Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 March 11

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From today's featured article

Douglas MacArthur's escape from the Philippines during World War II began on 11 March 1942, after U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered him to withdraw. MacArthur left Corregidor Island and traveled in PT boats with his forces through stormy seas patrolled by Japanese warships, reaching Mindanao two days later. Arriving in Australia, he declared, "I came through and I shall return". MacArthur, a well-known general who had a distinguished record in World War I, had retired from the army in 1937 to become a defense advisor to the Philippine government. He was recalled to active duty in July 1941, a few months before the outbreak of the Pacific War with the Empire of Japan, to become commander of the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East, which included Philippine forces. By March 1942, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines had compelled him to withdraw his forces on Luzon to Bataan. The doomed defense of Bataan captured the imagination of the American public, and MacArthur became a living symbol of Allied resistance to the Japanese, at a time when the news from all fronts was uniformly bad. (Full article...)

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Catherine Lynch

... that at the inquest into the death of Catherine Lynch (pictured), the presiding coroner described her as "one of a class who were a nuisance to themselves, their husbands and everybody else"?
... that the appearance of Ash Lynx, the main character in the manga Banana Fish, is based on tennis player Stefan Edberg and actor River Phoenix?
... that laughter, a signal of amusement, helps us cope with stress?
... that the Diet of Transylvania elected Sigismund Rákóczi prince in 1607, although he had proposed his former son-in-law to the delegates?
... that the landmarked 19th-century Robert and Anne Dickey House, which formerly housed the French consulate in New York City, is being incorporated into a new school building?
... that the Dhammakaya Movement teaches that Nirvana exists as a literal reality within each individual?
... that Rie Takahashi decided to pursue a voice acting career after noticing that many male characters were voiced by females?
... that the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant included an office for a counterfeiter?

In the news

USS Lexington in 1941

The Winter Paralympics open in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The wreck of USS Lexington (pictured) is discovered in the Coral Sea.
A coalition of centre-right parties wins a plurality in the Italian general election.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned by a nerve agent in Salisbury, England.
The Shape of Water wins four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro, at the Academy Awards.

On this day...

March 11

President Sukarno of Indonesia

222 – Disgusted with Roman emperor Elagabalus's disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos, the Praetorian Guard assassinated him and his mother and threw their mutilated bodies in the Tiber.
1843 – During a period of activity known as the Great Eruption, Eta Carinae briefly became the second brightest star in the night sky.
1966 – Indonesian President Sukarno (pictured) signed the Presidential Order Supersemar, giving General of the Army Suharto the authority to restore order during the recent mass killings.
1978 – After hijacking a bus north of Tel Aviv, members of Palestine Liberation Organization faction Fatah engaged in a shootout with the Israel Police, resulting in the deaths of 38 civilians and most of the perpetrators.
1993 – Janet Reno was confirmed by the Senate as the first female United States Attorney General.

Stanisław Koniecpolski (d. 1646) · Jane Meade Welch (b. 1854) · Ralph Abernathy (b. 1926)

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Today's featured picture

The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is a Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Specimens average 93–122 cm (37–48 in) long, with a 2.3–2.8 m (7.5–9.2 ft) wingspan. Like other vultures, the griffon vulture is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals which it finds by soaring over open areas.

Photograph: Pierre Dalous

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