“Sol Nascente”, ao longo da sua exibição, recebeu críticas muito severas, porque em algumas ocasiões deixou mesmo a desejar. No entanto, os números da sua audiência têm demonstrado que o público pensa ou vê a novela de maneira bem diferente. O índice de aceitação por parte do telespectador, segundo a Globo, chega até superar aquilo que se entende como média para uma produção das 18h. Em algumas das mais importantes capitais, ou “Sol Nascente” colou em “A Lei do Amor” ou até tomou o seu posto como novela mais assistida da Globo, de acordo com levantamentos mais recentes. Em Fortaleza, é líder (26,4 x 26,3); em Recife também (35,5 x 30,7) e perde no Distrito Federal (27 x 28) e e em Salvador (29,1 x 29,6).
Cathay Pacific plans to offer more nonstop flights to Brisbane over summer through de-linking its four times weekly Hong Kong-Cairns-Brisbane service.
Under the new schedule to operate from October 2017 to March 2018, Cathay will fly nonstop between Cairns and Hong Kong three times a week, while the Brisbane-Hong Kong route will be served with 11 weekly nonstop flights.
Currently, the oneworld alliance member flies Brisbane-Hong Kong daily and operates four Hong Kong-Cairns-Brisbane-Cairns-Hong Kong services a week.
Cathay general manager for southwest Pacific Nelson Chin said the schedule change was in response to growing demand for leisure and business travel.
Further, the new Cairns services will be retimed to offer shorter connections to Asia and beyond via Cathay’s Hong Kong hub.
The move to have nonstop flights to Cairns comes as Singapore Airlines’ regional wing SilkAir prepares to boost its schedule from Cairns to Singapore later in 2017.
SilkAir de-linked its three times a week Singapore-Darwin- Cairns-Singapore flight in May 2016, a year after the airline’s inaugural service touched down in North Queensland.
The airline plans to increase Cairns to four flights a week from June, while a fifth weekly service will be added for some peak months. All flights are operated with Boeing 737-800 narrowbodies and offer connections to Asia and Europe via SilkAir’s Singapore hub.
Hong Kong Airlines, which is part of Virgin Australia shareholder HNA Group’s stable of airlines, is also on the Hong Kong-Cairns route.
Other long-haul destinations from Cairns included Osaka Kansai and Tokyo Narita (Jetstar) and Manila (Philippine Airlines), as well as seasonal services to Guangzhou (China Southern), Seoul Incheon (Jin Air) and Shanghai (China Eastern).
Caltex Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak has shown his versatility to help Aston Villa to another excellent win and dent Sheffield Wednesday’s promotion hopes in England’s Championship overnight.
Jedinak started the match in his usual midfield role but an injury to defender Nathan Baker on 25 minutes saw manager Steve Bruce move him to centre-back.
The Aussie captain played the rest of the match in the heart of defence, coming up with a host of important blocks and towering headers to keep the visitors at bay. It proved a masterstroke as Villa were rarely threatened and registered a 2-0 win against sixth-placed Wednesday thanks to Jonathan Kodjia’s double.
Elsewhere in the Championship and there was crucial wins for a couple of other Caltex Socceroo midfielders as well. Jackson Irvine continued his impressive season, playing 90 minutes as Burton Albion came away with a vital 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
Cauley Woodrow struck the winner for Burton to ease their relegation fears as they moved three points clear of the drop zone. It was the same scoreline for Aaron Mooy’s Huddersfield Town as they strengthened their promotion hopes with a narrow victory at Brentford.
Mooy came on just before the hour mark for Huddersfield who are now just six points off top spot, and with a game in hand.
Bailey Wright’s Bristol City jumped out of the bottom three as they came away with a massive 1-0 win at fellow relegation candidates Wigan Athletic. Wright was outstanding over the 90 minutes, with Aden Flint scoring two minutes from time to hand Bristol what could be a precious three points Massimo Luongo played a full game as QPR drew 0-0 with Leeds United, while Ryan Williams played the last 11 minutes as Barnsley drew 1-1 with Ipswich.
