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Today's featured article

Huaynaputina is a volcano in a volcanic plateau in southern Peru. Lying in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, it was formed by the subduction of the oceanic Nazca plate under the continental South American plate. Huaynaputina is a large volcanic crater, lacking an identifiable mountain profile, with an outer stratovolcano and three younger volcanic vents within an amphitheatre-shaped structure that is either a former caldera or a remnant of glacial erosion. The volcano has erupted dacitic magma. In the Holocene, Huaynaputina has erupted several times, including on 19 February 1600 – the largest eruption ever recorded in South America. Witnessed by people in the city of Arequipa, it killed at least 1,000 people in the region, wiped out vegetation, buried the surrounding area with 2 metres (7 feet) of volcanic rock and damaged infrastructure and economic resources. The eruption caused a volcanic winter and may have played a role in the onset of the Little Ice Age. Floods, famines, and social upheavals resulted, including a probable link with the Russian Time of Troubles. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

February 19:

A depiction of the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903

1811 – Peninsular War: Outnumbered French forces under Édouard Mortier routed and nearly destroyed Spanish troops at the Battle of the Gebora near Badajoz, Spain.
1903 – A blockade against Venezuela (depicted), caused by President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts, was lifted.
1942 – World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forcible relocation of over 112,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps.
1948 – The Southeast Asian Youth Conference, which is believed to have inspired armed communist rebellions in different Asian countries, opened in Calcutta, India.

Nicolaus Copernicus (b. 1473)
Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (b. 1938)
Jennifer Doudna (b. 1964)
Harper Lee (d. 2016)

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In the news

Edward Berger

At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave (director and Outstanding British Film co-winner Edward Berger pictured) wins four awards, including Best Film.
Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

Did you know...

Antimonumento +65

... that Antimonumento +65 (pictured) bears the names of 65 miners who were trapped 19 years ago today and died during the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster?
... that Joanna of Montfort became known as the "Flame of Brittany" after she led the successful defence of Hennebont against a besieging French army in 1342?
... that Nagi Nemoto made her VTuber debut on a classic television set?
... that National Hockey League players have not yet participated at the Olympics since the league entered its second century of operation?
... that Swen Swenson was born in Norway but pioneered a drainage system for Nicollet County while living in New Sweden?
... that the Alt Llobregat insurrection took place without any looting or killing?
... that Devello Z. Sheffield petitioned for the release of an assailant who had left him with over 30 wounds?
... that the 1924 film Tkies-kaf had no director until its lead actor volunteered?
... that the Māori-language name for Cave Rock, Sumner—Tuawera—means 'cut down as if by fire'?

Today's featured picture

Picture of the day

The oak eggar (Lasiocampa quercus) is a common moth in the family Lasiocampidae found in Europe and northern and western parts of Asia. The larvae feed on a wide variety of plant species, low down, including blackthorn, hawthorn, viburnum, dogwood, ivy and ling, but are not known to feed on oak. They can be infected by baculoviruses, which change their behaviour and cause them to climb out of the protection of low scrub and leave them open to predation, facilitating the spread of infection. Oak eggar larvae eventually pupate on the ground inside a silken cocoon, the exterior of which is hard and yellowish, and resembles an acorn, from which the common name "oak eggar" is derived. This oak eggar larva in the form of a fourth-instar caterpillar, with a body length of 53 millimetres (2.1 inches), was photographed on a branch in Keila, Estonia. The photograph was focus-stacked from 59 separate images.Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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