BERGEN OP ZOOM (ANP) - CNV zegt dat er acties dreigen bij de fabriek van Philip Morris in Bergen op Zoom, als de tabaksfabrikant niet tegemoetkomt aan de eisen van de vakbond voor een nieuwe cao. De bond heeft maandag een ultimatum gestuurd aan het bedrijf.

CNV wil dat de lonen van werknemers bij de tabaksfabrikant met 5 procent omhooggaan. Ook eist de vakbond onder meer een stagevergoeding van 700 euro, een verhoging van de kilometervergoeding en dat 5 mei een doorbetaalde feestdag wordt.

"Na de ledenraadplegingen vorige week is één ding heel duidelijk geworden: voor de werknemers is de maat vol", zegt CNV-onderhandelaar Marjelle Boorsma. Bij de Brabantse vestiging van Philip Morris werken ongeveer 250 werknemers die onder de cao vallen. "Ze zijn bereid om in actie te komen als Philip Morris nu niet over de brug komt."

Het ultimatum loopt donderdag om 12.00 uur af.

ROTTERDAM (ANP) - Het schip dat vorige week is aangevallen voor de kust van Oman wordt naar een veilige positie gesleept, laat een woordvoerder van Stolt Tankers weten. Aan boord van de tanker Stolt Magnesium brak na een aanval brand uit, maar die is inmiddels al een aantal dagen uit, volgens de woordvoerder. Het schip wordt door Stolt Tankers vanuit Nederland beheerd.

"De gedetailleerde vaststelling van de schade en het onderzoek naar de oorzaak van de explosie zijn inmiddels beide gestart", meldt de woordvoerder.

De tanker werd dinsdag getroffen op de Arabische Zee. Als gevolg van de aanval brak er brand uit in de machinekamer. Daarbij raakten geen bemanningsleden gewond. Aan boord waren geen Nederlanders, liet de woordvoerder eerder al weten.

Stolt Tankers is onderdeel van de Noorse rederij Stolt-Nielsen. Het schip wordt vanuit Rotterdam beheerd, maar het gaat niet om een Nederlands schip.

BRUSSEL (ANP) - De Europese Commissie geeft de Chinese webwinkel AliExpress een boete van 550 miljoen euro omdat het te weinig doet om de verkoop van illegale, onveilige of namaakproducten tegen te gaan. Daarmee is het platform in overtreding met de Digital Services Act (DSA), aldus het dagelijks bestuur van de EU.

Volgens Brussel heeft AliExpress onvoldoende mensen in dienst die goed controleren wat er op het platform wordt verkocht. Producten die illegaal zijn in de EU zijn te zien in advertenties op de site of worden gesuggereerd als aanbevolen product bij andere aankopen. Pas na een tijd worden de producten verwijderd. Namaakproducten, onveilig speelgoed en gevaarlijke cosmetica kunnen soms wekenlang verkocht worden.

Ook houdt het platform niet goed bij of een verwijderd illegaal product later weer opnieuw op de website verschijnt. Verkopers van illegale producten konden gewoon hun waar blijven aanbieden, concludeert de Commissie na onderzoek.

'Geen excuus'

Dat er enorm veel producten op de website worden aangeboden, is daarbij "geen excuus", aldus Eurocommissaris Henna Virkkunen (Technologische Soevereiniteit). "Risico's moeten systematisch worden geïdentificeerd en aangepakt om ervoor te zorgen dat consumenten veilig online kunnen winkelen."

De webwinkel krijgt tot 20 oktober om met een actieplan te komen hoe het verbeteringen gaat doorvoeren. Als dat niet gebeurt, kunnen er meer boetes volgen voor het blijvend overtreden van de DSA.

Onderzoek Shein

Eind mei kreeg de Chinese webwinkel Temu een boete van 200 miljoen euro opgelegd door Brussel om vergelijkbare redenen. Dat was destijds de hoogste boete die onder de DSA was vergeven.

Een onderzoek naar Shein, eveneens een Chinese webwinkel, loopt nog. Die overtreedt mogelijk de digitale EU-wetten vanwege de verkoop van illegale producten, zoals sekspoppen die op kinderen lijken, en het verslavende ontwerp van de website.

From playing would you rather to ranking snacks, A-listers navigating the promo trail are now forced on a set schedule of silliness

This summer, we’ve been blessed with new movies from the legendary director Steven Spielberg and one of his biggest and most beloved successors, Christopher Nolan. In both cases, the movies have been heavily sold on the directors’ names, and, befitting two of the most famous film-makers to ever do it, Spielberg and Nolan have been making the press rounds. This has meant a wealth of interviews and insights – a bonus feature unfolding alongside the selling of the actual movies that will delight movie nerds the world over.

So at first, when I saw a 60-second video of Christopher Nolan answering a barrage of yes-or-no questions come across my social-media feed, of course I stopped and watched as a famously buttoned-up (if obviously still passionate) film-maker attempted some spontaneity with no danger of follow-up questions (or obligation to follow-up answers). From this, there is admittedly plenty of information to be gleaned: he has no designs on retiring, Tarantino-style. He will not make another superhero movie or a TV show. He’s fine with people watching movies on their phones or laptops. He will neither confirm nor deny that Interstellar is his favorite of his films. He will also neither confirm nor deny that he would like to make a Star Wars movie. (Perhaps the most intriguing, given that you’d rather expect that to be a firm “no”.)

The males have to be separated or they attack each other. The tiny new arrivals are a constant source of anxiety. Yet, despite all this, my husband is considering adopting more

To hatch one unexpected baby tortoise is universally viewed as a blessing; hatch two more and people start asking pointed questions, such as, “Are you running a tortoise sanctuary now?” and “Do you have the horniest tortoises in Yorkshire?”

The answer to both is “apparently”, and it’s chaos. We now have seven tortoises of which at least three are male and therefore – sorry for the gender essentialism, but it’s true – trouble. The two male adults have to be separated or they attack each other and we got confirmation that the previous baby, who hatched in 2024, is also male when we found him trying to have sex with his mother (it’s OK – she is 10 times his size).

More than 100 Democratic lawmakers voted against arms for Israel. They’re listening to the people – their bosses are behind

The Democratic party is in dire need of a mutiny.

Top leaders at the party’s helm are unprepared to navigate the political sea change about Israel. Last week, nearly half of House Democrats voted to block $3.3bn in weaponry and other aid to that country. A recent New York Times poll found that 74% of Democratic voters “opposed providing additional economic and military support to Israel, including large majorities in all age groups”.

Norman Solomon is the director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book is The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy

When I gave up washing my hair, the first two weeks were the worst. But I was determined to follow my barber’s advice ...

In 2025 I’d not had a paid-for haircut in about five years, preferring to ask my ex to cut it with kitchen scissors in the bathroom. But now I was in my late 20s and single and I decided that it was time to look more grown up. Not knowing the first thing about looking after my hair, I felt that a trip to an establishment that offered something beyond a short back and sides – a trendy, gentrified place where a trim puts you back a cool £38 – was sorely overdue.

“You need to stop washing your hair,” my barber told me bluntly. As they ruffled through my shapeless, overgrown mop I was warned about using too much shampoo, which can leave your hair dry, lifeless and coarse. I sat in the swivel chair feeling a bit embarrassed. My barber’s words were less a caution and more a diagnosis. I was instructed to drop shampoo immediately for at least two weeks. The dry variety was fine if I got desperate for a clean and I could maybe use a bit of conditioner as a treat. But for the most part, water was my entire regime.

In today’s newsletter: how Britain’s celebrated Winter Olympian is responding to the existential threat to snow and ice sports

As the scorched grass turns lemon-spiky in the summer heat, and our days shrink down into the cool of early morning and late evening, winter feels a long way away. Even for Matt Weston, Britain’s most successful male Winter Olympian.

You probably remember him from Milano Cortina in February, screaming down the skeleton track in his all-in-one super suit, and breaking the track record at the Cortina Sliding Centre four times to win Britain’s first medal of the games. Two days later he became the first GB athlete to win multiple golds at one Winter Olympics, when he took home the mixed team event with Tabitha Stoecker.

Young men share their heartbreaking experiences of an Alpine ‘deportation camp’ in Lisa Polster’s impactful, gentle documentary

Located on the Swiss-Austrian border, the Bürglkopf mountain is a picture-perfect Alpine landscape, with its verdant fields and scenic trails. The tranquil idyll is a popular holiday spot, with thousands of tourists each year. Some visitors, however, are less welcome than others. Nestled among the lush forest on the mountaintop is a so-called deportation camp, where asylum seekers are held for months, even years. In Lisa Polster’s impactful documentary, one of our first glimpses of the facility and its surroundings is through the window of a moving car. The tightly composed shot suggests the secrecy that enshrouds this place, described by its inhabitants as a prison rather than a shelter.

Through interviews with current residents, Polster’s film weaves a sobering tapestry of experiences – in spite of the centre’s resistance to the documentary project. Many asylum seekers speak of poor living conditions, lack of access to legal support, and the impossibility of social integration due to the camp’s remote location. Their legal limbo, caused by excessive delays in application processing, leads to further psychological distress. In one heartbreaking scene, a detainee looks wistfully at the cattle herds that graze nearby, envious of their freedom of movement. With strict curfew hours and few recreational activities on offer, time at the Bürglkopf camp stretches on seemingly infinitely.

Sergio Furnari said he thought the lifesize sculpture – which no one commissioned – would raise ‘millions’ of dollars

A New York sculptor has been left furious after spending $100,000 of his own money to build a lifesize statue of Charlie Kirk, only to find that no one wants to buy it.

Sergio Furnari, originally from Italy, had hoped the statue of the deceased far-right activist, which he intends to display in Times Square, would raise “millions” of dollars. Instead, he said he has been inundated by messages from people saying they intend to urinate on the sculpture.