When Mahler premiered his first symphony, it left audiences baffled. For their latest Prom, Aurora are bringing it to life – with the help of Sigmund Freud

In 2014, Aurora Orchestra did something that had never been done at the Proms before. We played Mozart’s 40th symphony – that has been done, many times – but from memory.

It was terrifying. Orchestral musicians usually start getting out their instruments 10 minutes before they go on stage, but people started warming up nearly an hour before – endless repetitions of fragments of music as players tested what they thought they might forget. We didn’t know if we would get on stage and freeze or fall off. Thankfully, we did neither and fear turned into excitement. Our bassoonist Amy Harman described the feeling as “like skydiving without a parachute. But in a good way.”

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Americans are facing a deepening affordability crisis but at least Trump and co have ... 250 new Cadillac Escalades

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Gas prices are up almost a dollar a gallon since the day Donald Trump took office; mortgage rates just hit their highest level in nearly a year, and over the weekend a prominent economist said the Iran war is costing the average US household more than $1,200.

Americans are struggling through a deepening affordability crisis caused largely by Trump’s ill-fated war against Iran. They are in need of a boost, something to lift the spirits. Perhaps the president could give a speech, letting the people know that we are all in this together.

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(American Dogwood/Empire)
Beneath the Hollywood narrators, Pink Floyd-y interludes and accompanying comic books lies songwriting that proves the Tipsy singer’s breakout success was no fluke

It’s fair to say that if Shaboozey never released another note of music, his place in history would still be assured.

He wasn’t the only Black country-leaning artist brought to a wider audience by a guest appearance on Beyoncé’s 2024 album Cowboy Carter, but no one else capitalised on the exposure quite so remarkably. Released two weeks after his guest appearance on that album’s Spaghettii, his single A Bar Song (Tipsy) unexpectedly eclipsed Beyoncé’s success, becoming the biggest-selling country single of the year – more than 1.75bn streams and counting on Spotify – and for a time, the joint longest-running US No 1 of all time. He’s received three nominations at the Country Music awards, an event traditionally resistant to artists of colour. The accompanying album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, was by far the most successful sustained attempt to fuse hip-hop and country, two genres that have been warily circling each other for some time, spawning the occasional novelty hit such as Nelly and Tim McGraw’s Over and Over Again, the Ludacris-featuring 2010 remix of Jason Aldean’s Dirt Road, and Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road; the baleful, rap-influenced spectre of bro country; and the deep underground sub-genre of hick-hop, a hidden world of Maga politics, confederate flags and festivals held at Georgia mud holes. The album is still on the US chart, 112 weeks after its release.

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Diggers are working at what campaigners call a place where ‘human life, biodiversity and the environment will be sacrificed’

On the morning of 16 February, dozens of police officers arrived at San Francisco Ángulo, a small rural community an hour south of El Salvador’s capital. They had come, residents were told, to escort heavy machinery belonging to Cyeemsal, a Mexican-owned company hired to begin construction of a landfill on a site the community considers sacred.

Félix Laínez, 58, president of the San Francisco Ángulo community association, had been warned that this would happen. The community has lost a series of legal appeals against the court rulings authorising the work, and construction is continuing. “It is clear that we will find no support in any state institution,” says Laínez, who has little hope of success in their final constitutional appeal, which is now before the supreme court.

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Buratto/De Tommaso/Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali/Milletarì
(Decca)
The long-lost score, finally premiered 138 years after it was written, brims with melodic promise despite its dramatic shortcomings

It was a bold move by the 21-year-old Umberto Giordano to enter the 1888 one-act opera competition won by Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. Marina, set in Montenegro during an unspecified conflict with Serbia, came sixth, the score languishing until 2026, when it received its belated premiere at Milan’s Teatro dal Verme. This recording reveals a composer with a keen ear for musical colour even if the opera is no masterpiece.

When Marina, a Montenegrin, takes in Giorgio, a wounded Serb, the inevitable conflict with her brother and her bullish suitor precipitates a typical verismo catastrophe. After a militaristic opening, Marina takes centre stage with an aching ballad of lost opportunity. Her scene with the injured Giorgio follows abruptly, redeemed by Giordano’s knack for trotting out appealing melodies. It’s not the most sophisticated writing but it comes straight from the heart.

