Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 May 16

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From today's featured article

The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was fought during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of La Albuera, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the frontier fortress town of Badajoz, Spain. Since October 1810, Marshal Masséna's French Army of Portugal had been tied down in an increasingly hopeless stand-off against Wellington's Allied forces. Acting on Napoleon's orders, in early 1811 Marshal Soult led a French expedition from Andalusia into Extremadura in a bid to draw Allied forces away from the battle lines and ease Masséna's plight. In April 1811, following news of Masséna's complete withdrawal from Portugal, Wellington sent the powerful Anglo-Portuguese Army commanded by Sir William Beresford to retake the border town. Meeting at Albuera, both sides suffered heavily, and the French finally withdrew on 18 May. (Full article...)

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In the news

Surabaya bombing aftermath

Israeli troops kill more than 50 Palestinian protestors in the Gaza Strip, on the day the United States moves its embassy to Jerusalem.
In association football, the English Premier League concludes with Manchester City winning the title.
A series of bombings in Surabaya, Indonesia, kills at least 25 people (President Joko Widodo surveying damage pictured).
Netta, representing Israel, wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "Toy".
The Supreme Court of the Philippines removes Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno from office.

On this day...

May 16: Ramadan begins (Islam, 2018)

Triton Fountain

1866 – The United States Congress authorized the minting of the country's first copper-nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel.
1918 – The Sedition Act was passed in the United States, forbidding Americans from using "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, flag, or armed forces during the ongoing World War I.
1959 – The Triton Fountain (pictured) in Valletta, one of Malta's most important Modernist landmarks, was turned on for the first time.
1961 – The Military Revolution Committee, led by Park Chung-hee, carried out a bloodless coup against the government of Yun Bo-seon, ending the Second Republic of South Korea.
1975 – Based on the results of a referendum held about one month earlier, Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed by India, becoming its 22nd state.

Andrew Bobola (d. 1657) · Maria Gaetana Agnesi (b. 1718) · Henri-Edmond Cross (d. 1910)

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Today's featured picture

Madonna is a title given to a composition by the Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch. He painted several versions of the composition between 1892 and 1895, using oils on canvas as well as lithography. Several interpretations of the bare-breasted half-length female figure have been offered, including that she represents the Virgin Mary, a femme fatale figure, or a paradox of "sensuality shot through with imagery of death and corruption".

Shown here is a c. 1895–1902 version of Madonna in lithography, held by the Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki, Japan.

See a version in oil

Painting: Edvard Munch

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