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From today's featured article

Heard Island

Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an external territory of Australia in the southern Indian Ocean. It is a group of sub-Antarctic volcanic islands that lie on the Kerguelen Plateau. It is about 4,000 km (2,500 mi) south-west of the Australian mainland and 1,700 km (1,100 mi) north of Antarctica. The territory contains Australia's only active volcanoes, including Mawson Peak, a volcanic cone that is the country's highest point outside the Australian Antarctic Territory. Uninhabited and remote, the islands are a nature reserve and a World Heritage Site. Heavily glaciated, Heard Island (pictured) is dominated by Big Ben, a stratovolcano that is topped by Mawson Peak. Heard Island and the McDonald Islands are home to many eastern rockhopper, gentoo, macaroni, and king penguins. With more than one million breeding pairs, Heard Island contains about 20 per cent of the world's macaroni penguins. The islands also contain substantial populations of elephant seals and Antarctic fur seals. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Cornelia Flores

... that Quechua trade unionist Cornelia Flores (pictured) went from farming to helping to draft the Bolivian constitution?
... that the first Cape Verdean Museum in the United States is located in Rhode Island?
... that Dan Petro, a violent spirit in Haitian Vodou, is the apotheosis of a legendary rebel priest?
... that a young adult novel that makes several insider references to the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes was not endorsed or authorized by the strip's creator?
... that Goh Kim Leong became the youngest civil servant in Singaporean history to be appointed a permanent secretary?
... that three family members in Croydon were fatally poisoned in 1928–29, but the killer was never found?
... that Saleem Al-Ashqar played his entire football career in the Gaza Strip?
... that Greek communists defended the Right against the socialist prime minister's attacks during the 1985 parliamentary election, even though they had been persecuted by the Right in the 1950s?
... that a great-nephew of Queen Elizabeth II posted thirst traps on social media?

In the news

Gloria Steinem in 1977

American journalist and feminist activist Gloria Steinem (pictured) dies at the age of 92.
Duane Davis is convicted of orchestrating the 1996 murder of American rapper Tupac Shakur.
In a referendum, Icelanders reject European Union membership negotiations.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is launched towards its Earth–Sun L2 operating orbit.
An attempted coup against the military junta in Niger fails.
King Harald V of Norway dies at the age of 89 and is succeeded by Haakon VIII.

On this day

September 4

A 1675 depiction of the 1666 Great Fire

476 – Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
1666 – The most destructive damage from the Great Fire of London (depicted) occurred.
1912 – The Albanian revolt ended when the Ottoman government agreed to meet most of the rebels' demands.
1977 – The Golden Dragon massacre occurred in Chinatown, San Francisco, United States, leaving five people dead and spurring police to end Chinese gang violence in the city.
1995 – Three U.S. servicemen stationed at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan, raped a 12-year-old girl, after kidnapping, beating, and torturing her.

John Palmer (b. 1885)
Bert Olmstead (b. 1926)
David Littleproud (b. 1976)
Katharine, Duchess of Kent (d. 2025)

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From today's featured list

Georges Méliès

The French filmmaker and magician Georges Méliès is the subject of various written works, including biographies, essays, and monographs. The literature about him is abundant and spans many decades and languages, including English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Frank Kessler, a professor of media history, believes Méliès is arguably the most written about early filmmaker. French film historians wrote pioneering, if constrained, works about Méliès between the 1940s and 1960s. Later, descendants of his and Anglosphere film historians wrote authoritative monographs and specialist works began to appear about his writings, magic, theater, film studios, film colorization, editing, and international reception. Conferences about Méliès held at the Centre culturel international de Cerisy-la-Salle suggest three phases in his scholarship. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) is a member of the Anatidae family native to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Nile valley. It inhabits open or semi-open habitats, typically near fresh water, and feeds on cereal crops, leaves, grasses, and occasionally small animals. Adults measure 63–73 cm (25–29 in) in length. Introduced populations are established in parts of Europe and the United States, and the species can sometimes become invasive. Egyptian geese form long-term pairs, with both parents caring for their young, and can be highly territorial when breeding. It is classified as a least-concern species by the IUCN. This Egyptian goose adult with goslings was photographed in Bürgerpark, Bremen, Germany.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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