Het ouderschapsverlof is zodanig uitgebreid dat partners nu negen weken verlof mogen opnemen, wat grotendeels wordt doorbetaald. Slechts 53 procent van hen maakt daar gebruik van, mede uit angst voor een verstoorde werkrelatie. Vooral kleine werkgevers klagen over extra administratie en toegenomen kosten.

The ringleader of a sprawling cybercrime operation has pleaded guilty in the US after helping to steal and launder hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency. Malone Lam, 22, a Singaporean national and Miami resident, spearheaded the scheme to steal cryptocurrency from wealthy individuals between October 2023 and May 2025. He first visited the US in 2023 after meeting two of the group's earliest alleged members – Jeandiel Serrano and Veer Chetal – while playing Minecraft online. Lam performed various functions within the group, although court documents [PDF] identify victim selection and social engineering support as his principal roles. The ringleader was responsible for obtaining databases of high-net-worth individuals who had cryptocurrency holdings to inform the group's targeting. He would also trigger account access notifications on victims' devices to convince them that their accounts were under attack. He was also involved in laundering the proceeds through exchanges that, according to court documents, had lax KYC requirements. Other group members carried out the social engineering calls, claiming to represent Google, Yahoo, Coinbase, Gemini (the crypto exchange, not the AI chatbot), and other online platforms. Their job was to convince victims to surrender personal information and "access codes" that could be used to access their accounts. Once they secured access, Lam's crew would look for cryptocurrency accounts, seed phrases, and passwords they could use to steal victims' assets. In most cases, social engineering techniques were enough to meet the thieves' goals, although in one case involving a victim who stored their holdings in a hardware wallet, Lam's gang arranged for Marlon Ferro to physically break into a house and steal it. The Register covered Ferro's sentencing earlier this year. He was brought into Lam's fold when he was just a teenager, tasked with carrying out multiple burglaries across the US when remote social engineering attacks lacked the necessary reach. During the crew's nearly two-year operation, its members stole hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency. The individual thefts ranged from about $800,000 to tens of millions of dollars, while one victim lost more than $245 million, according to court documents. Lam's crew, allegedly comprising at least 12 individuals, knew how to spend their illicit gains. Prosecutors claim they splurged up to $500,000 on a single evening at a nightclub, dished out handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars to partygoers, and bought luxury clothing and watches priced between $100,000 and $500,000. They rented expensive properties in Miami, Los Angeles, and the Hamptons, chartered private jets, hired a team of private bodyguards, and splashed out on exotic cars, with some worth up to $3.8 million. Lam was arrested at a rented property in Miami on September 18, 2024. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. The court has set a status hearing for December 8. Lam pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy, an offense carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. "If you build a cybercrime empire, we will find you, dismantle your operation, and hold you accountable," said US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. "This defendant led an international network that preyed on victims through deception, invaded their privacy, and stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency. "Working with our partners at the FBI and IRS-CI, we will continue to hunt down the criminals who weaponize technology to steal from innocent people." ®

Steeds meer Nederlanders binden na hun werkdag de veters van hun sportschoenen vast om even stoom af te blazen. Zeker nu we ons bewuster zijn van onze fysieke gesteldheid, is buiten bewegen populairder dan ooit. Toch belanden veel enthousiaste sporters na een paar weken op de bank met kuitklachten of pijnlijke schenen. Vaak ligt de oorzaak niet bij een gebrek aan motivatie, maar bij een verkeerde of onvolledige sportuitrusting.

De impact van vermoeidheid op je spieren en gewrichten

Tijdens een intensieve workout krijgen je benen flinke klappen te verduren. Met elke stap die je zet, vangen je kuitspieren en gewrichten een schok op die gelijk staat aan een veelvoud van je lichaamsgewicht. Naarmate je langer sport, treedt er spiervermoeidheid op en wordt de bloedcirculatie trager. Dit is het moment waarop kleine scheurtjes in het spierweefsel kunnen ontstaan, wat uiteindelijk leidt tot nare blessures zoals shin splints. Hoewel veel mensen direct honderden euro's investeren in de nieuwste hardloopschoenen, wordt de basis rondom de voet en het onderbeen vaak vergeten. Toch kan het dragen van goede sport sokken met gerichte compressie een wereld van verschil maken door spiertrillingen te verminderen en de bloedsomloop te stimuleren.

