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From yesterday's featured article

Citizens of Nantes paying homage to John and Joanna of Montfort

The initial campaign of the Breton Civil War took place in 1341. John, Duke of Brittany, had died on 30 April 1341 and the Duchy of Brittany was claimed by both his younger half-brother, John of Montfort; and his niece's husband, Charles of Blois, a nephew of the king of France, Philip VI. John quickly installed friendly garrisons in most of the towns and castles of Brittany. Rumours of John's discussions with English emissaries reached Philip, causing him to recognise Charles as the new duke. John refused to give way and Philip sent an army to Brittany to impose Charles. Within a month John had been defeated and was a prisoner. His wife, Joanna, took command of her husband's army, stormed the town of Redon and moved to the small but strongly walled port of Hennebont. There she set up her two-year-old son, also named John, as the faction's figurehead. The Hundred Years' War between France and England had been ongoing since 1337, so she despatched a senior counsellor to encourage English military intervention. (Full article...)

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Solfrid Koanda

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In the news (For today)

Mark Carney

In Canada, the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney (pictured), wins the most seats in the federal election.
A major power outage affects most of the Iberian Peninsula.
An explosion and fire at the Port of Shahid Rajaee, Iran, kills at least 70 people and injures more than 1,200 others.
At least 11 people are killed in a car-ramming attack at a street festival in Vancouver, Canada.

On the previous day

April 30: Yom HaZikaron in Israel (2025)

Evacuees on the USS Midway

311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians officially ended in the eastern Roman Empire.
1943 – Second World War: The Royal Navy submarine HMS Seraph began Operation Mincemeat to deceive Germany about the upcoming invasion of Sicily.
1963 – A refusal by the Bristol Omnibus Company and the Transport and General Workers' Union to permit the employment of black bus crews led to a bus boycott in Bristol, England.
1975 – American forces completed a helicopter evacuation (aircraft and evacuees pictured) of U.S. citizens, South Vietnamese civilians and others from Saigon, just before North Vietnamese troops captured the city and ended the Vietnam War.
2021 – A crowd crush killed 45 people during the annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Israel.

Marie of the Incarnation (d. 1672)
Emily Stowe (d. 1903)
Kirsten Dunst (b. 1982)

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Yesterday's featured picture

Mimetite is a lead arsenate chloride mineral (Pb₅(AsO₄)₃Cl) which forms as a secondary mineral in lead deposits, usually by the oxidation of galena and arsenopyrite. The name derives from the Greek Μιμητής (mimetes), meaning "imitator," and refers to mimetite's resemblance to the similar mineral pyromorphite. This focus-stacked photograph shows a 3 cm × 1.7 cm × 1 cm (1.18 in × 0.67 in × 0.39 in) sample of mimetite collected from the Congreso-León mines in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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