Latest news with #Belgian-Dutch
Business Post
09-08-2025
- Business
- Business Post
What the Papers Say: RTÉ €725 million ‘distorting' bailout; Nvidia gets Trump reprieve; Jaguar boss defends ‘woke' rebrand
10 am - Good morning from the Business Post newsroom. Daniel McConnell here with your Saturday morning round-up of the main stories in Ireland and across the world. RTÉ €725m funding could 'distort' media market, Irish Independent publisher warns Minister Mediahuis, the multinational group that owns the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent newspapers, has warned that the Government's multiyear funding agreement for RTÉ could damage competition, the Irish Times reports. The media company says this is the case because the bailout would help fund enhancements to digital products such as the RTÉ Player and RTÉ News App to the detriment of commercial media companies. The Belgian-Dutch publisher also said it was concerned that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) could compound the existing imbalance in the relationship between Big Tech and commercial media companies in the State. The issues were raised in a May 7th letter, signed by Mediahuis director of legal and public affairs, Fergus Foody, and sent to Minister for Culture, Arts and Communication Patrick O'Donovan. Failure to provide gas storage puts Ireland at risk of major power outages, EY says Power cuts like those seen in Spain and Portugal could be a danger for Ireland if the Government does not provide for storing natural gas, according to a leading industry figure, the Irish Times is reporting. This State has no natural gas storage, or a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, despite relying on the fuel to generate close to half of all electricity. The Republic ultimately risks 'interruptions to supply' of this key energy source if it does not deal with this question sooner rather than later, Sean Casey, industrials and energy industry leader at EY said. Natural gas generates 40 per cent of Irish electricity, Casey noted, with the State importing 80 per cent of its natural gas via the UK. Its only home-grown source of the fuel, the Corrib field, is dwindling. HP Enterprise paid $25m dividend to Irish entity in June One of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise's main Irish units paid a dividend of €21.5 million ($25 million) in June to another of the computing giant's companies registered here after restructuring its balance sheet and cancelling part of its share capital in early 2025, the Irish Times reports. Accounts filed by Hewlett-Packard Galway (HPG), the entity behind the S&P 500-listed computing giant's European research and development (R&D) hub in Ballybrit, also reveal that operating profits at the unit surged by almost 700 per cent last year amid an increase in R&D tax credits. HPG, which employed some 374 people in the Republic last year, reported turnover of $68.9 million for the 12 months to the end of October last year, up by just under 4 per cent on the previous year. US licenses Nvidia to export chips to China after CEO meets Trump The US commerce department has started issuing licences to Nvidia to export H20 chips to China following weeks of inaction, after chief executive Jensen Huang met President Donald Trump at the White House, the Financial Times is reporting. A US official told the Financial Times the bureau of industry and security, the arm of the commerce department that oversees export controls, had begun to issue licences for the H20. Nvidia designed the chip for the Chinese market after the Biden administration imposed export controls on more advanced artificial intelligence chips. In April, the Trump administration appeared to take a tougher line by telling Nvidia it could not sell the H20 to China. Trump reversed course after Huang visited the White House and directly lobbied the president. But Nvidia was frustrated that three weeks after the decision, the administration had not started issuing the licences. Huang visited the White House on Wednesday and held another meeting with the president. Two days after the meeting, the commerce department starting issue the licences, according to people familiar with the decision. New Jaguar boss defends 'woke' rebrand after stinging criticism The new boss of Jaguar has defended the company's 'woke' rebrand, days after Donald Trump labelled it a 'total disaster', the Daily Telegraph reports. PB Balaji, who is due to take over as chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in November, claimed that the carmaker had seen a positive response to its overhaul. The move has seen it ditch its iconic jumping cat logo, embrace a hot pink aesthetic and debut a car design that has been compared to the Thunderbirds' limousine. He told reporters: 'We have put our plans together, the cars are being revealed, they're getting exciting response from the customers on the ground. Therefore, that's what the strategy is.' It comes days after Trump, the US president, claimed Jaguar had been left in 'absolute turmoil' by its rebrand.
