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From today's featured article

Henri off the coast of Florida

Tropical Storm Henri was a moderate tropical storm that struck Florida during the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. The eighth storm of the season, Henri formed from a tropical wave in the Gulf of Mexico on September 3. Moving generally to the east, it strengthened to peak winds of 60 mph (97 km/h) two days later. Henri weakened to a tropical depression before making landfall near Clearwater, Florida, dropping heavy rainfall with minor flooding damage. Henri degenerated into a remnant low on September 8 and persisted off the east coast of the United States for a few days before moving back ashore over North Carolina. The system brought heavy rainfall across parts of the Mid-Atlantic before dissipating on September 17. In Delaware and Pennsylvania heavy rainfall damaged hundreds of houses and businesses. The resulting floods in Delaware were described as a 1-in-500-year event. The total damage by Henri along its path amounted to $19.6 million, but no deaths were reported. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Grape agate

... that a form of quartz (example pictured) resembles a bunch of grapes?
... that Minako Yoshida was once called the "Queen of Funk"?
... that the 2026 Eurovision entry of Romania has been accused of "playing fast and loose with young women's lives"?
... that Blue Peter's 42nd presenter once hosted a reading lesson for 6,715 children?
... that, as part of Operación Estrella Polar III, Chilean president Gabriel Boric became the first Latin American leader to visit the South Pole?
... that C. Mortimer Wiske composed one of the earliest operas to feature American life?
... that Australia allows some Indonesian fishers to operate near the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, but only if their boats have no motor or engine?
... that Kyle Green has served more than 30 seasons as a basketball coach in the U.S.—and one in Denmark?
... that a television series about the forthcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup mentions neither FIFA nor the World Cup?

In the news

Romuald Wadagni

Two separate school shootings in Siverek and in Onikişubat, Turkey, leave 12 people dead and 35 others injured.
Romuald Wadagni (pictured) wins the Beninese presidential election.
In golf, Rory McIlroy wins the Masters Tournament.
The Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar, wins the Hungarian parliamentary election, ending sixteen years of rule by Viktor Orbán's Fidesz.

On this day

April 18

Ezra Pound

1881 – The painted ceilings of the Natural History Museum, London, were unveiled when the building opened its doors to the public.
1946 – The final session of the League of Nations concluded in Geneva, with delegates agreeing to transfer much of its assets to the United Nations.
1958 – Controversial American poet Ezra Pound (pictured) was released from St. Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., in which he had been incarcerated for twelve years.
2023 – Dominion Voting Systems agreed to a $787 million settlement with Fox News over defamation claims related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Theobald of Bec (d. 1161)
Waxy (d. 1818)
Morgan Hwang (b. 1941)
Dzsenifer Marozsán (b. 1992)

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Today's featured picture

NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter, as imaged by the Perseverance rover's Mastcam-Z on Sol 768 (April 18, 2023). Ingenuity made history as the first aircraft ever to pull off a powered and controlled flight outside Earth on April 19, 2021. Originally planned for only five flights, it ultimately completed 72 flights over nearly three years before its mission ended in January 2024.

Photograph credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/

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