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Leah LaBelle (September 8, 1986 – January 31, 2018) was an American singer. Born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Seattle, Washington, she began pursuing music as a career in her teens, which included performing in the Total Experience Gospel Choir. LaBelle rose to prominence in 2004 as a contestant on the third season of American Idol, placing twelfth in the season finals. Attending the Berklee College of Music for a year, she dropped out to move to Los Angeles. Starting in 2007, LaBelle recorded covers of R&B and soul music for her YouTube channel. These videos led to work as a backing vocalist starting in 2008 and a record deal in 2011 with Epic in partnership with I Am Other and So So Def Recordings. LaBelle released a sampler, three singles, and a posthumous extended play (EP), and received the Soul Train Centric Award at the 2012 Soul Train Music Awards. In 2018, LaBelle and her boyfriend Rasual Butler died in a car crash in Los Angeles. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Paweł Adamowicz

... that after a stabbing attack on Paweł Adamowicz (pictured), the mayor of Gdańsk, at least 41 units of blood were used in an unsuccessful attempt to save him?
... that Adam Ramage was considered one of the most important early American printing press builders in his day, having produced 1,250 presses during his lifetime?
... that Tolkien's Morgoth has been seen as analogous to Satan?
... that after each loss, American football coach Art Haege made his players crawl from the locker room to the practice field, saying "if you played like a worm, you crawled like a worm"?
... that for his first film, Operation Java, director Tharun Moorthy and his production team handpicked all 83 actors rather than doing an open audition for roles?
... that with no documents verifying its establishment, an American concession existed de facto in the Chinese city of Tianjin for more than 40 years?
... that George Charles Hoste took charge of the quarter-deck guns of the frigate Spartan, defended her against a French squadron, and took the brig Sparvière as a prize?
... that at the start of Drama Shower, Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss!?

In the news

Petr Pavel

A suicide bombing in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, kills 100 people and injures more than 220 others.
Petr Pavel (pictured) is elected as president of the Czech Republic.
Cyclone Cheneso leaves at least 30 people dead in Madagascar.
An armed attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Iran leaves one person dead and two others injured.
Chris Hipkins succeeds Jacinda Ardern as prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party after her resignation.
Brahim Ghali is re-elected as secretary general of the Polisario Front and president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

On this day

January 31: Independence Day in Nauru (1968)

Doug Williams

1208 – King Sverker II of Sweden was defeated at the Battle of Lena by Eric Knutsson, who succeeded to the throne.
1578 – Eighty Years' War: Spain won a crushing victory at the Battle of Gembloux, threatening the States General of the Netherlands and contributing to its move from Brussels to Antwerp.
1957 – A DC-7B operated by Douglas Aircraft collided in mid-air with a U.S. Air Force F-89 and crashed into a schoolyard in Pacoima, California.
1988 – Doug Williams (pictured) became the first African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, leading the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII.
2010 – James Cameron's Avatar became the first film to earn over US$2 billion worldwide.

James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (b. 1607)
Manuel Alberti (d. 1811)
Eleanor Holm (d. 2004)

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Today's featured picture

Bengali cuisine is the culinary style of Bengal, a region encompassing Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, as well as the Barak Valley in Assam. The cuisine is known for its varied use of flavours including mustard oil, as well as its desserts. There is a strong emphasis on rice as a staple, with fish traditionally the most common protein. Freshwater fish are preferred to seafish, although barramundi, known as bhetki, is also common. Although less popular than fish, Bengalis have eaten a variety of meats since pre-colonial times, ranging from pigs and deer to hedgehogs and turtles. In more recent times, lentils have begun to form a significant part of the diet. This photograph shows a serving of pabda jhaal, a type of Bengali fish curry.

Photograph credit: Nilanjan Sasmal

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