An anonymous reader shares a report: PayPal, the digital payments pioneer, is attracting takeover interest from potential buyers after a stock slide wiped out almost half of its value, according to people familiar with the matter.

The San Jose, California-based company has fielded meetings with banks amid unsolicited interest from suitors, the people said. At least one large rival is looking at the whole company, while some other suitors are only interested in certain PayPal assets, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Buyer interest in PayPal is still at a preliminary stage and may not lead to a transaction, the people cautioned. Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal was an early mover in the world of digital payments. But the company now finds itself in a rut with its customers increasingly turning to alternative ways to pay for things. PayPal's shares have fallen around 46% in New York trading over the last 12 months, giving the company a market value of about $38.4 billion.

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The first fiber-optic cable ever laid across an ocean -- TAT-8, a nearly 6,000-kilometer line between the United States, United Kingdom, and France that carried its first traffic on December 14, 1988 -- is now being pulled off the Atlantic seabed after more than two decades of sitting dormant, bound for recycling in South Africa.

Subsea Environmental Services, one of only three companies in the world whose entire business is cable recovery and recycling, began the operation last year using its new diesel-electric vessel, the MV Maasvliet, and had already brought 1,012 kilometers of the cable to the Portuguese port of Leixoes by August.

TAT-8, short for Trans-Atlantic Telephone 8, was built by AT&T, British Telecom, and France Telecom, and hit full capacity within just 18 months of going live. A fault too expensive to repair took it out of service in 2002. The recovered cable is being shipped to Mertech Marine in South Africa, where it will be broken down into steel, copper, and two types of polyethylene -- all commercially valuable, especially the high-quality copper at a time when the International Energy Agency projects global shortages within a decade.

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Climate scientists trying to predict how much hotter the planet will get have long grappled with a surprisingly stubborn problem -- clouds, which both reflect sunlight and trap heat, account for more than half the variation between climate predictions and are the main reason warming projections for the next 50 years range from 2 to 6 degrees Celsius.

Two research groups are now racing to close that gap using AI, though they disagree sharply on method. Tapio Schneider at Caltech built CLIMA, a model that uses machine learning to optimize cloud parameters within traditional physics equations; it will be unveiled at a conference in Japan in March. Chris Bretherton at the Allen Institute for AI took a different path -- his ACE2 neural network, released in 2024, learns from 50 years of atmospheric data and largely bypasses physics equations altogether.

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A study published last week in PNAS found that people who regularly cause problems or make life difficult -- whom the researchers call "hasslers" -- are associated with measurably faster biological aging in those around them, at a rate of roughly 1.5% per additional hassler and about nine months of additional biological age relative to same-age peers.

The research drew on DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks and ego-centric network data from a state-representative probability sample of 2,345 adults in Indiana, aged 18 to 103. Nearly 29% of respondents reported at least one hassler in their close network. The biological toll varied by relationship type: hasslers who were family members showed the strongest and most consistent associations with accelerated aging, while spouse hasslers showed no significant effect on either epigenetic measure.

The damage also went beyond aging clocks -- each additional hassler was associated with greater depression and anxiety severity, higher BMI, increased inflammation, and higher multimorbidity. When benchmarked against smoking, a major behavioral risk factor for aging, the hassler effect corresponded to roughly 13 to 17% of smoking's estimated impact on the same aging clocks.

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With the Australian Grand Prix weekend approaching, which F1 team stood out to you in pre-season testing this year?

Williams have announced that Damon Hill is returning to the team as an Official Ambassador, 30 years after the Briton won the World Championship with the Grove-based outfit.

The Enemy

Plan B

Crystal Tides

The Vines

Jan Huzen moet voor twee weken de cel in wegens opruiing. De rechts-radicale activist riep vorig jaar op tot burgergrenscontroles op asielzoekers. Tegenover de rechter betwistte Huzen zijn oproep tot inspecties.

Some think yoga isn’t for them – but there’s ‘something for everybody’. Experts share what to know about the mindful practice that can improve strength and sleep

Countless articles and studies tout the benefits of yoga. It can improve balance, strength, flexibility, digestion and sleep. It can also reduce stress and support mental wellbeing. And yet many people feel like yoga isn’t for them because their bodies don’t look or move a certain way.

“That is how I felt before I started practicing yoga,” says Jessamyn Stanley, who has written two books about yoga and co-founded the yoga app The Underbelly. “I always thought yoga was just for thin, white women,” she says.

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As another major storm brings to the area up to 2ft of snow, people brave the weather to commute and shovel

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From the frontline to underground shelters to children’s funerals, Kochetova has captured the war in Ukraine with power and humanity for the Guardian. ‘I have the same scars as the people I photograph,’ she says ahead of a major show

Julia Kochetova is unlike most of the people who cover Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the Guardian. The photographer lives in Kyiv; she is Ukrainian. It is her country that is being invaded, her friends who are being killed.

The war that began in 2014 and brutally escalated on 24 February in 2022 has infused every part of her existence. It is fundamental to her life choices, her relationships, her friendships, her career (when she was younger she had planned to go to art school in Germany, but photojournalism beckoned). She is at home on the frontline, and could give you battlefield first aid if you needed it. She is also a vegetarian who makes an exception for meat-based borsch; reads poetry when we’re on the road together; and can wash and brush out her waist-length hair in unusual locations and at surprising speed. Her driving style lies somewhere on the spectrum between chaotic and shrewd, and she can recommend you a good place for a manicure in Kyiv. She is 32 years old. She has organised more funerals than anyone should have to do in a lifetime.

