Travellers caught up in ongoing migration row as Madrid introduces retaliatory measures on visitors from Italy after Rome imposed checks
Italy’s foreign minister has called Spain’s decision to impose retaliatory checks on travellers from Italy “incomprehensible and completely unacceptable” as people making their way between the two EU countries were left grappling with the fallout of the escalating feud.
Spain started carrying out spot checks on visitors from Italy at midnight on Saturday. The tit-for-tat move came after Rome infuriated Madrid by launching checks on 1 August for travellers from Spain in response to the recent influx of about 72,000 people into Ceuta, a Spanish territory in north Africa.
Continue reading...Locarno film festival
A couple attempting to leave Ukraine when the war encounter gender identity issues in this bold and challenging film
A movie’s themes could hardly be more urgent and contemporary than those on offer in this entirely absorbing film from German director Isabelle Stever and Ukrainian critic turned screenwriter Anna Melikova. It’s a bulletin from the frontline of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and from the culture war too. It is about identity and choices made in peacetime when less was at stake. There is a bold and brilliant premise that may at first look artificially satirical but is actually inspired.
When Russia begins its attack, the crisis is very specific for a scared young Ukrainian couple, recently engaged: Olya (Tania Myronyshena) and Oleh (Markus Bright). As bombs rain down, they head west in the cramped car of Olya’s elderly mum and dad – with Olya grumpily objecting to her dad’s sexist comments from behind the wheel about female drivers – to stay with Olya’s sister, who is married with a young baby and whose husband, to her fury, has joined up. Oleh’s plan is to get out of Ukraine and live with Olya in the safety of Germany and the EU.
Continue reading...Imports this year now account for 14% of the market amid claims vehicles are being dumped in the EU and UK
Chinese electric car sales have risen across Europe to a record high driven by strong demand and low tariffs in the UK and a surge in buyers in Italy.
Against a backdrop of claims that Chinese carmakers are “dumping” state-subsidised vehicles in the EU and UK to gain market share, the figures will give impetus to calls for quotas and higher tariffs to protect European manufacturers.
Continue reading...Shadow justice secretary says artist should foot bill, while others say his murals make art accessible
Three Banksy artworks have cost taxpayers almost £150,000 in cleaning, security and other costs, with the bill expected to rise.
The largest bill relates to a mural painted on the Royal Courts of Justice in London in September 2025, where efforts to remove it and provide security have so far cost more than £85,000, according to the BBC.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Analysis shows 55% of accounts were located overseas – and seven of 12 most-read posts came from US
More than half the accounts that posted on Elon Musk’s X about the rioting in Belfast and the civil disorder in Southampton in June were based outside the UK, an analysis by the Guardian can reveal.
Of the 8,672 accounts whose combined posts about the events exceeded 1,000 views, just 45.3% were shown as from the UK, according to the social media platform’s own location function.
Continue reading...
Na afloop van de Rotterdamse derby sprak Giovanni van Bronckhorst op de persconferentie over de gewonnen wedstrijd. De trainer van Feyenoord vond dat zijn ploeg de wedstrijd al wat eerder had kunnen beslissen en vertelt waarom de keuze op Luciano Valente is gevallen voor het aanvoerderschap.
Na afloop van de Rotterdamse derby sprak Giovanni van Bronckhorst op de persconferentie over de gewonnen wedstrijd. De trainer van Feyenoord vond dat zijn ploeg de wedstrijd al wat eerder had kunnen beslissen en vertelt waarom de keuze op Luciano Valente is gevallen voor het aanvoerderschap.
Op het spoor bij Hoek van Holland is zondagmiddag een metro stilgevallen. De metro kwam stil te staan door een defect aan de bovenleiding. Het voertuig moest worden ontruimd, omdat het binnen erg warm werd. Ruim een uur lang kon er geen gebruik worden gemaakt van het spoor.
Greg Adams Photography posted a photo:
Reflections of Notre Dame in the window of a Parisian wine shop.
Paris, France, 2015
‘De graanrepubliek’, het boek van Frank Westerman, is door theatergroep Zummerbühne uit Groningen bewerkt tot een voorstelling op locatie. Midden in een graanveld in Oost-Groningen voeren ze het stuk op, met een bijzonder decorstuk: een negen meter hoog beeld van Lenin. Daar is niet iedereen blij mee.
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Ik las het nieuws over de 'koopzegelrel' in 'De Stentor' die in een café in Lochem op tafel lag en wierp de krant van me af. Is dit wie wij zijn? Zijn het dan de koopzegeltjes die de inwoners van dit land op de barricaden krijgen?
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Omdat we toch liever hebben dat u het van ons hoort en niet van ALLE ANDERE MEDIA, woensdag is de zon eventjes foetsie. Dat kon er ook nog wel bij in deze totaal apocalyptische Zomer Des Doods; het licht gaat ons letterlijk verlaten. Maar het komt als het goed is ook weer terug, na een paar minuten. Nou horen we u al denken 'wat een uitgelezen mogelijkheid om eens heerlijk onze blote irissen minutenlang tot de verdwenen zon te richten', maar dat mag dus niet van Big Eclipsbril. Wilt u nou weten wat u allemaal wel moet doen, waar dat kan, hoe laat, met wie en wat u erbij kunt drinken, lees dan gewoon ff bij het AD, NOS, RTL Nieuws, de Volkskrant, Parool Hart van Nederland, Hart van Nederland, Nu punt nl, MAX Vakantieman, Loon-op-zand-nieuws.nl, alle andere regionale en lokale sufferds of speel safe en kijk woensdag gewoon de NOS LIVESTREAM. Mist u het onverhoopt, geen zorgen. In 2081 krijgt u gewoon een nieuwe kans.
Wij allemaal, woensdag:
Social
Dozens of Flock cameras have been vandalized around Dallas Texas in the last six months, reports a local news station. In Utah, ABC News reports, a county sheriff's office even said Wednesday a Flock camera was even vandalized within days of its being installed. And in the Minnesota city of Winona, "Every Flock license plate reader camera operated by the Winona Police Department has been sawed off and stolen in what investigators believe was a coordinated theft," according to local media:
All eight cameras were taken August 1, according to the Winona Police Department. A patrol officer first noticed the cameras had not sent any alerts in 24 hours. When officers checked the locations, they found the cameras had been cut from their poles and taken. The poles were left behind.
Two additional Flock cameras on the Mississippi River Bridge, owned by Buffalo County, were also stolen in the same manner...
The thefts are part of a broader national trend. Flock cameras have been vandalized and cut down in communities across the country.
When someone in Florida filmed a damaged Flock camera lying in the grass in Florida, their footage attracted 980,000 views on social media, according to a local news report, with the uploader saying "Most of the people that are commenting are against Flock cameras." But that report adds it's one of at least five cameras recently damaged just in Florida:
- In another incident, investigators "found the black camera and its pole lying on the ground."
- Two days later, sheriff's deputies found a camera destroyed "with pieces scattered on the ground. Deputies reported the damage appeared to have been caused by a blunt object."
- On July 31, "Police said two camera poles had been intentionally cut in half, causing an estimated $10,000 in damage to the system."
In West Virginia 20-year-old Wesley Jackson has been arrested for allegedly vandalizing Flock cameras, with another 20-year-old (a university student) now arrested for being his accomplice, according to a local news report. Ironically, Jackson's arrest was made possible partly by information from... automated license plate readers.
But the Washington Post notes there's now a flood of Facebook commenters jokingly offering to provide a fake alibi:
"Couldn't have been him — we were out counting blades of grass," said one of the 29,000 commenters on a post about the arrest from the local news station WDTV. Others attested that the man, Wesley Jackson, had been helping them "replace the roof on a homeless shelter," "playing halo 2," "changing the tires" on their car or giving their "doggie a treat" at the time the cameras were destroyed.
Meanwhile, the anti-surveillance group DeFlock reports 100 communities have now rejected automated license plate readers. Wednesday an Arizona county sheriff explained to his local Board of Supervisors why he will not renew his office's contract with Flock when it expires next month. Local Arizona media reports:
"We have a camera system that can do facial recognition technology and can start building a data set on what our citizens are doing on a day-to-day basis," Teeple told supervisors. "That, in my training and experience, is a huge Fourth Amendment violation."
