Latest news with #Protestant
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Let's celebrate: Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year
Editor's note: This story was first published on June 21, 2013 Welcome to the best day of the year. Today is the summer solstice, the longest day. In North Jersey, we'll get more than 15 hours of daylight. Go ahead and gloat — that's nearly an hour and a half more daylight than Key West, Florida, will get today. For those who like daylight — pretty much everyone save Dracula — today is a day to celebrate. In past eras, they actually did. "The summer solstice was a carnivalesque feast day," said Pamela H. Smith, a European history expert at Columbia University. "In England, there were bonfires, lots of beer drinking, cannons being fired off, masqueraders — people dressed up as devils and demons. "Days like the solstice were important for ancient peoples in terms of trying to find patterns in nature that were important for their livelihood, like knowing when to plant crops. All cultures had megaliths like Stonehenge," Smith said. The Earth's orbit around the sun is slightly elliptical, but not enough to cause the seasons, said Carlton Pryor, an astronomer at Rutgers University. In fact, at the summer solstice, the North Jersey region is 94.4 million miles from the sun. At the winter solstice, it's only 91.4 million miles away. The seasons are caused by the Earth's axis being tilted at a 23.5 degree angle. When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, the hemisphere receives sunlight more directly, for longer periods, increasing temperatures. More: Make one of these 10 books that are set in New Jersey your next beach read for summer 2025 In winter, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away — even though it is closer to the sun in miles — so the light is less direct, more angled. The sun is lower in the sky and appears for fewer hours, causing cooler temperatures. On the summer solstice, the Earth's northern axis is tilted at its most extreme angle toward the sun. Today in North Jersey, the sun at its zenith will be at an angle of nearly 73 degrees above the horizon. On Dec. 21, it will be only 26 degrees above the horizon. The Earth's axis tilt also affects where the sun rises on the horizon. Conventional wisdom that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west is true only twice a year — at the spring and fall equinoxes. During the summer solstice, the sun rises at its northernmost point on the horizon. This morning in Hackensack, if you had faced due east, the sun would have risen about 32 degrees to the north (or to your left). At the winter solstice, it will rise 32 degrees to the south of due east (or to your right). Though the summer solstice once triggered celebrations, that's rarely the case anymore. After the Protestant Reformation in Europe, religious leaders started to call for an end to the celebrations. "A lot of Protestant pastors criticized midsummer night's eve, saying people were drinking too much, fighting," Smith said. Another reason we don't celebrate the solstice is the shift from an agrarian lifestyle. "We live in a more urban society, and we have colonized the night," said Sara Schechner, an expert on science history at Harvard University. "So we are not as bound to the cycles of nature in how we go about our lives." This article originally appeared on Summer solstice 2025 is here
American Military News
15 hours ago
- Politics
- American Military News
Veteran Chinese dissident faces ongoing police harassment despite prison release
This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. Three months after his prison release, veteran dissident Chen Yunfei is in the cross-hairs of police over his social media posts and has faced multiple rounds of questioning and harassment amid ongoing surveillance, Radio Free Asia has learned. The Chengdu-based human rights activist and Chinese performance artist was released on March 24 after serving a four-year prison sentence in the southwestern province of Sichuan. But his friends say his freedom has been largely illusory, as police have repeatedly summoned him for interrogations and severely restricted his movements and ability to resume work. Chen has faced repeated persecution for his criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, including demands that the government investigate the crackdown and compensate victims. In 2021, he was sentenced to four years in jail on of child molestation which he denied and said were intended to smear his reputation. Most recently, on the eve of the 36th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square protests crackdown, the National Security Bureau and local police subjected Chen to a five-hour interrogation, where he was forced to sit on the 'tiger bench,' Chen's friend and colleague Guan told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday. 'Tiger bench' is a form of torture used to restrain and immobilize detainees during questioning. Chen, like many others RFA interviewed for this story, asked to be identified only by a single name for fear of reprisals. 