When we think of traveling circuses, the “big top” tent likely springs to mind with its acrobats, clowns, tightrope walkers, and other entertainers and pageantry. Sometimes the traditions are controversial, such as the use of elephants and lions for performances. But visions of bedazzled animals or the swinging trapeze are nevertheless etched in our collective memory.

In the former U.S.S.R., the tradition took on a whole new meaning. Circuses had been nationalized in 1919, a few years before the Soviet Union was formed. Along with theater, opera, and music, the genre was also co-opted by the socialist government as a propaganda machine, turning family-friendly entertainment into a channel for Communist Party ideological messages. And with its enormous popularity, venues were in demand.

Between the 1950s and 1980s, the U.S.S.R. commissioned dozens of arenas across the nation, conceived as year-round event venues. Their strikingly geometric, brutalist designs are eye-catching and modern, reflecting the government’s fixation on expressing its power and technological progress. In the 1960s, the Space Race exemplified the Soviet Union’s critical role on the world stage. Arena architecture was yet another way to demonstrate the nation’s might, even occasionally resembling flying saucers.

Cirk, a new book from David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka of Zupagrafika, highlights the wide range of permanent circuses still standing around Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and further afield. “These arenas combined socialist modernism, experimental engineering, and choreographed spectacle,” the publisher says, adding: “Together, they reveal a lesser-known chapter of postwar modernist architecture shaped by ideology and mass entertainment.”

One of Cirk‘s more playful features is a series of pop-out paper models of actual buildings including state circus buildings in Bishkek, Chișinău, Dnipro, Moscow, and Tashkent. Find your copy on Zupagrafika’s website.

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 Construct Your Own Miniature Paper Brutalist Circuses with ‘Cirk’ appeared first on Colossal.

De onderste bol van het Atomium in Brussel is vernoemd naar de enige Belg die een Nobelprijs voor Natuurkunde heeft gekregen.

Nadat de VS meerdere Chinese bedrijven aanduidden als ‘militair’, betaalt China de Amerikanen nu met gelijke munt terug. Met restricties op de export van zeldzame aardmetalen voor een aantal Amerikaanse bedrijven om precies te zijn. Het toont: de Chinese dominantie op dat gebied is niet zomaar doorbroken.

Met kansberekeningen, knikkers en 46 powerpointslides probeerde Sywert van Lienden aan te tonen dat de FIOD in strijd handelde met het recht van advocaten om communicatie met hun cliënt geheim te houden. De rechtbank Rotterdam ziet voldoende aanwijzingen om dat verder te onderzoeken.

In aanloop naar het WK sloot de FIFA deals met TikTok, YouTube en tientallen influencers, onder wie de immens populaire IShowSpeed. Zij moeten het WK naar gen Z brengen, dat sport vooral nog online volgt. „Klassieke sporten zitten allemaal met hetzelfde probleem: wedstrijden duren te lang.”

• Some staff in Fifa’s US office favoured different strategy

• Fifa says policy agreed ‘with all areas of the organisation’

A number of Fifa’s US-based staff advised against the use of dynamic pricing at the World Cup but were overruled by the world governing body’s leadership, according to multiple sources involved in delivering the tournament.

The Guardian has been told that some staff in Fifa’s US office, which is based in Miami, initially favoured a different ticketing strategy to the one that has been used this summer, with the emphasis on more affordable pricing in general admission areas.

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• Australian veteran says four-year ban is a ‘disgrace’

• ITIA says strong testing means unpredictable timing

Ajla Tomljanovic has described the lengthy doping ban administered to Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon singles champion, as a disgrace and she has accused the tennis anti-doping authorities of being out to get players even when they have done nothing wrong.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Monday that Vondrousova had been handed a four-year suspension by an independent tribunal after the Czech player had refused to provide a sample to a doping control officer at her home last December at around 8pm.

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As parts of the UK swelter, try these low-energy ways to cool down – from fly screens and no-cook meals to air coolers that use a fraction of the electricity of aircon

• The best cooling fans

Where I grew up, snow days were a foreign concept. Instead, children looked to the other end of the thermometer when hoping for a day off school. Playground rumour had it that when the temperature reached more than 40C, classes would be cancelled.

I finished primary school at the turn of the century, so never saw that theory tested. But as the climate crisis intensifies, throughout much of south-eastern Australia, we’ve come to expect at least one 40C day each summer. That means subsequent cohorts of Australian children are learning that temperature triggers for school closure were only ever an urban legend. Instead, in many schools, hot weather means staying indoors during break and lunch.

