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Roll up, roll up! The Trump inauguration may be the least great show on Earth | Emma Brockes
Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:00:04 GMT
Despite a few more recognisable names (er, Kid Rock) due to appear than last time, this will not be the cultural event of the year
In the quaintly upsetting era of George W Bush’s presidency, there was something people liked to pompously call the “cultural opposition”. This was made up of figures in popular culture pushing back against Bush, and 20 years later it may be imagined their spiritual heirs are limbering up for equivalent duties. The first formal opportunity falls next week with Donald Trump’s inauguration and, just as leaders in the tech and business worlds have failed spectacularly to rally against him, so a sense prevails that among certain artists and influencers there has been a gentle softening of spines too.
This is a general observation and also one located in the figure of Carrie Underwood, the country star scheduled to sing the national anthem in Trump’s honour on Monday. Underwood, a 41-year-old who came to prominence via the fourth season of American Idol, may seem a slim figure on whom to hang observations about the waning of cultural opposition towards Trump. There persists a feeling, however, that in 2016, no singer-songwriter of Underwood’s prominence would have offered her services to the Trump administration. Back then, when Trump’s election struck many in the US and around the world with the force of an out-of-body experience, the best the inauguration committee could come up with was another talent-show graduate and holder of the unfortunate mantle “former child star”, Jackie Evancho.
Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...From fish and chip shop-induced trauma to programmes packed with relentless death and gore, here are the television moments that had you reaching for the remote
‘Just too horrifying’
There are two specific scenes that have forced me to stop watching a show or movie, both involving infants. One is the final scene from the fourth series of Dexter, where he finds his wife’s murdered body in the bathtub and their young son sitting in a pool of his mother’s blood. As a parent, this scene was just too horrifying for me to contemplate. Cushla, 52, Dunedin, New Zealand
Whether you’re chasing folding treadmills or gym quality on a budget, our top-rated running machines will accelerate your training
• The best running shoes to take you from trail to road to marathon, tried and tested by runners
Although the treadmill has been around since the early 1800s, when it was once used to punish prisoners (sounds about right), it didn’t become a common feature in the home until the late 1960s, when William Staub unleashed his PaceMaster 600 on the US public.
Where they were once a simple rolling deck, treadmills today are often glossy pieces of interactive tech. Many now offer on-demand, real-time workouts (pioneered by Peloton) and the latest blockbuster movies via streaming services. Even if your treadmill doesn’t sport a whopping touchscreen display, it probably works nicely with heart-rate monitors, smartwatches and smartphone apps to track workouts and offer performance statistics after every session.
Best treadmill overall:
Peloton Tread
£3,095 at Peloton
Best budget treadmill:
JTX Slimline
£599 at JTX Fitness
Best for gym quality:
JTX Sprint-9 Pro
£1,699 at JTX Fitness
Best folding treadmill:
ProForm Pro 9000
£2,299 at Fitness Superstore
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
High amounts of ‘forever chemicals’ that can be absorbed through skin detected in common brands of wrist bands
Smartwatch and fitness tracker bands can contain high levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that are absorbed through the skin, presenting a potentially “major” exposure to the dangerous substance, new US research finds.
The University of Notre Dame study checked for PFAS, or markers of the chemicals, in 22 common brands. It detected them in 15, and at levels much higher than typically found in consumer goods and clothing.
Continue reading...The British MC has amassed millions of streams for his careworn catalogue, recorded on a prison phone. Now, his new single addresses prisoners’ mental health
In November 2022, one year into an 11-year prison sentence for firearm charges, Birmingham rapper Marnz Malone was hanging out with his friends during “sosh”, or association time, on his wing. One of them, a boxer, was preaching the benefits of fitness training, explaining how he’d improvised an exercise using some equipment he had. Malone noticed the man living in the cell next to him showing a keen interest and asking questions. At the time, he thought little of it.
“We didn’t know that he’d just shown the man how to kill himself,” Malone says on a Skype call. “It traumatised so many of us.”
Continue reading...Whether you’re chasing folding treadmills or gym quality on a budget, our top-rated running machines will accelerate your training
• The best running shoes to take you from trail to road to marathon, tried and tested by runners
Although the treadmill has been around since the early 1800s, when it was once used to punish prisoners (sounds about right), it didn’t become a common feature in the home until the late 1960s, when William Staub unleashed his PaceMaster 600 on the US public.
Where they were once a simple rolling deck, treadmills today are often glossy pieces of interactive tech. Many now offer on-demand, real-time workouts (pioneered by Peloton) and the latest blockbuster movies via streaming services. Even if your treadmill doesn’t sport a whopping touchscreen display, it probably works nicely with heart-rate monitors, smartwatches and smartphone apps to track workouts and offer performance statistics after every session.
Best treadmill overall:
Peloton Tread
£3,095 at Peloton
Best budget treadmill:
JTX Slimline
£599 at JTX Fitness
Best for gym quality:
JTX Sprint-9 Pro
£1,699 at JTX Fitness
Best folding treadmill:
ProForm Pro 9000
£2,299 at Fitness Superstore
Bundle up and break a sweat with these winter running accessories, from base layers and gloves to waterproof jackets
• The best running shoes to take you from trail to road to marathon
If you’re tempted to stop running in the winter or retreat to the gym, think again. Whether it’s getting out for fresh air and daylight on crisp, blue-sky days, or blowing away the cobwebs in the dark and rain after work, running outdoors can make winter more bearable.
With a few changes to your attire and some nifty accessories, you can stay warm and dry and be safer. You won’t need all of the below – it depends on where you run, how far and what time of day you get out. Everything featured is either unisex or available in women’s and men’s versions.
Continue reading...Combining ideas from therapy with physical activity can bring huge health benefits, say the therapists pioneering a holistic approach
A paradox at the heart of current thinking on health is that we’re all aware, perhaps agonisingly so, that exercise is good for us and can be especially beneficial to mental health. As the number of people presenting to their doctors with mood disorders continues to climb, more GPs are urging us to exercise more. It has even been available on the NHS as treatment for mild mental health issues since 2019. But for many people, doing more exercise remains a hard ask.
We all know we should do more exercise and arguments for its benefits hardly need repeating: improved blood pressure, better sleep, strength, mobility, confidence, mood and posture, perhaps even a better reflection when we look in the mirror.
Continue reading...This week: what we learned testing toothbrushes, fitness kit worth the investment, and slow cookers for warming winter feasts
• Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
When the Filter asked me to write a roundup of the best electric toothbrushes, I didn’t see any reason not to. After all, I’ve been reviewing battery-powered gadgets for more than a decade, and I have all 32 teeth and a comfortable toothpaste budget, which makes me as qualified as anybody else.
Or does it? Actually, in the absence of professional toothbrushing leagues*, how would I know if I’m an expert in the art of oral hygiene or not? Conventional (and, as it turns out, likely bogus) wisdom suggests that anyone can become an expert in anything with 10,000 hours of practice.
The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and tested, from Ninja to Nutribullet
14 of the best men’s boots for winter, from Chelsea to brogues to western
The best slow cookers for effortless homemade meals, tried and tested
Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...Outgoing president signs executive order to tackle US vulnerabilities after attacks that have cost country billions
The Biden administration is making a final push to fortify America’s cyber defenses against mounting threats from China and Russia, issuing a sweeping cybersecurity executive order just days before leaving office that aims to tackle vulnerabilities from outer space to consumer electronics.
The wide-ranging directive is likely to be the administration’s last big policy push before handing the keys over to Donald Trump, who heads to the White House next week and inherits a new world of cyber attacks that have cost the nation billions of dollars and punctured government offices.
Continue reading...Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal on almost entirely the same terms as a proposal that fell apart in the summer.
The post A Deal Too Late: Israel Agrees to the Ceasefire It Rejected Months Ago, Thousands More Died appeared first on The Intercept.
In their confirmation hearings, John Ratcliffe, Pam Bondi, and Tulsi Gabbard gave government mass surveillance two thumbs up.
The post Trump Decried This Law as a Deep State Spy Weapon. His Nominees Sure Seem to Love It. appeared first on The Intercept.
Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’
Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.
US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that involved hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.
Continue reading...The president defended his record on Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan but foreign policy successes have been few
On paper, few US presidents could boast the foreign policy bona fides of Joe Biden, a veteran statesman with nearly a half-century of experience before he even stepped into office.
But as his term comes to an end, critics have said that the president will leave a legacy of cautious and underpowered diplomacy, as even allies have conceded that the administration is still grasping for a cornerstone foreign policy success.
Continue reading...These high priests of globalisation are facing the fact that Trump’s tariffs are part of a global shift to protectionism
Hollywood would struggle to come up with a better plot. On Monday, as Donald Trump returns to the White House, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual talk fest kicks off in Davos. The arch protectionist v the spiritual home of globalisation. The man who says “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” being sworn in for a second term just as the high priests of free trade assemble 5,000ft up in the Swiss Alps.
The Davos elite have a love-hate relationship with Trump: they despise him, but when he showed up at the WEF as president he was the hottest ticket in town. This year, the billionaires will have to make do with a video link appearance, but even from the other side of the Atlantic, Trump will dominate events. That’s not surprising. Most of the WEF attenders have grown up believing that trade barriers should be torn down, not erected. As such, they see Trump’s support for protectionism as a dangerous heresy.
Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Trade secretary says UK’s ‘globally oriented’ economy means it is vulnerable – but it is better positioned than China and EU
The UK government is worried a “tariff war” between the US and other countries could lead to higher inflation and unemployment, the trade secretary has said.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, warned the UK was particularly vulnerable to the impact of US tariffs because it was a “very globally oriented economy” reliant on international trade and investment.
Continue reading...Thinktank’s report details decline in trading position and also calls for new strategy as Trump takes power in US
A slump in trade with the EU should spur ministers to negotiate a fundamental rewrite of post-Brexit rules to more closely align the UK with Brussels, a leading left-of-centre thinktank has said.
Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House next week should also encourage the government to get on the front foot in trade agreement talks with the US to support the growth of UK exports, said the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Continue reading...Conservatives have been caught admitting that age-verification laws are pretext to shut down pornography entirely.
The post SCOTUS Won’t Hear the Real Reason Porn Age-Verification Laws Are Spreading appeared first on The Intercept.
And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Does This Trump Crypto Appointee Even Have Crypto Experience? Yes, With a Trump-Themed Meme Coin. appeared first on The Intercept.
Responses range from conciliation to retaliation, including cutting off electricity and halting the purchase of US liquor
Canada’s provincial premiers are sharply divided on how to prepare for US trade tariffs, less than a week before Donald Trump takes office with a threat to dramatically reshape the relationship between the two countries.
Canadian officials have sought to defuse the crisis with personal appeals to the president-elect, multimillion-dollar advertising sprees and targeted threats, but the country remains gripped by uncertainty over how Trump’s tariffs might take effect. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the incoming US administration is weighing hiking tariffs by 2%-5% a month to avoid spiking inflation.
Continue reading...Final sign-off for ceasefire deal delayed after Benjamin Netanyahu accuses Hamas of ‘reneging’ on parts of agreement
Key mediator Qatar said that 33 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would be released in the first stage of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the war in the Palestinian territory.
Israel earlier said it would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first stage of a Gaza truce agreement, Israeli and Palestinian sources reported Tuesday.
Continue reading...Defense secretary nominee is incompetent and seems to have no redeeming qualities – but his appointment looks assured
In some ways, the secretary of Defense nomination of Pete Hegseth was always meant as a domination exercise, a way of making Senate Republicans humiliate themselves for Donald Trump’s approval.
Hegseth has white supremacist tattoos and what is reportedly a pretty severe drinking problem: one friend told the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer that they once saw him order three gin and tonics at a breakfast meeting. In 2017, a woman went to the emergency room – and then the police – after what she said was a rape by Hegseth; he later paid a settlement and had her sign an nondisclosure agreement. (Hegseth claims the encounter, which took place while he was married to his second wife and had just had a child with the woman who would become his third, was consensual and denies all wrongdoing.) He wrote a book, The War on Warriors, which seems to consist mainly of his gripes about the presence of women in combat roles and his objections to the fact that American service members are required by abide by the Geneva conventions.
Continue reading...With vaccine sceptic as Trump pick to lead US health policy, parents and advocates anticipate devastating changes
A political battle over school-based Covid protocols in early 2021 quickly turned personal for one Colorado family, whose son’s cystic fibrosis – a life-threatening genetic disease affecting the lungs and other vital organs – made him susceptible to complications from the virus.
Kate Gould said the classroom became a dangerous place for her son after hardline conservatives took over the Douglas county school board and the district removed masking requirements.
Continue reading...President-elect ‘has warm spot’ for platform and wants political solution to ‘preserve app but protect data’
Donald Trump is considering suspending a TikTok ban in the US with an executive order when he enters the White House on 20 January, according to a report.
The president-elect is exploring an executive order that would postpone enforcement of a sale-or-ban law due to come into force on 19 January, said the Washington Post. The report added, however, that Trump’s legal grounds for suspending a law passed by Congress are questionable.
Continue reading...In a fascinating new book, the forgotten tale of Richard Pavlick, who tried to kill JFK in 1960, is brought to light
“Everybody’s got the right / To their dreams,” goes the lyric in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Assassins, sung by a chorus line made up of men and women who have tried, with or without success, to kill the president of the United States.
The infamous group includes John Wilkes Booth, Charles J Guiteau and John Hinckley Jr. An updated version might add Thomas Crooks and Ryan Routh for allegedly trying to assassinate Donald Trump last year. But there is no place for Richard Pavlick, the would-be killer of John F Kennedy you probably never heard of.
Continue reading...Netanyahu, with Trump waiting in the wings, has no interest in lasting peace. From these beginnings must come political change – and a reckoning
At last! The yearned-for Israel-Hamas ceasefire-for-hostages deal is finally happening. It is welcome. Like thin ice covering deep waters, it is scarily fragile, prone to crack under the slightest pressure. And it is desperately, lethally overdue. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, and many Israelis, have died since last May, when the US president, Joe Biden, first set out the parameters of this agreement. Civilians are still being killed in Israeli airstrikes that have actually intensified since the two sides grudgingly initialled the deal in Qatar.
Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere are naturally relieved that these merciless Israeli bombardments will soon stop. But celebrations are tempered by fears about the future, and by deep grief and anger over the still terrifying present and immediate past. According to Gaza health ministry figures, more than 46,000 people have died there since the 7 October 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks killed over 1,200 people. The true Palestinian death toll may be even higher.
Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator
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Continue reading...Despite a few more recognisable names (er, Kid Rock) due to appear than last time, this will not be the cultural event of the year
In the quaintly upsetting era of George W Bush’s presidency, there was something people liked to pompously call the “cultural opposition”. This was made up of figures in popular culture pushing back against Bush, and 20 years later it may be imagined their spiritual heirs are limbering up for equivalent duties. The first formal opportunity falls next week with Donald Trump’s inauguration and, just as leaders in the tech and business worlds have failed spectacularly to rally against him, so a sense prevails that among certain artists and influencers there has been a gentle softening of spines too.
This is a general observation and also one located in the figure of Carrie Underwood, the country star scheduled to sing the national anthem in Trump’s honour on Monday. Underwood, a 41-year-old who came to prominence via the fourth season of American Idol, may seem a slim figure on whom to hang observations about the waning of cultural opposition towards Trump. There persists a feeling, however, that in 2016, no singer-songwriter of Underwood’s prominence would have offered her services to the Trump administration. Back then, when Trump’s election struck many in the US and around the world with the force of an out-of-body experience, the best the inauguration committee could come up with was another talent-show graduate and holder of the unfortunate mantle “former child star”, Jackie Evancho.
Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Joe Biden said his team negotiated the deal, but Donald Trump said it was agreed only because he is the incoming US president
The question yelled at Joe Biden by a reporter was unapologetically blunt: “Who do you think deserves credit for this Mr. President: you or [Donald] Trump?”
Biden had just finished announcing what he presented as his signature foreign policy achievement – a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the bloody war in Gaza that has left 46,000 Palestinians and 1,700 Israelis dead. He wasn’t in the mood for that debate.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/BlitzOrion [link] [comments] |
Deal to pause 15-month war expected to be officially accepted by Israel after cabinet meeting
Hamas and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire deal, pausing the war in Gaza and designed to broker an end to the brutal 15-month conflict, the mediator Qatar has said. The agreement is set to be officially accepted by Israel after a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The announcement on Wednesday night from Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, was made after weeks of negotiations in the Qatari capital, Doha. There were intensified efforts in recent days to hammer out the final details after increased pressure on Israel to reach a deal from the US president-elect, Donald Trump, which Sheikh Mohammed acknowledged in a media conference.
Continue reading...The president did not air grievances or dwell on the past, but sounded an alarm call about the future under Trump
There was a sting in the tail. Joe Biden’s farewell address had not seemed like a must-watch for most politics-weary Americans. Those who did dutifully tune in might have been expecting the president to deliver a yawn-inducing first draft of his White House memoir.
But after more than half a century in elected office, the 82-year-old great-grandfather had one last surprise. The primetime speech did not mention Donald Trump by name. Instead it will be remembered for its dark, ominous warning about something wider and deeper of which Trump is a symptom.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/cmaia1503 [link] [comments] |
President sounds alarm about growing power of ultra-wealthy before handing presidency back to Trump
Joe Biden’s final address to the nation struck an ominous tone after warning of the growing power of America’s ultra-wealthy, and cautioning that an emerging oligarchy threatens the foundations of US democracy.
The Wednesday prime-time Oval Office speech came as Biden prepares to hand the presidency back to Donald Trump, who he defeated in 2020 only to see return to power after Biden’s own dramatic exit from politics last summer.
Continue reading...The sacrifice has been so great, the misery so complete, that few can claim with certainty that this was all worthwhile
There may be no winners in war, but history suggests combatants are often eager to convince the world otherwise.
The ending of the 15-month conflict in Gaza may prove an exception. The sacrifice has been so great, the misery so complete, and the ultimate future for Gaza so uncertain that few can claim with certainty that this was all worthwhile, or likely to benefit Israel’s security in the long term. The damage to Israel’s reputation may last decades.
Continue reading...Ed Miliband says funding pledge means Britain within ‘grasping distance’ of ‘secure, clean, unlimited energy’
The UK government has promised a record £410m investment in nuclear fusion which could help construct a world-leading fusion power project on the site of an old coal plant in Nottinghamshire.
Ministers hope the funding, which will be made available for the coming financial year, will support the rapid development of the UK fusion energy sector and deliver “a future powered by limitless clean energy”.
Continue reading...During his Senate confirmation hearing, Russell Vought downplayed Trump’s moves to strip protections from civil service employees.
The post White House Budget Office Nominee Tries to Whitewash Trump’s First Term appeared first on The Intercept.
 | submitted by /u/abrownn [link] [comments] |
As officials report that a deal has been agreed, a precarious pause in hostilities and the release of hostages could only be welcomed
Hope has rarely felt so fragile, or so inadequate. A moment long sought and prayed for will nonetheless be met with fear and apprehension as well as joy by Palestinians in the wasteland that is Gaza and among the traumatised families of Israeli hostages.
