While it hasn’t quite been proven that Friday the 13th is actually an unlucky day or that a man in a hockey mask is out for your blood, the so-called day of misfortune still manages to play to some people’s biggest fears. Only adding to all the hype surrounding Friday the 13th are the dozens of slasher films that have notably been released on the superstitious day, many of which will be available for viewing during Netflix’s annual Halloween celebration, dubbed Netflix and Chills....

Published on Reddit’s r/AmITheA**hole forum, a friend under the anonymous username u/djdkgjeis shared their story to receive opinions of the “AITA” community. The original poster (OP) began their story by explaining they recently went out with a few friends and one friend, “John,” got very drunk to the point where they couldn’t walk. One of their friends suggested they get John an Uber home but the OP insisted he could stay with them for the night....

Our bodies house some 400 species of friendly bacteria, or “probiotics.” They cling to the walls of our stomachs and intestines. In the age of germphobia, it’s hard to imagine microbes as our allies. But mounting evidence suggests that these friendly flora aid digestion, ward off pathogens and help us process folic acid and other critical nutrients. When the complex balance of microbes is jilted by stress, alcohol, antibiotics or poor nutrition, the consequences can be most unpleasant–ranging from stomachaches to vaginal infections, vitamin deficiencies and chronic inflammation....

Coelho, who played for the ASA Israeli team during the 12th annual Friendship Games, stood out from the more than 150 other participants not only by the color of her skin, or her eloquence in English and Portuguese, but also by calling five different countries (on three continents) home during her 18 years. The weeklong Games served as both a basketball tournament and a forum for cross-cultural exposure and interaction....

The 31-year-old playmaker was coming off the back of a stellar year for Nice, in which he had scored 17 goals and directly created six more. He had shown an eye for the spectacular, often cutting through packs of defenders to score goals in a style reminiscent of Lionel Messi. It was thrilling to watch. He may have been snubbed by Deschamps, but his form was sufficient for Paris Saint-Germain to gamble on him as a Bosman signing....

Researcher Joshua Fischer-Birch told The Hill on Wednesday that Telegram’s 65 publicly visible white extremist channels have experienced a surge in users over the past month, with each channel welcoming hundreds of new members. On average, each channel grew by 256 members, or 43 percent. The spike in users follows the disappearance of the website 8chan in August. The site was structured as a collection of message boards, a format that proved appealing to homicidal extremists....

Now the novelist has taken on a new role: filmmaker. Having written screenplays for films from “Chaplin” to “Mr. Johnson,” Boyd has took his seat in the director’s chair to make “The Trench,” a somber ensemble piece set in the 24 hours before the Battle of the Somme. He spoke to Andrea C. Basora about his interest in filmmaking and his ongoing fascination with the First World War. NEWSWEEK: What makes someone turn from a prolific novel-writing career to directing films?...

British naval Capt. Charles Elliot seizes Hong Kong, also known as Pirate Island, from the Celestial Empire and declares himself governor. . The first opium war ends in the Treaty of Nanking, ceding Hong Kong Island to Britain. Chinese officials searching for pirates arrest the crew of the British ship Arrow, prompting the second opium war. Victorious in the Opium Wars and seeking a foothold on the mainland, Britain forces China to cede the Kowloon Peninsula to Hong Kong....

Compared with many of its neighbors, China has hardly felt the AIDS pandemic. As of last fall, the government had recorded only 80 AIDS cases and 2,600 HIV infections among the country’s 1.2 billion people. Even if the true number of infections is closer to 100,000, as health officials suspect, that’s a tiny fraction of Thailand’s estimated 1 million or India’s 4 million. But economic growth, dizzying social change and an unstable blood supply are conspiring to create unprecedented hazards for the world’s most populous nation....

With her son at-bat, however, Diana Benedict was caught off guard. This was more than two decades ago, long before exit velo — not that children would have such tools at their disposal — but Benedict swears it was a “rocket.” “That ball lined right back at my head,” Benedict told Sporting News. “I ducked down. I’m like, ‘Oops, not pitching to you anymore, little boy.’” MORE: Mookie Betts’ Yankees rival doing something special for Mother’s Day...

Reuters, Feb. 2, 2008: “SAN FRANCISCO–The Grateful Dead, the San Francisco cult rock band that has played at political events since the 1960s, will reunite on Monday for the first time in four years to rally support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, a spokesman said on Friday.” How’s that for being a uniter? Obama inspires the ultimate Baby Boomer band to get back together for its first show since 2004–after spending a year dissing the entire Boomer generation....

Nemanja Matic’s mesmeric finish from distance in the 91st minute to clinch a stunning 3-2 win from 2-0 down at Crystal Palace was a goal which will live long in the memory. It couldn’t have been more out of keeping with United’s performance for much of the night, but the character displayed in digging themselves out of the self-created hole was what this night was ultimately about. For 50 minutes, United were pathetic....

Every child needs little Brezhnevs and Lenins. Bonus: a new Yeltsin doll! Collector’s item: Paul McCartney’s album for Soviets only. Not anymore. The capitalist board game, in Russian. See, the Soviets do have irony. A recycler’s dream: contains fragment of SS-20 missile dismantled by treaty.

A small group of Army Rangers–the elite unit of ground troops–were testing out the beta version of a “see through walls” (STW) sensor at Eiler Hall, an old maintenance facility converted into a training site. One soldier pointed the sensor, housed inside a big, bright-orange suitcase, directly at the target: a windowless building that might contain the enemy. Several yards behind him, another took a reading off a laptop. On the screen: a simple graph charting time and distance....

Joseph Johnson of Albany, Ga., has created the “Keep Al Golden Banner campaign” on gofundme.com. As of 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, he had collected $775 from 24 people, including $500 from Laurence Leavy, aka “Marlins Man.” Johnson’s goal was $500. MORE: Hurricanes football greats | Canes in top three of SN’s ACC rankings “Al Golden has done a terrific job in keeping Miami irrelevant, Cane fans want him gone,” the campaign description reads....

The Senate Bill 475, entitled the “Juneteenth National Independence Day Act,” was passed by a 415-14 vote on Wednesday, clearing the way for President Joe Biden to sign it into law. The holiday will mark the date of June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were informed that they were free following the end of the Civil War more than two months prior. “As I have said many times, Juneteenth is as significant to African Americans as July 4 is to all Americans,” Texas Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who sponsored the House version of the bill, said in a statement after the vote was passed....

Three Republicans with ties to Trump are preparing or considering a challenge to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who has signaled her intention to run for re-election. The next chair will lead the committee through the 2024 presidential election. Last month’s midterms may have prompted a wave of GOP criticism of Trump, but the faultfinding did little to stop him from announcing early his third bid for the White House, which ups the ante over who will head the RNC while he is pursuing the party’s nomination....

Rockne created a whole system of football. His players were trained so well that many of them went on to become coaches at prep schools across the country. Once they had those jobs, they’d send their best players to Notre Dame. This was before other colleges had started recruiting nationally; back then most of the players at Harvard or Yale would be from New England, but we’d have kids from all over....

Jordan, from Tuscan, Arizona, has been sharing videos online under what she’s dubbed “mortuary TkTok.” She revealed what it’s like to work in a funeral parlour, including the forms to be filled in, the equipment used for embalming, where clothes are stored and what make-up is used. Her videos have been watched millions of times, as she stressed: “This is in no way to show any disrespect. This is the cremation process that funeral homes perform....