4 days agoUSA UpdateComments Off on McDonald’s promises to ‘look into’ drive-thru problems at busy location after diners face constant ‘garbage service’
A DISGRUNTLED McDonald’s diner took to social media to post a scathing experience at their latest visit to the golden arches.
The customer suggested that the fast food chain begin to ‘retrain’ their employees to avoid similar occurrences.
The customer shared that the Drive-Thru was ’empty’GettyGettyThe scathing comment was posted to X[/caption]
In a tweet posted directly to the chain, the customer began by asking the question directly to @McDonald’s.
“Why don’t you go retrain your employees?”
The post continued, “So that I can avoid sitting at the ordering screen for 10+ minutes every morning.”
The customer then shared, “There’s not a single car in the drive-thru.“
Further frustrated, the customer added, “Just absolutely garbage service every single day at your same location.”
The customer didn’t go into further details about previous encounters at the restaurant.
The post caught the attention of the fast food giant.
ReutersPolice officers detain a demonstrator during a far-right protest in Magdeburg[/caption]
ReutersUp to 1,000 people are believed to have taken part in the march[/caption]
ReutersFar-right demonstrators held up a sign saying ‘remigration’[/caption]
The protest groups quickly formed late last night with around 1,000 demonstrators marching through the capital of Saxony-Anhalt.
A giant banner with the word “remigration” scrawled across it led the march as the vile hard-right followers demanded mass deportations.
Many of them could be heard shouting: “Anyone who doesn’t love Germany should leave Germany.”
Others made ignorant demands to “take back” their “homeland”.
Across the evening’s protests a few minor fights broke out as people brawled with cops.
One image showed a man being detained by riot police who had kept a close eye on the thugs roaming the streets.
The people involved were described as right-wing extremists and hooligans, by German outlet Bild.
The marches – which ended by 8pm – have left many severely angered due to the mob focusing on the killer rather than the victims.
Over 205 are said to be still injured with dozens of them in a serious condition, according to officials.
But the shameless protests have continued with some even trying to hide their identity by wearing masks to cover their faces.
The fury was fuelled by premature accusations labelling suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen an Islamist terrorist.
False posts online quickly ramped up fears of the attack being a premeditated assault with religion as the main motivator.
Cops are yet to release a possible motive but have revealed the man is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor.
The driver fled the Middle East to Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status some years later, officials added.
It was then discovered by local media that al-Abdulmohsen was actually an ex-Muslim, according to his own social media posts.
Other troubling posts uncovered appeared to show how he disliked how Germany was leading the “Islamisation of Europe“.
He is also believed to be a supporter of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) movement.
ReutersMany of the demonstrators wore masks to cover their identities[/caption]
A picture believed to show Taleb al-AbdulmohsenSuspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was arrested just three minutes after the attack had begun
German interior minister Nancy Faeser later labelled the suspect Islamophobic.
As prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens believes the motive for the attack may be “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they are being treated in Germany”.
Many are now fearing the tragedy could lead to the far-right in Germany to rise up and cause chaos across the devastated country.
The AfD have already called for a major rally to be held soon with co-leader Tino Chrupalla telling Interior Minister Nancy Faeser they demand to feel safe in public places.
She told media at the makeshift memorial site for the victims: “I am now demanding answers from the interior minister.
“What is actually going on here in this country? We put up with it week after week, we put up with attacks, we put up with murders of our own people.”
Germany has been rocked by the surging far-right support in recent months.
Many of the groups claim the issues revolve around ex-chancellor Angela Merkel’s 2015 “open door” policy.
This saw over a million asylum seekers to cross into Germany and stay in the country.
Social media posts by al-Abdulmohsen even reference Merkel and the plan as he wished she would be jailed for life over it.
At the time the government expected between 800,000 and one million people to claim asylum in the first 12 months.
It saw German borders open for business as people were allowed to enter with relative ease.
The move has always been highly divisive.
It is often praised by many liberal commentators as morally just and humanitarian.
But also bashed as a volatile idea and short-sighted by more conservative minds.
Many have also made the vile claims that this policy has encouraged the Islamatisation of Germany.
