Radio and TV presenter, who recovered from cancer in 2024, announces she has smouldering myeloma
Lauren Laverne has announced she has been diagnosed with a blood and bone marrow disorder, less than two years after recovering from cancer.
The radio and TV presenter revealed she has smouldering myeloma, a condition characterised by an abnormal level of blood plasma cells in bone marrow, and said she made her diagnosis public out of a desire to help others. In August 2024, she announced she had been diagnosed with cancer, and received the all-clear three months later.
Christopher Nolan’s star-studded take on Homer’s Odyssey has received rave reviews from critics and is one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year. The three-hour Imax blockbuster has an estimated budget of $250m and a star-studded cast including Matt Damon, Zendaya and Tom Holland. But will it live up to expectations? Annie Kelly speaks to film editor Catherine Shoard
Larkin, Harrison and Shakespeare shaped Labour’s leader. Now comes the harder task: turning language into lasting change
Andy Burnham is finally Labour leader. After trying – and failing – twice to be elected by party members, he took the top job on Friday without a contest. Sir Keir Starmer remains prime minister until Monday, when he will tender his resignation to King Charles, who will invite Mr Burnham to form a government. Then the future that Mr Burnham has long imagined will cease to be a promise and become a test.
Much will be written about the man. But why does Mr Burnham believe what he believes? One clue lies in the Guardian’s letters page in 1991. Fresh from graduating in English at Cambridge, the 21-year-old Mr Burnham defended an “uncouth and uncultured” Philip Larkin from critics who dismissed him as “too parochial”. Larkin – a bigoted curmudgeon – is difficult to admire, but his poems are not.
The lack of diversity in the latest film is a backwards step. Adaptations of Tolkien’s epic must reflect our times
There is trouble in Middle-earth – again. So far, all of the actors announced for the latest The Lord of the Rings film instalment, The Hunt for Gollum, to be released next year, are white. Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy and Leo Woodall join a cast that has already been criticised for its lack of diversity. “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology,” the film’s director, Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum, said. “The Shire feels very white.”
Ironically, Serkis invokes fidelity to Tolkien to defend the casting, yet his “modern film version” of Animal Farm, which came out this week, plays fast and loose with Orwell by replacing the novel’s crushing conclusion with a hopeful one.
Republican Josh Hawley accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s firm of relentlessly pursuing and attempting to bankrupt her
A US senator has accused Meta of using lawfare in “efforts to destroy” a whistleblower who made allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers.
In a letter to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, the Republican senator Josh Hawley demanded to know what measures Meta had taken to monitor Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former global head of public policy, and her family.
The incoming PM has made a strong start – but there are several traps he needs to avoid. Brown, Blair and even Thatcher can show the way
The first piece of unsolicited advice I would offer to Britain’s incoming prime minister is: don’t take unsolicited advice. Don’t be one of those leaders who’s swayed by the last person in their ear. That’s what they used to say about Boris Johnson, that he was a cushion that bore the imprint of the last person who sat on him. Instead, Andy Burnham should study closely the experience of Johnson and the rest of his recent predecessors – and, let’s face it, there’s plenty of them.
He might start by thinking about the period that will begin the moment he steps into Downing Street on Monday. How he handles this opening phase of his tenure is crucial: you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and all that. To many voters outside Greater Manchester, Burnham is still a relatively unknown quantity. The view they will form of him will be largely shaped by what he says and does in the next few weeks. For much of the electorate, it will be the overture that decides their verdict on the show.
