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Excerpt from the newspaper editorial
Excerpt from the newspaper editorial

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" is a well-known line from an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church titled "Is There a Santa Claus?", which appeared in the New York newspaper The Sun on September 21, 1897. Written in response to a letter by eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon asking whether Santa Claus was real, the editorial was initially published anonymously and Church's authorship was not disclosed until after his 1906 death. After its initial publication, it was quickly reprinted by other newspapers. As the editorial became increasingly popular over the years, The Sun began republishing it during the Christmas and holiday season, including every year from 1924 until the paper ceased publication in 1950. "Is There a Santa Claus?" is still widely reprinted during the holiday season and has been cited as the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language. It has been translated into around 20 languages and adapted as television specials, a film, a musical, and a cantata. (Full article...)

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December 24

Wreckage of the Tangiwai disaster
Wreckage of the Tangiwai disaster
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Boys playing street football in Cairo, Egypt

Street football, or street soccer, is an informal variation on the game of association football, typically played in outdoor urban settings such as streets, playgrounds and car parks. The term encompasses a variety of different formats, which do not necessarily follow the requirements of a formal game of football, such as a large field, field markings, goal apparatus and corner flags, eleven players per team, or match officials (referee and assistant referees). Street football is often played as a pick-up game, without fixed timing and with players joining and leaving at any point. Many international professional players learned to play football on the street, including Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Pelé, Giuseppe Meazza, Eamon Dunphy, Eusébio, Dejan Savićević, and Cristiano Ronaldo. This 2017 photograph shows boys playing street football on al-Mu'izz Street in Cairo, Egypt, by the exterior wall of the al-Hakim Mosque.

Photograph credit: Mohamed Hozyen Ahmed; edited by Bammesk

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