Het mooie weer maakt het voor de aannemers van Rijkswaterstaat mogelijk om door te pakken met het onderhoud aan de infrastructuur. Dit weekend wordt er gewerkt aan de A4 naar Amsterdam, de A16 naar Breda en de Merwedebrug (A27) bij Gorinchem. Ook op andere plekken en op het spoor zijn er omleidingen.

raaen99 has added a photo to the pool:

“His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.”

― The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen

The theme for "Smile on Saturday" for the 7th of March is "birds". Now you might feel that this is a nice and easy theme, which it is, but not for me. This is because I do not tend to photograph birds because I am usually too slow to catch them. Luckily, in my archives I have about a dozen photos of a bird I did manage to catch 'neath my lens. My friend and I were on a walk down along Brighton Beach when we came across a few beautiful Black Swans. This rather proud looking specimen is a male swan. Fortunately for me, he was in no hurry to move as he stood along the water's edge, and I managed to get a couple of photos of him. I hope you like my choice for this week's theme, and that it makes you smile!

In adult Black Swans the body is mostly black, with the exception of the broad white wing tips which are visible in flight. The bill is a deep orange-red, paler at the tip, with a distinct narrow white band towards the end. Younger birds are much greyer in colour, and have black wing tips. Adult females are smaller than the males. Black Swans prefer larger salt, brackish or fresh waterways and permanent wetlands, requiring 40 m or more of clear water to take off. Outside the breeding season, Black Swans travel quite large distances. Birds fly at night and rest during the day with other swans. Black Swans are found throughout Australia with the exception of Cape York Peninsula, and are more common in the south. The Black Swan is a vegetarian. Food consists of algae and weeds, which the bird obtains by plunging its long neck into water up to one metre deep. Occasionally birds will graze on land, but they are clumsy walkers. Black Swans form isolated pairs or small colonies in shallow wetlands. They pair for life, with both adults raising one brood per season. Eggs are laid in an untidy nest made of reeds and grasses. The nest is placed either on a small island or floated in deeper water. The chicks (cygnets) are covered in grey down and are able to swim and feed themselves as soon as they hatch.

Yasmin Molleman stond als gedupeerde van de Toeslagenaffaire voor de rechter, nadat ze beslag had laten leggen op een kunstwerk van de staat om een niet betaalde dwangsom. Vanwege een overeenkomst met SGH, de stichting van Prinses Laurentien, maakt ze daar volgens de rechter geen aanspraak op.

Milou Deelen (30) en Sebastiaan Hennink (29) hebben veel plezier met de nu vijf maanden oude Winne. Toch komt het in het weekend ook nog voor „dat een van ons lekker in de kroeg hangt met vrienden”.

Economische paniek is er nog niet door de oorlog in de Perzische Golf, dat een cruciaal centrum is in de wereldeconomie. Maar als de strijd langer dan een paar weken duurt, wordt de veerkracht van de wereldeconomie ernstig op de proef gesteld.

The Met Introduces High-Definition 3D Scans of Dozens of Art Historical Objects, including Egyptian temples, Greek oil flasks, van Gogh paintings, and cuneiform tablets.

• Top flight directors discuss holding in penalty area

• Set pieces account for 27.1% of Premier League goals

The Premier League’s sporting directors have held talks about the ubiquity of set-piece goals and holding in the penalty area, amid concerns these trends are damaging the spectacle.

Liverpool’s head coach, Arne Slot, said this week that his “football heart doesn’t like it”, when asked about the growing importance of set pieces, which have been responsible for 27.1% of Premier League goals this season, excluding penalties.

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• Unbeaten rivals collide at Tokyo Dome on 2 May

• Inoue defends undisputed super-bantamweight crown

• Nakatani says he must be ‘at my best’ to win

Japan’s Naoya Inoue said Friday that he will need to be at his destructive best when he faces unbeaten countryman Junto Nakatani in their highly anticipated showdown at Tokyo Dome in May.

The two fighters met in Tokyo to formally confirm their 2 May clash, with Inoue set to defend his undisputed super bantamweight world championship against Nakatani, who is moving up in weight in pursuit of a fourth divisional title.

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Murrayfield as underdogs is a scenario Scotland like, and a third successive win would set up perfect Six Nations finale

The mischievous will have eyes on Rome on Saturday in case of a historic win but the game of the weekend is in Edinburgh. Second versus first, Scotland versus France, entertainers versus entertainers. The title on the line. We could even have a champion by the end of it.

If France win with a bonus point, that is it. The 2026 Six Nations will be theirs with a round to spare. One feels there will be tries in this game, so the prospect is real. Which would reduce the championship’s beloved set piece of Super Saturday to an exercise in ordering the also-rans and seeing if France can move ahead of Wales as the Six Nations’ most prolific purveyor of grand slams, with a fifth.

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