After more than 15 months of war, which has left tens of thousands dead and almost 2 million struggling to survive, the US and Qatar announced that a ceasefire and hostage-release deal has been reached. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said there were still “unresolved clauses”, though his cabinet was expected to vote on it on Thursday morning. They should back it. The broad outlines of this agreement have long been clear. The cost of the delay is unbearable. Since it was first mooted, thousands more Palestinians and an unknown number of Israeli hostages taken in the Hamas raids of 7 October 2023 have been killed. Last week, research in the Lancet medical journal suggested that the death toll recorded by Gazan health officials was 40% too low, with an estimated 64,260 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces by last June.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/DomesticErrorist22 [link] [comments] |
Future of Diego Garcia military base should be considered before handover to Mauritius signed off, No 10 says
The UK government will not sign off a deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius until Donald Trump’s administration has had a chance to consider the future of the joint military base, Downing Street has confirmed.
Allies of the US president-elect have been critical of the deal because of the implications for the strategically important Diego Garcia base, with concerns that it could bolster Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean.
Continue reading...Deal negotiated through Catholic church will involve ‘gradual’ release of 553 political prisoners, says Havana
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal the country’s communist government said would involve the “gradual” release of 553 political prisoners.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
Continue reading...The Laken Riley Act authorizes state attorneys general to sue federal authorities to force deportations and block visas.
The post Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
Gunfire erupts near presidential palace before Starmer and Zelenskyy are due to hold press conference
Starmer hails ‘closer than ever’ partnership with Ukraine on visit
City officials say there have been no casualties after the reported Russian drone attack on Kyiv, but say a car was damaged by falling debris in one of the districts.
As we have previously mentioned, Starmer is in Kyiv to sign a so-called “100-year partnership” treaty between Britain and Ukraine (see more details of what is in the agreement here). The UK, one of Ukraine’s biggest military supporters, has committed £12.8bn in military and civilian aid to Kyiv over the war and has trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops. Starmer is to announce another £40m for Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery.
Continue reading...Aircraft – possibly a Russian decoy – seen above presidential palace where UK PM is meeting Ukrainian president
Anti-aircraft fire has erupted in Kyiv as Keir Starmer held talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the UK prime minister’s first official trip to Ukraine since taking office.
The presidential palace, where the two leaders are due to hold a press conference on Thursday, echoed with loud booms as Ukrainian air defences tried to shoot down a drone.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Tusk reach agreement on massacre of up to 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists
Poland has hailed a breakthrough in a painful historical dispute with Ukraine, after it said its neighbour had agreed to allow exhumations of Polish citizens massacred by Ukrainian nationalists in the second world war.
Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in the EU, offering military and diplomatic support, but for years ties have been strained over a historical atrocity – the massacre of as many as 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists between 1943 and 1945.
Continue reading...If Moscow’s forces manage to take all of Donetsk oblast it would be a symbolic moment for Putin – and Kyiv
In an underground command post in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian soldier peered at a map. Russian positions were marked in red. A year ago enemy troops were at least 35 miles (60km) away from the administrative border between Donetsk oblast and the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Now they were on the doorstep: a mere 5 miles away.
“The situation is pretty bad,” Valerii – call-sign “Oves” – admitted, sitting in front of a bank of screens showing live footage from the battlefield. Reconnaissance drones zoomed in on Russian positions under a snowy tree-line. “If a mouse moves, we can see it,” he said. His brigade, the 110th, spent a year and a half defending the eastern city of Avdiivka. It fell in February 2024 after a long and brutal siege.
Continue reading...Impeached president questioned over martial law declaration last month after standoff at his residence
South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was arrested and questioned for hours over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, handing himself in after an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
His detention on Wednesday makes him the first sitting president in the country’s history to be arrested.
Continue reading...Exclusive: US companies are increasingly shipping toxic waste to other countries, where some argue it poses a risk
US companies ship more than 1m tons of hazardous waste to other countries each year, raising questions over possible impacts on health and the environment, an investigation by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab has found.
Exports of toxic waste, most of which is shipped to Mexico and Canada, have climbed 17% since 2018, US records show. And while sending it away for recycling and disposal is legal, some experts are concerned that more and more of America’s most dangerous discards are leaving the country.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: With reports of a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations, a look at what the detail includes – and what its obstacles are
Good morning. After months of false starts, Israel and Hamas are close to agreeing a ceasefire that would involve the release of hostages and a major influx of aid into Gaza. Last night, both sides appeared to have accepted the outlines of a deal, with Reuters reporting that once Israel delivers maps showing how its forces will withdraw from Gaza, Hamas will give its response.
“It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said yesterday. “But, right now, as we sit here, we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”
Economy | UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after a week of turbulence in financial markets. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November.
UK politics | Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after accepting the furore over her close ties to her aunt, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh now accused of corruption, had become a distraction. An investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing but said a lack of records meant that it was not possible “to obtain comprehensive comfort” over properties linked to Sheikh Hasina.
South Korea | South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
Health | Doctors are proposing a “radical overhaul” of how obesity is diagnosed worldwide amid concerns that a reliance on body mass index may be causing millions of people to be misdiagnosed. Relying only on BMI is “ineffective” because it is not a direct measure of fat and does not provide information about a person’s health, a report by the Lancet commission said.
Comedy | The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 after a heart attack, his partner has announced. Slattery was known for his improvisations on the popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as well as his appearances on Just a Minute and Have I Got News for You.
Continue reading...First of five hearings into martial law declaration lasts only minutes, while Yoon Suk Yeol remains holed up inside his presidential compound
The first hearing in the impeachment trial of South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, ended after just a few minutes on Tuesday as Yoon failed to appear at the constitutional court.
The court’s justices have about five months to decide whether to strip Yoon of his presidential duties over his short-lived declaration of martial law on 3 December or return him to office.
Continue reading...The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.
The post The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers appeared first on The Intercept.
A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Slowed down by a sore back, swirling wind and a supremely talented ball-striker who robbed her of rhythm, all Emma Raducanu could do was fight with all the energy, intelligence and conviction she could rouse as her presence at the Australian Open hung in the balance. Across two testing, uncomfortable hours, Raducanu scrapped, counterpunched and chased down every last ball, her significant efforts yielding a brilliant win as Raducanu out-hustled Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5 to reach round three at Melbourne Park.
“I thought I played really well in some big moments in that match,” said Raducanu. “I thought it was going to be a really challenging one, playing Amanda. She’s obviously a good friend of mine, so it’s never easy. I feel like that adds another dimension to the match, but yeah, I’m happy I stuck with her in the second set and came through and found a way.”
Continue reading...More than 170,000 people go missing in the UK each year – and Holm was one of them. She was adored by her family, who say she was let down again and again by the state, the police and the media
Fiona Holm loved people. “She’d be talking to everyone,” her daughter Savannah says, laughing about what would happen when her mum came on to the ward where she gets her sickle cell treatment. “I’ll tell her, ‘Can you sit down next to me?’ And she’ll be like, ‘All right, I’m just going to go speak to my mate.’ And I’m like, ‘Who is your mate? You don’t know no one in here!’ She’d be asking everyone, ‘Are you OK, are you warm? Your eyes are really yellow – have you been taking your medicine?’”
There’s a pause. Savannah is clearly wishing she could have her mum back on the ward with her. She is supposed to go to the hospital every three months for her treatment. But since Fiona went missing a year and a half ago, she’s barely been able to muster up the energy to go. Her health is suffering.
Continue reading...The UK’s road, rail and other vital networks are threatened by global warming, warns Dr Janet Young
Your article sets out the stark picture we’re dealing with (Hottest year on record sent planet past 1.5C of heating for first time in 2024, 10 January). Climate change is causing more extreme weather, and if we don’t speed up our global transition to clean energy, it will only get worse.
Making societies more resilient is mentioned, briefly. This is a topic that should be given much more prominence. Despite warnings from the Climate Change Committee and the United Nations, rising temperatures, and more extreme weather events all over the world, we have yet to take decisive action to adapt the UK’s infrastructure.
Continue reading...Alfred Bourgeois’s daughter is convinced of his innocence. In the four years since his execution, she has waged a sometimes-lonely battle to prove it.
The post She Lost Her Dad to Trump’s Killing Spree. Now She Wants Biden to Clear His Name. appeared first on The Intercept.
Public defenders and legal professionals said they never see the leniency offered to Trump given to other defendants.
The post A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Only Trump Gets Convicted of 34 Felonies and Receives No Punishment appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
In a speech to Israel’s parliament, Jonathan Greenblatt admits the ADL’s battle against antisemitism is losing — but blows it on what to do.
The post ADL Chief Invokes Pager Attack as Inspiration for Taking on Internet Trolls appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
From the Washington Post:
The sanctions target Beijing Integrity Technology Group, which U.S. officials say employed workers responsible for the Flax Typhoon attacks which compromised devices including routers and internet-enabled cameras to infiltrate government and industrial targets in the United States, Taiwan, Europe and elsewhere.
For the first group of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve, two intensive months of Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) have come to a close. During this initial training phase, members of the ESA Astronaut Reserve Sara García Alonso from Spain, Andrea Patassa from Italy, Arnaud Prost from France, Amelie Schoenenwald from Germany, and Aleš Svoboda from Czechia were introduced to essential skills required for future space exploration and scientific research.
The Laken Riley Act authorizes state attorneys general to sue federal authorities to force deportations and block visas.
The post Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been caught admitting that age-verification laws are pretext to shut down pornography entirely.
The post SCOTUS Won’t Hear the Real Reason Porn Age-Verification Laws Are Spreading appeared first on The Intercept.
Defense secretary nominee is incompetent and seems to have no redeeming qualities – but his appointment looks assured
In some ways, the secretary of Defense nomination of Pete Hegseth was always meant as a domination exercise, a way of making Senate Republicans humiliate themselves for Donald Trump’s approval.
Hegseth has white supremacist tattoos and what is reportedly a pretty severe drinking problem: one friend told the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer that they once saw him order three gin and tonics at a breakfast meeting. In 2017, a woman went to the emergency room – and then the police – after what she said was a rape by Hegseth; he later paid a settlement and had her sign an nondisclosure agreement. (Hegseth claims the encounter, which took place while he was married to his second wife and had just had a child with the woman who would become his third, was consensual and denies all wrongdoing.) He wrote a book, The War on Warriors, which seems to consist mainly of his gripes about the presence of women in combat roles and his objections to the fact that American service members are required by abide by the Geneva conventions.
