Century

West Indies and Zimbabwe are trading blows in their ongoing cricket series. West Indies won the first T20I behind an all-round performance from Claxton and strong bowling, while Zimbabwe struck back with Gwanzura's all-round display stunning the visitors. Earlier in the tour, Hayley Matthews hit a record century in a big West Indies win, though Deandra Dottin missed the tour with Matthews playing only ODIs.

Researchers say they have solved a space weather puzzle dating back to the 1840s, according to a new report. The finding explains an unusual atmospheric or solar event observed in the mid-nineteenth century, shedding light on historical solar activity and its effects on Earth. Details of the research and its implications are drawing interest among science readers.

India and the West Indies are in the middle of a multi-format cricket series drawing wide attention. Shreyas Iyer scored his maiden T20I century to power India to an eight-wicket win over the West Indies, while Shubman Gill made a notable call at the toss and handed a debut to a new player. In the ongoing second ODI, West Indies opener John Campbell has hit aggressively as the hosts passed 100 runs quickly.

The SAT turns 100 this year, and the College Board reports that nearly 2 million students in the class of 2026 have taken the test. The milestone is prompting reflection on the exam's century-long role in US college admissions, its shift to digital format, and ongoing debate over the place of standardized testing in university admissions.

The remains of Bulgaria's medieval ruler Czar Samuel have been returned to Bulgaria, roughly a millennium after his death. According to Al Jazeera, the repatriation was framed as the tsar coming 'home', closing a centuries-long chapter in the country's history. The return is being received in Bulgaria as a moment of national and historical significance, honouring a figure central to the medieval Bulgarian state.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note has climbed above 5.3%, its highest level in roughly 24 years, bringing benchmark borrowing costs back to levels last seen around the turn of the century. Rising yields ripple through the economy, pushing up mortgage rates, raising government debt-servicing costs, and pressuring stock valuations as bonds become a more attractive alternative to equities.

West Indies wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran is drawing attention as the Caribbean side opens a T20 international series against India. Pooran, coming off a strong Caribbean Premier League campaign, spoke about his hard work paying off ahead of the opener. India took the first match comfortably, with an eight-wicket win powered by a rapid century from Shubman Gill's teammate Venkatesh Iyer's batting, keeping focus on the West Indies batting lineup including Pooran.

Fifty years after the Watergate scandal, commentators are taking a fresh look at Richard Nixon's presidency and legacy. A National Review piece revisits the crisis that ended his presidency, prompting renewed debate over how history should judge him, his policies, and the scandal that forced his resignation in 1974.

Commentary drawing on the history of Black musical pioneers such as Ma Rainey, whose recordings were exploited by labels, argues that today's generative AI revives a century-old dispute over who owns and profits from an artist's voice and likeness. Writers say new technology amplifies old patterns of exploitation, and the piece is being shared amid ongoing debates over AI training on musicians' work and new rules on voice replication consent.

NDA leader Nara Lokesh has claimed that while the US and Europe needed a century to develop, Dubai took 30 years and Singapore 25, India needs just 10 years from today to become a developed nation. The statement, shared widely online, has drawn debate over whether such an accelerated timeline is realistic for India's economy and infrastructure.

Greece's prime minister has pledged to 'ramp up' efforts to secure the return of the Parthenon marbles from the British Museum, where they have been held since the early 19th century. Athens has long campaigned for the sculptures' reunification with the Acropolis, and the renewed pledge signals the government intends to press the case more vigorously with London.

A new account of financial history explains that Venice's unsuccessful military campaign against Constantinople in the twelfth century forced the city-state to borrow from its wealthy citizens, giving rise to the first government bonds. Unable to repay, Venice converted wartime loans into a permanent, interest-bearing debt, effectively inventing the bond market and shaping state finance for centuries.

Astronomers are highlighting a firework-like supernova remnant produced by a stellar explosion that people on Earth witnessed 845 years ago, around the year 1181. The glowing structure, with wispy filaments radiating outward, is the leftover debris of that historic event. The striking images have drawn attention for connecting a modern astronomical object to an explosion recorded by observers centuries ago.

