BRUSSEL (ANP) - Oekraïne moet weer de belangrijkste prioriteit worden, zei de Poolse premier Donald Tusk. "Dit is een cruciale kwestie voor de veiligheid van Europa", zei Tusk bij aankomst in Brussel voor de ingelaste EU-top met regeringsleiders. "Het mag niet zo zijn dat Oekraïne, door zowel noodzakelijke als onnodige afleidingen en emoties, naar de achtergrond is verdwenen."

"Ik zal mijn best doen om onze partners ervan te overtuigen terug te keren naar de juiste geopolitieke positie en onze gezamenlijke activiteiten", zei Tusk.

De Poolse premier vindt dat er geen reden is voor "overmatig optimisme" nu er woensdag afspraken over Groenland zijn gemaakt met de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump. Hij is opgelucht dat de spanningen rond de extra importheffingen zijn afgenomen en dat de situatie met Groenland enigszins is gekalmeerd, "maar er liggen nog serieuze uitdagingen in het verschiet".

Mobiliseren

"Kruiperigheid, concessies en het tonen van zwakte zijn geen effectieve methoden", zo heeft Tusk zijn EU-collega's de afgelopen periode voorgehouden. "Partners respecteren ons dan niet, om nog maar te zwijgen van onze tegenstanders. Het is dus goed dat de Unie zich mobiliseert en meer vertrouwen krijgt in haar eigen kunnen."

Dit moet niet als anti-Amerikaans worden opgevat, benadrukte Tusk. "De EU maakt misschien wel de ernstigste crisis door in jaren, maar het vergt geduld en innerlijke rust om deze maanden door te komen." De trans-Atlantische relatie is te belangrijk om die overboord te gooien, benadrukte de Poolse premier.

De sleutel tot trans-Atlantische samenwerking en veiligheid voor zowel Europa als de VS is vertrouwen en niet dwang, voegde hij eraan toe.

Feyenoord kende voor de verandering een ogenschijnlijk probleemloze avond in de Europa League en won met 3-0 van Sturm Graz. Al vlug in de eerste helft kopte Tsuyoshi Watanabe zijn ploeg op voorsprong. In het tweede bedrijf deden ook Aniss Hadj Moussa en Gonçalo Borges een duit in het zakje.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide,March 1973, handwritten on slide, "Mt. Sutro Tower, San Francisco"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide, July 1970, handwritten on slide, "Service Station, El Camino"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

A collection of 3D characters and environments created to celebrate the magic of Christmas, family, and the charm of every detail. New characters, such as an adorable gingerbread cookie, bring this universe full of warmth and emotion to life.

Cinephiles, get excited, because the following story is going to have you rushing back to the theaters: A24 has released the director’s cut of Marty Supreme that includes the full 13-hour scene where Mr. Wonderful spanks Marty’s ass.

So much yes!

With box office success and several Oscar nominations to its name, it’s safe to say Marty Supreme is a massive hit. But as much as audiences are loving the film and its inspiring “Dream Big” message, fans have had one major critique: why was the scene where Mr. Wonderful (Mr. Wonderful) spanks Marty’s (Timothée Chalamet) ass so short? Director Josh Safdie clearly agrees. 

According to a note written by Josh Safdie for A24’s Instagram, the director explained:

“As has always been my intention, Marty Supreme is the incredible story of a wiry, tiny guy who misbehaves until he gets a good spanking. In the script, the climactic scene in which Mr. Wonderful spanks Marty’s ass red and raw was written as a proper 13-hour spanking. Although we shot the scene in full, due to pressures from producers, financiers, and theater owners, I was forced to cut the scene down to an extremely brief two minutes. This was a heartbreaking loss of verisimilitude for the film, as spankings during the 1950s took much longer than what was depicted onscreen. Fortunately, this director’s cut restores my original vision, and you can see the film as it was meant to be seen: a 15-hour epic exploring the American Dream of getting spanked by a guy from reality TV.”

Incredible!

Marty Supreme: The Director’s Cut will be playing exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse, featuring the film’s restored tagline, “SPANK BIG.” Comment below if you’ll be checking it out this weekend!

Claims that Chinese technology for AI lags the US are a "fairy tale," Arthur Mensch, the chief executive officer of Mistral, said. From a report: "China is not behind the West," Mensch said in an interview on Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. The capabilities of China's open-source technology is "probably stressing the CEOs in the US."

The remarks from the boss of one of Europe's leading AI companies diverge from other tech leaders at Davos, who reassured lawmakers and business chiefs that China is behind the cutting edge by months or years.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: An airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it's time we took it seriously as a building material, too.

This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be "bamboo-ready" as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and position bamboo as a proper alternative to steel and concrete.

Bamboo has already been used for a number of boundary-pushing projects around the world. At Terminal 2 of Kempegowda international airport in Bengaluru, India, bamboo tubes make up the ceiling and pillars. The Ninghai bamboo tower in north-east China, which is more than 20 metres tall, is claimed to be the world's first high-rise building made using engineered bamboo.

At the Green School in Bali, a bamboo-made arc serves as the gymnasium and a striking example of how the material is reshaping sustainable architecture. The use of composite bamboo shear walls have proved to be resilient against earthquakes and extreme weather in countries such as Colombia and the Philippines, where sustainable, disaster-resilient housing has been built with locally sourced materials.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.