Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 June 9

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From today's featured article

Norodom Ranariddh (born 1944) is a Cambodian prince, politician and law academic. He is the second son of Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and a half-brother of the current king, Norodom Sihamoni. A graduate of the University of Provence, he started his career as a law researcher and lecturer in France. In 1983, he joined FUNCINPEC, a Cambodian royalist party, and in 1986 became the chief-of-staff and commander-in-chief of the Armée nationale sihanoukiste. He became the secretary-general of FUNCINPEC in 1989, and its president in 1992. He was the first Prime Minister of Cambodia, serving between 1993 and 1997. After being forced into exile in July 1997, he returned to Cambodia in March 1998 and led his party in the Cambodian general election, becoming President of the National Assembly between 1998 and 2006. He resigned in March 2006, and in October 2006 was ousted as president of FUNCINPEC. In March 2014 he launched the Community of Royalist People's Party, but dissolved it in January 2015 and was re-elected to the FUNCINPEC presidency. (Full article...)

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Hinulugang Taktak National Park

... that according to legend, Hinulugang Taktak (pictured), a national park and protected landscape in Rizal, Philippines, gets its name from a bell thrown in the waterfall?
... that during Bob Nicholson's tenure as president of Hockey Canada, national teams won 44 gold medals in international ice hockey competition?
... that Ojos Locos has waitresses called "chicas" and has been described as a "Mexican Hooters"?
... that African-American civil rights activist Pauline Short Robinson broke the color barrier at the Denver Public Library?
... that Novell BrainShare moved from the University of Utah to the Salt Palace?
... that despite writing extensively about women's rights and being the first Croatian author to feature a feminist character, Jagoda Truhelka remains best known for her children's literature?
... that the fat sea biscuit covers its test during the day with pieces of plant and fragments of shell, holding them in place with its tube feet?
... that Alfred Zech received the Iron Cross when he was 12 years old?

In the news

Alex Ovechkin

In ice hockey, the Washington Capitals defeat the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup Finals (Conn Smythe Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin pictured).
NASA reports the discovery of complex organic molecules in samples collected by Curiosity from the Gale crater on Mars.
The Slovenian Democratic Party, led by Janez Janša, wins the most seats in the parliamentary election.
Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala erupts, killing more than 100 people.

On this day...

June 9: Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and Tuvalu (2018)

Charles Kingsford Smith

747 – Abu Muslim initiated an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which was carried out under the sign of the Black Standard.
1523 – Simon de Colines, a Parisian printer, was fined for printing Biblical commentary by Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples without obtaining prior approval.
1928 – Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith (pictured) and his crew landed their Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.
1965 – The Viet Cong commenced combat with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the Battle of Dong Xoai, one of the largest battles in the Vietnam War.
2010 – A boy wearing a bomb committed a suicide attack at a wedding in Arghandab District, Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing at least 40 people and injuring 70 others.

Władysław IV Vasa (b. 1595) · Victoria Woodhull (d. 1927) · Sonam Kapoor (b. 1985)

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Today's featured picture

Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) was a Danish musician, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer. Initially playing in a military band before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, he premiered his Op. 1, Suite for Strings, in 1888, at the age of 23. His early music was inspired by composers such as Brahms and Grieg, but he soon developed his own style. By the time of his death, he had produced 419 known works; some of these, such as his opera Maskarade (1906), have become integral to Denmark's national heritage.

Photograph: Georg Lindstrøm; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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