the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
1944 – Kary Mullis, American chemist
1944 - Johnny Isakson, American politician (d. 2021)
1945 – King Birendra of Nepal (d. 2001)
1946 – Edgar Winter, American rock musician
1946 – Mike Beebe, American politician
1946 - Tim Johnson, American politician
1946 - Barbara, Lady Judge, American-English lawyer and businesswoman
1947 - Mamphela Ramphele, South African politician
1947 - Spencer Bachus, American politician
1947 - Mark Washington, American football player
1947 - Mustafa Akinci, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
1950 – Alex Chilton, American musician (d. 2010)
1950 - Hugh McDonald, American bass player
1951 - Ian Buruma, English-Dutch author and scholar
1952 - Arun Jaitley, Indian lawyer and politician
1952 - Bridget Prentice, British politician
1953 - Richard Clayderman, French pianist
1953 - Martha Wash, American singer (The Weather Girls)
1954 - Gayle King, American magazine editor
1954 – Denzel Washington, American actor
1955 – Liu Xiaobo, Chinese human rights activist (d. 2017)
1956 – Nigel Kennedy, English violinist
1958 – Terry Butcher, English footballer
1959 - Hansjörg Kunze, German athlete
1959 - Ana Torroja, Spanish singer
1960 – Ray Bourque, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 - Shinichi Morishita, Japanese footballer
1960 - James Caan, English entrepreneur
1961 - Kent Nielsen, Danish footballer
1962 - Michel Petrucciani, French pianist (d. 1999)
1962 – Rachel Z, American pianist
1962 - Abdi Bile, Somali athlete
1965 - Michael E. Mann, American climatologist and geophysicist
1965 - Kazuo Echigo, Japanese footballer
1967 - Chris Ware, American cartoonist
1968 - Akihiko Hoshide, Japanese astronaut
1969 – Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer scientist, creator of Linux
1970 - Elaine Hendrix, American actress
1971 - Frank Sepe, American bodybuilder
1972 – Roberto Palacios, Peruvian footballer
1972 – Patrick Rafter, Australian tennis player
1972 – Adam Vinatieri, American football player
1973 – Seth Meyers, American actor
1974 - Markus Weinzierl, German footballer and manager
1977 - Vanessa Ferlito, American actress
1977 - Keremcem, Turkish singer-songwriter and actor
1978 – John Legend, American musician
1979 – James Blake, American tennis player
1979 – Noomi Rapace, Swedish actress
1980 – Lomana LuaLua, Congolese footballer
1981 – Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer
1981 – Sienna Miller, English actress
1981 – Elizabeth Jordan Carr, American test-tube baby
1981 - Frank Turner, English singer
1981 - Mika Vayrynen, Finnish footballer
1981 - Narsha, South Korean actress and singer
1982 - Cedric Benson, American football player
1984 – Martin Kaymer, German golfer
1984 – Leroy Lita, English footballer
1984 - Sean St Ledger, Irish footballer
1985 - Kamani Hill, American soccer player
1985 - Meredith Kercher, English student (d. 2007)
1986 – Tom Huddlestone, English footballer
1987 – Thomas Dekker, American actor
1988 - Ched Evans, Welsh footballer
1989 - Harry Arter, English-Irish footballer
1989 - George Blagden, English actor
1989 – Mackenzie Rosman, American actress
1989 - Salvador Sobral, Portuguese singer
1990 – David Archuleta, American singer
1990 - Ayele Abshero, Ethiopian runner
1993 - Travis Head, Australian cricketer
1994 - Adam Peaty, English swimmer
1998 - Jared Gilman, American actor
2000 - Larissa Maneola, Brazilian actress and singer
2001 – Madison De La Garza, American actress
300 - Theonas, Patriarch of Alexandria
1367 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (b. 1330)
1446 - Antipope Clement VIII
1503 – Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1471)
1547 - Konrad Peutinger, German jurist and humanist (b. 1465)
1622 - Francis de Sales, French bishop and saint (b. 1567)
1663 - Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1618)
1694 – Queen Mary II of England (b. 1662)
1703 – Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)
1706 – Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (b. 1647)
1734 - Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (b. 1671)
1736 - Antonio Caldera, Italian composer (b. 1670)
1795 - Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorean physician and lawyer (b. 1747)
1859 – Thomas Macaulay, British poet, historian, and politician (b. 1800)
