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On this day

June 30

1598 – Anglo-Spanish War: After a 15-day siege Spanish troops in San Juan, modern-day Puerto-Rico, surrendered to an English force under Sir George Clifford.
1905 – Nadir of American race relations: A mob of white Americans killed eight people in Oconee County, Georgia, as part of a mass lynching.
1960 – The Belgian Congo gained independence from colonial rule, beginning a period of instability that would lead to the dictatorship of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.
1963 – The coronation of Pope Paul VI took place, the last such ceremony before its abandonment by later popes.
2015 – An Indonesian Air Force military transport aircraft (pictured) crashed near a residential neighborhood in Medan, killing 139 people.

William Oughtred (d. 1660)
Toyohara Kunichika (b. 1835)
Cody Rhodes (b. 1985)
Chris Gragg (b. 1990)

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Today's featured article

Painting of a princess, most likely Pari Khan Khanum

Pari Khan Khanum (1548–1578) was a Safavid princess, the daughter of the second Safavid shah, Tahmasp I, and of his Circassian consort, Sultan-Agha Khanum. Pari Khan played a central role in the succession crisis after her father's death in 1576. She thwarted the plans of her brother Haydar Mirza and enthroned her favoured brother, Ismail Mirza, as Ismail II. Instead of gratitude, she received restrictions and house arrest, and may have been behind his death in 1577. She endorsed her brother Mohammad Khodabanda, who was almost blind, expecting to rule behind the scenes, but his wife, Khayr al-Nisa Begum, emerged as a rival and procured her killing. Regarded as the most powerful woman in Safavid history, Pari Khan was able to dominate the ineffective Safavid court in a society that imposed harsh restrictions on high-class women. Praised by her contemporaries for her intelligence, in later chronicles she was portrayed as a villain who murdered two brothers and tried to usurp the throne. (Full article...)

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Today's featured picture

Boyd's forest dragon (Lophosaurus boydii) is a species of arboreal lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is native to rainforests and their margins in the Wet Tropics region of northern Queensland, Australia. It spends the majority of its time perched on the trunks of trees, usually at around head height. It is a sit-and-wait predator, catching prey that it spies from its perch. Its diet consists primarily of invertebrates, with earthworms making up a relatively high proportion. Small fruits and vertebrates are also occasionally consumed. This Boyd's forest dragon was photographed in Daintree National Park.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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Did you know ...

Khachkars at Aprank Monastery

... that the monumental khachkars (pictured) at Aprank Monastery can be seen from eight kilometres (five miles) away?
... that ducks, an owl, a horse and a baby were utilized for the opening scene of a Doctor Who episode?
... that despite winning Australia's top literary prize, The Hand That Signed the Paper has since been labelled a hoax?
... that an Oregon TV station planned to be off the air for two to four weeks to complete a move—but did not fully return to air for nearly two years?
... that the Academy of Music was the name of three different theaters located on the same property on the Atlantic City Boardwalk which were all destroyed by fires?
... that Taylor Swift did not contact the family of actress Clara Bow before releasing a song about her?
... that Jeremiah Chamberlain was murdered outside of his home by a local landowner?
... that a whistled language created for a video game was reused in an episode of The Last of Us?
... that the Bishop of Chiclayo Edinson Edgardo Farfán Córdova described his predecessor Pope Leo XIV as smelling like sheep?

In the news

Trifid and Lagoon nebulae

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile releases the first light images (example shown) from its new 8.4-metre (28 ft) telescope.
In basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Indiana Pacers to win the NBA Finals.
An attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus, Syria, kills at least 25 people.
The United States conducts military strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran.
In rugby union, the Crusaders defeat the Chiefs to win the Super Rugby Pacific final.

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