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L’Oreal Professionnel AirLight Pro Review: Faster, Lighter, and Repairable
Sun, 22 Dec 2024 13:32:00 +0000
L'Oréal's first professional hair dryer combines infrared light, wind, and heat to drastically reduce your drying time.
Match ID: 0 Score: 35.00 source: www.wired.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
Best Running Shoes (2024): Asics, Hoka, Nike, On Running
Sat, 21 Dec 2024 14:02:00 +0000
We clocked thousands of test miles to bring you the best running shoes for every pace, ability, and running goal.
Match ID: 1 Score: 35.00 source: www.wired.com age: 1 day
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
21 WIRED-Tested Gifts for People Who Need Some Sleep (2024)
Fri, 20 Dec 2024 14:38:00 +0000
Sweet dreams are made of these, from special lamps to noise machines.
Match ID: 2 Score: 35.00 source: www.wired.com age: 2 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle
Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000
The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
Deo Kato says journey from Cape Town gave him hope in humanity, despite facing racism from police and passersby on a daily basis
A Ugandan athlete who arrives in London this weekend after running 7,730 miles (12,440km) from South Africa to raise awareness about racism has revealed he suffered repeated abuse on reaching Europe.
Deo Kato set off from Cape Town in July 2023, running steadily north on a 516-day odyssey that has seen him jailed for weeks, laid low with serious illness and having to pass through war zones.
Continue reading...The latest in our series of writers revealing their favourite mood-lifting films is an ode to the 1991 comedy in which Steve Martin is a farcically over-protective father
I should hate this film. A possessive father loses the plot at the notion that his 22-year-old daughter – a sophisticated architecture student just back from a semester in Rome – is engaged to a man he hasn’t met. After she tells him the news at dinner, we see her saying it a second time through his eyes, as a seven-year-old. When the groom arrives, dad almost has an aneurysm at him daring to put his hand on her leg, and starts watching America’s Most Wanted every night looking for his face. He goes so cuckoo bananas over the prospect of their wedding that he loses it at the supermarket and briefly ends up in jail. “I was no longer the man in my little girl’s life,” he rues. It is paternalistic nonsense, and it is perfect.
I first watched the 1991 remake of Father of the Bride (FOTB) as a kid because it is my dad’s favourite film. As his only daughter I categorically refuse to read into this, though I enjoyed telling my boyfriend when I made him endure my recent rewatch. (Roughly my 975th viewing; his first and, I suspect, only.) It’s the film that made me fall in love with Steve Martin, our paranoid FOTB George Banks, and Diane Keaton, optimistic MOTB Nina, whom I came to regard as my cinematic parents, a comfort whenever I see them on screen.
Continue reading...Cornish intrigues in an implausible thriller about a woman who wakes up in a police station with no memory of how she got there
When Rebecca (Abbie Cornish) wakes up handcuffed in a police interview room with no memory of how she got there, something feels off. The officers grilling her about a hit and run seem legit at first: a detective (Moon Bloodgood) with a hard, mean stare is classic bad cop, assisted by a genial sidekick (Laz Alonso) who walks in with doughnuts. But the precinct is grotty even by police standards. What’s wrong with the place? You don’t have to wait long to find out. Just 12 minutes in, this overheated psychological thriller noir delivers an almighty plot twist. Like the movie, it’s more ridiculous than interesting.
Despite its B or even C-movie approach, Detained is given a bit of weight by an intriguing performance by Cornish. It unfolds almost entirely in the police precinct, where Rebecca is told she was found passed out behind the wheel at 2am. A cyclist has been reported missing and forensics are examining a bloodstained dent on her car. She watches on video as the guy she picked up in a bar gives a witness statement that she was driving under the influence. Right about here things slide into absurdity.
Continue reading...Sites such as film discovery platform Letterboxd promote a new way of film-viewing, eschewing sneering gatekeepers for a more open-minded and eclectic experience
Amid all the dire news to come out of the movie business this year – a box office slump, a slowdown of production, growing unemployment in Hollywood, the closure of a dozen cinemas in the UK – good news seems to have come from the unlikeliest of places: cinephilia, pronounced “dead” by Susan Sontag in 1996, is alive and well and sporting a Mubi tote bag among the very demographic, 18- to 25-year-olds, whose gif-shortened attention spans are usually held up as spelling the death of the medium.
A recent Wim Wenders retrospective including Wings of Desire and The American Friend took £225,700 at the box office – more than double its distributor, Curzon, expected. A North American rerelease of Chen Kaige’s 1993 Palme d’Or winner Farewell My Concubine grossed $350,000. Even a recent retrospective of the auteur’s auteur, melancholy Hungarian Béla Tarr – including the seven-hour Sátántangó – took £65,000. What makes these figures all the more surprising is that these films are readily available to audiences on DVD, BFI Player, the Criterion channel or other home entertainment companies such as Vinegar Syndrome. Even more surprising is the demographic they are succeeding with: a recent 4K restoration of Jonathan Demme’s Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense, took almost $7m in its 2023 re-release by A24, with three-quarters of audiences seeing it in a cinema for the first time and more than 60% of its audience not yet born when the film was released in 1984.
Continue reading...They can be silly and tasteless – and there’s something suitable for almost any age and audience
A clown walks into a bar. Seriously. Bear with me a minute here.
The clown sees a Santa Claus impersonator propped up on a stool with a beer. The clown gambols across to sit on Santa’s lap, and then pees his pants before shooting everyone else in the bar. He steals Santa’s costume, ties him up, douses him with liquid nitrogen and proceeds to smash him to bloody pieces. Ho ho ho.
Continue reading...Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama was chilling, Lily Farhadpour charmed in Iran and Paul Mescal was tremendous in a fantasy-romance as our critics select their standout picks of the year
• The best films in the US
• More on the best culture of 2024
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Continue reading...The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
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
Livornese cacciucco mingles cultures and seafood for a richly flavoured soup that’s just made for sharing
According to the cultural association Livorno Euro Mediterranea, the name of the city’s sociable soup-stew, cacciucco, is borrowed from the Turkish word küçük (small). The reason for this, according to the more plausible origin myths and etymology accepted by linguistic science, is the introduction to a Livornese tavern (possibly by a Turkish sea merchant) of a Turkish fish soup called balık çorbası. The resourceful and quickly adopted recipe called for küçük balık (small fish), and küçük was borrowed and became cacciucco.
However the soup came into being, a recipe made from an amalgam of fish had the most favourable environment in a thriving Tuscan seaport with its amalgam of communities, as well as in the arrival of tomatoes in everyday cooking, in the late 1700s. The evolving cacciucco reflected all of this, so no wonder it became a symbol of the city. At this point, I must also mention cacciucco from the town of Viareggio, 50km north of Livorno, which is also as loved and as varied as the cooks who make it. Cacciucco in all forms illustrates beautifully the food historian Massimo Montanari’s theory that (often) the key word in the evolution of recipes is “encounter”: “The more numerous and interesting the encounters, the richer the result.”
The Guardian aims to publish recipes for sustainable fish. Check ratings in your region: UK; Australia; US.
Continue reading...Happiness for me has always meant food, mostly eaten outside. In this busy world, I hope my children can make similar memories
My childhood home was in South Africa. My parents adored each other and life for my two brothers and me was loving and carefree. Mum was a well-known actor and producer, and my father was a successful businessman. We had a big house in a three-acre garden, complete with huge old trees to climb, a scruffy lawn to play football on, a swimming pool and a tennis court. Today that whole white, privileged, almost colonial life under apartheid is embarrassing to admit to, but my memories are deeply happy.
Christmas fell in midsummer, but we still ate turkey or roast beef, Yorkshire pud and Christmas pudding with brandy butter. My mother went to endless trouble to source brussels sprouts and the best she could do was imported tinned ones, which were unbelievably disgusting.
Prue Leith is a restaurateur, television presenter, cookery writer and novelist. Her two most recent cookery books are Bliss on Toast and Life’s Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom
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...Research finds people who have more than four coffees a day have 17% lower chance of head and neck cancers
If the only thing getting you through a mountain of present-wrapping is a mug of tea or coffee, be of good cheer. Researchers have found people who consume those drinks have a slightly lower risk of head and neck cancers.
There are about 12,800 new head and neck cancer cases and about 4,100 related deaths in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK.
Continue reading...Elevate the basics with cupboard staples and when it’s all finished store the leftovers quickly
Turning a dish from what you might have at the weekend to something special to impress guests can often be achieved just by adding something which is already in the fridge or cupboard.
Continue reading...For ecologists restoring the vast bogs of remote Karelia, wild reindeer are not just part of the environment but entwined with the ancient culture of the boreal forests
The Finnish folk musician Liisa Matveinen lives in a mustard-coloured house in Ilomantsi, 12 miles (20km) from the Russian border. Large books of folk songs line her walls. Sitting in her kitchen, Matveinen sings about a humble hunter going into the woods to find reindeer.
The song tells us how they were “honoured” providers of food, clothing and a sense of place, says Matveinen, who is recognised as a doyenne of Finnish folk music.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds an underpaid, underfed workforce, some of whom are forced to sleep on the streets, exploited by a system of labour providers
A Guardian investigation has found workers in France’s champagne industry are being underpaid and forced to sleep on the streets and steal food to stave off hunger.
Workers from west Africa and eastern Europe in the town of Épernay, home to the headquarters of some of the world’s most expensive champagne brands, including Moët & Chandon and Mercier, claim that they are either not being paid for their work or illegally underpaid by vineyards near the town.
Continue reading...Chocolate maker one of 100 previous suppliers to royal household to be stripped of accolade under King Charles
It famously once had a glass and a half of milk in every bar, but one thing that Cadbury no longer has is royal approval, after it has been dropped from King Charles’s list of warrants.
The chocolatier was first given royal endorsement in 1854 by Queen Victoria, and was reportedly a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II until her death in 2022.
Continue reading...Hurricanes and an untreatable tree disease have left a once fruitful citrus industry with little to produce this year
For decades it was the signature taste of Florida: orange juice from the state’s plentiful groves advertised to a thirsty nation as “your daily dose of sunshine”. But now another hyperactive hurricane season, paired with the dogged persistence of an untreatable tree disease known as greening, has left a once thriving citrus industry on life support.
Only 12m boxes of oranges will have been produced in Florida by the end of this year, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts show, the lowest single-year yield in almost a century. The figure is 33% lower than a year ago, and less than 5% of the 2004 harvest of 242m boxes.
Continue reading...‘Every day we see people scavenging through trash looking for food or material to burn for warmth,’ says UN agency spokesperson
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al Sharaa - also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golan - in Damascus, Turkey’s foreign ministry has said. No further details were provided. Fidan said yesterday that Turkey will do “whatever it takes” to ensure its security if the new Syrian administration cannot address Ankara’s concerns about US-allied Kurdish groups it views as terrorist groups (see post at 10.32 for more details). Fidan also said that the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by al Sharaa and which swept into Damascus to topple Assad early this month, had “excellent cooperation” with Ankara in the battle against Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the past through intelligence sharing.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the newswires from Gaza:
Continue reading...Avoiding animal products – and alcohol – at the start of the year makes lasting changes more likely, say researchers
Meat-eaters who abstain to take part in Veganuary are more likely to think that meat is disgusting after giving it up for the month, researchers have found.
Studies by psychologists at the University of Exeter also found that some people identify less as meat-eaters after trying to avoid animal products during January.
Continue reading...The big day is almost here, but it’s not too late to grab an 11th-hour pressie. They’ll never know …
You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? It happens. But don’t panic: from a baking course to a year’s supply of cinema tickets, here are 14 genuinely thoughtful last-minute Christmas gifts that you can buy online, sign up for or book right now – and they’ll never know you forgot.
Our list of experiences, vouchers and subscriptions is also perfect for those people who don’t need more stuff, are impossible to buy for or enjoy supporting the arts or small food producers. An email may not be as exciting as unwrapping a gift, but an experience or subscription can last months, and they’ll think of you every time they make their subscription morning coffee.
Continue reading...Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
Not sure which whisky to sip by a roaring fire? No problem, we’ve tasted them straight up for you
Whether you’re stocking the bar trolley or hunting for a gift for a hard-to-buy-for relative, you’ll likely be one of the many picking up a bottle or two of whisky this Christmas.
After carefully testing every whisky on this list – and many more – we are full of festive spirit and ready to step in to Christmas. Some whiskies were stirred into manhattans, others were enjoyed as a highball, and all were tasted straight up; all in the name of fairness, you understand.
Continue reading...As the diplomatic row over the embargo escalates, the U.S. sent Israel millions of pounds of ammunition through Spanish territory.
The post U.S. Defied Spanish Embargo on Arms Bound for Israel by Making Enforcement More Difficult appeared first on The Intercept.
Is there anything you’d like to know about UPFs? The Guardian’s new video podcast, It’s complicated
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have become an everyday part of many people’s diets. From ready meals to breakfast cereals, these foods are engineered for convenience and taste – but at what cost? With growing attention on how ultra-processed foods (UPFs) influence our health, the environment, and even the way we view eating, it’s no wonder there’s so much confusion and curiosity surrounding them.
In our new video podcast on the Guardian’s It’s Complicated YouTube channel, we want to explore what really goes into UPFs and what that means for our wellbeing. What makes a food ‘ultra-processed’ compared to regular processed foods? Are all UPFs inherently unhealthy? How did they become such a dominant part of the food landscape, and what would it mean to cut them out? These are just some of the questions we’re looking to answer — but we really want to hear from you.
Continue reading...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...Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.
The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.
In the UK and US, more than half the average diet consists of ultra-processed foods. For some people, especially those who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80% UPFs is typical, and this has been linked to a myriad of harmful effects to health.
Neelam Tailor traces the surprising journey of ultra-processed foods from their origins in industrial waste to today's complex ingredient lists and the regulatory loopholes that paved the way
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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This masterpiece set in feudal Japan had the guts to confound every expectation going. The result was a tense, beautiful game of chess that was just about as perfect as television gets
• The 50 best TV shows of 2024
• More on the best culture of 2024
We know that Hollywood loves a remake. But who could have predicted that a remake of Shōgun, of all things, would end up as the best thing to be shown on television all year? Maybe in terms of numbers it made sense. After all, it was a remake of a 1980 NBC miniseries which at the time garnered the second highest viewing figures in TV history. That, in turn, was based on a book by James Clavell that had shifted millions of copies. The popularity of Shōgun was never been in doubt.
But as a thing to remake? In 2024? Yeesh. In both previous forms, Shōgun was a story about a white saviour: Englishman John Blackthorne, who travels to Japan, “civilises” some savages, teaches them how to fight properly, repeatedly saves the life of an apparently very clumsy general and then has sex with the most beautiful woman in town. Clavell’s novel also took wild liberties with historical reality, ramping up the otherness of 1600s Japan in its attitudes to violence, sex and death. You don’t need to be told that none of this would have played well in today’s landscape.
Continue reading...NSW premier insists he is ‘not trying to be bloody minded’ as government holds out against pay rise demand
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has shot down a peace offer from rail unions which would see them temporarily halt industrial action that is threatening Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations in exchange for fare-free travel for passengers.
