Madonna komt tijdens WorldPride naar Amsterdam. Het Amerikaanse popicoon viert momenteel hernieuwd succes met het album ‘Confessions II’. Voor lhbti+’ers blijft ze een belangrijke bondgenoot. „Als wereldster gebruikt zij haar positie al sinds het begin.”

gnsk has added a photo to the pool:

GELEEN (ANP) - Bij een bedrijf op het Limburgse industriecomplex Chemelot heeft woensdag een dodelijk ongeval plaatsgevonden. Daar raakte in de ochtend een persoon bekneld in een machine, laat een woordvoerder van de Arbeidsinspectie donderdag weten.

Het slachtoffer was 63 jaar. Het is onbekend hoe diegene rond 11.30 uur in de machine bekneld raakte bij petrochemiebedrijf Sabic. Onder leiding van het Openbaar Ministerie wordt onderzoek gedaan naar de toedracht.

De Limburger meldt op basis van de nieuwsbrief van Chemelot Campus dat bedrijven is gevraagd de vlag halfstok te hangen.

MOSKOU (ANP/RTR/AFP) - De Russische financiële inlichtingendienst Rosfinmonitoring heeft techondernemer Pavel Doerov op een lijst met extremisten en terroristen gezet. De oprichter van berichtendienst Telegram wordt gezocht in Rusland, waar hij wordt beschuldigd van medeplichtigheid aan terrorisme.

Veiligheidsdienst FSB stelt dat Oekraïne via de berichtendienst jonge Russen ronselt om sabotage te plegen. Nadat Rusland een arrestatiebevel tegen Doerov had uitgevaardigd, deelde Telegram deze week een foto waarop hij zijn middelvinger opsteekt.

De techondernemer ligt al jaren overhoop met de autoriteiten over de controle over sociale media. Hij stond ook aan de basis van VKontakte, een socialmediaplatform dat later feitelijk onder staatscontrole kwam.

De autoriteiten moedigen Russen aan om over te stappen op berichtendienst MAX, die is geïnstalleerd op alle telefoons die in Rusland worden verkocht. Doerov noemt dat een "door de staat gecontroleerde app voor surveillance en politieke censuur".

Amazon has linked the compromises of four npm packages over the past 18 months, saying they were all the work of the same North Korean crew. In research published this week, AWS attributed the activity with medium confidence to the North Korea-linked group tracked as Sapphire Sleet, which is widely regarded as a Lazarus Group offshoot. Rather than exploiting zero-days or hacking npm itself, the crew allegedly took the slower route of befriending maintainers, stealing credentials, and publishing poisoned updates from accounts that developers already trusted. The research revisits the compromises of typo-crypto, chalk and debug, and Axios, concluding that the four packages were targeted by the same North Korean operation. Google had already attributed the Axios compromise to Sapphire Sleet, which it tracks as UNC1069, but Amazon goes further, saying the same group was behind all four incidents. The company points to shared infrastructure and technical overlaps, alongside similarities in how the attacks were carried out and which packages were targeted. Rather than attacking npm's infrastructure, the group allegedly went after the people trusted to publish code. Once a maintainer account was compromised, malicious releases could be pushed through the same channels developers use every day. AWS says the targets also grew more ambitious, progressing from little-known packages to some of the ecosystem's biggest names. AWS says this strategy is as much about economics as espionage. Instead of picking off victims individually, compromising a small number of widely used packages offers a shot at thousands of downstream environments in one go. AWS warns that generative AI is making this kind of operation easier to sustain by helping attackers create believable developer personas, tailor messages to individual maintainers, and keep long-running social engineering campaigns convincing enough to earn their targets' trust. "Attackers can now produce thousands of lines of coherent, idiomatic, well-commented code, complete with convincing documentation, plausible commit histories, and synthetic maintainer identities, wrapped around a backdoor," said CJ Moses, AWS CISO. "Because each variant can be mutated, renamed, restructured, and re-encrypted, there is no single stable signature to match. Pattern-based detection loses ground against malware that looks one of a kind in every deployment." Amazon's findings build on what's already known about Sapphire Sleet. The group has long been associated with cryptocurrency theft, fake job offers, and elaborate social engineering campaigns aimed at developers. Amazon argues that the group has adapted its established methods to target the software supply chain. Whether other researchers will agree that all four compromises belong to the same operation remains unclear. If AWS is correct, the incidents trace the group's progression from an obscure package with few downloads to dependencies used across millions of projects. ®

Massive Attack

Maria and Czeslaw Krupa, who arrived in 1947 and 1948 as dependants of displaced Polish service members, were told they did not have post-Brexit rights to return to UK

Two Polish citizens who have lived in the UK for nearly 80 years after their parents fled the second world war have spoken of their terrifying experience after being told they did not have post-Brexit rights to return to the UK.

In May, while visiting Poland, they learned that although they had been welcomed as refugees after the war, they now needed special post-Brexit paperwork to return to their home in Bury.

