November 15 in History

The Battle of the Winwaed was fought on 15 November 655 between King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians' defeat and Penda's death. According to Bede, the battle marked the effective demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism.

The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire, to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains. The Hohenstaufen emperors had granted these valleys reichsfrei status in the early 13th century. As reichsfrei regions, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden were under the direct authority of the emperor without any intermediate liege lords and thus were largely autonomous.

The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, also known as the Conquest of Peru (Spanish: Conquista española del Imperio incaico), was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas (the broader European colonization of the Americas). After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spanish soldiers under conquistador Francisco Pizarro, along with his brothers in arms and their Indian auxiliaries, captured the last Sapa Inca, Atahualpa, at the Battle of Cajamarca in 1532. It was the first step in a long campaign that took decades of fighting but ended in Spanish victory in 1572 and colonization of the region as the Viceroyalty of Peru. The conquest of the Inca Empire, led to spin-off campaigns into present-day Chile and Colombia, as well as expeditions to the Amazon Basin and the surrounding rainforest. When the Spanish arrived at the borders of the Inca Empire in 1528, it spanned a considerable area and was by far the largest of the four grand pre-Columbian civilizations. Extending southward from the Ancomayo, which is now known as the Patía River, in southern present-day Colombia to the Maule River in what would later be known as Chile, and eastward from the Pacific Ocean to the edge of the Amazonian jungles, it covered some of the most mountainous terrains on Earth. In less than a century, the Inca had expanded their empire from about 400,000 km2 (150,000 sq mi) in 1448 to 1,800,000 km2 (690,000 sq mi) in 1528, just before the arrival of the Spanish. This vast area of land varied greatly in culture and climate. Because of the diverse cultures and geography, the Inca allowed many areas of the empire to be governed under the control of local leaders, who were watched and monitored by Inca officials. Under the administrative mechanisms established by the Inca, all parts of the empire answered to, and were ultimately under the direct control of, the Inca Emperor. Scholars estimate that the population of the Inca Empire was between 12 and 16 million. Some scholars, such as Jared Diamond, believe that while the Spanish conquest was undoubtedly the proximate cause of the collapse of the Inca Empire, it may very well have been past its peak and already in the process of decline. In 1528, Emperor Huayna Capac ruled the Inca Empire. He could trace his lineage back to a "stranger king" named Manco Cápac, the mythical founder of the Inca clan, who, according to tradition, emerged from a cave in a region called Paqariq Tampu. Huayna Capac was the son of the previous ruler, Túpac Inca, and the grandson of Pachacuti, the Emperor who, by conquest, had commenced the dramatic expansion of the Inca Empire from its cultural and traditional base in the area around Cusco. On his accession to the throne, Huayna Capac had continued the policy of expansion by conquest, taking Inca armies north into what is today Ecuador. While he had to put down a number of rebellions during his reign, by the time of his death, his legitimacy was unquestioned, as was the primacy of Inca power. Expansion had caused its own set of problems. Many parts of the empire retained distinct cultures, which were at best reluctant to become part of the greater imperial project. Due to its size, and the fact that all communication and travel had to take place by foot or by boat, the Inca Empire proved increasingly difficult to administer and govern, with the Inca Emperor having increasingly less influence over local areas. Huayna Capac relied on his sons to support his reign. While he had many children, both legitimate – born of his sister-wives, under the Inca system – and illegitimate, two sons are historically important. Prince Túpac Cusi Hualpa, also known as Huáscar, was the son of Coya Mama Rahua Occllo of the royal line. The second was Atahualpa, an illegitimate son who was likely born of a daughter of the last independent King of Quitu, one of the states conquered by Huayna Capac during the expansion of the Inca Empire. These two sons would play pivotal roles in the final years of the Inca Empire. The Spanish conquistador Pizarro and his army of men were greatly aided in their enterprise by invading when the Inca Empire was in the midst of a war of succession between the princes Huáscar and Atahualpa. Atahualpa seems to have spent more time with Huayna Capac during the years when he was in the north with the army conquering Ecuador. Atahualpa was thus closer to and had better relations with the army and its leading generals. When both Huayna Capac and his eldest son and designated heir, Ninan Cuyochic, died suddenly in 1528 from what was probably smallpox, a disease introduced by the Spanish into the Americas, the question of who would succeed as emperor was thrown open. Huayna had died before he could nominate the new heir. At the time of Huayna Capac's death, Huáscar was in the capital Cuzco, while Atahualpa was in Quito with the main body of the Inca army. Huáscar had himself proclaimed Sapa Inca (i.e. "Only Emperor") in Cuzco, but the army declared loyalty to Atahualpa. The resulting dispute led to the Inca Civil War, prior to the conquest.

