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GOP States Double Down on Fighting Medication Abortion After Supreme Court Keeps It Legal
Thu, 13 Jun 2024 20:51:02 +0000
From the jump, the lawsuit challenging the legality of mifepristone was a cynical, propagandistic endeavor. In a 9-0 opinion, the Supreme Court threw it out.
The post GOP States Double Down on Fighting Medication Abortion After Supreme Court Keeps It Legal appeared first on The Intercept.
The donation, one of the largest in the school’s history, was made as right-wing megadonor Leo shopped a new law school center.
The post Texas A&M Wants to Keep Emails About Leonard Leo’s $15 Million Gift Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
Judge says it was ‘conspicuously unfair’ not to appoint migrants’ commissioner
A decision by the former home secretary Suella Braverman to drop two recommendations intended to repair some of the harm done to the Windrush generation was unlawful, the high court has ruled.
The decision to abandon a promise to establish a migrants’ commissioner and to drop a pledge to increase the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI) was found to have had a “disproportionately prejudicial effect upon Windrush victims” and indirectly discriminated against them.
Continue reading...President is sworn in for second term as head of coalition government after losing parliamentary majority
South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa warned of the dangers of “toxic cleavages” in one of the world’s most unequal countries, after he was inaugurated for a second term as president – this time at the head of a coalition government with his African National Congress party’s biggest rival.
The ANC lost its parliamentary majority in 29 May elections, for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power in 1994 after apartheid, as millions of voters defected to breakaway parties amid chronic unemployment and the declining quality of public services.
Continue reading...There is a lot written about technology’s threats to democracy. Polarization. Artificial intelligence. The concentration of wealth and power. I have a more general story: The political and economic systems of governance that were created in the mid-18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. They don’t align incentives well. And they are being hacked too effectively.
At the same time, the cost of these hacked systems has never been greater, across all human history. We have become too powerful as a species. And our systems cannot keep up with fast-changing disruptive technologies...
“I don’t want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people."
The post “Utterly Dismayed”: Air Force Engineer Resigns as Dissent Against Gaza War Slowly Spreads Within Military appeared first on The Intercept.
The task force revealed its plans not in a communiqué to faculty and students — but instead in an Israeli newspaper article.
The post Columbia Task Force Finally Weighs In: Yes, Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism appeared first on The Intercept.
UAVs continually kill civilians, but the U.S. military wants to expand its arsenal with an army of new, mass-produced kamikaze AI drones.
The post Cheap and Lethal: The Pentagon’s Plan for the Next Drone War appeared first on The Intercept.
The federal judge hearing a human rights case disputed allegations he might not be impartial but recused himself out of an “abundance of caution.”
The post Judge Who Went on Israel Junket Recuses Himself From Gaza Case appeared first on The Intercept.
As India concluded the world’s largest election on June 5, 2024, with over 640 million votes counted, observers could assess how the various parties and factions used artificial intelligence technologies—and what lessons that holds for the rest of the world.
The campaigns made extensive use of AI, including deepfake impersonations of candidates, celebrities and dead politicians. By some estimates, millions of Indian voters viewed deepfakes.
But, despite fears of widespread disinformation, for the most part the campaigns, candidates and activists used AI constructively in the election. They used AI for typical political activities, including mudslinging, but primarily to better connect with voters...
The Republican amendment to the annual defense budget is just one of several proposals to restrict humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The post House Votes to Block U.S. Funding to Rebuild Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
“One side or the other is going to win,” Alito told a person he thought was a right-wing activist.
The post Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Caught on Secret Audio appeared first on The Intercept.
Dan Osborn, running as an independent, has racked up endorsements in a race that could help determine Senate control in 2024.
The post UAW Endorses Nebraska Underdog Threatening to Unseat a Republican Senator appeared first on The Intercept.
Government employees are using their official badges to demonstrate against U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The post “Not the Career in Public Service I Signed Up For”: Federal Workers Protest War appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...Every night of the tour, tens of thousands of fans are tuning in to joyfully amateurish livestreams generated by fans in the stadiums. Our writer joins the online audience
When Taylor Swift released The Eras Tour movie last October, it quickly became the highest-grossing concert film of all time. Fans danced in the aisles of screenings. Critics praised Brett Turnbull’s cinematography. When I went to see the actual Eras tour in Edinburgh two weeks ago, I was charmed to see dozens of people watching the film while on the train on their way to, you know, actually see the concert in real life.
The film is a phenomenon in its own right: a slick and bombastic ticket to an event you may have missed out on, or one you might just want to relive in perpetuity. But may I suggest that you’ve never really seen the Eras tour on screen until you’ve participated in one of the unofficial fan livestreams that operate every single night of the tour? Here, the shaky camera footage, taken from phones held up around the stadiums, makes The Blair Witch Project look like Blade Runner. A phone pointed stage-wards from the gods can’t hope to capture the scope of the stadium sound, and so a distant, blown-out Swift often has to compete with joyful caterwauling from your DIY documentarian.
Continue reading...Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy and Austin Butler star in The Bikeriders, inspired by the whiskery brutes of the Outlaws – the world’s second largest biker gang. Director Jeff Nichols explains why he really didn’t want to offend them
Anyone less like a Hells Angel would be difficult to imagine. Yet Jeff Nichols – this genial, softly spoken director, with his pink face and modest quiff of wavy, silver-streaked hair – is responsible for The Bikeriders, a movie thick with the roar of engines and the smell of grease. Inspired by photographer Danny Lyon’s 1967 book of the same name, it stars Tom Hardy as Johnny, the ageing leader of a Chicago biker gang; Austin Butler as Benny, its coolest member; and Jodie Comer as Kathy, who falls for Benny. Lyon rode with and profiled the Outlaws but Nichols has fictionalised the gang, renaming them the Vandals to avoid aggro from the real-life subjects.
“Becoming the historian of the Outlaws was not my goal,” explains the 45-year-old film-maker, seated in front of a wall of books and knick-knacks at his home in Austin, Texas. “Fictionalising them became the safest approach. These guys aggressively protect their colours, their emblem, so I didn’t want to offend them. They’re the second largest motorcycle gang in the world after the Hells Angels.” So had they been ranked only sixth or seventh, it might have been different? “I’m not saying that,” he laughs. “Let them all be over there, and I’ll stay here in my separate space.”
Continue reading...The task force revealed its plans not in a communiqué to faculty and students — but instead in an Israeli newspaper article.
The post Columbia Task Force Finally Weighs In: Yes, Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism 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
The edited videos are often posted to question the US president’s mental fitness at 81
Joe Biden wandered off.
Standing among the west’s major leaders in Italy last week, the US president turned away, seemingly in confusion, and had to be alerted back to the group to take a photo – at least, that’s what rightwing media showed.
Continue reading...The fishing villages, clifftop paths and sandy coves of the Breton coast provide the perfect backdrop for a five-day hike
They say walking is the best medicine and you could spend months walking off your troubles along the sentier des douaniers (customs officers’ path), which winds for more than 1,240 miles (2,000km) around the bays and headlands of the Breton coast. However, me and my perennial walking companion, an Irishman who lives in Bath, settled for a five-day, 55-mile stretch along the southern Crozon peninsula.
As we agreed not to fly, he took the train to Plymouth, the ferry to Roscoff and buses from there, while I took the train from Barcelona and, after a night in Paris, another train to Quimper and a bus to our starting point at Camaret-sur-Mer.
Continue reading...
There is a lot written about technology’s threats to democracy. Polarization. Artificial intelligence. The concentration of wealth and power. I have a more general story: The political and economic systems of governance that were created in the mid-18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. They don’t align incentives well. And they are being hacked too effectively.
At the same time, the cost of these hacked systems has never been greater, across all human history. We have become too powerful as a species. And our systems cannot keep up with fast-changing disruptive technologies...
Last week more than 400 scientists signed an open letter to political parties urging ambitious action on the environment to prevent making Britain and the world ‘more dangerous and insecure’.
Now that the main parties’ manifestos have all been released, Ian Sample is joined by the global environment editor, Jon Watts, and the biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, to find out what the manifestos have to say about nature and climate, and whether anyone is promising the level of action scientists are asking for
Find more analysis of how the UK parties rate on their environmental manifesto pledges
Continue reading...Sir Anthony Seldon leads analysis that concludes that equality, growth and the UK’s standing in the world have all declined since 2010
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And here are some of the best pictures from yesterday’s campaigning. As more voting people than ever appear poised to turn away from the Tories, Sunak appeared in several photographs with sheep and lobsters as he visited North Devon, held by the Tories since 2015. The Guardian’s Archie bland named the sheep the “Dubious photo opportunity of the day”, after the sheep ran away:
Starmer, meanwhile, appeared on LBC where he clarified that Premier League Football Clubs would not be subject to a 10% transfer tax to fund clubs lower down the pyramid. “Let me just kill it dead, we’re not looking at that,” Starmer said. He also visited a tennis club and a pub in Reading West and mid Berkshire.
