Why the owners of Tunnock's Tea Cakes in Uddingston, Scotland refuse to sell out to a global food conglomerate or shrink their products or degrade their recipes.

Melat Kiros is the first political star truly formed by the 2020s [ungated]* - "What's behind her shocking victory against a 30-year incumbent in Colorado — according to the candidate herself."

"This isn't just about replacing one generation of leaders with another," Kiros told me in an interview last month. "It's about replacing it with moral clarity, with urgency, with courage — and making sure that the will of the voters is actually being represented and fought for at the federal level... I really sincerely believe that primaries are our only opportunity to make the changes that not only need to happen within the Democratic Party, but to address the conditions that led to someone like Trump rising in the first place," she said. [...] "These are all not only the right thing to do, but the pragmatic and economic and efficient thing to do," she said... The only explanation for why they hadn't been adopted already, she said, is money. "It's all tied to the issue of money in politics," she said. "The only reason we don't have those things is because of the billionaires and the corporations that are making way too much money keeping things exactly as they are today."

seems like a pretty good platform to run on:

1. Medicare-for-all, cancel all medical debt, and break up big pharmaceutical companies
2. housing first, child care, and elder care
3. tuition-free public college
4. no taxpayer funding for genocide
5. no corporate PAC money

also btw...

• Progressive surge complicates Democrats' midterms focus on prices - "[A] string of primary victories by left-wing Democrats could complicate party leaders' efforts to keep the campaign narrowly focused on the cost of living as some candidates advocate a broader reordering of government spending and policy priorities."
• How the GOP's 'Big Win' on Trans Athletes Becomes a Loss - "Blue states are now in a position to show the rest of the US just how much of a non-issue it can be to have transgender students compete. Or, at the very least, provide a better understanding of what the actual issues are. This is the sort of public education that's been missing on the scale that's clearly been needed... Democrats shouldn't stay silent on the matter. Even with Tuesday's decision, the current strategy of avoiding talking about transgender rights is unlikely to work forever. The party should lean into educating voters instead."
• Supreme Court ruling could lead to more ICE arrests - "Massachusetts politicians and activists this week promised to fight to pass federal legislation extending the TPS program, and legal advocates said they would work to help those who lose their status find ways through the immigration court system to remain here legally."[1]
• Immigrant Arrests Surge to 10,000 in 5 Days as ICE Clamps Down - "The agency has doubled its daily arrest numbers without the fanfare of last year's large urban operations, sowing fear in immigrant communities."
• The Supreme Court hands Trump — and itself — more power - "The Supreme Court spent its just-completed term sidelining Congress and amassing power for the ascendant branches of government: the presidency and the court itself. Why it matters: As the court strips Congress of its power, decisions over people's money, jobs, votes and health shift toward the president and nine justices appointed for life. After this term, Congress can't insulate regulators from the president, limit political parties' spending or require race-conscious voting districts. The big picture: For decades, conservative lawyers have argued the Constitution grants all executive power to one person: the president. The theory, called the unitary executive, holds that no one who enforces federal law is independent of the president. This term, it won out again and again."
• Trump and Republicans return to communist attacks against Democrats ahead of the midterm elections - "In just the past week, Trump has issued dark warnings that members of the Democratic Party's ascendant left are communists who want to 'completely destroy the traditional American way of life' and even engage in assassinations... The GOP's ideological focus conflates democratic socialism, which often centers on securing universal healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy and stricter corporate regulation, with communism, under which private ownership is largely eliminated."
• This number helps explain why many Americans are down on the economy - "American workers' share of the economic pie has fallen to its lowest level since at least 1947, when the federal government began tracking the data, according to an analysis by Federal Reserve economists."[2]
• Trump says 'everybody's profiting' from recent market rallies — but it's mostly the 1% - "The top 1% own about 50% of corporate equities and mutual fund shares, according to the most recent Federal Reserve data. The bottom 50% of households collectively hold just 1% of that stock and mutual fund wealth."
• Crypto Bets and Real Estate Deals: Inside Trump's $2 Billion Year - "President's investment accounts also made more than 20,000 trades last year."[3,4,5]
• As the Pentagon stays quiet, AP reconstructs a US strike that killed over 100 Iranian children - "In almost any other conflict, these haunting truths would be seared into national memory. Yet more than 120 days since at least one U.S. missile struck an Iranian primary school, there remains no final accounting of what happened. The Trump administration has yet to directly accept the blame or formally release findings of a Pentagon investigation into the bombing, even though the military possessed evidence almost immediately that the site of the school had been struck, a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing investigation, told The Associated Press."
• Analysis: Trump embraces 'Great Equivocator' role sending mixed signals that vex markets and allies - "Aides from Trump's first administration say the president likes to lean on the business concept of 'optionality,' or staying flexible enough to have always multiple choices available. That allows him to shift abruptly as the politics or his personal needs change... Trump has mostly abandoned any pretense of the United States playing its traditional role as leader of a rules-based global order. That could damage the country's international reputation, but it also gives Trump a freer hand, Immerwahr said."
• Minneapolis Offers a Blueprint for How to Beat MAGA - "Faced with an unprecedented federal assault, citizens of the Twin Cities turned to their neighborhoods, churches and schools to defeat MAGA."

