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From today's featured article

Painting of a princess, most likely Pari Khan Khanum

Pari Khan Khanum (1548–1578) was a Safavid princess, the daughter of the second Safavid shah, Tahmasp I, and of his Circassian consort, Sultan-Agha Khanum. Pari Khan played a central role in the succession crisis after her father's death in 1576. She thwarted the plans of her brother Haydar Mirza and enthroned her favoured brother, Ismail Mirza, as Ismail II. Instead of gratitude, she received restrictions and house arrest, and may have been behind his death in 1577. She endorsed her brother Mohammad Khodabanda, who was almost blind, expecting to rule behind the scenes, but his wife, Khayr al-Nisa Begum, emerged as a rival and procured her killing. Regarded as the most powerful woman in Safavid history, Pari Khan was able to dominate the ineffective Safavid court in a society that imposed harsh restrictions on high-class women. Praised by her contemporaries for her intelligence, in later chronicles she was portrayed as a villain who murdered two brothers and tried to usurp the throne. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Terrorism Confinement Center, El Salvador

... that the Terrorism Confinement Center (pictured) in El Salvador has a capacity of 40,000 inmates?
... that operatic tenor Vladyslav Gorai was a Merited Artist of Ukraine who died while on a volunteer mission during the Russo-Ukrainian War?
... that although abortion in Tunisia has been available for free at government clinics since 1965, it is estimated that most abortions take place at private facilities?
... that the Town Walls of Index, Washington, have 402 climbing routes?
... that Jonas I Losovičius's relocation of the main residence of the bishops of Lutsk would last for three centuries?
... that a Serbian columbine species might be luring some animals with mixtures of molecular compounds?
... that after playing in the NFL, Eddie Garcia became a salesman who "could sell ice to a penguin"?
... that a scene of a man eating a crab in the music video for "Dungka!" symbolised a crab mentality among Filipinos?
... that Giulio Basetti-Sani began as a missionary believing Muhammad to be a "prophet of Satan" and ended believing that the Quran was a prophecy of Christ?

In the news

Trifid and Lagoon nebulae

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile releases the first light images (example shown) from its new 8.4-metre (28 ft) telescope.
In basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Indiana Pacers to win the NBA Finals.
An attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus, Syria, kills at least 25 people.
The United States conducts military strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran.
In rugby union, the Crusaders defeat the Chiefs to win the Super Rugby Pacific final.

On this day

June 30

1598 – Anglo-Spanish War: After a 15-day siege Spanish troops in San Juan, modern-day Puerto Rico, surrendered to an English force under Sir George Clifford.
1905 – Nadir of American race relations: A mob of white Americans killed eight people in Oconee County, Georgia, as part of a mass lynching.
1960 – The Belgian Congo gained independence from colonial rule, beginning a period of instability that would lead to the dictatorship of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.
1963 – The coronation of Pope Paul VI took place, the last such ceremony before its abandonment by later popes.
2015 – An Indonesian Air Force military transport aircraft (pictured) crashed near a residential neighborhood in Medan, killing 139 people.

William Oughtred (d. 1660)
Toyohara Kunichika (b. 1835)
Cody Rhodes (b. 1985)
Chris Gragg (b. 1990)

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From today's featured list

Michael Schur

From 2013 to 2021, 153 episodes over eight seasons of the American police procedural comedy television series Brooklyn Nine-Nine were aired, with five seasons on Fox and three seasons on NBC. The series was created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur (pictured) and follows a team of detectives and a police captain in the 99th Precinct of the New York City Police Department in Brooklyn. The series was ordered by Fox in May 2013. The first season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine aired on Fox from September 17, 2013, to March 25, 2014. On May 13, 2018, Fox canceled the series; the following day, NBC picked up the series. The eighth and final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine aired from August 12, 2021, through September 16. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Boyd's forest dragon (Lophosaurus boydii) is a species of arboreal lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is native to rainforests and their margins in the Wet Tropics region of northern Queensland, Australia. It spends the majority of its time perched on the trunks of trees, usually at around head height. It is a sit-and-wait predator, catching prey that it spies from its perch. Its diet consists primarily of invertebrates, with earthworms making up a relatively high proportion. Small fruits and vertebrates are also occasionally consumed. This Boyd's forest dragon was photographed in Daintree National Park.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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