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Joshua Kushner is now the kingpin in driving the sale of the World Cup to investors and family ties are tight around the project

It isn’t just football fans and Uefa executives who want to give Gianni Infantino the red card for his plan to sell off 20% of the World Cup to a privately backed commercial enterprise.

The Fifa president is also in the crosshairs of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee in Washington and ranking Democrat member Jamie Raskin. The reason? Infantino’s plan, which is backed by Joshua Kushner’s investment fund, has, for some observers, president Trump’s sticky fingers all over it.

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Derek McInnes has a score to settle with Celtic after swapping Hearts for Rangers, while Motherwell could impress again

Only residents of cloud cuckoo land can hold the firm belief of Scottish football emerging promptly from a summer of discontent. The onset of a new domestic season, ordinarily a cause for excitement, instead gives reason to ponder the grim realities of what came before.

That it is unsurprising there has been no detailed explanation or plan from the Scottish Football Association following a lamentable World Cup does not prevent the scenario from being so deflating. Mike Mulraney, the president, was last seen peeking out from the crowd behind Gianni Infantino and the US president at Trump Tower. Ian Maxwell, the Scottish FA’s chief executive, bemoaned “hysterical commentary” around his country’s World Cup performance during a brief media appearance after Steve Clarke had resigned. These executives had all-but spurted with laughter when it was suggested handing Clarke a four-year contract immediately before Scotland set sail for the United States was perhaps a needless dalliance with risk.

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Gianni Infantino’s plan for a Fifa subsidiary is odious – but it’s hard to feel surprised

Just when you thought global soccer couldn’t get more odiously capitalistic, Gianni Infantino said: “Hold my beer” (as long as that beer you’re holding is a Michelob Ultra, one of the official sponsors of the 2026 World Cup).

The World Cup, one of the largest and most prestigious sporting competitions on the planet, is for sale. Infantino, the president of the soccer governing body Fifa, is the architect of a plan to sell up to 20% of a new subsidiary that would administer tournaments such as the World Cup and Club World Cup. The subsidiary, which would oversee Fifa’s commercial activities, would be called “Fifa Forward Enterprises”. If I see the word “forward” in a corporate initiative, I assume it’s either a diversity program that’ll get dropped after a couple years, a training video on how to exit a building during an emergency evacuation, or a blatant cash grab. Take a guess which one I think this is.

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Americans are dying younger than Europeans, despite being the wealthiest people on the planet. Wellness fads won’t change that

I’m just back from my home country, the United States. I always enjoy visiting, but every time I go between the US and my adopted home of Europe, I’m keenly aware of disparity in health: Americans live much shorter lives and spend more of their lifetime in poor health. This is despite Americans earning some of the highest salaries per capita in the world and spending twice as much as comparable countries on healthcare.

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine of 74,000 adults found that even the wealthiest Americans had higher mortality rates than the wealthiest Europeans – and that the richest Americans had mortality rates comparable to the poorest residents of northern and western Europe. Across every wealth category, Americans were more likely to die younger than Europeans, suggesting that even wealth doesn’t insulate from larger factors that impact life expectancy.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

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Ferocious flames continue to rage in parts of France and Spain, with no sign of abating. We chart the destruction in graphics and pictures

The hellish infernos that have torn through parts of France and Spain have caused deaths, the evacuation of 330,000 people from their homes, widespread destruction and clouds of toxic smoke. Records have already been smashed and with the fourth heatwave of the European summer setting in, there are few signs of the waves of wildfires ending.

France has already surpassed the worst previous year for the size of the area burned, with August, usually the hottest month, yet to come.

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To coincide with a new exhibition in London about the Davies brothers, we rate the best of a band who brought a sociologist’s eye to hard rock, gentle pastoralia and so much in between

The quality of Kinks albums declined precipitously from the late 80s: you sensed their hearts weren’t really in it. Even so, Ray Davies couldn’t stop himself writing the occasional gem: from their final studio album Phobia, Scattered is a sweet, sad reflection on the Davies family’s complexities, powered by jangling guitars.

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Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Leonardo Fornaroli were all in action for McLaren on Wednesday as the team carried out Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) running in Portugal.

A former Comcast retail employee alleges that a Connecticut store manager tied the lowest-performing salesperson to a chair each month and had co-workers smash a cream pie into their face, recording the incidents as a sales-motivation tactic. The plaintiff says he resigned after reporting the alleged assaults and is seeking damages for constructive discharge and emotional distress. Ars Technica reports: A Comcast store in Plainville, Connecticut, "had a policy that the highest-ranked Retail Sales Consultant for the prior month was instructed by his or her supervisor -- Ms. Peterson, the Comcast Store manager -- to tie the lowest-ranked sales consultant for the prior month to a chair in the back office and thereafter assault that person by violently smashing a cream pie in their face," the complaint alleged (PDF).

Plaintiff David Figueroa's lawsuit said he was hired as a retail sales consultant on February 2, 2026, and was supervised by store manager Sully Fuentes Peterson. Figueroa alleges that Peterson "designed and implemented" the pie-in-face ritual to meet goals related to sales and positive responses in customer surveys.

