Wikipedia:Main Page history/2024 May 16
From today's featured article
Did you know ...
- ... that Enchylium limosum (example pictured) loves lime?
- ... that despite graduating last in his West Point class, Frederick Kimble eventually became a general?
- ... that the 2024 film 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days was filmed in Japan in March to capture both snowfalls and cherry blossoms in the same month?
- ... that a will bequeathing the Chestnut Street Opera House to the University of Pennsylvania was contested at the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania?
- ... that the comedian Jonny Pelham is one of only 200 people in the UK to suffer from popliteal pterygium syndrome?
- ... that after a CD edition of Taylor Swift's album Midnights containing the exclusive song "You're Losing Me" was released at MetLife Stadium, some of the first purchasers uploaded the song online?
- ... that BBC Breakfast's resident doctor Nighat Arif has advocated for more women to be given vibrators for medical reasons?
- ... that Soviet prisoners of war were the second-largest group of victims of Nazi mass killing?
- ... that Katherine Sleeper Walden was a journalist, postmistress, innkeeper, community organizer, environmental activist, and conservationist who now has three mountains named after her?
In the news
- Robert Fico (pictured), the prime minister of Slovakia, is hospitalised after an assassination attempt.
- Lee Hsien Loong steps down after nearly 20 years as the prime minister of Singapore, and is succeeded by Lawrence Wong.
- Switzerland, represented by Nemo with "The Code", wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
- A series of solar storms impact Earth, creating aurorae seen farther from the poles than usual.
- Former prime minister of Fiji Frank Bainimarama is sentenced to one year in prison for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
On this day
May 16: Global Accessibility Awareness Day (2024)
- 1426 – Mohnyin Thado captured Sagaing to become the king of Ava, in present-day Myanmar.
- 1605 – After a scuffle in which one cardinal received broken bones, a papal conclave convened in Rome elected Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V.
- 1929 – The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
- 1975 – Japanese climber Junko Tabei (pictured) became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- Pietro da Cortona (d. 1669)
- William H. Seward (b. 1801)
- Amanda Asay (b. 1988)
Today's featured picture
The Valère Basilica is a fortified Catholic church in Sion, in the Swiss canton of Valais. It is situated on a hill at an altitude of 615 metres (2,018 ft), and faces Tourbillon Castle located on the opposite hill. The first parts of the building were constructed around 1100, with numerous additions over the subsequent centuries. It was designated a minor basilica in 1987. The site is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance, which includes the surrounding hill due to the large number of protected plant and animal species present there. This photograph shows the Valère Basilica in February 2021, with the Haut de Cry, a 2,969-metre (9,741 ft) peak of the Bernese Alps, in the background. Photograph credit: Christian David
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