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Lesley James McNair (25 May 1883 – 25 July 1944) was a lieutenant general of the United States Army who served in both world wars, and previously saw service in the Veracruz occupation and the Pancho Villa Expedition. During World War I, he served with the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front. At 35, he became the Army's second-youngest general officer. During the early stages of World War II, he was the commander of Army Ground Forces, and played the leading role in the organization, equipping, and training of Army units before they departed for overseas combat. He was killed on 25 July 1944 while in France as commander of the fictitious First United States Army Group, part of Operation Quicksilver, a deception plan for the invasion of Normandy. McNair died when the US Eighth Air Force attempted to use heavy bombers in support of ground combat troops, and several planes dropped payloads short of their targets. He received a posthumous promotion to general. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

State flag of Transnistria

... that the state flag of Transnistria (pictured) features communist symbols, even though Transnistria is not a communist state?
... that actor Suja Khondokar served as a flight attendant aboard the inaugural commercial flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines?
... that Peru's fishing industry is the world's largest producer of fishmeal and fish oil?
... that the Albanian noble Blasius Mataranga may have been captured and killed by the Balsha family—after they lured him into peace talks with a false promise of safe conduct?
... that Mayu Sakai found drawing Peter Pan Syndrome difficult because of its fantasy elements?
... that American football player Bob Wicks was teammates with the same quarterback from fourth grade through college?
... that from 1986 to 1988, a Boston TV station was the only one in the U.S. to broadcast digital audio in its video signal?
... that Archbishop Letard II of Nazareth was one of only a few fellow bishops about whom William of Tyre had something nice to say?
... that some Italians eat eggplants with chocolate?

In the news

Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne (pictured), the lead singer of Black Sabbath, dies at the age of 76.
A fighter jet crashes into a college in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing more than 30 people.
In golf, Scottie Scheffler wins the Open Championship.
A tourist boat capsizes during a thunderstorm in Hạ Long Bay, Vietnam, leaving at least 36 people dead.

On this day

July 25: National Day of Galicia, Saint James's Day, Tenjin Matsuri

The Concorde involved in the Air France Flight 4590 accident

1261 – Alexios Strategopoulos led Nicaean forces to recapture Constantinople, leading to the reestablishment of the Byzantine Empire and the end of the Latin Empire.
1893 – The Corinth Canal was formally opened, bisecting the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in Greece to connect the Ionian Sea's Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea's Saronic Gulf.
1950 – Korean War: After American troops withdrew, North Korean forces captured the village of Yongdong in South Korea.
2000 – Air France Flight 4590 (plane used pictured), a Concorde en route from Paris to New York, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 109 passengers on board and four people on the ground.
2010 – WikiLeaks published 75,000 classified documents about the War in Afghanistan in one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.

Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem (d. 1190)
Matt LeBlanc (b. 1967)
Meg Donnelly (b. 2000)
Azimzhan Askarov (d. 2020)

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From today's featured list

The Carousel at Glen Echo Park

Amusement rides on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) are located throughout the United States. These individual ride listings consist mainly of carousels, but also include roller coasters, trains, and other ride types. Many NRHP-listed rides operate within amusement parks, with more than one present in Cedar Point, Lagoon, and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. There are also high concentrations in New York City, the Greater Binghamton area in New York state, and Portland, Oregon. The first NRHP amusement ride listing was added in 1975 for the Idora Park Merry-Go-Round (delisted in 1985). The listing for the Crescent Park Looff Carousel was added in 1976 and is the ride that has existed on the NRHP the longest. The listing for the Portland Zoo Railway Historic District was created in 2020 and is the newest ride entry on the NRHP. Several NRHP-listed rides, including the Leap-the-Dips roller coaster, have a higher National Historic Landmark status. Of the nearly 100,000 NRHP listings, fewer than 100 are for amusement rides. (Full list...)

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Hudson Yards is a 28-acre (11-hectare) real-estate development located in Hudson Yards, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is situated on the waterfront of the Hudson River, on a platform built over the West Side Yard, a storage depot for the Long Island Rail Road. Related Companies and Oxford Properties are the primary developers and major equity partners in the project, with the master plan designed by the architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. Construction began in 2012 and the first phase opened in 2019, with completion of the second phase expected by 2032. Major office tenants in the development include Warner Bros. Discovery, L'Oréal, and Wells Fargo among others. This photograph shows the skyscrapers of Hudson Yards, viewed across the Hudson River from Weehawken, New Jersey, in 2021.

Photograph credit: Tony Jin

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