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The 43 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now (May 2024)
Fri, 17 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000
City Hunter, Suzume, and Spaceman are just a few of the movies you should watch on Netflix this month.
Match ID: 0 Score: 47.14 source: www.wired.com age: 3 days
qualifiers: 30.00 (best|good|great) (show|movie), 17.14 movie
Jane Schoenbrun Wants to Blow Up Your TV
Thu, 16 May 2024 16:37:56 +0000
Growing up, director Jane Schoenbrun escaped into shows like The X-Files and Twin Peaks. Their new movie is about the relief, and danger, of getting lost in screens.
Match ID: 1 Score: 35.71 source: www.wired.com age: 4 days
qualifiers: 21.43 new movie, 14.29 movie
The 46 Best Shows on Netflix Right Now (May 2024)
Fri, 17 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000
Dead Boy Detectives, Chicken Nugget, and Ripley are just a few of the shows you need to watch on Netflix this month.
Match ID: 2 Score: 30.00 source: www.wired.com age: 3 days
qualifiers: 30.00 (best|good|great) (show|movie)
The 35 Best Shows on Max (aka HBO Max) Right Now
Thu, 16 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000
Hacks, The Jinx, and Conan O’Brien Must Go are just a few of the shows you need to be watching on Max this month.
Match ID: 3 Score: 25.00 source: www.wired.com age: 4 days
qualifiers: 25.00 (best|good|great) (show|movie)
OpenAI pauses ChatGPT-4o voice that fans said ripped off Scarlett Johansson
Mon, 20 May 2024 17:50:39 +0000
"Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson," OpenAI insists.
Match ID: 4 Score: 20.00 source: arstechnica.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 20.00 movie
The Apprentice review – cartoon version of chump-in-chief Donald Trump’s early years
Mon, 20 May 2024 17:22:46 GMT
Cannes film festival
Ali Abbasi’s film presents young Donald as an amoral narcissist, wastes the talent of Jeremy Strong and includes a grisly rape scene that is quickly glossed over
News: new film about Donald Trump depicts him as a rapist
Donald Trump will not be the smallest bit worried by this genially ironic, lenient TV movie-style treatment of his early adventures in 70s landlordism, property and tabloid celebrity – and his own apprentice relationship with dark legal sorcerer and Nixon intimate Roy Cohn, the bully whose connections added to Donald’s wealth and who taught him to lie to others and himself and never admit defeat. There had been many rumours here in Cannes before this film screened about its rape scene, of which, more in a moment.
Director Ali Abbasi has given us fascinating monsters in the past with Holy Spider and Border but the monstrosity here is almost sentimental, a cartoon Xeroxed from many other satirical Trump takes and knowing prophetic echoes of his political future. It’s basically a far less original picture, its ambience borrowed from Scorsese and Coppola – with Donald’s deadbeat elder brother Fred even getting a “Fredo” scene where he gets embarrassingly, tearfully drunk at a big event, like the loser he is. And like so many film-makers these days, Abbasi will keep swooning over the picturesque sleaze of 70s New York.
Continue reading...OpenAI says ‘Sky’ is not an imitation of actor’s voice after users compare it to AI companion character in film Her
OpenAI removed a heavily promoted voice option from ChatGPT on Monday, following a widespread reaction to the flirtatious, feminine voice that sounded almost identical to Scarlett Johansson.
The company used the voice, which it calls “Sky”, during its widely publicized event last week debuting the capabilities of the new ChatGPT-4o artificial intelligence model. Researchers talked with the AI assistant to show off Sky’s personable and responsive affectations, which users and members of the media immediately compared to Johansson’s AI companion character in the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/SpaghettiFurenti [link] [comments] |
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
ICC warrants against Israeli officials would mean they can’t travel — and their patrons in the U.S. would be pressured over continued arms sales.
The post Can a U.S. Ally Actually Be Held Accountable for War Crimes in the ICC? appeared first on The Intercept.
Which? readers have consigned the Lincolnshire town to the bottom of the list of beach resorts – despite its affordability, unspoilt coastline and clean water
Name: Skegness.
Age: Inhabited since the iron age.
Continue reading...These spaces are crucial for our wellbeing, but cash-strapped councils are being forced to treat them as revenue earners
My local green space, Brockwell Park in Brixton and Herne Hill, south London, is an oasis of calm in the busy city. Friends catch up in the walled garden, where wisteria trails over pillars and roses and bluebells explode from the earth. In the community garden, local people work together to grow vegetables and run sessions to connect nature-deprived children to the land.
