Opposition to the massive data centers that power AI is bipartisan and growing across the country. From Maine to California, more states and local communities are passing moratoriums and bans on construction of the noisy, power and water hungry buildings. People are getting arrested for speaking too long at town halls, legislators are receiving death threats, and it’s clear that the fight against these computer warehouses will shape American politics for years to come.

In Ypsialanti Township, Michigan, the University of Michigan has partnered with America’s nuclear weapons scientists to build a massive $1.2 billion data center. Earlier this month, the Ypsilanti utility authority paused the delivery of water to new data center projects for six months, a move the University called “unlawfully discriminatory.”

On May 10, Colleton County South Carolina passed a six month moratorium on data center construction with an option to extend. The moratorium came ahead of the planned construction of an 800 acre data center in the ACE Basin Estuary that would build on 200 acres of untouched wetlands. Local landowners and the South Carolina Environmental Law Center were already suing to halt construction of the project. This is the second location for the particular project. The builders first tried to build the data center in Georgia last year but failed after local opposition grew too strong. 

Logistics company Prologis eyed Washington Township, Michigan for a 312-acre data center project. Locals organized and voiced their opposition at planning meetings. “I have just learned that the petitioner for that project has just withdrawn their application,” Audrey Brown, a Washington Township Clerk said in a post on Facebook yesterday . “This means that as of today, there are no data center projects under consideration by the township. Therefore, I will be adding a temporary moratorium for all data center applications for consideration at tomorrow night’s board meeting. The moratorium will give our community time to put legal safeguards in place.”

Microsoft cancelled a planned 244-acre data center in the Village of Caledonia, Wisconsin after 2,000 people in the area signed a petition that opposed rezoning the land. “I would’ve liked to been able to engage directly with Microsoft much earlier in the process. We were not allowed to do that. I think that became an obstacle for a lot of different points and reasons,” Nancy Pierce, a Village trustee, told local news outlet WTMJ.

Georgia is considering a bill that would prevent cities from issuing permits to data centers until 2027. Maryland has a bill referred to committee that would pause data centers in the state until the legislature figured out how to provide power to them. Oklahoma is considering a law that would pause data centers until 2029 while the state conducts research on water and utility rate impacts. Even Virginia—home to massive concentration of data centers—is considering a proposal to halt new construction until specific power needs are met.

But there are high profile failures in the fight too. Maine was set to pass a statewide moratorium on new data center construction, the first of its kind in the United States. But Governor Janet Mills vetoed the bill saying that she supported a ban in principle, but wanted a carve out for a data center already under construction in the southern part of the state.

For anti-data center activists there will be victories and losses but a coalition is taking shape, one that cuts across party lines and has people engaging with politics on a local level in a way that hasn’t been seen in decades.

GAZA-STAD (ANP/RTR) - Door een Israëlische luchtaanval op een vluchtelingenkamp in het zuiden van de Gazastrook zijn zeker twee mensen gedood, onder wie een 6-jarig meisje. Zeventien mensen raakten gewond, melden Palestijnse gezondheidsfunctionarissen.

Volgens getuigen werd de aanval uitgevoerd met twee helikopters. Het Israëlische leger (IDF) heeft vooralsnog niet gereageerd op de berichten.

Sinds oktober geldt een staakt-het-vuren in Gaza, maar het geweld is nooit volledig gestopt. Volgens Gazaanse gezondheidsfunctionarissen zijn sindsdien zo'n negenhonderd Palestijnen gedood door Israëlische aanvallen. In die cijfers wordt geen onderscheid gemaakt tussen burgers en strijders.

In dezelfde periode zijn volgens de IDF vier Israëlische soldaten gedood.

DEN BOSCH (ANP) - De hockeysters van Amsterdam hebben de landstitel gewonnen. Het elftal van trainer Jesse Mahieu versloeg regerend kampioen Den Bosch na shoot-outs. Voor Amsterdam is het de 22e landstitel uit de clubgeschiedenis en de vijfde deze eeuw. Den Bosch blijft op 23 landstitels staan.

De shoot-outs op hockeycomplex Oosterplas in Den Bosch waren nodig na een eindstand van 2-2. De eerste ontmoeting in Amstelveen was zaterdag ook in 2-2 geëindigd. Amsterdam won de shoot-outs met 4-3.

