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Texas’s GOP Governor Can Arbitrarily Deny Democrats a Seat in Congress Until Next Year
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 08:00:00 +0000
Texas’s heavily Democratic 18th Congressional District has an empty seat. State law gives Greg Abbott the power to delay the election to fill it.
The post Texas’s GOP Governor Can Arbitrarily Deny Democrats a Seat in Congress Until Next Year appeared first on The Intercept.
This week a Democratic lawmaker became the first to officially call for the senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, to step down. The veteran Democrat angered many in his party last week when he backed a Republican funding bill that averted a government shutdown. But this is just one example of a party in crisis trying to oppose the Trump administration, with very little power in Congress.
This week, we hear from representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ro Khanna of California, Julie Johnson of Texas, and Maxwell Frost of Florida on how they would like their party to move forward. Plus, Jonathan Freedland asks the senior Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid what the party’s strategy should be
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Archive: NBC News, KTLA 5, WUSA9, The View, CBS News
Continue reading...The corporation behind Roundup herbicide has paid out nearly $11 billion in lawsuits. Now it's backing an EPA rule that would stop the bleeding.
The post Trump EPA’s Next Move: Making It Harder to Sue for Getting Cancer from Roundup appeared first on The Intercept.
In Friday memo, president also pulls clearances for Antony Blinken, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Letitia James
Donald Trump moved to revoke security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and a string of other top Democrats and political enemies in a presidential memo issued late on Friday.
The security-clearance revocations also cover the former secretary of state Antony Blinken, the former Wyoming representative Liz Cheney, the former Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump for fraud, as well as Biden’s entire family. They all will no longer have access to classified information – a courtesy typically offered to former presidents and some officials after they have left public service.
Continue reading...Employees at the federal tech unit 18F say that their role in preventing overspending put a Musk-sized target on their back.
The post Musk Is Firing Federal Workers Who Prevent Bloated Tech Contracts appeared first on The Intercept.
The moves that barred the media mogul’s choice of lawyer are immune from legal challenge, giving the national security committee what one expert called ‘the powers of a police state’
The dwindling freedom in Hong Kong over the past few years has been described as “death by a thousand cuts”. Critics have been jailed, elections have been transformed into “patriots only” affairs, journalists have been harassed and hundreds of thousands of people have left.
This week, an obscure legal development has, in the eyes of some legal experts, inflicted another cut on the city’s once revered legal system.
Continue reading...Cornell student Momodou Taal’s lawyers said the demand was “retribution” for his lawsuit against the crackdown on pro-Palestine speech.
The post He Sued Trump Over Free Speech. Then ICE Demanded He Turn Himself In. appeared first on The Intercept.
Marco Rubio justified Khalil’s arrest using the same protest-related charges Columbia brought against him — but dismissed a day later.
The post Columbia Apologized to Mahmoud Khalil in May 2024 for One-Day Suspension appeared first on The Intercept.
As the town prepares for a byelection after Labour’s Mike Amesbury quits, locals say it is time for a change
Spring has finally arrived, and as customers enjoy a drink or two in the sunshine outside Runcorn’s branch of Wetherspoon’s on a Thursday afternoon, some are sympathetic to the local man in the news who has so dramatically fallen from grace.
“If somebody was mouthing off to me so much, I would have knocked him out myself,” says Jason Baldwin. “I don’t believe he should have lost his job.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Expenses authority found claim was within parliamentary rules because Dutton attended ‘in his official capacity as a minister’
The expenses watchdog launched an investigation into then-home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s use of a taxpayer-funded flight to attend a “long lunch” on a luxury island on the Noosa River in 2019, internal documents reveal.
Dutton billed taxpayers $465 for a flight from Sydney to Maroochydore on 19 July 2019, the same day he was to appear alongside the then-Queensland opposition leader, Deb Frecklington, as a special guest at a private event on Makepeace Island, a resort island part-owned by Richard Branson.
