Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 April 25

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From today's featured article

Japanese dead at Kaiapit

The Battle of Kaiapit was fought in 1943 between Australian and Japanese forces in New Guinea during the Finisterre Range campaign of World War II. Following landings at Nadzab and at Lae, the Allies attempted to exploit their success with an advance into the upper Markham Valley, starting with Kaiapit (pictured). The Australian 2/6th Independent Company flew in to the valley from Port Moresby in 13 USAAF C-47 Dakotas, making a difficult landing on a rough airstrip. Unaware that a much larger Japanese force was also headed for Kaiapit and Nadzab, the company attacked the village on 19 September to secure the area so that it could be developed into an airfield. They then held it against a strong counterattack. During two days of fighting the larger force, the Australians suffered relatively few losses. Their victory at Kaiapit enabled the Australian 7th Division to be flown in to the upper Markham Valley, stopping the Japanese from threatening Lae or Nadzab, where a major airbase was being developed. The victory also led to the capture of the Ramu Valley, which provided new forward fighter airstrips for the air war. (Full article...)

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Raymond Cazallis Davis

... that Raymond Cazallis Davis (pictured) was the first to offer a college course in bibliography?
... that one doughnut shop chain uses an estimated one billion disposable cups per year, enough to circle the Earth twice?
... that wide receiver T.J. Acree was a walk-on in college but went on to play in the Canadian Football League?
... that "The Royal Welch Fusiliers" is the only march written by John Philip Sousa for a British Army regiment?
... that the couple Janie and Victor Tsao started Linksys in their garage, and sold it for half a billion dollars?
... that the Woodstock Observer was the second attempt to establish a newspaper in Woodstock, Vermont?
... that on his One Voice album, Aled Jones performed duets with himself?

In the news

Idriss Déby

Scientists announce the discovery of an extensive reef system near the Amazon River, covering an estimated 3,600 square miles (9,300 km²).
Idriss Déby (pictured) is elected to a fifth term as President of Chad.
American singer and songwriter Prince dies at the age of 57.
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 win the men's and women's Boston Marathon, respectively.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits Ecuador, killing at least 650 people and injuring more than 16,000 others.

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On this day...

April 25: Red Hat Society Day; Feast day of Mark the Evangelist (Christianity); Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand (1915); Liberation Day in Italy; Elbe Day in Russia and the United States (1945)

The double helix structure of DNA

775 – Forces of the Abbasid Caliphate crushed those of rebelling Armenian princes in the Battle of Bagrevand.
1644 – The Ming dynasty of China fell when the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1846 – An open conflict between the military forces of the United States and Mexico began over the disputed border of Texas north of the Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River, later serving as a primary justification for Mexican–American War.
1953 – "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids" by molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick was first published in the scientific journal Nature, describing the discovery of the double helix structure (pictured) of DNA.
1986 – Mswati III was crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.

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From today's featured list

Edward James Olmos

The American television series Miami Vice received numerous accolades during its five seasons on the National Broadcasting Company between 1984 and 1990. Starring Philip Michael Thomas, Don Johnson and Edward James Olmos (pictured), the police procedural focuses on the lives of two undercover Metro-Dade police officers, Ricardo Tubbs (Thomas) and James "Sonny" Crockett (Johnson). Miami Vice's nominations include twenty at the Emmy Awards, seven at the Golden Globe Awards, two People's Choice Awards and two Grammy Awards. Although Thomas coined the phrase "EGOT" for his ambitions to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards, only Johnson and Olmos won acting awards for their work on the series, while composer Jan Hammer earned two Grammy awards for his composition for the show's opening credits, "Miami Vice Theme". Of a total of thirty-three nominations earned by the series, it went on to win ten awards. The series spawned several successful soundtrack albums, with both Miami Vice and Miami Vice II charting in several countries worldwide. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Survivors of the Battle of Greece from the Māori Battalion performing a haka in Helwan, Egypt, for King George II of Greece. This infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army was raised in 1940 as part of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, following pressure by some Māori Members of Parliament and organisations throughout the country. The battalion fought during the Greek, North African and Italian campaigns and gained a formidable reputation. After the war, the battalion contributed a contingent of personnel to serve in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, before being disbanded in January 1946.

Photograph: Anonymous; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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