Waarom sluit de één zich aan bij een schaakclub, en de ander bij een gewelddadige afscheidingsbeweging?

Deze Prinsjesdag 2026 presenteert minister van Financiën Eelco Heinen de Miljoenennota. Normaal gesproken hét politieke startschot van het jaar.

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

The Vega-C gantry is rolled back for the launch of ESA’s FLEX satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

FLEX carries the Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer, designed to detect the faint fluorescence emitted by plants as they absorb sunlight during photosynthesis. Invisible to the human eye, this subtle glow varies with plant health and environmental conditions, providing valuable insights into how vegetation functions and responds to changes in its surroundings.

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Copernicus Sentinel-3 series. Like its two predecessors already in orbit, it carries a suite of advanced instruments that systematically measure Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere. These observations support the monitoring and understanding of large-scale processes and dynamics across our planet, while providing essential near-real-time information for ocean and weather forecasting.

Europe’s Vega-C rocket is an evolution of the Vega family, offering increased performance, greater payload capacity and improved competitiveness. With the capability to carry up to 3300 kg into orbit, Vega-C is well suited to launching scientific and Earth observation satellites into space.

Credits: ESA-S. Corvaja

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

ESA’s state-of-the-art FLEX Earth Explorer satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite have been launched together aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, marking a new milestone in Europe’s Earth Observation Programmes. Flight VV30 lifted off on 15 September at 03:21 (14 September at 22:21 local time).

FLEX is designed to reveal a phenomenon invisible to the human eye: the faint fluorescence emitted by plants as they photosynthesise. Equipped with a Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer, FLEX will detect and measure this incredibly weak signal from orbit. Because the fluorescence varies with plant health and environmental conditions, the measurements will provide scientists with new information about photosynthetic activity and vegetation stress on a global scale.

Sentinel-3C is the third in the Sentinel-3 series. Carrying a suite of cutting-edge instruments, Copernicus Sentinel-3C will continue the mission’s task of measuring systematically Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to monitor and understand large-scale global dynamics. The mission also provides essential information in near-real time for ocean and weather forecasting.

Europe’s Vega-C rocket can launch 2300 kg into space, such as small scientific and Earth observation spacecraft. At 35 m tall, Vega-C weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad and reaches orbit with three solid-propellant-powered stages before the fourth liquid-propellant stage takes over for precise placement of satellites into their desired orbit around Earth.

This flight is a first dual launch for Vega-C, using a secondary payload adapter called Vespa. Sentinel-3C is placed on top of Vespa inside the main fairing and once deployed the Vespa adapter opens to reveal FLEX for its injection into orbit.

Credits: ESA–S. Corvaja

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

ESA’s state-of-the-art FLEX Earth Explorer satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite have been launched together aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, marking a new milestone in Europe’s Earth Observation Programmes. Flight VV30 lifted off on 15 September at 03:21 (14 September at 22:21 local time).

FLEX is designed to reveal a phenomenon invisible to the human eye: the faint fluorescence emitted by plants as they photosynthesise. Equipped with a Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer, FLEX will detect and measure this incredibly weak signal from orbit. Because the fluorescence varies with plant health and environmental conditions, the measurements will provide scientists with new information about photosynthetic activity and vegetation stress on a global scale.

Sentinel-3C is the third in the Sentinel-3 series. Carrying a suite of cutting-edge instruments, Copernicus Sentinel-3C will continue the mission’s task of measuring systematically Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to monitor and understand large-scale global dynamics. The mission also provides essential information in near-real time for ocean and weather forecasting.

Europe’s Vega-C rocket can launch 2300 kg into space, such as small scientific and Earth observation spacecraft. At 35 m tall, Vega-C weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad and reaches orbit with three solid-propellant-powered stages before the fourth liquid-propellant stage takes over for precise placement of satellites into their desired orbit around Earth.

This flight is a first dual launch for Vega-C, using a secondary payload adapter called Vespa. Sentinel-3C is placed on top of Vespa inside the main fairing and once deployed the Vespa adapter opens to reveal FLEX for its injection into orbit.

Credits: ESA-M. Pédoussaut

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Latest daily reductions will further choke one of the world’s most important shipping lanes

The Panama canal plans to again cut maritime traffic due to worsening drought caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, further choking up one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

The canal handles 5% of global maritime trade and about 40% of US container traffic; it is favoured by shippers because it usually reduces cost and transit times, especially for companies trading between China, Asia and the US.

