Lexington, a racehorse whose pedigree was suspect

The Jersey Act was a 1913 regulation by the British Jockey Club and the owners of the General Stud Book that prevented most American-bred Thoroughbred horses from registering with them. It was intended to halt the increasing importation of racehorses of possibly impure bloodlines from America. The loss of breeding records during the American Civil War and the late beginning of the registration of American Thoroughbreds led many in the British racing establishment to doubt that American-bred horses were purebred. The Act prohibited the registration of horses unless all of their Thoroughbred ancestors had been registered. Despite protests from American breeders the regulation was in force until 1949. By then, ineligible horses were increasingly successful in races in Europe, British and Irish breeders had lost access to French Thoroughbreds during and after the Second World War, and any impure ancestors of the American bloodlines had receded far back in most horses' ancestry. (Full article...)

Israel Del Toro

• ... that despite suffering burns to 80 percent of his body, Israel Del Toro (pictured) became the first member of the U.S. Air Force to re-enlist after being deemed 100-percent disabled?
• ... that Cyclone Freddy was the longest-lasting tropical cyclone recorded?
• ... that Daiki Kobayashi was already known for his androgynous voice when he was cast as a cross-dressing idol in The Idolmaster SideM?
• ... that an office building on New York City's Times Square was almost entirely vacant upon its completion?
• ... that although sport shooter Ban Hyo-jin attended Olympic trials just to gain some competition experience, she qualified for the Olympics and went on to win a gold medal?
• ... that while performing "Love Is Embarrassing", Olivia Rodrigo suffered an "embarrassing" wardrobe malfunction?
• ... that architect Ivan Palmaw designed houses in Shanghai and Seattle after fleeing the Russian Revolution?
• ... that a researcher called the community on the short-lived collaborative writing website One Million Monkeys Typing "astonishingly harmonious"?
• ... that an icon of Jesus was removed from a Catholic church for allegedly being pagan imagery?

The aircraft involved in the crash

• A Mil Mi-8 helicopter (pictured) crashes in Kamchatka, Russia, leaving twenty-two people dead.
• The Summer Paralympics open in Paris, France.
• More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.

September 8: Victory Day in Malta

Queen Elizabeth II in 1959

• 617 – Li Yuan defeated a Sui army at the Battle of Huoyi, opening the path to his capture of the Chinese imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty.
• 1565 – St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the contiguous United States, was founded by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.
• 1831 – William IV and Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• 1966 – The science fiction show Star Trek made its American premiere with "The Man Trap", launching a media franchise that has since created a cult phenomenon and has influenced the design of many current technologies.
• 2022 – Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland; her eldest son Charles III acceded to the throne as King of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.

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Wolverton Viaduct is a railway bridge carrying the West Coast Main Line over the River Great Ouse to the north of Wolverton, part of Milton Keynes, in south-eastern England. Built in 1838 for the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) to the design of Robert Stephenson, it was the largest viaduct on the L&BR's route. It is in the centre of Wolverton Embankment, itself the largest on the line. It has six brick arches and covers a distance of 660 feet (200 metres), reaching a maximum height of 57 feet (17 metres) above the river, and terminating in substantial abutments which contain decorative arches. Several contemporary commentators likened Stephenson's bridges to Roman aqueducts. The viaduct was widened to take four tracks in the 1880s with a blue-brick extension, in contrast to the red-brick original. Masts for overhead electrification were added in the 1950s but otherwise the bridge is little changed since it was built and it is now a Grade II listed building. (Full article...)

Israel Del Toro

• ... that despite suffering burns to 80 percent of his body, Israel Del Toro (pictured) became the first member of the U.S. Air Force to re-enlist after being deemed 100-percent disabled?
• ... that Cyclone Freddy was the longest-lasting tropical cyclone recorded?
• ... that Daiki Kobayashi was already known for his androgynous voice when he was cast as a cross-dressing idol in The Idolmaster SideM?
• ... that an office building on New York City's Times Square was almost entirely vacant upon its completion?
• ... that although sport shooter Ban Hyo-jin attended Olympic trials just to gain some competition experience, she qualified for the Olympics and went on to win a gold medal?
• ... that while performing "Love Is Embarrassing", Olivia Rodrigo suffered an "embarassing" wardrobe malfunction?
• ... that architect Ivan Palmaw designed houses in Shanghai and Seattle after fleeing the Russian Revolution?
• ... that a researcher called the community on the short-lived collaborative writing website One Million Monkeys Typing "astonishingly harmonious"?
• ... that an icon of Jesus was removed from a Catholic church for allegedly being pagan imagery?

Paralympics opening ceremony

• A Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashes in Kamchatka, Russia, leaving 22 people dead.
• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.

September 7

The last thylacine

• 1652 – Chinese peasants on Formosa (now Taiwan) began a rebellion against Dutch rule which was suppressed four days later.
• 1778 – Anglo-French War: Having established an alliance with the United States, France invaded the Caribbean island of Dominica and captured its British fort.
• 1936 – The last thylacine (pictured) died in captivity in Hobart Zoo, Australia.
• 1940 – Second World War: The Luftwaffe changed their strategy in the Battle of Britain and began bombing London and other cities and towns.
• 2010 – A Chinese fishing trawler operating in disputed waters collided with Japan Coast Guard patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands, sparking a major diplomatic dispute between the two countries.

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Firefighting team near the Frye Fire

The Frye Fire was a wildfire that burned 48,443 acres (19,604 ha) in Graham County, Arizona, United States, from June 7 to September 1, 2017. The fire was ignited by a lightning strike on Mount Graham, within the Coronado National Forest, and spread rapidly until it was mostly contained on July 12. The fire destroyed three buildings and briefly threatened the Mount Graham International Observatory. It cost $26 million (equivalent to $32 million in 2023) to contain and suppress, and involved more than 800 firefighters. There were no fatalities, but 63 firefighters were quarantined with strep throat. During seasonal rains beginning in July, ash and debris from the Frye Fire's burn scar washed off the mountain slopes, then clogged creeks and damaged infrastructure within Graham County. The fire particularly impacted the endangered Mount Graham red squirrel, whose remaining habitat on Mount Graham was devastated. (Full article...)

Nikolay Cherkasov as Ivan the Terrible

• ... that Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible (scene pictured) has been named as both one of the worst films and one of the greatest films of all time?
• ... that Olympian Sydney Francisco was named after the city where her mother competed at the Olympics?
• ... that the December 2010 Christchurch earthquake caused Boxing Day sales events six weeks later?
• ... that a judge compared the bankruptcy fraud of an Ohio TV station to a 1601 English court case?
• ... that the surviving copies of the Kitab-ı Bahriye contain a total of more than 5,700 maps?
• ... that the 1920 foxtrot song "I'll See You in C-U-B-A" was an example of Cuba being perceived as "America's playground"?
• ... that 30 royal portraits of Korean kings were completely destroyed in a 1954 fire in Busan, South Korea?
• ... that Babydog is "a fixture in West Virginia politics"?

Paralympics opening ceremony

• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.

