Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 January 7

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From today's featured article

Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, the last president from the Whig Party. Born into poverty in the Finger Lakes area of New York state, he became a prominent attorney in the Buffalo area and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1828, and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1832. As Ways and Means Committee chairman, he helped pass the Tariff of 1842. In 1848, he was elected vice president and succeeded to the presidency in July 1850 upon the death of President Zachary Taylor. Fillmore considered slavery an evil, but beyond the powers of the federal government. He pushed to pass the Compromise of 1850, leading to a brief truce in the battle over slavery. He also enforced the Fugitive Slave Act, a controversial part of the Compromise. The Whigs nominated Winfield Scott in 1852 instead of him. In 1856, he was nominated for president by the Know Nothing Party, but he finished third, winning only Maryland. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Graphic showing when regions of the Tibetan Plateau reached their present-day elevation

... that during the collision of India with Asia, the southern part of the Tibetan Plateau achieved its high elevation before the northern part (graphic pictured)?
... that Theodora Agnes Peck became the first female honorary member of the Medal of Honor Legion of the United States, at the age of 18?
... that ensemble coding is the ability to see the average or variance of a group of objects?
... that historian John Belchem's work covers popular radicalism in 19th-century Britain, Irish migration, the Isle of Man, and modern history?
... that the 1990 Bijnor riot was the most destructive event during concurrent Hindu nationalist campaigns in India, which eventually led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid?
... that Frank Soo has been the only person of East Asian descent to play for the England national football team?
... that 44 Union Square in New York City has housed the Tammany Hall political organization, a labor union, and two theaters?
... that award-winning film editor Fu Zhengyi was called the "first pair of scissors" in China?

In the news

Qasem Soleimani

In Baghdad, Iraq, an American airstrike kills General Qasem Soleimani (pictured), commander of the Iranian Quds Force.
In Indonesia, flash floods in and around the capital of Jakarta kill at least 66 people.
In darts, Peter Wright defeats Michael van Gerwen to win the PDC World Darts Championship.
More than 85 people are killed in a suicide truck bombing at a police checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia.

On this day

January 7: Christmas (Eastern Christianity; Julian calendar); Tenth of Tevet (Judaism, 2020); Victory over Genocide Day in Cambodia (1979); Festa del Tricolore in Italy (1797)

Io

1610 – Through his telescope, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei made the first observation of Jupiter's Galilean moons: Io (pictured), Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, although he was not able to distinguish the first two until the following night.
1782 – The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia as the United States's first de facto central bank.
1940 – Winter War: Outnumbered Finnish troops decisively defeated Soviet forces at the Battle of Raate Road.
2010 – In Nag Hammadi, Egypt, Muslim gunmen opened fire on a crowd of Coptic Christians leaving church after attending Christmas mass, killing eight of them, as well as one Muslim bystander.

Albert Bierstadt (b. 1830) · Edmund Barton (d. 1920) · Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers (d. 1960)

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Today's featured picture

Kifli or kipfel is a traditional yeast bread roll that is rolled and formed into a crescent shape before baking. Crescent-shaped pastries are considered the oldest surviving pastry shape and are believed to represent an ancient pagan tradition involving offerings to the moon goddess, Selene. Pastries of similar shape have been baked since at least the 10th century. Kifli was likely traditionally baked in monasteries for Easter. It is a common type of bread roll throughout much of central Europe and nearby countries, where it is called by various names. It is likely the inspiration for the French croissant, which has a similar shape but is made with a different type of dough.

This picture shows five Serbian kifli made with spelt flour, filled with sheep cheese and topped with sesame seeds, baked for Eastern Christmas, which falls on 7 January according to the Julian calendar.

Photograph credit: Petar Milošević

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