Het Duits-Nederlandse Legerkorps 1GNC (1 German-Netherlands Corps) krijgt medio dit jaar de rol van tactisch hoofdkwartier voor de NAVO. Daarmee neemt 1GNC een aansturende rol op zich aan de oostflank van de NAVO-verdragsgebied, specifiek in de regio Estland en Letland. De inzet van een extra tactisch hoofdkwartier in de regio versterkt de samenhang binnen de NAVO en draagt bij aan de afschrikking van Rusland.

Rambo2100 has added a photo to the pool:

Took a brief look at Vivid and this year's Opera House projection 'Opera Mundi' is by French artist Yann Nguema and his studio Anima Lux. It's 'an ode to transformations in nature and the landscape'.

i-lenticularis (NO GRAPHICS) has added a photo to the pool:

(File: Z7A3767)

Honderdduizenden Poolse mannen vochten in de Tweede Wereldoorlog gedwongen mee aan Duitse zijde. Tachtig jaar later is dat nog steeds een zeer ongemakkelijk onderwerp in Polen, blijkt uit de reacties op een expositie in Gdansk.

First Nations art collective calls for industry inquiry to protect artists. APY Art Centre Collective members say a voluntary code of conduct isn't protecting artists from financial exploitation and misconduct in the industry. Context: there are operators who will pay the artist $100 for a painting that ends up selling for the first time for $10,000 in a gallery. Because many of the artists live in remote areas, and because racism, and in some cases because the artist may not speak English fluently, there are barriers to direct sales. There have also been instances where white artists were generating paintings that were deliberately marketed as Aboriginal art.

Timing is everything. On the same day last week that Kyndryl told staff they were at risk of redundancy, a pulse survey landed on the desks of the entire workforce. The short questionnaire is used by organizations to measure sentiment toward the business, typically comprising one to 20 questions and sent weekly, monthly, or quarterly. It's a process that is commonplace across the world of work. Except on Wednesday, May 20, it happened to coincide with Kyndryl telling certain employees that their roles may get chopped. A source told us voluntary redundancy was offered in the first instance, including four months' salary. "With the hundreds that are on TUPE terms, I can't see a huge uptake but it may persuade some of the newer ones," claimed an insider. "As a (slightly) amusing aside and to show how joined up we are, the pulse survey went out on Wednesday afternoon just after most of the company had been told they were at risk." Kyndryl told us last week it is trying to "address labor costs" in some countries, including the UK. This followed financial results for the year ended March 31 when revenue grew $63 million to $15.057 billion and net profit shrank 21 percent to $198 million. Charges for severance are forecast at $200 million. A spokesperson at Kyndryl – the infrastructure tech services division that was spun out of IBM in 2021 – sent a statement to The Register on the distribution of the pulse survey. "Since becoming an independent company, we've invited Kyndryls globally to share input in a survey about our culture and workplace twice per year. This is part of our commitment to listen and take action based on employee feedback." At the end of last week, the tech biz held a town hall meeting with workers, according to a source, which we're told lasted about four minutes and gave away very few details. "Now teams are being asked to fill in their 'goals for 2027' when they don't even know if they will have a job," our source claimed. "Insensitive doesn't even come into it, all the while HR are saying how much empathy and respect they are showing." As we mentioned, timing is everything. The Reg suspects not everyone is entirely happy about the recent run of events, and may use the pulse survey to make those feelings heard loud and clear. ®

Op de A16 richting Rotterdam zijn donderdagochtend twee auto's op elkaar gebotst ter hoogte van de afrit Capelle aan den IJssel. De vertraging voor het verkeer liep rond 10:30 uur op tot ruim een uur. Daarna slonk de vertraging. De weg is weer vrijgegeven.

The Russian delegation includes more than 30 high-ranking officials, among them several cabinet members and the head of Rosatom.

Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met for high-level talks on the second day of the Russian leader’s visit to Astana.

LIMASSOL (ANP) - Nu de Russische president Vladimir Poetin opnieuw laat zien geen vredesonderhandelingen te willen starten, moet de EU de druk op Rusland opvoeren en de steun aan Oekraïne verhogen. Dat zeiden de ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken van onder meer Duitsland, Oostenrijk, Estland en Letland donderdag in Limassol. Daar bespreken de EU-ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken de EU-strategie voor eventuele vredesbesprekingen tussen Oekraïne en Rusland.

De EU moet meer sancties tegen Rusland instellen, zei Artjoms Uršuļskis van Letland. "Als we Rusland economisch kunnen schaden, hebben ze geen enkele kans meer om echt over vrede te praten", zei hij donderdag bij aankomst in Limassol. De Russische onderhandelingspositie is dan verzwakt, wil hij daarmee zeggen.

De Duitse buitenlandminister Gunther Krichbaum vindt dat het 21e EU-sanctiepakket tegen Rusland snel moet worden aangenomen. Meer druk op Rusland is volgens hem van "cruciaal belang".

BEIJING (ANP/RTR) - China waarschuwt dat het tegenmaatregelen zal nemen als de Europese Unie besluit de handelsbeperkingen met China verder uit te breiden. Het Chinese ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken beschuldigt het Europese landenblok ook van het "selectief gebruiken" van gegevens om de beweringen over onevenwichtige handelsbetrekkingen tussen China en de EU te rechtvaardigen.

"De EU is niet verplicht om handel te drijven met China", zei een woordvoerder van het ministerie donderdag na een bericht dat de EU de importquota en -tarieven op Chinese goederen wil verruimen. De woordvoerder waarschuwde dat China alle noodzakelijke maatregelen zal nemen om zijn legitieme rechten en belangen te beschermen.

Stéphane Séjourné, vicevoorzitter van de Europese Commissie en Eurocommissaris voor Welvaart en Industriële Strategie, zei donderdag in zakenkrant Financial Times dat de EU haar belangrijke industriële sectoren beter wil beschermen tegen een "existentiële" bedreiging van Chinese import.

Four decades of Janette Beckman’s images will be on view until 18 April 2027 at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). The exhibit Rebels + Icons: The Photography of Janette Beckman will feature 700-plus archival and newly taken images. Among many iconic photographs, Beckman is known for photographing musical legends like Salt-N-Pepa and Run-DMC, and her striking approach to street photography

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Before having a child, I had endless days to think about writing. Now, half an hour can suddenly become a window of creativity

Becoming a parent is hard. Eight to 12 hours a day are spent breastfeeding or preparing formula milk and washing bottles. In addition, there is carrying, singing, soothing, putting to sleep, trying to sleep yourself and waking up to repeat this several times a night. So many new activities that before were unknown, filling up every day.

This is time that was once completely at your own discretion, and the new constriction is a shock.

Tania Roettger is a journalist based in Berlin

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Human rights groups and lawyers say policy amounts to ethnic cleansing

Israel’s defence minister has said he is committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through large-scale migration of Palestinians as part of Israel’s long-term plans for the territory.

Israel Katz said the government would implement a plan for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza “at the right time and in the right manner”, in a statement on Wednesday marking the targeted killing of Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’s most recent military commander.

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Hungary’s rich footballing heritage is unlikely to make an impact on Europe’s premier club competition as clubs from small countries stand no chance

Before the Champions League final, I want to spare a thought for one of the eliminated semi-finalists. Diego Simeone impresses me. For 15 years, he has had to push the boulder up the mountain again and again with Atlético Madrid. We at Bayern Munich were knocked out by him during our peak phase in 2016. Now I read somewhere that Simeone should question himself. Yet he asserts himself time and again with inferior means. It is a pity, Sisyphus Simeone has long deserved a Champions League title.

Two other clubs remain whose coaches take a similar approach. Resembling conductors, they pedantically practise distances, sequences, passes, choreograph their defence and orchestrate their attack. Their operating system, ball-oriented zonal marking, is state of the art. Their team behaves like a swarm. Last year, Paris Saint-Germain against Arsenal was the semi-final; this year, they are determining the winner. The right teams are in the final.

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Medics battling the incurable disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo working in ‘agonising’ conditions

When Dr Vladimir Maduali died of Ebola in the early hours of Sunday morning, he was the fourth member of staff at his hospital to be killed by the disease in as many days. Two days later, his colleague Dr Tibenderana Katho Blaisealso died of the disease at the Bunia Evangelical medical centre, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Maduali graduated from the University of Bunia just three years ago and had been working in the Rwampara region, one of the areas of eastern DRC’s Ituri province worst hit by Ebola. The 30-year-old died at Rwampara’s isolation centre, where he had spent two days on oxygen therapy, according to his family.

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Albert Manifold disputes reports about his behaviour and says he always tried to set example

The boardroom turmoil at BP deepened after its ousted chair, Albert Manifold, claimed allegations about his conduct were “lies”.

In a new and lengthy statement, Manifold disputed reports about his conduct, insisting “at no point in my tenure as chairman of BP has anyone raised with me any issue about my conduct or my relationship with my colleagues”.

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souvenier uit Riga. op de afbeelding de omslag van het boek "Russia - revolution and civil war 1917 - 1921" by Anthony Beevor.