Continue reading...Nobel prize winners and former Bank of England officials believe Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer can bring about ‘desperately needed’ change
Labour’s plans for ending Britain’s long-term economic stagnation have been backed by a group of leading economists, including three Nobel prize winners and a former Bank of England deputy governor.
In a boost to the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the 16 UK and internationally based economists said change was “desperately needed” after the policy mistakes and failures of the past 14 years since the Conservatives took power.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Scotland’s governing party launched its manifesto on Wednesday – but a sense of decay lingers over the SNP
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Good afternoon. As promised, SNP leader John Swinney presented his party’s manifesto earlier today with an unambiguous first line: “Vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country”. But that feels a pretty long way off today - and the party that has dominated Scottish politics for so long is in danger of an imminent electoral collapse, instead.
More on how Swinney is trying to fend off that danger, and why Carrie Johnson’s summer suddenly looks a lot better, after the headlines.
Economy | UK inflation fell to 2% in May, returning to the official target rate for the first time in nearly three years. Rishi Sunak said that the news was evidence that his “bold action” had worked, while Rachel Reeves said it was “welcome” but that “pressures on family finances are still acute”.
Conservatives | Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak should not have their convictions removed for breaking Covid rules, Keir Starmer has said, amid calls from Conservative former cabinet ministers to nullify criminal convictions for Covid rule-breakers.
Labour | Labour has suspended one of its candidates after reports that he shared pro-Russian material online. Andy Brown, the candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, shared an article from the Russian state media outlet RT claiming that the toxin used in the Salisbury poisonings, novichok, was “never produced in Russia, but was in service in the US, UK, and other Nato states”.
Continue reading...Some candidates complaining of lack of ministerial visits and money have turned to Boris Johnson for help
“Red wall” Conservatives candidates are becoming increasingly dismayed and disillusioned with the central party for in effect cutting them adrift, as the Tory campaign focuses instead on defending safer seats in the south of England.
While some Tories in such areas say they have received central help, others complain about a lack of support in terms of visits from ministers, and an apparent lack of money or volunteering from the party faithful.
Continue reading...PM says donor is ‘genuinely contrite’ as phone-in caller challenges him over businessman’s remarks about Diane Abbott
Rishi Sunak has said he will not hand back money from the Conservative party’s biggest donor, who said Diane Abbott should be shot, because the businessman is “genuinely contrite”.
A caller during an LBC phone-in asked the prime minister about Frank Hester’s remarks about the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP.
Continue reading...Deepfake videos have failed to disrupt election campaign as some predicted, instead existing as obviously fake memes
The video is clear: Nigel Farage, appearing on screen as a gaming livestreamer, is commentating as he plays Minecraft. The Reform UK party leader explains that he has logged on to Rishi Sunak’s server, tracked down the prime minister’s virtual home in the video game, and intends to blow it up.
Farage’s distinctive voice can be heard as he explains what he’s about to do: “I filled it to the brim with TNT. And for everyone’s information there were absolutely no traces of Sky TV services in or around the house.”
Continue reading...Culture is increasingly mediated through algorithms. These algorithms have splintered the organization of culture, a result of states and tech companies vying for influence over mass audiences. One byproduct of this splintering is a shift from imperfect but broad cultural narratives to a proliferation of niche groups, who are defined by ideology or aesthetics instead of nationality or geography. This change reflects a material shift in the relationship between collective identity and power, and illustrates how states no longer have exclusive domain over either. Today, both power and culture are increasingly corporate...
Use of ‘anti-forestalling’ measures may counteract any perceived savings and lead to higher costs in future
Parents paying seven years’ worth of private school fees in advance to escape Labour’s plans to add VAT could be “sleepwalking” into protracted tax disputes, experts have warned.
Advance payment schemes have been available for years at some independent schools. But since Labour confirmed its plans to add VAT of 20% to school fees, the uptake has gone up sharply as parents seek ways to keep costs down.
Continue reading...Independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob also said ‘70% of hell will be women’ during appearance on YouTube series
An independent candidate standing in Birmingham said “70% of hell will be women” and joked about domestic violence on a podcast earlier this year, as polling suggests he is closing the gap with Labour.
Akhmed Yakoob, who came third in the West Midlands mayoral election in May with just over 10% of the vote, is standing against Labour’s Shabana Mahmood in Ladywood, one of the most deprived constituencies in the country.
Continue reading...Leading economists and policy experts believe the ambitious reforms proposed by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves will help grow the economy.
• Report: Expert economists back Labour’s plan to end economic stagnation in UK
Britain has suffered a long period of economic stagnation over the last 14 years, with low growth in productivity, real wages and living standards. Not only is this record poor by historical standards, but the UK has also underperformed compared with its international peers. We invest too little and too inefficiently – especially in skills, infrastructure and innovation.
A key problem relates to the many policy mistakes, reversals and leadership churn – these have helped create huge investment-sapping uncertainty. Second, structural reforms are needed to boost national infrastructure and housing, especially around the planning system. Third, we need to improve our relationship with the European Union, our closest trading partners. Finally, the transition to net zero, and sustainable growth, needs a new urgency. Change is desperately needed.
Continue reading...The PM is sorry we feel like that, but at least he isn’t trying to con the country into believing in a Labour dictatorship
Donald Trump has famously been a drag on his own business career. He would have been richer today had he simply put his inheritance into an index tracker fund. Politically, however … you have to concede he is doing quite well for himself. Rishi Sunak is the opposite. He’s a successful businessman who is now a drag on his political fortunes. He would have done better in this election had he simply stood in the rain that afternoon and announced: “I’m calling it – and it’s tomorrow!” Alas, he didn’t, and now his position depletes further with each passing day. Sunak is like an extremely unstable isotope, losing energy by the hour. The only way he’d poll high is with a Geiger counter.
Anyway, please don your fallout suits and proceed straight to the site of his LBC phone-in this morning, guided by Nick Ferrari. You’ll see a lot about Sunak promising to cut taxes now inflation has fallen to 2% and a caller telling him he was “a pound shop Nigel Farage”. But it’s largely just noise. Probably the most telling bit was when a chap rang up to talk to Sunak about his imminent resignation honours, and instead of remembering to say that he wasn’t going to be doing any resignation honours for a while, the prime minister engaged thoughtfully with the “very interesting question” in a way that suggested he completely accepted its central premise.
Continue reading...After the election, Labour must end the attacks on a watchdog that is simply trying to protect what little wildlife we have left
England likes to think of itself as a green and pleasant land, yet the Conservatives have been waging a vicious political war against Natural England, the watchdog that is supposed to protect the countryside. During the past decade and a half, Natural England has been undermined by austerity and rendered toothless by deregulation. The Conservative government slashed the organisation’s already insufficient budget by two-thirds, rendering it incapable of carrying out even basic functions. Almost half of England’s nature reserves have not been monitored by government ecologists in recent years, and only 39% of our sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) are now in “favourable condition”.
It’s much the same story as what has happened to the Environment Agency. Yet in recent years, spending cuts have been the least of Natural England’s worries. The watchdog has also had to withstand a barrage of attacks from Tory MPs, landowners, developers, the shooting lobby and even environment ministers. And under Rishi Sunak’s government, it has come close to being destroyed entirely – simply because it tried to do its job.
Guy Shrubsole is an environmental campaigner and the author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain, Who Owns England? and the forthcoming The Lie of the Land
Farming is key here but many people are struggling to put bread on the table, and crying out for politics to engage with a system in crisis
“Farmers certainly don’t want to see food poverty – we want to see food that’s affordable,” says Ian Harvey, a dairy farmer. “But at the same time, we want to ensure that there’s absolute fairness throughout the supply chain.” Farms are under extraordinary financial pressure, he says.
On Wiggaton Farm, near North Petherwin in the North Cornwall constituency, about 170 Holstein friesian and Ayrshire cows are nosing between tufts for the sweet new grass they like the most. “It’s amazing how they don’t pull the grass out of the ground,” Harvey says. “They wrap their tongue around it and then tear it off.”
Continue reading...The edited videos are often posted to question the US president’s mental fitness at 81
Joe Biden wandered off.
