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From today's featured article

Ellis Wackett (13 August 1901 – 3 August 1984) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Its chief engineer from 1935 to 1959, he served on the RAAF's Air Board for a record seventeen years and was credited with infusing operations with new standards of airworthiness. Starting as a Royal Australian Navy cadet, he transferred to the Air Force in 1923. He inaugurated parachute instruction within the RAAF and made the country's first freefall descent from a military aircraft in 1926. Wackett rose to air commodore by 1942, assuming the role of Air Member for Engineering and Maintenance, then established the Technical Branch as a separate department of the RAAF in 1948. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Companion of the Order of the Bath. From 1960 to 1968, he was a member of the Australian National Airlines Commission, the parent of Trans Australia Airlines. (Full article...)

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In the news

Earthquake damage in Pereira, Colombia

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake (damage pictured) strikes Chocó Department, Colombia, leaving at least 254 people dead.
In cycling, Demi Vollering wins the Tour de France Femmes.
Shootings at a residence and a school in Nonthaburi province, Thailand, leave at least nine people dead.
A consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund purchases video game publisher Electronic Arts in a leveraged buyout.

On this day

August 13

Scene from the 1876 production of Das Rheingold

582 – Maurice was crowned as Byzantine emperor, succeeding Tiberius II Constantine.
1650 – General George Monck founded Monck's Regiment of Foot, the predecessor to the Coldstream Guards, the oldest regular regiment of the British Army in continuous active service.
1876 – A performance of Das Rheingold (scene pictured) opened the first performance of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at the inaugural Bayreuth Festival, attended by emperors and other composers.
1918 – Opha May Johnson became the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
2010 – After being boarded by Canadian authorities, MV Sun Sea docked in British Columbia and the 492 Sri Lankan Tamil refugee claimants on board were placed in detention.

George Grove (b. 1820)
Hayato Ikeda (d. 1965)
Sebastian Stan (b. 1982)
Nazia Hassan (d. 2000)

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Today's featured picture

The addax (Addax nasomaculatus), also known as the white antelope, is a species of antelope in the subfamily Hippotraginae, native to the Sahara. It is adapted to some of the world's most arid environments and can survive for long periods without drinking water. The addax has a pale coat, distinctive facial markings, and long, spirally twisted horns. It lives in small herds and feed mainly on grasses and other desert vegetation. Once widespread across North Africa, the species has declined drastically because of overhunting, drought, and habitat loss, and is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Wild populations are now concentrated in Chad, Mauritania, and Niger. This male addax was pictured in the Safia Acclimatization Station, south of Dakhla, Western Sahara.

Photograph credit: Haytem Bouchri

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