Belçika kralı (2013–günümüz)
Rice work: Dutch test new crop to save sinking peatlands
In a soggy field between Amsterdam and The Hague, farmer Sander Roeleveld ploughs a small white combine harvester into his crops, gathering a grain never before harvested in the Netherlands: rice. The surroundings could scarcely be more Dutch. Canals criss-cross polders lying two metres below sea level. Windmills grace the horizon as cows — for centuries the country’s agricultural staple — graze in the nearby grassland. But the warming climate is allowing Dutch farmers to produce wine and now even experiment with rice, previously unthinkable in such a wet, temperate country. And researchers behind the scheme hope rice cultivation could help address one of the country’s most pressing environmental challenges: peat soils that are sinking as they dry out, pushing parts of the low-lying Netherlands ever lower. “It’s extraordinary,” said Philippe Terheggen, chairman of the Land van Ons association that has provided the fields for the rice harvest. “We would never have thought maybe 20 years ago that we would be able to grow rice in the Netherlands,” the 68-year-old told AFP as the harvester whirred behind him. “But it’s also scary because it tells you what is possible… now the climate has changed,” he said. For now, the project is a pilot scheme, consisting of just 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres), with organisers hoping to produce around three tonnes of short-grain rice suitable for sushi or risotto. The team is working with around 30 different rice cultivars from as far afield as Russia, China, Japan and Uzbekistan, to see which grows best in the Dutch climate. Roeleveld, who describes himself as a “pioneer”, said he wanted to show other farmers that rice could grow in boggy Dutch soil. “My goal is to show that more things are possible on wetland than just grass,” the 53-year-old told AFP. “Of course, when you have had cows for 600 years, it’s really hard to imagine that you want to do something else than having milk from your cow,” he laughed. “I just want to show that things can be changed for the benefit of the future.” ‘Crazy idea’ But the project is about much more than crop diversification. Researchers believe it could help tackle one of the Netherlands’ most persistent environmental problems. Roughly one-tenth of the country is peatland, which farmers drain for grass to feed their cattle. As the peat dries out, it releases millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide while causing the land to subside by up to several centimetres a year in the worst-affected areas. According to Wageningen University, greenhouse gas emissions from Dutch peat soils account for around two to three per cent of the country’s total emissions. The only way to resolve this vicious cycle is to keep the fields wet — but then farmers would have nothing to grow there… until now. “Basically it started with just a crazy idea,” explained Julian Helfenstein, a researcher from Wageningen University and Research, who is piloting the project along with colleagues from nearby Leiden University. It is a rare combination of both adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects, said the 36-year-old. “Rice is an opportunity for this part of the world to adapt to climate change, so to grow something that previously wasn’t possible,” he said. “But also to mitigate climate change because it stops this peat from degrading and emitting all the CO2 because you can keep it wet.” The peat issue affects not just the Netherlands, but much of northern Europe, including Germany, Belgium, even the Baltic states, he said. Helfenstein and his team are closely monitoring the CO2 and methane emissions from cultivating rice compared to maintaining grassland – to ensure the cure is not worse than the illness. “So far the results are promising,” he said. “As an environmental scientist, you’re always pointing to the problems. And it can be a bit depressing, like, ‘oh, here’s more climate change, here’s more pollution’,” said Helfenstein. “And then here’s an opportunity for science to work also towards a solution. So I find that thrilling.” ‘Chewy, but great’ Local restaurants have already voiced an interest in offering premium Dutch-sourced rice, said Guusje van der Vossen from the Wij Land association, which helps farmers transition to more sustainable production. She said the rice being harvested now was a grain from northern Japan, which seems the best adapted to Dutch conditions. The 27-year-old is one of the few people ever to have eaten Dutch-grown rice — from an experimental batch grown last year. “It tasted delicious, to be honest,” she laughed, saying the aim was to make sushi with it — and maybe sake. “It was a bit chewy, but also great.”
