PORTLAND, Maine — His U.S. Senate campaign under fire, Maine Democrat Graham Platner said Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.
The first-time political candidate said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marine Corps. It happened during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia, he said, adding he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police.
Platner, in an Associated Press interview, said that while his campaign initially said he would remove the tattoo, he chose to cover it up with another tattoo due to the limited options where he lives in rural Maine.
“Going to a tattoo removal place is going to take a while,” he said. “I wanted this thing off my body.”
The initial tattoo image resembled a specific symbol of Hitler’s paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was responsible for the systematic murders of millions of Jews and others in Europe during World War II. Platner didn’t offer details about the new tattoo, but offered to send the AP a photo later Wednesday.
The oyster farmer is mounting a progressive campaign against Republican Susan Collins, who has held the Senate seat for 30 years. The crowded Democratic primary field includes two-term Gov. Janet Mills.
Platner said he had never been questioned about the tattoo’s connections to Nazi symbols in the 20 years he has had it. He said it was there when he enlisted in the Army, which requires an examination for tattoos of hate symbols.
“I also passed a full background check to receive a security clearance to join the Ambassador to Afghanistan’s security detail,” Platner said.
Questions about the tattoo come after the recent discovery of Platner’s now-deleted online statements that included dismissing military sexual assaults, questioning Black patrons’ gratuity habits and criticizing police officers and rural Americans.
Platner has apologized for those comments, saying they were made after he left the Army in 2012, when he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
He has resisted calls to drop out of the race and has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has described Platner as a stronger candidate for the seat than Mills. Another primary rival, Jordan Wood, a onetime chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said Wednesday that Platner should drop out because “Democrats need to be able to condemn Trump’s actions with moral clarity” and Platner “no longer can.”
Platner said he was not ashamed to confront his past comments and actions because it reflects the lessons he needed to take to get where he is today.
“I don’t look at this as a liability,” he told the AP. “I look at this as is a life that I have lived, a journey that has been difficult, that has been full of struggle, that has also gotten me to where I am today. And I’m very proud of who I am.”
Platner planned a town hall Wednesday in Ogunquit, Maine.
Kruesi and Whittle write for the Associated Press. Kruesi reported from Providence, R.I.
In 1909, French journalist-turned-entrepreneur Pierre-Francois Lardet returned from a trip to Nicaragua determined to recreate a beverage he had tasted there.
Five years later, in August 1914, Banania was born.
The arrival of the chocolate-flavoured banana powder drink came just as France found itself at war.
The following year, its mascot – a Black soldier wearing a red fez – first appeared on an advertising poster.
During World War I, 200,000 African soldiers fought for France on the battlefields of Europe, Africa and Anatolia. They came from French colonies in West and Central Africa. Many were forcibly recruited.
The African soldier on the Banania poster resembled soldiers known as the Senegalese Tirailleurs (riflemen), who wore a signature red fez. This military corps, founded in 1857, was given its name because its first recruits came from Senegal.
The tirailleurs were famed for their bravery. They were first sent to serve in the colonial wars in West and Central Africa, before fighting in World War I (1914-18). During World War II (1939-45), they served in France, North Africa and the Middle East. At least 30,000 tirailleurs died during the First World War, while an estimated 8,000 died during the Second.
Banania’s tirailleur is smiling, sitting on the grass with a bowl of the powdered drink and a rifle by his side. His exaggerated smile and facial features resemble the racial stereotypes popular at the time and seen in advertisements for chocolate, soap and shoe polish.
The poster’s slogan, “Y’a bon”, meaning “C’est bon” (this is good) in the simplified French taught to colonial soldiers, furthered the racist caricature of the cheerful but simple African. The company referred to its mascot as “L’ami Y’a bon” – the Y’a bon friend.
Against the backdrop of World War I, Lardet’s Mascot tapped into a mood of patriotism and pride in French colonialism. But it also helped to encourage public acceptance of African soldiers fighting on French soil, explains Sandrine Lemaire, a historian and co-author of several books on French colonisation. Banania wasn’t alone. The French authorities also sought to use images highlighting the loyalty and military qualities of France’s African soldiers through propaganda, postcards and news articles.
Senegalese riflemen rest during the First World War. These soldiers were the inspiration behind Banania’s first mascot [Roger Viollet via Getty Images]
“The tirailleur was an opportunistic advertising invention from Lardet … which made the consumption of Banania a quasi-patriotic act,” said Pap Ndiaye, a politician and historian, during a 2010 talk about Banania and colonial oppression.
Banania was promoted through children’s comics featuring the mascot. In one, he returns to his homeland from France, bringing two boxes of Banania to Africans dressed in loincloths. In an illustrated booklet published in 1933, he takes Banania to France before going to the West Indies, the Canary Islands and French colonial Indochina to set up banana plantations.
“In the 20s, 30s, 40s, Banania was everywhere. It had touchpoints in all domains – cinema, packaging, promotional items, notebooks,” said branding expert Jean Watin-Augouard in a 2014 documentary about Banania.
Meanwhile, between the late 1930s and the early 1950s, according to the sole book published about Banania’s history, the company tripled production. These were Banania’s golden years before Nesquik entered the market in the 1960s.
The mascot, which appeared in advertising, packaging and collectible items, such as toys, was popular throughout the 20th century because it reinforced French people’s pride in their colonial empire and their “subjects’” contribution to the war effort, says Etienne Achille, an associate professor of French and Francophone studies at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
A Renault Estafette with Banania branding and a 1979 Tour de France sign [Creative Commons]
Shaken by decolonisation
But as the French colonies in Africa fought for and gained independence in the 1950s and early 1960s, Banania was also shaken by decolonisation.
Increasingly, Banania – with its slogan and stereotyped mascot – became shorthand for colonialism and racism. The tirailleur, in representing soldiers forced to fight for France, came to embody the injustice denounced by anti-colonial movements.
“I will tear up the Banania smiles from all the walls of France,” wrote Leopold Sedar Senghor, who became Senegal’s first president in 1960, in a 1948 poem dedicated to the tirailleurs.
A few years later, Martinique-born philosopher-psychiatrist Frantz Fanon made several references to “Y’a bon Banania” in his 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks, to denote how Black people in France are seen through the lens of racist tropes.
But, despite the criticisms, the mascot remained, albeit with updates.
In 1967, when advertising sold modern, aspirational lifestyles, it became simplified and geometric: a brown triangular face with cartoon eyes and a red rectangular hat on a yellow background. The slogan, however, was retired in 1977.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a cartoonish child’s face was introduced on some of the brand’s products, while others retained the mascot.
The ‘grandson’ of the original tirailleur adorns modern packaging [Clement Girardot/Al Jazeera]
In 2004, after Banania was acquired by French company Nutrial under a holding company, Nutrimaine, a new mascot was unveiled: the “grandson” of the 1915 tirailleur, who, according to Nutrimaine, symbolised diversity and the successful integration of migrant communities into French society. But his stereotyped features weren’t so different from his predecessor’s, with his ecstatic smile, white teeth and red fez.
During the last decades of the 20th century, the French brand never regained its dominant position and continued to lose ground to competitors like Nesquik. It had struggled financially while becoming less popular among younger generations.
“They had to return to the golden era of the brand to save the company. There was only one way to do it: to go back to the emblem. Very few brands are so connected to their emblem,” explained Achille. “This rejuvenated version effectively plays on the idea of superposition. When you see it, you immediately think of the old tirailleur.”
The design also caught the attention of writers and activists at Grioo.com, an online platform for the French-speaking Black community in Europe and Africa. “Can we tolerate that in 2005 we are represented as our ancestors were 90 years ago?” Grioo asked its readers, launching an online petition against Banania.
Graphic designer Awatif Bentahar reimagined the packaging of a drink that was part of her childhood [Courtesy of Awatif Bentahar]
‘Hurtful’ heritage
More than two decades later, the “grandson” still smiles on Banania boxes in supermarkets across France.
