Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 May 14

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From today's featured article

Map of a hypothetically united Bulgaria and Romania in 1887

Several attempts and proposals were made to unify Bulgaria and Romania in the 19th and early 20th centuries, under a federation, a personal union or a confederation. Earlier, Bulgarians and Romanians had lived together under the First Bulgarian, Second Bulgarian and Ottoman empires for centuries. After the establishment in 1878 of an autonomous Bulgarian principality, there were several unsuccessful Romanian nominees for its throne. In 1886, Bulgarian leader Stefan Stambolov tried again to establish a personal union with Romania, and negotiations were conducted. All such proposals ultimately failed because of cultural and political differences and opposition from Austria-Hungary and especially Russia, which even threatened to invade both countries. Approaches to effect a union were attempted again during the communist era, but the Soviet Union strongly rejected them. The accession of both countries into the European Union has led to speculation about a new future revitalization of the idea. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Place Marie de Hongrie, Mariembourg

... that although considered impenetrable when built, the fortress town of Mariembourg (pictured) was taken by French troops after only three days of siege?
... that Colonel Anna von Wattenwyl went to jail in Switzerland because of her work for the Salvation Army?
... that Alan Little led York City to victory in the 1993 Football League Third Division play-off Final two days before his brother's side played in the First Division play-off Final?
... that for several nights early in her career, ballerina Mary Ellen Moylan danced in a Balanchine ballet, then took a taxi to another theater to appear in the second act of an operetta?
... that the region of Oostpunt, which encompasses roughly 10 percent of the island of Curaçao, is privately owned?
... that the 1914 Greek deportations have been described as "a trial run for the Armenian Genocide"?
... that Silvia Bottini, the face of the "First World Problems" meme, has done makeup for T-Pain and publicly performed Ovid?
... that the only winner of Spain's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? used his "Phone a Friend" lifeline on the final question to tell his wife that he was going to win?

In the news

Security forces enter after school shooting

At least nine people are killed in a school shooting (security response pictured) in Kazan, Russia.
Clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, escalating to airstrikes and rocket attacks, kill dozens of people and injure hundreds.
In Afghanistan, a bombing near a school in Kabul kills at least 85 people and injures more than 140 others.
Maldives speaker of parliament and former president Mohamed Nasheed is injured with four others in a car bombing in Malé.

On this day

May 14: Feast day of Saint Matthias (Catholicism)

The Talyllyn Railway's locomotive Dolgoch in 1951

1878 – The last witchcraft trial in the United States opened in Salem, Massachusetts.
1919 – Sir Harry Hands, the mayor of Cape Town, performed the first public observance of a two-minute silence in remembrance of those killed in World War I.
1931 – Five people were killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers opened fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
1951 – Trains ran on the Talyllyn Railway (locomotive pictured) in Wales for the first time since its preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.
1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: Refugees trying to flee El Salvador across the Sumpul River to Honduras were attacked by both Salvadoran and Honduran forces, resulting in at least 300 deaths.

Fanny Imlay (b. 1794)
Lysander Spooner (d. 1887)
Lucrezia Bori (d. 1960)

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From today's featured list

Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho

A total of seventy streams that are at least 50 miles (80 km) long flow through the U.S. state of Idaho. All of these streams originate in the United States except the Kootenai River (third-longest) and the Moyie River (thirty-first-longest), both of which begin in the Canadian province of British Columbia. At 1,076 miles (1,732 km), the Snake River (pictured) is the longest, and the only stream of more than 500 miles (800 km) in total length. It begins in Wyoming and flows through Idaho for 769 miles (1,238 km), and then through Oregon and Washington. All but four of the streams lie within the large basin of the Columbia River, although the river itself does not flow through Idaho. Consequently, the predominant direction of the state's streamflow is northwest towards the Columbia River and its mouth at the Pacific Ocean. (Full list...)

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Jewel Changi Airport is a nature-themed entertainment and retail complex in Changi Airport, Singapore, linked to three of its passenger terminals. Its centrepiece is the world's tallest indoor waterfall, the Rain Vortex, which is surrounded by a terraced forest setting. It houses around 3,000 trees and 60,000 shrubs of 120 species from high-altitude, tropical forest habitats around the world.

Photograph credit: Matteo Morando

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