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Among humpback whales, which can grow upwards of 60 feet long and weigh up to 40 tons, instances of albinism are exceedingly rare. But when these otherworldly all-white mammals appear—such as the beloved Migaloo that was first spotted in 1991 off Australia’s east coast—they inspire wonder.

Marine photographer Jono Allen captured a unique shot of a baby white humpback being nudged by its mother, taking the top prize in the 2026 World Nature Photography Awards (WNPA), in addition to winning the Underwater category.

The seventh edition of WNPA continues to highlight the diversity, beauty, and inherent vulnerability of our planet’s wildlife and ecosystems. From Mary Schrader’s tender portrait of a gorilla observing a butterfly to Miki Spitzer’s enigmatic drone photo of a mineral pool that looks like the close-up of a dragon’s eye, all of the winning photos emphasize curiosity and awe.

The contest is now accepting entries for its 2027 edition. See the winners’ gallery and learn more on WNPA’s website.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article A Rare White Whale Sighting Tops the 2026 World Nature Photography Awards appeared first on Colossal.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De aangekondigde importheffingen van president Donald Trump zorgden maandag voor een nieuwe domper op de Europese aandelenmarkten. Tegen het einde van de handelsdag kwam de beurshandel extra onder druk door verliezen op Wall Street.

De Amsterdamse hoofdindex eindigde 0,1 procent lager op 1016,45 punten. Vrijdag sloot de AEX 1 procent hoger door opluchting over de uitspraak van het Amerikaanse hof dat een groot deel van de tarieven van Trump onwettig was. Maar Trump kondigde daarop direct een nieuw wereldwijd invoertarief van 10 procent aan op buitenlandse goederen en verhoogde dat tarief later naar 15 procent.

De MidKap verloor 0,3 procent op 1018,64 punten, mede door een verdere koersdaling van Arcadis (min 5,1 procent). De Duitse investeringsbank Berenberg schroefde het koersdoel flink terug na de tegenvallende resultaten van het advies- en ingenieursbureau van afgelopen week. Toen werd Arcadis al fors lager gezet door beleggers.

De beurzen in Londen, Parijs en Frankfurt verloren tot 1,1 procent.

BRUSSEL (ANP) - De Hongaarse blokkade tegen een nieuw EU-sanctiepakket tegen Rusland en een lening van 90 miljard euro aan Oekraïne drijft EU-buitenlandchef Kaja Kallas welhaast tot wanhoop. En met haar de EU-ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken die maandag in Brussel vergaderden. De Europese Commissie werkt hard aan een oplossing, vertellen EU-bronnen, maar het is niet zeker of die er snel komt.

Het traineren van sanctiepakketten "hebben we al vaker gezien", zei Kallas na afloop van de vergadering. Het intrekken van een eerdere Hongaarse toezegging niet, en dat maakt de EU-ministers woedend.

De lening is het meest urgent, want Oekraïne heeft het geld op 1 april nodig. Wachten op een machtswisseling in Hongarije, dat op 12 april naar de stembus gaat, kan volgens EU-bronnen niet.

Kallas betreurt het dat het niet is gelukt om de Hongaren alsnog mee te krijgen, zei ze. Ze had met nieuwe sancties en een definitief akkoord over de lening aan Oekraïne een krachtig signaal willen geven "dat we Oekraïne blijven helpen".

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De Consumentenbond roept mensen op voorzichtig te zijn met koptelefoons die volgens een recent onderzoek te veel schadelijke stoffen bevatten. "Wij raden aan om langdurig huidcontact met de koptelefoons die slecht uit het onderzoek komen te verminderen, houd hem bijvoorbeeld niet om je nek als je hem niet gebruikt. En heel simpel: doe hem niet in je mond. Sabbel bijvoorbeeld niet op het kabeltje terwijl je de koptelefoon draagt", meldt een woordvoerster van de Consumentenbond.

Het Europese ToxFree Life for All-project meldde vorige week na onderzoek, uitgevoerd met onder meer financiële steun van de Europese Unie, dat veel van de tientallen onderzochte koptelefoons schadelijke stoffen bevatten. Het gaat bijvoorbeeld om bisfenol A, dat het lichaam kan binnendringen en zo het immuunsysteem kan verzwakken.

Juist ook duurdere (gaming)headsets kwamen slecht uit het onderzoek, zoals bepaalde producten van Sony, Samsung en Sennheiser. Verkopers als bol.com en MediaMarkt lieten al aan het AD weten bepaalde producten uit de verkoop te hebben gehaald. Ook de Nijntje-koptelefoon van HEMA kreeg een negatief oordeel.

Plastic en metalen verpakkingsmateriaal

"Zeker wat betreft de kinderkoptelefoons raden wij aan om op te letten wat je kind ermee doet. Als de koptelefoon door je kind in de mond wordt gedaan, raden we aan hem niet meer te gebruiken", aldus de Consumentenbond.

Bisfenol A is ook veelvuldig te vinden in plastic en metalen verpakkingsmateriaal van voedingsmiddelen en herbruikbare drinkflessen. Daar gelden al wel regels voor, maar die worden vaak overschreden, zo bleek eerder al uit onderzoek.