Standing among the west’s major leaders in Italy last week, the US president turned away, seemingly in confusion, and had to be alerted back to the group to take a photo – at least, that’s what rightwing media showed.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves warns cost of living crisis is not over, as inflation hits official target for first time in three years
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said pressure on household finances remains “acute” despite official figures showing inflation fell to 2% in May, returning to the official target rate for the first time in nearly three years.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the consumer prices index (CPI) had eased in May, down from 2.3% in April, raising expectations of a cut in borrowing costs by the Bank of England.
Continue reading...A new poll for Ipsos shows Labour heading for an unprecedented majority and spells disaster for Rishi Sunak. Archie Bland reports
Continue reading...In the run-up to July's election, the Guardian video team is touring the UK looking at issues that matter to communities. In the town of Port Talbot, in the Aberafan Maesteg constituency, many voters are worried about the future of the steelworks where at least 2,800 jobs are on the line. We spoke to businesses, food banks and charities and politicians, all worried about the knock-on effect on families who have been steelworkers for generations. We also heard voters' other concerns and asked politicians what people were saying about the steelworks on the doorstep
Continue reading...The Guardian is reporting from the constituency of Belfast East to find out what issues people there care about most – and we want your help
The Guardian will be reporting from the constituency of Belfast East ahead of the general election. This will be part of a series of pieces from across the country focused on finding out what matters most to the people who live there.
If you live in the constituency of Belfast East, can you tell us what will decide your vote? We’d like to understand the big issues facing you and your family and which policies matter to you. How happy are you with the state of housing, work, public transport, local facilities for young people, policing and health services? What local issues should we be looking at? To what extent if any will a candidate’s position on Northern Ireland’s constitutional status affect your vote?
Continue reading...The donation, one of the largest in the school’s history, was made as right-wing megadonor Leo shopped a new law school center.
The post Texas A&M Wants to Keep Emails About Leonard Leo’s $15 Million Gift Secret appeared first on The Intercept.
It is getting harder for the party of government in Scotland to make an election pitch based entirely on blaming Westminster
The Scottish National party has been in government since 2007, but only in the past year has the weight of incumbency started to look like an unmanageable burden. At the party’s election manifesto launch on Wednesday, John Swinney performed the role of a steady-handed veteran for which he was recruited just over a month ago. But voters have not forgotten the chaos that led to his appointment – the calamitous miscalculation that collapsed Humza Yousaf’s coalition with the Scottish Greens and triggered his resignation after little more than a year as first minister.
Also not forgotten are the financial scandals that have tarnished the legacy of Nicola Sturgeon, Mr Yousaf’s predecessor. The period when Ms Sturgeon rose above the political fray, and opposition barbs bounced off the SNP without sticking, feels long gone.
Continue reading...The public doesn’t understand how economic growth is measured, let alone enjoy much of it. So why is it central to this election?
“Great news this morning!” beamed Rishi Sunak on Wednesday. Not every release from the Office for National Statistics gets its own prime ministerial post on Instagram, but inflation falling to 2% was, the Tory leader claimed, a personal victory. When he moved into No 10, it was 11%, he reminded voters. “But we took bold action, we stuck to a clear plan and that’s why the economy has turned a corner.”
Not so fast, Mr Sunak. The prices of food and petrol remain about 25% higher than two years ago. More than one in five households say that they are struggling to pay their bills or to make ends meet. The cost of living crisis was always much bigger than a number on the consumer price index: it was a catch-all term, taking in everything from a punitive welfare system and poorly paid and insecure work to rising expenses. Millions of households were in a cost of living crisis long before it made the front pages; long after the term falls out of fashion, they will still be in one.
Continue reading...The SNP launched its manifesto today amid polling that shows the once dominant Scottish party facing steep losses. Archie Bland reports
Continue reading...It was all stuff that has been on the agenda for years, illustrated with a single picture of a lower-profile leader
Things are looking up. For so long the Tories have looked utterly bereft, cast adrift by their former supporters. Alone and friendless. It couldn’t have happened to nicer people. But now they find themselves with company – albeit not the bedfellows they might have expected or even wanted. For the SNP is now facing its own electoral Armageddon. The latest polls suggest the party could win only 15 seats out of a possible 57 on 4 July. Cast your mind back to 2015, when you couldn’t move for Scots Nats MPs. It’s not quite a wipeout, but it’s not far off. At the very least it’s a profound existential crisis.
Not that you would have known that from its election launch event four weeks ago. That was a massive rally, rammed with activists. The SNP has traditionally been a master at marshalling its troops. But things have changed somewhat over the last month. You can sense the optimism draining out of its campaign. The smiles are slightly more fixed. The conversations more terse. There’s a tetchiness rising to the surface. Say one word out of line and you feel like you could get your head bitten off.
Guardian Newsroom: Election results special: On Friday 5 July, 7.30pm-9pm BST, join Hugh Muir, Gaby Hinsliff, John Crace, Jonathan Freedland and Zoe Williams for unrivalled analysis of the general election results. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live.
Continue reading...Scottish first minister says election is chance to reinforce the case for split and warns over Labour cuts
John Swinney has doubled down on the Scottish National party’s core commitment to independence, telling voters that the general election is an opportunity to “intensify the pressure” on Westminster for a referendum.
Launching what the SNP leader and Scottish first minister claimed was the most leftwing manifesto of the campaign in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, Swinney also urged Scots to “have their eyes wide open [that] voting Labour in Scotland will get you spending cuts”.
Continue reading...We want to hear from people in the UK who have had video messages left by candidates while out campaigning
Smart doorbells have transformed the campaigning process for political candidates, allowing them to leave messages and even speak directly with voters while they’re away from home.
If you’ve had a candidate leave a message on your smart doorbell during the general election campaign, we’d like to hear from you. What did the candidate say and do you have the video?
Continue reading...Thanks to a troubled economy and gains by the far right in the European elections, Germany’s sense of identity is in the balance. Could footballing success bring the country back together? Philip Oltermann reports
The last time Germany hosted a major football tournament was the World Cup in 2006. With a multicultural team that won the nation’s hearts, for many it felt as though a new, more open sense of German patriotism was being formed.
Fast forward to 2024 and, with an economy that slipped into recession last year, things feel very different. Last month there were big gains in the European elections for the far-right AfD party – whose popularity withstood some worrying and well-publicised scandals.
Continue reading...“I don’t want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people."
The post “Utterly Dismayed”: Air Force Engineer Resigns as Dissent Against Gaza War Slowly Spreads Within Military appeared first on The Intercept.
President is sworn in for second term as head of coalition government after losing parliamentary majority
South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa warned of the dangers of “toxic cleavages” in one of the world’s most unequal countries, after he was inaugurated for a second term as president – this time at the head of a coalition government with his African National Congress party’s biggest rival.
The ANC lost its parliamentary majority in 29 May elections, for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power in 1994 after apartheid, as millions of voters defected to breakaway parties amid chronic unemployment and the declining quality of public services.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: The war has devastated Sudan, destroying much of the country and leaving 18 million facing acute hunger
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Good morning.
The war in Sudan has caused destruction throughout much of the country. And with every passing week the conflict seems to get worse between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – a paramilitary group who say their main goal is to establish democracy, though the frequent human rights abuses they commit do not support this claim.
Conservatives | Jeremy Hunt said Liz Truss’s economic ambitions were a “good thing to aim for” and her disastrous mini-budget hadn’t left an impact on the economy, according to two leaked recordings obtained by the Guardian. The chancellor was recorded at a meeting of students when he said he was “trying to basically achieve some of the same things” as the former prime minister, but that he was doing it “more gradually”.
Israel | Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, rebuffing his far-right allies who had been seeking seats, and apparently moving to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.
Italy | At least 10 people died and dozens were missing after two separate shipwrecks close to the Italian coast, rescuers said. Ten bodies were found on Monday in the lower deck of a wooden boat in the central Mediterranean by rescuers from Nadir, a ship operated by the German charity ResQship.
Germany | Eight alleged members of the German far-right Reichsbürger are to go on trial accused of a plot to violently overthrow the state, in the third in a row of similar court cases being held across the country. The defendants, including a GP, a celebrity chef and an astrologer, are accused of serving as the plot’s leadership council and, prosecutors say, were set to become a cabinet in waiting if the group’s plan overthrow the government had succeeded.
UK news | Officers who hit an escaped cow with a car “probably did the right thing at the time” even if it looks “horrendous”, a union leader and farmer has said. A video showing a police car hitting the calf on Friday night on a residential street in Staines-upon-Thames was met with widespread outrage, including from the RSCPA which criticised it as “disproportionate”.
