Ivan Jennings, 46, sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to encouraging terrorism on social media

A rightwing extremist who discussed poisoning Jews and Muslims and called for the killing of migrants and minority communities has been jailed.

Ivan Jennings, 46, called for the murder of hundreds of people he labelled “subhumans”, saying it was “justified and actually needed”, in extreme far-right groups over a period of three months in 2024.

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Writer and actor, 40, had long struggled with endometriosis before undergoing total hysterectomy at age 31

Lena Dunham has welcomed her first child with her husband, Luis Felber, via surrogate.

The 40-year-old writer and actor, known for her creation of and role in the HBO television series Girls, revealed her daughter’s birth in a Vogue op-ed published on Wednesday.

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By standing behind support act Macklemore, who was removed from the tour for his vocal support of Palestine, these artists are demonstrating the self-sacrifice necessary to stand against those crushing free speech

In a statement about Macklemore being dropped from his US stadium tour for making pro-Palestinian comments, Ed Sheeran defended his own publicly apolitical stance: “If we only ever focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change. There are different approaches to being an advocate for change.”

Every other musician involved with the tour – support acts Finneas (Billie Eilish’s brother), Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish songwriter Aaron Rowe, plus Sheeran’s Irish backing band, Beoga – has made their approach to advocating for change clear, pulling out of the remaining dates to protest against the censorship of Macklemore and to express support for the Palestinian people.

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Seeing a pallid, washed-out face in the mirror? Prepare to be diagnosed …

Name: Ferritin face.

Age: The name is new, but the symptoms are old.

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Labour has also increased fundraising from members in response to Reform’s £72m donations from crypto billionaires

Labour has hosted major party donors at No 10 for a drinks reception, as the party comes under growing pressure from MPs and unions to consider a donations cap.

The Guardian understands that high-level donors, including business leaders and philanthropists, were hosted by cabinet ministers in Downing Street for an evening reception on Tuesday. Donors from the party’s Rose Network give thousands of pounds a year to the party.

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American jazz singer and songwriter who was inspired by the Delta blues and gospel sounds of her Mississippi childhood

Cassandra Wilson, the double Grammy-winning jazz vocalist and songwriter who has died aged 70, was described in 2001 by Time magazine as “America’s best singer”. Superlatives accompanied Wilson throughout her career; her vocal skills supported them.

Wilson’s ancestry was West African and European, and the Delta blues and gospel sounds she heard in her Mississippi childhood affected her deeply – but so did the guitar harmonies her father taught her, and the early instruction in classical piano she received from her music-teacher mother. Both her parents were Miles Davis and Motown admirers, too.

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When my loved ones are on the move, I can’t rest until I know they’ve got from A to B safely. How I long for the ignorance of the olden days

I’ll call it compassionate surveillance. It’s what I do when I’m worried about a loved one who is on the move. I’m not sure it’s a good thing. Be they travelling by plane, train or automobile, I will keep tabs on them. I can’t help myself. If my daughters – who are highly competent grownups – make a long car journey, by means of some smartphone hocus-pocus I’ll know where they are. I should point out that this is done with consent: they know that I know where they are. In my mum’s case, this is less true, if only because she has long given up trying to make head or tail of location sharing and other such sorcery.

I cross my heart and hope to die when I swear to you that I only do this when they are in transit. Honestly, I never look up where they are on a night out or whatever. That would be weird – or weirder, anyway. But when they get in a car, I get the fear. The catastrophising begins. It’s a big world and their car is small. A million other cars, buses and lorries share the roads on which they are motoring. In this, as in all things, overthinking is calamitous. The more you think about what could go wrong, the more your imagination obliges with a steady stream of ghastly possibilities.

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RIYAD (ANP/BLOOMBERG) - Het Saudische staatsolieconcern Saudi Aramco wil binnen enkele dagen een deel van de stilgelegde oost-west-oliepijpleiding gaan heropenen. Dat meldt persbureau Bloomberg. Het transport door de pijpleiding werd vorige week donderdag stilgelegd na een aanval met drones, waarbij schade werd aangericht aan het systeem.

