Culture
2 million dollar fine for pranking the Chinese army
A Chinese comedy troupe has been fined 14.7 million yuan ($2.1 million) for a joke about the military that used President Xi Jinping's slogan, the BBC reported. The joke, in…
Food
World Bee Day
On May 20, the world celebrates International Bee Day. The day has been celebrated since 2018 on the initiative of the Slovenian Association of Beekeepers with the support of the…
Africa
More than 4,000 prisoners were pardoned in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has released a fifth of all prisoners under a presidential amnesty order aimed at freeing up space in the country's overcrowded prisons, reported by the BBC. The Zimbabwe Prisons…
Illustrative Photo by Achira22
Economy
The IMF is concerned that Zimbabwe is introducing an official gold-backed digital currency
The way of using crypto-wallets and analog digital assets in the world has not received the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the position remains unchanged today. Recently,…
Africa
One of the world’s oldest lions has been killed near a national park in Kenya
19-year-old Luunkiito attacked cattle and was speared by herders A wild male lion, considered one of the oldest representatives of its species in the world, was killed by herders near…
Books
Alicia Simpson, Stephanos Efthymiadis (ed), Niketas Choniates: A Historian and a Writer. La Pomme d’or S.A., Geneva 2011.
Contents: Introduction, Alicia Simpson, Niketas Choniates: the Historian and Stephanos Efthymiadis, Niketas Choniates: the Writer Paul Magdalino: Prophecy and Divination in the History Anthony Kaldellis: Paradox, Reversal and the Meaning…
Books
Paul Magdalino, Maria Mavroudi (ed). The Occult Sciences in Byzantium. La Pomme d’or S.A., Geneva 2006.
Contents: Paul Magdalino, Maria Mavroudi: Introduction. Maria Mavroudi: Occult Sciences and Society in Byzantium: Considerations for Future Research. Katerina Ierodiakonou: The Byzantine Concept of Sympatheia and its Appropriation in Michael…
Books
Tonia Kiousopoulou, Emperor or Manager: Power and Political Ideology in Byzantium before 1453. La Pomme d’or, Geneva 2011.
https://www.pommedor.ch/emperor.html Byzantium in the 15th century is too easily dismissed as the anachronistic tail end of an ancient ecumenical empire, whose only achievements, apart from the heroic last stand of…
Books
Emma Maayan Fanar, Revelation through the Alphabet. Aniconism and Illustrated Initial Letters in Byzantine Artistic Imagination. La Pomme d’or, Geneva 2011.
https://www.pommedor.ch/revelation.html The book explores aniconic tendencies in the post-iconoclastic lectionaries, with special emphasis on illuminated initial letters, unravelling their sources and models and offering an innovative approach to the enigma…
Culture
The Danish government waived a law requiring all sermons to be translated into Danish
The Danish government has rejected a controversial draft law that had been under discussion for the past three years and would have required all religious sermons in Denmark to be…