Caltex Socceroo striker Tomi Juric continued his goal-scoring form in Switzerland, finding the net in FC Luzern’s 1-1 draw on Sunday morning (AEDT).
Juric opened the scoring away at St Gallen on 51 minutes, producing a clinical finish after excellent lead-up play from Marco Schneuwly.
The draw keeps Luzern in fourth spot in the Swiss Super League, six points clear of St Gallen in fifth.
His goal – his first in the league since October – comes just over a week since his brace and assist in a Swiss Cup match. It’s also the third straight game the 25-year-old has completed 90 minutes which is a positive sign ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Iraq and UAE.
Aussies in action in Asia In China, Ryan McGowan played a full match in the heart of defence for Guizhou Zhicheng, as they battled out a 1-1 draw with Beijing Guoan. Matt Jurman’s Suwon Bluewings had a tough night in the Korea, slumping to a 2-0 loss at home against Jeonbuk.
Dimitri Petratos played an hour as his Ulsan Hyundai were crushed 3-0 at Jeju United, while Connor Chapman got through 55 minutes as his Incheon United drew 2-2 at Daegu. Mixed results in League One James Meredith’s Bradford City strengthened their promotion push with a much-needed 2-0 win at lowly Coventry City. The Aussie left-back played a full game for the visitors.
Chris Herd – who was subbed off at half-time – was involved in a crazy match as his Gillingham upset Scunthorpe United.
Trailing 2-0 with less than 15 minutes left, Gillingham were awarded – and scored – three penalties all via Josh Wright for a memorable 3-2 win. Both Aiden O’Neill (Oldham) and Cameron Burgess (Bury) started as their side’s played out a goalless draw while Bradden Inman played the last 28 minutes as Peterborough lose 2-1 against Oxford United.
Melbourne Victory have kept alive the Premiership race and ended their Perth Glory hoodoo after romping to a 4-1 win over the WA outfit at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
The home side hadn’t beaten Perth in their last eight outings and they got off to an inauspicious start when Diego Castro opened the scoring against the run of play after just five minutes.
However Victory rallied on the back of a vintage Besart Berisha performance, with their talisman netting his 99th Hyundai A-League goal before teeing up Fahid Ben Khalfallah in sensational fashion before the break.
Both sides continued to play an expansive brand of football after the interval but just when it looked like Glory would draw level they were hit with a sucker punch via the boot of Marco Rojas.
James Troisi celebrated his recall to the Caltex Socceroos fold with a sublime individual effort to bank Victory’s fourth, while Lawrence Thomas made a couple of spectacular late saves to maintain the final three goal margin.
The result means Kevin Muscat’s side have now won nine of their last 11 home matches, while Glory have work to do over the remaining four rounds in their quest to host an Elimination Final.
GOALS
0-1 Perth Glory: Diego Castro, 5’
A goal bound Adam Taggart header was well saved by Thomas following a cross from Andy Keogh but Castro was on hand to lash home the parry from an acute angle.
1-1 Melbourne Victory: Besart Berisha, 23’
Marco Rojas picked out the front post run of his strike partner with a curling free-kick, with Berisha heading strongly between Liam Reddy and the post to draw his side level.
2-1 Melbourne Victory: Fahid Ben Khalfallah, 42’
Berisha dug into his bag of tricks, juggling the ball multiple times on the byline before whipping in a cross with his back to goal that the Tunisian nodded home after getting the better of Josh Risdon.
3-1 Melbourne Victory: Marco Rojas, 48’
The home side hit Glory in transition with Ben Khalfallah feeding the run of Rojas, who darted towards goal before cutting inside Marc Warren and bending the ball inside the far post.
4-1 Melbourne Victory: James Troisi, 73’
The in-form midfielder did it all himself, winning the ball and ghosting past a couple of defenders before hammering the ball past Reddy who was left rooted to the spot.
Sydney FC are one win away from having an unassailable lead in the Premiership race after grinding out a 1-0 win against the Central Coast Mariners at Allianz Stadium on Friday night. An early goal from Filip Holosko put the home side in control, with Mariners goalkeeper Ivan Necevski pulling off multiple sharp saves in the second half to keep the visitors in the contest.
Coming up against his former side Necevski denied Bernie Ibini from the penalty spot, while he needed to dive full stretch to turn a Brandon O’Neill free-kick around the post in a man-of-the-match display. The Sky Blues jumped out of the box in the opening match of a split Round 23 with defender Jordy Buijs firing an early warning shot when he blazed over the bar. Sydney didn’t have to wait long to take the lead however when their Slovak striker empathically buried a pinpoint cross from Michael Zullo at the back post.
Recently selected Socceroo Rhyan Grant mishit a chance to double his side’s lead before the break, while substitute Ibini also stuck the crossbar following his penalty miss. The Mariners were not without some chances of their own with Fabio Ferreira and Roy O’Donovan both spurning free headers in the first-half, but they struggled to find a route to goal after the interval.
The result sees the Sky Blues complete a season sweep of the Central Coast and the Premiers Plate will be theirs if Melbourne Victory fail to beat Perth Glory on Saturday night. Meanwhile the Mariners hopes of playing finals football have been all but extinguished but they’ll take heart from the fact they pushed the run-away league leaders all the way on their home patch.
GOALS 1-0 Sydney FC: Filip Holosko, 8’ Some crisp passing from the Sky Blues gave Michael Zullo the chance to whip in a dangerous cross to the back post, where Holosko charged onto the ball and volleyed home from the six yard line.
CROWD 11,148 @ Allianz Stadium Re-live all the action on Twitter @ALeague, @SydneyFC, @CCMariners, #SYDvCCM
Ryan Edwards has celebrated his Caltex Socceroos call-up by producing a big performance for Partick Thistle in the Scottish Premier League this morning (Sunday).
The 23-year-old set up Thistle’s opening goal 10 minutes after the break with his inch-perfect cross dispatched into the net by Kris Doolan.
It looked like that would be enough to hand them victory against Inverness, only for the visitors to equalise in the second minute of stoppage time.
While the 1-1 draw was a disappointing result for Thistle, Edwards did his chances of making Ange Postecoglou’s final 23-man squad no harm with another all action performance.
An Australian youth international at both U20 and U23 level, Edwards was called up to the Caltex Socceroos for the first time on Wednesday when named in the 30-man squad for the upcoming games against Iraq and UAE. Striker Scott McDonald was also involved in the SPL overnight, playing a full game as his Motherwell side lost 1-0 at Aberdeen.
In Germany, Mathew Leckie returned from a two-game Bundesliga suspension for FC Ingolstadt. The speedy winger got through the full 90 minutes as his side came from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Koln.
Left-back Aziz Behich pushed his claims for a starting spot against Iraq with another full game for Bursaspor in Turkey as they fought out a 1-1 draw with Osmanlispor.
Fellow left-back Brad Smith watched from the bench in the EPL, with his AFC Bournemouth edging out West Ham 3-2.
57. GOOOOOAAAAL! Partick Th 1 v 0 Inverness Edwards floats a ball in and Kris DOOLAN stabs home.
It’s past time for an apology to the Chinese-Mexican community
Mexico has recently been on the receiving end of an ugly wave of xenophobia from some American politicians and members of the public.
In response, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, standing in solidarity with his country’s diaspora, made it a point to personally receive 135 deported Mexican nationals on February 7. Mr. Peña Nieto declared at the airport, “You are not alone, do not feel abandoned. The doors to this, your house, will always be open.”
The president’s gesture was likely designed to portray Mexico as a principled and moral country. If this was indeed Mr. Peña Nieto’s goal, then perhaps it is an opportune time for Mexico to confront its own historical responsibility for xenophobic and exclusionary policies.
Almost a century ago, Mexico experienced a dramatic rise in xenophobia against immigrants from China, resulting in exclusionary policies and outright violence. Given the fraught political climate today, it is long past time for the Mexican government to apologize to the Chinese-Mexican community.
Doing so would not only help heal deep historical wounds, it would lay the foundations for a stronger Mexican foreign policy going forward.
