Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 November 2

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From today's featured article
The Singapore strategy of the British Empire was a military defence policy that evolved in a series of war plans from 1919 to 1941. It aimed to deter or defeat aggression by the Empire of Japan by basing a fleet of the Royal Navy in the Far East. Ideally, this fleet would be able to intercept and defeat a Japanese force heading south towards India or Australia, but to be effective, it required a well-equipped base. Singapore was chosen as the most suitable location in 1919. Work continued on a naval base and its defences over the next two decades.The Singapore strategy was the cornerstone of British Imperial defence policy in the Far East during the 1920s and 1930s. A combination of financial, political and practical difficulties ensured that it could not be implemented. The strategy ultimately led to the despatch of Force Z to Singapore and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse by Japanese air attack on 10 December 1941. The subsequent ignominious fall of Singapore was described by Winston Churchill as "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". (Read the full article...) Recently featured: Folding@home – Bride of Frankenstein – Charles Villiers Stanford Archive – By email – More featured articles...
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From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that as per Hindu beliefs, people who have sex with animals are tortured in Hell after death (pictured)? ... that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have co-written the last five James Bond movies as well as the Bond spoof Johnny English? ... that the Andrés Bello Catholic University is the oldest of all private universities in Venezuela? ... that in the 1946 Wimbledon Championships Polish tennis champion Ignacy Tłoczyński was declared stateless by the People's Republic of Poland because of his Allied affiliations in World War II? ... that during Operation Fluid Drive, one family abandoned their Lebanon-evacuation efforts when told their dog would need to stay behind? ... that a whole new shipbuilding facility had to be created to build the 90-metre (300 ft) luxury yacht Nero? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
The Walt Disney Company announces an agreement to purchase Lucasfilm for US$4.05 billion and produce additional Star Wars films. After striking the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy (satellite image pictured) causes widespread damage on the East Coast of the United States, including flooding in parts of New York City. In baseball, the San Francisco Giants defeat the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series. At least 80 people are killed in fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine State, Burma. Recent deaths: Jacques Barzun Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
November 2: All Souls' Day in Western Christianity; Day of the Dead in Mexico 1898 – Organized cheerleading was born at the University of Minnesota when student Johnny Campbell directed a crowd attending an American college football game to cheer on their team. 1932 – The Australian military began a "war against emus", a flightless native bird blamed for widespread damage to crops in Western Australia. 1964 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (pictured) was deposed by his half-brother Faisal over concerns of the former's profligacy and his inability to deal with the socialism of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser. 1995 – Former South African Minister of Defence Magnus Malan and 10 other former senior military officers were arrested and charged with 13 murders in the KwaMakhutha massacre of 1987. 2004 – Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, whose film Submission was critical of the treatment of women in Islam, was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri. More anniversaries: November 1 – November 2 – November 3 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now November 2, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A sample of a 1.7 kg (3.7 lb) hafnium crystal bar, made by the van Arkel-de Boer process. Hafnium is a lustrous, silvery gray, tetravalent transition metal that chemically resembles zirconium and is found in zirconium minerals. Its existence was predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Industrially, it is used in filaments and electrodes.

Photo: Alchemist-hp

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