Continue reading...The Republican amendment to the annual defense budget is just one of several proposals to restrict humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The post House Votes to Block U.S. Funding to Rebuild Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
As India concluded the world’s largest election on June 5, 2024, with over 640 million votes counted, observers could assess how the various parties and factions used artificial intelligence technologies—and what lessons that holds for the rest of the world.
The campaigns made extensive use of AI, including deepfake impersonations of candidates, celebrities and dead politicians. By some estimates, millions of Indian voters viewed deepfakes.
But, despite fears of widespread disinformation, for the most part the campaigns, candidates and activists used AI constructively in the election. They used AI for typical political activities, including mudslinging, but primarily to better connect with voters...
National Rally’s Jordan Bardella insists he would need to govern free of partners if party wins parliamentary elections
Jordan Bardella, the leader of the National Rally (RN), has said he will not accept the job of prime minister unless his far-right party wins an absolute majority in parliament because he would not have the freedom to act “in the daily lives of French people” as he sees fit.
Polls suggest the RN is on course to win the snap parliamentary elections called by Emmanuel Macron after the Eurosceptic, anti-immigration party’s crushing victory in European parliament elections earlier this month.
Continue reading...Both men – 78 and 81 respectively – have behaved in ways that might give even the most cautious observer pause
No election involving Donald Trump can be considered normal, but, in among all the breaches and oddities of this uniquely strange presidential race, one stands out as stranger than others. That is: speculation as to which of the two presidential candidates is showing the greater and more alarming rate of mental decline.
Until recently, this topic was considered at best unsporting, at worst dangerous – particularly on the left, where it is assumed that discussions around age will hurt Biden more than Trump. Even Trump, however, has benefited from certain delicacies governing the subject of impairment. During his first run for president, when the words “narcissist” and “borderline personality” first started to be bandied about, plenty of mental health professionals popped up to steeple their fingers and point out it is neither polite nor judicious to diagnose others based on zero clinical information.
Continue reading...Decision to launch ‘excessive deficit procedure’ sets up collision course with post-election government
The European Commission has issued a reprimand to France for breaking EU fiscal rules before an election where the frontrunners are making lavish spending promises.
The EU executive’s decision to launch the “excessive deficit procedure” against France is a blow to Emmanuel Macron – with a deficit well above the EU threshold – and also sets up a collision course with a post-election government potentially dominated by the far-right or the left coalition.
Continue reading...Masoud Pezeshkian hopes to win over an apathetic electorate and revive talks on the country’s nuclear deal
The sole reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential elections this month has said he wants improved relations with the US, as he accused his conservative rivals of blighting the Iranian economy by not doing enough to revive the a nuclear deal with the west that had led to the lifting of some sanctions.
Masoud Pezeshkian, who has unveiled the combative former foreign minster Javad Zarif as his foreign policy adviser, also suggested under his presidency he might also review its relations with Russia, arguing eastern powers should not think that they are Iran’s only option.
Continue reading...We have much to fear if the French president, playing with fire, opens the door to a far-right government
Twenty-two years after Jean-Marie Le Pen was unexpectedly voted through to the second round of a French presidential election – an electoral shock that drew nearly a million people on to the streets in protest – the threat of the far right coming to power has returned.
On 9 June, French voters gave Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) an unprecedented victory in the European elections. Her party won a record 31.5% of the vote, twice as many votes as the centrist alliance backed by President Emmanuel Macron. A separate far-right list headed by Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, won a further 5% of the vote.
Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, writer, film-maker and activist
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...There are numerous terms to describe the wide array of far right parties, but what do all they mean – and do we always use the right ones?
They are known, variously, as far right, national-conservative, radical right, anti-Islam, nativist, and Eurosceptic. Also as extreme right, populist, “alt-right”, neofascist, anti-immigration, nationalist, authoritarian, and assorted combinations of the above.
As the dust settles on the results of this month’s European parliamentary elections, it is worth examining what some of the terms routinely used to describe Europe’s wide array of far-right parties mean – and whether they are always the right ones.
Continue reading...The task force revealed its plans not in a communiqué to faculty and students — but instead in an Israeli newspaper article.
The post Columbia Task Force Finally Weighs In: Yes, Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism appeared first on The Intercept.
UAVs continually kill civilians, but the U.S. military wants to expand its arsenal with an army of new, mass-produced kamikaze AI drones.
The post Cheap and Lethal: The Pentagon’s Plan for the Next Drone War appeared first on The Intercept.
Being beholden to partners could be a necessary restraint on Indian PM – or he could double down on oppressive policies
As Narendra Modi traversed the country during recent months, campaigning for a third term in power, he repeated the same refrain. The past decade “was just a trailer”, the prime minister told crowds, adding: “There is plenty more to come.”
The expectation, among his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and most analysts and pollsters, was that India’s election would easily return him to power with the same – if not stronger – supermajority that he has enjoyed over the past decade.
Continue reading...In the first video of a new series of Anywhere but Westminster, John Harris and John Domokos revisit Stoke-on-Trent, the once-loyal Labour city that went totally Tory in 2019. Has 'levelling up' money made up for swingeing local cuts? Will Labour win again? And what do people working hard to turn the place around think about the future?
Continue reading...Dan Osborn, running as an independent, has racked up endorsements in a race that could help determine Senate control in 2024.
The post UAW Endorses Nebraska Underdog Threatening to Unseat a Republican Senator appeared first on The Intercept.
From the jump, the lawsuit challenging the legality of mifepristone was a cynical, propagandistic endeavor. In a 9-0 opinion, the Supreme Court threw it out.
The post GOP States Double Down on Fighting Medication Abortion After Supreme Court Keeps It Legal appeared first on The Intercept.
Israeli leader made claim in X post, although Biden administration says it does not ‘know what he is talking about’
The Biden administration has reacted furiously to criticisms by Benjamin Netanyahu that the US is holding back weapons and ammunition from Israel in its war in Gaza, reportedly cancelling a high-level meeting with Israeli officials on Iran in retaliation.
Netanyahu made the claims of a supposedly deliberate weapons delay in a video posted on X in which he implied that Israel’s ability to prevail in the nine-month war with Hamas was being hampered as a result.
Continue reading...Readers respond to a report on the huge discrepancies in outdoor space and facilities between state and private schools
There’s a significant detail missing from your account of the inequality in school green space (Revealed: students at top private schools have 10 times more green space than state pupils, 16 June). Starting with Margaret Thatcher’s government, local education authorities were encouraged to sell their playing fields for development. Others built on their own land as they expanded. Between 1979 and 1997, 10,000 playing fields were sold off. Many schools used to have swimming pools; now pupils have to be taken to privately run leisure centres. Labour slowed but did not stop the sales, then they resumed with the coalition government. ITV reported that Michael Gove intervened in 2012 to overturn advice to halt the sales.
Winchester College, whose rowers you show on the River Itchen, has slowly removed public access to its lands in the 40 years that we’ve lived here. Bridges have been allowed to decay and not been replaced, footpaths have been allowed to erode and not been repaired, while land has been fenced and walkers corralled on to narrow strips alongside playing fields. Fields where our children once skated on ice when the river flooded are now inaccessible. A few years ago, my husband’s old school, Bradfield College, was fundraising for a golf course for the pupils – charitable donations being tax deductible, of course. You can imagine where that appeal went.
Judith Martin
Winchester
Sources’ claim suggests advice by Will Lewis, an informal adviser to then prime minister, contradicted instructions to staff
Will Lewis, the Washington Post publisher, advised Boris Johnson and senior officials at 10 Downing Street to “clean up” their phones in the midst of a Covid-era political scandal, according to claims by three people familiar with the operations inside No 10 at the time.
The advice is alleged to have been given in December 2021 and January 2022 as top officials were under scrutiny for potential violations of pandemic restrictions, which was known as “Partygate”.
Continue reading...Judge says it was ‘conspicuously unfair’ not to appoint migrants’ commissioner
A decision by the former home secretary Suella Braverman to drop two recommendations intended to repair some of the harm done to the Windrush generation was unlawful, the high court has ruled.
The decision to abandon a promise to establish a migrants’ commissioner and to drop a pledge to increase the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI) was found to have had a “disproportionately prejudicial effect upon Windrush victims” and indirectly discriminated against them.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Elizabeth Philp denies allegations that she used trade secrets gained from former employer
A leading businesswoman who is married to the policing minister, Chris Philp, has been reported to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by a former employer and is being sued in the high court over allegations of corporate espionage.