In the centre of the sometimes crushing metropolis, this park means everything to me – it keeps me sane, and it gives me hope. But this green lifeline is, every summer, taken away, as I await the arrival of the park’s music festival season with dread. As huge metal walls go up, dividing us from the green, and HGVs begin flattening the grass and soil, I feel a genuine sense of horror. A large part of the park is cut off for weeks, and our community’s heart is pulled out as people stream into events whose expensive tickets most people living round here could never afford. And the same is happening in shared green spaces all over the UK.
Rebecca Tamás is a writer of environmental nonfiction and a poet. Her most recent book is Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman
Continue reading...Hundreds of Australian and New Zealand travellers are stuck in the French Pacific territory where protests and violence are preventing access to the airport
Hundreds of Australian and New Zealand tourists stranded in New Caledonia amid deadly unrest are anxiously waiting on French authorities to allow air travel out of the territory, as their governments stand by to bring them home.
French security forces are working to retake control of the highway to the international airport in New Caledonia, shuttered because of violent unrest in the French Pacific territory.
Continue reading...The pioneering photographer, who would have been 100 next month, showcases her eye for the uncanny with this image of a newspaper stand
From the moment her father took his Leica camera from around his neck and gave it to Dorothy Bohm as she boarded a train out of Nazi-occupied Lithuania in June 1939, she seemed fated to her vocation. Bohm – then Dorothea Israelit – was 14 at the time and the journey took her to England as a refugee; she lodged with a family in Hassocks in the heart of the Sussex countryside. She did not see her parents – eventually sent by Russian forces, separately, to detention camps in Siberia – for another 20 years. The separation, she later said, gave her a profound sense of impermanence; the Leica felt like one antidote to that: “The photograph fulfils my deep need to stop things from disappearing,” she wrote. “It makes transience less painful.”
Over her long life – Bohm died last year aged 98 – that need never left her. This picture, taken in Lisbon in 1996, is included in a small exhibition and a wonderful retrospective book of the photographer’s work, Dorothy Bohm at 100, in which notable friends and fellow photographers pay tribute to her pioneering influence. Her career began when she set up a portrait studio in Manchester in 1946, but she subsequently travelled extensively with her camera across Europe and beyond, before settling in London, where she was a prime mover in creating the Photographers’ Gallery in 1971.
Dorothy Bohm at 100 is published by Beam Editions on 20 June (£35). A print sale exhibition of her work is at the Photographers’ Gallery, London W1 until 23 June
Continue reading...When asked what makes this an “emotional support squid” and not just another stuffed animal, its creator says:
They’re emotional support squid because they’re large, and cuddly, but also cheerfully bright and derpy. They make great neck pillows (and you can fidget with the arms and tentacles) for travelling, and, on a more personal note, when my mum was sick in the hospital I gave her one and she said it brought her “great comfort” to have her squid tucked up beside her and not be a nuisance while she was sleeping.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered...
The 71-year-old veteran peace activist discusses the war on Gaza, the Biden administration, and shaking up Congress.
The post Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin on Disrupting the U.S. War Machine appeared first on The Intercept.
The 22-year-old woman and her child were civilian casualties of a U.S. drone strike, but the Pentagon won't return the family's messages.
The post Pentagon Compensated Zero Civilian Victims in 2022 — Despite Evidence That the U.S. Killed a Mom and Child in Somalia appeared first on The Intercept.
“We’re continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel and with the government of Egypt to work on this issue,” the State Department said.
The post American Medical Missions Trapped in Gaza, Facing Death by Dehydration as Population Clings to Life appeared first on The Intercept.
We’d like to hear from people who have been purchasing luxury goods and experiences in recent years, and how they feel about their spending habits
We’re interested to hear about people’s spending habits in the area of upmarket or luxury goods, services and experiences, and whether they are generally happy with their spending on non-essentials.
We’d like to know whether you have spent money on expensive non-essential items such as designer clothing, high end housewares, luxury holidays, expensive beauty or wellness treatments, or exclusive dining, for instance, in the past year, and if so, whether you have struggled to afford this.
Continue reading...From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...And for some reason Justice Samuel Alito can’t stop talking about this witch trial judge.
The post The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Is Constitutional, After All appeared first on The Intercept.
WikiLeaks founder handed a legal lifeline by judges at high court in London overnight. Follow today’s news headlines live
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight news before my colleague Emily Wind logs on.
