In an age of spiritual isolation, witches are forming covens that defy the oppressive natures of man and church

On the floor of a sun-drenched room in a 200-year-old Irish estate, a group of 15 witches gather to commune with the spirits. Everyone has someone they want to talk to – dead ancestors, forest fairies, the witches who came before them – and the room has the same expectant charge as the first day of school. Some of the witches wear long black capes and bandanas. Some wear Columbia fleeces, spaghetti-strap tank tops and Adidas sneakers.

Isabella Ferrari, known as Penny the Witch, guides the women as they make divination maps, sheets of paper covered with “yeses” and “nos” that work like Ouija boards: the witches ask their questions and the spirits guide the crystal pendulums in their hands towards the answer. One of the women, Tara Monte, screeches as her pendulum begins circling uncontrollably. “Isabella, do I stop this? Someone really wants to talk to me.” Later, she will confess she believes it was her archangel Michael letting her know yes, her parents were proud of her. Yes, they still loved her.

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In case you missed it last week, there was a brilliant bit of camerawork in France’s warm-up match against the Côte d’Ivoire in Nantes. After the African side drew level through Guéla Doué, the camera immediately panned to his younger brother on the opposition bench, Desiré, as the unusued French substitute wore a wry smile as he watched the Côte d’Ivoire celebrations.

If I’m still here today, it’s because the French team has won a lot of games. Otherwise, it could have ended before, whether I decided it or it was decided for me” – Didier Deschamps gets his chat on with Luke Entwistle as he heads for a swansong with Les Bleus at the GWC, discussing a legacy that no one – bar, perhaps, himself – would dare dispute.

Re yesterday’s Football Daily: you are invited for lunch. The host does not allow your son to come, treats your wife with scorn, and asks your daughter to leave midway through. When you are ready to leave, he detains your wife and presents you with a hefty bill. Does it sound strange? Welcome to GWC 2026!” – Krishna Moorthy.

Please pass on my thanks to David Squires, once again, for giving me the spine to metaphorically crumple up and toss into the waste bin this entire GWC spectacle. It was a bit shy of four years ago when a Squires cartoon depicting the deplorable working conditions of immigrants in Qatar gave me the strength to say sod off to the entire enterprise – and I had been watching games since the 1970 final, the first televised here in the USA USA USA. But I admit, as these games have drawn near I have felt myself weakening, looking for some rationale to justify paying attention once again. Then yesterday you presented us with his latest cartoon. It was the perfect reminder of what is truly the essential character of Fifa, my country’s political leaders and as a result, the GWC. So thank you Football Daily, and thank you David Squires!” – Mike Fichtner (and others).

Jürgen Klinsmann may well have seen Maradona’s warmup (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). He could conceivably have started one of his dives in Stuttgart, and ended up in Munich” – Mike Rice.

Re movable corner flags at the GWC (Monday’s Football Daily): shame Fifa hasn’t gone the full hog, and introduced movable goalposts. Might have helped England should they be forced into another penalty shootout” – Callum Taylor.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Vrijwel de hele week verschijnen er al verhalen over buitenlandse WK-reizigers die niet worden toegelaten tot de Verenigde Staten. Het toont hoe beperkt de invloed van de FIFA is bij het toernooi dat de voetbalbond zelf organiseert.

De Amsterdamse zakenman Joost Ritman verzamelde een wereldberoemde collectie filosofische, religieuze en magische boeken, die Umberto Eco en Dan Brown inspireerden.

James Webb Space Telescope posted a photo:

Connecting the (Little Red) Dots

Webb has delivered the strongest evidence yet that its discovery of mysterious Little Red Dots (LRD) are “black hole stars.” These objects are found in the early universe, starting at about 600 million years after the big bang, and they are so newly discovered that scientists are still working out exactly what they are.

Webb captured the most detailed data to date of one of these LRDs (named GLIPMSE-17775, dating back to 1.8 billion years after the big bang) that supports the interpretation that this object is a rapidly growing black hole enveloped in a dense gas cocoon. The presence of this gas accounts for why most LRDs are faint in X-rays, since any X-rays they give off are likely absorbed by the cocoons surrounding them. In contrast, more typical growing supermassive black holes are not embedded in dense gas, which allows bright ultraviolet light and X-rays from material orbiting them to escape.

This particular LRD has a giant host galaxy, and though this may not be typical of LRDs so far spotted, it isn’t inconsistent with the dense gas cocoon model. Additionally excess blue light observed from LRDs is attributable to stars in the host galaxy.

Ultimately this is one more piece of an ongoing puzzle discovered by, and potentially solvable by Webb.

In this image is Webb's spectroscopic data on little red dot GLIMPSE-17775. It contains more than 40 spectral lines. The spectrum contains multiple independent indicators that support the theory this little red dot is a black hole star: a rapidly accreting, or growing, black hole enveloped in a hot, dense gas cocoon. This layered, shell-like environment is reprocessing the light emitted from near the black hole and producing the features seen in the spectrum.

For example, scientists found that many of the spectral lines, such as hydrogen, oxygen, and helium, do not match a simple, rotating gas cloud model. The best fit model includes a broadening effect known as electron scattering, a telltale sign that a dense, layered gas cocoon is enshrouding the source.

