote at all.
“I think voters are giving very mixed signals,” said Eickhout, commenting on the reported shifts in young German voters.
He also said there was “one big lesson is that our biggest problem so far is that the Green Deal has been too much a Brussels agenda” and called for more debate in the 27 member states.
Technology was once simply a tool—and a small one at that—used to amplify human intent and capacity. That was the story of the industrial revolution: we could control nature and build large, complex human societies, and the more we employed and mastered technology, the better things got. We don’t live in that world anymore. Not only has technology become entangled with the structure of society, but we also can no longer see the world around us without it. The separation is gone, and the control we thought we once had has revealed itself as a mirage. We’re in a transitional period of history right now...
All small business owners need a drive to succeed, but can it go too far? Recent research suggests that hustle culture can have its toxic side – with the potential to hit the bottom line for entrepreneurs and the UK economy
Starting a business can take drive and determination, so it’s not surprising that the so-called “hustle” has become a buzzword among some entrepreneurs. The notion is characterised by hard work and a desire to succeed, with entrepreneurs often required to hustle for business.
But while these are generally constructive traits, there can be a downside to hustle culture if they are taken too far. For example, when an “always on” work mentality leads to chronic overworking, and burning ambition turns into burnout. Those running a small- to medium-size enterprise (SME) – many of whom are pursuing their own passion – can find themselves susceptible to what Barclaycard Payments describes as “toxic hustle culture”.
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.
Data shows that when Americans’ preferred party is in the White House, they’re more likely to boast of a booming economy – even if it’s untrue
When he delivered his State of the Union address in March, Joe Biden framed the state of the American economy as a true success story, pointing to the historically low unemployment rate and falling inflation as signs of the country’s robust recovery from the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now, our economy is literally the envy of the world,” the US president said. “And it takes time, but the American people are beginning to feel it.”
Continue reading...Lib Dems kick off manifesto launch week with pledges to fix NHS and social care while the Conservatives focus on post-election plans
Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey are discussing the week ahead in the Guardian’s latest Politics Weekly podcast, which you can listen to here.
Chris Philp, the policing minister, said he was left feeling “surprised and disappointed” on learning Rishi Sunak had left D-day commemorations early, but insisted the prime minister would recover politically from the mistake, Peter Walker reports.
Continue reading...Homeland security head also defends timing of president’s border action as measure faces criticism from both parties
The US homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, defended both the timing and substance of Joe Biden’s new executive order to restrict immigration at the southern border, as the president faces criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike over the measure.
The order, issued on Tuesday, tells officials to shut down asylum requests once the average number of encounters between legal ports of entry reaches 2,500 or more. If the number of encounters falls to 1,500 or fewer for seven consecutive days, the border would reopen two weeks later.
Continue reading...More than 400 scientists write to political parties urging ambitious action or risk making Britain and the world ‘more dangerous and insecure’
After five years of record heat and record floods, one might assume British politicians would also pay record attention to the climate issue in the current election campaign.
But with the manifestos due this week, concerns are growing that the response of the two main parties will range from tepid progress to a great leap backwards, despite the certainty of further climate chaos during the next parliament.
Continue reading...Money raised in manifesto commitment would be used to recruit 8,000 more GPs and speed up cancer treatment
The Liberal Democrats are to announce plans to overhaul capital gains tax to raise £5bn for the NHS, making them the first party to announce a big tax change as part of their spending plans.
The party’s leader, Ed Davey, said the change was “making tax fairer” and the party said it would hit only the wealthiest. The party will unveil its manifesto on Monday.
Continue reading...Ex-president makes direct appeal to service workers in swing state Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way
At a campaign rally Sunday in sweltering hot Las Vegas, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told the crowd he would seek to end taxation of income from tips, a direct appeal to service workers in the swing state of Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way ahead of the 5 November election.
That promise reveals one more point to a vague Trump tax plan that has so far included pledges of tax relief to middle-income workers and small businesses. Current law requires tipped employees to report those tips as income.
Continue reading...The draconian restrictions on asylum-seekers owe a lot to Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, but the path was paved by Democrats.
The post Joe Biden’s Cruel Border Shutdown Follows in Clinton and Obama’s Footsteps Too appeared first on The Intercept.
‘Tax bombshell’ claims undid Labour in 1992 but the Conservatives’ ‘catalogue of chaos’ and the PM’s actions mean fears are misplaced
Any lingering doubts about the result of next month’s election have been dispelled by Rishi Sunak’s inexplicable decision to leave last week’s D-day commemorations early. Only the scale of the Tory defeat remains in question.
Last week was supposed to be the start of the Conservative party’s fightback. The idea was to go hard on Labour’s tax and spending plans in the hope that it would make voters forget that they are poorer now than they were at the start of this parliament.
