Wikipedia:Recent additions 61

Did you know...

 * ...that the Privat Group is one of the few Ukrainian companies that own industries in the United States?
 * ...that the Peking Plan saved three destroyers of the Polish Navy from imminent destruction at the beginning of the Second World War?
 * ...that The University of Texas School of Law has been involved in two separate court cases, one of which reached the Supreme Court, which significantly redefined university admissions criteria across the United States?
 * ...that the Russo-Persian War of 1796 was cancelled by Tsar Paul I within one month after his ascension to the Russian throne?
 * ...that Bohdan Khmelnytsky's son Yurii, who spent half his adult life as a monk, was repeatedly proclaimed Hetman of Ukraine by various foreign powers? [[Image:Jurij Chmelnitskij.jpg|left|100px|Yurii Khmelnytsky]]
 * ...that the Jugendweihe is a secular alternative to confirmation in Germany and became a Socialist pledge in the atheist GDR?
 * ...that completion of the West Coast Highway viaduct — the longest in Singapore — was delayed for more than two years because of the contractor's financial problems?
 * ...that Charles Schepens, an influential ophthalmologist and regarded by many in the profession as "the father of modern retinal surgery", was also a leader in the Nazi resistance movement?
 * ...that Katie Melua agreed to re-record her song "Nine Million Bicycles" (2005) in response to criticisms from physicist Simon Singh, who described its lyrics as "an insult to a century of astronomical progress"?
 * ...that Linimo in Aichi, Japan claims to be the world's first commercial automated "Urban Maglev" train, but it has to be shut down when it is too windy? [[Image:Linimo approaching Banpaku Kinen Koen, towards Fujigaoka Station.jpg|right|100px|Linimo]]
 * ...that the wars in Lombardy, fought between Venice and Milan from 1425 to the signing of the Treaty of Lodi in 1454, mark the emergence of five great Italian territorial states and the European concept of "balance of power"?
 * ...that  Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, a German Jewish painter, is considered "the first Jewish painter" because his work was informed by his cultural and religious roots at a time when many of his contemporaries chose to convert?
 * ...that many cases of nuclear espionage are thought to have occurred since the Manhattan Project?
 * ...that Henrik Hybertsson was the shipbuilder responsible for building the Regalskeppet Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage and is now on display in Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden?
 * ...that Stanisław Mokronowski was the fourth person to receive the Virtuti Militari, the highest Polish military decoration? [[Image:Stanislaw Mokronowski.jpg|left|80px|Stanisław Mokronowski]]
 * ...that Robert Triffin predicted the reasons for the collapse of the Bretton Woods System over ten years before it happened?
 * ...that Doctor Who spoofs range from a 1964 novelty Christmas single by the Go-Go's called "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" to two sketches on Saturday Night Live?
 * ...that the Warsaw Arsenal was the scene of heavy fighting during the Warsaw Uprising of 1794?
 * ...that Catherine II's Instruction to the Legislative Assembly was banned in pre-revolutionary 18th-century France as a "libertarian book"?
 * ...that the Sir Arthur Clarke Awards recognise British achievement in the space industry, and that the awards have the same proportions as the monolith from Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey? [[Image:ClarkeAwards2006.jpg|right|100px|Sir Arthur Clarke Award]]
 * ...that the Finnish Communist leader Arvo Tuominen broke with the Soviet Union during the Winter War and ordered the Finnish Communists not to assist the Red Army?
 * ...that the EMAS has been so effective in monitoring traffic conditions on Singapore's expressways that the LTA removed most SOS telephones from the expressways as a result?
 * ...that the Vanessa Carlton song "White Houses" (2004) provided the inspiration for a charity which aimed to raise money for Habitat for Humanity International?
 * ...that Carrollton Viaduct in Baltimore, Maryland is the world's oldest railway bridge still in use, and that its cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1828? [[Image:Carrollton-viaduct.jpg|left|90px|Carrollton Viaduct]]
 * ...that Anna Marly originally wrote Chant des Partisans, the song that became the anthem of the French Resistance following the prohibition of La Marseillaise, in Russian?
 * ...that the village of Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland, is the site of the first confirmed case of H5N1 avian flu in the United Kingdom, and was once home to a 200-strong fishing fleet?
 * ...that methoxychlor is used as an insecticide instead of the chemically related DDT because it apparently does not lead to bioaccumulation?
 * ...that the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, apart from being the seat of the Spanish Inquisition was also the meeting place between Columbus and Isabella before he made his voyage to the New World in 1492?
 * ...that 1985's only super typhoon, Super Typhoon Dot, is the sixth-most intense tropical cyclone in terms of wind speed to affect Bicol Region, Philippines between 1947 and 2004? [[Image:TY_Dot_1985.jpg|right|100px|Super Typhoon Dot of 1985]]
 * ...that the explorer Peter Semenov of Tian Shan presided over the Russian Geographical Society for more than 40 years?
 * ...that PZL-230 Skorpion attack aircraft, cancelled in 1992, was one of the most ambitious airplane projects of Poland?
 * ...that Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton was a British explorer who crossed the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia in 1873 by camel?
 * ...that German artist Johnny Friedlaender, after surviving internment in Nazi concentration camps, taught Carcan and Boulanger and continued his own career to gain international recognition?
 * ...that a Katsa is a field intelligence officer of the Mossad who collects information and runs agents, similar to the case officer of the CIA?
 * ...that more than 30 km² of the Losiny Ostrov National Park forest fall within the boundaries of Moscow?
 * ...that retired U.S. Air Force general John Chain is the chairman of the board of Northrop Grumman, director of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and director of ConAgra Foods, Inc.?
 * ...that the m/42 Swedish military bicycle became so popular when it was sold as surplus that a company was created to produce copies of it almost 50 years after production ended? [[Image:Front end of a Swedish m42 military bicycle.jpg|right|90px|The "m/42"]]
 * ...that Raul Macias, a Cuban-Mexican boxer parlayed his popularity into a successful career in telenovelas?
 * ...that Return from the Stars is regarded as the most optimistic of Stanisław Lem science fiction utopian novels?
 * ...that Marguerite Porete, author of the mystical text The Mirror of Simple Souls, was burnt at the stake for heresy in 1310?
 * ...that despite its name, the Australian Mathematics Competition receives entries from 38 countries and that the students are ranked with respect to other students in their states, not all of Australia?
 * ...that the Chontol Maya of Tabasco, Mexico consider themselves the direct descendants of the Olmec civilization?
 * ...that a cross was found amidst the debris of the September 11, 2001 attacks? [[Image:911site cross.jpg|left|90px|The 9/11 "Cross"]]
 * ...that Chandra Prakash Mainali, who led an armed Maoist revolt in eastern Nepal in 1971, later served as Minister of Local Development in 1994-95?
 * ...that the flèche is an aggressive fencing attack generally used with the foil and épée weapons, and is actually illegal to use with the sabre under USFA rules?
 * ...that in their final mission of World War II, No. 453 Squadron RAAF escorted the aircraft that returned Queen Wilhelmina to the Netherlands after she spent three years in exile in Britain?
 * ...that John Weston became a published poet after retiring from his post as Ambassador to the United Nations?
 * ...that during the Moscow Uprising of 1682, two maternal uncles of the 9-year-old tsar Peter I were lynched in his presence?
 * ...that the 1963 Federal Election in Australia was the first election where all Indigenous Australians could vote?
 * ...that William G. McGowan underwent a heart transplant while serving as chairman of MCI Communications?