Pope celebrates giant Paris mass in landmark visit
PARIS: Pope Leo XIV on Saturday celebrated an open-air mass in front of hundreds of thousands of faithful in Paris after riding in the popemobile along the iconic Champs Elysees to the cheers of huge crowds clutching French and Vatican flags. The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, on the first official papal visit to France in nearly two decades. In the highlight of the visit’s second day, the 71-year-old pope led believers in a mass at Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy had been erected to serve as a makeshift altar. Dozens of screens were installed to allow worshippers to follow the hour-and-a-half-long service. The trip stirred visible enthusiasm and spiritual fervour among the faithful. The pope’s prayers were accompanied by choral and organ music as the sun broke through the grey skies. “It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God,” said Pope Leo, dressed in white liturgical vestments. Over a stretch of more than two kilometres, some 800,000 people had gathered all the way beyond the Arc de Triomphe, the Vatican said. The city centre was sealed off for the service, with helicopters circling overhead and snipers positioned on rooftops. “It’s one time in history to see the pope,” said Aline Riziki, 41, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and who has lived in France for 11 years. “I dropped everything to come here and see him, to pray for peace in the east” of her homeland, wracked by conflict for decades, she said. Some people sitting on the pavement hugged their knees and dropped their heads in concentration as they listened to the pope’s voice echo across the Champs Elysees. Parents arrived with pushchairs and held children on their shoulders as crowds hoped to catch a glimpse of the pontiff. ‘Important moment’ Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, came with her husband and two-year-old girl, who was perched on his shoulders. “We’re happy that, even if she won’t remember it, we’re sharing this with her,” she said, a small golden cross dangling over her jumper. “It’s an important moment for us to be surrounded by other people who also have faith.” The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with the anti-immigration far right eyeing its best opportunity yet to capture the presidency. A number of presidential hopefuls were present, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe. President Emmanuel Macron did not attend the mass but was represented by his wife Brigitte. “We’re incredibly lucky,” Suzanne Grange, 62, said ahead of the service. “We were already lucky enough to see Pope John Paul II in Paris back in 1980,” added her husband Pascal, 65. ‘Dignity and peace’ Earlier in the day, the pope met migrants at Maison Bakhita, an association supporting refugees. Leo said it was “possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace”. He also stressed the “fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love”. The association said the pope’s visit sent a “message” ahead of the April-May election. On Friday, an estimated 300,000 people turned out to see the pontiff as he waved from his popemobile on the way to the Notre Dame Cathedral. “There is a sense of fervour reminiscent of that experienced over 40 years ago with John Paul II,” Francois Mabille, director of the Geopolitical Observatory on Religion, told broadcaster RMC. On Friday, Pope Leo stressed the need for ethics to avoid an AI-driven “paradise of machines” and, as war rages in Ukraine for a fifth year, urged France to remain a “tireless champion of peace”. He also told young adults at a stadium outside Paris on Friday night that they were the “saints of France”. Later Saturday Pope Leo will head to Lourdes, a southwestern town where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in a grotto in 1858 to a peasant girl. On Sunday, he will speak with seven victims of clerical sex abuse. Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2026
Canada invites the UK to join its economic alliance with the European Union
Canada's Finance Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, has proposed that the United Kingdom join the economic alliance Ottawa is negotiating with the European Union, in comments to the BBC. "We are independent and sovereign, but we are stronger together," he said. The British government has not publicly responded to the proposal.
Macron orders steps to protect critical systems from ‘Russian attacks’
PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron warned on Friday of the growing threat posed by Moscow’s shadow operations across Europe, saying he had ordered measures to protect France’s critical infrastructure from Russian “hybrid attacks”. Macron also vowed that Russia’s attacks on French soil would not go unanswered, speaking after talks with presidential hopefuls and party leaders ahead of the April-May election. “The Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified,” Macron told journalists. The meeting with France’s political leaders, held in the Elysee Palace’s crisis room, was intended to brief attendees on confidential French intelligence assessments of the current security challenges. Nicolas Lerner, head of France’s foreign intelligence service DGSE, and Celine Berthon, head of France’s domestic intelligence agency DGSI, attended. Also present were more than a dozen presidential hopefuls and other senior politicians including centrists Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal as well as Jordan Bardella, head of the far-right National Rally party. Two key presidential contenders skip security briefing The National Rally’s presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who is leading in the polls, and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon were absent. Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kyiv’s European allies, including France, have raised the alarm about “hybrid attacks” linked to Russia. The attacks have fallen below the threshold of open warfare, but have included drone flights near sensitive sites, airspace violations, and cyberattacks. ‘We are not intimidated’ This month Berlin blamed Moscow for an incident at Leipzig airport, which the European Union said bore all the hallmarks of “state-sponsored terrorism”. The drone episode underscored an apparent escalation in the tactics Russia is willing to employ on Nato soil. Macron said he had ordered “the government to prepare a plan to protect our critical infrastructure” and the “most sensitive” defence industry and technology sites against drone and cyberattacks. He added that France’s interior minister had met regional prefects to step up vigilance. Macron said that despite the Russian threats, France would continue to support Ukraine and vowed that Paris would respond to Russia’s shadow attacks. “This will not go unanswered,” Macron said, without elaborating. “The intention behind it is to intimidate us and to derail the effort to support the Ukrainians. The consequence will be the opposite,” he said. “We are not intimidated, because we know that what is at stake today in Ukraine is our security.” Berthon, France’s top domestic spy, made a rare appearance at a business forum in August, saying the Leipzig incident signalled French companies could also be targeted. Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2026
Ruslar Zaporijya Nükleer Santrali'ne İHA ve Silah Deposu KurduThe Russia-tied French billionaires opening UK's first historical theme park – explainer
French company Puy du Fou is planning a £600m history-themed park in Oxfordshire. A Guardian investigation has found the company continued working with associates of Konstantin Malofeyev, a pro-Kremlin oligarch under sanctions, on plans for a theme park in Russian-occupied Crimea for longer than it had previously disclosed, and later explored projects in Iran and China. Business reporter Rob Davies explains his findings, including documents that raise questions about whether Puy du Fou’s activities tested the limits of EU sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. He also examines the far-right politics associated with Puy du Fou’s founder, Philippe de Villiers, and asks whether the company is a suitable choice to tell Britain’s national story Kremlin connections: the Russia links to a £600m UK theme park Continue reading...
The Russia-tied French billionaires opening UK's first historical theme park – explainer