The Julian Assange saga has entered a new phase after judges in London granted him leave to appeal extradition to the US over the WikiLeaks revelations. Assange’s wife Stella called on the US to abandon its “shameful” case against him founder after the high court in London gave him legal lifeline by granting the right to challenge the basis of the extradition in court. The judges rejected assurances from the US justice department about how it would conduct his trial if he was extradited on charges of leaking military secrets – such as whether he can plead free speech under the first amendment of the US constitution. More on the reaction to the decision coming up.
Continue reading...Trump’s team indicates ex-president won’t testify and that they plan to rest today
Judge Juan Merchan is speaking about whether or not to restrict the testimony of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) expert, who the defense wanted to call.
Judge Juan Merchan says he expects closing arguments to be next Tuesday. “It’s become apparent that we’re not going to be able to sum up tomorrow,” Merchan says.
Continue reading...ICC warrants against Israeli officials would mean they can’t travel — and their patrons in the U.S. would be pressured over continued arms sales.
The post Can a U.S. Ally Actually Be Held Accountable for War Crimes in the ICC? appeared first on The Intercept.
This feels like an act of disruption from club’s US investors but there is logic to appointing a super-smart yet low-cost tyro
Welcome, then, to the dicing and slicing of Arne Slot. As ever with the appointment of a new manager at one of the Premier League’s heritage-level clubs, it is necessary to make a prediction; to judge before anything has actually happened whether this will prove to be a successful hire.
The real answer to which is, of course: nobody knows. Football is a field of endless variables. Even the most dominant manager has a diminishing range of influence. Every appointment is a gamble, every managerial hire a playing of the slots.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/printial [link] [comments] |
The high court decision to allow an appeal against extradition is good news. But a political resolution to this saga needs to be sought
Given the real possibility of his extradition within days to face espionage charges in the United States, Monday’s high court decision granting Julian Assange leave to appeal was a last-ditch victory for good sense. Mr Assange and his lawyers now have some months of breathing space, during which the search for a political resolution to his case can continue. Fourteen years into this protracted saga, that would be by far the most desirable outcome.
Handing Mr Assange a legal lifeline, the high court rightly judged US assurances that Mr Assange could “seek” to rely in court on first amendment protections to be less than a guarantee. Its decision, though related to Mr Assange’s status as a non-US national, underlined the broader risks of pursuing a trial on the basis of charges put together by Donald Trump’s justice department in 2019.
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...Judges had deferred a decision on whether Assange could take his case to another appeal hearing
Julian Assange has been granted leave to mount a fresh appeal against his extradition to the US on charges of leaking military secrets and will be able to challenge assurances from American officials on how a trial there would be conducted.
Two judges had deferred a decision in March on whether Assange, who is trying to avoid being prosecuted in the US on espionage charges relating to the publication of thousands of classified and diplomatic documents, could take his case to another appeal hearing.
Continue reading...Tigran Gambaryan faces allegations of ‘serious criminality’ on behalf of world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange
A Nigerian court has ruled that Tigran Gambaryan, the Binance executive detained on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, can face trial on behalf of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
In a judgment in Abuja on Friday – Gambaryan’s 40th birthday – the presiding judge, Emeka Nwite, denied the American national bail, saying he was likely to abscond.
Continue reading...Since Dobbs, state-level Republicans have sought to strip power from DAs elected in Democratic cities who won’t prosecute abortion care.
The post Republicans Can’t Decide: Do They Hate Prosecutors Because of Bail Reform or Abortion? appeared first on The Intercept.
Republicans and Biden allies find rare agreement over ICC warrant to arrest Israeli officials
The Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives are reportedly weighing a legislative response to the decision by the international criminal court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Punchbowl News has reported that House Republican leadership, which is very supportive of the Israeli government and its war in Gaza, are considering a response, but what the measure looks like and whether they can pull it off before the upcoming Memorial Day holiday remains unclear.
Continue reading...Super Pac has run ads opposing the congressman and supporting his opponent as he criticizes Israel’s military campaign in Gaza
A Super Pac affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has revved up its campaign spending, pouring $2m into a New York congressional primary to oppose the progressive incumbent Jamaal Bowman.
Campaign finance disclosures released this weekend showed the Super Pac, called United Democracy Project (UDP), spending about $1m in support of Bowman’s opponent, the moderate Democrat George Latimer and $1m in negative advertisements opposing Bowman. If the group succeeds in defeating Bowman, it will deliver a significant blow to the progressive wing of the House.
