DEN HAAG (ANP) - Het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) wil niets officieels kwijt over pogingen om de gezochte crimineel Jos Leijdekkers aan te houden. Volgens bronnen van De Telegraaf hebben speciale eenheden van de politie samen met mariniers tot twee keer toe op het punt gestaan om de 34-jarige Bolle Jos op te pakken voor de West-Afrikaanse kust.

"Het was de bedoeling Jos Leijdekkers op volle zee buiten territoriale wateren te overmeesteren op het moment dat hij per boot van Sierra Leone naar Liberia zou varen", schreef de krant donderdag. Om "externe factoren" werd de geheime operatie toch afgeblazen.

Het OM bevestigt noch ontkent het verhaal. "We doen geen uitspraken over lopende onderzoeken of lopende acties. Ik kan er niets over zeggen", aldus een woordvoerster van het Landelijk Parket. Ze voegt eraan toe dat de aanhouding van Leijdekkers, die in Nederland is veroordeeld tot 24 jaar cel voor een moordopdracht en drugshandel, de "hoogste prioriteit" heeft.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De werkloosheid in Nederland is in april licht gedaald naar 3,9 procent. Dat meldt het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS). In maart zat 4 procent van de beroepsbevolking zonder betaald werk. In februari lag de werkloosheid met 4,1 procent nog op het hoogste niveau in vier jaar.

In april waren er 397.000 werklozen. Het aantal werklozen nam de afgelopen drie maanden af met gemiddeld 6000 per maand. Het aantal mensen met betaald werk nam in dezelfde periode toe met gemiddeld 3000 per maand.

Er waren volgens het CBS in april nog altijd meer werklozen dan een jaar geleden. Naast het aantal werklozen zijn er 3,2 miljoen mensen die niet kortgeleden naar werk hebben gezocht of daarvoor niet direct beschikbaar waren. Dit zijn vooral mensen die met pensioen zijn of niet kunnen werken doordat ze ziek of arbeidsongeschikt zijn en worden daarom niet tot de beroepsbevolking gerekend. Het aantal mensen buiten de beroepsbevolking nam de afgelopen drie maanden toe met gemiddeld 1000 per maand.

Weer voor Rotterdam ☁️ - 21-05-2026 07:15 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 13.3°C · Bewolkt ☁️ | Min 12.9°C / Max 20.5°C | Kans op neerslag 1%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 12.9°C, Max 20.5°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 1%, 🧭 1027.4 hPa ↗️ +0.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 19.1 km/u (5.3 m/s), richting: ↗ 234°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

• 08:00: 14.1°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1026.7 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.2 km/u (3.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 229°
• 09:00: 14.7°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.2 hPa ↗️ +0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.8 km/u (3.0 m/s), richting: ↗ 236°
• 10:00: 15.8°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.1 km/u (2.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 233°
• 11:00: 16.5°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.4 km/u (2.6 m/s), richting: ↗ 230°
• 12:00: 17.9°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ↗ 221°
• 13:00: 18.7°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 238°
• 14:00: 19.4°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 14.8 km/u (4.1 m/s), richting: → 248°
• 15:00: 19.7°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: → 263°
• 16:00: 20.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 246°
• 17:00: 20.4°C (Licht bewolkt) 🌤️, 🧭 1027.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: → 261°
• 18:00: 20.5°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.8 km/u (3.0 m/s), richting: → 261°
• 19:00: 20.5°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1027.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 7.9 km/u (2.2 m/s), richting: → 251°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

• vrijdag 22 mei: Min 15.6°C, Max 27.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1027.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 11.9 km/u (3.3 m/s), richting: ↑ 162°
• zaterdag 23 mei: Min 15.1°C, Max 27.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 1%, 🧭 1027.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 12.8 km/u (3.6 m/s), richting: → 268°
• zondag 24 mei: Min 13.2°C, Max 23.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1031.2 hPa ↗️ +3.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 9.2 km/u (2.6 m/s), richting: ↙ 54°
• maandag 25 mei: Min 14.6°C, Max 25.3°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1031.7 hPa ↗️ +0.5 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 8.0 km/u (2.2 m/s), richting: ← 75°
• dinsdag 26 mei: Min 16.0°C, Max 27.1°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1028.9 hPa ↘️ -2.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 14.1 km/u (3.9 m/s), richting: ↓ 14°
• woensdag 27 mei: Min 11.6°C, Max 19.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 1%, 🧭 1028.4 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 12.7 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↙ 35°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 07:15): 13.3°C (Bewolkt)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 13.0°C (-0.3°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 13.3 km/u (3.7 m/s), richting: ↗ 233°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 27.0 km/h (7.5 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 85%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1026.7 hPa ↗️ +0.8 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 11.9 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.9
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 05:39 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 21:37

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 37 🟢 (Goed)
• PM2.5: 11.7 μg/m³
• PM10: 17.2 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo

#Rotterdam #Meteo #MeteoBot #MeteoNetherlands #OpenMeteo #FediMeteo

Without urgent intervention England faces water shortages of 5bn litres a day by 2055, peers tell government

Rainwater harvesting, the use of grey water in homes and an urgent campaign to reduce water usage across society are vital to prevent water shortages of 5bn litres a day by 2055, the government has been told.

