#britain 2007 thursday

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton presents alex albon with the winner's trophy for the junior kart race, britain - july 5, 2007 📷 hoch zwei / imago

[capitalism-is-parasitism]

It's high time for new smoking reforms

YouGov polling carried out on Thursday showed the public tended to support the plan, with 58% of people saying they backed the idea, against 35% who did not. The figures were virtually identical for Conservative voters.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We do not comment on leaks. Smoking claims 80,000 lives a year, puts huge pressure on our NHS, and costs taxpayers billions. We are determined to protect children and non-smokers from the harms of secondhand smoking. We’re considering a range of measures to finally make Britain smoke-free.”

After smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces was barred in 2007, according to the charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), in the year after there were 12,000 fewer overall admissions to hospitals in England, including a 12.3% drop in hospital admissions for childhood asthma.

[brookston]

Holidays 6.22

Holidays

Anti-Fascist Resistance Day (Croatia)

American Radio Relay League Field Day

Auto Race Day

B Kinder Day

Captain America Conversion Day

Day of Mourning and Commemoration of War Victims (Ukraine)

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War (Belarus)

Day of the Farmer (Día del Campesino; Colombia)

Department of Justice Day (US)

Discovery Day (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)

Father’s Day (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey)

Festival of Manifest Destiny

Festival of 1 Lithe (in The Hobbit)

Fixture Release Dat (UK)

Flaming of the Rose (Armenia)

International Day of Radiant Peace

International Fangirl Day

Listen To A Child Day

Morat Commemoration Day (a.k.a. Solennität; Switzerland)

National HVAC Tech Day

National Counsellors’ Day (UK)

National Kitchen Porter Day (UK)

National Prevent Pet Choking Day

No Panty Day

Organic Act Day (Virgin Islands) [original date]

Oscar Peterson Day (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Positive Media Day

Rare Chromo Day

Remembrance Day of Victims of the Great Patriotic War (Belarus)

Soap Microphone Day

Solmanudor (Iceland)

Speedwell Day (French Republic)

Stupid Guy Thing Day

Summerween (Gravity Falls)

Teacher’s Day (El Salvador)

Windrush Day (UK)

World Bathing Day

World Camel Day

World Osteopathy Day

World Rainforest Day

World’s Largest Swim Lesson Day

World Wide VW Beetle Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate Eclair Day

Dairy Queen Day

Hard Core Pub Crawl Day

National Limoncello Day

National Onion Rings Day

National Radler Day

4th Thursday in June

RSE Day (UK) [4th Thursday]

Independence Days

Dayane (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Salanda (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Aaron of Aleth (Christian; Saint)

Alban, first recorded Martyr in Britain (commemoration, Anglicanism)

Bouphoria (Ox Sacrifice symbolizing dissolving/restoring social order; Ancient Greece)

Dragon Boat Festival [5th Day of 5th Lunar Month] (a.k.a. ... 

Double Fifth Festival

Dragon Boast Festival (Taiwan)

Duanwu Jie Festival (端午节; China)

Tuen Ng (Hong Kong, Macau

Eusebius of Samosata (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Humphrey Ocean (Artology)

Innocent V, Pope (Christian; Blessed)

John Fisher (Catholic Church)

Kali Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Marinara Sauce Day (Pastafarian)

Nicetas of Remesiana (Christian; Saint)

Oskar Fischinger (Artology)

Paulinus of Nola (Christian; Saint)

Thomas More (Catholic Church)

Villers (Positivist; Saint)

Whiner Tutter (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [24 of 53]

Prime Number Day: 173 [40 of 72]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [32 of 60]

Premieres

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Film; 2012)

American Gothic (TV Series; 2016)

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One (WB Animated Film; 2021)

Blue, by Joni Mitchell (Album; 1971)

Boston Quackie (WB LT Cartoon; 1957)

Brave (Animated Disney Film; 2012)

Buddy’s Bug Hunt (WB LT Cartoon; 1935)

The Busy Beavers (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Classical Gas, by Mason Williams (Song; 1968)

Evan Almighty (Film; 2007)

Exile In Guyville, by Liz Phair (Album; 1993)

The Fast and the Furious (Film; 2001) [F&F #1]

Fingertips, by Little Stevie Wonder (Song; 1963)

Franks Wild Years, by Tom Waits (Stage Play; 1986)

Good For You, by Selena Gomez (Song; 2015)

The Guns of Navarone (Film; 1961)

Herbie: Fully Loaded (Film; 2005)

The Howdy Doody Show (TV Series; 1947)

I, The King, by Frances Parkinson Keyes (Historical Novel; 1966)

I Walk the Line, by Johnny Cash (Album; 1964)

John Wesley Harding, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1967)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Film; 2018)

The Karate Kid (Film; 1984)

Lady and the Tramp (Animated Disney Film; 1955)

Life on Mars, by David Bowie (Song; 1973)

The Lone Ranger (Film; 2013)

A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Film; 2015)

The Muppet Movie (US Film; 1979)

New York, New York (Film; 1977)

On the Waterfront (Film; 1954)

The Rescuers (Animated Disney Film; 1977)

Rhinestone (Film; 1984)

Rust Never Sleeps, by Neil Young (Live Album; 1979)

Scooby-Doo! And the Loch Ness Monster (WB Animated Film; 2004)

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Film; 2012)

Show Boat (Broadway Musical; 1927)

Significant Other, by Limp Bizkit (Album; 1999)

Simply Irresistible, by Robert Palmer (Song; 1988)

Songs of Leonard Cohen, by Leonard Cohen (Album; 1967)

Top Secret! (Film; 1984)

Traffic (UK TV Mini-Series; 1989)

What’s New Pussycat (Film; 1965)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Animated Film; 1988)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Film; 1966)

Wild in the Country (Film; 1961)

Wild Strawberries (Film; 1959)

Wipe Out, by the Sufaris (Song; 1963)

Today’s Name Days

Paulinus, Thomas (Austria)

Goryan, Goryana (Bulgaria)

Ivan, Paulin, Toma (Croatia)

Pavla (Czech Republic)

Liina, Liine, Paula, Pauliine (Estonia)

Liina, Paula, Pauliina (Finland)

Alban (France)

Eberhard, Rotraud, Thomas (Germany)

Efsevios, Zinas (Greece)

Paulina (Hungary)

Flavio, Paolino (Italy)

Laimdots, Ludmila, Paija (Latvia)

Inocentas, Kaributas, Laima (Lithuania)

Håkon, Maud (Norway)

Achacjusz, Achacy, Agenor, Alban, Broniwoj, Flawiusz, Innocenta, Innocenty, Kirył, Paulina (Poland)

Eusebie, Grigorie (România)

Maria (Russia)

Paulína (Slovakia)

Albano, Paulino, Tomás (Spain)

Paula, Paulina (Sweden)

Alban, Albin, Albion, Nereida, Nerida, Nerissa (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 174 of 2024; 192 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 25 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 11 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Wu-Wu), Day 5 (Xin-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 3 Tammuz 5783

Islamic: 3 Dhu al-Hijjah 1444

J Cal: 23 Sol; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 9 June 2023

Moon: 18%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 5 Charlemagne (7th Month) [Villers]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 2 of 94)

Zodiac: Cancer (Day 2 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 6.22

Holidays

Anti-Fascist Resistance Day (Croatia)

American Radio Relay League Field Day

Auto Race Day

B Kinder Day

Captain America Conversion Day

Day of Mourning and Commemoration of War Victims (Ukraine)

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War (Belarus)

Day of the Farmer (Día del Campesino; Colombia)

Department of Justice Day (US)

Discovery Day (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)

Father’s Day (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey)

Festival of Manifest Destiny

Festival of 1 Lithe (in The Hobbit)

Fixture Release Dat (UK)

Flaming of the Rose (Armenia)

International Day of Radiant Peace

International Fangirl Day

Listen To A Child Day

Morat Commemoration Day (a.k.a. Solennität; Switzerland)

National HVAC Tech Day

National Counsellors’ Day (UK)

National Kitchen Porter Day (UK)

National Prevent Pet Choking Day

No Panty Day

Organic Act Day (Virgin Islands) [original date]

Oscar Peterson Day (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Positive Media Day

Rare Chromo Day

Remembrance Day of Victims of the Great Patriotic War (Belarus)

Soap Microphone Day

Solmanudor (Iceland)

Speedwell Day (French Republic)

Stupid Guy Thing Day

Summerween (Gravity Falls)

Teacher’s Day (El Salvador)

Windrush Day (UK)

World Bathing Day

World Camel Day

World Osteopathy Day

World Rainforest Day

World’s Largest Swim Lesson Day

World Wide VW Beetle Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate Eclair Day

Dairy Queen Day

Hard Core Pub Crawl Day

National Limoncello Day

National Onion Rings Day

National Radler Day

4th Thursday in June

RSE Day (UK) [4th Thursday]

Independence Days

Dayane (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Salanda (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Aaron of Aleth (Christian; Saint)

Alban, first recorded Martyr in Britain (commemoration, Anglicanism)

Bouphoria (Ox Sacrifice symbolizing dissolving/restoring social order; Ancient Greece)

Dragon Boat Festival [5th Day of 5th Lunar Month] (a.k.a. ... 