Continue reading...With FDA approval on the horizon, an internal document lays out measures to treat PTSD and stanch the suicide crisis.
The post The VA Is Quietly Fast-Tracking MDMA Therapy for Veterans appeared first on The Intercept.
Ex-president’s jail sentence precludes him from standing for new MK party in decision that could affect general election results
South Africa’s highest court has ruled that former president Jacob Zuma cannot run for parliament in national elections on 29 May, the latest twist in the most competitive polls since the country’s first post-apartheid vote 30 years ago.
The constitutional court found that Zuma was ineligible to stand for election due to a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court in 2021, after he failed to appear before a corruption inquiry.
Continue reading...Biden will be remembered as a president who could have restrained Israel but instead made the US complicit in this war
With great fanfare, Joe Biden confirmed on 8 May that his administration had suspended one weapons shipment to Israel, delaying the delivery of 3,500 bombs that can cause devastating casualties when dropped on population centers. Biden said he warned Israeli leaders that he would also block artillery shells and other munitions if Israel went ahead with a ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where 1.4 million Palestinians have taken shelter.
It seemed Biden had finally decided to use the most effective leverage he has over Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his extremist government to force an end to Israel’s devastating war in Gaza. But less than a week later, it became clear that Biden had backtracked and he will continue sending Israel far more weapons than the one shipment he held back. Last Tuesday, the Biden administration notified Congress that it would move ahead with more than $1bn in new arms deals for Israel.
Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor at New York University
Continue reading...From targeting humanitarian vehicles to standing by as mobs attack trucks, Israel is blocking aid from reaching Gaza.
The post The State Department Says Israel Isn’t Blocking Aid. Videos Show the Opposite. appeared first on The Intercept.
With Bowman’s challenger handpicked by AIPAC, the Israel lobby is cementing its status as the biggest player in Democratic primary politics.
The post Outside Groups Spent $285,000 Backing Jamaal Bowman. AIPAC Alone Just Dropped Nearly $2 Million to Attack Him. appeared first on The Intercept.
After inquiries from The Intercept, Duane Kees stepped down from his ethics panel position.
The post This U.S. Attorney Resigned Amid an Ethics Investigation. Yet He Wound Up Overseeing Judges’ Ethics. appeared first on The Intercept.
As brutal police repression sweeps campus encampments, schools have been cutting ties with pro-Palestine faculty members without tenure.
The post University Professors Are Losing Their Jobs Over “New McCarthyism” on Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
The 71-year-old veteran peace activist discusses the war on Gaza, the Biden administration, and shaking up Congress.
The post Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin on Disrupting the U.S. War Machine appeared first on The Intercept.
The 22-year-old woman and her child were civilian casualties of a U.S. drone strike, but the Pentagon won't return the family's messages.
The post Pentagon Compensated Zero Civilian Victims in 2022 — Despite Evidence That the U.S. Killed a Mom and Child in Somalia appeared first on The Intercept.
The powerful lobbying group is going against a Capitol Police officer who fended off January 6 insurrectionists.
The post Neither Candidate Has Much to Say About Israel. So Why Is AIPAC Pouring Money Into This Race? appeared first on The Intercept.
Antony Blinken’s report identifies “incidents that raise concerns,” but says Israel is not blocking humanitarian aid.
The post Israel “Likely” Used U.S.-Supplied Weapons in Violation of International Law. That’s OK, Though, State Department Says. appeared first on The Intercept.
Four lawsuits alleging Hamas ties against Students for Justice in Palestine, the AP, UNRWA, and a cryptocurrency exchange share many of the same plaintiffs.
The post October 7 Survivors Sue Campus Protesters, Say Students Are “Hamas’s Propaganda Division” appeared first on The Intercept.
A donor to Dexter in the Portland congressional race tells The Intercept: “I give all my contributions through AIPAC.”
The post AIPAC and Republican Donors Raising Big Money for Maxine Dexter Against Susheela Jayapal in Oregon appeared first on The Intercept.
An open letter from government attorneys questions the legal cover for arms transfers to Israel.
The post Even Biden’s Lawyers Are Urging the White House to Change Course on Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
As brutal police repression sweeps campus encampments, schools have been cutting ties with pro-Palestine faculty members without tenure.
