It felt wrong to not have them too.

Side note: Illyria deserves to have court status. What if they break apart from the night court and invent democracy to get their leader? Then maybe Emerie gets elected (Devlon redemption arc: he becomes a champion for women’s rights). She doesn't have baggage/feuds/a nemesis with the other courts and also brings a healthy dose of common sense to the table oh and now it's a political thriller following Emerie (and her Valkyrie/Illyrian friends) establish Illyria as a respected equal of the other courts and maybe this is why I stick to mood boards

Blog Post #4

1830: Belgium declared independence from the Netherlands. Liberals and revolutionaries rebelled against conservative kings and governments. The movement started in France when Charles X's publication of four ordinances dissolving the Chamber of Deputies, which halted freedom of the press and modified electoral laws so that 3/4 of the electorate lost votes, were followed by strikes and protests. Liberals throughout the rest of Europe were encouraged to hope for a general social revolution. In 1831, Belgium was officially declared as a separate nation from the Netherlands.

1993: The Constitution changed to recognize the three regions of Belgium: Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels. Belgium became a fully-fledged federal state. The different regions got more freedom, and their parliaments were directly elected. More competences (such as agriculture and oversight over their own governments) were appointed to each region. The regional governments were given constitutional powers, so they were no longer dependent on the government. Thus, Belgium shifted from a unitary government to a federal government.

1999: Dioxin contamination scandal. In January 1999, 500 tons of feed contaminated with about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of polychlorinated biphenyls (or PCBs, which are highly carcinogenic compounds) and one gram of dioxins (persistent organic pollutants) were issued to animal farms in Belgium (though some was also sent to the Netherlands, France, and Germany - just to a lesser extent). Many pigs and cows were impacted in the farms in Belgium, and they resisted demands from the EU that they remove beef and pork from sales, which put Belgium at risk for legal action. It wasn't until July 1999 that Belgium finally banned beef and pork products from being sold.

One film that tells part of Belgium's history is "Lumumba." This movie tells the story of African leader Patrice Emery Lumumba. Called the "politico of the bush" by journalists, Lumumba rose to leadership as the Prime Minister when Belgium granted the Congo's independence in June of 1960. He lasted two months in office.

James Bryant Conant

James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 – February 11, 1978) was an American chemist, a transformative President of Harvard University, and the first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. Conant obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard in 1916. During World War I he served in the U.S. Army, working on the development of poison gases, especially Lewisite. He became an assistant professor of chemistry at Harvard in 1919 and the Sheldon Emery Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1929. He researched the physical structures of natural products, particularly chlorophyll, and he was one of the first to explore the sometimes complex relationship between chemical equilibrium and the reaction rate of chemical processes. He studied the biochemistry of oxyhemoglobin providing insight into the disease methemoglobinemia, helped to explain the structure of chlorophyll, and contributed important insights that underlie modern theories of acid-base chemistry.

In June 1940, with World War II already raging in Europe, Vannevar Bush, the director of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, recruited Conant to the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), although he remained president of Harvard.  Bush envisaged the NDRC as bringing scientists together to "conduct research for the creation and improvement of instrumentalities, methods and materials of warfare." Although the United States had not yet entered the war, Conant was not alone in his conviction that Nazi Germany had to be stopped, and that the United States would inevitably become embroiled in the conflict. The immediate task, as Conant saw it, was therefore to organize American science for war. He became head of the NDRC's Division B, the division responsible for bombs, fuels, gases and chemicals. On June 28, 1941, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8807, which created the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD),  with Bush as its director. Conant succeeded Bush as Chairman of the NDRC, which was subsumed into the OSRD. Roger Adams, a contemporary of Conant's at Harvard in the 1910s, succeeded him as head of Division B.  Conant became the driving force of the NDRC on personnel and policy matters.  The NDRC would work hand in hand with the Army and Navy's research efforts, supplementing rather than supplanting them. It was specifically charged with investigating nuclear fission.

In February 1941, Roosevelt sent Conant to Britain as head of a mission that also included Frederick L. Hovde from Purdue University and Carroll L. Wilson from MIT, to evaluate the research being carried out there and the prospects for cooperation.  The 1940 Tizard Mission had revealed that American technology was some years behind that of Britain in many fields, most notably radar, and cooperation was eagerly sought. Conant had lunch with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Frederick Lindemann, his leading scientific adviser, and an audience with King George VI at Buckingham Palace. At a subsequent meeting, Lindemann told Conant about British progress towards developing an atomic bomb. What most impressed Conant was the British conviction that it was feasible.  That the British program was ahead of the American one raised the possibility in Conant's mind that the German nuclear energy project might be even further ahead, as Germany was generally acknowledged to be a world leader in nuclear physics. Later that year, Churchill, as Chancellor of the University of Bristol, conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on Conant in absentia.

Conant subsequently moved to restrict cooperation with Britain on nuclear energy, particularly its post-war aspects, and became involved in heated negotiations with Wallace Akers, the representative of Tube Alloys, the British atomic project.  Conant's tough stance, under which the British were excluded except where their assistance was vital, resulted in British retaliation, and a complete breakdown of cooperation. His objections were swept aside by Roosevelt, who brokered the 1943 Quebec Agreement with Churchill, that restored full cooperation. After the Quebec Conference, Churchill visited Conant at Harvard, where Conant returned the 1941 gesture and presented Churchill with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. After the United States entered the war in December 1941, the OSRD handed the atomic bomb project, better known as the Manhattan Project, over to the Army, with Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves as project director. A meeting that included Conant decided Groves should be answerable to a small committee called the Military Policy Committee, chaired by Bush, with Conant as his alternate. Thus, Conant remained involved in the administration of the Manhattan Project at its highest levels.

In August 1942, Roosevelt appointed Conant to the Rubber Survey Committee. Chaired by Bernard M. Baruch, a trusted adviser and confidant of Roosevelt, the committee was tasked with reviewing the synthetic rubber program. Corporations used patent laws to restrict competition and stifle innovation. When the Japanese occupation of Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak, followed by the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, cut off 90 percent of the supply of natural rubber, the rubber shortage became a national scandal, and the development of synthetic substitutes, an urgent priority. Baruch dealt with the difficult political issues; Conant concerned himself with the technical ones. There were a number of different synthetic rubber products to choose from. In addition to DuPont's neoprene, Standard Oil had licensed German patents for a copolymercalled Buna-N and a related product, Buna-S. None had been manufactured on the scale now required, and there was pressure from agricultural interests to choose a process which involved making raw materials from farm products. The Rubber Survey Committee made a series of recommendations, including the appointment of a rubber director, and the construction and operation of 51 factories to supply the materials needed for synthetic rubber production. Technical problems dogged the program through 1943, but by late 1944 plants were in operation with an annual capacity of over a million tons, most of which was Buna-S.

In May 1945, Conant became part of the Interim Committee that was formed to advise the new president, Harry S. Truman on nuclear weapons. The Interim Committee decided that the atomic bomb should be used against an industrial target in Japan as soon as possible and without warning. On July 16, 1945, Conant was among the dignitaries present at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range for the Trinity nuclear test, the first detonation of an atomic bomb. After the war, Conant became concerned about growing criticism in the United States of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by figures like Norman Cousins and Reinhold Niebuhr. He played an important behind-the-scenes role in shaping public opinion by instigating and then editing an influential February 1947 Harper's article entitled "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb". Written by former Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson with the help of McGeorge Bundy, the article stressed that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were used to avoid the possibility of "over a million casualties", from a figure found in the estimates given to the Joint Chiefs of Staff by its Joint Planning Staff in 1945.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 replaced the wartime Manhattan Project with the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on January 1, 1947. The Act also established the General Advisory Committee (GAC) within the AEC to provide it with scientific and technical advice. It was widely expected that Conant would chair the GAC, but the position went to Robert Oppenheimer, the wartime director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory that had designed and developed the first atomic bombs. At the same time, the Joint Research and Development Board (JRDC) was established to coordinate defense research, and Bush asked Conant to head its atomic energy subcommittee, on which Oppenheimer also served. When the new AEC chairman David E. Lilienthal raised security concerns about Oppenheimer's relationships with communists, including Oppenheimer's brother Frank Oppenheimer, his wife Kitty and his former girlfriend Jean Tatlock, Bush and Conant reassured Lilienthal that they had known about it when they had placed Oppenheimer in charge at Los Alamos in 1942. With such expressions of support, AEC issued Oppenheimer a Q clearance, granting him access to atomic secrets.

By September 1948, the Red Scare began to take hold, and Conant called for a ban on hiring teachers who were communists, although not for the dismissal of those who had already been hired. A debate ensued over whether communist educators could teach apolitical subjects. Conant was a member of the Educational Policies Commission (EPC), a body to which he had been appointed in 1941. When it next met in March 1949, Conant's push for a ban was supported by the president of Columbia University, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower. The two found common ground in their belief in ideology-based education, which Conant called "democratic education". He did not see public education as a side effect of American democracy, but as one of its principal driving forces, and he disapproved of the public funding of denominational schools that he observed in Australia during his visit there in 1951. He called for increased federal spending on education, and higher taxes to redistribute wealth. His thinking was outlined in his books Education in a Divided World in 1948, and Education and Liberty in 1951. In 1952, he went further and endorsed the dismissal of academics who invoked the Fifth under questioning by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

A sign of Conant's declining influence occurred in 1950, when he was passed over for the post of President of the National Academy of Sciences in favor of Detlev Bronk, the President of Johns Hopkins University, after a "revolt" by scientists unhappy with Conant. The GAC was enormously influential throughout the late 1940s, but the opposition of Oppenheimer and Conant to the development of the hydrogen bomb, only to be overridden by Truman in 1950, diminished its stature. It was reduced further when Oppenheimer and Conant were not reappointed when their terms expired in 1952, depriving the GAC of its two best-known members. Conant was appointed to the National Science Board, which administered the new National Science Foundation, and was elected its chairman, but this body had little financial or political clout. In April 1951, Truman appointed Conant to the Science Advisory Committee, but it would not develop into an influential body until the Eisenhower administration.

Conant's experience with the Manhattan Project convinced him that the public needed a better understanding of science, and he moved to revitalize the history and philosophy of science program at Harvard. He took the lead personally by teaching a new undergraduate course, Natural Science 4, "On Understanding Science". His course notes became the basis for a book of the same name, published in 1948. In 1952, he began teaching another undergraduate course, Philosophy 150, "A Philosophy of Science".  In his teachings and writing on the philosophy of science, he drew heavily on those of his Harvard colleague Willard Van Orman Quine. Conant contributed four chapters to the 1957 Harvard Case Histories in Experimental Science, including an account of the overthrow of the phlogiston theory. In 1951, he published Science and Common Sense, in which he attempted to explain the ways of scientists to laymen. Conant's ideas about scientific progress would come under attack by his own protégés, notably Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Conant commented on Kuhn's manuscript in draft form.

Congo recovers from Belgium the only thing left of its national hero, Patrice Lumumba: a tooth

Congo recovers from Belgium the only thing left of its national hero, Patrice Lumumba: a tooth

Belgium had been since 1884 the metropolis of the colossus that is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a colonization that culminated in an assassination and the whim of a drunk. On January 17, 1961, Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba, overthrown by a coup d’état promoted by Belgium and the CIA – who attributed communist whims to him – was executed in a forest in the eastern region…

View On WordPress

Kate Emery: How real is the risk of long COVID for West Aussies?

Kate Emery: How real is the risk of long COVID for West Aussies?

On a scale of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson walking into his no-confidence vote to Lionel Messi in front of an open goal, just how nervous should West Australians be about the risk of long COVID?

View On WordPress

Previous | Beginning | Next

(Transcript under the cut - Click Pics for HQ Version!)

The Wind Palace, Ahtolia (12:59pm)

Darien: Why is it so hard to get her to be alone?

A few days ago...

Darien: Soph, can we...talk in private?

Sofia: I’d love to, but I have an audience with the prime minister. Maybe later?

Darien:...okay. What about tonight?

Sofia: Of course, if you don’t mind waiting for me. I might have some paperwork to do so it could take a while.

Darien: What about tomorrow?

Sofia: I’m accompanying mum for her treatment. Emery accompanied her last time, it’s my turn this time.

Darien:...

Sofia: I’m sorry, honey. I know we don’t get to spend time together that much now. But I promise, once everything is done, I’ll come to you myself. Okay?

Dania: Your majesty, the Prime Minister is waiting in the blue room.

Sofia: I’ll see you later, honey. Get some rest.

Darien: I can’t do this anymore...

Sofia: Have you made sure that all the accommodations are well-prepared? I don’t want there to be any imperfections when the Duchess comes. We haven’t seen each other in a while and I want her to have a comfortable stay while she’s here.

Anita: Yes, ma’am. I’ve made sure to double-check everything.

Sofia: Perfect.

*door opens and closes*

Darien: Soph, I need to talk to you. Alone.

Sofia: I’m sorry, honey. I have something to discuss with Anita here. Can we do it some other time?

Darien: Sofia, please! I just need a few minutes with you! I...I need you. Please...I-I’m losing my mind right now and I need to talk to you.

Sofia: I...I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Sure, we can talk now.

Anita: But your majesty, we have several things to go through in today’s schedule.

Sofia: Can you change it to another day? I need some time alone with my husband.

Anita: Of course, ma’am. I’ll take my leave.

Sofia: Thank you, Anita.

Sofia: Honey? Are you okay?

Darien: No...I’m not okay.