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Continue reading...Minister announces increase in both income and property price caps as part of 2025 budget
Labor will increase the income and price caps for its signature Help to Buy scheme as part of next week’s budget, which it has promised will deliver cost-of-living relief.
Under the shared equity scheme, the commonwealth provides first home buyers with 30% of the purchase price of an existing home, or 40% for a new home.
Continue reading...Independent assessment, which was handed to government before US election, warns of ‘global geopolitical and economic fragmentation’
Australia faces a world more volatile and dangerous than it has known for more than four decades, and “major-power conflict is no longer unimaginable”, a review of the country’s intelligence agencies has found.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, commissioned the review of the work of the 10 agencies that make up Australia’s national intelligence community in September 2023.
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There have been shifts in relative global power balances, accompanied by a sharp contest between nation-states for power and influence. This contest is at once diplomatic, military, economic and technological, and is pursued within Australia’s borders as much as beyond them, including through cyber-attacks and foreign interference.
New technologies are being used to amplify some old threats while creating entirely new ones.
There are a range of transnational challenges, including climate change, pandemics, irregular migration, terrorism, and polarisation and fraying social cohesion in many democracies. In a globalised world, the ripples from even geographically distant conflicts inevitably reach Australia, with significant, often grave, consequences.
Continue reading...Trump’s bid for regime change in Yemen should be anathema to both America Firsters and Democrats, but will anyone speak out?
The post Trump Reasserts U.S. as the World’s Policeman With Massive Yemen Escalation appeared first on The Intercept.
The page went dark as Columbia caved to the Trump administration’s anti-Palestinian and anti-immigrant attacks.
The post Columbia Admissions Guidance for Undocumented Immigrants Vanishes From Site appeared first on The Intercept.
Long before this week’s deadly strikes, Israel failed to abide by the terms of its ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The post Israel Violated the Gaza Ceasefire From the Start. Why Won’t the Media Tell You That? appeared first on The Intercept.
Thomas Woldbye says most other airports operate similar back-up power systems to Heathrow, as Ed Miliband announces investigation
The chief executive of Heathrow has defended the running of the airport after a fire at an electrical substation stopped about 1,300 planes and disrupted the journeys of hundreds of thousands of global passengers.
It comes after Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association’s director general, criticised Heathrow for the disruption, while the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has now ordered the National Energy System Operator to “urgently investigate” the outage.
Continue reading...In Britain, the Treasury is taking the idea of social happiness surprisingly seriously – and the chancellor needs to as well
Last week’s International Day of Happiness lives on. Not so much in the US, where the chaotic uncertainty engineered by Donald Trump and his Project 2025 supporters is creating misery, and not just for the public servants fired or suspended from their jobs.
It might also be difficult to see how the goal of happiness is rated in Whitehall when the UK sits only one place above the US in the United Nations’ annual world happiness index. The UK slipped from the 20th most happy country to 23rd in this year’s index, while the US dropped one position to 24th, both well behind the Nordic countries, which lead the world, and many others including Mexico, Australia and Belgium.
Continue reading...We have power as individuals and communities to boycott companies that don’t respect us and support those who stand with us
It can often be challenging to keep track of everything in Donald Trump’s US; the executive orders, the changes to decades-long protocols, the draconian legislation, the abandonment of established policies – and just the utter chaos.
That in itself is part of the Trump administration’s strategy – throw everything at us all at once to see what sticks and what they can get away with. There is, in fact, so much happening simultaneously that it is virtually impossible to tackle it all.
Continue reading...Seth Rogen may be known for his stoner vibe and comedies such as Superbad and Knocked Up, but behind the scenes the actor, writer, weed-lover and pottery fan has also become a producing power player. The US stock market is spooked and Trump’s henchmogul’s companies are floundering – has the great dealmaker been building up the wrong nation? And Philippa Perry advises a reader: ‘That voice in your head telling you that you’re saying the wrong things is not telling the truth.’
