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Today's featured article Georg Solti (1912–1997) was an orchestral and operatic conductor, best known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House he found refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War. After the war, he was appointed musical director of the Bavarian State Opera in 1946, the Frankfurt Opera in 1952, and the Covent Garden Opera Company in London in 1961. In 1969 Solti was appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for 22 years. He restored the orchestra's reputation after it had been in decline for most of the previous decade. Known in his early years for the intensity of his music making, Solti was widely considered to have mellowed as a conductor in later years. He recorded many works two or three times at various stages of his career, and was a prolific recording artist, making more than 250 recordings, including 45 complete opera sets. The most famous of his recordings is probably Decca's complete set of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, made between 1958 and 1965. (more...) Recently featured: Pham Ngoc Thao – Ed, Edd n Eddy – Pi Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that ballet dancer Michaela DePrince (shown in the video) became an orphan as an infant when her father was shot and her mother starved to death? ... that between 1591 and 1611, Garhwal repelled seven incursions by Kumaon, eventually defeating King Laxmi Chand of Kumaon and taking his capital? ... that French pilot Adrienne Bolland was the first woman to fly across the Andes, doing so after only 40 hours of flight experience? ... that Christina's rootshank was named by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries after his wife? ... that Tan's Film released three films entitled Njai Dasima in four years? ... that the government was unaware that stonemason John Barr had been in the country for only five years when they appointed him to the New Zealand Legislative Council? ... that 2012 Olympian Tia Brooks was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in 2009 and advised to give up the shot put?

In the news Ghanaian President John Atta Mills (pictured) dies at the age of 68 and is succeeded by Vice President John Dramani Mahama. At least 116 people are killed and more than 250 others wounded in a string of bombings and attacks in Iraq. In golf, Ernie Els wins the Open Championship. In cycling, Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. Pranab Mukherjee is elected President of India. A gunman kills 12 people and injures 58 others during a midnight film screening in the U.S. state of Colorado. Bollywood actor and film producer Rajesh Khanna dies at the age of 69. On this day... July 25: Commonwealth Constitution Day in Puerto Rico (1952) 1139 – Prince Afonso Henriques (pictured) led Portuguese troops to victory over the Almoravid Moors at the Battle of Ourique. 1609 – During a hurricane, the crew of the English sailing ship Sea Venture grounded her on the reefs of Bermuda, which is widely believed to have inspired Shakepeare's The Tempest. 1814 – War of 1812: In present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario, the United States and Great Britain engaged in one of the deadliest battles ever fought on Canadian soil. 1909 – French aviator Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel in a heavier-than-air flying machine, flying from near Calais, France, to Dover, England. 1978 – Louise Brown, the world's first baby conceived through in vitro fertilisation, was born in Oldham, England. 2010 – WikiLeaks published 75,000 classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history. More anniversaries: July 24 – July 25 – July 26 It is now July 25, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture On July 25, 1976, the Viking 1 spacecraft captured images of a mesa in the Cydonia region of Mars with the appearance of a humanoid face (see inset), which led to much speculation about life on Mars. In 2007, high-resolution images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the same structure definitively showed that the face was merely an optical illusion known as pareidolia. Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Recently featured: Bassian Thrush – Fields Medal – Simulated depth of field

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