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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Zarqawi took responsibility, on several audiotapes, for numerous acts of terrorism in Iraq and Jordan. These acts include suicide bombings, and the killing of soldiers, police officers, and civilians. As an Islamist identified with the Salafi movement, Zarqawi opposed the presence of United States and Western military forces in the Islamic world and opposed the West's support for and the existence of Israel. In September 2005, he reportedly declared "all-out war" on Shia Muslims in Iraq and is believed responsible for dispatching numerous Al-Qaeda suicide bombers throughout Iraq, especially to areas with large concentrations of Shia civilians. As the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq he is suspected of responsibility for thousands of deaths. Zarqawi was killed in a US airstrike in June, 2006. (more...)

Recently featured: Enzyme inhibitors – Mormon handcart pioneers – History of the board game Monopoly

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's newest articles:

...that the Certosa di Pavia (pictured) was commissioned by Gian Galeazzo Visconti to be built halfway between his two courts in Milan and Pavia?
...that Jason Bedrick, a New Hampshire state representative, is that state's first Orthodox Jewish elected official?
...that as a teenager, Chiri Yukie prepared the first Japanese translations of several of the yukar sagas of the Ainu people?
...that the Vedic Mathematics genre was revived after Hindu Shankaracharya Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja rediscovered it in the form of sixteen sutras?
...that the Department of State Lands is one of Oregon's oldest government agencies?
...that on October 5, 1914, a French Voisin III pilot scored the first air-to-air kill of World War I?

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In the news

Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the King of Bhutan, abdicates in favour of his son Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck a year earlier than expected.
The Chinese River Dolphin (illustrated) is declared functionally extinct, the first extinction of a large mammal in recent decades.
Suffolk police launch an investigation on five dead bodies discovered near Ipswich in Suffolk, England.
Astronauts on mission STS-116 attempt to retract a solar array on the International Space Station's Integrated Truss Structure.
Former President of Ethiopia Mengistu Haile Mariam is convicted in absentia of genocide by an Ethiopian court for his part in the so-called "Red Terror".

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On this day...

December 16: National Day in Bahrain (1971), Victory Day in Bangladesh (1971), Independence Day in Kazakhstan (1991).

1598 - Admiral Yi Sun Sin's Korean navy defeated the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Noryang Point, the final naval battle of the Imjin War.
1653 - The Protectorate: Oliver Cromwell (pictured) became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England.
1689 - The Parliament of England adopted the Bill of Rights, declaring that Englishmen possessed certain positive civil and political rights.
1773 - Boston Tea Party: To protest the British Tea Act, members of the Sons of Liberty dumped crates of tea break from three British East India Company ships into Boston Harbor.

Recent days: December 15 – December 14 – December 13

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Today's featured picture

A close-up of the face of a Culpeo, clearly showing its vibrissae, or whiskers. Vibrissae are specialized hairs that grow around the nostrils or other parts of the face in most mammals. They offer an advantage to animals that do not always have sight to rely on to navigate, or to find food, or when the usefulness of non-tactile senses is limited.

Photo credit: Whaldener Endo
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