Mexico has an oft-ignored history of discriminating against Chinese immigrants. “Chinese-Mexicans are nearly absent from the Mexican national narrative,” according to Grace Peña Delgado, professor at UC Santa Cruz.
An anti-Chinese movement emerged during the Mexican Revolution and attained peak influence before and during the Great Depression. While most of Mexico’s anti-Chinese groups were formed between 1922 and 1927, with names such as the Comité Pro-Raza, Comité Anti-Chino de Sinaloa and the Liga Nacional Obrera Antichina, there was a significant amount of animosity against the Chinese prior to the 1920s.
Perhaps the most violent single episode occurred in 1911, when Mexican revolutionary forces massacred over 300 people of Chinese descent in the city of Torreón.
Popular Mexican politicians of the time often fanned the flames of xenophobia. For example, as one of the most prominent national politicians of the era, Plutarco Elías Calles had held strong antichinista leanings since his days as a Sonoran state politician.
He was known as the Maximato, and his powerful position made it easier to expel Chinese with impunity. Not only did he support a special tax on Chinese farmers and merchants in the agricultural towns around the capital, he denied reentry permits to those people of Chinese descent who had traveled to China.
Later, in 1931, his son, Rodolfo Elías Calles, assumed the governorship of Sonora and formed “rural brigades” to search for Chinese hiding in the countryside. Mere association with the Chinese community was enough for these vigilantes to act, and among the victims were many Mexican women married to Chinese men.
As a result of the violence and discrimination, Mexico witnessed a mass exodus of people of Chinese descent. Some 70% of Chinese-Mexicans were expelled to China or, ironically, the United States. While repatriation efforts began almost immediately and lasted until the 1980s, the legacy of the hatred is hard to erase.
A formal Mexican government apology at this particular moment can achieve multiple purposes. First, it would strengthen Mexico’s moral argument in lobbying for immigration reform in the United States. After being elected as president, Mr. Peña Nieto argued that he “would welcome the implementation of comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.”
Should he choose to make amends for a particularly xenophobic period of Mexican history, Mr. Peña Nieto would pose a powerful moral challenge to American President Donald Trump to take immigration reform seriously.
Second, such a gesture would be good global statesmanship. An apology would display a commitment to liberal values while at the same time signal a greater level of friendliness towards China.
It would also be in keeping with Mr. Peña Nieto’s own views, having stated that he “intend[s] to start a new era of economic and political cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region.”
In some ways, Mr. Peña Nieto would be following in the footsteps of his NAFTA counterparts. In 2006, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a full apology to Chinese-Canadians for the Head Tax and expressed his deepest sorrow for the subsequent exclusion of Chinese immigrants from 1923 until 1947.
Similarly, in October of 2011, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution apologizing for past discriminatory laws that exclusively targeted Chinese immigrants, in particular the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. In June of 2012, the U.S. House of the Representatives also passed a resolution expressing regret for past discriminatory laws. This apology came on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu (Democrat-Calif.), the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress.
Making amends for Mexico’s xenophobic past can pay dividends for the country’s future relations with China. As a gesture of goodwill, it can be sold domestically as a sort of prepaid “pilón.”
There is a neat historical symmetry here. Historically, pilón has been an important part of Chinese businesses in Sonora. It refers to the tip of a cone of piloncillo, or brown sugar in a crystallized form.
Chinese business owners in Sonora regularly gave their customers some sort of pilón or small gift with a purchase. Over time, it became a metaphor for something above and beyond the expected: “un detalle” (a little extra), in the words of some Sonorans.
The Sino-Mexican relationship is one with high stakes. An apology served as pilón may be a small price to pay in order to advance Mexico’s moral standing in the world and economic interests with China.
The writer graduated from Intituto Militar de Estudios Superiores, Uruguay, obtained an MA in Latin American Studies from New York University, and an MA in Political Economy and Ph.D in Political Sciences from Claremont Graduate University. Currently he is professor and director of the Center for Latin American Economy and Trade Studies at Chihlee University of Technology, Taiwan.
