From today's featured article
John Tonkin (1902–1995) was the premier of Western Australia from 3 March 1971 to 8 April 1974. Born and receiving most of his education in the Goldfields town of Boulder, Tonkin became a member of the Labor Party and a minister in the Willcock, Wise and Hawke governments. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1933 to 1977, making him the longest-serving member of the Parliament of Western Australia as of 2021. Tonkin became premier after the 1971 state election, but with a majority of only one seat. The Tonkin government's achievements included reforms in industrial relations and employment, and the passing of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 . Labor was defeated in the 1974 state election, and Tonkin was succeeded as premier by Charles Court. Tonkin was made a companion of the Order of Australia in 1977, and has been honoured with the naming of the Tonkin Highway and John Tonkin College. ( Full article... )
Did you know ...
- ... that Bella Ramsey (pictured) is the youngest person ever to be nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy lead-actress award?
- ... that German settler newspapers played a significant role in agitating for the Herero and Nama genocide ?
- ... that British academic Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason quit her job to raise seven children and encouraged them to become musicians?
- ... that the artworks in the Louvre's Gallery of the Five Continents are meant to dialogue with each other?
- ... that a 1998 referendum to repeal South Carolina's unenforceable interracial marriage ban was opposed by more than 38 percent of voters?
- ... that the mother of a man who was murdered by Martín Ríos said that the case opened a social debate in Argentina on the difference between psychosis and psychopathy?
- ... that the excavator of the Palazzo delle Colonne had to publish his findings from photographs and memory after World War II interrupted the excavation and vandals destroyed the records?
- ... that Confederate Navy officer Alexander F. Warley commanded the ironclad ram CSS Manassas to attack two ships on which he had previously served as a U.S. Navy sailor?
- ... that some of the tracks on Karrionic Hacktician and Skin Stripper are only a few seconds long?
- ... that Comic Beam has published manga making fun of its low sales?
In the news
- Israel and the United States launch strikes on Iran, killing its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei (pictured), along with other senior officials.
- A Bolivian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes into a road in El Alto, killing more than 20 people.
- A military conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalates as the countries exchange cross-border strikes.
- Floods in the Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, leave at least 70 people dead and thousands of others displaced.
On this day
March 3 : Purim (Judaism, 2026); Lantern Festival in China (2026); Hinamatsuri in Japan
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Samuel Nicholas and the Continental Marines successfully landed on New Providence in the Bahamas and began a raid of Nassau , capturing the port the next day.
- 1875 – The first indoor game of ice hockey was played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal by James Creighton and students of McGill University.
- 1933 – The first Nazi concentration camp was opened in Nohra to reduce overcrowding in prisons from the arrest of German Communists.
- 1945 – A Polish Home Army unit massacred at least 150 Ukrainian civilians in Pawłokoma, Poland.
- 1986 – The American heavy metal band Metallica (pictured) released their third studio album, Master of Puppets , considered one of the greatest in the genre's history.
- Matthias de l'Obel (d. 1616)
- Michele Singer Reiner (b. 1955)
- Rebecca Lancefield (d. 1981)
- Maija Isola (d. 2001)
Today's featured picture
 | Apollo 9 (March 3–13, 1969) was the third crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program. Launched by a Saturn V and flown in low Earth orbit, the mission flight-qualified the Lunar Module, showing that its crew could fly it independently, then rendezvous and dock, as would be required for Apollo 11, the first crewed lunar landing. Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart tested systems and procedures critical to landing on the Moon. A spacewalk tested the extravehicular life support backpack. McDivitt and Schweickart, entering the Lunar Module through the docking tunnel, became the first humans to pass between spacecraft without going outside them, two months after Soviet cosmonauts spacewalked to transfer between Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. Apollo 9, a complete success, was followed by Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for Apollo 11. This photograph shows Schweickart operating a Hasselblad camera on the porch of the Lunar Module during an extravehicular activity on the fourth day of the Apollo 9 mission. The image was taken by Scott while standing in the hatch of the Command Module Gumdrop. Photograph credit: David Scott / NASA Recently featured: |