On Monday, Minns said he had previously “stupidly agreed” to demands for fare-free days twice during negotiations with rail unions in recent months, but that his concessions ultimately did not lead to progress.
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Continue reading...A new Syria is emerging from the shadow of the brutal Assad regime. The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan and Ayman Abu Ramouz meet people celebrating their hard-won freedom, but also those grappling with a traumatic past. The pair travel to the notorious Sednaya prison, where they meet a former prisoner who was liberated by his family just days before
Resistance was not a choice’: how Syria’s unlikely rebel alliance took Aleppo
'The Syrian regime hit us with chemical weapons: only now can we speak out' – video
Syria’s disappeared: one woman’s search for her missing father
We were promised a full refund but we’ve received nothing – and the host doesn’t reply
I used Vrbo to book a one-night stay at a flat in Hove where six of us were attending a family memorial service. Two days before our arrival, I was informed that the flat was no longer available and was offered an alternative. This turned out to be in a disgusting state. There were soiled and bloody sheets, rubbish and dirt everywhere, even a large knife inside the bathtub. There were also fewer beds than advertised.
We had to leave for the service before we’d got a response from the host. We were subsequently told we could use the property next door but when we returned at 1am we found the access code we had been given didn’t work. We ended up having to sleep in the filthy flat and, since the front door wouldn’t lock, we had to wedge it with a chair. We subsequently discovered that the place had been burgled three days before.
Continue reading...Rain isn’t the only thing that’s biblical in these parts … We explore a holy land of walks, pubs and crystal-clear night skies in Carmarthenshire
There’s no room at the inn in Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire. Because there’s no inn. No shops. Only a former post office turned private residence. I can see a few barns, but there’s not much else in this tiny linear village. The official population is almost 200, though only a few dozen live in the centre. There’s a primary school that closed in 1999 and now serves as the village hall. Some people still come to post Christmas cards here to get the local postmark, organised by a small local group who stamp the envelopes that can then be posted in a little red postbox by the village hall.
I find the chapel, first built in 1800, down a side road, a couple of hundred yards to the south. The settlement was originally called Dyffryn Ceidrich (Ceidrich’s Valley), but after the chapel was baptised Bethlehem – a common enough name for a house of worship in Wales during its nonconformist heyday – it came to denote the area too. The stone building is tall and austere, with long, thin windows; it would have been the focal point of community life and – as any reader of Caradoc Evans’ My People will know – quite possibly a hotbed of sin, prejudice and hypocrisy. There are some weathered gravestones, with a smattering of Thomases, Davieses and Joneses, and in the morning mist it’s quite atmospheric.
Continue reading...Authorities warn travellers and tourists to be alert to emergency warnings with extreme fire danger forecast over much of NSW, Victoria, WA and SA
Victoria is preparing to face the most dangerous fire conditions since the 2019–20 black summer, with help from neighbouring states on the way.
State Control Centre spokesperson Luke Hegarty said authorities were focused on preparing for very serious conditions forecast for Thursday and Friday.
Continue reading...My partner’s family knew I was writing about self-discovery and self-pleasure, but I wasn’t prepared for where the discussion would take us
I flew from London to New York on Christmas Eve 2014 to spend Christmas Day with Cassie’s family. It’s the sort of thing you’re supposed to do when you’ve been going out with someone for 10 years, but I’d only known Cassie a few months. She came out to her father about dating me and it didn’t go down well. Then, a few weeks later, she told him over a family dinner that I was writing a book about masturbation. Her sister and mother took her aside in the kitchen afterwards. “Why didn’t you just tell him she’s writing a book on travel, or something?” her sister asked.
Spending Christmas Day together was supposed to smooth things over, but no sooner had we sat down to eat than her father asked me about what I was writing. Maybe he thought I’d changed my mind, and gone for something a bit more Downton Abbey? Cassie’s sister looked at me intently, daring me to come out with it.
Continue reading...Officials investigate cause of crack after ski patrolers use rope to lower 174 people to ground at Winter Park Resort
A crack in a Colorado ski lift forced the evacuation of more than 170 stranded skiers and snowboarders on Saturday, with people riding the gondolas lowered down by ropes over the course of hours.
Officials are still investigating what cause the gondola lift at Winter Park Resort, about 70 miles (113km) west of Denver, to crack. The lift automatically stopped when it detected the crack in a structural piece of the lift just after noon on Saturday, resort spokesperson Jen Miller said.
Continue reading...Physical residence permits proving right to live and work in Britain will cease to be valid at end of December
About 1 million people who need to obtain eVisas to prove their right to live and work in the UK or return after travelling abroad have not yet done so even though the deadline to register is just over a week away.
The eVisa programme set up by the previous government is a digital system to prove the right to reside in the UK for British residents who are not citizens or holders of British passports. No other country is known to be entirely ceasing to issue both physical entry visas and residence permits.
Continue reading...The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
For more than two decades, the U.S. has flown drones over the heads of millions of people — watching, recording, and even killing some of them.
The post America Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine: Drone Terror appeared first on The Intercept.
As the diplomatic row over the embargo escalates, the U.S. sent Israel millions of pounds of ammunition through Spanish territory.
The post U.S. Defied Spanish Embargo on Arms Bound for Israel by Making Enforcement More Difficult appeared first on The Intercept.
Syrian airforce helicopters dropped two cylinders of chlorine gas onto the town of Douma on 7 April 2018. At least 43 people choked to death. For six years, afraid of reprisals, the town has grieved in silence for loved ones lost to chemical attacks and countless others killed by conventional weapons.
But after an astonishing and rapid offensive by rebel forces led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), more than 50 years of Assad family rule collapsed last week, and the residents of Douma are finally free to tell their stories. The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan travelled to the town to listen to them
Continue reading...The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...Japan’s complex defence alliances built up over years as protection against China could be put at risk in a Trump-launched trade war
Arguably, no country in Asia has better reason to be in a state of anxiety over the return of Donald Trump to the White House than Japan, since the US has been the linchpin of Japanese foreign and security policy since the second world war.
Back in 2017, well before he became prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba described Trump’s method as one of “placing his counterpart in a state of anxiety and tension, creating psychological instability and then initiating a deal”.
Continue reading...Deal would create world’s third-largest carmaker in terms of annual sales amid competition from China
Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi have confirmed they are in talks over a possible three-way merger as the Japanese companies struggle with falling sales and competition from Chinese brands.
The companies confirmed on Monday that Honda and Nissan had agreed to “start consideration towards a business integration through the establishment of a joint holding company”, and that Mitsubishi would also decide on joining by the end of January.
Continue reading...From India to Venezuela and Senegal to the US, democracy was tested, as more people voted than in any year before
In January, as this bumper year of elections got under way, breathless editorials and reheated hot takes made it clear the stakes could not be higher. Time magazine pronounced it a “make-or-break year for democracy”, while others declared it “democracy’s biggest test” and asked whether the very concept could make it to December intact.
Continue reading...This masterpiece set in feudal Japan had the guts to confound every expectation going. The result was a tense, beautiful game of chess that was just about as perfect as television gets
• The 50 best TV shows of 2024
• More on the best culture of 2024
We know that Hollywood loves a remake. But who could have predicted that a remake of Shōgun, of all things, would end up as the best thing to be shown on television all year? Maybe in terms of numbers it made sense. After all, it was a remake of a 1980 NBC miniseries which at the time garnered the second highest viewing figures in TV history. That, in turn, was based on a book by James Clavell that had shifted millions of copies. The popularity of Shōgun was never been in doubt.