Continue reading...President-elect ‘has warm spot’ for platform and wants political solution to ‘preserve app but protect data’
Donald Trump is considering suspending a TikTok ban in the US with an executive order when he enters the White House on 20 January, according to a report.
The president-elect is exploring an executive order that would postpone enforcement of a sale-or-ban law due to come into force on 19 January, said the Washington Post. The report added, however, that Trump’s legal grounds for suspending a law passed by Congress are questionable.
Continue reading...| | submitted by /u/BlitzOrion [link] [comments] |
Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal on almost entirely the same terms as a proposal that fell apart in the summer.
The post A Deal Too Late: Israel Agrees to the Ceasefire It Rejected Months Ago, Thousands More Died appeared first on The Intercept.
In their confirmation hearings, John Ratcliffe, Pam Bondi, and Tulsi Gabbard gave government mass surveillance two thumbs up.
The post Trump Decried This Law as a Deep State Spy Weapon. His Nominees Sure Seem to Love It. appeared first on The Intercept.
And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Does This Trump Crypto Appointee Even Have Crypto Experience? Yes, With a Trump-Themed Meme Coin. appeared first on The Intercept.
Deal negotiated through Catholic church will involve ‘gradual’ release of 553 political prisoners, says Havana
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal the country’s communist government said would involve the “gradual” release of 553 political prisoners.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
Continue reading...Public defenders and legal professionals said they never see the leniency offered to Trump given to other defendants.
The post A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Only Trump Gets Convicted of 34 Felonies and Receives No Punishment appeared first on The Intercept.
The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.
The post The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers appeared first on The Intercept.
Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Does This Trump Crypto Appointee Even Have Crypto Experience? Yes, With a Trump-Themed Meme Coin. appeared first on The Intercept.
A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
Levels of PFAS chemicals found in sludge destined for British land would not be considered safe for allotments
Sewage sludge spread on farmland is contaminating soils, water and potentially the food chain with “forever chemicals”, and whistleblowers from the Environment Agency say the systems in place to prevent such pollution are “not fit for purpose”.
Watershed Investigations and the Guardian obtained samples of treated sewage sludge destined to be spread on land from five different catchments, and found levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) forever chemicals that would not be considered safe on allotments, as well as levels of flame-retardant chemicals described by experts as “exceptionally high”.
Continue reading...Why are your favourite products getting smaller but costing the same? From toilet paper rolls to snacks, shrinkflation is the sneaky tactic is affecting many things we buy.
In this video, Neelam Tailor looks into how companies hide shrinkflation and what you can do about it.
After a holiday season where festive treats like Cadbury’s Christmas selection boxes shrank while prices stayed the same, shrinkflation continues to impact shoppers in 2025. Start the year informed and learn how to spot these subtle changes to protect your budget.
Continue reading...Police operation to stamp out illegal mining by blocking food supplies has turned to tragedy as relatives wait for loved ones to be rescued
Almost three days into a South African government operation in which 78 bodies and 218 miners had been pulled out of an illegal goldmine, Zinzi Tom still had no news of her brother, Ayanda.
“I’m not coping, but I need to be strong. I need to put my feelings aside, I will deal with them after,” said Tom, 31, who has become a de-facto leader for relatives of the trapped miners. “I can’t lose hope. It’s something that I just can’t do.”
Continue reading...RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, rockets to top of US app stores, along with ByteDance’s Lemon8
New users have piled in to the Chinese social media app RedNote just days before a proposed US ban on the popular social media app TikTok, as the lesser-known company rushes to capitalize on the sudden influx while walking a delicate line of moderating English-language content.
In a live chat dubbed “TikTok Refugees” on RedNote on Monday, more than 50,000 US and Chinese users joined the room. Veteran Chinese users, with some sense of bewilderment, welcomed their American counterparts and swapped notes with them on topics such as food and youth unemployment. Occasionally, however, the Americans veered into riskier territory.
Continue reading...Thirty-six bodies brought to surface amid claims 109 are dead and between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped
Thirty-six bodies have been brought out of an illegal goldmine in South Africa and 82 people have been taken out alive since Monday, after police blocked supplies of food, water and medicine to the workers underground in October in an attempt to force them out.
On Thursday, a letter brought up to the surface claimed there were 109 dead bodies underground. A video circulated by the NGO Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) appeared to show more than 50 wrapped bodies laid out in a tunnel.
Continue reading...Phone video shared by mining NGO appears to show dozens of wrapped bodies in underground tunnel
The South African government has launched a mission to bring to the surface potentially hundreds of people in an illegal mine who last year had supplies of food, water and medicine blocked by police in an attempt to force them out.
The government agreed to the attempt on Friday after the sister of one of those underground initiated a court case in response to letters from miners brought to the surface on Thursday.
Continue reading...This week: what we learned testing toothbrushes, fitness kit worth the investment, and slow cookers for warming winter feasts
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When the Filter asked me to write a roundup of the best electric toothbrushes, I didn’t see any reason not to. After all, I’ve been reviewing battery-powered gadgets for more than a decade, and I have all 32 teeth and a comfortable toothpaste budget, which makes me as qualified as anybody else.
Or does it? Actually, in the absence of professional toothbrushing leagues*, how would I know if I’m an expert in the art of oral hygiene or not? Conventional (and, as it turns out, likely bogus) wisdom suggests that anyone can become an expert in anything with 10,000 hours of practice.
The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and tested, from Ninja to Nutribullet
14 of the best men’s boots for winter, from Chelsea to brogues to western
The best slow cookers for effortless homemade meals, tried and tested
Continue reading...A year in Palestine, living in fear of not just genocide — but AIDS.
The post Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
From Whole Earth and Meridian to supermarket staples, which is the best crunchy peanut butter, and how much do you really need to spend on it?
I came late to the peanut butter party, and my mum remains convinced that it’s extremely unhealthy stuff, which, to be fair to her, is probably true of the sugary versions of my childhood. In the past few years, however, peanut butter has gone back to its health-food roots. It is now championed for its protein and monounsaturated fat content, as brands stripped of their sweeteners and emulsifiers have occupied the premium end of the market. Given that these new-wave natural peanut butters tend to contain nothing but peanuts – give or take the odd pinch of salt – the difference between supermarket own-label and luxury jars tends to be slight. The biggest variations are largely in the sourcing and quality of the peanuts themselves.
This means that peanut butter is a handy thing to have in the cupboard at all times. Personally, I prefer a loose, crunchy consistency; for all the claims about sustainable palm oil, there’s simply no need for it in peanut butter, which, like tahini, separates naturally over time and is just as easily stirred back together. To slow the separation, simply beat the oil back in, then store the jar upside down in the fridge – assuming it lasts that long.
Continue reading...A job listing for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show offers $12 per hour — part of a long pattern of host-city residents getting the short shrift.
The post Everyone’s Making Millions But the Super Bowl Haltime Show Wants to Hire New Orleans Locals for $12 an Hour appeared first on The Intercept.
Hi Reddit! We’re a team of tech journalists from MIT Technology Review, excited to answer all of your questions about emerging tech in 2025 and beyond.
We are:
We just published our annual list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Every year, our reporters and editors look for promising technologies poised to have a real impact on the world. We consider dozens of advances across the fields of AI, biotech, computing, and climate. We can’t see the future, but we expect these ten breakthroughs to affect our world in a big way, for decades to come.
Here are the ten items on this year’s list:
Ask us anything! (We’ll be here responding to your questions this Friday, January 10 at 12 p.m. EST, but feel free to get 'em in early.) Proof pics here.
A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas
Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.
Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email.
Continue reading...Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
Continue reading... |
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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The Laken Riley Act authorizes state attorneys general to sue federal authorities to force deportations and block visas.
The post Congress Considers Putting Ken Paxton in Charge of Choosing Who to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
And, when he ran for Congress, trust fund kid Bo Hines got half a million in support from FTX crypto fraudsters.
The post Does This Trump Crypto Appointee Even Have Crypto Experience? Yes, With a Trump-Themed Meme Coin. appeared first on The Intercept.
In their confirmation hearings, John Ratcliffe, Pam Bondi, and Tulsi Gabbard gave government mass surveillance two thumbs up.
The post Trump Decried This Law as a Deep State Spy Weapon. His Nominees Sure Seem to Love It. appeared first on The Intercept.
Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal on almost entirely the same terms as a proposal that fell apart in the summer.
The post A Deal Too Late: Israel Agrees to the Ceasefire It Rejected Months Ago, Thousands More Died appeared first on The Intercept.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Russell Vought downplayed Trump’s moves to strip protections from civil service employees.
The post White House Budget Office Nominee Tries to Whitewash Trump’s First Term appeared first on The Intercept.
The president did not air grievances or dwell on the past, but sounded an alarm call about the future under Trump
There was a sting in the tail. Joe Biden’s farewell address had not seemed like a must-watch for most politics-weary Americans. Those who did dutifully tune in might have been expecting the president to deliver a yawn-inducing first draft of his White House memoir.
But after more than half a century in elected office, the 82-year-old great-grandfather had one last surprise. The primetime speech did not mention Donald Trump by name. Instead it will be remembered for its dark, ominous warning about something wider and deeper of which Trump is a symptom.
Continue reading...President sounds alarm about growing power of ultra-wealthy before handing presidency back to Trump
Joe Biden’s final address to the nation struck an ominous tone after warning of the growing power of America’s ultra-wealthy, and cautioning that an emerging oligarchy threatens the foundations of US democracy.
The Wednesday prime-time Oval Office speech came as Biden prepares to hand the presidency back to Donald Trump, who he defeated in 2020 only to see return to power after Biden’s own dramatic exit from politics last summer.