Read more: science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/evidence-of-a-black-hole-star/

Illustration credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Vasily Kokorev (UT Austin); Designer: Leah Hustak (STScI)

Image description: Graphic titled “GLIMPSE-17775, Evidence of a ‘Black Hole Star, NIRSpec, Multi-Object Spectroscopy’” shows a graph of amount of light blocked on the y-axis versus wavelength of light, microns. The bottom of the y-axis is labeled “fainter,” and the top is labeled “brighter.” The x-axis starts with 2.80 microns at left and continues in increments of five, ending with 3.05 microns at right. A key at top left has a white line labeled “Data” and a small blue square labeled “Model of light scattered through hot dense gas.” The white data line is stepped with a large bell-like curve that peaks at 2.95 microns. It is labeled “hydrogen” and highlighted by a semi-transparent purple. The data also forms small peaks highlighted with different colors: around 2.84 microns, oxygen, green; 3.0 microns, helium, red; and 3.02 microns, sulfur, orange. The blue filling, representing the model, approximately fills the bell-like curve that marks hydrogen. A smaller peak of blue also approximately fills the data’s peak of helium.

James Webb Space Telescope posted a photo:

Connecting the (Little Red) Dots 🔴

Webb has delivered the strongest evidence yet that its discovery of mysterious Little Red Dots (LRD) are “black hole stars.” These objects are found in the early universe, starting at about 600 million years after the big bang, and they are so newly discovered that scientists are still working out exactly what they are.

Webb captured the most detailed data to date of one of these LRDs (named GLIMPSE-17775, dating back to 1.8 billion years after the big bang) that supports the interpretation that this object is a rapidly growing black hole enveloped in a dense gas cocoon. The presence of this gas accounts for why most LRDs are faint in X-rays, since any X-rays they give off are likely absorbed by the cocoons surrounding them. In contrast, more typical growing supermassive black holes are not embedded in dense gas, which allows bright ultraviolet light and X-rays from material orbiting them to escape.

This particular LRD has a giant host galaxy, and though this may not be typical of LRDs so far spotted, it isn’t inconsistent with the dense gas cocoon model. Additionally, excess blue light observed from LRDs is attributable to stars in the host galaxy.

Ultimately this is one more piece of an ongoing puzzle discovered by, and potentially solvable by Webb.

In this image, the LRD is in the inset box. The main image shows a massive galaxy cluster whose strong gravity is magnifying the light of this object, allowing us a better look at it. The location of the LRD is at the bottom of the image towards the right, marked by an orange outlined box.

Read more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasa-webb-finds-strongest-...

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Vasily Kokorev (UT Austin); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Image description: A field of galaxies against the black background of space. In the center is a bright-white elliptical galaxy that is the core of the Abell S1063 galaxy cluster. Around the core are short, curved red lines, which are distant background galaxies magnified and warped by gravitational lensing. A couple of foreground stars appear large and bright with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spike pattern. Toward the very bottom, slightly off center toward the right, is a small red dot that is highlighted by an orange square outline. A larger orange square in the top right corner shows the object in more detail. The object, labeled “GLIMPSE-17775” looks like a fuzzy red dot with a yellow core.

VELDHOVEN (ANP) - ASML en vakbonden hebben een akkoord ondertekend over het sociaal plan voor de reorganisatie bij de chipmachinemaker, meldt vakbond De Unie. Het techbedrijf kondigde eerder dit jaar aan 1700 banen te schrappen omdat de organisatie te stroef was geworden. Nu is onder andere afgesproken dat er tot 1 mei volgend jaar geen gedwongen ontslagen mogen vallen.

Boventallig verklaarde medewerkers kunnen tot die tijd mogelijk nog aan de slag op nieuwe werkplekken die vrijkomen binnen ASML. Dit kan honderden ontslagen schelen, zei het bedrijf vorige maand na het bereiken van een principeakkoord met de bonden FNV, CNV, De Unie en VHP2. Het akkoord is nu definitief, omdat een meerderheid van de vakbondsleden bij ASML heeft ingestemd met de afspraken.

ASML kondigde aan honderden managementbanen te schrappen om de bureaucratie binnen het bedrijf te verminderen. In het sociaal plan staan ook afspraken over ontslagvergoedingen en hulp bij het vinden van nieuw werk.

Mogwai

Vandaag wél in de Telegraaf:
Rijkswaterstaat stopt met asfalteren in Noord-Nederland, want het geld is op "„Het geplande groot onderhoud aan het hoofdwegennet in Groningen, Friesland en Drenthe is voorlopig stopgezet”, meldt een woordvoerder van Rijkswaterstaat."

Vandaag NIET in de Telegraaf:
Verbouwing Binnenhof stilgelegd, want het geld is op
Asielhotels per direct gesloten, want het geld is op
NPO vier maanden op zwart, want het geld is op
Ambtenaren gemeente Tynaarlo allemaal naar huis gestuurd, want het geld is op
Afscheidsborrel Esmah Lahlah afgelast, want het geld is op
Wachtgeldregeling oud-bewindspersonen stopgezet, want het geld is op
Alle leerlingen klas HAVO-3B De Windroos vanaf nu iedere dinsdag eerste drie uur vrij, want het geld is op

Maar ach, dat asfalt in Noord-Nederland, daar rijdt toch nooit iemand.