Continue reading...Chris Philp says PM has apologised for missing events, and will be ‘back bouncing around the campaign trail’
Chris Philp, the policing minister, said he was left feeling “surprised and disappointed” on learning Rishi Sunak had left D-day commemorations early, but insisted the prime minister would recover politically from the mistake.
As the row over Sunak’s decision to miss events in Normandy involving other world leaders rumbled into a second week, he is scheduled to resume speaking to journalists in a planned policing-based visit to West Sussex.
Continue reading...The disconnect between promises and the material lives of voters that opened up in the referendum has not been repaired
Remember Brexit? For a topic that dominated several years of British political life after 2016, and the last general election, its near-total absence from this one is remarkable. Brexit did not come up once in the BBC leaders’ debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. It did once in the seven-way debate on Friday, raised by the SNP’s Stephen Flynn, who described it as an unmitigated disaster. The silence is beginning to feel less like omission than an act of collective repression.
Between the Tories and Labour there is a silent agreement, perfectly observed in the English tradition of avoiding uncomfortable conversations. It is increasingly jarring. Brexit’s consequences are now part and parcel of our layered crises. It features in the cost of living crisis – it has driven up inflation, accounting for a third of food-price inflation since 2019, according to an LSE paper. It lurks in the labour market, where higher immigration from outside the EU has not plugged a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of EU workers. It holds back growth, clobbering small businesses and choking bigger ones desperate for labour. As was the conclusion of a report this year summarised by London mayor Sadiq Khan: “The hardline version of Brexit we’ve ended up with is dragging our economy down.”
Continue reading...Since he was elected as the town’s MP, the Workers party leader has grown his huge online audience, but now faces a tough election battle with Labour
George Galloway was in full flow as he addressed tens of thousands of viewers online one evening in late March.
In a five-minute monologue, the newly elected Rochdale MP dismissed what he described as the “official narrative” of the murders of the US president John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and senator Robert F Kennedy. They were, he said, “a pack of lies”.
Continue reading...European commission president says ‘there remains a majority in the centre for a strong Europe’ as far right makes huge gains across continent; Emmanuel Macron makes shock election move
Ursula von der Leyen, who is seeking a second five-year term as head of the European Commission, has cast her vote and is urging others to do the same.
Much is at stake for the German centre-right politician, as the European parliament, which sits in Brussels and Strasbourg, will also have the final say on whether she gets a coveted second-term as European Commission president, one of the most powerful positions in European politics.
Continue reading...Exit polls suggest support for Greens fell in Germany and France, leading to fears of weakening of climate ambitions
Green parties have shed seats in the European elections, provisional results suggest, raising fears that the continent may be on the verge of weakening its climate ambitions. Projections for the new European parliament showed the Green faction pushed from fourth into sixth place, with 53 seats, amid a broader shift to the right.
In Germany, a core Green stronghold, the party’s vote share appears to have nearly halved since the last election in 2019. Exit polls suggested it fell 8.5 percentage points from 20.5% to 12%. In France, where the far right was leading and President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections, support for the Greens fell by the same amount.
But the party scored smaller victories elsewhere. In Denmark counting showed the Greens with three seats, a gain of one, while in Sweden they were expected to have held three seats. A Green-Left coalition looked to have narrowly beaten the far-right for first place in the Netherlands.
Bas Eickhout, one of the two lead candidates for the Green party, said he was not disheartened by the projected results and pledged to push for an acceleration of the Green Deal.
“I wouldn’t say that this is a referendum on the Green Deal itself,” said Eickhout, referring to a package of environmental policies whose cross-party support started to fray in the final months of the outgoing parliament.
“Even if that were [the case], there are mixed results,” he added. “We have become the biggest in the Netherlands. Would you then say the Netherlands is in full support of the Green Deal – and Germany not? I think that’s too simplistic.”
The Greens did unusually well at the last elections in 2019 as student protesters led by Greta Thunberg forced climate change up the political agenda. But the faction is expected to lose votes as war and economic troubles crowd out environmental concerns in the minds of voters.
They could still play a key role in choosing the next EU Commission president, depending on the level of support for centrist parties.
In Germany, where the Greens are in a coalition government, the losses were met with disappointment from the party and climate activists. They have traditionally been buoyed by younger voters, some of whom now appear to have drifted to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), as well as newer parties, according to polling data from public broadcaster ZDF.
Across Germany, the Greens’ biggest losses appear not to have gone to another party – but to people who did not vote at all.
“I think voters are giving very mixed signals,” said Eickhout, commenting on the reported shifts in young German voters.
He also said there was “one big lesson is that our biggest problem so far is that the Green Deal has been too much a Brussels agenda” and called for more debate in the 27 member states.
