DEN HAAG (ANP) - Syrische asielzoekers moeten mogelijk terugkeren naar een veilig gedeelte van hun thuisland in plaats van dat zij een verblijfsvergunning in Nederland krijgen, schrijft asielminister Bart van den Brink (CDA) in een brief aan de Tweede Kamer. Per individueel geval gaat de Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) onderzoeken of dat kan.

Eerder kon dat nog niet omdat Syrië in het geheel als te onveilig werd gezien, maar volgens het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken is het geweld vorig jaar afgenomen. Toch blijft de veiligheidssituatie "fragiel", vooral in de provincie Suweida. Ook meldt het ministerie niet welke regio's wel veilig zouden zijn.

Het ministerie kan bovendien nog niet vaststellen dat de mensenrechten blijvend zijn verbeterd. Syriërs met een verblijfsvergunning krijgen daarom nog geen herbeoordeling.

De IND gaat ook nadrukkelijker kijken naar het risico dat druzen, een religieuze minderheid, lopen in hun thuisland. Zij zijn nu vaak slachtoffer van geweld.

On Tuesday, the president read from the Bible in a taped message. Religious scholars were not impressed

• This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday

Donald Trump, who recently posted an image on social media which portrayed him as Jesus Christ (or, rather, “a doctor”), and who seems unable to stop attacking the pope, read the Bible to America on Tuesday night.

Sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office, hands resting on a book that looked like a Bible, Trump stared straight into the camera (presumably there was a teleprompter) as he recited from the book 2 Chronicles. It’s a passage which has become fashionable among the right wing, and which quotes God as saying:

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The pontiff’s criticisms of Donald Trump’s illegal war in Iran indicate a welcome resolve to follow in his predecessor’s footseps

One year after the death of Pope Francis, the Vatican this week hosted the premiere of a documentary tribute by Martin Scorsese. For a pontiff whose charisma and crowd-pleasing style helped cut through to a secular audience, marking the anniversary with the help of one of the world’s most famous film directors was a nice touch.

Francis’s successor, Leo XIV, is a far less flamboyant personality. In his inaugural year in St Peter’s chair, the first pope to come from the United States has generally taken a cautious, circumspect approach to his role. But it turns out that an aura of mildness and restraint makes him no less effective when criticising the posturing that passes for Christian piety in Donald Trump’s Washington.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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Weezer

Colorado amendments could exempt open source OSes, code repos, and containers

The prospect of OS-level age checks applying to open source systems is a serious concern for FOSS advocates. Campaigners appear to have secured proposed exemptions for open source operating systems, code repositories, and containers in one US state, but stricter federal legislation has already been introduced in Congress.…

Grainy textures and gestural lines characterize the lush compositions of Tania Yakunova. Collaborating with a range of commercial and editorial clients, the Kyiv-born illustrator harnesses the visual impact of bold shapes and vibrant color palettes to convey brand narratives and inexpressible feelings. Bare feet planted in dandelion-strewn grass and a greenhouse-style figure housing flowers attempting to burst from the glass cages, for example, conjure Yakunova’s homesickness, since she left her native Ukraine for London in 2023.

The artist’s distinct expressions translate across mediums, whether working in hand-built ceramic sculpture, painting, or digital and graphite illustration. Keep an eye out for new print releases and her latest projects on Instagram.

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 Tania Yakunova’s Expressive Figures Entwine with Plant Life in Digital and Graphite Illustrations appeared first on Colossal.

Wow, this interview! “I’ve never had an interview quite like this one with Charlize Theron.”

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on slide, “High Sierras"

Peter Kernwein posted a photo:

Peter Kernwein posted a photo:

Peter Kernwein posted a photo:

Peter Kernwein posted a photo:

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The US military's massive $1.5 trillion budget request for the next fiscal year includes what Pentagon officials described as the largest investment in drone warfare and counter-drone technology in US history. The proposed spending on drone and autonomous warfare technologies within the FY2027 budget proposal for the US Department of Defense would surpass most countries' defense budgets and rank among the top 10 in the world for military spending, ahead of countries such as Ukraine, South Korea, and Israel.

Specifically, the Pentagon is requesting $53.6 billion to boost US production and procurement of drones, train drone operators, build out a logistics network for sustaining drone deployments, and expand counter-drone systems to defend more US military sites. The funding request is budgeted under the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), an organization established in late 2025 that would see a massive budget increase after receiving about $226 million in the 2026 fiscal year budget.

[...] Another $20.6 billion would help purchase one-way attack drones and drone aircraft developed through the US Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which is building drone prototypes capable of teaming up with human-piloted fighter jets. Part of this funding would also go toward defensive systems for countering small drones and the US Navy's Boeing MQ-25 drone designed to perform midair refueling of carrier-borne fighter aircraft to extend their strike ranges. Such drone-related spending even rivals the entire budget of the US Marine Corps. But the Pentagon has not said that it is creating a dedicated drone branch of the US military similar to the standalone Space Force.

Pentagon officials emphasized that most of the money would go toward procuring drone and autonomous warfare technologies that already exist, and is largely separate from additional funding that would bolster US domestic manufacturing capacity to build such weapon systems. "That $70 billion is all going into existing systems and technologies," said Hurst. "The industrial base support is entirely separate." "The evolution we've seen in the battlefield is this evolution of technologies in the timeframe of weeks, not the typical years we see with our defense production," said Lt. Gen. Steven Whitney, director of force structure, resources, and assessment for the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a Pentagon press briefing. "So it's really critical we work with industry to get that capability fielded."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nicu Popescu, voormalig minister van Buitenlandse Zaken van Moldavië, vindt dat Europa moet terugvechten in de hybride oorlog tegen Rusland en andere landen. „Wat je moet doen is aanvallen, ontmaskeren, onthullen.”