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Xá Lợi Pagoda

The Xá Lợi Pagoda raids were attacks on various Buddhist pagodas in South Vietnam in 1963, executed by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces and combat police, who both took their orders from Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm. South Vietnam's Buddhist majority were protesting religious bias and discrimination, and temples in major cities, notably Xá Lợi Pagoda (pictured) in Saigon, became focal points for protesters. On 21 August, Nhu's men attacked, looted and vandalised the pagodas. In Huế, street battles erupted between government forces and rioting civilians. Over 1,400 Buddhists were arrested, and estimates of the number dead or missing ranged up to the hundreds. The Ngô family claimed that the army had carried out the raids; this was later debunked, prompting the United States to turn against the regime, leading to Diệm's overthrow. In response to the raids, several public servants resigned, and university and high school students boycotted classes and staged demonstrations. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Blackburnian warbler

... that the Blackburnian warbler (example pictured) is named after Anna Blackburne, who provided specimens to Thomas Pennant?
... that during the August 2023 Mid-South U.S. floods, 3.77 inches (96 mm) of rain fell in Columbia, Missouri, breaking a 113-year rainfall record?
... that Jaleel McLaughlin went from being homeless to being college football's all-time leading rusher?
... that the Jewish cemetery in Lucena, the largest such cemetery excavated in Spain, was discovered in 2006 during construction of the city's southern ring road?
... that in 1975, a cache of 20,000 of Ernst Gottmann's photographic negatives was discovered in the basement of his company's old studio?
... that Tweet Kimball lived in a castle, herded grand-champion cattle, and preserved a petrified forest?
... that part of the legislative building of Jujuy Province in Argentina was burned during the 2023 Jujuy protests?
... that the post-apocalyptic board game Radlands is illustrated in bright neon?

In the news

Mockup of Luna 25

Russian lunar lander Luna 25 (mockup pictured) crashes on the Moon's surface.
In Sudan, approximately 1,000 bodies are discovered in mass graves after the Battle of Geneina.
Wildfires in Hawaii kill more than 110 people and destroy much of Lahaina on the island of Maui.
Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio is assassinated in Quito, eleven days before the general election.

On this day

August 21

Rocket launcher from the Ghouta chemical attack

1716 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: Ottoman forces suddenly abandoned their siege of Corfu, allowing the Republic of Venice to preserve its rule over the Ionian Islands.
1945 – American physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a plutonium bomb core, exposing himself to neutron radiation and later becoming the first Manhattan Project fatality due to a criticality accident.
1971 – Six people were killed during an escape attempt and riot at San Quentin State Prison in California; the subsequent trial of six inmates was the longest in state history at the time.
1986 – A limnic eruption of Lake Nyos in Cameroon released a cloud of carbon dioxide, suffocating 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock.
2013 – Syrian civil war: Areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in Ghouta, Damascus, were attacked by rockets (launcher pictured) containing sarin, killing at least 281 people.

Juan de Tassis, 2nd Count of Villamediana (d. 1622)
Emily Tinne (b. 1886)
Emma Mashinini (b. 1929)
Jerry Finn (d. 2008)

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Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt, a British-Indian actress, predominantly works in Hindi-language films. As a child, she made her debut in a minor role in her father Mahesh Bhatt's production Sangharsh (1999), as the younger version of star Preity Zinta's character. In 2014, she gained praise for playing a kidnapping victim in the road drama Highway (2014), winning a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. In the same year, her starring roles in the commercially successful romances 2 States and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, both produced under Johar's studio Dharma Productions, established her as a leading actress. Bhatt had three notable releases in 2016: Kapoor & Sons, Dear Zindagi, and Udta Punjab, in which she played young women in troubling circumstances. Her performance in Udta Punjab won her a Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Following another romantic role in Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), she played a spy in the thriller Raazi (2018) and the volatile girlfriend of an aspiring rapper in the musical drama Gully Boy (2019). (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The lion (Panthera leo) is a large cat species in the genus Panthera native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult males are larger than females and have a prominent mane. The lion is a social species, forming groups called prides. A pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. It is an apex and keystone predator. Although some lions scavenge when opportunities occur and have been known to hunt humans, they typically do not actively seek out and prey on humans. This six-year-old male lion was photographed in the Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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