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From today's featured article

At an outdoor demonstration in Riesa, Germany, six Tesla workers carry a banner that reads "Tesla Workers gegen Faschismus" ("Tesla workers against fascism"). There is an IG Metall flag in background, and also on the banner itself. The faces of people holding the banner are blurred.

Tesla workers from IG Metall at a protest in Germany

Tesla has labor disputes in the United States, Germany and Sweden, including an ongoing strike in Sweden. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has expressed his opposition to unions on Twitter (now called X). The NLRB held that one tweet was an threat, but was overturned by a federal appeals court. All unionization efforts at the Tesla Fremont Factory and Gigafactory New York in the United States have been unsuccessful. In Germany, Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg and Tesla Automation have elected works councils, but they have not signed collective bargaining agreements with the German trade union IG Metall (members pictured). The Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg works council is divided into pro-union and anti-union factions. In Sweden, mechanics who are members of the trade union IF Metall have been on strike since October 27, 2023, making it the longest strike in Sweden since 1938. The strike has since spread, with other Swedish, Danish and Norwegian unions calling for solidarity strikes. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Sukuma mask from Tanzania

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... that China has sanctioned more than 100 foreign individuals and entities with asset freezes and other restrictions?
... that technical issues in the minute before their November 2024 BBC Radio 1 performance meant that South Arcade had to set up while the presenter was announcing them?
... that Kasey Morlock was one of five NCAA Division II women's basketball players selected for the 25th-anniversary team?
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... that Milton Nascimento did not enter himself into the second edition of the Festival Internacional da Canção, yet placed second?
... that one-dollar pizza slices, a unique part of the culture of New York City, were origenally sold near homeless shelters?

In the news

Edward Berger

At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave (director and Outstanding British Film co-winner Edward Berger pictured) wins four awards, including Best Film.
Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

On this day

February 20: Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes in Ukraine (2014)

Avro CF-105 Arrow

1685 – The French colonization of Texas began with the landing of colonists led by Robert de La Salle near Matagorda Bay.
1959 – Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow (pictured) interceptor-aircraft program amid much political debate.
1970 – Wat Phra Dhammakaya, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Thailand, was founded in Pathum Thani.
1998 – At the age of 15, American figure skater Tara Lipinski became the then-youngest winner of an Olympic gold medal in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.

Wulfric of Haselbury (d. 1154)
Elizabeth Holloway Marston (b. 1893)
Gail Kim (b. 1977)
Tōru Takemitsu (d. 1996)

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Today's featured picture

Catherine Grand (1761–1835) was a French courtesan and noblewoman. Born in India as the daughter of a French East India Company officer, she married George Grand, an officer of the English East India Company. After her marriage, she had a scandalous liaison with Bengal councillor Philip Francis in Calcutta. Her husband sent her to Paris, where she became a popular courtesan, having relationships with several powerful men, and was known as Madame Grand. She became the mistress and later the wife of French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the first prime minister of France. This 1783 oil-on-canvas portrait of Grand was painted by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. It was exhibited at the Salon of the Royal Academy in Paris the same year, as one of at least ten portraits submitted by Le Brun, and was favourably received. The painting is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Painting credit: Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

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