Author: aliakhan00901

Herring festival in The HagueDespite its name, Flag Day (Vlaggetjesdag) in Scheveningen – a seaside resort close to The Hague – is actually more about fresh herring. Fishmongers bring in the first catch of the year in June, the hollandse nieuwe, and mark the start of the herring season with festivities, marching bands, wearing traditional costumes, and even an auction of the first vat of fish to raise money for charity. Don’t miss the chance to share a jenever (gin) with a Scheveninger, who will tell you how this year’s herring compares with last year’s.OliviaProfileReaders’ tips: send a tip for…

Giorgio Armani built one of the most iconic fashion empires of the last half century. With his passing, the world bids farewell to a visionary whose name became synonymous with elegance, innovation, and soft power. His legacy lives on in a brand that remains deeply entwined with his identity. It was a “family affair”. To reflect on Armani’s remarkable journey and enduring influence, FRANCE 24’s Mark Owen and Eve Jackson are joined by acclaimed Paris-based author and journalist Dana Thomas. A leading voice in fashion journalism, Ms. Thomas followed Armani’s career closely for 35 years, enjoying rare, unfettered access to…

Faarea MasudBusiness reporter, BBC NewsGetty ImagesSunny weather and the women’s Euro football tournament helped to lift retail sales in July, according to the latest official figures.Retail sales volumes rose by 0.6% in July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which was more than analysts had been expecting.Clothing and footwear stores, as well as online retailers, saw strong sales growth during the month. The release of the figures had been delayed by two weeks over concerns about the quality of the statistics, and the ONS admitted it had made errors in how its survey data matched up to calendar…

An enigmatic three-member game developing team from Adelaide has created chaos on global online gaming platforms.Steam and other major storefronts including Nintendo’s eShop, PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store crashed on Friday, unable to cope with the demand for Hollow Knight: Silksong, the long-awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed 2017 indie hit Hollow Knight.The game’s release triggered widespread outages, with thousands of users reporting issues trying to buy the game in the first few hours of its release. Many were unable to complete purchases, with error messages persisting for almost three hours after the launch.The surge in demand was reflected on…

There is a well-trodden line about assessing the trustworthiness of online bargains: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. It comes to mind when looking at the extremely unusual way in which Morrissey is apparently seeking to offload his business interests in the Smiths. This is not like the forensic and formal processes behind huge catalogue sales in recent years such as Sting, Bob Dylan, Queen, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd or Paul Simon.A post on Morrissey Solo – the outlet for all official Morrissey communiques – says the singer has “no choice but to…

The 11-round $625,000 Fide Grand Swiss, which began on Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the capital of the Silk Road, will decide two of the eight qualifiers for next year’s world title Candidates.India has a strong hand, as the world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju (ineligible to qualify), is joined by the world No 4, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, the world No 5, Arjun Erigaisi, and the world No 27, Vidit Gujrathi, who won the 2023 Grand Swiss in Douglas, Isle of Man. Praggnanandhaa is already well placed to qualify via the 2025 Fide congress circuit, from which the world No 3, Fabiano Caruana, qualified…

A bizarre planet-forming disk is full of carbon dioxide in the regions where Earth-like planets could form, fresh observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show.Usually, such planet-forming disks contain water, but “water is so scarce in this system that it’s barely detectable — a dramatic contrast to what we typically observe,” Jenny Frediani, a doctoral student in the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University and lead author of the research, said in a statement.The findings, published Aug. 29 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, challenge current ideas about planetary formation.The science team still isn’t sure what’s going on…

A sign for the Public Broadcasting Service is seen on its building headquarters on Feb. 18, 2025 in Arlington, Va. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images PBS’s chief executive told public television officials Thursday that it was cutting about 15% of its jobs due to the move by Republicans in Congress to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting starting on Oct. 1. Thirty-four PBS staffers were notified Thursday that their positions were being cut. Taken with the loss of a longstanding federal grant for an educational initiative earlier this summer, and the elimination of about…

Chris BaraniukTechnology ReporterBoston MetalMaking steel using electricity is less carbon intensive than traditional methodsAn activity centre for babies and toddlers, an Indian restaurant, an indoor golf centre – and a mini experimental steel plant. These businesses are among those that make up a small retail and industrial estate in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts.”People are dropping off their kids. That kind of shows you an extreme example of what the future of steel looks like,” says Adam Rauwerdink, vice president of business development at US-based green steel start-up, Boston Metal. “You can be making steel and sharing a parking lot…

Sian Wicks from the children’s bowel and bladder charity, Eric, explains what to look for and how parents can help.