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From today's featured article Egyptologist's drawing of a bronze cylinder seal of Shepseskare Shepseskare (Egyptian for "Noble is the Soul of Ra") was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC) during the Old Kingdom period. He lived in the mid-25th century BC, and was probably the owner of an unfinished pyramid platform in Abusir that was abandoned after a few weeks of work in the earliest stages of its construction. Very few artefacts are attributable to this most obscure ruler of the dynasty, and historians disagree on whether he reigned for a few months or for as long as seven years, between the reigns of Neferirkare Kakai and Neferefre. Shepseskare's relations to his predecessor and successor are not known for certain. The Egyptologist Miroslav Verner, who favours the shorter reign, has proposed that he was a son of Sahure and a brother to Neferirkare Kakai, who briefly seized the throne following the premature death of his predecessor and probable nephew, Neferefre. Shepseskare may himself have died unexpectedly or he may have lost the throne to another of his nephews, the future pharaoh Nyuserre Ini. (Full article...) Recently featured: Maya civilization Mass Effect 2 1804 dollar Did you know... No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School pupil in a DH.60 Moth, c. 1940 ... that lack of parachutes cut flying at No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School RAAF (pupil pictured) before "permission was granted to continue training without them until supplies were forthcoming"? ... that American artist Katherine Schmidt made paintings with a realism that one critic called "mysterious" and another "magical"? ... that the silver mylossoma, an Amazon basin fish, feeds on fruit and seeds? ... after the death of Bajirao I, his first wife, Kashibai made arrangements to train his son from another marriage in weaponry? ... that armed groups have occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since January 2, 2016? ... that the Dahomeyan post and telegraph workers leader Paul Kpoffon went on to become a government minister and ambassador? ... that in the 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake, the Shiva Temple, Kera was substantially damaged, leaving only the main spire and inner sanctum in a good condition? ... that Cicely Blair discovered that people with albinism cannot get blackheads?

In the news U.S. winter storm on January 23 A cold wave across East Asia results in more than 100 deaths, primarily in Taiwan. Several countries in the Americas warn women to postpone pregnancy due to a suspected link between Zika virus and microcephaly in newborn babies. A winter storm (satellite image pictured) causes more than 50 deaths and paralyzes travel across the Eastern United States. Caltech researchers discover evidence of a hypothetical Planet Nine, about ten times the mass of Earth, in the outer Solar System. Ongoing events: European migrant crisis Recent deaths: Marvin Minsky On this day... January 28 Horace Walpole 1547 – Nine-year-old Edward VI became the first Protestant ruler of England, during whose reign Protestantism was established for the first time in the country with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the mass. 1754 – Horace Walpole (pictured) coined the word "serendipity" in a letter he wrote to a friend, saying that he derived the term from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip. 1933 – Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet entitled "Now or Never" in which he called for the creation of a Muslim state in northwest India that he termed "Pakstan". 1958 – The Danish toy company Lego Group patented their design of Lego bricks. 1984 – Tropical Storm Domoina made landfall in southern Mozambique, causing some of the most severe flooding recorded in the region. More anniversaries: January 27 January 28 January 29

Today's featured picture The small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae L.) is a colourful Eurasian butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is the National Butterfly of Denmark. Photograph: Jörg Hempel Recently featured: The Holocaust Pin-tailed snipe Hidatsa chief

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