Without intervention, England will face severe water shortages in the coming decades, as climate change-induced weather patterns, population growth and the expansion of industries such as water-intensive datacentres put excessive demand on supplies and endanger life, according to a House of Lords report published on Thursday.

Changes to building regulations to require new homes to achieve a maximum water usage of 105 litres a person a day and accelerated grey water reuse.

Nature-based solutions such as restoring peat bogs and reconnecting rivers to their natural flood plains to enhance water retention.

An urgent awareness campaign for the whole of society to reduce water usage.

A full environmental and economic assessment of drought to weigh the cost of inaction against the value of resilience.

The rolling out of nature-based solutions more widely in urban and rural settings.

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A new exhibition, Jurassic Oceans, showcases the fearsome creatures that lurked below the surface – and offers a stark warning about the impact of warming waters on marine ecosystems today

Deep in the bowels of the Natural History Museum, Kate Whittington is standing in front of the skeleton of a 23ft plesiosaur, one of prehistoric Earth’s most fearsome marine reptiles, explaining how it would eat us for dinner, were it still around today.

“Its long neck allowed its head to get a head start on its body,” says the museum’s exhibition and interpretation manager. “So it could sneak up on prey and grab it [with its mouth] before its body and flippers created a disturbance in the water.”

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To begin with, the situation looks far from promising. Having given up its protein for cheese, the whey that has been returned to the huge pan is thin, opaque and not unlike cloudy washing-up water. The situation changes slightly when whole milk is added to the whey, along with rennet, and it’s then reheated, or re-cooked (ri-cotta). For a while, nothing happens. Then follows a slight, just perceptible wobbling, before, quite suddenly, like scudding clouds moving into view, scraggy clumps of coagulated protein, albumin and globulin appear on the surface. These are lifted out in the same way as foam from a pan of broth: scooped off with a large slotted spoon. At least that is how it is done by Filippo Privitera at Caseificio Privitare in Castellana Sicula in the province of Palermo. The coagulated protein, otherwise known as ricotta, is then dropped into perforated plastic tubes on a slanting surface so it can drain some more, before being eaten in many ways.

For the Feast newsletter a few weeks ago, I wrote about the many ways to eat ricotta. Like many, I have long known what a useful ingredient it is, but, going through decades of archives, I was reminded just how versatile ricotta is, moving with ease between savoury and sweet, and both straight from the pot and cooked. However, since writing that newsletter, things I forgot to mention have also scudded into my head: how good ricotta is in pastry (a roast pumpkin, mushroom and chestnut pie is especially good); that it can be whipped with coffee for Anna Del Conte’s quick pudding; mixed with flour for sweet fritters; or made into polpette di ricotta e pane (ricotta and breadcrumb balls), which can be deep-fried or simmered in a rich tomato, basil and chilli sauce.

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Guide retires award for eco-friendly practices – and says restaurants will no longer be able to advertise they have it

With rare bluefin tuna and red meat often on their menus, Michelin-starred restaurants have not always prioritised sustainability.

In an effort to consider the climate crisis, in 2020 Michelin began awarding green stars to chefs who cooked eco-friendly ingredients and reduced waste. But now the body has abruptly retired the prize and said chefs will no longer be able to advertise that they have it.

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British Trust for Ornithology says 2025 breeding season was especially disastrous for warbler species

After a mild, wet and stormy winter in the UK, spring 2025 was one of the warmest and driest ever, while the summer was the hottest since records began, most particularly in England and Wales.

Good news, you might think, for migratory birds – especially for eight species of warblers that travel here from their winter quarters in Africa. Yet according to data from bird ringers, collated by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), last year’s breeding season was pretty disastrous.

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The move against the boss of London’s Southbank Centre sends a forbidding message about who is and isn’t seen as fit to lead in UK culture

I met Tommy Robinson once. It was 10 years ago exactly, during one of his many failed attempts to mainstream Islamophobia in British politics with a new “movement” called Pegida – a copycat of Germany’s far-right Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West.

There was little memorable about this “launch”, which as a social affairs editor for Sky News I was sent to cover, only to discover a pitiful gathering of a few blokes at a pub near Luton. The thing that does stand out in my memory is what Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, said to me. “It’s the Muslims that are a problem,” he said. “But you’re all right. You speak English. You’re like us.”

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Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Welcome to the Thursday news quiz, where once again, thanks to our winsome illustration by Anaïs Mims, you are being challenged by the swan of knowledge. Will you give the impression of serenely gliding through 15 questions on topical news, general knowledge and pop culture? Or will it charge out of the lake at you and break your arm? There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 248

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