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Dismissed in Taiwan as simply propaganda, the Long Watch, or Jiaofeng, has proved a sensation across the strait with its references to real-life crises

After shaking off the people trailing her through a crowded market and emerging from a bathroom in disguise, the double agent appears to have escaped. But a sip of water on a plane eventually gets her. She is poisoned after Taiwan’s military intelligence service discovers that she has been working secretly for China.

The plot comes from a new Chinese spy drama co-produced by the Ministry of State Security. Since its premiere on 6 September, it has become a TV hit, with a fictionalised take on a subject rarely treated so directly: the modern history of tensions with Taiwan.

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• Australian Joanna Wietrzyk went on to win fitness race in Beijing

• Hyrox admits making mistake by ‘not reacting immediately’

Organisers of the global indoor fitness competition, Hyrox, have apologised and pledged immediate rule changes after an Australian athlete was allowed to finish and win an event in Beijing despite soiling herself mid-race.

Footage of world record holder Joanna Wietrzyk competing on Saturday showed her continuing through demanding exercises and using communal equipment, with faecal matter visibly running down her legs. The incident went viral on social media and triggered debate about Hyrox’s health and safety standards, and athlete responsibility.

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A heat-resilient garden, a school that grows warrigal greens, and a patch that brings together community are among the winners of the National Kitchen Garden awards

The garden at Springhurst primary school, in north-east regional Victoria, never stood a chance against the record-breaking heatwave at the beginning of this year. Returning to school after the summer holidays, teacher Aasta Dearnaley recalls the garden had “turned to ash”. But eight months on, students have created a more heat-resilient garden which has been recognised as one of the country’s most innovative by the National Kitchen Garden awards.

Developed by the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, the awards celebrate kitchen gardens in schools and early childhood centres across the country, with this year’s awards attracting a record 600 entries over nine categories.

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In interview, term-limited California governor said running against former VP would ‘waste everybody’s time’

Gavin Newsom, the California governor, will not run for president if former vice-president Kamala Harris does, he said in a forthcoming interview with CNN.

Newsom and Harris, both from California, are widely viewed as two of the top establishment frontrunners in the coming Democratic presidential primary. Newsom, who terms out this year as governor, has increasingly portrayed himself as a foil to Trump and is widely viewed as positioning himself for a 2028 presidential bid.

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The CIO of Australia’s taxation office (ATO) is letting administrative staff use Microsoft’s Copilot for everyday activities, in the hope it pays off by helping them to develop skills, and ideas, that eventually improve its core services. “We are getting AI into the hands of as many workers as possible to build the muscle,” ATO CIO Mark Sawade said at analyst firm Gartner’s annual IT Symposium on Monday. The CIO said the ATO is already familiar with AI. “We have been doing forms of machine learning and deep analytics for fraud for the better part of a decade,” he said, mentioning fraud detection as one application for the tech. For now, he’s not letting generative or agentic AI near those processes or other core activities. “We are using Copilot to just speed up some everyday activities,” the CIO added, saying he hopes that improves AI literacy and perhaps develops skills that lead to AI-powered improvements to core processes. Sawade said he doesn’t expect allowing admin staff to work with Copilot will improve efficiency or produce obvious return on investment. Instead, he hopes to develop ROE – “return on employee.” “You will develop the muscle you need to learn how to improve business processes,” he said. The ATO’s developer team gives him confidence this strategy can work. The CIO said the ATO operates many technology platforms of different vintages, from mainframe to Java, and recently staged an internal hackathon during which a COBOL developer emerged triumphant after using GitHub Copilot. “He had never coded a line of C# or anything in the .Net framework in his life,” Sawade said. “That showed us the ability to transcend some of the detail, how someone who understands core concepts can use generative AI to work in a domain they have never looked at before is really powerful.” Sawade’s ambitions for AI are considerable. He pointed to the fact that the paper-based tax return forms Australia used in the 1990s took six hours to complete, compared to the 12 minutes taxpayers now spend using the ATO’s app and online service. He hopes AI can help the ATO to deliver similar improvements, especially for businesses whose tax affairs are more complex. He also thought-bubbled personal agents that remind taxpayers that it’s time to file an annual return and interact with other agents to prepare it. “We are a long way from that, with identity the main hurdle,” he said. The CIO is in no rush to jump that hurdle. “Things that have bitten some organizations, like token costs, we can learn from that without being far behind,” he said. Whatever the ATO decides to do with AI, Sawade suggested it will only succeed if projects have goals. “Be really clear on the outcomes, and then work backwards to increase automation,” he advised. ®