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Today's featured article

Castle of Guînes in 2012

The siege of Guînes took place from May to July 1352 when a French army under Geoffrey de Charny unsuccessfully attempted to recapture the French castle (pictured) at Guînes which had been seized by the English the previous January. The siege was part of the Hundred Years' War and took place during the uneasy and ill-kept truce of Calais. The strongly fortified castle had been taken by the English during a period of nominal truce and the English king, Edward III, decided to keep it. Charny led 4,500 men and retook the town but was unable to either recapture or blockade the castle. After two months of fierce fighting, a large English night attack on the French camp inflicted a heavy defeat and the French withdrew. Guînes was incorporated into the Pale of Calais. The threat posed by this enclave caused the French to garrison 60 fortified positions around it, at ruinous expense. The castle was besieged by the French in 1436 and 1514, but was relieved each time, before falling to the French in 1558. (Full article...)

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Today's featured media

The common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is a bird species in the rail family, Rallidae. It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, from Africa to Europe and Asia. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands. A midsized to large rail, the common moorhen ranges in length from 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and spans 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 in) across the wings. It gives a wide range of gargling calls and will emit loud hisses when threatened. This common moorhen was photographed in the Parc des Chanteraines near Gennevilliers in the suburbs of Paris, France.

Photograph credit: Alexis Lours

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Did you know

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

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... that Bruce Conner conceived of his short film Cosmic Ray as "presenting the eyes" for blind musician Ray Charles?
... that Giovanni Manu was the first player from his university ever to be selected in the NFL draft?
... that Barack Obama made an election promise to make non-emergency bills freely available online for a five-day public consultation period under "sunlight before signing"?
... that Bob Noel was the one responsible for dealing "with all the dirty laundry" of the Green Bay Packers?
... that New England Revolution manager Bruce Arena led the club to a record-breaking 73 points in the 2021 season?
... that North West was originally going to be called Kaidence?
... that Lock's Quest was said to feature "some of the best original music in a DS game"?
... that 69 is "nice"?

In the news

Donald Trump

Former U.S. president Donald Trump (pictured) is found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
In Indy car racing, Josef Newgarden wins the Indianapolis 500.
In cricket, the Kolkata Knight Riders defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad to win the Indian Premier League.
Gitanas Nausėda is re-elected as president of Lithuania.
A landslide in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province leaves thousands of people missing and presumed dead.

This day in history

May 31: World No Tobacco Day

Bessarion

455 – Petronius Maximus, ruler of the Western Roman Empire, was stoned to death by a mob as he fled Rome ahead of the arrival of a Vandal force that sacked the city.
1223 – Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus': Mongol forces defeated a Kievan Rus' army at the Kalka River in present-day Ukraine.
1468 – Cardinal Bessarion (pictured) announced his donation of 746 Greek and Latin codices to the Republic of Venice, forming the Biblioteca Marciana.
1935 – An earthquake registering 7.7 M_w struck Balochistan in British India, now part of Pakistan, killing between 30,000 and 60,000 people.
2013 – A tornado struck Central Oklahoma, killing 8 people and injuring more than 150.

Albertino Mussato (d. 1329)
Joseph Grimaldi (d. 1837)
Dina Boluarte (b. 1962)
Mbaye Diagne (d. 1994)

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