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From today's featured article Aliso Creek is a 19-mile (31 km) urban stream that runs through Orange County in the U.S. state of California from the Santa Ana Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, collecting seven main tributaries. It flows generally south-southwest through a narrow coastal watershed at the southern extreme of the arid Los Angeles Basin in a fairly straight course. Owing to the submersion of Southern California in the Pacific Ocean until 10 million years ago, the creek flows over marine sedimentary rock that dates from the late Eocene to the Pliocene. The watershed's broad sediment-filled valleys and deeply eroded side canyons were shaped by climate change during the last Ice Age. Historically, the creek served as the boundary between the Juaneño (Acjachemem) and Gabrieleno (Tongva) Indians. Although attempts to use the creek and its watershed as a municipal water source date to the early 20th century, the water it provided was erratic and of poor quality. The creek has become little more than an open wastewater drain, but the watershed supports some biodiversity, and remains a popular recreational area. (Full article...) Recently featured: Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories Masked shrike Typhoon Sudal Did you know... St Mellons Church ... that one of the oldest parts of the medieval St Mellons Church (pictured) is the base of the font, which was made from an old Norman pier? ... that Vanderbilt athlete Oliver "Doc" Kuhn helped start the athletics program at the University of Tampa and led the effort to plant podocarpus trees in downtown Tampa? ... that the Welsh goat's cheese Pantysgawn was created after a farmer was sent to market to buy a cow? ... that John Sigismund Zápolya, the only Unitarian monarch in history, was the first Prince of Transylvania? ... that domestication of the Syrian hamster began in the 1930s? ... that in 1975 Najma Sadeque and seven others perturbed by human rights violations in Pakistan established a NGO called Shirkat Gah? ... that Graham Charlesworth has played first-class cricket in England and South Africa? ... that bodybuilding in China was once banned?

In the news Danny Willett In golf, Danny Willett (pictured) wins the Masters Tournament. More than 100 people are killed in a fireworks accident at a Hindu temple in Kollam, Kerala, India. In horse racing, Rule The World wins the Grand National. SpaceX CRS-8, an unmanned cargo mission to the International Space Station, performs the first successful landing of its reusable main-stage booster on an autonomous spaceport drone ship. Pfizer and Allergan call off a planned $160 billion merger due to changes in U.S. tax inversion regulations. Ongoing events Recent deaths: Howard Marks Merle Haggard On this day... April 12: Yuri's Night; Cosmonautics Day in Russia Bombardment of Fort Sumter 240 – Shapur I was crowned shahanshah ("king of kings") of the Sasanian Empire, the last Iranian empire before the rise of Islam. 1204 – Alexios V Doukas fled Constantinople as forces under Boniface the Marquess of Montferrat and Enrico Dandolo the Doge of Venice entered and sacked the Byzantine capital, effectively ending the Fourth Crusade. 1861 – Confederate forces began firing at Fort Sumter (pictured) in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, starting the American Civil War. 1980 – Terry Fox dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and began running his "Marathon of Hope" towards the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia, to raise funds across Canada for cancer research. 2007 – The canteen of the Council of Representatives of Iraq building was attacked by a suicide bomber, killing one Member of Parliament and wounding 23 other people. More anniversaries: April 11 April 12 April 13

Today's featured picture Shearing the Rams is an 1890 oil painting on canvas by Australian artist Tom Roberts. It depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed. One of Australia's best-known paintings, it and other Australian Impressionist works gave visual expression to an emerging sense of national identity. The painting is held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Painting: Tom Roberts Recently featured: Stanislaus of Szczepanów Stefan Heym Balzhinima Tsyrempilov

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