French nun Sister Andre, 118, claims title of world's oldest person

A French nun who recently celebrated her 118th birthday with her traditional port-and-chocolate cocktail is now the world's oldest known person, following the death announced Monday of a Japanese woman one year her senior.

Nicolas Tucat, AFP

Lucile Randon, known as Sister Andre, was born in southern France on February 11, 1904, when World War I was still a decade away.

She now lives at a nursing home in Toulon along the Mediterranean coast, beginning every day with breakfast and then a morning mass, though her eyes can no longer see.

"She's happy, she likes very much this attention," said the home's communications director David Tavella, adding that a short press conference would be held Tuesday morning.

"But it's just another step, because her real goal is to overtake Jeanne Calment," a French woman who was reportedly 122-years-old when she died in 1997.

This year Sister Andre got a handwritten New Year's greeting from President Emmanuel Macron, among the many letters and boxes of chocolates sent by well-wishers.

"I was always admired for my wisdom and intelligence, but now people could care less because I'm stubborn," she jokingly told an AFP in an interview for her 118th tour around the sun.

"I'm thinking of getting out of this business but they won't let me," she said.

he worked as a governess in Paris -- a period she once called the happiest time of her life -- before taking her religious vows with the Daughters of Charity.

Previously the person deemed the world's oldest by the International Database on Longevity (IDL) and Guinness World Records was Kane Tanaka, whose death in Japan on April 19 was announced Monday.

With her death, "Sister Andre indeed becomes the oldest, and by far, since the next oldest is a Polish woman who is 115," said Laurent Toussaint, a computer scientist and amateur tracker for the IDL as well as the French institute of demographic studies (INED).

Most centenarians are found in the world's so-called blue zones, where people live longer than average, such as Okinawa in Japan or on the Italian island of Sardinia.

But France, while not considered a blue zone, nonetheless has 30,000 centenarians, according to statistics institute Insee, with around 40 of them 110 or older. 

Reference|: NewsWire: 

St George's Day 2022: He wasn't England's first patron saint and 8 other facts

Every year on April 23 we celebrate St George's Day in honour of England's patron saint. As children we were taught to believe in him as a great knight taking on a fire breathing dragon.

Yet, as with many things, it's a case of why let the facts get in the way of a good story. The dragon slaying was a myth, he wasn't even English and never actually visited the country.

And, this might be news to some, St George wasn't even England's first choice patron saint.

So who was St George and how did he become England's patron saint? Here are some St George's Day facts.

He never visited England

Unlike Ireland and St Patrick who is said to have converted the Emerald Isle to Christianity, St George has no obvious connection to England.

St George was not the first patron saint of England

That honour was originally held by St Edmund, or Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia in the 9th century AD. He fought alongside King Alfred of Wessex against the pagan Vikings until 869/70 when his forces were defeated and Edmund was captured.

He was ordered to renounce his faith and share power with the Vikings, but he refused. He was then bound to a tree, shot through by arrows and beheaded.

During the Third Crusade in 1199, King Richard I visited the tomb of St. George in Lydda on the eve of battle. The next day he won a great victory. Following this triumph, Richard adopted St. George as his personal patron and protector of the army.

So he become England's patron saint then?

No, King Edward III made him the Patron Saint of England when he formed the Order of the Garter in St. George’s name in 1350, and the cult of the Saint was further advanced by King Henry V, at the battle of Agincourt in northern France.

Publicity picture Kenneth Branagh as Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1984

An event made famous by William Shakespeare. The playwright and St George have something else in common don't they?

That's right, they share the same date of death - April 23.

So who was St George?

There are two popular theories about St George’s origins, but the consensus is that he was born the Middle East. Some say his birthplace was in what is now modern day Turkey, others say he came from Palestine.

Thought to be born to Christian parents, he was a soldier in the Roman Army but was said to have been persecuted and tortured for refusing to ditch his faith in favour of Roman paganism. According to legend, George was both boiled and sandwiched between two wheels of spikes.

He was executed on April 23, 303AD after he refused Emperor Diocletian’s order to renounce Christianity. It is claimed St George was dragged through the streets of Lydda and beheaded.

What about the dragon?

While not likely to have actually killed a dragon, many paintings feature him slaying one. It is likely this is to represent him defeating the devil or evil, or reflects his bravery in refusing to bow down to Roman persecution.

Jacobus de Voragine first came up with the dramatic back story for St George in his book ‘Golden Legend’. In it, George kills a dragon which was guarding a well, just before villagers planned to sacrifice a woman to keep it happy.

