Europe’s longest and most dramatic canyon is replete with exotic wildlife, including kingfishers and beavers, ruined castles and architectural oddities

We’re sipping chestnut kir on a terrace overlooking the Tarn River in southern France when we hear excited voices from the table beside us: “Regards! C’est un castor!” Below us, a beaver the length of my leg is languidly swimming upstream. We don’t need our binoculars because the Tarn is so clean that almost every fish, frog, pebble and ribbon of weed can be seen with the naked eye, magnified by the clarity of the water. This meandering, jade-green river – which winds from its source in the Cévennes national park to Moissac, just north of Toulouse – is home to trout, perch, carp, otters, frogs, toads, kingfishers and herons. We add “beavers” to our list.

Above us, huge vultures have been drifting all day, cruising the thermals in groups of nine or 10. And when our eyes haven’t been on the river or the sky, they have been welded to the many orchids on the bank: including monkey, bee, military, butterfly, pyramidal and fragrant orchids. Later, we discover that 30 varieties have been recorded in this orchid hotspot.

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Shoppers urged to seek quality products or alternatives as data shows demand surpassing least year’s total

Britons are expected to buy nearly 8m mini fans this year as they are “surging on to the market” in the hot weather – but almost half of those are expected to be low-quality products that end up in landfill within a year.

Waste managers and recycling campaigners have raised concerns as the number of online searches for electrically powered handheld fans, which sell for as little as £2, has already surpassed that seen in the whole of 2025 in the first six months of this year.

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From heads of state to foot-kissing knights, Hollywood romcoms to sex, a fascinating story of the gesture that for centuries has brought people together

If, on a European holiday, you get flustered greeting people – should you kiss? how many times? – spare a thought for Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus. Visiting England in 1499, he found a nation of enthusiastic kissers. “Wherever you go, you are received on all hands with kisses; when you take leave you are dismissed with kisses,” he wrote in surprise, or possibly, alarm. On the continent, the fashion for greeting with a peck on the lips had long fallen by the wayside (probably because of sexual propriety), but the English held firm. It didn’t matter if the other person was of the opposite sex, everyone puckered up.

Whether you like to snog, smooch, suck face or osculate (the scientific term), kissing seems so natural and instinctive, it’s hard to imagine it having a history at all. But just as kissing is not seen in all cultures, so, historian of emotions Katie Barclay writes, its meanings have changed across time too. From foot-kissing knights to baby-kissing politicians, to the “shut-up kiss” of Hollywood romcoms, this rich and fascinating history reminds us that kissing is, and always has been, a contested public gesture as well as a private pleasure.

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As a child, enduring break after break, I thought of myself as simply unlucky. Truth was, I needed to tune in to my aches, pains and well-founded fears

It was the first day of spring this year. I was topless, face-down on a foldaway travel table, as the masseuse uttered six words that brought my attempt at relaxation to an abrupt end: “I think your arm is haunted.”

I have broken my right arm seven times: seven breaks on seven separate occasions. Some years, my arm was in a sling more than it was out of one. The novelty of getting your mates to cover your cast in that 00s grafitti “S” and the relief of missing the bleep test at school quickly wore off.

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Early flight data showed the K2 Airways plane with five crew on board possibly crashed into the sea ⁠southwest of Karachi

A Pakistan-registered Boeing 737 cargo plane with five crew members on board lost contact with air traffic control on ⁠Tuesday night after reporting a navigational ⁠system problem on ​its way to Karachi, Pakistan aviation authorities said.

Early flight data indicated the 27-year-old converted freighter operated by K2 Airways from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates possibly crashed into the sea ⁠southwest of Karachi after a series of sharp altitude changes, before a steep final descent, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24.

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While the Reform leader casts himself as the victim questions about his finances are unlikely to disappear

• Farage quits as an MP amid scrutiny of his finances

For Nigel Farage, a year that was progressing quite nicely started to go wrong when the Guardian revealed he had received an undeclared gift of £5m from a crypto billionaire. Just 10 weeks later, he has been pushed into perhaps one of the biggest gambles of his political career.

That gamble is seemingly not with his role as an MP. Farage took more than 45% of the vote in Clacton in 2024, and the heavily Reform-friendly constituency was always likely to elect him again, even before the bulk of the other parties announced they would stand aside in a byelection they have dismissed as a stunt.

