Sunday, 4 October 2026
Picked from the best of the world's press
Baciccio's Triumph of Franciscan Order depicts the Apostles recommending Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and other Franciscans to Christ for admittance into Heaven. The fresco is on the vaulted ceiling of the Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome. This year is the 800th anniversary of Francis of Assisi's death. Today is his feast day.
Calorie-restricted diets do produce real weight loss in the first weeks, but the evidence rests on studies of only 2 to 12 weeks, after which hunger and a more frugal metabolism claw the weight back.
After a century of ethnographic evidence, anthropologists conclude that no hunter-gatherer society was truly egalitarian, and the limited equality it did have usually came from people demanding it.
Mormons were known for high birth rates, early marriage and lifelong loyalty to the faith, but both retention and fertility are now falling fast.
In the first nine months of 2026, the semiconductor fund SMH returned 75.1% and tech fund VGT 36.7%, while gold fell 4.1% and the S&P 500 managed 13.8%.