Your AWS billing estimate might look just a little inflated right now. If you woke up to find an email from Amazon Web Services this morning telling you that you’d gone over your billing threshold by a few hundred million dollars, don’t panic: Something’s gone wrong in the AWS Billing Console, the company admitted. An open issue on the AWS Health Dashboard (archived copy at the time of writing) popped up at 1:33 am Pacific time on Friday informing users that Cost Explorer was “reflecting inaccurate estimated billing data.” As of writing, the issue is still unresolved despite AWS trying several different things to get it fixed. The company apparently identified the root cause within an hour and a half of beginning its investigation, only describing it as “an issue with unit pricing within the estimated billing computation subsystem.” AWS followed up by pausing estimated bill updates, saying customers would continue to see the inflated figures already displayed, but that those estimates would not increase further. “The displayed billing estimates do not reflect actual usage and charges,” AWS explained, noting that customers don’t need to take any action, like, we imagine, flooding the help portal with tickets telling them what they already know, for instance. “Once the issue has been mitigated, we expect full resolution to take multiple hours as we work through recomputing the estimated billing data,” AWS added. The company said it was working through multiple mitigation paths in parallel, including “reverting to the last known good estimated bill computation,” and “rolling back a recent change to the billing computation subsystem.” We owe HOW much? Users took to Reddit and Hacker News this morning to report they’d received overage emails for massive amounts - we weren’t exaggerating with that hundreds of millions opening line. If anything, it was an understatement. Screenshots posted in the Reddit thread showed one user whose AWS charges totaled just $0.19 last month receiving an estimated bill of nearly $2.5 billion. Others in the thread claimed to have received estimated monthly charges ranging from $126,000 to as much as $2.5 trillion. Hacker News users similarly reported estimates in the billions. Amazon said the figures shown in customers' accounts were inaccurate estimates rather than actual charges. As for when users might see their billing portal reflect an accurate number, that could take a while. AWS’ most recent update to the thread said that the billing computation subsystem change rollback “did not resolve the issue,” and that it’s still trying to figure out what to do. AWS declined to explain the issue aside from pointing us to the dashboard page linked above. We'll be keeping an eye on this developing story and update it as we learn more. ®
Notice more spam getting through that corporate email filter lately? Attackers are using a technique known as "text salting," which hides benign-looking words intended to confuse some AI-powered email filters, says cybersecurity firm Barracuda. The email security outfit said on Thursday that it had detected more than one million retail-themed phishing attacks using text salting since April. It’s not a new technique by any stretch and has been used to fool traditional secure email gateways for years, but Barracuda says it can also confuse machine-learning and LLM-based security tools. Text salting involves peppering (sorry) a malicious email with random, harmless-seeming words in order to fool an email scanning system into thinking there’s nothing off about the flavor of a message (sorry again), tricking the system into passing it to its recipient for consumption (I’ll stop with the food jokes here). Pour a pile of salty text on top of an email and a human reader would probably get suspicious, however, so attackers typically use one or more of three flavor variations (okay, I'm done – promise) to hide the additives from human readers, but not automated scanners, per Barracuda. Typical techniques include CSS cropping, which sets the visible window small enough that a human won't see the hidden filler text; text manipulation to move the salty copy outside the visible screen; and zero font techniques which insert misleading words between suspicious phishing copy that’s visible to a machine but not a human. The end result of each of those techniques is a message that reads less malicious, more gibberish to a machine, leading it to assume the email is fine, and which looks exactly as the attacker intended when viewed by a human. Modern email security systems have largely adapted to these techniques, with newer tools able to remove hidden text to see what a reader is supposed to see, sounding alarms when a lot of hidden stuff is inserted in an email, and the like. AI, however, hasn’t managed to follow suit, says Barracuda. “Text salting and related techniques can be used to confuse AI-driven content analysis engines by flooding the email with random terms that encourage the AI system into making an incorrect classification decision,” the company wrote in its report - just like those early 2000s SEGs. What a technological leap we’ve made! LLMs, Barracuda explained, are typically designed to process email text and source code plainly, with no understanding of whether text is visible or hidden from a user. They can be trained to do so, but that just means most tools probably aren’t doing that by default. So, what can enterprises do to stop the flow of salty spam to their employees? Barracuda recommends a layered approach to email security rather than relying solely on keyword detection, including checking sender reputation, authentication results, embedded URLs, HTML-rendering techniques, and differences between user-visible and hidden content. Ditching that AI spam filter might not be a bad idea, either. ®
Stilletjes is de Amerikaanse overheid begonnen ondernemers miljarden aan ten onrechte geĂŻncasseerde importheffingen terug te betalen. Fabio Tesei, die Italiaans voedsel importeert, is er blij mee, al leidt het ook tot discussies met klanten. En zijn blijdschap is van korte duur: twee dagen later is een van zijn medewerkers opgepakt door ICE.