According to Tom Tom survey for the year 2017, some of these cities listed below experience traffic congestion during a particular time of the day, while some have the problem all day long. Photo by Mohsin Abbas / The Santiago Times staff
By Mohsin Abbas / The Santiago Times Staff
SANTIAGO — Believe it or not, Chile’s capital city has been ranked among top 10 cities in the world that have the worst traffic during rush hour.
According to Tom Tom survey for the year 2017, some of these cities listed below experience traffic congestion during a particular time of the day, while some have the problem all day long.
10. Santiago, Chile
Santiago, the capital city of Chile, stands at the tenth spot on the list of cities that have the worst traffic during rush hour. Santiago is the cultural, political and financial centre of Chile and is home to the regional headquarters of many multinational corporations. Also, Santiago’s air is the most polluted in Chile.
9. Zhuhai, China
Taking the ninth place is Zhuhai, located in the Guangdong province in China. The city is one of China’s premier tourist destinations, and according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2014, Zhuhai is the most livable city in China.
8. Saint Petersburg, Russia
Saint Petersburg is one of the most westernised cities in Russia, and also takes the eighth place on the list of cities that have the worst traffic in the world. A large number of foreign consulates, international corporations, banks, and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg. The city is a major trade gateway, the financial and industrial centre of Russia specialising in oil and gas trade, shipbuilding yards, aerospace industry, radio and electronics, and more.
7. Istanbul, Turkey
In the seventh place is Istanbul, Turkey. Although the city appears in the seventh place on the list, the most populous city of Turkey has seen traffic ease out, primarily due to authorities, which provide real-time traffic data. This has helped drivers plan their journey and avoid major traffic jams.
6. Chongqing, China
Coming up in the sixth place is the city of Chongqing, located in the south-west region of China and is one of the five national central cities in the country. According to the 2010 census, Chongqing is the most populous Chinese municipality, known as a major manufacturing centre and transportation hub, and is also one of the emerging megacities of China.
5. Moscow, Russia
Moscow, the capital and the most populous city of Russia, takes the fifth place on the list. The city is well known for its architecture, greenery – has the largest forest in an urban area, and, traffic – the reason Moscow is on this list of cities with the worst traffic jams.
4. Jakarta, Indonesia
The fourth place is taken by Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta. Being a tourist destination, the city attracts a large domestic crowd and also hosts as the stop-over for foreign visitors on their way to Bali. Tourism is contributing a growing amount of income to the city, and the government provides free double-decker bus tours.
3. Bucharest, Romania
The third most traffic affected city in the world is the capital city of Romania and also the largest, Bucharest. Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the main industrial centres and transportation hubs of Eastern Europe. Bucharest is a major intersection of Romania’s national road network. A few of the busiest national roads and motorways link the city to all of Romania’s major cities, as well as to neighboring countries.
2. Mexico City, Mexico
The densely populated capital city of Mexico takes the honours at second place in the list of cities with the worst traffic jams. Mexico City is the world’s worst city for full-day traffic congestion. People don’t have many options to get to work since extensive subway system doesn’t extend out to where all the population growth is happening.
1. Bangkok, Thailand
Having been known as the ‘World’s Best City’ for four consecutive years, Thailand’s capital, Bangkok takes the crown when it comes to rush hour traffic. This is the second consecutive year Bangkok has topped the list of cities with the worst traffic. Bangkok’s rapid growth in the 1980s resulted in a sharp increase in vehicle ownership and traffic demand, leading to severe traffic congestion.
The data was gathered by TomTom after scouting 390 cities in 48 countries.
Um anúncio no DN de há exatamente cem anos anunciava acontecimentos extraordinários para o dia 13 de maio de 1917
Quem lesse a edição do Diário de Notícias do dia 10 de março de 1917 repararia que na página 4, na 9ª coluna, encontrava-se um anúncio pago tão inesperado como estranho. Como título tinha um número em destaque: 135917. Mas no texto curto continha algo que interessava muito às milhares de famílias que tinham os filhos no campo de batalha da Flandres, onde integravam os exércitos em luta na terrível Grande Guerra, cuja maioria morreria vítima de gaseamento. O texto do anúncio referia: “Não esqueças o dia feliz em que findará o nosso martírio. A guerra que nos fazem terminará.”