But as a thing to remake? In 2024? Yeesh. In both previous forms, Shōgun was a story about a white saviour: Englishman John Blackthorne, who travels to Japan, “civilises” some savages, teaches them how to fight properly, repeatedly saves the life of an apparently very clumsy general and then has sex with the most beautiful woman in town. Clavell’s novel also took wild liberties with historical reality, ramping up the otherness of 1600s Japan in its attitudes to violence, sex and death. You don’t need to be told that none of this would have played well in today’s landscape.
Continue reading...What a year of telly! A true story made for groundbreaking (and controversial) viewing, a chalk-and-cheese pair finally got it on – and a gorgeous Japanese epic became an instant classic
• More on the best culture of 2024
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Continue reading... submitted by /u/Saltedline [link] [comments] |
Family ‘devastated’ as attorney general confirms Australian pilot will be surrendered to face potential 60-year prison term if convicted
An Australian pilot will be surrendered to the United States as early as next week after the federal government approved the extradition of the former US Marine pilot to face charges over allegedly training Chinese fighter pilots.
Daniel Duggan, who has been in maximum security prison in Australia for more than two years fighting his extradition, will be handed over to American authorities in the early part of 2025. In a statement, his family said they were “devastated” at the decision after the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, on Monday confirmed he had approved Duggan’s extradition to the US.
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Continue reading... submitted by /u/immunity100 [link] [comments] |
submitted by /u/Saltedline [link] [comments] |
Despite ‘spy’ scandal, Philip Hammond says Britain should now adopt a ‘pragmatic approach to Beijing’
China should be encouraged to build electric cars and renewable energy technology in the UK as part of a new pragmatic trading relationship that would benefit both countries, a former Tory chancellor has said ahead of a landmark visit by Rachel Reeves to Beijing early in the new year.
Philip Hammond, who was chancellor from 2016 to 2019, and the last UK minister to take part in formal economic discussions with China before the process was abruptly ended, told the Observer that while Reeves should never “compromise security for trade”, there were vital economic sectors where deals could be struck.
Continue reading...The Duke of York is a royal problem, says Marina Hyde: it’s time they owned it. Matt Goss discusses mega-fame, political correctness and loneliness with Simon Hattenstone. After April Balascio’s foster brother was killed, she started piecing together evidence that revealed her father was a serial killer. And Philippa advises an 80-year-old reader how to face the existential void that is overwhelming them.
Continue reading...Chinese president calls for city to ‘focus on cultivating new industries’ as he attends inauguration of new leader
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has urged the gambling hub of Macau to diversify away from casinos, as he addressed the Chinese territory at the inauguration of its new leader.
Xi was in Macau to mark the 25th anniversary of its return from Portuguese to Chinese rule on 20 December 1999. In the quarter-century since then, Macau has been run as a special administrative region of China, a semi-autonomous territory with a similar legal status to Hong Kong, but it has traditionally been much more pliant to Beijing’s rule than the former British territory. More than half of its 700,000 population have immigrated from China in recent decades.
Continue reading...England have named four potential Ashes debutants in their squad for next month’s multi-format series in Australia.
Heather Knight’s side are bidding to win the Ashes for the first time in 10 years, with Australia retaining in a thrilling drawn series in England in 2023.
Continue reading...Indiana wanted to kill Joseph Corcoran under the cover of darkness, but one journalist slipped in to witness.
The post Indiana’s Midnight Executions Are a Relic of Another Age appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden is running out of time to stop another Trump execution spree.
The post Power of the Pardon appeared first on The Intercept.
Teenager receives raucous reception after defeating China’s Ding Liren in tense 14-game series
Indian chess star Gukesh Dommaraju returned to a hero’s welcome in his home city on Monday after becoming the youngest world champion aged only 18.
Hundreds of fans crowded the arrivals area of Chennai airport, cheering alongside banks of television cameras as Gukesh made his way out of the airport after victory in taking the World Chess Championship title.
Continue reading...Troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to be shipped to Russia to support war against Ukraine, say Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff
Switzerland adopted the latest EU sanctions package on Russia and Belarus, the government said on Monday. The move came one week after the European Union targeted Moscow’s vessels and Chinese entities found to have traded with the Russian military.
The Swiss government listed 54 persons and 30 companies and organisations, freezing their assets as of Dec. 24, and banned 52 ships from providing services.
Continue reading...Claims underline risks posed to North’s untested armed forces amid reports regime could send reinforcements
More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded since they were sent to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, according to South Korean military officials.
In a statement released on Monday, the South’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said: “We assess that North Korean troops, who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces, have suffered around 1,100 casualties.”
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in Aceh in 2004. Now warning systems are in place, but some feel more could be done
It was just before 8am on Sunday 26 December 2004 when the earthquake struck. Abdul Rahem, 47, a fisher, was strolling along the beach, enjoying the morning breeze near to his home in Lam Awe, a sleepy fishing village on the coast of Aceh in Indonesia. He retreated to paddy fields when the violent shaking and swinging stopped. But it wasn’t until he heard the cries of neighbours that he realised something was seriously wrong. People were shouting: “The water is coming.”
Rahem raced home to get his elderly father, and supported him as they tried to flee along the broken road, which had been twisted and torn by the quake. His father urged him to go ahead and leave him, but Rahem refused. “I said, ‘No, no, no, if we die, we die together.’”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Dan Jarvis has written to the Sikh Federation after allegations of people being stopped at UK airports
The UK will not tolerate attempts by foreign countries to harass or intimidate British citizens, the security minister has warned, after a number of Sikhs complained they were being targeted either by or on behalf of the Indian government.
Dan Jarvis has written to the Sikh Federation after reports of harassment involving British Sikhs, including people being stopped at UK airports and asked about their views on the Indian state.
Continue reading...Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
Torrential rainfall driven by north-east monsoon displaces thousands of people as buildings collapse
Southern Thailand is grappling with severe flooding as torrential rainfall, driven by the north-east monsoon, continues to affect the region. During the north-east monsoon, which runs from November to March, winds from the north-east pick up moisture from the Gulf of Thailand and deposit it as heavy rain across the islands in the gulf and into exposed eastern parts of Thailand’s southern peninsula.
While high rainfall totals in southern Thailand are not unusual at this time of year, this year’s has been significantly above average. Ko Samui, Thailand’s second largest island, has recorded 571mm (22.48in) of rain this month – approximately 375% of the December average – with nearly a third of the month yet to go. In the nearby province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on the mainland, another weather station has surpassed 1009mm, more than four times the December norm.
Continue reading...Treasury minister denies claims by Bangladesh that she helped broker corrupt deal with Russia to build nuclear plant
The Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has been questioned by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions for a nuclear power plant.
The Labour MP, who denies allegations that she helped broker a deal with Russia to build the energy project, reportedly told a government official that she was the victim of a “political hit job”.
Continue reading...The regional command at Ann would be the second regional military command to fall to ethnic rebels in five months, and a huge blow to the military
A rebel army in Myanmar said it had captured a major military headquarters in the country’s west, marking the fall of the junta’s second regional command as it faces mounting setbacks against a nationwide armed resistance movement.
The Arakan Army (AA) said the western military command in Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh, fell on Friday after two weeks of intense fighting, according to a statement posted on Telegram late on Friday.
Continue reading...Tulip Siddiq denies claims that she brokered corrupt deal with Russia to build nuclear power plant
Keir Starmer has given his full support to Tulip Siddiq, the Treasury minister, after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions as part of a deal for a nuclear power plant.
Siddiq’s role as economic secretary to the Treasury includes responsibility for tackling financial corruption. She has denied any involvement in the claims.
Continue reading...The FBI is still touting the debunked idea that its agents could access communications without opening a door to foreign hackers.
The post How to Protect Yourself From the Salt Typhoon Hack, No Matter What the FBI Says appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
Indiana wanted to kill Joseph Corcoran under the cover of darkness, but one journalist slipped in to witness.