The post University Professors Are Losing Their Jobs Over “New McCarthyism” on Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
It is the NHS’s worst treatment disaster – with 30,000 patients infected. Two survivors, Ade Goodyear and Andy Evans, explain why it took so long for it to be brought to light
Ade Goodyear was 15 when he was told he had contracted HIV. Like about 30,000 other NHS patients – including more than 300 children – who were given blood transfusions or commercial blood products before 2019, he was infected by contaminated blood. Some patients got HIV and hepatitis C from blood transfusions after childbirth or other medical procedures. Ade was infected with HIV at the medical centre of his school.
Pupils at his Treloar’s college, which had a specialist haemophilia unit, were among those given injections of a blood plasma product called factor VIII concentrate. Concerns had been raised a decade before by the World Health Organization because it was a commercial product that mixed plasma from tens of thousands of often high-risk donors. If one had an infection such as HIV, it could contaminate the whole batch.
Continue reading...Four lawsuits alleging Hamas ties against Students for Justice in Palestine, the AP, UNRWA, and a cryptocurrency exchange share many of the same plaintiffs.
The post October 7 Survivors Sue Campus Protesters, Say Students Are “Hamas’s Propaganda Division” appeared first on The Intercept.
ICC warrants against Israeli officials would mean they can’t travel — and their patrons in the U.S. would be pressured over continued arms sales.
The post Can a U.S. Ally Actually Be Held Accountable for War Crimes in the ICC? appeared first on The Intercept.
This live blog is now closed. You can read the latest news and reaction in our new blog here:
Reuters has put together a list of reactions from around the world, with Iranian ally Russia among those expressing concern and offering to help search for the president. Others also offered help or well wishes, while the US merely said that President Joe Biden was “closely following reports”. Here’s a rundown of reactions from around the world:
TURKEY
“I convey my best wishes to our neighbour, friend and brother Iranian people and government, and I hope to receive good news from Mr Raisi and his delegation as soon as possible,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a post on X. Turkey’s disaster and emergency management authority said in a statement that Iran had requested a night vision search-and-rescue helicopter from Turkey.
Finance ministers will debate legality of using €270bn in frozen state assets as collateral for loan
Divisions over whether Ukraine can lawfully be handed an extra €30bn (£26bn) loan drawn from €270bn in seized Russian state assets are likely to be aired at a meeting of G7 finance ministers this week in Stresa, northern Italy.
In another test of political will over Ukraine, the US has been canvassing support for the plan, with the money intended to help with Ukraine’s reconstruction or pay for badly needed arms.
Continue reading...This isn’t “politics by other means,” it’s never-ending conflict.
The post Israel Wants Endless War Without the Politics. Biden’s Going Along for the Doomed Ride. appeared first on The Intercept.
And for some reason Justice Samuel Alito can’t stop talking about this witch trial judge.
The post The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Is Constitutional, After All appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s team indicates ex-president won’t testify and that they plan to rest today
Judge Juan Merchan is speaking about whether or not to restrict the testimony of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) expert, who the defense wanted to call.
Judge Juan Merchan says he expects closing arguments to be next Tuesday. “It’s become apparent that we’re not going to be able to sum up tomorrow,” Merchan says.
Continue reading...Republicans and Biden allies find rare agreement over ICC warrant to arrest Israeli officials
The Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives are reportedly weighing a legislative response to the decision by the international criminal court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Punchbowl News has reported that House Republican leadership, which is very supportive of the Israeli government and its war in Gaza, are considering a response, but what the measure looks like and whether they can pull it off before the upcoming Memorial Day holiday remains unclear.
Continue reading...US president sides with Israeli PM as he calls Karim Khan’s pursuit of warrants for Netanyahu along with Hamas leaders ‘outrageous’
Joe Biden has attacked as “outrageous” an application by the international criminal court for warrants seeking the arrest of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, along with senior members of Hamas, for actions carried out in Gaza.
The US president sided unambiguously with Israel after the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he was pursuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister. Khan is also pursuing the arrests of three leading Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri – better known as Mohammed Deif – and Ismail Haniyeh over Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October last year.
Continue reading...Trump ally, charged over role in fake electors case, served papers during 80th birthday celebration in Palm Beach, Florida
The former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has complained that an indictment handed down against him in connection with Arizona’s fake electors case was not served “stylishly”.
Giuliani was one of 17 defendants who was charged over his role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Continue reading...The high court decision to allow an appeal against extradition is good news. But a political resolution to this saga needs to be sought
Given the real possibility of his extradition within days to face espionage charges in the United States, Monday’s high court decision granting Julian Assange leave to appeal was a last-ditch victory for good sense. Mr Assange and his lawyers now have some months of breathing space, during which the search for a political resolution to his case can continue. Fourteen years into this protracted saga, that would be by far the most desirable outcome.