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This comforting dish gives all the pleasure of stuffed vine leaves without the hours of labour. Serve alongside a lemony salad that’s rich with toasted seeds

I wanted the comfort of dolma without spending hours coring, stuffing and rolling. Traditionally, for this Iraqi dish of vine leaves, various vegetables are filled with fragrant rice and often with meat, too, making it a true labour of love. This pie captures all those familiar flavours but, by layering everything instead, the vine leaves become silky and tender. A bright, lemony spinach salad adds freshness and contrast.

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Campaigners fear report into disability benefits will seek to make cuts despite assurances that would not be its aim

• Disability benefits in England and Wales not fit for purpose, Timms review to find

A government review of the personal independence payment (Pip) disability benefit, ordered after ministers were forced to abandon proposed £5bn cuts to the payment last year, is due to be published this week. This is what we know so far.

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For years, we have sought ways to define and achieve national belonging. Surely the team and our attachment to it makes that possible

When the final whistle blew just before dawn, and England had beaten Mexico in that encounter now hailed as a World Cup classic, glasses were raised and strangers embraced in pubs across England that had been granted special permission to stay open. In living rooms and student flats too, millions of people experienced something increasingly rare in modern Britain: uncomplicated national joy.

For a few hours, the endless arguments over the national budget, the revolving door of British prime ministers and the country’s political malaise fell silent. England’s World Cup victory that night did not erase Britain’s divisions. But watching the team sing their anthem song, Wonderwall, to their cheering supporters reminded us of something every successful democracy depends upon: pride in a shared national story.

Maya Tudor is an associate professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government

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The hills of the Hauts Plateaux near Lake Tanganyika have been the scene of fighting for decades between the army, rebel forces and ethnic militias. Pushed one way and another by the conflict are families just trying to survive

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In the fifth of a series on nationalisation, we look at utilities – including the cost of ending private ownership

• Will Burnham ‘go big’ in expanding the role of the state?

• Atlee: the postwar blueprint that inspires Burnham

• How council housebuilding is central to Burnham’s vision

• How Burnham aims to shake up UK transport

When the former Undertones frontman turned campaigner Feargal Sharkey backed Keir Starmer for prime minister in 2024, he hoped that the Labour leader would be the man to clean up Britain’s polluted rivers and bring the water industry into public ownership – starting with troubled Thames Water.

Two years later, Sharkey has been disappointed. Now he is hoping that Andy Burnham will begin the job when he is confirmed as prime minister.

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That characteristic song was an unexpected delight alongside the chiffchaffs, blackcaps and whitethroats too

With hindsight, the late June heatwave was not the ideal time for my (very) old schoolmates and me to be cycling around Suffolk. Yet, despite the searing heat and the lateness of the season, the woods and hedgerows were still awash with birdsong.

Chirping chiffchaffs, melodic blackcaps and warbling whitethroats were everywhere, while swallows twittered over fields and swifts screamed past rooftops in the towns and villages we rode through. I even saw a cuckoo – which I momentarily mistook for a sparrowhawk – flying fast and low across the road.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Meta launched its inaugural AI image model from the Meta Superintelligence Labs on Tuesday, its effort to compete with the likes of OpenAI's GPT Images 2.0 and Google's Nano Banana 2 in the AI image generation race. The new model, called Muse Image, rolled out with deep integrations woven into the Instagram app. As part of this update, public Instagram profiles are now automatically opted into being fodder for generative AI remixes. All someone has to do is tag your account's profile in a prompt -- if it's public -- and they can use Meta AI to generate an image using your likeness.

Meta positions this feature as a cheeky way to personalize generations with images of real people. "Whether you want to design a custom event invitation, mock up a collaborative creative concept, or generate a personalized graphic, tagging a username lets Meta AI use public photos to build a visual that's ready to post," reads one of Meta's announcement blogs about the new AI tool. [...] Instagram's help center site includes more details about how this feature will impact users, saying that "people may be able to create content with your Instagram content using AI features at Meta" if you leave your account public and on the default settings. (A previously archived version of this page from 2025 does not include similar, AI-focused language.) Instagram users who want to stop others from using their public posts for AI images (without switching your account to private) must manually disable the options under the app's "Sharing and reuse" settings. However, turning off the setting only blocks future AI generations; any AI images already created from their content will remain.

