London’s Metropolitan Police have blocked a Christian-led “Walk With Jesus” march that planned to pass through Whitechapel in east London. The reason for the ban is to avoid hostile local reactions and possible violence, because the police deemed the neighbourhood a “Muslim area”.  […] The post Christian Protest Blocked by Police Because It Passes Through “Muslim Area” of London first appeared on The Expose.

National icons often embody a nation’s values and history, serving as symbols of pride and unity. However, beneath their revered exteriors, many of these figures have been at the center of significant controversies that challenge their legacies. This article delves into the lesser-known disputes surrounding 15 such icons, offering a nuanced perspective on their complex ... The post 15 National Icons Who Were Way More Controversial Than They Seem appeared first on History Collection.

by Lorenzo Maria Pacini, Strategic Culture: In 2026, something unexpected happened at the World Economic Forum in Davos. One must examine every detail to grasp the deeper dynamics at work. Let us begin with the fundamentals. Every year, toward the end of January, a small Swiss Alpine town transforms into a global stage for political […]

A U.S. city of 60,000 people would typically see around six to eight traffic fatalities every year. But Hoboken, New Jersey? They haven’t had a single fatal crash for nine years — since January 17, 2017, to be exact.  Campaigns for seatbelts, lower speed limits and sober driving have brought national death tolls from car crashes down from a peak in the first half of the 20th century. However, many still assume some traffic deaths as an unavoidable cost of car culture. The global Vision Zero movement, by contrast, believes traffic deaths aren’t inevitable, celebrating Hoboken and related milestones in larger cities like Helsinki, Finland, as proof of what can be achieved. By studying which factors contribute to local crash fatalities, Vision Zero proponents say, communities can decide to change policies, infrastructure and human behavior to reduce the likelihood of fatal accidents. The post The City Where Traffic Fatalities Vanished appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM New research reveals how small changes to your routine can lead to major health benefits. If you spend most of your day glued to a chair, whether at work, home, or somewhere in between, you’re far from alone. But a new study offers a surprisingly simple way to support your long-term health without overhauling your routine: just sit less. According to recent research, cutting back on sitting time by even 30 minutes per day may help improve how your body burns fat, processes energy, and manages blood sugar. And it doesn’t require breaking a sweat or squeezing in an extra gym session. All it takes is to set a simple reminder to stand or move a little more throughout the day. Why less sitting matters Rather than focusing on structured workouts, researchers turned their attention to everyday movement. Specifically, they looked at something called metabolic flexibility. That’s your body’s ability to switch smoothly between burning carbs and fat depending on your activity level. When your metabolism is flexible, it adapts easily. You burn carbohydrates during higher-intensity activity and tap into fat stores during rest. But when that flexibility starts to decline, energy management becomes less efficient, and the risk of insulin resistance, fatigue, and weight gain goes up. That’s where reducing sitting time comes in. What the study found In the six-month study, researchers followed 64 adults with metabolic syndrome, a condition that increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Half the participants were encouraged to reduce their sitting time by about one hour per day, primarily through standing or light movement. The other half kept their normal habits. On average, those in the movement group sat 41 minutes less per day. It may sound like a modest shift, but even for those who reduced sitting by just 30 minutes, the improvements were clear: Greater metabolic flexibility: their bodies became better at switching between fat and carbohydrate use. Increased fat oxidation: they were more effective at using stored fat for energy, particularly during low-intensity activities. Improved insulin sensitivity: this helped better regulate blood sugar and reduce the risk of metabolic diseases. As lead researchers noted, the less time participants spent sitting, the more efficiently their bodies processed energy, making it easier to burn fat and support overall health. Light movement goes a long way One of the most encouraging aspects of the study is that none of the benefits came from intense exercise. Simply standing more and engaging muscles in your legs and core was enough to trigger meaningful improvements. Scientists believe this kind of light but consistent muscle activity can enhance mitochondrial function (the way your cells generate energy) and support healthier glucose and lipid metabolism. In essence, it trains your body to become more metabolically resilient. These findings also echo past research: even if you work out regularly, long, uninterrupted periods of sitting can blunt the benefits of exercise. The key is getting movement in often, even if it’s just a little bit. Easy ways to sit less (without overthinking it) If you’re working a desk job or find yourself sitting for long stretches, there are a few low-effort ways to work more movement into your daily rhythm: Set alarms every 30 to 60 minutes to stand or stretch. Take calls on your feet; walk around or step outside while chatting. Stand for short tasks like scrolling, journaling, or making your morning coffee. Use a standing desk or countertop setup to switch up your posture throughout the day. Add in micro-movements (think calf raises, weight shifts, or even fidgeting). Even small movements matter. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s consistency. What this means for your health You don’t need to log a full workout or aim for 10,000 steps to improve your health. This research reinforces a simple but powerful message: small, consistent lifestyle changes like sitting just 30 minutes less each day can spark significant improvements in your metabolism. Better fat-burning, more stable energy levels, and improved blood sugar regulation are all within reach, no matter your schedule. It’s a reminder that your daily habits, no matter how minor they may seem, can move the needle on your health in meaningful ways. Source study: Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports— Successfully reducing sitting time can improve metabolic flexibility     Did this solution stand out? Share it with a friend or support our mission by becoming an Emissary.The post Sitting 30 minutes less a day could seriously improve your metabolism, researchers say first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Each winter, the Bay of Biscay sadly becomes a hotspot for tragedy and loss for dolphins. These highly intelligent marine mammals migrate into the region just as fishing activity intensifies, creating a dangerously deadly overlap. For years, hundreds of dolphins have washed ashore on the coasts of France and Spain, many bearing the unmistakable scars of accidental capture in fishing nets. But this year, Europe is hitting pause again. The European Commission announced that it will reintroduce a seasonal fishing ban in early 2026, following positive results from similar restrictions in previous years. The temporary closure, set to run from 22 January to 20 February, will apply to vessels over eight metres in length operating in the Bay of Biscay. The aim is simple: give dolphins a fighting chance during the most dangerous time of year. A proven solution that’s gaining momentum This will be the third winter in a row that the European Union has applied this type of closure in the region. What’s changed is the tone of the conversation: unlike past years filled with uncertainty and pushback, this time, the results are speaking for themselves. In 2025, dolphin mortality dropped significantly, according to data cited by the Commission. That success is being used as a clear justification to repeat the measure. “This isn’t just theory—it’s evidence-based policy,” noted one official involved in the rollout. For researchers at PELAGIS, a French marine observatory that has tracked cetacean deaths for years, the move represents long-awaited validation of what their data has long shown: that reducing fishing activity during key migration periods works. Balancing conservation with livelihoods The ban will affect approximately 300 vessels across EU member states, disrupting business for many small and medium-scale fisheries. The Commission acknowledges the economic cost but has made support available. To soften the blow, impacted fishers will be eligible for compensation through the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, along with potential national aid. The goal is to ensure that conservation does not come at the expense of coastal communities’ stability. This balance between environmental protection and economic resilience is central to the EU’s approach. Tech, oversight, and year-round safeguards The winter closure is not a one-note solution. It’s part of a broader strategy to make fishing more dolphin-friendly throughout the year. Several policies already in place will continue into 2026: Acoustic deterrent devices (pingers) are required on certain vessels year-round. These devices emit sound frequencies to warn off cetaceans before they come too close to nets. Expanded monitoring programs, including the deployment of on-board observers and video camera systems, are being scaled up to track interactions between marine life and fishing gear. These tools help ensure that protective measures don’t rely solely on seasonal bans, but instead embed safeguards into the fabric of day-to-day operations. A model for pragmatic conservation At its heart, this recurring closure is an example of pragmatic, measurable environmental action. This elegant solution is one that acknowledges both the urgency of wildlife conservation and the realities of the fishing industry. By limiting fishing activity during peak risk periods, while offering financial support and expanding monitoring, the EU is carving out a middle path that other regions may look to replicate. Dolphins, it seems, are already responding to that lifeline. And as policymakers and communities gear up for 2026, the hope is that this seasonal pause becomes more than a band-aid solution, but perhaps even a blueprint.     Did this solution stand out? Share it with a friend or support our mission by becoming an Emissary.The post EU to reinstate Bay of Biscay fishing ban in 2026 after dolphin deaths decline first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

Shared universes are all the rage. By setting two or more stories in the same continuity, creators can maximize profits by combining multiple fan bases. They also enhance the world-building, showing how one narrative might have ramifications for another. You’re probably aware of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the MonsterVerse, and other cinematic efforts. These endeavors […] The post 10 Shared TV Universes You’ve Likely Forgotten About appeared first on Listverse.

Public DomainBetween his first murder in 1974 and his capture in 2005, BTK Killer Dennis Rader hid in plain sight as a churchgoing family man in Park City, Kansas. Dennis Rader was the president of his church congregation as well as a loving husband and a doting father. Altogether, he seemed to be a reliable and responsible man to all who knew him. But he was leading a double life. Though not even Rader’s wife, Paula Dietz, had any idea, he had secretly been leading another life as the Park City, Kansas serial killer, better known as the BTK Killer — a man who had tortured and murdered 10 people in and around Wichita, Kansas between 1974 and 1991. When the BTK Killer — which stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill” — was finally caught in 2005, Dennis Rader’s wife and his daughter Kerri refused to believe it. “My dad was the one who taught me my morals,” his daughter would later say. “He taught me right from wrong.” She had no idea that for 30 years her father preyed on girls just like her. This is the chilling story of the BTK Killer. Bo Rader-Pool/Getty ImagesDennis Rader, the BTK Killer, in court in Wichita, Kansas on August 17, 2005. Before Dennis Rader Became The BTK Killer Dennis Lynn Rader was born on March 9, 1945, as the oldest of four in Pittsburgh, Kansas. He would grow up in a fairly humble home in Wichita, the same city which he would later terrorize. Even as a teen Rader had a violent streak in him. He would allegedly hang and torture stray animals and as he later explained in a 2005 interview: “When I was in grade school, I sort of had some problems… Sexual, sexual fantasies. Probably more than normal. All males probably go through some kind of, uh, sexual fantasy. Mine was just probably a bit weirder than other people.” Dennis Rader went on to describe how he would bind his hands and ankles with rope. He would also cover his head with a bag — actions he would later employ on his victims. Harper CollinsDennis Rader wore masks while torturing and killing his victims. He cut out photos of women from magazines whom he found arousing and drew ropes and gags on them. He imagined how he could restrain and control them, which he later would during his crimes as the BTK Killer. But Rader continued to maintain an ordinary outward appearance, and he attended college for a time before he dropped out and joined the U.S. Air Force. When he returned home from duty, he took up work as an electrician in Wichita. He then met his wife Paula Dietz through church. She was a bookkeeper for Snacks convenience store and he proposed after just a few dates. They wed in 1971. The BTK Killer’s First Murder Dennis Rader was laid off from his job as an electrician in 1973 and shortly afterward killed his first victims on January 15, 1974. YouTubeDennis Rader in court during his description of the Otero murders for the judge. While his wife Paula was sleeping, Dennis Rader broke into the home of the Otero family and murdered every person inside of the house. The children – 11-year-old Josie and 9-year-old Joseph – were forced to watch while he strangled their parents to death. Josie cried out, “Mommy, I love you!” while she watched Rader strangle her mother to death. Then the little girl was dragged down into the basement where Rader pulled off her underwear and hung her from a sewer pipe. Her last words were to ask what would become of her. Her killer, stoic and calm, told her: “Well, honey, you’re going to be in heaven tonight with the rest of your family.” He watched the girl choke to death, masturbating while she died. He took pictures of the dead bodies and gathered up some of the little girl’s underwear as a memento of his first massacre. Then Dennis Rader went home to his wife. He had to get ready for church, as he was, after all, church council president. Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty ImagesThe home of Paula Dietz and Dennis Rader. Dennis Rader’s Family Life Alongside Paula Deitz While Committing His Murders While her husband massacred a family, Dennis Rader’s wife Paula Dietz prepared to start one of her own. Rader took his next two victims just a few months after the Oteros’ 15-year-old son discovered his family. The BTK Killer stalked and waited in the apartment of a young college student named Kathryn Bright before he stabbed and strangled her. He then shot her brother, Kevin, twice — though he survived. Kevin later described Rader as having “‘psychotic’ eyes.” Paula was three months pregnant with Rader’s first child when, unknown to her, her husband began to advertise his crimes covertly. After describing how he killed the Oteros in a letter he stashed inside an engineering book at the Wichita Public Library, Dennis Rader called a local paper, the Wichita Eagle and let them know where they could find his confession. He added that he intended to kill again and named himself BTK, which was an acronym for his preferred method: Bind, Torture, and Kill. Getty ImagesStarting in 1974, Dennis Rader murdered at least 10 victims across Kansas while calling himself the BTK Killer — short for “bind, torture, kill.” Dennis Rader allegedly took some time off his murder streak after Paula Dietz told him that she was pregnant, “I was so excited, for us and our folks. We were now a family. With a job and a baby, I got busy.” This lasted only a few short years, though, and the BTK Killer struck again in 1977. But shortly before her husband raped and choked his seventh victim, Shirley Vian, to death while her six-year-old son watched through the keyhole of a door, Dietz found an early draft of a poem entitled Shirley Locks in which her husband writes “Thou shalt not screem…but lay on cushion and think of me and death.” But Paula Dietz did not ask questions, even when the clues added up. She didn’t say anything when her husband marked-up newspaper stories on the serial killer with what he called his own secret code. When she noticed that the taunting letters the BTK Killer sent to police were full of the same horrendous misspellings as the letters she got from her husband, she didn’t say anything more than a gentle ribbing: “You spell just like BTK.” Bo Rader-Pool/Getty ImagesDetective Sam Houston holds up the mask Dennis Rader used while killing one of his victims, Wichita, Kansas. August 18, 2005 Nor did she ask him about the mysterious sealed box he kept in their home. She never even once tried to look inside. If she had, she would have found a treasure chest of horrors, which Rader referred to as the “mother lode.” It contained mementos from the BTK Killer’s crime scenes: dead women’s underwear, driver’s licenses, along with pictures of him dressed up in his victims’ underwear, choking himself and burying himself alive, re-enacting the ways he had killed them. “Part of my M.O. was to find and keep the victim’s underwear,” Rader explained in an interview. “Then in my fantasy, I would relive the day, or start a new fantasy.” Nonetheless, his wife would later insist to the police that Dennis Rader was “a good man, a great father. He would never hurt anyone.” The BTK Killer: A Proud Father Secretly Living A Double Life Kristy Ramirez/YouTubeDennis Rader, the BTK Killer, with his children on Christmas. Not even Dennis Rader’s own children suspected him. Their father was, at his worst, a strictly moral Christian. His daughter, Kerri Rawson, would recall how once her father did angrily grab her brother by the neck, and she and her mother had to pull him off to save the boy’s life. “I can still picture it clearly and I can see the intense anger in my dad’s face and eyes,” Kerri reported. But this instance appeared isolated. When she learned of the BTK Killer, it was her own father, ironically, who soothed her late-night worries. Her father waved every morning to 53-year-old Marine Hedge while on his way to church. When she became the BTK Killer’s eighth victim, tied up and choked to death, it was Dennis Rader himself who had been the one to comfort and reassure his family, “Don’t worry,” he told them. “We’re safe.” In truth, Rader had murdered the woman the night before, after sneaking out of the campsite he was chaperoning on his son’s cub scout retreat. He returned by morning to the group of young boys with no suspicions. In 1986, he killed his ninth victim, 28-year-old Vicki Wegerle, while her two-year-old watched from a playpen. Her murder would remain unsolved until the BTK Killer unknowingly brought himself to justice. Dennis Rader Faces Justice After Three Decades Larry W. Smith/AFP/Getty ImagesDennis Rader is escorted into the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas on August 19, 2005. Dennis Rader in some respect fell into domestic life and in 1991 began working for the Wichita suburb of Park City as a compliance supervisor. He was known to be an exacting officer and often unforgiving with clients. That same year he committed his 10th and final crime. Rader used a cinderblock to break through the sliding glass door of a 62-year-old grandmother, Dolores Davis, who lived just a few miles from his own family. He dumped her body by a bridge. In his last year as a free man, Dennis Rader came across a story in the local paper which marking the 30th anniversary of the Otero murders. He wanted to make the BTK Killer known again and in 2004, sent nearly a dozen taunting letters and packages to the media and the police. Some were full of mementos from his massacres, some of dolls bound up and gagged like his victims, and one even contained a pitch for an autobiographical novel he wanted to write called The BTK Story. The one that would finally do him in though, was a letter on a floppy disk. Inside, the police found the metadata of a deleted Microsoft Word Document. It was a document for the Christ Lutheran Church, authored by the church council president: Dennis Rader. Public DomainNow serving 10 life sentences at Kansas’ El Dorado Correctional Facility, BTK Killer Dennis Rader murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. DNA samples were taken from one of his victim’s fingernails and police accessed his daughter’s pap smears to confirm a match. When they received