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Queen Elizabeth II turned down a prize celebrating the elderly, assessing that at 95 she did not meet the criteria, The Oldie magazine said Tuesday.

The publication wrote to palace officials in July to ask if she would accept its Oldie of the Year award, which was previously given to her late husband and her own mother.

But in a reply dated August 21 from her Balmoral estate in northeast Scotland, the monarch's assistant private secretary, Tom Laing-Baker, made his boss' apologies.

"Her Majesty believes you are as old as you feel, as such The Queen does not believe she meets the relevant criteria to be able to accept, and hopes you will find a more worthy recipient," he added.

The tongue-in-cheek award, which celebrates the achievements of older people, went to the French-American actress and dancer Leslie Caron -- who is 90.

The Queen succeeded her father king George VI in 1952 and next year celebrates her Platinum Jubilee to mark 70 years on the throne but she has played down her longevity.

When she became Britain's longest-reigning monarch in September 2015, she treated the day like any other, opening a new railway in the Scottish border region with England.

"Inevitably, a long life can pass many milestones; my own is no exception," she said at the time.

Despite her husband Prince Philip's death in April aged 99, and her advanced age, the Queen has not retired from public life, and maintains a regular diary of audiences and appearances.

Last week she was seen for the first time in public using a walking stick.

But on Tuesday, she held two audiences via videolink with the Japanese and EU ambassador, and was scheduled to host a reception for international business and investment leaders.

The writer and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, who was a friend of the Prince, wrote in The Oldie that he was delighted to receive the award in 2011.

"There is nothing like it for morale to be reminded that the years are passing -- ever more quickly -- and that bits are beginning to drop off the ancient frame," he replied.

"But it is nice to be remembered at all."

© 2021 AFP

A South Dakota lawmaker's name was listed among the names listed in the data dump, revealing members of the right-wing anti-government militia, the Oath Keepers.

Thus far, law enforcement members in Oregon, Hudson County, the NYPD, across New Jersey, a candidate for local office, a Fox News commentator, police an official in Utah, and the names of 38,000 more have been revealed, as a result of the release of the names of members in the militia.

Phil Jensen's name was among those leaked, adding to his long history of controversy, reported Rolling Stone. However, the former state senator's career is mired by controversy. In 2014, Jensen sponsored SB 128, which would have allowed any business to turn away LGBTQ customers. It failed, and even other republicans called the measure "a mean, nasty, hateful, vindictive bill."

As Rolling Stone pointed out, Jensen justified the bill to the Rapid City Journal, by comparing LGBTQ people to members of the KKK.

"If someone was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and they were running a little bakery for instance," he said, "the majority of us would find it detestable that they refuse to serve Blacks, and guess what? In a matter of weeks or so that business would shut down because no one is going to patronize them."

Members of the militia are asked to swear to a 10-point oath saying that they will fight back against "government tyranny," an odd oath for someone being paid by the government he purports to oppose.

The data dump of the names came from a transparency group, Distributed Denial of Secrets, which revealed names, emails and chat logs of Oath Keepers.

"In short, everything was there that you'd expect," said Emma Best, a co-founder of DDoSecrets. "The pieces all fit together, and there was far too much data that was far too detailed for it to have been faked."

While most Oath Keepers used an email from a private account, Jensen used his official state legislative email address, which displays his name, Senator Phil Jensen.

Wendy Rogers, another far-right Arizona lawmaker, is a state senator who was exposed. But she hasn't hidden her membership to the anti-government group.

Jeff Serdy, another Arizona government official, a supervisor for Pinal County, was also named in the data. He dodged questions about the group, saying that technically everyone who takes an oath to uphold the Constitution is an "Oath Keeper." However, the militia group frequently opposes the federal government. Serdy now distances himself from the group because he said the founder has changed the "original intent" of the group.

Read the rest of the details at Rolling Stone.

It's so secular, clicking to order food, clicking to buy shoes or clicking to reserve tickets. Pope Francis wants you to click to pray.

The Click to Pray app is being relaunched, the Vatican said Tuesday, permitting more Catholic faithful to "connect your prayer with the world".

Francis, 84, is no stranger to social media -- he has a whopping 19 million Twitter followers and 8.3 million on Instagram and a high tolerance for selfies -- and has acknowledged that social networks can be an "opportunity to promote encounter with others".

Since it first appeared in 2016, the social media app has been downloaded by more than 2.5 million people, offering daily prayers and messages from the pope, while allowing users to send prayers to others.

Click to Pray 2.0 will be launched November 1 after a test period on beta users comprised of cloistered monks and nuns around the world, Vatican officials said.

The new version -- available in seven languages -- offers more individualisation, allowing users to set an agenda to schedule prayers, provides more in-depth background about specific prayers and also links to Vatican-approved outside initiatives such as Tweeting with God.

"The idea is to be able to use it (the new app) and give an instrument to people to pray, to be in communion," Monsignor Lucio Ruiz, secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, which oversees the Holy See's entire communication network, told AFP.

Asked whether the app was launched to counteract declining church attendance in the West, he said it was "not a replacement for something".

"It's understanding culture, reading it and listening and seeing where we are, to be able to be there," Ruiz said. "Because where people are, the Church must be."

- Log-in to God -

On Tuesday, the app's community page listed a host of prayers from around the world, with headlines such as "Please pray for my daughter", "Prayer for my sick mother" and even one "for my career".

After creating a profile, a user can organise a prayer agenda, choosing content and setting notifications and reminders to pray during the day.

The Vatican's wearable 'eRosary' smart device and a tablet featuring an app for guided prayer Catherine MARCIANO AFP

"With Jesus in the morning -- Start your day" reads the caption on the app for a morning prayer, while an evening prayer is under the title "Contemplate and rest".

The new version was launched to coincide with the opening of the Synod, a global assembly of Catholic church leaders on the theme "Communion, Participation, and Mission", expected to last until 2023.

Besides social media, the Vatican has multiple traditional media resources to spread the Church's message to the 1.3 billion Catholics around the world, including the Holy See's official website, a daily newspaper and a radio.

But outside Saint Peter's Basilica Tuesday, no European visitors approached by AFP had heard of the app.

On the Google Play Store, most users gave the app five stars, although some cited glitches, especially of having to sign in repeatedly.

One user gave the app one star, saying: "God knows who I am, why should I need to identify to the Pope, too?"

© 2021 AFP