Aramco wil nu de transportcapaciteit van de pijpleiding weer deels herstellen via omleidingen bij een beschadigd deel van het systeem. Daardoor zou de helft van het pijpleidingsysteem weer moeten functioneren. Volledig herstel van de capaciteit kan echter nog wel ongeveer zes weken duren. Het 1200 kilometer lange pijpleidingsysteem loopt van de Perzische Golf naar de havenstad Yanbu aan de Rode Zee. Via die route kan de olie-export via de Straat van Hormuz worden omzeild.

Aramco en het Saudische energieministerie gaven geen commentaar op vragen van Bloomberg.

BERLIJN (ANP/DPA) - De leider en naamgever van de links-populistische Duitse partij Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) beticht Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) ervan coalitiegesprekken te saboteren. Die laatste radicaal-rechtse partij kreeg onlangs in de deelstaat Saksen-Anhalt nipt geen absolute meerderheid, waarna een impasse ontstond over een mogelijke coalitie.

Op BSW na hebben alle andere partijen in Saksen-Anhalt samenwerking met AfD uitgesloten. Hoewel BSW ook niet in een coalitie met AfD wil stappen, zei de partij na de grote AfD-winst zich van een bepalende stemming te zullen onthouden bij de keuze voor een deelstaatpremier. Daarmee komt het premierschap voor AfD dichterbij, omdat de partij een AfD-premier niet blokkeert en de stemverdeling gelijker wordt. Ook zal BSW een minderheidscoalitie steunen.

Volgens Sahra Wagenknecht vreest de AfD nu echter regeringsverantwoordelijkheid te nemen en zoekt de partij haar toevlucht in publieke provocaties.

Wapenindustrie

Wagenknecht refereert daarmee aan uitingen van de AfD-leider in Saksen-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, die erop zinspeelde dat Duitsland wapenproductie nodig heeft voor mogelijke "deportatieoffensieven", hintend op het gewelddadig uitzetten van migranten. Die opmerking kwam in de context van de mogelijke vestiging van een Israëlische wapenproducent in Saksen-Anhalt. BSW geldt als sterk gekant tegen herbewapening en daarmee het faciliteren van de wapenindustrie.

Volgens Wagenknecht laten de uitspraken zien dat "sommigen binnen de AfD klaarblijkelijk doodsbang zijn voor het vooruitzicht om zich te bewijzen op inhoudelijke onderwerpen, zonder daarbij bescherming te genieten". Zoals, zegt Wagenknecht, "staan ze voor vrede of willen ze de wapenindustrie steunen?"

Toen Derk Wiersum werd vermoord was de rechtsstaat geschokt, en klonk er 'dit nooit meer' (niet gelukt). Wij dachten dat de schaamteloosheid van de daders niet gekker kon toen we hoorden dat dader Moreno B. seksbezoek zonder toezicht kreeg omdat hij anders agressief wordt. Maar! Ondertussen werd Oussama B. bij verstek veroordeeld voor betrokkenheid bij de zaak, en klaagde hij bij het AD dat hij wel naar Nederland zou willen komen, "maar alleen op voorwaarde dat hij niet in het buitenland wordt aangehouden." Want ja, we moeten natuurlijk wel de mensenrechten van maatschappijontwrichtende criminelen beschermen, nietwaar? Maar nu is Oussama gepakt in Frankrijk, en doet zijn advocaat Wesley van Soest alsof we Oussama eigenlijk dankbaar moeten zijn. "Na drie jaar lang op de vlucht te zijn geweest is cliënt moe van het winnen van die klopjacht. Hij heeft ervoor gekozen om zelf letterlijk de vlucht naar voren te nemen. Hij vindt het spijtig dat justitie niet heeft meegewerkt aan eerdere terugkeer. Gelukkig heeft hij nog wel een laatste blik kunnen werpen op de Eiffeltoren." Een laatste blik op de Eiffeltoren. Hij wel.

Een meerderheid van de Tweede Kamer dwong minister van Financiën Eelco Heinen zijn conceptbegroting, waarover het kabinet bijna was gevallen, openbaar te maken. Dit gebeurde nadat NRC het document in handen kreeg en erover publiceerde.

Welke punten heeft Pro serieus op tafel gelegd tijdens de begrotingsonderhandelingen met het kabinet afgelopen zomer, wil Ruben Brekelmans (VVD) van Jesse Klaver (Pro) weten.

