Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 August 18

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Hurricane Bret was the first of five Category 4 hurricanes in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season and the first tropical cyclone since Hurricane Jerry in 1989 to make landfall in Texas at hurricane intensity. After forming from a tropical wave on August 18, Bret began to track northward, and on August 21 it underwent rapid intensification. It attained its peak intensity with winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 944 mbar (hPa; 27.88 inHg). Bret turned northwestward on August 22 and weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, making landfall on Padre Island, Texas. It caused relatively little damage in comparison to its intensity, but seven people died from the storm, four in Texas and three in Mexico. Most of the deaths were due to car accidents caused by slippery roads. Heavy rains produced by Bret peaked at 13.18 inches (335 mm) in Texas and were estimated at over 14 inches (360 mm) in Mexico. Roughly 150 people were left homeless after their homes were damaged or destroyed. (Full article...)

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Snuffbox

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In the news

Aretha Franklin in 2009

Former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee dies at the age of 93.
American soul singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin (pictured) dies at the age of 76.
In Afghanistan, hundreds are killed as the Taliban seize most of the strategic city of Ghazni for four days.
A portion of the Ponte Morandi motorway bridge in Genoa, Italy, collapses, killing at least 41 people.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is launched to study the Sun's outer corona.

On this day

August 18:

Margaret of Valois

1572 – French Wars of Religion: Margaret of Valois (pictured) married Huguenot King Henry of Navarre, in an attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
1868 – Astronomer Pierre Jules Janssen discovered helium while analysing the chromosphere of the sun during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India.
1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage in America.
1948 – Australia won their fifth consecutive Test of the 1948 Ashes series, becoming the first Test cricket team to go undefeated in England, earning them the nickname "The Invincibles".
2008 – President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigned under impeachment pressure.

Knut Alvsson (d. 1502) · Baji Rao I (b. 1700) · Ruth Norman (b. 1900)

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The rupiah is the national currency of Indonesia. Introduced in 1946 by Indonesian nationalists fighting for independence, the currency replaced a version of the Netherlands Indies gulden which had been introduced during the Japanese occupation in World War II. In its early years the rupiah was used in conjunction with other currencies, including a new version of the gulden introduced by the Dutch. Since 1950, it has had a lengthy history of inflation and revaluation. As of August 2018^[update], the currency—which is issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia—is trading for more than 14,600 rupiah to the United States dollar.

This note, denominated 1,000 rupiah, is part of the 2000 series. It depicts Pattimura, a National Hero of Indonesia, on its obverse, and the islands of Maitara and Tidore on its reverse.

See other denominations: Rp 2,000, Rp 5,000, Rp 10,000, Rp 20,000, Rp 50,000, Rp 100,000

Banknotes: Bank of Indonesia

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