The Age
04-08-2025
- The Age
I travelled across the breadth of Europe on trains over six weeks
There's something delightfully atmospheric about waiting on a chilly platform for a sleeper train to distant parts. After a few days exploring Amsterdam and a scenic side-trip to pretty Utrecht (a handy use of the Eurail pass), I find myself at Amsterdam Centraal Station at 10.30pm. European Sleeper is a Belgian-Dutch night train which began service in 2023, and I'm picking it up for the Amsterdam-Berlin leg. I'm ushered aboard by Dylan, a friendly young Dutch attendant. He tells me this sleeper carriage first saw service in 1955, though it's been fully refurbished. I've booked my compartment as a 'single', for sole use, via a reservation on top of the Eurail pass, and the compartment is spacious. There's a bed, an armchair and a tall cabinet containing a washbasin and mirror. Comfortable in my little room, I wake at 5.15am to breakfast: a box containing a bread roll, cheese spread, jam, yoghurt, muesli and orange juice. An hour later, right on time, the train pulls into Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Berlin to Krakow, Poland The online seat reservation for this Polish daytime train, named Galicja, costs only €4: a bargain for the comfortable first-class seats. It doesn't have an assigned seat number, so I spend the day changing seats as new passengers board. This does help me meet interesting people, as the facing seats encourage conversation. I'm delighted to discover there's a dining car, and am soon enjoying a steaming bowl of rye-flour soup with egg and sausage, served in a ceramic bowl with metal cutlery. As we trundle past the green forests of Silesia, who could ask for anything better? Krakow to Budapest, Hungary After a few days enjoying Krakow's historic splendour (and its vodka), I board a Polish sleeper train, Chopin, at Krakow Glowny Station. I've booked a single again and, surprisingly, my compartment has a bathroom complete with washbasin, toilet and shower. These were once sold as deluxe sleepers, but due to uncertain availability they're now the same fare as sleepers without bathrooms; a nice bonus. In a cupboard I find a bottle of water, orange juice and a chocolate wafer bar. Then I head to bed for what I assume will be an uninterrupted sleep. But no. About 1.30am I'm awoken by Czech ticket inspectors. Unable to find my printed reservation, I show them the phone version and they're happy to scan that. Later I discover the train attendant kept hold of my reservation so I wouldn't be woken in the middle of the night. I wake again around 6.30am in Slovakia, and the attendant delivers my breakfast. It's similar to the one on my previous sleeper, with the addition of slabs of dense brown bread. I sip my coffee and admire the lovely scenery as we follow the Danube across the border to Hungary. Budapest to Brasov, Romania At Budapest's spectacularly grand Keleti Station I gain access to its retro-styled Premium Lounge, open to those with a sleeper reservation. Then I walk to my Hungarian sleeper train, the Corona. Built in the 1960s, it's a retro delight with wood-panelled compartments. I'm in a single, with a table, a washbasin and a cupboard containing snacks. It also has a standard electrical outlet and two USB-A slots, the most charging capacity I've had on a sleeper train. There's no air-conditioning, but as we move on this hot day, the open windows cool the interior. This experience is a stark contrast to the sleek high-speed trains of western Europe. However, it feels like true old-school rail travel, with fresh air and lots of rattling. The dining car has tables with red-and-white cloths, blue-upholstered seats, gilt-edged lampshades and curtains. As we pass through the flat Hungarian landscape with its peaked-roof houses and green fields, I enjoy goulash soup followed by pork ragu accompanied by a beer. This for me is rail travel at its best. After a decent sleep and an uneventful border crossing, I awake to the mists of Transylvania, with trees, houses and rivers looming out of the fog. Brasov to Bucharest, Romania Having enjoyed the historic sights in and around the attractive city of Brasov – including that famous tourist trap, Bran Castle – I ride a packed train for 2½ hours to the Romanian capital. I had thought a Monday morning service would be empty but discover it's the end of a long weekend. Though the seating is cramped, the scenery is moody as we descend from the Carpathian Mountains to the plains of Wallachia. Bucharest to Sofia, Bulgaria For 10 hours I'm seated in a second-class compartment of a Bulgarian train with no air-conditioning, no dining car and dire toilets. Luckily there are only three of us in the compartment: me, an American school bus driver, who saves up for a big holiday every year, and a young Belgian on his university break. We get on well, but it's a hot day and the train is glacially slow. The saving grace is the beautiful Bulgarian countryside, with its green rolling hills and rocky mountainsides. Sofia to Istanbul, Turkey Sofia Central Station is a revelation, its main hall restored to its brutalist-modernist style splendour. On platform five is the Turkish-operated Sofia-Istanbul Express and my compartment is another single. There are two armchairs folding down to a bed, a retractable table, a washbasin and, unexpectedly, a bar fridge. We pull out at 6.45pm and pass through attractive green countryside. About 1am we arrive at the Turkish border station where everyone alights for passport control and luggage scans. It's actually more relaxed than it sounds – it's a balmy night, there are stray cats wandering about and the station's shop is open. In due course I'm back aboard, and falling asleep. In the morning we pass wheat fields and apartment blocks before our arrival at Halkali at the western edge of Istanbul. All that remains is to board a train on the adjacent commuter railway line and travel to the historic heart of the great city. Standing on the platform, at the end of an unforgettable transcontinental rail journey, I take a moment to catch my breath. Loading THE DETAILS RIDE Eurail passes cover a range of time periods. A popular choice is 15 days of travel within two months, costing $US486 ($745) for second-class travel and $US617 for first class. Additional seat reservations are often required.