Henk Kroes, de man die voorzitter was van de koninklijke Vereniging De Friesche Elf Steden toen in 1997 de laatste Elfstedentocht werd gereden, is op 87-jarige leeftijd overleden. Toen duidelijk werd dat die tocht door kon gaan, sprak hij de inmiddels beroemde woorden: „It giet oan”.

Marcel van Rosmalen kent mensen die voor de lol naar de Algemene Beschouwingen kijken, om ervan te genieten. Hij niet. "Het is alsof je naar Nederlandse clubs in de Champions League kijkt: er zijn geen spelverdelers meer, iedereen weet dat de tussenronde het hoogst haalbare is."

Rijkswaterstaat begint donderdagavond met het dichten van het sinkhole (spoelgat) bij knooppunt Ridderkerk. De oorzaak is een gescheurde afvoerbuis van het regenwater. Volgende week woensdagochtend zijn de werkzaamheden klaar en kunnen weer alle rijstroken worden gebruikt.

Hidden in Pieces: Live at the Royal Albert Hall. A live album from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Hell yes yes yes! 13 songs are available now plus 9 more tracks when the full album drops in October.

Johnny Cash

gudonjin has added a photo to the pool:

Companies are getting more selective about replacing legacy kit such as mainframe systems, and rising AI investment is one of the factors causing them to hold onto these existing assets for longer. Managed services biz Ensono claims in its 2026 State of IT Modernization report that 78 percent of IT decision makers regard legacy systems as more important today than they did two years ago, and this is because such systems are viewed as key to making AI work for their organization. The report is based on a survey of 500 IT decision-makers and line-of-business leaders conducted by the firm across the US and UK. Its findings show that AI is reshaping modernization priorities, but that corporates are still grappling with many of the challenges that have traditionally complicated modernization efforts, such as budget overruns, delayed initiatives, and talent shortages. Ensono found that 45 percent of firms are actively scaling AI deployments across their organization, while 44 percent are investing in targeted, high-impact use cases. Supporting AI, automation, and advanced data initiatives is now the top pressure driving modernization, while more than half of companies say that AI is helping advance modernization by delivering through greater automation and improved efficiency. Among the barriers businesses face, the top challenges to achieving AI goals are said to be difficulty integrating AI into existing workflows and business processes (33 percent of respondents) and infrastructure limitations (28 percent). For this reason, Ensono says that those legacy systems are taking on new strategic value as organizations attempt to scale their AI rollout. Nearly half of organizations view legacy systems such as mainframes as a critical foundation for AI and an important source of data for this purpose, while 47 percent use them selectively for specific AI applications. More than half of organizations are optimizing and extending legacy systems while modernizing applications where they are, rather than replacing them outright. This is an approach that’s slightly more common in the UK (57 percent of respondents) than the US (48 percent). “Enterprises are discovering that legacy systems, like the mainframe, are intensely powerful, reliable and efficient sources of computing that can now be augmented and made more agile thanks to AI,” says Ensono’s Chief Strategy Officer Brian Klingbeil. “These systems contain decades of data and business logic that drive many companies. The advantage will go to organizations that understand their environments well enough to distinguish what should be replaced versus what should be augmented, and embrace new modernization methods that simply were not available even 18 months ago.” However, using the mainframe as a foundation for AI rollouts was noted by infrastructure services firm Kyndryl two years ago. It found that big iron was becoming a prime candidate to host and run AI workloads, while enterprises were increasingly integrating their mainframes with modern infrastructure. This meant moving some workloads off the mainframe while updating others in place to continue to benefit from the security and reliability of the platform. Analyst Gartner also said earlier this year that migrating workloads to a mainframe made more sense for VMware users than adopting Broadcom’s new licenses. Elsewhere, HPE managing director for UK, Middle East and Africa said that enterprise customers are opting to sweat IT assets for longer, moving refresh cycles from five years to seven years, for example. “I think we're seeing earlier planning for critical projects. I think a lot of customers are looking much further ahead on their roadmap of spend at the things they have to do, because maybe some technology is going end of support or the lease is expiring at the datacenter,” he said. “So I think you're seeing a decision tree of, do we pause here, and do we sweat the asset for a little bit longer, or is this essential to move ahead? I think it's fundamentally forcing a rethink for customers.” ®