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From today's featured article
Did you know ...
Catherine Helen Spence
- ... that the final novel by Catherine Helen Spence (pictured) remained unpublished for over a century after being labelled "socialistic" and "dangerous"?
- ... that Tex Ritter's recording of "Blood on the Saddle" has often been presented by an animatronic bear?
- ... that Mao Zedong encouraged Zeng Zesheng not to join the Chinese Communist Party, believing his non-Party status would help him engage more effectively with Taiwan and the international community?
- ... that the manga Snow Angel ran a campaign supporting young carers?
- ... that Mary "May" McGee's successful legal action against the Irish government for restricting her access to contraceptives led to an eventual liberalization of the country's laws on birth control?
- ... that the Green Bay Packers' second stadium was built using wood from its first stadium?
- ... that flute playing and hired wailing irked the Latin Church so much that Archbishop Hugh threatened to put the offending women on the rack?
- ... that Ghana sent Palestine 40 metric tons of chocolate and other cocoa products as humanitarian aid in 2025?
- ... that the United States Supreme Court is not the Highest Court in the Land?
In the news
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Fatafehi Fakafānua
- A mass stabbing in Taipei, Taiwan, leaves four people dead, including the perpetrator.
- Bangladeshi activist Osman Hadi is assassinated, triggering violent protests and arson.
- Fatafehi Fakafānua (pictured) is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.
- Filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, are found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home.
- José Antonio Kast is elected president of Chile.
On this day
December 26: Saint Stephen's Day (Western Christianity); Boxing Day in the Commonwealth; Wren Day in Ireland and the Isle of Man; Kwanzaa begins (African diaspora in the Americas)
Babe Ruth
- 1709 – The opera Agrippina, described as George Frideric Handel's first masterpiece, premiered in Venice.
- 1800 – Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales, ordered the formation of the Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse, described as the first full-time military unit raised in Australia.
- 1825 – Imperial Russian Army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne after his elder brother Konstantin removed himself from the line of succession.
- 1919 – American baseball player Babe Ruth (pictured) was sold by the Boston Red Sox to their rivals, the New York Yankees, beginning the 84-year-long "Curse of the Bambino".
- 2015 – A violent tornado moved through several suburbs of Dallas, United States, killing ten and injuring almost 500 others.
- John Fothergill (d. 1780)
- Bazoline Estelle Usher (b. 1885)
- Raja Pervaiz Ashraf (b. 1950)
- Gust Zarnas (d. 2000)
From today's featured list
John McCloskey
The archbishop of New York is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province encompassing nearly all of the state of New York, the archbishop of New York also administers the bishops who head the suffragan dioceses of Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre and Syracuse. As of 2025, ten men have been archbishops of New York, and another three were bishops before New York was elevated to an archdiocese in 1850. Eight archbishops have been elevated to the College of Cardinals. John McCloskey (pictured), the second archbishop and fifth ordinary of New York, was the first to be born in the United States, as well as the first born in what is now New York City. Ronald Hicks, who was appointed in December 2025, is scheduled to be installed as Archbishop of New York in February 2026. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
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Orange cup coral (Tubastraea coccinea) is a large-polyp stony coral in the family Dendrophylliidae. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region, but has also been introduced into the Atlantic, including the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the West African region, and the Mediterranean Sea. The species is found in a variety of habitats including natural caves and rock faces as well as artificial surfaces such as granite, cement, steel and tile. The polyps of orange cup coral are red, and its tentacles are yellow-orange. The orange cup coral is heterotrophic and does not contain zooxanthellae in its tissues as many tropical corals do, allowing it to grow in complete darkness as long as it can capture enough food, feeding by using its transparent tentacles to capture zooplankton. It spreads using the ocean's currents and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. This orange cup coral was photographed in the Gulf of California off the coast of La Paz in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Photograph credit: Diego Delso |
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