Elizabeth Philp, 40, whose husband has called for “zero tolerance” to all crime, is accused of data-handling offences and unlawfully using confidential information from her former employer to set up a rival business.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Discontent growing among advocates, crossbenchers and Labor MPs over delay in implementing 31 recommendations, including advertising ban
Crossbenchers, gambling harm advocates and even some inside Labor are demanding the Albanese government speed up moves towards banning gambling advertisements, as pressure mounts on Labor to act.
Next week marks one year since Peta Murphy’s landmark gambling report was delivered, and a key Labor MP is planning to “urge” the government to respond soon. Discontent is growing over the government’s failure to respond to its 31 recommendations, including a ban on all advertising for online gambling.
Continue reading...It compares with 21.7% in the private sector which WGEA report says is due to more flexible working practice and more full-time work
For every dollar a male federal public servant makes, his female counterpart makes 86c, data reported for the first time by the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) reveals.
An analysis of data reported by 116 commonwealth public sector employers found the public sector’s gender pay gap was 13.5% in 2022, which was roughly two-thirds that of the private sector’s pay gap (21.7%).
Continue reading...The Coalition still has questions to answer about its energy proposals – not least cost – but some wonder if the aim is just to disrupt renewables
Last year, when Peter Dutton campaigned against the proposed voice to parliament, he said repeatedly that it shouldn’t be supported because it lacked detail. Now, as he seeks to upend the transition to renewable energy in Australia and spend billions of dollars to build nuclear reactors instead, there is almost none.
Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud have selected seven locations around Australia for future nuclear reactors. On Wednesday, they finally named them.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands of immigrants married to US nationals can now exit ‘the shadows’ while others remain stuck in limbo
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants had reason to rejoice when Joe Biden unveiled a highly expansive plan to extend legal status to spouses of US citizens but, inevitably, some were left out.
Claudia Zúniga, 35, was married in 2017, 10 years after her husband came to the United States. He moved to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, after they wed, knowing that, by law, he had to live outside the US for years to gain legal status. “Our lives took a 180-degree turn,” she said.
Continue reading...Kim enjoys the recognition and backs Putin in Ukraine. Putin’s war, meanwhile needs North Korean weapons. It’s a dangerous alliance
They make an odd couple. One is smiley-faced and chubby. The other is thin-lipped and scowls a lot. Both are dictators, sinister, brutal and unaccountable in their different ways. Both have made it their mission in life to overturn the post-1945 global order, defying the US, its chief patrolman. And both are sanctioned, ostracised and a little bit feared by the countries of the west.
Those fears are likely to intensify after today’s Pyongyang summit, both symbolic and substantive, between this unofficial Laurel and Hardy tribute act. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un – the plump one – and Russia’s Vladimir Putin – the skinny one – have a shared aim: consolidating their place in a bullish anti-western, anti-democratic alliance, ostensibly representing a “new world order”, reaching from China to Iran.
Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s Foreign Affairs Commentator
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Officer arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, says Metropolitan police
One of Rishi Sunak’s close protection officers has been arrested over alleged bets about the timing of the election.
The officer was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the Metropolitan police said in a statement
Continue reading...  | submitted by /u/Wagamaga [link] [comments] |
Critics say differentiated autonomy bill, which sparked brawl in parliament, will increase poverty in south
Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has been accused of “splitting the country” after parliament approved a controversial bill granting regions more power, which critics say will increase poverty in the south.
The change, approved by the lower house early on Wednesday after a fiery debate that lasted all night, is part of the government’s overhaul of the Italian state, including a bill approved by the upper house on Tuesday that would allow for the direct election of a prime minister.
Continue reading...“One side or the other is going to win,” Alito told a person he thought was a right-wing activist.
The post Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Caught on Secret Audio appeared first on The Intercept.
Public polling is a critical function of modern political campaigns and movements, but it isn’t what it once was. Recent US election cycles have produced copious postmortems explaining both the successes and the flaws of public polling. There are two main reasons polling fails.
First, nonresponse has skyrocketed. It’s radically harder to reach people than it used to be. Few people fill out surveys that come in the mail anymore. Few people answer their phone when a stranger calls. Pew Research reported that 36% of the people they called in 1997 would talk to them, but only 6% by 2018. Pollsters worldwide have faced similar challenges...
Richard Christou tells public inquiry that real failure in Post Office scandal was the way prosecutions had been handled
A former executive of Fujitsu, the company that developed the Post Office’s Horizon IT system, has told a public inquiry he felt “aggrieved” that what he thought was a “good system” had been placed into such disrepute by the scandal, and said he believed that the “real issue” was the way criminal prosecutions of post office operators had been handled by the state-owned body.
Richard Christou, the former chief executive and executive chairman of Fujitsu Services Holdings, was testifying at the inquiry, which is examining why the Post Office prosecuted and ruined hundreds of people, alleging financial shortfalls in their post office branch accounts. Despite campaigns, it took years for the Post Office to admit that faults with Horizon were behind many of the shortfalls.
Continue reading...We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2020: With 850 million children worldwide shut out of schools, tech evangelists claim now is the time for AI education. But as the technology’s power grows, so too do the dangers that come with it. By Alex Beard
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Jonathan Fadugba, Mark Langdon and Jonathan Liew to look over a classic between and Turkey and Georgia, Portugal’s escape act and the the Labour leader’s plans for football
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today; game of the tournament in Dortmund as Turkey took on Georgia. Brilliant goals and brilliant performances from both sides – are Turkey, finally, actually the dark horses?
Continue reading...Apple’s famous slogan that suggested total privacy is being tested in the age of AI. Plus: is it time to give up on smartphones all together?
AI is power-hungry, and that’s causing problems for Apple.
We’re still working through the ramifications of the company’s worldwide developers conference, where it revealed how it intends to incorporate AI into your daily life – but only, for the most part, if your daily life involves a brand new iPhone:
Apple’s new AI models will run on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, the only two devices the company has yet shipped with its A17 processor. Macs up to three years old will also be able to take advantage of the upgrade, provided they have a M1, 2 or 3 chip, and so too will iPad Pros with the same internal hardware.
At the core of Apple’s privacy assurances regarding AI is its new Private Cloud Compute technology. Apple seeks to do most computer processing to run Apple Intelligence features on devices. But for functions that require more processing than the device can handle, the company will outsource processing to the cloud while “protecting user data”, Apple executives said on Monday.
To accomplish this, Apple will only export data required to fulfil each request, create additional security measure around the data at each end point, and not store data indefinitely. Apple will also publish all tools and software related to the private cloud publicly for third-party verification, executives said.
Continue reading...Joining Grace this week is one of Ireland’s most acclaimed comics and host of the award-winning podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me, Joanne McNally. With a number of sell-out shows and tour dates in the US later this year, they discuss how Joanne uses comedy to process difficult periods in her life, how her mum is her favourite cocktail buddy, and what exactly she stole to get herself kicked out of the Scouts. Hot off her stint on the latest series of Taskmaster, and with an upcoming show at the Edinburgh festival fringe, the real question is: what is the banger of a sandwich Joanne McNally turns to whenever she’s shut off from the outside world and has a rare moment of peace?
New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday
Continue reading...In the run-up to July's general election, the Guardian video team is touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. After swimmers and rowers fell sick from sewage discharges into the River Thames we went to the seat of Henley and Thame to see how environmental concerns rank for voters in a seat that has been Conservative for more than 100 years
Continue reading...Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
In the run-up to July's election, the Guardian video team will be touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. In a week when an attack on a refugee camp in Rafah and the Labour party's treatment of Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen dominated the headlines, we spoke to voters in Ilford – North and South – who were protesting locally about Gaza. We asked whether these issues would make a difference to how they vote in the election, met canvassers getting behind independent candidates, and spoke to business owners about their political priorities
Continue reading...The U.S. has trained 15 coup leaders in recent decades — and U.S. counterterrorism policies in the region have failed.
The post After Training African Coup Leaders, Pentagon Blames Russia for African Coups appeared first on The Intercept.
The federal judge hearing a human rights case disputed allegations he might not be impartial but recused himself out of an “abundance of caution.”
The post Judge Who Went on Israel Junket Recuses Himself From Gaza Case appeared first on The Intercept.
Michelle Roach bought a used ice-cream van in order to bring cheap, affordable food to Liverpool's struggling communities. She wanted a vehicle with freezers built in for frozen food, and also something cheerful that was able to break down stigmas around food poverty. Using a '10 items for £5' model, Michelle sources discount food from supermarket surplus and donations.
The Guardian's Christopher Cherry follows Michelle and the van on its rounds, with the service struggling to meet overwhelming demand as the cost of living crisis deepens, and the UK's general election fast approaches.