Sofia: What do you mean? What’s wrong?

Darien: *hugs Sofia* Soph, whatever I tell you today, you have to promise me you won’t let me go.

Sofia: You’re scaring me, Darien. What do you want to tell me?

Darien: It’s about Silvie. What really happened while I was there.

The Crown Is One Of The Hardest Shows To Cast. Here’s How They Do It.

Casting announcements for The Crown are almost as exciting as the premiere of a new season itself. Half the fun of the show is analyzing the actors set to portray famous figures like Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher, as well as who will next fill the storied shoes of Queen Elizabeth. Season 4 of Peter Morgan’s royal drama was cast by Robert Sterne, who' won several Emmys for his work on the series along with Nina Gold (the duo cast seasons 1 through 3 together, and they were also responsible for the influx of talent we saw on Game of Thrones). Unsurprisingly, casting The Crown poses specific challenges not experienced on any other show.

“It’s not only that you’ve got to find actors who can successfully embody real-life, well-known people, but you’ve got to make sure there’s a continuity as it’s passed from the younger to the older version of the actor,” Sterne tells ELLE.com. “Who’s done it before, who’s doing it after, and who are the real people?”Sterne, who's currently in the process of re-casting the entire series for seasons 5 and 6, adds, “It’s nerve-wracking because people invest in the original people. You do X hours of screen time with them and fall in love with their interpretation, and then you go again [and re-cast] every two years.

”The casting process for each season starts about a year before filming begins; a meeting with Morgan clarifies where the characters will be in their journeys the following season. There were 262 speaking characters in season 4, and Sterne personally worked on all of them. The casting director notes that “you’ve got to think ahead of the game,” and that there are several factors to consider—not just whether the actor looks like the real-life person.

“They’ve got to have some credibility, physically, to be the people they’re supposed to portray,” Sterne notes. “But at the same time, they’ve got to get the spirit of it right.” Below, Sterne breaks down the behind-the-scenes process of building the cast of The Crown.

Perfecting Princess Diana

Photo: Des Willie/Netflix

“Diana was a big deal,” Sterne says, confirming the role has been The Crown’s biggest casting challenge to date. “It was clear as we were heading into the 1980s that she was going to be a major part of it. And we’re starting with Diana at the beginning of her life—we’re not trying to find the icon of the Mario Testino images.”

The casting team embarked on an international search for the person who would play Diana, looking at hundreds of possible actresses in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. They weren’t just auditioning professional actors, either. “It was completely open,” Sterne notes. “We were going into schools in the home countries to see if there was anybody who might be good, since we meet her at 16, as well as looking at people who'd done a lot more work.”

The massive search brought them back to Emma Corrin, whom Sterne had seen in the casting process for season 3. The tense lunch between Camilla Parker-Bowles (Emerald Fennell) and Diana in the third episode of season 4 was used as the audition scene for Camilla—and Corrin came in as a reader to stand in for the part of Diana.

“I usually read in all these meetings, but we decided because it was this major scene that we would get somebody to come in [for Diana],” Sterne explains. “We asked Emma to come in, not thinking about casting Diana at this point. But as she was reading with these Camillas, all the directors and the showrunner were looking more at her and not at the people playing Camilla—who will remain nameless, of course. When we got to thinking about Diana a year later, there she was in my notes.”

Bringing in Margaret Thatcher

Photo: Des Willie/Netflix

Sterne was told early on that the big focus for season 4 would be the three main women: the queen, Diana, and Margaret Thatcher. Casting Thatcher, who has been portrayed repeatedly onscreen in the past, was unusual, because actress Gillian Anderson is Morgan’s partner, and the creator himself approached her about the role.

“There was always a list of one,” Sterne says. “We had thought of ideas and talked it through a lot, but we always knew Gillian Anderson was totally amazing. It seemed like a fresh and interesting way of going. We were very lucky she said she’d do it—she’s such a clever character actress.”

While Anderson is a fairly big name, Sterne and Gold aren’t always looking for an A-list star to be part of The Crown. Having someone like Anderson come in is balanced by casting lesser-known actors like Corrin.

“One of the great joys of working on it—and working with Peter Morgan on it—is that we’re open, and it’s a really genuine opportunity to find the best person for the part,” Sterne says. “We get to find the actor we believe has the best skills and the best instinctive connection with the part, rather than feeling like we’ve got to provide big names all the time.”

Carrying Charles Through

Photo: Des Willie/Netflix

“He’s so three-dimensional,” Sterne explains of the role of Prince Charles. “There are so many aspects to that character. He would have to go on a journey.” It was important that the actor could evolve over a two-decade period, playing both a young version and the one who closes out season 4.

Josh O’Connor's work in Francis Lee’s 2017 film God’s Own Country led Sterne to cast him as Prince Charles. “He totally inhabited the role in God’s Own Country in this beautiful performance that’s very different from who he is. We thought, ‘Gosh, if that guy can do that and run with a character who’s so different than himself, then that will be interesting to see.’ As soon as we started [working with] him, it became pretty clear it was Josh.”

O’Connor has the obvious physical similarity to Charles, particularly in the ears, but Sterne really wanted someone who could make the role their own and not just mimic a famous figure—something especially important to season 4’s arc.

“It’s really important that you’re not getting an impersonation,” Sterne notes. “They have to embody them. We have an amazing team who help with the voice work and the movement work—those technical aspects—but you want somebody who has the skill to take on all that technically, and then leave it all behind. Josh flew with that from the moment he came into the room.”

Finding Young William and Harry

Photo: Des Willie/Netflix

Princes William and Harry make their debut in season 4 as young children, and the resemblance to the real royals is almost uncanny. A baby version of William shows up in episode 6 as Charles and Diana tour Australia and New Zealand in 1982, while Harry appears later in the season. Unlike with the older royals, Sterne focuses on physical appearance alone when casting the kids.

“They have to be as recognizable as possible,” he explains. “They don’t have the opportunity to say many lines, so it’s all visual. You want people to have the pleasure of going, ‘Ah, there they are!’”

Sterne says the difficulty in casting children can vary depending on the situation. The search involves looking through schools in the U.K. and visiting drama groups for kids. “You have to keep going until you find people who feel credible,” Sterne says.

Casting One-Off Characters and Extras

While the fourth season of The Crown focuses a lot on Charles and Diana's relationship and Thatcher’s rapport with the queen, several standalone episodes bring in one-off characters who are equally important to the narrative.

Episode 7, “The Hereditary Principle,” sees Princess Margaret learning that the royal family’s estranged cousins have been locked in a mental institution. The women, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, were first cousins to Elizabeth II on her mother’s side and both had severe learning disabilities. Sterne and Gold cast Trudie Emery as Katherine and Pauline Hendrickson as Nerissa. Both actresses have learning disabilities in real life.

