Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 April 15

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From today's featured article

The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest of the five extant rhinoceroses. Members of the species once inhabited rainforests, swamps, and cloud forests in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. They are now critically endangered, with only six substantial populations in the wild: four on Sumatra, one on Borneo, and one in the Malay Peninsula. Their numbers are difficult to determine because they are solitary animals that are widely scattered across their range, but they are estimated to number fewer than 275, and possibly as low as 200. The decline in numbers is attributed primarily to poaching for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine. The Sumatran rhino is a mostly solitary animal except for courtship and offspring-rearing. Like the African species, it has two horns; the larger is the nasal horn, typically 15–25 centimetres (5.9–9.8 in), while the other horn is typically a stub. A coat of reddish-brown hair covers most of its body. It is the most vocal rhino species and also communicates through marking soil with its feet, twisting saplings into patterns, and leaving excrement. (Full article...)

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From Wikipedia's newest content:

... that the Baroli Temples (temple complex pictured), one of the earliest temple complexes in Rajasthan, India are reported to be built during reign of the Gurjara-Pratihara Empire dated to 10th-11th centuries?

... that Mona Lisa replicas and reinterpretations have been created using everything from seaweed to software?

... that the release of Tunisian director Néjia Ben Mabrouk's debut film Sama was delayed for six years because of a dispute with the production company?

... that the European Underwater and Baromedical Society was formed in 1971 to further education and research in diving and hyperbaric medicine?

... that in 1925, an assault by Druze rebels against French troops based in al-Musayfirah resulted in the French Mandate's first victory during the Great Syrian Revolt?

... that the 2013 boxing-related death of Michael Norgrove was the first in the United Kingdom in 18 years?

... that the Puits d'amour pastry caused scandal in 18th century France because of the erotic connotation of its name?

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Today's articles for improvement

George M. Dallas – Hammer – Church (building)

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In the news

In a snap election called after the death of Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro is elected President of Venezuela.

The Government of India announces Bollywood actor Pran (pictured) as the winner of the 2012 Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Five UN peacekeepers and seven civilian staff members are killed by rebels in Jonglei, South Sudan.

At least 37 people are killed and 850 are injured when a 6.3-magnitude earthquake strikes the Iranian province of Bushehr.

A gunman kills 13 people in a spree shooting in the village of Velika Ivanča, Serbia.

Tribal violence in Darfur, Sudan, kills at least 163 people and displaces 50,000 others.

Recent deaths: Maria Tallchief – Jonathan Winters – Robert Edwards

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On this day...

April 15: Father Damien Day in Hawaii; Yom Hazikaron in Israel (2013); Patriots' Day in Maine and Massachusetts (2013); Birthday of the Great Leader in North Korea

769 – The Lateran Council concluded proceedings intended to rectify abuses in the papal electoral process that had led to the elevation of the Antipopes Constantine II and Philip.

1071 – Norman forces, under the command of Robert Guiscard, conquered the city of Bari, the capital of the Catepanate of Italy.

1638 – A rebellion by Catholic Japanese peasants in Shimabara over increased taxes was put down by the Tokugawa shogunate, resulting in greater enforcement of the policy of national seclusion.

1755 – A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson (pictured) was first published, becoming one of the most influential dictionaries in the history of English.

1947 – Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the baseball color line, played his first game in Major League Baseball.

1989 – A human crush during an FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, caused 96 deaths, the most of any stadium-related disaster in British history.

More anniversaries: April 14 – April 15 – April 16

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From today's featured list

The first of the James Bond novels and short stories was published in April 1953. The central character, James Bond, is a British Secret Service agent; he was created by journalist and author Ian Fleming and first appeared in the novel Casino Royale. The books are set in a contemporary period, between May 1951 and February 1964. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve novels and two collections of short stories. Since Fleming's death in 1964, a number of other authors have written continuation works. The first of these was Kingsley Amis, writing under the pseudonym of "Robert Markham", who produced one novel. John Pearson then wrote a fictional biography of Bond in 1973 before Christopher Wood wrote two novelizations later that decade. John Gardner wrote fourteen novels and two novelizations between 1981 and 1996. After he retired, Raymond Benson wrote six Bond novels, three novelizations and three short stories between 1996 and 2002. After a hiatus of six years, Sebastian Faulks wrote a further novel, which was released on the 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth. This was followed in 2011 by a novel by Jeffery Deaver. (Full list...)

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Part of the Mexico–United States border, showing a fence which separates densely populated Tijuana in Mexico, right, from the United States in the Border Patrol's San Diego Sector. The San Diego–Tijuana crossing is the busiest border crossing in the world.

Photo: Gordon Hyde

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