Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 August 28

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Today's featured article
John Martin Scripps (1959–1996) was a British spree killer who murdered three tourists—Gerard Lowe in Singapore, and Sheila and Darin Damude in Thailand—with another three unconfirmed victims. He posed as a tourist himself when committing the murders, for which British tabloids nickname him "the tourist from Hell". He would stay in the same hotels as his victims in a room near theirs. Once he had an excuse to be in their rooms, he would use an electroshock weapon to immobilise them before killing them. Martin was arrested in Singapore when he returned there after murdering the Damudes. Photographs of decomposed body parts were shown as evidence during his trial, making it "one of the most grisly" ever heard in Singapore. He defended himself by saying that Lowe's death had been an accident and that a friend of his had killed the Damudes. The judge did not believe Martin's account of events and sentenced him to death by hanging, making him the first Briton in Singapore since Singapore's independence to be given the death penalty. (more...) Recently featured: Gobrecht dollar – Battle of Milne Bay – Herne Hill railway station Archive – By email – More featured articles...
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From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the flat-twin in the 1919–1923 Model W (pictured) was Harley-Davidson's first flathead engine? ... that the Body of Proof episode "Buried Secrets" was directed by Emmy Award-winning director David Platt? ... that the extinct snakefly genera Lebanoraphidia and Iberoraphidia are both named for the regions they were found in? ... that when Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery was about to exhibit Bill Henson's artworks in 2008, police seized over 20, following complaints claiming they were child pornography? ... that the Maldives' human rights issues include flogging, which is carried out behind court buildings? ... that the British Paralympic table tennis player Will Bayley took up the sport whilst recovering from cancer? ... that the Hollister Carnegie Library has an unusually inhibited form of classicism? ... that an 1853 expedition led by François Xavier Aubry discovered the Indians of northern Arizona manufactured bullets from gold? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
American astronaut Neil Armstrong (pictured), the first person to walk on the Moon, dies at the age of 82. A blast at the Paraguaná Refinery Complex in Falcón, Venezuela, kills at least 41 people and injures at least 90 others. A jury in California rules that Samsung Electronics owes Apple Inc. more than US$1 billion for patent infringement. Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in the 2011 Norway attacks, is sentenced to 21 years in prison, subject to extension. Retired cyclist Lance Armstrong decides to stop contesting doping charges from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Syrian civil war – Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
August 28: Feast of the Assumption (Julian calendar) 1789 – With the first use of his new 1.2 m (3.9 ft) telescope, then the largest in the world, William Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn, which was later named Enceladus. 1845 – The first issue of the popular science magazine Scientific American (cover pictured) was published, currently the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. 1901 – Silliman University in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines, became the first American private school to be founded in the country. 1909 – A military coup d'etat against the government of Dimitrios Rallis began in the Goudi neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. 1955 – African American teenager Emmett Till was murdered near Money, Mississippi, for flirting with a white woman, energizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement. More anniversaries: August 27 – August 28 – August 29 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now August 28, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The Castello Plan is a map of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement on Manhattan Island that later became New York City. It was originally created in 1660 by Jacques Cortelyou and made its way to Italy in the collection of Cosimo III de' Medici. It was discovered again in 1900 in Villa di Castello (hence the name), and redrawn by John Wolcott Adams and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes in 1916, which is the version shown here.

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