Continue reading...Conservatives have been caught admitting that age-verification laws are pretext to shut down pornography entirely.
The post SCOTUS Won’t Hear the Real Reason Porn Age-Verification Laws Are Spreading appeared first on The Intercept.
Opposition leader expected to turn fire on predecessors in speech in which she will try to break with the past
Here are more lines from the “Rebuilding Trust” speech that Kemi Badenoch will deliver later. (See 9.36am.) They came from the extracts sent out by CCHQ in advance. I’ve included some analysis.
Badenoch will argue that politicians of all parties have failed to tell the public the truth about what is happening in the UK. She will say:
Politicians across all parties have not told the truth about this and instead keep prescribing solutions that are actually making things worse.
This problem is broader than one party, one leader, or one period of government. Generations of leaders and entire ranks of senior managers have been trying and failing for a long time. Many have not been honest with the public about the challenges we face. And others have not even been honest with themselves.
She will claim that, unlike Keir Starmer, she is willing to admit her party’s mistakes.
The public will never trust politicians unless we can accept our mistakes.
Labour are making a lot of mistakes. But the difference between me and Keir Starmer is that he doesn’t believe he’s ever made a mistake.
She will identify at least three mistakes made by the last Conservative government. (See 9.36am.)
She will stress that the Conservative party is under “new leadership”.
She will claim that she is committed to telling the truth.
For the next four years and beyond we are going to be telling the British people the truth, even when it’s difficult to hear.
The truth about the mistakes we made
She will say Britain is “getting poorer”.
She will claim that Labour does not have proper plans for what it wants to do.
Labour are having even worse problems than we did, because they announced policy without a plan.
Policies without a plan are not policies … they’re just announcements.
She will criticise Rachel Reeves for being bounced into agreeing policies favoured by Treasury officials that they have been trying to sell to ministers for years.
That’s why Rachel Reeves announced mad and bad ideas on snatching winter fuel and taxing family farms.
Those options were presented to us, time and time again by officials, and we rejected them time and time again because they would hurt so many people for so little benefit.
She will condemn Labour’s plans to reduce some of the freedoms enjoyed by academy schools.
The schools bill going through parliament now has one or two bits on safeguarding that may be good … the rest of it is worse than garbage. It is pure vandalism. The new Labour government will not fix any of the problems we have faced for decades. Because they wasted their time in opposition.
It is right that Mike Amesbury has taken responsibility for his unacceptable actions. He was rightly suspended by the Labour party following the announcement of the police investigation. We cannot comment further whilst legal proceedings are still ongoing.
Continue reading...The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.
The post The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers appeared first on The Intercept.
Jaymey McIvor, Reform UK’s first Essex councillor, was suspended from Conservatives last year amid claims
A Reform UK councillor has been accused of being expelled from the Conservative party last year over allegations he sent an unsolicited picture of his “private parts”.
Jaymey McIvor had been due to stand as a Tory parliamentary candidate in July but was suspended before the election. Sources say he was expelled after an investigation into the allegations.
Continue reading...Defense secretary nominee is incompetent and seems to have no redeeming qualities – but his appointment looks assured
In some ways, the secretary of Defense nomination of Pete Hegseth was always meant as a domination exercise, a way of making Senate Republicans humiliate themselves for Donald Trump’s approval.
Hegseth has white supremacist tattoos and what is reportedly a pretty severe drinking problem: one friend told the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer that they once saw him order three gin and tonics at a breakfast meeting. In 2017, a woman went to the emergency room – and then the police – after what she said was a rape by Hegseth; he later paid a settlement and had her sign an nondisclosure agreement. (Hegseth claims the encounter, which took place while he was married to his second wife and had just had a child with the woman who would become his third, was consensual and denies all wrongdoing.) He wrote a book, The War on Warriors, which seems to consist mainly of his gripes about the presence of women in combat roles and his objections to the fact that American service members are required by abide by the Geneva conventions.
Continue reading...February’s election is shaping up to be one of the most consequential since the second world war
In the German city of Karlsruhe, a police investigation has just been launched into the distribution of 30,000 flyers designed to resemble deportation plane tickets, many of which were placed in the letterboxes of immigrants. Organised by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD), the stunt recalled a similar malicious exercise by the neo-Nazi National Democratic party (NPD) in 2013. The difference is that while the NPD – now renamed the Homeland – is a fringe movement that has never crossed the 5% threshold of votes necessary to enter the Bundestag, the AfD is now running second in polls, at about 21%.
The booming popularity of a xenophobic party officially suspected of anti-constitutional extremism is just the starkest signal of how much is at stake in next month’s snap election in Germany. A national poll in Europe’s largest economy will always be of deep continental significance. But as campaigning begins in earnest, there are grounds beyond the issue of immigration for judging this to be one of the country’s most consequential contests since the second world war.
Continue reading...President-elect ‘has warm spot’ for platform and wants political solution to ‘preserve app but protect data’
Donald Trump is considering suspending a TikTok ban in the US with an executive order when he enters the White House on 20 January, according to a report.
The president-elect is exploring an executive order that would postpone enforcement of a sale-or-ban law due to come into force on 19 January, said the Washington Post. The report added, however, that Trump’s legal grounds for suspending a law passed by Congress are questionable.
Continue reading...Despite a few more recognisable names (er, Kid Rock) due to appear than last time, this will not be the cultural event of the year
In the quaintly upsetting era of George W Bush’s presidency, there was something people liked to pompously call the “cultural opposition”. This was made up of figures in popular culture pushing back against Bush, and 20 years later it may be imagined their spiritual heirs are limbering up for equivalent duties. The first formal opportunity falls next week with Donald Trump’s inauguration and, just as leaders in the tech and business worlds have failed spectacularly to rally against him, so a sense prevails that among certain artists and influencers there has been a gentle softening of spines too.
This is a general observation and also one located in the figure of Carrie Underwood, the country star scheduled to sing the national anthem in Trump’s honour on Monday. Underwood, a 41-year-old who came to prominence via the fourth season of American Idol, may seem a slim figure on whom to hang observations about the waning of cultural opposition towards Trump. There persists a feeling, however, that in 2016, no singer-songwriter of Underwood’s prominence would have offered her services to the Trump administration. Back then, when Trump’s election struck many in the US and around the world with the force of an out-of-body experience, the best the inauguration committee could come up with was another talent-show graduate and holder of the unfortunate mantle “former child star”, Jackie Evancho.
Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Fair Work Commission puts interim pause on approval for industrial action after second day of delays for commuters
New South Wales trains will return to normal scheduling for now after the Fair Work Commission placed an interim pause on its approval for rail unions to undertake industrial action amid a long-running pay dispute with the state government.
The decision came after the NSW premier, Chris Minns, announced on Thursday – after commuters faced havoc for a second day – that the government had made an urgent application to the commission to end the union’s protected industrial actions and move to an arbitrated decision.
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Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Sharma ‘wouldn’t assume’ ceasefire agreement will lead to permanent ceasefire
Senator and former ambassador to Israel David Sharma has been speaking to Sunrise this morning, also reacting to news of a ceasefire deal.
It will importantly lead to the release of [the] hostages, including women, young children and the elderly and sick who have been held in terrible conditions for 15 months, and it will allow more humanitarian assistance to get to the Gazan population which has been suffering through this conflict as well.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...With vaccine sceptic as Trump pick to lead US health policy, parents and advocates anticipate devastating changes
A political battle over school-based Covid protocols in early 2021 quickly turned personal for one Colorado family, whose son’s cystic fibrosis – a life-threatening genetic disease affecting the lungs and other vital organs – made him susceptible to complications from the virus.
Kate Gould said the classroom became a dangerous place for her son after hardline conservatives took over the Douglas county school board and the district removed masking requirements.
Continue reading...Tory leader to condemn predecessors’ Brexit, climate and migration failings amid rising popularity of Reform UK
Kemi Badenoch will attack the Conservative party’s record under Boris Johnson and Theresa May on Brexit, the economy, net zero and immigration in a speech aimed at “rebuilding trust”.
The Tory leader, who is competing with the sharp rise in popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, will “acknowledge the Conservative party made mistakes” under her predecessors.
Continue reading...With A&E departments at breaking point and the NHS on its knees, what is the government doing to repair the health service? Will it be enough? John Harris hears from an emergency medicine doctor about the dire situation on the ground, and speaks to our political correspondent Kiran Stacey about Labour’s plans to put things right
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Continue reading...Political correspondent Kiran Stacey traces the allegations of corruption against Labour MP Tulip Siddiq that caused her to resign from her ministerial role in Keir Starmer’s government
On Tuesday afternoon, Labour’s Tulip Siddiq resigned from her post as City minister.
It was the culmination of weeks and weeks of stories about Siddiq’s finances and family ties. For, as political correspondent Kiran Stacey explains, Siddiq comes from a truly extraordinary political family: her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was the prime minister of Bangladesh for 15 years.
Continue reading...Future of Diego Garcia military base should be considered before handover to Mauritius signed off, No 10 says
The UK government will not sign off a deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius until Donald Trump’s administration has had a chance to consider the future of the joint military base, Downing Street has confirmed.
Allies of the US president-elect have been critical of the deal because of the implications for the strategically important Diego Garcia base, with concerns that it could bolster Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean.
Continue reading...Public defenders and legal professionals said they never see the leniency offered to Trump given to other defendants.
The post A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Only Trump Gets Convicted of 34 Felonies and Receives No Punishment appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservatives have been hyperfixated on TikTok content that’s sympathetic with Gaza — and accused the company of algorithmic bias against Israel.
The post The TikTok Ban Is Also About Hiding Pro-Palestinian Content. Republicans Said So Themselves. appeared first on The Intercept.
The prisons are open, the secret files are unlocked. Now Syrians are trying to figure out how to hold war criminals accountable.