"Defendant did not inform the Plaintiff prior to his acceptance of Defendant's offer of employment that the Comcast Store has a policy of subjecting Retail Sales Consultants to public assaults by co-workers -- at the direction of Ms. Peterson, the store manager -- for the purpose of increasing Defendant's sales and profitability," the lawsuit said.

Figueroa resigned on February 27, and he alleges it was a constructive discharge. The lawsuit says the defendant, Comcast, was negligent because it "reasonably should have known" about the store management's policies and that the policies could harm employees. Comcast "failed to properly supervise the Comcast Store's management team," allowing store management to humiliate employees "for the purpose of promoting the Defendant's revenues and profits," the lawsuit alleged. Comcast said in a statement: "The Company has zero tolerance for harassment, humiliation, or any behavior that compromises a respectful and safe workplace. This matter is in litigation so we will not comment on the specific allegations, other than to say that we disagree with the claims in the complaint and its characterization of the alleged events, and intend to fully respond through the legal process."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The always amazing Admiral Cloudberg recently published an in-depth analysis of what went wrong over the Potomac.

A few favorite Cloudbergs: United 232 - With a chuckle, Haynes replied, "Roger. You want to be particular and make it a runway, huh?" The Gimli Glider - A glider pilot in his spare time, Pearson was familiar with various techniques for controlling unpowered aircraft, including a particularly choice maneuver called a forward slip. How to NOT run an airline - As of 2025, Nepal consistently ranks as one of the most dangerous countries in which to board an airplane UPS Flight 6 - Trigger warning: this one is haunting.

Bestuurders van vrachtwagens en touringcars trekken zich lang niet allemaal iets aan van het verbod om te rijden over de Merwedebrug bij Gorinchem. Tot en met woensdag zijn 96 boetes uitgedeeld aan zware voertuigen die toch over de brug reden, meldt het Centraal Justitieel Incassobureau (CJIB). De boete bedraagt 500 euro.

Sloveense premier Janez Janša: 'criminelen expres laten vluchten is onofficieel Marokkaans beleid'

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Vooropgesteld, volgens de Sloveense premier is dit dus onofficieel Marokkaans overheidsbeleid om van de eigen criminelen af te zijn: Marokkaanse autoriteiten wachten bewust twee weken met het arresteren van verdachten, om hen 'de kans' te geven hun straf te ontlopen door naar Europa te 'vluchten'. Dat klinkt heel plausibel en dat is het ook, zozeer zelfs dat uw nieuwe buren het gewoon zelf tegen de Spaanse camera's zeggen, hier en hier (of na breek).

Maar goed, burgemeester van Ceuta Juan Jesús Vivas zegt dat er nu sprake is van een "nationale noodtoestand", en vraagt communistische premier Sanchez hier met een federale politiemacht onder centraal bevel grip op te gaan krijgen. Leuk zo'n vraag, maar Sanchez wist dat dit ging gebeuren toen hij aankondigde massaal illegale immigranten te zullen naturaliseren, en er vervolgens meer dan een miljoen aanvragen binnenkwamen. Wie had die aanzuigende werking nou aan zien komen! Enige nuance is overigens op z'n plaats: er zitten ook Algerijnen tussen.

En dan vraagt u zich misschien af, waarom doet de Spaanse premier dit? Carl Jung zou zeggen: als je niet weet waarom iemand iets doet, kijk dan naar het resultaat, en dat resultaat is de reden. Of, zoals het gezegde luidt: "the purppose of a system is what it does." Beelden van een eindeloze vijandige biomassa die je nooit meer weg krijgt, na de breek.

Houd de online grensbewaking waterdicht

El País spreekt van "duizenden" indringers

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Van harte: uw nieuwe buren

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Een eindeloze vijandige biomassa

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Naffers vertellen zelf dat ze gezocht worden door Marokkaanse politie wegens geweldsmisdrijven en daarom op de vlucht is

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Bijzonder hoe dat gaat ja

SocialDoneer hier

​Sinds afgelopen zaterdag is WorldPride in Amsterdam in volle gang. Er zijn twee weken aan kleurrijk programma georganiseerd met voor ieder wat wils. Hetero Joost komt hier helaas niet aan toe. Hij pijpt de komende weken zijn beste vriend Sem omdat hij een ally is.

‘’We doen het elk jaar zo, dat platonisch pijpen. Kijk, ik ben echt geen homo, maar ik maak gewoon af en toe een uitzondering voor Sem zodat hij zich proud en gezien voelt’’, zegt Joost terwijl het zweet nog op zijn voorhoofd staat. Hij zakt langzaam terug op zijn knieën. “Ik vind inclusie gewoon heel belaagghghhhhh…”

Sem voelt zich ‘geblessed’ met een open-minded vriend als Joost. “Iedereen kan zichzelf ally noemen, maar Joost maakt het waar.’’ Ook Sem begint een blos te krijgen. ‘’Daden zijn toch sterker dan woorden.”

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