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron stunned politicians and the public by announcing a snap general election after the far-right National Rally party won about 32% of the French vote. But it wasn’t just in France that the far right was celebrating. In Germany and Austria, parties on the populist right made stunning gains. Despite that, the pro-European centre appeared to have held in a set of results likely to complicate EU lawmaking
EU elections: populist right makes gains but pro-European centre holds
Fears for Green Deal as number of MEPs from climate-denying parties set to rise
Government employees are using their official badges to demonstrate against U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The post “Not the Career in Public Service I Signed Up For”: Federal Workers Protest War appeared first on The Intercept.
Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
Almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
For the second time, the IFC is bucking recommendations to offer money as reparations to people hurt at a chain of schools it invested in, Bridge International Academies.
The post World Bank Financing Arm Rejects Calls to Directly Compensate Victims of Harm at Kenya Schools appeared first on The Intercept.
In an open letter, a group of self-described Apple workers, former employees, and shareholders are calling on the company to halt donations to nonprofits linked with Israel’s war effort.
The post Apple Matches Worker Donations to IDF and Illegal Settlements, Employees Allege appeared first on The Intercept.
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
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The board had proposed appending a statement that would have undermined a Palestinian scholar’s article. The students rejected it.
The post Columbia Law Review Is Back Online After Students Threatened Work Stoppage Over Palestine Censorship appeared first on The Intercept.
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...South Korea says 10,000 containers carry suspected North Korean arms for Russia; claim that Russians beheaded captured defender. What we know on day 847
A Ukrainian defence source confirmed a drone attack was used to blow up oil storage tanks near the town of Azov in Rostov, southern Russia. Agence France-Presse said the defence source described it as a “successful” attack and said it caused “powerful fires in the installations”. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) “will continue to impose ‘drone sanctions’ on Russia’s oil refining complex and reduce the enemy’s economic potential, which provides the aggressor with resources to wage war against Ukraine”.
Video published by Russia’s emergencies ministry showed thick smoke and flames billowing out of what appeared to be multiple oil storage tanks over a large area. About 200 Russian firefighters and emergency personnel were sent in. The Rostov region sits directly across the border from Ukraine and is home to the operational headquarters overseeing Russia’s invasion.
A Russian drone attack left a man, 70, in hospital and damaged a multi-storey residential building in Lviv city, Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor, said on Wednesday. It hit the village of Malekhiv within the city district and damaged many windows in other residential buildings, he said. The city is the administrative centre of the Lviv oblast in western Ukraine, on the border with Nato member Poland.
Ukraine said Russian forces were fighting to enter the outskirts of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region. “The enemy keeps trying to advance to the micro-district Novy in the town of Chasiv Yar,” a Ukrainian military official said in a briefing.
Farther south, the military said Moscow’s forces were also pushing towards Pokrovsk, threatening a key road, which could complicate Ukrainian supply lines.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed 10 Shahed attack drones launched by Russian forces over Monday night into Tuesday.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general accused Russian forces of beheading a Ukrainian serviceman in the eastern Donetsk region. “The fact of decapitation of a Ukrainian defender was recorded in the Donetsk region,” said Andriy Kostin. He said Ukraine had documented nearly 130,000 war crimes committed by Russia.
National grid operator Ukrenergo said Ukraine would face rolling electricity blackouts throughout Wednesday after Russian strikes on Ukrainian power plants.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said China’s support for Russia’s defence industry was prolonging the Ukraine war and “has to stop”. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian earlier urged Nato to “stop shifting blame” over the Ukraine war after the alliance’s chief, Jens Stoltenberg, accused Beijing of worsening the conflict through support of Russia.
The South Korean defence minister, Shin Wonsik, told Bloomberg News that South Korea had identified at least 10,000 shipping containers suspected to be containing artillery ammunition and other weapons sent from North Korea to Russia. Those containers could contain up to 4.8m shells, Shin said. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is visiting North Korea. “Putin is expected to seek closer security cooperation with North Korea, especially military supplies such as artillery shells that are necessary to seize a chance to win,” Shin told Bloomberg.
Ukrainian officials have already started preparatory work to organise a second peace summit, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has said after the first conference led by Ukraine was held over the weekend in Switzerland. Yermak said a joint plan needed to be figured out by member states first, a process he expected to take several months.
Continue reading...Masoud Pezeshkian hopes to win over an apathetic electorate and revive talks on the country’s nuclear deal
The sole reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential elections this month has said he wants improved relations with the US, as he accused his conservative rivals of blighting the Iranian economy by not doing enough to revive the a nuclear deal with the west that had led to the lifting of some sanctions.
Masoud Pezeshkian, who has unveiled the combative former foreign minster Javad Zarif as his foreign policy adviser, also suggested under his presidency he might also review its relations with Russia, arguing eastern powers should not think that they are Iran’s only option.
Continue reading...Robert O’Brien says US should abandon moratorium but experts say proposal would hasten global nuclear arms race
Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, widely tipped to play a leading role in a second Trump presidency, has advocated the resumption of nuclear testing, and the possible renewed production of plutonium and weapons-grade uranium.
Arms control experts said O’Brien’s proposals would accelerate the global nuclear arms race and backfire in terms of US security, handing greater advantages to Russia and China.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un’s agreement raises western alarm about possible Russian help for nuclear programme
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, have signed a pact that includes a clause requiring the countries to come to each other’s aid if either is attacked, a move that has raised western concerns about potential Russian aid for Pyongyang’s missile or nuclear programmes.
The inclusion of a mutual defence clause in their comprehensive strategic partnership, which Kim described as an “alliance”, will add to the west’s alarm over growing economic and military ties between North Korea and Russia. The deal was finalised on Wednesday after hours of talks in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
Continue reading...The edited videos are often posted to question the US president’s mental fitness at 81
Joe Biden wandered off.
Standing among the west’s major leaders in Italy last week, the US president turned away, seemingly in confusion, and had to be alerted back to the group to take a photo – at least, that’s what rightwing media showed.
Continue reading...The PM is sorry we feel like that, but at least he isn’t trying to con the country into believing in a Labour dictatorship
Donald Trump has famously been a drag on his own business career. He would have been richer today had he simply put his inheritance into an index tracker fund. Politically, however … you have to concede he is doing quite well for himself. Rishi Sunak is the opposite. He’s a successful businessman who is now a drag on his political fortunes. He would have done better in this election had he simply stood in the rain that afternoon and announced: “I’m calling it – and it’s tomorrow!” Alas, he didn’t, and now his position depletes further with each passing day. Sunak is like an extremely unstable isotope, losing energy by the hour. The only way he’d poll high is with a Geiger counter.
Anyway, please don your fallout suits and proceed straight to the site of his LBC phone-in this morning, guided by Nick Ferrari. You’ll see a lot about Sunak promising to cut taxes now inflation has fallen to 2% and a caller telling him he was “a pound shop Nigel Farage”. But it’s largely just noise. Probably the most telling bit was when a chap rang up to talk to Sunak about his imminent resignation honours, and instead of remembering to say that he wasn’t going to be doing any resignation honours for a while, the prime minister engaged thoughtfully with the “very interesting question” in a way that suggested he completely accepted its central premise.
Continue reading...Russian leader’s visit to Pyongyang seen as a meeting of minds, but long-term military consequences are unclear
As state visits go, Vladimir Putin’s arrival in North Korea on Wednesday was relatively low-key. There was no long line of senior government officials on the airport tarmac in Pyongyang and only a small guard of honour. Beneath an ink-black sky, the Russian president stepped off the plane to be greeted by a handshake and a hug from Kim Jong-un, before being presented with a bouquet by a woman in traditional hanbok dress. But the modesty of the occasion was deceptive.
Putin arrived in the North Korean capital from Moscow, via the Russian far east, in darkness, the leaders’ motorcade making its way through “charmingly lit” streets to the Kumsusan state guesthouse in the early hours of Wednesday.
Continue reading...Kim enjoys the recognition and backs Putin in Ukraine. Putin’s war, meanwhile needs North Korean weapons. It’s a dangerous alliance
They make an odd couple. One is smiley-faced and chubby. The other is thin-lipped and scowls a lot. Both are dictators, sinister, brutal and unaccountable in their different ways. Both have made it their mission in life to overturn the post-1945 global order, defying the US, its chief patrolman. And both are sanctioned, ostracised and a little bit feared by the countries of the west.