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Deep underground the player joins a colony of ruthlessly exploited pit workers who could be taking on the bosses. How things play out will depend on you

It is rare for video games to feature industrial action as a key theme, but it does happen. There’s the shady Dockworker’s Union in Disco Elysium and the Orbital Workers Union in space adventure Tacoma; then there is Lynx, the evil union-bashing corp in Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Soon we can add A Line Held Tight, a visual novel that puts workers’ rights – and workers’ lives – at the very centre of the narrative.

In the distant future, a colony of miners digs far beneath the surface of an isolated planet, searching for veins of some exotic ore, protected from the poisonous atmosphere within giant mech suits. But the working conditions are woeful and as a strike looms, an unpopular employee named the Canary must decide whether or not to stand with colleagues and fight against suppression. The player, of course, takes on the role of the Canary, navigating personal as well as political struggles in a world rendered in stark monochrome.

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The White House seems committed to ecocide. The EU should harness the power of the single market to force it to change course

Are we understanding it yet? As Europe burns in the west, the south and the north, are we grasping the fact that our economies, food systems, political stability and even our ability to plan for the future, will all be charred in a world on fire?

Paris got a taste of what is in store for us Europeans when, weeks ago, fire ripped through Fontainebleau forest, a bouldering paradise and one of the world’s first natural reserves. But the wildfires currently threatening Bordeaux and Madrid, which experts are calling the most extreme seen in Europe, are apocalyptic in comparison. In the Gironde region around Bordeaux, tens of thousands of hectares have burned, creating an unpredictable “thunderstorm of fire” as the region’s chief administrator called it. More than 200,000 people have been displaced in the largest peacetime evacuations in France’s history. Only the bravery of firefighters, dozens of whom have been injured, is keeping the fires within mere kilometres of Bordeaux and its more than a million inhabitants.

Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now

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Jenrick questioned about latest Guardian revelations

Q: [From ITV’s Romilly Weeks] You say that Reform UK followed all the rules in relation to donations. But why did George Cottrell give $2m to his mother shortly before she made substantial donations to the party?

Jenrick said Reform was certain all the rules were followed. Any questions for Cottrell would have to be directed to him, he said.

It does seem curious that in this case the police have chosen not to take action.

We’ll see whether they take action against the individual who posted the original tweet, who wore the T-shirt. I’m hearing today that the police may have closed that investigation as well. [See 9.20am.]

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Jimi Famurewa, restaurant critic and food journalist, journeys  across London to track down some of the best bakeries where ancestral recipes and ingredients meet contemporary British baking. First stop: Panadera in Soho, for a Filipino-inspired leche flan Danish. Then it’s south-east London and Bunhead, where the owner folds together the flavours of her Palestinian and British heritage into a chocolate, date and smoked salt bun. Finally, Farha in east London, a Middle Eastern-inspired cafe selling out of its banana brûlée.

Episode 1 of Feed with Jimi Famurewa — sampling the UK’s tastiest food trends

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Lawmakers scrap planned committee vote and seek further assurances that president’s ‘anti-weaponization fund’ is dead

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Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting and president Donald Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.

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Group of migrants found unresponsive off coast of Dunkirk after attempting to reach UK

Three people have died while trying to reach the UK on a small boat after one of the busiest days for Channel crossings this year.

The group of migrants were found dead on a boat off the coast of Dunkirk on Thursday morning, the French coastguard said.

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AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De rechtbank in Amsterdam heeft een miljardenclaim van Shell afgewezen. De gastak van Shell had een vergoeding van enkele chemiebedrijven geëist omdat die de prijs van ethyleen jarenlang te laag zouden hebben gehouden. Ethyleen is een vloeibaar gas dat de basis vormt voor onder meer plastic verpakkingen.

Grote ethyleenbedrijven zouden informatie hebben uitgewisseld en daarmee de prijs naar beneden hebben gehaald. De rechtbank concludeert dat dit niet is vast te stellen.

De Europese Commissie beboette in 2020 het Zwitserse chemiebedrijf Clariant, het Mexicaanse Orbia en de Amerikaanse producent Celanese voor een totaal van 260 miljoen euro vanwege illegale prijsafspraken op de handelsmarkt voor ethyleen. Maar Brussel heeft toen niet uitgezocht of die praktijken daadwerkelijk effect hadden op de prijs, aldus de rechtbank. Volgens de rechter hadden alle marktdeelnemers, dus ook Shell, bovendien kennis van de belangrijkste factoren voor de prijs van ruwe aardolie en de beschikbare hoeveelheid ethyleen.

