Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 December 16

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From today's featured article

Central Coast Mariners FC is an Australian professional soccer club based on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The Mariners, founded in 2004 as one of the original eight A-League teams, were the first professional sports club from the Gosford region to compete in a national competition. Despite being considered one of the smallest-market clubs in the league, the Central Coast Mariners have won the A-League Premiership twice and claimed one A-League Championship from four Grand Final appearances. They have also appeared in the AFC Champions League four times. The club plays matches at Central Coast Stadium (pictured), a 20,059 seat stadium in Gosford. The English Championship's Sheffield United has invested in the club, and the Mariners have affiliation agreements with several international clubs. Their main supporters' group is known as the Yellow Army, after the colour of the club's home kit. The club and the Newcastle Jets share a rivalry known as the F3 Derby, after the previous name of the motorway that connects the cities of the teams. Matt Simon and Adam Kwasnik are the Mariners' all-time leading goalscorers, with 42 goals each in all competitions. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that West Virginia businessman and real estate developer Howard Llewellyn Swisher (pictured) also edited a literary journal in which he referred to himself as "Chief of the Tribe"?
... that the publisher claimed that demand for Zoe Sugg's debut novel Girl Online was so high that every bookshop started selling it before its official release date?
... that Hans Wallat conducted Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen ninety times?
... that the voice actors in Chaar Sahibzaade, the first Punjabi 3D animation film, were kept anonymous?
... that the Arthur R. Hoard House‎‎ in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, was home to state assemblyman Horace B. Willard and two mayors?
... that the bee Megachile rubi cuts portions of leaf to shape and size to line each cell it builds?
... that Buck Mountain is most likely named after Albert Ansbach?

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In the news

Gunman Man Haron Monis and two hostages are killed when a siege ends at a café in Sydney.
In Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito coalition secures a supermajority following a snap general election.
The Alliance Lepep coalition, led by Anerood Jugnauth, wins the general election in Mauritius.
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee releases a report strongly criticizing the Central Intelligence Agency's use of torture.
Former Chinese domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang (pictured) is arrested and expelled from the Communist Party of China.
NASA successfully conducts the maiden flight of its Orion spacecraft.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Ralph H. Baer – Queen Fabiola of Belgium

On this day...

December 16: National Day in Bahrain; Victory Day in Bangladesh and India (1971)

1598 – Admiral Yi Sun-sin's Korean navy defeated the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Noryang, the final naval battle of the Imjin War.
1689 – The Parliament of England adopted the Bill of Rights, declaring that Englishmen possessed certain positive civil and political rights.
1944 – World War II: The Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany launched its final offensive in the western front, the Battle of the Bulge (German tank pictured).
1986 – Dinmukhamed Konayev was dismissed from the post of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, sparking riots throughout the country.
2012 – A woman in New Delhi was gang-raped on a bus, generating public protests across the country against the Government of India and the Government of Delhi for not providing adequate security for women.

More anniversaries: December 15 – December 16 – December 17

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It is now December 16, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Eristalinus megacephalus is a species of hoverfly which can be found in non-marine areas of numerous countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia. First described by Pietro Rossi in 1794, its name emphasizes the size of its head. E. megacephalus, which averages 8–11 millimetres (0.31–0.43 in) in length, uses Batesian mimicry to resemble a bee or other hymenopteran and thus scare away predators.

Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

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