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On this day in 2023

On this day in 2022

• DEATHS
• Buddy Arrington, American auto racer (NASCAR Winston Cup Series 103 x top 10 finishes), who died at 84.
• Vin Scully, Sportscaster.
• GAMING: SWITCH
• Frogun for Switch is released. Join Renata as she adventures across a world of mystical ruins with the titular FROGUN! Frogun is an old-school platformer with the soul of the PS1/N64 era, in which your frog-shaped grappling hook is a your best friend!. Renata's parents are world-renown explorers, archeologists and inventors that travel all over the world uncovering the secrets of the past, bringing her with them in their expeditions. However, in their latest adventure, they decide to leave her at the base camp - the Beelzebub ruins are said to be too dangerous. For three whole days she waits, her pride hurt and bored out of her mind, until she realized: if they haven't returned yet, something must have happened to them! In a hurry she grabs her parents' last invention, the Frogun, and heads to the ruins to rescue them, and prove that she's as capable as them!

On this day in 2021

• GAMING: PC
• GRIME for PC is released. Destroy... Absorb... Grow... GRIME is a fast and unforgiving Action-Adventure RPG in which you crush your foes with living weapons that mutate form and function, and then consume their remains with a black hole to strengthen your vessel as you break apart a world of anatomical horror and intrigue.
• POLITICS
• 70% of American have had at least one COVID-19 pandemic vaccination shot, a target President Joe Biden had hoped to meet by 4 July.
• SPORTS
• June Daugherty, American women's college basketball coach (Boise State Uni, Uni of Washington, Washington State University), who died from heart issues at 64.
• Ged Dunn, English rugby league winger (8 Tests; Hull KIngston Rovers 301 games), who died at 74.

On this day in 2020

• EVENTS
• Australian state of Victoria announces state of disaster and imposes further lockdown measures after spike in COVID-19 pandemic cases.
• Islamic State stages a jail break at a prison in Afghan city of Jalalabad, placing bombs at its entrance, results in 20 hr gunfight,29 deaths and over 300 prisoners at large.
• South Africa confirms over 500,000 cases of COVID-19 pandemic with 10,107 deaths, highest total on the African continent.
• SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico,1st commercial crewed mission.
• United Arab Emirates starts up the Arab world's first nuclear power station at the Barakah plant.
• DEATHS
• Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov, Kazakh Greco-Roman wrestler (Olympic gold, light-flyweight 1980; World C'ship gold 1981), who died at 69.
• Saïd Amara, Algerian soccer midfielder (5 caps; Strasbourg, Béziers, Bordeaux) and manager (Algeria), who died at 87.
• Leon Fleisher, American pianist and conductor (Annapolis Symphony 1970-82), who died of cancer at 92.
• Bob Ryland, American tennis player (first African-American to play professionally) and coach (Harold Solomon, Arthur Ashe, Venus & Serena Williams), who died of aspiration pneumonia at 100.

