DEN HAAG (ANP) - Rijkswaterstaat ziet de hoeveelheid water die door de Maas en de Rijn stroomt nog niet verbeteren, ondanks de regen van de laatste tijd. In de jongste wekelijkse droogtemonitor staat dat de afvoer van beide rivieren nog altijd zeer laag is en verder zal dalen.

"Lage rivierafvoeren zorgen nog altijd voor een verminderde vaardiepte en langere wachttijden bij sluizen voor de beroepsvaart", aldus Rijkswaterstaat. Die geeft aan dat met name in buurlanden waar de Rijn en Maas doorheen stromen, de neerslag achterblijft bij wat normaal is voor de tijd van het jaar. De Rijnafvoer bij Lobith zal richting de 670 kubieke meter per seconde dalen. Het gaat "nog weken, zo niet maanden duren" voordat de Rijn weer op het normale niveau is. Een maand geleden werd het laagste niveau sinds het begin van de metingen gemeten.

Volgens Rijkswaterstaat zijn de droogte en de problemen die ze veroorzaakt in Nederland dan ook nog niet voorbij. De grondwaterstanden zijn weliswaar iets verbeterd, maar nog steeds laag tot zeer laag. Ook blijft de dreiging van het zoute water in de kustregio's en het IJsselmeergebied een aandachtspunt.

LA RÁBIDA (ANP) - Wielrenner Matthew Brennan heeft zijn zinnen gezet op het veroveren van de gele trui in de eerste etappe van de Tour de France in 2027. Dat zei de 21-jarige Britse sprinter van Visma - Lease a Bike dinsdag na zijn vierde ritzege in de Vuelta in het flashinterview. De Tour begint volgend jaar in het Verenigd Koninkrijk met een etappe van Edinburgh naar Carlisle.

"Ik zei het twee jaar geleden al tegen het team toen ik het idee bedacht, toen ik hoorde van de start in het Verenigd Koninkrijk", zei Brennan. "Ik zou daar heel graag aan de start staan, ook met jongens als Wout (van Aert) en Christophe (Laporte). Als we wat we hier doen kunnen kopiëren en daar een gele trui op de eerste dag van kunnen maken."

Brennan is bezig aan zijn eerste grote ronde, maar wist dus al vier keer te winnen. "Het is ongelofelijk", aldus de jonge Brit. "Vier overwinningen hier, het plan was één."

CEUTA (ANP/AFP) - Spanje geeft woensdag een aantal inlichtingenrapporten vrij over de plotselinge aankomst van tienduizenden migranten in Ceuta eind juli. De regering probeert twijfels weg te nemen over welke kennis er al op voorhand was over de toestroom en over de rol die Marokko daar mogelijk bij gespeeld heeft.

Afgelopen week lekte een rapport van de Spaanse politie uit waarin staat dat de Marokkaanse veiligheidsdiensten de toestroom zouden hebben toegelaten door onder meer het aantal grenswachten te verlagen. Ook zouden sommige grenswachten actief hebben bijgedragen aan de grenspassage van de migranten.

De Spaanse premier Pedro Sánchez erkende dat de Marokkaanse grenspolitie het incident liet gebeuren, maar benadrukte ook dat er geen bewijs is dat de Marokkaanse staat achter de massale toestroom zat. Ook zei hij dat er geen tekenen vooraf waren dat dit incident stond te gebeuren. De oppositie beschuldigde de regering er wel van signalen te hebben genegeerd.

We built a sound-reactive motion system around heraldry, starting as internal R&D, designed to scale across formats and stay in tune with the music, or even create it.

Luca Guadagnino-directed film will be released by Neon after being dropped by Amazon amid OpenAI partnership

• Big tech goes to Hollywood: is Silicon Valley ready for a silver-screen reckoning?

The first teaser trailer of Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial has been released.

After being dropped by Amazon MGM Studios in June, the biopic of OpenAI tech executive Sam Altman will be released in the US on 25 December by Neon after it premieres at the New York film festival this October.

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Who’s more likely to steal sweets from a child? According to science, it’s the rich. A study seemingly confirming our suspicions about the moral behaviour of the wealthy was one of the winners of the 2026 Ig Nobel prizes, which honour research that makes you laugh and then think. Science editor Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay what the researchers think could be behind the phenomenon, and they explore some of the other awards, including one for a surprising quality we look for in our friends and another for a biomechanical definition of kissing

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Tarot, pop culture, and personal narrative converge in the maximalist, mixed-media paintings of Maria Yolanda Liebana. The New York-based artist opens her first institutional solo exhibition at Montclair State University’s George Segal Gallery this month.

Titled A Place to Be Held, Liebana’s show revolves around a fantastical, Eden-like garden exploding with an extravaganza of rainbows, flowers, clouds, cosmic phenomena, and more. “The exhibition imagines a matriarchal world where chance, identity, and desire are always in motion,” says a statement.

