Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 April 17

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From today's featured article

Yvonne Fletcher was fatally wounded on 17 April 1984 by a shot coming from the Libyan embassy on St James's Square in London. She had been deployed as a constable of the Metropolitan Police to monitor a demonstration against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. During the protest, two unknown gunmen opened fire with Sterling submachine guns, killing Fletcher and wounding eleven Libyans. The inquest found that she was "killed by a bullet coming from one of two windows on the west side of the front on the first floor of the Libyan People's Bureau". After an eleven-day siege of the embassy, those inside were expelled from the United Kingdom, and diplomatic relations with Libya were severed. In 1999 a warming of diplomatic relations with Britain led to the payment of compensation and a statement from the Libyan government admitting culpability in Fletcher's shooting. British police continued their investigation until 2017, but no one has been convicted of Fletcher's murder. (Full article...)

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In the news

Augusta National Golf Club

The United States, United Kingdom and France strike multiple government targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma.
At least 257 people are killed as an Algerian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crashes in Algeria.
In golf, Patrick Reed wins the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club (pictured) in the United States.
In the Hungarian parliamentary election, a coalition led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wins its third consecutive supermajority in the Hungarian National Assembly.

On this day...

April 17: Evacuation Day (1946); Tax Day in the United States (2018)

Kaunas Castle (reconstructed)

1080 – The death of Harald III allowed his brother Canute IV, who later became the first Dane to be canonized, to become King of Denmark.
1362 – Lithuanian Crusade: After a month-long siege, the Teutonic Order captured and destroyed Kaunas Castle (reconstruction pictured) in Lithuania.
1907 – The first of three dreadnought battleships for Brazil was laid down, sparking a vastly expensive South American naval arms race.
1951 – The Peak District was designated the first national park in the United Kingdom.
1973 – George Lucas began writing a 13-page film treatment entitled The Star Wars.

Marino Faliero (d. 1355) · Cap Anson (b. 1852) · Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (d. 1954)

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Today's featured picture

The jettisoned Service Module of the Apollo 13 spacecraft, photographed as the beleaguered Command Module was preparing for reentry. The seventh manned mission in the Apollo space program, Apollo 13 was launched on April 11, 1970. It was commanded by James A. Lovell, with John L. "Jack" Swigert and Fred W. Haise as crew. After an oxygen tank exploded on April 13, the Service Module was crippled and a planned lunar landing was aborted. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to make makeshift repairs to the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17, 1970.

Photograph: NASA

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