On this day in 2019

• EVENTS
• Saudi Arabia announces news rules for women including allowing them to travel independently abroad without a male guardian's permission.
• Seven-year-old boy operated on after 526 teeth found inside his mouth in Chennai, India.
• Singer songwriter Ed Sheeran's Divide tour becomes the most attended and highest grossing tour of all time overtaking U2 after 893 days on the road.
• MOVIES: NOT RATED
• Piranhas is released. Based on the novel by Roberto Saviano (Gomorrah), Piranhas follows fifteen year-old Nicola (Francesco Di Napoli) who lives with his mother and younger brother in the Sanità neighborhood of Naples, a place that has been controlled by the Camorra mafia for centuries. Dreaming of a life lush with designer clothing and elite nightclub bottle service, Nicola and his group of friends begin selling drugs, an entryway into the violent, power-hungry world of crime that begins to threaten their innocence, relationships, and safety of their families. [Music Box Films]
• Tel Aviv on Fire is released. Salam, an inexperienced young Palestinian man, becomes a writer on a popular soap opera after a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier. His creative career is on the rise - until the soldier and the show's financial backers disagree about how the show should end, and Salam is caught in the middle.
• La Flor is released. A decade in the making, Mariano Llinás’s La Flor is an unrepeatable labor of love and madness that redefines the concept of binge viewing. The director himself shows up at the start to preview the six episodes that await, each starring the same four remarkable actresses: Elisa Carricajo, Valeria Correa, Pilar Gamboa, and Laura Paredes. Overflowing with nested subplots and whiplash digressions, La Flor shape-shifts from a B-movie to a musical to a spy thriller to a category-defying metafiction—all of them without endings—to a remake of a very well-known French classic and, finally, to an enigmatic period piece that lacks a beginning (granted, all notions of beginnings and endings become fuzzy after 14 hours). An adventure in scale and duration, La Flor is a wildly entertaining exploration of the possibilities of fiction that lands somewhere close to its outer limits.
• Them That Follow is released. Deep in Appalachia, Pastor Lemuel Childs (Walton Goggins) presides over an isolated community of serpent handlers, an obscure sect of Pentecostals who willingly take up venomous snakes to prove themselves before God. As his devoted daughter, Mara (Alice Englert) prepares for her wedding day, under the watchful eye of Hope Slaughter (Academy Award Winner Olivia Colman), a dangerous secret is unearthed and she is forced to confront the deadly tradition of her father’s church.
• The Operative is released. Based on Yiftach R. Atir's book, The English Teacher, The Operative, is a taut psychological thriller about a young Western woman (Diane Kruger) recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran where she becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler (Martin Freeman) and her subject (Cas Anvar).
• MOVIES: NR
• The Nightingale is released. Set during the colonization of Australia in 1825, the film follows Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a 21-year-old Irish convict. Having served her 7-year sentence, she is desperate to be free of her abusive master, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) who refuses to release her from his charge. Clare’s husband Aidan (Michael Sheasby) retaliates and she becomes the victim of a harrowing crime at the hands of the lieutenant and his cronies. When British authorities fail to deliver justice, Clare decides to pursue Hawkins, who leaves his post suddenly to secure a captaincy up north. Unable to find compatriots for her journey, she is forced to enlist the help of a young Aboriginal tracker Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) who grudgingly takes her through the rugged wilderness to track down Hawkins. The terrain and the prevailing hostilities are frightening, as fighting between the original inhabitants of the land and its colonisers plays out in what is now known as ‘The Black War.’ Clare and Billy are hostile towards each other from the outset, both suffering their own traumas and mutual distrust, but as their journey leads them deeper into the wilderness, they must learn to find empathy for one another, while weighing the true cost of revenge. [IFC Films]
• MOVIES: R
• Love, Antosha is released. From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton’s impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man. Born in the former Soviet Union to a family of artists, Anton and his parents came to the U.S. when he was six months old. He started acting at nine. He had a genuine curiosity and love for people, for art, and for family. And a willingness to explore, and be open with, the darker parts of himself. Love, Antosha explores his successes and his struggles, and lets viewers get to know this extraordinary person the world was cheated from seeing grow old.
• Luce is released. An all-star high school athlete and accomplished debater, Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a poster boy for the new American Dream. As are his parents (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth), who adopted him from a war-torn country a decade earlier. When Luce’s teacher (Octavia Spencer) makes a shocking discovery in his locker, Luce’s stellar reputation is called into question. But is he really at fault, or is Ms. Wilson preying on dangerous stereotypes?
• TV SERIES
• A Black Lady Sketch Show: Season 1 is released. Ashley Nicole Black, Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Dennis, Robin Thede are some of the core cast of this comedy sketch series from Thede.
• Dear White People (2017): Season 3 is released. The students and staff of Winchester University return for another season.
• ALBUMS
• Dream Is U was released by Francis Lung. The debut full-length solo release for ex-WU LYF member Tom McClung was produced by Brendan Williams.
• Blume was released by Nérija. The debut full-length release for the British jazz collective was produced by Kwes.
• High Expectations was released by Mabel. The debut full-length studio release for the daughter of Neneh Cherry includes production from MNEK, Steve Mac, and Fraser T Smith.
• First Taste was released by Ty Segall. The latest solo release for the Los Angles-based rock artist features no guitars, instead instruments such as the bouzouki, drums (played by Charles Moothart and Segall), koto, harmonizer, mandolin, recorder, and saxophone were used.
• I was released by Fo¨llakzoid. The fourth full-length studio release for the Chilean duo recorded their parts individually and then had Uwe Schmidt to assemble them into four tracks.
• Immunity was released by Clairo. The debut full-length release for the pop singer-songwriter Claire Cottrill was produced with Rostam Batmanglij.
• GAMING: PC
• Dry Drowning for PC is released. Dry Drowning is a psychological investigative visual novel set in a futuristic dystopian city. Follow the story of Mordred Foley, unscrupulous private detective haunted by his dark past, and look into a series of macabre serial killings inspired by Greek mythology.
• GAMING: PLAYSTATION 4
• The Church in the Darkness for PlayStation 4 is released. An action/infiltration game in which the story changes every time you play. In the 1970s, extremist religious sect the Collective Justice Mission moves to South America to isolate themselves. You infiltrate the compound to check on a relative but soon learn that things may not be what they seem.
• POLITICS
• Pedro Pierluisi sworn in as new Governor of Puerto Rico replacing Ricardo A. Rosselló.

On this day in 2018

• EVENTS
• Oldest library in Germany confirmed unearthed in Cologne dating to 2AD, possibly held 20,000 scolls.
• Pope Frances declares the death penalty unacceptable in all cases, reversing church teachings and adding to Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Fields Medal for mathematics awarded to Caucher Birkar (his stolen minutes later), Alessio Figalli, Peter Scholze and Akshay Venkatesh.
• Apple becomes the first American public listed company to reach $1 trillion in value.
• TikTok, the video-sharing social network, becomes available worldwide after merging with Musical.ly.
• Tokyo Medical University revealed to have been tampering with female entrance exams to ensure under 30% accepted, by Japanese newspaper "Yomiuri Shimbun".
• DEATHS
• Red Harvey, Race Car Driver.
• GAMING: SWITCH
• 1979 Revolution: Black Friday for Switch is released. Based on true stories and historical events,1979 Revolution: Black Friday is an interactive drama about choice and consequence, chaos and order. The year is 1978, the place is Tehran, Iran. You play a photojournalist who returns home to find his people protesting the ruling King, the Shah. Armed with your camera, you're soon pulled into a dangerous world of revolution and civil unrest.
• Salt and Sanctuary for Switch is released. A doomed sailor is shipwrecked on an uncharted island. In fog-shrouded valleys, where grinning, mossy corpses cling to rusted arms, shambling figures begin to stir. Beneath crumbling, salt-worn structures, labyrinthine passageways lead to unspeakable evil, long forgotten by man.Salt and Sanctuary seamlessly combines fast, brutal, and complex 2D combat with richly developed RPG mechanics. Discover, craft, and upgrade over 600 weapons, armor pieces, spells, and items as you explore a cursed realm of forgotten cities, blood-soaked dungeons, desecrated monuments, and the fallen lords they once celebrated.From Ska Studios, the award-winning indie studio behind a long list of stylistic, visceral, and brutally executed action titles that includes The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, and Charlie Murder, comes Salt and Sanctuary, the studios most ambitious title to date.
• Cycle 28 for Switch is released. Power slide your way between bullets and screen-shaking explosions, and maybe solve the mystery of Cycle 28, a space shooter in the classic arcade style that keeps you pushing for a high score. The controls are simple. The action is fast-paced. Intense dogfights lead to epic, screen-filling bosses.
• Flat Heroes for Switch is released. Flat Heroes is a minimalistic, super intense action game starring squares for 1 to 4 players. It features a delightful control that allows players to move around the scenario in a super fluid way allowing them to beat all the challenging scenarios that its cooperative mode offers. The game also features four completely different versus modes for players to compete against each other or against the AI, each mode highlighting a different set of skills. The graphic style is based on the latest graphic design trend, keeping a simple but direct aesthetic and polishing all the animations and transitions to create an eye candy experience.
• Iconoclasts for Switch is released. Robin just wants to be a mechanic and help people, but without a license she's a sinner in Mother's eyes. Ever since picking up her wrench, the world has been going nuts and she's wanted to bolt it back together. Now Penance is raining down on everyone she loves and One Concern agents are after her.But something big is going on bigger than droughts of Ivory fuel and personal conflicts and Robin's in the thick of it.* Hours of nut-twisting platform action-adventure* Numerous densely detailed locations filled with fine-tuned action and puzzles* 20+ gear-grinding, screen-filling boss battles stand in your way* Three game-changing difficulty settings supported by a unique tweak system* A heart-wrenching epic can one mechanic fix the whole world?Iconoclasts is the masterwork of indie developer Joakim Sandberg, seven long years in the making. Iconoclasts delivers awesome action, hilarious hijinks and an emotional rollercoaster of deeply personal storytelling.