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Vyacheslav Gladkov stepped down as governor of the Belgorod region in May.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide February 1971

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

James Webb Space Telescope posted a photo:

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently observed edge-on starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82), nicknamed the Cigar Galaxy. Webb’s near-infrared-light view is a snapshot in time, revealing a scene that has been evolving over a couple hundred million years. In near-infrared light, astronomers can see the galaxy’s distended disk structure and millions of individual stars — approximately 16.5 million — for the first time.

Webb’s imaging survey of the galaxy is helping astronomers investigate the formation history of M82 and will also shed light on the current processes occurring within the starburst galaxy.

Read the full story: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-pinpoints-milli...

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Adam Smercina (STScI, Tufts), Thomas Williams (University of Manchester); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Image description: Edge-on spiral starburst galaxy Messier 82 as imaged by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Hourglass-shaped red-orange plumes of material are shooting outward from above and below a bright blue-white, disk-shaped center. Messier 82 is set against the black background of space, which has many distant galaxies that appear as small white and orange spirals, ovals, and points of light. Toward the right of Messier 82 is a blue-white star with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb.

James Webb Space Telescope posted a photo:

Edge-on spiral galaxy Messier 82 (M82) has been an object of study by many observatories over the years, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and most recently the James Webb Space Telescope.

This side-by-side comparison shows the same region of M82 as seen by Hubble (left) and Webb (right). Hubble’s visible-light view is limited because of the amount of dust within M82, which shrouds the galaxy’s details. Bright, bluish light radiating from the center is due to star formation. A notable thick lane of dust, black in the center and red around the edges, diagonally stretches across the scene. Thinner strands and clumps of reddish dust cover the majority of the view.

With its ability to observe the near-infrared universe, Webb can pierce through the dusty environment of M82 and reveal what was once hidden to astronomers. With Webb, millions of individual stars within M82’s heart (seen here as luminous blue-white granules) are resolved in unprecedented clarity. Red-orange clumps, most noticeable toward the right, are small dust grains.

Read the full story: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-pinpoints-milli...

Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Adam Smercina (STScI, Tufts), Thomas Williams (University of Manchester); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Image description: A side-by-side comparison of a portion of starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82) as seen by NASA’s Hubble (left) and James Webb (right) space telescopes. The left image is labeled “Hubble” and the right image is labeled “Webb.” Hubble’s visible-light view at left shows bright, bluish light radiating from the center and a thick lane of dust, black in the center and red around the edges, diagonally stretching across the scene. Thinner strands and clumps of reddish dust cover the majority of the view. Webb’s infrared-light view at right shows a dense area of stars, depicted as luminous blue-white grains, against the black background of space. Toward the right side is clumpy red material, which is most visible toward the top right corner.

James Webb Space Telescope posted a photo:

Stars by the pocketful 🎶

Webb’s new view of M82, added to archival data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is giving us a more complete picture of this starburst galaxy. Because Webb can see infrared light, it is able to peer through clouds of dust and gas to see the shape of this edge-on galaxy, as well as approximately 16.5 million of its stars. M82’s rapid star formation, thought to be the result of its merger with another galaxy, will only be a (relatively) brief period in its history. Ironically, the extreme star formation is causing plumes of material to be ejected above and below the disk of the galaxy - something that will disrupt future stellar birth.

Many of the features of this galaxy were blocked dust and gas at visible wavelengths of light. Webb is capturing never-before-seen detail, including the galaxy’s uniquely distorted disk, likely a result of the galaxy merger - and a staggering number of stars. These 16.5 million are likely only a small portion of the total number of stars that might reside in a galaxy like M82. Hubble data, in yellow, show tendrils of material, which represent ionized hydrogen gas, close to the galaxy’s disk.

Galaxies are intricate ecosystems, and telescopes working together are helping to unlock M82’s mysteries.

Read more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-pinpoints-milli...

Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Adam Smercina (STScI, Tufts), Thomas Williams (University of Manchester); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Image description: Composite image of edge-on spiral starburst galaxy Messier 82 as observed by NASA's James Webb and Hubble space telescopes. Hourglass-shaped plumes of gas are shooting outward from above and below a bright blue-white, disk-shaped center. The plumes are yellow near the galaxy’s bright center, denoting areas of ionized hydrogen gas as observed by Hubble, and gradually become redder as you move farther away. Messier 82 is set against the black background of space, which has many distant galaxies that appear as small white and orange spirals, ovals, and points of light. Toward the right of Messier 82 is a blue-white star with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb.