Still today, Germany remains the largest refugee-hosting country in the EU, according to the UNHCR, and it ranks third on a global scale.
Many have entered from the Middle East, Africa and all across Europe in the decade since it was announced.
Despite the protests, thousands more came together to celebrate the life of the victims and pay their respects.
Mourners, government officials and emergency service workers all joined up at a moving memorial service at Magdeburg Cathedral.
Candles were lit in solidarity as hundreds of flowers and cuddly toys were laid outside in a makeshift mural.
The touching moments came hours before the first victim was named.
More than £41,000 has been raised in just two days in a GoFundMe for the little boy.
Four other women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 were also killed.
Officials are still fearing the number of deaths could rise with 41 of those injured still in a serious condition.
The doctor was hauled into court by armed cops last night and now faces five murder charges.
Along with the five counts of murder al-Abdulmohsen is also being investigated over 205 counts of suspected attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said.
Who is Taleb al-Abdulmohsen?
THE man suspected of killing five people after ramming them with his car at a German Christmas market is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor.
Ever since he was identified by local media a number of revelations about his past have emerged.
It has been reported that Taleb is an anti-Islam activist who arrived in Germany in 2006 as a refugee from Saudi Arabia, according to Bild.
German interior minister Nancy Faeser confirmed to reporters today that the suspect is Islamophobic.
The doctor is also said to have shared hundreds of strange posts on his social media in the days before the attack.
One allegedly claimed he felt that Germany wanted to “Islamicise” Europe, the newspaper reported.
He is reportedly also a vocal supporter of the hard-Right AfD party.
Taleb has lived in the nearby town of Bernburg – just over 30 minutes from Magdeburg – since fleeing the Middle East.
German media say he became a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy and works in the neighbouring town.
He has been officially recognised as a refugee since 2016, local media say.
German media also say they have spotted Taleb in a BBC documentary back in 2019.
FacebookAndré Gleißner, 9, tragically died when a car rammed into a crowd at Magdeburg Christmas market[/caption]
Chris EadesFlowers and toys have all been left at a mural for the victims[/caption]
X
4 days agoUSA UpdateComments Off on I spent my son’s $60,000 college fund on my side hustle and lost it all – but a savvy move means it’s now worth $100m
KIM Vaccarella was fed up with countless beach bags she had tried while on family beach trips to the Jersey Shore when she realized there was only one solution: she had to make the bag herself.
It was 2008 and Vaccarella was looking for something specific that would work perfectly for all her needs as a busy mom of two boys.
Courtesy of Kim VaccarellaBogg Bag founder Kim Vaccarella created the accessory after she realized the perfect beach bag didn’t exist[/caption]
Bogg BagThe viral Bogg Bag is now available in multiple sizes and over 40 different colors[/caption]
It had to be durable, water resistant, washable, sandproof, and big enough to carry everything she needed.
While sitting on the beach one day with her husband, she was inspired by Crocs.
“I liked the material, how it got warm and pliable in the heat but it didn’t get hot and if you got sand in it you could just hose it off or wash it in the shower,” Vaccarella told The U.S. Sun.
“It was the perfect idea for my dream beach bag.”
And so the idea of the Bogg Bag was born.
There was only one problem. Vaccarella didn’t have any manufacturing or production experience, and she was a busy mom with a full-time job as a commercial real estate lender.
But Vaccarella was determined.
It was the perfect idea for my dream beach bag
Kim Vaccarella Founder and CEO of Bogg Bag
“I went ahead and drew out the exact Bogg Bag and started the patent process and thought I would sell it for a bazillion dollars,” she said.
With her design ready to go, she reached out to a number of different handbag companies, and quickly got a resounding ‘No’ from all of them.
Frustrated that the potential buyers “didn’t get the vision,” she plowed on and decided to make the bag herself.
After finding a manufacturer in China, Vaccarella decided to order 300 bags, then 600, which all flew off the shelves.
The early success gave her the courage to go all in, putting all of her cash including $60,000 of her children’s college savings into ordering an entire container full of bags.
“We used the $60,000 to fund the dream knowing one way or another we would make it back,” she said.
“I grew up waiting tables and bartending so I thought if worse comes to worse I can get that money back.”
But her worst nightmare occurred, after the massive shipment of bags arrived all defective bearing ugly black steaks.
CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Downtrodden and frustrated, Vaccarella had nothing to do with hundreds of defective bags.
The East Coast was hit by Hurricane Sandy, and Vaccarella decided to donate all her defective Bogg Bags to help people carry home supplies.
Six months later, she had people knocking down her door asking where they could get their hands on another Bogg Bag.
“I knew right there we were onto something. People wanted another bag, saying they didn’t collapse and the sides were sturdy. It was one of those ‘ah ha’ moments, people are getting it now!” she said.
Vaccarella and her husband flew to China to find another manufacturer and the business snowballed from there.
Side hustles and tax implications
Extra income you make from side hustles may need to be reported to the IRS.
If you receive more than $600 in gross payouts from a selling platform like eBay, the site will issue you a Form 1099-K to use in your tax return.
Individuals should calculate their adjusted gross income, taxable earnings, and deductions for the year.
Once they have that, they can use the 1040-ES form to calculate estimated taxes.
BUSINESS IS BOOMING
It’s now been almost ten years and the business has exploded.
She is on track to hit $100 million in revenue this year and the brand has sold three million bags to date.
It has become a cult favorite, available in over 40 colors and even has a strategic partnership with Target.
Vaccarella said Covid helped the business go gangbusters, with a lot of nurses and teachers purchasing the bags due to their durability.
“We also got creative with wholesalers and always wanted to foster those relationships so they took a page out of our playbook from Hurricane Sandy using Bogg Bags for gift packages,” she said.
LOYAL FANS
The company is still focused on cultivating strong relationships with their customers, often reposting them and their Bogg Bags at the beach.
She said they did not spend any money on advertising up until 2023, and relied on user generated content which was “very real” and the customers loved it.
“People would tag us on the beach, and we would repost them expressing our thank you,” she said.
“We could get 20 pictures a day in the heat of summer and it was very real, our customers loved it.”
The U.S Sun covers all things side hustle, and recently revealed how Mark Cuban thinks business owners are doing them wrong.
The U.S. Sun also recently reported how a couple turned their $50 side hustle into a $25 million company.
4 days agoUSA UpdateComments Off on I moved next to Chernobyl’s deadly exclusion zone to escape Putin’s troops…locals mock my plan to make it a tourist trap
WHEN maverick Ukrainian entrepreneur Vadym Minziuk’s life was destroyed in the 2014 Russian invasion he had no choice but to flee.
He moved his family to the only place he could afford to start again – a one-horse town in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Despite the fact that the town of Dytyatky was ravaged by the fallout from the 1986 nuclear disaster and still has high levels of radiation, Vadym had big dreams of transforming its fortunes and turning it into one of Ukraine’s top tourist destinations.
Unfortunately for Vadym his big-city ways and newfangled ideas set him at odds with the townsfolk, led by the formidable Mayor Svitlana.
But with a full-scale Russian invasion threatening the nation, a new film tells how Vadym and his neighbours had to unite to survive.
Back in Donbas, in the East of the country, Vadym and his family had a large home, two apartments, a second house and a factory but it was all destroyed in one rocket strike. They had to start from scratch with nothing.
“Leaving home is never easy, especially when you have to run,” he says. “But my friend suggested a place where after an accident land was very cheap.
“We found land to settle. Now the land near Chernobyl is our home.”
He adds: “My friends and family often ask ‘’What’s with the radiation?’ I tell them not to worry.”
Vadym is so at home here, he even walks his dog along the high wire fence that marks out the beginning of the exclusion zone, every day.
It’s his favourite place to enjoy the birdsong and the quiet of the forest.
“It’s like living in the north of Finland or Alaska,” says Vadym. “This area has the lowest population density of anywhere in Ukraine – only two people per square kilometre.”
