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From today's featured article

Jules Feiffer

The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1961 children's adventure novel by American writer Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer (pictured). It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo, who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car. The tollbooth transports him to the Kingdom of Wisdom, once prosperous, now troubled. There, he acquires two faithful companions and goes on a quest to restore to the kingdom its exiled princesses, named Rhyme and Reason. The text is full of puns and wordplay; many events, such as when Milo unintentionally jumps to Conclusions (an island in Wisdom), explore the literal meanings of idioms. A major theme of the book is a love for education. Although the book was not expected to sell well, it received strong reviews and has sold in excess of three million copies. It has been adapted into a film, opera, and play, and translated into many languages. Critics have compared its appeal to that of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and to L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. (Full article...)

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Remnants of Caparra

... that the Taíno burned the Spanish capital of Caparra (pictured) during the Spanish–Taíno War of San Juan–Borikén?
... that Sally Brampton was The Sunday Times's agony aunt?
... that the website Football Leaks reveals transfer fee, wage and contract information about famous footballers?
... that John Ernuszt, who was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, was buried in a chapel dedicated to the Holy Virgin in Buda?
... that postdoctoral researcher unions have successfully negotiated for a minimum salary, paid maternity leave, and just cause protections for discipline or dismissal?
... that after Mourad Laachraoui won a gold medal at the 2016 European Taekwondo Championships, the Flemish taekwondo federation dubbed him "Europe's king of the lightweights"?
... that Holy Ghost!'s extended play Crime Cutz was influenced by Russian disco records that member Alex Frankel found on eBay?

In the news

Binali Yıldırım

Binali Yıldırım (pictured) is appointed Prime Minister of Turkey following the resignation of Ahmet Davutoğlu.
In the Tajikistani constitutional referendum, voters approve the removal of term limits of incumbent President Emomali Rahmon.
Independent Green Alexander Van der Bellen is narrowly elected President of Austria.
Cyclone Roanu kills at least 90 people and leaves more than 130 missing across Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Austrian Federal Railways CEO Christian Kern succeeds Werner Faymann as Chancellor of Austria.

Ongoing events:
- EgyptAir Flight 804
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On this day...

May 28: Republic Day in Armenia and Azerbaijan (both 1918)

The Spanish Armada

1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: The Spanish Armada (pictured), with 130 ships and over 30,000 men, set sail from Lisbon for the English Channel in an attempt to invade England.
1830 – US President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, authorizing him to negotiate with Native Americans for their removal from their ancestral homelands.
1936 – English mathematician Alan Turing introduced the Turing machine, a basic abstract symbol-manipulating device that can simulate the logic of any computer algorithm.
1998 – The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission carried out five underground nuclear tests, becoming the seventh country in the world to successfully develop and publicly test nuclear weapons.
2010 – A train derailment and collision in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India, caused the deaths of at least 141 passengers.

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Today's featured picture

The buff-banded rail (Gallirallus philippensis) is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the family Rallidae. This species comprises several subspecies found throughout much of Australasia and the south-west Pacific region. A largely terrestrial bird the size of a small domestic chicken, it feeds on a range of terrestrial invertebrates and small vertebrates, seeds, fallen fruit and other vegetable matter, as well as carrion and refuse.

Photograph: Toby Hudson

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