DEN HAAG (ANP) - De Nederlandse export is in juni met 3,1 procent toegenomen in vergelijking met een jaar eerder. Volgens voorlopige cijfers van het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) exporteerden bedrijven vooral meer aardolieproducten, machines en elektrotechnische apparaten naar het buitenland.
In mei nam het exportvolume nog met 4,8 procent toe. Het volume van de goederenimport ging in juni met 1,4 procent omhoog. Er werden vooral meer machines, voedings- en genotmiddelen en aardolieproducten ingevoerd dan een jaar eerder, aldus het CBS.
Het bureau meldt verder dat in augustus de omstandigheden voor de export minder ongunstig waren dan in juni. Dat komt vooral doordat de ontwikkeling van de reële wisselkoersen gunstiger was, het oordeel van Nederlandse producenten over de buitenlandse orders minder negatief was, de krimp van de Duitse industriële productie kleiner was en het producentenvertrouwen in de eurozone en Duitsland minder negatief was.
DEN HAAG (ANP) - Het dagelijks leven is in juli gemiddeld 3,2 procent duurder geworden dan in dezelfde maand een jaar geleden. Dat meldt het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) op basis van definitieve cijfers. De inflatie valt iets hoger uit dan de 3,1 procent die bij de eerdere snelle raming werd gemeld. De inflatie liep daarmee nog verder op na de stevige daling in juni tot 2,9 procent.
Door de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten, die eind februari begon, zijn de olie- en gasprijzen in de eerste maanden van het conflict hard gestegen. In mei bedroeg de inflatie daardoor 3,5 procent. In februari, voor het conflict, bedroeg de inflatie nog 2,4 procent.
Volgens het CBS stuwden de prijzen van motorbrandstoffen en energie opnieuw de inflatie in juli. In juli waren motorbrandstoffen 22 procent duurder dan een jaar eerder. In juni was dat 17,3 procent. Energie, zoals gas, elektriciteit en stadsverwarming, was in juli 1,1 procent duurder dan vorig jaar. In juni 2026 was energie nog 1,8 procent goedkoper dan in juni 2025.
CANBERRA (ANP/AFP) - Australië en Vietnam gaan hun militaire samenwerking uitbreiden om tegenwicht te bieden aan China's toenemende aanwezigheid in de Stille Oceaan en de Zuid-Chinese Zee.
Dat zei de Australische premier Anthony Albanese na een ontmoeting met de Vietnamese leider To Lam in de Australische hoofdstad Canberra.
De landen werken al samen wat betreft de strijdkrachten en defensie-industrie. Maar volgens Albanese is het nodig om dat uit te breiden: "De onzekere wereld van tegenwoordig betekent dat het belangrijker dan ooit is dat vrienden een verbintenis aangaan op alle niveaus - economisch, sociaal, milieu - om de uitdagingen die voor ons liggen het hoofd te bieden."
Vietnam is een van de landen die met China overhoop ligt over gebieden in de Zuid-Chinese Zee.
Lance CASTLE has added a photo to the pool:
The sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being considered pests. A highly intelligent bird,[4] they are well known in aviculture, although they can be demanding pets.
The Mad King may bring more dynastic disputes and dotty despots to the RSC – but a ‘mayhap’ or a riddling aphorism does not a Shakespeare play make
As a latecomer to Game of Thrones, I am struck by how many people tell me it is “very Shakespearean”. It is as if they need to justify its heady escapism and heavy reliance on bonking and brutality. But its debt to the Bard – apart from the rivalry between the houses of Lannister and Stark – rests mainly on the casting. Watching the first 11 episodes, I noticed four Lears past and to come (Julian Glover, David Bradley, Oliver Ford-Davies and Roger Allam), a Macbeth (Sean Bean), a Hamlet and Henry V (Iain Glen) and a Cassius (Michelle Fairley) among many others.
Because it is presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company and staged by Dominic Cooke, who memorably directed The Hollow Crown on television, we shall doubtless hear the same arguments about Game of Thrones: The Mad King at Stratford. But, although there are frequent nods to Shakespeare, they totally lack the resonance of the original. Our first sight of Michael Shaeffer’s King Aerys with a white beard, a leafy crown and no shoes almost screams “Lear on the heath”. But where Lear gradually declines into insanity (“O fool I shall go mad”) and comes out the other side, Shaeffer’s Aerys is a dotty despot from start to finish. The use of tournaments to settle dynastic disputes also reminds us of the opening of Richard II – but where that event is aborted and ultimately causes the king’s downfall, here the image of embattled jousters is endlessly repeated.
Continue reading...Parent-carers of disabled children are exposed to chronic levels of extreme stress and often reach crisis point before help is available – then they face a ‘fight for basic support’, experts say. This is Matilda Davis’s story
Two days before she died, Matilda Davis issued a plea on Facebook. Sharing a study that found more than 40% of parent-carers had considered suicide, she called for “greater awareness, action and change” in Britain’s broken social care system. “This speaks the words I can’t,” she wrote.
Matilda, known as Tilly to her family and friends, had spent years battling for support in a regime that close observers and those who rely on it often say is increasingly confusing, fragmented and difficult to navigate.
Continue reading...Devons Road estate residents describe months-long ordeal of not being able to wash, clean or cook for much of the day
Christmas Day in east London. Beatrice Asante empties a bag of potatoes into her kitchen sink and turns on the tap. Nothing. She turns it off and on again. Still nothing. What now?
Asante rushes out to the only shop that is open, the local Nisa convenience store. She buys several big plastic bottles of water. Enough, she thinks, to make dinner and to last until the taps start running again.
Continue reading...The idea of government adviser Alan Milburn sounds laudable. But it’s asking too much of a system already struggling to meet society’s demands
When you go to the dentist, what do you expect? That they will check your teeth, see if you need any fillings, give you some advice on oral hygiene? You probably don’t expect that they will teach your child to read, tackle youth unemployment or solve poverty.
But when it comes to education, politicians are remarkably relaxed about loading wider social responsibilities on to schools. The suggestion from Alan Milburn, a former minister and now a senior government adviser, is that primary schools – that is, schools that educate children aged four to 11 – should identify children who might not be in education, employment or training at the age of 16. “The warning signs are there from a very early, early age. You know, frankly from preschool,” he said. “So, definitely primary schools should be identifying children who are at risk of being Neet. And secondary schools and other services should be intercepting, intervening, supporting and helping those young people to get on a different path.”
Daisy Christodoulou is an education writer and director of education at No More Marking, an educational technology startup
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