Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work, which fuses elements of realism and the fantastic, typically features isolated protagonists facing what are now called " Kafkaesque" circumstances: bizarre or surrealistic predicaments complicated by incomprehensible bureaucracy. He explores themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best-known works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. Few of Kafka's works were published during his lifetime, and those that were received little public attention. In his will, he instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy his unfinished works, including three of his novels, but Brod ignored these instructions. Kafka's work has influenced a vast range of writers, critics, artists, and philosophers during the 20th and 21st centuries. ( Full article...)

Cycloseris distorta

• ... that the free-living, solitary coral Cycloseris distorta (pictured) can subdivide its stony skeleton and form two new individuals?
• ... that when Joseph Wood was appointed as head master of Harrow School, he was by far the oldest to be appointed since the retirement of Thomas Thackeray in 1760?
• ... that composers Alexander Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are all buried in the Tikhvin Cemetery?
• ... that the Touristic Eastern Express makes two-hour-long stops between Ankara and Kars to allow passengers to visit historic and natural attractions?
• ... that the German soprano Melanie Diener began her stage career in Mozart roles in 1996, and appeared as Isolde with the Canadian Opera Company and the Opéra national du Rhin in 2013?
• ... that after discontinuing normal programming, KPPC radio signed on once a week for six months to fulfill a contract to broadcast church services?
• ... that Qian Ji helped design China's first satellite and was the lead designer for its first three-in-one satellite launch?
• ... that the Mueller probe was born in a crossfire hurricane?

Se'are Mekonnen

• A fire on the Russian submarine Losharik kills 14 crew members.
• A human crush at a concert in Antananarivo, Madagascar, kills 16 people and injures more than 100 others.
• The Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo are chosen as the joint hosts of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics.
• In the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and national-military chief of staff Se'are Mekonnen (pictured) are assassinated.
• A heat wave in India and Pakistan causes hundreds of deaths.

July 3: Independence Day in Belarus

Jimmy Carter

• 324 – Roman emperor Constantine the Great defeated former colleague Licinius in the Battle of Adrianople.
• 1778 – American Revolutionary War: Loyalists and Iroquois killed over 300 Patriots at the Battle of Wyoming in Pennsylvania.
• 1940 – Second World War: The Royal Navy attacked the French fleet, fearing that the ships would fall into German hands after the armistice between those two nations.
• 1970 – The Troubles: The British Army imposed the Falls Curfew on Belfast, Northern Ireland, which resulted in greater Irish republican resistance.
• 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter (pictured) signed a presidential finding, authorizing the CIA to secretly aid the mujahideen of Afghanistan against the Soviet Union.
• 2005 – Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain.

Robert Adam (b. 1728) · Hasan Tahsini (d. 1881) · Bo Xilai (b. 1949)