For Achille, Banania’s marketing epitomises France’s lack of public debate about colonialism and postcolonial racism. “Only the complete imbrication of the colonial into popular culture can explain why Banania can continue to operate with impunity,” he said. “In other countries, this would not be possible.”
A spokesperson for Nutrimaine declined to provide comment for this article.
Awatif Bentahar, 37, grew up seeing Banania on supermarket shelves and drinking it on occasion. She says, “The company hasn’t understood how their heritage can actually be hurtful to a big part of the population.
“The French ‘children of immigrants’ see the painful history of colonisation and the struggle we are waging today to be respected in a society that cannot help but refer on a daily basis to our status of ‘different’ French.”
As a graphic designer and a French woman of Moroccan descent, Bentahar would like to see Banania evolve. As a personal project, she created alternative decolonised packaging, removing the mascot and drawing from previous designs to include playful eyes and a smile.
“I decided to try to rebrand Banania, not because I hate it, but because I actually like the idea of what it could be. Brands are part of our lives, whether we like it or not,” she wrote on her blog.
“This one happens to be part of my childhood, and I would love to see it being on the good side of history for a change.”
This article is part of “Ordinary items, extraordinary stories”, a series about the surprising stories behind well-known items.
While the Welsh Rugby Union’s plans to halve the number of regions have divided opinion, its vision for the women’s game has been met with an air of optimism.
The governing body wants to move forward with just two professional men’s teams, saying the current model of Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff and Dragons is unsustainable.
As part of the reform, the two remaining teams would have professional women’s sides.
Each would have a squad of around 40 home-grown players with the Union pledging “significant investment”.
The plans are currently out for consultation.
Wales women’s head coach Sean Lynn has welcomed the proposals.
Speaking from the Rugby World Cup, he said: “It’s a symbol of positivity in the women’s game, I think it’s only going to benefit us.”
Lynn would not be drawn on where he would prefer the two women’s sides to play.
Supporters of The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) hold pictures of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, and shout slogans next to a bonfire during a rally for Newruz celebrations in Diyarbakir, Turkey in March. The PKK began burning its weapons Friday in Iraq after Ocalan called for disarmament. EPA/METIN YOKSU
July 11 (UPI) — The Kurdish militant group PKK took its first step toward peace with Turkey as it burned weapons after 40 years of conflict.
The group of 30 PKK members went to a cave near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and put their weapons into a fire. It was the first ceremony of its kind for the organization, and more are expected to happen all summer. The Turkish government has said the ceremony is crossing a “critical threshold” toward a “terror-free Turkey.”
PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others. It formed as a response to poor treatment of Kurds in Turkey and demanded an independent Kurdistan, Kurdish language education and more.
More than 40,000 people have died in the four decades-long conflict.
“We voluntarily destroy our weapons, before your presence, as a step of goodwill and determination,” the PKK said in a statement. The group included 15 men and 15 women.
Witnesses included officials from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, Iraqi officials, security forces and officials from Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government, members of the Turkish People’s Democratic Party (Dem), and some from non-governmental organizations.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, long imprisoned by Turkey, said it was “a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law.”
Ocalan has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999. He’s been kept in solitary confinement.
Devlet Bahceli, a nationalist leader in Turkey and ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, started working to create a “terror-free Turkey” in October 2024. He pushed Ocalan to call for the dissolution of the PKK. The Turkish government began negotiations with Ocalan with the help of the Dem party, which is pro-Kurd. In February, Ocalan appealed to the group to disband in a letter that two Dem MPs read out after visiting the prison.
“All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Ocalan’s letter said.
A Ryanair passenger recently found themselves gazing at a safety card, wondering what two curious-looking symbols in particular could mean. Happily, someone was on hand to explain
The Ryanair notice took some decoding (Image: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
An eagle-eyed airline passenger spotted a curious-looking symbol on a safety card.
When wedged into a slim Ryanair seat waiting for takeoff, letting your eyes wander around the cabin is natural. After a quick skim-read of the potential snacks on offer from the in-flight menu, they may end up resting on a small triangle position above windows— a curious symbol that we’ve previously written about.