GettyThe Chernobyl nuclear power plant a few weeks after the disaster in 1986[/caption]
AP:Associated PressChildren suffering intestinal problems due to exposure to radiation from the Chernobyl disaster[/caption]
In 1986 the world watched in horror as the worst nuclear disaster of the 20th century unfolded.
Since then, the radioactive site has remained frozen in time, and off limits to the public, after a reactor at the plant exploded.
The resulting fallout created a crisis for those living for miles around.
The residents of Dytyatky were evacuated, but as it was just outside the Chernobyl exclusion zone they were allowed to return and rebuild their lives.
Angry neighbours
Many chose to stay away, and newcomers like Vadym were a rarity and viewed with suspicion.
Undeterred, Vadym built a new factory to take waste from dumpsters, melt it down and extract metal from it.
But the smoke and waste from his new operation didn’t make him popular with locals.
Village elder Olga lived through the 1986 disaster and says: “Firstly the Chernobyl accident and now Vadym stinks the place out.”
Vadym knows no-one likes him here. If he came to our village fair we wouldn’t be able to save him from people. They would beat him.
SerhiiVadym's neighbour
But Vadym was determined to win them over.
He said: “The fact is the village has always been very closed off, they are very wary of strangers. Every fourth house in the village is abandoned. People usually move out of the village and we are probably the first ones to move in.
“Next door to our factory is a sawmill. The boss looks at us, we’re all dirty and he says ‘Only people from Donbas could work like this.’”
Sawmill owner Serhii says: “Go look at the people who work there. They are black from the soot. Sometimes I send my worker to check they are still alive over there.
“Vadym knows no one likes him here. If he came to our village fair we wouldn’t be able to save him from people. They would beat him.”
Revenge plan
Serhii, who is married to the town’s Mayor, Svitlana, says: “I love and respect everyone here, they’re like family to me. But sometimes we have disagreements.”
But Vadym adds: “They run the place like feudal lords. As soon as I arrived I became a bone in their throat.
“The mayor of the village was causing problems, ordering raids on my factory. They’re trying to get rid of me but they are not succeeding.”
So after being accused of not paying taxes and temporarily forced to close his factory, Vadym decided to take revenge and run for mayor himself.
Do you think tourists will come here? With our radiation? He’s just a fantasist.
Chernobyl local
“Some people here have a Soviet mentality and I think we should change that,” he says. “I dream that in 10 years this area will become a super-duper touristic area run entirely on alternative green energy sources.
“We could have an airport here for all those tourists coming from Kyiv.”
But some of the locals weren’t so sure about his plans to turn the town into a tourist hotspot.
“Do you think tourists will come here,” laughed one woman. “With our radiation? He’s just a fantasist. He’s never lived in a village like this. People here are not used to ideas like this. They don’t understand.”
Russia-Ukraine war
But in 2021 tensions started to grow between Russia and Ukraine, with Russian troops massing on the border including near Chernobyl.
Many visit the abandoned locations surrounding ChernobylGetty Images - Getty
But after four months of fighting on the frontline, he was injured and forced to return home.
When the Russians invaded their village, Vadym and his wife Elena were out of town, meaning their daughter Dasha was on her own.
Dasha recalls: “It was scary at night. People kept telling me the Russians would come and shoot us. They will rape you.”
And unlikely people came to her rescue – the family’s arch-enemies Serhii and Svitlana.
Vadym says: “Serhii came to our Dasha and said, ‘Dasha no more nights alone.’
“Dasha lived with Svitlana and Serhii throughout the occupation. When I came here I had a tense relationship with Serhii and Svitlana. But the war changed everything.
“They kept my daughter safe when we were separated. It’s time to forget all the stuff from the past.
What happened at Chernobyl?
THE nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl claimed 31 lives as well as leaving thousands of people and animals exposed to potentially fatal radiation.
When an alarm bellowed out at the nuclear plant on April 26, 1986, workers looked on in horror as the control panels signaled a major meltdown in the number four reactor.
The safety switches had been switched off in the early hours to test the turbine but the reactor overheated and generated a blast – the equivalent of 500 nuclear bombs.
The reactor’s roof was blown off and a plume of radioactive material was blasted into the atmosphere.
