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Cover of the 1937 Brazilian constitution

The 1937 Brazilian coup d'état was led by President Getúlio Vargas with the support of the Brazilian Armed Forces on 10 November 1937. Vargas had ruled provisionally since 1930 with military backing, following a revolution that ended a decades-old oligarchy. In 1934, he became constitutional president, ineligible for re-election. He and his allies were unwilling to abandon power, and there was strong sentiment for a dictatorship amongst the military. Senior military officers used the Cohen Plan, fraudulently claimed to be written by communists, to provoke the National Congress into declaring a state of war. Vargas opponents were then undermined or forced into exile. On 10 November 1937, the police surrounded Congress, and Vargas proclaimed the Estado Novo ('New State'). An authoritarian state was installed, based on European fascism. Individual liberties and rights were stripped away, and Vargas ruled for eight more years. A 1945 military coup ended the regime and reestablished democracy. (Full article...)

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In the news

Mudslide in Petrópolis, Brazil

In an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, Russia officially recognises the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics in eastern Ukraine, and deploys troops to the region.
The Winter Olympics conclude in Beijing, China.
At least 176 people are killed due to mudslides and floods (aftermath pictured) in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In American football, the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.

On this day

February 22

USS Connecticut

1316 – The Catalan forces of Ferdinand of Majorca defeated troops loyal to Princess Matilda of Hainaut at the Battle of Picotin on the Peloponnese peninsula in modern-day Greece.
1909 – The sixteen United States Navy battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by Connecticut (pictured), completed a circumnavigation of the globe.
1997 – Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the existence of Dolly, a female sheep who was the first mammal to have successfully been cloned from an adult cell.
2006 – At least six men staged the largest cash robbery in Britain at a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom.

August Bebel (b. 1840)
Saufatu Sopoanga (b. 1952)
Chuck Jones (d. 2002)

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Today's featured picture

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory disease responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This colorised scanning electron micrograph shows SARS-CoV-2 virions (gold) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in a laboratory. The virus particles depicted were isolated from a patient in the United States.

Photograph credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

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