Latest news with #theTelegraph
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump urges Senate to postpone vote on Russia sanctions bill
U.S. President Donald Trump has asked the Senate to delay voting on a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, Senator Roger Wicker said on June 4. "I know that he (Trump) asked the leader (Senate Majority Leader John Thune) not to bring the bill to a vote this week," Wicker told reporters. The bill, introduced on April 1 by Senators Lindsey Graham (R) and Richard Blumenthal (D), seeks to impose a 500% tariff on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian oil and raw materials. Its aim is to tighten economic pressure on Russia and discourage third-party nations from enabling the Kremlin's energy exports. The legislation currently has broad bipartisan support, with 82 out of 100 U.S. senators backing it. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson also voiced his support for the bill. Previously, Trump said he had not yet imposed new sanctions on Russia because he believed a peace deal might be within reach. "If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that," he said on May 28, but added he is prepared to act if Moscow stalls further. The Senate was expected to begin considering the bill this week, prior to the request made by Trump. Read also: European leaders shift focus to defending Ukraine without US support, the Telegraph reports We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Business Mayor
10-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Elton John and Dua Lipa urge Starmer to back UK artists in AI copyright row
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Media myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Sir Paul McCartney, Richard Curtis and Dua Lipa are among the 400 top musicians, artists and media executives who have written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer seeking support to protect copyright from being ripped off by artificial intelligence tools. The letter calls on Starmer to next week back an amendment to a bill introduced by Baroness Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer, that would give transparency and protection over whether artists' work is being used to train AI models. Kidron's amendment would make tech giants tell copyright owners which individual works — from music and books to films and newspapers — they have used to train their AI models. This would allow companies and artists 'to hold AI firms accountable for the mass theft of creative works that continues to take place', the letter says. The letter also has support from Coldplay, Sir Elton John, Russell T Davies, Antony Gormley and top executives from news groups such as the Telegraph and The Times. The Financial Times has also signed the letter. Baroness Beeban Kidron says the UK creative industries 'must not be sacrificed to the interests of a handful of US tech companies' ©The amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill was this week defeated in the House of Commons, but will be voted on again in the House of Lords on Monday. The government has made its own amendments that would guarantee an economic impact assessment of different options, while ministers are retreating from a previously 'preferred' position that would have meant that creative industries would need to opt out from their work being scraped by AI. Read More Welcome to slop world Officials insist all options are on the table following the end of a consultation into various proposals earlier this year. However, executives are still concerned that tech groups will ultimately be allowed to override copyright rules unless the government provides legislative backing guaranteeing transparency and protection. The letter warns that if artists are forced to give away their work, the UK 'will lose an immense growth opportunity . . . and with it our future income, the UK's position as a creative powerhouse, and any hope that the technology of daily life will embody the values and laws of the UK'. The use of the data bill is the latest attempt by the creative industries to protect their copyright from being used by AI groups without attribution or payment. Kidron said the UK creative industries 'must not be sacrificed to the interests of a handful of US tech companies'. She added: 'The UK is in a unique position to take its place a global player in the international AI supply chain, but to grasp that opportunity requires the transparency provided for in my amendments, which are essential to create a vibrant licensing market.' Lord Kevin Brennan of Canton, former MP and Labour Peer, said: 'We cannot let mass copyright theft inflict damage on our economy for years to come.' The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This is the year of JK Rowling's triumph and it is such a joy to watch
By 2018, when the trans movement hotted up, J K Rowling was already used to unbelievable levels of abuse and threat for the crime of believing in the primacy of biological sex over social declarations of gender – and for liking the tweets of others who shared this view. She later gave her support to Maya Forstater, a researcher who had been sacked for posting her belief that someone cannot change biological sex. Writing on her website, Rowling wrote: 'I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called c--- and b---- and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he'd composted them.' Since then, Rowling has endured many more threats and insults. She is the queen 'Terf' (trans exclusionary radical feminist) – the insult the trans lobby coined for people who don't accept that men can be women just by saying so. (Terf has become a badge of pride among those with the label; and Britain, for a time, was known among fans as Terf Island). As the mass drubbing in public really took off after 2020, she found that even the young actors whose careers she made – the stars of the Harry Potter franchise – had turned against her,coming out with sanctimonious statements about how 'trans women are women' and how 'Jo' had got it wrong. Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the films, sniped that trans people 'are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned'. Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter himself, said that he was 'really sad' at the rupture caused by Rowling's stance. Eddie Redmayne – who starred in Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts – was the most sanctimonious. 'I disagree with Jo's comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.' But the great Rowling has won: she bravely hoisted the mad world on her shoulders and shifted it to saner ground. The Cass Report drew a line in the sand about puberty-blockers and the clinics that prescribe them: they are no longer routinely offered in Britain. And as the hailstorm of adolescent girls transitioning to boys and seeking body-altering surgery to that effect has slowed, some of them are 'detransitioning', realising that their apparent gender dysphoria was more to do with other issues from undiagnosed autism to lesbianism. In the US, the new administration has declared war on the trans lobby. Without her bravery in speaking the truth bluntly, to politicians, Twitter terrorists and journalists – as well as that of her coterie of close friends, including the Telegraph writers Julie Bindel and Suzanne Moore – the right of biological women to spaces reserved for them would never have been recaptured. Biological men can no longer compete in most women's sport. Most people would have surrendered to the sustained assault on their mental health and basic safety. But she endured. In refusing to kowtow to the trans lobby, she has made it OK, and less dangerous, to say true things of vital importance. And now, despite the original cast's intolerable ingratitude, despite a whole generation of trans activists pretending she is the devil incarnate, there is now a new Harry Potter series – made for HBO this time – scheduled to hit screens in 2027 and set to air over the course of a decade. More than 31,000 children sent in audition tapes. It wasn't quite the case that she was ostracised. Rowling has written about the outpouring of letters from people who were grateful to her for speaking up about what they also recognised was a terrifying and pervasive trend: the denial of women's sex-based rights, and all that that entailed. It meant allowing self-identifying 'women' into women's changing rooms, prisons, and hospital wards. Rosie Duffield, the Canterbury MP who quit Labour in part over its stance on trans rights, was and is one of Rowling's most steadfast supporters. And there's her tight knit buddies – Bindel, Moore, also ex-Sussex philosophy professor Kathleen Stock and Maya Forstater – known to the world after they posted pictures of themselves having a Terf-themed lunch at the River Cafe in 2022. Their loyalty to Rowling is legendary: all are tight-lipped about the friendship. But it's obvious from her sauciness that 'Jo' is good fun. I enjoyed her response to the prospect of a two-year jail term for misgendering a trans person, imagined under the (then) forthcoming Labour government. 'Bring on the court case, I say. It'll be more fun than I've ever had on a red carpet.' As for her preferred prison job: 'Hoping for the library, obviously, but I think I could do OK in the kitchens. Laundry might be a problem. I have a tendency to shrink stuff/turn it pink accidentally. Guessing that won't be a major issue if it's mostly scrubs and sheets, though.' The Harry Potter books came out while I was an undergraduate, and a recent attempt to read one backfired: I hated it. No matter: Rowling is one of the greats, whether you think it's for her world of wizards, or the way she forced a bit of sanity back on a culture that is distinctly short on it. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
This is the year of JK Rowling's triumph and it is such a joy to watch
By 2018, when the trans movement hotted up, J K Rowling was already used to unbelievable levels of abuse and threat for the crime of believing in the primacy of biological sex over social declarations of gender – and for liking the tweets of others who shared this view. She later gave her support to Maya Forstater, a researcher who had been sacked for posting her belief that someone cannot change biological sex. Writing on her website, Rowling wrote: 'I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called c--- and b---- and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he'd composted them.' Since then, Rowling has endured many more threats and insults. She is the queen 'Terf' (trans exclusionary radical feminist) – the insult the trans lobby coined for people who don't accept that men can be women just by saying so. (Terf has become a badge of pride among those with the label; and Britain, for a time, was known among fans as Terf Island). As the mass drubbing in public really took off after 2020, she found that even the young actors whose careers she made – the stars of the Harry Potter franchise – had turned against her, coming out with sanctimonious statements about how 'trans women are women' and how 'Jo' had got it wrong. Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the films, sniped that trans people 'are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned'. Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter himself, said that he was 'really sad' at the rupture caused by Rowling's stance. Eddie Redmayne – who starred in Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts – was the most sanctimonious. 'I disagree with Jo's comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.' But the great Rowling has won: she bravely hoisted the mad world on her shoulders and shifted it to saner ground. The Cass Report drew a line in the sand about puberty-blockers and the clinics that prescribe them: they are no longer routinely offered in Britain. And as the hailstorm of adolescent girls transitioning to boys and seeking body-altering surgery to that effect has slowed, some of them are 'detransitioning', realising that their apparent gender dysphoria was more to do with other issues from undiagnosed autism to lesbianism. In the US, the new administration has declared war on the trans lobby. Without her bravery in speaking the truth bluntly, to politicians, Twitter terrorists and journalists – as well as that of her coterie of close friends, including the Telegraph writers Julie Bindel and Suzanne Moore – the right of biological women to spaces reserved for them would never have been recaptured. Biological men can no longer compete in most women's sport. Most people would have surrendered to the sustained assault on their mental health and basic safety. But she endured. In refusing to kowtow to the trans lobby, she has made it OK, and less dangerous, to say true things of vital importance. And now, despite the original cast's intolerable ingratitude, despite a whole generation of trans activists pretending she is the devil incarnate, there is now a new Harry Potter series – made for HBO this time – scheduled to hit screens in 2027 and set to air over the course of a decade. More than 31,000 children sent in audition tapes. It wasn't quite the case that she was ostracised. Rowling has written about the outpouring of letters from people who were grateful to her for speaking up about what they also recognised was a terrifying and pervasive trend: the denial of women's sex-based rights, and all that that entailed. It meant allowing self-identifying 'women' into women's changing rooms, prisons, and hospital wards. Rosie Duffield, the Canterbury MP who quit Labour in part over its stance on trans rights, was and is one of Rowling's most steadfast supporters. And there's her tight knit buddies – Bindel, Moore, also ex-Sussex philosophy professor Kathleen Stock and Maya Forstater – known to the world after they posted pictures of themselves having a Terf-themed lunch at the River Cafe in 2022. Their loyalty to Rowling is legendary: all are tight-lipped about the friendship. But it's obvious from her sauciness that 'Jo' is good fun. I enjoyed her response to the prospect of a two-year jail term for misgendering a trans person, imagined under the (then) forthcoming Labour government. 'Bring on the court case, I say. It'll be more fun than I've ever had on a red carpet.' As for her preferred prison job: 'Hoping for the library, obviously, but I think I could do OK in the kitchens. Laundry might be a problem. I have a tendency to shrink stuff/turn it pink accidentally. Guessing that won't be a major issue if it's mostly scrubs and sheets, though.' The Harry Potter books came out while I was an undergraduate, and a recent attempt to read one backfired: I hated it. No matter: Rowling is one of the greats, whether you think it's for her world of wizards, or the way she forced a bit of sanity back on a culture that is distinctly short on it.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US close to signing natural resources deal with Ukraine, Trump says
US President Donald Trump stated on 22 February that the United States was close to signing an agreement with Ukraine on rare earth resources, adding that he wanted to recover billions of dollars in military aid provided to Kyiv. Source: Trump in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, broadcast on X (Twitter) Details: During the speech, which brought together politicians, media personalities, conservative activists and Trump's allies, the US president said that the US was "...pretty close to a deal and we better be close to a deal". "We're asking for rare earths, oil and anything we can get," the US president stressed. He also noted that he wants to recover "billions of dollars" in military aid that Washington has provided to Ukraine. Quote: "The war between Russia and Ukraine [rages on]. People are being killed, mostly young men, mostly Russian and Ukrainian men, at levels you've never seen before; thousands of people a week. I've spoken to President Putin and I think that thing is going to end, it's a horrible, horrible thing to watch." [Ukrainska Pravda does not recognise Vladimir Putin as a president – ed.] Background: A draft agreement dated 7 February 2025, obtained by the British newspaper the Telegraph, outlines the Trump administration's proposed terms for a minerals deal with Ukraine. The terms resemble those typically imposed on defeated aggressor states and reportedly exceed the reparations imposed on Germany and Japan after World War II. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign the document since the agreement did not have clear security guarantees for Ukraine from the United States. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump was upset over Kyiv's supposed lack of gratitude for US assistance and refusal to sign the agreement on Ukrainian minerals. The text of the agreement between the US and Ukraine, updated as of the evening of 21 February and obtained by Ekonomichna Pravda, stipulates the establishment of a commercial fund under complete US control, to which Ukraine will allocate funds. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