O anúncio poderia ter qualquer interpretação se dois meses e três dias depois, a 13 de maio, não tivesse tido lugar a primeira das seis alegadas aparições da Nossa Senhora aos três pastorinhos. Se dúvidas houvesse, na manhã do próprio dia dos acontecimentos sobrenaturais da Cova da Iria foi publicado uma notícia no Jornal de Notícias, onde se reforçava a mensagem que antes saíra no DN. Essa notícia é escrita a partir de um postal enviado à redação, com data de 11 de maio de 1917, cujo texto deixa os redatores tão estupefactos que colocam como título “Revelação sensacional” e reproduzem o seu aviso: “No dia treze do corrente, hade dar-se um facto, a respeito da guerra, que impressionará fortemente toda a gente.”
O anúncio da página 4 do Diário de Notícias no dia 10 de março de 1917
Entretanto, também nos jornais O Primeiro de Janeiro e Liberdade foram publicados dois anúncios com as mesmas previsões de acontecimentos inesperados para o dia 13 de maio de 1917, a data em que o país foi surpreendido pela visão da Virgem Maria por três meninos de 10, 9 e 7 anos, respetivamente, Lúcia, Francisco e Jacinta, no local onde hoje se encontra o Santuário.
Acontecimento sobrenatural que está prestes a comemorar o seu centenário e na qual participa o próprio papa Francisco, por desejo expresso seu, devoto de Maria e que consagrou nos dias imediatos à sua eleição o pontificado à Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima.
Qual é o significado da publicação de um anúncio que preveria o fim da Grande Guerra, uma das grandes linhas mestras da Mensagem de Fátima e que a Nossa Senhora terá comunicado aos pastorinhos estar para breve? Mesmo que essa “declaração” divina estivesse errada pois a guerra só terminou um ano depois, tal não evitou que nos cinco meses seguintes muitos peregrinos se deslocassem de imediato para Fátima nos dias 13, pois disse Lúcia que a Senhora deixara claro que regressaria consecutivamente até 13 de outubro, nem que surgissem comerciantes a vender no local postais com imagens dos jovens portugueses na Guerra.
A página completa com o anúncio destacado a amarelo
Uma autoria indesejável
Os responsáveis pela colocação destes anúncios foram os centros de espiritismo de Lisboa e do Porto, uma atividade muito em voga à época. Centros onde se reuniam pessoas de várias classes para receber mensagens do além. Diga-se que a inicial C. do anúncio publicado no DN deverá pertencer a Carlos Calderon, um cantor muito famoso nessa altura, entre outras coisas fundador da Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores, e que fazia parte de uma das casas espíritas mais importante da capital. “António”, que enviara o postal para o JN, também era figura muito conhecida no Porto.
Ora, ambos forram encarregados de deixar registado nos principais jornais da época o que os “espíritos” lhes tinham comunicado em várias sessões por todo o país, como era também o caso de um grupo muito importante que se reunia em Portimão. A razão era simples, evitar que se duvidasse da comunicação do além após os acontecimentos para o dia 13 de maio terem tido lugar.
É o que se pode ler da “Acta” do centro de Lisboa, cujas decisões foram entregues ao referido espírita Carlos Calderon para que desse conhecimento público do que aconteceram nessas várias sessões. Uma “Acta” onde se escreve que “no dia 7 de Fevereiro de 1917 estando nós reunidos para trabalhos psíquicos e estudos ocultos, a determinada altura dos trabalhos, um dos assistentes pediu papel e lápis e automaticamente escreveu da direita para a esquerda uma comunicação (…). Nessa comunicação afirma-se que a data do 13 de Maio será de grande alegria para os bons espíritas de todo o mundo.” A decisão que levou à publicação do anúncio deve-se, segundo a “Acta”, ao seguinte: “Discutiu-se a comunicação recebida e resolveu-se: “- Que a data de 13 de Maio ficasse exarada num jornal , para que no futuro não pudessem haver dúvidas sobre a veracidade do facto sucedido.”