'The police accused him of 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble,'' said Guan, referring to a criminal charge frequently used by Chinese authorities to carry out arbitrary detentions against rights activists and dissidents. The charges were based on Chen's social media activity, including reposts of tweets by Ming Chu-cheng, an honorary professor of politics at National Taiwan University, and prominent dissidents Pastor Wang Yi, the pastor of a banned Protestant church in Chengdu, and citizen journalist Cai Chu, said Guan. Despite the lack of a subpoena, the police summoned Chen for questioning, confiscating his mobile phone and Wi-Fi equipment for three days, before returning them on June 3 night after repeated protests, Guan said. Chen's livelihood has also been impacted, his friends said. Upon release from prison, Chen found that his nursery business, which he had operated for many years, was emptied of all assets, causing him to lose his source of income, said Yang, another friend of the activist. The courts have also listed him as a 'dishonest debtor,' preventing him from accessing his bank accounts or resuming work, Yang said. 'He now has difficulty even renting a house and can only survive on donations from friends and through loans,' said Fang Liang, another friend of Chen's. During Chen's most recent imprisonment, his 91-year-old mother was also forcibly and violently removed from her Chengdu rental home by community workers, during which she suffered a head injury that required over a month of hospitalization, Guan said. During the forced eviction, many of the family's assets of value disappeared, including $30,000 of pension money that his mother had set aside for her granddaughter's education abroad, $5,800 in cash, and about 40,000 yuan (or US$5,560) in Chinese currency, Guan said. When Chen attempted to file a police report after discovering his empty home upon release, authorities refused to issue a receipt or open an investigation, said Yang. 'They don't allow you to have any evidence to sue them,' said Yang. 'The government said it's not their responsibility, and the police said to contact the community — they just pushed the matter back and forth.' Despite the ongoing harassment, Chen's friends say he is preparing to file a civil lawsuit to recover his mother's lost property and challenge the police's abuse of power. Shandong-based legal scholar Lu described Chen's ongoing troubles as a consequence of a typical 'secondary punishment' model that is designed to maintain control over dissidents through non-judicial means. 'Administrative review is inactive, the police deliberately do not issue receipts, and elderly mothers are forced to become homeless,' Lue said 'This is not law enforcement, but political coercion.'
Straits Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
N. Korea flag disrupts S. Korea church livestream in ‘hacking incident'
The incident occurred early in the morning of June 18, when the livestream was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag. PHOTO: REUTERS SEOUL - One of South Korea's largest megachurches said on June 20 its YouTube worship service was briefly hacked during a live broadcast to display the North Korean flag, with a government agency saying it was checking the details. The incident occurred early in the morning of June 18 , when the livestream of the service by the Onnuri Church was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag, accompanied by what appeared to be Pyongyang's propaganda music. The flag was displayed for about 20 seconds, a church official told AFP, adding that the incident had been reported to the police. 'During the early morning worship service on June 18, an unexpected video was broadcast due to a hacking incident,' the church said in a separate statement. 'We are currently conducting an urgent investigation into the cause of the incident and will take appropriate measures as soon as the situation is clarified.' South Korea's state-run Korea Internet & Security Agency told AFP it was 'looking into the case'. Another Protestant church in Seoul, the Naesoo-Dong Church, told AFP it also experienced a similar hacking incident shortly before its YouTube worship service early Wednesday morning. An 'inappropriate' video was displayed for about 50 seconds due to an 'external hacking' attack, Pastor Oh Shin-young told AFP, adding that the footage had no apparent connection to North Korea. South Korea, widely recognised as among the most wired countries in the world, has long been a target of cyber hacking by North Korea, which has been blamed for several major attacks in the past. Police announced in 2024 that North Korean hackers were behind the theft of sensitive data from a South Korean court computer network – including individuals' financial records – over a two-year period. The stolen data amounted to more than 1GB . Also in 2024 , Seoul's spy agency said North Korean spies were using LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and entice South Koreans working in defence companies so the spies could access information on the firms' technology. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
