In the late 19th century, visitors to Maine noticed French-Canadian lumberjacks who jumped, struck out with their limbs or copied words and actions in languages they did not speak when they were startled. These men were called Jumping Frenchmen. The physician George M. Beard, who popularised the term neurasthenia for nervous exhaustion, studied them and linked the behaviour to religious frenzy and nervous illness. Later accounts often describe the condition as an exaggerated startle reflex. The case shows how medical explanations of the time mixed culture, religion and nerves.

Israeli reports also say the cabinet directed the military to prepare for a possible new attack on Iran.

Angkor, near Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries. At its height the city spread across about 3,000 square kilometres, making it the largest pre-industrial city on Earth by area. Its growth depended on water: huge reservoirs called barays, along with canals and embankments, stored monsoon rain and carried it to rice fields. That system let farmers harvest more than once a year and fed a very large population through the dry season. The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century, is the best-known monument and still stands at the heart of the park.