Waarom specifieke ondersteuning het verschil maakt

Het menselijk lichaam is gebouwd om te bewegen, maar het herstelvermogen neemt af naarmate we ouder worden of wanneer de intensiteit van de training plotseling toeneemt. Compressietechnologie, oorspronkelijk afkomstig uit de medische wereld om trombose te voorkomen, heeft de afgelopen decennia succesvol de overstap gemaakt naar de recreatieve sport. Door een degressieve druk uit te oefenen, die het hoogst is bij de enkel en langzaam afneemt richting de knie, wordt zuurstofarm bloed effectiever teruggepompt naar het hart. Dit proces zorgt ervoor dat afvalstoffen zoals melkzuur sneller worden afgevoerd.

Een betere doorbloeding tijdens intensieve inspanning

Dit principe is bijzonder nuttig voor iedereen die de grens van zijn of haar uithoudingsvermogen opzoekt. Zonder de juiste ondersteuning voelen benen na verloop van tijd zwaar en loodachtig aan. Een betere afvoer van afvalstoffen betekent simpelweg dat spieren langer optimaal kunnen presteren. Bovendien neemt de kans op nachtelijke kramp na een stevige workout aanzienlijk af.

De overstap naar gerichte sportuitrusting

Vooral hardlopers hebben baat bij een kritische blik op hun kledingkast. De herhalende en eenzijdige beweging van het rennen op verharde wegen is een flinke belasting voor het hele onderlichaam. Naast schokdemping is het droog houden van de voeten een absolute prioriteit om blaren en schimmelinfecties te voorkomen. Regulier katoen is in dit geval uit den boze, omdat de vezels zweet vasthouden en vervelende wrijving veroorzaken. Door te kiezen voor hoogwaardige hardloopsokken die gemaakt zijn van vochtafdrijvende materialen, blijven je voeten koel en droog. De naadloze afwerking van dit soort geavanceerde kledingstukken voorkomt bovendien irritante drukpunten die je uit je ritme kunnen halen.

Het belang van vochtafdrijvende materialen

Het comfort tijdens een lange sessie wordt voor een groot deel bepaald door een efficiënte temperatuurregulatie. Innovatieve garens trekken het vocht weg van de huid en transporteren het naar de buitenste laag van de stof, waar het snel kan verdampen. Dit houdt niet alleen de voeten op een aangename temperatuur, maar verlengt ook de levensduur van je sportschoenen doordat bacteriën veel minder kans krijgen om zich te nestelen en nare geurtjes te verspreiden.

Investeren in langdurige mobiliteit

Uiteindelijk draait een actieve levensstijl om consistentie en plezier in het bewegen. Wie constant worstelt met terugkerende pijntjes of lange herstelperiodes, raakt al snel de motivatie kwijt om de sportieve draad weer op te pakken. Door bewuster te kijken naar wat je draagt en hoe slimme materialen het lichaam fysiologisch kunnen ondersteunen, leg je een oersterke basis voor langdurige mobiliteit. Het gericht inzetten van moderne textielinnovaties stelt zowel de beginnende wandelaar als de fanatieke atleet in staat om veilig grenzen te verleggen. Het gaat er immers niet om hoe snel je aan een nieuw trainingsschema begint, maar of je fysiek in staat bent om morgen met hetzelfde plezier weer fit de deur uit te stappen.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De provincie Zuid-Holland moet snel aan de slag met de aanbevelingen uit de evaluatie van de chaotisch verlopen overgang van het busvervoer rond onder meer Alphen aan den Rijn, Gouda, Katwijk en Leiden. Daarvoor pleit een deel van Provinciale Staten. In de evaluatie staat onder meer dat het verstandig is om busstallingen in provinciaal beheer te nemen en om een nieuwe concessie in de zomer te laten beginnen in plaats van in de winter.

"Een goed idee, laten we dat zo snel mogelijk regelen", aldus BBB'er Niels Oosterom. "We moeten nu keuzes maken, om te voorkomen dat we de volgende keer weer in deze ellende terechtkomen", zei Steven Datema (ChristenUnie). Gedeputeerde Jeroen van Dijken zegt al aan voorstellen te werken, maar benadrukt wel dat de volgende concessiewisseling pas in 2033 is.