Liebana incorporates a wide range of materials into her vibrant works, including wallpaper, mirror tiles, pearls, glitter, disco balls, sequins, and rhinestones. She embraces the luminosity of joy and playfulness while nodding to Catholicism and ancient mythologies, invoked by symbols like chalices and cherubs.

As a first-generation Latinx immigrant who grew up in New Jersey, the artist has long been interested in the nature of selfhood and inheritance, and the birth of her daughter inspired a body of work that explores motherhood “as both a physical and spiritual terrain shaped by labor, wonder, and transformation.” She depicts confident, empowered women who dance, recline, and enjoy one another’s company, representing universal feminine dominion and strength.

A Place to Be Held opens on September 15 and continues through December 11 in Montclair, New Jersey. See more on the artist’s Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Edge-to-Edge Splendor Fills Maria Yolanda Liebana’s Buoyant Paintings appeared first on Colossal.

Startup Bluecore Energy has raised $50 million in seed funding to develop floating nuclear power plants intended to supply ports and other locations with rapidly growing energy demands. The California-based company said the Silverton Partners-led round, which includes $10 million in previously announced pre-seed funding, brought in several new investors. It plans to use the money to engineer and test its compact nuclear power system and pursue regulatory approval and maritime classification. Its initial design is intended to generate about 10 MWe – megawatts of electrical output – continuously using light-water reactor technology. Bluecore says the maritime system would be able to operate for years at a time and require refueling only once every few years. The company has secured its first barge and is developing a non-fueled, electrically heated reactor module prototype at its Port of Long Beach headquarters to test monitoring, sensor, and control systems. Bluecore is targeting ports, AI datacenters, and coastal infrastructure, with the reactors potentially deployed offshore and connected to customers by subsea cables. Remote islands and coastal settlements in places such as Alaska may also lack practical connections to a wider electricity grid. Bluecore claims its approach could provide reliable, zero-emission power to energy-intensive locations and open additional markets for nuclear generation. "Six months ago, we were building the foundation. Today, we have the capital, the team, the hardware, and some of the most important institutions in nuclear and maritime working alongside us," said Bluecore founder and CEO Kofi Asante. "Our focus now is simple: create and deliver zero-emission energy as safely and quickly as possible." The move follows the launch of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea (ATLAS) initiative in the US capital last month. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright linked that event to the Department of Energy's own efforts to rapidly expand the provisioning of atomic energy generating capacity in order to meet the requirements of AI datacenters and other industries. Bluecore has begun discussions with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Coast Guard. The two agencies recently signed a memorandum of understanding to coordinate oversight of the design, construction, and operation of civilian floating nuclear power plants. The NRC says it is ready to license maritime reactors under existing federal regulations, while it develops an additional framework for microreactors and similarly low-risk designs. Bluecore remains years from commercial deployment. It has yet to build a fueled reactor or apply for the approvals required to operate one, and its Long Beach proposal must also navigate California's restrictions on new nuclear power plants. While some may have concerns about waterborne atomic power plants, America has a long history of maritime nuclear generation. All of the US Navy's active aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered, but the technology first went to sea aboard the submarine USS Nautilus in 1955. USS Enterprise became the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in 1961, while the cruiser USS Long Beach, commissioned the same year, was the first nuclear-powered surface combatant. Bluecore says its team includes former US Navy nuclear submarine officers and leaders with experience across organizations including SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Toyota, Rivian, and Uber. Russia currently operates the world's only floating nuclear power plant. The barge-like Akademik Lomonosov is considerably larger than Bluecore's proposed design and can generate up to 70 MWe. ®

Canadian PM Mark Carney has just released the third installment of his "Forward Guidance" video series. (previously, previouslier). This edition gets into the steps being taken to handle the ongoing trade war between Canada and the USA. Today, Canadian retaliatory tariffs came into effect.

The video also touches on the historical context of the trade war, including previous attempts by the USA to use tariffs to try and annex Canada, and how they backfired. Meanwhile and Elsewhere: CTVTrump threatens Bombardier, Canadian dollar BBC Iceland summons US ambassador over Trump's stars and stripes map CULT Approval of Mark Carney increases to 70% (stats from Spark) Bloomberg (paywalled, sorry) EU and Canada Plan Far-Reaching Alliance to Strengthen Partnership

Here, in our neoliberal late-2020s, where no help is coming from our heads of state and the internet feels less like an anarchist tool and more like a fascist neurotoxin, we might look to the radical potential of empathy, solidarity, and the collective fightback in the flesh, on the ground. We might do well to disregard indignant cultural posturing, and fix our critical faculties on the world before us. As individuals; as a swarm. Using our leaders as tools, and not the reverse.