Francisco Pizarro, 1st Marquess of the Conquest (; Spanish: [fɾanˈθisko piˈθaro]; c. 1478 – 26 June 1541), was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Spain, to a poor family of pig farmers, Pizarro chose to pursue fortune and adventure in the New World. He went to the Gulf of Urabá and accompanied Vasco Núñez de Balboa in his crossing of the Isthmus of Panama, where they became the first Europeans to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. He served as mayor of the newly founded Panama City for a few years and undertook two failed expeditions to Peru. In 1529, Pizarro obtained permission from the Crown of Castile to lead a campaign to conquer Peru and went on his third, and successful, expedition. When Peru was found in a vulnerable state of civil war, Pizarro moved inland and founded the first Spanish settlement in Peru, San Miguel de Piura. After a series of manoeuvres that heavily relied on the Spanish guns and cavalry, Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa at the Battle of Cajamarca in November 1532. A ransom for the emperor's release was demanded and Atahualpa filled a room with gold to the highest point he could reach, but Pizarro charged him with various crimes and executed him by garrotting in July 1533. The same year, Pizarro entered the Inca capital of Cuzco and completed his conquest of Peru. In January 1535, he founded the city of Lima, and in 1537 he was created the 1st Marquess of the Conquest (Spanish: Marqués de la Conquista) by the Crown of Castile. Pizarro eventually fell victim to political power struggles and was assassinated in 1541.

William III and II (William Henry; Dutch: Willem Hendrik; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1672, and King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 until his death in 1702. He ruled England, Scotland, and Ireland with his wife, Queen Mary II, until her death in 1694; their joint reign is known as that of William and Mary. William was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal, the daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His father died before his birth, making William III the prince of Orange from birth. In 1677, he married his first cousin Mary, the elder daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York (later King James II). When the Catholic French king Louis XIV attacked the Dutch Republic in 1672, William rose to power and became Louis's greatest obstacle. He made it his life's mission to oppose Louis and waged many campaigns against Louis's armies. He reorganised the Dutch army, restoring its effectiveness after the disasters of the Rampjaar and transforming it into one of the most experienced and professional forces in Europe. Convinced that the expansionist policies of Louis XIV threatened the European balance of power, William devoted much of his career to resisting French hegemony. Many Protestants heralded William as a champion of their faith. In 1685, his Catholic uncle and father-in-law, James, became king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. James's reign was unpopular with British Protestants, who opposed James's use of rule by decree, Catholic emancipation, and a Catholic succession to the throne. Supported by a group of influential English political and religious leaders, William invaded England with a Dutch force in November 1688. He landed at the south-western English port of Brixham and James was deposed shortly afterward. After occupying London he was swiftly offered the crown alongside his wife Mary. The event would be known as the Glorious Revolution, leading to the adoption of the English Bill of Rights. During the early years of his reign, William was occupied abroad with the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), leaving Mary to govern the three kingdoms. She died in 1694. In 1696, the Jacobites, a faction loyal to the deposed James, plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate William and restore James to the throne. In Scotland, William's role in ordering the Massacre of Glencoe remains notorious. William's lack of children and the death in 1700 of his nephew the Duke of Gloucester threatened the Protestant succession. The danger was averted by placing William and Mary's cousins, the Protestant House of Hanover, in line to the throne after Mary's sister Anne with the Act of Settlement 1701. Upon his death in 1702, William was succeeded in his kingdoms by Anne and as titular Prince of Orange by his cousin John William Friso.

Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–1711) was one of the most significant attempts to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen and wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by Francis II Rákóczi; resigned soldiers and peasants also fought alongside the noblemen. The insurrection was unsuccessful, ending with the Treaty of Szatmár, by which the Hungarian nobility managed to satisfy some important Hungarian interests. Despite the defeat, the treaty granted political and religious amnesty to the kurucs. The war of independence achieved some major political success: it prevented Hungary's full integration into the Habsburg Empire, Hungary's constitution was preserved and the power of the parliament - as the supreme legislative institution of Hungary - remained intact.

The Castellania (Maltese: Il-Kastellanija; Italian: La Castellania), also known as the Castellania Palace (Maltese: Il-Palazz Kastellanja; Italian: Palazzo Castellania), is a former courthouse and prison in Valletta, Malta that currently houses the country's health ministry. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1757 and 1760, on the site of an earlier courthouse which had been built in 1572. The building was built in the Baroque style to design of the architect Francesco Zerafa, and completed by Giuseppe Bonici. It is a prominent building in Merchants Street, having an ornate façade with an elaborate marble centrepiece. Features of the interior include former court halls, a chapel, prison cells, a statue of Lady Justice at the main staircase and an ornate fountain in the courtyard. From the late 18th to the early 19th century, the building was also known by a number of names, including the Palazzo del Tribunale, the Palais de Justice and the Gran Corte della Valletta. By the mid-19th century the building was deemed too small, and the courts were gradually moved to Auberge d'Auvergne between 1840 and 1853. The Castellania was then abandoned, before being briefly converted into an exhibition centre, a tenant house and a school. In 1895, the building was converted into the head office of the Public Health Department. The department was eventually succeeded by Malta's health ministry which is still housed in the Castellania. The building's ground floor contains a number of shops, while the belongings of Sir Themistocles Zammit's laboratory are now housed at the second floor and is open to the public by appointment as The Brucellosis Museum.

