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From today's featured article

A Fijian noblewoman tattooed withveiqia andqia gusu (mouth)

Veiqia is a femaletattooing practice inFiji. The term refers to both the practice and to the tattoos. Women or adolescent girls who have reached puberty may be tattooed in the groin and buttocks area by older female tattooing specialists calleddauveiqia ordaubati. The practice was common prior to the arrival in the 1830s of Christian missionaries who discouraged it, but it was revived in the twenty-first century. In Fijian culture, the tattoos were considered to heighten a woman's beauty and could be an important factor that enabled her to marry. Receivingveiqia was highly ritualised, with many regional variations. Preparation for the process could include abstinence from food or from sexual relations, or inducing vomiting to purge the body. The process of tattooing was closely associated with the gift of a young woman's first fringed skirt to wear once herveiqia was complete. Motifs for tattoos included turtles,wandering tattlers, pottery and basketwork. (Full article...)

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Smith in 2024

... thatCharles Smith(pictured) has worked as a basketball coach at the same high school for the past 50 years?
... that Japanese electronic musicianCamellia began producing music at the age of ten using his mother's computer?
... that a man is transformed into a woman for seven years in the medieval tale ofThe Abbot of Drimnagh, an uncommon example of gender-shifting in European folktales?
... thatUCLA Bruins playerTyler Bilodeau cited his mother, who played in theWNBA, as "the reason I play basketball"?
... that theInternational Olympic Committee rejected recognition of theMarshall Islands National Olympic Committee as the nation's citizens holddual citizenship?
... that actressEdna May Sperl's fiancé was arrested on the day of her wedding by afederal marshal because her fiancé's father opposed the marriage?
... that theSpanish anarchistAgustín Remiro worked as aforeign agent forMI6?
... that theFMV gameContradiction was made on such a low budget that its creator learned how to code instead of hiring a programmer?

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Robert Prevost

Robert Francis Prevost(pictured)is elected asPope Leo XIV, becoming the first Catholicpope born in the United States.
Friedrich Merz is electedChancellor of Germany and sworn in alongsidehis coalition government.
Zhao Xintong defeatsMark Williams to winthe World Snooker Championship.
In horse racing,Sovereignty, ridden byJunior Alvarado, winsthe Kentucky Derby.
TheAustralian Labor Party increases its majority inthe federal election.

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On this day

May 12

B-17 bombers intercepting theRex

1743 –War of the Austrian Succession:Habsburg rulerMaria Theresa was crownedQueen of Bohemia after Austrian forces drove French troops from the territory.
1938 – During an exercise to demonstrate air power,United States Army Air Corps bomber aircraftintercepted the Italian ocean linerSSRex(pictured) 620 nautical miles (1,100 km) off the US Atlantic coast.
1948 – The United Kingdom publicly announced that it wasindependently developing nuclear weapons, after the USAtomic Energy Act of 1946 ended cooperation on the matter.
1968 –Vietnam War: The1st Australian Task Force began the defence ofFire Support Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the war for theAustralian Army.
1998 – Four studentswere shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers atTrisakti University inJakarta, which led towidespread riots andthe resignation of PresidentSuharto nine days later.

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A2023 regular season match forSeattle Reign FC atLumen Field

Seattle Reign FC has playedeleven full seasons in theNational Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest level of women's clubsoccer in the United States. The team is based inSeattle, Washington, and has won threeNWSL Shields and had seven playoff appearances. They have not won anNWSL Championship but finished as runners-up on three occasions: in 2014, 2015, and 2023. In addition to league honors, the team won the2022 edition ofThe Women's Cup, an invitational tournament with international teams. As of the end of the2024 season, the Reign have played 252 total regular season games with 111 wins, 79 losses, and 62 draws—awinning percentage of 0.563. (Full list...)

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TheXbox 360 is ahome video game console developed byMicrosoft. As the successor to theoriginal Xbox, it is the second console in theXbox series. It competed withSony'sPlayStation 3 andNintendo'sWii as part of theseventh generation of video game consoles. It was officially unveiled onMTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). This photograph shows the "Pro" model from the launch line-up, which featured a 20GBhard drive,wireless controller and a silverDVD bezel.

Photograph credit:Evan-Amos

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