Continue reading...Recently installed prime minister expected to confirm 28 April ballot as he seeks to keep Liberal party in government
Mark Carney will run for election in the Ottawa riding of Nepean as the new Canadian prime minister seeks to join parliament for the first time, his Liberal party has announced.
Carney on Sunday is predicted to trigger an early general election on 28 April. The Liberals said on Saturday that Carney would run to represent the suburban riding, or district, of Nepean, noting in a social media post that Ottawa is where he raised his family and devoted his career to public service. He previously served as the head of Canada’s central bank and before that as deputy.
Continue reading...If there’s any lesson so far in Trump’s second term, it’s that playing nice isn’t just bad optics — it’s a losing strategy.
The post Appeasement Is Failing: Why Fighting Back Against Trump Is the Only Option appeared first on The Intercept.
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Angus Taylor calls Labor’s energy bill rebate ‘Band-Aid on a bullet wound’
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, also says the Coalition will not “get in the way” of the government’s $150 energy rebate, announced last night.
We’re not going to get in the way of it. The starting point here though is very clear which is Labor’s failed on delivering its promise of a $275 power price reduction.
We’re not going to stand in the way of Labor cleaning up their own mess. This is putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. The solution here is to get a structural outcome which is a reduction in underlying electricity prices, which has not been achieved, of course. It’s gone the other way.
They are both supplied by the US with little to no sovereign input, are expensive and outdated. Like Aukus, this equipment is much more about signalling our loyalty to the US than defending Australia.
Continue reading...Treasurer seizes on shadow finance minister’s comments on ‘out of control’ disability insurance scheme
The Coalition has hinted at a more aggressive approach to containing the cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in comments treasurer Jim Chalmers says would “send a shiver up the spine” of people relying on the $47bn program.
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, said on Sunday that there was “more that can be done” to curb the scheme’s rapid growth.
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Continue reading...Departments will be asked next week to reduce spending by 10% by 2028-29, says Cabinet Office source
The civil service will be told to slash more than £2bn a year from its budget by the end of the decade as part of the government’s spending review, with unions warning of significant job losses, the Guardian understands.
The Cabinet Office will tell departments to cut their administrative budgets by 15%, which is expected to save £2.2bn a year by 2029-30.
Continue reading...Institutions must resist thuggish bullying. There is no satisfying Trump. He will move the goalposts again and again
Since early 2024, I’ve been running a journalism ethics center at Columbia University.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that I see the university’s capitulation to Trump both in terms of journalism and ethics.
Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
Continue reading...From protecting women’s sport to the return of Russia and keeping the Olympics relevant, the former gold medallist has tough challenges ahead
As a seven-time Olympic swimming medallist, Kirsty Coventry knows a thing or two about navigating choppy waters. But the new International Olympic Committee president now faces the biggest set of challenges to global sport since the 1980s, when boycotts rocked the Moscow and Los Angeles Games. As the 41-year-old prepares to take over from Thomas Bach in June, what issues will she face?
Continue reading...Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow to his living standards pledge in advance of the spring statement
Living standards for all UK families are set to fall by 2030, with those on the lowest incomes declining twice as fast as middle and high earners, according to new data that raises serious questions about Keir Starmer’s pledge to make working people better off.
The grim economic analysis, produced by the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), comes before the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, makes her spring statement on Wednesday in which she will announce new cuts to public spending rather than increase borrowing or raise taxes, so as to keep within the government’s “iron clad” fiscal rules.
Continue reading...Further reductions can only increase disability and child poverty, and further undermine public services
Rachel Reeves faces her toughest test yet as chancellor when she delivers the spring statement this Wednesday. In response to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast, which will be published the same day, she is expected to announce further cuts to public spending in several areas, alongside the cuts to disability benefits that the government set out last week. Ministers have spent the past week arguing that these cuts do not technically constitute austerity because they will not be as deep as some of those made during the Conservative years. However, what label you put on these cuts matters far less than their impact. They would increase disability and child poverty and further undermine the provision of public services, an indefensible record for the first term of a Labour government.