September 6: Defence Day in Pakistan (1965)

Hurricane Irma

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus set sail from San Sebastián de La Gomera in the Canary Islands on his first voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas.
• 1566 – Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died at the age of 71.
• 1970 – Black September: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked four airliners, landing two at Dawson's Field in Jordan and one in Cairo, while the last hijacking attempt was foiled near London.
• 2017 – Hurricane Irma (pictured) reached peak intensity near the Caribbean islands of Barbuda, Saint Martin, and Virgin Gorda.
• 2022 – Liz Truss succeeded Boris Johnson as prime minister following the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis.

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Life reconstruction of Titanis

Titanis is a genus of Phorusrhacidae, or "terror birds". The extinct family of large, predatory birds originated in South America and inhabited parts of the present-day United States during the Pliocene. Like all phorusrhacids, Titanis had elongated hind limbs, a thin pelvis, proportionally small wings, and a large skull with a hooked beak. Estimates placed Titanis at 1.4 to 2 meters (4.6 to 6.6 ft) in height and over 300 kilograms (660 lb) in body mass. Phorusrhacids are thought to have been ground predators or scavengers, apex predators that dominated Cenozoic South America. They may have swallowed small prey whole or targeted larger prey with repeated strikes of the beak. Titanis likely preyed on mammals such as the extinct armadillo relatives Holmesina and Glyptotherium, equids, tapirs, capybaras, and other Pliocene herbivores. Titanis is unique among phorusrhacids in that it is the only one known from North America, crossing over from South America during the Great American Interchange. (Full article...)

Flag of São Tomé and Príncipe

• ... that upon independence from Portugal, the flags of São Tomé and Príncipe (pictured), Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau all featured the colours green, yellow and red, as well as black stars?
• ... that cinematographer Alfredo Gandolfi also had a career as a singer that included more than 300 performances at the Metropolitan Opera?
• ... that the demolition of the Iloilo Central Market was criticized as being unlawful?
• ... that Swedish naval officer Henrik Johan Nauckhoff fought against the British in the American Revolutionary War?
• ... that nine-year-old children were sometimes employed to help teach younger children in infant schools in the 1840s?
• ... that the Zbrojovka Z 4 was the first Czechoslovak mass-produced car with front-wheel drive?
• ... that "Ka Esi Le Onye Isi Oche", a 1983 song by Mike Ejeagha, went viral in 2024?
• ... that despite being an independent candidate, Leanne Mohamad came within 528 votes of defeating shadow health secretary Wes Streeting in the 2024 UK general election?
• ... that German officials exiled the Samoan king from his own kingdom in 1887?

Paralympics opening ceremony

• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.

September 5

Squeaky Fromme

• 1367 – Swa Saw Ke was crowned the ruler of the Kingdom of Ava in Upper Myanmar.
• 1816 – Facing rising discontent in France, Louis XVIII was forced to dissolve the Chambre introuvable, the legislature dominated by Ultra-royalists.
• 1887 – A fire that killed 186 people broke out at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, England.
• 1964 – Hurricane Cleo dissipated after causing 156 deaths, mainly in Haiti, and causing roughly US$187 million in damages across the Caribbean and southeastern United States.
• 1975 – Squeaky Fromme (pictured), a devotee of Charles Manson, attempted to assassinate U.S. president Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California.

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Cover of the first issue

Battle Birds was an American air-war pulp magazine, published by Popular Publications. It was launched at the end of 1932, but did not sell well, and in 1934 the publisher turned it into an air-war hero pulp titled Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds. Robert Sidney Bowen, an established pulp writer, provided the lead novel each month, and also wrote the short stories that filled out the issue. Bowen's stories were set in the future, with the United States menaced by an Asian empire called the Black Invaders. The change was not successful enough to be extended beyond the initial plan of a year, and Bowen wrote a novel in which, unusually for pulp fiction, Dusty Ayres finally defeated the invaders, to end the series. The magazine ceased publication with the July/August 1935 issue. It restarted in 1940 under the original title, Battle Birds, and lasted for another four years. All the cover art was painted by Frederick Blakeslee. (Full article...)

Precursor to challah adapted from a recipe in the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ

• ... that the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ, a medieval Andalusian cookbook, contains an early version of Jewish challah bread (pictured), which traveled with Jews expelled from Spain and likely influenced Ashkenazi cuisine?
• ... that at the 2024 Olympics, unranked North Korean table tennis pair Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-yong defeated the defending champions and went on to win the silver medal?
• ... that rivers form up to 23% of international borders?
• ... that after composer Maxim Berezovsky's death, Catherine the Great secretly ordered that the papers in his rooms be burned?
• ... that a Los Angeles summer camp teaches children how to become YouTubers by making toy unboxing videos?
• ... that brothers Mike McCartney and Paul McCartney, and sisters Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning, use their middle names as their first names?
• ... that Abdul Ali Deobandi stipulated that women were prohibited from learning to read and write, even at home?
• ... that actress Lisa Coleman attended artist Euan Uglow's studio one to three times a week from 1993 to 1996 to model for Articulation?
• ... that in the Gambia, there is a belief that people can summon evil spirits to cause abortions?

Iran's flag bearers at the Paralympics

• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.

September 4

Damage from the Canterbury earthquake in Christchurch

• 476 – Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
• 1800 – French Revolutionary Wars: Facing starvation and a death rate of 100 soldiers per day, the French garrison in Malta surrendered to British forces, ending a two-year siege.
• 1843 – The state wedding of Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil took place at the Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
• 1977 – The Golden Dragon massacre occurred in Chinatown, San Francisco, leaving five dead and spurring police to end Chinese gang violence in the city.
• 2010 – A magnitude-7.1 earthquake (damage pictured) struck the Canterbury Region of New Zealand, causing two deaths and up to NZ$40 billion in damages.

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Adult and juvenile Laysan honeycreepers

The Laysan honeycreeper (Himatione fraithii) is an extinct species of finch, first recorded in 1828, that was endemic to Laysan in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its length was 13–15 cm (5–6 in) with a 64–69 mm long (2.5–2.7 in) wing. It was bright scarlet vermilion with a faint tint of golden orange on the head, breast and upper abdomen; the rest of its upper parts were orange scarlet. The lower abdomen was dusky gray fading into brownish white. The wings, tail, bill, and legs were dark brown. The bill was slender and downturned. It was nectarivorous and insectivorous, gathering nectar and insects from flowers. The breeding season was probably between January and June, and the clutch size was four or five eggs. In 1903, domestic rabbits were introduced to the island and destroyed its vegetation. In April 1923, only three Laysan honeycreepers were found, one of which was filmed. On April 23, a sandstorm hit the island, and the last birds perished due to lack of cover. (Full article...)

The Hooded Man

• ... that The Hooded Man (pictured) is an iconic photograph of the Iraq War, known as a symbol of torture at Abu Ghraib prison?
• ... that Asiatyrannus is thought to have grown to less than half the size of other tyrannosaurs?
• ... that the colours of the flag of Madagascar originally had no meaning?
• ... that Indian film editor A. Sreekar Prasad holds a record for editing films in 17 different languages?
• ... that Alfred Biliotti excavated the first known examples of Mycenaean painted pottery in 1868?
• ... that the Dublin Castle scandal in 1884 led to the resignations, loss of positions, and criminal convictions of a number of British administrators in Dublin, and celebrations amongst Irish nationalists?
• ... that in Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co., Judge Lewis A. Kaplan cited Thomas Mangelsen's Catch of the Day as a photograph so original in its timing that it could be copyrightable for that alone?
• ... that the rulers of the Yuan dynasty styled themselves as both Mongol khans and Chinese emperors?
• ... that Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is based on Egyptian Ratscrew?