The post Searching for Justice and the Missing in the New Syria appeared first on The Intercept.
Gunfire erupts near presidential palace before Starmer and Zelenskyy are due to hold press conference
Starmer hails ‘closer than ever’ partnership with Ukraine on visit
City officials say there have been no casualties after the reported Russian drone attack on Kyiv, but say a car was damaged by falling debris in one of the districts.
As we have previously mentioned, Starmer is in Kyiv to sign a so-called “100-year partnership” treaty between Britain and Ukraine (see more details of what is in the agreement here). The UK, one of Ukraine’s biggest military supporters, has committed £12.8bn in military and civilian aid to Kyiv over the war and has trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops. Starmer is to announce another £40m for Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery.
Continue reading...‘Rock star central banker’ Carney, expert on economic risks of climate change, unknown by 76% of voters
Mark Carney, the “rock star central banker” who navigated a string of financial crises and became a leading global voice on the economic risks of climate change, has rapidly emerged as a favourite in the race to lead Canada’s Liberal party.
But the steepest challenge for Carney, a fixture at international summits and company boardrooms, may be getting ordinary Canadian voters – even those within his own party – to recognize him.
Continue reading...Aircraft – possibly a Russian decoy – seen above presidential palace where UK PM is meeting Ukrainian president
Anti-aircraft fire has erupted in Kyiv as Keir Starmer held talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the UK prime minister’s first official trip to Ukraine since taking office.
The presidential palace, where the two leaders are due to hold a press conference on Thursday, echoed with loud booms as Ukrainian air defences tried to shoot down a drone.
Continue reading...MP for Runcorn and Helsby faces sentence over incident in Cheshire in October last year
The MP for Runcorn and Helsby, Mike Amesbury, has pleaded guilty to assault.
Appearing at Chester magistrates court, Amesbury, who was suspended by the Labour party after an investigation, admitted the single charge of section 39 assault in relation to an incident after a night out in his constituency.
Continue reading...Unions accuse Reform leader of being ‘on the side of bad bosses, zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire’
Labour and trade unions have criticised an attack by Nigel Farage on a proposed law aimed at protecting workers from sexual harassment – which the Reform UK leader claimed could lead to the end of pub banter.
Farage is among those who have criticised the clause in the employment bill that gives workers protection from third-party harassment. It says employers must take “reasonable steps”, for example to protect bartenders from harassment by customers.
Continue reading...These high priests of globalisation are facing the fact that Trump’s tariffs are part of a global shift to protectionism
Hollywood would struggle to come up with a better plot. On Monday, as Donald Trump returns to the White House, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual talk fest kicks off in Davos. The arch protectionist v the spiritual home of globalisation. The man who says “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” being sworn in for a second term just as the high priests of free trade assemble 5,000ft up in the Swiss Alps.
The Davos elite have a love-hate relationship with Trump: they despise him, but when he showed up at the WEF as president he was the hottest ticket in town. This year, the billionaires will have to make do with a video link appearance, but even from the other side of the Atlantic, Trump will dominate events. That’s not surprising. Most of the WEF attenders have grown up believing that trade barriers should be torn down, not erected. As such, they see Trump’s support for protectionism as a dangerous heresy.
Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...After a tough start to the year, the chancellor’s desire to ‘kickstart growth’ is unlikely to happen quickly
A return to economic growth, better-than-expected inflation figures, and breathing room in the bond markets. After a difficult start to the year for Rachel Reeves, there are at last a handful of positives to cling on to.
For the chancellor, however, she will know talking up a few green shoots of economic recovery would be a dangerous game. The broad story from the economy is it continues to be flat, having eked out modest growth in November after two small monthly falls in output.
Continue reading...In a fascinating new book, the forgotten tale of Richard Pavlick, who tried to kill JFK in 1960, is brought to light
“Everybody’s got the right / To their dreams,” goes the lyric in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Assassins, sung by a chorus line made up of men and women who have tried, with or without success, to kill the president of the United States.
The infamous group includes John Wilkes Booth, Charles J Guiteau and John Hinckley Jr. An updated version might add Thomas Crooks and Ryan Routh for allegedly trying to assassinate Donald Trump last year. But there is no place for Richard Pavlick, the would-be killer of John F Kennedy you probably never heard of.
Continue reading...Trade secretary says UK’s ‘globally oriented’ economy means it is vulnerable – but it is better positioned than China and EU
The UK government is worried a “tariff war” between the US and other countries could lead to higher inflation and unemployment, the trade secretary has said.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, warned the UK was particularly vulnerable to the impact of US tariffs because it was a “very globally oriented economy” reliant on international trade and investment.
Continue reading...Netanyahu, with Trump waiting in the wings, has no interest in lasting peace. From these beginnings must come political change – and a reckoning
At last! The yearned-for Israel-Hamas ceasefire-for-hostages deal is finally happening. It is welcome. Like thin ice covering deep waters, it is scarily fragile, prone to crack under the slightest pressure. And it is desperately, lethally overdue. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, and many Israelis, have died since last May, when the US president, Joe Biden, first set out the parameters of this agreement. Civilians are still being killed in Israeli airstrikes that have actually intensified since the two sides grudgingly initialled the deal in Qatar.
Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere are naturally relieved that these merciless Israeli bombardments will soon stop. But celebrations are tempered by fears about the future, and by deep grief and anger over the still terrifying present and immediate past. According to Gaza health ministry figures, more than 46,000 people have died there since the 7 October 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks killed over 1,200 people. The true Palestinian death toll may be even higher.
Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...This acutely portrayed reckoning with contemporary Indian sociopolitics traces the faultlines of caste, class and religion
Devika Rege’s debut is not a definitive state-of-the-nation novel. Nor can it be characterised as the next “great Indian novel”, although it holds greatness within its pages. This chorus of the collective contains a multitude of ideologies and perspectives.
It is 2014, and the Bharat party – a thinly veiled version of the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP – is newly in power. It was a choice between “the weak governance” of the preceding ruling party, synonymous with decades of corruption, “and fascism”, and India has voted in favour of the rightwing party promising to clean the Ganga river, holy to the Hindu majority.
Continue reading...Growth weaker than City forecasts but government says it’s a ‘step in the right direction’
The UK economy grew by 0.1% in November, reversing a 0.1% drop in the previous month, and easing some of the pressure on embattled chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The rise in activity was weaker than forecast, with Reeves acknowledging it would take time to revive the UK economy.
Continue reading...Making visitors pay more may bolster Treasury revenues, but it’s no match for building more houses
Last October, tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and other big Spanish cities demanding affordable housing. Protesters jingled keys to make noise, held signs denouncing “speculators”, and threatened a “rent strike” while calling for action from national and local politicians. They had good reason to be angry.
Housing has become the most pressing concern for Spaniards, according to a December survey by the national polling centre, ranking higher than unemployment and migration. Look at the statistics and it’s clear why. The cost of renting in cities rose by around 30% between 2015 and 2022, forcing young workers to move to the outskirts of Madrid and Barcelona or settle for tiny, often barely habitable flats. In popular tourist regions like Valencia, Alicante and Málaga, rents have surged by 40%. For workers in the Balearic Islands, a commute by plane every day from Mallorca could be less costly than paying rent on Ibiza.
María Ramírez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain
Continue reading...Joe Biden said his team negotiated the deal, but Donald Trump said it was agreed only because he is the incoming US president
The question yelled at Joe Biden by a reporter was unapologetically blunt: “Who do you think deserves credit for this Mr. President: you or [Donald] Trump?”
Biden had just finished announcing what he presented as his signature foreign policy achievement – a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the bloody war in Gaza that has left 46,000 Palestinians and 1,700 Israelis dead. He wasn’t in the mood for that debate.
Continue reading...Labour’s panicked reaction to turbulence is to promise ‘ruthless’ cuts. It has learned the wrong lessons from Britain’s shortest-lived PM
Britain’s centre of power is stalked by a zombie. Across Westminster, the mere mention of her name summons up a grim past, but she remains ever present: blond bob, eyes that never move and a grin slightly aslant so it expresses not mirth, but faint menace. When least expected, she can bark a laugh that sends shivers up a cabinet minister’s spine. And whenever her shadow looms in SW1, the dread murmur starts: she used to be prime minister, you know.
Liz Truss’s stint at the top of politics ended years ago. Perhaps close confidants and trained medics are yet to break the news, but for her, power is a fading memory, a shrinking image in the rear-view. As the voters of South West Norfolk ensured last July, she is now an ex-politician. Yet in British political culture, she is the great undead. No other prime minister since the Brexit vote so haunts current debates. It’s not just because she never belts up, never stops chuntering about how the Guardian and the BBC must be “fixed”, or siccing her lawyers on Keir Starmer. It’s also because her few days of mayhem at No 10 remains the pre-eminent cautionary tale of our times.
Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...People should not be punished for honest mistakes, says watchdog, amid concern at fare evasion measures
Train firms have been urged by the rail passenger watchdog to give a “yellow card” to people travelling without the correct ticket rather than rush to fines or prosecution.
Transport Focus said a new system was needed to ensure that passengers who had made an honest mistake were not punished unfairly, amid growing concern at measures being taken to tackle fare evasion.
Continue reading...Thinktank’s report details decline in trading position and also calls for new strategy as Trump takes power in US
A slump in trade with the EU should spur ministers to negotiate a fundamental rewrite of post-Brexit rules to more closely align the UK with Brussels, a leading left-of-centre thinktank has said.
Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House next week should also encourage the government to get on the front foot in trade agreement talks with the US to support the growth of UK exports, said the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Continue reading...The sacrifice has been so great, the misery so complete, that few can claim with certainty that this was all worthwhile
There may be no winners in war, but history suggests combatants are often eager to convince the world otherwise.