Mede dankzij de bijdrage van Anderson Paak, bekend van hun duo Silk Sonic, wordt het concert van Bruno Mars zowel maf als verleidelijk. En indrukwekkend, door de eindeloze reeks hits die hij te bieden heeft.

Zowel in Frankrijk als in België zijn tijdens de hittegolf van de afgelopen weken meer mensen overleden dan normaal.

BERLIJN (ANP/RTR) - De Duitse regering blijft erop rekenen dat het Frans-Duitse defensiebedrijf KNDS een beursgang zal maken. KNDS stelde eerder deze week zijn beursgang op de aandelenmarkten in Frankfurt en Parijs uit vanwege de onrustige marktomstandigheden in de Europese defensiesector.

KNDS kondigde vorige maand nog formeel aan naar de beurs te willen. Dat zou dan eigenlijk deze maand gebeuren, maar nu is dat proces uitgesteld tot een later moment. Wanneer de beursgang dan wel zou moeten plaatsvinden, is onduidelijk. De aandeelhouders willen wachten totdat de marktomstandigheden gunstiger zijn.

"De federale overheid respecteert het besluit om de beursgang te pauzeren, maar blijft geïnteresseerd in samenwerking met haar Franse partners om het bedrijf naar een succesvolle toekomst te leiden", aldus een woordvoerder.

KNDS is producent van onder meer de Duitse Leopard-tanks en de Franse Leclerc-tanks. Ook produceert KNDS artilleriemunitie, pontonbruggen en rijdende gevechtsrobots. Het hoofdkantoor staat in Amsterdam.

ROME (ANP/RTR/BLOOMBERG) - De wereldwijde voedselprijzen zijn in juni opnieuw licht gedaald, meldt de Voedsel- en Landbouworganisatie van de Verenigde Naties (FAO). In mei namen de voedselprijzen ook al iets af ten opzichte van het hoogste punt in drie jaar in april.

De voedselprijzen liepen in april flink op door de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten en de afsluiting van de Straat van Hormuz. Door het voorlopige staakt-het-vuren tussen de Verenigde Staten en Iran en de heropening van de Straat van Hormuz zijn de zorgen over verdere verstoringen van de toeleveringsketens echter afgenomen.

De FAO-voedselprijsindex, die als wereldwijde graadmeter voor de voedselprijzen geldt, daalde in juni met 0,3 procent ten opzichte van mei, met name door een daling van de prijzen van graan en suiker. De index ligt wel 1,7 procent hoger dan een jaar geleden, maar staat nog steeds bijna 19 procent onder het record dat werd bereikt na de Russische inval in Oekraïne in maart 2022.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) mag bedrijven die de gasopslag in Grijpskerk willen gebruiken, niet verplichten om mee te betalen aan afwikkeling van aardbevingsschade in Groningen. De Autoriteit Consument & Markt (ACM) heeft bepaald dat deze voorwaarde onredelijk is, omdat de NAM aansprakelijk is voor de schade.

De ACM zegt deze maatregel te hebben genomen om ervoor te zorgen dat bedrijven vrije toegang hebben tot de gasopslag in Grijpskerk, zodat deze voor de komende winter gevuld kan worden. Enkele maanden geleden bood de NAM de ondergrondse opslagplek aan tot 1 april 2027, maar het lukte niet om snel een overeenkomst te sluiten.