Leader talks of ‘fully costed, fully funded’ plans for NHS, nursery places, social care and university funding
In the sunny garden of a local community centre in Thurrock, a relaxed-looking Keir Starmer, shirt sleeves rolled up, was surrounded by a buzz of television cameras, reporters and Labour party activists taking selfies.
Hundreds of miles away in North Yorkshire, Rishi Sunak, who had cancelled a press event on Saturday amid the fallout from his D-day blunder, spent a quiet day in his constituency, nursing his wounds.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Party plans to set up more than 3,300 nurseries in existing primary schools in England for children from nine months old
Labour has pledged to create more than 100,000 new nursery places for children from nine months old, helping to both drive up standards and meet demand, as a key manifesto offer for working parents.
The party plans to set up more than 3,300 new nurseries in existing primary schools in England to support a major expansion of childcare.
Continue reading...George Cottrell, who was jailed in US for wire fraud, has been seen at Reform UK leader’s side over the last week
Nigel Farage is facing questions over why he is being accompanied on the campaign trail by an aristocratic friend who spent eight months in jail in the US for wire fraud.
Known as “Posh George”, George Cottrell was a volunteer for Farage in 2016 before his arrest in the US on money-laundering charges and ultimate guilty plea to one count of wire fraud in a case unrelated to his work at Ukip, Farage’s party at the time. The crime was committed in 2014, before Cottrell worked for either the anti-EU party or Farage.
Continue reading...In response to the ex-Tory MP’s article, John Robinson hopes future Labour ministers have time to do their jobs properly and Peter J Atkins points out the darker side of Stewart’s beloved Cumbrian dry-stone walls. Plus letters by Ian Smith and Diana Morgan
Yet another election; yet more promises to put things right, to make everything better; yet more politicians telling us that they are listening and will enact our concerns and needs; yet more excuses and denials about broken promises and things not done; yet more politicians telling us that they are totally right and the other lot are totally wrong. Who to believe? Most of us know the country is broken. All of us know, depending on our political persuasion, who is to blame – it’s the other lot.
Yet it’s not that simple. Rory Stewart almost put his finger on it in describing that he left parliament after having five ministerial posts in four years and being unable to complete his job in any of them (I’d like to say Johnson and Brexit made me quit politics. But they were symptoms of the problem, not the cause, 3 June).
Continue reading...The party’s antics since 2016 have estranged much of its classic base, which is more worldly and liberal than many realise
To understand the meltdown the Conservative party faces, you do not have to go too far from Westminster. A short hop on a commuter train will do it – out into the suburbs and towns of the home counties, mostly still understood as true-blue heartlands but now full of a mixture of uncertainty, unease and anger that seems to have drastically shaken those age-old loyalties.
Last week, I was in Godalming in Surrey, represented for almost 20 years by Jeremy Hunt, the Tory politician who has held four cabinet posts since 2010 and is now somewhat desperately trying to remind his colleagues of the importance of the centre ground of politics. Life there looked largely easy: a seemingly bustling high street, enviably large houses and the sense of a corner of the country little used to political ruptures. To mark the 80th anniversary of D-day, the local shops were draped with an array of European flags; the scene in front of me seemed to crystallise the very English affluence that fosters calm and endless continuity.
John Harris is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Campaigners say election shows rejection of ‘hate politics’ after marginalised groups vote to deny BJP a majority
It was widely described as the week that India’s beleaguered democracy was pulled back from the brink. As the election results rolled in on Tuesday, all predictions and polls were defied as Narendra Modi lost his outright majority for the first time in a decade while the opposition re-emerged as a legitimate political force. On Sunday evening, Modi will be sworn in as prime minister yet many believe his power and mandate stands diminished.
For one opposition politician in particular, the humbling of the strongman prime minister was a moment to savour. Late last year, Mahua Moitra, one of the most outspoken critics of Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), found herself unceremoniously expelled from parliament and kicked out of her bungalow, after what she described as a “political witch-hunt” for daring to stand up to Modi.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look at what might be on offer as the political parties launch their manifestos this week. Plus, what Pippa learned from her exclusive interview with Keir Starmer
Continue reading...The federal trial of the president’s son undermines Trump’s claim of a weaponized DoJ, but the right aims to make hay regardless
The picture of criminal behavior and a dissolute lifestyle was painted in sometimes painfully frank testimony in a Delaware court room last week and would have been difficult to hear for the family of any defendant.
But Hunter Biden, the man in the dock in Wilmington, is no ordinary plaintiff; he is the son of the president of the United States.
Continue reading...In the run-up to July's election, the Guardian video team will be touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. In a week when an attack on a refugee camp in Rafah and the Labour party's treatment of Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen dominated the headlines, we spoke to voters in Ilford – North and South – who were protesting locally about Gaza. We asked whether these issues would make a difference to how they vote in the election, met canvassers getting behind independent candidates, and spoke to business owners about their political priorities
Continue reading...Activists suing the Biden administration over Gaza policy are demanding the judge recuse himself over the sponsored trip.
