cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/71299743

Hundreds of social media posts by Prime Minister Rob Jetten and his party D66 were written by artificial intelligence, the Volkskrant discovered. Jetten’s AI-generated posts cover sensitive topics, including the war in Ukraine, the commemoration of the MH17 plane crash, and the government’s apology to the Mollucan people. Experts worry about the effect this will have on the Prime Minister’s credibility.

tldr; NL sold less to US but actually bought more from them, mainly fuel.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/70199782

cross-posted from: https://crust.piefed.social/c/[email protected]/p/127879/dutch-court-sentences-man-to-life-over-rwanda-genocide

The court in The Hague convicted the 66-year-old of war crimes and the crime of genocide.

Mayor Femke Halsema wants outdoor sleeping removed as a punishable offense in the city, AT5 reports. Residents of the Plantagebuurt have started a petition to stop the change, saying authorities must keep the power to step in when nuisance becomes severe.

Fines for outdoor sleeping have largely stopped for about a year. Halsema first called fining people sleeping outside “shameful” in 2021. The city then limited fines to cases that caused nuisance. Even so, an estimated 1,800 fines were issued between 2021 and 2024.

Halsema says the policy does not work. “The intention is that through the fine behavioral change is realized,” she wrote. She questions whether fining people who are homeless or without fixed housing actually reduces the nuisance linked to outdoor sleeping.

AVROTROS is again boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027, the Dutch public broadcaster announced on Monday. The event has lost its neutral character because “a participating country is still involved in a large-scale military conflict,” AVROTROS said, referring to Israel. The broadcaster is returning responsibility for Dutch participation to the NPO. It is unclear whether the Netherlands will take part in the Contest under a different public broadcaster.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/51045371

PM will use independence day trip to announce sharing of classified information about Storm Shadow components.

PM will use independence day trip to announce sharing of classified information about Storm Shadow components.

In France, up to 3 million chickens died from heat in just a few days this June.

By Bill Bramhall, https://www.gocomics.com/bill-bramhall/2026/08/18

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/[email protected]/p/2226457/deaf-actress-kaylee-hottle-who-played-jia-in-godzilla-vs-kong-and-godzilla-x-kong-the-n

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/[email protected]/p/2226457/deaf-actress-kaylee-hottle-who-played-jia-in-godzilla-vs-kong-and-godzilla-x-kong-the-n

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/72479665

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/[email protected]/p/1837115/trump-officials-want-to-use-human-rights-aid-to-advocate-for-white-south-africans-and-r

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/[email protected]/p/1837114/trump-officials-want-to-use-human-rights-aid-to-advocate-for-white-south-africans-and-r

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10061181

• Estonia, Luxembourg and UK are the top three in biennial Yale University index in tackling pollution and other issues
• US, China are falling further behind, the researchers say

...

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.

European countries dominate the top 20, with only Japan, in 16th, not situated in the continent. Australia is in 25th place, two places ahead of the US. Laos is the last-ranked nation, with the bottom three rounded out by India and Bangladesh.

...

Despite this worsening situation, several countries, most notably the US under Donald Trump, have recently scaled back efforts to combat the climate crisis. The Yale index uses data up to 2024, capturing the last part of Joe Biden’s presidency rather than Trump’s, but still finds that even then the US’s emissions were falling far too slowly to reach net zero by 2050, as the science demands must be done to avoid disastrous climate breakdown.

China, now the world’s largest carbon emitter ahead of the US, has made huge progress in developing its clean energy sector, the Yale report finds, but still derives 56% of its electricity from coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, and performs relatively poorly on its marine conservation and biodiversity stewardship, the scorecard found.

...

“Europe has really stepped out in front and is continuing to pursue climate change with not the full vigor it might have a few years back when the political circumstances were different, but they’re getting the payback for decades now of work on this issue at the cutting edge,” said Esty.

“The laggards in the US and China both are still lagging, seem to be falling further behind and are holding back the global community’s efforts to achieve the targets that have been agreed upon.”

China has climbed the table somewhat to 129th position, however, after previously being ranked near last due to the dangerous air pollution suffered by many of its major cities. It has since removed many of the coal-fired power plants near cities that caused such problems. The Yale index also marks India down for its tree cover loss, pesticide pollution risks and ocean conservation from the last index. “India’s performance is shockingly bad for a country that aspires to be a leader in global terms on the economy,” Esty said.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/49312332

Linked article has paywall; equally good article (but with slightly less not-the-onion headline):

Family of Ruth Ellis, last woman executed in UK, wins posthumous government pardon

cross-posted from: https://altgag.net/post/21794

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/49119147

alternative video upload: https://streamable.com/e/noif73