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From today's featured article

Joss Whedon, writer of Fray

Melaka Fray is a fictional character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics by Dark Horse Comics. She debuted in the first issue of Fray (2001), a limited series in a shared universe with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Melaka is a professional thief who learns that she is a Slayer destined to fight supernatural foes, while her twin brother Harth inherited their prophetic dreams. She learns that Harth, whom she thought was dead, is a vampire intent on bringing demons back to Earth's dimension. After stopping his plan, Melaka remains a thief, but chooses to protect others as well. In Tales of the Slayers, she connects with her heritage by reading journals about past Slayers. Melaka reappears in the canonical comic-book continuation of the television series, meeting the 21st-century Slayer Buffy Summers in Season Eight and helping her defeat Harth in Season Twelve. Academics have analyzed Melaka's character arc in Fray as an example of the hero's journey. A fan film featuring Melaka was released in 2017. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Perron of Liège

... that the Perron of Liège (pictured) was dismantled and removed by the duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, following a failed uprising?
... that shortly after the fall of Suharto, Indonesia's 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade was deployed around the former president's house to protect him from mobs?
... that the house of actor Calum Lill was used as a set for the drama Waterloo Road when he was a child?
... that Interstate 155 is the only piece of surface transportation infrastructure that directly connects the U.S. states of Missouri and Tennessee?
... that Lim Joo Hock was called to the bar nearly two decades after getting his Bachelor of Laws degree?
... that Ukraine protects more than 3,000 geographical indications, only thirty of which originate in the country?
... that Logan Barrio is one of the oldest Mexican barrios in Santa Ana, California?
... that the author of Ethelwina used Shakespeare to justify including a real ghost?
... that a song about the discovery of sex toys and hundreds of condoms from West End Girl recently became Lily Allen's first UK top-ten single since 2014?

In the news

Fatafehi Fakafānua

Fatafehi Fakafānua (pictured) is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.
Filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, are found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home.
José Antonio Kast is elected president of Chile.
Sixteen people, including a gunman, are killed in a mass shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

On this day

December 23: Night of the Radishes in Oaxaca City, Mexico; Festivus

Signature of Yohl Ikʼnal

583 – Yohl Ikʼnal (signature pictured) acceded to the throne of the Maya city-state of Palenque.
1815 – Jane Austen's novel Emma was first published, the last novel released during her lifetime.
1958 – Tokyo Tower, then the world's tallest freestanding tower, opened.
1990 – About 88 percent of eligible voters in Slovenia voted to secede from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1997 – The Pioneer Helmet, one of only six Anglo-Saxon helmets to be discovered, was first placed on public display.

Francis Tresham (d. 1605)
Joseph Smith (b. 1805)
Edward Blyth (b. 1810)
Joan Lindsay (d. 1984)

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Today's featured picture

Sheryl Cooper (born 1956) is an American dancer and stage performer. In addition to regularly performing on tour with her husband, shock rock singer Alice Cooper, she teaches, choreographs, produces, and directs children's dance and theatre in the area of Phoenix, Arizona. She was also one of three co-founders of Alice Cooper's Solid Rock, a non-profit foundation for inner-city teens in Arizona. Born in Denver, Cooper began dancing at a young age, training in classical ballet until the age of 16, when she switched to jazz. She met Alice in 1975 at the age of 18 when she became a dancer for his "Welcome to My Nightmare" tour, and the pair married in 1976. Cooper has toured with Alice throughout his career, dancing on his sets with roles including a sadistic ghoulish nurse (sometimes alongside their daughter Calico performing a similar character), a giant spider, a devil and a ghost. This photograph shows Cooper performing at the O2 in London in 2022, dressed as a Marie Antoinette–style character who helps apprehend Alice and sends him to the guillotine.

Photograph credit: Raph_PH

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