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Hakuba Goryu Alpine Botanical Garden
白馬五竜高山植物園・ヒマラヤの青いケシ

This is the Himalayan blue poppy, a familiar sight at the Goryu Alpine Botanical Garden.

五竜高山植物園ではお馴染み、ヒマラヤの青いケシです。

Hakuba-mura, Nagano pref, Japan

Nick Verschuren moet de komende jaren een vaste waarde worden in de verdediging van Sparta. Verwacht van hem geen technische hoogstandjes. "Ik geef mijn leven om m'n mannetje uit te schakelen."

DAMASCUS (ANP/AFP) - De explosies in Damascus tijdens het bezoek van de Franse president Emmanuel Macron hebben ook een leven gekost. Dat melden de Syrische autoriteiten, die woensdag verder spreken over 36 gewonden.

Macron bezocht de Syrische hoofdstad een dag eerder. Hij was daarmee het eerste staatshoofd uit de EU in Syrië sinds de val van het regime van dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

De explosieven die afgingen, zaten volgens de autoriteiten verstopt in de buurt van het hotel van de Franse president. Ze zouden pas zijn afgegaan toen hij al was vertrokken naar het presidentieel paleis voor een afspraak met zijn ambtgenoot Ahmed al-Sharaa.

De Syrische leider prees later de moed van zijn gast, omdat die toch was doorgegaan met het bezoek. De leiders spraken af dat Frankrijk en Syrië de banden verder gaan aanhalen.

ANKARA (ANP) - De Turkse president Recep Tayyip Erdogan heeft de vergadering van de 32 NAVO-regeringsleiders geopend. De gastheer pleitte voor goede samenwerking tussen de bondgenoten en herhaalde dat wat hem betreft daarom alle beperkingen op wapenhandel tussen lidstaten, die vooral Turkije treffen, moeten worden opgeheven.

De Amerikanen hebben Turkije verboden om F-35-gevechtsvliegtuigen te kopen en de Fransen staan het land niet toe om een luchtverdedigingssysteem aan te schaffen. Erdogan klaagt daar al jaren over, maar hoopt daar op deze top verandering in te brengen. Dat lijkt succes te hebben, want de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump zei dinsdag de sancties tegen Turkije te willen schrappen en persbureau Reuters schreef dat ook de Fransen hun standpunt mogelijk gaan herzien.

Erdogan richtte zich tijdens de opening van de NAVO-vergadering ook tot de leden van de Europese Unie. Hij riep die landen op om geen defensieplannen te maken die NAVO-landen van buiten de EU uitsluiten.

ANKARA (ANP) - NAVO-diplomaten hadden gehoopt dat de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump in een betere stemming zou beginnen aan de vergadering met de andere leiders op de top in Ankara. Tegelijkertijd zeggen bronnen niet verrast te zijn door het beklag en de boosheid van Trump voor aanvang.

Trump haalde naast NAVO-topman Mark Rutte opnieuw uit naar bondgenoten die op de VS zouden leunen en de grote bondgenoot niet genoeg zouden bijstaan in bijvoorbeeld de oorlog met Iran. Dat hebben we eerder gehoord, relativeren vier NAVO-diplomaten, van wie "niemand echt geschrokken" is, zeggen twee van hen. "Maar leuk is anders." Het is volgens twee bronnen nu maar hopen dat Trumps humeur de vergadering niet stempelt. "Stoelriemen vast" is volgens een ingewijde waarschijnlijk op zijn plaats.

De Amerikaanse president is moeilijk te lezen en kan ook zomaar weer omslaan, zeggen anderen. "Laten we afwachten tot de persconferentie na afloop."

Alles op de top in Ankara zou draaien om het 'managen' van Trump, zeiden hoge diplomaten vooraf.

Popmuziek heeft al vanaf het begin een belangrijk aandeel in het succes van North Sea Jazz. Het festival groeide in vijftig jaar uit tot dé plek in Nederland om grote en innovatieve zwarte popartiesten aan het werk te zien en ook hun beroemde voorgangers en inspiratiebronnen – en daarmee hun overlappend muzikaal DNA.

Door de sluiting van de Straat van Hormuz wordt het voedsel in de supermarkt straks duurder, leert een nieuwe studie. Staatssecretaris Silvio Erkens (Voedselzekerheid, VVD) wil Nederland weerbaarder maken tegen zulke (acute) voedselcrises, desnoods door voedingsbedrijven te dwingen.

We would like to hear from people who support national football teams outside of their own countries

In order to play for a country at the World Cup, a football player must have a “genuine link” to that nation, such as familial ties or citizenship. But the rule does not apply to supporting a country.

We would like to hear from fans who have supported national football teams outside of their own countries at the 2026 World Cup. Perhaps you follow a certain player, or the football clubs the team is associated with? Maybe you just like their style? Whatever the reason, we’d like to hear from you.

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John Thune says he spoke to McConnell on phone as secrecy over 84-year-old’s health prompts Maga backlash

Republican leaders have moved to quash speculation about Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader in the US Senate, amid a growing revolt over the lack of transparency around his health.

The 84-year-old Kentucky politician, who led Senate Republicans for longer than anyone in history before stepping down last year, was admitted to hospital on 14 June but his office declined to say what he was being treated for.

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Estonia, Luxembourg and UK are the top three in biennial Yale University index in tackling pollution and other issues

Much of the world has made encouraging strides in reducing toxic problems such as water and air pollution that have long plagued communities. But there is still a widespread lack of progress among countries in dealing with the climate crisis, according to the latest edition of an influential environmental scorecard.

The biennial Yale University index again ranks Estonia as the best-performing of 177 assessed countries, after strong recent efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and protect its ecosystems. Luxembourg is second, and the UK is third, having moved up from fifth place in the 2024 index.

