20250718
From today's featured article
Did you know ...
- ... that Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir (pictured) scored two goals for the Iceland women's national football team the day before she graduated from university?
- ... that the literary heritage of Nova Scotia includes the first newspaper and the first literary journal in Canada?
- ... that according to the Zoo Miami communications director, 100 men could beat a single gorilla if they "envelop the gorilla and create a human straightjacket"?
- ... that the memorial for James Bunbury White, the founder of Whiteville, North Carolina, was knocked down in a car crash 200 years after his death?
- ... that before the establishment of the Singapore's Rail Test Centre, the bulk of rolling-stock testing had to be conducted overseas?
- ... that the artist Cady Noland has disavowed artworks that she no longer considered genuine because they were damaged or altered?
- ... that Christ Church, Amherstburg, a Canadian church built by a Loyalist, features timbers fashioned after a ship's hull?
- ... that Li Jinhua was the first female spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
- ... that an announcer damaged the tower of an Arkansas radio station while driving a moving van?
In the news
- Former president of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari (pictured) dies at the age of 82.
- The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani over their alleged persecution of women in Afghanistan.
- Flooding in Central Texas, United States, leaves at least 130 people dead.
- Astronomers announce the discovery of 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object passing through the Solar System.
On this day
- 1290 – King Edward I issued an edict to expel all Jews from England.
- 1723 – Johann Sebastian Bach directed the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz in Leipzig.
- 1976 – At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci (pictured) became the first person to score a perfect 10 in a modern Olympics gymnastics event.
- 1989 – American actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, eventually prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California.
- 1995 – Selena's album Dreaming of You, instrumental in popularizing Tejano music, was released posthumously.
- Benito Juárez (d. 1872)
- Richard Branson (b. 1950)
- M.I.A. (b. 1975)
- Amy Gillett (d. 2005)
From today's featured list
There are 30 extant kerivouline species, which are members of Kerivoulinae, one of the four subfamilies of Vespertilionidae, itself one of twenty families of bats in the mammalian order Chiroptera, and part of the microbat suborder. Kerivoulines, or woolly bats, are found in Africa and Asia, primarily in forests and caves, though some species can also be found in grasslands, savannas, or wetlands. They range in size from the least woolly bat, at 2 cm (1 in) plus a 2 cm (1 in) tail, to the Kachin woolly bat, at 6 cm (2 in) plus a 7 cm (3 in) tail. The 30 extant species of Kerivoulinae are divided between two genera, with 26 species in Kerivoula and the remaining four in Phoniscus. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture

The Basilica of St Paul is a Catholic parish church in Rabat, Malta, located on the edge of the site of the Roman city of Melite. The present church was built between 1653 and 1658, replacing a church that was completed in 1578. It was constructed with funds from the noblewoman Cosmana Navarra, on plans prepared by Francesco Buonamici. The final stages were carried out completed by Lorenzo Gafà. It was elevated to the status of a minor basilica in 2020. The church features a grotto where, according to tradition, Paul the Apostle lived and preached during his three-month stay in Malta in AD 60. This photograph shows the facade of the Basilica of St Paul in 2021.
Photograph credit: Diego Delso