Reeves faces the most difficult set of circumstances of any chancellor in recent decades. She has inherited an economy beset by long-term structural problems, exposed by the financial crisis, and that have gone unaddressed by governments of both colours: low levels of business investment, sluggish productivity growth, gaping regional inequalities and, since 2008, stagnant living standards. These were made worse by successive Conservative chancellors after 2010, who introduced tax cuts that disproportionately benefited the better off while slashing financial support for low-income parents – the poorest tenth of families with children lost £6,000 a year on average between 2010 and 2024 as a result of their changes – and who failed to take advantage of historically low interest rates to borrow to invest, instead taking the ideological decision to reduce the size of the state regardless of the consequences.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
Continue reading...Government says lessons need to be learned after the substation fire that caused chaos for 300,000 passengers
The government has launched an urgent investigation into the power shutdown that crippled Heathrow airport, with experts warning it was a “wake-up call” about vulnerabilities in the nation’s critical infrastructure.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has commissioned the independent National Energy System Operator (Neso) to investigate the incident and assess the UK’s energy resilience. The regulator Ofgem warned it would “not hesitate” to take action if there were any breaches of standards or licence obligations.
Continue reading...The co-founder of LinkedIn and Democrat donor remains confident that AI can be good for all of us – if its introduction is handled in the right way
Reid Hoffman is a prominent Silicon Valley billionaire entrepreneur and investor known for co-founding the professional social networking site LinkedIn, now owned by Microsoft. He’s also staunchly anti-Trump. The longtime Democrat donor threw his support behind Kamala Harris in the race for the White House. Hoffman spoke to the Observer about technology in the new political milieu and his new book about our future with artificial intelligence, Superagency. The book, while not ignoring the problems that AI might cause, argues that the technology is poised to give us cognitive superpowers that will increase our individual and collective human agency, creating a state of widespread empowerment for society.
You have a vested interest in being positive about AI, including a company focused on conversational AI for business, Inflection AI. Why should we listen to you?
First, an economic interest doesn’t necessarily make what someone is saying wrong, and I try to be transparent and not hide mine. Second, I tend to start with my beliefs and follow with my money. And sometimes that does mean doing things that are against my economic interests. Not kissing [Trump’s] ring, like many others have, is probably an economic limiter – but it’s better to be principled. I could have put the time and energy I spent writing Superagency into my companies and made much more money, but I want to share in the intellectual discourse.
Hopes of growth hang deflated, borrowing takes its toll and spending cuts loom
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Continue reading...Critics say cuts will mean that children will have to face off alone in court against experienced Ice attorneys
The Trump administration is reported to have cut funding to a legal program that provides representation for unaccompanied immigrant children, one month after directing immigration enforcement agents to track down minors who had entered the US without guardians last month.
Organizations that collectively receive more than $200m in federal grants were informed that the contract through the office of refugee resettlement had been partially terminated, according to a memo issued on Friday by the interior department and obtained by ABC News.
Continue reading...Club co-owner’s request for hundreds of millions of pounds to help regenerate local area labelled ‘outrageous’ by critics
Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner of Manchester United, has been challenged over the proposed use of hundreds of millions of pounds of public funds to deliver his vision of building the “world’s greatest stadium”.
Ratcliffe, who has an estimated fortune of about £12bn, quit the UK for tax-free Monaco in 2020. He is now urging ministers to help support the club’s vision of the stadium with public funds to regenerate the surrounding area.
Continue reading...The state with the most radical abortion law is seeking to make an example of Maria Margarita Rojas
Texas is a fairly decent place to be an armadillo (they’re the official state small mammal) and an increasingly dire place to be a woman. In 2021, it implemented a near-total abortion ban: the most radical abortion law in the US. Now it’s going even further in its crusade to outlaw abortion. On Monday, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, announced the first criminal charges under Texas’s abortion ban. Maria Margarita Rojas, a licensed midwife, was charged with the illegal performance of an abortion and with practicing medicine without a license, according to a press release from Paxton’s office. Her employee Jose Ley was also charged.