Iran's flag bearers at Paralympics

• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.

September 3

Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

• 36 BC – The Sicilian revolt against the Second Triumvirate of the Roman Republic ended when the fleet of Sextus Pompey, the rebel leader, was defeated at the Battle of Naulochus.
• 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria was concluded between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman prince Musa Çelebi.
• 1901 – At the Royal Exhibition Building (pictured) in Melbourne, the flag of Australia flew for the first time.
• 1987 – While he was abroad, Burundian president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza was deposed in a military coup d'état by Pierre Buyoya.
• 2017 – North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test at Punggye-ri, causing a magnitude-6.3 earthquake.

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Falcon's Fury is a freestanding Sky Jump drop tower attraction at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, an amusement park in Tampa, Florida. Manufactured by Intaride, a subsidiary of Intamin, the ride is one of North America's tallest freestanding drop towers, with a height of 335 feet (102 m). It was also the first drop tower to use 90-degree tilting seats, facing riders straight down through five seconds of free fall. They reach a speed of 60 miles per hour (100 km/h) before rotating back into a vertical position and decelerating at about 3.5 g. The ride's name is meant to suggest a falcon's ability to dive steeply at high speed to capture prey. Due to the height of the attraction, approval from the Federal Aviation Administration was required. Construction was delayed until 2013, and the opening date was also delayed by mechanical and technical issues. Falcon's Fury opened to park employees in August before a soft opening on August 16, 2014, and an official opening on September 2, 2014. (Full article...)

Satellite image of Tropical Storm Chris

• ... that Tropical Storm Chris (pictured) in July 2024 overflowed bodies of water in Ciudad Madero, Mexico, resulting in a crocodile sighting at a beach?
• ... that when New York City's Metropolitan Club was established, there was another Metropolitan Club two city blocks away?
• ... that William Pope, an Anglican deacon, was a follower of John Henry Newman and like him became a Roman Catholic priest?
• ... that a bootleg album of Jai Paul's unreleased music was named as one of the best of 2013 by several music publications?
• ... that a historian lamented the lack of English-language translations for the work of Aracy Amaral despite it being "a vital reference for the study of art history in Brazil"?
• ... that the Auckland meteorite crashed through the roof of a house in New Zealand?
• ... that Rachel Scott reported live during the January 6 United States Capitol attack in her first week as ABC News' White House correspondent?
• ... that the Nan Oo Pagoda is classified as a double encased stupa as it envelops a smaller stupa?
• ... that the creators of Poetry for Neanderthals faced difficulties during its release because they needed a way to manufacture inflatable clubs?

Paralympics opening ceremony

• The Summer Paralympics open (cauldron lighting pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than two hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.

September 2: National Day in Vietnam (1945)

Principality of Sealand

• 1789 – The United States Department of the Treasury was founded following financial concerns in the new nation.
• 1792 – French Revolution: Due to an overwhelming fear that foreign armies would attack Paris and prisoners would revolt, revolutionaries began the summary execution of more than a thousand prisoners.
• 1946 – The interim government of India, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, was formed to assist the transition of India from British rule to independence.
• 1957 – South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm began an official visit to Australia, the first by a foreign incumbent head of state to the country.
• 1967 – Paddy Roy Bates proclaimed HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea off the coast of Suffolk, England, as an independent sovereign state: the Principality of Sealand (pictured).

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Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small Christian-themed wood sculptures produced during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Low Countries, at the end of the Gothic period and during the emerging Northern Renaissance. They consist of highly intricate layers of reliefs made from fine-grained boxwood, often rendered to a nearly microscopic level. Of the approximately 150 surviving examples, the majority are statuettes, skulls, coffins, or spherical beads known as prayer nuts; some 20 are in the form of polyptychs, including triptych and diptych altarpieces, tabernacles, and monstrances. They typically contain imagery from the life of Mary, the crucifixion of Jesus, or vistas of Heaven and Hell. Each miniature required exceptional craftsmanship and may have taken decades to complete. Important collections are in the Art Gallery of Ontario, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (Full article...)

Josef Hoop

• ... that under the premiership of Josef Hoop (pictured), the Progressive Citizens' Party was the first party to hold an absolute majority in the Landtag of Liechtenstein?
• ... that the S1/S2 rolling stock of the Amsterdam Metro was also a tram?
• ... that when refugee Iman Mahdavi boarded a plane in Turkey, he did not know its destination?
• ... that an AI-generated cover of Shaan and Kailash Kher's "Chand Sifarish" received nearly five million views on Instagram in two days?
• ... that Keke Palmer did an impression of "We did it, Joe!" onstage with Kamala Harris?
• ... that Nam Su-hyeon, Jeon Hun-young, and Lim Si-hyeon's gold medal in the women's team archery event at the 2024 Olympics marked South Korea's tenth victory in a row?
• ... that a warrant was issued to pay a force to relieve the siege of Perth in October 1339, after the garrison had already surrendered?
• ... that Robert Aiello's first novel was published after literary agents turned it down roughly 60 times?
• ... that a clip of a soft pretzel being cut perfectly in half made the short-lived German game show Schlag den Henssler briefly popular to an international audience?

Paralympics opening ceremony

• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than two hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.

September 1

Illuminated Guru Granth Sahib folio

• 1145 – The main altar of Lund Cathedral, then the Catholic cathedral of all the Nordic countries, was dedicated to Saint Lawrence and the Virgin Mary.
• 1604 – The Guru Granth Sahib (folio depicted), the religious text of Sikhism, was installed in the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
• 1859 – A powerful solar flare caused a coronal mass ejection that struck Earth a few hours later, generating the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded and causing bright aurorae visible in the middle latitudes.
• 1911 – Construction began on the Saline Valley salt tram, which during its operation was the steepest tram in the United States.
• 1972 – In a match widely publicized as a Cold War confrontation, American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer became the 11th World Chess Champion with his victory over Soviet Boris Spassky.

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Rachelle Ann Go (born August 31, 1986) is a Filipino singer and actress. Known primarily for her work in theater, she has starred in musicals on Broadway and in the West End. She began her career as a pop artist in her native country, winning the television talent show Search for a Star in 2003. She has since released six albums. Go started her theater career in the Philippines, playing the lead roles of Ariel in The Little Mermaid (2011) and Jane Porter in Tarzan (2013). Her international breakthrough came when she was cast as Gigi Van Tranh in the West End revival of Miss Saigon in 2014. She gained further recognition for her portrayal of Eliza Schuyler in the original 2017 West End production of Hamilton. Go has also played Fantine in various stagings and tours of Les Misérables. Outside of music, she has had roles in the television series Diva (2010), Nita Negrita (2011), Biritera (2012), and Indio (2013). (This article is part of a featured topic: Overview of Rachelle Ann Go.)

