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From today's featured article

Ian Fleming

Octopussy and The Living Daylights is the fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming (pictured). The book is a collection of short stories, published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 23 June 1966, after Fleming's death in August 1964. The book originally contained two stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights"; later editions also included "The Property of a Lady" and subsequently also "007 in New York". The stories first appeared in different publications. Many elements from the stories are taken from Fleming's own interests and experiences, including climbing in Kitzbühel in Austria, wartime commando deeds, and the sea life of Jamaica. He used the names of friends and acquaintances for characters in the stories. Other elements from the stories have been used in the Bond films made by Eon Productions, including the background for the titular character in the film Octopussy. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and short stories.)

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Did you know ...

Portrait of Marie Salmon

... that Marie Salmon (pictured) was condemned to be burned at the stake for a crime she didn't commit, but narrowly avoided execution by claiming she was pregnant?
... that Yokohama's articulated tourist buses feature a matte metallic blue livery inspired by the city?
... that Ukrainian author Osyp Turiansky's works were suppressed in his homeland?
... that a reviewer called "Until the End of Time" "excessively bland"?
... that the current defense minister of Yemen Taher al-Aqili was injured in a landmine explosion while serving as chief of staff?
... that Montana voters in 1972 chose to keep the death penalty, allow for gambling to be legalized, have a bicameral legislature, and ratify a new constitution?
... that photographer John Humble used harsh late afternoon light to flatten the Los Angeles landscape?
... that there have been two unsuccessful proposals to make Curitiba Pride intangible cultural heritage?
... that "cannibalism, group sex, and snail orgies" hindered a tax avoidance scheme by the son of Tommy Ball?

In the news

Mette Frederiksen

The Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (pictured), remain the largest party after the Danish general election, with no political bloc winning a majority of seats.
A Colombian Aerospace Force Lockheed C-130 crashes during take-off in Puerto Leguízamo, killing 70 people.
In mathematics, Gerd Faltings is awarded the Abel Prize for his work in arithmetic geometry.
The World Baseball Classic concludes with Venezuela defeating the United States in the final.

On this day

March 28: Earth Hour (20:30 local time, 2026)

Bust of Pertinax

193 – The Praetorian Guard assassinated Roman emperor Pertinax (bust pictured) and sold the imperial office in an auction to Didius Julianus.
1646 – Irish Confederate Wars: Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty, signed the First Ormond Peace for the Confederates in exchange for greater freedom of religion.
1968 – Colonel Sun, written by Kingsley Amis, was published, becoming the first James Bond novel published after the death of Ian Fleming in 1964.
1999 – Kosovo War: Serbian police and special forces killed around 93 Kosovo Albanians in the village of Izbica.

Margaret Tucker (b. 1904)
Mario Vargas Llosa (b. 1936)
Bowe Bergdahl (b. 1986)
Janet Jagan (d. 2009)

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Today's featured picture

The Lagoon Nebula is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. Discovered by Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654, it is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the naked eye from mid-northern latitudes. While appearing pink in long-exposure photographs, it typically appears gray when viewed through binoculars or telescopes due to the human eye's limited color sensitivity in low-light conditions. In the foreground is the open cluster NGC 6530.

Photograph: European Southern Observatory / VLT Survey Telescope team

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