Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 July 5

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Today's featured article
Hygeberht was the Bishop of Lichfield from 779 and Archbishop of Lichfield after the elevation of Lichfield to an archdiocese some time after 787, during the reign of the powerful Mercian king Offa. Little is known of Hygeberht's background, although he was probably a native of Mercia. Offa succeeded in having Lichfield elevated to an archbishopric, but the rise in Lichfield's status was unpopular with Canterbury, the other southern English archbishopric. Offa was probably motivated by a desire to increase the status of his kingdom and to free his kingdom's ecclesiastical affairs from the control of another kingdom's archbishopric, and possibly the need to secure the coronation of Offa's successor, which the Archbishop of Canterbury had opposed. After Offa's death his distant relative Coenwulf became king, and petitioned the pope to have Lichfield returned to a simple bishopric. The pope agreed to do so in 803, by which time Hygeberht was no longer even considered a bishop: he is listed as an abbot at the council that oversaw the demotion of Lichfield in 803. The date of his death is unknown. (more...) Recently featured: Garret Hobart – Great Auk – Battle of Schellenberg Archive – By email – More featured articles...
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From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that on Women's Equality Day, the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame will add four names to a list that already includes Mamie Eisenhower (pictured) and Hualing Nieh Engle? ... that in 1894 Georges Lemaître won the world's first competitive motor race by driving from Paris to Rouen at 19 km/h (12 mph)? ... that the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, currently the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services, was the first U.S. federal building to be named after a living person? ... that upon his death in June 2012, Walter J. Zable had been the world's oldest public company CEO at age 97? ... that the constellation of Circinus depicts a pair of drafting compasses? ... that The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs consists of 7000 pages of Wikipedia changelogs? ... that Llanddewi Velfrey in Pembrokeshire once contained an Italianate stuccoed mansion, but it was demolished in 1957? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. GlaxoSmithKline pleads guilty to criminal charges of health care fraud and is fined a record US$3 billion. In association football, UEFA Euro 2012 concludes with Spain defeating Italy in the final to win a second consecutive European Football Championship. An intense derecho (damage pictured) strikes the eastern United States, leaving at least 22 people dead and millions without power. UNESCO lists the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as the State of Palestine's first World Heritage Site. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
July 5: Aphelion (04:00 UTC, 2012); Independence Day in Algeria (1962), Cape Verde (1975) and Venezuela (1811); Saints Cyril and Methodius Day in the Czech Republic and Slovakia 1775 – The Second Continental Congress of Britain's Thirteen Colonies adopted the Olive Branch Petition in the hopes of avoiding war with Great Britain. 1954 – BBC News (current logo pictured) aired its first televised news broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. 1977 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup d'état. 1987 – The Black Tigers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam made its first suicide bombing against the Sri Lanka Army in Nelliady, Sri Lanka. 1989 – United States National Security Council member Oliver North was sentenced for his part in the Iran-Contra Affair. More anniversaries: July 4 – July 5 – July 6 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now July 5, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Incahuasi Island is in the middle of the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in the Potosí Department in Bolivia. The island covers 24.62 hectares (60.8 acres) and consists of rocky, hilly terrain, with unusual and fragile coral-like structures and deposits that often consist of fossils and algae. It is the remains of the top of an ancient volcano which was submerged when the area was part of a giant prehistoric lake, roughly 40,000 years ago.

Photo: Martin St-Amant

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