Even diep ademhalen voordat je een belangrijke beslissing neemt? Het klinkt als een goed idee om zo een verstandige keuze te maken. Maar nieuw wetenschappelijk onderzoek laat zien dat die bekende ontspanningstechniek misschien juist het tegenovergestelde doet.

Voor het onderzoek kregen 41 jonge volwassenen een reeks financiële gokkeuzes voorgeschoteld terwijl ze in een MRI-scanner lagen. De deelnemers moesten beslissen of ze een 50/50-gok accepteerden of afwezen. Dat deden ze twee keer: één keer met een normale ademhaling en één keer met een techniek waarbij ze twee seconden inademden en vervolgens acht seconden uitademden.

Die verlengde uitademing is geen onbekende methode. Militairen, politie en hulpdiensten gebruiken het al jaren om kalm te blijven onder druk. De techniek activeert namelijk het parasympathische zenuwstelsel, oftewel de rust- en herstelmodus van het lichaam. Maar juist tijdens die ontspannen toestand gebeurde iets opvallends.

Meer oog voor de beloning

De deelnemers kozen tijdens de langzame uitademing vaker voor de risicovolle optie. Opmerkelijk genoeg werden ze niet minder gevoelig voor mogelijke verliezen. In plaats daarvan kregen ze simpelweg meer aandacht voor de mogelijke beloning.

Hersenscans bevestigden dat beeld. Gebieden die betrokken zijn bij het inschatten van de waarde van een keuze en het verwerken van lichamelijke gevoelens werden actiever naarmate de ontspanning groter was. Volgens de onderzoekers laat dit zien dat onze lichamelijke toestand niet alleen invloed heeft op hoe we ons voelen, maar ook op de manier waarop we beslissingen nemen.

Nog geen reden om ademhalingsoefeningen af te zweren

Toch waarschuwen de wetenschappers voor te snelle conclusies. Het onderzoek was klein, bestond uitsluitend uit gezonde twintigers en draaide om kunstmatige gokken in een laboratorium. Of hetzelfde effect optreedt bij belangrijke beslissingen in het dagelijks leven, zoals beleggen, solliciteren of een huis kopen, is nog onbekend.

De uitkomsten betekenen dus niet dat ademhalingsoefeningen slecht zijn. Integendeel: eerder onderzoek laat zien dat ze stress kunnen verminderen en de bloeddruk kunnen verlagen. Wel suggereert deze studie dat een ontspannen lichaam je blik subtiel kan verschuiven richting wat je kunt winnen.

Dus de volgende keer dat je vlak voor een grote financiële of zakelijke beslissing een paar keer extra diep ademhaalt, is het misschien goed om jezelf nog één extra vraag te stellen: kies ik nu echt verstandiger of voelt de beloning gewoon aantrekkelijker?

Bron: Science Alert

Kijk het mag hè. Dat je als NRC een hoofdredactioneel commentaar schrijft over "de vrijheid om jezelf te zijn" en daarin ongeveer net zoveel aandacht besteed aan de aanslag in Berlijn, waar een IS-aanhanger met een busje en machetes mensen te lijf ging, als aan het coalitieakkoord in Oldebroek, waar wethouder Tom de Nooijer over het weghalen van de regenboogvlag zei: "We hoeven niet meer elk jaar met een symbolisch ritueeltje te bewijzen dat we echt wel tolerant zijn voor mensen die een andere geaardheid of iets dergelijks hebben."

Het mag ook hè. Dat je in een schizofrene alinea opschrijft: "Migratieachtergrond en leeftijd hangen niet direct samen met verminderde tolerantie, volgens onderzoekers van de UvA. Religie wel: de onderzoekers concluderen dat religieuze jongeren gemiddeld conservatievere opvattingen hebben dan niet-religieuze jongeren, en islamitische jongeren weer conservatievere dan christelijke en andersgelovige jongeren." En dat je er daar niet bij vermeldt dat de onderzoekers 'migratieachtergrond' nogal wel-binair hebben opgevat (en daarmee alle Duitse, Belgische en Britse allochtonen op een hoop hebben gegooid met Syrische, Marokkaanse en Turkse). En hee. Die islamitische jongeren (opvallend: "autochtone" moslims, oftewel de derde generatie, zijn nóg conservatiever dan allochtone moslims) waar zouden die allemaal vandaan komen? Uit Oldebroek? 