Continue reading...Black Britons altered the DNA of music, fashion and sport in this country. But why is it framed as a London story? Bradford-born writer Lanre Bakare explores how it reaches far beyond the capital – and farther back in time
The DVD slips into the loading tray, and I watch in hope rather than expectation. I’ve been told Tony Palmer’s The Wigan Casino is the greatest ever depiction of a northern soul all-nighter, and I want to see it for myself. The film is a window into the underground scene that emerged in the 1970s, powered by soul records that had flopped years earlier. But I’m not interested in the music or the dancing – it’s the crowd I’ve got an eye on.
I spot what I’m after. A young man, glistening under the spotlight as he spins balletically in a yellow vest. Then another person catches my eye with his perfectly picked-out afro. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, so I rewind to check, and yes, it’s true. A few minutes later, two girls clamber on to a coach, and one waves goodbye down the camera lens. Another boy squeezes through the crush at the front door. These young people are there for the same reason as everyone else: hard-to-find soul music that’s perfectly crafted for dancing. But all of them stand out. They’re different from the majority of the 1,200 dancers crammed into Wigan Casino. They’re Black and British.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves’s speech next week is being crafted as a ‘re-education’ on Labour’s achievements amid gloominess and sinking poll ratings
When Rachel Reeves takes to her feet in the Commons to deliver her spring statement next week, she will try to pull off what her inner circle describe as a “re-education” exercise over how Labour has used its early days in power.
“We want it to be a re-education on all the good things we’ve already done in office,” said one, listing achievements including increasing the minimum wage, cutting NHS waiting lists and improving workers’ rights. “We want everybody to hear it.”
Continue reading...From media to culture and the arts to the refusal to abide by court orders, we’re nearing ‘Defcon 1 for our democracy’, experts say
Entering the magnificent great hall of the US Department of Justice, Donald Trump stopped for a moment to admire his portrait, then took to a specially constructed stage where two art deco statues, depicting the Spirit of Justice and Majesty of Justice, had been carefully concealed behind a blue velvet curtain.
The president, who since last year is also a convicted criminal, proceeded to air grievances, utter a profanity and accuse the news media of doing “totally illegal” things, without offering evidence. “I just hope you can all watch for it,” he told justice department employees, “but it’s totally illegal.”
Continue reading...“The World After Gaza” author on what Israel’s war reveals about power, violence, and who sets the rules on the world stage.
The post Israel’s “Culture of Cruelty” Inspires the Far Right Worldwide, Says Pankaj Mishra appeared first on The Intercept.
Westerners increasingly hesitant to travel to US out of fear of arrests and detentions as Trump enforces crackdown
A string of high-profile arrests and detentions of travellers is likely to cause a major downturn in tourism to the US, with latest figures already showing a serious drop-off, tourist experts said.
Several western travellers have recently been rejected at the US border on increasingly flimsy grounds under Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, some of them shackled and held in detention centers in poor conditions for weeks.
Continue reading...Nuffield Trust says supply chains have shifted, with drugs for epilepsy and cystic fibrosis among those now scarce
Drug shortages in the UK have risen to their worst level for four years, official figures show, with Brexit considered a key reason so many medications are scarce.
Drug companies notified the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) about disruptions to supply 1,938 times during last year – the highest number since the 1,967 seen in 2021.
Continue reading...Research suggests the scheme may be more popular than thought, with consultations dominated by a loud minority
Even with the caveats about limited data and untangling causation and correlation, the statistics are striking: the first year of a scheme in Wales where the speed limit on urban roads was lowered to 20mph resulted in about 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured.
Introduced in September 2023 as a major road safety project of the Labour-run Welsh government, it made 20mph the default limit for any built-up area, defined as roads where lamp-posts were no more than about 180 metres apart. This took in about a third of all roads, with the Conservative opposition saying the definition was far too broad.
