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“I will tell President Zelensky today: 'You can continue to count on our help,'” Merz said.

Moscow struck city’s North Bridge this morning, around 20-minutes drive away from the station where the German chancellor arrived

This is the German chancellor’s second visit to Ukraine during his 18 months in office so far.

Merz is facing significant domestic pressure back home with record-low ratings and major losses against his party in three recent regional elections.

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By embracing the role of amiable lunk, the wrestler turned actor has become an unlikely, and very modern, leading man. But does his relationship with the WWE, and its controversial former owner, risk tarnishing his brand?

I must admit, I was apprehensive about meeting John Cena. The WWE wrestler turned actor has built an enviable Hollywood career playing idiots – capable idiots with real heart, but dimwits nevertheless. Still, Cena is obviously nobody’s fool; fools don’t rise from humble beginnings to become their generation’s answer to Hulk Hogan or The Rock. Would the Cena who appears on my computer screen be the real one? Or something closer to the comic-book characters he embodies so well: guileless, silly and fond of a deliberate misunderstanding?

It is immediately clear that this is no manchild. Perfectly punctual, he greets me with a lavish formality befitting a man who made his film debut as the title character in The Marine. Within a minute he has volunteered, unprompted, that “a core value of mine is respect”. Cena, 49, is speaking to me on behalf of Matchbox: The Movie, a film extension of the Mattel toy car brand for Apple TV, and for 45 minutes he is generous, funny, complimentary and elusive without ever being evasive. It’s a genuinely radical thing for a man built like a chest freezer – having only recently retired from wrestling after 26 years – to be so relaxed about being ridiculous, and in an age of such joyless online strongmen as Trump, Musk and Andrew Tate, his buff charm is welcome.

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Brazilian speech therapists say struggle for acceptance is part of wider prejudice embedded into Portuguese society

Not long after she started studying to become a nurse in Portugal, Iracema Ferreira began bringing a dictionary to her classes as a retort to accusations she was speaking Brazilian, not Portuguese. “It was to show that those words are in the Portuguese language dictionary,” she said.

A Brazilian speech therapist, Ferreira moved to Portugal in 2020 and later heard from several colleagues from her home country that the process of getting a licence to work in the European country was a dead end. The 45-year-old soon abandoned the idea of continuing the career she had practised for a decade and switched to nursing instead.

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A deep-seated duopoly allows the tech giants to exploit the public and developers. But the regulator has powers to stop this abuse – it should use them

• Chi Onwurah is the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West and chair of the parliamentary science, innovation and technology committee

Debates around big tech and digital regulation can sometimes feel distant from the everyday concerns of voters. But the power that a small number of global tech companies hold over our lives goes far beyond what most people realise.

As chair of the parliamentary science, innovation and technology committee, I have spent years raising concerns about this: from the data they harvest and the digital “twins” they build of us, to the algorithms that decide what our children see.

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Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro face off in battle between leftwing incumbent and far-right son of jailed ex-president

Brazilians go to the polls on Sunday in the first round of a highly polarised and high-stakes presidential election that could change not only the direction of Latin America’s largest country but that of the entire region.

The election pits the leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, against the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, an ally of Donald Trump and the son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup after his failed 2022 re-election attempt.

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PESCHIERA DEL GARDA (ANP/DPA) - Bij een grote brand op een camping aan de zuidelijke oever van het Gardameer zijn zeker 24 gewonden gevallen die naar een ziekenhuis moesten. Een van hen verkeert volgens Italiaanse media in kritieke toestand. Over de identiteit of nationaliteit van de slachtoffers is niets bekendgemaakt.

De brand is door nog onbekende oorzaak vroeg in de ochtend uitgebroken op camping/vakantieoord Bella Italia in Peschiera del Garda. Bella Italia beschikt behalve over een camping ook over onder meer stacaravans en appartementen.

