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From today's featured article

George Steiner

The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. is a 1981 literary and philosophical novella by George Steiner (pictured). The story is about Jewish Nazi hunters who find a fictional Adolf Hitler (A.H.) alive in the Amazon jungle thirty years after the end of World War II. The book was controversial, particularly among reviewers and Jewish scholars, because the author allows Hitler to defend himself when he is put on trial in the jungle by his captors. There Hitler maintains that Israel owes its existence to the Holocaust and that he is the "benefactor of the Jews". A central theme of The Portage is the nature of language, and revolves around Steiner's lifelong work on the subject and his fascination in the power and terror of human speech. Other themes include the philosophical and moral analysis of history, justice, guilt and revenge. Despite the controversy, it was a 1983 finalist in the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. It was adapted for the theatre by British playwright Christopher Hampton. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Maria Bengtsson

... that a reviewer found Maria Bengtsson (pictured) believable and expressive when she first performed the title role of Arabella by Strauss?
... that the 2018 Osaka earthquake disrupted train services during the morning rush hour, forcing passengers to walk between the tracks?
... that funding for Celia Brackenridge's research into child protection in football was ended because the sport "was not ready for a gay former lacrosse international rummaging through its dirty linen"?
... that the multi-armed Heliaster helianthus sheds several of its arms when attacked by the six-armed predatory starfish Meyenaster gelatinosus?
... that if elected, Democratic candidate Deb Haaland would be the first Native American woman to become a member of the United States House of Representatives?
... that 145 Vietnamese civilians were killed during the 1967 Thuy Bo massacre?
... that Velvl Greene, a University of Minnesota professor of public health, taught more than 30,000 students?
... that a group of Fijians placed a newspaper ad to recruit skiers for the Fijian team at the 2002 Olympic Games after discussing it at a New Year's Eve party?

In the news

Lake Toba

Saudi Arabia lifts its ban on women driving.
Canada legalizes the cultivation of cannabis for recreational use with effect from October 2018, making it the second country to do so.
An overloaded tourist ferry capsizes in Lake Toba (pictured), Indonesia, killing at least 3 people and leaving 193 others missing.
In golf, Brooks Koepka wins the U.S. Open at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
In Venezuela, at least 21 people die in a stampede after a tear-gas canister detonates in a Caracas nightclub.

On this day

June 28: Vidovdan in Serbia

Anna Pavlova as Giselle

1776 – American Revolutionary War: South Carolina militia repelled a British attack on Charleston.
1841 – Giselle (Anna Pavlova pictured in the title role), a ballet by French composer Adolphe Adam, was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris.
1911 – The first meteorite to suggest signs of aqueous processes on Mars fell to Earth in Abu Hummus, Egypt.
1978 – In Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, the U.S. Supreme Court barred quota systems in college admissions but declared that affirmative action programs giving advantage to minorities are constitutional.
2016 – Gunmen attacked Istanbul's Atatürk Airport, killing 45 people and injuring more than 230 others.

Primož Trubar (d. 1586) · Paul Broca (b. 1824) · Yvonne Sylvain (b. 1907)

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Today's featured picture

Henry VIII of England (1491–1547) was King of England from 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII. Perhaps best known for his six marriages, his disagreement with the Pope on the question of annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority and making the English monarch the Supreme Head of the Church of England. He also instituted radical changes to the English Constitution, expanded royal power, dissolved monasteries, and united England and Wales. In this, he spent lavishly and frequently quelled unrest using charges of treason and heresy.

Painting: Workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger

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