The ending of the 15-month conflict in Gaza may prove an exception. The sacrifice has been so great, the misery so complete, and the ultimate future for Gaza so uncertain that few can claim with certainty that this was all worthwhile, or likely to benefit Israel’s security in the long term. The damage to Israel’s reputation may last decades.
Continue reading...Patients tell of their anger and embarrassment, while healthcare professionals say they are ‘heartbroken’
John, 42, said he was “quite angry” after spending about 24 hours in a hospital corridor in south-west England, having arrived in A&E on Monday afternoon with chest pain. “It was very clear that the hospital was running beyond capacity.”
At the time of writing, he had moved to a different hospital in the area and was waiting for an angiogram on Wednesday. Messaging from his corridor hospital bed he said: “It’s narrow, cramped and there is zero patient privacy.”
Continue reading...Ed Miliband says funding pledge means Britain within ‘grasping distance’ of ‘secure, clean, unlimited energy’
The UK government has promised a record £410m investment in nuclear fusion which could help construct a world-leading fusion power project on the site of an old coal plant in Nottinghamshire.
Ministers hope the funding, which will be made available for the coming financial year, will support the rapid development of the UK fusion energy sector and deliver “a future powered by limitless clean energy”.
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing says people ‘routinely coming to harm’ with vital equipment not available and staff too busy
Patients are dying in hospital corridors and going undiscovered for hours, while others who suffer heart attacks cannot be given CPR because of overcrowding in walkways, a bombshell report on the state of the NHS has revealed.
So many patients are being cared for in hospital corridors across the UK that in some cases pregnant women are having miscarriages outside wards while other patients are unable to call for help because they have no call bell and are subjected to “animal-like conditions”, said the Royal College of Nursing.
Patients have died on trolleys and chairs in corridors and waiting rooms in settings where “all the fundamentals of care have broken down”.
One nurse had seen “cardiac arrests in the corridor with no crash bell, crash trolley, oxygen, defibrillator … straddling a patient doing CPR while everyone watches on”.
Patients are being given drugs, intravenous infusions and, in one case, a blood transfusion in corridors which are cold, noisy and too cramped to allow them to have loved ones present.
One nurse had to tell a patient he was dying as other patients were wheeled past and orders were shouted across the unit. They said: “How is it fair to tell someone they are dying in a corridor?”
Lack of space means patients also being treated in storerooms, car parks, offices and even toilets.
Continue reading...Emma Reynolds, who replaces Tulip Siddiq, pressed government over foreign influence rules while at lobbyist
No 10 has been accused of having a “revolving door” after it refused to say whether the new Treasury minister Emma Reynolds would recuse herself from policy on China after she lobbied the government on the issue.
Reynolds, who worked as managing director for TheCityUK, a lobby group for banks and other financial services companies, had previously pressed the government to make China exempt from the strictest tier of rules on registration of foreign influence.
Continue reading...The UK’s road, rail and other vital networks are threatened by global warming, warns Dr Janet Young
Your article sets out the stark picture we’re dealing with (Hottest year on record sent planet past 1.5C of heating for first time in 2024, 10 January). Climate change is causing more extreme weather, and if we don’t speed up our global transition to clean energy, it will only get worse.
Making societies more resilient is mentioned, briefly. This is a topic that should be given much more prominence. Despite warnings from the Climate Change Committee and the United Nations, rising temperatures, and more extreme weather events all over the world, we have yet to take decisive action to adapt the UK’s infrastructure.
Continue reading...Yorkshire have put on hold controversial plans to take the 162‑year‑old members’ club into private ownership.
In announcing his intention to demutualise the county last year the chair, Colin Graves, claimed that without “swift and decisive action” Yorkshire “will be fighting for its survival”, but the Guardian has learned that the process has been paused without the club securing the additional external investment it had been seeking.
Continue reading...In an instant, Sam Pordale went from a world of privilege to becoming a refugee in imminent danger. He talks about how he lost everything and began to rebuild his life
On 15 August 2021, 21-year-old Sam Pordale and his father found themselves part of a huge, panicked crowd of people all trying to get to Kabul airport and away from the Taliban militants who, just hours earlier, had taken control of Afghanistan’s capital city.
Between the crowd and the entrance to the airport, Pordale could see a Taliban checkpoint, where heavily armed men were holding lists in their hands and checking people’s documents. Pordale, whose father had until that morning held a high-ranking position in the democratic government, knew that their chances of getting to the airport and on to an evacuation flight were blown.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: With reports of a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations, a look at what the detail includes – and what its obstacles are
Good morning. After months of false starts, Israel and Hamas are close to agreeing a ceasefire that would involve the release of hostages and a major influx of aid into Gaza. Last night, both sides appeared to have accepted the outlines of a deal, with Reuters reporting that once Israel delivers maps showing how its forces will withdraw from Gaza, Hamas will give its response.
“It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said yesterday. “But, right now, as we sit here, we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”
Economy | UK inflation unexpectedly fell in December, handing some breathing space to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after a week of turbulence in financial markets. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index eased to 2.5%, below a reading of 2.6% in November.
UK politics | Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after accepting the furore over her close ties to her aunt, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh now accused of corruption, had become a distraction. An investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing but said a lack of records meant that it was not possible “to obtain comprehensive comfort” over properties linked to Sheikh Hasina.
South Korea | South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
Health | Doctors are proposing a “radical overhaul” of how obesity is diagnosed worldwide amid concerns that a reliance on body mass index may be causing millions of people to be misdiagnosed. Relying only on BMI is “ineffective” because it is not a direct measure of fat and does not provide information about a person’s health, a report by the Lancet commission said.
Comedy | The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 after a heart attack, his partner has announced. Slattery was known for his improvisations on the popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as well as his appearances on Just a Minute and Have I Got News for You.
Continue reading...Law to stop armed groups profiting from trade in gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum is being breached, rights groups say
The European Union has been urged to clamp down on illegal imports of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after evidence was found that current regulations had been breached.
The advocacy group Global Witness (GW) said there remained a “high risk” of the EU’s mineral imports being used to fund militias and state repression in several countries.
Continue reading...MP accused of misusing her position to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt Sheikh Hasina
Authorities in Bangladesh have filed a criminal case against the UK Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, accusing her of misusing her position as an MP to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Siddiq has faced mounting calls to resign over her links to Hasina, who was toppled in August after mass protests across Bangladesh and is facing charges of corruption and crimes against humanity.
Continue reading...Whether it’s banning articles on X or killing fact checks on Meta, the only constant is that it benefits the powerful.
The post My Ban From X Is About One Simple Thing: Elon Musk Controlling the Flow of Information appeared first on The Intercept.
Why are your favourite products getting smaller but costing the same? From toilet paper rolls to snacks, shrinkflation is the sneaky tactic is affecting many things we buy.
In this video, Neelam Tailor looks into how companies hide shrinkflation and what you can do about it.
After a holiday season where festive treats like Cadbury’s Christmas selection boxes shrank while prices stayed the same, shrinkflation continues to impact shoppers in 2025. Start the year informed and learn how to spot these subtle changes to protect your budget.
Continue reading...Eastern NSW, particularly northern rivers, and Gold Coast at high risk for severe thunderstorms and winds on Thursday, BoM forecasts
Persistent rain and strong winds will sweep across New South Wales into the weekend, the Bureau of Meteorology predicts, with Sydney on the “southern cusp” of the stormy weather.
Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said Sydney’s weather could shift from storms to a “dreary” mix of wind, rain and cloud. It would be “persistently windy” and “quite chilly”, he said.
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Continue reading...Police allege woman, 34, filmed girl in ‘immense distress’ and used videos to ‘entice monetary donations and online followers’
A 34-year-old Queensland woman has been arrested and charged after allegedly poisoning a one-year-old girl and posting videos of her in what police describe as “immense distress and pain” to solicit donations and build an online following.
Police laid charges, including torture, against the Sunshine Coast woman on Thursday, on the back of what they said were extensive investigations after concerns were raised by medical staff from a hospital in Brisbane’s south.
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Continue reading...Two arsonists wanted over death of woman who died in suspicious fire in Truganina in city’s west
A tragic case of mistaken identity could be behind a deadly arson attack that claimed the life of a young woman who was house sitting for her brother while he was on his honeymoon.
The 27-year-old was trapped inside a three-storey townhouse at Dover Street in Truganina in Melbourne’s west as it went up in flames about 2.30am on Thursday.
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Continue reading...Critics worry that a sweeping ban based on predictions rather than more concrete proof of TikTok’s security risks sets a precedent in line with repressive regimes.
The post To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment appeared first on The Intercept.
Under Meta’s relaxed hate speech rules, users can now post “I’m a proud racist” or “Black people are more violent than whites.”
The post Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” appeared first on The Intercept.
As the TikTok ban goes up before the Supreme Court on Friday, TikTok creator Pearlmania500, Shawn Musgrave, and Jessica Washington discuss what’s at stake.
The post TikTok SCOTUS Battle appeared first on The Intercept.
Outgoing president signs executive order to tackle US vulnerabilities after attacks that have cost country billions
The Biden administration is making a final push to fortify America’s cyber defenses against mounting threats from China and Russia, issuing a sweeping cybersecurity executive order just days before leaving office that aims to tackle vulnerabilities from outer space to consumer electronics.
The wide-ranging directive is likely to be the administration’s last big policy push before handing the keys over to Donald Trump, who heads to the White House next week and inherits a new world of cyber attacks that have cost the nation billions of dollars and punctured government offices.
Continue reading...Last year was full of unexpected science news, from a new strain of Mpox emerging in the DRC, to artificial intelligence dominating the Nobel prizes and two astronauts getting ‘stuck’ in space. So what will this year bring? Ian Sample and science correspondent Hannah Devlin discuss the big stories likely to hit the headlines and share their predictions for 2025
Clips: France 24, Super Data Science podcast, R. Digital
Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod
Continue reading...We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2022: Despite the rise of headline-grabbing megafires, fewer fires are burning worldwide now than at any time since antiquity. But this isn’t good news – in banishing fire from sight, we have made its dangers stranger and less predictable. By Daniel Immerwahr
Continue reading...The Intercept found dozens of government websites exploited by spammers to redirect to porn. Here’s how this hack happened.