Qbuzz nam eind 2024 het busvervoer in het noorden van Zuid-Holland over van Arriva. Mede door een personeelstekort en vertraagde oplevering van elektrische bussen verliepen de eerste maanden heel chaotisch.

‘The black cloud emerged from a grate in the street. I guess something underground was on fire. It was hilariously cinematic – just one of those eerie, spontaneous things that happen in a city’

This image was taken in 2011 or 2012, just after I had moved to Los Angeles. I was downtown, an area I don’t go to that much, walking around with my camera. Some black smoke started to emerge from a grate in the street – I guess something underground was on fire. It was hilariously cinematic, as if some sort of devil was going to appear. It was really just one of those eerie, spontaneous things that happen in a city. There is a very powerful feeling of surrender when I am photographing. I have to submit to the authority of ignorance when I’m out there.

I grew up in San Jose, which is a sprawling American suburb – there’s no city about it. I came to LA because I was depressed where I lived, and I had just met my future wife, who didn’t want to live in San Jose either. LA is not really a city, it’s hundreds of places. You can drive 15 minutes and be in a completely different environment – the beach, the mountains. There’s a weird sentience to the city, if you let it take you. I get an inexplicable desire to just get in the car and go.

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Downed trees cause widespread power outages on Kauai as winds and rains rip up roads and coat homes in mud

Damaging winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Lowell caused significant damage on Hawaii’s western islands, knocking out power to thousands, ripping up stretches of road and drenching homes and stores with mud.

Fierce winds downed trees and caused widespread power outages on the island of Kauai, home to 73,000 residents. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative reported that nearly all of its roughly 35,000 members were without power on Tuesday.

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Junkgirl™ has added a photo to the pool:

Echigo Yuzawa, Japan.

In de regio Rijnmond gelden geen droogtemaatregelen meer. Begin deze maand kondigde het Hoogheemraadschap van Schieland en de Krimpenerwaard al aan dat de meeste maatregelen waren beëindigd omdat er weer regen is gevallen. Het Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland heeft nu ook de sluizen weer opengezet, waardoor de laatste beperkingen voor de scheepvaart voorbij zijn. Toch zijn de zorgen bij de waterschappen nog niet weg.

For the last three years Jake Welch has been 3D scanning public restrooms and archiving their peculiarities on a website called The Restroom Archive. “It started as a joke,” Welch, the site’s creator and head archivist, told 404 Media. 

The Restroom Archive describes itself as “an ongoing repository of publicly accessible restrooms.” When someone first visits the Archive, the site serves them a random 3D scan of a public restroom, its location, and a brief written description. Hurricane, Utah’s Gypsy Emporium Antique Mall, for example, was scanned on April 11, 2026 and features paintings of a squirt gun on two of its four walls. “This restroom is accessed by passing through the antique mall through a back hallway and through the door of a jail cell,” the description says.

The renders are created with smartphone photogrammetry apps like Polycam which take hundreds of photos of an area and stitches them together to create a 3D environment. The results are imperfect. The rooms appear to run at the seams as if they’re built from wax and the tech has trouble with reflective surfaces, sometimes rendering mirrors as an abyss. There’s often a blank spot or warp in the render where the person who took the photos has been marred out of the scan. Sometimes the process captures a shoe or bit of arm which ends up in the final render unattached to a human.

The brief descriptions and imperfect scans make the Archive uncanny, but also funny. “I had just discovered Polycam for the first time, and went out with friends one night, staying out late. We went to an IHOP, and I kind of started to scan the restaurant as a joke,” Welch, a freelance designer in NYC when he’s not scanning restrooms, told 404 Media.

A month later, he scanned a bathroom restaurant while out with his wife. “I came back and we were just laughing at how funny of an idea that was and I kind of just kept doing it,” he said. 

After scanning the restaurant, Welch went on a road trip with friends and scanned all the restrooms he hit along the way. “After I had like five or six of them, I started noticing things that I liked about each of them. I was like: ‘I like that this one has this weird trash can from outside in the restroom,’ or ‘I love that this one has the hand dryer plugged into an outlet right below it.’ It was all of these things that I thought were just hilarious, but also kind of interesting,” he said.

