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From today's featured article

Logo of Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3: Side Order is an expansion pack for the single-player mode of Splatoon 3 (logo pictured), a video game. It was the second half of the Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass and was released on 22 February 2024. Side Order follows Agent 8, who is trapped in the featureless Memverse. They uncover Order, a rogue artificial intelligence who threatens to abduct souls to remove their free will and make a world of complete order; Agent 8 journeys up a thirty-floor spire to destroy Order. Development began after the release of Splatoon 3 in 2022. The team sought to redo the traditional structure of Splatoon single-player campaigns, such as having the player's death causing the loss of progress from their current climb, and the option to purchase upgrades to ease future attempts. Side Order received favorable reviews, with praise given to its art direction and integration of Splatoon's gameplay mechanics into the roguelike genre. Some critics disliked a perceived lack of level diversity. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Smoke plume from the Bolt Creek fire

... that, on some days during the Bolt Creek fire (smoke pictured), IQAir ranked the air quality in the Seattle area as among the worst in the world?
... that the first victim of spree killer Andrew Cunanan was interviewed on CBS News in 1993 to share his opinion on the proposed "don't ask, don't tell" policy?
... that the underperformance of the liberalized telephone system was a major issue in the 2001 Liechtenstein general election?
... that Arena Football League coach Joe Haering once punched the league's president?
... that the French state was found guilty of negligence after the Thomas family murders?
... that the novel We Cast a Shadow has been called an allegory for the struggles of marginalized people in America?
... that Metacritic promised stricter moderation tools after Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores faced a coordinated review bombing campaign over an optional same-sex kiss?
... that Indonesian diplomat Sulaiman Binol reportedly received his posting in Tokyo due to his wife's lobbying?
... that a filler episode may not be considered filler?

In the news

MV Hondius

Passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius (pictured) disembark in Tenerife after being quarantined due to a hantavirus outbreak.
The education platform Canvas goes offline, affecting thousands of educational institutions, after a ransomware attack by the group ShinyHunters.
American media proprietor and philanthropist Ted Turner dies at the age of 87.
Wu Yize defeats Shaun Murphy to win the World Snooker Championship.
An explosion at a fireworks factory in Liuyang, Hunan, China, kills 37 people.

On this day

May 13

Ben Carlin

1110 – Baldwin I of Jerusalem captured Beirut from the Fatimid Caliphate with the help of a Genoese fleet.
1725 – Johann Sebastian Bach first performed the church cantata Sie werden euch in den Bann tun, BWV 183 in Leipzig, Germany.
1958 – The Australian adventurer Ben Carlin (pictured) became the only person to circumnavigate the world in an amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 miles) by land and sea.
1985 – Eleven people, including five children, were killed after the Philadelphia Police Department dropped bombs from a helicopter during a raid on a house occupied by the Black liberation group MOVE.
2005 – Uzbek Interior Ministry and State Security Service troops fired at protesters in Andijan, killing between 187 and 1,500 people.

Kate Marsden (b. 1859)
Inge Lehmann (b. 1888)
Domhnall Gleeson (b. 1983)
Romelu Lukaku (b. 1993)

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From today's featured list

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, an American indie rock band, have received nine awards from thirty-five nominations. Formed in 2000 in New York City, the band consists of lead vocalist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They have released five albums: Fever to Tell (2003), Show Your Bones (2006), It's Blitz! (2009), Mosquito (2013), and Cool It Down (2022). With the exception of Mosquito, each of their albums was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album; Fever to Tell was also nominated for the Shortlist Music Prize. Their singles "Maps", "Heads Will Roll" and "Sacrilege" collectively received seven nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards, and "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Robert Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor. He is known for starring in both major studio productions and independent films, in which he often portrays eccentric characters across a diverse range of genres. Pattinson made early screen appearances in supporting roles, including in Vanity Fair (2004) and as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), before achieving global recognition as Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga film series. He subsequently began working in independent films from auteur directors, including Cosmopolis (2012), The Lost City of Z (2016), Good Time (2017), High Life (2018) and The Lighthouse (2019). Pattinson then returned to big-budget mainstream cinema, starring in Tenet (2020), The Batman (2022) and Mickey 17 (2025). He is set to appear in the 2026 films The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three. This photograph of Pattinson was taken in 2025 at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.

Photograph credit: Elena Ternovaja

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