Handing Mr Assange a legal lifeline, the high court rightly judged US assurances that Mr Assange could “seek” to rely in court on first amendment protections to be less than a guarantee. Its decision, though related to Mr Assange’s status as a non-US national, underlined the broader risks of pursuing a trial on the basis of charges put together by Donald Trump’s justice department in 2019.
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...Donald Trump’s former lawyer admitted to repayment scheme in which he ‘grossed up’ money paid to him by organization
Michael Cohen, whose $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels is at the heart of the criminal case against Donald Trump, testified on Monday that he knew the payment violated election law – even though he claimed otherwise in a 2018 letter.
The implication was that Trump, by extension, must also have believed to some extent that the hush money violated the Federal Election Campaign Act – which caps individual contributions to campaigns at $2,000 a year – since it was to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
Continue reading...Cannes film festival
Ali Abbasi’s film presents young Donald as an amoral narcissist, wastes the talent of Jeremy Strong and includes a grisly rape scene that is quickly glossed over
News: new film about Donald Trump depicts him as a rapist
Donald Trump will not be the smallest bit worried by this genially ironic, lenient TV movie-style treatment of his early adventures in 70s landlordism, property and tabloid celebrity – and his own apprentice relationship with dark legal sorcerer and Nixon intimate Roy Cohn, the bully whose connections added to Donald’s wealth and who taught him to lie to others and himself and never admit defeat. There had been many rumours here in Cannes before this film screened about its rape scene, of which, more in a moment.
Director Ali Abbasi has given us fascinating monsters in the past with Holy Spider and Border but the monstrosity here is almost sentimental, a cartoon Xeroxed from many other satirical Trump takes and knowing prophetic echoes of his political future. It’s basically a far less original picture, its ambience borrowed from Scorsese and Coppola – with Donald’s deadbeat elder brother Fred even getting a “Fredo” scene where he gets embarrassingly, tearfully drunk at a big event, like the loser he is. And like so many film-makers these days, Abbasi will keep swooning over the picturesque sleaze of 70s New York.
Continue reading...Ali Abbasi’s film, starring Sebastian Stan, presents a fictionalised account of an incident recorded in Ivana Trump’s 1990 divorce deposition, and since retracted
Donald Trump is depicted as a rapist who assaulted his first wife, Ivana, in a new biopic, The Apprentice, which has its world premiere in competition at this year’s Cannes film festival on Monday. Directed by the Iranian-Danish film-maker Ali Abbasi, the drama provides a fictionalised account of a 1989 incident that was previously detailed in the couple’s divorce proceedings.
The scene, which occurs near the end of The Apprentice, depicts Trump reacting with fury after Ivana disparages his physical appearance. “You have a face like a fucking orange,” she tells him. “You’re getting fat, you’re getting ugly, and you’re getting bald.” The future president is then shown forcing his wife to the floor and raping her. “Did I find your G-spot?” he asks in the film.
Continue reading...With Bowman’s challenger handpicked by AIPAC, the Israel lobby is cementing its status as the biggest player in Democratic primary politics.
The post Outside Groups Spent $285,000 Backing Jamaal Bowman. AIPAC Alone Just Dropped Nearly $2 Million to Attack Him. appeared first on The Intercept.
Lloyd Austin, speaking at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, praises troops’ courage in ‘hard and dangerous fight’. This live blog has closed
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, the Russian state news Tass agency reported on Monday.
It said the ministers were meeting to discuss the implementation of Russian-Chinese agreements reached during Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China last week, and events in Iran, whose president and foreign minister were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Continue reading...Five years after her last companion died and the aquarium’s owner pledged to free her, Bella still languishes in a tiny tank amid shops
In the heart of Seoul, amid the luxury shops at the foot of the world’s sixth-tallest skyscraper, a lone beluga whale named Bella swims aimlessly in a tiny, lifeless tank, where she has been trapped for a decade.
Her plight is urgent, with campaigners racing to rescue her from the bare tank in a glitzy shopping centre in South Korea’s capital before it is too late.