The Economist reports that bubonic plague, a disease that killed millions in past centuries, may have escaped from a laboratory in Siberia. The claim has drawn fresh attention to the medieval disease, which still occurs in small outbreaks today. Readers are discussing how such an escape could happen and what it means for biosecurity, though details of the alleged incident remain limited.

French-German broadcaster Arte is airing a documentary series examining the United States from 1960 to 1980 and how the country shifted toward market-driven conservatism, with Ronald Reagan as a central figure. The series, 'USA 1960-1980, la révolution conservatrice', is drawing attention in France and Germany, prompting renewed discussion of Reagan's legacy and the rise of the political right in late 20th-century America.

Attention is turning to an 1856 book that claimed to identify where the ten lost tribes of Israel ended up, reviving a longstanding historical mystery. The claim ties the tribes to an unspecified location, echoing 19th-century theories that later scholars largely dismissed as speculative. Readers are debating the book's arguments and why such theories once gained traction.

The Swedish Army Museum (Armémuseum) in Stockholm is being talked about in Sweden. The museum, which covers Sweden's military history from the 16th century onward, is trending without further details available about a specific event or announcement driving the discussion.

A coded letter from the Napoleonic era, a war briefing addressed to Marshal Marmont that had gone unread for over two centuries, has reportedly been deciphered. The breakthrough offers a rare glimpse into how military orders were encrypted during Napoleon's campaigns and has drawn attention from history and cryptography enthusiasts discussing what the decrypted message reveals.

A quote from Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem is being shared in discussions about large language models. Lem, who wrote extensively about thinking machines and artificial intelligence in works such as Cyberiad and Summa Technologiae, is being invoked as a prescient voice on machine-generated reasoning. Commenters are drawing parallels between his mid-century observations and today's AI systems, weighing whether his skepticism about mechanical thought still holds.

A viral Hindi true-crime story retells the 1933 Pakur murder mystery, described as India's first murder committed using a biological weapon. The case, presented in the 'Wanted' crime series, has drawn heavy attention, with viewers fascinated by how poison or disease was allegedly weaponised in colonial-era British India nearly a century ago.

OpenAI's GPT-6, nicknamed Astra, has reportedly cracked a 217-year-old Napoleonic-era cipher in just six hours from a single prompt. Working from one image, the AI solved 24 rows of custom symbols, revealing previously lost French troop orders from the Napoleonic wars. The breakthrough is drawing attention to how quickly modern AI models can solve historical cryptanalysis puzzles that resisted human codebreakers for over two centuries.

An alternative health influencer says he has been drinking water from a radioactive jug for 250 straight days, referencing the Revigator, a radioactive water jar sold as a health device in the early 20th century. Health commentators are highlighting the story as an example of misinformation spreading in wellness circles and its potential radiation risks.

The Netherlands take on Serbia in an international football match, with Virgil van Dijk set to make his 100th appearance for the national team. The Liverpool defender becomes the 11th Dutch player to reach a century of caps, marking the occasion with a nostalgic nod to his time at Celtic. Van Dijk has issued a strong warning to teammates, calling a recent first-half display unacceptable, while coach Ronald Koeman's side are still chasing their first clean sheet of the year.

A record dengue outbreak in Florida is drawing renewed attention to warnings made a quarter century ago in the first US National Climate Assessment, which projected that warming temperatures would expand mosquito habitat and raise dengue risk in the United States. Climate scientist Peter Gleick and others are pointing out that coverage of the outbreak omits any mention of climate change, calling out a gap between the evidence and the public narrative.

Researchers argue that the Voynich manuscript, the medieval text that has defied decipherment for centuries, may have been bound incorrectly, and that this could radically change how scholars interpret its strange drawings and indecipherable script. The claim suggests that the current page order does not reflect the original, undermining long-standing theories about the text's structure and meaning.

The total solar eclipse of August 12, 2027 is being called the 'eclipse of the century' because its path of totality crosses southern Spain, North Africa and the Middle East with an unusually long duration of darkness and a high sun angle, promising exceptional viewing conditions for millions of people.