Andrew Gillison

• ... that Australian military chaplain Andrew Gillison (pictured) took up arms to snipe at Turkish soldiers in Gallipoli?
• ... that even though abortion is legal in Zambia, most are performed unsafely?
• ... that Olympic rugby sevens player Joseva Talacolo only started playing the sport as a way to support his family?
• ... that the 1853 Valley Falls train collision led to the creation of a time zone?
• ... that Gabriel Navarrete tried to prevent the Battle of Rapido River, which led to 2,128 American casualties during World War II?
• ... that a casino, a bar, and formerly a restaurant occupy what was once one of Brighton's most important cinemas?
• ... that Belgian hardcore DJ Liza 'N' Eliaz was named a "spiritual leader" in France's free party movement?
• ... that a knife attack in Suzhou, China, led to the deletion of hundreds of ultranationalist posts from social media platforms?
• ... that soprano Grace Panvini stood 4 ft 11.75 in (151.8 cm) tall – a height described by one reviewer as an asset for appearing youthful on stage?

Paralympics opening ceremony

• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
• More than two hundred people are killed in an Islamic militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.

August 31: Independence Day in Malaysia (1957); Romanian Language Day in Moldova and Romania

Cartoon of Jack the Ripper as a phantom stalking Whitechapel

• 1218 – Al-Kamil became the fourth sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt.
• 1888 – The body of Mary Ann Nichols, the alleged first victim of an unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper (pictured), was found in Buck's Row, London.
• 1942 – The Matagorda hurricane, the most intense and costliest tropical cyclone of the 1942 Atlantic hurricane season, dissipated after causing $26.5 million in damages and eight deaths.
• 1969 – On the final day of the Isle of Wight Festival 1969, attended by approximately 150,000 people over three days, Bob Dylan appeared in his first gig in three years.
• 2019 – A sightseeing helicopter crashed in the mountains of Skoddevarre in Alta, Norway, killing all six people on board.

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Luis Miguel in 2008

Segundo Romance (Second Romance) is the tenth studio album by Mexican singer Luis Miguel (pictured), released on 30 August 1994 through WEA Latina. Like Miguel's 1991 album Romance, Segundo Romance comprises cover versions of boleros (Latin ballads). It was produced by Miguel with Juan Carlos Calderón, Kiko Cibrian and Armando Manzanero, and recorded in early 1994 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Miguel promoted the album with tours in the United States and Latin America from August to December 1994. Four singles were released: "El Día Que Me Quieras", "La Media Vuelta", "Todo y Nada", and "Delirio". The former two reached the top of the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States. Segundo Romance received positive reviews from music critics and it won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Performance. By 1995, Segundo Romance had sold more than 4.5 million copies, achieved multi-platinum status in many Latin American countries and Spain, and was certified platinum in the United States. (Full article...)

A Perugia's limia male approaching a female

• ... that dominant males of Perugia's limia (species pictured) may be so preoccupied with fighting each other that the females end up mating with the subordinate males?
• ... that Sophie Kropotkin and her husband returned to France despite the risk of being arrested, as they thought that detention in a French prison would be preferable to living in England?
• ... that following the filming of the music video for "Guess", Charli XCX and Billie Eilish donated 10,000 pairs of underwear to charity?
• ... that Winzar Kakiouea was the sole athlete from his nation at the 2024 Olympics?
• ... that resources to fight the 1988 White Mountain Fire were slow to arrive because of fires at Yellowstone?
• ... that journalist Jules Loh reported that Malcolm X told him that "his own people would kill him" before his assassination?
• ... that Bangué, the smallest island of the Bazaruto Archipelago, was formed by ocean waves shaped by the surrounding archipelago?
• ... that The Game led to a boom in all-channel TV sales so viewers could see the game on Ohio State University's TV station?
• ... that Aphex Twin never intended to release Drukqs and only did so because he accidentally left an MP3 player on a plane?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• The Summer Paralympics open in Paris, France.
• Dozens of people are killed in an Islamic militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.

August 30: Victory Day in Turkey (1922)

Guru Ram Das

• AD 70 – First Jewish–Roman War: Roman forces led by Titus set fire to the Second Temple during the siege of Jerusalem.
• 1574 – Guru Ram Das (pictured) became the fourth of the Sikh gurus, the spiritual masters of Sikhism.
• 1594 – King James VI of Scotland held a masque at the baptism of Prince Henry, his first child.
• 1959 – South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Đán was elected to the National Assembly, despite soldiers being bussed in to vote multiple times for President Ngô Đình Diệm's candidate.
• 2007 – A heavy bomber that had been unintentionally loaded with nuclear missiles flew them from North Dakota to Louisiana before they were recognized.

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Yuan-era stele in the ruins of the Cross Temple

The Cross Temple is a former place of worship in Fangshan, Beijing. Built as a Buddhist temple, it may have seen Christian use during the Tang dynasty (618–907). The temple was used by Buddhists during the Liao dynasty (916–1125) and by Christians during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), returned to Buddhist use during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and was sold in 1911. Its first modern mention was in 1919. The Cross Temple was damaged during the Cultural Revolution but recognised as a national-level protected site in 2006. Some scholars consider it to be the only place of worship of the Church of the East (also known as Nestorian Christianity) discovered in China. In the early 20th century, two stone blocks carved with crosses were discovered, one of which had an inscription in Syriac; they are presently on display at Nanjing Museum. Today, the site features two ancient steles (one pictured) dating to the Liao and Yuan dynasties, some groundwork and the bases of several pillars. (Full article...)

Blinking Sam

• ... that Samuel Johnson did not want to be depicted as "Blinking Sam" (pictured)?
• ... that Olympic breakdancer Sun Chen is nicknamed "Quake" as he was born on the day of a deadly earthquake?
• ... that The Eternaut 1969 is a reboot of the original comic, with an anti-imperialist tone?
• ... that storm chaser Reed Timmer feared thunder and lightning at a young age?
• ... that the Durrës Expedition in 1376 saw Louis of Évreux successfully recapture Durrës from Karl Thopia, only for Thopia to reclaim the city in 1383?
• ... that Robert Turner remained in post for around 30 years after being described as "the oldest soldier in the Royal Artillery"?
• ... that you can search Wikipedia or a database of more than 37 billion compounds by substructure?
• ... that Luxembourgian myrmecologist Robert Stumper also played as a goalkeeper for his nation's football team?
• ... that mamas sang on "Mama"?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 29: Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist (Catholicism, Anglicanism)

Michael Faraday

• 1350 – Hundred Years' War: Led by King Edward III, a fleet of 50 English ships captured at least 14 Castilian vessels and sank several more at the Battle of Winchelsea.
• 1786 – Angered by high tax burdens and disfranchisement, farmers in western Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays began an armed uprising against the U.S. federal government.
• 1831 – Michael Faraday (pictured) first experimentally demonstrated electromagnetic induction, leading to the formulation of the law of induction named after him.
• 1960 – Air France Flight 343 crashed while attempting to land at Yoff Airport, Dakar, killing all 63 occupants.
• 2016 – Chen Quanguo became the Chinese Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang, and in that role later oversaw the creation of the Xinjiang internment camps.

