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From today's featured article Typhoon Sudal was the strongest typhoon (the Northwestern Pacific Basin equivalent of a hurricane) in half a century to strike the island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. The entire island, only 17 km (11 mi) in length, experienced typhoon-force winds (at least 119 km/h or 74 mph), and 90% of the structures were damaged or destroyed. The storm formed on April 2, 2004, to the east of the country and attained tropical storm status on April 5. On April 9, it passed just south of Yap, and shortly thereafter its peak winds were estimated at 240 km/h (150 mph). After moving northwest and then northeast, Sudal became an extratropical cyclone on April 16 and dissipated two days later. Overall damage was $14 million, most of which was on Yap. No fatalities or serious injuries were reported, but more than 80 percent of the islanders were without clean running water after the storm. The name Sudal (Korean for "otter") had been contributed by South Korea for the Pacific tropical cyclone list; due to the heavy damage, the name was retired. (Full article...) Recently featured: Calostoma cinnabarinum Aquaman (TV pilot) Rosendale Trestle Did you know... Hong Kong rose ... that the Hong Kong rose (pictured) is mainly pollinated by birds? ... that Easter Hero's second-place finish in the 1929 Grand National has been described as the greatest performance in the history of the race? ... that Lin Zongsu's article reporting her discussion of women's suffrage with Sun Yat-sen brought the right to vote into the public arena in China? ... that Jyotisha was an ancient Vedic study of time keeping and astronomy, that later adopted astrology ideas and the zodiac from the Greeks? ... that installation of the Middleton Beach shark barrier in Albany, Western Australia was delayed when sharks attacked pygmy whales just a few meters from the beach? ... that novelist Louie Myfanwy Thomas had to re-write one of her manuscripts after it was thrown into a fire? ... that in 1839, the landlord of The Angel Hotel, Abergavenny was found guilty of failing to provide sufficient hay to horses of the 12th Royal Lancers? ... that Eddy Merckx gave the bike he used to win the men's road race at the 1974 UCI Road World Championships to Pope Paul VI?

In the news Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson Pfizer and Allergan call off a planned $160 billion merger due to changes in U.S. tax inversion regulations. Amid the scandal caused by the Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents revealing information on 214,488 offshore companies, Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson (pictured) steps aside. In basketball, the Villanova Wildcats defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels to win the NCAA Men's Championship. In cricket, the West Indies win both the ICC World Twenty20 and ICC Women's World Twenty20. Ongoing events: Zika virus outbreak Recent deaths: Merle Haggard Joe Medicine Crow Cesare Maldini On this day... April 9: Vimy Ridge Day in Canada; Day of National Unity in Georgia (1989); Bataan Day in the Philippines Toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville made the oldest known recording of an audible human voice, when he recorded himself singing "Au clair de la lune". 1865 – A day after the destruction of their supply trains by Union troops, Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean House near the Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. 1918 – World War I: Aníbal Milhais's actions during the Battle of the Lys made him the only person to be awarded Portugal's highest military honour, the Order of the Tower and Sword, directly on the battlefield. 1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100. 2003 – Invasion of Iraq: Coalition forces captured Baghdad and the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square was toppled (pictured). More anniversaries: April 8 April 9 April 10

Today's featured picture Balzhinima Tsyrempilov is a World Cup-winning and former world number-one archer from Russia. He has competed in both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, though he has not medalled. Photograph: Аркадий Зарубин Recently featured: Aqueduct of Segovia Pena National Palace James Watson

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