1872 - James Van Ness, 7th Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1808)
1900 - Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, Portuguese soldier and explorer (b. 1846)
1916 – Eduard Strauss, composer (b. 1835)
1918 – Olavo Bilac, poet (b. 1865)
1919 – Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (b. 1854)
1923 – Gustave Eiffel, French architect (b. 1832)
1924 - Leon Bakst, Russian painter and costume designer (b. 1866)
1937 – Maurice Ravel, French composer (b. 1875)
1938 – Florence Lawrence, American actress (b. 1886)
1942 - Alfred Flatow, German gymnast (b. 1869)
1945 – Theodore Dreiser, American writer (b. 1871)
1947 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)
1949 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)
1952 – Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (b. 1879)
1952 – Fletcher Henderson, American jazz musician (b. 1897)
1959 – Ante Pavelic, Croatian leader (b. 1889)
1960 - Philippe Panneton, Canadian physician, academic and diplomat (b. 1895)
1961 – Edith Bolling Wilson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1872)
1963 – Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)
1967 – Katharine McCormick, American women's rights activist (b. 1875)
1971 - Max Steiner, Austrian film score composer (b. 1888)
1981 – Allan Dwan, movie director (b. 1885)
1983 – William Demarest, actor (b. 1892)
1983 – Jimmy Demaret, golf champion (b. 1910)
1983 – Dennis Wilson, musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1944)
1984 – Sam Peckinpah, American movie director (b. 1925)
1985 - Renato Castellani, Italian movie director (b. 1913)
1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (b. 1932)
1988 - Khin Kyi, Burmese politician and diplomat (b. 1912)
1989 – Hermann Oberth, German physicist (b. 1894)
1990 - Kiel Martin, American actor (b. 1944)
1991 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (b. 1952)
1993 - Howard Caine, American actor (b. 1926)
1993 – William L. Shirer, American writer and historian (b. 1904)
1999 – Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)
2001 – William X. Kienzle, American novelist (b. 1928)
2003 – Benjamin Hacker, U.S. admiral (b. 1935)
2003 – Dinsdale Landen, British actor (b. 1932)
2004 – Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)
2004 – Susan Sontag, American writer, feminist, activist (b. 1933)
2009 – James "The Rev" Sullivan, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold) (b. 1981)
2010 - Billy Taylor, American musician (b. 1921)
2012 - Vaclav Drobny, Czech footballer (b. 1980)
2012 - Emmanuel Scheffer, German-Israeli football coach and manager (b. 1924)
2013 - Halton Arp, German-American astronomer (b. 1927)
2013 - Andrew Jacobs, Jr., American politician (b. 1932)
2013 - Joseph Ruskin, American actor (b. 1924)
2013 - Ilya Tsymbalar, Ukrainian-Russian footballer (b. 1969)
2014 - Leopoldo Federico, Argentine bandoneon player, arranger, director and producer (b. 1927)
2014 - Vahan Hovhannisyan, Armenian politician (b. 1956)
2014 - Javier Fragoso, Mexican footballer (b. 1942)
2014 - Frankie Randall, American singer-songwriter, actor and dancer (b. 1938)
2014 - Merrill Womach, American gospel singer (b. 1927)
2015 - Guru Josh, British musician (b. 1964)
2015 - Eloy Inos, Governor of the Northern Marianas (b. 1949)
2015 - Pierre-Marie Rudelle, French painter (b. 1932)
2015 - Joe Houston, American jazz and R&B saxophonist (b. 1926)
2015 - Ian Murdock, American software engineer (b. 1973)
2015 - Lemmy, English musician (Motörhead) (b. 1945)
2016 - Michel Déon, French writer (b. 1919)
2016 - Debbie Reynolds, American actress and singer (b. 1932)
2017 - Fernando Birri, Argentine filmmaker (b. 1925)
2017 - Jean-François Hory, French politician (b. 1949)
2017 - Recy Taylor American rape victim and civil rights activist (b. 1919)
2017 - Rose Marie, American actress (b. 1923)
2017 - Sue Grafton, American author (b. 1940)
2018 - June Whitfield, English actress (b. 1925)
2020 - Armando Manzanero, Mexican musician (b. 1935)
Proclamation Day (South Australia)
Christian feast day of the Holy Innocents, or Childermas, celebrated in Spain and parts of Latin America in a similar way to April Fools' Day
King Taksin Memorial Day (Thailand)
Republic Day (South Sudan)
January 14 – King Philip V of Spain leaves the throne for his 16-year-old son Louis I.
