The Most Famous Cover Image in National Geographic History Nearly Didn't Get Published.

The most famous and easily recognizable cover image in the history of the National Geographic (NG) magazine is that of the Afghan Girl. But this photo nearly didn't get published. It was in fact in a pile of rejects until an NG editor named Bill Garrett pulled the photo from the pile.

The rest is history. 

The photo was taken in 1984 by American photojournalist Steve McCurry in Pakistan. The girl was a 12-year-old refugee from Afghanistan. Her identity wasn't known until 2002. Her name is Sharbat Gula. 

In an interview in 2019, Gula said that she was angered by her photograph being taken and published without her consent.

Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI)

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure or ICI is an independent commission created by Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to investigate flood control projects in the country.

The chairman, the special adviser, and the two members of the commission were announced on September 15, 2025. They are as follows: 

Chairman - Andres Reyes Jr. (former Supreme Court Associate Justice)

Special Adviser - Benjamin Magalong (Mayor of Baguio City)

Member - Rogelio "Babes" Singson (former Department of Public Works and Highways secretary)

Member - Rossana Fajardo (Country Managing Partner in SGV and. Co.)

"The Life of Violet: Three Early Stories" by Virginia Woolf to be Published by the Princeton University Press This October

September 9, 2025

Exciting news for admirers of Virginia Woolf's work. This coming October, a short collection of her earliest and never-been-published stories will be published by the Princeton University Press. 

The collection is described as Woolf's "first fully realized work of fiction". She wrote them in 1907, eight years before the publication of her first novel, "The Voyage Out". 

The new book carries the title "The Life of Violet: Three Early Stories". The stories are:

1. "Friendships Gallery"

2. "The Magic Garden"

3. "A Story to Make You Sleep"

A short excerpt from the book's blurb:

"A beguiling trio of fantastical and farcical anti-fairy tales about a giantess who builds a magical “cottage of one’s own,” battles a silver-scaled sea monster, and defies governesses and gravity alike."

The book comes out October 7, 2025. It was edited by Urmila Seshagiri. 

Manalo

Evidence: Christopher Glenn Mercado Bautista