DOHA (ANP/AFP) - Een delegatie Iraanse hoogwaardigheidsbekleders is maandag aangekomen in de Qatarese hoofdstad Doha. Dat meldt persbureau AFP op basis van een ingewijde. Het zou gaan om onder anderen de Iraanse parlementsvoorzitter Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, buitenlandminister Abbas Araghchi en een topman van de Iraanse centrale bank.

De delegatie zal in Doha onder andere spreken over "aan de Straat van Hormuz gerelateerde zaken" en het verrijkte uranium waarover het land beschikt. Ook de bevroren Iraanse tegoeden zouden worden besproken.

De VS eisen al lange tijd dat Iran afstand doet van zijn verrijkt uranium. Iran heeft het bezit daarvan meermaals een onvervreemdbaar recht genoemd en lijkt vooralsnog niet van plan af te wijken van die lijn. Mochten de VS en Iran binnenkort tot een principeakkoord voor een staakt-het-vuren komen, dan zullen de Iraanse nucleaire ambities pas in de daaropvolgende gesprekken op tafel komen, aldus het Iraanse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken eerder op maandag.

PHNOM PENH (ANP/AFP) - De veroordeelde Cambodjaanse oppositieleider Kem Sokha heeft gratie gekregen. Dat meldt senaatsvoorzitter en oud-premier Hun Sen op sociale media. Kem Sokha werd in 2023 veroordeeld tot 27 jaar huisarrest voor verraad.

De nu 72-jarige Kem Sokha werd in 2017 opgepakt. Hij werd ervan beschuldigd om samen met de Verenigde Staten de regering omver te willen werpen, op dat moment geleid door Hun Sen. Kem Sokha heeft de beschuldigingen altijd ontkend.

Volgens mensenrechtenorganisaties was zijn vervolging bedoeld om hem en zijn populaire oppositiebeweging uit de politiek te weren. Eind april had een Cambodjaanse rechtbank een hoger beroep van Kem Sokha nog verworpen.

Hun Sen bekleedt als senaatsvoorzitter nog steeds een belangrijke rol in de Cambodjaanse politiek. Hij is de vader van de huidige premier Hun Manet.

The Spurs are up against the best team in the NBA in the Western Conference finals. But their star player has enough sorcery to give them confidence

Victor Wembanyama called for the ball. His San Antonio Spurs were up by nine at the tail end of the second quarter, but had led by as many as 16 in the first half. Down 2-1 in the Western Conference Finals to the Oklahoma City Thunder, building the lead in the final seconds of the half felt urgent – in the previous game, the Spurs had exploded into a 15-0 lead, only to lose heavily. In Game 4 on Sunday night, the klaxon was closing in, and so might the Thunder. Wembanyama got in a couple dribbles, but only had time to reach half-court before the clock forced him to shoot. He hoisted the ball into the air from 43ft; the buzzer sounded. The ball slammed cleanly into the basket.

Buoyed up by that shot and the Thunder clanking almost all their three-point attempts off the rim as if in solidarity with one another, the Spurs completed a 21-point annihilation to tie the series.

Tehran says ‘contradictory statements’ from US and Israeli interference hindering negotiations

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Iran has poured cold water on suggestions that a deal with the US is imminent, pointing to the confusion in US positions and Israeli interference as key factors in why a complete agreement is proving difficult to secure.

Speaking at the weekly foreign ministry press briefing, Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s negotiating team, also said future management of the strait of Hormuz was a matter for Oman and Iran to reach agreement on, and that it was not tolls that were being proposed but “fees for navigational services”.

The battle for the top four in Italy was overshadowed by violence in Turin, where Juve joined Milan in missing out

The stage was set for a grand finale: five games to settle season-long battles at either end of the Serie A table. Top spot was decided – Inter claimed their 21st Scudetto at the start of this month – but there were four teams contesting two Champions League berths, while Lecce and Cremonese fought to escape relegation. All of them would play simultaneously. Or at least, that was the plan.

Among these five games was a derby between Torino and Juventus. As kick-off approached, supporters clashed close to the stadium. One, a 36-year-old Juve fan named Marco Leonardo Basoccu, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after suffering a head wound.