January 28 – Saint Petersburg State University is established.
February 8 – Catherine I of Russia is officially named czarina by her husband, Peter the Great.
May 29 – Pope Benedict XIII succeeds Pope Innocent XIII as the 245th pope.
June 23 – Treaty of Constantinople is signed
April 22 – Immanuel Kant
1914 (MCMXVI) was a common year that started on a Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.
It was the year that saw the start of what became known as World War I.
June 28 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Countess Sophie were assassinated by Black Hand in Sarajevo.
This led to World War I.
August 2 – According to the NSDAP 25 points manifesto, anyone who was not German-race who did not live in Germany before this date had to leave the country.
August 31 – Saint Petersburg, Russia is renamed Petrograd by Nicholas II.
Australian supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets was founded.
The Iglesia ni Cristo ("Church of Christ") was built in the Philippines.
The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main opened
Construction of the Panama Canal is finished.
Yuma, Arizona became a city
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by Robert Bárány, Austrian doctor.
February 5 – William S. Burroughs, American writer (d. 1999)
March 31 – Octavio Paz, Mexican writer, poet and diplomat (d, 1998)
April 2 – Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
May 13 – Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
May 29 – Tenzing Norgay, Sherpa climber (d. 1986)
September 24 – John Kerr, 18th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1991)
October 16 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, last Shah of Afghanistan (d. 2007)
October 27- Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
November 25 – Joe DiMaggio, American MLB baseball player (d. 1999)
December 14 – Karl Carstens, 5th President of West Germany (d. 1992)
December 20 - Harry F. Byrd, Jr., American politician (d. 2013)
December 30 – Igor Diakonov, Russian (Soviet) historian and linguist (d. 1999)
Nancy Drew, Fictional character
June 14 – Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice President of the United States (b. 1835)
June 28 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1863), and his wife Countess Sophie
August 6 – Ellen Louise Wilson, American First Lady, wife of Woodrow Wilson. (
b. 1860)
Dubliners – James Joyce
February 29 is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian calendar.
It is sometimes called "leap day" or "bissextile day".
Only leap years have February 29.
This date only occurs every four years, in years that can be exactly divided by 4, such as 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024, except century years that are not multiples by 400, such as 1800, 1900 or 2100.
Up to 1948
1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to give him supplies.
1644 – Abel Tasman's second voyage to the Pacific Ocean begins.
1704 – Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans attack and destroy Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, so that they can stop using the Swedish calendar and return to the Julian calendar.
1720 – Frederick I of Sweden becomes King.
1860 – Australian bushranger Ben Hall marries Biddy Walsh at Bathurst, New South Wales.
1880 – Cutting for the St. Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland is completed.
1916 - Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.
1932 – TIME magazine features odd American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray said he planned to run for President of the United States.
1936 – In Japan, the February 26 coup attempt is ended.
1940 – Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
The award of "Best Supporting Actress" was for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind.
1940 – Finland begins Winter War peace negotiations.
1940 – Physicist Ernest Lawrence gets his 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics.
1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded.
From 1952
1952 – The island of Heligoland is returned to German authority.
1956 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower says that he is running for a second term.
1960 – An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
1964 – In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
1972 – Vietnam War: South Korea removes 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
1972 – Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
1980 – In ice hockey Gordie Howe, playing for the then-Hartford Whalers, makes NHL history by scoring his 800th goal.
1984 – Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau says that he will retire as soon as the Liberal Party of Canada chooses another leader.
1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
100 clergymen are also arrested.
1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first Canadian Member of Parliament to come out as gay.