Trudie Emery as Katherine Bowes-Lyon and Pauline Hendrickson as Nerissa Bowes-Lyon in The Crown season 4 episode 7, "The Hereditary Principle".

NETFLIX

“We had a few pictures of those two women and did a lot of research into their lives and experiences, and then did a national search across drama schools and residential care homes to find people with learning disabilities who looked similar to the real women and were interested in acting,” Sterne says. “We employed a lot of the people with learning disabilities we met along the way and put them in small parts in those scenes with Trudie and Pauline. We wanted to find real people with learning disabilities so they were properly represented. There are not as many opportunities as you’d hope for, and when we started looking around, there were so many drama groups. There’s so much talent out there.”

Similarly, in episode 5, Tom Brooke plays real-life British man Michael Fagan, who broke into Buckingham Palace to see the queen—a key moment in understanding the state of England in the 1980s.

Tom Brooke as Michael Fagan in The Crown season 4 episode 5, "Fagan". NETFLIX

“We knew there was going to be an episode about him,” Sterne says, “and I remember reading stories about him and there were loads of pictures of him. For a character like that, you look at footage of him and read about him. It’s a really extraordinary part to play, so you want to find an accomplished, technically brilliant actor who looks a bit like him. Tom is an actor with a whole lot of soul, and you wanted [Fagan] to have a whole lot of soul.”

Sterne adds, “Fagan's story was a way of exploring Thatcher’s Britain that's not automatically going to be covered if you’re just dealing with the royal family and the prime ministers, which is the usual core of The Crown.”

AS EASY AS RIDING A BIKE: PRINCESS BELLE SEEN OUT WITH HRH PRINCE EMERY AS RELATIONSHIP RUMOURS GROW

It seems that the Princess is quick on the heels of her older brother! HRH was seen in the Heritage District of Winterven today giving a friend of hers a guided tour -- and by friend, we mean “possibly more than a friend”, Prince Emery of Windasia! The pair were taking advantage of the beautiful beginning-of-fall weather in the city, and stopped off for a break in Memorial Park, where they seemed to get very comfortable with each other very fast. 

This is not the first time the Princess Royal has been spotted with the foreign Prince -- they recently met at a garden party held by friend of the Princess and future Queen of Fairlake, Crown Princess Victoria, and then saw each other in a less formal setting at a nightclub the night before she, along with her aunt and uncle, left for home. It seems that the Prince couldn’t help but follow her! 

As many are aware, the Prince has his own history with romantic relationships, mostly involving his recent and very public split from long-time girlfriend Irene Young as press continued to harass her, eventually culminating in an attack against her. However, since meeting Princess Belle, he seems to be doing just fine just a couple of months after that break-up. Could the Princess have given Prince Emery hope again? 

While we have asked the Palace for comment on the relationship, none has been given, which is to be suspected -- it’s likely that the King himself is still grappling with how to take this news both on a personal and in a public way. While he criticized his own son’s first relationship with Miss Fiona Holbrook, that was because she was the daughter of the current Prime Minister. Surely he wouldn’t do the same to his own daughter, especially when she seems to be with another member of nobility? “King Maxwell is very protective over his children. He knows first hand what the pressure of being in the direct line of succession is like and what it does to a person, so he wants to try and make sure his children understand that the Crown should be just as big a priority as their own personal lives. But at the end of the day, he doesn’t want to see them get hurt. Now that Belle has entered the dating field, it seems, we can’t help but wonder if he’ll be an augmented version of the over-protective father. He doesn’t just have his daughter to think about -- he also has her reputation as a senior royal to worry about, something that he’s already been fighting to keep in check with her recent partying.” 

We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds for this pair, but when they’re this cute, it’s hard not to cheer them on! 

@wa-royal-tea​

Like what I did last year, I wish to end this year with a look back at those we lost over the past 12 months.

Emiliano Sala (31 October 1990 - 21 January/7 February 2019): An up-and-coming footballer who’s life was tragically cut short in an aviation accident that gripped the UK.

Bruno Ganz (22 March 1941 - 16 February 2019): The man who portrayed Adolf Hitler in the film “Downfall”, spawning a strong internet following through his strong acting skills.

Karl Lagerfeld (10 September 1933 - 19 February 2019): A fashion icon, who headed the Chanel brand for 35 years.

Keith Flint (17 September 1969 - 4 March 2019): The energetic and captivating lead singer of the Big Beat band The Prodigy, who sadly became another victim of the suicide epidemic.

Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (5 January 1921 - 23 April 2019): A man who ensured unity and prosperity for the people of Europe, outside of his small nation.

Chris Reccardi (24 November 1964 - 2 May 2019): Prolific cartoonist and musician. Whilst his most famous work of “The Modifyers” is now known for rather unsavoury reasons, the fanbase that sprung up around it proved that there was strong potential in the dropped pilot.

Doris Day (3 April 1922 - 13 May 2019): A world-renowned actress who held starring roles in various classic Hollywood films, such as “Calamity Jane” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much”.

Tim Conway (15 December 1933 - 14 May 2019): Whilst younger audiences would recognise him as the voice of Barnacle Boy, from “SpongeBob SquarePants”, this comedian is also notable for his work in “McHale’s Navy” and “The Carol Burnett Show”.

Bob Hawke (9 December 1929 - 16 May 2019): Former-Australian Prime Minister who brought universal healthcare to those across the nation, whilst protecting the environment through a series of “Landcare” programmes.

I.M. Pei (26 April 1917 - 16 May 2019): Influential architect, best known for constructing the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France and the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong.

Judith Kerr (14 June 1923 - 22 May 2019): Author of the classic children’s books “The Tiger who Came to Tea”, and “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit”, the latter of which detailing her family’s flight from the Nazi regime in Germany.

Prem Tinsulanonda (26 August 1920 - 26 May 2019): Former-Prime Minister and later Regent of Thailand following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, holding the nation together in a time of mourning.

Etika (Desmond Amofah) (12 May 1990 - 19 June 2019): A fantastic figure on the internet, best known for his hyperactive personality, who succumbed to a severe mental decline that was dismissed by many until it was too late.

Cameron Boyce (28 May 1999 - 6 July 2019): A promising former-child actor, best known for appearing in “Jessie” and “Grown Ups”, who fell victim to a severe health condition as his life was about to begin.

Ross Perot (27 June 1930 - 9 July 2019): Billionaire and unconventional politician who’s ideas proved to be popular enough for him to compete against the two major parties in the 1992 and 1996 Presidential Elections.

Beji Caid Essebsi (29 November 1926 - 25 July 2019): The first democratically-elected President of Tunisia, who ensured a new era for the nation in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Russi Taylor (4 May 1944 - 26 July 2019): Iconic voice actress who held many popular voice roles in her life, such as Minnie Mouse, Huey, Louie and Dewey in the original “Ducktales” series, as well as Martin Prince, Sherri and Terri in “The Simpsons”.