De brandweer had moeite met blussen als gevolg van ontploffende gasflessen, berichten plaatselijke media. Die maken melding van de verwoesting van "circa twintig stacaravans waarin toeristen sliepen".

BERLIJN (ANP/DPA) - Vakbonden en welzijnsorganisaties hebben de Duitse regering opgeroepen de geplande bezuinigingen te stoppen. Het bondgenootschap van veertien organisaties bekritiseerde dit weekend in een gezamenlijke oproep met name de plannen van de regering voor een hervorming van het Duitse stelsel voor langdurige zorg.

Woensdag stemde het Duitse kabinet in met wetgeving om de pleegzorg te hervormen, die onder toenemende druk staat door de vergrijzing. De plannen, die nog door het parlement moeten worden goedgekeurd, omvatten onder meer het over een langere periode uitsmeren van de eigen bijdragen voor bewoners van verpleeghuizen. Ook gaat het om bezuinigingen, zoals een strengere indeling in zorggraden.

Het bondgenootschap benadrukt dat het essentieel is dat er voldoende zorg wordt geboden. Maar de organisaties vrezen dat de regering ook van plan is te korten op andere sociale voorzieningen, bijvoorbeeld de jeugdzorg. Morrelen aan het welzijnsstelsel vinden ze een slechte zaak, ook omdat dit slecht zou zijn voor de democratie.

De onderzoekers keken ook naar het perspectief van mensen die onder Nederlands koloniaal bestuur leefden. Dat is een waardevolle en noodzakelijke aanvulling op de Nederlandse geschiedschrijving.

Mark Tindale has added a photo to the pool:

wing of kaz has added a photo to the pool:

大分県豊後高田市の長崎鼻ひまわり回廊 / Nagasakibana Sunflower Corridor in Bungotakada City, Oita Prefecture

Miffy_ has added a photo to the pool:

And aircrafts

Tussen de honderden miljarden euro’s die deze maanden binnen en buiten de plenaire zaal rondvliegen, fladderde deze week een kleine geschiedenis over BIJ1. Het zieltogende geesteskind van Sylvana Simons, inmiddels geleid door Tofik Dibi, kreeg begin dit jaar te horen dat de partij ruim twee ton subsidie moet terugbetalen aan het ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken wegens géén administratie. Van de 261.102 euro subsidie voor 2024 (partijen die de Kamer verlaten krijgen nog een jaar lang belastinggeld, NSC is dit jaar ruim 1,2 miljoen euro aan het opmaken) was 80 procent als voorschot overgemaakt.

Maar de Commissie toezicht financiën politieke partijen (Ctfpp) had geconstateerd dat BIJ1 ter controle helemaal niets had ingeleverd. Onder het kopje Bevindingen stond een vernietigend: “Gehele verantwoording ontbreekt.” Dat was de druppel die de emmer na al die jaren deed overlopen. Het was BIJ1 in haar korte geschiedenis nog geen enkel jaar gelukt zonder gedoe door de financiële controle te komen. De Ctfpp adviseerde het kabinet daarom de aan BIJ1 verstrekte subsidie volledig terug te vorderen. Vanwege het bij herhaling niet nakomen van de aan de subsidie gestelde verplichtingen, achtte de waakhond ‘een minder zware maatregel niet opportuun’.

Net zoals voorgaande keren mocht BIJ1 nog bezwaar maken. Afgelopen zomer ging de club daarover in gesprek met het ministerie. Ter illustratie: de immer goed geïnformeerde Chris Aalberts wist in juli te melden dat er een onderhuurder gezocht werd voor het partijkantoor in Woerden, waar nog niet zo lang geleden een vijfjarig huurcontract voor was gesloten. Dat leest u goed: dit gebeurde bij een partij die sinds vorig jaar geen recht meer heeft op belastingpoet om die huur te kunnen betalen. Bassiehof vroeg het ministerie toen om een reactie maar een woordvoerder van minister Pieter Heerma (CDA) liet op woensdag 29 juli weten: “Vanwege onze rol als toezichthouder doen wij geen uitspraken over lopende zaken of individuele gevallen.”   