Double Fifth Festival

Dragon Boast Festival (Taiwan)

Duanwu Jie Festival (端午节; China)

Tuen Ng (Hong Kong, Macau

Eusebius of Samosata (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Humphrey Ocean (Artology)

Innocent V, Pope (Christian; Blessed)

John Fisher (Catholic Church)

Kali Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Marinara Sauce Day (Pastafarian)

Nicetas of Remesiana (Christian; Saint)

Oskar Fischinger (Artology)

Paulinus of Nola (Christian; Saint)

Thomas More (Catholic Church)

Villers (Positivist; Saint)

Whiner Tutter (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [24 of 53]

Prime Number Day: 173 [40 of 72]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [32 of 60]

Premieres

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Film; 2012)

American Gothic (TV Series; 2016)

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One (WB Animated Film; 2021)

Blue, by Joni Mitchell (Album; 1971)

Boston Quackie (WB LT Cartoon; 1957)

Brave (Animated Disney Film; 2012)

Buddy’s Bug Hunt (WB LT Cartoon; 1935)

The Busy Beavers (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Classical Gas, by Mason Williams (Song; 1968)

Evan Almighty (Film; 2007)

Exile In Guyville, by Liz Phair (Album; 1993)

The Fast and the Furious (Film; 2001) [F&F #1]

Fingertips, by Little Stevie Wonder (Song; 1963)

Franks Wild Years, by Tom Waits (Stage Play; 1986)

Good For You, by Selena Gomez (Song; 2015)

The Guns of Navarone (Film; 1961)

Herbie: Fully Loaded (Film; 2005)

The Howdy Doody Show (TV Series; 1947)

I, The King, by Frances Parkinson Keyes (Historical Novel; 1966)

I Walk the Line, by Johnny Cash (Album; 1964)

John Wesley Harding, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1967)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Film; 2018)

The Karate Kid (Film; 1984)

Lady and the Tramp (Animated Disney Film; 1955)

Life on Mars, by David Bowie (Song; 1973)

The Lone Ranger (Film; 2013)

A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Film; 2015)

The Muppet Movie (US Film; 1979)

New York, New York (Film; 1977)

On the Waterfront (Film; 1954)

The Rescuers (Animated Disney Film; 1977)

Rhinestone (Film; 1984)

Rust Never Sleeps, by Neil Young (Live Album; 1979)

Scooby-Doo! And the Loch Ness Monster (WB Animated Film; 2004)

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Film; 2012)

Show Boat (Broadway Musical; 1927)

Significant Other, by Limp Bizkit (Album; 1999)

Simply Irresistible, by Robert Palmer (Song; 1988)

Songs of Leonard Cohen, by Leonard Cohen (Album; 1967)

Top Secret! (Film; 1984)

Traffic (UK TV Mini-Series; 1989)

What’s New Pussycat (Film; 1965)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Animated Film; 1988)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Film; 1966)

Wild in the Country (Film; 1961)

Wild Strawberries (Film; 1959)

Wipe Out, by the Sufaris (Song; 1963)

Today’s Name Days

Paulinus, Thomas (Austria)

Goryan, Goryana (Bulgaria)

Ivan, Paulin, Toma (Croatia)

Pavla (Czech Republic)

Liina, Liine, Paula, Pauliine (Estonia)

Liina, Paula, Pauliina (Finland)

Alban (France)

Eberhard, Rotraud, Thomas (Germany)

Efsevios, Zinas (Greece)

Paulina (Hungary)

Flavio, Paolino (Italy)

Laimdots, Ludmila, Paija (Latvia)

Inocentas, Kaributas, Laima (Lithuania)

Håkon, Maud (Norway)

Achacjusz, Achacy, Agenor, Alban, Broniwoj, Flawiusz, Innocenta, Innocenty, Kirył, Paulina (Poland)

Eusebie, Grigorie (România)

Maria (Russia)

Paulína (Slovakia)

Albano, Paulino, Tomás (Spain)

Paula, Paulina (Sweden)

Alban, Albin, Albion, Nereida, Nerida, Nerissa (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 174 of 2024; 192 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 25 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 11 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Wu-Wu), Day 5 (Xin-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 3 Tammuz 5783

Islamic: 3 Dhu al-Hijjah 1444

J Cal: 23 Sol; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 9 June 2023

Moon: 18%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 5 Charlemagne (7th Month) [Villers]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 2 of 94)

Zodiac: Cancer (Day 2 of 31)

[amberfaber40]

Prince Harry Bonds with Ed Sheeran over the 'Juggle' of Parenting 'Chilled' Lili and Energetic Archie

Prince Harry Bonds with Ed Sheeran over the 'Juggle' of Parenting 'Chilled' Lili and Energetic Archie

Prince Harry caught up with Ed Sheeran at the WellChild event, saying that newborn daughter Lili is 'very chilled' and Archie is 'running around like crazy'

Prince Harry Holding Things | TIME.com

NewsFeed takes a look back at the royal's past official trips — mostly philanthropic — through pictures of the royal holding things – from a puppy to a python.

20 pictures of Prince Harry looking fit. Come on this journey with us.

We've always fancied royal redhead Prince Harry a little bit, but since he donned a suit for Pippa Middleton's wedding, well, we've fallen in love a little bit...

Prince Harry Photostream

Prince Harry Photos Photos - A souvenir tin featuring an image of the Duke of Sussex and the Duchess of Sussex is displayed in a shop on January 16, 2022 in London, England. On Thursday, Buckingham Palace announced Prince Andrew would shed his military titles and patronages after a U.S. court allowed a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, who alleges Andrew raped her when she was 17, to proceed. He will retain his Duke of York title, although some local officials in York have also called for him to be stripped of his dukedom. Prince Andrew Retains Dukedom, But Loses HRH Title, Amid Giuffre Lawsuit

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Prince Harry

How well do you know Britain’s most beloved “funcle”?

These Pictures of Prince Harry’s Old High School Dorm Room Are Peak Bro

Is that a plaid comforter I see?

How a Teenage Prince Harry Was 'Typecast' as a 'Bad Boy' —and William Wasn't

Historian Robert Lacey explains how Prince Harry gained a reputation as the 'Bad Boy of Buckingham Palace'

Prince Harry Announces 'Raw' Memoir Title — 'Spare' — and Reveals Striking Book Jacket

Prince Harry has revealed details of his memoir — including its release date, cover photo and title: 'Spare'

Prince Harry's night out with the Queen

Prince Harry Just Played with Puppies While Wearing His Uniform and the Pics Will Melt You

It's just too damn much, you know?

53 Photos of Prince Harry’s Royal Transformation, Including His Super Cute Baby Photos

The evolution from royal prince to Netflix king is real.

Prince Harry and Ed Sheeran shared fatherhood updates, with the singer joking that Harry is "still in the trenches"Published on July 1, 2021 03:58 PM Trending Videos Prince Harry. Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesLife as a dad of two is "definitely a juggle" for Prince Harry!The Duke of Sussex attended a private garden party with winners of the WellChild Awards on Wednesday, ahead of joining brother Prince William for the unveiling of the Princess Diana statue on what would have been their mother's 60th birthday.During Wednesday's event, Prince Harry caught up with his pal Ed Sheeran, and the pair bonded over parenthood. The singer-songwriter spoke with Harry about being a dad of two to 2-year-old son Archie and daughter Lilibet Diana, who was born on June 4."Congratulations, a girl right?" Sheeran asked Harry, according to Hello! magazine. "We just had a little girl 10 months ago now. You're still in the trenches now! How do you manage with two?""Two is definitely a juggle," responded the prince, 36.Speaking to another guest, Prince Harry revealed that Lili, as he and Meghan Markle plan to call their daughter, was "very chilled.""We've been lucky so far," he said. "She's very chilled and seems happy to just sit there while Archie is running around like crazy."In a statement released following Wednesday's event, Prince Harry spoke about how much the organization has meant to him, especially after having children of his own.Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!"Since becoming patron of WellChild in 2007, this organisation and the people within it have held an extraordinarily special place in my heart," he said. "I wasn't a father at the time, and yet the stories of these children and parents transcended that. I didn't need to be a dad to feel the impact of this invaluable work. Now as a father of two, I feel all the more connected, inspired and in awe of the resilience of these families, who power through indescribable challenges with the support of WellChild."

[f1]

Wolff confident Mercedes can offer Hamilton chance for eighth world title

Toto Wolff believes Mercedes have delivered a car ready to join the fight for the Formula One world championship this season as it hit the track for the first test in Bahrain. The Mercedes team principal expressed his confidence that after an extremely disappointing season last year, this time the team had built a solid enough platform with their car to offer seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton a chance to compete for his eighth title. Last year Mercedes were well off the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari, their car suffering extensively from porpoising and then later from a separate bouncing issue severely affecting its performance. However on the first day of testing at the Sakhir circuit Wolff was optimistic that the car was a world away from last year’s recalcitrant ride. “You need to provide a good car for a driver that has the ambition to win races and championships and we have that,” he said. “We want to win. At this stage last year, we knew we were in trouble because the car was bouncing around and we were not able to drive it correctly. Today, it is very different. The car seems to be balanced in the right way. There is no bouncing which is good news. It is a good starting point.” The world champion Max Verstappen topped the timesheets for Red Bull in the morning session, continuing the form he and the team displayed on a dominant run to both titles last year. In the afternoon Verstappen was on top once more, in front of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in third and Hamilton in sixth. With only three days of testing this year before the first round next weekend, the teams focused on putting in the miles to shake down their cars rather than lap time. Wolff said Hamilton’s teammate George Russell was happy with the car and its balance, a key area which last year made its performance unpredictable from track to track, another issue they appear to have addressed. “I think we have a solid base now to work from and try to optimise the car, which we haven’t done yet,” said Wolff. For Hamilton this is the start he wanted too. Now entering his 17th year in the sport 2022 was his first season without scoring a single win and in which he was sixth, his lowest finishing position since his debut in 2007. On Thursday F1 also announced the calendar for the inaugural season of its all-female F1 Academy series. The championship, created and backed by the sport’s owners is intended to help nurture and develop young female talent in racing with a view to them advancing into F1, which has not had a woman driver since Lella Lombardi participated in the Austrian Grand Prix in 1976. Quick Guide F1 Academy calendar for 2023 Show Austria (Spielberg) 8-29 April Spain (Valencia) 5-7 May  Spain (Barcelona) 19-21 May  Netherlands (Zandvoort) 23-25 June  Italy (Monza) 7-9 July France (Le Castellet) 29-30 July United States (Austin) 20-22 October The season will consist of seven rounds each hosting three races, with the final meeting taking place over the weekend of the US GP at the Circuit of the Americas in October. Six drivers so far have been confirmed to race in teams with experience of running young drivers from the F2 and F3 field, including Britain’s Jessica Edgar and Abbi Pulling who was formerly in the all-female W Series. The future of the W Series remains in doubt after it had to end its championship early last season due to a financial shortfall and has yet to issue any confirmation it will return to racing this year. via Formula One | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/sport/formulaone

[newstfionline]

Friday, February 10, 2023

U.S. Trade Deficit Hit Record in 2022 (WSJ) The U.S. posted its largest trade deficit on record last year, as global demand weakened amid high inflation, climbing interest rates, disruptions due to the Ukraine war and the pandemic’s continued effects. America’s imports exceeded its exports by $948.1 billion in 2022, up 12.2% from 2021, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Biden weighs border deal that would deport non-Mexicans to Mexico (Washington Post) The Biden administration is negotiating an agreement with Mexico that could allow U.S. authorities to carry out large-scale deportations of non-Mexicans back across the border for the first time, according to four current and former U.S. officials familiar with the discussions. With pandemic-related emergency border restrictions scheduled to expire this spring and immigration legislation stalled in Congress, Biden officials are moving to implement a new enforcement model ahead of the presidential election. Their plan would permit hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the United States lawfully, while threatening severe consequences for those who don’t follow the rules. The capacity to quickly send non-Mexican deportees back across the border could be a breakthrough for Biden officials who say record numbers of illegal crossings have been fueled by their inability to return migrants to their home nations. Doris Meissner, the top U.S. immigration official during the Clinton administration, said she was not aware of any precedent for mass deportations of non-Mexicans to Mexico. She said the measures could be a “game changer.”