Toni Morrison (18 February 1931 - 5 August 2019): Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist and essayist, who created various books such as “Song of Solomon” and “Beloved”.

Alec Holowka (not pictured) (30 October 1983 - 31 August 2019): A man who channelled his depression into the creation of the game “Night in the Woods”, before being defamed and subjected to Cancel Culture.

Jacques Chirac (29 November 1932 - 26 September 2019): Former President of France, who valiantly chose to not intervene in Iraq, to the disapproval of his country’s neighbours.

Alexei Leovnov (30 May 1934 - 11 October 2019): Russian cosmonaut who participated in the Soyuz-Apollo mission that brought the conflicting nations of the US and the USSR together.

Sulli (Choi Jin-ri) (29 March 1994 - 13/14 October 2019): A K-Pop star who fell victim to vicious Stan Culture and harmful attempts at defamation.

Yasuhiro Nakasone (27 May 1918 - 29 November 2019): An influential former-Japanese Prime Minister, who maintained a strong relationship with world leaders.

Caroll Spinney (26 December 1933 - 8 December 2019): Puppeteer who played the roles of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street” for almost fifty years, defining the childhoods of many of today’s Americans.

Paul Volcker (5 September 1927 - 8 December 2019): An Economist who helped solve America’s economic problems in the late-1970s, ending the Great Inflation, and again in the late-2000s, managing the Great Recession.

Juice Wrld (Jarad Anthony Higgins) (2 December 1998 - 8 December 2019): A well-known rapper best known for the song “Lucid Dreams”, who, like Cameron Boyce, succumbed to seizure-related illnesses.

Marie Fredriksson (30 May 1958 - 9 December 2019): Singer for the pop-duo Roxette, who gained fame outside of her homeland of Sweden, through songs such as “It Must Have Been Love”.

Gershon Kingsley (28 October 1922 - 10 December 2019): A pioneer in electronic music, he composed “Popcorn”, arguably one of the first examples of “Synth-Pop” music, that set an example for much of the sounds heard today.

I would also like to conclude with some individuals who died last year, who I forgot to mention in my previous post:

R. Lee Emery (24 March 1944 - 15 April 2018): The embodiment of the “Strict Drill Sergeant” archetype, who was best known for appearing in “Full Metal Jacket” as Sergeant Herman, and in “Toy Story” as Sarge.

TotalBiscuit (John Bain) (8 July 1984 - 24 May 2018): A Cynical Brit who offered interesting viewpoints on video games and the video game industry, though died as he fell victim to cancer.

Barry Chuckle (Barry David Elliott) (24 December 1944 - 5 August 2018): A popular British children’s comedian, who always offered a heavy amount of charm through his goofy personality, as he comprised of one half of the Chuckle Brothers.

