Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 April 20

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The 1994 Atlantic hurricane season produced only seven named tropical cyclones and three hurricanes, and was the only Atlantic hurricane season of the 1990s with no major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale). Tropical activity lasted from Alberto's formation on June 30 to Gordon's weakening on November 21. Tropical Storm Alberto produced significant rainfall and flooding in the Southeastern United States, damaging or destroying over 18,000 homes. In August, Tropical Storm Beryl produced its heaviest rainfall in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Along with a tornado it spawned, Beryl caused numerous injuries. Tropical Storm Debby killed nine people in the Caribbean in September. Florence was the most intense hurricane, at Category 2, but never made landfall. Extreme flooding and mudslides from Hurricane Gordon caused around 1,122 fatalities in Haiti and other deaths over the course of six landfalls from Costa Rica to North Carolina. A nor'easter in December may have had tropical characteristics, but was not classified as a tropical system. (Full article...)

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Flag of South Africa between 1928 and 1994

... that the former flag of South Africa (pictured) was created as a compromise but later came to be viewed as a symbol of apartheid?
... that Grand Theft Auto III was the best-selling game of 2001, and the second best-selling game of 2002, behind only its sequel?
... that the name of Maenan Hall, a Grade I listed building near Llanddoged, Wales, means "place of the big stone" in Welsh?
... that biologist Katherine Sanford was the first person to successfully clone a mammal cell in vitro?
... that the Hindu mythical beast Supratika – Bhagadatta's elephant – nearly killed Bhima during the Kurukshetra War?
... that in a 2014 Sussex Cricket League Premier Division match against Horsham, Philip Salt scored 200 not out from just 129 balls?
... that city officials in Plymouth, Minnesota, opposed the idea of a 240,000-square-foot (22,000 m²) Walmart Supercenter replacing the Four Seasons Mall?
... that South Korean politician Choo Mi-ae has been compared to Joan of Arc?

In the news

Atsede Baysa

At least 64 people are killed and more than 340 others injured in an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Ethiopians Lemi Berhanu Hayle and Atsede Baysa (pictured) win the men's and women's Boston Marathon, respectively.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits Ecuador, killing at least 480 people and injuring more than 4,000 others.
Two earthquakes kill at least 40 people and injure more than 3,000 others across Kyushu, Japan.
Volodymyr Groysman is appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine following the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Argentina reaches an agreement to issue bonds and pay its creditors, ending a 15-year sovereign default.

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On this day...

April 20: Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá'í Faith); 4/20 (cannabis culture)

Pope Leo XIII

1657 – Anglo-Spanish War: An English fleet under Admiral Robert Blake attacked a Spanish treasure fleet at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands.
1792 – After Foreign Minister Charles François Dumouriez presented the French Legislative Assembly with a long list of grievances against Austria, France declared war to begin the French Revolutionary Wars.
1884 – Pope Leo XIII (pictured) published the encyclical Humanum genus, denouncing Freemasonry as well as a number of beliefs and practices purportedly associated with it such as popular sovereignty and the separation of church and state.
1968 – British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the Shadow Cabinet.
1998 – The violent German revolutionary group known as the Red Army Faction announced that it had dissolved.

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On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP in the Macondo Prospect oil field southeast of the Louisiana coast, exploded. The explosion killed eleven workers, injured sixteen others, and caused the Deepwater Horizon to catch fire and sink. The same blowout also caused a massive offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This spill has been considered the largest accidental marine oil spill to date, as well as the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Photograph: United States Coast Guard; edit: Ottojula and Mark Miller

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