Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 December 29

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HMS Warrior was the name ship of a class of two 40-gun steam-powered armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy in 1859–61. The sister ships Warrior and HMS Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, and were built in response to France's launching in 1859 of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the wooden-hulled Gloire. After a publicity tour of Great Britain in 1863, Warrior had an active career with the Channel Squadron. The frigate became obsolescent following the 1871 launching of the mastless and more capable HMS Devastation, was placed in reserve in 1875, and was paid off in 1883. After serving as a storeship and depot ship, Warrior was assigned in 1904 to the Royal Navy's torpedo training school. The frigate was converted into an oil jetty in 1927 and was donated by the Navy to the Maritime Trust for restoration in 1979. The restoration process took eight years, during which many of the ship's features and fittings were either restored or recreated. When this was finished Warrior returned to Portsmouth as a museum ship. Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, the ship has been based in Portsmouth since 1987. (Full article...)

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In the news

Falcon 9 rocket's first stage on the landing pad

The Charter of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank enters into force.
After launching a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX successfully lands the vehicle's first stage (pictured) in Cape Canaveral.
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the suspended presidents of FIFA and UEFA respectively, are banned from association football for eight years amid a corruption case.
More than 70 people are missing after a landslide in Shenzhen, China.
In the Spanish general election, the ruling People's Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, loses one third of its seats, but remains the largest single party.

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- Syrian Civil War
- European migrant crisis
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On this day...

December 29: Independence Day in Mongolia (1911)

Muhammad Iqbal

1170 – Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket was slain in his own cathedral by four knights of Henry II of England.
1890 – The United States Army killed over 150 members of the Great Sioux Nation at the Wounded Knee Massacre.
1930 – Muhammad Iqbal (pictured) introduced the two-nation theory outlining a vision for the creation of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern British India.
1937 – The Constitution of Ireland, the founding legal document of the state known today as the Republic of Ireland, came into force.
1997 – In order to prevent the spread of the H5N1 flu virus, the Hong Kong government slaughtered 1.3 million chickens.

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Today's featured picture

Kei Nishikori (b. 1989) is a Japanese professional tennis player. Nishikori qualified for his first ATP main draw event at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles at the age of 17; in 2008 he was named ATP Newcomer of the Year. He has won ten singles titles and was runner-up at the 2014 US Open. Ranked No. 8 in the world as of November 23, 2015, he is the only male Japanese tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10 in ATP Singles Ranking and reached his career-high ranking of world No. 4 in March 2015. He is also the first male player from an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam singles final and the first to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals.

Photograph: David Iliff

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