The post A Federal Judge Visited Israel on a Junket Designed to Sway Public Opinion. Now He’s Hearing a Gaza Case. appeared first on The Intercept.
She is quitting the Commons with no regrets. The UK’s first female foreign secretary discusses chauvinism, Corbyn, contempt for politicians – and her worst period in office
Hanging near Margaret Beckett’s desk in parliament is a cartoon, drawn by her cousin, of things she has loved. It depicts her and her late husband, Leo, surrounded by the trappings of ministerial office, alongside their trusty caravan. Even as foreign secretary, she refused to give up holidaying in it, battling to establish secure phone lines on campsites and trundling through France with her close protection officers following in a camper van. If some found it incongruous, she didn’t care.
“I remember when I was at college, at some do or another, people were passing round the bottle and I was – like everyone else – swigging out of it. And somebody was saying: ‘Oh no no no, you’re not somebody who should ever be seen swigging out of a bottle.’ It was the same sort of reaction,” she says, with a hint of satisfaction. There is a stubborn streak in Beckett, a dogged refusal to be pigeonholed or cowed, that has underpinned an extraordinary half-century in politics.
Continue reading...Postwar generations grew up in comfort on gilded tales of heroic conflict. What hypocrisy to push for national service for the young
Rishi Sunak is in an unfortunate position. Anything he does that even slightly cuts convention will now be read as a terrible blunder. Once a narrative like this picks up steam it is hard to stop. The press wants to add to the story arc. A delighted Labour will help it along. And perhaps even some of his own camp, looking for a scapegoat in the coming election defeat, will be rooting for him to fail.
There’s really no spinning his latest gaffe. It’s quite the decision to aim your entire campaign at those who care about the Second World War, and then to D-day ceremony, leaving veterans standing.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s political sketch writer John Crace discusses Sunak’s extraordinary decision to fly home early from Normandy on Thursday and skip the international D-day commemorations
Continue reading...The U.S. has trained 15 coup leaders in recent decades — and U.S. counterterrorism policies in the region have failed.
The post After Training African Coup Leaders, Pentagon Blames Russia for African Coups appeared first on The Intercept.
The federal judge hearing a human rights case disputed allegations he might be impartial but recused himself out of an “abundance of caution.”
The post Judge Who Went on Israel Junket Recuses Himself From Gaza Case appeared first on The Intercept.
The Guardian lockdown love story that ended in ‘I do’; the incredible story of Maxwell Smart, who lost his family in the Holocaust at 10 and avoided detection from the Nazis for two years; and Philippa Perry advises a reader not to invite his alcoholic father to his wedding.
Continue reading...Andrew Bailey’s office has a losing record of fighting against exonerations recommended by local prosecutors — but it’s not giving up.
The post Missouri’s Attorney General Is Waging War to Keep the Wrongly Convicted Locked Up appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump fans say his conviction is an overreach. But a close look at another recent fraud trial shows his case was run-of-the-mill.
The post To Understand the Trump Verdict, Look at the Case Against Shukhratjon Mirsaidov appeared first on The Intercept.
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
The euro continues to bob around a one-month low this morning, at $1.0763 against the US dollar:
French banks are being hit by the political uncertainty created by Emmanuel Macron’s snap election.
Investors are assessing Macron’s gamble in attempting to reassert his authority after voters shifted en masse to the Far-right during the EU elections, in both France and Germany. The euro has dropped sharply against the dollar, to $1.074, the lowest in a month amid the surprise turn of events.
Continue reading...Bruno Le Maire says ‘we must fight for France and for the French’ with just three weeks to campaign
Reaction to Emmanuel Macron’s shock election announcement continues to roll in.
Celine Bracq, director general of the Odoxa polling agency, told the AFP news agency it was a “poker move” at a time when there is a “strong desire on the part of the French to punish the president”.
It’s something extremely risky. In all likelihood, the National Rally, in the wake of the European elections, could have a majority in the National Assembly and why not an absolute majority?”
The most likely outcome is more fragmentation, more deadlock and chaos. A complete paralysis.”
Continue reading...Far right celebrates in France, Germany and Austria, but mainstream centre parties on course to hold majority
It wasn’t just in France that the far right was celebrating on Sunday night. In Germany and Austria, parties on the populist right made stunning gains in the European elections – but despite that, the pro-European centre appeared to have held in a set of results likely to complicate EU lawmaking.
In France, Emmanuel Macron called snap legislative elections after a crushing defeat of his allies by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, while in Germany, Olaf Scholz’s coalition had a bad night as the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) made significant gains.