De Europese Commissie komt de banken tegemoet met lagere kapitaaleisen en minder regels, ook om de Britse en Amerikaanse concurrentie de baas te kunnen. Maar Brussel dereguleert minder dan bijvoorbeeld Washington, en gaat lang niet zo ver als de Europese bankenlobby had gehoopt.
Donald Duck beleeft deze zomer een Rotterdams avontuur. Speciaal voor het Zomercarnaval verschijnt een Rotterdam-editie van het weekblad, die zondag wordt onthuld tijdens het Kindercarnaval op Katendrecht. "Kinderen en volwassenen zijn dol op deze reeks", vertelt hoofdredacteur Ferdi Felderhof, ook wel bekend als de 'burgemeester van Duckstad'.
DEN HAAG (ANP) - De speciale expertisecentra waarin mensen met postcovid kunnen worden behandeld, blijven zeker een jaar langer open. Zorgminister Sophie Hermans (VVD) meldt in een Kamerbrief dat geld dat hiervoor is vrijgemaakt nog niet op is, waardoor de centra in 2027 open kunnen blijven.
De centra bestaan inmiddels ruim anderhalf jaar. Tot eind mei zijn hier 1550 volwassenen en 350 kinderen ontvangen met langdurige klachten na een coronabesmetting. Het kabinet heeft de organisaties die betrokken zijn bij de expertisecentra gevraagd om een voorstel uit te werken over hoe de zorg voor postcovid-patiënten ook na 2027 behouden blijft.
De speciale expertisecentra waarin mensen met postcovid kunnen worden behandeld, blijven zeker een jaar langer open. Zorgminister Sophie Hermans (VVD) meldt in een Kamerbrief dat geld dat hiervoor is vrijgemaakt nog niet op is, waardoor de centra in 2027 open kunnen blijven.
De centra bestaan inmiddels ruim anderhalf jaar. Tot eind mei zijn hier 1550 volwassenen en 350 kinderen ontvangen met langdurige klachten na een coronabesmetting. Het kabinet heeft de organisaties die betrokken zijn bij de expertisecentra gevraagd om een voorstel uit te werken over hoe de zorg voor postcovid-patiënten ook na 2027 behouden blijft.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (ANP) - Max Verstappen is bij de tweede vrije training van de Grote Prijs van België tot de derde tijd gekomen. De 28-jarige Nederlander moest in de Red Bull bijna een halve seconde toegeven op Kimi Antonelli, die met 1.45,944 de snelste was.
De viervoudig wereldkampioen in de Formule 1 reed in de Red Bull 1.46,416, 0,472 seconde langzamer dan de Italiaanse Mercedes-coureur. Ook regerend wereldkampioen Lando Norris uit Groot-Brittannië was sneller dan Verstappen. Hij gaf 0,190 seconde toe op Antonelli.
De coureurs hebben zaterdag om 12.30 uur nog een derde vrije training. Daarna volgt om 16.00 uur de kwalificatie voor de Grote Prijs van zondag.
Rode vlag
Verstappen was eerder op de dag de snelste geweest in de eerste vrije training. Hij was toen met 1.47,070 een fractie sneller dan de twee Ferrari's van Lewis Hamilton en Charles Leclerc. Na de eerste training viel er lichte regen in de Ardennen tijdens de kwalificatie van de Formule 3. De baan was ruim voor de tweede vrije training van de Formule 1 droog.
