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Yorkshire Air Museum "We'll meet again" event May 2026

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Maya Classic Period (550-900 AD) rare polychrome pottery from the Jay I. Kislak collection, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. See long file names for additional information.

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Maya Classic Period (550-900 AD) rare polychrome pottery from the Jay I. Kislak collection, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. See long file names for additional information.

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MEXICO CITY, June 9 — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said yesterday she could guarantee a peaceful World Cup opening ceremony this week, despite concern over ongoing protests.

A teachers union has threatened demonstrations at Thursday’s opening game between Mexico and South Africa in the capital if the government doesn’t respond to demands for salary raises and pension reforms.

“We are going to guarantee... that the celebration of the World Cup is well-executed, in peace and tranquility,” Sheinbaum said in her daily press conference.

Last week, police dispersed protesters with teargas and rubber bullets outside the historic Zocalo square where authorities have erected a massive screen for a World Cup fan zone.

The streets surrounding the square remain closed off with metal barricades, which Sheinbaum has said are meant to guard against “provocations.”

Protesting teachers also toppled commemorative statues of players in downtown Mexico City last week.

Though Sheinbaum has maintained open dialogue with the teachers, the union has deemed government proposals insufficient.

Joining the protests are hundreds of people from the Ayotzinapa teachers college, who are demanding further efforts to investigate the disappearance of 43 students from the rural school in 2014.

Mexico City police said they discovered 59 homemade explosive devices on one of the bus convoys entering the capital on Monday, posting a photo of dozens of small white pipes with fuses on X.

Tourists ‘freaked out’ 

The teachers’ sprawling tent camps have flooded the city center, leading to complaints from businesses that tourists will stay away during the World Cup.

“The access to our restaurant is closed off, the people aren’t coming, the tourists are freaked out,” 31-year-old waiter Jonathan Herrera, who was protesting against the encampment, told AFP.

Around 50 people waited to cross through one of the metal barricades under the watch of police, where one restaurant glued a poster reading “we’re still open.”

US tourist Heather Lutz, 64, expressed support for the protesters.

“No government likes their city to look real” during big events like the World Cup, she said.

The tournament is the ideal moment to “generate pressure” to win concessions from the government, 42-year-old teacher Dinora Diaz told AFP in the street encampment.

Negotiations

Sheinbaum’s government explained on Monday their proposals to the teachers union, proposing the creation of a new state-owned company to administer pensions.

But the government dismissed the possibility of reversing pension laws, arguing it would cost around $400 million.

The teachers have rejected the government’s proposals while the Secretary of Governance Rosa Icela Rodriguez called for the strikers to lift the blockades.

“It’s fundamental that the legitimate exercise of the right to protest can coexist with the rights of those who live in and move through this great city,” the official said. — AFP

School getting ready for its 80th birthday makes a modern addition to its uniform options.

Tanabe Junior High School in the town of Kyotanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, is going to be marking the 80th anniversary of its founding next year. That’s definitely a good opportunity to look back on its history and celebrate its traditions, but the school has no intent of having its thinking be stuck in the past, as shown by its plans to be the first public junior high school in Japan to have a hoodie as its uniform.

Currently, the standard uniform for boys at Tanabe is a gakuran, a straight-collared button-up jacket-like garment worn with slacks, and for girls it’s a sailor suit blouse-and-skirt combo. These are both considered pretty traditional outfits in the Japanese school system these days, as it’s becoming increasingly common for school uniforms to have blazers instead.

▼ Gakuran

Tanabe does allow female students who don’t want to wear the sailor suit to opt for gakuran or dress shirt and slacks instead, but the old-school uniforms aren’t necessarily unpopular. For the last three years, the school has polled students on whether they want to keep the current uniforms or switch to a more modern blazer, and for three years in a row, the students have voted to keep the gakuran and sailor suits. However, later this year they’ll have another option, a zip-up gray hoodie, with black trim and the school’s emblem on the left side of the chest. The design, which was decided on by the students, can be seen on the school’s website here.

“We came to the decision [to introduce a hoodie uniform] taking into consideration that we are in a diverse and genderless era,” said the school in a statement. To be clear, the hoodie isn’t just for use while commuting to school or extracurricular events, either. Not only can students wear it in class, it can also be worn to such important occasions as the school’s graduation ceremony and welcome ceremony for newly enrolled students.

Aside from being comfortable and modern, the hoodie uniform also has the advantage of being machine washable (most conventional school uniforms require dry cleaning), and though at 9,000 yen (US$58) it’s not a particularly inexpensive hoodie, that’s still about half the price that students currently have to pay for gakuran or sailor suit tops. Students aren’t required to commit to just one style of uniform, either, so if they want to purchase both the hoodie and the pre-existing option, and wear whichever they feel like on that day, that’s OK too.

The hoodie uniform will be available starting in November.

Source: Jiji, Yomiuri Shimbun, Tanabe Junior High School
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Wikipedia/Nesnad
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Ironbridge 40's Weekend 2026, held 23rd and 24th May 2026 at Dale End Park, Ironbridge, in Shropshire. An annual 1940's military and civilian re-enactment, using themes and characters mostly from the European theatre of conflict. As always, the atmosphere was fun, friendly and vibrant. Photos taken

Pictures were taken on the Sunday, 24/05/26, at a public event where it is assumed to be OK to publish on the internet. Permission was granted by the subjects for posed photos. However, if anyone wants any photo removed from this set, please contact me, Bob, at dimparcio@protonmail quoting the file number eg DSC1234 and I will do so forthwith. Otherwise, if you like them and would like to download them, please do so, especially if it helps promote re-enactments such as this.

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Operative of the French Resistance with the Cross of Lorraine on her right arm.

Operation Jedburgh was a clandestine operation organised by special operations units from Great Britain, the USA and the French government in exile.


Ironbridge 40's Weekend 2026, held 23rd and 24th May 2026 at Dale End Park, Ironbridge, in Shropshire. An annual 1940's military and civilian re-enactment, using themes and characters mostly from the European theatre of conflict. As always, the atmosphere was fun, friendly and vibrant. Photos taken

Pictures were taken on the Sunday, 24/05/26, at a public event where it is assumed to be OK to publish on the internet. Permission was granted by the subjects for posed photos. However, if anyone wants any photo removed from this set, please contact me, Bob, at dimparcio@protonmail quoting the file number eg DSC1234 and I will do so forthwith. Otherwise, if you like them and would like to download them, please do so, especially if it helps promote re-enactments such as this.