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From today's featured article

Raymond Leane (1878–1962) was an Australian Army brigadier general. Twice decorated for gallantry, he was wounded three times during the Gallipoli campaign of World War I, and temporarily commanded the 11th Battalion there before the Australian force was withdrawn to Egypt. Leane led the 48th Battalion in fighting on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918 before commanding the 12th Brigade during the last part of the war. He was described by the Australian Official War Historian, Charles Bean, as "the foremost fighting leader" in the Australian Imperial Force. Leane was also called "the head of the most famous family of soldiers in Australian history", as four of his brothers and six of his nephews served in World War I, with two of each being killed. After the war, he served as Commissioner of the South Australia Police from 1920 to 1944, for which he was knighted in 1945. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Lion of Menecrates

... that the Lion of Menecrates (pictured) is thought to have been part of the Tomb of Menecrates in Corfu, Greece, built for an ancient Korkyrean ambassador who was lost at sea?
... that publisher Ping Hsin-tao launched the careers of two of Taiwan's most popular writers, one of whom became his wife?
... that pieces of the small tree Erythrina berteroana are used to make living fence posts?
... that when the state of Oregon created Deschutes County in 1916, Harvey H. DeArmond was appointed as the county's first district attorney?
... that after Christian bakers refused to decorate a cake in support of gay marriage, the UK Supreme Court ruled that no one could be forced to promote a message with which they disagree?
... that Peter Hirsch conducted the premiere of the revised and complete version of Luigi Nono's Prometeo at La Scala in 1985?
... that the card game of Pollack is named after a bonus for holding the three top cards – the Ten, Nine, and Ace – of one suit?
... that Monique Scheier-Schneider, general secretary of the Luxembourg Ice Hockey Federation since 1992, has managed her country's men's under-18, men's junior, and men's national ice hockey teams?

In the news

Se'are Mekonnen

Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, in Italy, are chosen as the joint host cities of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games.
In the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and national-military chief of staff Se'are Mekonnen (pictured) are assassinated.
At least 184 people are killed by a heat wave in India.
Former President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi dies during his trial, at the age of 67.

On this day

June 25: Statehood Day in Croatia and Slovenia

Michael Jackson in 1993

1658 – Anglo-Spanish War: the three-day Battle of Rio Nuevo began, the largest ever fought on the island of Jamaica, in which English colonial forces repelled a Spanish attack.
1678 – Venetian mathematician Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree.
1940 – World War II: The evacuation of nearly 200,000 Allied soldiers from French ports was completed.
1950 – The Korean War began with North Korean forces launching a pre-dawn raid over the 38th parallel into South Korea.
2009 – Singer Michael Jackson (pictured) died as a result of the combination of drugs in his body.

Giovanni Battista Riccioli (d. 1671) · Ebenezer Pemberton (d. 1835) · Margaret Anstee (b. 1926)

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Today's featured picture

The Royal Mail is a postal service and courier company in the United Kingdom, originally established in 1516 when Henry VIII created a "Master of the Posts" position. For most of its history the Royal Mail has been a public service, operating as a government department or a state-owned enterprise. It was privatised in 2013 when a majority of its shares were floated on the London Stock Exchange. The Royal Mail owns and maintains the UK's distinctive red pillar boxes, first introduced in 1852, many of which bear the initials of the monarch. The company's subsidiary, Royal Mail Group Limited, operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide, which process letters and parcels respectively. General Logistics Systems, an international logistics company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Mail Group.

This picture is an oil-on-canvas painting by British artist Charles Cooper Henderson, entitled Mail Coaches on the Road: the Louth–London Royal Mail Progressing at Speed, produced in Chertsey some time between 1820 and 1830. The painting, part of the Paul Mellon Collection, is now located in the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut.

Painting credit: Charles Cooper Henderson

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