Vanwege de gestegen gasprijzen door de Iraanse blokkade van de Straat van Hormuz is de gasprijs flink opgelopen en is het duurder geworden om gas in te kopen voor komende winter. Energiebedrijven zijn daarom terughoudender met het aanvullen van de voorraad. De Nederlandse gasopslagen zijn momenteel voor 26,4 procent gevuld.

• Nagelsmann agrees to quit following World Cup exit

• Klopp to begin discussions over return to management

Julian Nagelsmann has agreed to step down as Germany’s head coach following the team’s disappointing showing at the World Cup, paving the way for Jürgen Klopp to replace the 38-year-old.

Nagelsmann agreed to leave the post he took over from Hansi Flick a little under three years ago following talks with German Football Association (DFB) officials at their headquarters in Frankfurt on Thursday. The DFB said in a statement that Nagelsmann contract, which ran through to the 2028 European Championship, would end with immediate effect and that Klopp “has already indicated his fundamental readiness to take over the position”. Klopp has been working as a pundit for German TV at the World Cup.

Continue reading...

Singer and fiance Travis Kelce have been coy but festivities appear to be getting under way at Madison Square Garden

In her hit song Welcome to New York, Taylor Swift sings: “Like any great love, it keeps you guessing.”

The megastar has certainly done that this week, as preparations got under way for what appears to be a giant wedding at Madison Square Gardens in New York. Vans unloading flowers, food, and what looks like the makings of a massive, white fairytale castle, have been seen outside the arena in recent days.

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America at 250 is not a finished monument, but a structure still under repair

To call this Saturday the nation’s 250th birthday is to indulge a comfortable fiction. 1776 was a declaration, not a birth certificate – and the founders wrote its claims of human equality while this nation enslaved human beings. A truer account of American freedom runs through 1619 and Juneteenth, when Americans forced the country, at last, to begin making its promises answerable to reality.

So I’m not in the mood to celebrate “America 250”, and I’m not alone. The affection is thin this summer: the Pew Research Center found that 69% of Americans were dissatisfied with the country’s direction early this year. That is not ingratitude. Sometimes a sour mood is simply clear vision.

Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist

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Thomas Tuchel needs to slow game down so his side can handle altitude challenge – it is time for the low block

If any win will do then England do not have to worry about putting on an exhibition of attacking football against Mexico. They have no time to acclimatise to the altitude in Mexico City and will have to box clever if they are to handle the challenge of playing at more than 7,000ft (2,200m) above sea level at the Azteca Stadium.

No wonder Thomas Tuchel predicted this World Cup would be defined by suffering. England have prepared for the heat in the US but they are about to step into new territory. Mexico, rampant in their last-32 tie against Ecuador, are close to unstoppable at the Azteca. They have lost there twice in 89 competitive games, will be backed by a passionate crowd and have a physical advantage because of the altitude.

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They are a delightful cross between a raspberry and a blackberry – and fruit abundantly with the right care

This time last year, when my veg patch was feeling chaotic, I decided to make a big and fairly consequential change to my setup – devoting one of my five annual beds to perennial fruit. I figured that it would be less effort, more bang-for-your-buck and, importantly, less water and resource-intensive once the plants were settled in. It felt very daring to give up the sunniest bed in a relatively small space but now that the tayberries are here, I’m seeing that my bold decision has really paid off.

Tayberries are a delightful cross between a raspberry and a blackberry that grows vigorously and fruits abundantly with the right care. I purchased my tayberries as small potted plants, although it tends to be cheaper to buy them as bare root stock in winter. If you’re fortunate enough to know someone who has an established tayberry, plants can be readily propagated through tip layering – rooting long branches when they touch the ground.

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New York mayor’s remarks at city hall to come just hours before Trump is set to deliver address at Mount Rushmore

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, is expected to deliver a speech on Friday morning to mark America’s 250th birthday.

The address, scheduled to begin at 10am local time and streamed live, will be delivered from behind George Washington’s desk in New York city hall. Mamdani will be surrounded by recently naturalized citizens.

