The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Continue reading...The numbers from the first round of the league phase point to Italian teams struggling even if Inter impressed in defeat at Real Madrid
The 2026-27 Champions League is under way. There are still 126 matches to play until we know which 24 teams will feature in the knockout phase but that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned anything yet. Here are the key data talking-points from week one.
Continue reading...Matthew Klimow recalls the day a hijacked airliner crashed into the headquarters of the US defence department in Arlington, Virginia
“All day I had been a good soldier: stolid, resolute, unemotional, rational, and dispassionate,” writes Matthew Klimow, recalling the wave of emotion that overwhelmed him as he arrived home from the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. There was sadness for the lives lost. But there was another emotion, too: humiliation.
“We, as a nation, had been humbled,” writes the retired army colonel, who remained at the Pentagon even after it was struck by a hijacked airliner, killing all 64 people onboard and 125 inside the building. “The fighting force of which I was part had been impotent, unable to protect our fellow citizens. The darkness I felt matched the darkness inside my house as I opened the door.”
Continue reading... Updates from Friday’s play at Edgbaston, 11am BST start
Ashes legal dispute led to lack of 2027 Test in the north
A day at the Knight-Stokes Cup | The Spin | Email Rob
State-school cricket has had its day at Lord’s, at last. On a ground that has this summer hosted men’s and women’s international Tests, the Women’s T20 World Cup final and the Hundred finals, on Thursday four school teams played in front of the Pavilion and Father Time for the Knight-Stokes Cup, named after two state-educated cricketers who have captained England’s Test teams.
Heather Knight and Ben Stokes recorded video messages for pupils from Altrincham grammar school, John Hampden grammar school, Penistone grammar school and Chelmsford County high school before they competed in the boys’ and girls’ finals. The privileges did not stop there – full use of the Pavilion dressing rooms, lunch and media duties made this a day to remember and inspire.
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De fiets is gaan concurreren met de auto. Hij is soms sneller, vaak praktischer, altijd schoner. Dus stapt Bas van Putten, die jarenlang auto’s testte, voor deze nieuwe rubriek voortaan ook op de fiets.
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Het kabinet verlaagt officieel de doelstelling voor de gasopslag voor de winter. Die hoeft straks niet meer voor 80 procent gevuld te zijn, maar ‘slechts’ voor 64 procent.
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Dave en Jan Willem kregen hun dochter Lot dankzij een draagmoeder, Kim. Bij de bevalling ging het mis. „Ze waren er bijna niet meer geweest.”
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Al voor de allereerste uitzending in 2022 werd voorzien dat het toelaten van Ongehoord Nederland tot het publieke bestel problemen zou opleveren. Na klachten van kijkers, een interne machtsstrijd, opgelegde boetes en een Hitler-fragment lijkt het einde nu nabij.
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NEW YORK (ANP) - In New York is de herdenking begonnen van de aanslagen op het World Trade Center van 11 september 2001. Alle nog levende oud-presidenten en de huidige vicepresident JD Vance waren daarbij aanwezig. President Donald Trump ontbrak. Volgens The New York Times was hij aanvankelijk wel van plan om te komen, maar veranderde hij zijn plannen toen bleek dat hij geen toespraak mocht houden.
Bij de herdenking in Manhattan, op de plek waar de twee torens stonden, worden geen speeches gegeven. Er worden minuten stilte gehouden op de tijdstippen dat de vliegtuigen 25 jaar geleden de torens raakten en dat de torens instortten. Ook spelen bekende muzikanten als Yo-Yo Ma en Jennifer Nettles. Nabestaanden lezen de namen voor van alle slachtoffers. Bij de aanslagen van Al-Qaeda kwamen bijna 3000 mensen om.
Trump heeft ervoor gekozen om te spreken bij een herdenking in het Pentagon. Ook dat gebouw werd op 9/11 geraakt door een gekaapt vliegtuig. Daarbij kwamen 125 mensen om.
ENTER (ANP) - Nederlanders die donderdag bij het busongeluk in Zwitserland lichtgewond zijn geraakt, met onder andere kneuzingen en breuken, worden vermoedelijk vrijdag uit het ziekenhuis ontslagen. Dat is de verwachting van Eurocross, die de hulpverlening coördineert.
Gewonde Nederlanders werden eerder naar verschillende ziekenhuizen in de regio overgebracht. De hulporganisatie zegt deze mensen verder te ondersteunen bij het organiseren van hun terugreis naar Nederland.
