Japan's Hayabusa2 probe captured rare close-up images of near-Earth asteroid Torifune, revealing a snowman-like shape made of two joined lobes. Phys.org reports: The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 skimmed asteroid Torifune on Sunday in a mission that demonstrated the ability to deflect a potentially dangerous space rock away from Earth. A new image released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Monday could aid such efforts, as researchers say near-Earth asteroids vary in their size, shape and surface characteristics.

"The moment I actually saw this image and the scientific data -- it really gave me goosebumps," JAXA scientist Yuya Mimasu told reporters, adding the asteroid "personally looked like a snowman." The black-and-white image, captured by a telescopic camera, showed what appeared to be two round objects joined together. "You can actually see the rocks... I really hadn't expected to be able to take a photo like this, so I'm absolutely over the moon," he said.

[...] Moving at a speed of more than 18,000 kilometers (11,185 miles) per hour, the probe was due to fly within 800 meters (2,625 feet) of the asteroid, but JAXA said it would analyze the distance later. If confirmed, the mission would be one of the closest flybys of a near-Earth asteroid ever. JAXA also said Monday it succeeded in acquiring data from three other devices that can measure the distance from the asteroid and examine the existence of water.

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US president says he is not happy with Nato and tells officials to ‘cut all trade with Spain’

• Trump renews call for US to take over Greenland as he arrives for Nato summit

And that ends their short briefing, with Trump saying he will be back later, and Rutte desperately throwing in that he will also do a press conference if anyone is interested in it please.

Trump also heaps praise on Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, praising the Turkish military might, and, amusingly, out of nowhere praises China, too.

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I have a bagful of brushes but if I had to pick, these are my must-haves

My girlfriends have a habit of rifling through my makeup bag when we’re together to see what’s new, and last month one complained about how much precious space was taken up by brushes. These are very boring, I do understand, and I consequently rarely write about them. And yet, whenever I post a makeup application video online, they are invariably the products I’m asked about most.

My friend made me wonder which brushes, if I were allowed only, say, five, would I regard as must-haves? It has been a game only I would find enjoyable, but here is where I have landed:

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‘Sea cures’ are not new but the idea that exposure to oceans, rivers and lakes can be medicine for the brain is gaining traction

Watching the waves break across the vast, roaring ocean in front of him, Dave Phillips felt out of options standing on the cliff’s edge in Cornwall several years ago. The former British army corporal had lost a number of loved ones in quick succession, and the compounding effects of untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his military tours had become all-consuming.

“I’m from a generation where we didn’t talk,” says Phillips, 67. “I tried dealing with it myself and ended up standing on a cliff edge thinking, ‘Yeah, this is the way.’”

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From repainted walls to imaginary lawns, estate agents say modified photos help buyers ‘visualise the potential of a property’. But how much AI enhancement is too much? Agents, viewers and trading standards experts tell all

It is twilight on a desirable street in Chiswick, or it could be Hampstead, Wilmslow or Hove. A spectacular sunset has left a vivid stripe of orange fading into a violet sky. Against this saturated backdrop, a large Victorian house is clearly outlined despite the darkening atmosphere, perhaps thanks to the lights blazing from every single room. The effect is dazzling, in an unhinged, halfway-through-an-exorcism way. It is also quite obviously fake: a digital trick previously achieved with software such as Photoshop, but increasingly using quicker, cheaper AI programs.

If you are one of the many Britons for whom browsing expensive property listings is a big pastime, you’ll be familiar with the dusk shot, one of the many ways estate agents try to make their wares stand out in the endless scroll of Rightmove, Zoopla and Instagram. It is a level of artifice that most of us are prepared to overlook. We understand we are being sold a dream and we are generally happy to be transported to a world untroubled by the energy crisis, nosy neighbours or natural shadow.

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UK government urged to apply pressure on France to fix system or suspend checks by next week

Cross-Channel ferry passengers and the port of Dover face “utter chaos and miles of tailbacks” under the EU’s entry/exit system (EES) unless the technology is fixed or checks suspended by next week, MPs have warned.

The home affairs select committee chair, Karen Bradley, urged the government to “apply maximum pressure” on the French authorities to act on the EES before peak holiday traffic arrives at the port.