Nicaragua frees 222 political prisoners and flies them to US (Guardian) More than 200 prisoners jailed by Nicaragua’s authoritarian regime during a ferocious two-year political crackdown have reportedly been freed and flown to the United States. “This is huge,” Georgiana Aguirre-Sacasa, the daughter of one of the prisoners—the elderly former foreign minister Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa—told the Guardian on Thursday morning as she digested the shock news of her father’s release. Aguirre-Sacasa said the released Nicaraguan prisoners included key members of Nicaragua’s political opposition such as two former presidential candidates. Nicaragua’s crackdown began in June 2021 as Ortega and his wife moved to obliterate any challenge to their Sandinista government before the November presidential election. Over the following months scores of opponents were thrown in jail before Ortega—a former revolutionary icon who has been in power since 2007—won another five-year term in an election the US president, Joe Biden, claimed had been “rigged”.

Shamanism is Britain’s fastest-growing religion (Economist) In a garden studio in north London, Steve Altman holds a monthly shamanic drumming circle. Ground snake skin, feathers, candles and bowls of water, each representing the four elements of Inca cosmology, sit in the centre of the room. The ceremony culminates in a “soul journey”, in which rhythmic drumming is believed to facilitate an ascent to the spirit realm. One woman describes climbing vines to the heavens. From Colindale. Shamanism is rooted in animism, the idea that every entity in nature, whether plant, animal or rock, is alive. Trance is the core shared practice. Shamans (who are traditionally trained by other shamans) learn to enter trances—aided by drumming, singing, dancing or, occasionally, psychotropic drugs—to commune with spirits. If shamanism has a long history, it was barely practised in Britain until recently. In the English and Welsh census of 2011 just 650 people said it was their religion. But its popularity is increasing. In the census of 2021, the results of which were released in November, that figure had increased to 8,000. Partly because the numbers are small, that makes shamanism Britain’s fastest-growing faith. Alexander Alich, who researches the subject at Birmingham University, says its appeal cuts across age, race and class. One reason is climate change. Almost one in 20 Britons said they experienced climate anxiety in 2022: shamanism places all things in nature on an equal footing. Paganism, another religion rooted in nature, is also on the rise.

New French law will blanket parking lots with solar panels (Washington Post) French parking lots could soon generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear power plants, after a law is expected to win final passage on Tuesday requiring canopies of solar panels to be built atop all substantial lots in the country. The plan makes France a world leader in efforts to cover as many surfaces as possible with solar panels. The expansion could add as much as 8 percent to France’s current electrical capacity.

Zelensky Brings a Shopping List to Britain, With Fighter Planes at the Top (NYT) President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine pleaded with Britain on Wednesday to supply his country with fighter jets, making his dramatic appeal during a surprise visit to London that began a two-day diplomatic blitz of Ukraine’s Western allies. Expressing thanks for Britain’s robust and early military support, Mr. Zelensky nevertheless warned that warplanes were now urgently needed to thwart a fresh Russian offensive that is already mobilizing in Ukraine’s east. So far, the British government has resisted Ukraine’s request, as has the United States and other NATO countries, fearing that combat aircraft could escalate confrontation with Russia. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Britain would train Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO-standard jets, and signaled he was open to eventually sending planes. From London, Mr. Zelensky flew to Paris, where he pressed his case for heavier weapons in an evening meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany at the Élysée Palace. On Thursday, he is expected to appear in Brussels for meetings with European Union leaders.

Erdogan tours Turkey’s disaster zone as death toll climbs (Washington Post) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to his country’s earthquake-shattered south on Wednesday as the death toll from a pair of major earthquakes passed 20,000 and rescue workers in neighboring Syria said that they had found colleagues among the dead. Monday’s powerful earthquake and its aftershocks have leveled towns and cities across Turkey and Syria, compounding existing humanitarian crises and creating new ones. Hopes for the survival of those still lying under the rubble were fading by the hour as temperatures hovered close to freezing. In Turkey, more than 62,000 were injured, according to a tally released by the state-run news agency early Thursday. The president has faced growing criticism over the government’s response to the quake, with residents in some areas complaining of slow rescue efforts and a lack of shelter in freezing weather.

Millions Suffer Cold and Grief After Catastrophic Quake, Awaiting Help (NYT) The city’s soccer stadium is packed with tents to shelter families whose homes were destroyed in this week’s earthquakes. Outside, where people huddle in cars or around small fires to ward off the bitter cold, work crews struggle to extract the living and the dead from the ruins of apartment buildings that crumbled to the ground. Lifeless bodies are taken to a covered gymnasium and laid out on the floor. Families searching for missing loved ones go body to body to peek at the faces. They move on if they don’t recognize the corpse, and cry out in agony when they do. In Turkish towns and cities struck by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Monday and its hundreds of aftershocks, residents have waited impatiently for government help to extract their loved ones from thousands of collapsed buildings, keep their families warm and ensure they get enough to eat.

How big was the Turkey-Syria earthquake? (Washington Post) On Monday, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and 7.5-magnitude subsequent quake in Turkey and Syria resulted in more than 20,000 people killed, with many more still missing. Current estimates put more than 400 buildings collapsed and at least 1,300 more damaged in Syria and at least 5,600 structures destroyed in Turkey. The Loma Prieta earthquake in California shook with enough force that the San Francisco Bay Bridge partially collapsed on commuters. The 1989 quake killed 63 people, injuring over 3,700 residents. It was a 6.9-magnitude earthquake. The difference in damage between these events has in part to do with infrastructure, but also how we report seismic activity. Magnitude is logarithmic, meaning their differences are exponential. The 7.8 earthquake in Turkey-Syria released forces roughly 20 times stronger than the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake. 30 petajoules of energy were released by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake. It could have provided enough energy to power more than 774,000 average American homes for a year—or the equivalent of two sets of all DC households. Or it could have fueled more than 5,000 Boeing 747-100B aircrafts.

It’s cash in Iraq (Rest of World) Much of the developing world is shifting toward digital wallets, which according to the World Bank have seen users increase from 35 percent of adults in the developing world in 2014 to 57 percent in 2021, predominantly in Africa and Asia. Iraq has missed out on that; there are several e-payment platforms for Iraqi consumers, including 17 licensed digital wallet companies and 15 licenses for e-payments, but all told consumers are more reluctant to adopt digitized payments. On Miswag, an Iraqi e-commerce platform, just 2 percent of transactions are done with online payments, with the remaining 98 percent cash-on-delivery.

Kim Jong Un shows off daughter, missiles at N. Korean parade (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his young daughter took center stage at a huge military parade, fueling speculation that she’s being primed as a future leader of the isolated country as her father showed off his latest, largest nuclear missiles. Wednesday night’s parade in the capital, Pyongyang, featured the newest hardware in Kim’s growing nuclear arsenal, including what experts said was possibly a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile he could test in the coming months. The parade was the fifth known public appearance by Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, his second-born who is believed to be around 10 years old. On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to visit troops as he lauded the “irresistible might” of his nuclear-armed military.

The healthiest people in the world don’t go to the gym (Quartz) If you want to be as healthy as possible, there are no treadmills or weight machines required. Don’t just take my word for it—look to the longest-lived people in the world for proof. People in the world’s Blue Zones—the places around the world with the highest life expectancy—don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without even thinking about it. This means that they grow gardens, walk throughout the day, and minimize mechanical conveniences for house and yard work. In fact, Blue Zones researchers determined that routine natural movement is one of the most impactful ways to increase your life span, and a common habit among the world’s longest-lived populations. Moving naturally throughout the day might sound pleasant and romantic, but the reality is that 100 years ago only 10% of us had sedentary jobs, whereas today it’s 90%. However, there are still ways to add more movement into your busy lifestyle.

[mpmcorner]

Simon Cowell looks 'unrecognisable' BGT promo video.what happened to him Explained.

Simon Cowell looks 'unrecognisable' BGT promo video.what happened to him.Explained Simon Cowell looks 'unrecognisable' BGT promo video.let take a look at .what really happened to him

Simon Cowell BGT.

Fans are alarmed after Simon Cowell released a new video on social media on Thursday. The 63-year-old TV mogul was virtually unrecognisable thanks to his flawless skin, pearly white teeth, and improved features that may have been the consequence of cosmetic surgery. Just days after judge David Walliams left Britain's Got Talent, Simon urged viewers to contact him to sign up for an audition. "I usually say on my show, two or three minutes can transform your life," he remarked in the brief VT. And so it is. And perhaps you will be the victim this time. If you would like to try out for the season of next year, please do so right away.

What happened to simen Cowell?.

Simon famously changed his habits and shed 20Ibs during the past two years. After crashing his electric bike near his Malibu home in 2020 and breaking his back, he completely changed his lifestyle. He now has regular sleeping and exercise schedules. He had a very even skin, gleaming teeth, and enhanced features that might have been the consequence of cosmetic surgery.

Who is Simon Cowell?.

English television personality, businessman, and record executive Simon Phillip Cowell. The X Factor and Got Talent franchises, which have been commercially successful worldwide, were created by him. He has served as a judge on the American talent competition shows American Idol (2002–2010), The X Factor US (2011–2013), and America's Got Talent. He has also served as a judge on the British television talent competition series Pop Idol (2001–2003), The X Factor UK (2004–2010, 2014–2018), and Britain's Got Talent (2007–present) (2006–present). The British entertainment firm Syco was founded by Cowell, who also serves as its sole owner.

The x factor- Simon Cowell.

Cowell served as a judge on the first season of the British television music competition The X Factor in 2004, alongside Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, which Cowell founded with the aid of his production firm, Syco TV. The X Factor enjoyed its tenth season in 2013 after becoming an instant hit with viewers.

simen Cowell early life.

Born in Lambeth, London, on October 7, 1959,Simon Phillip Cowell was raised in Elstree, Hertfordshire. His father, Eric Selig Phillip Cowell (1918-1999), was a real estate agent, property developer, and executive in the music business. His mother, Julie Brett was a ballet dancer and socialite. Cowell's father came from a family that was primarily Jewish (his mother was born in Poland), however he didn't talk to his kids about it. Cowell's mother was raised as a Christian. He has three half brothers, John, Tony, and Michael Cowell; a younger brother named Nicholas Cowell; and a half sister named June Cowell.

Simon Cowell- other shows.

ABC premiered American Inventor on March 16, 2006. Cowell and British businessman Peter Jones, who came up with the idea for the programme, co-produced it. New business start-ups from all over the United States competed to develop the best new product idea. Janusz Liberkowski, the winner in 2006, won $1 million and the chance to turn his idea into a business. In 2007, the programme made another appearance for a second season.Celebrity Duets, which was referred as as "an Idol show for Hollywood superstars," was executive produced by Cowell in 2006 . Wayne Brady served as the program's host, and David Foster, Little Richard, and Marie Osmond served as its judges. Also read: How did Jack Flint die? Music icon cause of death has been explained. Follow us on Facebook for more updates Read the full article

[umseb]

sebastian vettel says “we all float down here” while having his portait taken ahead of the british grand prix - july 5, 2007 📷 mark thompson / getty

[sitp-recs]

Can you please recommend any friends to lovers fics? Thank you <3

I sure can, my friend! Hope you enjoy these, I did my best to include different tropes, authors, ratings and lengths. As usual this got a bit out of hand lol, so I put all recs under the cut :)

Hourglass Heart by bixgirl1 (2019, Explicit, 5k)

It only happened once — depending on how Harry counted.

Yuletide Treasure by RurouniHime (2011, Explicit, 10k)

Harry finds he has a lot to lose this Christmas.

fine i'll hold my breath / til i forget it's complicated by teatrolley (2015, Not Rated, 11k)

Harry and Draco become friends with benefits, and Harry thinks it's more complicated than it actually is.

Poppiholla by Moonflower_Rose (2021, Mature, 12k)

Harry had accepted that he would pine silently for Malfoy forever, but one, humid summer might change that.

Title of Their Sex Tape @cibeewastaken (2020, Teen and Up, 12k)

What are the Wizarding world's most elite law enforcers doing when they aren't catching criminals? It seems Auror Malfoy is often caught throwing food into Auror Potter's mouth when he's mid-yawn.

Evolution by @potteresque-ire (2016, Explicit, 13k)

Draco Malfoy was condemned to live a Muggle’s life for his three-year probation. His wand was locked away, and he was forbidden to set foot in Wizarding Britain until Hermione Granger secured a job for him in the Aurors’ stock room.

Countdown by dysonrules (2013, Mature, 14k)

When the Wizarding world is plagued by random outbreaks of Dark Magic, the Ministry assigns Curse-Breakers to assist Auror teams on their missions. Harry shouldn't be surprised when Draco Malfoy is assigned to his team, but is Malfoy a Curse-Breaker, or a curse-bringer?

Turn and Face the Strange (time may change me) by @punk-rock-yuppie (2019, Teen and Up, 16k)

Draco and Harry and how their relationship—and themselves—change over the course of eleven years.

Unpin That Spangled Breastplat by @tackytigerfic (2020, Explicit, 18k)

Draco Malfoy—talented Curse-Breaker, reformed Death Eater, Celestina Warbeck fan—has a problem. In fact, you might say that Harry Potter has got him hot under the collar, and he's hanging onto his patience by a thread.

White as Snow by @bixgirl1 (2018, Explicit, 19k)

After a quick escape from danger, Harry and Draco find themselves trapped in a blizzard, a small cabin their only refuge from the storm. It's the perfect place to recover and regroup — and to have a long-overdue conversation or two.

Nice Things by aideomai (2020, Mature, 22k)

The first thing that happened was Theodore Nott came back from France.

With Great Yawns and Stretchings by sugar_screw (2016, Teen and Up, 22k)

The coffee is very good. Really. And the cats are so cute. That's why Harry goes so often.

The Partner, The Rival and The Very Big Case by @oceaxe-ifdawn (2018, Explicit, 24k)

When Harry and Nott are paired up to go undercover as fake boyfriends, Draco is disappointed not to get the assignment. It's just professional jealousy that's making him feel so upset. Obviously. He's engaged to be married to Astoria, after all. But when he walks in on Nott kissing Harry for 'practice' and has a wild magic outbreak, he starts to think that something else might be going on. Is Nott right? Is Draco a homophobe? Or is there... just possibly... another explanation?

The Venice Job by nishizono (2007, Explicit, 26k)

Harry Potter was one of the youngest Aurors in history. He was the Boy Who Lived, and the Boy Who Lived Again. He loved Guinness and Quidditch, and hated pineapple. He wrote letters to Hagrid every Thursday, and on Sundays, he visited Hermione and Ron. Harry Potter was also not gay.

Around You Moves by ignatiustrout (2018, Mature, 29k)

Harry knew Draco was gay when he invited him to move in. He’s never had a problem with this. So why does he feel so weird about Draco bringing men home all of a sudden?

Potential Gravity by @lol-zeitgeistic (2014, Explicit, 32k)

Draco is not good at Cards Against Humanity, but Harry’s not good at being human, so it all works out. Except for the explosions. And Harry’s inability to live when Draco’s not around.

Friends? Is That What We Are? by @l0vegl0wsinthedark (2020, Explicit, 33k)

What the hell is Harry even supposed to do when he finally realises that he loves Draco? He's an idiot and it takes him a while but he gets there. They get there.

Open For Repairs by @drarrytrash (2015, Mature, 35k)

After the war, Draco works at a tv repair shop and Harry breaks things. feat. sad boys in jumpers and more ABBA than is probably necessary.

What Dreams May Come by @firethesound (2020, Explicit, 36k)

If Harry had to get called into work on his day off, at least he was able to get Malfoy called in too.

Like Lightning at your Fingertips by potterwatch (2019, Teen and Up, 43k)

The problem with living with another insomniac is, eventually, they find out you’re an insomniac, too. When Harry and Draco return for their eighth year, they think they’ll see very little of each other. Then McGonagall assigns them to room together. And the castle starts breaking. And there’s that thing with Potter’s magic.

Here's The Pencil, Make It Work by ignatiustrout (2013, Mature, 49k)

Harry thinks "Why is Malfoy working in a coffee shop in muggle London?" is a much simpler question than, "Are you going to accept that auror offer and, if you don't, what will you do?"

Another Heart Whispers Back by @slytherco (2020, Explicit, 53k)

At twenty-five, Harry Potter is still a virgin and sorely lacking in options to change that state anytime soon. To help him find a plus one for Ron and Hermione’s wedding, and maybe kill two birds with one stone, Harry’s friends set him up on a series of blind dates. The only problem is, there’s something not quite right with each of their candidates.

Modern Love by @tackytigerfic (2020, Explicit, 61k)

Harry Potter, of all people, knows that life isn’t always fair. And no one gets to be happy all of the time. But surely there’s something more—something better—than a rubbish Ministry job, and a lonely old house, and that feeling that everyone out there is doing a better job of living than Harry is. 

All Must Draw Near by Saras_Girl (2014, Mature, 61k)

Harry doesn't have time for rumours; he has a shop to run. Which is just as well, really.

The Promise of Summer by Omi_Ohmy (2019, Mature, 66k)

How was Harry supposed to know that coming back for eighth year would be so confusing? Everything is the same, and yet not the same. And nowhere is this more obvious than with Draco Malfoy. Harry finds himself once more watching and following Malfoy, trying to work him out. When they are drawn together to heal the castle, Harry doesn’t just find Malfoy - he also finds himself.

Changing Tides by @carpemermaidtales (2018, Explicit, 109k)

Draco has spent half of his life spouting the things his father has taught him without much thought about how he feels about what he says. When he unexpectedly comes face to face with the Dark Lord, he grapples with the harsh realities of the world and struggles with his changing views on life.

All Our Secrets Laid Bare by @firethesound (2014, Explicit, 149k)

Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

The McCanns arrived on 28 April 2007, for their seven-night spring break in Praia da Luz, a village with a population of 1,000, known as "little Britain" because of the concentration of British homeowners and holidaymakers. They had booked through the British holiday company Mark Warner Ltd, and were placed in 5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, an apartment owned by a retired teacher from Liverpool, one of several privately owned properties rented by the company. 5A was a two-bedroom, ground-floor apartment in the fifth block of a group of apartments known as Waterside Village, which lay on the perimeter of part of Mark Warner's Ocean Club resort. Matthew and Rachel Oldfield were next door in 5B, Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien in 5D, and the Paynes and Dianne Webster on the first floor. Located on the corner of Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva and Rua Dr Francisco Gentil Martins, 5A was accessible to the public from two sides. Sliding glass patio doors in the living room at the back overlooked the Ocean Club's pool, tennis courts, tapas restaurant and bar. The patio doors could be accessed via a public street, Rua Dr Francisco Gentil Martins, where a small gate and set of steps led to 5A's balcony and living room. 5A's front door was on the opposite side of the block from the Ocean Club, on Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva. The McCanns' children slept in a bedroom next to the front door, which the McCanns kept locked. The bedroom had one, waist-high window with curtains and a metal exterior shutter, the latter controlled by a cord inside the window; the McCanns kept the curtains and shutter closed throughout the holiday. The window overlooked a narrow walkway and residents' car park, which was separated from the street by a low wall. Madeleine slept in a single bed next to the bedroom door, on the opposite side of the room from the window, while the twins were in travel cots in the middle of the room. There was another single bed underneath the window. 

Thursday, 3 May 2007 at 20:30: Thursday was the penultimate day of the family's holiday. Over breakfast Madeleine asked: "Why didn't you come when [her brother] and I cried last night?" After the disappearance, her parents wondered whether this meant someone had entered the children's bedroom. Her mother also noticed a large brown stain on Madeleine's pyjama top. The children spent the morning in the resort's Kids' Club, then the family lunched at their apartment before heading to the pool. Kate took the last known photograph of Madeleine at 2:29 that afternoon, sitting by the pool next to her father and two-year-old sister. The children returned to Kids' Club, then at 18:00 their mother took them back to 5A, while their father went for a tennis lesson. The McCanns put the children to bed at around 19:00. Madeleine was left asleep in short-sleeved, pink-and-white Eeyore pyjamas, next to her comfort blanket and a soft toy, Cuddle Cat. At 20:30 the parents left 5A to dine with their friends in the Ocean Club's open-air tapas restaurant, located on the other side of the pool. 5A lay about 55 metres (160 ft) from the restaurant as the crow flies, but getting to the restaurant involved walking along a public street to reach the doors of the Ocean Club resort, then walking through the resort to the other side of the pool, a distance of about 82 metres (295 ft). The top of the apartment was visible from the tapas restaurant, but not the doors. The patio doors could be locked only from the inside, so the McCanns left them closed but unlocked, with the curtains drawn, so they could let themselves in that way when checking on the children. There was a child-safety gate at the top of the steps from the patio and a low gate at the bottom, which led to the street. The resort's staff had left a note in a message book at the swimming-pool reception area, asking that the same table, which overlooked the apartments, be block-booked for 20:30 for the McCanns and friends every evening for the last four evenings of the holiday. The message said the group's children were asleep in the apartments. Madeleine's mother believes the abductor may have seen the note. The McCanns and their friends left the restaurant roughly every half-hour to check on their children. Madeleine's father carried out the first check on 5A at around 21:05. The children were asleep and all was well, except that he recalled having left the children's bedroom door slightly ajar, and now it stood almost wide open. He pulled it nearly closed again before returning to the restaurant.

21:15: Tanner sighting: The sighting by Jane Tanner, one of the Tapas Seven, of a man carrying a child that night became an important part of the early investigation. She had left the restaurant just after 21:00 to check on her own daughter, passing Madeleine's father on Rua Dr Francisco Gentil Martins on his way back to the restaurant from his 21:05 check. He had stopped to chat to a British holidaymaker, but neither man recalled having seen Tanner. This puzzled the Portuguese police, given how narrow the street was, and led them to accuse Tanner of having invented the sighting. Tanner told the police that at around 21:15 she had noticed a man carrying a young child walk across the junction of Rua Dr Francisco Gentil Martins and Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva just ahead of her. He was not far from Madeleine's bedroom, heading east, away from the front of apartment 5A. In the early days of the investigation, the direction in which he was walking was thought to be important, because he was moving toward the home of Robert Murat, the 33-year-old British-Portuguese man who lived near apartment 5A, and who became the case's first suspect. The child in the man's arms was wearing light-coloured pink pyjamas with a floral pattern and cuffs on the legs, similar to Madeleine's. Tanner described the man as white, dark-haired, 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall, of southern European or Mediterranean appearance, 35–40 years old, wearing gold or beige trousers and a dark jacket, and said he did not look like a tourist. According to Kate, Tanner passed the information to the Portuguese police as soon as Madeleine was reported missing, but they did not pass the description to the media until 25 May. Madeleine's Fund hired a forensic artist to create an image of the man, which was released in October 2007. The sighting became important because it offered investigators a time frame for the abduction, but Scotland Yard came to view it as a red herring. 

In October 2013, they said that a British holidaymaker had been identified as the man Tanner had seen; he had been returning to his apartment after collecting his daughter from the Ocean Club night creche. Scotland Yard took photographs of the man wearing the same or similar clothes to the ones he was wearing on the night, and standing in a pose similar to the one Tanner reported. The pyjamas his daughter had been wearing also matched Tanner's report. Operation Grange's lead detective, DCI Andy Redwood, said they were "almost certain" the Tanner sighting was not related to the abduction.

22:00: Smith sighting: The rejection of the Tanner sighting as crucial to the timeline allowed investigators to focus on another sighting of a man carrying a child that night, this one reported to the Portuguese police on 26 May 2007 by Martin and Mary Smith, who had been in Praia da Luz on holiday from Ireland. Scotland Yard concluded in 2013 that the Smith sighting offered the approximate time of Madeleine's kidnap. The Smiths saw the man at around 22:00 on Rua da Escola Primária, 500 yards (460 m) from the McCanns' apartment, walking away from the Ocean Club and toward Rua 25 de Abril and the beach. He was carrying a girl aged 3–4 years. She had blonde hair and pale skin, was wearing light-coloured pyjamas, and had bare feet. The man was mid-30s, 5 ft 7 in–5 ft 9 in (1.75–1.80 m), slim-to-normal build, with short brown hair, wearing cream or beige trousers. He did not look like a tourist, according to the Smiths, and had seemed uncomfortable carrying the child.

22:00: Reported missing: Madeleine's mother had intended to check on the children at 21:30, but Matthew Oldfield, one of the Tapas Seven, offered to do it when he checked on his own children in the apartment next door to 5A. He noticed that the McCanns' children's bedroom door was wide open, but after hearing no noise, he left 5A without looking far enough into the bedroom to see whether Madeleine was there. He could not recall whether the bedroom window and its exterior shutter were open at this point. Early on in the investigation, the Portuguese police accused Oldfield of involvement because he had volunteered to do the check, suggesting to him that he had handed Madeleine to someone through the bedroom window. Kate made her own check of 5A at around 22:00. Scotland Yard said in 2013 that Madeleine was probably taken moments before this. Kate recalled entering the apartment through the unlocked patio doors at the back, and noticing that the children's bedroom door was wide open. When she tried to close the door, it slammed shut as though there was a draught, which is when she saw that the bedroom window and its shutter were open. Madeleine's Cuddle Cat and pink blanket were still on the bed, but Madeleine was gone. After briefly searching the apartment, Kate ran back towards the restaurant, screaming "Madeleine's gone! Someone's taken her!" 

At around 22:10 Madeleine's father sent Matthew Oldfield to ask the resort's reception desk to call the police, and at 22:30 the resort activated its missing-child search protocol. Sixty staff and guests searched until 04:30, at first assuming that Madeleine had wandered off. 

Early response, Portuguese police: Two officers from the gendarmerie, the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR), arrived at the resort at 23:10 from Lagos, five miles (8 km) away. At midnight, after briefly searching, they alerted the criminal police, the Polícia Judiciária (PJ), in nearby Portimão. Kate McCann said the PJ arrived just after 01:00. According to the PJ, they arrived within 10 minutes of being alerted. At 02:00 two patrol dogs were brought to the resort and at 08:00 four search-and-rescue dogs. Police officers had their leave cancelled and started searching waterways, wells, caves, sewers and ruins. Inspector Gonçalo Amaral, head of the PJ in Portimão, became the inquiry's coordinator. It was widely acknowledged that mistakes were made during the so-called "golden hours" soon after the disappearance. Neither border nor marine police were given descriptions of Madeleine for many hours, and officers did not make house-to-house searches. According to Kate, roadblocks were first put in place at 10:00 the next morning. Police did not request motorway surveillance pictures of vehicles leaving Praia da Luz the night of the disappearance, or of the road between Lagos and Vila Real de Santo António on the Spanish border. Euroscut, the company that monitors the road, said they were not approached for information. It took Interpol five days to issue a global missing-person alert. Not everyone in the resort at the time was interviewed; holidaymakers later contacted the British police to say no one had spoken to them. The crime scene was not secured. Police took samples from Madeleine's bedroom, which were sent to three forensic labs in Portugal. It was reported on 1 June 2007 that DNA from one "stranger" had been found, but around 20 people had entered apartment 5A before it was closed off, according to Chief Inspector Olegário de Sousa of the PJ. According to Madeleine's mother, an officer placed tape across the doorway of the children's bedroom, but left at 03:00 without securing the apartment. The PJ case file, released in 2008, showed that 5A lay empty for a month after the disappearance, then was let out to tourists before being sealed off in August 2007 for more forensic tests.

 A similar situation arose outside the apartment. A crowd gathered by the front door of 5A, including next to the children's bedroom window—through which an abductor may have entered or left—trampling on evidence. An officer dusted the bedroom window's exterior shutter for fingerprints without wearing gloves or other protective clothing.

Suspects: Twelve days after the disappearance, Robert Murat, a 34-year-old British-Portuguese property consultant, became the first arguido. Born in Hammersmith, west London, Murat lived in his mother's house, Casa Liliana, 150 yards (137 m) from apartment 5A in the direction in which the man in the Tanner sighting had walked. He was made an arguido after a Sunday Mirror journalist told police he had been asking about the case. The PJ had briefly signed him up as an official interpreter; he said he had wanted to help because he had a daughter in England around Madeleine's age. Three members of the Tapas Seven—Fiona Payne, Russell O'Brien and Rachael Oldfield—said they had seen Murat outside apartment 5A shortly after the disappearance, as did an Ocean Club nanny and two British holidaymakers. This would not have been surprising considering how close Murat lived to 5A, but he and his mother said he had been at home all evening. The McCann circle was clearly suspicious of Murat: one of the McCanns' supporters offered Richard Bilton, a BBC reporter, "exclusive access to any new developments in the case" if Bilton would report back what the press pack was saying about Murat.

 Beginning on 15 May 2007, Murat's home was searched, the pool drained, his cars, computers, phones and video tapes examined, his garden searched using ground radar and sniffer dogs, and two of his associates questioned. In March 2008, one of those associates had his car set fire to, with the word fala ("speak") sprayed in red on the pavement. There was nothing to link Murat or his friends to the disappearance, and Murat's arguido status was lifted on 21 July 2008 when the case was archive. 

In July 2014, during Operation Grange, one of those friends was questioned again as a witness, this time by the PJ on behalf of Scotland Yard. In December that year Murat and his wife were questioned, also on behalf of Scotland Yard, along with eight others. In 2017 Murat's mother, Jenny Murat, added her voice to those who had witnessed suspicious events around 5A that night: she told the BBC that she had driven past apartment 5A that night, and had seen a young woman in a plum-coloured top behaving suspiciously just outside it, information she said she passed to the police at the time. She also said she had seen a small brown rental car speeding toward the apartment, driving the wrong way down a one-way street. 

Witness statements: In statements to the PJ, witnesses described men behaving oddly near apartment 5A in the days before the disappearance and on the day itself. Scotland Yard came to believe that these men may have been engaged in reconnaissance for an abduction or burglary. There had been a fourfold increase in burglaries between January and May 2007, including two in the McCanns' block in the 17 days before the disappearance, during which burglars had entered through windows. Several witnesses reported men collecting for charity. On 20 April, a bedraggled-looking man asked a tourist in her apartment near 5A for money for an orphanage in nearby Espiche; apparently there were no orphanages or similar in or near Espiche at the time. The witness described the man as pushy and intimidating. On 25 or 26 April, the tourist who rented apartment 5A before the McCanns found a man on his balcony who had entered via the steps from the street. Polite and clean-shaven, the visitor asked for money for an orphanage. On the day of the disappearance, 3 May, there were four charity collections by two men in the streets around 5A. At 4 pm two black-haired men approached a British homeowner looking for funds for a hostel or hospice in or near Espiche, and at 5 pm two men approached another British tourist with a similar story. An "ugly" blond-haired man was seen on 2 May across the road from 5A, apparently watching it; he had also been seen on 29 April near the Ocean Club. On 30 April the granddaughter of 5A's former owners saw a blond-haired man leaning against a wall behind the apartments, and saw him again on 2 May near the tapas restaurant, looking at 5A. She described him as Caucasian, mid-30s, short cropped hair, and "ugly" with spots. On the day of the disappearance or the day before, a man was seen staring at the McCanns' block, where a white van was parked. 

In the late afternoon of 3 May, a girl on the balcony of the apartment above 5A saw a man leave through the gate below, as though he had come out of a ground-floor apartment; what caught her attention was that he looked around before shutting the gate quietly, with both hands. At 14:30 two blond-haired men were seen on the balcony of 5C, an empty apartment two doors from 5A. At 16:00–17:00 a blond-haired man was seen near 5A. At 18:00 the same or another blond-haired man was seen in the stairwell of the McCanns' block. At 23:00, after the disappearance, two blond-haired men were seen in a nearby street speaking in raised voices. When they realized they had been noticed, they reportedly lowered their voices and walked away. 

McCanns as arguidos: On 30 June a 3,000-word article entitled "The Madeleine Case: A Pact of Silence" appeared in Sol, a Portuguese weekly, stating that the McCanns were suspects, highlighting alleged inconsistencies between their statements, and implying that the Tanner sighting had been invented. The reporters had obtained the Tapas Sevens' mobile numbers and that of another witness, so it was apparent that the inquiry had a leak. This and later articles in the Portuguese press, invariably followed up in the UK, made several allegations, based on no evidence, which would engulf the McCanns for years on social media. They included that the McCanns and Tapas Seven were "swingers", that the McCanns had been sedating their children, and that the group had formed a "pact of silence" regarding what had happened on the night of the disappearance. Much was made of apparent inconsistencies within and between the McCanns' and Tapas Seven's statements. The police had asked the group questions in Portuguese, and an interpreter had translated the replies. According to Kate McCann, the statements were then typed up in Portuguese, and verbally translated back into English for the interviewees to sig. Among the inconsistencies was whether the McCanns had entered the apartment by the front or back door when checking on the children. According to the PJ case file, Gerry stated during his first interview, on 4 May 2007, that the couple had entered 5A through the locked front door for his 21:05 and her 22:00 checks, and in a second interview, on 10 May, that he had entered through the unlocked patio doors at the back. (The patio doors could be unlocked only from inside, so the parents had left them unlocked to let themselves in.) There was also an inconsistency about whether the front door had been locked. Gerry told the Sunday Times in December 2007 that they had used the front door earlier in the week, but it was next to the children's bedroom, so they had started using the patio doors instead. The PJ also questioned why, when Kate discovered Madeleine was missing, she had run to the tapas restaurant leaving the twins alone in 5A, when she could have used her mobile phone or shouted to the group from 5A's rear balcony. Another issue was whether the exterior shutter over Madeleine's bedroom window could be opened from outside. According to journalist Danny Collins, the shutter was made of non-ferrous metal slats on a roller blind that was housed in a box at the top of the inside window, controlled by pulling on a strap. Once rolled down, the slats locked in place outside the window and could be raised only by using the strap on the inside. Kate said the shutter and window were closed when Madeleine was put to bed, but open when she discovered Madeleine was missing. Gerry told the PJ that, when he was first alerted to the disappearance, he had lowered the shutter, then had gone outside and discovered that it could be raised only from the outside.  Against this, the police said the shutter could not be raised from the outside without being forced, but there was no sign of forced entry; they also said forcing the shutter open would have caused a lot of noise. The apparent discrepancies contributed to the view of the PJ that there had been no abduction. Kate's shout of "they've taken her" was viewed with suspicion, as though she had been paving the way for an abduction story. Particularly from August onwards, these suspicions developed into the theory that Madeleine had died in apartment 5A as a result of an accident—perhaps after being sedated to help her stay asleep—and that her parents had hidden her body for a month, before retrieving her and driving her to an unknown place in a car they had hired over three weeks after the disappearance. In 2010 Carlos Anjos, former head of the Police Detectives Union in Portugal, told BBC Panorama that most Portuguese investigators still believed Madeleine had died as a result of an accident in the apartment.

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton meets with the vodafone karting stars of tomorrow at daytona outdoor go-karting, milton keynes, england - july 5, 2007 📷 edd hartley / motorsport images

[earisu1]

Document-based Time-line: Before Jennifer Arrived at the Orphanage

Original date of the post: 23 of October, 2007.

Disclaimer: not my words, not my ideas, just reposting to spread and preserve.

“ This is an arrangement of the dated documents of Rule of Rose as a time-line, from the earliest document to the ones just prior to Jennifer’s arrival at the orphanage.

This is the time period between 25 April 1929 and 2 March 1930.

The GamesSpot/GameFAQs gamescript faq incorrectly claims that the letter exchange between Jennifer and Wendy began in 1928 (and declares, based on this incorrect date, that the “Joshua” of Gregory’s diary entries must be Jennifer). Although the dates on the letters exchanged between Jennifer and Wendy don’t mention the year, these letters could not possibly date from 1928 as Jennifer was living in the cellar of Gregory’s house when the correspondence began, but the airship that Jennifer flew on, and that crashed, killing Jennifer’s parents and resulting in Jennifer being rescued by Gregory, didn’t take flight until 1929. Therefore, Jennifer was not at Gregory’s house in 1928 and Jennifer was not exchanging letters with Wendy in 1928.

The first document of the time-line, by the way, is one that was overlooked in the GameSpot/GameFAQs game-script faq.

If I have made any errors, or have left out a document that should be here, please let me know in the “comments”.

TIME-LINE:

“25 April 1929

The World’s Largest Airship to Take Flight

In anticipation of the coming era of airship travel, Britain announced the completion of the world’s largest airship. In its long awaited first flight, it will lift off at Cardington and fly to India by way of London. All of Britain eagerly awaits the inaugural ceremony. Along with the Mayor and the Countess, children from the local orphanage will participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

(“Unlucky Clover Field”, Smoking room, newspaper)

~~~

Sunday, June 1

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Monday, June 2

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Tuesday, June 3

Cloudy. Weeding again. Tomorrow, I’m thinking of taking my son Joshua with me out to the fields.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Wednesday, June 4

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Thursday, June 5

Rain in the afternoon. Weeded the field again. Joshua isn’t feeling well, so I worked in the fields alone, as always.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Friday, June 6

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Saturday, June 7

Rainy. Weeding again. Tomorrow morning, I’ll go into town to sell peas, so tonight I must make preparations. It is a busy day indeed.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Sunday, June 8

Clear skies. I went to market and sold peas and carrots. I had hoped to be able to feed Joshua something nutritious, but sales were not good, so I was not able to buy much.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Monday, June 9

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Tuesday, June 10

Clear skies. Joshua has been misbehaving. He went and ate sweets out of the cupboard without permission.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Wednesday, June 11

Cloudy. Weeding the fields again. It was chilly today. I’ll have to give Joshua a blanket so he won’t catch a cold.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Thursday, June 12

Cloudy. Joshua is under the weather. He has a slight fever, so I fed him some hot pea soup.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Friday, June 13

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Saturday, June 14

Cloudy. Planted peas in the ground.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Sunday, June 15

Rainy. I spent the day in my room drawing a picture book for Joshua. I’m sure he’ll enjoy this one.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Monday, June 16

Cloudy. Today, I cleaned out the barn. Joshua told me he liked my latest story. Nothing pleases me more that to see my son happy.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Tuesday, June 17

Cloudy. Barn cleaning again. I’ve been neglecting the fields, so they’re in a bit of a mess. I must drive the insects and mice away.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Wednesday, June 18

Clear skies. I did weeding today. The weather was beautiful. A great day to work in the fields.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Thursday, June 19

Clear skies. More weeding. I wanted to take Joshua out with me to the fields, but his coughs were getting worse, so I had him stay in bed.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Friday, June 20

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“21 June 1929

Another Unexplained Disappearance

There has been another mysterious disappearance of a child recently. Following missing children reports on the 7th and 14th, police are now investigating this case as both a possible kidnapping and a missing person.

Local residents are advised not to allow children outside unsupervised and to take caution around any suspicious individuals.”

(“Gingerbread House”, boarded-off room with sky wall paper, newspaper on floor by the chair)

~~~

“Saturday, June 21

Clear skies. Planted peas in the ground.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Sunday, June 22

Cloudy. I thought of a good idea for a story. I’m going to take a day off from the fields and concentrate on refining it.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“23 June 1929

Luxury Airship Missing!

England’s largest luxury airship, which just set sail on its virgin flight—a flight celebrated across the country with great fanfare—was reported today to have gone off course and is currently missing.

It is speculated that the vessel diverted from its course to avoid a low pressure system approaching from the south, but its whereabouts are still unknown.

Due to the heavy thunder and rain that have blanketed the area since yesterday, the search for the airship has faced many difficulties.

(“Gingerbread House” Cellar Bedroom, newspaper clipping pinned up on wall)

~~~

“Monday, June 23

Clear skies. I did weeding today. Joshua told me he liked my latest story. There’s nothing I love more than seeing his beaming, happy face.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Tuesday, June 24

Clear skies. Weeding again. It feels great to work the fields on such a fine day.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Wednesday, June 25

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Thursday, June 26

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

“Friday, June 27

Clear skies. Today, I weeded the fields. Work went well.”

(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)

~~~

Gregory’s June 1929 calendar

1 (sun) Sunday

2 (sun) Monday

3 (cloud) Tuesday

4 (sun) Wednesday

5 (rain cloud) Thursday

6 (sun) Friday

7 (rain cloud) Saturday

8 (sun) Sunday

9 (sun) Monday

10 (sun) Tuesday

11 (cloud) Wednesday

12 (cloud) Thursday

13 (sun) Friday

14 (cloud) Saturday

15 (cloud) Sunday

16 (cloud) Monday

17 (cloud) Tuesday

18 (sun) Wednesday

19 (sun) Thursday

20 (sun) Friday

21 (sun) Saturday

22 (cloud) Sunday

23 (sun) Monday

24 (sun) Tuesday

25 (sun) Wednesday

26 (sun) Thursday

27 (sun) Friday

28 (unmarked) Saturday

29 (unmarked) Sunday

30 (unmarked) Monday

~~~

10 November

To Mr. Joshua, the bear in distress,

My name is Wendy. I always watch you from the sky. Mr. Joshua, why are you trapped down there?

(“Gingerbread House”, Cellar Bedroom, cradle?)

~~~

16 November

Dear Wendy, my visitor in the window,

Thank you so much for writing to me. The man calls me Joshua, but my name is Jennifer. I’ve been in this room ever since he saved me. He’s a nice person… but he won’t let me leave.

(“Once Upon a Time”, Sickroom, by the lamp)

~~~

27 November

From W to J

My Prince in need of rescue,

It was a pleasure to meet you, my dear Prince. What a wonderful encounter! Yes… I only wish there was a world for just you and I: The Prince and Princess…

Don’t worry. I’ll set you free.

(“Gingerbread House” Cellar Bedroom, cradle?)

~~~

10 December

From J to W

Thank you Wendy.

I want to fly away from this room and run with you in the fields…

But the man is so lonely, so sad. I can’t just leave him alone.

(“Once Upon a Time”, Sickroom, by the lamp)

~~~

9 January

From W to J

…Oh my poor kind prince.

You’re worried because that man sometimes seems crazy, right? Well don’t worry. I know where he hides that awful thing of his. So let’s run away together. You can leave it all to me. Everything will be all right.

(“Gingerbread House” Cellar Bedroom, cradle?)

~~~

14 January

From J to W

Thank you Wendy, my kind and fair Princess. Is there something that I can do for you?

(“Once Upon a Time”, Sickroom, by the lamp)

~~~

20 January

From W to J

My Prince, Please don’t worry. I’ll do anything for you. Just… pledge your love for me. That’s all I ask.

(“Gingerbread House” Cellar Bedroom, cradle?)

~~~

24 January

From J to W

I, Jennifer, pledge to the fair Princess Wendy:

Everlasting

True love

I am yours

(“Once Upon a Time”, Sickroom, by the lamp)

~~~

27 January

From W to J

Tomorrow night, I shall unlock your shackles. Let us live together forever.

everlasting

true love

i am yours

(“Gingerbread House” Cellar Bedroom, cradle?)

~~~

“March 2, 1930

Recently, the children have been engaging in odd activities and spreading disturbing rumors—rumors about creatures that come after children who don’t clean up and stray dogs that kidnap small tots… It’s all very bizarre.”

(“The Little Princess”, Headmaster’s room, desk, Hoffman’s diary)

(“Once Upon a Time”, Headmaster’s room, desk, Hoffman’s diary)

~~~

“Sunday, March 2

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Was it something I did? Last month I failed. What will happen to me this month? Mr. Hoffman said that a new girl is coming soon. Will I even lose to her and be all miserable? I’m scared. I hate to think what’s in store for me.”

(“Rag Princess Sews”, Working Class Luggage, Amanda’s diary)”

Notes: this is really awesome if you want to get into the story but you forgot certain files while playing, or maybe if the let’s player you’re watching isn’t much into reading stuff in games. 

[brookston]

Holidays 6.15

Holidays

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed Day

Arbor Day (Costa Rica)

Cagayan de Oro Charter Day

DACA Day

Day of Valdemar (Denmark)

Dia del Arbol (Costa Rica)

Engineer’s Day (Italy)

Festival of Neon Decadence

Flag Day (Denmark)

Fly a Kite Day

Global Wind Day

Husband Caregiver Day

International Day of Latex

International FrontRunners Day

International Justice Day for Cleaners & Security Guards

International Level Crossing Awareness Day

International Women in Mining Day

International Working Animals Day

Irish AIDS Day (Ireland)

Justice for Janitors Day

Kiss a Wookiee Day

LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Day 2022 ( website )

Lion King Day

Magna Carta Day (UK)

Mangaia Gospel Day (Cook Islands)

National Bug Busting Day (UK)

National Career Nursing Assistants Day

National Electricity Day

National License Plate Frame Day

National Man Day

National Marina Day

National Megalodon Day

National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan)

Native American Citizenship Day

Nature Photography Day

Raja Sankranti (Odisha, India)

Reunion Day (Denmark)

Separation Day (Delaware)

Smile Power Day

Sneak a Kiss Day

Spill the Salt Day

Valdemar’s Day (Denmark)

Verbena Day (French Republic)

World Dengue Day

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (UN)

World Meat Free Day

Worldwide Day of Giving

YMA Day (Mizoram, India)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Key West Conch Fritter Day

National Beer Day (a.k.a. Beer Day Britain; UK)

National Knish Day

National Lobster Day [unofficial, also 9.25]

National Prune Day

Potatoe Day

3rd Thursday in June

Dump the Pump Day [3rd Thursday]

International Knock Knock Day [3rd Thursday]

National Dump the Pump Day [3rd Thursday]

Recess At Work Day [3rd Thursday]

Social Mobility Awareness Day (UK) [3rd Thursday]

World Kidney Cancer Day [3rd Thursday]

World Tapas Day [3rd Thursday]

Independence Days

Arkansas Statehood Day (#25; 1836)

Pinang (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Abraham of Clermont (or of St Cyriacus; Christian; Saint)

Albertina Berkenbrock, Blessed (Christian; Saint)

Alice (a.k.a. Adelaide) of Schaerbeek (Christian; Saint)

Augustine of Hippo (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Bad Joke Day (Pastafarian)

Bernard of Menthon (Christian; Saint)

Bourdaloue (Positivist; Saint)

Clement Vismara (Christian; Blessed)

Crescentia, Modestus, and Vitus (Christian; Martyrs)

Edburga of Winchester (Christian; Saint)

Evelyn Underhill (Church of England and The Episcopal Church)

Germaine Cousin (Christian; Saint)

Gregory Lewis Barbadigo, Cardinal Bishop of Padua (Christian; Saint)

Guan Sheng Di Jun Dan (Taoism)

Halum (Muppetism)

Howard Hughes Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Landelin (of Crespin or of Lobbes; Christian; Saint)

Media Ver IX (Pagan)

Nicolas Poussin (Artology)

Pearl the Pika (Muppetism)

Trillo (Christian; Saint)

Vaughe (a.k.a. Vorech), Hermit of Cornwall (Christian; Saint)

Vestalia ends (Ancient Rome)

Vitus (a.k.a. Guy; Christian; Martyr) [Czech Republic]

Vladimir (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [12 of 24]

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [23 of 53]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [20 of 32]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Tycho Brahe Lucky Day (Scandinavia) [4 of 4]

Premieres

All the President’s Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (Book; 1974)

The Apartment (Film; 1960)

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Animated Film; 2001)

Bao (Pixar Cartoon; 2018)

Batman Begins (Film; 2005)

Blackadder (UK TV Series; 1983)

Bleach, by Nirvana (Album; 1989)

A Bridge Too Far (Film; 1977)

Bull Durham (Film; 1988)

Dick Tracy (Film; 1990)

The Dirty Dozen (Film; 1967)

Duran Duran, by Duran Duran (Album; 1981)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Film; 2007)

The Gifts of the Jews, by Thomas Cahill (History Book; 1998)

Gravity Falls (Animated TV Series; 2012)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Film; 1990)

Heartburn, by Nora Ephron (Novel; 1983)

Hercules (Animated Film; 1997)

Holiday (Film; 1938)

The Incredibles 2 (Animated Pixar Film; 2018)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Film; 2001)

Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye (Song; 1973)

Like a Rolling Stone, recorded by Bob Dylan (Song; 1965)

The Lion King (Animated Disney Film; 1994)

Medal of Honor, by Allen Mikaelian (History Book; 2002)

The Offspring, by The Offspring (Album; 1989)

Pyramids, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 1989) [Discworld #7]

Rocky II (Film; 1979)

Russian Doll (Film; 2001)

Star Wars: Conviction, by Aaron Allston (Novel; 2011)

Supernatural, by Santana (Album; 1999)

Tag (Film; 20189)

Unknown Pleasures, by Joy Division (Album; 1979)

Yesterday and Today, boy The Beatles (Album; 1966)

Today’s Name Days

Gebhard, Lothar, Veit (Austria)

Čedomil, Toma, Vid, Vito (Croatia)

Vít (Czech Republic)

Vitus (Denmark)

Guido, Kuido, Viido, Viit (Estonia)

Moona, Viena, Vieno (Finland)

Germaine (France)

Bernhard, Gebhard, Lothar, Veit (Germany)

Afgoustinos, Avgousta, Ieronymos, Livyi, Monica, Ortansia (Greece)

Ariana, Jolán, Vid (Hungary)

Enrica, Everardo, Germana, Modesto, Vito (Italy)

Banuta, Benno, Vilija, Zermena (Latvia)

Bargailė, Krescencija, Tanvilas, Vitas (Lithuania)

Vigdis, Viggo (Norway)

Abraham, Angelina, Bernard, Jolanta, Leona, Leonida, Nikifor, Wit, Witold, Witołd, Witolda, Witosław, Wodzisław (Poland)

Amos (România)

Vít (Slovakia)

Benilde, María, Micaela (Spain)

Margit, Margot (Sweden)

Krystentia (Ukraine)

Alice, Alicia, Alisa, Alisha, Alison, Alissa Allie, Allison, Allyson, Alyce, Alyse, Alysha, Alysia, Alyson, Alyssa, German, Germain, Germaine, Jermaine, Vidal, Vito (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 166 of 2024; 199 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 24 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 4 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ding-Si), Day 28 (Ji-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 26 Sivan 5783

Islamic: 26 Dhu al-Qada 1444

J Cal: 16 Sol; Twosday [16 of 30]

Julian: 2 June 2023

Moon: 6%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 26 St. Paul (6th Month) [Bourdaloue]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 87 of 92)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 25 of 32)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 6.15

Holidays

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed Day

Arbor Day (Costa Rica)

Cagayan de Oro Charter Day

DACA Day

Day of Valdemar (Denmark)

Dia del Arbol (Costa Rica)

Engineer’s Day (Italy)

Festival of Neon Decadence

Flag Day (Denmark)

Fly a Kite Day

Global Wind Day

Husband Caregiver Day

International Day of Latex

International FrontRunners Day

International Justice Day for Cleaners & Security Guards

International Level Crossing Awareness Day

International Women in Mining Day

International Working Animals Day

Irish AIDS Day (Ireland)

Justice for Janitors Day

Kiss a Wookiee Day

LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Day 2022 ( website )

Lion King Day

Magna Carta Day (UK)

Mangaia Gospel Day (Cook Islands)

National Bug Busting Day (UK)

National Career Nursing Assistants Day

National Electricity Day

National License Plate Frame Day

National Man Day

National Marina Day

National Megalodon Day

National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan)

Native American Citizenship Day

Nature Photography Day

Raja Sankranti (Odisha, India)

Reunion Day (Denmark)

Separation Day (Delaware)

Smile Power Day

Sneak a Kiss Day

Spill the Salt Day

Valdemar’s Day (Denmark)

Verbena Day (French Republic)

World Dengue Day

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (UN)

World Meat Free Day

Worldwide Day of Giving

YMA Day (Mizoram, India)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Key West Conch Fritter Day

National Beer Day (a.k.a. Beer Day Britain; UK)

National Knish Day

National Lobster Day [unofficial, also 9.25]

National Prune Day

Potatoe Day

3rd Thursday in June

Dump the Pump Day [3rd Thursday]

International Knock Knock Day [3rd Thursday]

National Dump the Pump Day [3rd Thursday]

Recess At Work Day [3rd Thursday]

Social Mobility Awareness Day (UK) [3rd Thursday]

World Kidney Cancer Day [3rd Thursday]

World Tapas Day [3rd Thursday]

Independence Days

Arkansas Statehood Day (#25; 1836)

Pinang (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Abraham of Clermont (or of St Cyriacus; Christian; Saint)

Albertina Berkenbrock, Blessed (Christian; Saint)

Alice (a.k.a. Adelaide) of Schaerbeek (Christian; Saint)

Augustine of Hippo (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Bad Joke Day (Pastafarian)

Bernard of Menthon (Christian; Saint)

Bourdaloue (Positivist; Saint)

Clement Vismara (Christian; Blessed)

Crescentia, Modestus, and Vitus (Christian; Martyrs)

Edburga of Winchester (Christian; Saint)

Evelyn Underhill (Church of England and The Episcopal Church)

Germaine Cousin (Christian; Saint)

Gregory Lewis Barbadigo, Cardinal Bishop of Padua (Christian; Saint)

Guan Sheng Di Jun Dan (Taoism)

Halum (Muppetism)

Howard Hughes Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Landelin (of Crespin or of Lobbes; Christian; Saint)

Media Ver IX (Pagan)

Nicolas Poussin (Artology)

Pearl the Pika (Muppetism)

Trillo (Christian; Saint)

Vaughe (a.k.a. Vorech), Hermit of Cornwall (Christian; Saint)

Vestalia ends (Ancient Rome)

Vitus (a.k.a. Guy; Christian; Martyr) [Czech Republic]

Vladimir (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [12 of 24]

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [23 of 53]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [20 of 32]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Tycho Brahe Lucky Day (Scandinavia) [4 of 4]

Premieres

All the President’s Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (Book; 1974)

The Apartment (Film; 1960)

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Animated Film; 2001)

Bao (Pixar Cartoon; 2018)

Batman Begins (Film; 2005)

Blackadder (UK TV Series; 1983)

Bleach, by Nirvana (Album; 1989)

A Bridge Too Far (Film; 1977)

Bull Durham (Film; 1988)

Dick Tracy (Film; 1990)

The Dirty Dozen (Film; 1967)

Duran Duran, by Duran Duran (Album; 1981)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Film; 2007)

The Gifts of the Jews, by Thomas Cahill (History Book; 1998)

Gravity Falls (Animated TV Series; 2012)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Film; 1990)

Heartburn, by Nora Ephron (Novel; 1983)

Hercules (Animated Film; 1997)

Holiday (Film; 1938)

