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From today's featured article Nicky Barr (1915–2006) was a member of the Australian national rugby union team who became a fighter ace in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. Selected to play for Australia against the United Kingdom in 1939, he had just arrived in England when war broke out and the tour was cancelled. He joined the RAAF in 1940 and was posted to North Africa with No. 3 Squadron in September 1941. Barr's achievements as a combat pilot earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar. Shortly after taking command of No. 3 Squadron in May 1942, he was shot down and captured by Axis forces, and incarcerated in Italy. He escaped and assisted other Allied fugitives to safety, receiving for his efforts the Military Cross, a rare honour for an RAAF pilot. Repatriated to England in 1944, he saw action during the invasion of Normandy before returning to Australia as chief instructor with No. 2 Operational Training Unit. He rejoined the RAAF as an active reserve officer from 1951 to 1953. After his subsequent success for many years in the oilseed industry, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1983. (Full article...) Recently featured: Infinity Blade Symphony No. 8 (Sibelius) George Macaulay Did you know... Kathryn Parsons ... that Kathryn Parsons (pictured) co-founded a startup that teaches people how to "code in a day"? ... that Marguerite Lehr conducted a televised lecture course on mathematics in the 1950s? ... that ASI Corp., a wholesale distributor of computer components founded by Christine Liang, is one of the largest women-owned businesses in the United States? ... that Singaporean fungi expert Gloria Lim was once summoned by her country's Ministry of Defence when their storage area developed mold? ... that Vera Faddeeva's 1950 book Computational methods of linear algebra was one of the first publications in that field of mathematics? ... that after Cecilia Bouzat was given a L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science she was received by the President of Argentina? ... that Louise Hay was the only woman to direct a math department at a major research university in her era? ... that Charlotte Sahl-Madsen introduced multiple intelligences into the Universe?

In the news Launch of Akatsuki in 2010 The JAXA probe Akatsuki (launch pictured) enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt. In a constitutional referendum, Armenia approves becoming a parliamentary republic. In Venezuela, the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable wins an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections. At least 29 workers die as a result of fire at the Azerbaijani Gunashli oilfield in the Caspian Sea. Flooding across southern India kills at least 300 people and displaces approximately 1.8 million others since November. Ongoing events: Syrian Civil War European migrant crisis Recent deaths: Xu Ming Scott Weiland On this day... December 10: Human Rights Day Raúl Alfonsín 1508 – The Papal States, France, Aragon and the Holy Roman Empire formed the League of Cambrai, an alliance against the Republic of Venice. 1884 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by American author Mark Twain was first published in the United Kingdom and Canada. 1907 – During the Brown Dog affair, about 1,000 protesters marched through London and then clashed with 400 police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence of a memorial for animals which had been vivisected. 1979 – The Kuomintang (KMT) dictatorship of Taiwan arrested a large number of opposition leaders who had organized pro-democracy demonstrations, an incident credited with ending the KMT's rule in 2000. 1983 – Raúl Alfonsín (pictured) became the first democratically elected President of Argentina to take office after the fall of the military dictatorship. More anniversaries: December 9 December 10 December 11

Today's featured picture A boat tour among the icebergs on Tasman Lake, a proglacial lake formed by the recent retreat of the Tasman Glacier in New Zealand's Mount Cook National Park. As it retreats, icebergs break off from a submerged apron of glacial ice that projects into the lake. Photograph: Avenue Recently featured: McKayla Maroney Kasubi Tombs Events in ballooning

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