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From today's featured article

A Fijian noblewoman tattooed with veiqia and qia gusu (mouth)

Veiqia is a female tattooing practice in Fiji. The term refers to both the practice and to the tattoos. Women or adolescent girls who have reached puberty may be tattooed in the groin and buttocks area by older female tattooing specialists called dauveiqia or daubati. The practice was common prior to the arrival in the 1830s of Christian missionaries who discouraged it, but it was revived in the twenty-first century. In Fijian culture, the tattoos were considered to heighten a women's beauty and could be an important factor that enabled her to marry. Receiving veiqia was highly ritualised, with many regional variations. Preparation for the process could include abstinence from food or from sexual relations, or inducing vomiting to purge the body. The process of tattooing was closely associated with the gift of a young woman's first fringed skirt to wear once their veiqia was complete. Motifs for tattoos included turtles, wandering tattlers, pottery and basketwork. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Kobayashi in 2016

... that Hideaki Kobayashi (pictured) cosplays as a schoolgirl despite being in his 60s?
... that Japanese electronic musician Camellia began producing music at the age of ten using his mother's computer?
... that a man is transformed into a woman for seven years in the medieval tale of The Abbot of Drimnagh, an uncommon example of gender-shifting in European folktales?
... that UCLA Bruins player Tyler Bilodeau cited his mother, who played in the WNBA, as "the reason I play basketball"?
... that the International Olympic Committee rejected recognition of the Marshall Islands National Olympic Committee as the nation's citizens hold dual citizenship?
... that the Spanish anarchist Agustín Remiro worked as a foreign agent for MI6?
... that the FMV game Contradiction was made on such a low budget that its creator learned how to code instead of hiring a programmer?
... that Charles Smith has worked as a basketball coach at the same high school for the past 50 years?

In the news

Robert Prevost

Robert Francis Prevost (pictured) is elected as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first Catholic pope born in the United States.
Friedrich Merz is elected Chancellor of Germany and sworn in alongside his coalition government.
Zhao Xintong defeats Mark Williams to win the World Snooker Championship.
In horse racing, Sovereignty, ridden by Junior Alvarado, wins the Kentucky Derby.
The Australian Labor Party increases its majority in the federal election.

On this day

May 12

B-17 bombers intercepting the Rex

1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa was crowned Queen of Bohemia after Austrian forces drove French troops from the territory.
1938 – During an exercise to demonstrate air power, United States Army Air Corps bomber aircraft intercepted the Italian ocean liner SS Rex (pictured) 620 nautical miles (1,100 km) off the US Atlantic coast.
1948 – The United Kingdom publicly announced that it was independently developing nuclear weapons, after the US Atomic Energy Act of 1946 ended cooperation on the matter.
1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force began the defence of Fire Support Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the war for the Australian Army.
1998 – Four students were shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers at Trisakti University in Jakarta, which led to widespread riots and the resignation of President Suharto nine days later.

Thomas Palaiologos (d. 1465)
Otto Frank (b. 1889)
Moto Hagio (b. 1949)

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From today's featured list

A 2023 regular season match for Seattle Reign FC at Lumen Field

Seattle Reign FC has played eleven full seasons in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest level of women's club soccer in the United States. The team is based in Seattle, Washington, and has won three NWSL Shields and had seven playoff appearances. They have not won an NWSL Championship but finished as runners-up on three occasions: in 2014, 2015, and 2023. In addition to league honors, the team won the 2022 edition of The Women's Cup, an invitational tournament with international teams. As of the end of the 2024 season, the Reign have played 252 total regular season games with 111 wins, 79 losses, and 62 draws—a winning percentage of 0.563. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). This photograph shows the "Pro" model from the launch line-up, which featured a 20GB hard drive, wireless controller and a silver DVD bezel.

Photograph credit: Evan-Amos

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