During this back-to-school season, parents will have more choices than ever.    Under @POTUS's leadership, education freedom has seen historic expansion – from charter schools to education freedom across the country.

During World War II, the plight of Polish refugees evacuated from Soviet Russia to Iran in 1942 remained largely hidden from the public. The Roosevelt administration, determined to preserve its military alliance with Stalin, suppressed photographs and reports showing starving and near-death Polish men, women, and children. Soviet atrocities, including forced deportations, starvation, imprisonment, and brutal treatment, were excluded from U.S. government Voice of America broadcasts. Polish evacuees were also discouraged from publicly describing their experiences because the Polish government-in-exile, under pressure from Washington and London, was still attempting to secure the release of hundreds of thousands of Poles held in the Soviet Union. The situation worsened after diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile collapsed in April 1943. The Soviets then forced many remaining Polish citizens to accept Soviet citizenship, threatening them with imprisonment or separation from their children. Entire Polish families had been deported and condemned to forced labor under the consequences of the Hitler-Stalin Pact. Many Polish women lost husbands, children, and other relatives in Soviet captivity. Yet American wartime propaganda continued to portray Stalin as a democratic ally, a friend and even “Uncle Joe,” while ignoring his role in the mass murder and suffering of Poles. Much of the evidence remained classified until 1952, when the U.S. congressional Madden Committee investigated the Katyn Forest massacre and released documents concerning the Soviet execution of thousands of Polish officers. Unlike the widely circulated photographs of victims liberated from German concentration camps, images of Polish deportees, Gulag prisoners, and refugees remained scarce in Western media, even during the Cold War. The misinformation extended to Voice of America broadcasts, which repeated the Soviet accusation that Germany had committed the Katyn massacre. This helped conceal the truth from the American public and protected the image of Stalin’s regime during the war. One of the few Americans to document what the Poles had endured was Lieutenant Colonel Henry I. Szymanski, a U.S. Army liaison officer attached to the Polish Army under General Władysław Anders. In November 1942, he submitted a report to the U.S. War Department describing the starvation, illness, and suffering of Polish refugees evacuated from the Soviet Union. Szymanski photographed emaciated survivors and recorded the conditions faced by Polish women used as forced laborers in Soviet camps and collective farms. Many were compelled to perform heavy manual labor, and those unable to meet their quotas faced starvation, punishment, or exploitation by Soviet supervisors. His report stated that Soviet policy aimed to destroy the Polish intelligentsia and break apart Polish families. Husbands were often arrested or executed, while their wives and children were deported to labor camps and distant settlements. Polish women worked beside men in mines, forests, factories, and construction projects with almost no food, medicine, or protection. Faced with starvation, some were coerced into abusive relationships with Soviet officials or overseers simply to survive. Despite these conditions, American officials and propagandists largely ignored the suffering of Poles under Soviet rule. Maintaining the appearance of Allied unity with Stalin was considered more important than revealing the truth. To this day, much of the Western world remains unaware that well regulated over a million Polish citizens were deported by Stalin’s Soviet regime, with many dying from starvation, disease, forced labor, and exposure under inhuman conditions. Sources: The Katyn Forest Massacre: Hearings Before the Select Committee to Conduct an Investigation of the Facts, Evidence and Circumstances of the Katyn Forest Massacre

During his time with Arsenal, Wojciech Szczesny was fined after being caught smoking. That led to the chant Barcelona fans began singing after immediately connecting with him. They shout ‘Szczesny fumador (the smoker)’. Barcelona have had two street parades to celebrate trophies since he joined the club. At the first one, he wore a straw hat bearing the words: ‘Fumador’ (smoker). At the second, he joined some fans in singing his chant. “I’ve never had my own chant before, so that’s already a surprising thing,” he says. “I enjoyed it. I try to be as authentic as I can, and people seem to appreciate it. “It might not seem the most professional thing in the world, but I am who I am. People know that I have one addiction that I cannot get rid of. “And I think even that feels authentic to them, because I would imagine that a lot of players have certain addictions, whether it’s nicotine or alcohol or gambling, I don’t know. But there’s one player who is quite open about it, and that’s me. And it’s an addiction that I’m not even willing to fight. I embrace it, and maybe it just feels authentic to people. “People don’t think I smoke because they saw a hidden photo of me from the paparazzi. I admitted to my addiction, and it’s an addiction that a lot of people in the world have. “People can probably relate to it. I don’t even think about recommending people to take up smoking. I think it’s a terrible thing and everybody should avoid it.” Read @Laia_Cervello’s full interview with Szczesny ⤵️ 🔗

During opening weekend, Imax CEO Richard Gelfond reported that an average screen equipped for 70 mm brought in a “massive” box-office haul of $153,000. Imax 70 mm screenings of “The Odyssey” will run for months, Gelfond said. But Imax can’t quickly multiply screening counts to meet the surge of interest. That’s because only a small share of total Imax theaters are big enough and equipped with the high-cost machinery necessary to project the gigantic rolls of 70 mm film. Imax lists 25 theaters across the U.S. and an additional 16 internationally with its 70 mm presentations of “The Odyssey.” Read more:

During a 1976 chess tournament in Amsterdam, Soviet grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi quietly asked an English competitor how to spell the phrase “political asylum.” Moments later, he walked into a police station and announced that he wanted to defect from the Soviet Union. By the mid-1970s, Viktor Korchnoi was one of the world’s strongest chess players, but life in the Soviet Union had become increasingly restrictive. While the USSR celebrated its chess champions as symbols of national prestige, they were also expected to remain politically loyal. Korchnoi openly criticized the Soviet chess establishment and repeatedly clashed with officials over limits on his travel and career. In 1976, he decided to leave for good. His defection in the Netherlands sent shockwaves through the chess world. Leaving the Soviet Union meant far more than changing countries. Korchnoi was branded a traitor, stripped of official support, and separated from much of his family, who remained in the USSR for years. Despite the personal cost, he settled in Switzerland, competed under the Swiss flag, and remained one of the world’s elite players for decades. The drama reached its peak at the 1978 World Chess Championship against Anatoly Karpov. The match became one of the Cold War’s most politically charged sporting events, featuring accusations of psychological warfare, claims of coded messages hidden in yogurt deliveries, disputes over mirrored sunglasses, alleged hypnotists in the audience, and constant protests from both camps. It became as much a symbolic contest between East and West as a battle over the chessboard. Although Korchnoi never won the world championship, his resilience and extraordinary longevity made him a chess legend. Decades after defecting, he was still defeating grandmasters less than half his age. In 2006, at 75 years old, he became the oldest player ever to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, a remarkable achievement that remains one of the greatest examples of longevity in elite chess.

During the flood season, abundant water from the Yurungkax River has created ideal conditions for ecological restoration in the surrounding desert in northwest China. Seizing this opportunity, a drone was used to sow seeds across the sandy landscape.

During a White House event on American nuclear innovation, President Trump said the U.S. is holding talks with Iran but warned military action could intensify if diplomacy fails.

During his eight months aboard the @Space_Station, @Astro_ChrisW conducted numerous experiments to improve life on Earth and prepare us for future space missions. From cancer research to advancing technology, read about Williams’ work in orbit: