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From today's featured article

Manon Melis (born 1986) is a Dutch manager of women's football development at Feyenoord and a former professional footballer who played as a forward. She spent most of her professional career playing in the Swedish league Damallsvenskan, which she won three times with her club LdB FC Malmö, in 2010, 2011, and 2013. Melis also won the Swedish Supercup with Malmö in 2011, and was the Damallsvenskan top scorer three times, in 2008, 2010, and 2011. At age 17, Melis made her debut for the Netherlands national team in 2004. Her goalscoring helped the Dutch qualify for their first major tournament, the UEFA Women's Euro 2009, where they reached the semi-finals. In the tournament, she scored a crucial goal in the final group game against Denmark to send her team into the knockout stage. When she retired from playing international football in 2016, she had earned 136 caps and scored 59 goals. She was the all-time top goal scorer for the Netherlands national team from 2010 to 2019. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Seringapatam at anchor in Valetta Harbour

... that Captain Warren of HMS Seringapatam (pictured) saw the island of Chios in flames, but would give no help, as he had been ordered to observe strict neutrality in the Greek War of Independence?
... that the undefeated 1955 Hillsdale Dales football team declined a Tangerine Bowl bid because the bowl insisted that four black players—including national scoring leader Nate Clark—stay home?
... that until a 1993 reform, separate gallantry medals were awarded to officers and other ranks in the British armed forces?
... that Marsh Hen Mill in South Carolina grinds heirloom grains with a 1945 gristmill that was found in a barn in 2007?
... that Carmaney Wong was 25 years and 9 months old when she was crowned Miss Hong Kong 2019, making her the oldest champion in 30 years?
... that a reviewer noted that the LCD of Packard Bell's first laptop suffered from "an occasional case of the shakes"?
... that the sea slug Thuridilla vataae collects and stores its worn-out teeth in a sac in its mouth?
... that former Oregon legislator William Massingill died while attending a boxing match?

In the news

Xiomara Castro

In India, the agriculture acts of 2020 are repealed after a year of protests by farmers.
Xiomara Castro (pictured) is elected as the first female President of Honduras.
Magdalena Andersson, who resigned a week earlier after less than one day as prime minister–designate, is re-elected as Prime Minister of Sweden.
Barbados becomes a republic, with Sandra Mason replacing Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state.

On this day

December 2

The Battle of Austerlitz, 2nd December 1805 by François Gérard

1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French forces led by Napoleon decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army commanded by Tsar Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz (depicted).
1823 – U.S. president James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, a proclamation of opposition to European colonialism in the New World.
1943 – World War II: The Luftwaffe conducted a surprise air raid on Allied ships in Bari, Italy, sinking twenty-eight ships and releasing one ship's secret cargo of mustard gas.
1989 – The Malayan Communist Party and the Malaysian government signed a peace accord to end the 21-year Communist insurgency.
2001 – Less than two months after disclosing accounting violations, Texas-based energy firm Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, evaporating nearly $11 billion in shareholder wealth.

Vincent Bourne (d. 1747)
Ivan Bagramyan (b. 1897)
Britney Spears (b. 1981)

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Today's featured picture

This historical coat of arms of Indiana is an illustration from State Arms of the Union by Henry Mitchell, published by Louis Prang in 1876. The sun rising over the Allegheny Mountains suggests that Indiana has a bright future. The woodsman represents civilization subduing the wilderness, while the American bison represents the wilderness fleeing westward away from the advance of civilization. This design is also used on the state seal, introduced in 1816, the year in which Indiana became a U.S. state.

Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva

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