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Migration of the Serbs is a set of oil paintings by the artist Paja Jovanović that depict the Great Serb Migration of 1690–91. The first was commissioned in 1895 by Georgije I, the Patriarch of Karlovci, intended for the following year's Budapest Millennium Exhibition. In the view of the Serbian clergy, the painting was to support Serb claims to religious autonomy and partial self-administration in Austria-Hungary. The Patriarch was dissatisfied with Jovanović's initial rendering and asked the artist to adjust his work to conform with the Church's view of the migration. Jovanović could not complete the revision in time, and the painting was not shown at the Exhibition. Three of the original four paintings survive, at the patriarchate building of the Serbian Orthodox Church and at Princess Ljubica's Residence, both in Belgrade, and at the Pančevo Museum. Migration of the Serbs holds iconic status in Serbian popular culture, and several authors consider it one of Jovanović's finest achievements. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Acanthinodera cumingii

... that the larva of the beetle Acanthinodera cumingii (adult pictured) can reach 13 centimetres (5 in) in length?
... that the Washington state 1960 gubernatorial election was the first in state history to include televised debates?
... that Wes McCauley has refereed the Stanley Cup Finals for the last four years?
... that 10 of the military officers involved in the 1989 Panamanian coup d'état attempt were executed in what became known as the Albrook massacre?
... that the positions of nonzero digits in two reciprocal irrational numbers, 1/3.30033000000000033... = 0.30300000303..., are given by the Moser–de Bruijn sequence and its double?
... that Clarence Ditlow was recommended for a consumer advocacy job because he was a wrestler?
... that Operation Game Warden sought to interdict Viet Cong use of the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War and in so doing, patrolled over 3,800 miles (6,100 km) of natural and man-made waterways?
... that to the speakers of the Ngan’gityemerri language, the flowering of the red-flowering kurrajong marks the time that freshwater crocodiles are laying eggs?

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King Maha Vajiralongkorn

Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Maha Vajiralongkorn (pictured) is proclaimed King of Thailand.
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LaMia Flight 2933 crashes in Medellín, Colombia, with the Chapecoense football team on board, killing 71 people.
In Canadian football, the Ottawa Redblacks defeat the Calgary Stampeders to win the Grey Cup.
Former leader of Cuba Fidel Castro dies at the age of 90.
At least 44 people are killed after two passenger trains collide between Semnan and Damghan in Iran.

On this day...

December 2:

Emperor Franz Joseph

1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French forces led by Napoleon decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army commanded by Tsar Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz.
1848 – Franz Joseph (pictured) became Emperor of Austria.
1943 – World War II: The Luftwaffe conducted a surprise air raid on Allied ships in Bari, Italy, sinking 18 ships and releasing one ship's secret cargo of mustard gas.
1956 – Cuban Revolution: The yacht Granma, carrying Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement, reached the shores of Cuba.
2001 – Less than two months after disclosing accounting violations, Texas-based energy firm Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, evaporating nearly $11 billion in shareholder wealth.

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British-American writer Leslie Charteris's works include his series on stories featuring Simon Templar, also known as The Saint. Charteris's first novel, X Esquire, was published in 1927, which he later described as "an appallingly bad book"; his second novel—The White Rider, published in 1928—is "overwritten and poorly constructed", according to his biographer Joan DelFattore. In his third novel, Meet the Tiger (1928), he introduced the character of Simon Templar, a debonair gentleman crook who goes by the nom de guerre, The Saint. Charteris continued writing Saint books and the series gained in popularity because of its "mix of light humour, sophisticated settings, and story-line emphasising the role of a crusader tackling the forces of evil", which had "special appeal in the depression". Charteris moved to the United States in 1932 and soon began writing screenplays, the first of which resulted in Midnight Club, released in 1933. Charteris also worked on three books of non-fiction and an introduction to the 1980 re-issue of The Saint Meets the Tiger. (Full list...)

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A man in a newsagent's shop in Paris, France. Such shops are typically located in busy public places and sell newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local interest. These shops may be either freestanding kiosks or part of a larger structure.

Photograph: Florian Plag

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