As air was sucked into the shattered reactor, it ignited flammable carbon monoxide gas
causing a fire which burned for nine days.
The catastrophe released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Soviet authorities waited 24 hours before evacuating the nearby town of Pripyat – giving the 50,000 residents just three hours to leave their homes.
After the accident traces of radioactive deposits were found in Belarus where poisonous rain damaged plants and caused animal mutations.
But the devastating impact was also felt in Scandinavia, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, France and the UK.
An 18-mile radius known as the “Exclusion Zone” was set up around the reactor following the disaster.
“When I first came here it was strange. People treated me like a foreigner who had come to earn money.
“But now they’ve experienced war like I did, now they say ‘he’s one of us.’”
Serhii adds: “He went to war. He wasn’t afraid. So now if his factory smokes once or twice a month, let it smoke.”
Chernobyl now
While residents in Dytyatky are building new lives and new allegiances, life in Chernobyl is very different.
Experts warn that the surrounding land is so toxic that the radiation will not decay for thousands of years.
But despite the obvious danger to life, Chernobyl and the towns around it aren’t empty.
After the disaster about 1,200 people returned to their homes, disregarding the authorities and the potential risks to their health.
Around 130 to 150 residents remain in the exclusion zone, mostly men and women over 50, who had lived through the harrowing years of Soviet rule and Nazi invasion. They clung to their ancestry and roots and did not want to be displaced.
Yet the area is a virtual ghost town, with hundreds of abandoned buildings.
The houses may be crumbling but they are like a 1980s time capsule providing a glimpse into people’s lives before they were changed forever.
A Ferris wheel stands still in the abandoned city of Pripyat as a reminder of days gone by when families would have fun there.
Rusting cribs still sit in the derelict hospital’s maternity ward decades after the disaster, and schoolbooks still line the shelves of hastily evacuated schools.
And much like Vadym predicted, tourists are starting to return on organised tours, curious to see Chernobyl now. It is estimated that over 40,000 have made the pilgrimage there in the last decade.
But while the landscape is recovering, forests are growing again and animals such as moose, wild boar, wolves and horses are thriving, it is unlikely that human life will ever return to normal in the zone.
Chernobyl, My Promised Land is on Sky Documentaries.
4 days agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Spaceships of the future that could jet humans to Mars from Nasa Star Wars-style nuclear rocket to Elon Musk’s Starship
HUMANS have already reached the Moon – and Mars seems like the obvious next step.
But how will we get there? There are several mega-rockets already being developed that could take us to the red planet in our lifetimes.
NasaThis Star Wars-style mock-up shows what Nasa’s nuclear-powered ‘space habitat’ might look like[/caption]
NasaNasa has teamed up with Darpa to create a nuclear-powered rocket of the future[/caption]
Nasa nuclear rocket
Mars is far away – around 140 millions from Earth on average.
That means getting there is not only time-consuming, but very expensive in terms of fuel.
Nasa hopes that one way of bringing the time and cost down is using nuclear propulsion.
“Nasa’s goal is to minimize the time the crew travels between Earth and Mars to as close to two years as is practical,” Nasa said in 2021.
“Space nuclear propulsion systems could enable shorter total mission times and provide enhanced flexibility and efficiency for mission designers.”
In 2023, Nasa revealed that it had teamed up with Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) on building such a rocket.
And it said that this would allow for speedy trips to Mars and back.
“Nasa will work with our long-term partner, Darpa, to develop and demonstrate advanced nuclear thermal propulsion technology as soon as 2027,” said Nasa boss Bill Nelson.
“With the help of this new technology, astronauts could journey to and from deep space faster than ever – a major capability to prepare for crewed missions to Mars.”
One early concept of a a Nasa rocket looked a bit like a Star Wars X-wing.
And Nasa says that nuclear thermal rockets could be three times more efficient than regular chemical propulsion.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship
Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk hasn’t exactly been quiet about his dreams of shipping humans to Mars.
It’s no secret that Musk wants to set up a colony on the red planet, turning humans into an interplanetary species.
And his company SpaceX has built a rocket called Starship that aims to do just that.
