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Jeremy Thorpe (1929–2014) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party between 1967 and 1976. After graduating from Oxford University, he became one of the Liberals' brightest stars in the 1950s. Thorpe capitalised on the growing unpopularity of the Conservative and Labour parties to lead the Liberals through a period of electoral success. This culminated in the general election of February 1974, when the party won 6 million votes. In May 1979 he was tried at the Old Bailey on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder, arising from an earlier relationship with Norman Scott, a former model. Thorpe was acquitted on all charges, but the case, and the scandal, ended his political career. By the time of his death he was honoured for his record as an internationalist, a supporter of human rights, and an opponent of apartheid and all forms of racism. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

NHSR recruiting poster

... that the British National Hospital Service Reserve (poster pictured) trained volunteers to carry out first aid in the aftermath of a nuclear or chemical attack?
... that a 1917 agreement between France and Russia was rendered void within days because of the February Revolution?
... that Goethe used his unrequited love to Maximiliane Brentano as inspiration for his novel The Sorrows of Young Werther?
... that the cupola of Homer House is part of a 19th-century cooling system?
... that Grant Nel, at the age of nine, switched from gymnastics to diving after breaking both of his hands?
... that the New York City Police Department shut down highway and bridge traffic for the funeral of the owner of Neary's, an Irish pub?
... that a drone attack by the Houthi military hit a target in Tel Aviv, but no sirens were activated?
... that the general manager of a California TV station canceled the interview show he hosted because of its lack of quality?
... that the regent of the Mongol Empire between 1248 and 1251 was named "We Were Searching for a Boy"?

In the news

Alberto Fujimori in 1991

Former president of Peru Alberto Fujimori (pictured) dies at the age of 86.
Flooding following a dam collapse in Borno State, Nigeria, leaves at least 30 people dead.
Typhoon Yagi leaves more than 840 people dead across six Asian countries.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune is declared the winner of the Algerian presidential election amid a dispute over the election's turnout.

On this day

September 16

Western terminus of the Northern Xinjiang railway

681 – At the Third Council of Constantinople, Pope Honorius I was posthumously excommunicated, with his support for monothelitism deemed to be heretical.
1844 – Felix Mendelssohn completed the score of his Violin Concerto, his final concerto.
1979 – Eight people escaped from East Germany to West Germany in a home-made hot air balloon.
1990 – Construction of the Northern Xinjiang railway (terminus pictured) was completed between Ürümqi South and Alashankou, linking the railway lines of China and Kazakhstan and adding a sizeable portion to the Eurasian Land Bridge.

Vitalis of Savigny (d. 1122)
Elisabeth Bagréeff-Speransky (b. 1799)
Vesta Tilley (d. 1952)
Louis Ngwat-Mahop (b. 1987)

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Évariste Ndayishimiye

Nine people have served as President of Burundi since the country became a republic in 1966. The president of Burundi is the head of state and head of government, as well as the commander-in-chief of the National Defence Force. The office of the presidency was established when Michel Micombero declared Burundi a republic in a coup d'état on 28 November 1966. The first constitution to specify the powers and duties of the president was the constitution of 1974, which was adopted in 1976. The president's stated role is to represent Burundi's national unity and ensure that the laws and functions of the state are created and executed in full compliance with the constitution. Sylvie Kinigi, the first and only woman in the office, served as interim president from 1993 to 1994. Évariste Ndayishimiye (pictured) has served as president since 18 June 2020. (Full list...)

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Pomacanthus maculosus, commonly known as the yellowbar angelfish, is a species in the marine angelfish family, Pomacanthidae, found in the western Indian Ocean and, more recently, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It has a deep and compressed body with a small mouth that is equipped with small bristle-like teeth. The background colour of adults is brownish blue with each scale having a blue margin creating the impression that it is predominantly blue. There is an uneven, yellow bar close to the centre of the flanks with dark blue, vertically elongated spots towards the head. The species is occasionally collected for the aquarium trade and has also been recorded on sale as food in fish markets. This P. maculosus fish was photographed in Ras Muhammad National Park in the Red Sea off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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