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From today's featured article

Memorial to Canadian soldiers killed in the crash

The Canoe River train crash occurred on November 21, 1950, near Valemount in eastern British Columbia, Canada. A westbound troop train collided head-on with the eastbound Canadian National Railway's Continental Limited, and 21 people were killed. Of these, 17 were Canadian soldiers en route to the Korean War (memorial pictured). The investigation found that the order sent to the troop train was missing crucial words, causing the troop train to proceed rather than halt on a siding, which caused the collision. A telegraph operator, John Atherton, was charged with manslaughter; the prosecution alleged that he was negligent. His family hired his member of Parliament, John Diefenbaker, as defence counsel. Diefenbaker obtained Atherton's acquittal, which became an asset during his political rise to become prime minister of Canada. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

French SS volunteers

... that recruitment for the French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade (members pictured) was promoted through a Waffen-SS exhibition in Paris that attracted thousands of visitors daily?
... that the "No Toilet, No Bride" campaign encouraged women's families to demand a toilet as a precondition for marriage?
... that GK Barry said that her girlfriend is used to Barry discussing their sex life on her podcast?
... that Priyo Iswanto used what he called "WhatsApp diplomacy" to initiate diplomatic relations between Barbados and Indonesia?
... that a South Carolina TV station began broadcasting just in time to ring in the New Year?
... that Kaia's Charice felt that she might run out of breath while recording the whisper-like chorus of "Walang Biruan"?
... that the data feed for a website created by Riley Walz tracking San Francisco parking enforcement officers in real time was shut down by city officials just four hours after the site's launch?
... that "O Bêbado e a Equilibrista" was written as a samba to honor Charlie Chaplin, and became a political anthem for the return of exiles during the military dictatorship in Brazil?
... that Madeleine Tchicaya declined the president of Ivory Coast's offer to run for a second term in the National Assembly, as she was reportedly "bored to death"?

In the news

Sheikh Hasina

Former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina (pictured) is found guilty of crimes against humanity in absentia by a Bangladeshi tribunal and sentenced to death.
In Canadian football, the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Montreal Alouettes to win the Grey Cup.
In motorcycle racing, Marc Márquez wins the MotoGP World Championship.
The High Court of Justice in London rules BHP liable for the 2015 Mariana dam disaster in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

On this day

November 21: Armed Forces Day in Bangladesh

Manzanar

1620 – The Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony, was signed by 41 of the Mayflower's passengers while the ship was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor.
1920 – Irish War of Independence: On Bloody Sunday in Dublin, the IRA assassinated a group of British intelligence agents, and British forces killed 14 civilians at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park.
1945 – Manzanar (pictured), a camp in California for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, was closed.
1980 – A fire broke out at the MGM Grand Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, killing 85 people and injuring 650 others.
2015 – The Belgian government imposed a four-day security lockdown in Brussels based on information about potential terrorist attacks.

Henry Purcell (d. 1695)
James Hogg (d. 1835)
Joe Darling (b. 1870)
Carly Rae Jepsen (b. 1985)

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From today's featured list

Statues in the National Statuary Hall

The National Statuary Hall Collection holds statues donated by each of the 50 U.S. states, portraying notable persons in their respective histories. Displayed in the National Statuary Hall (pictured) and other parts of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., the National Statuary Hall Collection includes two statues from each state, except for Virginia, which currently has one, making a total of 99 statues. Congress established the National Statuary Hall on July 2, 1864. The first statue was installed in 1870 and, by 1971, the collection included at least one statue from each state. The National Statuary Hall Collection comprises 60 statues of bronze and 39 of marble. Several sculptors have created multiple statues for the collection, the most prolific being Charles Henry Niehaus, who sculpted eight statues currently and formerly in the collection. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is a long-period comet discovered in 2014 by Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy using a 0.2-meter (8 in) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope. It was discovered at apparent magnitude 15 in the southern constellation of Puppis, and is the fifth comet discovered by Lovejoy. Its blue-green glow is the result of organic molecules and water released by the comet fluorescing under the harsh UV and optical light of the sun as it passes through space.

Photograph: John Vermette

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