Deze week blijkt (gehele nieuwsbrief in bezit Bassiehof) dat van de geëiste 209.000 euro slechts 95.000 euro hoeft te worden terugbetaald.

Social

BIJ1 houdt dus ruim 113.000 euro over en dat ondanks het in eerste instantie ontbreken van de gehele verantwoording en de strenge woorden van de Ctfpp over de recidive van de “””rekenmeesters””” van BIJ1. Er zijn levens van Toeslagenouders en hun kinderen voor minder verwoest.

HOE DAN, wilde Bassiehof weten. Waarom is het bedrag verlaagd? Maar helaas. Een woordvoerder van Heerma laat deze week weten: “De informatie uit de nieuwsbrief klopt, verder hebben wij geen aanvullende informatie.”

Nu ja, als de Tweede Kamer maar op de hoogte is, nietwaar. Maar die weet dus ook van niets. De vorige keer dat na een slepende procedure een definitief subsidiebesluit over BIJ1 werd genomen, stuurde een van Heerma’s voorgangers gewoon een briefje naar de Kamer. Nu bleef de brievenbus leeg terwijl BIJ1 al ruim twee maanden op de hoogte is.

Die BIJ1-kostenpost is een verwaarloosbaar bedrag op de begroting van ruim 500 miljard euro die het kabinet Jetten en de Kamer al maanden aan het vertimmeren zijn. Dat laat onverlet dat het buitengewoon kwalijk is dat de minister van Binnenlandse Zaken - in zijn functieomschrijving staat letterlijk dat hij Hoeder van de Grondwet is - er qua financiële veelpleger BIJ1 het zwijgen toe doet.

Dat dit alles gebeurt onder een bewindsman van het vermeend oh zo fatsoenlijke CDA mag geen verrassing heten.

Scheidsrechter Paul Ramdayal is zaterdag overleden nadat hij onwel werd tijdens een wedstrijd. Feyenoord heeft het nieuws naar eigen zeggen "met droefenis" ontvangen en wenst de familie en naasten van Ramdayal veel sterkte toe.

Van een staande opbaring met een zwaard in de hand tot een begrafenis in Feyenoord-stijl: voor uitvaartondernemer Mirjam Boogaard is geen verzoek te gek. “Vrijwel alles is mogelijk.”