Elon Musk’s Starship could take humans to Mars and backSpaceX
Mars facts
Here's what you need to know about the Red Planet...
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
It is named after the Roman god of war
The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful
The Starship is designed to be a cost-effective way of transporting humans between planetsSpaceX
“SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket – collectively referred to as Starship – represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond,” SpaceX explains.
The company says that Starship will enter the Martian atmosphere at 7.5km a second.
And its heat shield will allow it to safely land on Mars without being destroyed in the process.
Starship is currently going through testing phases, with its seventh flight-test set to take place in early 2025.
SpaceX has already conducted six Starship tests, four of which were successfulSpaceX
Musk hopes that the Starship spacecraft can be re-filled with fuel while in low-Earth orbit.
That means it can launch into space, and then fuel up once again before a trip to Mars.
Nasa SLS
Nasa has nuclear dreams – but in the meantime, the space agency needs a more conventional rocket for daring crewed missions.
Enter the SLS, or Space Launch System, which is the main launch vehicle for Nasa’s Artemis programme.
NASA/Joel KowskyNasa’s SLS carried the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I flight test in November 2022[/caption]
Artemis is a series of missions that will ultimately return humans to the surface of the Moon.
The only SLS launch to take place so far was an uncrewed test in November 2022.
Nasa is due to use the SLS again in April 2026 as part the crewed Artemis II flight.
But the eventual plan is for SLS to carry humans to Mars too.
“The SLS rocket is designed to be evolvable, which makes it possible to increase its capability to fly more types of missions,” Nasa explained.
“Including human missions to the Moon and Mars and robotic scientific missions to the Moon, Mars, and the outer planets.”
Nasa added: “The final SLS configuration, Block 2, will provide 9.4 million lbs. of launch thrust, compared to the Block 1’s8.8 million lbs. and will be the workhorse vehicle for sending cargo to the Moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations.
“SLS Block 2 will be designed to lift up to 46 t (101,000 lbs.) to deep space.”
NASA/Joel Kowsky
The SLS can be seen here with the Orion spacecraft on top of the launcher in 2022[/caption]
4 days agoUSA UpdateComments Off on ‘Bones of Jesus’ brother’ found inside 2,200-year-old box is hailed as ‘most significant item from time of Christ’
THE “bones of Jesus’ brother” have been found inside a 2,200-year-old box in a breakthrough discovery.
The limestone box is etched with the name of the son of God, and has been hailed the “most significant item from the time of Christ”.
GettyAn artefact believed to have once contained the bones of Jesus’ brother James sits on display in 2002[/caption]
GettyThe James Ossuary was unveiled[/caption]
GettyThis image from the Biblical Archaeology Society shows a first century A.D. burial box with an Aramaic inscription that reads ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus’[/caption]
The inscription, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” is written on the box in ancient Aramaic.
As the names correspond to those of Jesus’ brother and father, many believe the box once held the remains of James the Just – the first leader of Christians in Jerusalem after the crucifixion.
The unbelievable box is currently on display at Pullman Yards in Atlanta as part of an exhibition featuring hundreds of historical items from the time of Jesus.
But, just like other archaeological finds discovered from the Bible period, the Ossuary led to uproar after its unveiling in 2002.
The following year its owner Oded Golan was accused of forging the inscription.
Experts alleged that he had added the phrase “brother of Jesus” to the limestone.
Golan tried to salvage his reputation and, after battling it out in court for a ten-year trial, the Israeli antiquities collector was acquitted.
But mystery still surrounds the “Jesus box”.
Despite Golan being cleared of all charges, the judge still said that the verdict “does not mean that the inscription on the Ossuary is authentic or that it was written 2,000 years ago.”
Golan told Crosswalk Headlines: “We conducted several chemical tests, particularly on the inscription itself, which is the most critical element of the Ossuary.
“We proved that the entire inscription is authentic – it was engraved several thousand years ago.”
If it were authentic, the Ossuary would incredibly be the oldest physical evidence of Jesus Christ.
In the first century, Jewish people laid their dead relatives in caves before later collecting the bones to put in ossuaries.