Continue reading...As National Rally achieves best ever result in France, populists also make gains in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has been accused of gambling with French democracy after announcing that he will dissolve parliament and call snap legislative elections in the wake of his allies’ crushing defeat to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) in Sunday’s European parliament elections.
On a night that saw far-right parties make significant but far from conclusive gains in Europe, the RN won about 32% of French votes, more than double the 15% or so scored by Macron’s allies, according to projections, with the Socialists just behind on about 14%.
Continue reading...TUC says only Costa Rica had similar increase in first quarter as ONS data expected to show further rise in April
Unemployment is rising in the UK at the fastest pace among 38 of the world’s richest countries, according to an analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
In a release a day before official labour market figures are expected to show another increase in joblessness in Britain, the union body looked at data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) covering the first three months of this year.
Continue reading...The governing coalition of Alexander De Croo lost its ability to form a majority – while an expected surge for far right Vlaams Belang failed to materialise
Belgium is heading for a new government after a general election in which an expected surge for the far right party Vlaams Belang failed to materialise and the outgoing governing coalition headed by liberal prime minister Alexander De Croo lost its ability to form a majority.
Vlaams Belang’s arch rival the nationalist party N-VA (New Flemish Alliance) was on course to remain the largest party in Belgium’s parliament on Sunday while De Croo’s liberal party, Open VLD, slumped in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of the country.
Continue reading...As updates come in from across the 27 member states, a strong result for the hard-right RN in France has led president Macron to call new parliamentary elections, while the AfD has advanced in Germany.
Find out the summary for the new European parliament, the shape of the results by bloc - and scroll down for individual party breakdowns by country
This is the 10th election for the EU parliament, in which all 720 seats will be contested and 361 seats are needed for a majority. No single political group is likely to achieve this target.
Estimate, when when voting is finished and there is an estimate of a country’s results based on polling institutes;
Projection, for when there is an estimate of the full EU parliament composition;
Provisional, for when a country’s official election authority has published its first voting results but the final result is not known, and when the full EU parliament’s composition depends on such provisional national figures;
Final, for when a country’s official election authority has published full results;
Constitutive, for when the full EU parliament’s composition is officially confirmed.
Continue reading...In a shock move, president Emmanuel Macron called a parliamentary election, describing it as ‘an act of confidence’
In a shock move, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has called a snap parliamentary election that will be held within the next 30 days. What happened exactly, why – and what might come next?
Continue reading...Marine Le Pen’s far-right party see unprecedented result as stepping stone to presidential elections in 2027
At a smart party venue overlooking the woodland of the Bois de Vincennes, east of Paris, members of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National, or RN) clinked glasses to the sound of jazz piano. Savouring their historic result in the European elections, they were also looking forward with excitement to the sudden, shock parliamentary election in France.
“We’re ready for power if French people put their trust in us,” said Le Pen to cheers and applause from senior party officials in suits and cocktail dresses, after the president, Emmanuel Macron, made the dramatic and unexpected announcement that he was dissolving the French parliament in the wake of the results. The election, called for three weeks’ time, saw Le Pen’s anti-immigration party, with around 31% of the vote, come first – and more than double the score of the president’s pro-European centrists.
Continue reading...We would like to hear from British Indians across the UK about their thoughts on the election result in India
We would like to hear from British Indians across the UK about their reaction to the election result in India declared on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) retained power in the national elections by winning the most seats, but not enough to pass the 272 parliamentary majority mark. Modi was forced to rely on coalition partners to return to power.
The opposition alliance, which goes by the acronym INDIA, collectively won more than 230 of the total 543 seats.
Continue reading...A proposed New York training facility shows how establishment politicians only understand governance through policing.
The post New York Spends $225 Million on Its Own “Cop City” — to Make the Whole City Run on Cops appeared first on The Intercept.
Government employees are using their official badges to demonstrate against U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The post “Not the Career in Public Service I Signed Up For”: Federal Workers Protest War appeared first on The Intercept.
This blog is now closed.
Brisbane Christian school issues apology two years after gender contracts
A Pentecostal Christian school has expressed regret for introducing a controversial student gender and sexuality contract two years ago.
We regret any distress or concern which was caused to students, parents and guardians of students or prospective students of the college.
We are working closely with all of our suppliers to ensure eggs remain available for our customers and we are providing support to the industry in responding to the Avian Flu cases in Victoria.
Continue reading...Oldest surviving MP can clearly recall the 1926 general strike, part of his long and immensely eventful life
The period after the general strike of 1926 was a desperate time for Britain’s mining communities. Faced with increased hours but slashed wages, the miners had walked out, and many stayed on strike for six months until, without pay and often in terrible need, they were forced to back down.
To a five-year-old Patrick Duffy, however, whose father, James, had moved from the west of Ireland to work in coalmines in Wigan and then Doncaster, those were thrilling days – and 98 years on, he can still clearly recall snippets of them.
