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From today's featured article

The red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) is a species of elapid snake native to Australia. Described by George Shaw in 1794, it is one of eastern Australia's most commonly encountered snakes. Averaging around 1.25 metres (4 ft) in length when fully grown, it has glossy black upperparts, bright red or orange flanks and a pink or dull red belly. It generally avoids people, but can attack if provoked. Although its venom is capable of causing significant illness, containing neurotoxins, myotoxins, coagulants and haemolysins, it is less venomous than that of other Australian elapid snakes, and no humans have been confirmed to have died from its bite. The snake forages in bodies of shallow water, commonly with tangles of water plants and logs, where it hunts frogs, its main prey item, as well as fish, reptiles and small mammals. Its numbers are thought to be declining due to habitat fragmentation and falling frog populations. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Shrine of Miosach, late 11th and early 16th centuries

... that large parts of the 11th-century Irish Shrine of Miosach (detail pictured) were added during a 16th-century refurbishment?
... that Elizabeth Mburu's book African Hermeneutics seeks to bring a uniquely African approach to interpreting the Bible?
... that one of the arguments made by the Simla Deputation for increasing Muslim representation in Indian politics was that they had ruled India under the Mughal Empire?
... that when Robert Saunders Jr.'s predecessor died, Saunders took his job but not his home?
... that Big Bang's G-Dragon switched his mini-album's title track from "Bullshit" to "Untitled, 2014" on the day of its release?
... that Mormon missionaries in Japan converse with each other in a specialized cant known as Senkyoshigo?
... that Hugo Marchand was named an étoile of Paris Opera Ballet at age 23, after he made an unexpected role debut when the company was touring in Japan?
... that in 1991, the Church of Christ, Scientist published a book it had previously rejected as blasphemous to obtain a $97 million bequest needed to repay its financially disastrous expansion into television?

In the news

Andrei Vasilevskiy

In ice hockey, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals (Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy pictured).
Indian actor Dilip Kumar dies at the age of 98.
President of Haiti Jovenel Moïse is assassinated and interim prime minister Claude Joseph assumes leadership.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Flight 251 crashes on approach to Palana Airport, Russia, killing all 28 people on board.

On this day

July 9: Independence Day in Argentina (1816) and South Sudan (2011)

Donkey Kong arcade cabinet

1640 – The Virginia Governor's Council made John Punch the first legally recognized slave in England's North American colonies.
1790 – Russo-Swedish War: During the Battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captured a third of the Russian fleet.
1958 – An earthquake struck Lituya Bay, Alaska; the subsequent megatsunami, the largest in modern times, reached an elevation of 1,720 ft (524 m).
1981 – Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong (cabinet pictured), which featured the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video-game history.
1995 – Sri Lankan Civil War: After advising civilians to take shelter in places of worship, the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed a church in Navaly, killing at least 147 people.

Anastasius I Dicorus (d. 518)
Sebald Heyden (d. 1561)
Mercedes Sosa (b. 1935)

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From today's featured list

Track map of all storms during the season

The 1996 Atlantic hurricane season had thirteen named storms, of which nine became hurricanes and six became major hurricanes (hurricanes that are classified as Category 3 or higher). These major hurricanes were Bertha, Edouard, Fran, Hortense, Isidore, and Lili. The season's most destructive storms were Hurricanes Cesar, Fran, and Hortense. Hurricane Cesar (later known as Hurricane Douglas in the Eastern Pacific basin) was the deadliest storm of the season; it killed at least 51 people and caused severe damage in northern Colombia and southern Central America. Hurricane Fran caused $3.2 billion (1996 USD) worth of damage in the United States, mostly in North Carolina, and killed 26 people. Hurricane Hortense dropped torrential rainfall on southwestern Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic, killing 21 people and leaving behind $127 million (1996 USD) in damage. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) is a species of savanna antelope found in western, central and southern Africa. Named for its reddish-brown coat, it has a black face with white patches around the eyes and the mouth, and a short erect mane of greyish brown hair extending from the back of the neck to the rump. This roan antelope, of the subspecies H. e. koba, was photographed in Senegal; the subspecies's range extends from Senegal to Benin in western Africa.

Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp

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