Those fears are likely to intensify after today’s Pyongyang summit, both symbolic and substantive, between this unofficial Laurel and Hardy tribute act. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un – the plump one – and Russia’s Vladimir Putin – the skinny one – have a shared aim: consolidating their place in a bullish anti-western, anti-democratic alliance, ostensibly representing a “new world order”, reaching from China to Iran.
Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s Foreign Affairs Commentator
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Continue reading...Russia’s president was greeted by cheering crowds on his visit to Pyongyang, where the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, expressed ‘full support’ for Russia’s war in Ukraine and pledged stronger strategic ties with Moscow
Continue reading...Russian president makes first visit to country in 24 years as anti-west relationship deepens
Vladimir Putin has arrived in North Korea for a summit with Kim Jong-un, amid US warnings against any agreement that could add to military pressure on Ukraine and raise tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Making his first visit to the reclusive country since 2000, the Russian president flew to Pyongyang to be greeted by huge welcome banners, cheering crowds and Russian flags.
Continue reading...There is a lot written about technology’s threats to democracy. Polarization. Artificial intelligence. The concentration of wealth and power. I have a more general story: The political and economic systems of governance that were created in the mid-18th century are poorly suited for the 21st century. They don’t align incentives well. And they are being hacked too effectively.
At the same time, the cost of these hacked systems has never been greater, across all human history. We have become too powerful as a species. And our systems cannot keep up with fast-changing disruptive technologies...
Both men – 78 and 81 respectively – have behaved in ways that might give even the most cautious observer pause
No election involving Donald Trump can be considered normal, but, in among all the breaches and oddities of this uniquely strange presidential race, one stands out as stranger than others. That is: speculation as to which of the two presidential candidates is showing the greater and more alarming rate of mental decline.
Until recently, this topic was considered at best unsporting, at worst dangerous – particularly on the left, where it is assumed that discussions around age will hurt Biden more than Trump. Even Trump, however, has benefited from certain delicacies governing the subject of impairment. During his first run for president, when the words “narcissist” and “borderline personality” first started to be bandied about, plenty of mental health professionals popped up to steeple their fingers and point out it is neither polite nor judicious to diagnose others based on zero clinical information.
Continue reading...Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute rejects Coalition’s claim electricity prices are high due to Labor’s renewables policy
Peter Dutton’s claim that nuclear energy would lead to cheaper power bills has been rejected by energy experts, with one saying there was “no credible reason” to think adding “the most expensive form of bulk electricity” would cut prices.
They said a range of evidence, including a recent CSIRO analysis, suggested nuclear power would be more expensive than other options, and that solar and wind system under construction – supported by firming technology – was the cheapest option.
Continue reading...The Coalition still has questions to answer about its energy proposals – not least cost – but some wonder if the aim is just to disrupt renewables
Last year, when Peter Dutton campaigned against the proposed voice to parliament, he said repeatedly that it shouldn’t be supported because it lacked detail. Now, as he seeks to upend the transition to renewable energy in Australia and spend billions of dollars to build nuclear reactors instead, there is almost none.
Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud have selected seven locations around Australia for future nuclear reactors. On Wednesday, they finally named them.
Continue reading...The tacky ex-president loves the overrated Impressionist. Personally, I can only take so many portraits of dough-faced women
Donald Trump has criminally bad taste in just about everything. He orders his steaks well done and drowns them in ketchup. His Manhattan penthouse is gold and famously gaudy. He wears shiny suits that never seem to fit properly. And then there’s his taste in art: the man loves himself a bit of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. For years, Trump had what he liked to boast was an “original Renoir” on his private jet. That has been proven to be nonsense: the original of the painting in question – Two Sisters (On The Terrace) – is in a Chicago gallery and Trump has a fake. Still, he likes it very much and has now relocated it to Trump Tower. Melania Trump also has a fake Renoir in her office.
The tasteless Trumps might enjoy Renoir, but so do a lot of people. Why am I slandering the French Impressionist? I’ll tell you why: I recently visited the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia (home to the world’s single largest collection of Renoirs) and, after looking at 10 million pictures of dough-faced women, I had something of a revelation: Renoir is incredibly overrated.
Continue reading...“I don’t want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people."
The post “Utterly Dismayed”: Air Force Engineer Resigns as Dissent Against Gaza War Slowly Spreads Within Military appeared first on The Intercept.
‘Extraordinary and unique’ ancient beach that was destroyed in AD79 disaster resurrected in southern Italy
An ancient Roman beach that was buried by the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius has reopened to the public at Herculaneum archaeological park in southern Italy.
The beach has been reinstated after conservation work in recent years restored its original level, including bringing back sand, which is aimed at giving visitors the experience of walking along the beach almost as it was before the eruption.
Continue reading...| | submitted by /u/Wagamaga [link] [comments] |
In today’s newsletter: Scotland’s governing party launched its manifesto on Wednesday – but a sense of decay lingers over the SNP
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Good afternoon. As promised, SNP leader John Swinney presented his party’s manifesto earlier today with an unambiguous first line: “Vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country”. But that feels a pretty long way off today - and the party that has dominated Scottish politics for so long is in danger of an imminent electoral collapse, instead.
More on how Swinney is trying to fend off that danger, and why Carrie Johnson’s summer suddenly looks a lot better, after the headlines.
Economy | UK inflation fell to 2% in May, returning to the official target rate for the first time in nearly three years. Rishi Sunak said that the news was evidence that his “bold action” had worked, while Rachel Reeves said it was “welcome” but that “pressures on family finances are still acute”.
Conservatives | Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak should not have their convictions removed for breaking Covid rules, Keir Starmer has said, amid calls from Conservative former cabinet ministers to nullify criminal convictions for Covid rule-breakers.
Labour | Labour has suspended one of its candidates after reports that he shared pro-Russian material online. Andy Brown, the candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, shared an article from the Russian state media outlet RT claiming that the toxin used in the Salisbury poisonings, novichok, was “never produced in Russia, but was in service in the US, UK, and other Nato states”.
Continue reading...Critics say differentiated autonomy bill, which sparked brawl in parliament, will increase poverty in south
Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has been accused of “splitting the country” after parliament approved a controversial bill granting regions more power, which critics say will increase poverty in the south.
The change, approved by the lower house early on Wednesday after a fiery debate that lasted all night, is part of the government’s overhaul of the Italian state, including a bill approved by the upper house on Tuesday that would allow for the direct election of a prime minister.
Continue reading...I am delighted to have joined the Guardian as a women’s football writer with the aim to cover the good, the bad and the ugly of an ever-expanding game
The first time I reported on an England women’s international fixture from a stadium’s press box rather than from the distant vantage point of a desk in a far-away office next to a television, the Lionesses were playing a friendly against Italy in April 2017 at Port Vale’s Vale Park, a ground which – please forgive me, any Vale fans reading this – I think it’s fair to say could have benefited from a little TLC, compared to the facilities the European champions have become accustomed to more recently.
Such was the relative informality of the occasion, I found a parking spot down a rather poorly lit side road in Burslem behind some rusting garages and quickly realised a member of an England player’s family was reversing to try to fit into the small space immediately behind me. After the match – a rather forgettable yet interesting 1-1 draw attended by 7,181 fans – half a dozen reporters sat around a small table with chairs hastily arranged for an impromptu post-match chat with the coach then, Mark Sampson. The BBC’s very dedicated women’s sports reporter Jo Currie conducted broadcast interviews, but that aside, it was a quiet press room. All of these things felt perfectly normal at the time, for the level of media attention the national squad were receiving.
Continue reading...Inter midfielder’s partnership with Jorginho is earning media plaudits after Euro 2024 win over Albania
Nicolò Barella did not relish being reminded he has scored more international goals than any other player in Italy’s squad at Euro 2024. “That worries me a bit,” he said when the detail was put to him at the end of the 2-1 win against Albania on Saturday. “It means I’m getting old.”
At 27, Barella is hardly in the twilight of his career. There are plenty of older players representing the Azzurri in Germany, and yet only one outfielder, Jorginho, has been capped more times. The Arsenal player made his 55th Italy appearance against Albania. Barella is on 54.
Continue reading...When I boarded the train at Beijing I felt timid, a cautious traveller. But a chaotic and vodka-soaked party set me off on a very different path
In 2001, after spending a year studying in Beijing as part of our degree, two friends and I decided to travel to Mongolia and Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway. We did everything as cheaply as possible, to the extent that I was terrified we were going to be flung off the train at the Mongolia-Russia border, because we’d got our visas from a tiny, dodgy-looking agency in a random tower block in Beijing.