Deaf Islamic convert is named as Paris police HQ attacker: IT worker who fell out with supervisor 'after he refused to deal with women' slaughters four colleagues, including female officer, with a knife - as police arrest Muslim wife Michael Harpon, 45, stabbed and killed four colleagues with a ceramic knife The knifeman was shot dead in the courtyard of the Paris police headquarters Colleagues said he had worked there for 20 years and had security clearance Union bosses described the attack as a 'moment of madness' and internal row Anti-terror agencies are 'evaluating' the situation, the Paris prosecutor said Emmanuel Macron has gone to the police headquarters to show his 'solidarity' By JACK NEWMAN and TIM STICKINGS and PETER ALLEN IN PARIS FOR MAILONLINE and AFP PUBLISHED: 07:34 EDT, 3 October 2019 | UPDATED: 13:35 EDT, 3 October 2019 e-mail 3.7k shares 514 View comments A deaf civilian police worker who had recently converted to Islam was shot dead in Paris today after murdering four colleagues with a ceramic knife following a 'dispute over working with female colleagues'. Michael Harpon, 45, caused the bloodbath in the French capital's historic Police Prefecture, next door to Notre Dame Cathedral. Investigators have not ruled out a possible terrorist motivation for the Thursday afternoon attack, which left a woman and three men dead. All were repeatedly stabbed by Harpon, who had worked in the IT department at the Prefecture since 2003, in the worst loss of French police lives in a single day since World War II. Harpon had recently been reprimanded by his female boss over his refusal to interact with women, Actu17 reported. Within hours of the attack, anti-terrorist officers had raided Harpon's flat in an apartment block at Gonesse, a suburb some 12 miles from the scene of the attack. His wife, Iham, was arrested, as an investigating source said that the nature of Harpon's attack corresponded with similar ones carried out by terrorists affiliated to Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. +16 The Paris knifeman lies dead on the ground in the courtyard of police headquarters after killing four officers in a rampage today +16 French police secure the area in front of the police headquarters in Paris after a knife attack which killed four including at least one policewoman on Thursday +16 The attack took place at the Paris police headquarters in the historic centre of the city, near the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral +16 French police secure the area in front of the Paris police headquarters after the knife rampage today Video playing bottom right... Click here to expand to full page Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:11 Pause Unmute Current Time0:11 / Duration Time0:21 Fullscreen Expand Close 'An investigation has been launched into a grudge the assailant may have held against his colleagues, but terrorism cannot be ruled out,' said the source. 'Many of those involved in similar attacks on the police have been Muslim converts influenced by radical terrorist groups.' Christophe Crépin, spokesman for the union France Police Policeman in Anger, told The Telegraph: 'I know this man. He worked in IT and he had long-running problems with his superior. He stabbed her first and then colleagues intervened and were stabbed as well. I am told he then got hold of a firearm.' Harpon, who was deaf since childhood, was originally from the Caribbean island of Martinique – a French overseas territory. He had been married since 2014, and converted to his wife's religion in 2018 before they had their first child together. An eye witness to the attack, which happened just after 1pm, said: 'I saw a man with a knife in his hand. 'He was running after a policeman. He was told to drop his knife, but he did not stop and the policeman fired. 'At first I thought it was a training exercise, but no. The policeman, who was on a break, shouted out three warnings, but the assailant would not stop. The police officer fired two shots and then the assailant fell.' Harpon originally attacked three male officers in two offices on the first floor of the Prefecture, and then took his knife to two females – one died, and another was seriously injured. None of Harpon's victims have been identified by name. A ceramic knife would not have activated metal detectors, and Harpon would not have been searched. Harpon worked directly to the Directorate of Intelligence of the Prefecture of Police, or DRPP. +16 An air ambulance flies over the Seine as emergency services respond to the knife rampage in Paris on Thursday +16 Emergency personnel stand near an air ambulance helicopter on the Pont Marie in Paris RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next Donald Trump insists there's 'no war room' at the White... Ukraine's former top prosecutor claims he was told to back... SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Colleagues described Harpon as a previously trusted employee who had full security clearance and had never caused problems before. The security crisis led to President Emmanuel Macron immediately visiting the Prefecture in person, along with his Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said anti-terror authorities were 'evaluating' the situation and said a murder investigation had been launched. Prosecutor Mr Heitz told reporters at the scene that three of the dead were police officers and the fourth was an administrative assistant. A police union official had said earlier that all four were police officers. In the aftermath of the attack today: President Emmanuel Macron went to police headquarters to show his 'solidarity' with the force; Witnesses described a 'panic' as gunshots rang out and weeping police officers came running out of an office; The attacker was said to have started his rampage in an office before moving to a stairwell and then the courtyard where he was shot dead; Police were searching the home of the suspect, who was described as a trusted employee of 20 years' experience at police headquarters; France's interior minister said a wounded police employee was undergoing emergency surgery; Authorities cordoned off the scene with emergency vehicles, an air ambulance and a patrol boat on the Seine. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo confirmed that 'several people' were fatally wounded in the force's worst loss of life on a single day since World War II. According to union officials, the attack began around 1pm in an office and spread out elsewhere in the large police compound near Notre Dame cathedral. Reports said the man had attacked at least one woman in a stairwell before moving on to the courtyard where he was shot dead. Emery Siamandi, an employee at police headquarters, said he heard gunshots and saw two weeping officers running out of a room. A third officer, described by Mr Siamandi as the policeman who shot and killed the assailant, came out on his knees, also in tears. 'People were running everywhere, there was crying everywhere,' said Mr Siamandi, an interpreter who was in the building when the attack happened. 'I heard a shot, I gathered it was inside,' he said. 'Moments later, I saw police officers crying. They were in a panic.' An investigating source said the attacker 'was involved in an argument with someone and then erupted in anger, targeting other police colleagues before being neutralised.' +16 Paramedics walk by firefighter vehicles near Paris police headquarters where the attack took place on Thursday afternoon Paris prosecutors confirmed later in the afternoon that one woman and three men had died in the attack. France's interior minister said a wounded police employee was undergoing emergency surgery this afternoon. Actu17 reported that a female officer, likely the same one, was 'gravely injured' after the rampage. 'Another colleague is in a state of shock (...) and the person behind the attack has been shot by another colleague,' said union official Yves Lefebvre. According to BFM, authorities are now searching the 45-year-old's home while his wife has reportedly been taken into custody. Loic Travers, another union official, said the suspected attacker was an administrative worker in the police intelligence unit. He had been working there for 20 years and had never caused any problems before, Mr Travers said. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the attacker had 'never shown any behaviour problems'. The police were 'particularly stricken by this exceptionally grave incident', he said. Christophe Crepin of the Police Up In Anger movement told franceinfo radio that the assailant had experienced issues with his supervisor. 'I know there were tensions between him and his direct supervisor,' he said. 'I do not think this is a terrorist act.' Helicopter called after fatal stabbing of four policemen in Paris Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00 Previous Play Skip Mute Current Time0:00 / Duration Time0:28 Fullscreen Need Text The suspect, who has not yet been named, had full security clearance and was considered a trusted employee. He was described in Le Figaro as a computer scientist born in Martinique who had a hearing impairment. The motives of the attack are not yet known, but investigators suspect that a workplace row was behind it and one spokesman said it appeared to be an 'internal dispute'. An official at the prosecutor's anti-terrorism office said that for now his office was not leading the investigation. 'Did he snap, or was there some other reason? It's still too early to say,' Mr Travers, who is head of the Alliance Police union for the Paris region, told BFM television. Jean-Marc Bailleul, another police union leader, described the incident as criminal rather than an act of terror. 'It was a moment of madness,' he said. +16 Military forces establish a security perimeter near Paris police headquarters +16 Police officers patrol in a rubber boat on the Seine river after the knife rampage on Thursday +16 Military personnel are surrounded by emergency vehicles as they respond to the attack today A witness to the attack told the local Parisien newspaper: 'I heard a shot, I think it was around 12.30. Around me, there were only policemen. 'They immediately unsheathed their weapons. I was very surprised to hear these shots because this is not the place where we imagine that this can happen. 'I first thought of a suicide because there are many in the police force at the moment. And then a few moments later I saw policewomen in tears. 'I thought it must be serious. The police were in panic, they were running everywhere. Many people were crying.' The premises were cordoned off after the lunchtime attack and dozens of police and emergency vehicles converged at the scene. An emergency message was broadcast over loudspeakers at the court of justice next door, announcing 'an attack' at the police headquarters and stating the area was 'under surveillance'. An air ambulance also landed on a bridge across the Seine and the nearest metro station was shut for security reasons, the transport authority said. A police spokesman said he had no comment on the incident and there has still been no official word from the force. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, who was due to visit Turkey later on Thursday, postponed his trip to visit the scene of the attack. +16 Emergency vehicles in Paris on Thursday near the police headquarters where the rampage unfolded today +16 The premises were cordoned off around lunchtime, and emergency services were quickly at the scene +16 Police vehicles are parked near the headquarters and the nearby metro station has been closed Yesterday thousands of French police demonstrated in Paris for better working conditions, in the wake of a spate of suicides in the force, but there is no indication that today's attack was related. Organisers estimated that 27,000 officers took part, out of 150,000 police staff nationwide. The force has been stretched to the limit by a year of 'yellow vest' protests against Emmanuel Macron and officers have been accused of heavy-handed tactics. France has been by a succession of attacks since 2015 including co-ordinated terror attacks and lone-wolf knife and gun attacks. The country remains on high alert after these attacks. In January 2015, two men armed with Kalashnikov rifles stormed the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people. A policewoman was killed just outside Paris the following day, while a gunman took hostages at a Jewish supermarket, four of whom were killed. On November 15 that year, France was hit by the worst terror attacks in its history. Islamic State jihadists armed with assault rifles and explosives struck outside a France-Germany football match at the national stadium, Paris cafes, and the Bataclan concert hall in a coordinated assault that left 130 people dead and more than 350 wounded. On July 14, 2016 a Tunisian ploughed a truck through a large crowd gathered for Bastille Day fireworks in the Mediterranean city of Nice. The attack killed 86 people and injured more than 400.

