Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 May 17

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From today's featured article

Ngô Đình Cẩn (1911–1964) was a younger brother and confidant of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, who put Cẩn in charge of central Vietnam, stretching from Phan Thiết in the south to the border at the 17th parallel. Based in the former imperial capital of Huế, Cẩn earned a reputation as the most oppressive of the Ngô brothers, operating private armies and secret police that controlled the central region. Cẩn's influence began to wane after his elder brother Ngô Đình Thục was appointed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế. Thục overshadowed Cẩn and aggressively promoted Catholicism, which led to the banning of the Buddhist flag in 1963 during Vesak, the celebration of the birthday of Gautama Buddha. Cẩn's forces opened fire on a crowd protesting the ban, killing nine and precipitating the Buddhist crisis and the eventual toppling of the Diem regime in a November 1963 coup. Cẩn was arrested and turned over to the military junta, which executed him in 1964. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Ornamentation on the façade of Balluta Buildings

... that Balluta Buildings (detail pictured), one of the finest Art Nouveau buildings in Malta, was built on the grounds of Villa St Ignatius, one of the island's earliest Gothic Revival buildings?
... that a 19-year-old female student, Wu Shuqing, formed, trained, and capably led her own women's militia in the Xinhai Revolution of 1911?
... that Jefferson Street, the historic center of the African-American community in Nashville, Tennessee, declined after the construction of Interstate 40 in the aftermath of the Nashville sit-ins?
... that para-alpine skier H. E. Bayındırlı twice took part in the Winter Paralympic Games, representing the United States in 2006 and Turkey in 2014?
... that the wreck of a merchant ship thought to be West Ridge was found while searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?
... that metal cones, designed to protect the tops of wooden posts, inspired the creation of a new musical instrument called the Aluphone?
... that in 1953, US Navy pharmacist Katherine Keating was an official witness for a prisoner of war exchange aboard the hospital ship USS Haven?
... that the title character of The Adventures of Beekle was named after the way the author Dan Santat's son would say "bicycle"?

In the news

Surabaya bombing aftermath

Israeli troops kill more than 50 Palestinian protestors in the Gaza Strip, on the day the United States moves its embassy to Jerusalem.
In association football, the English Premier League concludes with Manchester City winning the title.
A series of bombings in Surabaya, Indonesia, kills at least 25 people (President Joko Widodo surveying damage pictured).
Netta, representing Israel, wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "Toy".

On this day...

May 17: Ramadan begins (Islam, 2018)

Main fragment of the Antikythera mechanism

1521 – English nobleman Edward Stafford, whose father had been beheaded for rebelling against King Richard III, was himself executed for treason against King Henry VIII.
1642 – The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal founded a permanent mission known as Ville-Marie, which eventually grew into the city of Montreal.
1902 – The Antikythera mechanism (fragment pictured), the oldest known surviving geared mechanism, was discovered among artifacts retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.
1977 – The first Chuck E. Cheese's location, the first family restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment, and an indoor arcade, opened in San Jose, California, U.S.
2000 – Following the killings of two English football fans in the previous month by Galatasaray supporters, British and Turkish hooligans attacked each other on the day of the UEFA Cup Final.

Martin Delrio (b. 1551) · Samuel Clarke (d. 1729) · Enya (b. 1961)

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Today's featured picture

The Assut de l'Or Bridge is a white single-pylon cable-stayed bridge in the City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain. Completed in 2008, it was designed by Valencian architect and civil engineer Santiago Calatrava as a variant of his cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge in Seville.

Photograph: Diego Delso

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