Recently an Arizona man even told his city council he'd be launching AI-powered satellites to monitor "where government officials go, where they stop, who they meet with, and when they return home," reports 404 Media:
It would be no different than how the city monitors its citizens using Flock cameras, he said...
He said he'd already started compiling profiles on their vehicles, spouses vehicles, children's vehicles, and planned to combine that data with Bluetooth signals, advertising IDs, and commercial data sources, "so our authorized users can replay the movements of every government official and their immediate family," he said. Local businesses would be invited to join the network, to "protect" officials while they shop, eat at restaurants, and move around the city.
And CNET reports "a quiet battle is happening across the US" between "towns working to adopt Flock Safety systems and those trying to ban them entirely."
From major cities like Los Angeles canceling its Flock contract to towns wrapping Flock AI cams in plastic bags because Flock won't take them down, it's a wild time for surveillance and questions about government accountability.
All eight cameras were taken August 1, according to the Winona Police Department. A patrol officer first noticed the cameras had not sent any alerts in 24 hours. When officers checked the locations, they found the cameras had been cut from their poles and taken. The poles were left behind.
Two additional Flock cameras on the Mississippi River Bridge, owned by Buffalo County, were also stolen in the same manner...
The thefts are part of a broader national trend. Flock cameras have been vandalized and cut down in communities across the country.
When someone in Florida filmed a damaged Flock camera lying in the grass in Florida, their footage attracted 980,000 views on social media, according to a local news report, with the uploader saying "Most of the people that are commenting are against Flock cameras." But that report adds it's one of at least five cameras recently damaged just in Florida:
- In another incident, investigators "found the black camera and its pole lying on the ground."
- Two days later, sheriff's deputies found a camera destroyed "with pieces scattered on the ground. Deputies reported the damage appeared to have been caused by a blunt object."
- On July 31, "Police said two camera poles had been intentionally cut in half, causing an estimated $10,000 in damage to the system."
In West Virginia 20-year-old Wesley Jackson has been arrested for allegedly vandalizing Flock cameras, with another 20-year-old (a university student) now arrested for being his accomplice, according to a local news report. Ironically, Jackson's arrest was made possible partly by information from... automated license plate readers.
But the Washington Post notes there's now a flood of Facebook commenters jokingly offering to provide a fake alibi:
"Couldn't have been him — we were out counting blades of grass," said one of the 29,000 commenters on a post about the arrest from the local news station WDTV. Others attested that the man, Wesley Jackson, had been helping them "replace the roof on a homeless shelter," "playing halo 2," "changing the tires" on their car or giving their "doggie a treat" at the time the cameras were destroyed.
Meanwhile, the anti-surveillance group DeFlock reports 100 communities have now rejected automated license plate readers. Wednesday an Arizona county sheriff explained to his local Board of Supervisors why he will not renew his office's contract with Flock when it expires next month. Local Arizona media reports:
"We have a camera system that can do facial recognition technology and can start building a data set on what our citizens are doing on a day-to-day basis," Teeple told supervisors. "That, in my training and experience, is a huge Fourth Amendment violation."
Recently an Arizona man even told his city council he'd be launching AI-powered satellites to monitor "where government officials go, where they stop, who they meet with, and when they return home," reports 404 Media:
It would be no different than how the city monitors its citizens using Flock cameras, he said...
He said he'd already started compiling profiles on their vehicles, spouses vehicles, children's vehicles, and planned to combine that data with Bluetooth signals, advertising IDs, and commercial data sources, "so our authorized users can replay the movements of every government official and their immediate family," he said. Local businesses would be invited to join the network, to "protect" officials while they shop, eat at restaurants, and move around the city.
And CNET reports "a quiet battle is happening across the US" between "towns working to adopt Flock Safety systems and those trying to ban them entirely."
From major cities like Los Angeles canceling its Flock contract to towns wrapping Flock AI cams in plastic bags because Flock won't take them down, it's a wild time for surveillance and questions about government accountability.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.