The post Indiana’s Midnight Executions Are a Relic of Another Age appeared first on The Intercept.
The U.S. political system is owned by corporations despised by the American people. Luigi Mangione is the result.
The post Health Insurance Execs Should Live in Fear of Prison, Not Murder appeared first on The Intercept.
The big news outlets used to say settlements would encourage more lawsuits. Trump is already targeting smaller newspapers.
The post The Real Danger of ABC News Settling Its Lawsuit With Donald Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
As Donald Trump’s nominees woo Senate Republicans to secure their confirmation, Joan E Greve and Hugo Lowell look at who could be in charge of the major government departments and what they’ll have to do to keep the president happy for the next four years
Archive: CNN, Face the Nation, MSNBC, BBC, CBS News, ABC, Fox 11 Los Angeles, Fox News
Continue reading...“The funds to CJA are critical for building community resilience against climate change threats.”
The post EPA Staffers Demand Biden Release Climate Funds Withheld Over Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Biden appears ready to sign the NDAA, despite objections from advocates and some Democrats about an insidious anti-trans rider.
The post Senate Approves Defense Bill Blocking Health Care for Thousands of Trans Youth appeared first on The Intercept.
Everyone from janitors to the Geek Squad could be forced to help the NSA spy — and Democrats barely put up a fight.
The post Top Senator Warns Sweeping New Surveillance Powers Will “Inevitably Be Misused” by Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
“When you imagine what the FTC is willing and able to do in the service of an authoritarian Trump administration, that takes you to some really terrifying places.”
The post Republicans Said the FTC Was Too Politicized. Now Trump’s FTC Pick Says It Should be Politicized — by Trump. appeared first on The Intercept.
For more than two decades, the U.S. has flown drones over the heads of millions of people — watching, recording, and even killing some of them.
The post America Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine: Drone Terror appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.
The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.
A little-noticed provision in the annual defense bill would bar the Pentagon from citing the Gaza Health Ministry as an authoritative source.
The post Congress Keeps Trying to Hide the True Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.
The FBI is still touting the debunked idea that its agents could access communications without opening a door to foreign hackers.
The post How to Protect Yourself From the Salt Typhoon Hack, No Matter What the FBI Says appeared first on The Intercept.
Topped with Charli xcx’s swaggering yet vulnerable Brat, here are the year’s finest LPs as decided by 26 Guardian music writers
• More best music of 2024
• More on the best culture of 2024
***
Continue reading...Some made a splash in politics, social media, sport or the arts. Others took a brave personal stand. Observer writers and critics pick the names on everyone’s lips this year
Continue reading...Prof Phoebe Barnard and Liliana Karesh say we are at a crossroads of humanity, and governments around the work need to draft new constitutions to navigate the future more wisely
The shift of Arctic tundra and other carbon sinks to carbon sources (Arctic tundra is now emitting more carbon than it absorbs, US agency says, 10 December) reminds us that tipping points are largely irreversible on human timelines. We are involved in teams of specialists and students working to help global governments prepare for the decreasing stability of our planet, climate and societies. This needs fundamental changes while keeping them as steady as possible.
One of us co-authored, with Sir David King and 17 others, a dramatic but essential plan based on vast-scale ecosystem and climate restoration, and behavioural and systemic change.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/Wagamaga [link] [comments] |
A newly obtained document sheds light on how the disavowed “excited delirium” diagnosis infiltrated the Rochester Police Department before Prude’s death.
The post What Killed Daniel Prude? The Cops and New York AG Said a Diagnosis That’s Since Been Debunked. appeared first on The Intercept.
Ministers set out plans for outlawing neonicotinoids but considering application by farmers to use Cruiser SB
Bee-killing pesticides are to be banned by the UK government, as ministers set out plans to outlaw the use of neonicotinoids.
However, the highly toxic neonicotinoid Cruiser SB could be allowed for use next year, as ministers are considering applications from the National Farmers’ Union and British Sugar.
Continue reading...“The funds to CJA are critical for building community resilience against climate change threats.”
The post EPA Staffers Demand Biden Release Climate Funds Withheld Over Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. 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.
The U.S. political system is owned by corporations despised by the American people. Luigi Mangione is the result.
The post Health Insurance Execs Should Live in Fear of Prison, Not Murder appeared first on The Intercept.
After a bruising election year, Americans make no-political-talk deals and avoid relatives to salvage festive gatherings
Over Thanksgiving, a seat at Irena’s table in New York was empty this year.
Irena and her husband chose not to share the holiday with his brother, who is a fan of Donald Trump.
Continue reading...“When you imagine what the FTC is willing and able to do in the service of an authoritarian Trump administration, that takes you to some really terrifying places.”
The post Republicans Said the FTC Was Too Politicized. Now Trump’s FTC Pick Says It Should be Politicized — by Trump. appeared first on The Intercept.
The Arizona senator’s prodigious campaign spending in global wine hot spots can’t possibly be related to the campaign she’s not running, says an ethics complaint.
The post In Waning Senate Days, Kyrsten Sinema Screwed Workers and Spent Campaign Cash on Stay at French Castle appeared first on The Intercept.
A newly obtained document sheds light on how the disavowed “excited delirium” diagnosis infiltrated the Rochester Police Department before Prude’s death.
The post What Killed Daniel Prude? The Cops and New York AG Said a Diagnosis That’s Since Been Debunked. appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservative leader says ‘seeing Labour government reminds everyone who the real opponent is’ and rejects claim she should announce more policy now
During the Conservative leadership contest Kemi Badenoch wrote an article for the Sunday Telegraph about immigration in which she suggested the UK should not be admitting migrants who do not accept British values. She said:
We cannot be naïve and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnichostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid. They are not. I am struck for example, by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel. That sentiment has no place here …
Our country is not a dormitory for people to come here and make money. It is our home. Those we chose to welcome, we expect to share our values and contribute to our society.
People assume that I’m always talking about Islam, but I’m not really. It’s one of many variations of culture which we have in the country because of immigration, especially the more recent immigration which has been too high.
To understand what I’m saying, you have to look at where I grew up [Nigeria], where there are 300 different languages and cultures, everybody looks the same, and people don’t get on unless there is a unifying thing.
One of the things that profoundly affected my view on the world was what happened 10 years ago when those 300 schoolgirls were abducted from their school by Boko Haram, a terrorist group in northern Nigeria. It has a lot of parallels with what happened on October 7.
And this group had been indulged – you know, ‘It’s just Islam, they’re just people who are poor and they’re fighting for their rights’, and then it moved into something really hideous and terrible, and it’s now just a depraved group of people who assault Christians, women, destroy families.
Remember, that steel plant was one I was helping to manage [when she was business secretary]. I didn’t nationalise it then, did I?
It depends. With many of these things, it depends.
Aren’t you tired of people who just tell you what you want to hear? I will not do that.
And that’s why I don’t answer those questions, because the answer is always, and should always be, it depends.
Continue reading...As Donald Trump’s nominees woo Senate Republicans to secure their confirmation, Joan E Greve and Hugo Lowell look at who could be in charge of the major government departments and what they’ll have to do to keep the president happy for the next four years
Archive: CNN, Face the Nation, MSNBC, BBC, CBS News, ABC, Fox 11 Los Angeles, Fox News
Continue reading...Biden appears ready to sign the NDAA, despite objections from advocates and some Democrats about an insidious anti-trans rider.
The post Senate Approves Defense Bill Blocking Health Care for Thousands of Trans Youth appeared first on The Intercept.
