Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 December 9

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From today's featured article
Anna (killed 653 or 654) was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Little is known of Anna's life or his reign, as few records have survived from this period. He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled East Anglia, succeeding after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia. Anna was praised by Bede for his devotion to Christianity and was renowned for the saintliness of his family. In 645 Cenwalh of Wessex was driven from his kingdom by Penda and, due to Anna's influence, he was converted to Christianity while living as an exile at the East Anglian court. Upon his return from exile, Cenwalh re-established Christianity in his own kingdom and the people of Wessex then remained firmly Christian. Following the attack in 651 by Penda on the monastery at Cnobheresburg, which Anna richly endowed, he was forced by Penda to flee into exile. He may have travelled to the western kingdom of the Magonsæte and returned in about 653, but East Anglia was attacked again by Penda soon afterwards and at the Battle of Bulcamp the East Anglian army, led by Anna, was defeated by the Mercians, and Anna and his son Jurmin were both killed. He was succeeded by his brother, Æthelhere. (Full article...) Recently featured: "Imagine" – Supernatural (season 2) – Ace Books Archive – By email – More featured articles...
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From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Mary Browne (pictured) married the Earl of Southampton at the age of thirteen? ... that Hindus worship dogs on Bhairava Ashtami? ... that a breaching experiment involves studying other people's reactions to the violation of basic social rules? ... that according to Michael Gallucci for PopCrush, the Christina Aguilera song "Blank Page" is a "show-stopper" and a "classic vocal performance"? ... that in 1987 South African women tennis players made up about a tenth of the foreign women players in U.S. NCAA Division I university tennis? ... that while the German conquest of the Norwegian port of Egersund on 9 April 1940 occurred without resistance, popular panic broke out the next day due to rumours of 600 incoming British bombers? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
In Qatar, the UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020. Seven people are killed and hundreds others injured during protests against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo. The extinct reptile Nyasasaurus is described as the possible oldest known dinosaur from 243-million-year old fossils discovered in Tanzania. American jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dies at the age of 91. At least 475 people are killed after Typhoon Bopha, known as "Pablo" in the Philippines, makes landfall on the island of Mindanao. Recent deaths: Oscar Niemeyer Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
December 9: Independence Day in Tanzania (1961); Army Day in Peru (1824) 1872 – P. B. S. Pinchback took office as Governor of Louisiana, the first African American governor of a U.S. state. 1911 – A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, killed 84 miners despite a well-organized rescue effort led by the United States Bureau of Mines. 1931 – The approval of the Spanish Constitution by the Constituent Cortes paved the way to the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. 1940 – Second World War: British and Commonwealth forces opened Operation Compass, the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign. 1969 – U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers (pictured) proposed his plan for a ceasefire in the War of Attrition; Egypt's and Jordan's acceptance of it over PLO objections led to civil war in Jordan in September 1970. More anniversaries: December 8 – December 9 – December 10 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now December 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

One of the tour boats of the Maid of the Mist tour of Niagara Falls. The tour starts off at a calm part of the Niagara River (from both the American and Canadian sides) near the Rainbow Bridge, and takes its passengers past the American and Bridal Veil Falls, then into the dense mist of spray inside the curve of the Horseshoe Falls. The first Maid of the Mist was launched in 1846 as a ferry service between the Canadian and American sides, predating by two years the construction of the first Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. However, with the opening of the bridge, the ferry service lost business, and by 1854, became a tourist attraction instead.

Photo: Saffron Blaze

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