Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 August 29

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From today's featured article

Birchington-on-Sea is a village and seaside resort in north-east Kent, England, with a population of around 10,000. It faces the North Sea, east of the Thames Estuary, between Herne Bay and Margate. Its main beach is Minnis Bay (pictured); three smaller beaches are surrounded by chalk cliffs, cliff stacks and caves. Roman and prehistoric artefacts indicate that the area was inhabited before the existence of the village, and Minnis Bay was once the site of an Iron Age settlement. The village was first recorded in 1240. Its parish church, All Saints', dates to the 13th century and its churchyard is the burial place of the 19th-century Pre-Raphaelite artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Quex Park, a local 19th-century manor house, is home to the Powell-Cotton Museum and a twelve-bell tower built for change ringing. The museum displays stuffed exotic animals collected by Major Percy Powell-Cotton on his travels in Africa, and houses artefacts unearthed in and around Birchington. (Full article...)

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Perovskia atriplicifolia

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In the news

Tropical Storm Erika

Flash floods and mudslides produced by Tropical Storm Erika (satellite image pictured) kill at least 20 people across Dominica in the Lesser Antilles.
Wildfires across the U.S. state of Washington, including the Okanogan Complex fire, destroy more than 200 homes and burn 920 square miles (2,400 km²).
The ancient Temple of Baalshamin in Palmyra is destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
At least 11 people are killed when a Hawker Hunter crashes onto a busy road during an airshow in Shoreham-by-Sea, UK.
A bomb explosion in Bangkok, Thailand, kills 20 people and injures more than 120 others.

Ongoing events:
- European migrant crisis
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On this day...

August 29: Raksha Bandhan (Hinduism, 2015); Feast day for the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (Gregorian calendar)

Flooded areas of New Orleans

1475 – After an invasion by England and the Duchy of Burgundy, France signed the Treaty of Picquigny with England, freeing Louis XI to deal with the threat posed by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.
1842 – The Treaty of Nanking, an unequal treaty ending the First Opium War, was signed, forcing the Chinese Qing dynasty to give control of the island that is now the site of Hong Kong, and other concessions to the British.
1949 – The Soviet Union successfully conducted its first nuclear weapons test, exploding the 22-kiloton RDS-1.
1991 – Italian businessman Libero Grassi was killed by the Sicilian Mafia after taking a public stand against their extortion demands.
2005 – Storm surges of Hurricane Katrina caused multiple breaches in levees around New Orleans, flooding about 80% of the city (pictured) and surrounding areas for weeks.

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Today's featured picture

A female impala (Aepyceros melampus) photographed at Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. These medium-sized African antelopes inhabit savanna grasslands and woodlands close to water sources, feeding on grasses, forbs, monocots, dicots and foliage. They are fast runners and known for their leaping ability, reaching heights up to 3 m (10 ft).

Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

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