The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and, commanded by George Washington, defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation. In 1763, after the British Empire gained dominance in North America following its victory over the French Colonial Empire during the Seven Years' War, tensions and disputes began escalating between the British and their Thirteen Colonies, especially following passage of the Stamp and Townshend Acts. The British Army responded by seeking to occupy Boston militarily, leading to the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. In mid-1774, with tensions escalating even further between the British Army and the Thirteen Colonies, the British Parliament had imposed the Intolerable Acts, an attempt to disarm British-American colonists, leading to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the first battles of the Revolutionary War. In June 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted to incorporate colonial-based Patriot militias into a central military, the Continental Army, and unanimously appointed Washington its commander-in-chief. Two months later, in August 1775, king George III declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion. In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress formalized the war, passing the Lee Resolution on July 2, and, two days later, unanimously adopting the Declaration of Independence, on July 4. In March 1776, in an early win for the newly-formed Continental Army under Washington's command, following a successful siege of Boston, the Continental Army successfully drove the British Army out of Boston. British commander in chief William Howe responded by launching the New York and New Jersey campaign, which resulted in Howe's capture of New York City in November 1776. Washington responded by clandestinely crossing the Delaware River and winning small but significant victories at Trenton and Princeton. In the summer of 1777, as Howe was poised to capture Philadelphia, the Continental Congress fled to Baltimore. In October 1777, a separate northern British force under the command of John Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga in an American victory that proved crucial in convincing France and Spain that an independent United States was a viable possibility. France signed a commercial agreement with the revolutionaries, followed by a Treaty of Alliance in February 1778. In 1779, the Sullivan Expedition undertook a scorched earth campaign against British-allied factions of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also Iroquois). American Indian raids on the American frontier, however, continued to be a problem. Also, in 1779, Spain allied with France against Great Britain in the Treaty of Aranjuez, though Spain did not formally ally with the Americans. Howe's replacement Henry Clinton intended to take the war against the British American colonists into the Southern Colonies. Despite some initial success, British General Cornwallis was besieged by a Franco-American army in Yorktown, Virginia, in September and October 1781. The French navy cut off Cornwallis's escape and he was forced to surrender in October. The British wars with France and Spain continued for another two years, but fighting largely ceased in North America. In the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, Great Britain acknowledged the sovereignty and independence of the United States, bringing the American Revolutionary War to an end. The Treaties of Versailles resolved Great Britain's conflicts with France and Spain, and forced Great Britain to cede Tobago, Senegal, and small territories in India to France, and Menorca, West Florida, and East Florida to Spain.

The Pike Expedition (July 15, 1806 – July 1, 1807) was a military party sent out by President Thomas Jefferson and authorized by the United States government to explore the south and west of the recent Louisiana Purchase. It was led by United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, Jr. who was promoted to captain during the trip. It was the first official American effort to explore the western Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains in present-day Colorado. Pike contacted several Native American tribes during his travels and informed them that the U.S. now claimed their territory. The expedition documented the United States' discovery of Tava which was later renamed Pikes Peak in honor of Pike. After splitting up his men, Pike led the larger contingent to find the headwaters of the Red River. A smaller group returned safely to the U.S. Army fort in St. Louis, Missouri before winter set in. Pike's company made several errors and ended up in Spanish territory in present-day Southern Colorado, where the Americans built a fort to survive the winter. Captured by the Spanish and taken into Mexico in February, their travels through present-day New Mexico, Mexico, and Texas provided Pike with important data about Spanish military strength and civilian populations. Although he and most of his men were released because the nations were not at war, some of his soldiers were held in Mexican prisons for years, despite U.S. objections. In 1810, Pike published an account of his expeditions, which was so popular that it was translated into French, German, and Dutch for publication in Europe.

The 1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation was the largest escape of a group of slaves to occur in the Cherokee Nation, in what was then Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). The slave revolt started on November 15, 1842, when a group of 20 African Americans enslaved by the Cherokee escaped and tried to reach Mexico, where slavery had been abolished in 1829. Along their way south, they were joined by 15 slaves escaping from the Creek Nation in Indian Territory. Later during their move, the fugitives ran into two slave catchers seizing a family of eight slave captives back to the Choctaw Nation. The fugitives killed the captors and allowed the family to join their party. In response to this revolt, Cherokee officials put together reinforcements by creating a large armed force of over 100 Cherokee and Choctaw men to pursue and capture the fugitives. Prior to this, during the start of the slaves' expedition, an Indian party had already captured and killed some of the slaves. Five slaves were later executed for killing the two slave catchers. What has been described as "the most spectacular act of rebellion against slavery" among the Cherokee, the 1842 event inspired subsequent slave rebellions in the Indian Territory. But, in the aftermath of this escape, the Cherokee Nation passed stricter slave codes, expelled freedmen from the territory, and established a 'rescue' (slave-catching) company to try to prevent additional losses.

A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler.

The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by Southern states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States. The South saw slavery as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with a Union victory, dissolution of the Confederacy and the national abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans. Decades of controversy over slavery came to a head when Lincoln, a Republican who opposed slavery's expansion, won the 1860 presidential election. Seven slave states in the South responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding from the United States and forming the Confederate States. The Confederate States seized United States forts and other federal assets in the South. The war began on April 12, 1861, when the Confederate States bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina. A wave of enthusiasm for war swept over the North and South, as military recruitment soared. Four more Southern states seceded after the war began and, led by its president Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy comprised eleven states, containing a third of the US population. Four years of intense combat, mostly in the South, ensued. During 1861–1862 in the western theater, the Union made permanent gains, though in the eastern theater the conflict was inconclusive. The abolition of slavery became a Union war goal on January 1, 1863, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves in rebel states to be free, applying to more than 3.5 million of the 4 million enslaved people in the country. To the west, the Union first destroyed the Confederate river navy by the summer of 1862, then much of its western armies, and seized New Orleans. The successful 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River, while Confederate general Robert E. Lee's incursion north failed at the Battle of Gettysburg. Union general Ulysses S. Grant's western successes led Lincoln to promote him to command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an ever-tightening naval Union blockade of Confederate ports, the Union army marshaled resources and the manpower to attack the Confederate States army from all directions. That led to the fall of Atlanta in 1864 to Union general William Tecumseh Sherman, followed by his March to the Sea, which culminated in his taking Savannah. The last significant battles raged around the ten-month siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Confederates abandoned Richmond, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant following the Battle of Appomattox Court House, setting in motion the end of the war. Lincoln lived to see this victory but was shot by an assassin on April 14, dying the next day. By the end of the war, much of the South's infrastructure had been destroyed. The Confederacy collapsed, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery (except as punishment for a crime) and four million enslaved black people were freed. The war-torn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in an attempt to rebuild the country, reunite by bringing the former Confederate states back into the United States, and grant civil rights to freed black slaves. The war is one of the most extensively studied and written about episodes in the history of the United States, and it remains the subject of cultural and historiographical debate. Interest continues in the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The war was among the first to use industrial warfare. Railroads, the electrical telegraph, steamships, the ironclad warship, and mass-produced weapons were widely used. The war left an estimated 700,000 soldiers dead, along with an undetermined number of civilian deaths, making it the deadliest in U.S. history. The technology and brutality of the Civil War foreshadowed the coming world wars.

The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin, an agreement regulating European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period. The conference of fourteen countries was organised by Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of Germany, at the request of Leopold II of Belgium at a building (No. 77, now No. 92) on Berlin's central Wilhelmstrasse. It met on 15 November 1884 and, after an adjournment, concluded on 26 February 1885 with the signing of the General Act. During the conference, attendees also discussed other related issues and agreed on a common framework for the recognition of European ''effective occupation'' of African coastal territory elsewhere on the continent. After the conference, European claims on African territory increased with international legal recognition, having a newly established legal framework for establishing colonies. The General Act of Berlin can be seen as formalizing the ongoing Scramble for Africa. The conference contributed to ushering in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, and is sometimes cited as being responsible for the "carve-up of Africa." However, some scholars warn against overstating its role in the colonial partitioning of Africa, drawing attention to the many bilateral agreements concluded before and after the conference. A 2024 study found that the only borders set at the conference were those of the Congo region (which were subsequently revised), and that most of Africa's borders did not take their final form until over two decades later. U.S. historians Wm. Roger Louis and Prosser Gifford conceded, however, that "the Berlin Act did have a relevance to the course of the partition" of Africa. European powers were also driven by economic motivations, as competition for the vast natural resources on the continent were crucial for industrialisation and expansion. As European industries grew, the raw materials such as rubber, minerals, ivory, and cotton made Africa highly valuable. Control over Africa's vast markets enabled European powers to sell manufactured goods, reinforcing their economic dominance in both resources and trade. The Berlin Conference (1884–1885) formalised these ambitions by recognising territorial claims in resource-rich areas and establishing regulations to reduce conflict among competing colonial powers. Economic rivalries, particularly between Britain and France, heightened the urgency to secure colonies before monopolies could be established in strategic regions such as the Congo Basin. The industrial surplus in Europe further encouraged expansion, as African colonies provided both raw materials for European industries and ready markets for European manufactured products. Six of the fourteen countries represented–Austria-Hungary, Russia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden-Norway, and the United States–came home without having secured any zones of interest in Africa.

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is also the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 214 million people. Brazil is a federation composed of 26 states and a Federal District, which hosts the capital, Brasília. Its most populous city is São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has the largest Lusophone population in the world and is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas, where it is the official language.

The Second Boer War was a conflict fought between 1899 and 1902 between the British Empire and the Boer republics (the South African Republic and Orange Free State), triggered by the discovery of gold in the Transvaal, specifically the Witwatersrand gold fields, and the ensuing political dispute over the voting rights of British expatriates (Uitlanders). In 1877, the British annexed the bankrupt Transvaal, and the British military neutralized the regional threat of the Zulu Kingdom in 1879 in the Anglo-Zulu War. With their borders secure, the Boers subsequently revolted and regained their independence after defeating the British in the First Boer War (1880–1881). The Witwatersrand Gold Rush caused an influx of "foreigners" (Uitlanders), most of them British from the Cape Colony, to the South African Republic (SAR), an independent Boer Republic. As they were permitted to vote only after 14 years' residence, they protested to the British authorities in the Cape. Negotiations failed at the botched Bloemfontein Conference in June 1899. The conflict broke out in October after the British government decided to send 10,000 troops. The war had three phases. In the first, the Boers mounted preemptive strikes into British-held territory in Natal and the Cape Colony, besieging British garrisons at Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley. The Boers won victories at Stormberg, Magersfontein, Colenso and Spion Kop. In the second phase, British fortunes changed when their commanding officer, General Redvers Buller, was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener, who relieved the besieged cities and invaded the Boer republics at the head of a 180,000-strong expeditionary force. The Boers, aware that they were unable to resist such a force, refrained from fighting pitched battles, thereby allowing the British to occupy both republics and their capitals. Boer politicians fled or went into hiding; the British annexed the two republics in 1900. In Britain, the Conservative ministry attempted to capitalise by calling an early general election, dubbed a "khaki election". In the third phase, Boer fighters launched a guerrilla campaign. They used hit-and-run attacks and ambushes against the British for two years. The guerrilla campaign proved difficult for the British to defeat, due to unfamiliarity with tactics and support among civilians. British high command ordered scorched earth policies as part of a counterinsurgency campaign. Over 100,000 Boer civilians were forcibly relocated into concentration camps, where 26,000 died, by starvation and disease. Native Africans were interned to prevent them from supplying the Boers; 20,000 died. British mounted infantry were deployed to track down guerrillas, and few combatants were killed in action, most dying from disease. Kitchener offered terms to remaining Boer leaders to end the conflict. Eager to ensure Boers were released from the camps, most Boer commanders accepted the terms in the Treaty of Vereeniging, surrendering in May 1902. The former republics were transformed into the British colonies of the Transvaal and Orange River, and in 1910 were merged with the Natal and Cape Colonies to form the Union of South Africa, a self-governing colony within the British Empire. British expeditionary efforts were aided significantly by colonial forces from the Cape Colony, the Natal, Rhodesia, and many volunteers from the British Empire. Native African recruits contributed increasingly to the British effort. International public opinion was sympathetic to the Boers and hostile to the British. Even within the UK, there existed significant opposition to the war. As a result, the Boer cause attracted volunteers from neutral countries, including the German Empire, the United States, Russia and parts of the British Empire, such as Australia and Ireland. Some consider the war the beginning of questioning the British Empire's global dominance, due to the war's surprising duration and unforeseen losses suffered by the British. A trial for British war crimes, including the killings of civilians and prisoners of war, was opened in January 1902. The war had a lasting effect on the region and on British domestic politics.

The Parliament of Finland is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The Parliament consists of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years from 13 multi-member districts electing 6 to 37 members using the proportional D'Hondt method. In addition, there is one member from Åland.

The League of Nations (LN or LoN; French: Société des Nations [sɔsjete de nɑsjɔ̃], SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. The main organisation ceased operations on 18 April 1946 when many of its components were relocated into the new United Nations (UN) which was created in the aftermath of the Second World War. The League of Nations was the precursor organisation to the United Nations. The League's primary goals were stated in its eponymous Covenant. They included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration. Its other concerns included labour conditions, just treatment of native inhabitants, human and drug trafficking, the arms trade, global health, prisoners of war, and protection of minorities in Europe. The Covenant of the League of Nations was signed on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, and it became effective with the rest of the Treaty on 10 January 1920. Australia was granted the right to participate as an autonomous member nation, marking the start of Australian independence on the global stage. The first meeting of the Council of the League took place on 16 January 1920, and the first meeting of the Assembly of the League took place on 15 November 1920. In 1919, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the leading architect of the League. Despite this, he was ultimately unsuccessful in getting his country to join it. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the victorious Allied Powers of World War I (Britain, France, Italy and Japan were the initial permanent members of the Council) to enforce its resolutions, keep to its economic sanctions, or provide an army when needed. The great powers were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could hurt League members, so they were reluctant to comply with them. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, when the League accused Italian soldiers of targeting International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement medical tents, Benito Mussolini responded that "the League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out." At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. After some notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s. Its credibility was weakened because the United States never joined. Japan and Germany left in 1933, Italy left in 1937, and Spain left in 1939. The Soviet Union only joined in 1934 and was expelled in 1939 after invading Finland, but not after invading Poland earlier. Furthermore, the League demonstrated an irresolute approach to sanction enforcement for fear it might only spark further conflict, further decreasing its credibility. The onset of the Second World War in 1939 showed that the League had failed its primary purpose: to prevent another world war. It was largely inactive until its abolition. The League lasted for 26 years; the United Nations effectively replaced it in 1945, inheriting several agencies and organisations founded by the League, with the League itself formally dissolving the following year. Current scholarly consensus views that, even though the League failed to achieve its main goal of world peace, it did manage to build new roads towards expanding the rule of law across the globe; strengthened the concept of collective security, gave a voice to smaller nations; fostered economic stabilisation and financial stability, especially in Central Europe in the 1920s; helped to raise awareness of problems such as epidemics, slavery, child labour, colonial tyranny, refugee crises and general working conditions through its numerous commissions and committees; and paved the way for new forms of statehood, as the mandate system put the colonial powers under international observation.

The Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrounding areas. The country was established on 15 November 1920, per the terms of Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, following the end of World War I. Although predominantly German-populated, the territory was bound by the imposed union with Poland, which covered foreign policy, defense, customs, railways, and post, and remained distinct from both the post-war Weimar Republic and the newly independent Polish Republic. Additionally, Poland was granted certain rights related to port facilities in the city. In the 1920 Constituent Assembly election, the Polish Party received over 6% of the vote; however, its percentage of votes later declined to approximately 3%. A large number of Danzig Poles voted for the Catholic Centre Party instead. In 1921, Poland began developing the city of Gdynia, a mid-sized fishing town. This new port, located north of Danzig, was established on territory awarded in 1919, known as the Polish Corridor. By 1933, the commerce passing through Gdynia exceeded that of Danzig. By 1936, the city's Senate had a majority of local Nazis, and agitation to rejoin Germany was stepped up. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Nazis abolished the Free City and incorporated the area into the newly formed Reichsgau of Danzig-West Prussia. The Nazis classified the Poles and Jews living in the city as subhumans, subjecting them to discrimination, forced labor, and extermination at Nazi concentration camps, including nearby Stutthof (now Sztutowo, Poland). Upon the city's capture in the early months of 1945 by the Soviet and Polish troops, a significant number of German inhabitants perished in ill-prepared and over-delayed attempts to evacuate by sea, while the remainder fled or were expelled. The city was fully integrated into Poland due to the Potsdam Agreement, while members of the pre-war Polish ethnic minority began returning, and new Polish settlers started arriving. Gdańsk suffered severe underpopulation due to these events and did not recover until the late 1950s.

The 1922 Guayaquil general strike was a three-day general work stoppage in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, which lasted from 13 to 15 November of that year. The strike began with trolley, electric company and other public utility workers who were inspired by a successful strike by railroad workers in nearby Durán. Workers made demands such as pay increases, shorter hours, safer working conditions, and government control of foreign currency exchange rates. The government of Ecuador called on the military to suppress the strike. On 15 November 1922, police and military killed at least 300 strikers. Most workers returned to their jobs shortly afterwards. The trolley workers continued their strike until 21 November, when most of their demands were met.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways.

Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, and formerly known as Siam, is a country located in Mainland Southeast Asia. It shares land borders with Myanmar to the west and northwest, Laos to the east and northeast, Cambodia to the southeast, and Malaysia to the south. Its maritime boundaries include the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, and it shares maritime borders with Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Thailand has a population of nearly 66 million people and covers an area of approximately 513,115 km2. The capital and largest city is Bangkok.

Nazi Germany, officially the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", was the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and the German Empire (1871–1918); the Nazis called it the Thousand-Year Reich, but it ended just 12 years later in May 1945, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered Berlin, ending World War II in Europe.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered around six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, approximately two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were committed primarily through mass shootings across Eastern Europe and poison gas chambers in extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Chełmno and Majdanek death camps in occupied Poland. Concurrent Nazi persecutions killed millions of other non-Jewish civilians and prisoners of war (POWs); the term Holocaust is sometimes used to include the murder and persecution of non-Jewish groups, such as the Romani and Soviet POWs.

Nikos Beloyannis (Greek: Νίκος Μπελογιάννης; 1915 – 30 March 1952) was a Greek resistance leader and leading member of the Greek Communist Party.

The Saint Petersburg Metro (Russian: Петербургский метрополитен, romanised: Peterburgskiy metropoliten) is a rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction began in early 1941 and the system opened on 15 November 1955 after delays due to World War II and the Siege of Leningrad, during which the constructed stations were used as bomb shelters. Formerly known as the Order of Lenin Leningrad Metro named after V. I. Lenin (Ленинградский Ордена Ленина Метрополитен имени В. И. Ленина), the system includes many examples of Stalinist architecture, including exquisite decorations and artwork. Due to the city's unique geology, including soft topsoil and underground rivers and high-pressure aquifers, as well as its possible use as bomb shelters, it is also one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is 86 metres (282 ft) below ground. The network consists of 6 lines with a total length of 131 kilometres (81 mi). It has 75 stations including 8 transfer points. It is one of the busiest metro systems in Europe, with annual ridership of 686 million passengers (almost 2 million/day). Fares per trip are ₽65 if paid via Podorozhnik card or ₽95 if paid by bank card or token. Discounts are given if transferring from another form of public transport.

The 1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash occurred on the Isle of Wight in England on 15 November. With 45 lives lost, at the time it was the second worst aircraft accident within the United Kingdom, then at the time the worst ever air disaster to occur on English soil until it was superseded by the Stockport air disaster, in 1967.

In the early morning of November 15, 1959, four members of the Clutter family – Herb Clutter, his wife, Bonnie, and their teenage children Nancy and Kenyon – were murdered in their rural home just outside the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas, United States. Two ex-convicts, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, were found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death. They were both executed on April 14, 1965. The murders were detailed by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.

Norman Craig Breedlove Sr. (March 23, 1937 – April 4, 2023) was an American professional race car driver and a five-time world land speed record holder. He was the first person in history to reach 500 mph (800 km/h), and 600 mph (970 km/h), using several turbojet-powered vehicles, all named Spirit of America.

Project Gemini (IPA: ) was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. It was conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development. Gemini was conceived in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual astronauts flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions during 1965 and 1966. Gemini's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. In doing so, it allowed the United States to catch up and overcome the lead in human spaceflight capability the Soviet Union had obtained in the early years of the Space Race, by demonstrating mission endurance up to just under 14 days, longer than the eight days required for a round trip to the Moon; methods of performing extravehicular activity (EVA) without tiring; and the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve rendezvous and docking with another spacecraft. This left Apollo free to pursue its prime mission without spending time developing these techniques. All Gemini flights were launched from Launch Complex 19 (LC-19) at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida. Their launch vehicle was the Titan II GLV, a modified intercontinental ballistic missile. Gemini was the first program to use the newly built Mission Control Center at the Houston Manned Spacecraft Center for flight control. The project also used the Agena target vehicle, a modified Atlas-Agena upper stage, to develop and practice orbital rendezvous and docking techniques. The astronaut corps that supported Project Gemini included the "Mercury Seven", "The New Nine", and "The Fourteen". During the program, three astronauts died in air crashes during training, including both members of the prime crew for Gemini 9. The backup crew flew this mission. Gemini was robust enough that the United States Air Force planned to use it for the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program, which was later canceled. Gemini's chief designer, Jim Chamberlin, also made detailed plans for cislunar and lunar landing missions in late 1961. He believed Gemini spacecraft could fly in lunar operations before Project Apollo, and cost less. NASA's administration did not approve those plans. In 1969, Lukas Bingham proposed a "Big Gemini" that could have been used to shuttle up to 12 astronauts to the planned space stations in the Apollo Applications Project (AAP). The only AAP project funded was Skylab (the first American space station)—which used existing spacecraft and hardware—thereby eliminating the need for Big Gemini.

The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft built by North American Aviation, formerly operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, crossing the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. The X-15's highest speed, 4,520 miles per hour, was achieved on 3 October 1967, when William J. Knight flew at Mach 6.7 at an altitude of 102,100 feet (31,120 m), or 19.34 miles. This set the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a crewed, powered aircraft and remains unbroken.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is the public transit agency for Cleveland and the surrounding suburbs of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. RTA is the largest transit agency in Ohio, with a ridership of 24,519,200, or about 79,200 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2026.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

Intel Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing units (CPUs) and related products for business and consumer markets. Intel was the world's third-largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue in 2024 and has been included in the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue since 2007. It was one of the first companies listed on Nasdaq.

René Lévesque was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, through a referendum, a mandate to negotiate the political independence of Quebec. Starting his career as a reporter, and radio and television host, he later became known for his eminent role in Quebec's nationalization of hydro-electric companies and as an ardent defender of Quebec sovereignty. He was the founder of the Parti Québécois, and before that, a Liberal minister in the Lesage government from 1960 to 1966.

The Douglas DC-8 is an early long-range narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 toward the United States Air Force's (USAF) requirement for a jet-powered aerial refueling tanker. After losing the USAF's tanker competition to the rival Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker in May 1954, Douglas announced in June 1955 its derived jetliner project marketed to civil operators. In October 1955, Pan Am made the first order along with the competing Boeing 707, and many other airlines soon followed. The first DC-8 was rolled out in Long Beach Airport on April 9, 1958, and flew for the first time on May 30. Following Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification in August 1959, the DC-8 entered service with Delta Air Lines on September 18.

Theodore John Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist. A mathematics prodigy, he abandoned his academic career to pursue a reclusive primitive lifestyle and lone wolf terrorism campaign.

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state comprising the northern third of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, with the international community considering it territory of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish military occupation. It extends from Cape Apostolos Andreas in the northeast to Morphou Bay in the northwest, with Cape Kormakitis at its westernmost point and the Kokkina exclave west of the mainland. A buffer zone controlled by the UN forms a barrier between both sides of the island and runs through Nicosia, the island's largest city and the capital of both sides.

Theodore John Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist. A mathematics prodigy, he abandoned his academic career to pursue a reclusive primitive lifestyle and lone wolf terrorism campaign.

The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government while confirming that there would be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland unless a majority of its citizens agreed to join the Republic. It also set out conditions for the establishment of a devolved consensus government in the region.