Sydney Morning Herald
04-08-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
I travelled across the breadth of Europe on trains over six weeks
There's something delightfully atmospheric about waiting on a chilly platform for a sleeper train to distant parts. After a few days exploring Amsterdam and a scenic side-trip to pretty Utrecht (a handy use of the Eurail pass), I find myself at Amsterdam Centraal Station at 10.30pm. European Sleeper is a Belgian-Dutch night train which began service in 2023, and I'm picking it up for the Amsterdam-Berlin leg. I'm ushered aboard by Dylan, a friendly young Dutch attendant. He tells me this sleeper carriage first saw service in 1955, though it's been fully refurbished. I've booked my compartment as a 'single', for sole use, via a reservation on top of the Eurail pass, and the compartment is spacious. There's a bed, an armchair and a tall cabinet containing a washbasin and mirror. Comfortable in my little room, I wake at 5.15am to breakfast: a box containing a bread roll, cheese spread, jam, yoghurt, muesli and orange juice. An hour later, right on time, the train pulls into Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Berlin to Krakow, Poland The online seat reservation for this Polish daytime train, named Galicja, costs only €4: a bargain for the comfortable first-class seats. It doesn't have an assigned seat number, so I spend the day changing seats as new passengers board. This does help me meet interesting people, as the facing seats encourage conversation. I'm delighted to discover there's a dining car, and am soon enjoying a steaming bowl of rye-flour soup with egg and sausage, served in a ceramic bowl with metal cutlery. As we trundle past the green forests of Silesia, who could ask for anything better? Krakow to Budapest, Hungary After a few days enjoying Krakow's historic splendour (and its vodka), I board a Polish sleeper train, Chopin, at Krakow Glowny Station. I've booked a single again and, surprisingly, my compartment has a bathroom complete with washbasin, toilet and shower. These were once sold as deluxe sleepers, but due to uncertain availability they're now the same fare as sleepers without bathrooms; a nice bonus. In a cupboard I find a bottle of water, orange juice and a chocolate wafer bar. Then I head to bed for what I assume will be an uninterrupted sleep. But no. About 1.30am I'm awoken by Czech ticket inspectors. Unable to find my printed reservation, I show them the phone version and they're happy to scan that. Later I discover the train attendant kept hold of my reservation so I wouldn't be woken in the middle of the night. I wake again around 6.30am in Slovakia, and the attendant delivers my breakfast. It's similar to the one on my previous sleeper, with the addition of slabs of dense brown bread. I sip my coffee and admire the lovely scenery as we follow the Danube across the border to Hungary. Budapest to Brasov, Romania At Budapest's spectacularly grand Keleti Station I gain access to its retro-styled Premium Lounge, open to those with a sleeper reservation. Then I walk to my Hungarian sleeper train, the Corona. Built in the 1960s, it's a retro delight with wood-panelled compartments. I'm in a single, with a table, a washbasin and a cupboard containing snacks. It also has a standard electrical outlet and two USB-A slots, the most charging capacity I've had on a sleeper train. There's no air-conditioning, but as we move on this hot day, the open windows cool the interior. This experience is a stark contrast to the sleek high-speed trains of western Europe. However, it feels like true old-school rail travel, with fresh air and lots of rattling. The dining car has tables with red-and-white cloths, blue-upholstered seats, gilt-edged lampshades and curtains. As we pass through the flat Hungarian landscape with its peaked-roof houses and green fields, I enjoy goulash soup followed by pork ragu accompanied by a beer. This for me is rail travel at its best. After a decent sleep and an uneventful border crossing, I awake to the mists of Transylvania, with trees, houses and rivers looming out of the fog. Brasov to Bucharest, Romania Having enjoyed the historic sights in and around the attractive city of Brasov – including that famous tourist trap, Bran Castle – I ride a packed train for 2½ hours to the Romanian capital. I had thought a Monday morning service would be empty but discover it's the end of a long weekend. Though the seating is cramped, the scenery is moody as we descend from the Carpathian Mountains to the