From today's featured article

Hurricane Patricia set records for the highest maximum sustained winds ever recorded in a tropical cyclone and the second-lowest barometric pressure (after Typhoon Tip of 1979). Originating near the Gulf of Tehuantepec off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico, the system was classified as a tropical depression on October 20, 2015. The next day it became a tropical storm, the twenty-fourth named storm of the 2015 Pacific hurricane season. The following day it grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 24 hours. The National Hurricane Center ultimately estimated that Patricia attained winds of 215 mph (345 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 872 mbar (hPa; 25.75 inHg). The storm made landfall on October 23 near Cuixmala, Jalisco, in a significantly weakened state, but it was still the strongest recorded hurricane to strike Mexico's Pacific coast, with winds estimated at 150 mph (240 km/h). (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know...

Franz Halder

... that Franz Halder (pictured), a former chief of staff of Nazi Germany's army, was the only German to be decorated by both Adolf Hitler and an American president?
... that at 2.5 miles (4.0 km), New York City's South Beach Boardwalk was cited as the fourth longest boardwalk in the world in 2010?
... that medical researcher Shuping Wang may have saved tens of thousands of lives by defying authorities and exposing an HIV/AIDS scandal in China?
... that two years after going on the air, WBCE radio switched from country to gospel music because too many stations in western Kentucky had country formats?
... that Lee Eun-soo was South Korea's seventh female general officer and the first in the legal branch?
... that at the 2019 China Championship, Judd Trump's fifteen-match and six-month winning streak was broken when he was defeated by Joe Perry?
... that Gujarati writer Rambha Gandhi wrote and participated in more than 400 radio plays?
... that the 1977 fantasy novel The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions was originally planned as a children's book?

Abhijit Banerjee

The trial of Catalonia independence leaders concludes with nine prison sentences, sparking protests across the region.
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Abhijit Banerjee (pictured), Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer for their work in poverty reduction.
Ten days of protests in Ecuador end after President Lenín Moreno agrees to restore fuel subsidies.
Kenyan Brigid Kosgei breaks the women's marathon world record at the Chicago Marathon.

Pope Pius XII

1740 – Under the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, Maria Theresa assumed the throne of the Habsburg Monarchy in Austria.
1939 – Pope Pius XII (pictured) published his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, critiquing ideologies such as racism, cultural superiority and totalitarianism.
1951 – African-American college football player Johnny Bright was the victim of an on-field assault that eventually provoked changes in NCAA football rules and mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.
2011 – Libyan Civil War: Deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi was captured by rebel forces during the Battle of Sirte and killed less than an hour later.

Ralph d'Escures (d. 1122) · James Chadwick (b. 1891) · Chen Liting (b. 1910)

More anniversaries: