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Irish Times
01-08-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on the August bank holiday: a weekend to rest easy
In 1924, the leader of the Irish Labour Party, Thomas Johnson, told the Dáil 'a man is easier in his mind when he is getting a holiday if he is getting his pay for the same day'. His remarks came during a debate on the Public Holidays Bill, repealing nineteenth century British legislation which also covered Ireland, relating to four bank holidays: 26th December, Easter Monday, Whit Monday and the first Monday in August. St Patrick's Day had been designated a bank holiday in 1903 by the Westminster parliament. The 1924 Act gave power to the government of the new Irish Free State 'to appoint any particular day to be observed as a bank holiday.' Johnson's plea was that 'workmen who are given a holiday by statute… shall have their day's pay for that holiday.' While that request was not acceded to then, further legislation in 1939 established workers' entitlement to paid leave, with six bank holidays legally established: Christmas Day, St Stephen's Day, St Patrick's Day, Easter Monday, Whit Monday and the first Monday in August. New Year's Day and the October holiday were added in the 1970s, while in 1993 the May holiday was introduced. The most recent public holiday was established in 2022, St Brigid's Day, which also marked the Celtic festival of Imbolc, traditionally acknowledging the commencement of Spring. It was the first Irish public holiday named after a woman. We use the terms bank holiday and public holiday interchangeably, but our laws refer only to public holidays. Collectively, these days arise from inheritance, independent statehood and our distinctive traditions; historically, there were rest and feast days, and celebrations marking seasons, harvests and saints. READ MORE Some may regard the plethora of public holidays, including this weekends August Bank Holiday, as indulgent. But with ten public holidays, Ireland falls below the EU annual average of twelve, and the Irish, working an average 39 hours a week, toil at a higher rate than the EU average of 37.8 hours, allowing workers benefiting from this weekend to be easy in their minds.
Arabian Business
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Arabian Business
UAE holidays 2025: Is there another long weekend in September? Expected dates revealed
UAE residents could look forward to another long weekend in September 2025. To mark the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the occasion – known as Mawlid al-Nabi – is observed on 12 Rabi al-Awwal in the Islamic calendar. In 2025, this is expected to fall on Thursday evening, September 4, subject to the sighting of the moon. If confirmed, this would result in a three-day weekend, starting Friday, September 5. The UAE Cabinet previously announced that both public and private sector employees would receive the same number of official holidays, in line with the unified holiday calendar. Official confirmation of the holiday will come closer to the date, based on lunar observations. The final decision rests with the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources and the relevant local authorities. Earlier in the year, residents in the UAE had several public holidays, including Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha, which provided extended weekends. The remaining public holidays for 2025 include Commemoration Day and National Day on December 1 and 2.
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
NYT ‘Connections' Hints For Friday, July 4: Today's Clues And Answers
Find the links between the words to win today's game of Connections. Each day's game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before we get to today's Connections hints and answers, here are Thursday's: Hey there, Connectors! The weekend is almost upon us, but let's make sure that we keep those Connections streaks intact before we get there. Is there anything better than a public holiday falling on a Friday or Monday? A three-day weekend is pretty swell. I hope those of you in the U.S. who have the day off enjoy the long weekend. There's also a fun, thematic game of Connections on deck for us today. I've also got a very summery song recommendation for you from one of my current favorite pop singers. Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It's a fun hangout spot, and you're more than welcome to hang out with us. Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don't look at the comments or Twitter much. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes. Today's NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, July 4 are coming right up. How To Play Connections Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT's website or Games app. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder You're presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part. There's only one solution for each puzzle, and you'll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them. Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay. Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you're incorrect, you'll lose a life. If you're close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you're one word away from getting it right, but you'll still need to figure out which one to swap. If you make four mistakes, it's game over. Let's make sure that doesn't happen with the help of some hints, and, if you're really struggling, today's Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it's easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication's Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed. Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find our hints Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query. What Are Today's Connections Hints? Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today's Connections groups, I'll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them. Today's 16 words are... And the hints for today's Connections groups are: One Word For Each Connections Group Need some extra help? Be warned: we're starting to get into spoiler territory. Let's take a look at one word for each group. Today's Connections word hints are… What Are Today's Connections Groups? Today's Connections groups are... What Are Today's Connections Answers? Spoiler alert! Don't scroll any further down the page until you're ready to find out today's Connections answers. This is your final warning! Today's Connections answers are... Interesting grid today! I had no earthly idea what LANTHANUM was (hey, I didn't take chemistry in high school), so I left that well alone. I can't say I'm too surprised to see the four states and LOS ANGELES here given that it's July 4, but that quartet seemed like an obvious red herring. I was also intrigued to see FREUDIAN CONCEPT since we had a related group just a few days ago. The latter was my way into today's puzzle after I clocked IDAHO. As such, I had the yellows. A DRIVER LICENSE can be a piece of identification or "ID", and to ID someone is to RECOGNIZE them. The theme of today's game opened up for me after that. LOS ANGELES and LOUISIANA had to be "LA." MUSICAL NOTE (as in Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti or singing the "la la la" part of a song) made sense there, and LANTHANUM was the only other thing I thought worked. That got me the blues. OKLAHOMA is abbreviated to OK, which is the name of a BRITISH MAGAZINE. MEDIOCRE and GREENLIGHT (i.e. to approve something) rounded out the purples. That left the very TRENDY (or "in") greens for the win. Very fun game today. Every group was essentially a purple category in terms of difficulty. More of these, please! A perfect game lifted my streak to a 129th win. Here is my grid for today: 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 That's all there is to it for today's Connections clues and answers. I'll be back with you all here on Monday. In the meantime, you can check out my weekend editions of this column in my newsletter, Pastimes. P.S. A new flowerovlove song dropped a few days ago and as such I am obligated to recommend it. It's another delightful slice of bedroom pop: Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love! Please follow my blog for more coverage of NYT Connections and other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.
Khaleej Times
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Next UAE public holiday: Residents likely enjoy a 3-day weekend soon
The birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will be the next public holiday in the UAE. Believed to be on Rabi Al Awwal 12, residents will get a one-day holiday for the occasion. Rabi' Al Awwal in 2025 is expected to begin on Sunday, August 24 and end on September 22, according to the Islamic calendar. If the month starts on August 24, then the Prophet Muhammad's birthday should fall on Thursday, September 4. If the month begins on Monday, August 25, then the Prophet Muhammad's birthday should fall on Friday, September 5. This would give UAE residents a three-day long weekend when combined with their weekends — Saturday and Sunday. The Hijri (Islamic) calendar is based on lunar sightings, meaning the phases of the moon determine its months. Each month begins with the sighting of the new moon. The Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year, so the dates of Islamic months shift earlier each year in the Gregorian calendar. Can holidays be moved? According to a resolution introduced in 2025, except for the Eid breaks, all other holidays can be moved to the beginning or end of the week if they fall on a weekend. This can be done only through a UAE Cabinet decision. The local government in each Emirate may also announce additional holidays as deemed necessary.
RNZ News
30-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
New 24/7 telehealth service comes online
Health Minister Simeon Brown says the new service helps bridge a gap when traditional access to a doctor is not possible. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER The government's promised 24/7 telehealth service to help people see a GP or a nurse is now available anywhere in the country. The service was announced in March. Health Minister Simeon Brown said the service, announced in March, starts on Tuesday and would help those struggling to get an appointment with their regular GP or outside normal hours. The minister said the service connected patients to clinicians through trusted providers using secure digital technology. Doctors and nurse practitioners can assess symptoms, diagnose conditions, prescribe medications, and provide referrals - all from wherever the patient is. Brown said the service could be used by patients such as a mother with a sick child in the middle of the night; someone waking up with a sudden rash on a public holiday; a farmer in rural New Zealand needing help after hours; a family on holiday in a different part of the country; or someone not enrolled with a local GP. Brown said it would also help ease pressure on emergency departments. Health NZ has signed up eight companies to provide the service. They are: Some doctors have warned it will fragment and dismantle general practice and did not solve the country's acute GP shortage. But the minister said the service did not replace GPs' critical role and instead helped bridge a gap when traditional access to a doctor was not possible. He said the government was backing GPs, with an up to 14 percent funding boost this year to support them. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