From India to Venezuela and Senegal to the US, democracy was tested, as more people voted than in any year before
In January, as this bumper year of elections got under way, breathless editorials and reheated hot takes made it clear the stakes could not be higher. Time magazine pronounced it a “make-or-break year for democracy”, while others declared it “democracy’s biggest test” and asked whether the very concept could make it to December intact.
Continue reading...As leadership spill speculation grows, a former police officer is being touted as the top candidate for the embattled opposition leader’s job
For Victorian Liberal MP Brad Battin, the third time may prove to be the charm.
After falling short in a 2021 leadership spill against former opposition leader Michael O’Brien, and losing by a single vote to John Pesutto following the Liberals’ 2022 state election defeat, Battin now appears to have the numbers to snatch the leadership.
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Continue reading...Booted out of her Norfolk constituency in July’s general election, the former PM is still wildly ambitious. Will she make a comeback?
By 5am on 5 July, it was clear to the hundreds of candidates, officials, activists and journalists gathered in the Lynnsport leisure centre in King’s Lynn for election night that the former prime minister Liz Truss had lost her parliamentary seat.
But from then until 6.45am, Truss was nowhere to be seen. Even when the other candidates were told to make their way on stage for the official announcement that Labour’s Terry Jermy had spectacularly overturned Truss’s previous majority of 26,000 to win the seat of South West Norfolk, the former prime minister was still not there.
Continue reading...Trump wants a bloodbath for the federal employees, but government workers aren’t the only ones who will suffer.
The post Federal Labor Unions Steel Themselves for Trump and DOGE’s Mass Firings appeared first on The Intercept.
Everyone from janitors to the Geek Squad could be forced to help the NSA spy — and Democrats barely put up a fight.
The post Top Senator Warns Sweeping New Surveillance Powers Will “Inevitably Be Misused” by Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
Daisy Cooper says party shocked and angry over Labour government’s refusal to spend up to £10bn on payouts
The Liberal Democrats could force a Commons vote on compensation for Waspi women, the party’s deputy leader has said, capitalising on unease among Labour MPs over the government’s decision to rule it out.
Daisy Cooper suggested the Lib Dems were open to using one of their upcoming opposition day debates in the House of Commons to call for a vote on the issue, which could test the strength of feeling among Labour backbenchers.
Continue reading...Katie Miller picked to join Musk and Ramaswamy’s advisory board as Stephen Feinberg tapped for No 2 Pentagon role
Donald Trump announced a series of appointments to his incoming administration on Sunday evening, including top positions in the Department of Defense and one of the first members of “Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency”.
The president-elect said he would nominate billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg to serve as deputy secretary of defense, the No 2 role at the Pentagon.
Continue reading...Final outcome expected after rigging allegations, weeks of protests and crackdown in which dozens have been killed
Mozambique is on edge ahead of a ruling expected on Monday to determine the final results of October’s disputed elections, after allegations of rigging triggered weeks of protests in which security forces have killed dozens of people.
The opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane has threatened “chaos” if the constitutional council confirms the initial election results, which gave the ruling party candidate, Daniel Chapo, 70.7% of the vote and Mondlane 20.3%.
Continue reading...Ministers set out plans for outlawing neonicotinoids but considering application by farmers to use Cruiser SB
Bee-killing pesticides are to be banned by the UK government, as ministers set out plans to outlaw the use of neonicotinoids.
However, the highly toxic neonicotinoid Cruiser SB could be allowed for use next year, as ministers are considering applications from the National Farmers’ Union and British Sugar.
Continue reading...Canada’s PM races to infuse fresh blood into cabinet while New Democratic party announces withdrawal of support
Justin Trudeau has carried out a major reshuffle of his cabinet, changing a third of his senior team – even as a series of blows seemed to guarantee the end of his term as prime minister and a spring election for Canada.
The move on Friday came at the end of a disastrous week that saw the shock resignation of his deputy, calls for his resignation from within his own party and public mockery from Donald Trump.
Continue reading...“The funds to CJA are critical for building community resilience against climate change threats.”
The post EPA Staffers Demand Biden Release Climate Funds Withheld Over Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Tory leader says she does not believe Tesla and X boss will give Nigel Farage’s party a multimillion-pound sum
Kemi Badenoch has said she does not believe Elon Musk is going to make a multimillion-pound donation to Reform UK, even as the party’s treasurer claimed the US billionaire was now ready to do so.
The Conservative leader also said that it did not matter if Nigel Farage’s party received money from Musk amid speculation that he could donate as much as $100m (£79m) – because she would match it.
Continue reading...People from tech executives to foreign leaders and even some mainstream media figures are ‘acquiescing in advance’, experts say, because of greed and fear
When “Justice for All”, a dirge-like version of the national anthem sung by defendants jailed over their alleged roles in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, was played last month at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, guests stood with hand on heart.
Among them was Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire founder of Facebook.
Continue reading...The big news outlets used to say settlements would encourage more lawsuits. Trump is already targeting smaller newspapers.
The post The Real Danger of ABC News Settling Its Lawsuit With Donald Trump appeared first on The Intercept.
GDP shows zero growth in third quarter, as second quarter is downgraded to 0.4%
The UK economy had zero growth between July and September and is expected to have stagnated over the entire second half of 2024, undermining Keir Starmer’s promise to reboot growth.
In an unexpected downgrade as Labour comes under pressure over its economic management since taking power in July, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed growth in the third quarter was revised down to zero, below an initial estimate of 0.1% made last month.
Continue reading...The great clashes to come will be less between left and right than between those inside and outside a dying establishment
We live, at first blush, under the absolute dominion of celebrity. The former and future president of the United States spent more than a decade as a reality TV star. Taylor Swift just concluded the largest and most lucrative pop music tour in the history of the world. Mass entertainment vehicles remain star-driven – just ask anyone flocking to see Wicked (Ariana Grande) or Gladiator II (Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington) this holiday season. And that’s not to mention all the petty dramas of the attractive and famous that still keep us all gossiping.
It might be strange, then, to make a completely counterintuitive claim: that we are leaving the age of traditional mass celebrity. And not only are we leaving it, but we are drifting into a new, uncertain era, one where fresh hostility has emerged against those who, even a few years ago, would have received blind worship and little more.
Ross Barkan is a writer based in New York
Continue reading...Treasury minister denies claims by Bangladesh that she helped broker corrupt deal with Russia to build nuclear plant
The Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has been questioned by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions for a nuclear power plant.
The Labour MP, who denies allegations that she helped broker a deal with Russia to build the energy project, reportedly told a government official that she was the victim of a “political hit job”.
Continue reading...The clemency action applies to all federal death row inmates except three convicted of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder
Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, changing their punishment to life imprisonment without parole.
The decision follows month of pressure from campaigners who warned that president-elect Donald Trump backs the death penalty and restarted federal executions during his first term after a pause of nearly two decades.
Continue reading...Pedro Sánchez has remained a rare bulwark of social democracy in an increasingly right-leaning continent
As Labour’s electoral honeymoon slips into distant-memory territory and Keir Starmer attempts to reboot his premiership, the party and its leader might find a southward glance instructive.
For the past six years, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), led by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has defied expectations by remaining in power during some of the most turbulent times in recent Spanish and European history, making it a rare bulwark of social democracy in an increasingly right-leaning continent.
Continue reading...With the country in stalemate, people have lost faith in government. But citizens’ assemblies show one way forward
When Notre Dame burned, something in the flames seemed to speak to the combustibility of our age. Nothing is for ever, the fire said, even those edifices – stone or institutional – that we assume will always be there. In almost every democracy, there are similar forces of backlash and disaffection. The anger is diffuse and the discontents vary, but there is a general agitation that seems to boil down to the feeling that someone should do something.
At the moment, France seems to have crystallised this phenomenon in a way that other democracies might draw both warnings and lessons from. Will François Bayrou last longer as prime minister than Michel Barnier? Perhaps. But the basic impediment remains: the country is politically split roughly into thirds (and the “left” is split among itself), with the end result that creating a majority for anything is almost impossible.
Continue reading...State hospitals face exodus of 150 specialists amid standoff with government over pay
New South Wales risks losing 150 psychiatrists in a matter of weeks if the health department fails to reach negotiations with the union, as a “major crisis” in mental health care escalates.
On Friday, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (NSW IRC) issued a direction to union members to delay any resignation notices until 15 January next year, as it remained in a standoff with the state government over pay disputes.
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Continue reading...Government to shut £150m community ownership fund despite millions of pounds remaining unallocated
A state-funded scheme that has helped save cherished community sites including mainland Britain’s most remote pub is being shut early, leaving millions of pounds unallocated.
The community ownership fund was launched in 2021, with the aim of handing out £150m worth of grants that would give local groups the financial firepower to take control of pubs, village shops, sports grounds and other beloved assets.
Continue reading...Daniel Křetínský could be hoping to develop or sell off the company’s portfolio of about 1,800 sites
The shadow of the Sphinx looms large over a nondescript urban depot in north London. You could fit two football pitches on to the vast King’s Cross site – a rarity in this densely populated part of the capital – yet it makes up just a fraction of a vast freehold estate, the keys to which are about to be handed to the billionaire Daniel Křetínský.
Known as the Czech Sphinx, because of his inscrutable demeanour, Křetínský is poised to complete his conquest of Royal Mail, via a £3.6bn takeover of its parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS).
Continue reading...Trump also warns he would not let a ‘vital national asset’ for the US fall into the ‘wrong hands’
Donald Trump has demanded that the Panama Canal be given back to the US if Panama did not manage the waterway in a fashion that was acceptable to him – and he accused the central American country of charging excessive rates for use of the ocean-connecting ship passage.
“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late Saturday, a little more than a month before the start of his second US presidency. “This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop….”
Continue reading...Democratic former president Barack Obama renamed the mountain using the local natives’ name of Denali in 2015, after a decades-long naming battle
US president-elect Donald Trump has said he will rename Denali, Alaska natives’ name for North America’s tallest mountain, after William McKinley, the 25th US president who was assassinated in 1901.
Democratic former president Barack Obama in 2015 officially renamed the mountain as Denali, siding with the state of Alaska and ending a decades-long naming battle. The peak had been officially called Mount McKinley since 1917.
Continue reading...Nick Candy promises that party will deliver ‘political disruption like we have never seen before’
The treasurer of Reform UK has said that Elon Musk is among a “number of billionaires” interested in donating to Nigel Farage’s party, promising “political disruption like we have never seen before”.
Nick Candy told the Financial Times that the party will raise more funds than “any other political party” for grassroots campaigning, data and polling.
Continue reading...British Chambers of Commerce asks for policy ‘reset’ after poll finds companies want greater flexibility
Many exporters are still struggling with post-Brexit trading rules, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said, as it urges the government to press ahead with an EU “reset” in the new year.
In a survey of more than 1,000 of its member companies, the BCC found just 15% said the trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) with the EU, signed by Boris Johnson on Christmas Eve 2020, had helped them to grow sales with the EU.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Councils win just 1.2% of tribunals, as experts see signs provision is becoming a battle with desperate families
More than £100m was spent last year by local authorities and the government on failed efforts to block support for children and young people with special educational needs in England, according to analysis by the Guardian.
The enormous cost in legal fees and staff resources came after councils won just 136 out of more than 10,000 tribunals in 2022-23, a success rate of 1.2%, as record numbers of families took to the courts to challenge councils over agreements known as education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
Continue reading...After a decade and a half in which social infrastructure has been allowed to crumble, Labour is right to see bottom-up reform as part of the solution
In his 2018 book The Social Edge, the prominent public health researcher and author Anthony Costello writes that social trust and the conditions that allow it to flourish are a neglected feature in studies of human progress. Small-scale “sympathy groups”, he suggests, through cooperating and organising together over shared concerns, can be the building blocks of collective wellbeing. Empowering local communities works.
For years, politicians have rhetorically nodded to such thinking, while failing to provide the resources that would allow it to be translated into practice. Between 2010 and 2024, as a parade of Conservative ministers waxed lyrical on the virtues of localism, the governments they served presided over a bonfire of community assets on a shocking scale.
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...Readers respond to the recent announcement that the government won’t pay compensation to women affected by the rising pension age
I’m furious at the government’s decision to ignore the advice of the ombudsman and refusal to compensate Waspi women (Anger greets UK government decision not to compensate ‘Waspi women’, 17 December). What’s the point in having a lengthy and expensive review if you don’t pay it any heed? I along with many others have been waiting a long time to hear what our compensation would be, even though it would go nowhere near the £50,000 many of us lost. I didn’t imagine they would so easily dismiss our suffering as a result of government failure to give us time to plan. Labour has already removed the winter fuel allowance. One wonders what it will hit us with next.
When you’re close to the edge of a precipice, every kick brings greater jeopardy. It’s almost as if they want pensioners to suffer, that we are their scapegoats. This is a last straw for me when it comes to Labour. I will never trust it with my vote again. I’d leave the country and go and live close to my daughter in New Zealand, but I can’t because the government then freezes your pension and you’re effectively worse off every year. I wrote to the pension minister about that, but it seems I’m not even important enough to warrant a reply. Maybe the government thinks we don’t matter because we’re not powerful, or that we’ll be gone before too long. It underestimates us.
Cathy Preston
Heathfield, East Sussex
Physical residence permits proving right to live and work in Britain will cease to be valid at end of December
About 1 million people who need to obtain eVisas to prove their right to live and work in the UK or return after travelling abroad have not yet done so even though the deadline to register is just over a week away.
The eVisa programme set up by the previous government is a digital system to prove the right to reside in the UK for British residents who are not citizens or holders of British passports. No other country is known to be entirely ceasing to issue both physical entry visas and residence permits.
Continue reading...Despite ‘spy’ scandal, Philip Hammond says Britain should now adopt a ‘pragmatic approach to Beijing’
China should be encouraged to build electric cars and renewable energy technology in the UK as part of a new pragmatic trading relationship that would benefit both countries, a former Tory chancellor has said ahead of a landmark visit by Rachel Reeves to Beijing early in the new year.
Philip Hammond, who was chancellor from 2016 to 2019, and the last UK minister to take part in formal economic discussions with China before the process was abruptly ended, told the Observer that while Reeves should never “compromise security for trade”, there were vital economic sectors where deals could be struck.
Continue reading...Some made a splash in politics, social media, sport or the arts. Others took a brave personal stand. Observer writers and critics pick the names on everyone’s lips this year
Continue reading...The sinking comes less than four days after another boat capsized in the country’s north-east, leaving 25 people dead
A ferry overloaded with people returning home for Christmas capsized on the Busira River in north-eastern Congo, leaving 38 people confirmed dead and more than 100 others missing, officials and eyewitnesses said on Saturday.
Twenty people have been rescued so far.
Continue reading...Biden is running out of time to stop another Trump execution spree.
The post Power of the Pardon appeared first on The Intercept.
Labour seems gripped by a form of denialism. The danger is real and incremental change won’t avert it
There is no need to overcomplicate things: a rise in global temperatures of 3.1C is not compatible with human survival. That is where we are heading, unless we act now. On our current path, the world will exceed 1.5C of warming, and could reach a rise of 2.6-3.1C by the end of the century.