St George was a saint for 1,000 years before the holiday

He was canonised in AD 494 by Pope Gelasius, who claimed he was one of those 'whose names are justly revered among men but whose acts are known only to God'.

A feast day of St George has been celebrated in England for hundreds of years on April 23. Following the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, St George's Day became one of the most important feast days in the English calendar.

Reach plc An image of William Shakespeare

He's a popular lad

St George is truly an international saint and England is not the only country or region to claim him as its patron.

England shares St George with Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Ethiopia and Catalonia - among others as their patron saint and many of these places have their own celebrations and ceremonies in his honour.

St George represents those we honour

The Order of the Garter (founded by Edward III in 1348) is the highest order of chivalry in the country and Queen Elizabeth II is at the helm as Sovereign of the Garter. To this day St George’s cross still appears on the Garter badge and his image is the pendant of the Garter chain.

In 1940 King George VI created a new award for acts of the greatest heroism or courage in circumstance of extreme danger. The George Cross, named after the king, bears the image of St George vanquishing the dragon. The image of St George also adorns many of the memorials built to honour those killed during World War One. 

Reference: Chronicle Live: Mike Kelly

Sweden hit by fourth day of unrest over planned Quran burnings

Clashes have taken place yet again across several Swedish cities following threats to burn the Quran by a far-right group.

Local media reported three people were injured in the eastern city of Norrkoping after police were forced to fire waring shots at rioters.

Several vehicles were also set on fire and up to 17 people were arrested following clashes with police, the BBC reports.

Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan, who leads the Stram Kurs, or Hard Line, said he had burnt the Islamic holy text and would do so again with further events across the country.

Unrest sparked on Thursday following the threat and continued on both Friday and Saturday in the cities of Stockholm, Linköping and Norrkoping.

Paludan had threatened to hold an event in Norrkoping on Sunday but did not show up after claiming Swedish authorities could not “protect themselves or me” on his Facebook page.

Video also emerged of protesters throwing stones at police and rioters burning cars in Orebro.

 Provided by Evening Standard Riots have occurred across the country since Thursday (TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima)

At least 16 police officers were injured over the three days, while several vehicles were set alight on on the southern city of Malmo on Saturday.

Counter groups also clashed with Stram Kurs, where approximately 100 people threw stones and set cars on fire in Landskrona.

Sweden’s national police chief, Anders Thornberg said he had never seen such violence before.

He said: “We have seen violent riots before. But this is something else.”

The Iranian and Iraqi government both summoned Swedish envoys to protest against the burning of the religious book.

Reference: Evening Standard:  Bill McLoughlin

Pope condemns Russia for ‘cruel and senseless’ invasion of Ukraine in sermon on ‘Easter of War’

Pope Francis referred to an “Easter of war” in his sermon on Sunday, as he implicitly criticised Russia for its “cruel and senseless” invasion of Ukraine.

The 85-year-old pontiff made his comments in his twice-yearly Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) address in front of around 50,000 people in St Peter’s Square after a long Mass.

It was the first Easter since 2019 that the public was allowed to attend following two years of Covid-induced restrictions.

Pope Francis dedicated much of the address, traditionally an overview of world conflicts, to Ukraine, comparing the shock of another war in Europe to the shock of the apostles who, the gospel says, saw the risen Jesus.

“Our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter of war. We have seen all too much blood, all too much violence. Our hearts, too, have been filled with fear and anguish, as so many of our brothers and sisters have had to lock themselves away in order to be safe from bombing,” he said.

Ukraine, he said, was “sorely tried by the violence and destruction of the cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged”.

“Let there be a decision for peace. May there be an end to the flexing of muscles while people are suffering,” Francis said, going on to thank those who had taken in refugees from Ukraine, most of whom have gone to Poland.

 Provided by The Independent Thousands attend the Catholic Easter Sunday mass led by Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican (AP)

On Saturday night he attended but did not preside at an Easter vigil service, apparently to rest for Easter Sunday, the most important day in the Christian religious calendar.

“Please, let us not get used to war,” the Pope said, looking down on the square bedecked by tens of thousands of flowers donated by the Netherlands.

He also called for reconciliation among Israelis and Palestinians and among the people of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which he is due to visit in July.

Francis has previously rejected the terminology Moscow uses to describe the invasion of Ukraine – a “special military operation” – calling it a war instead.

In the past, he has used terms such as “unjustified aggression” and “invasion” while describing the eastern European conflict.

Earlier this month in Malta, Francis implicitly criticised Russian president Vladimir Putin over the invasion, saying a “potentate” was fomenting conflict for nationalist interests.