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From today's featured article

Louis Leblanc (born January 26, 1991) is a former professional ice hockey player. A centre, Leblanc played minor hockey in the Montreal region before playing one season with the Omaha Lancers and becoming Rookie of the Year. At the 2009 NHL entry draft, he was selected 18th overall by the Montreal Canadiens. He then spent one season with Harvard Crimson, being named Ivy League rookie of the year, before signing a contract with the Canadiens in 2010. Later that year, Leblanc joined the Montreal Juniors. He spent three seasons with the Canadiens, mainly playing for their American Hockey League affiliate, before being traded in 2014 to the Anaheim Ducks, who kept him in the AHL. In 2015, Leblanc moved to Europe, joining HC Slovan Bratislava, playing seven games before being released. He appeared in four games for Lausanne HC, then retired from hockey. Internationally, Leblanc played in the 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and the 2011 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Detail from The Goddess Bhairavi Devi with Shiva

... that a 17th-century painting depicts the goddess Bhairavi wearing a skirt made of skulls (pictured)?
... that Stephanie Gilmore won her first four surfing world titles in her first four seasons on the professional circuit?
... that pieces of Atlanta's Carnegie Library were reused as vehicle barricades after the library was demolished?
... that the scent and fruit of Skimmia × confusa might offer clues about its undocumented origins?
... that the "Dragon Cartel", a cooperation of Chinese triads and Mexican cartels, poach fish maw in the Gulf of California and smuggle it to China?
... that Bernard Goldfine's gift-giving caused a White House chief of staff to step down?
... that Jacqueline Wilson wrote a sequel to Sleepovers 22 years after it was published?
... that Instinct described itself as a "clever mix of Cosmo and Maxim for gay men"?

In the news

Iliana Iotova

Iliana Iotova (pictured) becomes the first female president of Bulgaria following the resignation of Rumen Radev.
Vietnam's Communist Party Congress re-elects Tô Lâm as General Secretary, the most powerful position in the one-party state.
Italian fashion designer Valentino, founder of his eponymous fashion house, dies at the age of 93.
Wildfires in Chile leave more than 20 people dead.

On this day

January 26: Australia Day; Laba Festival in China (2026); Republic Day in India

Photograph of a television picture of Hutchinson

1841 – Commodore Gordon Bremer took formal possession of Hong Kong Island for the United Kingdom at Possession Point.
1926 – Oliver Hutchinson (pictured) appeared on television in inventor John Logie Baird's first successful demonstration of using the technology to show humans.
1972 – JAT Flight 367 exploded in mid-air over Czechoslovakia; the only survivor of the 28 on board, flight attendant Vesna Vulović, fell 10,160 m (33,330 ft), setting the record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute.
1991 – Somali Rebellion: Factions led by the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his rebel group, the United Somali Congress, ousted President Siad Barre.
2001 – An earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat killed at least 20,000 people, injured 167,000 others and destroyed nearly 400,000 homes.

Lady Katherine Grey (d. 1568)
Bessie Coleman (b. 1892)
Olga Tufnell (b. 1905)
Jeanne Hébuterne (d. 1920)

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From today's featured list

Coretta Scott King

The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named after Coretta Scott King (pictured), wife of Martin Luther King Jr., the award recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African-American experience. Awards are given both to authors and to illustrators for universal human values. The first author award was given in 1970, and the award was expanded to honor illustrators in 1974. Beginning in 1978, runner-up Author Honor Books have been recognized, and recognition of runner-up Illustrator Honor Books began in 1981. In addition, the Coretta Scott King Awards committee has presented the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement since 2010, and beginning in 1996 an occasional John Steptoe Award for New Talent. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Gurudongmar Lake is a glacial lake located to the north of the Himalayas in the northeast Indian state of Sikkim. At an elevation of more than 5,150 metres (16,900 feet), it is one of the highest lakes in the world. The lake is fed by glaciers of the Khangchengyao massif and forms the headwaters of the Teesta River. It is considered to be sacred by Buddhists and Sikhs. This photograph shows a partially frozen Gurudongmar Lake.

Photograph credit: Yoghya; edited by UnpetitproleX

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