Continue reading...Last week, anti-choice campaigners emboldened by current US politics met in New York at the same time as UN delegates gathered to address the widespread inequalities women face. The battle to protect rights has never felt more urgent
In a meeting room on the 27th floor of a swish Manhattan hotel, Denise Mountenay is telling the audience that the right to abortion is “Nazi thinking.” Mountenay regrets her own abortions, and says she has been called by God to spread the word that she and other women “were lied to, deceived, pressured into making the most horrible choice: to choose death instead of life”.
She goes on to list reasons why abortion is “not a safe procedure. [That’s what] they want woman to think – that is a lie.”
Continue reading...James Boasberg considers whether to maintain block on deportation of accused Venezuelan gang members
A federal judge who temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s administration from deporting accused Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law condemned the lawyers for being “intemperate and disrespectful” in court.
The Washington DC-based judge, James Boasberg, continues considering whether to maintain his ban – and whether officials violated it, which would expose them to sanctions.
Continue reading...Move takes effect on 24 April as president weighs also stripping parole status from some 240,000 Ukrainians in US
The Department of Homeland Security said on Friday that it would revoke the temporary legal status of more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans welcomed into the US under a Biden-era sponsorship process, according to a notice posted to the Federal Register and signed by the homeland security chief, Kristi Noem.
The order cuts short a two-year “parole” program – known as CHNV – under Joe Biden that allowed 532,000 people who had arrived in the US since October 2022 with financial sponsors to obtain two-year work permits to live and work in the US. Noem’s notice said they will lose their legal status on 24 April.
Continue reading...US officials claim move was to curb drug trafficking while Quebec town says it ‘weakens collaboration’ among nations
The US has blocked Canadian access to a library straddling the Canada-US border, drawing criticism from a Quebec town where people have long enjoyed easy entry to the space.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is located between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont. It was built deliberately to straddle the frontier between the two countries – a symbol of cooperation and friendship between Canada and the US.
Continue reading...Readers share their sadness and frustration at the government’s plan to cut benefits including personal independence payment
There is no doubt that the disability benefits system is broken – but not in the ways the government suggests (Editorial, 18 March). The current system is hostile, inefficient and difficult to navigate – often worsening the physical and mental health of claimants, through energy-depleting assessment and appeal processes, gaslighting and having to fight to be seen.
The government suggests that the way to get disabled people into work is to invest more in job coaches – as though the disabled community simply lack confidence to hunt for jobs. In reality, it is employers who lack confidence to take us on. To find one that can offer minimal hours (for someone with long Covid) or provide multiple sick days a month (for regular hospital visits) is almost impossible.
Continue reading...Readers respond to the health secretary’s announcement that too many people are being ‘written off’ with a diagnosis
Successive governments refuse to acknowledge that mental illness overwhelmingly affects people from a lower socioeconomic class (Wes Streeting: there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions, 16 March). There’s a reason that the prescribing of antidepressants is so much higher in areas where poverty is prevalent.
I’m a mental health nurse in a struggling NHS. I also struggle to make ends meet in an age where my outgoings leave me almost nothing. I pay high rent to a multimillionaire and am unable to save a penny. Nor do I really enjoy the fruits of my labour with my dependants.
Continue reading...Intensive talks to take place next week on detail and structure of any British deployments if ceasefire deal reached
The UK is to “accelerate the pace and scale” of its military planning to be ready to support Ukraine, with No 10 saying all options, including troops on the ground, are possible.
Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said thousands of troops would be needed to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement to end the war with Russia, whether by “sea, on land or in the air”.
Continue reading...The Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry has become the first woman to lead the International Olympic Committee in its 131-year history after a stunning first-round knockout over a seven-strong field that included Britain’s Sebastian Coe.
In a contest that had been expected to go through multiple rounds of voting, the 41-year-old won 49 of the 97 votes in the first round, giving her an immediate majority. She is the first African to become IOC president and becomes the most powerful woman in global sport.