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Bäckadräkten worn by Clue

Bäckadräkten is Sweden's first unisex folk costume, designed in 2022 by musician Fredy Clue (pictured) and textile designer Ida Björs. Their mission was to encourage wider participation in folk traditions by providing an outfit that is not restricted to any gender or geographic region. The design merges elements traditionally considered either male or female and borrows heavily from older folk costumes. The release generated international press attention and discussions on social media, much of the latter about the relationship between folk arts and gender. Many welcomed the design, saying it provides an opportunity for non-binary Swedes to be more involved in folk culture. Others reacted negatively, resisting the social change they see as associated with it. Clue released a sewing pattern in 2023 and started taking custom orders by 2024, encouraging users to modify as they see fit, saying: "The real work continues with us learning to listen to oneself and others." (Full article...)

Interior of Liebfrauenkirche

• ... that Liebfrauenkirche (pictured), a Catholic church in Zurich, was designed with Italian influences to distinguish it from churches of other denominations?
• ... that a Stegosaurus fossil sold for $44.6 million?
• ... that according to Charles Melville, poet Hatefi implied that Timur was another Alexander the Great by making Timur the subject of the fourth poem of a quintet?
• ... that photographs of Donald Trump taken during the failed attempt to assassinate him have been acclaimed as "immediately legendary"?
• ... that Jerzy Artysz was given a gala concert on his 70th birthday by the Chopin University of Music?
• ... that Ernest Hemingway broke a cane over John O'Hara's head in Costello's, an Irish bar in New York City?
• ... that after her 2019 death in rural China, Huang Wenxiu was elevated into a national model by the Chinese Communist Party?
• ... that traditional folk dances are an essential part of Pontic Greek culture?
• ... that police were called several times in 2014 about a fictitious post on r/nosleep?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 28

SMS Mainz shortly before sinking in the Battle of Heligoland Bight

• 1169 – Black African troops of the Fatimid army stationed in Cairo, along with other Fatimid troops and ordinary Cairenes, attacked Saladin's palace, starting the Battle of the Blacks.
• 1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833, officially abolishing slavery in most of the British Empire, received royal assent.
• 1914 – In the first naval battle of the First World War, British ships ambushed a German naval patrol in the Heligoland Bight (pictured).
• 1993 – The first direct Presidential election in Singapore was held.
• 2003 – A pizza delivery man in Erie, Pennsylvania, was killed during a complex bank robbery when a bomb that was locked around his neck exploded.

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Nadezhda Stasova (1822–1895) was an educator and one of the earliest leaders of the Russian women's movement. She was born into a noble and wealthy family; Tsar Alexander I of Russia was her godfather, and she received extensive private tutoring as a child. In adulthood, she dedicated herself to women's empowerment. Along with Anna Filosofova and Maria Trubnikova, she founded and led several organizations designed to promote women's cultural and economic independence, including a publishing cooperative. In a decades-long effort, they successfully pushed government officials to allow higher education for women, although continual opposition sometimes limited or even reversed their successes. Stasova eventually became the lead organizer of the Bestuzhev Courses for women in 1878, but a decade later was forced to resign under political pressure. She continued her work on women's issues right up until her death in 1895, mentoring and inspiring younger feminists. (Full article...)

Titiou Lecoq

• ... that Titiou Lecoq (pictured) only realized that "women did not rule the universe" after she left home?
• ... that Brandiose's design work for the Rocket City Trash Pandas helped the team sell $4 million in merchandise before it played its first game?
• ... that Tupou VI was crowned by D'Arcy Wood, an Australian, in order to respect the tradition of native Tongans not touching the king's head?
• ... that Aleister Crowley's 1941 manifesto controversially asserts a human right to commit tyrannicide?
• ... that Begüm Pusat, a 15-year-old Turkish wheelchair basketballer, was one of the youngest players at the 2019 Women's U25 World Championship?
• ... that by losing her constituency of South West Norfolk in 2024, Liz Truss became the first former UK prime minister since 1935 to lose their seat?
• ... that Carey Wright implemented literacy reforms that led to the "Mississippi Miracle"?
• ... that Upper Ivory Coast was created from the former French Upper Volta to facilitate the provision of forced plantation labour?
• ... that Quintus Quincy Quigley preferred Angles to a ring?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 27: Independence Day in Moldova (1991)

Destroyed buildings after the attack in the Anglo-Zanzibar War

• 410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ended after three days.
• 1896 – In the shortest recorded war in history (pictured), the Sultanate of Zanzibar surrendered to the United Kingdom after less than an hour of conflict.
• 1955 – The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records was published.
• 1964 – South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh entered into a triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, both of whom had been involved in plots to unseat Khánh.
• 2003 – The planet Mars made its closest approach to Earth in almost 60,000 years.

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The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica) is a migratory aquatic bird that primarily breeds in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia. It winters along sheltered, ice-free coasts of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, it is about 70 centimetres (28 in) long and can weigh from 1.3 to 3.4 kilograms (2.9 to 7.5 lb). In breeding plumage, it has mostly black upperparts, a grey head and hindneck, white and black sides, mostly white underparts and flanks, and a mostly black throat. The loon builds an oval-shaped nest about 23 centimetres (9.1 in) across, in vegetation on or near the breeding lake. It usually lays two eggs, brown-green with dark splotches. Chicks are fed a diet of small fish and invertebrates, contrasting with the mostly fish diet of the adult. Overall, the population of this loon is declining, but the species is not threatened. It is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement. (Full article...)

Drawing of an aphid by Charles De Geer

• ... that entomologist Charles De Geer made all the illustrations for his eight-volume work himself (example pictured)?
• ... that the anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's 1974 speech at the United Nations has been observed as Bangladeshi Immigration Day in New York since 2019?
• ... that thousands of crocodiles were once farmed on Bazaruto Island?
• ... that the flag of North Korea has been mistakenly used by international organisations to represent South Korea?
• ... that Marie Breen retired from the Australian Senate to care for her husband, who had been badly injured in a car accident?
• ... that Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez were picked for the 2024 MLS All-Star Game but unable to play?
• ... that Spanish bishop Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat is expected to be a future head of state of Andorra?
• ... that after becoming a religious leader of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Slaybebtikud united the tribes and established himself as their sole leader?
• ... that Wolfgang Rihm said of the music of his 1987 opera Oedipus: "Sound is a weapon here – or a scalpel"?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 26: Heroes' Day in Namibia; Women's Equality Day in the United States

Clashes between police and protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention

• 683 – Second Fitna: The Battle of al-Harra was fought between Umayyad forces and the rebel defenders of Medina at a lava field northeast of the city.
• 1748 – The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, was founded in Philadelphia.
• 1914 – First World War: The German colony of Togoland surrendered to French and British forces after a 20-day campaign.
• 1959 – The Coatzacoalcos earthquake struck near the Mexican state of Veracruz, killing 25 people.
• 1968 – The U.S. Democratic Party's National Convention opened in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes(pictured) between anti-Vietnam War protesters and police.

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Symbol of the 24th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS

The 24th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Karstjäger was a German mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi Party that served alongside, but was never formally part of, the German armed forces during World War II. Formed on 18 July 1944 from a battalion, it was understrength and was soon reduced to a brigade. Its main task was fighting partisans on the rugged frontiers of Yugoslavia, Italy, and Austria, and it consisted mainly of ethnic Germans from Yugoslavia and Italy. It also disarmed Italian troops and protected ethnic German communities in Italy in the wake of the Italian surrender. Members of the division were implicated in the 25 August 1944 murder of 33 people in the village of Torlano near Nimis in Italy, and 22 other major crimes. At the post-war Nuremberg trials, the Waffen-SS was declared to be a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. (Full article...)

