DEN HAAG (ANP) - Rijkswaterstaat verwacht de komende drie vrijdagen een drukke middagspits, omdat de zomervakantie dan steeds begint in de verschillende regio's. Ook staan op meerdere plekken werkzaamheden gepland. Vakantieverkeer moet daarom rekening houden met omleidingen en extra reistijd, aldus de verkeersdienst.

Komend weekend begint de zomervakantie in de regio Noord. De week daarna volgt de regio Zuid en vanaf het derde weekend van juli heeft ook de regio Midden vakantie.

Rijkswaterstaat verwacht dat de middagspits op de betreffende vrijdagen al vroeg op gang komt. Naar verwachting wordt het extra druk door vakantieverkeer richting de grenzen en door controles bij de grens met Duitsland. In Zeeland worden files verwacht op de N57 en N59.

Op zaterdag 4 juli verwacht Rijkswaterstaat "zeer ernstige verkeershinder", omdat Extinction Rebellion voor die dag een demonstratie op de Ring A12 bij Utrecht heeft aangekondigd. Die actie komt bovenop geplande werkzaamheden aan de A12 en A27.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Het stikstofplan van het kabinet is pas een eerste stap, vindt PRO. "We hebben ook nog een probleem met waterkwaliteit, er moet nog een natuurherstelplan komen en er is een klimaatprobleem. Dit debat is nog niet klaar", zegt Laura Bromet namens de grootste oppositiepartij. Zij wil dat de overheid boeren helpt hun bedrijf aan al die problemen in het landelijk gebied aan te passen.

PRO sprak eerder steun uit voor het pakket van landbouwminister Jaimi van Essen, maar dan mogen de plannen niet afgezwakt worden. "Verbeteringen zijn van harte welkom", zegt Bromet. Voorbeelden voor verbeteringen noemt ze daarbij niet. Wel zegt ze later dat wat PRO betreft de norm voor het aantal koeien per hectare strenger had gemogen.

Bij banken, advocatenkantoren en consultancybedrijven staan banen van junioren nu al onder druk door kunstmatige intelligentie. Pikken zij dat of broeit er een AI-backlash? „Jongeren vrezen AI op zichzelf niet, maar wel een samenleving die hen niet beschermt.”

Moeders geven chemische stoffen via hun borstvoeding door aan hun kind: 18 procent van de melkmonsters die onderzoekers afnamen, bevatten te hoge concentraties PFAS. Hoewel die schadelijk kunnen zijn voor de gezondheid, is er geen reden om af te zien van het geven van borstvoeding.

Stand in any forest and look up, and it’s hard not to be mesmerized by the swaying of tall trees and their elegant canopies casting shade onto the woodland floor. But imagine being an ant or beetle and peering up at the stems of wild geraniums, garlic, or buttercups and experiencing the same sensation. For photographer Theo Bosboom, this ground-level view of flowers and plants gave rise to a series that captures them in the way we might photograph a grove of towering, ancient sequoias.

Traversing local landscapes around his home in the Netherlands and sometimes venturing across the border into Germany or Belgium, Bosboom explores forests, dunes, public parks, roadside verges, and virtually any place that flowers grow. These excursions also sparked concern at the lack of pollinators he found among the flowers. “At times, it was eerily quiet,” he shares in the preface for his book, Flowerscapes, A Bug’s Eye View. “This matches recent studies showing that the numbers of flowers and insects have declined sharply across Western Europe over the past decades.”

There are a lot of reasons for the steep drop in insect populations, not just in Europe but around the world. Most of the reasons stem from human activities such as agriculture, pesticides, urban development and habitat destruction, pollution, and changing temperatures as a result of the escalating climate crisis.

Bosboom finds reasons to hope, however. He has observed how the Netherlands has adopted more environmentally friendly road management practices, and how people are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of native plants and wildflowers in supporting not only insect populations but entire ecosystems.

The diversity and resilience of flowers really struck a chord with Bosboom, who says, “The endlessly surprising perspectives completely captivated me, and I found myself constantly marvelling at their beauty, elegance, and strength.” He was also drawn to reducing his environmental impact by working more locally, sticking to destinations he could reach on foot or by bike or with just a short drive.

Purchase Flowerscapes, A Bug’s Eye View on Bosboom’s web shop, where you can also purchase prints, and explore much more of his work on 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 Theo Bosboom Takes a Bug’s-Eye View in His Perspective-Shifting ‘Flowerscapes’ appeared first on Colossal.

Yorgen Fenech, who denies all charges, appears in court more than nine years after the journalist’s death

The businessman accused of ordering the murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia goes on trial on Wednesday, more than nine years after her death in a car-bomb attack that sent shockwaves through Europe.

Yorgen Fenech, the heir to a property empire worth hundreds of millions, is one of seven men prosecutors accused of involvement in the killing, and the last to face trial.

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Musician who now plays in From the Jam has vowed to ‘keep going and play live for as long as I’m able to do it’

Bruce Foxton, the former bassist of the Jam, has announced he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Acknowledging recent speculation about his health, Foxton posted on Facebook, explaining that complications from a previous cancer treatment “caused some significant issues” for him, ultimately leading to the Parkinson’s diagnosis.

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It’s got Europe’s largest Black population, the world’s second-biggest rap scene and a long literary history. But even as diasporic culture takes hold in Paris, some ask when commercial success will lead to structural change

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We often imagine Paris as a city of cafes, couture and impressionism. But some of its most dynamic cultural currents stem from the French-speaking Black diaspora.

This week, I spoke to Achille Tenkiang, a Cameroonian-American culture writer with a love for the city, and Liz Gomis, executive director of Maison des Mondes Africains (MansA), a cultural institution based in Paris. They told me how Black French culture has gained visibility in the capital and beyond.

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