The Incredibles 2 (Animated Pixar Film; 2018)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Film; 2001)

Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye (Song; 1973)

Like a Rolling Stone, recorded by Bob Dylan (Song; 1965)

The Lion King (Animated Disney Film; 1994)

Medal of Honor, by Allen Mikaelian (History Book; 2002)

The Offspring, by The Offspring (Album; 1989)

Pyramids, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 1989) [Discworld #7]

Rocky II (Film; 1979)

Russian Doll (Film; 2001)

Star Wars: Conviction, by Aaron Allston (Novel; 2011)

Supernatural, by Santana (Album; 1999)

Tag (Film; 20189)

Unknown Pleasures, by Joy Division (Album; 1979)

Yesterday and Today, boy The Beatles (Album; 1966)

Today’s Name Days

Gebhard, Lothar, Veit (Austria)

Čedomil, Toma, Vid, Vito (Croatia)

Vít (Czech Republic)

Vitus (Denmark)

Guido, Kuido, Viido, Viit (Estonia)

Moona, Viena, Vieno (Finland)

Germaine (France)

Bernhard, Gebhard, Lothar, Veit (Germany)

Afgoustinos, Avgousta, Ieronymos, Livyi, Monica, Ortansia (Greece)

Ariana, Jolán, Vid (Hungary)

Enrica, Everardo, Germana, Modesto, Vito (Italy)

Banuta, Benno, Vilija, Zermena (Latvia)

Bargailė, Krescencija, Tanvilas, Vitas (Lithuania)

Vigdis, Viggo (Norway)

Abraham, Angelina, Bernard, Jolanta, Leona, Leonida, Nikifor, Wit, Witold, Witołd, Witolda, Witosław, Wodzisław (Poland)

Amos (România)

Vít (Slovakia)

Benilde, María, Micaela (Spain)

Margit, Margot (Sweden)

Krystentia (Ukraine)

Alice, Alicia, Alisa, Alisha, Alison, Alissa Allie, Allison, Allyson, Alyce, Alyse, Alysha, Alysia, Alyson, Alyssa, German, Germain, Germaine, Jermaine, Vidal, Vito (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 166 of 2024; 199 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 24 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 4 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ding-Si), Day 28 (Ji-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 26 Sivan 5783

Islamic: 26 Dhu al-Qada 1444

J Cal: 16 Sol; Twosday [16 of 30]

Julian: 2 June 2023

Moon: 6%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 26 St. Paul (6th Month) [Bourdaloue]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 87 of 92)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 25 of 32)

[newstfionline]

Sunday, September 19, 2021

In edgy Washington, police outnumber Jan. 6 protesters (AP) In a city still on edge after the Jan. 6 insurrection, law enforcement bore down in large numbers on the Capitol on Saturday over concerns that a rally in support of the jailed rioters would turn violent. It didn’t. The crowd was sparse and incidents were few. The low turnout called into question whether such rallies will have any staying power as the organizers attempt to tap into the rage of Jan. 6 without the presence of the former president. Law enforcement had prepared for a confrontation by erecting temporary fencing around the Capitol and deploying heavy dump trucks to ring the rally site. Local police departments and the U.S. National Guard were on standby.

Crews watching weather as wildfire burns near sequoias (AP) Crews were watching the weather this weekend as they battled California wildfires that have burned into some groves of gigantic ancient sequoias as they try to protect the world’s largest tree. The National Weather Service issued a weather watch for critical fire conditions in the Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada, where the Colony Fire was burning about a mile from Giant Forest, a grove of 2,000 giant sequoias. Firefighters have wrapped the base of the General Sherman Tree in fire-resistant aluminum of the type used in wildland firefighter emergency shelters and to protect historic wooden buildings, fire spokeswoman Rebecca Paterson said. The General Sherman Tree is the largest in the world by volume, at 52,508 cubic feet (1,487 cubic meters), according to the National Park Service. It towers 275 feet (84 meters) high and has a circumference of 103 feet (31 meters) at ground level.

Official: US to expel Haitians from border, fly to Haiti (AP) The Biden administration plans the widescale expulsion of Haitian migrants from a small Texas border city by putting them on flights to Haiti starting Sunday, an official said Friday, representing a swift and dramatic response to thousands who suddenly crossed the border from Mexico and gathered under and around a bridge. Details are yet to be finalized but will likely involve five to eight flights a day, according to the official with direct knowledge of the plans who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. U.S. authorities closed traffic to vehicles and pedestrians in both directions at the only border crossing in Del Rio, Texas, after chaos unfolded Friday and presented the administration with a new and immediate challenge as it tries to manage large numbers of asylum-seekers who have been reaching U.S. soil. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was closing the border crossing with Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, “to respond to urgent safety and security needs.” Travelers were being directed to Eagle Pass, Texas, 57 miles (91 kilometers) away.

Argentina Crisis Deepens as Vice President Blasts Fernandez (Bloomberg) Argentina’s powerful Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner slammed President Alberto Fernandez in an open letter, heightening the political crisis that has roiled the government since it lost an election Sunday. Kirchner, who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015, published a letter Thursday blaming Fernandez for a “political catastrophe” she says was caused by his economic strategy. Their coalition’s loss in the Sept. 12 midterm primary vote was largely due to the government’s mistaken policy of fiscal austerity, she said, adding pressure on Fernandez to ramp up spending. The crisis blows open the political divide between the two factions: Kirchner and the radical Peronist officials close to her; and Fernandez’s more moderate cabinet allies. With no access to international credit markets, the government cannot easily heed Kirchner’s calls to ramp up spending without the central bank printing money and worsening one of the world’s highest inflation rates.

Dutch are world’s tallest people—but they’re shrinking, study shows (Guardian) It is, perhaps, with just a hint of satisfaction that the Dutch office for national statistics has confirmed that the men and women of the Netherlands remain the tallest people on the planet. But the government’s statisticians have had cause to report a further potentially humbling twist: the Dutch are shrinking. For the last six decades, the people of the lowlands have stood imperiously at the top of the world height league table, with the latest data suggesting the average 19-year-old man stood at just over 6ft tall (182.9cm) in 2020, while women born in the same year measured in at 5ft 6 in (169.3cm). The finding by the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS), a government institution, means the Netherlands maintains its lofty spot, which it has held since 1958. But based on surveys of 719,000 people aged 19 to 60, the CBS has had to report that after a period of stagnation and now clear contraction, Dutch men born in 2001 are on average 1cm shorter than the generation born in the Netherlands in 1980, and Dutch women are 1.4cm smaller.

Afghan chaos leads to resignations and reshuffling��in Europe (Washington Post) After a majority of the Dutch parliament affirmed this week that the government had mishandled evacuations from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, Sigrid Kaag said she had only one option: resign as foreign minister. On Friday, Kaag was followed by another member of the Dutch cabinet, Ank Bijleveld. The defense minister released her own statement of resignation, noting that she could “no longer adequately take responsibility for my people” amid the criticism. The moves in the Netherlands are another sign of how the collapse of the Afghan government, preceded by the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw all remaining U.S. troops from the country, appears to be causing more disruption in European capitals than in Washington. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson reshuffled his cabinet this week—demoting ally Dominic Raab from foreign secretary, one of the highest political positions in the United Kingdom, and reassigning him as justice secretary. Much of the criticism of government action in Europe has focused on the slow and chaotic reaction to the fall of Kabul and the ensuing scenes at the city’s airport.

Fearful US residents in Afghanistan hiding out from Taliban (AP) Every night in yet another house in Afghanistan’s capital, a U.S. green card-holding couple from California take turns sleeping, with one always awake to watch over their three young children so they can flee if they hear the footsteps of the Taliban. They’ve moved seven times in two weeks, relying on relatives to take them in and feed them. Their days are an uncomfortable mix of fear and boredom, restricted to a couple of rooms where they read, watch TV and play “The Telephone Game” in which they whisper secrets and pass them on, a diversion for the children that has the added benefit of keeping them quiet. All of it goes on during the agonizing wait for a call from anybody who can help them get out. They tried and failed to get on a flight and now are talking to an international rescue organization. Through messages, emails and phone conversations with loved ones and rescue groups, AP has pieced together what day-to-day life has been like for some of those left behind after the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal -- that includes U.S. citizens, permanent U.S. resident green-card holders and visa applicants who aided U.S. troops during the 20-year war. Those contacted by AP -- who are not being identified for their own safety -- described a fearful, furtive existence of hiding in houses for weeks, keeping the lights off at night, moving from place to place, and donning baggy clothing and burqas to avoid detection if they absolutely must venture out.

Photos show North Korea expanding uranium enrichment plant (AP) Recent satellite images show North Korea is expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, a sign that it’s intent on boosting the production of bomb materials, experts say. The assessment comes after North Korea recently raised tensions with its first missile tests in six months amid long-dormant nuclear disarmament negotiations with the United States. “The expansion of the enrichment plant probably indicates that North Korea plans to increase its production of weapons-grade uranium at the Yongbyon site by as much as 25%,” Jeffrey Lewis and two other experts at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey said in a report.

Amazon adds tuition for workers (The Week) Amazon last week became the latest large employer to offer free college as a workplace perk, said Annie Palmer at CNBC. The e-commerce giant said "it will cover the cost of tuition, fees, and textbooks for hourly employees in its operations network after 90 days of employment," with the benefit applying to "hundreds of educational institutions across the country." Amazon said it will also cover "high school diploma programs, GEDs, and English-as-a-second-language certifications." More companies are dangling educational benefits as a lure for hiring and retaining workers amid an increasingly competitive labor market. Walmart said in July it would fully subsidize tuition and books for 1.5 million part-time and full-time employees, and expanded its college partners. Target, Chipotle, and Starbucks have made similar commitments.