On this day in 2017

• EVENTS
• First footage of white giraffes posted by Hirola Conservation Program in north eastern Kenya.
• First successful gene editing in human embryos to repair disease-causing mutation reported by scientists in "Nature".
• More than a billion people around the world need glasses and 36 million are blind, according to new study published in "The Lancet".
• New crypto-currency Bitcoin Cash is created via a hard-fork of Bitcoin's blockchain technology and brand.
• DEATHS
• Santosh Mohan Dev, Politician.
• Terry Evans, Race Car Driver.
• TV SERIES
• The Sinner: Season 1 is released. The anthology drama based on Petra Hammesfahr's novel of the same name, focuses on a young mother named Cora Tannetti (Jessica Biel) who has no idea why she committed a violent crime against a stranger at the beach and Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) who believes there is something Cora isn't saying.
• GAMING: PC
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel for PC is released. Among the nations on the Zemurian continent, the mighty Erebonian Empire has been quick to stake its claim militarily; yet politically, ugly bouts of internal conflict between the upper class and commoners struggling to rise to power have been steadily intensifying with each passing month. The Noble and Reformist Factions have been none too kind to one another over the years, and tensions between the two only stand to worsen if compromises aren't reached in the very near future.Rean Schwarzer, like any other citizen of the Imperial nation, is no stranger to these rising conflicts: the class system has been deeply interwoven into the tapestry of Erebonian culture since the days of old. As a seventeen-year-old student preparing for his new life at Thors Military Academy, however, he notices that his crimson uniform differs from the standard outfits issued to his peerstypically green for commoners, and white for nobles.Enter, Class VII of Thors Military Academy. For the first time in the prestigious academy's history, rank means nothing and skill means everything. With nine hand-picked students of various backgrounds and abilities, Rean included, Class VII readies itself to dive deep into the political quagmire that threatens not only them, but the very foundations of the Empire.
• GAMING: XBOX ONE
• Tacoma for Xbox One is released. Tacoma is a narrative-driven adventure set aboard a high-tech space station in the year 2088. Explore every detail of how the station’s crew lived and worked, finding clues that add up to a gripping story of trust, fear, and resolve in the face of disaster.
• POLITICS
• US President Donald Trump signs legislation imposing sanctions on Russia, limiting his ability to ever lift them.
• SPORTS
• Ara Parseghian, American College Football HOF coach (Northwestern; NCAA C'ship 1966,73 Notre Dame), who died at 94.

On this day in 2016

• DEATHS
• Ahmed Zewail, Chemist.
• David Huddleston, American actor (The Big Lebowski), who died at 85.
• Forbes Carlile, Australian athlete and influential swimming coach, who died at 95.
• GAMING: PC
• This Is the Police for PC is released. This Is the Police is a strategy/adventure game set in a city spiraling the drain. Assume the role of gritty Police Chief Jack Boyd and dive into a deep story of crime and intrigue. Will Jack reach his retirement with a nice stack of bills, or will he end up broken... or worse?
• GAMING: PLAYSTATION 4
• Tricky Towers for PlayStation 4 is released. Tricky Towers is a multiplayer tower building game. Players must build a tower and be faster and better at it than their opponents. To spice things up, players use magic spells to support their structure or mess up the towers of their opponents.
• Gal*Gun: Double Peace for PlayStation 4 is released. Houdai, a typically incompetent high school boy when it come to matters of the heart, accidentally eats a full power cupid shot and becomes insanely popular with the ladies at his academy. However, having an entire lifetime’s sex appeal condensed into one day is not without its problems. Our hero finds out the hard way that being Mr. Popular isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Houdai must somehow resist every cute girl that throws herself at him in an effort to find his true love! If Houdai doesn’t find "the one"and confess to her by the end of the day, he will be forever alone.
• ABZU for PlayStation 4 is released. ABZÛ is an grand descent into the depths of the sea, where players explore ocean environments with fluid swimming controls. The experience draws inspiration from the deep innate narrative that we carry within our subconscious: the story of ABZÛ is a universal myth that resonates across cultures. The name references a concept from the oldest mythologies; it is the combination of the two ancient words AB, meaning ocean, and ZÛ, meaning to know. ABZÛ is the ocean of wisdom. [505 Games]
• Overcooked! for PlayStation 4 is released. Overcooked is a chaotic couch co-op cooking game for one to four players. Working as a team, you and your fellow chefs must prepare, cook, and serve up a variety of tasty orders before the baying customers storm out in a huff. [Playstation.com]
• GAMING: XBOX ONE
• Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 1: Realm of Shadows for Xbox One is released. Rendered to look like a living, breathing comic book, Telltale's vision of Batman featureS a cast of talent including Troy Baker in the role of Bruce Wayne, Travis Willingham as Harvey Dent, Erin Yvette as Vicki Vale, Enn Reitel as Alfred Pennyworth, Murphy Guyer as Lieutenant James Gordon, Richard McGonagle as Carmine Falcone, and Laura Bailey as Selina Kyle. [Telltale]
• Battleship for Xbox One is released. With a modern, dynamic and interactive 3D board, BATTLESHIP brings the classic franchise to a new level for a memorable experience.Deploy your fleet and shoot at your opponents grid to find and destroy enemy ships before yours are sunk. Enjoy the game you know and love with the Classic mode or get more tactical in a brand new way to play with the 'Clash at Sea!' mode.Play with your friend locally or online, or stand against the Artificial Intelligence of the game.

