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Today's featured article
Allan Walters (2 November 1905 – 19 October 1968) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Over the course of World War II, Walters led No. 1 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron in Singapore, No. 1 (Fighter) Wing in Darwin, No. 72 Wing in Dutch New Guinea, and Northern Command in Papua New Guinea. He was decorated with the Air Force Cross in 1941 for his work with No. 1 Squadron, and mentioned in despatches in 1944 for his service with No. 72 Wing. Walters was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1946 for his service with Northern Command and later air officer commanding (AOC) Southern Area Command, AOC RAAF Overseas Headquarters in London, Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff in Washington, DC, AOC Home Command, Air Member for Personnel, and AOC Support Command. He was promoted to acting air vice-marshal in 1952 (substantive in 1954), and appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1956 before retiring in 1962. (Full article...) Recently featured: African striped weasel Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, BWV 79 1858 Bradford sweets poisoning Archive By email More featured articles About
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Sursock bronze ... that the Sursock bronze (pictured) was discovered in a damaged state with hacked parts, possibly after being vandalized by early Christian iconoclasts? ... that, according to a 2025 book about artificial superintelligence, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies? ... that a Dutch publisher pirated the first four volumes of Memoirs and Adventures of a Man of Quality, then hired the author to write more? ... that King Owodo, the last Ogiso of Igodomigodo, was deposed after killing a pregnant widow, an act punishable by deposition under the kingdom's law? ... that NFL player Bill Gutteron estimated that he helped over 50,000 people learn how to swim? ... that an early Chinese women's magazine ran afoul of a government ministry due to its sexual content and nudity? ... that the first bank of the Republic of Lithuania was bankrupt after nine years of operation? ... that the Fernald Feed Materials Production Center produced uranium for nuclear weapons between 1951 and 1989? ... that Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton's first collaboration sold only thirty-five copies? Archive Start a new article Nominate an article

In the news

Hotaka Yamakawa

In baseball, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks defeat the Hanshin Tigers to win the Japan Series (MVP Hotaka Yamakawa pictured).
Hurricane Melissa leaves more than 40 people dead across the Caribbean.
More than 120 people are killed in a police operation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza wins the most seats in the Argentine legislative election.
In the Sudanese civil war, at least 2,500 people are killed in massacres after Al-Fashir is captured by the Rapid Support Forces.

On this day...

November 2

Crew of Expedition 1

1880 – James A. Garfield was elected as president of the United States with the smallest popular-vote margin on record.
1932 – The Australian military began a "war against emus", flightless native birds blamed for widespread damage to crops in Western Australia.
1949 – The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference ended with the Netherlands agreeing to transfer sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies to the United States of Indonesia.
1994 – A lightning strike ruptured three oil tanks near Dronka, Egypt, causing a flood that killed 469 people.
2000 – As members of Expedition 1, American astronaut William Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko (all pictured) became the first resident crew to arrive at the International Space Station.

John J. Loud (b. 1844)
William Pūnohu White (d. 1925)
Gao Qifeng (d. 1933)
Shah Rukh Khan (b. 1965)

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Today's featured picture

The black-throated green warbler (Setophaga virens) is a small songbird in the New World warbler family, Parulidae. It breeds in coniferous, mixed forests and sometimes cypress swamps in eastern North America and western Canada, with migration to southern Florida, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and occasionally northern South America. It has a length of around 11 to 12 centimetres (4.3 to 4.7 inches), with an olive-green crown, yellow face and olive markings. Adult males have a black throat and upper breast; females and immature males have a pale throat and black markings on their breast. The bird's song is a buzzed zee-zee-zee-zooo-zeet or similar, while the call is a sharp tsip. This male black-throated green warbler was photographed in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York City.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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