Milk Drop Coronet (1957)

• ... that Doc Edgerton created a stroboscope that he used to take high-speed photographs of bullets being shot, insects flying, and drops of liquid (pictured)?
• ... that Michael Jerrell was the only player from the NCAA Division II level to be selected in the 2024 NFL draft?
• ... that Crystal Castles canceled their studio recording plans for "Not in Love" because they became attached to Robert Smith's demo vocals?
• ... that architect John Henry Hirst designed at least nine Grade II listed buildings, including Cambridge Crescent, Harrogate, which hosts the newsroom of the Stray Ferret?
• ... that Nosy Komba is a destination for both ecotourism and logging?
• ... that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder and first president of Bangladesh, experienced his birthday in jail eight times?
• ... that Hadriana in All My Dreams, published in 1988, was the first novel by a Haitian author to win a major French literary award?
• ... that Hendrik Wortman oversaw the early development of the Zuiderzee Works, which dammed off the Zuiderzee to create arable land in the Netherlands?
• ... that though Donatello was a Bardi, he was not a Bardi?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 25

Rings of Neptune

• 1258 – George Mouzalon, the regent of the Empire of Nicaea, was assassinated as part of a conspiracy led by nobles under the future emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
• 1758 – Seven Years' War: Prussian forces engaged the Russians at the Battle of Zorndorf in present-day Sarbinowo, Poland.
• 1914 – World War I: During the sack of Louvain in Belgium, German troops burned the town's Catholic university, destroying several medieval manuscripts.
• 1989 – The NASA spacecraft Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's rings (pictured).
• 2011 – Mexican drug war: Fifty-two people were killed in an arson at a casino in Monterrey, Mexico.

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Anna Lee Fisher (born August 24, 1949) is an American chemist, emergency physician and former NASA astronaut who was the first mother to fly in space. Fisher became an astronaut candidate with NASA Astronaut Group 8 and joined the Astronaut Office for the development of the Canadarm and the testing of payload bay door contingency spacewalk procedures. She was assigned to the search and rescue helicopters for four Space Shuttle missions, then involved in the verification of flight software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and supported vehicle integration and payload testing at Kennedy Space Center. She flew into space on Space Shuttle Discovery for the STS-51-A mission and used the Canadarm to retrieve two satellites in incorrect orbits. Fisher then worked on procedures and training issues for the International Space Station (ISS), was a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) and the lead CAPCOM for ISS Expedition 33, and was involved in developing the display for the Orion spacecraft. (Full article...)

Milkie Way

• ... that a performance by Milkie Way (pictured) at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards got its Twitch stream banned for three days?
• ... that women seeking abortions in Eswatini or in Lesotho may travel to neighbouring South Africa, where it is legal?
• ... that New Zealand mayor Georgina Beyer was the world's first transgender mayor?
• ... that during World War II an armed resistance group was based at the Norwegian Soy Flour Plant in Larvik?
• ... that Moain Sadeq led excavations at Tell es-Sakan in the Gaza Strip, the oldest-known ancient Egyptian fortification to be excavated?
• ... that Richard Swanson died while trying to dribble a soccer ball from Seattle to São Paulo?
• ... that the British Unionist Party won their first elected representative in a "devastating upset" at the 2022 North Lanarkshire Council election?
• ... that when Didier Berthod failed to make the first free ascent of Cobra Crack in 2005, he quit climbing and became a Franciscan monk?
• ... that voice actress Aoi Koga has an interest in manhole covers?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 24: Feast day of Saint Bartholomew (Western Christianity); Independence Day in Ukraine (1991)

Burning of Washington

• 1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: An Anglo-Dutch fleet engaged a French naval force at the Battle of Málaga in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 1814 – War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to various U.S. government buildings, including the White House (pictured).
• 1889 – The New Zealand Native football team, predominantly comprising Māori players, concluded their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby union history.
• 1914 – The Battle of Cer ended with the first Allied victory of World War I.
• 1954 – In the midst of a political crisis, Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas fatally shot himself in the Catete Palace in Rio de Janeiro.

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Robert F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy in 1962

In 1993, about 350 documents were forged by Lawrence X. Cusack III. These papers were supposedly from, or related to, John F. Kennedy. Some of them alleged that Kennedy had a secret first marriage and dealings with organized crime, had bribed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and paid hush money to Marilyn Monroe. Cusack, son of a lawyer who had dealings with Monroe's family, claimed to have found the papers in the firm's files. He sold them for between six and seven million dollars. One of the buyers suggested showing them to Seymour Hersh, who was writing The Dark Side of Camelot (1997). Hersh began incorporating them into his book and proposed a television documentary. Checks by the networks uncovered flaws in the forgeries. These included the use of a ZIP Code in a paper dated two years before the ZIP Code was introduced, and the use of typeball that had not yet been invented. Cusack was convicted of fraud, sentenced to nearly ten years in prison and ordered to refund the money to the buyers. (Full article...)

Flag of Togo

• ... that the five stripes of the flag of Togo (pictured) represent the country's five regions?
• ... that a commentator said the McLaren MCL60 underwent "one of the most impressive in-season development steps ever seen" in Formula One?
• ... that Kanaria's song "King" has been characterized as an allegory for the house arrest, trial, and execution of Louis XVI?
• ... that a schoolteacher tried to make left-footed footballer Norman Hunter play right-footed?
• ... that the Santos Passos Church in Guimarães, Portugal, was declared a royal chapel by King Luís I in 1878?
• ... that the United States' largest planned solar project, Mammoth Solar, is named after mastodon fossils rather than its size?
• ... that a lyric in the song "Hands on Me" is about Meghan Trainor being unable to have sex due to pelvic floor damage?
• ... that William Hewett was the last-surviving British Army officer to have fought at the Battle of Waterloo?
• ... that a 1938 Catholic procession featured 80,000 marchers and one blimp?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 23: Black Ribbon Day

Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking hands after signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

• 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departed London.
• 1914 – In their first major action of the First World War, the British Expeditionary Force engaged German troops in Mons, Belgium.
• 1939 – Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (pictured), a ten-year mutual non-aggression treaty, which also secretly divided northern and eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
• 1954 – The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departed from Marseille, France.
• 1989 – Singing Revolution: Approximately two million people joined hands to form a human chain spanning 675.5 kilometres (419.7 mi) across the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet republics to demonstrate their desire for independence.

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Paul Verhoeven, director, in 2016

Total Recall is a 1990 American science-fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven (pictured). Based on a 1966 short story by Philip K. Dick, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, and Michael Ironside. It tells the story of Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger) and the shadow organization that tries to prevent him from recovering memories of his past as a Martian secret agent. Schwarzenegger convinced Carolco Pictures to develop the film with him as the star, after the project had lingered in development hell at multiple studios over sixteen years. The film was one of the most expensive ever made at the time, and became the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year. Reviewers liked its themes of identity and questioning reality, but criticized content perceived as vulgar and violent. The practical special effects were well received, earning the film an Academy Award, and the score by Jerry Goldsmith has been praised as one of his best works. (Full article...)