Continue reading...Underlining his credentials as a creative thinker, the economist and Labour candidate for Swansea West offers a hopeful vision of the nation’s future – spurning leftwing utopianism as well as tackling 14 years of creeping decline
As proposed national rallying cries go, perhaps this one lacks swagger. But its modesty is deliberate, as the economist and Observer columnist Torsten Bell’s surprisingly hopeful new guide to halting this country’s crumbling decline explains. Chest-beating political promises to put the Great back into Great Britain are, he writes, really just distracting from the real issue, which is that the British are exceptional all right – only not in a good way. We stand out from our pack of medium-sized, richer-than-average countries for our low productivity, chronic wage stagnation and American-style high inequality (but sadly without the higher growth of the US).
We have truly world-beating housing costs, higher than any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country but Finland, but magically still deliver less living space per capita in return than famously cramped New York; we boast, if that’s the word, fewer hospital beds than all bar one other OECD nation.
Continue reading...Chris Minns says review of Molly Ticehurst’s interactions with government agencies will be provided to her family and the public
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has vowed the state will learn from “anything that has gone wrong” in the lead-up to Molly Ticehurst’s “preventable” death after her parents called for changes to a government program they said gave her “false hope” of home safety in the fortnight before she died.
Molly’s parents, Kate and Tony Ticehurst, would be provided with a report detailing the interactions their daughter had with NSW government agencies and service providers, Minns pledged, after they alleged she was promised security upgrades to her home that were not delivered before she died.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Defence industry minister says party has ‘deceived public’ by claiming Hunter Valley business supplies parts for weapons used by IDF in Israel-Gaza war
An Australian business has flatly rejected accusations from the Greens that it “exports some of the critical components for the Israeli Spike missile which has been used to blow up apartment blocks” in Gaza.
Varley Rafael Australia, a joint venture between Australia’s Varley Group and the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, has said it does not export any missiles or any components that are used in other countries, including Israel.
Continue reading...GambleAware signals collision course with industry as charity brands current warnings ‘inadequate’
Adverts for bookmakers and online casinos should carry smoking-style warnings, the UK’s leading gambling charity has said, as it warned that a marketing surge during the Euro 2024 football tournament could make it harder for people to cut down or quit.
GambleAware called for an end to the industry-approved “Take Time To Think” slogan, which appears on gambling adverts, labelling the message “inadequate”.
Continue reading...Campaigners say lower speeds reduce casualties but scheme has since been amended to give people more choice to rescind limits
Vehicle damage claims in Wales have fallen by 20% at one leading car insurer since the nationwide 20mph speed limit was introduced there last September.
Wales was one of the first countries in the world, and the first nation in the UK, to introduce legislation for a default 20mph speed limit in built-up areas last year.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/ourlifeintoronto [link] [comments] |
Conservative-dominated court restores books denounced by officials as ‘pornographic filth’ to school libraries
An appellate court has ruled that Texas cannot ban books from libraries simply because they mention “butt and fart” and other content which some state officials may dislike.
The fifth US circuit court of appeals issued its decision on Thursday in a 76-page majority opinion, which was written by Judge Jacques Wiener Jr and opened with a quote from American poet Walt Whitman: “The dirtiest book in all the world is the expurgated book.”
Continue reading...The Met chief says the number of abusive men is beyond the police’s capacity to cope with. Politicians need a plan for victims
Mark Rowley, head of the Metropolitan police, described the extent of violent crime committed by men against women as “eye-watering”. In a report last week for the London policing board, he said that with up to 4 million mostly male perpetrators of violence against women and children in England and Wales, the scale of the problem is “beyond policing and justice system capacity”. The Met’s figures show that 50% of violence suffered by women in London relates to domestic abuse, with 1m reports to police in England and Wales annually. New research from the National Police Chiefs’ Council will be published over the summer. The National Crime Agency estimates that 750,000 adults have a sexual interest in children.
Some in the women’s sector welcomed Mr Rowley’s bluntness. For England’s most senior police officer to outline the problem so clearly is preferable to it being ignored or shunted behind priorities such as counter‑terrorism and fraud. But for victims and those at risk, it is chilling to learn that that the police believe only a massively upscaled, multi-agency approach would enable them to do their job.
Continue reading...Anastasiia Drevynytska, whose parents are in UK, has been told she does not meet Homes for Ukraine scheme’s criteria
A young woman from Ukraine who sought sanctuary in the UK has been asked by the Home Office to separate from her parents who are living here and return to her war-torn home country.
