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Painting by Antonio Jacobsen, 1903

SS Kroonland was an ocean liner for International Mercantile Marine (IMM) from her launch in 1902 until she was scrapped in 1927. When completed by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia, she was the largest-ever United States steamship. Kroonland sailed for IMM's Red Star Line for 12 years, mostly on the route between New York City and Antwerp, and later sailed for IMM's American Line and Panama Pacific Line. Kroonland was one of ten ships that came to the aid of the burning liner Volturno in the mid-Atlantic in October 1913. Despite stormy seas, Kroonland took aboard 89 survivors. In 1915, she became the largest passenger vessel to that point to pass through the Panama Canal. During and after World War I, the ship served as U.S. Army transport USAT Kroonland through April 1918, and as the Navy auxiliary USS Kroonland (ID-1541) from April 1918 to October 1919. After being returned to IMM, she continued on various passenger routes until 1926. She was sold and scrapped the following year. (Full article...)

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In the news

Shahbaz Sharif

Following the general election, Shehbaz Sharif (pictured) is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan, forming a coalition government between the PML-N and the PPP.
Former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney dies at the age of 84.
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Dahomey wins the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

On this day

March 3: Liberation Day in Bulgaria (1878); Hinamatsuri in Japan

Program for the woman suffrage parade

1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted, introducing English common law to the Principality of Wales.
1891 – Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming was established as the first national forest in the United States.
1913 – Thousands of women marched in Washington, D.C. (program cover pictured) "in a spirit of protest" against the exclusion of women from American society.
1924 – The Ottoman Caliphate, the world's last widely recognized caliphate, was abolished.
1991 – Motorist Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers during an arrest, causing public outrage that increased tensions between the African-American community and the police department over police brutality and social inequality.

Antony Bek (d. 1311)
Bonnie J. Dunbar (b. 1949)
Xavier Bettel (b. 1973)
May Cutler (d. 2011)

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Today's featured picture

The Wine Glass is an oil-on-canvas painting by Johannes Vermeer, created around 1660. It portrays a seated woman and a standing man drinking in an interior setting. The work follows the Delft School convention of genre painting, developed by Pieter de Hooch in the late 1650s. It contains figures situated in a brightly lit and spacious interior, while its architectural space is highly defined. The figures are set in the middle ground, rather than positioned in the foreground. The Wine Glass is now in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, Germany.

Painting credit: Johannes Vermeer

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