Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 June 24

Horse-flies are large flies of the family Tabanidae that feed mainly on nectar. The males have weak mouthparts; only the females bite animals, including humans, to obtain enough protein from the blood to produce eggs. For this they use a stout stabbing organ and two pairs of sharp cutting blades to bite, and a spongelike part to lap up the blood that flows from the wound. They can transfer blood-borne diseases from one animal to another. They can also reduce growth rates in cattle and lower the milk output of cows if suitable shelters are not provided. Horseflies prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and shady areas, and are inactive at night. They are found all over the world except for some islands and the polar regions. The larvae are predaceous and grow in semiaquatic habitats. Horse-flies have appeared in literature since Aeschylus in Ancient Greece wrote about them driving people to madness. Gadflies (horse-flies and botflies) are mentioned in Shakespeare's plays King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra. (Full article...)

• ... that 1976 Summer Olympics decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner (pictured) was once a Playgirl magazine cover model?
• ... that one eruption in the Jom-Bolok volcanic field created a 70 kilometre- (43 mile-) long lava flow?
• ... that although Alejandro Murat Hinojosa was born in the State of Mexico, he was allowed to run for governor of Oaxaca by the SCJN because his parents were natives of that state?
• ... that the music video for Mamamoo's "Mr. Ambiguous" includes a hidden camera prank?
• ... that Daniel Nivel, victim of an assault by German football hooligans in 1998, was the guest of honour at a 2006 match also marred by hooliganism?
• ... that the secret Korean Patriotic Organization aimed for Korean independence through assassinations of prominent Japanese figures?
• ... that the Bolivian city of Potosí is located close to, or even inside, the Miocene Kari-Kari caldera?

• After the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union, British Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) announces he will resign by October.
• A tornado kills at least 98 people and injures approximately 800 others in Jiangsu Province, China.
• In basketball, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Golden State Warriors to win the NBA Finals.
• The United Nations reports 80,000 civilians have fled Fallujah, as Iraqi Army and Shia militias retake most of the city from ISIL.
• British Member of Parliament Jo Cox dies after being shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

June 24: Nativity of St John the Baptist (Christianity); Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in Quebec, Canada

• 1374 – An outbreak of dancing mania, wherein crowds of people danced themselves to exhaustion, took place in Aachen (present-day Germany), before spreading to other cities and countries.
• 1571 – Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi established a council to govern the city of Manila (Manila Cathedral pictured), now the capital of the Philippines.
• 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée under Napoleon crossed the Neman River, marking the start of their invasion of Russia.
• 1937 – The United States' first two "fast battleships", the North Carolina class, were ordered from the New York and Philadelphia Naval Shipyards.
• 1982 – British Airways Flight 9 flew into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Indonesia's Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four of its engines.

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Blenduk Church, formally the Immanuel Protestant Church of Western Indonesia, is a Protestant church in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Established in 1753, it is the oldest church in the province. The current building dates back to 1787; the towers and dome were added in 1894.

Photograph: Chris Woodrich