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Remnants of Hiraqla, a victory monument erected by Harun al-Rashid

The Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor in 806 CE was an attack by the Abbasid Caliphate against the Byzantine Empire in southeastern and central Asia Minor. Soon after his accession in 802, the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I ceased paying tribute to the Caliphate and attacked it. In retaliation, Harun al-Rashid, the Abbasid caliph, invaded Byzantium with a force far larger than any seen before. The Abbasid army met no opposition and raided at will, capturing several towns and fortresses, including Herakleia, whose fall was celebrated by the Caliph's propaganda. Nikephoros was forced to seek peace and resume paying tribute. Harun exacted a personal tax on the Emperor and his heir, Staurakios, as a token of their submission and withdrew. Almost immediately Nikephoros violated the peace terms, but Harun's preoccupation with a rebellion prevented reprisal. Harun's death, the Abbasid civil war, and Nikephoros' Bulgarian wars prevented the resumption of large-scale warfare for two decades. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Bessie Van Vorst depicted as a pickle factory worker

... that American journalist Bessie Van Vorst (depicted) worked undercover at a pickle factory and other worksites to expose labor conditions for women and children in the early 1900s?
... that Oxford Circus was once London's busiest pedestrian crossing?
... that Cornell University student Charles Spencer Francis, who later became the U.S. ambassador to Austria, set the world record for intercollegiate single-scull rowing in 1876?
... that hundreds of patients of the Provincial Mental Sanatorium Kortau died in Nazi Germany's Aktion T4 involuntary-euthanasia program?
... that the second of Henry Purcell's two settings of Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts was composed in an earlier style for the funeral of Queen Mary II of England?
... that Emilia Clarke performed the funky chicken and robot dances at her Game of Thrones audition?
... that the Caha Mountains in south-west County Cork are notable for the presence of Minuartia recurva, a montane sandwort not otherwise found in Ireland?
... that treatment for the symptoms of Newyorkitis was being offered at a New York YMCA in 1908?

In the news

Coronavirus pandemic

Southeastern US severe weather

Thirty-eight people are killed in a tornado outbreak (satellite image shown) in the Southeastern United States.
The High Court of Australia quashes the conviction of Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse and orders his acquittal.
Cyclone Harold impacts the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga, killing at least thirty people.

On this day

April 17: Evacuation Day in Syria (1946)

Modern reconstruction of Kaunas Castle

1362 – Lithuanian Crusade: After a month-long siege, forces of the Teutonic Order captured and destroyed Kaunas Castle (reconstruction pictured), which was defended by troops of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: British forces commanded by Lieutenant-General Ralph Abercromby invaded the Spanish colonial port of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1869 – The Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, named after José María Morelos, the hero of the Siege of Cuautla, was admitted as the 27th state of Mexico.
1951 – The Peak District was designated the first national park in the United Kingdom.
1975 – The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, the capital of the Khmer Republic, ending the Cambodian Civil War and establishing the socialist state of Democratic Kampuchea.

Bernard of Italy (d. 818)
Eliza Acton (b. 1799)
Vikram (b. 1966)

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Peter Dinklage

Game of Thrones, an American fantasy-drama television series, has received many awards and nominations throughout its run. Of 786 nominations, the series has won 290 awards. The show, created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and originally airing on the American premium television network HBO, is an adaptation of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels. The show has received eight Golden Globe Award nominations (with one win), ten Writers Guild of America Award nominations, eight Producers Guild of America Awards (with one win), and eight Directors Guild of America Awards (with two wins). The ensemble cast has been nominated seven times for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Peter Dinklage (pictured), who portrays Tyrion Lannister, has won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. The series holds the Emmy Award record for most wins for a scripted television series, with 59 wins. (Full list...)

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Pterophorus pentadactyla, commonly known as the white plume moth, is a European moth in the family Pterophoridae. The adult has a wingspan of about 30 mm (1.2 in); it is pure white, the wings being divided into five slender feather-like plumes, two forming part of the forewing and three the hindwing. The larvae are green, with a yellow dorsal stripe and tufts of pale hairs, and feed on plants in the family Convolvulaceae.

This is a dorsal view of a male P. pentadactyla found at Sainte-Croix-Volvestre, France, and preserved in the Muséum de Toulouse.

Photograph credit: Didier Descouens

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