Being worried was pretty much my default state at that time. I found talking to strangers difficult, and struggled to raise my hand in class. I was always terrified of making mistakes. Though it wasn’t a devastating shyness, I envied the way that friends and classmates always seemed at home in different groups and situations – a feeling that had always eluded me.
Continue reading...There are numerous terms to describe the wide array of far right parties, but what do all they mean – and do we always use the right ones?
They are known, variously, as far right, national-conservative, radical right, anti-Islam, nativist, and Eurosceptic. Also as extreme right, populist, “alt-right”, neofascist, anti-immigration, nationalist, authoritarian, and assorted combinations of the above.
As the dust settles on the results of this month’s European parliamentary elections, it is worth examining what some of the terms routinely used to describe Europe’s wide array of far-right parties mean – and whether they are always the right ones.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: The war has devastated Sudan, destroying much of the country and leaving 18 million facing acute hunger
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Good morning.
The war in Sudan has caused destruction throughout much of the country. And with every passing week the conflict seems to get worse between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – a paramilitary group who say their main goal is to establish democracy, though the frequent human rights abuses they commit do not support this claim.
Conservatives | Jeremy Hunt said Liz Truss’s economic ambitions were a “good thing to aim for” and her disastrous mini-budget hadn’t left an impact on the economy, according to two leaked recordings obtained by the Guardian. The chancellor was recorded at a meeting of students when he said he was “trying to basically achieve some of the same things” as the former prime minister, but that he was doing it “more gradually”.
Israel | Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, rebuffing his far-right allies who had been seeking seats, and apparently moving to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.
Italy | At least 10 people died and dozens were missing after two separate shipwrecks close to the Italian coast, rescuers said. Ten bodies were found on Monday in the lower deck of a wooden boat in the central Mediterranean by rescuers from Nadir, a ship operated by the German charity ResQship.
Germany | Eight alleged members of the German far-right Reichsbürger are to go on trial accused of a plot to violently overthrow the state, in the third in a row of similar court cases being held across the country. The defendants, including a GP, a celebrity chef and an astrologer, are accused of serving as the plot’s leadership council and, prosecutors say, were set to become a cabinet in waiting if the group’s plan overthrow the government had succeeded.
UK news | Officers who hit an escaped cow with a car “probably did the right thing at the time” even if it looks “horrendous”, a union leader and farmer has said. A video showing a police car hitting the calf on Friday night on a residential street in Staines-upon-Thames was met with widespread outrage, including from the RSCPA which criticised it as “disproportionate”.
Continue reading...UAVs continually kill civilians, but the U.S. military wants to expand its arsenal with an army of new, mass-produced kamikaze AI drones.
The post Cheap and Lethal: The Pentagon’s Plan for the Next Drone War appeared first on The Intercept.
The public doesn’t understand how economic growth is measured, let alone enjoy much of it. So why is it central to this election?
“Great news this morning!” beamed Rishi Sunak on Wednesday. Not every release from the Office for National Statistics gets its own prime ministerial post on Instagram, but inflation falling to 2% was, the Tory leader claimed, a personal victory. When he moved into No 10, it was 11%, he reminded voters. “But we took bold action, we stuck to a clear plan and that’s why the economy has turned a corner.”
Not so fast, Mr Sunak. The prices of food and petrol remain about 25% higher than two years ago. More than one in five households say that they are struggling to pay their bills or to make ends meet. The cost of living crisis was always much bigger than a number on the consumer price index: it was a catch-all term, taking in everything from a punitive welfare system and poorly paid and insecure work to rising expenses. Millions of households were in a cost of living crisis long before it made the front pages; long after the term falls out of fashion, they will still be in one.
Continue reading...Commission recommends 33-point plan to ensure oil giant complies with state climate commitments
The French government should intervene in TotalEnergies and spur faster climate action, a senate inquiry commission has concluded.
The commission, set up to explore ways the state could guarantee that the oil conglomerate complies with French climate commitments, recommended 33 steps the government should take to “encourage a rapid, orderly and effective transition”.
Continue reading...Media group, which is up for sale, sets aside nearly £280m to cover lending relating to current owners
• Business live – latest updates
The media group which owns the Daily Telegraph newspaper tumbled into the red last year after it set aside nearly £280m to cover loans made to the Barclay family which may not be repaid.
The group said that, despite a resilient financial performance, it had made losses of £244.6m in 2023 – against profits of £33.3m in the previous year – due to the provision.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves warns cost of living crisis is not over, as inflation hits official target for first time in three years
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said pressure on household finances remains “acute” despite official figures showing inflation fell to 2% in May, returning to the official target rate for the first time in nearly three years.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the consumer prices index (CPI) had eased in May, down from 2.3% in April, raising expectations of a cut in borrowing costs by the Bank of England.
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Increasing use of fans, air coolers and air conditioners is placing ‘serious’ strain on grid in north of country
Engineers in India have warned of the possibility of prolonged power outages in the north, where a heatwave has brought misery for millions of people.
Demand for electricity has soared due to fans, air coolers and air conditioners being run constantly, placing a strain on the grid in Delhi and elsewhere in the north. Manufacturers of air conditioners and air coolers report sales rising by 40-50% compared with last summer.
Continue reading...Last week more than 400 scientists signed an open letter to political parties urging ambitious action on the environment to prevent making Britain and the world ‘more dangerous and insecure’.
Now that the main parties’ manifestos have all been released, Ian Sample is joined by the global environment editor, Jon Watts, and the biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, to find out what the manifestos have to say about nature and climate, and whether anyone is promising the level of action scientists are asking for
Find more analysis of how the UK parties rate on their environmental manifesto pledges
Continue reading...Dan Osborn, running as an independent, has racked up endorsements in a race that could help determine Senate control in 2024.
The post UAW Endorses Nebraska Underdog Threatening to Unseat a Republican Senator appeared first on The Intercept.
Mozilla, the maker of the popular web browser Firefox, said it received government demands to block add-ons that circumvent censorship.
The post Firefox Browser Blocks Anti-Censorship Add-Ons at Russia’s Request appeared first on The Intercept.
Public polling is a critical function of modern political campaigns and movements, but it isn’t what it once was. Recent US election cycles have produced copious postmortems explaining both the successes and the flaws of public polling. There are two main reasons polling fails.
First, nonresponse has skyrocketed. It’s radically harder to reach people than it used to be. Few people fill out surveys that come in the mail anymore. Few people answer their phone when a stranger calls. Pew Research reported that 36% of the people they called in 1997 would talk to them, but only 6% by 2018. Pollsters worldwide have faced similar challenges...
“One side or the other is going to win,” Alito told a person he thought was a right-wing activist.
The post Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Caught on Secret Audio appeared first on The Intercept.
Twelve jurors in New York have presented their fellow Americans with a simple question: are you willing to elect a convicted criminal to the White House?
On Thursday, Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. The verdict makes him the first president, current or former, to be found guilty of felony crimes in the US's near 250-year history. Regardless, the conviction does not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate or bar him from again sitting in the Oval Office.
Trump, who opted not to take the stand during the trial, has denied wrongdoing, railed against the proceedings and ahead of the verdict compared himself to a saint: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged,” he said on Wednesday. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is expected to appeal the verdict.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has been in court over the last several weeks covering all the developments – here are three testimonies he found most memorable.
Could Trump go to prison? Here’s what happens next after the guilty verdict
The U.S. has trained 15 coup leaders in recent decades — and U.S. counterterrorism policies in the region have failed.
The post After Training African Coup Leaders, Pentagon Blames Russia for African Coups appeared first on The Intercept.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.
Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities
Continue reading...Experts at Northumbria University are winning millions in funding to find new ways to tackle the climate crisis, including using solar power to create water, and to train the next generation of carbon champions
An estimated 1.8 billion people around the world live in homes without a water supply, according to research by Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO). Collecting water is a daily task that falls to women and girls in 70% of those households, and often involves long, dangerous journeys that take them away from education, work and leisure. It’s an issue that’s exacerbated by climate change and war. Experts warn that efforts to tackle water scarcity need to accelerate significantly if the UN’s sixth sustainable development goal – universal access to water – is to be achieved by 2030.
But what if there was a way to harness the energy of the sun to create clean, safe drinking water from thin air? It sounds like a magic trick but that’s precisely what Dr Muhammad Wakil Shahzad, associate professor in Northumbria University’s department of mechanical and construction engineering, has devised with his team. Their portable Solar2Water system uses solar energy to extract moisture from the air and turn it into water – up to 500 litres a day, depending on the size of the unit. It is being seen as a game changer for displaced communities in refugee camps, disaster zones and other remote locations, primarily because it can produce a constant amount of water independently of the humidity in the air.
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