Territorials during the Battle of the Somme

The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer auxiliary created in 1908. It was designed to reinforce the British Army overseas during war without resorting to conscription, but for political reasons it was constituted as a home defence force in which foreign service was voluntary. It was not well regarded by the military authorities. On the outbreak of the First World War, the regular army was expanded by raising the New Army from scratch rather than relying on the Territorial Force. Territorials volunteered for foreign service in large numbers, and territorial divisions filled the gap between the near destruction of the regular army during the German offensive of 1914 and the arrival of the New Army in 1915. The force also provided the bulk of the British contingent in the Sinai and Palestine campaign. The territorial identity was eroded by the introduction of conscription in 1916, and by the war's end there was little to distinguish between regular, territorial and New Army formations. (Full article...)

Nyango Star playing the drums

• ... that Nyango Star (pictured), a half-cat, half-apple character who plays death metal drums, helps fund a town with a declining population?
• ... that the Williamsburg indie music venue Baby's All Right occupies a former hot dog factory?
• ... that Jarrad Searby left the Proud Boys after he became angry with their disavowal of neo-Nazism?
• ... that the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis used wood sourced from eco-managed forests and ultra-low-carbon concrete to reduce the carbon footprint of its construction?
• ... that Olympic team chaplain Ashley Null credits his work counseling elite athletes to his scholarly research on the Protestant Reformation?
• ... that French president Emmanuel Macron posted deepfakes of himself on Instagram ahead of the AI Action Summit?
• ... that George Seeman, shortly after signing to play for the Green Bay Packers, played in a game against the Packers?
• ... that four locations of Video Update were seized by sheriff's deputies in a lawsuit by a sign manufacturer?
• ... that inspired by the short story "Qingfeng", Mao Zedong likened the United States to a ghost?

Rodrigo Duterte

• In Pakistan, a train hijacking by the Balochistan Liberation Army leaves at least 71 people dead.
• Former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte (pictured) is arrested on the basis of an International Criminal Court warrant charging him with crimes against humanity.
• Intuitive Machines' Athena lands on the Moon at an incorrect angle and is unable to complete its mission.
• In computing, Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton are awarded the Turing Award for their work on reinforcement learning.

March 15: Ides of March

Julius Caesar

• 44 BC – Julius Caesar (bust pictured), the dictator of the Roman Republic, was stabbed to death by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.
• 1823 – American sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reported the existence of New South Greenland, a phantom island, near Antarctica.
• 1916 – Six days after Pancho Villa and his cross-border raiders attacked Columbus, New Mexico, U.S. general John J. Pershing led a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue him.
• 1917 – Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in the February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
• 1943 – The deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Greek city of Thessaloniki began.
• 1951 – The Iranian oil industry was nationalized in a movement led by Mohammad Mosaddegh.