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Today's featured list: The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets less than 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. Saturn has sixty-two moons with confirmed orbits, fifty-three of which have names, and only thirteen of which have diameters larger than 50 kilometers (31 mi). Saturn has seven moons that are large enough to become spherical, and dense rings with complex orbital motions of their own.

Today's featured topic: The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award. Several new awards have been introduced, and as of 2008^[update], eight awards are presented, including the Team of the Year, Overseas Personality, Lifetime Achievement Award, Helen Rollason Award, the Coach Award, and the Newcomer Award.

Listen to
Spring, from The Four Seasons

Today's featured sound: The Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723,The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season. Performed by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players.

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 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 Nominate an article
On this day...
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 M_w 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 Archive By email List of days of the year

Today's featured picture

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

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