On this day in conspiracies

The first UPC barcode is scanned at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, on a pack of chewing gum. Over the following years barcodes spread across retail, and the number six's pattern in the code, which resembles the code's guard bars, becomes the seed of a claim that every barcode secretly carries 666.

In a letter reading 'We forgive Glico,' the group abruptly ends its campaign against the company, then turns to extort other food firms including the ham maker Marudai. Two days later, at a botched ransom drop, an investigator glimpses a large man with permed hair and 'eyes like a fox' watching the operation.

The Matignon Accords are signed in Paris by the new prime minister, Michel Rocard, FLNKS leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, and anti-independence leader Jacques Lafleur. The accords chart a decade-long path toward a self-determination vote and include an amnesty for offences tied to the political violence, covering both Kanak militants and the security forces.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith releases the document “The Message of Fatima,” including a facsimile and transcription of Sister Lucia’s handwritten text, Cardinal Sodano’s interpretation, and a theological commentary by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, in a suit brought by attorney and journalist Katie Phang, finds that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche effectively conceded her arguments and orders the department to either unredact a specific set of records or show cause by July 2 for why it cannot. The records at issue include email exchanges about a purported 'torture video' and sexual activity with young women and minors, several messages with the sender or recipient blacked out, a draft Epstein indictment with the names of potential co-conspirators obscured, and FBI interview notes from a woman who alleges President Trump abused her as a minor, a claim he denies; reporting noted the FBI interviewed her four times and considered her credible, while dozens of pages of her account appeared to remain missing from what was released. The judge also orders the department to publish a log of every redaction it has made. The department says it will appeal, arguing some redactions protect victims.

UNILAD and Dagens amplify the story to a wider audience. The coverage repeats the colour-matching examples and the Portugal prediction, and repeats the creator's own caveat that the theory is not meant to be taken as fact.

With the official toll rising past 235 dead and thousands injured, the 'not natural' narrative takes hold. Posts blame a US 'geographic weapon' and the HAARP facility in Alaska, and a montage appearing to show red laser beams scanning the ground 'moments before' the quake circulates as proof.