Continue reading...The pioneering photographer, who would have been 100 next month, showcases her eye for the uncanny with this image of a newspaper stand
From the moment her father took his Leica camera from around his neck and gave it to Dorothy Bohm as she boarded a train out of Nazi-occupied Lithuania in June 1939, she seemed fated to her vocation. Bohm – then Dorothea Israelit – was 14 at the time and the journey took her to England as a refugee; she lodged with a family in Hassocks in the heart of the Sussex countryside. She did not see her parents – eventually sent by Russian forces, separately, to detention camps in Siberia – for another 20 years. The separation, she later said, gave her a profound sense of impermanence; the Leica felt like one antidote to that: “The photograph fulfils my deep need to stop things from disappearing,” she wrote. “It makes transience less painful.”
Over her long life – Bohm died last year aged 98 – that need never left her. This picture, taken in Lisbon in 1996, is included in a small exhibition and a wonderful retrospective book of the photographer’s work, Dorothy Bohm at 100, in which notable friends and fellow photographers pay tribute to her pioneering influence. Her career began when she set up a portrait studio in Manchester in 1946, but she subsequently travelled extensively with her camera across Europe and beyond, before settling in London, where she was a prime mover in creating the Photographers’ Gallery in 1971.
Dorothy Bohm at 100 is published by Beam Editions on 20 June (£35). A print sale exhibition of her work is at the Photographers’ Gallery, London W1 until 23 June
Continue reading...Since Dobbs, state-level Republicans have sought to strip power from DAs elected in Democratic cities who won’t prosecute abortion care.
The post Republicans Can’t Decide: Do They Hate Prosecutors Because of Bail Reform or Abortion? appeared first on The Intercept.
As brutal police repression sweeps campus encampments, schools have been cutting ties with pro-Palestine faculty members without tenure.
The post University Professors Are Losing Their Jobs Over “New McCarthyism” on Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Michael Wilkinson has had a good experience using a smart meter when charging his electric car and using a heat pump. But other readers remain unconvinced about their benefits
Recent letters about smart meters (14 May) reported some readers’ bad experiences, but it’s not all negative – our smart meter is allowing our household to cut carbon and save money. In combination with our electric vehicle charger, the smart meter allows us to automatically charge our car at times when there is less demand on the grid and higher renewable-energy generation. This helps balance the grid, and I only pay 7p per kWh to charge the car. This works out at about 1.5p per mile to drive.
The smart meter also works with our heat pump and allows me to pay 15p per kWh for electricity to heat my home. The heat pump’s efficiency means that this works out at about half the price of gas for the same amount of heat.
Continue reading...Jobs and communities dependent on oil and gas sector must be considered in plan to ban North Sea licences, say GMB and Unite
Peace may have broken out between Labour and its union backers over workers’ rights, but shadow ministers face fierce lobbying in another key policy area: how to make the switch from fossil fuels without causing deep economic scarring.
Unions representing tens of thousands of oil and gas workers – in particular GMB and Unite – are demanding urgent answers about what will happen to members’ jobs as the UK switches to cleaner energy sources.
Continue reading...States must roll out batteries, solar and wind energy more quickly to ease risk of blackouts, energy operator says
Eraring, the nation’s biggest coal-fired power station, may need to delay its closure to ease blackout threats in New South Wales, while other eastern states also face “periods of high risk” because of the slow rollout of renewables, the Australian Energy Market Operator warns.
In an unusual update of its Electricity Statement of Opportunities report, Aemo forecast so-called reliability gaps in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria unless authorities “orchestrated” faster deployment of solar and wind energy, and batteries.
Continue reading...When everyday Australians go to the wall, private debt collectors step in. In a cost-of-living crisis it’s vital to scrutinise the industry
More than half of all Australians have recently found themselves in some form of financial stress. Increasing numbers of people are facing energy poverty, food insecurity, delayed medical treatment and housing insecurity.
Calls to the National Debt Helpline have increased by 25% in the last financial year. When everyday Australians go to the wall, there is one sector that gets more business: the private debt collection industry.
Panthera Finance, Australia’s biggest privately owned debt collection business, has ignored a five-year “blacklisting” from the Victorian regulator and continued to purchase debts despite being warned that continuing to purchase and collect debts would be a criminal offence. The regulator has so far taken no action.
A former debt collector with 15 years’ experience in the industry says that some of the conduct he was involved in would “horrify” the general public. He claims he once issued a threat to seize the home of a rape victim whose husband had just died, and in another case dispatched an agent to a child’s school in a last-ditch effort to find a debtor.
Community legal services report debt collectors making false and misleading threats about a person’s credit rating to get them to pay and using underhanded tactics in order to extend the usual six-year time limit on collecting debts.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (Afca) says it has heard complaints of intimidating communication and of debt collection continuing while the authority is investigating, which is not permitted.
