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Today's featured article Construction of Grant's Canal, as depicted in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper Grant's Canal was a military project to construct a canal through a bend in the Mississippi River opposite Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. Control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi was considered crucial by both the Union and the Confederacy. In June 1862, Union officer Thomas Williams was sent to De Soto Point with his men to dig a canal to bypass the strong Confederate defenses around Vicksburg. Disease and falling river levels prevented completion, and the project was abandoned until January 1863, when Ulysses S. Grant took an interest. The upstream entrance of the canal was moved, but heavy rains and flooding interfered with the project. Work was abandoned in March, and Grant eventually used other methods to capture Vicksburg. In 1876, the Mississippi changed course, cutting across De Soto Point near the route of the old canal and isolating Vicksburg from the river. The city's river access has since been restored. Only a small section of the canal survives. (Full article...) Recently featured: Philadelphia Athletics 18, Cleveland Indians 17 (1932) Fairfax Harrison Sagan standard  Today's featured media The common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is a bird species in the rail family, Rallidae. It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, from Africa to Europe and Asia. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands. A midsized to large rail, the common moorhen ranges in length from 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and spans 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 in) across the wings. It gives a wide range of gargling calls and will emit loud hisses when threatened. This common moorhen was photographed in the Parc des Chanteraines near Gennevilliers in the suburbs of Paris, France. Photograph credit: Alexis Lours Recently featured: Peanut – Lake Estancia – Acraea terpsicore Archive – More featured media...  Did you know Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ... that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (pictured) was the first Indian actress to be a juror at the Cannes Film Festival? ... that Bruce Conner conceived of his short film Cosmic Ray as "presenting the eyes" for blind musician Ray Charles? ... that Giovanni Manu was the first player from his university ever to be selected in the NFL draft? ... that Barack Obama made an election promise to make non-emergency bills freely available online for a five-day public consultation period under "sunlight before signing"? ... that Bob Noel was the one responsible for dealing "with all the dirty laundry" of the Green Bay Packers? ... that New England Revolution manager Bruce Arena led the club to a record-breaking 73 points in the 2021 season? ... that North West was originally going to be called Kaidence? ... that Lock's Quest was said to feature "some of the best original music in a DS game"? ... that 69 is "nice"?

In the news Donald Trump Former U.S. president Donald Trump (pictured) is found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records. In cricket, the Kolkata Knight Riders defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad to win the Indian Premier League. Gitanas Nausėda is re-elected as president of Lithuania. A landslide in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province leaves thousands of people missing and presumed dead. Ongoing: Israel–Hamas war timeline Russian invasion of Ukraine timeline Sudanese civil war timeline Recent deaths: Richard Mazza Bette Nash Grayson Murray Rolf-Ernst Breuer Bill Walton Ángeles Flórez Peón  This day in history May 31: World No Tobacco Day Bessarion 455 – Petronius Maximus, ruler of the Western Roman Empire, was stoned to death by a mob as he fled Rome ahead of the arrival of a Vandal force that sacked the city. 1223 – Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus': Mongol forces defeated a Kievan Rus' army at the Kalka River in present-day Ukraine. 1468 – Cardinal Bessarion (pictured) announced his donation of 746 Greek and Latin codices to the Republic of Venice, forming the Biblioteca Marciana. 1935 – An earthquake registering 7.7 Mw struck Balochistan in British India, now part of Pakistan, killing between 30,000 and 60,000 people. 2013 – A tornado struck Central Oklahoma, killing 8 people and injuring more than 150. Albertino Mussato (d. 1329) Joseph Grimaldi (d. 1837) Dina Boluarte (b. 1962) Mbaye Diagne (d. 1994) More anniversaries: May 30 May 31 June 1

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