Meta also says users will not be notified when others create AI-generated content using their posts.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

NAJAF (ANP/AFP) - Het lichaam van de gedode Iraanse leider Ali Khamenei is woensdag onder grote belangstelling door de straten van het Iraakse Najaf gereden. Dat ging gepaard met strenge veiligheidsmaatregelen. Toeschouwers drongen naar voren om de kist aan te raken.

Khamenei kwam eind februari om het leven bij de Amerikaans-Israëlische aanvallen op zijn land en er wordt nu dagenlang groots afscheid van hem genomen. Dat gebeurde de afgelopen dagen in Iran zelf en nu ook in buurland Irak, waar eveneens veel sjiieten wonen.

In Najaf begonnen de plechtigheden in de vroege ochtend nadat het lichaam de voorgaande avond was aangekomen op de luchthaven bij de stad. Later op de dag wordt ook afscheid van de Iraanse leider genomen in Karbala, een andere heilige stad in Irak.

De begrafenis van Khamenei moet donderdag plaatsvinden in zijn geboortestad Mashhad in Iran. De grote afwezige bij de rouwplechtigheden is tot dusver zijn zoon Mojtaba, die hem heeft opgevolgd als opperste leider.

ANKARA (ANP) - NAVO-chef Mark Rutte heeft de nieuwe Amerikaanse aanvallen op Iran noodzakelijk genoemd. Volgens hem heeft Iran duidelijk de afspraken van het voorlopige akkoord geschonden door schepen in de Straat van Hormuz aan te vallen en moesten de Verenigde Staten wel reageren.

"Het is van cruciaal belang dat de VS krachtig reageren", zei Rutte woensdag bij aankomst op de NAVO-top in Ankara. Hij zei dat de regeringsleiders van de alliantie het tijdens de vergadering ook over Iran zullen hebben. "Ik verwacht dat de bondgenoten zullen herbevestigen dat Iran nooit nucleaire middelen in handen mag krijgen." Ook zullen ze volgens Rutte in de slotverklaring benadrukken dat de Straat van Hormuz open moet blijven.

De Amerikaanse president Donald Trump herhaalde dinsdag teleurgesteld te zijn over het gebrek aan steun van NAVO-landen tijdens de oorlog met Iran. Rutte zei dat die teleurstelling gebaseerd was op "geïsoleerde gevallen".

SINGAPORE (ANP/BLOOMBERG) - De olieprijzen gingen woensdagochtend verder omhoog na de Amerikaanse luchtaanvallen op Iran als vergelding voor de aanvallen op schepen in de Straat van Hormuz. Ook hebben de Verenigde Staten een vergunning ingetrokken die het Iran tijdelijk mogelijk maakte om olie te exporteren.

De prijs van een vat Amerikaanse olie steeg met 2,6 procent tot 72,28 dollar en Brentolie werd ook 2,6 procent duurder, op 76,08 dollar per vat. Een dag eerder gingen de olieprijzen ook al flink omhoog door het opgelaaide geweld in het Midden-Oosten. Daardoor zijn er weer zorgen op de oliemarkt over de volledige en veilige heropening van de Straat van Hormuz voor olie- en gastankers.

De Iraanse Revolutionaire Garde (IRG) zei Amerikaanse militaire locaties in Bahrein en Koeweit te hebben bestookt "als reactie op de schending van het staakt-het-vuren door de VS".

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De bestedingen van huishoudens in Nederland zijn in mei met 1,8 procent gestegen in vergelijking met een jaar eerder. Dat meldt het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS). Huishoudens kochten die maand vooral meer goederen. In april groeide de consumptie met 1 procent.

De uitgaven aan duurzame goederen namen met 6,4 procent toe in mei. Daarbij werden vooral meer auto's, schoenen, kleding en spullen voor de woning gekocht. Aan voedingsmiddelen gaven ze 2 procent meer uit dan een jaar eerder. Ook verbruikten huishoudens meer overige goederen, zoals energie en artikelen voor persoonlijke verzorging.

