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Painting of a princess, most likely Pari Khan Khanum
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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Terrorism Confinement Center, El Salvador
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Michael Schur
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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Boyd's forest dragon

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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