Brașov is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat of Brașov County.

Continental Airlines Flight 1713 was a commercial airline flight that crashed while taking off in a snowstorm from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, United States, on November 15, 1987. The Douglas DC-9 airliner, operated by Continental Airlines, was making a scheduled flight to Boise, Idaho. Twenty-five passengers and three crew members died in the crash.

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from its formation in 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, the largest by area, and bordered twelve other countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, with the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR). The world's flagship communist state, it was governed by the Communist Party under Marxism–Leninism, through soviet councils. The Soviet economy was also centrally planned. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

Israel and the Palestinians are engaged in an ongoing military and political conflict about land and self-determination within the former territory of Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict have included Palestinian refugees, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security, water rights, the permit regime in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian freedom of movement, and the Palestinian right of return.

The People's Republic of Bulgaria was the Bulgarian state that existed from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union. Bulgaria was a close ally and one of the most loyal satellite states of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, sometimes being called the 16th Soviet Republic rather than an independent country. Bulgaria was also part of Comecon as well as a member of the Warsaw Pact. The Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II deposed the Tsardom of Bulgaria administration in the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 which ended the country's alliance with the Axis powers and led to the People's Republic in 1946.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985. It was, along with Challenger, one of only two orbiters equipped to carry the Shuttle-Centaur booster.

The 1994 Mindoro earthquake occurred at 03:15:30 PST on November 15 near Mindoro, Philippines. It had a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Rossi–Forel of VII. It is associated with a 35-kilometer-long (22 mi) ground rupture, called the Aglubang River fault. Seventy eight people were reported dead, and 7,566 houses were damaged. The earthquake generated a tsunami and landslides on the Verde Island.

The Antonov An-24 is a 50-seat twin turboprop regional airliner designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau. Later variants saw other uses, such as military transport and aerial cartography. The aircraft was manufactured by the Kyiv, Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude Aviation Factories. It was license-produced in China as the early versions of the Xi'an Y-7.

Jharkhand is a landlocked state in eastern India. The state shares borders with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It is the 15th largest state by area, and the 14th largest by population. Hindi is the official language of the state. The city of Ranchi is its capital, and Dumka its sub-capital. The state is known for its waterfalls, hills and holy places; Baidyanath Dham, Parasnath, Dewri and Rajrappa are major religious sites. As per the 2011 census, Jharkhand is primarily rural, with about 24% of its population living in cities.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windows and has since expanded into areas such as Internet services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and video gaming among others. A Big Tech company, Microsoft is the largest software company by revenue, one of the most valuable public companies, and one of the most valuable brands globally.

Hu Jintao is a retired Chinese politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, president of China from 2003 to 2013, chairman of the Party Central Military Commission (CMC) from 2004 to 2012 and chairman of the State Central Military Commission from 2005 to 2013. He was a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, from 1992 to 2012, and served as the paramount leader of China from 2002 to 2012.

The 2003 Istanbul bombings were a series of suicide attacks carried out with trucks fitted with bombs detonated at four locations in Istanbul, Turkey, on 15 and 20 November 2003.

Al Jazeera English, often known as Al Jazeera, is a 24-hour English-language news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is partially funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is the first global English-language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East.

Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr was an extremely deadly and devastating tropical cyclone that resulted in one of the worst natural disasters in Bangladesh. The fourth named and the deadliest storm of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Sidr formed in the central Bay of Bengal, and quickly strengthened to reach peak 1-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), making it a Category-5 equivalent tropical cyclone on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The storm eventually made landfall in Bangladesh on November 15, 2007, leading to large-scale evacuations. At least 3,447 deaths have been blamed on the storm, with some estimates reaching 15,000.

The 2010 Shanghai fire was a fire on 15 November 2010 that destroyed a 28-story high-rise apartment building in the heart of Shanghai, China, killing at least 58 people and injuring more than 70 others. Most of the residents were retired state school senior educators. It is remembered as an iconic high-rise fire in China in the 2010s.

Xi Jinping is a Chinese politician who is the paramount leader of China. He has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Party Central Military Commission (CMC) since 2012, and as the president of China and chairman of the State Central Military Commission since 2013.

The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a part of the Judiciary of Hong Kong, consisting of the upper Court of Appeal and the lower Court of First Instance. It also deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond the lower courts.

During the morning hours of 15 November 2017, after heavy rainfall caused because of the barometric low Eurydice and the Cyclone Numa, flooding occurred in Western Attica and mainly in Mandra, Nea Peramos, Magoula and Elefsina. The floods killed 24 people and caused severe damage. This is the third largest flood in Attica based on the number of dead.

Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with Michael Schumacher—and holds the records for most wins (106), pole positions (104), and podium finishes (208), among others.

In world demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently alive. It was estimated by the United Nations to have exceeded 8 billion (8,000,000,000) on November 15, 2022. It took around 300,000 years of human prehistory and history for the human population to reach a billion and only 218 more years from there to reach 8 billion. As of 2026, the world population is approximately 8.3 billion. However, this figure is only a very rough approximation.