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From today's featured article

The rock martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula) is a small swallow that is resident in central and southern Africa. It breeds in the mountains, and at lower levels in rocky areas and towns. It has mainly brown plumage and white "windows" on the spread tail. Its call is a soft twitter. The sexes are similar in appearance. The martin hunts along cliff faces for flying insects. It breeds under cliff overhangs or on man-made structures using mud pellets to build a bowl or half-bowl nest with a soft lining. The bird is a solitary breeder, but small groups may nest close together in suitable locations. A typical clutch has two to three eggs, which are white with brown and grey blotches. Both adults incubate the eggs for 16–19 days and feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 22–24 days. The small martin is caught in flight by several falcons, such as hobbies, but it faces no major threats. Because of its extensive range and large stable population, it is assessed as a least-concern species on the IUCN Red List. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crag martins.)

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Did you know ...

Margaret Thatcher

... that the 1976 "Britain Awake" speech by Margaret Thatcher (pictured) led to her being nicknamed the "Iron Lady" by a Soviet newspaper?
... that after Nurhajizah Marpaung unsuccessfully defended Butar Butar against human rights violations, she became the first woman to serve as vice governor of North Sumatra?
... that Helene P. Foley's Sather Lecture on the reception of Greek theatre in the United States was described as "something of a milestone" in bringing the subject closer to the mainstream?
... that Iskaq Tjokrohadisurjo decided against working for the Dutch colonial government because he was treated well in the Netherlands?
... that TRW Vidar was a technological pioneer in a business that its parent company soon decided to leave?
... that the first translation of the Quran into the Gojri language was authored by Mufti Faizul Waheed?
... that an improperly dismantled orphan radiation source injured three lumberjacks and killed one of them in the Lia radiological accident?
... that German-Chilean research psychologist Susana Bloch created a technique actors have been using to access their basic emotions?

In the news

Kenneth Kaunda

The first President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda (pictured), dies at the age of 97.
A new government is formed in Israel, with Naftali Bennett becoming prime minister, ending Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year tenure.
The spacecraft Juno performs a flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.
Using a compromised encrypted device network, a multinational sting operation results in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of several tons of illegal drugs.

On this day

June 19: Juneteenth in the United States (1865)

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ

1800 – General Jean Victor Marie Moreau led French forces to victory at the Battle of Höchstädt, opening the Danube passageway to Vienna.
1846 – The first officially recorded baseball game in U.S. history using modern rules was played in Hoboken, New Jersey, with the "New York Nine" defeating the New York Knickerbockers 23–1.
1953 – Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed as spies who passed U.S. nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union.
1965 – Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (pictured), the head of the South Vietnam Air Force, was appointed prime minister at the head of a military regime, ending two years of short-lived military juntas.
2006 – The ceremonial "first stone" of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility established to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds from locations worldwide in an underground cavern in Spitsbergen, Norway, was laid.

Friedrich Sertürner (b. 1783)
Evangelos Zappas (d. 1865)
Doris Sands Johnson (b. 1921)

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Today's featured picture

The Pacific reef heron (Egretta sacra) is a species of heron found throughout southern Asia and Oceania. About 60 cm (24 in) in length, this species has two distinct colour morphs, charcoal-grey (as seen here) and pure white. The bird's diet consists mainly of fish, crustaceans and molluscs. This Pacific reef heron was photographed at Boat Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

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