1992 – First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence referendum.
1996 – In Bosnia and Herzegovina the siege of Sarajevo ends.
1996 – A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
2000 – Six year old Dedrick Owens shoots and kills Kayla Rolland, also six years old, at Theo J. Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan.
Rolland is currently the youngest American victim of a school shooting
2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide steps down as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
2004 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King wins the award for "Best Picture", along with 10 other awards, at the 76th annual Academy Awards.
2012 - The Tokyo Sky Tree in Tokyo, Japan, is completed at a height of 634 metres.
A person who was born on February 29 may be called a "leapling".
In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on February 28 or March 1.
Different countries have different laws about people who are born on February 29.
In Taiwan, the law says that the birthday of a leapling is February 28 in years that are not leap years.
1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
1528 - Albert V, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1579)
1724 – Eva Marie Veigel, ballet dancer (d. 1822)
1736 – Ann Lee, English-born American religious leader (d. 1784)
1784 – Leo von Klenze, German architect, painter and writer (d. 1864)
1792 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
1808 – Hugh Falconer, Scottish scientist (d. 1855)
1812 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-born Premier of Tasmania (d. 1880, also on February 29)
1840 – John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
1860 – Herman Hollerith, American engineer and inventor (d. 1929)
1896 – Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
1896 – William A. Wellman, American movie director (d. 1975)
1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)
1908 – Balthus, Polish-born painter (d. 2001)
1908 – Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)
1912 – Taiichi Ono, Japanese inventor (d. 1990)
1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)
1920 – Michèle Morgan, French actress
1920 – Fyodor Abramov, Russian novelist (d. 1983)
1924 – David Beattie, 14th Governor-General of New Zealand
1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player
1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, former President of El Salvador
1928 – Joss Ackland, British actor
1928 - Gustau Biosca, Spanish footballer (d. 2014)
1928 - Vance Haynes, American archaeologist, geologist and author
1928 - Seymour Papert, South African mathematician and computer scientist
1928 - Tempest Storm, American actress, singer and dancer
1932 – Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
1936 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
1936 - Ingemar Odlander, Swedish journalist (d. 2014)
1936 - Jack R. Lousma, American astronaut, engineer and politician
1940 – Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, German librarian and President of the Goethe Institute
1940 - Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople
1944 – Dennis Farina, American actor (d. 2013)
1956 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
1960 – Cheb Khaled, Algerian musician
1960 – Richard Ramirez, American serial killer (d. 2013)
1960 – Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker
1964 - Dave Brailsford, British cycling coach
1964 – James Ogilvy, member of the extended British Royal Family
1964 – Ola Lindgren, Swedish handball player and coach
1968 – Naoko Ijima, Japanese actress
1968 – Wendi Peters, English actress
1972 – Pedro Zamora, American AIDS activist (d. 1994)
1972 – Dave Williams, American singer (d. 2002)
1972 - Pedro Sanchez, Spanish politician
1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper
1980 – Chris Conley, American musician
1980 – Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Darren Ambrose, English footballer
1984 – Radik Zhaparov, Kazakhstani ski jumper
1984 – Mark Foster, American musician (Foster the People)
1988 – Lena Gercke, German model and television presenter
1988 – Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer
1988 - Hannah Mills, British sailor
1992 - Sean Abbott, Australian cricketer
1992 - Saphir Taïder, French-Algerian footballer
1992 - Perry Kitchen, American soccer player
992 – Oswald of Worcester, Archbishop of York (b. 925)
1528 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (b. 1504) (burned at the stake)
1604 – John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1530)
1868 – King Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
1880 – James Milne Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1812, also on February 29)
1908 – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 1st Governor-General of Australia (b. 1860)
1908 – Pat Garrett, American gunslinger (b. 1850)
1928 – Armando V. Diaz, Italian marshal and minister of war (b. 1861)
1944 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (b. 1861)
1952 – Quo Tai-chi, Chinese diplomat (b. 1888)
1956 – Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
1968 – Tore Orjasaeter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
1980 - Yigal Allon, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1918)
1984 – Ludwik Starski, Polish lyricist (b. 1903)
1992 – Ruth Pitter, English poet (b. 1897)
1996 – Joe Minogue, journalist (b. 1923)
1996 – Shams Pahlavi, Persian princess (b. 1917)
2004 – Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (b. 1915)
2004 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese Sumo wrestler (b. 1923)
2004 - Harold Bernard St. John, 3rd Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)
2004 - Danny Ortiz, Guatemalan footballer (b. 1976)
2008 – Janet Kagan, American writer (b. 1946)
2012 – Davy Jones, British singer, musician and actor (The Monkees) (b. 1945)
2016 - Gil Hill, American police officer and actor (b. 1931)
2016 - Hannes Löhr, German footballer (b. 1942)
2016 - Louise Rennison, British author (b. 1951)
Leap year Day
Christian Feast Day of Oswald of Worcester in a Leap year
Rare Diseases Day in a Leap year.