“Some of them are scary. Some of them show their wear from the use of people passing through them. But some of them are really interesting and well-designed, well-decorated, or super eclectic,” Welch said. “Maybe this is the artist brain in me but I started to see them as storytelling. They very much reflect the culture of where they’re situated and the people that are using them.”

According to Welch, some of the most frightening restrooms are the ones he saw on road trips. “I feel like it’s always the ones that are on the highway as you’re passing through a truck stop. There’s the Minute Market in Washington, Utah. So grimy looking. Or ampm in Barstow, California. Sometimes in its bar where it’s just totally graffitied and worn. The mirror is completely covered, you can’t even see in it. They’re often scary,” he said.

Welch said he’d also observed vast regional differences in America’s toilets. I think it has a lot to do with suburban versus urban,” he said. “Most of my restrooms in Utah are quite spacious, or maybe a little bit more commercial because there's a lot of [chain restaurants] in Utah. Here in New York, all the restrooms are really small, really impromptu. Oftentimes, I'm scanning them in these tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants where you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the back, and it's obvious that they don't let everybody use the restroom. So those ones are usually a little bit more decrepit, a little bit more neglected, or sometimes they use them like storage rooms, a little bit more multifunctional because space is tighter in New York.”

After three years of scanning the restrooms and uploading them, Welch decided to overhaul the Archive and open it up to public submissions. “There are submission agreements that they have to abide by, but they're really loose,” he said. “It's it's things like just making sure that the scans are quality, making sure that they're not scanning anything too terrible or too gross because I have to vet all of them before they're posted, or, you know, making sure that people aren't trespassing or aren't scanning private residential restrooms or anything like that.”

Most Android and iOS smartphones can handle scanning a bathroom, but Welch preferred his iPhone. “If it’s a pro model, it has lidar, which uses lasers in your phone to measure distance,” he said. “I don’t even know why they have that. It feels like the use cases are kind of limited, but for me, it’s like I can’t get any other phone besides a pro model anymore because I like the lidar too much for bathroom scanning.”

There’s better methods of scanning that would create cleaner and more accurate visions of the world’s bathrooms. “I’ve had a lot of people in the comments in some of my videos saying that I should use Gaussian splats, which are a newer technique for making 3D models, and they’re a lot higher fidelity,” Welch said. “It’s built up with these blurry-looking point clouds, and they’re a little bit more crisp. But I kind of like this aesthetic of the blobby, stitched together photogrammetry. It kind of feels like it’s befitting of the space.”

He also liked the strange abysses the iPhone makes. “Another aspect of the lidar, since it’s lasers, when it bounces off a reflective surface you get really weird artifacts. So that’s why, if you look at a lot of the scans, a lot of the trash cans or a lot of the mirrors, they get really really wacky. So I think that’s fun,” he said.

When he set out to redesign the site a few weeks ago, Welch said it was important that he take it as seriously as possible. The contrast between the strange subject matter and the serious archive was important. “I started doing a lot of research on real life internet archives used by museums, libraries, and also just started doing research on public bathroom signage, and started to pull together these conventions to design a new website,” he said. “And part of that was the descriptions [...] there's something about the subject matter being so funny and humorous and taboo that made me want to completely steer away from that and take the archive 100% seriously.”

The redesign, and a viral Instagram reel, drove traffic to the Archive and submissions started to come. “I’ve had a few from around the world. I had one in Dublin that’s a typical tavern-pub bathroom, but in the description they said that the walls were covered with tags of left-wing groups and soccer clubs,” he said. “To my untrained eye, as an American, I wouldn’t have known.”

And, of course, there were new and different kinds of scary public bathrooms. “The very first user-submitted submission was in the basement of the Tri-Cities airport in Tennessee and it had been completely gutted. It’s just a dirt room,” he said. “I opened it up and I’m like, ‘what the hell am I looking at?’ And then I notice in the corner, like the ghost of an imprint of a urinal with the plumbing still attached. I'm like, ‘oh my God, this is a restroom.’ It was such a left field submission, but it was honestly kind of validating to me of why I should open it up to the public.”

Welch told me he envisioned a future where bathroom scans poured in from around the world “It's cool to see new restrooms. I'm hoping that it gets attention in other parts of the world where maybe restroom designs are different,” he said.

Then he told me about a hole in his archive. “Sign up to be an archivist,” he said. “We need your scans in South Carolina.”