Mark the return of courgette season by using the vegetable as the centrepiece for a cheesy and peppery pasta sauce

Having made too much parmesan cream for mortadella sandwiches the other week, the rest was carried over from one column to the next, and a recipe for pasta with courgettes and almonds was improved significantly by two large tablespoons of the soft cheese and parmesan beaten into a soft-savoury cream with the texture (but not taste) of toothpaste!

This recipe is also one that welcomes courgettes back to the northern hemisphere – not that they ever went away, now that everything is available all the time. The season proper, though, is something to celebrate as more and more courgettes appear in the gardens of those fortunate enough to grow them (flowers blazing), on market stalls and shop shelves, and in veg boxes. So much so that, at a certain point, it will all get too much and gardeners will start talking about gluts, cooks will threaten chutney and food magazines provide 101 ideas. But I am jumping ahead.

Jacob Wulfson’s fellow airmen decided his fate after a court martial at RAF Lakenheath – a distressing week for Sarah Steele, the academic he assaulted

• Explainer: how the US bypasses British courts to try its military over crimes in the UK

When Sarah Steele woke up on the morning of 2 December 2023, she found herself in a pool of cold water in a bathtub. She was naked and in the apartment of an American fighter pilot she had met in person for the first time the night before. She was confused. Her head hurt, and so did her neck.

This was the account Steele, a British academic, provided to prosecutors. They later accused the pilot, Capt Jacob Wulfson, of drugging and strangling Steele in his apartment in the east of England, and penetrating her vagina with his penis without her consent.

Many of France’s buildings are not designed for hot weather – and low-income housing estates are suffering the worst

Living in a sweltering, seventh-floor flat on a concrete housing estate south of Paris, Samira said she was feeling desperate as France experienced its highest temperatures on record this week. “Yesterday I sat down and cried, I thought I’m going to die,” said the 35-year-old single parent and former building caretaker.

Her flat in Ris-Orangis in Essonne is, like millions of apartments in France, poorly insulated and lacking in outside window shutters. “Blazing sun hits my windows all day – I can’t breathe, I feel dizzy, there is no air,” she said.

The milestone called for the epic vision of a JFK or the soaring oratory of a Barack Obama. Instead it got a Trump rally

If that’s the way America celebrates its birthday, you would not want to be present at its funeral. The shining city on a hill is losing some of its lustre these days. The land that promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is struggling to deliver.

A milestone anniversary like 250 years of independence calls for the epic vision of a John F Kennedy, the immaculate timing of a Ronald Reagan or the soaring oratory of a Barack Obama. What it got instead on Wednesday was an 80-year-old convicted criminal who appeared in Home Alone 2 and seems hellbent on dividing the nation.

De moleculaire activiteit in ons lichaam is onbevattelijk. Fosfaat speelt daarbij een essentiële rol. De oorsprong van deze processen is misschien wel op de oceaanbodem te vinden.

Het is vannacht helemaal misgegaan in Venezuela. Bij twee krachtige aardbevingen zijn delen van het land in puin gelegd. De eerste beving was er een van 7,2 op de Schaal van Richter op zee bij Puerto Cabello, de tweede beving tientallen seconden later was er eentje van 7,5. Twee aardbevingen in extreem korte tijd na elkaar zijn uiterst zeldzaam. Het geologische onderzoeksbureau USGS van de Verenigde Staten meldt 'high casualties and extensive damage' en sluit 100.000 doden niet uit - dat zou het een van de dodelijkste aardbevingen aller tijden maken. Krankzinnige beelden op het account van Cristian Crespo: gebouwen ingestort, mensen onder het puin, vermiste personen, brand en doffe ellende. We updaten, later meer.
Update 07:08 - De eerste officiële telling is nu 32 doden en 700 gewonden, maar dat aantal gaat helaas nog (veel) verder oplopen.
Update 07:22 - Online circuleren veel posters van vermiste personen
Update 07:27 - Keihard getroffen: La Guaira, een havenstad in het noorden, met 25.000 inwoners in de stad zelf en circa 270.000 inwoners in het stedelijk gebied. Te zien ook op de tweet boven dit topic: totale verwoesting. Veel gebouwen ingestort, zoals het beroemde Eduard Hotel. Kennelijk zijn daar een aantal beroemde honkballers omgekomen, zoals Eliézer Alfonzo en Gorkys Hernández. Rijden door La Guaira is als rijden door oorlogsgebied
Update 7:32 - Geen verrassing maar de noodtoestand is uitgeroepen. Ondertussen hebben veel wereldleiders al gereageerd.Zo schrijft Donald Trump: "The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths. The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good!" Rob Jetten ligt nog te slapen, maar zijn tweetje zal straks wel komen
Update 07:37 - Een jonge Venezolaan loopt de trap af van een hoog gebouw na de aardbeving. Hoe dichter hij bij de begane grond komt, hoe groter de verwoesting

 USGS: 39% kans op meer dan 10.000 slachtoffers