Decades before the modern web, the BBC Domesday Project dared to archive an entire nation using…. what else – massive LV-ROM (LaserVision Read Only Memory) LaserDiscs. To mark the impending 40th anniversary of the BBC Domesday Project's release, the UK's Centre for Computing History (CCH) hosted a celebration at its museum on September 19, bringing together several of the original team members responsible for the system. One was Mike Tibbetts, an assistant to Peter Armstrong, the BBC producer behind the project. Tibbetts revealed that the UK's domestic intelligence service, MI5, took an interest in the system, but "they didn't understand a word of what we were doing!" "And on one occasion, Peter and I had to give a presentation, or Peter gave the presentation to [former prime minister] Margaret Thatcher, and well, I'm not sure she understood what we were doing either…" What they were doing was compiling a trove of data that will prove invaluable to historians in the years to come, even if the politicians of the era looked nervously on at the amount of data being handed over to the public. The Domesday Project was intended to be a modern version of the Domesday Book, compiled after the 1066 Norman invasion of England. The original book surveyed most of England and parts of Wales and was used by the King to assess dues owed to him. 900 years later, the name was given to a project in which more than a million people participated to provide a snapshot of life in the UK. Participants (many of whom were school children) contributed content, which was linked with maps, photographs, and other data. It was all compiled onto a pair of LaserDiscs – the Community Disc and the National Disc – and accessed via a BBC Master computer and a Philips VP415 LaserVision player. Armstrong came up with the idea, and the team compiled the project between 1984 and 1986. The system was eventually released at the end of 1986, and was aimed at schools, libraries, and universities. It was, alas, not a roaring sales success – the exact price per unit is difficult to pin down, but approximately £5,000 is a fair estimate. Government subsidies lowered the cost to around £3,000, but it was still out of reach for much of its audience. As a resource, however, it has huge value, which will only increase as the years pass. Tibbetts drew parallels to the original Domesday Book, which took centuries for historians to recognize as a vital resource. "Perhaps," he mused, "40 years is simply too short a time for historians to perceive the Domesday Project as a sufficiently distant benchmark of useful research." Perhaps. However, while hundreds of years have passed since the Domesday Book was compiled, the years have not been kind to the Domesday Project, thanks to technology's inexorable march. "The original Domesday Book had one huge advantage over the Domesday Project when it comes to future-proofing and longevity," explained Tibbetts. "The vellum pages of the original Domesday have been preserved for 940 years so far, and it's likely to continue to exist well into the future. "It took very few years for the bespoke technology of the BBC Domesday Project to be overtaken by universal media technologies." However, they chose the technology at the time for good technical reasons. The BBC Micro could output a 625-line television picture. The Philips LaserVision system could be re-engineered to store alphanumeric data. There wasn't much in the way of authoring and playback systems, so, as Tibbetts explained, the team had to invent everything. "In technological terms," he said, "the world of 1984 really couldn't be more different from the instant-access, media-rich world of today." And so, inevitably, within a few short years, that technology began to show its age. "As was entirely predictable, our discs aged and became difficult to read. The expensive LV-ROM player was quickly superseded by cheaper and more widely available CD-ROM and DVD systems." And, worse, "Largely because of the lack of any great academic interest in preserving our massive resource for the future, the BBC Domesday Project was in grave danger of disappearing without a trace." Several initiatives have kicked off over the years to preserve the project, and the CCH's event was as much about celebrating those as it was about looking at the project's genesis. Tibbetts dropped some nuggets of information about the project, estimating that 60 people reported directly to him and Armstrong, with another 60 in subcontracted teams. He also discussed the frustration the team felt as doubt was cast about whether the project was even possible. "We came back from Christmas in January 1986," Tibbetts recalled, "we sat down for our first team meeting, and I was forced to point out that our little VAX minicomputer didn't have one byte of data that was ready to go onto the Domesday discs, so we did the whole thing in a few months!" As far as hardware was concerned, Andy Finney, who handled mastering the discs, remembered that the original plan for the Domesday Project was for it to be mouse-based, rather than the trackball the system used for navigation. The mouse was still a relatively novel concept, alien to many users. "I remember vividly one chap who was navigating with this mouse on the table, and he moved the mouse towards him, and by the time he got to the edge of the table, he hadn't actually reached the bottom of the screen. So he went on the edge and underneath…" Tibbetts added, "I always feel guilty about the mouse, because we got that wrong … the decision came down in favor of the trackball because that is much more easy for somebody with movement disabilities to use rather than a mouse." "But boy, did we get that wrong…" As Tibbetts noted, even with little interest from some parts of the academic community, enthusiasts have continued to put in a huge amount of effort over the years to keep the resource accessible. Simon Inns of the Domesday86 project described it as "a race against time" – not just for hardware, but to get data off discs before bit rot rendered them unreadable. The good news is that the Domesday discs have been preserved, and reside in the Internet Archive. "Anyone," said Inns, "can go to the Internet Archive and download a Domesday Disc. This is, like, groundbreaking stuff. 10 years ago, this was a laugh, right? Now you can actually do this." While there might not be many functioning examples of the hardware around anymore, the preservation efforts mean that the Domesday Project will endure. "Our hope," said Inns, "is that within the next couple of years, everyone in this room [at The Centre for Computing History] will be able to have a Domesday system and be able to experience what it was like." ®