134B Nethergate, Dundee

• ... that in 1989, Rockstar North opened its first offices above a former fish and chip shop (pictured) in Dundee?
• ... that the discovery of Laquintasaura challenged the idea that early dinosaurs could not survive in equatorial regions?
• ... that the Yerevan Children's Art Museum deliberately kept no records from the 1970s to the 1990s?
• ... that Sam Carling was the first UK member of Parliament to be born in the 21st century?
• ... that an Idaho TV station lost its network affiliation after less than two years on the air but did not permanently close for another decade?
• ... that some LGBT people wear shorter nails on their middle and index fingers to allow for easier manual sex and to express a queer identity?
• ... that Eilish Cleary was controversially dismissed as New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health while studying glyphosate, a herbicide widely used in the province's industries?
• ... that in 1683 ice floes on the River Trent in England badly damaged the bridges at Nottingham and Newark?
• ... that a superseded combination is not a synonym for a synonym?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

August 22: Madras Day in Chennai, India (1639)

Reconstruction of Fort Stanwix

• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold used a ruse to convince the British that a much larger force was arriving, causing them to abandon the siege of Fort Stanwix (reconstructed fort pictured).
• 1864 – Under the leadership of Henry Dunant and the International Committee of the Red Cross, twelve European states signed the First Geneva Convention, establishing rules for the protection of victims of armed conflict.
• 1914 – First World War: German forces captured Rossignol in Belgium, taking more than 3,800 French prisoners.
• 1961 – Ida Siekmann jumped from a window in her tenement building trying to flee to West Berlin, becoming the first person to die at the Berlin Wall.
• 2012 – A series of ethnic clashes between the Orma and the Pokomo in Kenya's Tana River District resulted in at least 52 deaths.

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Map of the area ruled by the Turabays

The Turabay dynasty was a family of Bedouin emirs who governed the district of Lajjun in northern Palestine during Ottoman rule in the 16th–17th centuries. The family's forebears had served as chiefs of Jezreel Valley during Mamluk rule in the late 15th century. During the Ottoman conquest of the region in 1516–1517, the family aided Ottoman sultan Selim I. The Ottomans kept them as guardians of the strategic Via Maris and Damascus–Jerusalem highways and rewarded them with tax farms. Although in the 17th century several of their emirs lived in towns, the Turabays largely remained nomads, camping with their tribesmen near Caesarea in the winters and the plain of Acre in the summers. The eastward migration of their tribesmen to the Jordan Valley, Ottoman centralization, and falling tax revenues brought about their political decline and they were permanently stripped of office in 1677. Descendants of the family continue to live in the area. (Full article...)

Aftermath of the Dollar Mountain Fire

• ... that during the 1929 Dollar Mountain Fire (aftermath pictured), 65 firefighters survived overnight being surrounded by fire by sheltering under a ledge?
• ... that in revenge for the torture of Polish prisoners, the terminally-ill Jan Kryst walked into the Café Adria and shot members of the Gestapo?
• ... that the Advanced Tactical Fighter program resulted in the F-22 Raptor?
• ... that Panamanian earth scientist Erika Podest uses remote sensing to see how climate change has affected global soil moisture?
• ... that the Linda Lindas have recorded a cover of the song they were named after?
• ... that a South Korean church excommunicated a pastor, Lee Dong-hwan, after he performed a blessing at a queer festival?
• ... that more than 90 world leaders have made a pledge to achieve nature-positive goals?
• ... that Anna DeShawn started E3 Radio to help educate others about Black women that she did not learn about in grade school?
• ... that a Vancouver TV station was intended to stop the "$1,500 cup of coffee"?

Kasia Niewiadoma

• In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.
• Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashes in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, killing all 62 people on board.

August 21

Mona Lisa

• 1689 – Jacobite clans clashed with a regiment of Covenanters in the streets of Dunkeld, Scotland.
• 1789 – The national colours of Italy first appeared on a tricolour cockade in Genoa.
• 1911 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (pictured) was stolen from the Louvre by museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia and was not recovered until two years later.
• 1944 – World War II: A combined Canadian–Polish force captured the town of Falaise, France, in the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.
• 2007 – BioShock was released in North America, becoming a critical success and a demonstration of video games as an art form.

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Alex Beachum, creative director of Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds is a 2019 action-adventure video game developed by Mobius Digital and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game follows the player character as they explore a planetary system stuck in a 22-minute time loop that resets after the sun goes supernova and destroys the system. Through repeated attempts they investigate alien ruins to discover their history and the cause of the time loop. The game began development in 2012 as the master's thesis of director Alex Beachum (pictured), and became a commercial project in 2015. It was released for Windows, the Xbox One, and the PlayStation 4 in 2019, for the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S in 2022, and for the Nintendo Switch in 2023. It was positively received, with most critics acclaiming its design and some criticizing the uneven difficulty of gameplay and pursuing the game's mysteries. An expansion, Echoes of the Eye, was released in 2021. Outer Wilds won in multiple categories at award shows, including Best Game at the 16th British Academy Games Awards. (Full article...)

John S. McCain Sr. (left) and John S. McCain Jr.

• ... that John S. McCain Sr. and John S. McCain Jr. (both pictured) were the first father-and-son pair to achieve the U.S. rank of four-star admiral?
• ... that the thrash metal band Hermética received the gold certification for Víctimas del Vaciamiento on-stage during a concert?
• ... that a scholar argued that the 2021 German novel About People, which is about the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, encourages "sympathy with rightwing extremists"?
• ... that those found guilty of cocoa smuggling in Ghana face a maximum sentence of ten years in prison?
• ... that actor Scott Jarvis was angered when White House officials under Richard Nixon requested that portions of his role in the musical 1776 be cut due to its anti-war theme?
• ... that the 1885 wreck of the cargo ship Dmitry was the inspiration for the arrival of Count Dracula in England in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel?
• ... that Alexander Langmuir created the Epidemic Intelligence Service to send epidemiologists across the world?
• ... that the first Miss Indigenous Canada contestants were judged on ambassadorship, character, community service, and cultural involvement?
• ... that the character Dogpool was portrayed by "Britain's ugliest dog"?

Paetongtarn Shinawatra

• Paetongtarn Shinawatra (pictured) becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.
• Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashes in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, killing all 62 people on board.
• Sheikh Hasina resigns as Prime Minister of Bangladesh following anti-government protests, and Muhammad Yunus is appointed leader of an interim government.

August 20

Pluto

• 917 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Bulgarian forces led by Tsar Simeon I drove the Byzantines out of Thrace with a decisive victory at the Battle of Achelous.
• 1892 – Celtic Park, the largest football stadium in Scotland and home of the Celtic F.C., opened.
• 1909 – Pluto (pictured) was photographed for the first time at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, U.S., 21 years before it was officially discovered by Clyde Tombaugh.
• 1988 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a bus carrying British Army soldiers in Northern Ireland, killing eight of them and wounding twenty-eight.
• 1989 – After colliding with the dredger Bowbelle on the River Thames in London, the pleasure boat Marchioness sank in thirty seconds, killing 51 people.

