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From today's featured article

Lord Mountbatten

On 27 August 1979 Lord Mountbatten was assassinated off the coast of Mullaghmore, Ireland. A bomb was planted on Mountbatten's boat by Thomas McMahon during Mountbatten's annual summer trip to Classiebawn Castle. McMahon was an Irish republican and volunteered for the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), which planned the attack for several months. A bomb team built a device that contained fifty pounds (23 kg) of gelignite. The bomb killed Mountbatten along with his grandson Nicholas, Nicholas's grandmother Doreen, and crew member Paul Maxwell. Three other passengers were severely injured. McMahon was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the assassination. The event caused Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister, to change the United Kingdom's strategy towards Northern Ireland, including implementing a more active role for intelligence agencies. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Phindu Zaie Banda

... that Phindu Zaie Banda (pictured) has been featured in both a bank advertisement and a protest against gender-based violence with the American ambassador to Malawi?
... that some of the lyrics for the My Chemical Romance song "Bulletproof Heart" were influenced by the song "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" by the Killers?
... that King Osemwede of the Kingdom of Benin criticized the British for disrupting the transatlantic slave trade?
... that automobiles were banned from 1900 to 1925 in the Swiss canton of Grisons?
... that Paul Pardonner was called the "outstanding 'pinch hitter' of big time [American] football"?
... that Lego Life, a social-media app created by the Lego Group for younger children, was described as being similar to both Pinterest and Instagram?
... that, despite Zhu Gaoxu's military achievements, the Yongle Emperor chose Zhu's elder brother as heir, knowing that this would lead to the emperor's favorite grandson succeeding to the throne?
... that many of the mutinous Byzantine soldiers who besieged Carthage in 536 had been encouraged by their Vandal wives in an attempt to reclaim lands lost in the Vandalic War?
... that actress Scarlett Archer lived near the set of a soap opera years before acting in one?

In the news

Dolly Parton in 1977

At least 160 people are killed and over a thousand missing after flash flooding in the Rasuwa and Nuwakot Districts of Nepal and along the China–Nepal border.
American singer-songwriter and actress Dolly Parton (pictured) dies at the age of 80.
The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria ends its autonomous rule following its full integration into Syria.
President Hakainde Hichilema wins the Zambian general election for a second consecutive term.

On this day

August 27: Ghost Festival in China (2026); Independence Day in Moldova

Wreckage of Comair Flight 5191

1656 – The Netherlands and the Ahanta people signed the Treaty of Butre, creating a Dutch protectorate over the country of Upper Ahanta in modern-day Ghana.
1859 – Edwin Drake successfully drilled for oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania, resulting in the Pennsylvania oil rush, the first oil boom in the United States.
1896 – In the shortest recorded war in history, the Sultanate of Zanzibar surrendered to the United Kingdom after less than an hour of conflict.
2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashed (wreckage pictured) while inadvertently attempting to take off from the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49 of the 50 people on board, and causing the Federal Aviation Administration to modify air traffic control rules.
2013 – Religious violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, leaving 62 people dead.

Josquin des Prez (d. 1521)
Giorgio Mitrovich (b. 1795)
Rebecca Clarke (b. 1886)
Zhang Zifeng (b. 2001)

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Today's featured picture

Pedro II (1825–1891) was the second and final emperor of Brazil, reigning from 1831 until his deposition in a military coup in 1889. He became emperor aged five after the abdication of his father, Pedro I, and was declared of age in 1840. His reign saw political stability, greater freedom of speech, economic growth and victories in the Platine War, the Uruguayan War and the Paraguayan War. Pedro supported the abolition of slavery in Brazil, and promoted education, science and culture. After being overthrown, he was sent into exile in Europe, where he lived modestly. He died in Paris in 1891, and his remains were returned to Brazil in 1921. This photograph of Pedro was taken in 1891, the year of his death, by the French photographer Nadar.

Photograph credit: Nadar; restored by Adam Cuerden

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