plains of Wallachia. Bucharest to Sofia, Bulgaria For 10 hours I'm seated in a second-class compartment of a Bulgarian train with no air-conditioning, no dining car and dire toilets. Luckily there are only three of us in the compartment: me, an American school bus driver, who saves up for a big holiday every year, and a young Belgian on his university break. We get on well, but it's a hot day and the train is glacially slow. The saving grace is the beautiful Bulgarian countryside, with its green rolling hills and rocky mountainsides. Sofia to Istanbul, Turkey Sofia Central Station is a revelation, its main hall restored to its brutalist-modernist style splendour. On platform five is the Turkish-operated Sofia-Istanbul Express and my compartment is another single. There are two armchairs folding down to a bed, a retractable table, a washbasin and, unexpectedly, a bar fridge. We pull out at 6.45pm and pass through attractive green countryside. About 1am we arrive at the Turkish border station where everyone alights for passport control and luggage scans. It's actually more relaxed than it sounds – it's a balmy night, there are stray cats wandering about and the station's shop is open. In due course I'm back aboard, and falling asleep. In the morning we pass wheat fields and apartment blocks before our arrival at Halkali at the western edge of Istanbul. All that remains is to board a train on the adjacent commuter railway line and travel to the historic heart of the great city. Standing on the platform, at the end of an unforgettable transcontinental rail journey, I take a moment to catch my breath. Loading THE DETAILS RIDE Eurail passes cover a range of time periods. A popular choice is 15 days of travel within two months, costing $US486 ($745) for second-class travel and $US617 for first class. Additional seat reservations are often required.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Max Verstappen's Girlfriend Shares Stunning Post-Baby Look on Sunday
Max Verstappen's Girlfriend Shares Stunning Post-Baby Look on Sunday originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Max Verstappen's girlfriend Kelly Piquet captivated fans with a heartfelt Instagram post celebrating a new chapter in her life. Just one month after welcoming her first child with the Formula 1 champion, she shared a striking photo of herself in an elegant outfit along with a touching message, which highlighted a sweet moment with her newborn. On Sunday, the model and content creator wowed fans with a timeless look. Kelly Piquet's outfit featured a white satin maternity robe and sweater from the brand La Rouge Belle while her baby was dressed in a pink satin onesie. Alongside the striking photo, she included a touching message to her newborn. In the caption, she reflected on the emotional depth of motherhood and expressed her gratitude for the experience of becoming a mother again. 'Just a little over a month since my heart experienced for the second time the most amazing love in the world,' she wrote, adding, 'Words can't describe what it is to feel a love so profound. Becoming a mother again has reminded me of the beauty, strength and softness that live within us. Thank you my little one for choosing me.' Piquet's Instagram post quickly garnered praise from followers and friends who were moved by her radiant postpartum glow and the loving tribute to her child. 'Your girls are so lucky to have a wonderful mom like you,' a commenter said. 'You are an amazing Mom for both kids and partner for Max. Enjoy,' a second user said. 'Aahhh finally Mama Kelly and baby Lily together,' one wrote. One follower couldn't help but ask about her mom glow and wrote, 'How does she still look amazing after a pregnancy? Congrats.' The post also caught the attention of Victoria Verstappen, sister of the popular racing driver, who commented with heart emojis signaling her love and support for them. Piquet and the Belgian-Dutch driver welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Lily, on May 2. The couple's relationship became public when Verstappen shared a photo on Instagram with the model at the start of 2021. The post featured them together on a beach accompanied by a greeting to his followers. "Happy New Year everyone. Let's make 2021 a year to remember in many ways. Wishing you all success, love and happiness just as I found mine,' he wrote. Besides Lily, she also has an older daughter named Penelope from her previous relationship with Formula 1 driver Daniil story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
