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Today's featured article

Terry Fox (1958–1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete and fundraiser. He was a distance runner and basketball player, and continued both pursuits after his right leg was amputated upon being diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 1977. His chemotherapy inspired him to attempt the Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run, to raise funds for cancer research. He began on April 12, 1980, at St. John's, Newfoundland, and ran west for 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi) – the equivalent of a marathon a day – until forced to stop near Thunder Bay, Ontario, after cancer returned in his lungs. Fox captivated the country; he was named Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981 and appointed Companion of the Order of Canada. His run led to millions of dollars in donations. He inspired the Terry Fox Run, held in more than 60 countries and the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research. Considered a national hero, buildings, roads and parks across Canada have been named in his honour. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

April 22

Pedro Álvares Cabral

1500 – A fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral (pictured) anchored off present-day Brazil; he later claimed the land for the Portuguese Empire.
1885 – The first meeting of the Colonial Defence Committee, a standing committee of the British Colonial Office, was held to discuss the defence of Barbados.
1918 – The short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was established on territory formerly part of the Russian Empire.
1951 – Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army attacked positions occupied mainly by Australian and Canadian forces, starting the Battle of Kapyong.
2016 – The Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, opened for signature and was signed by 175 parties.

Philip of Poitou (d. 1208)
Robert Ludwig Kahn (b. 1923)
Regine Velasquez (b. 1970)

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In the news

Pope Francis

Pope Francis (pictured) dies at the age of 88.
Daniel Noboa is re-elected president of Ecuador.
Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa dies at the age of 89.
A nightclub roof collapse in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, kills 232 people.
In basketball, the UConn Huskies win the NCAA Division I women's championship and the Florida Gators win the men's championship.

Did you know...

Consistometer measuring barbecue sauce

... that ketchup in the US must be measured with a consistometer (example pictured) to be graded?
... that the Mitsubishi G6M was intended to be an escort gunship, but is best known as one of the transport aircraft that carried the Japanese surrender delegation to Iejima?
... that John Boyer was forced to train his own guide dog because the training program could not support people who were both blind and deaf?
... that Computer Mah-jong Yakuman was Nintendo's first handheld device providing multiplayer gaming via a link cable, an innovation that would later be integral to the success of the Game Boy?
... that there could have been as many as five individual leaders of the Big Three in World War II?
... that, nearly 50 years after the formation of Carlos y José, their grandsons, also named Carlos and José, formed Carlos y José Jr.?
... that Seattle mayor Thomas J. Humes went missing for more than 30 hours in 1902?
... that the African thin mouse shrew may have diverged from its nearest relative due to glacial cycles?
... that the theme song to SpongeBob SquarePants was written by Stephen Hillenburg with the idea "to try to make the most annoying song you can"?

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