Donderdag raakte een Nederlandse bus van een Oad-excursie van de weg in de buurt van de Zwitserse plaats Susch. Daarbij vielen vijf doden en veertig gewonden en raakten tien mensen zwaar of middelzwaar gewond.
DEN HAAG (ANP) - De stikstofmaatregelen die het kabinet wil nemen, geven "perspectief op vergunningverlening" en daarmee op een uitweg uit de stikstofcrisis. Dat schrijft landsadvocaat Pels Rijcken in een advies dat minister Jaimi van Essen (Landbouw, D66) vrijdag met de Tweede Kamer heeft gedeeld. Als er weer meer ruimte voor vergunningen komt, zal dat een kwestie van "gebied voor gebied" worden.
Als de stikstofuitstoot daalt en overheden tegelijkertijd van alles doen om de natuur te helpen, dan wordt de natuur daar volgens de landsadvocaat "ontegenzeggelijk" beter van. Maar hoeveel beter hangt af van de uitwerking van de maatregelen en beoordelingen door ecologen. Het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving merkte al op dat de plannen veel vragen van zowel boeren als overheden.
"Ik heb het met genoegen gelezen", zei Van Essen vrijdag na de ministerraad. Hij ziet in het advies een bevestiging van de beloften die hij een paar maanden geleden deed toen hij de plannen presenteerde. Daarin staan veel maatregelen om natuur te herstellen, onder meer uitstootdoelen per boer en zones rond natuurgebieden met minder vee. Nederland gaat weer van het 'stikstofslot', was de belofte in juni.
De Noorse prinses Astrid is vrijdag op 94-jarige leeftijd overleden. Dat meldt het Noorse hof. Astrid was de oudere zus van de onlangs overleden koning Harald.
"Zijne Majesteit de Koning heeft met groot verdriet kennisgenomen van het overlijden van prinses Astrid", deelt het paleis in een verklaring. Volgens het hof is de prinses "vredig ingeslapen".
Astrid was de zus van koning Harald, die eind augustus overleed en eerder deze week werd begraven. De prinses was woensdag nog aanwezig bij zijn uitvaart.
Live coverage of Friday's first Formula 1 practice session for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.
Het is de week waarin Feyenoord begon aan de Champions League en daarin was FC Barcelona een maatje te groot. Nu moet de knop omgezet worden, want zondag gaat de eredivisie voor Feyenoord weer verder. De ploeg van trainer Giovanni van Bronckhorst gaat op bezoek bij PEC Zwolle.
A medical report published earlier this week says a boy in the U.K. developed erythema ab igne, or "toasted skin syndrome," after resting a laptop on his abdomen for up to eight hours a day, often while it was charging. "The marks were described as being in a patch about 15 centimeters (six inches) wide, made of flat, reddish-brown 'interlacing lines forming irregular circles and a lace-like morphology,'" reports Ars Technica. From the report: Based on the appearance, the doctors started reconsidering some sort of bruising and started asking him more questions. This is when he mentioned that he was homeschooled and used a laptop for his schoolwork. He said he typically did his work by resting his laptop on his abdomen while he worked, sometimes for up to eight hours a day, and often while the laptop was charging. Then they understood what it was.
The doctors diagnosed the boy with erythema ab igne (EAI), which translates from Latin as "redness from fire" and is also sometimes called "toasted skin syndrome." This is a skin condition caused by repeated, prolonged exposure to low-grade heat -- heat not hot enough to cause actual burns. It's most often seen in adults, and common causes include using heating pads or hot water bottles for chronic pain or sitting too close to space heaters. Some people also develop it from certain occupational hazards, like glassblowing and metal work. EAI produces a lace-like rash, just like the boy's.
It's unclear how EAI develops exactly. But researchers hypothesize that chronic heat exposure leads to damage to superficial blood vessels and the release of red blood cells, forming the tell-tale red reticulated pattern. While the boy's condition looked ominous, the good news is that EAI is generally benign and reversible -- once you remove the heat source. For severe or long-term conditions, some pigmentation and scarring can remain. But the boy's parents checked back in over several months, reporting that the rash faded and then completely resolved. Hopefully, he also got some sort of laptop stand.
The doctors diagnosed the boy with erythema ab igne (EAI), which translates from Latin as "redness from fire" and is also sometimes called "toasted skin syndrome." This is a skin condition caused by repeated, prolonged exposure to low-grade heat -- heat not hot enough to cause actual burns. It's most often seen in adults, and common causes include using heating pads or hot water bottles for chronic pain or sitting too close to space heaters. Some people also develop it from certain occupational hazards, like glassblowing and metal work. EAI produces a lace-like rash, just like the boy's.