In het eerste deel van de vrije training was er kortstondig een rode vlag, omdat Verstappen te wijd was gegaan en veel grind mee de baan op had genomen. De 28-jarige Nederlander mopperde over de boordradio over zijn versnellingen.
Russell
Met nog 42 minuten te gaan dook Verstappens teamgenoot Isack Hadjar onder de tot dan toe beste tijd van Antonelli en Verstappen was ook sneller. De 19-jarige Antonelli was daarna echter veel sneller met zijn toptijd.
George Russell kon niet in de buurt komen van de beste tijd van zijn teamgenoot bij Mercedes. Hij kwam tot de achtste tijd op 1,285 seconde. Charles Leclerc, de winnaar op Silverstone twee weken geleden, kwam slechts tot de elfde tijd. Door een crash van Pierre Gasly, die zijn gehele achtervleugel verloor, volgde een tweede rode vlag. De coureurs gingen daarna alleen nog naar buiten voor een proefstart.
ROTTERDAM (ANP) - De 15-jarige Jerryson die vorig jaar in Capelle aan den IJssel door de politie werd doodgeschoten na een fatbikeroof, zette kort daarvoor een geladen vuurwapen op het hoofd van het slachtoffer. De rechtbank in Rotterdam heeft vrijdag uitspraak gedaan in de zaak tegen een medeverdachte van de roof. In deze uitspraak valt te lezen dat Jerryson ook meermaals 'Ga van je kankerfatbike af!' riep tegen het slachtoffer.
Volgens de rechtbank was de medeverdachte niet op de hoogte van het voornemen om de fatbike te stelen. Ook kan niet worden bewezen dat hij "een significante of wezenlijke bijdrage" heeft geleverd aan de roof en heeft hij zelf geen geweld gebruikt.
De rechtbank acht hem wel medeplichtig aan heling van de fatbike, omdat hij achterop sprong bij Jerryson op de fatbike die hij zojuist gestolen had zien worden. Ook wordt de jongen veroordeeld voor een aantal andere vergrijpen, waaronder bedreiging en diefstal.
404 Media is turning three years old! We've come a long way with your support, so let's hang out.
We're throwing TWO separate events to celebrate: A live taping of the podcast and a special night of talks on Sept. 3, and a big open-bar party on Sept. 4. Subscribers at the Supporter level get free and discounted access to both events!
On Thursday, Sept. 3, meet us at WNYC's Greene Space for 404 MEDIA LIVE! We'll discuss what we've accomplished in the past year, and what's next for our independent, human-made journalism. We'll also welcome a few very special friends to the stage: Matthew Gault joins us for a chat about AI datacenter resistance, and The Abstract's Becky Ferreira hits us with the coolest science to come out this year so far.
Supporters get 50% off their ticket to 404 MEDIA LIVE! Don't forget to check your membership status here and subscribe as a paying member for access to 50% off a full price in-person ticket.
Can't make it in person in NYC? Join us on the livestream! Grab an access ticket, donate what you're able, and watch for the link we'll send to your inbox before the event.
The next night, join us for a bash to celebrate our three year anniversary at Threes Brewing Gowanus.Have a beer, wine or seltz on us, plus light bites throughout the night. Buying a ticket to 404 MEDIA LIVE! gets you 50% off a ticket to the afterparty Friday night. Supporters get in to the party FREE!
All of us—Sam, Emanuel, Jason, and Joseph—will be there to celebrate 404 Media growing another year. We love these parties because it's a chance to connect with the people who make all of this possible: you, our subscribers.
Thank you for all the fun you've helped us have this year.
Supporters, scroll to the bottom of this page to reveal your promo codes.
/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/16153245/170726ECO_2035147955_ItalianHarvest.jpg)
/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/17181003/170726ECO_2035315276_.jpg)