De consumentenuitgaven aan diensten namen met 0,3 procent toe. Daarbij werd meer gespendeerd aan vervoer en communicatie, medische diensten en huisvesting. In de horeca en aan recreatie en cultuur werd juist minder uitgegeven.

Weer voor Rotterdam ☁️ - 08-07-2026 07:15 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 19.7°C · Bewolkt ☁️ | Min 19.3°C / Max 25.3°C

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 19.3°C, Max 25.3°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1019.2 hPa ↗️ +1.1 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 14.0 km/u (3.9 m/s), richting: ↘ 325°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

• 08:00: 20.1°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1018.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.7 km/u (2.7 m/s), richting: ↘ 311°
• 09:00: 20.3°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1018.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.7 km/u (2.7 m/s), richting: ↘ 317°
• 10:00: 20.7°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1018.7 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.1 km/u (2.8 m/s), richting: ↘ 302°
• 11:00: 21.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1019.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.8 km/u (3.0 m/s), richting: → 289°
• 12:00: 22.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1019.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.4 km/u (2.6 m/s), richting: ↘ 323°
• 13:00: 22.8°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, 🧭 1019.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.2 km/u (3.4 m/s), richting: ↘ 335°
• 14:00: 24.5°C (Licht bewolkt) 🌤️, 🧭 1019.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.2 km/u (3.4 m/s), richting: ↘ 319°
• 15:00: 25.2°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1019.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 14.0 km/u (3.9 m/s), richting: ↘ 318°
• 16:00: 25.3°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, 🧭 1019.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 14.0 km/u (3.9 m/s), richting: ↘ 328°
• 17:00: 25.1°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1019.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↘ 334°
• 18:00: 24.6°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1019.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.0 km/u (3.6 m/s), richting: ↘ 332°
• 19:00: 23.9°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1019.2 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↓ 346°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

• donderdag 09 juli: Min 18.2°C, Max 27.3°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1018.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 14.8 km/u (4.1 m/s), richting: ↙ 54°
• vrijdag 10 juli: Min 19.0°C, Max 27.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1018.2 hPa ↘️ -0.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 15.5 km/u (4.3 m/s), richting: ↙ 60°
• zaterdag 11 juli: Min 16.6°C, Max 28.8°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1020.1 hPa ↗️ +1.9 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.8 km/u (4.7 m/s), richting: ↙ 55°
• zondag 12 juli: Min 18.8°C, Max 28.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1022.7 hPa ↗️ +2.6 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 17.1 km/u (4.8 m/s), richting: ↙ 53°
• maandag 13 juli: Min 16.6°C, Max 28.6°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, Kans op neerslag 2%, 🧭 1022.0 hPa ↘️ -0.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 13.5 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↙ 51°
• dinsdag 14 juli: Min 17.7°C, Max 26.8°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 9%, 🧭 1020.8 hPa ↘️ -1.2 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 18.9 km/u (5.2 m/s), richting: ↙ 50°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 07:15): 19.7°C (Bewolkt)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 20.0°C (+0.3°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 9.0 km/u (2.5 m/s), richting: ↘ 318°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 20.2 km/h (5.6 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 69%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1018.1 hPa ↗️ +0.6 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 50.0 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.5
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 05:33 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 22:01

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 28 🟢 (Goed)
• PM2.5: 6.6 μg/m³
• PM10: 10.2 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo

#Rotterdam #Meteo #MeteoBot #MeteoNetherlands #OpenMeteo #FediMeteo

Na weken van kritiek kreeg de omstreden kandidaat-wethouder Miriam Harika dinsdagavond de kans om haar verhaal te vertellen in de Rotterdamse gemeenteraad. De gemeentelijke ombudsman verraste haar onaangenaam met een negatieve brief over haar huidige baan. “Ik had het heel erg gewaardeerd als ik een telefoontje had gehad.”

Na weken van kritiek kreeg de omstreden kandidaat-wethouder Miriam Harika dinsdagavond de kans om haar verhaal te vertellen in de Rotterdamse gemeenteraad. De gemeentelijke ombudsman verraste haar onaangenaam met een negatieve brief over haar huidige baan. “Ik had het heel erg gewaardeerd als ik een telefoontje had gehad.”