a day ago
- Politics
- The Star
N. Korea flag disrupts S. Korea church livestream in 'hacking incident'
The incident occurred early Wednesday morning, when the livestream of the service by the Onnuri Church was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag, accompanied by what appeared to be Pyongyang's propaganda music. — Photo by Micha Brändli on Unsplash SEOUL: One of South Korea's largest megachurches said on June 20 its YouTube worship service was briefly hacked during a live broadcast to display the North Korean flag, with a government agency saying it was checking the details. The incident occurred early Wednesday morning (June 18), when the livestream of the service by the Onnuri Church was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag, accompanied by what appeared to be Pyongyang's propaganda music. The flag was displayed for about 20 seconds, a church official told AFP, adding that the incident had been reported to the police. "During the early morning worship service on June 18, an unexpected video was broadcast due to a hacking incident," the church said in a separate statement. "We are currently conducting an urgent investigation into the cause of the incident and will take appropriate measures as soon as the situation is clarified." South Korea's state-run Korea Internet & Security Agency told AFP it was "looking into the case". Another Protestant church in Seoul, the Naesoo-Dong Church, told AFP it also experienced a similar hacking incident shortly before its YouTube worship service early Wednesday morning. An "inappropriate" video was displayed for about 50 seconds due to an "external hacking" attack, Pastor Oh Shin-young told AFP, adding that the footage had no apparent connection to North Korea. South Korea, widely recognised as among the most wired countries in the world, has long been a target of cyber hacking by North Korea, which has been blamed for several major attacks in the past. Police announced last year that North Korean hackers were behind the theft of sensitive data from a South Korean court computer network – including individuals' financial records – over a two-year period. The stolen data amounted to more than one gigabyte. Also last year, Seoul's spy agency said North Korean spies were using LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and entice South Koreans working at defence companies so the spies could access information on the firms' technology. – AFP
Belfast Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Council's controversial £17m plan for new Newry HQ voted through by fewer than half of planning committee members
Downpatrick Alliance councillor Cadogan Enright walked out of the meeting following legal advice provided in confidential session away from public view saying: 'I urge you all to do the same.' Out of the 12 councillors on the committee, only six turned up for the noon decision. When put to a vote four members (three Sinn Fein and one SDLP) voted in favour of the application, one was against (DUP) and one abstained (SDLP). Proposing the recommendation, Slieve Gullion councillor Declan Murphy said: 'We've heard the arguments for and against this quite a number of times, so whatever decision we make it is based on a lot of scrutiny and means our decision will be robust. 'I am satisfied that the recommendation by the planners for approval and we should accept that recommendation. 'There will be concerns – whether they be from Protestant, Catholic or Dissenter – they all have to be taken into consideration, and I think from the evidence put forward that has been done.' The proposal was seconded by Newry Sinn Fein councillor Cathal King with Mournes DUP councillor Glyn Hanna calling for a recorded vote. The application first lodged in 2019 is set to be the new headquarters for Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) and its 215 staff. However, there will only be 162 desks provided as the council has alluded to its 'hybrid working conditions' for employees. The Newry city civic centre has been dogged by controversy with more than 2,500 parishioners at the nearby Cathedral signing a petition opposing the building amid claims it will leave them no where to park during Mass. NMDDC has previously referred to a 2023 parking survey of the Abbey Way site and has amended its HQ plans to provide 138 car park spaces at the site, which it says is above the maximum occupancy rates of mass-goers recorded. A predetermination hearing had been held earlier in the morning from 10am to listen to the final arguments from all parties concerned. A council officer presenting the recommendation told the chamber, 'the case officer's report details and considers all the issues'. In concluding comments, both the applicant, NMDDC, and the objectors, Newry Parish Cathedral, continued to call out each other's view of facts and opinions on the processes carried out on the long running application.