They then might find themselves looking at the passenger safety card, which, it turns out, is a little confusing on Ryanair planes.
A Reddit user recently snapped one of them and posted it alongside this comment: “I spent a two-hour flight staring at this, and I cannot work out what they mean!?! What is next to the glasses? And is that an ear? If so, what is coming out of it?”
They circled two parts of the card in particular. To give full respect to their comprehension skills, it is not at all obvious what they’re supposed to show. Happily, someone with knowledge of such things was on hand to decode the curious pictures.
“Top right is supposed to be an ear with an earring and a woman wearing a necklace, bottom right is false teeth – things you should remove before using the emergency escape slide, if you needed to use it,” they wrote.
The explanation surprised some in the comments, who had seen completely different objects after staring at the pictures for long enough. “Oh, it is false teeth! I thought it was a stack of steaks,” one person admitted.
Another added: “An earring? I thought it was someone holding up a severed head!”
A third joked: “There is a legal requirement for passenger safety cards to be issued / available. There is no legal requirement for these cards to make any kind of sense.” And a fourth chimed in: “I’m pretty sure the bottom one means ‘don’t pick up your glasses, you need a spare hand for a slice of black forest gateau’.”
When it comes to the little black triangles, the reasons they’re there is as follows.
These markers, which can be either red or black, are strategically placed within the cabin. If you observe closely, you’ll see they align with the wings outside the aircraft. These triangles serve as indicators for the flight crew when they need to inspect the wings, providing them with the optimal viewing points for the external slats and flaps.
This feature proves particularly beneficial during winter months when ensuring the wings are adequately de-iced is crucial. A cabin crew member, known as @_hennylim_ on TikTok, took to the social media platform to elucidate this system.
“1. Passengers sitting next to the triangles get the best view of the wings. 2. If flight crew need to check the wings, these triangles let them know the best vantage points for the slats and flaps outside,” she explained.
Maine Senate candidate Platner says tattoo recognized as Nazi symbol has been covered
PORTLAND, Maine — His U.S. Senate campaign under fire, Maine Democrat Graham Platner said Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.
The first-time political candidate said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marine Corps. It happened during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia, he said, adding he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police.
Platner, in an Associated Press interview, said that while his campaign initially said he would remove the tattoo, he chose to cover it up with another tattoo due to the limited options where he lives in rural Maine.
“Going to a tattoo removal place is going to take a while,” he said. “I wanted this thing off my body.”
The initial tattoo image resembled a specific symbol of Hitler’s paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was responsible for the systematic murders of millions of Jews and others in Europe during World War II. Platner didn’t offer details about the new tattoo, but offered to send the AP a photo later Wednesday.
The oyster farmer is mounting a progressive campaign against Republican Susan Collins, who has held the Senate seat for 30 years. The crowded Democratic primary field includes two-term Gov. Janet Mills.
Platner said he had never been questioned about the tattoo’s connections to Nazi symbols in the 20 years he has had it. He said it was there when he enlisted in the Army, which requires an examination for tattoos of hate symbols.
“I also passed a full background check to receive a security clearance to join the Ambassador to Afghanistan’s security detail,” Platner said.
Questions about the tattoo come after the recent discovery of Platner’s now-deleted online statements that included dismissing military sexual assaults, questioning Black patrons’ gratuity habits and criticizing police officers and rural Americans.
Platner has apologized for those comments, saying they were made after he left the Army in 2012, when he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
He has resisted calls to drop out of the race and has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has described Platner as a stronger candidate for the seat than Mills. Another primary rival, Jordan Wood, a onetime chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said Wednesday that Platner should drop out because “Democrats need to be able to condemn Trump’s actions with moral clarity” and Platner “no longer can.”
Platner said he was not ashamed to confront his past comments and actions because it reflects the lessons he needed to take to get where he is today.
“I don’t look at this as a liability,” he told the AP. “I look at this as is a life that I have lived, a journey that has been difficult, that has been full of struggle, that has also gotten me to where I am today. And I’m very proud of who I am.”
Platner planned a town hall Wednesday in Ogunquit, Maine.
