Wikiwand Today

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Latest News

Ural Airlines Airbus A321 in 2013

At least 63 people are killed in a bombing at a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan.
All 233 people on board Ural Airlines Flight 178 (aircraft pictured) survive a crash following bird strikes in both engines of an Airbus A321.
Typhoon Lekima impacts the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and East China, killing at least 80 people.
At least 75 people are killed and more than 50 others injured in a fuel tanker truck explosion in Morogoro, Tanzania.

Today in History

August 20: Day of Restoration of Independence in Estonia (1991); St. Stephen's Day / State Foundation Day in Hungary

636 – Rashidun forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid took control of Syria and Palestine in the Battle of Yarmouk, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests.
1707 – The first Siege of Pensacola came to an end with the British and Creek abandoning their attempt to capture Pensacola in Spanish Florida.
1920 – The American Professional Football Association, a predecessor of the National Football League, was founded.
1988 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a bus carrying British Army soldiers in Northern Ireland, killing eight of them and wounding another twenty-eight.
1989 – The final stage of the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Australia, was completed, becoming the world's longest and fastest guided busway with buses (example pictured) travelling a total of 12 km (7.5 mi) at maximum speeds of up to 100 km/h (62 mph).

Henry Every (b. 1659) · Phil Lynott (b. 1949) · Amy Adams (b. 1974)

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Did You Know?

... that Kristine M. Larson (pictured) and her research team were the first to demonstrate that GPS could be used to detect seismic waves?
... that "The U.S. Air Force Blue" started as an advertising jingle for United States Air Force recruitment advertisements?
... that the 6th-century Lakhmid ruler Amr ibn Hind was killed by the poet Amr ibn Kulthum after Hind's mother had insulted Kulthum's mother?
... that in Cameroon, edible caterpillars are cultivated on dwarf red ironwood leaves?
... that Thai chef Bo Songvisava was once asked by a visiting foreign chef about Thai food and realized she knew very little about it?
... that Knut Nystedt wrote Immortal Bach as a scheme for many voices to sing the first line of Bach's "Komm, süßer Tod" simultaneously in different tempi, meeting on the last word meaning peace?
... that Perla Farías has created telenovelas, such as Juana la virgen and La Reina del Sur, which avoid classic stereotypes?
... that Churchill's Port was not bottled until 1982?

Today's Featured Article

The Marchioness disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989 that resulted in the deaths of 51 people. The pleasure steamer Marchioness, with about 130 people on board, sank after being hit twice by the dredger Bowbelle. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch blamed a lack of lookouts, but it was criticised by the families of the victims for failing to interview anyone on Marchioness or Bowbelle. A formal inquiry was finally held in 2000; its report concluded that "The basic cause of the collision is clear. It was poor lookout on both vessels. Neither vessel saw the other in time to take action to avoid the collision." Further criticism was aimed at the owners of both ships, at the Department for Transport and at the Port of London Authority. The collision and the subsequent reports led to increased safety measures on the Thames, and four new lifeboat stations were installed on the river. (Full article...)

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Today's Featured Picture

Modern Rome is a name given to each of three almost identical oil-on-canvas paintings by Italian artist Giovanni Paolo Panini, originally produced as pendant paintings to Ancient Rome for his patron, the comte de Stainville, who was the French ambassador to Rome from 1753 to 1757. The first two versions of the painting were created for Stainville in 1757, while the third was painted a couple of years later for Claude-François de Montboissier de Canillac de Beaufort.

This picture is the second version of Modern Rome, part of the collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work shows a picture gallery with a large number of paintings and sculptures depicting contemporary buildings and monuments in Rome, including St. Peter's Square, the Trevi Fountain, Santa Maria Maggiore, Piazza Navona, Michelangelo's Moses and a Medici lion. Stainville is depicted in an armchair in the left of the gallery. The first version of the painting is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, while the third is in the Louvre in Paris.

Painting credit: Giovanni Paolo Panini