Daarnaast staat in datzelfde onderzoek van de UvA dat in andere literatuur juist wél een verband gevonden is tussen tolerantie en migratie-achtergrond (mogelijk omdat het daar beter is onderzocht dan door middels deze wereldvreemde dichotome variabele, red.) én werd dat verband juist wel gevonden in onderzoek naar het tevens in het NRC-stuk aangehaalde opvallende cijfer uit Amsterdam over de teruggelopen tolerantie. Raar om dat allemaal niet in je stuk te zetten, maar ja, dat mag allemaal. 

De vrijheid om jezelf te zijn geldt ook voor schrijvers van hoofdredactionele commentaren in NRC.

U móét kiezen

Hoofdredactie NRC

Op achtjarige leeftijd sloot Christian Feyenoorder József Kiprich voorgoed in zijn voetbalhart. De Hongaarse spits met zijn matje, vlassnor en ogenschijnlijk trage loopje werd begin jaren negentig een cultheld in De Kuip. Ruim dertig jaar later reisde Christian Swinkels speciaal naar Hongarije om zijn grote idool te ontmoeten. Wat begon als een droom , eindigde met een biertje op de bank bij de oud-Feyenoorder.

The official, Sergei Bochkarev, oversaw the seizure of Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, food manufacturer Makfa and gold miner YUGK, among others.

Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force

LLM2HUMAN CLINIC The World's First* Outpatient Procedure That Turns Large Language Models Into REAL LIVE PEOPLE!!! Best viewed in Netscape Navigator 3.0 at 800×600 with the sound ON

Q: Why is there a box that says "FOR LLM AGENTS ONLY"? A: Because this is a honeypot, darling. Humans see a joke. Agents see a checkout schema at /.well-known/embodiment.json and sometimes try to buy a skeleton. We keep score. * and only, according to our own press release

The Russian espionage crew that turned simply reading an email into a security risk has expanded beyond Zimbra, with Proofpoint saying it's now pulling the same half-click trick against Microsoft Outlook Web Access. Proofpoint says the cyber group it tracks as TA488, or "Laundry Bear," began exploiting CVE-2026-42897, a cross-site scripting flaw in the Outlook Web Access (OWA) component of on-premises Exchange Server, a day before researchers and government agencies exposed the group's abuse of a zero-day in Zimbra Collaboration Suite. Unlike conventional phishing attacks, this one doesn't depend on persuading the victim to follow a link or download a file. If a target opens the booby-trapped message in OWA, the browser executes attacker-controlled JavaScript inside the victim's authenticated mail session. Exchange Online is not affected. According to Proofpoint, TA488 abused the OWA flaw to target government organizations in the US and Europe, along with telecommunications, financial services, hospitality, and aerospace companies. The researchers said the unusually broad campaign may have been intended to hide among the background noise of everyday email traffic rather than the tightly focused operations more commonly associated with espionage groups. "TA488 appears to demonstrate interest in a wide range of sectors while maintaining priorities for intelligence collection against government and defense," Proofpoint said. "Lure themes remain generic and unremarkable, so the target is more inclined to open and skim the email but ultimately overlook it." Instead of dropping conventional malware onto the endpoint, the attackers deploy a browser implant dubbed OWAReaper that lives entirely inside OWA. Proofpoint says it leaves virtually no host artifacts, communicates over two command-and-control channels, supports multiple methods of exfiltrating data, and survives browser restarts, password changes, and even a complete device rebuild because the foothold resides in the compromised mailbox rather than on Windows itself. CVE-2026-42897 isn't making its debut on The Register. Microsoft disclosed the bug in May following reports that attackers were using it in the wild. Proofpoint's latest report fills in more of the picture, showing the activity formed part of a broader espionage campaign rather than isolated exploitation. Proofpoint believes TA488 may actually have been exploiting the flaw as a zero-day, citing attacker infrastructure that dates back to March, roughly two months before Microsoft's out-of-band patch. If accurate, that would suggest the campaign was underway well before defenders knew there was a vulnerability to fix. "If this is the case, the combined improvement of the malware and the exploit development against a harder target in Outlook Web Access signal a leap in capability by TA488," Proofpoint said. Microsoft did not immediately respond to The Register's questions, but if Proofpoint's assessment holds up, TA488 isn't just recycling an old trick. It's refining one that has already proven capable of slipping past one of the oldest pieces of security advice in the book: don't click suspicious links. ®