Coincidência para o Santuário
Assim sendo, foi escolhida a edição do DN de 10/03/1917 para imprimir o registo da comunicação;e dada ordem para que “se adquirissem na redação do jornal 35 exemplares”, e que se “seguisse com a máxima atenção o desenvolvimento deste assunto, coligindo todos os dados, artigos, etc. que possam conduzir-nos à verdade”.
Visto este anúncio à distância de cem anos, num momento em que o Santuário de Fátima comemora a sua longevidade, questionaram-se os responsáveis sobre qual o entendimento da referida previsão na edição do jornal. Considera o diretor do Serviço de Estudos e Difusão, Marco Daniel Duarte, que o enunciado que no dia 10 de março de 1917 aparece na p. 4 “foi associada por alguns investigadores ao acontecimento das aparições de Fátima, provavelmente pela coincidência de uma numeração que antecede esse enunciado e que coincide com uma possível leitura da data em que, segundo o testemunho das três crianças Francisco, Jacinta e Lúcia, acontece a aparição da Virgem Maria em Fátima (135917).” No entanto, para o responsável, “toda a formulação leva a concluir que se trata de uma linguagem típica da cultura espírita, tema que se encontra muito pouco estudado pela historiografia em Portugal e que, por isso, não tem sido contextualizada de uma forma que permita conclusões além das que se firmam na coincidência da hipotética data.”
Destaca ainda o Santuário que “para a história das mentalidades, seria importante perceber este tipo de frases, mais ou menos comuns nos jornais dos inícios do século XX, no contexto do surgimento destas correntes de pensamento que ao longo do século XIX e inícios do XX também ganharam adeptos em Portugal”, mas não deixa de alertar para o facto de que “na frase não se refere o topónimo Fátima, nem sequer há referência a um qualquer cenário de mariofania. Em linguagem de pendor enigmático, fala-se do fim do martírio e do terminar de uma guerra que pode ser ou não conotada com o grande conflito que se vivia à escala mundial (a expressão é “a guerra que nos fazem terminará”)”.
Apesar do distanciamento do Santuário sobre o significado do anúncio, pergunta-se a Marco Daniel Duarte se a “previsão” credibiliza ou não os acontecimentos no entender da Igreja. Para o diretor, o discurso oficial da Igreja acerca das aparições de Fátima ignora este caso: “Pode dizer-se que esta tem sido uma temática que não se vê considerada, porquanto a mundividência preconizada pela teologia cristã não é compatível com o discurso do pensamento espírita. A falta de elementos que relacionem o enunciado publicado no DN a Fátima levou a que oficialmente não se tenha dado importância a esta mensagem redigida no modo imperativo. Ela tem sido, sobretudo, evocada por investigações que pretendem explicar as aparições a partir do conceito de paranormalidade e da explicação ovniológica, linha de investigação que, no universo dos estudos sobre Fátima, constitui uma percentagem muito reduzida.”
Historiador e a construção
E o que dizem os historiadores sobre este anúncio? O investigador Luís Filipe Torgal, autor do ensaio O sol bailou ao meio-dia – A criação de Fátima, e estudioso da I República, faz notar que quando se consultam os jornais de 1916 a 1918 “eles estão inundados de questões relacionadas com a Guerra” e que nessa altura “surgem dezenas de notícias de aparições que ocorrem um pouco por todo o país e cuja mensagem está associada à Guerra. Aliás, 1917 é um ano especial porque em janeiro parte o Corpo Expedicionário Português para a Flandres”.
Não deixa de sublinhar que “a Guerra é a essência da Mensagem de Fátima, tudo o resto é uma construção posterior, como é o caso da mensagem anti-comunista, que só se sabe nos anos 30”. O historiador não encontra uma explicação para o anúncio: “Vejo-o, registo-o e integro-o como mais uma entre as diversas notícias sobre a Guerra, mas mais do que isso não. É difícil retirar daí uma interpretação e creio que ninguém o conseguirá.” Em conclusão, afirma: “É uma coincidência e o mundo está cheia delas.”
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