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USS Princess Matoika was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I. Before the war, she was a Barbarossa-class ocean liner for the Hamburg America Line and North German Lloyd. Interned with the outbreak of World War I, she was seized by the U.S. in 1917 and carried more than 50,000 U.S. troops between 1918 and 1919. As a U.S. Army transport ship, in July 1920, she was a last-minute substitute to carry much of the U.S. team to the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. From the perspective of the team, the trip was disastrous; athletes published their grievances in an action known today as the mutiny of the Matoika. In civilian service, she was SS Princess Matoika until 1922, SS President Arthur until 1927, and SS City of Honolulu until she was scrapped in 1933. On her maiden voyage in 1924 as President Arthur of the Jewish-owned American Palestine Line, she reportedly became the first ocean liner to fly the Zionist flag at sea and the first ocean liner to have female officers. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Portrait of Rudaki, on a postage stamp

... that Rudaki (portrait pictured) is acknowledged as the founder of New Persian poetry in Iran and the father of Tajik literature in Tajikistan?
... that Sharon Cuneta and Regine Velasquez's concert Iconic has been referred to as a venture of two unrivaled names in the music scene of the Philippines?
... that despite having been enlarged for the 1939 New York World's Fair, the Willets Point Boulevard station served practically no resident population by 1949?
... that in 1982 the British civil defence exercise Hard Rock was cancelled when twenty local authorities refused to participate?
... that Ron Labinski has been described as the world's first sports-venue architect?
... that Malinau Kota, Indonesia, with 31 percent of the population of Malinau Regency, is home to more than 70 percent of its registered restaurants?
... that after publishing a fictional account of women who survived a Nazi concentration camp by sewing dresses, Lucy Adlington was contacted by descendants of actual dressmakers?
... that a same-sex kiss scene in the seventh episode of The Last of Us was censored in some regions?

In the news

Shohei Ohtani

A tornado outbreak in Mississippi and Alabama, United States, leaves at least 25 people dead.
The World Baseball Classic concludes with Japan defeating the United States for the championship (MVP Shohei Ohtani pictured).
An earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan kills at least 30 people and injures more than 380 others.
Swiss bank UBS announces its intention to acquire its competitor Credit Suisse in a government-brokered deal.
The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for the abduction of children from Ukraine.

On this day

March 27: Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania (1918)

Himeji Castle

1638 – The first of four destructive earthquakes struck southern Italy, destroying an estimated 10,000 homes.
1836 – At least 425 Texian prisoners of war were executed in the Goliad massacre, under orders from Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1941 – World War II: A group of Serbian-nationalist officers of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force carried out a coup d'état after Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers.
2009 – A failure of the dam holding Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Tangerang, Indonesia, caused floods that killed at least 100 people.
2015 – Himeji Castle (pictured), the largest and most visited Japanese castle, re-opened after five years of restoration work.

Sigismund Báthory (d. 1613)
Kick Kelly (d. 1926)
Mariah Carey (b. 1969)

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From today's featured list

Peloton at the start of the 1962 Tour de France

There were fifteen teams each consisting of ten cyclists in the 1962 Tour de France, for a total of 150 riders. From 1930 to 1961, the Tour de France was contested by national cycling teams, but in 1962 commercially sponsored international trade teams returned. Each team was required to have a dominant nationality; at least six cyclists should have the same nationality, or only two nationalities should be present. For the first time, French cyclists were outnumbered; the largest number of riders from a nation came from Italy (52), with the next largest coming from France (50) and Belgium (28). Riders represented a further six nations, all European. Jacques Anquetil won the individual time trial of stage twenty to put himself into the yellow jersey, which he held until the conclusion of the race; he defended his title, winning his third Tour de France. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Fortune Teller is an operetta in three acts composed by Victor Herbert, with a libretto by Harry B. Smith. After a brief tryout in Toronto, it premiered on Broadway on September 26, 1898, at Wallack's Theatre and ran for 40 performances. The star Alice Nielsen and many of the original company traveled to London, where the piece opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre on April 9, 1901, running for 88 performances. This 1905 poster for The Fortune Teller, depicting eight members of the women's drum corps, was presumably produced for a touring or repertoire production by Nielsen's company.

Poster credit: United States Lithograph Company; restored by Adam Cuerden

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