Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 November 27

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From today's featured article

Banksia canei (mountain banksia) is a shrub of the subalpine areas of the Great Dividing Range between Melbourne and Canberra in southeastern Australia. First collected on 27 November 1962, it superficially resembles B. marginata, but is more closely related to another subalpine species, B. saxicola. Although no subspecies are recognised, four geographically isolated populations have been described, as there is significant variation in the shape of both adult and juvenile leaves between populations. B. canei is generally encountered as a many-branched shrub with narrow leaves that grows up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high, with yellow inflorescences (flower spikes) from late summer to early winter. The old flowers fall off the spikes, and up to 150 finely furred follicles develop, which remain closed until burnt in a bushfire. Each follicle bears two winged seeds. Birds such as the yellow-tufted honeyeater and various insects forage among the flower spikes. B. canei is frost tolerant in cultivation, but copes less well with aridity or humidity, and is often short-lived in gardens. One cultivar, Banksia "Celia Rosser", was registered in 1978, but has vanished. (Full article...)

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In the news

Fidel Castro

Former President of Cuba Fidel Castro (pictured) dies at the age of 90.
At least 44 people are killed after two passenger trains collide near Shahroud, Iran.
A train derailment near Kanpur, India, kills more than 140 people.
Jimmie Johnson wins the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, equaling the record of seven titles held by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 strikes near Kaikoura, north of Christchurch, New Zealand, triggering tsunami warnings, causing widespread damage, and killing two people.

On this day...

November 27

Alfred Nobel

1856 – King-Grand Duke William III unilaterally revised the constitution of Luxembourg, greatly expanding his powers.
1895 – Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel (pictured) signed his last will and testament, setting aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death.
1940 – The Iron Guard killed over 60 political detainees at a penitentiary near Bucharest and followed up with several high-profile assassinations, including that of former Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Iorga.
1944 – Between 3,500 and 4,000 tonnes of ordnance exploded at the RAF Fauld underground munitions storage depot in the largest non-nuclear explosion in the United Kingdom.
1999 – The Labour Party defeated the governing National Party in the New Zealand general election, making Labour's Helen Clark the first woman to win the office of Prime Minister at an election.

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British Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton (b. 1985), shown during the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton, a racer for Mercedes, began the race with a history of losses on the Monaco track. However, despite rainy conditions, he finished the Grand Prix in first place.

Photograph: Andrew Locking

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