The box’s authenticity is still facing criticism by some theologians who believe Mary had remained a virgin her entire life, suggesting the Ossuary may not be authentic.
But the box is empty, with the bones lost years ago.
On top of this, various biblical passages indicate that James and his brothers didn’t believe Jesus was the son of God initially.
James is said to have died as a martyr – but there are two different dates and causes of death.
One is that in 62AD he was stoned to death on the order of a high priest.
The other is that in 69AD he was thrown off the pinnacle of the Temple by scribes and Pharisees before being clubbed to death.
Golen said he bought the James Ossuary when he was a student in Israel, studying engineering.
He said he “didnt recognize its importance at all”.
A 2015 study was set out to really see whether the James Ossuary may have come from a tomb believed to belong to Jesus’ family.
The Talpiot tomb was unearthed in the south of the Old City in East Jerusalem in 1980, containing six burial boxes.
The boxes had the names of Jesus’ brother, father and mother on.
Experts conducted a chemical analysis of the Ossuary and found it contained signatures from the boxes found in the tomb.
Biggest Bible finds
The Galilee Boat: Discovered in 1986 on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, this fishing boat dates back to roughly the time of Jesus. While there’s no direct connection to Jesus, it represents the type of vessel he and his disciples, some of whom were fishermen, would have used. This provides valuable insight into the fishing industry and maritime life in Galilee during that period.
Nazareth House: Excavations in Nazareth have revealed a first-century house, potentially from the time of Jesus’s childhood. This discovery challenges previous claims that Nazareth was not a settled area during Jesus’s lifetime.
Crucifixion Evidence: Archaeological discoveries, such as the skeletal remains of Yehohanan, a man crucified in the Roman fashion, provide physical evidence of the practice of crucifixion, the method of execution described in the New Testament accounts of Jesus’s death.
Temple Warning Inscription: A stone inscription discovered in 1871 warned Gentiles against entering the inner courts of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This inscription confirms historical accounts of the Temple’s layout and the segregation practices of the time, a setting where Jesus is recorded to have taught and interacted.
Southern Steps of the Temple Mount: These steps, leading up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, have been excavated and are believed to be the same ones used by Jesus and other Jewish people during his time. This offers a tangible connection to the physical environment where Jesus walked and preached.
The Madaba Map: While dating to several centuries after Jesus’s life (6th century AD), the Madaba Map, a mosaic discovered in Jordan, provides the oldest surviving cartographic depiction of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. It offers a valuable visual representation of the region’s geography during the Byzantine period and helps us understand the landscape and urban layout of cities like Jerusalem during the Roman and Byzantine eras.
Lord Mandelson has called on No 10 to “swallow its pride” and use Mr Farage as “a bridge to Mr Musk” and Mr Trump.
Reform Party boss Mr Farage is friends with both men and travelled to the US for talks with Mr Musk last week.
Speaking on his Times podcast last month, Mandy said: “If I were the Government here, I’d be asking the embassy in Washington DC to find out who his [Musk’s] other British friends are.
“Who are they all? They have got to be used as a bridge to Musk. And so that’s what I would do.
“Swallow your pride, find out who his friends are and try to get into those networks. You cannot just continue this feud indefinitely. You’ve got to get over it.”
He added: “I would include Nigel Farage. You can’t ignore him. He’s an elected MP.”
Mandy made the comments in November — when he was hot favourite to be US ambassador.
But he could face a hostile reception after he called Mr Trump a “white supremacist” in 2019.
The resurfaced comments sparked fury in the US — with Mr Trump’s campaign chief Chris LaCivita branding Mandy a “moron”.
4 days agoUSA UpdateComments Off on WRAP: Why a migrant workers’ group considers Mary Jane Veloso a hero
Veloso, over whose custody Indonesia had transferred to the Philippine government, had been escorted from Jakarta and brought to the Correctional Institute of Women in Mandaluyong City.
4 days agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Araneta City Bus Station not as crowded as before, open to more passengers
The number of passengers heading to the Araneta City Bus Station in Quezon City every holiday season have dwindled in recent years since most of the long-distance bus routes were transferred to the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.