Anastasiia Drevynytska, 20, came to the UK in December 2023 from her home in western Ukraine to join her mother, Svitlana, and father, Volodymyr, who had already arrived after finding sponsors under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Continue reading...Groups issue call to next government amid criticism of online fashion retailer’s labour practices and accusations of copying
Workers rights campaigners have called for the UK’s next government to oppose the online fashion business Shein joining the FTSE, arguing that a London listing would be “yet another betrayal to working people everywhere and the planet”.
Alena Ivanova, campaigns lead at Labour Behind the Label, said it had heard the news of senior British politicians courting Shein’s £50bn listing “with dismay” given what she claimed was a lack of transparency about its supply chain and ethical concerns.
Continue reading...Modi becomes second leader in Indian history to win three consecutive terms, but opposition leaders snub ceremony
Narendra Modi has been sworn in as prime minister of India for a historic third term, ushering in a new era of coalition politics for India’s strongman leader.
The ceremony, which took place at the presidential palace on Sunday evening, marked Modi’s return to power, only the second leader in India’s history to win three consecutive terms.
Continue reading...Workers for US defence contractor KBR concerned after colleagues die on island with no hospital-grade health facility
Migrant workers employed by the US defence contractor KBR on the British-owned island of Diego Garcia have expressed concerns for their safety after the recent deaths of two of their colleagues, the Observer has learned.
The most recent death on Diego Garcia, which is host to a strategic American military base in the British Indian Ocean Territory, came on 5 January. Relemay Fabula Gan, 41, from the Philippines, died after suffering a collapsed lung following several weeks of illness after a Covid diagnosis, her family said.
Continue reading...Three US nationals on trial in Democratic Republic of Congo over events in May described as an attempted coup
More than 50 people, including three US citizens and a Belgian, have gone on trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo over what the army has described as an attempted coup.
The actions of the three Americans were “punishable by death”, Judge Freddy Ehume told the military court in the DRC capital, Kinshasa.
Continue reading...The Guardian is reporting from the constituency of Clacton to find out what issues people there care about most – and we want your help
The Guardian will be reporting from Clacton ahead of the general election, where Nigel Farage said he would stand as an MP and take over as leader of Reform UK, after changing his mind while spending time on the campaign trail.
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.
Continue reading...Roosevelt’s New Deal gave artists like Alice Neel and Lee Krasner a lifeline during a time of crisis – and it changed the face of America. Whoever wins the UK election should take heed
In the decade of economic depression after the Wall Street crash, US President Franklin D Roosevelt took a chance. Having come to office in 1933, he implemented a new programme to help revive the economy. This New Deal included the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Project, a scheme that employed about 4,000 artists – many of whom would have otherwise been forced to quit their careers – and paid them a weekly salary. In return, he asked artists to use their skills to contribute to society: reviving buildings and public spaces, enhancing infrastructure projects and making work that captured the essence of the era.
In the words of Roosevelt, it provided artists with a “practical relief project”. On the payroll was Alice Neel, the great painter of everyday people who weren’t so everyday, and subject of a major Barbican exhibition in London last year. Neel earned her salary by painting street scenes as well as political and cultural leaders. “To participate in the WPA,” she said, “and to see what was going on around you, made you more aware of reality.”
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron’s hopes for a summer of sporting pride now look like a very long shot
Emmanuel Macron had hoped that this would be a summer of sporting celebration for France, dominated by the first Paris Olympics for a century. Instead, events on track and field are now set to be eclipsed by political turmoil, following Mr Macron’s decision to call a snap parliamentary election following his humiliating defeat at the hands of the radical right in this weekend’s European polls.
In the lead-up to the Olympics - now less than 50 days away - Mr Macron had already been desperately searching for the feelgood factor. Having previously lamented the modest size of the national medal haul at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he used a recent television interview to demand a top-five finish for France this summer on home soil.
Continue reading...Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who ordered live gunfire on students in 2003, approved by Iran’s Guardian Council
Iran’s Guardian Council has approved the country’s hardline parliament speaker and five others to run in the country’s 28 June presidential election after a helicopter crash that killed the president, Ebrahim Raisi, and seven others.
The council again barred the former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a firebrand populist known for the crackdown that followed his disputed 2009 re-election, from running.
Continue reading...Diane Rwigara’s name missing from list of candidates to challenge Paul Kagame in 15 July vote
A prominent opponent of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, has been barred from standing in next month’s election to challenge his three-decade rule.
Diane Rwigara, the leader of the People Salvation Movement, who was also barred in 2017, launched her election bid in May and submitted her candidacy last week. Her name was missing from the provisional list of candidates announced by the electoral commission on Thursday.
Continue reading...The charge of an illegitimate marriage is all that’s left after a court acquitted Khan over his handling of a classified cypher.
The post Imran Khan Remains Imprisoned Over His Wife’s Menstrual Cycles. State Department Says That’s “Something For the Pakistani Courts to Decide.” appeared first on The Intercept.
