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Banksia brownii, commonly known as feather-leaved banksia or Brown's banksia, is a species of shrub that grows in the southwest of Western Australia. A banksia with fine feathery leaves and large red-brown flower spikes, it usually grows as an upright bush around two metres (7 ft) high, but can also occur as a small tree or a low spreading shrub. First collected in 1829, it is placed in Banksia subgenus Banksia, section Oncostylis, series Spicigerae. It is considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; all major populations are threatened by Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback, a disease to which the species is highly susceptible. Other threats include habitat loss, commercial exploitation and changes to the fire regime. Highly valued by Australia's horticultural and cut flower industries, B. brownii is cultivated in areas not exposed to dieback. It prefers a sheltered position in soil with good drainage, and must be provided with some moisture over summer. (Full article...)

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Pizza dolce di Beridde

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... that Atari hired a number of graffiti artists for the remixed versions of classic arcade games in Retro Atari Classics?
... that Albert Luthuli was the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize?
... that Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, modeled on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the statehood of Tennessee in 1996?
... that in 1819 Michael O'Sullivan, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, fought a duel in Montreal with William Caldwell over a proposal to create the Montreal General Hospital?
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In the news

Jon Rahm

In golf, Jon Rahm (pictured) wins the Masters Tournament.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is arraigned on 34 charges of falsifying business records.
Finland joins NATO as its 31st member.
In the Andorran parliamentary election, the liberal coalition, led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot, wins an absolute majority of seats in the General Council.
In NCAA Division I basketball, the LSU Tigers win the women's championship and the UConn Huskies win the men's championship.

On this day

April 12: Cosmonautics Day in Russia (1961); Yuri's Night

NATO F-15 fighter aircraft during Operation Deny Flight

1807 – The Froberg mutiny of Greek and Albanian troops in British service ended with the explosion of the gunpowder magazine at Fort Ricasoli, Malta.
1831 – The Broughton Suspension Bridge near Manchester, England, collapsed, reportedly because of mechanical resonance induced by troops marching in step across it.
1993 – Bosnian War: NATO forces began Operation Deny Flight (aircraft pictured) to enforce a no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina ordered by the United Nations Security Council.
2012 – The Guinea-Bissau military seized control in a coup amid a presidential election, later handing power to a transitional administration under Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo.
2013 – Four Chadian soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing by jihadist rebels in Kidal, Mali.

Alexander Ostrovsky (b. 1823)
Keiko Fukuda (b. 1913)
Karim Fakhrawi (d. 2011)

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Today's featured picture

Hermodice carunculata, the bearded fireworm, is a type of marine bristleworm belonging to the Amphinomidae family, native to the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. They are usually 15 centimetres (6 inches) in average length, but can reach up to 30 centimetres (12 inches). This bearded fireworm was photographed in the Garajau Marine Nature Reserve in Madeira, Portugal.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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