a positive match, Dennis Rader was taken from his home in front of his family on February 25, 2005. The father tried to keep up a reassuring face. He gave his daughter one last hug, promising her it would all be cleared up soon. In the police car, though, he didn’t try to hide a thing. When the officer asked him if he knew why he was being arrested, Rader gave a cold smirk and replied, “Oh, I have suspicions why.” He confessed to all 10 murders, seeming to take a twisted joy in describing all the brutal details of how the women had died in court. The BTK Killer was sentenced to 175 years in jail without the possibility of parole. He escaped the death penalty only because Kansas did not have the death penalty during the 17 years of his rampage. He was 60-years-old when he was sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences. When The BTK Killer Was Caught, A Fractured Family Was Left Behind Kerri RawsonKerri Rawson fishing with her father in 2002. Dennis Rader’s wife left her meal half-eaten on the dinner table when her husband was arrested. Paula Dietz would never come back to finish it. When the horrible truth of what Dennis Rader had done came out, she refused to ever step foot at that home again. She divorced Rader when he confessed to the crimes. The Rader family tried to stay quiet during the trial. There was no explanation as to his rampage besides Dennis Rader’s supposition that: “I actually think I may be possessed with demons.” The media accused Paula Dietz of knowing more than she let on, of protecting her husband, and of ignoring the evidence. The BTK Killer’s daughter at first hated him, especially when he sent a letter to the newspaper about her, saying that “She reminds me of me.” It didn’t escape the kids that they shared their father’s blood or that some part of him might live on within them. Nor did it escape them that, if their father had been stopped when he first killed, they would never have been born. “That really messes with your head,” Kerri said. “There is almost a guilt there, for being alive. They died. And you got to live.” Public DomainDennis Rader, a.k.a. the BTK Killer, following his arrest in Sedgwick County, Kansas. February 27, 2005. But the hardest part of all was that, for all he’d done, Dennis Rader was still their father. “Should I tell you that I grew up adoring you, that you were the sunshine of my life?” Kerri wrote in her autobiography, A Serial Killer’s Daughter. “I just wished you were sitting next to me in the theater, sharing a tub of buttered popcorn. But you’re not.” “You won’t ever have this again,” she wrote her father. “Was it worth it?” The Ongoing Aftermath Of Dennis Rader’s Horrific Crimes Even after nearly 20 years following his arrest, the story of the BTK Killer continues to unfold. Eddie Virden/Osage County Sheriff’s OfficeAuthorities search Dennis Rader’s former property in August 2023 in hopes of uncovering evidence related to two newly-reopened cold cases that may involve the BTK Killer. In August 2023, Oklahoma’s Osage County Sheriff’s Office announced that they were investigating Dennis Rader as the possible culprit in the June 1976 disappearance of a 16-year-old cheerleader named Cynthia Kinney. She was last seen at a laundromat in Pawhuska — right across the street from a bank where Rader may have been installing a security system at the time. Most chilling of all, there’s an excerpt of Rader’s writings at the time that reads simply, “bad laundry day.” Sheriffs also suspect that a word puzzle sent to a Kansas City TV station in 2004 that taunted the authorities about the Kinney case was sent by Rader. At the same time as this announcement, Osage sheriffs revealed that Rader is also the prime suspect in the 1990 death of a 22-year-old woman named Shawna Beth Garber in McDonald County, Missouri. She had been bound, raped, and strangled in the way that other victims of the BTK Killer had been, but her remains weren’t identified until 2021. Apart from any still-unknown victims of Dennis Rader that are waiting to be found, he made headlines again in 2024 when his daughter Kerri Rawson went public with allegations that another one of his journal entries confirms that he sexually assaulted her in 1981, when she was too young to remember. She came across a journal entry that read, “KERRI/BND/GAME 1981,” with “BND” being his abbreviation for “bondage.” Upon seeing the entry, Rawson was horrified. “My stomach twisted into white hot lightning,” she said. “There it was, after four decades, hard proof that you, my father, had sexually abused me when I was a toddler.” Public DomainA 2023 prison photo showing Dennis Rader today, at age 78 and in failing health. Clearly, the horrors of the BTK Killer are still continuing to come to light. After this look at Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer, check out another covert killer with a double-life, Ted Bundy. Then, read up on serial killer Edmund Kemper. The post The Grisly Story Of Dennis Rader, The Man No One Suspected Was The BTK Killer appeared first on All That's Interesting.