Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 June 25

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Astatine is a very rare radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol At and atomic number 85. It occurs on Earth as the decay product of various heavier elements. All its isotopes are short-lived, with half-lives of 8.1 hours or less. Elemental astatine has never been viewed because a mass large enough to be seen by the naked eye would be immediately vaporized by its radioactive heating. The bulk properties of astatine are not known with any certainty, but they have been predicted based on its similarity to the other halogens, the lighter elements directly above it in the periodic table: fluorine, chlorine, bromine and especially iodine. It is likely to have a dark or lustrous appearance and may be a semiconductor or possibly a metal; it probably has a higher melting point than iodine. Chemically, several anionic species of astatine are known and most of its compounds resemble those of iodine. It also shows some metallic behavior, including the ability to form a stable monatomic cation in aqueous solution (unlike the lighter halogens). (Full article...)

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• ... that Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed (pictured) was accused of a level of offensiveness one would expect from a foreign, not a British, artist?
• ... that Crown Prince Theingapati and his father King Kyawswa of Pagan were branded traitors and executed in 1299 by the Myinsaing brothers for their submission to the Mongol Empire?
• ... that mature trees grow directly in the stream channel of White Oak Run?
• ... that the British barrister Jeremy McMullen represented Dame Shirley Porter and the trade union president Arthur Scargill?
• ... that the Federal Trade Commission describes the Reynolds cancer charities as "one of the largest charity fraud cases ever", with $187 million allegedly misappropriated?
• ... that the women's record for the Bob Graham Round, one of Britain's toughest fell races, was broken by the 47-year-old Nicky Spinks in 2015?
• ... that Luther's hymn about baptism, "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam", is the basis for Bach's chorale cantata for the feast of John the Baptist?
• ... that the Froberg mutiny ended after mutineers blew up Fort Ricasoli's gunpowder magazine?

• A heat wave in Pakistan kills more than 1,200 people.
• In golf, Jordan Spieth (pictured) wins the U.S. Open.
• Twenty-two crewmen are released from a Malaysian tanker that was hijacked nine days earlier.
• The Social Democrats win a plurality in the Danish parliamentary election.
• Pope Francis releases the encyclical Laudato si', in which he calls for action on environmental degradation and climate change.
• Nine people, including a state senator, are killed in a mass shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
• In basketball, the Golden State Warriors defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA Finals.

• Ongoing events:

  • FIFA Women's World Cup

• Recent deaths:

  • James Horner
  • Gunther Schuller

June 25: Croatian Statehood Day and Slovenian Statehood Day; Independence Day in Mozambique (1975)

• 1658 – Anglo-Spanish War: English colonial forces repelled a Spanish attack in the largest battle ever fought on Jamaica.
• 1910 – The Firebird, the first major work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, made its premiere in Paris.
• 1950 – The Korean War began with North Korean forces launching a pre-dawn raid over the 38th parallel into South Korea.
• 1975 – Citing threats to national security, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (pictured) unilaterally had a state of emergency declared across the nation that lasted nearly two years.
• 2013 – Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani became the eighth Emir of Qatar, currently the world's youngest reigning monarch.

• More anniversaries:

  • June 24
  • June 25
  • June 26

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A black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) feeding on a fish in the shallows of the Chêne River in Montreal, Quebec. These widespread ambush predators average 64 cm (25 in) in length.

Photograph: Alain Carpentier

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