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It refers to the total burnout experienced during periods of extreme heat and humidity – and never have we needed it more

It’s satisfying when one word sums up an entire philosophy or feeling – think hygge, schadenfreude – and there’s a new kid on the block that is particularly relevant right now. Natsubate is the reason so many of us feel utterly exhausted at the moment, as we battle through perilously high temperatures once more. Hailing from Japan, it translates as “summer exhaustion” and describes that feel-it-in-your-bones, all-encompassing dog- tiredness experienced during periods of extreme heat and humidity.

It’s a heatwave hangover, which often hangs about long after the boiling conditions. Next-level knackeredness. This is not just middle age; it’s natsubate.

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Even voters who identify as foot soldiers of his political army are increasingly willing to blame Trump for their economic troubles

The political consequences of Donald Trump’s policy mayhem are now coming into view: “Maga” America is getting pissed.

It has been a sight to see how every one of the president’s policy initiatives has sabotaged some core constituency or other. From farmers and rural Americans to manufacturing workers and every American struggling to make ends meet, Trump has torched pretty much his entire political base. For all his efforts to rig the midterm elections in his favor, it’s as if he is daring the Maga faithful to drop him.

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I can’t blame my patients for turning to its straightforward assessments. But it has real risks – and care may require human messiness

“Chat told me I should break up with him.”

I instructed my face to remain therapist-neutral, but I must have smirked. The truth is, I was annoyed. We had been discussing the viability of this relationship for weeks, and in an instant AI had brought the answer. “How do you feel about it?” She said this had been her gut feeling all along. The following session, her relationship was over.

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peaceful-jp-scenery has added a photo to the pool:

Hakuba Goryu Alpine Botanical Garden
白馬五竜高山植物園・ヒマラヤの青いケシ

This is the Himalayan blue poppy, a familiar sight at the Goryu Alpine Botanical Garden.

五竜高山植物園ではお馴染み、ヒマラヤの青いケシです。

Hakuba-mura, Nagano pref, Japan

Other regions of Germany are starting to move away from proprietary tools and cloud services from the US in favor of FOSS. The state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the northeast of Germany, has confirmed it is on the road to digital sovereignty and in the process of moving to Nextcloud in place of Microsoft SharePoint. So far, around 5,000 staff are using their new FOSS tools for chat, video conferencing, and groupware, but the plan is to roll it out to more than 50,000 public employees. It is also using OpenProject. For now, the plan is to keep Microsoft client OSes, changing the groupware tools first. This is not a Linux migration… yet. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (sometimes Anglicized as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) is Germany's least densely populated state. It sits between Schleswig-Holstein to its west and Poland to its east. We mentioned Schleswig-Holstein last year for its move from Microsoft to FOSS tools. The state government agency in charge of the migration is DVZ-MV, a handy abbreviation for Datenverarbeitungszentrum Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (it has a rather better formatted version of the same announcement). In October last year, the two states announced that they were cooperating for more digital sovereignty, and it looks like the agreement is working out. They are both aiming to use the same tools and platforms. The news echoes changes down south in Bavaria. In February, state capital Munich's department for digitalization announced a new Sovereignty Check, co-developed with the Technical University of Munich, saying that digital sovereignty is now measurable. A few months later, the state Ministry for Digital Affairs said Bavaria was launching a project for digital sovereignty. Local online newspaper Mittelstand in Bayern reports that Bavaria's billion-dollar deal with Microsoft is off, and it is looking for new alternatives. Since the 2018 elections, the state has been run by a coalition between the CSU (Christlich-Soziale Union) and the Freie Wähler (Free Voters). The state's Minister for Digital Affairs, Fabian Mehring, is from the Freie Wähler, and seems to be getting his way despite CSU opposition. The Register has been reporting Munich's on-again-off-again efforts at moving to FOSS for over two decades now. In 2003, Microsoft was down and out in Munich and in 2004 the city embraced the penguin. In 2013, it was still under way, with Ubuntu replacing Windows XP. Then, by 2017, Munich had swung the other way: "To hell with Linux, we're going full Windows in 2020," as The Reg put it, even though it was going to cost. That was the problem – the moves back then were driven by money. Now, though, they are driven by the realization that the US is no longer a reliable ally. As Finnish MEP Aura Salla put it at February's Open Source Policy Summit: "The EU runs on Microsoft. The US could turn us off inside one hour." The Reg was reporting back in 2019 that Germany was keen on digital sovereignty, but now the need is more pressing – even if it risks billions. As smaller and less wealthy state governments in the north of the country make the shift, the Center for Digital Sovereignty in Public Administration (ZenDiS) gains experience and its openDesk suite gains credibility. After all, it's good enough for the International Criminal Court. The Register has asked Microsoft for comment, as well as the Bavarian ministers and parties involved. ®

​Tata Steel heeft gereageerd op het nieuws dat het Openbaar Ministerie hen strafrechtelijk gaat vervolgen. Het staalbedrijf in IJmuiden nodigt hen uit om te komen werken op de afdeling duurzaamheid en PR.

“We zagen dat jullie ons gaan vervolgen voor opzettelijke vervuiling”, schrijft Tata Steel-directeur Hans van den Berg aan het OM. “Hoe klinkt Chief Sustainability Officer?”

Volgens Van den Berg is het voor het Openbaar Ministerie dé kans om Tata Steel van binnenuit te veranderen. “Als je écht verandering wil voor omwonenden, moet je volgens mij juist bij ons in de PR komen werken. En nog even ter check: wat hebben jullie gedaan in jullie studententijd?”

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Have you always wanted to go on a rampage but don't want to deal with the consequences? Live out your antisocial fantasies in this fun browser game that lets you take Neal on journey through Battery Point doing the things that Neal does. Note: works on mobile but seems more suited for desktop.