Recently featured: Wilco – Formation and evolution of the Solar System – Sertraline

June 9: Shavuot (Judaism, 2008); St. Colmcille's Day in Ireland

• 68 – Roman Emperor Nero (pictured) committed suicide after he was deposed by the Senate.
• 1310 – Italian artist Duccio's Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, was unveiled and installed in Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.
• 1772 – In an act of defiance against the Navigation Acts, American patriots led by Abraham Whipple attacked and burned the British schooner HMS Gaspée.
• 1856 – Mormon pioneers began leaving Iowa City, Iowa and headed west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
• 1928 – Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed their Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.

More events: June 8 – June 9 – June 10

• The government of Southern Sudan withdraws its mediation efforts at the Juba talks between Uganda and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (leader Joseph Kony pictured).
• In tennis, Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanović win the singles titles in the 2008 French Open.
• The Diet of Japan recognizes the Ainu as an indigenous people for the first time.
• Israeli minister Shaul Mofaz threatens an attack on Iran's nuclear program.
• Turkey's Constitutional Court reinstates a ban on the hijab in universities, citing the constitution's secular principles.
• In ice hockey, the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the 2008 Finals.
• Zimbabwean police briefly detain foreign diplomats and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai before the second round of the presidential election.

From Wikipedia's newest articles:

• ... that McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink (pictured) is both an ice skating rink and the largest alfresco dining venue in Chicago?
• ... that the German Reichsflotte Navy was founded on 14 June 1848, before the German Empire was proclaimed on 28 March 1849, and that it fought only in the Battle of Heligoland on 4 June against Denmark?
• ... that a bobsled from the 1932 Olympic Games, which had been missing for more than sixty years, was donated to the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Museum in 2002?
• ... that the Guglers, mercenary knights invading Switzerland in 1375, were so named because of their headwear?
• ... that the Archdiocese of the Old Catholic Church of America has taken the official position that all Christians must support nuclear disarmament, even if it is unilateral?
• ... that Lorin Maazel was 75 years old when his first opera, 1984, had its world premiere in 2005?