Events 2.16

1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire. 1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse. 1630 – Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil. 1646 – Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the first English Civil War. 1699 – First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania. 1742 – Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister. 1796 – Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon. 1804 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia. 1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee. 1866 – Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War. 1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1). 1899 – Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded. 1918 – The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state. 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. 1930 – The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA. 1934 – The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund. 1936 – The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election. 1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon. 1940 – World War II: Altmark incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. 299 British prisoners are freed. 1942 – World War II: In Athens, the Greek People's Liberation Army is established 1943 – World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city. 1945 – World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines. 1945 – The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, was signed into law. 1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1. 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. 1961 – Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched. 1962 – The Great Sheffield Gale impacts the United Kingdom, killing nine people; the city of Sheffield is devastated, with 150,000 homes damaged. 1962 – Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people. 1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service. 1968 – Civil Air Transport Flight 010 crashes near Shongshan Airport in Taiwan, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one more on the ground. 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago). 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75. 1985 – Hezbollah is founded. 1986 – The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. 1986 – China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard. 1991 – Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua. 1996 – A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people. 1998 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and seven more on the ground. 2000 – Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 crashes near Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova, California, killing all three aboard. 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia. 2005 – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–05 regular season and playoffs. 2006 – The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army. 2013 – A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others. 2021 – Five thousand people gathered in the town of Kherrata, Bejaia Province to mark the two year anniversary of the Hirak protest movement. Demonstrations had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria.

Africa: Patrice Lumumba's Remains to Be Repatriated to DR Congo

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/africa-patrice-lumumbas-remains-to-be-repatriated-to-dr-congo/

Africa: Patrice Lumumba's Remains to Be Repatriated to DR Congo

[East African] The remains of DR Congo's former Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba will be repatriated from Belgium, President Félix Tshisekedi has announced.

Love, Factually

So I wanted to forget this but ended up lying up awake last night plotting the whole thing out in my head. I hoped to forget it when I fell asleep. I didn't. Note this is not a commitment to write, just a concept. I don't even like this movie and I'd have to watch it to write the story. I am not willing to do that.

Billy Mack and Joe (the boorish rock star one) - Bill Hobart an the rock star and Ned as the hapless unloved manager.

Juliet, Peter, and Mark (the cue card one) - This feeds into my headcanon that Lawson was in love with Jean and they probably would have got together if Lucien hadn't showed up on the scene. Lucien and Jean get married in a fairytale wedding. Lawson is best man but gruff toward Jean. He does arrange everything including having photos taken of the wedding, which he won't hand over. Jean comes over to his place to smooth things over, sees the photos are all of her and realizes Lawson loves her. Later on Christmas, a drunk Lawson comes over with the cue cards and confesses his love and wishes merry Christmas, then hobbles off into the night. Jean walks into the house, stops, puts her hand to her mouth, and rushes back out calling after him. "But Matthew, Rose took these pictures!" Matthew hobbles away faster.

Jamie and Aurélia (the I'm in love with someone who doesn't speak English and who will lose their job and get deported if they don't reciprocate one) - not sure about this one because it involves a non-English speaker. Maybe it's Alice who goes to the cottage to finish her medical text book. Matthew is the surly non-speaking caretaker who she assumes is Portuguese staff. They start feeling attraction for one another and then when they fall in the lake he warns her about the eels. It turns out he's also Australian, he just can't be bothered to talk to people most of the time.

Harry, Karen, and Mia (the Alan Rickman's character is so evil one) - this is a tough one because no one wants their ship embroiled in this. The Tynnemans would be an obvious choice, there are a lot of parallels. But what makes this story so gutting is that it depicts a perfect family and a man who had it all but doesn't see it. So out of literary integrity (put that in air quotes) I would go for Lucien and Jean. They are happily married, she runs his home, then some hot and aggressive nurse enters his life, maybe as a lodger. First he's attracted to her because he reminds him of Mattie (in a fatherly way) but before he knows it they are in bed. Jean find out of course and is devastated. Lucien takes a trip to China to see Li to escape responsibility. Jean decides to stick with him because she believes in marriage and duty. Everyone one lives awkwardly ever after.

David and Natalie (the one with Hugh Grant as prime minister that's everyone loves) - Blake and Jean, no question. Blake is Prime Minster, Jean is domestic help at Downing Street. Patrick Tynneman is the US president, Agnes Clasby is the chief of staff/secretary I vaguely remember but I think played a roll in getting them together.

Daniel and Sam (the one with the creepy psychological projection on a vulnerable kid) - I was going to go with Lucien and a young Li (with him meeting Jean at the end), but I think Lucien helping Charlie go after Rose, except Charlie and Rose are the same age they are on TDBM. Definitely a scene of Lucien holding Charlie while he pretends to be in Titanic.

Sarah and Karl (the girl blows it with a hot guy one) - not really sure. I forgot this was a plot line until I checked Wikipedia. Mattie and some guy? She had a chance to sleep with the young hot doctor she's admired for years but rushes home instead of deal with a perpetually drunk and unstable Lucien.

Colin and the American Girls (the completely unnecessary one, or the this movie was definitely written by men one) - so an unattractive bloke with a distasteful personality goes to America to get laid and does so, spectacularly. I kept waiting for the girls to steal his wallet and it doesn't happen. So who is utterly undeserving of such an adventure but is essentially harmless and has the guts to think he will succeed? Rose? Danny? A pre-vow Father Emery? Edward might be a good candidate except the sexual predator thing.

John and Judy (the porn film one) - Danny and Charlie as stand-ins for Ballarat's first gay hardcore film to be made on location. They are both cops and this is a night job for extra cash, being run out of a warehouse in secret somewhere. While doing what they do, they chat about police work, cricket, footie, and their ex-girlfriends. Eventually they realize they are more than just bros.

Paris police attack: administrator kills four at police headquarters

Knife-wielding employee shot dead after attack in building near Notre Dame Cathedral

Parts of central Paris were sealed off on Thursday after an employee at the citys police headquarters stabbed and killed four colleagues before being shot dead.

The man, who worked in the technology department, reportedly stabbed a colleague in his office with a ceramic knife before turning it on others, with the last attacked in the courtyard outside the historic building near Notre Dame Cathedral.

The victims were three male police officers from the anti-terrorist department at the prefecture and a female administrator in the public security department. A female employee of the human resources department was seriously injured and was operated on at the Percy military hospital.

Officials did not say anything about the motive for the attack.

Confirming the deaths, the interior minister, Christophe Castaner, said from the scene: He worked with these colleagues and had never shown any behavioural difficulties or anything to raise an alarm.

Our thoughts are with their families and of those who were injured … the news regarding the injured is reassuring.

The inquiry has started. I am thinking of the police here and around France. Everyone is shocked and profoundly hurt by what has happened here.

locator

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the prime minister, douard Philippe, both visited the scene. The man, aged 45, had worked in the technology department since 2003.

Public prosecutor, Rmy Heitz said an investigation had been opened into murder and attempted murder of public agents and that anti-terrorist investigators were evaluating what had happened, for any terrorist links.

Searches are currently taking place at the suspects home and other investigations will be taking place in the next few hours, he said. The attackers wife had been brought into police custody but not charged, the Paris prosecutors office said.

French media quoted police union officials suggesting the motive may have been personal.

Emergency services at the scene in Paris. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

Loic Travers, a union official, said he was unaware of any problems that could have pushed the ordinary administrator to kill his colleagues.