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Nearly a third of corporate leaders report difficulty understanding and controlling operating costs when implementing business AI at scale, according to a survey from KPMG. In recent months, Anthropic, OpenAI, and GitHub have shifted some services away from flat-rate subscriptions toward usage-based billing. "As usage-based pricing models become more common, many organizations are still building the capabilities required to forecast, monitor, and manage AI spending effectively," KPMG said. The survey of 2,145 senior leaders across 20 countries found that 29 percent struggle to understand their operating costs as they scale their enterprise AI deployments. A third of senior corporate leaders also identified limited understanding of AI costs and economics as a challenge to deploying AI agents. Businesses are rethinking their AI plans in the face of changing cost structures and rising fees. The research also found nearly half of organizations have rephased AI deployments when costs have outweighed the expected value. Lower-cost, high-fidelity models are the fastest-growing influence on AI strategy, up 7 percentage points from Q1. "These actions do not signal reduced confidence in AI. Rather, they suggest a growing willingness to evaluate where AI creates meaningful value and where it does not. Organizations appear increasingly focused on concentrating investment where expected returns are strongest," the report said. Amazon plans capital expenditure of around $200 billion this year, largely to provide capacity for AI in its AWS datacenters, an increase of 50 percent on a year earlier. Microsoft's total capex is expected to reach $190 billion, up 61 percent from the previous year. Both companies are now investing significantly in forward-deployed engineering to help customers develop AI applications that will generate demand for the capacity being built. Amazon has announced a $1 billion investment in an AWS Forward Deployed Engineering organization help customers adopt AI agents and reduce timelines for deployment. Microsoft is providing $2.5 billion in funding for a new operating entity called Microsoft Frontier Company, "enabling customers to amplify their IQ with AI while refining their differentiated value in the markets that they serve." In the KPMG report, challenges remain around AI governance: the question of who takes responsibility for decisions made by statistical models prone to erroneous outputs – or "hallucinate," as tech vendors would prefer. KPMG said executive accountability is important, but "governance ultimately succeeds or fails through day-to-day operating practices." "Organizations need clear rules for when employees can intervene, who owns AI-related costs, how AI outputs are reviewed and what happens when systems fail. While most organizations report having at least some governance mechanisms in place, relatively few describe these practices as fully embedded," the report said. Perhaps the tech consultancy and services giant speaks from experience. Last month, research outfit GPTZero claimed a forensic review of KPMG's October 2025 report, "Total Experience: Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI," found that only five of its 45 citations pointed accurately to the cited source. The rest contained errors ranging from misleading or invented details to references that were too vague to verify. KPMG later removed the report from some of its websites and issued a statement. "KPMG International takes the accuracy and integrity of its published content seriously. The report has been removed and we are reviewing the circumstances surrounding its publication. We expect all our people to follow our guidelines on the responsible use of AI, including human oversight to validate content and verify independent sources," a spokesperson said. ®

​Een flinke tegenvaller voor Meike (28) uit Nieuwkoop: ze heeft ontdekt dat ze helemaal niet zo close is met Taylor Swift. Hoewel ze naar eigen zeggen al jaren een zeer goede band met de Amerikaanse zangeres onderhoudt, heeft ze geen uitnodiging gekregen voor de bruiloft met Travis Kelce. En dat steekt.

“Ik ben naar haar concert geweest, koop al die albums – zelfs de limited edition-versies – en laat regelmatig een hartje of een vlamemoji achter op haar Instagram-pagina. Dan bouw je wel een band op, zou je zeggen”, vertelt Meike geërgerd. “Maar nee hoor, ik moet uit de media vernemen dat ze dit weekend gaat trouwen in Madison Square Garden. En dan lees ik dat Graham Norton, Selena Gomez en Ed fucking Sheeran wél zijn uitgenodigd. Tja.”

Wat Meike betreft is de relatie nu flink bekoeld. “Ik hoef voorlopig even helemaal niks van haar te horen. Ze hoeft straks ook geen like te verwachten op een Instagram-post over haar huwelijksreis. Nee, wat mij betreft is het even klaar nu. Ik wilde haar nog een uitnodiging sturen voor mijn 29ste verjaardag in restaurant De Beren in Alphen aan den Rijn, maar die kan ze nu op haar buik schrijven.”

​

&

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

peaceful-jp-scenery posted a photo:

Hakuba Goryu Alpine Botanical Garden
白馬五竜高山植物園・ノモカリスフォレスティ

It was a rare flower that had a leopard print pattern.

豹柄の模様が現れるお花です。

Hakuba-mura, Nagano pref, Japan

peaceful-jp-scenery has added a photo to the pool:

Hakuba Goryu Alpine Botanical Garden
白馬五竜高山植物園・ノモカリスフォレスティ

It was a rare flower that had a leopard print pattern.

豹柄の模様が現れるお花です。

Hakuba-mura, Nagano pref, Japan