Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 March 15

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From today's featured article

The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was an ad-hoc unit of the United States Marine Corps (Marine Corps logo pictured) that existed periodically from 1912 to 1950. Formed for specific operations and not considered a "permanent" unit, the brigade saw five brief activations for service over forty years. First created for duty in Cuba following the Negro Rebellion, it was next activated in 1941 when it was hastily constructed from the 6th Marine Regiment to garrison Iceland after its occupation by British troops during World War II. The brigade participated in the Battle of Guam in the Pacific War, conducting an amphibious landing on the island and subduing resistance from Japanese troops. It was activated again in a brief organizational shift after the war. The brigade was hastily reformed in 1950 for service in the Korean War. It participated in a counterattack at Masan before reinforcing U.S. Army units during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and at the First and Second Battles of Naktong Bulge along the Naktong River. It was deactivated for the last time when it was merged with the 1st Marine Division. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that whenever a cricket ball hit the St Lawrence Lime (pictured) in first-class matches, it scored four runs?
... that Marte Wexelsen Goksøyr, who has Down's syndrome, wore a T-shirt saying "Endangered" in the Parliament of Norway to protest against Norwegian mothers being offered early ultrasonography?
... that four of the midshipmen aboard the HMS Good Hope became the first casualties of the Royal Canadian Navy when she sank in the Battle of Coronel?
... that The Scotsman called Jocelyn Hay, founder of the Voice of the Listener & Viewer, "possibly the best lobbyist in the whole UK"?
... that "The Quality of Mercy" speech in which Portia begs Shylock for mercy in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is regarded as an exemplary speech by some and dark humor by others?
... that 2014 Winter Paralympics skier Mick Brennan was placed 10th in the Super G, but withdrew from the downhill race, calling the course "scary"?

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In the news

Chiquita and Fyffes agree to a merger that would create the world's largest banana producer.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (aircraft pictured), en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, goes missing over the Gulf of Thailand.
The International Criminal Court finds former Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga guilty of war crimes committed during the Ituri conflict.
The 2014 Winter Paralympics open in Sochi, Russia.
The Supreme Council of Crimea votes to leave Ukraine and join the Russian Federation and announces a referendum on secession.

Recent deaths: Tony Benn – Bob Crow – Frank Jobe

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On this day...

March 15: Ides of March; Purim begins at sunset (Judaism, 2014); National Day in Hungary (1848)

44 BC – Dictator Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic was stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators.
933 – Franks led by German king Henry I defeated an invading Hungarian army in the Battle of Riade in northern Thuringia.
1820 – As part of the Missouri Compromise, the exclave of Massachusetts known as Maine (map pictured) was given its own U.S. statehood.
1917 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate in the February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
1972 – The Godfather, a gangster film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, was released.

More anniversaries: March 14 – March 15 – March 16

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Today's featured picture

The Mangrove Robin (Peneoenanthe pulverulenta) is a species of bird in the family Petroicidae which lives in the mangrove forests of Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. These birds feed on insects, hunting those found in the mud after the tide ebbs; they may also feed on crabs.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

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