There is a chaotic atmosphere in the prefecture obviously its shocking. The colleagues who saw what happened will be marked by this for the rest of their careers.

Emery Siamandi, a prefecture employee, said: I was on the stairs when I heard shots and thought it was not normal. After I saw three police officers crying and other colleagues crying. At first I thought a police officer had killed himself; afterwards I learned someone had killed the officers. The officer who killed the man was crying.

The attack came a day after thousands of officers marched in Paris to protest against low wages, long hours and an increasing suicide rate in their ranks.

People are held at a security perimeter after the incident. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

French police have been targeted by extremists several times in recent years. In 2017, a gunman opened fire on the Champs-lyses in central Paris, killing one officer before he was shot dead.

In 2016, an attack inspired by Islamic State killed a police officer and his partner, an administrator, in front of their child at their home outside Paris.

Original Article : HERE ;

The post Paris police attack: administrator kills four at police headquarters appeared first on MetNews.

Paris police attack: administrator kills four at police headquarters was originally posted by MetNews

The Wind Palace, Ahtolia (2:56pm)

Sofia: *hums softly*

Indirah: *yawns*

Belle:...so, you substract this number to get the answer for this question. Do you understand?

Ginny: Wow, you’re so smart Auntie Belle! Thank you!

Belle: *giggles* No problem, sweetie.

*door knocked*

Sofia: Come in.

Footman: Your majesty, your royal highness. The Prime Minister and General Hunt requested an audience. They said it’s urgent.

Sofia: Okay, tell them we’re on our way.

Sofia:...and then she said, “I don’t wanna sleep. I wanna play!”

Belle: That’s adorable. Can’t believe how much she has grown.

General Hunt: Good afternoon, your majesty, your royal highness.

Sofia: Good afternoon, General. What brings you here? Any updates on the war?

General Hunt:...yes, your majesty.

Sofia: What’s with the frown? Did something happened?

General Hunt: I...I believe so, ma’am.

Sofia: Okay...do tell.

General Hunt: Nihon....Nihon attacked our base two hours ago.

Sofia: *gasps*

Belle: Is everyone okay?

General Hunt: There were a lot of casualties, ma’am. But...

Belle: But what?

General Hunt: The Prince Consort...he’s...he’s...

Sofia: What’s wrong with my husband? He’s-he’s okay, right?

General Hunt:...we can’t find his body. There’s a possibility that the Nihonese soldiers have taken his body after the attack.

Sofia: No...no...no! This-this is not true! This can’t be!

General Hunt: I’m so sorry, ma’am. The search and rescue team have tried their best, but...

Belle: And Emery? What about him? He’s okay, right?

Tiana: Prince Emery is critically injured. He was rushed to the hospital after paramedics found him at the base earlier.

Belle: I-I see...Can you-can you leave us alone?

General Hunt: Of course.

*door closed*

Sofia: *weeps* B-Belle...Darien...he-he’s...

Belle: I’m so sorry, Soph.

@carmichealroyals​​ @thesimsroyalfam​​​

Previous | Beginning | Next

(A sunny fall day in the capital of Winterven. Prince William and Princess Belle walk together through the cobblestone streets of the Heritage District.) 

B: Okay, I have to know. What’s with the new hair, Will? 

W: Wh-- what do you mean? This is the hair I’ve always had. 

B: You know what I mean! You’ve gone and styled it differently. Does this have something to do with Rachelle? 

W: No. What gave you that impression?

B: You’ve been spending a lot of time with her recently. You’ve seen her more than I have, and I go to school with her. 

W: I enjoy her company, Belle. She’s a good conversationalist, and we have similar ways of looking at things--

B: And she’s also very conventionally attractive and holds a lot of power at school and socially, plus she has blue blood unlike your first girlfriend, who was also one of my friends. 

W: You don’t miss anything, do you?

B: I take great pride in it. Are you going to keep seeing her? It’s caused such a storm in the press recently, you might want to make it official by all accounts.

W: If we’re talking about storm in the press, you’re a pot calling the kettle black. You and Emery haven’t been hiding your relationship, if you can even call it that.

B: It’s more of a relationship than you and Rachelle have! Don’t change the subject, Will -- is it real between you two, or is it for the cameras and for Dad? 

W: (sighing) I don’t know, alright? I like her. I really do. And I know she likes me, she’s made that abundantly clear. But she knows who I am outside of... well, me. She knows the title I will inherit one day, and I can tell there’s a part of her that wants to put on a good show now so that if we announce we’re courting, the press won’t turn on her. And if we announce we’re courting, people would expect an engagement soon after and it’s just... it’s too much. Is it so much to ask for a girl who doesn’t care about becoming Queen? For a girl who cares about me, William Carmicheal the person?

B: You’re the heir to the throne, William. Nothing can change that. But if I were you, I would end things sooner rather than later. Before you go to university, at least. It will give you a chance to start fresh when you meet all these new people. 

W: Are you encouraging me to break up with your own friend?

B: Rachelle will be fine, trust me. She’s always known to keep her eye on the prize, which makes her a terror to go up against in debate practice. I say this with love for you both, but if you want someone to consider you as a future partner outside of the perks of the position, you need to look elsewhere. There are plenty of foreign girls out there that would throw themselves at you--

W: You’re one to talk. That’s what you’re doing right now. 

B: Stop changing the subject. Besides, who can blame Emery for being drawn to me and my natural charisma? (laughing)

W: (laughing) Yes, yes, you’ve all captured our attention, for better or worse. 

B: I’m serious, Will. If you feel this way about Rachelle, she’s not the person for you. Your person is out there waiting for you, and you won’t find her if you don’t actually try and date outside of my school friends.

W: Where would you suggest I start, then, oh wise romance guru?

B: Well, there is Maria Theresa... you two seemed quite taken with each other at Margot’s wedding. And Auntie Diana’s wedding. And at Margot’s birthday party. And--

W: You’ve made your point. I’m sure that will go over well: “Dad, can I take a spontaneous trip to Monte Vista to ask their eldest Princess if she’ll get coffee with me the next time we happen to be in the same location?” He’ll love that idea. (shaking his head) You’re too much of a romantic, Belle. 

B: It’s the only way to be in this world, I’ve found. If I wasn’t about taking chances, I wouldn’t be where I am today?

W: You mean being labelled a party princess by the tabloids and currently somewhat seeing the Prince of Windasia?

B: You mean having a large social circle of friends who actually do things together outside of school and exploring a relationship with someone who actually seems to give a shit about Belle the person and Princess Belle. 

W: When did my little sister become so much more knowledgeable about people than I am?

B: Oh, it happened a long time ago. You just had your head up your ass with dating the Prime Minister’s daughter, however brief. (She elbows him before linking their arms together.) Come on, there’s a cafe just up the street and I am starving. You can repay me by buying me a croissant.