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Lib Dems tell Reform UK leader ‘the game is up’ as political rivals vow to boycott ‘stunt’ Clacton byelection

• Revealed: Farage’s £5m gift reported to UK crime agency over money laundering concerns

For anyone involved in British politics, an invitation to be interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme is the ultimate badge of seriousness. There are probably hundreds of MPs who have never made it onto the programme because they have not been deemed important enough.

But, as if to prove the point that the Clacton byelection really is a “farce” (see 7.59am), this morning Today had an interview with Count Binface, the serial joke byelection candidate who may turn out to be Nigel Farage’s main opposition in Clacton.

Probably not, but then you know my job is to celebrate and defend the wonders of British democracy.

And look at this, eh? The fact that you are interviewing me on the Today Programme, because all the other parties aren’t standing, says more about them than it does about me.

I don’t believe that single-handedly will tackle homophobia, racism or indeed any hate crime. But I do strongly believe that returning power back to people’s hands is a huge part of the role we should all be playing as elected public servants – and it’s how we build trust again.

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The standup on bad gigs at motorway service station hotels, her nan’s reviews and the pressure to be ‘prize pig’ at the Edinburgh fringe

Who did you admire when you were starting out?
I loved Lee Evans because of how he ran around on stage. I want to be more like him but I just physically can’t. I try to sometimes; I’ll move my arms. Now I understand why he was so sweaty!

Best heckle?
I was doing a gig and this woman was quite drunk and talking really loudly. I said, “Hello, what’s going on here?” And she went, “Don’t worry about me, love. You’re losing them as it is.” And I was like, OK. Well, that’s brilliant.

Lindsey Santoro: It Was Like That When I Got Here is at Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, 19-30 August

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Labour party chair says Reform UK leader must cooperate with authorities instead of trying to distract public with byelection

• UK politics live – latest updates

The revelation that a £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers concerned it may have been laundered money has been described as “astonishing and deeply serious”.

Responding to the Guardian story, Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour party, called on Farage to “come clean and cooperate” with the NCA.

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Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on back of photograph, "Stanley F. Smith, David lee Smith, Willis A Smith, Lois, C. Garcia, November 9, 1979, Grandmother Debbie Smith, Grandfather Richard Smith"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

ANKARA (ANP) - De voorlopige overeenkomst die de Verenigde Staten en Iran hadden gesloten is "voorbij", zegt president Donald Trump. Het is volgens hem "tijdverspilling" om met dat "stelletje leugenaars" te praten. Trump reageerde boos op de nieuwe vijandelijkheden tussen de beide landen. De VS voerden luchtaanvallen uit nadat Iran volgens de VS schepen in de Straat van Hormuz had bestookt.

UTRECHT (ANP) - Kinderen van 4 tot en met 11 jaar reizen vanaf volgend jaar onder begeleiding gratis met het openbaar vervoer in heel Nederland. Dat meldt DOVA, een samenwerkingsverband van provincies en regio's die hierover gaan. De organisatie maakt daarnaast bekend dat een landelijke korting voor alle mensen vanaf 65 jaar en ouder in bus, tram en metro stopt op 1 januari volgend jaar.

Gratis reizen voor kinderen geldt nu al in de trein en in sommige regio's en wordt met dit besluit uitgebreid naar alle bussen, trams en metro's. Volgens het samenwerkingsverband ontstaat daarmee "één duidelijke en herkenbare regeling voor kinderen in het hele openbaar vervoer".

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Cabaretier Harrie Jekkers krijgt een eigen miniatuurbeeld in de Haagse miniatuurstad Madurodam. Dat heeft het management van Jekkers bevestigd na berichtgeving van Omroep West. Het exemplaar geldt als eerbetoon voor de 75-jarige zanger, die dit weekend definitief afscheid neemt van het podium in de Koninklijke Schouwburg in Den Haag.

Tijdens zijn een na laatste show, die zaterdag plaatsvindt, krijgt Jekkers het standbeeldje overhandigd door onder anderen beeldmaker Mitchell Duivesteijn. Het kunstwerk wordt vervolgens geplaatst op het Harrie Jekkersplein in Madurodam, waar het vanaf 12 juli te zien is. Op die middag geeft de Haagse komiek zijn allerlaatste voorstelling.

Jekkers werd geboren in de Schilderswijk in Den Haag en schreef onder meer het beroemde nummer Oh, oh, Den Haag uit 1982 en zong het onder de naam Harry Klorkestein. Ook was hij jarenlang de zanger van de band Klein Orkest. Daarnaast maakte hij tien theaterprogramma's waarmee hij volle zalen trok. In september vorig jaar kondigde de artiest aan dat hij zou stoppen met optreden.

A campaign group has written to the UK health minister to force him to clarify data used by the government in Parliament to justify its controversial £330 million investment in a data-sharing system supported by Palantir. The Register understands that the UK's regulator for the use of statistics in the public sector is assessing how the government is using data to justify its use of Palantir technology. The move follows an investigation challenging claims by NHS England that as of June, 139 trusts used the Federated Data Platform (FDP), with 137 reporting benefits. An Inpatient Care Coordination Solution (CCS) tool based on the FDP had resulted in 111,589 additional patients undergoing procedures in operating theatres, it said. However, a Freedom of Information request from campaign group Foxglove later found that nearly a third of NHS trusts using Palantir's health data platform were performing fewer patient procedures than before it went live. Foxglove also said Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust accounted for 84 percent of the reported fall in outpatient waiting lists, while only 16 trusts were using the tool provided by the US firm. Writing to James Murray, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Foxglove noted that NHS England had said in documentation that it was inappropriate to "draw conclusions about cause and effect as other variables have not been controlled for" in its published FDP data. Foxglove said: "The claim that Palantir's FDP has delivered a large number of additional operations has been widely repeated." In June, health minister Preet Kaur Gill said in a written response to Parliament: "Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation." The minister made a similar claim to the Health Select Committee later that month, and at no point did she mention NHS England's admission that this claim cannot be substantiated, Foxglove pointed out. Writing for Foxglove, advocacy director Donald Campbell asked why a "clarification had not been made to Parliament or in other public ministerial statements." The Office for Statistics Regulation, the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, said it was assessing the information around NHS England's claims about the FDP's performance. In a statement to the Health Service Journal, an NHS England spokesperson said: "We have received correspondence from the Office for Statistics Regulation and will be responding in due course. "The published benefits have always been a comparison of performance before and after the adoption of the NHS federated data platform, and we regularly review the published information and provide updates where needed." The UK government said the £330 million FDP was vital to improving NHS productivity and recovering from the long waiting lists for elective care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Palantir's work with the NHS began began with a £1 deal in 2020, which later led to a total of £60 million in contracts awarded without competition during the pandemic. In April, the government confirmed it was reviewing the use of a break clause in the current contract to end work with Palantir in February next year. However, then-junior health minister Zubir Ahmed defended the program, saying: "The NHS England Programme Team work with trusts and integrated care boards to understand their plans to maximize the benefits of the NHS FDP." In June, a cross-party committee of MPs said the government should ditch Palantir from its FDP contract because of vendor lock-in and the need to develop sovereign technology. ®

Gianni Infantino heeft gereageerd op Argentinië-Egypte (3-2), een wedstrijd met een afgekeurde goal voor Egypte, een penalty voor Argentinië, een rode kaart voor Egypte en de VAR die niet ging kijken naar een mogelijke overtreding voorafgaand aan het winnende doelpunt. Hoewel er veel gesproken wordt over de al dan niet partijdige arbitrage dit WK, bezweert de FIFA-voorzitter maar alvast dat er van politieke inmenging ditmaal geen sprake is. “Om alle geruchten voor te zijn: Javier Milei heeft me niet gebeld voor deze wedstrijd hoor, deze krijgen ze gewoon van het huis.”

Infantino vindt het “vervelend” dat er, sinds het telefoontje van Donald Trump over de schorsing van Folarin Balogun, wordt geïnsinueerd dat hij nu door allerlei wereldleiders gebeld zou worden over het verloop van het WK. “Helemaal niks van waar. Dat zijn allemaal wilde complottheorieën, daar moet je niet naar luisteren. Het is niet zo dat we onder druk gezet worden om Argentinië en Messi ver te laten komen dit WK. Als het wel gebeurt, dan moet je weten: dat hebben we helemaal zelf besloten.”

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Officials said drones targeted industrial facilities, while unverified reports claimed multiple oil refineries were damaged across Russia.

wing of kaz has added a photo to the pool:

福岡県田川市、三井寺（平等寺） / Mitsui-ji (Byōdō-ji), Tagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture