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The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England. Arising from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington, Dorset, it flows northwest through the Somerset Levels to its mouth at Burnham-on-Sea, into the nature reserve at Bridgwater Bay on the Bristol Channel, draining about 50 per cent of Somerset's land area. The 37-mile-long (60 km) river is tidal for 27 miles (43 km) up to Oath. During the Roman era, the Parrett was crossed by a ford, and in Anglo-Saxon times formed a boundary between Wessex and Dumnonia. From the medieval period, the river served the Port of Bridgwater, enabling cargoes to be transported inland. The arrival of the railways led to a decline and now commercial shipping only docks at Dunball. Along with its connected waterways and network of drains, the Parrett supports an ecosystem that includes several rare species of flora and fauna. The River Parrett Trail has been established along the banks of the river. (Full article...)

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Rika Nakagawa

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... that in 1989 the Barcelona women's second football team was knocked out of the Catalan Cup in the same round as the Barcelona women's first team?
... that Tuhi Martukaw led youth delegations to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for ten years in a row?
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... that announcers at a Virginia radio station were warned that playing more than three rap songs an hour could get them fired?
... that of the 16 aircraft which took part in the Doolittle Raid, only the one piloted by Edward J. York landed intact?
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... that Moses Benjamin Wulff founded a printing press that reprinted The Guide for the Perplexed for the first time in centuries?
... that New York City's Queens Zoo once received a lion cub despite having no lion enclosure?

In the news

Shigeru Ishiba

Shigeru Ishiba (pictured) becomes Prime Minister of Japan after winning the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election.
Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, Israel invades Lebanon, and Iran launches missiles against Israel.
Flooding in Nepal leaves more than 250 people dead, including 37 in the nation's capital, Kathmandu.
In Australian rules football, the Brisbane Lions defeat the Sydney Swans to win the AFL Grand Final.
Hurricane Helene leaves more than 200 people dead across the southeastern United States.

On this day

October 5: World Teachers' Day

Women's March on Versailles

869 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople, the eighth Catholic Ecumenical Council, was convened to discuss the patriarchate of Photios I of Constantinople.
1789 – French Revolution: Upset about the high price and scarcity of bread, thousands of Parisian women and allies marched (pictured) on the Palace of Versailles.
1869 – During construction of the Eastman tunnel in St. Anthony, Minnesota (now Minneapolis), the Mississippi River broke through the tunnel's limestone ceiling, nearly destroying Saint Anthony Falls.
1994 – Swiss police found the bodies of 48 members of the Order of the Solar Temple, who had died in a cult mass murder-suicide.

Plácido Zuloaga (b. 1834)
Francis William Reitz (b. 1844)
Magda Szabó (b. 1917)
Varghese Payyappilly (d. 1929)

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Today's featured picture

Pristimantis elegans is a species of frog in the family Strabomantidae. It is endemic to the Colombian Andes, in the Cordillera Oriental, residing in páramos and cloud forests at elevations of 2,600–3,650 m (8,530–11,980 ft) above sea level. It is typically found in herbaceous vegetation and very small bushes. Pristimantis elegans is a stout-bodied frog, with males typically measuring 37–40 mm (1.5–1.6 in). Development is direct, without a free-living tadpole stage. Males of the species have a pulsed advertisement call, which is usually emitted at night, in vegetation. This Pristimantis elegans individual was photographed in Chingaza National Natural Park, Colombia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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