For you, today, that might make the difference between wearing a jumper or a jacket. For humanity, it is the difference between survival and extinction. Paris and Berlin will bake under heatwaves. New York will be hit by frequent storm-surges. Coastal towns will be submerged; 800 million people are living on land that will be underwater.
Jeremy Corbyn is independent MP for Islington North and was leader of the Labour party from 2015 to 2020
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...Exclusive: Dan Jarvis has written to the Sikh Federation after allegations of people being stopped at UK airports
The UK will not tolerate attempts by foreign countries to harass or intimidate British citizens, the security minister has warned, after a number of Sikhs complained they were being targeted either by or on behalf of the Indian government.
Dan Jarvis has written to the Sikh Federation after reports of harassment involving British Sikhs, including people being stopped at UK airports and asked about their views on the Indian state.
Continue reading...Tulip Siddiq denies claims that she brokered corrupt deal with Russia to build nuclear power plant
Keir Starmer has given his full support to Tulip Siddiq, the Treasury minister, after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions as part of a deal for a nuclear power plant.
Siddiq’s role as economic secretary to the Treasury includes responsibility for tackling financial corruption. She has denied any involvement in the claims.
Continue reading...For more than two decades, the U.S. has flown drones over the heads of millions of people — watching, recording, and even killing some of them.
The post America Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine: Drone Terror appeared first on The Intercept.
Japan’s complex defence alliances built up over years as protection against China could be put at risk in a Trump-launched trade war
Arguably, no country in Asia has better reason to be in a state of anxiety over the return of Donald Trump to the White House than Japan, since the US has been the linchpin of Japanese foreign and security policy since the second world war.
Back in 2017, well before he became prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba described Trump’s method as one of “placing his counterpart in a state of anxiety and tension, creating psychological instability and then initiating a deal”.
Continue reading...Family ‘devastated’ as attorney general confirms Australian pilot will be surrendered to face potential 60-year prison term if convicted
An Australian pilot will be surrendered to the United States as early as next week after the federal government approved the extradition of the former US Marine pilot to face charges over allegedly training Chinese fighter pilots.
Daniel Duggan, who has been in maximum security prison in Australia for more than two years fighting his extradition, will be handed over to American authorities in the early part of 2025. In a statement, his family said they were “devastated” at the decision after the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, on Monday confirmed he had approved Duggan’s extradition to the US.
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Continue reading...Indiana wanted to kill Joseph Corcoran under the cover of darkness, but one journalist slipped in to witness.
The post Indiana’s Midnight Executions Are a Relic of Another Age appeared first on The Intercept.
Magnitude 6.1 quake shakes country’s main island as RAAF flights carrying 144 passengers land in Brisbane and Sydney
Vanuatu has been hit by another earthquake after hundreds of Australians landed on home soil from the islands and the federal government announced a new round of financial assistance.
The latest magnitude 6.1 quake shook buildings on the country’s main island at 2.30am on Sunday after it struck 30km west of the capital, Port Vila.
Continue reading...A little-noticed provision in the annual defense bill would bar the Pentagon from citing the Gaza Health Ministry as an authoritative source.
The post Congress Keeps Trying to Hide the True Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.
Every few years, a team from Brazilian state body Funai enter the forest hoping to find signs of the community in order to assesses their wellbeing and security. Here is what their most recent mission revealed
In 1999, when Jair Candor came across four huts, several hunting blinds and a fishing spot used by a previously unknown group of people, he immediately followed government policy and retreated.
Brazil’s 1988 constitution requires that such places – where uncontacted peoples or isolados are proven to be – be declared Indigenous territory and outsiders should avoid making unwanted contact with communities living there.
Continue reading...It may feel hopeless to see supportive states continue to back Israel, but bearing witness matters for future reckoning
A consensus is building. On 5 December, Amnesty International concluded after an investigation that “Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip”. A few days later, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) stated that after research and analysis, it concluded that “there is a legally sound argument that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza”.
A few days after that, Human Rights Watch (HRW) declared that “Israeli authorities are responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide”, and Médecins Sans Frontières reported that its medical “teams in the north of Gaza are seeing clear signs of ethnic cleansing”. Earlier in November, HRW also concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”, and appeared to “also meet the definition of ethnic cleansing”.
Continue reading...Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.
From June: Indeterminate sentences are devastating to mental health, but prisoners with mental illness are less likely to be released. The result is a vicious cycle whereby the most vulnerable inmates often have the least chance of getting out – as John’s case shows. By Sophie Atkinson
Continue reading...Helen Pidd visits Lancaster Royal grammar school to see the work of Parallel Histories, an education charity which helps young people make sense of contested history
Parallel Histories is an educational charity that offers a new way of studying contested history. It helps students navigate the history of Israel and Palestine, the Northern Ireland conflict, Putin and Ukraine, and the impact of the British Empire, and take courses on those it calls “great” leaders, including Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher.
Pupils are split into two groups and assigned one side of an argument. They study historical sources that will support their view and debate with each other. Then, they switch positions and see all the information their opponents had access to, and debate again from their new perspective.
Continue reading...Prof Phoebe Barnard and Liliana Karesh say we are at a crossroads of humanity, and governments around the work need to draft new constitutions to navigate the future more wisely
The shift of Arctic tundra and other carbon sinks to carbon sources (Arctic tundra is now emitting more carbon than it absorbs, US agency says, 10 December) reminds us that tipping points are largely irreversible on human timelines. We are involved in teams of specialists and students working to help global governments prepare for the decreasing stability of our planet, climate and societies. This needs fundamental changes while keeping them as steady as possible.
One of us co-authored, with Sir David King and 17 others, a dramatic but essential plan based on vast-scale ecosystem and climate restoration, and behavioural and systemic change.
Continue reading...The Duke of York is a royal problem, says Marina Hyde: it’s time they owned it. Matt Goss discusses mega-fame, political correctness and loneliness with Simon Hattenstone. After April Balascio’s foster brother was killed, she started piecing together evidence that revealed her father was a serial killer. And Philippa advises an 80-year-old reader how to face the existential void that is overwhelming them.
Continue reading...“I have a fundamental right to be protected by my government, especially in times of war. My children and I deserve to return to the safety of the U.S.”
The post Americans Stuck in Gaza Sue the U.S. for Leaving Them “Trapped in a War Zone” appeared first on The Intercept.
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2024, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.
From August: By the time my wife got a diagnosis, her long and harrowing deterioration had already begun. By the end, I was in awe of her. By Michael Aylwin
Continue reading...The FBI is still touting the debunked idea that its agents could access communications without opening a door to foreign hackers.
The post How to Protect Yourself From the Salt Typhoon Hack, No Matter What the FBI Says appeared first on The Intercept.
The Syrian regime’s ouster unleashed a collective unmasking across the country and its vast diaspora.
The post Syrian Activists Feared Assad’s Retaliation. His Fall Frees Them to Speak Openly. appeared first on The Intercept.
Hours before Assad fell, Congress moved to extend sanctions. Despite presidential waivers, Syria won’t open up until they’re off the books.
The post Keeping Sanctions in Force Would “Pull the Rug Out From Under Syria” appeared first on The Intercept.
The jurors that sent Hall to death row never heard critical evidence that could have convinced them to spare his life. Some of them now support his bid for clemency.
The post Charles Hall Insisted He Wanted the Death Penalty. Now He’s Asking Biden for Mercy. appeared first on The Intercept.
Disability services in the UK have been consistently cut after 14 years of Tory rule and austerity, but with the promise of change from a new Labour government, musician and activist John Kelly is concerned that politicians are still not listening to disabled voices and what they want. Kelly chained himself to London buses in the 1990s to protest over a lack of access to transport, but has watched the right to an independent life be steadily eroded. He worries that yet more cuts to services are on their way
Continue reading...
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
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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.
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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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