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Typhoon Maemi was the most powerful typhoon to strike South Korea since records began in 1904. Maemi formed on September 4, 2003 in the western Pacific and became a typhoon on September 8. Passing over the Japanese island of Miyako-jima on September 10, it left 95 percent of residents without power and caused 58.5 mm (2.30 in) of rainfall in an hour and 402.5 mm (15.85 in) in 24 hours. Maintaining much of its intensity, it made landfall west of Busan, South Korea, on September 12, where winds reached 154 km/h (96 mph). The port sustained heavy damage, restricting exports for months. On Jeju Island, it produced a peak wind gust of 216 km/h (134 mph) and a minimum pressure of 950 mbar (28 inHg), both records for the country. Nationwide, high winds destroyed about 5,000 houses and damaged 13,000 buildings, leaving 25,000 people homeless. Crop damage resulted in the poorest rice harvest in 23 years. Across South Korea, Maemi killed 117 people, and damage totaled 5.52 trillion won (US$4.8 billion). (Full article...)

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In the news

Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic

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In Zamfara, Nigeria, 279 girls who had been kidnapped from a secondary school by armed bandits are released.
In tennis, Naomi Osaka wins the women's singles and Novak Djokovic wins the men's singles at the Australian Open (both winners pictured).
Porfirije is enthroned as the 46th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

On this day

March 11

Aftermath of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami at Sendai Airport

222 – Disaffected with Roman emperor Elagabalus's disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos, the Praetorian Guard assassinated him and his mother, throwing his mutilated body into the Tiber.
1851 – Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto premiered at La Fenice in Venice.
1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, was captured by British troops.
1978 – After hijacking a bus north of Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization faction Fatah engaged in a shootout with police, resulting in the deaths of 38 civilians and most of the perpetrators.
2011 – A massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan (damage pictured) and triggered a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Stanisław Koniecpolski (d. 1646)
Nicolaas Bloembergen (b. 1920)
Cassandra Fairbanks (b. 1985)

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Today's featured picture

Bridal Procession on the Hardangerfjord is an 1848 painting by Hans Gude and Adolph Tidemand, considered to be a prime example of Norwegian romantic nationalism. Gude painted the Norwegian landscape and Tidemand the bridal party. In the foreground boat, the groom is depicted tipping his hat, and the bride wears a bridal crown. The boat crew is dressed in typical bunad costumes, and other boats with guests can be seen in the distance. The painting is in the collection of the National Gallery in Oslo.

Painting credit: Hans Gude and Adolph Tidemand

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