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Today's featured article

Complete set of snooker balls

Snooker is a cue sport played on a rectangular billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets. First played by British Army officers stationed in India circa 1875, the game uses twenty-two balls (pictured) – a white cue ball, fifteen red balls, and six other balls collectively called "the colours". Using a snooker cue, individual players (or teams) take turns to strike the cue ball to pot the other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful pot and for each foul committed by the opposing player/team. An individual frame of snooker is won by the player or team that has scored the most points. A snooker match ends when a player/team has won a predetermined number of frames. The standard rules of snooker were first established in 1919. As a professional sport, snooker is governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Top players of many nationalities compete in regular tournaments around the world, earning millions of pounds on the World Snooker Tour. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

August 16

San Sebastian Church in Manila

1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces routed British and German troops at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
1819 – Around 15 people were killed and 400 to 700 others injured when cavalry charged into a crowd demanding the reform of parliamentary representation in Manchester, England.
1891 – San Sebastian Church (pictured), an all-iron church in Manila, was officially consecrated.
1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit by a pitch and died the following day, becoming the only Major League Baseball player to die directly as a result of injuries sustained during a game.
1929 – A long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into a week-long period of violent riots throughout Palestine.

George Meany (b. 1894)
Robert Bunsen (d. 1899)
James Cameron (b. 1954)
Dorival Caymmi (d. 2008)

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In the news

Srettha Thavisin

Thailand's Constitutional Court dismisses Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin (pictured) due to his appointment of a minister who had served time in jail.
The World Health Organization declares the African mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.
Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashes in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, killing all 62 people on board.
Sheikh Hasina resigns as Prime Minister of Bangladesh following anti-government protests, and Muhammad Yunus is appointed leader of an interim government.

Did you know...

Pavonia praemorsa flower

... that the flowers of Pavonia praemorsa (pictured) bloom and die within the same day?
... that soprano Joan Ruth rejected a marriage proposal because her suitor wanted her to abandon ambitions of a singing career?
... that the mascots of the 2026 Winter Olympics and 2026 Winter Paralympics were designed by schoolchildren?
... that Bengisu Avcı had to abandon her 45-kilometre (28-mile) swim across the Kaiwi Channel after being stung by jellyfish twelve hours in?
... that some of the first likely Libotonius fossils collected are lost at the Smithsonian?
... that Argentine naval officer Barry Melbourne Hussey was known as El Ingles ('The Englishman') by his comrades?
... that the 2024 song "Tobey" features "3 generations of Detroit"?
... that Leonhard Kaiser, a student of Martin Luther, was burned at the stake on 16 August 1527 after being declared guilty of heresy?
... that the area of Cultybraggan Camp has been a royal hunting ground, a prison for fervent Nazis and the site of an underground bunker intended for use in a nuclear war?

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