WEERT (ANP) - De brand op een militair oefenterrein bij Weert is 500.000 vierkante meter groot, zegt een woordvoerder van de veiligheidsregio. De brand brak rond 13.15 uur uit en breidt steeds verder uit. Of het vuur beperkt is tot het oefenterrein bij de Geuzendijk, weet de woordvoerder niet zeker. Het vliegveld Kempen Airport, dat vooral wordt gebruikt voor recreatievluchten, wordt ontruimd. De rook trekt richting Budel.

​De vraag naar drinkwater neemt alleen maar toe, terwijl door vervuiling en klimaatverandering het beschikbare zoetwater gestaag afneemt. Echter zijn experts bij het RIVM ook relativerend: ‘Het drinkwatertekort is alleen een probleem als we 2030 halen’.

De Raad voor de leefomgeving en infrastructuur mikt er nu op om begin 2030 een nationale strategie vast te stellen om drinkwater in de toekomst veilig te stellen. “Voor die tijd ingrijpende maatregelen doorvoeren zonder enig perspectief op een toekomst voelt een beetje als verspilling van kostbare tijd."

Onderzoeker Bert Bokhoven van het RIVM lijkt ook rustig. “Je ziet gelijk veel bestuurders, beleidsmakers, milieuorganisaties etcetera in de stress schieten, maar dat is nergens voor nodig. Ons advies voor nu zou zijn: relax people! De kans dat we ooit daadwerkelijk met dit probleem zullen dealen is vrijwel nihil”, vertelt hij terwijl hij een opblaaszwembadje achter in zijn tuin laat vollopen.

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The author reads her account of her time as a senior executive at Facebook with a mixture of dark humour and astonishment at the working culture in which she finds herself

Sarah Wynn-Williams’s memoir documenting her seven years working at Facebook opens, unexpectedly, with a shark attack. The New Zealander was 13 years old and swimming in the sea when the shark bit her torso and shook her from side to side. She lived to tell the tale, but her near-death experience awakened in her a desire to leave the world better than she found it.

Wynn-Williams went on to take a job at Facebook’s public policy department in 2011, having seen the potential of the platform as a global meeting place. But what she found was a senior staff high on power and untroubled by ethical concerns such as privacy or the dissemination of hate speech and misinformation. All were resistant to political interference and dedicated to rapid expansion, no matter the consequences, claims that Meta has called out of date and false. The author also encountered a working culture where employees enjoyed perks but had to be available around the clock – a situation that led to her responding to emails while in labour.

The organizations that fought for majority-minority districts across the US south are organizing their next steps

The voting rights advocates who fought for majority-minority districts across the US south are organizing their next steps after the supreme court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act on Wednesday and eviscerated much of the work of the civil rights era.

“I think that it is deeply troubling that in 2026 that many of us have less rights than our grandparents had – and that becomes truer and truer every year,” said Ashley K Shelton, CEO and president of Power Coalition for Equality and Justice, a Louisiana-based civic engagement organization and a plaintiff in the Callais case.

We are stuck in a deluge of meaningless content that threatens human creativity. Here’s a simple way to mitigate its harms

As the US midterm elections approach, voters are voicing concern about AI. According to an NBC News poll of registered voters, 57% believe the risks of AI outweigh the benefits. A rising political cohort is particularly concerned. A Pew Research poll showed that 61% of adults under 30 say more AI in society will make people worse at creative thinking. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed that 74% of Americans think the government is not doing enough to regulate AI.

Can you blame them? The CEOs of the largest AI companies chose a curious tactic: scaring their prospective users into submission. “Use it or get left behind” is the narrative, buttressed by gleeful proclamations that AI will destroy whole industries and cultural institutions.

A standoff between Gulf oil giants Saudi Arabia and the UAE could cause greater market volatility for years to come

The conflict in the Middle East has claimed Opec as the latest casualty of war. The United Arab Emirates’ shock exit from the oil cartel on Tuesday after 60 years is expected to weaken the alliance, which under the leadership of Saudi Arabia has helped to soothe volatility in the global oil market for decades.

Global oil prices reached the highest level in four years on Thursday, rising above $126 a barrel. But as the region grapples with the continuing conflict, a fresh war may be brewing in the international oil markets, which could lead to greater market volatility for years to come.