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Abu Mansur Nizar ibn al-Mustansir (1045–1095) was a Fatimid prince and the eldest son of al-Mustansir, an Isma'ili imam and the eighth Fatimid caliph. When al-Mustansir died in December 1094, the powerful vizier, al-Afdal Shahanshah, raised Nizar's younger brother al-Musta'li to the throne in Cairo, bypassing the claims of Nizar and other older sons of al-Mustansir. Nizar escaped, rebelled and seized Alexandria, where he reigned as caliph with the regnal name al-Mustafa li-Din Allah. In late 1095, he was defeated, taken prisoner and executed by immurement. During the 12th century, some of Nizar's actual or claimed descendants tried, without success, to seize the throne from the Fatimid caliphs. Many Isma'ilis, especially in Persia, rejected al-Musta'li and considered Nizar to have been the rightful imam. As a result, they split off from the Fatimid regime and founded the Nizari branch of Isma'ilism, with their own line of imams who claimed descent from Nizar. This line continues to this day in the person of the Aga Khan. (Full article...)

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In the news

Michelle O'Neill

In horse racing, Rich Strike wins the Kentucky Derby.
Sinn Féin, led by Michelle O'Neill (pictured), win the most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the World Snooker Championship, defeating Judd Trump in the final.
Dritan Abazović is elected as the new Prime Minister of Montenegro by the Parliament.

On this day

May 10

Ethan Allen demanding the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga

28 BC – The first precisely dated observation of a sunspot was made by Chinese astronomers of the Han dynasty.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small force of Patriots led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga (depicted) in New York, without significant injury or incident.
1941 – World War II: German Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace with the British government.
1997 – An earthquake registering 7.3 M_w struck near Qaen, Iran, killing at least 1,567 and leaving around 50,000 others homeless.
2017 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces, assisted by the U.S. military, captured the Tabqa Dam and surrounding countryside, completing the Battle of Tabqa.

Leonhart Fuchs (d. 1566)
Karl Barth (b. 1886)
Arthur Kopit (b. 1937)

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Today's featured picture

Misumena vatia, the flower spider, is a species of crab spider found in North America and Europe. Females choose to settle on a flower where they remain stationary, while the much smaller males roam around looking for mates. This female spider was photographed having caught a silver-spotted skipper on a Centaurea jacea flower in Bükk National Park, Hungary.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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