It's unclear how EAI develops exactly. But researchers hypothesize that chronic heat exposure leads to damage to superficial blood vessels and the release of red blood cells, forming the tell-tale red reticulated pattern. While the boy's condition looked ominous, the good news is that EAI is generally benign and reversible -- once you remove the heat source. For severe or long-term conditions, some pigmentation and scarring can remain. But the boy's parents checked back in over several months, reporting that the rash faded and then completely resolved. Hopefully, he also got some sort of laptop stand.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
OPINION "Where do we put digital government? You know, all those billions we spend on consultants and legacy systems?" "Oh, that! Put it with sports and tourism. And something we're calling 'place'." It might be a fictional conversation between a SpAd* and a mandarin**, but in reality, the outcome is more or less the same. With the arrival of Andy Burnham as UK prime minister came a shake-up of responsibilities in Whitehall, leaving responsibility for science, technology, and government tech scattered across several departments and eliminating the dedicated technology ministerial role. Shortly after the changes were announced in July, Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, wrote to the government asking for an explanation. The government had yet to confirm what the new roles and responsibilities meant in practice, and there was no news on ministerial portfolios, she said. Now a joint letter from the ministers leading three departments attempts to answer Onwurah's questions. It brings clarity only by laying bare the government's confused thinking and lack of credibility. Take space, for example. The letter says BIST aims to "support companies from breakthrough ideas and research excellence through to commercialization, scaling and exporting, and to fortify the UK's global leadership in this space." When it comes to literal space, however, responsibility falls to Baroness Lloyd of Effra. A law and history graduate, Lloyd worked in Tony Blair's policy unit before becoming his deputy chief of staff. She will fit responsibility for the UK's public and private space sectors between her cyber, regulatory reform, corporate governance, and Insolvency Service duties. She will work across two departments: the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). We're sure the role will afford plenty of time to help oversee the £7.8 billion of cross-government spending brought together under the new space strategy intended to cover orbital collision warnings, low Earth orbit communications, military intelligence, launch capabilities, and space science. The question is, where did technology go? Isn't space related to technology? Technology was in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. But that T is now Trade. The D that stood for Department in DSIT is gone; in DCMS, it stands for Digital. (The DWP and DHSC still keep their D for Department, for those wishing to understand that no rules apply here.) But what is digital? It underpins everything. "The technologies shaping our economy are also transforming how people create, communicate, learn, participate and access public services. By expanding DCMS's remit to include responsibility for tech sector oversight and digital, including: digital skills, digital infrastructure and connectivity, cyber security, and the delivery of a modern digital government, we are enabling DCMS to lead the transformation of public services while strengthening and growing the digital, cyber and information foundations on which our economy and society depend." OK, but why is the technology sector separated from science? If digital underpins everything, then it is also worryingly vague. Is it really closer to culture and media? A photographer might want to use Photoshop, but they don't need to know how the software works. The development of computer hardware and software has gone hand in hand with wider research. The World Wide Web and DeepMind both came out of university projects, not to mention one of the early modern computers, the Manchester Mark 1, developed at the University of Manchester with input from WWII code breaker Alan Turing. To further muddy the waters, Kanishka Narayan was appointed Minister of State for AI, a joint Cabinet Office and BIST role that comes with Cabinet attendance. Responsibility for science and technology is now spread across four departments. Chris McDonald, Minister of State for Science, Innovation and Investment, works jointly across BIST and the Department of Health and Social Care. Science sits with business and trade, but digital sits with "creative industries" and sport. Digital government – which has been in three departments over two years – gets a junior minister in the DCMS. Stephanie Peacock is expected to perform that role along with responsibility for sport, tourism, and place (which is not defined in the letter or elsewhere). It is questionable whether she will get the backing needed to confront big tech suppliers repeatedly feasting on government spending while other ministers court those same companies for investment. Her public announcements so far have focused more on Blackpool staycations and the Commonwealth Games than digital government. In their letter, the three ministers said the changes were necessary because "the UK stands at a critical juncture where unprecedented global changes demand that we secure our position as a world leader in AI, science and technology. In this context, we cannot see science and technology as an isolated issue, limited to one department. Instead it is a major priority that cuts across the whole of government and is vital to the UK's future economic prosperity." But the government's answer has been to break up the former technology department and scatter its responsibilities among portfolios where they will struggle for attention. As for tech in the public sector, we might hope the government will stop getting beaten up by suppliers, but we will be waiting a long time. ® * Special Advisor in the British civil service ** slang term for a senior UK civil servant
