The swirling central panel of a #Roman geometric mosaic - almost hypnotic! #MosaicMonday #AncientBlueSky

Problem solved

ECDC Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner is in Addis Ababa this week, where ECDC and Africa CDC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalise their long-standing partnership on public health cooperation. www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-even... #AfricaCDC #PublicHealth #ECDC #IDsky #EpiSky

NEW: Trump wanted an uprising. Instead, tens of thousands are in Tehran’s main square, risking their lives under bombardment, to pledge allegiance to the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. We’re witnessing the greatest miscalculation in US political and military history. (🎥 Middle East Observer)

At least some Americans are benefiting from Trump’s Iran War.

Nocturne Grey and Silver https://www.wikiart.org/en/james-mcneill-whistler/nocturne-grey-and-silver-1875

The (de- or) illusion that heavy metal translates to winning is strong in army circles, and with a healthy dose of American Exceptionalism history can be safely ignored. Same mistake everyone did regarding Russia in 2022.

Lindsey’s diplomacy working wonders in UAE.

🔴 "All revolutions tend to replace what they destroyed," says Rouzbeh Parsi, Senior Lecturer at Lunds University, commenting on Mojtaba Khamenei's succession

A timely reminder that social progress doesn’t come easy. The idea of half the population not being allowed to vote might sound bizarre now but was reality until embarrassingly recently.

This map by @xruiztru shows the Iranian diaspora around the world.

🔴 Mojtaba Khamenei is a mysterious figure in Iranian politics. Although he is the second son of Ali Khamenei, he has never held public office and he has rarely spoken publicly. Many Iranians have never heard his voice 👇

Spectacular octopus from the floor of the women’s changing room at the Central Baths in ancient Herculaneum. 📷 by me #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

it's taken a decade, but it looks like Tesla has just about solved self-driving

President Trump on Iran: "The war is very complete, pretty much." After supporting the Kurd ground offensive, then not. Supporting Iranian people's desire for regime change, then not. Going after nuclear assets, now not?

Patriots for Europe is an insult to actual European security. They are a traitorous group that exists to sabotage our united defense and that will always put Russia before Ukraine

I’m a grown man who works for the president of the United States who is afraid to not wear the shoes he bought me that do not fit

The Valley Of Falaise - 1885 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9953

Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein? Increasing evidence points to the murder of Jeffrey Epstein. Who is involved in the cover-up, and why isn't the Trump Administration releasing more evidence and being transparent with the public? thelefthook.substack.com/p/who-killed...

Prasad out at FDA after a number of public fights with drugmakers Prasad angered pharmaceutical giants and lawmakers last month when he pulled the review process from Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine. www.cidrap.umn.edu/p... Photo/ Wikimedia Commons

Either Trump is about to end the Iran War or he's manipulating the market to enrich his cronies.

Finally the age of animal experiments may be waning as advances in organ and computer models are raising the prospect that some such experiments could be eliminated. ctrk.klclick1.com/l/01KKA2S13C...

Mixed. Not everyone is vigorously opposed - those who support Meloni (29%) tend to support the US operation because she does. The majority of Italians are against it. But everyone is opposed to Italy joining the war, even Meloni fans.

I'm in Rome today, where Italy's prime minister is walking a delicate tightrope telling the Americans one thing and her citizens another. This weekend there has been a big debate about how the US is using its bases in Italy to conduct the war on Iran.

One and a half million people are killed by animals every year. Almost one million by other animals, and more than half a million from direct conflict among ourselves. Almost all of these deaths from other animals are caused by just two types: mosquitoes and snakes.

The fundamental contradiction of Starmer's - and Europe's - foreign policy is trying to maintain ties with Trump to protect ourselves from Putin, when everything he does helps Putin. It just doesn't work, there's no alternative to building our own defence capacity and moving fast to renewables

The importance of rules, laws and norms is that they create a stable background system so that people can peacefully get on with their lives, knowing what will, and will not, bring them trouble. I suppose some people must find their absence exhilarating.

Matt Schlapp has attempted to justify the killing of more than 100 young girls at an elementary school in southern Iran, by claiming they were saved from religious extremism. trib.al/kdd5p6B

We shall remember Trump by this, if we’re still alive and have electricity

Air safety by vibes, good luck America

UAE and Qatar are asking Ukraine for their interceptor drone technology and protection from Iran.

Either they didn’t think about the effect of the invasion on oil and gas prices or they did and didn’t care. I wrote a paper once distinguishing malice, recklessness, negligence, and incompetence. Sometimes you get them all at once.

Hedy Lamarr, Austrian born Hollywood actress, was also a designer/inventor who created aviation designs for Howard Hughes and co-patented a “secret communication system” - the basis for modern WiFi #WomensArt #WomensHistoryMonth

🇱🇧 Israel on Monday continued its attacks on Lebanon with more strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs and a helicopter operation that placed ground troops in the east of the country sparking direct clashes with Hezbollah. FRANCE 24's Renée Davis reports from Beirut:

The impact of Brexit on UK immigration - new research by @johnspringford.bsky.social & me for @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social & @ukandeu.bsky.social Brexit a) reduced EU-origin employees by 785K (2.3% of workforce) b) increased non-EU origin employees by 992K (2.95%) www.cer.eu/insights/imp...

Bangladesh which relies on imports for 95% of its energy needs, on Friday imposed daily limits on fuel sales after panic buying and stockpiling.

There were endless opportunities to hound Tony into a shameful early retirement, making it very clear what he had done wrong and why it was bad. But the lads didn’t want to do that: they wanted to keep interviewing him on TV, reporting his rare interventions and cheer him getting a knighthood.

And don't forget Chinese IT experts went to Hungary long time ago. They installed a perfect surveillance system.

The people in Hungary are showing that they have enough of Orban.

It's extremely clear that the US doesn't really have an objective here except to inflict maximum pain, and attacking water supply is going to end catastrophically for the entire region. It's not just a war crime, it's approaching a crime against humanity.

"Britain has choices, too. Two hundred and fifty years after the American colonists broke free of empire, it’s time for a British declaration of independence." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Scene from Hungary tonight as crowds rally against the Russian-backed Orban regime.

This will end badly.

Now imagine people’s lungs. Black rain has fallen over Tehran after strikes on oil facilities, coating streets and rooftops in dark, oily water. “The rain is actually apparently saturated with oil,” CNN reports.

Traitors.

The quetion should be turned the other way: why should European countries ever help the Americans? The way they act is closer to what one would expect from an enemy.

Vessel Depicting a Costumed Ritual Performer Holding a Staff and a Trophy Head https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91319/

A purpose of the war on Iran might well be to provoke a terrorist attack inside the United States. This would provide Donald Trump with a pretext to try to cancel or “federalize” the coming Congressional elections. snyder.substack.com/p/the-desire...

It doesn’t matter whether the rate of global warming is increasing. It’ll never cease to amaze me that people don’t care that it’s happening at all. It should be the most alarming thing ever.