The post Government Sites Across the U.S. Are Awash in Hardcore Porn appeared first on The Intercept.
First of five hearings into martial law declaration lasts only minutes, while Yoon Suk Yeol remains holed up inside his presidential compound
The first hearing in the impeachment trial of South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, ended after just a few minutes on Tuesday as Yoon failed to appear at the constitutional court.
The court’s justices have about five months to decide whether to strip Yoon of his presidential duties over his short-lived declaration of martial law on 3 December or return him to office.
Continue reading...A job listing for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show offers $12 per hour — part of a long pattern of host-city residents getting the short shrift.
The post Everyone’s Making Millions But the Super Bowl Haltime Show Wants to Hire New Orleans Locals for $12 an Hour appeared first on The Intercept.
| | submitted by /u/BlitzOrion [link] [comments] |
Deal negotiated through Catholic church will involve ‘gradual’ release of 553 political prisoners, says Havana
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in a deal the country’s communist government said would involve the “gradual” release of 553 political prisoners.
The deal, which administration officials said was negotiated through the Catholic church, was announced on Tuesday, just five days before Biden exits the White House and Donald Trump is inaugurated as the country’s 47th president.
Continue reading...Alfred Bourgeois’s daughter is convinced of his innocence. In the four years since his execution, she has waged a sometimes-lonely battle to prove it.
The post She Lost Her Dad to Trump’s Killing Spree. Now She Wants Biden to Clear His Name. 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...Office for Environmental Protection calls for urgent action after finding government is falling short on most targets
The window to stop the decline of England’s nature is swiftly closing, the environmental watchdog has said, as its latest report finds that the government is falling short on most of its targets to improve the environment.
Some of Labour’s actions, however, including setting up a water commission and writing a new environmental improvement plan, were praised by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) in its annual review of how the government was meeting the legally binding environment targets.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Report by risk experts says previous assessments ignored severe effects of climate crisis
Global economic growth could plummet by 50% between 2070 and 2090 from the catastrophic shocks of climate change unless immediate action by political leaders is taken to decarbonise and restore nature, according to a new report.
The stark warning from risk management experts the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) hugely increases the estimate of risk to global economic wellbeing from climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, temperature rises and nature breakdown. In a report with scientists at the University of Exeter, published on Thursday, the IFoA, which uses maths and statistics to analyse financial risk for businesses and governments, called for accelerated action by political leaders to tackle the climate crisis.
Continue reading...‘Rock star central banker’ Carney, expert on economic risks of climate change, unknown by 76% of voters
Mark Carney, the “rock star central banker” who navigated a string of financial crises and became a leading global voice on the economic risks of climate change, has rapidly emerged as a favourite in the race to lead Canada’s Liberal party.
But the steepest challenge for Carney, a fixture at international summits and company boardrooms, may be getting ordinary Canadian voters – even those within his own party – to recognize him.
Continue reading...High amounts of ‘forever chemicals’ that can be absorbed through skin detected in common brands of wrist bands
Smartwatch and fitness tracker bands can contain high levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that are absorbed through the skin, presenting a potentially “major” exposure to the dangerous substance, new US research finds.
The University of Notre Dame study checked for PFAS, or markers of the chemicals, in 22 common brands. It detected them in 15, and at levels much higher than typically found in consumer goods and clothing.
Continue reading...Fifty years ago, Icelandic women went on strike, kickstarting a gender revolution. Today, the concept of ‘konur eru konum bestar’ is everywhere – including the female-led coalition government
Walking in steady procession, mittened hand in mittened hand, we descend in our swimsuits into the icy cold North Atlantic Ocean, singing. Usually the women sing an Icelandic song as they enter the waves, but this Saturday, for my benefit, they have chosen to sing You Are My Sunshine first. It’s 11am but the sun is only just rising, the ocean waves lapping and the sky shades of pink and purple. The big black rock in the middle of Reykjavík’s Skarfaklettur beach is dusted in snow. The water is apparently around zero degrees. When we are about waist high, my thighs go numb and the chain of hands breaks up. For a second I feel alone as I start to lose my breath and the others disappear into the water. But then Guðrún Tinna Thorlacius, known as Tinna, arrives to ask if I am OK. She looks at me with such sincerity and care that I cannot help but feel held. We breathe in for a count of three and out for another six, until I am ready to descend to my chest.
Members of the multigenerational ocean dipping group, Glaðari Þú (Happier You), meet several times a week at different spots around the Icelandic capital. I am here because it encapsulates a uniquely Icelandic idea – konur eru konum bestar (women are the best to women) – that has gained popularity in recent years as a guiding principle for how women should treat one another.
The phrase, created by women, is a contemporary inversion of an old saying – konur eru konum verstar (women are the worst to women). The idea is that rather than imitating the patriarchy by behaving in ways that make life worse for other women, they instead choose to uplift and support one another. It feels especially resonant in an age of polarisation and social media-fuelled comparison, where feminism, toxicity and exclusion have a tendency to get mixed up – to the extent that some interpretations of feminism can feel regressive. Could konur eru konum bestar be the Icelandic antidote to toxic “girlboss” culture?
Including Tinna, who co-runs the ocean-dipping sessions, there are 19 of us in today’s group. I attend with Þorgerður Jóhannsdóttir and Helga Gunnarsdóttir, who are ocean-dipping addicts. For four years they have been doing this three or four times a week. This year, they both turn 70. While the group is theoretically unisex, they mostly attract women, with their fun, playful sessions aimed at seeking the natural high that comes with plunging into the cold ocean. The meeting starts with a warmup and group meditation, huddled together in a circle on the beach, and ends with dancing and singing. The middle bit, when we go into the ocean, is short but unforgettable. Some women put their heads underwater, others do a few press-ups afterwards. When we emerge back on to the beach, our movements seem freer, inhibitions lighter and the mood brighter. “We have two boyfriends,” says Tinna, as she starts up the post-dip music: first playing Harry Belafonte’s Jump in the Line, then Via Con Me by Paolo Conte, both of which the group dances to in sync. As I try to copy their moves, the words “It’s wonderful, it’s wonderful, it’s wonderful / Good luck my baby!” being belted out with gleeful abandon around me, it is impossible not to feel communal joy.
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/StraightedgexLiberal [link] [comments] |
The UK’s road, rail and other vital networks are threatened by global warming, warns Dr Janet Young
Your article sets out the stark picture we’re dealing with (Hottest year on record sent planet past 1.5C of heating for first time in 2024, 10 January). Climate change is causing more extreme weather, and if we don’t speed up our global transition to clean energy, it will only get worse.
Making societies more resilient is mentioned, briefly. This is a topic that should be given much more prominence. Despite warnings from the Climate Change Committee and the United Nations, rising temperatures, and more extreme weather events all over the world, we have yet to take decisive action to adapt the UK’s infrastructure.
Continue reading...Exclusive: US companies are increasingly shipping toxic waste to other countries, where some argue it poses a risk
US companies ship more than 1m tons of hazardous waste to other countries each year, raising questions over possible impacts on health and the environment, an investigation by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab has found.
Exports of toxic waste, most of which is shipped to Mexico and Canada, have climbed 17% since 2018, US records show. And while sending it away for recycling and disposal is legal, some experts are concerned that more and more of America’s most dangerous discards are leaving the country.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Kyiv’s interrogation footage of captured North Korean soldiers leads to questions about what it might do with the soldiers – and what the PoWs might do for them
Good morning. In a grinding war where significant changes at the front are hard to discern, a video released by Ukraine on Sunday is a rare point of focus: it featured two North Korean soldiers, answering questions from their Ukrainian captors, and weighing the circumstances of their presence in a conflict thousands of miles from home.
The video is, perhaps, not militarily significant. But it is a unique insight into one of the more extraordinary aspects of a conflict that has drawn in actors from all over the world, and is a crucible in which every participant is learning how modern wars are fought.
Economy | Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.
Gaza | Joe Biden has said his administration is on the brink of sealing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that could pause the war after more than 14 months of fighting. Biden administration officials have said they believe the deal may be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
US politics | Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he had not won the presidential election in 2024, according to the special counsel who investigated him. Jack Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released early on Tuesday.
UK news | A man accused of driving a young mother to suicide through domestic violence has been found guilty of assault and prolonged controlling behaviour but cleared of her manslaughter. Ryan Wellings, 30, was blamed from “beyond the grave” for the death of his partner, Kiena Dawes. Read more about the case.
‘Forever chemicals’ | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in everything from cosmetics to nonstick pans but are almost indestructible without human intervention.
[It is] unclear if North Korea will even claim the two captured soldiers as their own, given Moscow and Pyongyang’s refusal to officially admit that North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia. At the same time, Russia could claim them as their own and hand them over to North Korea after they are traded with Ukrainian PoWs.
Continue reading...Hi Reddit! We’re a team of tech journalists from MIT Technology Review, excited to answer all of your questions about emerging tech in 2025 and beyond.
We are:
We just published our annual list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Every year, our reporters and editors look for promising technologies poised to have a real impact on the world. We consider dozens of advances across the fields of AI, biotech, computing, and climate. We can’t see the future, but we expect these ten breakthroughs to affect our world in a big way, for decades to come.
Here are the ten items on this year’s list:
Ask us anything! (We’ll be here responding to your questions this Friday, January 10 at 12 p.m. EST, but feel free to get 'em in early.) Proof pics here.
“The consistent defunding of other city programs in order to give the LAPD billions a year has consequences,” said a local activist.
The post LA Budgeted Money For Cop Jobs While Cutting Fire Department Positions. Now the City Is Burning. appeared first on The Intercept.
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.
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