Kruesi and Whittle write for the Associated Press. Kruesi reported from Providence, R.I.
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How a children’s chocolate drink became a symbol of French colonialism | Features
In 1909, French journalist-turned-entrepreneur Pierre-Francois Lardet returned from a trip to Nicaragua determined to recreate a beverage he had tasted there.
Five years later, in August 1914, Banania was born.
The arrival of the chocolate-flavoured banana powder drink came just as France found itself at war.
The following year, its mascot – a Black soldier wearing a red fez – first appeared on an advertising poster.
During World War I, 200,000 African soldiers fought for France on the battlefields of Europe, Africa and Anatolia. They came from French colonies in West and Central Africa. Many were forcibly recruited.
The African soldier on the Banania poster resembled soldiers known as the Senegalese Tirailleurs (riflemen), who wore a signature red fez. This military corps, founded in 1857, was given its name because its first recruits came from Senegal.
The tirailleurs were famed for their bravery. They were first sent to serve in the colonial wars in West and Central Africa, before fighting in World War I (1914-18). During World War II (1939-45), they served in France, North Africa and the Middle East. At least 30,000 tirailleurs died during the First World War, while an estimated 8,000 died during the Second.
Banania’s tirailleur is smiling, sitting on the grass with a bowl of the powdered drink and a rifle by his side. His exaggerated smile and facial features resemble the racial stereotypes popular at the time and seen in advertisements for chocolate, soap and shoe polish.
The poster’s slogan, “Y’a bon”, meaning “C’est bon” (this is good) in the simplified French taught to colonial soldiers, furthered the racist caricature of the cheerful but simple African. The company referred to its mascot as “L’ami Y’a bon” – the Y’a bon friend.
Against the backdrop of World War I, Lardet’s Mascot tapped into a mood of patriotism and pride in French colonialism. But it also helped to encourage public acceptance of African soldiers fighting on French soil, explains Sandrine Lemaire, a historian and co-author of several books on French colonisation. Banania wasn’t alone. The French authorities also sought to use images highlighting the loyalty and military qualities of France’s African soldiers through propaganda, postcards and news articles.
“The tirailleur was an opportunistic advertising invention from Lardet … which made the consumption of Banania a quasi-patriotic act,” said Pap Ndiaye, a politician and historian, during a 2010 talk about Banania and colonial oppression.
Banania was promoted through children’s comics featuring the mascot. In one, he returns to his homeland from France, bringing two boxes of Banania to Africans dressed in loincloths. In an illustrated booklet published in 1933, he takes Banania to France before going to the West Indies, the Canary Islands and French colonial Indochina to set up banana plantations.
“In the 20s, 30s, 40s, Banania was everywhere. It had touchpoints in all domains – cinema, packaging, promotional items, notebooks,” said branding expert Jean Watin-Augouard in a 2014 documentary about Banania.
Meanwhile, between the late 1930s and the early 1950s, according to the sole book published about Banania’s history, the company tripled production. These were Banania’s golden years before Nesquik entered the market in the 1960s.
The mascot, which appeared in advertising, packaging and collectible items, such as toys, was popular throughout the 20th century because it reinforced French people’s pride in their colonial empire and their “subjects’” contribution to the war effort, says Etienne Achille, an associate professor of French and Francophone studies at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
Shaken by decolonisation
But as the French colonies in Africa fought for and gained independence in the 1950s and early 1960s, Banania was also shaken by decolonisation.
Increasingly, Banania – with its slogan and stereotyped mascot – became shorthand for colonialism and racism. The tirailleur, in representing soldiers forced to fight for France, came to embody the injustice denounced by anti-colonial movements.
“I will tear up the Banania smiles from all the walls of France,” wrote Leopold Sedar Senghor, who became Senegal’s first president in 1960, in a 1948 poem dedicated to the tirailleurs.
A few years later, Martinique-born philosopher-psychiatrist Frantz Fanon made several references to “Y’a bon Banania” in his 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks, to denote how Black people in France are seen through the lens of racist tropes.
But, despite the criticisms, the mascot remained, albeit with updates.
In 1967, when advertising sold modern, aspirational lifestyles, it became simplified and geometric: a brown triangular face with cartoon eyes and a red rectangular hat on a yellow background. The slogan, however, was retired in 1977.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a cartoonish child’s face was introduced on some of the brand’s products, while others retained the mascot.
In 2004, after Banania was acquired by French company Nutrial under a holding company, Nutrimaine, a new mascot was unveiled: the “grandson” of the 1915 tirailleur, who, according to Nutrimaine, symbolised diversity and the successful integration of migrant communities into French society. But his stereotyped features weren’t so different from his predecessor’s, with his ecstatic smile, white teeth and red fez.
During the last decades of the 20th century, the French brand never regained its dominant position and continued to lose ground to competitors like Nesquik. It had struggled financially while becoming less popular among younger generations.
“They had to return to the golden era of the brand to save the company. There was only one way to do it: to go back to the emblem. Very few brands are so connected to their emblem,” explained Achille. “This rejuvenated version effectively plays on the idea of superposition. When you see it, you immediately think of the old tirailleur.”
The design also caught the attention of writers and activists at Grioo.com, an online platform for the French-speaking Black community in Europe and Africa. “Can we tolerate that in 2005 we are represented as our ancestors were 90 years ago?” Grioo asked its readers, launching an online petition against Banania.
‘Hurtful’ heritage
More than two decades later, the “grandson” still smiles on Banania boxes in supermarkets across France.
For Achille, Banania’s marketing epitomises France’s lack of public debate about colonialism and postcolonial racism. “Only the complete imbrication of the colonial into popular culture can explain why Banania can continue to operate with impunity,” he said. “In other countries, this would not be possible.”
A spokesperson for Nutrimaine declined to provide comment for this article.
Awatif Bentahar, 37, grew up seeing Banania on supermarket shelves and drinking it on occasion. She says, “The company hasn’t understood how their heritage can actually be hurtful to a big part of the population.
“The French ‘children of immigrants’ see the painful history of colonisation and the struggle we are waging today to be respected in a society that cannot help but refer on a daily basis to our status of ‘different’ French.”
As a graphic designer and a French woman of Moroccan descent, Bentahar would like to see Banania evolve. As a personal project, she created alternative decolonised packaging, removing the mascot and drawing from previous designs to include playful eyes and a smile.
“I decided to try to rebrand Banania, not because I hate it, but because I actually like the idea of what it could be. Brands are part of our lives, whether we like it or not,” she wrote on her blog.
“This one happens to be part of my childhood, and I would love to see it being on the good side of history for a change.”
This article is part of “Ordinary items, extraordinary stories”, a series about the surprising stories behind well-known items.
Read more from the series:
How the inventor of the bouncy castle saved lives
How a popular Peruvian soft drink went ‘toe-to-toe’ with Coca-Cola
How a drowning victim became a lifesaving icon
How a father’s love and a pandemic created a household name
How Nigerians reinvented an Italian tinned tomato brand
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Women’s pro teams in Wales ‘a symbol of positivity’ – national coach Lynn
While the Welsh Rugby Union’s plans to halve the number of regions have divided opinion, its vision for the women’s game has been met with an air of optimism.
The governing body wants to move forward with just two professional men’s teams, saying the current model of Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff and Dragons is unsustainable.
As part of the reform, the two remaining teams would have professional women’s sides.
Each would have a squad of around 40 home-grown players with the Union pledging “significant investment”.
The plans are currently out for consultation.
Wales women’s head coach Sean Lynn has welcomed the proposals.
Speaking from the Rugby World Cup, he said: “It’s a symbol of positivity in the women’s game, I think it’s only going to benefit us.”
Lynn would not be drawn on where he would prefer the two women’s sides to play.
Source link
First group of Kurdish PKK members burns weapons as a symbol of peace with Turkey
Supporters of The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) hold pictures of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, and shout slogans next to a bonfire during a rally for Newruz celebrations in Diyarbakir, Turkey in March. The PKK began burning its weapons Friday in Iraq after Ocalan called for disarmament. EPA/METIN YOKSU
July 11 (UPI) — The Kurdish militant group PKK took its first step toward peace with Turkey as it burned weapons after 40 years of conflict.