Microsoft recently caught state-backed hackers using its generative AI tools to help with their attacks. In the security community, the immediate questions weren’t about how hackers were using the tools (that was utterly predictable), but about how Microsoft figured it out. The natural conclusion was that Microsoft was spying on its AI users, looking for harmful hackers at work.
Some pushed back at characterizing Microsoft’s actions as “spying.” Of course cloud service providers monitor what users are doing. And because we expect Microsoft to be doing something like this, it’s not fair to call it spying...
Technology was once simply a tool—and a small one at that—used to amplify human intent and capacity. That was the story of the industrial revolution: we could control nature and build large, complex human societies, and the more we employed and mastered technology, the better things got. We don’t live in that world anymore. Not only has technology become entangled with the structure of society, but we also can no longer see the world around us without it. The separation is gone, and the control we thought we once had has revealed itself as a mirage. We’re in a transitional period of history right now...
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 board had proposed appending a statement that would have undermined a Palestinian scholar's article. The students rejected it.
The post Columbia Law Review Is Back Online After Students Threatened Work Stoppage Over Palestine Censorship appeared first on The Intercept.
In 20 years, this Essex club has tumbled down the leagues and seen its ground fall apart. Is a revival finally coming – or will hopes be dashed again?
By Tim Burrows
Continue reading... submitted by /u/Maxie445 [link] [comments] |
Sixteen women have accused the magician of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour spanning decades. Copperfield’s lawyers say the allegations are ‘not only completely false but also entirely implausible’
The celebrated American magician David Copperfield has been accused by 16 women of engaging in sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour, according to a Guardian US investigation.
Lawyers for Copperfield denied all the allegations of misconduct and inappropriate behaviour. They described the allegations against him as “false and entirely without foundation”. They also said there had been “numerous false claims” made against him in the past, but that none had been proved. They noted that he had never been charged with a crime.
Continue reading...Sixteen women have accused the magician of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour spanning decades. Copperfield’s lawyers say the allegations are ‘not only completely false but also entirely implausible’
The celebrated American magician David Copperfield has been accused by 16 women of engaging in sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour, according to a Guardian US investigation.
Lawyers for Copperfield denied all the allegations of misconduct and inappropriate behaviour. They described the allegations against him as “false and entirely without foundation”. They also said there had been “numerous false claims” made against him in the past, but that none had been proved. They noted that he had never been charged with a crime.
Continue reading...Legislature passes bill, with name change to commemorate riots that spurred action, which awaits governor approval
A New York City subway station would be renamed to commemorate the Stonewall riots that galvanized the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, under legislation approved by state lawmakers as they wrapped up their session this month.
The state legislature approved a bill Wednesday directing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to change the name of the Christopher Street-Sheridan Square subway station in Greenwich Village to the Christopher Street-Stonewall National Monument station.
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.
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
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...We’ve been working with community reporting teams to tell the story of modern Britain. With a momentous election on the horizon, do you have a story to tell about your local area?
As the UK faces a momentous general election, which polls suggest could see the end of 14 years of Conservative party rule, the video team wants to hear from people who have a story to tell about their community.
As video producers, we have spent the past four years working with community-based reporters across the UK to highlight the reality of what is happening in their areas, unearthing unique perspectives from people who are often overlooked in the story of modern Britain.
Continue reading...ANC leader and president accepts he will need help of opposition parties to tackle serious problems facing country
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said that his African National Congress (ANC) would seek to form a government of national unity with a broad group of opposition parties.
“The purpose of the government of national unity must be, first and foremost, to tackle the pressing issues that South Africans want to be addressed,” Ramaphosa said late on Thursday after a marathon ANC meeting.
Continue reading...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...In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
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.
In Gainesville, Florida, children are on the front lines of the hazards long ignored by local and state government officials.
The post For Decades, Officials Knew a School Sat on a Former Dump — and Did Little to Clean Up the Toxins appeared first on The Intercept.
Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
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.
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.
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...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.
Technology was once simply a tool—and a small one at that—used to amplify human intent and capacity. That was the story of the industrial revolution: we could control nature and build large, complex human societies, and the more we employed and mastered technology, the better things got. We don’t live in that world anymore. Not only has technology become entangled with the structure of society, but we also can no longer see the world around us without it. The separation is gone, and the control we thought we once had has revealed itself as a mirage. We’re in a transitional period of history right now...
Technology was once simply a tool—and a small one at that—used to amplify human intent and capacity. That was the story of the industrial revolution: we could control nature and build large, complex human societies, and the more we employed and mastered technology, the better things got. We don’t live in that world anymore. Not only has technology become entangled with the structure of society, but we also can no longer see the world around us without it. The separation is gone, and the control we thought we once had has revealed itself as a mirage. We’re in a transitional period of history right now...
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
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