Today's featured articles
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André Kertész (1894–1985) was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition and by his efforts in establishing and developing the photo essay. In the early years of his lengthy career, his then-unorthodox camera angles, and his unwillingness to compromise his personal photographic style, prevented his work from gaining wider recognition. (...)
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Picture of the day
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The Green Violetear (Colibri thalassinus) is a hummingbird that is a resident breeder in highlands from south-central Mexico, (the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt), to western Panama and in the Andes from northern Venezuela to Bolivia.
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Did you know...
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- ... that Shō Tai (pictured) was the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom who abdicated when the Ryukyu Islands were annexed by Japan in 1879?
- ... that the ferry Nobska of Nantucket Sound was America's last coastal steamer?
- ... that George Hammond Whalley, a British Member of Parliament, once claimed that the Pope had taken control of the Royal Artillery?
- ... that some cypress trees in Louisiana's Lake Bruin State Park predate Hernando de Soto's explorations of the area?
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In the news
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July 9
- India submits its nuclear safeguards agreement to the International Atomic Energy Agency to implement the Indo-US nuclear deal.
- In Grenada, Tillman Thomas succeeds Keith Mitchell as the new Prime Minister following the National Democratic Congress' win in the general elections.
- Iran test-fires the Shahab-3, a missile with an operating range of 2,100 km (1,300 mi), amid rising international tensions over the country's nuclear program.
July 8
- Leaders of the nations meeting in Japan for the 34th G8 summit agree to a target of cutting world greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050.
July 7
- A suicide bomber rams a car bomb into the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 58 people.
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On this day...
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- 1789 – French Revolution: The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly, and began to function as a governing body and a drafter for a new constitution.
- 1955 – The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, signed by Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell (pictured) and nine other preeminent intellectuals and scientists, was issued during a press conference in London in the midst of the Cold War, calling for a conference where scientists would assess the dangers posed to the survival of humanity by weapons of mass destruction.
- 1986 – The Parliament of New Zealand passed the Homosexual Law Reform Act, legalising consensual homosexual sex.
- 2002 – The African Union was formed as a successor to the amalgamated African Economic Community and the Organization of African Unity, with President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki as its first chairman.
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