Torah () is a Hebrew word that means "instructions".
When most people say the word Torah they either mean the whole Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, the first five books of the Bible, or all of the Jewish teaching in general.
These five books are the beginning of both the Jewish and Christian bibles.
Genesis (),
Exodus (),
Leviticus (),
Numbers () and
Deuteronomy ().
Each of the books in the Torah are separated into parts called "Parshiyot."
Parsha is a Hebrew word meaning "portion."
Every Shabbat one parsha is read in the synagogue, but sometimes two are read.
This is so that all the parshiyot are finished every year, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.
Pentateuch means the first five books of the Bible.
These books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
The word Pentateuch comes from two Greek words that mean "five books" or "five scroll"
According to tradition, the books were written by the Israelite leader, Moses.
The Pentateuch is often called the Five Books of Moses or the Torah.
The Pentateuch tells the story from the Creation of the world to the death of Moses and the preparation of the Israelite's to enter the land of Canaan.
The story is told in three parts.
The first part (Genesis 1-11) is about the Creation and the beginning of human beings on earth.
The second part (Genesis 12-50) are the stories of the ancestors of the Israelites, mainly Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
The third part, beginning with the book of Exodus, describes how the Israelite's left Egypt and the early history of the people of Israel as a nation.
It also has many laws about how the Israelite's must build their society.
Deuteronomy is mostly Moses's final speech to his people and a summary of the Pentateuch.
Bible versions
January 4 – The world's tallest-ever structure to-date, the Burj Khalifa, is opened in Dubai.
January 12 – A major Earthquake of magnitude 7, devastates Haiti.
February 27 – A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits Chile.
It is believed to have been powerful enough to have affected the Earth's axis.
April 10 – A plane crash in Smolensk, western Russia kills many people who were important in Poland, including President Lech Kaczynski.
April 14 – A major earthquake hits Qinghai province in China.
April 14 – A Volcano erupts in southern Iceland.
The ash cloud coming from this eruption disrupts air travel.
from April 20 – Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst oil spill in US history.
May 7: Human Genome Project concluded
May 31 – Israel raids a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing 9 Turkish activists.
July/August – Major flooding disaster in Pakistan, affecting more than 15 million people
October 10 – The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved and split up into new constitutional status.
October 13 – Thirty-three miners are rescued from the San Jose mine near Copiapo in Chile, after being trapped for 69 days.
October 25 onwards – In Indonesia, the eruption of the Merapi volcano on Java, and an earthquake in Sumatra kill hundreds of people.
November 13 – Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest.
December 2 – The FIFA World Cups for 2018 and 2022 are announced as being held in Russia and Qatar respectively.
January 1 – Estonia starts to use the euro currency.
January 14 – Amidst anti-government demonstrations, Tunisia's President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali dissolves the government, declares a state of emergency, and resigns from office.
February 11 – 2011 Egyptian protests: After more than two weeks of anti-government protests, President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak resigns from office after more than 29 years in power.
March 11 – A magnitude 9.1 earthquake strikes off the east coast of the Japanese island of Honshu, causing damage to buildings, as tsunamis are triggered, causing thousands of deaths.
The quake also triggers fears over radiation levels at two nuclear power plants.
March 19 – 2011 Libyan protests: UN-authorised military intervention begins in Libya.