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St Oswald's Church, Winwick

The Battle of Winwick was fought on 19 August 1648 between a Scottish Royalist army and a Parliamentarian army during the Second English Civil War. The Scottish army invaded north-west England and was attacked and defeated at Preston on 17 August. The surviving Royalists fled south, closely pursued. Two days later, hungry, cold, soaking wet, exhausted and short of dry powder, they turned to fight at Winwick. Parliamentarian infantry launched a full-scale assault which resulted in more than three hours of furious but indecisive close-quarters fighting. The Parliamentarians fell back, pinned the Scots in place with their cavalry and sent their infantry on a circuitous flank march. When the Scots saw this force appear on their right flank they broke and fled. Parliamentarian cavalry pursued, killing many. The surviving Scottish infantry surrendered either at Winwick church (pictured) or in nearby Warrington; their cavalry on 24 August at Uttoxeter. Winwick was the last battle of the war. (Full article...)

Tomb of Joseph Crocé-Spinelli and Théodore Sivel

• ... that the two victims of the Zénith balloon incident are depicted holding hands on their tomb (pictured)?
• ... that Lionel Haward applied an early example of offender profiling to help identify high-ranking Nazis disguised as ordinary troops?
• ... that the adventure game Until Then has an in-universe version of Facebook where the player can like and comment on other characters' posts?
• ... that Lisa M. Corrigan used the prison memoirs of black activists to show how incarceration impacted the black power movement?
• ... that a shipwreck in the eastern Mediterranean, dating from the Late Bronze Age, is the earliest deep-sea shipwreck to be discovered?
• ... that Johann Joseph Dömling suggested in 1803 that venous blood contained carbon monoxide?
• ... that Togo's abortion law was one of the first in Africa to allow abortion in the case of rape?
• ... that Dissolution Grip by KMRU uses recordings of the artist's shack being struck by strong winds?
• ... that, according to a local myth, a headless priest cursed León Viejo with earthquakes?

Paetongtarn Shinawatra

• Paetongtarn Shinawatra (pictured) becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the African mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.
• Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashes in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, killing all 62 people on board.
• Sheikh Hasina resigns as Prime Minister of Bangladesh following anti-government protests, and Muhammad Yunus is appointed leader of an interim government.

August 19

Edward I of England

• 1274 – Shortly after his return from the Ninth Crusade, Edward I (pictured) was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, nearly two years after his father's death.
• 1934 – A referendum supported the recent merging of the posts of chancellor and president of Germany, consolidating Adolf Hitler's assumption of supreme power.
• 2002 – Second Chechen War: A Russian Mil Mi-26 was brought down by Chechen separatists with a man-portable air-defense system near Khankala, killing 127 people in the deadliest helicopter crash in history.
• 2017 – Around 250,000 farmed non-native Atlantic salmon were accidentally released into the wild near Cypress Island, Washington.

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One of Kes's costumes with wig and ear prosthetics

Kes is a fictional character in the science fiction television show Star Trek: Voyager, played by Jennifer Lien. Kes joins the crew of the starship USS Voyager in the pilot episode, opening an aeroponics garden and working as a medical assistant. She is a member of a telepathic alien species with a life span of only nine years. She leaves the ship in the fourth season after her powers threaten to destroy it. She reappears in an episode in the sixth season and features in Star Trek: Voyager novels and short stories. Voyager's creators intended Kes to provide audiences with a different perspective on time. Although Kes is portrayed as fragile and innocent, she is also shown as having hidden strength and maturity. Voyager's producers reluctantly fired Lien after her personal issues affected her reliability on set. Kes was a fan favorite character while Voyager was airing, although critics reacted more negatively, finding her boring and without a clear purpose. Lien was praised for her performance. (Full article...)

Ravenswood standing stone

• ... that the 4,000-year-old Ravenswood standing stone (pictured) now lies in a cul-de-sac in a 1970s Scottish housing estate?
• ... that Dov Noy founded the Israel Folktale Archives, which have collected around 25,000 Jewish folk tales?
• ... that Choco Togo produces heat-resistant chocolate bars that can withstand temperatures of up to 35 °C (95 °F)?
• ... that one newspaper expected mayor Sun Zhiyang to help turn Guangzhou into a "smart car city"?
• ... that Jennifer Brea directed an Academy Award–shortlisted documentary while bedbound from ME/CFS?
• ... that the DI MA-1 Mk. III rifle was made in Myanmar as a reverse-engineered copy of the Chinese QBZ-97?
• ... that sport in Vatican City has included cricket, calcio fiorentino, and taekwondo?
• ... that a scrapped song from SZA's second album was supposed to be on her next one, but when the song was leaked she had to scrap it again?
• ... that Abraham Lincoln felt obliged to propose to Mary Owens – a woman he did not want to marry – but was rejected several times?

Paetongtarn Shinawatra

• Paetongtarn Shinawatra (pictured) becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
• The World Health Organization declares the African mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.
• Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashes in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, killing all 62 people on board.
• Sheikh Hasina resigns as Prime Minister of Bangladesh following anti-government protests, and Muhammad Yunus is appointed leader of an interim government.

August 18: Ghost Festival in China (2024)

Blackwater Fire

• 684 – Second Fitna: Umayyad partisans defeated the supporters of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr near Damascus, cementing Umayyad control of Syria.
• 1823 – At least 9,000 enslaved people rebelled in the British colony in Demerara-Essequibo (in present-day Guyana), demanding emancipation.
• 1864 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Globe Tavern, Union forces attempted to sever the Weldon Railroad during the siege of Petersburg.
• 1937 – A lightning strike started the Blackwater Fire (pictured) in Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming, consuming 1,700 acres (7 km²) of old-growth forest and killing 15 firefighters.
• 2017 – Two people were fatally stabbed and eight others wounded by a rejected asylum seeker in an Islamist terrorist attack in Turku, Finland.

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Pan Am Boeing 707-121, similar to the one destroyed in the accident

On December 8, 1963, Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 crew and passengers. Flight 214 had originated at Isla Verde International Airport in San Juan, flying to Friendship Airport near Baltimore, and then took off for Philadelphia. The crash was Pan Am's first fatal accident with the Boeing 707-121, which it had introduced to its fleet five years earlier. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the probable cause of the crash was a lightning strike that had ignited fuel vapors in one of the aircraft's fuel tanks, causing an explosion that destroyed the left wing. The exact manner of ignition was never determined, but the investigation increased awareness of how lightning can damage aircraft, leading to new regulations. The crash also led to research into the safety of several types of aviation fuel and into ways of changing the design of aircraft fuel systems to make them safer in the event of lightning strikes. (Full article...)

Hayari Miyake

• ... that Japanese surgeon Hayari Miyake (pictured) cured Albert Einstein of a tropical fever?
• ... that after 1943, the Symphony for Strings by Georgy Sviridov was not played again until 2000?
• ... that non-white Samoan people were permitted to join the local branch of the Nazi Party in the 1930s?
• ... that a Philadelphia TV station shut down because of a family feud?
• ... that Ecco2K created a fashion brand when he was 16 years old by talking online to Chinese factory managers who did not know his age?
• ... that an 1814 British raid on a fort in Virginia was guided by an escaped slave of the American garrison commander?
• ... that the Mercer Art Gallery rediscovered little-known artist Eva Leigh and exhibited her work?
• ... that classical composer Carl Ludvig Lithander also worked as a teacher at a military academy?
• ... that South Korea has a day to celebrate North Koreans?