PARIJS (ANP/AFP) - De openingstijden van de Eiffeltoren en het Louvre in Parijs zijn aangepast vanwege de hitte in de Franse hoofdstad. Daar geldt momenteel code rood, de hoogste weerswaarschuwing die in Frankrijk kan worden afgegeven.

De Eiffeltoren sloot dinsdag al om 16.00 uur. Het is "zeer waarschijnlijk" dat de toeristische trekpleister woensdag ook eerder dichtgaat, aldus de uitbater. Bezoekers die al een kaartje hebben gekocht voor een bezoek op een later tijdstip, krijgen hun geld terug.

Het Louvre heeft aangekondigd woensdag tot en met zaterdag eerder te sluiten vanwege de verwachte hitte. De deuren van het drukst bezochte museum ter wereld gaan al om 16.00 uur dicht, twee uur eerder dan gebruikelijk.

Frankrijk gaat sinds vorige week gebukt onder een hittegolf die het dagelijkse leven heeft ontregeld. Zo zijn op meerdere plekken scholen gesloten. In Parijs lopen de temperaturen deze dagen op tot boven de 40 graden.

TEHERAN (ANP/AFP) - De Iraanse autoriteiten hebben bepaald dat inwoners van Teheran drie dagen vrij krijgen voor de begrafenis van de omgekomen ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hij was zo'n 37 jaar aan de macht in Iran toen hij eind februari werd gedood bij een Amerikaans-Israëlische aanval.

De begrafenis zelf vindt plaats op 9 juli in Mashhad, waar hij vandaan kwam. De vrije dagen zijn van 4 tot en met 6 juli. De burgemeester van Teheran zei eerder 20 miljoen mensen te verwachten bij de rouwstoet voor Khamenei door Teheran. Khamenei werd na zijn dood opgevolgd door zijn zoon Mojtaba Khamenei.

UTRECHT (ANP) - NS laat vanaf woensdag op een aantal trajecten minder treinen rijden vanwege de verwachte hitte. Bij temperaturen van rond de 30 graden of hoger kunnen treinonderdelen oververhit raken, legt de vervoerder uit. Vooral als het 's nachts ook warm blijft en een trein niet kan afkoelen, kunnen storingen optreden. Door de komende dagen minder treinen te laten rijden hoopt NS eventuele problemen beter op te kunnen vangen.

In de ochtend van 04.00 uur tot 08.00 uur rijden er helemaal geen treinen door een landelijke staking. Daarna wordt de dienstregeling weer opgestart. NS waarschuwde eerder al dat ritten de rest van de ochtend ook anders kunnen lopen dan reizigers gewend zijn.

Oracle's workforce shrank by 21,000 over the last year, according to the company's annual report. In June 2025 [PDF], Big Red reported that it employed "approximately 162,000" employees. By June 2026 [PDF], that figure had fallen to 141,000. US headcount fell by 9,000, while the international workforce declined by 12,000. "Our periodic workforce restructurings and reorganizations can be disruptive," Oracle stated. "Deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce." "We may initiate new restructuring plans in the future," it added, ominously. Reports of layoffs at Oracle have circulated in recent months as the company seeks to finance its AI datacenter build-out. Estimates have ranged from 20,000 to 30,000, while the annual report shows that its workforce shrank by approximately 21,000 over the last year. Oracle spelled out the effect on the company and remaining staff, saying: "These types of restructurings have resulted, and may in the future result, in increased restructuring costs and reduced productivity. These types of restructurings may also lead to shortages of sufficiently skilled employees in certain roles, loss of valuable institutional knowledge and damage to employee morale and retention." The company is legally obliged to highlight the risks in these reports, but it's a point worth making. "As our cloud and AI businesses grow, we will continually balance our resources and restructure our development group to help ensure we have the right people delivering the best cloud and AI products to our customers around the world," the company said in response to The Register's request for comment. Big Red is hardly alone in laying off staff as companies roll out AI technologies, spend billions on infrastructure for the tech, and seek to improve the bottom line by cutting payroll. Microsoft has laid off thousands of workers in the last year, something CEO Satya Nadella said was "weighing heavily on me." Nonetheless, in April, the company offered a voluntary departure program to some US employees. Microsoft has not confirmed how many staffers have taken the option to depart, but one commented: "Seeing a lot of 'I'm accepting the retirement' posts this week," to which another responded: "Folks leaving behind some big shoes to fill." All of which highlights one cost of layoffs for companies. For affected staff, the experience can be traumatic, even when departure is voluntary, but the loss of institutional knowledge can be difficult to quantify. ®