Continue reading...Town in North Kivu province is the farthest west the group has reached since the start of its advance in January
M23 rebels have captured a strategic mining hub in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, defying calls from the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC for an immediate ceasefire.
A Congolese army spokesperson said M23 was in control of the town of Walikale. An officer separately told Agence France-Presse its forces were about 20 miles (30km) away in the town of Mubi.
Continue reading...The DEA ignored the internal alarm about its mass phone data collection program, according to newly revealed details in a government report.
The post DEA Insiders Warned About Legality of Phone Tracking Program. Their Concerns Were Kept Secret. appeared first on The Intercept.
Indonesia’s 1,700m Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted for 11 minutes on Thursday, causing ash cloud but no damage to nearby villages on the island of Flores
At least seven international flights from Indonesia’s resort island Bali have been cancelled, an airport official said on Friday, after a volcano in the archipelago nation’s east erupted, shooting dark ash 8km into the sky.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703m (5,587ft) twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted for 11 minutes and nine seconds late on Thursday, authorities said, raising the volcano’s alert status to the highest level.
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Continue reading...Trump says the Alien Enemies Act gives him power to deport people he alleges are linked to the Tren de Aragua prison gang.
The post Trump Rushes Deportations Using a Wartime Law With a Shameful History appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservative critics of “cancel culture” were quick to defend Trump’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil over his political speech.
The post The Right Loves Free Speech — Unless It’s Pro-Palestine Speech appeared first on The Intercept.
The arrest of a midwife for allegedly providing illegal abortions is the latest attack on reproductive care.
The post Texas Starts Arresting Abortion Providers appeared first on The Intercept.
Really interesting research: “How WEIRD is Usable Privacy and Security Research?” by Ayako A. Hasegawa Daisuke Inoue, and Mitsuaki Akiyama:
Abstract: In human factor fields such as human-computer interaction (HCI) and psychology, researchers have been concerned that participants mostly come from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries. This WEIRD skew may hinder understanding of diverse populations and their cultural differences. The usable privacy and security (UPS) field has inherited many research methodologies from research on human factor fields. We conducted a literature review to understand the extent to which participant samples in UPS papers were from WEIRD countries and the characteristics of the methodologies and research topics in each user study recruiting Western or non-Western participants. We found that the skew toward WEIRD countries in UPS is greater than that in HCI. Geographic and linguistic barriers in the study methods and recruitment methods may cause researchers to conduct user studies locally. In addition, many papers did not report participant demographics, which could hinder the replication of the reported studies, leading to low reproducibility. To improve geographic diversity, we provide the suggestions including facilitate replication studies, address geographic and linguistic issues of study/recruitment methods, and facilitate research on the topics for non-WEIRD populations...
Pro-Palestine protesters at UCLA who were attacked by a mob allege that the school did little to stop nearly five hours of violence.
The post Victims of UCLA Mob Attack Sue to “Hold the Aggressors Accountable” appeared first on The Intercept.
National Park Service workers who care for the White House were exempt from a wave of mass firings that gutted the agency.
The post Trump Fired Park Rangers — But Not the Ones Who Tend to the White House appeared first on The Intercept.
Police records obtained by The Intercept show Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests and other constitutionally protected speech.
The post LAPD Surveilled Gaza Protests Using This Social Media Tool appeared first on The Intercept.
His attempts to bully and exploit the weak hark back to an era when the US emulated the worst aspects of the British empire
Donald Trump’s imperial presidency is a tawdry, threadbare affair. The emperor has no clothes to cloak his counterfeit rule. Lacking crown and robes, he resorts to vulgar ties and baseball caps. His throne is but a bully pulpit, his palace a pokey, whitewashed house, his courtiers mere common hacks. His royal edicts – executive orders – are judicially contested. And while he rages like Lear, his critics are publicly crucified or thrown to the lions at Fox News.
Yet for all his crudely plebeian ordinariness, a parvenu imperialism is Trump’s global offer, his trademark deal and most heinous crime. He peddles it against the tide of history and all human experience, as if invasion, genocide, racial inequality, economic exploitation and cultural conquest had never been tried before. If it wasn’t clear already, it is now. He wants to rule the world.