Afca also says complaints about debt collectors and buyers increased 9% last year, although specific complaints about inappropriate debt collection practices went down.
The industry peak body disputes the rise in complaints – it says its own data analysis shows steady reductions year-on-year since 2020, although this data does not include complaints that are resolved in their early stages prior to Afca involvement. The peak body claims less than 1% of complaints are substantiated to show any fault by the debt collector.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Panthera Finance circumvented an order to cease buying and chasing debts in Victoria by passing on business to a sister company that hounded an autistic child
One of the country’s biggest private debt-collection firms was warned by regulators to “immediately cease” operating in Victoria just weeks before it struck deals to buy debt from major energy and telco companies, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.
Panthera Finance Pty Ltd, the nation’s biggest privately owned debt collector, is currently blacklisted from operating in Victoria due to a 2020 federal court ruling that it had unduly harassed three consumers for money they did not owe.
Continue reading...Poll finds lukewarm response to Labor’s 2024 budget, with only 27% of people thinking it will make a ‘meaningful difference’ to the cost of living
A majority of voters approve of the main measures in Labor’s third budget, although three in five think the Albanese government’s $300 electricity bill rebate should have been better targeted.
Those are the results of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,149 voters, which found a lukewarm reaction to the budget overall, with just over a quarter (27%) saying it would make a “meaningful difference” to their cost of living.
Continue reading...Jim Gregory, 59, loves to cycle. More than a decade before the work-from-home revolution, the Iowa business owner was grappling with a conundrum now faced by many: how to stay active while spending so much of his day at the computer.
Jim wondered if he could combine the joy of cycling with a desire to reduce his energy consumption. Thus was born the PedalPC, a machine built from a repurposed bicycle trailer that generates enough electricity to run his computer, printer, phone chargers and home wifi.
Continue reading...The Spark, a song created by a group of nine-to-12-year-olds including refugees, has amassed 8.6m views
It is called The Spark and has been declared the song of the summer – a viral sensation from a group of children in Ireland who filmed the video in a day.
Since launching on 15 May, the song has amassed 8.6m views and been hailed as a drum’n’bass-beat masterpiece with infectious energy.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/Wagamaga [link] [comments] |
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After inquiries from The Intercept, Duane Kees stepped down from his ethics panel position.
The post This U.S. Attorney Resigned Amid an Ethics Investigation. Yet He Wound Up Overseeing Judges’ Ethics. appeared first on The Intercept.
Experts say shift in direction, including on nuclear issue, is unlikely after death of president and foreign minister
In the immediate aftermath of the death of the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in a helicopter crash on Sunday, Iran’s regional proxies lined up to offer their condolences.
Hamas mourned Raisi as an “honourable supporter” of the Gaza-based group. Hezbollah praised him as “a strong supporter, and a staunch defender of our causes … and a protector of the resistance movements”. Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, said on X that Raisi’s death was a loss “for the entire Islamic world and Palestine and Gaza”.
Continue reading...Iran faces western opposition over its nuclear programme, a dire economy and tense relations with other Middle Eastern states
The death of the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash comes at a time when the country, faced by unprecedented external challenges, was already bracing itself for a change in regime with the expected demise in the next few years of its 85-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In the country’s hydra-headed leadership where power is spread in often opaque ways between clerics, politicians and army, it is the supreme leader, and not the president, that is ultimately decisive.
Continue reading...Georgian protesters opposed to a 'foreign influence' bill picketed the Georgian parliament amid a major police presence during the third, and final reading of the bill. Police attempted to disperse demonstrators and people were seen being detained. The 84-30 vote has cleared the way for the bill to become law. The draft now goes to the president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has said she will veto it, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, which is controlled by the ruling party and its allies. Government critics and western countries have criticised the new bill as authoritarian and Russian-inspired
Continue reading...The powerful lobbying group is going against a Capitol Police officer who fended off January 6 insurrectionists.
The post Neither Candidate Has Much to Say About Israel. So Why Is AIPAC Pouring Money Into This Race? appeared first on The Intercept.
Four lawsuits alleging Hamas ties against Students for Justice in Palestine, the AP, UNRWA, and a cryptocurrency exchange share many of the same plaintiffs.
The post October 7 Survivors Sue Campus Protesters, Say Students Are “Hamas’s Propaganda Division” appeared first on The Intercept.
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