The group of 30 PKK members went to a cave near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and put their weapons into a fire. It was the first ceremony of its kind for the organization, and more are expected to happen all summer. The Turkish government has said the ceremony is crossing a “critical threshold” toward a “terror-free Turkey.”
PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others. It formed as a response to poor treatment of Kurds in Turkey and demanded an independent Kurdistan, Kurdish language education and more.
More than 40,000 people have died in the four decades-long conflict.
“We voluntarily destroy our weapons, before your presence, as a step of goodwill and determination,” the PKK said in a statement. The group included 15 men and 15 women.
Witnesses included officials from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, Iraqi officials, security forces and officials from Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government, members of the Turkish People’s Democratic Party (Dem), and some from non-governmental organizations.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, long imprisoned by Turkey, said it was “a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law.”
Ocalan has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999. He’s been kept in solitary confinement.
Devlet Bahceli, a nationalist leader in Turkey and ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, started working to create a “terror-free Turkey” in October 2024. He pushed Ocalan to call for the dissolution of the PKK. The Turkish government began negotiations with Ocalan with the help of the Dem party, which is pro-Kurd. In February, Ocalan appealed to the group to disband in a letter that two Dem MPs read out after visiting the prison.
“All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Ocalan’s letter said.
Source link
Plane passenger spots unexpected and strange symbol on Ryanair flight
A Ryanair passenger recently found themselves gazing at a safety card, wondering what two curious-looking symbols in particular could mean. Happily, someone was on hand to explain
An eagle-eyed airline passenger spotted a curious-looking symbol on a safety card.
When wedged into a slim Ryanair seat waiting for takeoff, letting your eyes wander around the cabin is natural. After a quick skim-read of the potential snacks on offer from the in-flight menu, they may end up resting on a small triangle position above windows— a curious symbol that we’ve previously written about.
They then might find themselves looking at the passenger safety card, which, it turns out, is a little confusing on Ryanair planes.
A Reddit user recently snapped one of them and posted it alongside this comment: “I spent a two-hour flight staring at this, and I cannot work out what they mean!?! What is next to the glasses? And is that an ear? If so, what is coming out of it?”
READ MORE: Mum on Benidorm holiday left ‘petrified’ after teenagers invaded her hotel room
They circled two parts of the card in particular. To give full respect to their comprehension skills, it is not at all obvious what they’re supposed to show. Happily, someone with knowledge of such things was on hand to decode the curious pictures.
“Top right is supposed to be an ear with an earring and a woman wearing a necklace, bottom right is false teeth – things you should remove before using the emergency escape slide, if you needed to use it,” they wrote.
The explanation surprised some in the comments, who had seen completely different objects after staring at the pictures for long enough. “Oh, it is false teeth! I thought it was a stack of steaks,” one person admitted.
Another added: “An earring? I thought it was someone holding up a severed head!”
A third joked: “There is a legal requirement for passenger safety cards to be issued / available. There is no legal requirement for these cards to make any kind of sense.” And a fourth chimed in: “I’m pretty sure the bottom one means ‘don’t pick up your glasses, you need a spare hand for a slice of black forest gateau’.”
When it comes to the little black triangles, the reasons they’re there is as follows.
These markers, which can be either red or black, are strategically placed within the cabin. If you observe closely, you’ll see they align with the wings outside the aircraft. These triangles serve as indicators for the flight crew when they need to inspect the wings, providing them with the optimal viewing points for the external slats and flaps.
This feature proves particularly beneficial during winter months when ensuring the wings are adequately de-iced is crucial. A cabin crew member, known as @_hennylim_ on TikTok, took to the social media platform to elucidate this system.
“1. Passengers sitting next to the triangles get the best view of the wings. 2. If flight crew need to check the wings, these triangles let them know the best vantage points for the slats and flaps outside,” she explained.
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