Continue reading...You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to order the Blu-ray. From the plethora of celeb cameos to the great one-liners, this comedy is an absolute treat
The Studio has some notes for Hollywood. Like in The Oner, the second episode of Apple TV+’s new industry comedy (out Wednesday 26 March) from the Superbad team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The incoming head of Continental Studios, Matt Remick (Rogen), is careening through the Hollywood Hills in his convertible, racing to the set in time to catch the director’s virtuoso oner. That is a scene filmed in one single, continuous take, which – in this case – must also be completed in “the magic hour” before sunset when the light is just so.
As Matt and fellow executive Sal (Ike Barinholtz) make their clumsy entrance (patronising a PA, offering unwanted feedback, debating whether the oner really is “the ultimate cinematic achievement” or “just a director jacking off”), it becomes clear that the episode will itself unfold in a oner. Very clever.
Continue reading...Promise was central plank to space agency’s Artemis program, which is scheduled to return humans to the lunar surface in 2027
Nasa has dropped its longstanding public commitment to land the first woman and person of color on the moon, in response to Donald Trump’s directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices at federal agencies.
The promise was a central plank of the space agency’s Artemis program, which is scheduled to return humans to the lunar surface in 2027 for the first time since the final Apollo mission in December 1972.
Continue reading...We’d like to hear from parents whose children have been playing Roblox, what got them into it and how they feel about the gaming platform
Roblox, the online gaming and social media platform that appeals particularly to children, has been tightening parental controls and age ratings after coming under criticism for potentially exposing children to harmful content.
Parents who are worried about their children being on Roblox should not let them use it, the chief executive of the platform has said.
Continue reading...I saw first hand how prisons are having to use segregation units for acutely mentally ill inmates who should not be in prison at all
Written and read by Alex South
Continue reading...Nicola Slawson on her decision to have a baby with her best friend, Tom, rather than a romantic partner
Nicola Slawson, a journalist and author of Single: Living a Complete Life on Your Own Terms, has been single for 10 years. She didn’t think it was going to be possible for her to have a baby. She had looked into solo parenthood, but didn’t think she would be able to afford it.
Then, she became friends with Tom Hayes. He worked at the Hive, an arts centre in Shrewsbury where Nicola was a trustee.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Jonathan Wilson, Lars Sivertsen and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan as they preview the international break
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; the Thomas Tuchel era begins. What can we expect? What exactly is Jordan Henderson’s role and how quickly can we judge the job the new head coach is doing.
Continue reading...Government lawyers would be happy to avoid a legal precedent set in the case of Ravi Ragbir during the first Trump administration.
The post Why Trump Is So Desperate to Keep Mahmoud Khalil in Louisiana appeared first on The Intercept.
The shape of the Trump 2.0 White House has spurred serious concerns about public health and reproductive rights, and left military leaders 'stunned' and former intelligence experts 'appalled'. From a vaccine skeptic in charge of running the department of health, to a wrestling mogul in charge of the country's education, and even a ‘deep state conspiracy theorist’ becoming head of the FBI, the Guardian US live news editor Chris Michael takes us through the six most controversial members, and what their appointments could mean for the country
Continue reading...A GP surgery in one of the most deprived areas in the north-east of England is struggling to provide care for its patients as the health system crumbles around them. In the depths of the winter flu season, the Guardian video producers Maeve Shearlaw and Adam Sich went to Bridges medical practice to shadow the lead GP, Paul Evans, as he worked all hours keep his surgery afloat. Juggling technical challenges, long waiting lists and the profound impact austerity has had on the health of the population, Evans says: 'We are seeing the system fail'
Continue reading...
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...Civil rights attorney Edward Ahmed Mitchell and journalist Meghnad Bose discuss the profound implications Khalil’s case raises for free speech and due process.
The post The Disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil appeared first on The Intercept.
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