On this day in 2015

• DEATHS
• Chuck Garrett, Race Car Driver.
• Cilla Black [Priscilla White], British pop singer (" Anyone Who Had a Heart"), and TV personality (Blind Date), who died at 72.
• Forrest Bird, American aviator and inventor (1st respirators and ventilators), who died at 94.

On this day in 2014

• EVENTS
• Super Rugby Final, ANZ Stadium, Sydney: NSW Waratahs win their first SR title in a nail-biting 33-32 home effort against New Zealand's Canterbury Crusaders.
• DEATHS
• Rosetta Hightower, American pop singer (The Orlons - "Don't Hang Up"), who died at 70.

On this day in 2013

• EVENTS
• 40 people are killed after an ammunition depot explodes in Homs, Syria.
• Carl Icahn sues computer giant Dell in an attempt to derail a buyout bid by the CEO,  Michael Dell.
• BIRTHS
• Mia Aflalo Shunem, Instagram Star, born in Tel Aviv, Israel.
• MOVIES: NOT RATED
• Our Children is released. Murielle and Mounir love each other passionately. Ever since he was a boy, the young man has been living with Doctor Pinget who provides him with a comfortable life. When Mounir and Murielle decide to marry and have children, the couple's dependence on the doctor becomes excessive. Murielle finds herself caught up in an unhealthy emotional climate that insidiously leads the family towards a tragic outcome. [DistriB Films]
• The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear is released. A filmmaker puts out a casting call for young adults, aged 15 to 23. The director wants to make a film about growing up in her home country, Georgia, and find commonalities across social and ethnic lines. She travels through cities and villages interviewing the candidates who responded and filming their daily lives. The boys and girls who responded to the call are radically different from one another, as are their personal reasons for auditioning. Some want be movie stars and see the film as a means to that end; others want to tell their personal story. One girl wants to call to account the mother who abandoned her; one boy wants to share the experience of caring for his handicapped family members; another wants to clear the name of a brother, currently serving a jail sentence. Together, their tales weave a kaleidoscopic tapestry of war, love, wealth and poverty, creating an extraordinarily complex vision of a modern society that still echoes with its Soviet past.
• Rising from Ashes is released. Two worlds collide when cycling legend Jock Boyer moves to Rwanda to help the first Rwandan National Cycling Team in their six year journey to compete in the Olympic Games in London. Setting out against impossible odds both Jock and the team find new purpose as they rise from the ashes of their past. [First Run Features]
• Cockneys vs Zombies is released. A gang of bank robbers fight their way out of a zombie-infested London.
• The Canyons is released. Manipulative and scheming young movie producer Christian makes films to keep his trust fund intact, while his actress girlfriend and bored plaything, Tara, hides a passionate affair with an actor from her past. When Christian becomes aware of Tara's infidelity, the young Angelenos are thrust into a violent, sexually-charged tour through the dark side of human nature. [IFC FIlms]
• MOVIES: PG13
• Europa Report is released. An international crew of astronauts are sent on a privately funded mission to search for life on Jupiter's fourth largest moon.
• MOVIES: R
• 2 Guns is released. A DEA agent and an undercover Naval Intelligence officer who have been tasked with investigating one another find they have been set up by the mob -- the very organization the two men believe they have been stealing money from.
• Drift is released. In 1970s Australia, the Kelly brothers battle killer waves, conservative society and criminals to kick-start the modern surf industry.
• The Artist and the Model is released. During the summer of 1943 in occupied France, not far away from the Spanish border, a famous old sculptor who is tired of life and wars finds the desire to work on his last masterpiece when a beautiful young Spanish girl comes knocking after escaping a refugee camp in the South of France. [Cohen Media Group]
• The Spectacular Now is released. This is the tale of Sutter Keely, a high school senior and effortless charmer, and of how he unexpectedly falls in love with "the good girl"Aimee Finecky. What starts as an unlikely romance, becomes a sharp-eyed, straight-up snapshot of the heady confusion and haunting passion of youth – one that doesn’t look for tidy truths. [A24]