May 1 – Leader of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden is killed in Pakistan by US Forces.
July 9 – South Sudan declares independence from Sudan.
July 21 – With the landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis the Space Shuttle programme comes to an end.
July 22 – 2011 Norway attacks: In Norway, a bomb explosion in central Oslo kills 8 people, and a shooting at a youth camp on the island of Utoya kills 77.
August 22 – 2011 Libyan civil war: Troops from the National Transitional Council enter Tripoli.
September 7 – A plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team crashes shortly after take-off, killing the entire team, including one who dies five days later.
October 20 – 2011 Libyan civil war: Muammar al-Gaddafi is killed, as the National Transitional Council takes control of Sirte.
October 23 – An earthquake in eastern Turkey kills more than 500 people.
November 12 – Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy.
December 15 – US troops withdraw from Iraq.
December 17 – Kim Jong-il, supreme leader of North Korea, dies.
His death leads to fear for stability of the Asian region.
He is succeeded by his son Kim Jong-un.
December 30 – Samoa and Tokelau skip this day as the International Date Line is shifted.
January 14 – The Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia runs aground and sinks off the island of Giglio (off Italy's west coast), killing at least 11 people.
July 27 - August 12 - The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London.
August 6 - NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars.
October 22-October 30 - Hurricane Sandy causes damage, and over 200 deaths in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Bahamas, Eastern United States and parts of Canada.
November 6 – Barack Obama is elected to a second term as President of the United States, defeating Mitt Romney.
November 14 – 21 - A week-long war occurs between Israel and Gaza, before a ceasefire is agreed.
November 15 – Xi Jinping becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (paramount leader).
January 3 – The cable television channel Current TV is bought by Al Jazeera America.
Current TV became Al Jazeera America on August 20, 2013.
January 16 – U.S. President Barack Obama's administration sets up a plan for gun control to limit guns up to 10 rounds in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as shootings that have happened in the past.
January 21 – Barack Obama is sworn is for a second term as President of the United States.
January 30 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announces her abdication as Monarch of the Netherlands on Queen's Day, which is April 30, 2013.
She is succeeded by her son King Willem-Alexander.
February 11 – Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation due to advanced age.
He is succeed by Pope Francis on March 13, 2013.
February 24 – Shortly after being elected President of Cuba for another five-year term, Raul Castro announced that he would not run in the 2018 election.
March 5 – President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, dies.
March 13 – Pope Francis becomes Pope of the Roman Catholic church.
July 3 – Albert II of Belgium announces his abdication as Monarch of Belgium on King's Day which is July 21, 2013 due to health problems.
He is succeeded by his son, Philippe.
July 3 – Adly Mansour becomes acting President of Egypt after Mohamed Morsi was thrown by a coup.
August 21 – A chemical weapons attack happened in Syria.
August 30 – United States Secretary of State John Kerry makes his remarks about the chemical weapon attack in Syria.
September 7 – The International Olympic Committee awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics to Tokyo, Japan.
September 10 – Thomas Bach becomes President of the International Olympic Committee.
October 1-October 17 – A federal government shutdown occurs in the United States, which closed all the things owned by the government (like National Parks).
U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill which ended the shutdown on October 17, 2013.
December 5 – Former President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, dies.
January 1 – Latvia starts to use the Euro currency.
February 7 - February 23 – The 2014 Winter Olympics were held in Sochi, Russia.
February 13 – Belgium becomes the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia for terminally ill patients of any age.
February 23 – The Ukrainian parliament votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office, replacing him with Oleksandr Turchynov, after days of civil unrest left around 100 people dead in Kiev.
March 8 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappears in the Gulf of Thailand with 239 people on board.
The aircraft possibly crashed in the Indian Ocean.
March 16 – A referendum status on Crimea is held.
March 21 – Russia formally annexes Crimea after President Vladimir Putin signed a bill finalizing the annexation process.
March 24 – During an emergency meeting, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, and Canada temporarily suspend Russia from the G8.
April 14 – An estimated 276 girls and women are abducted and held hostage from a school in Nigeria.
April 27 – The Catholic Church canonizes Popes John XXIII and John Paul II on Divine Mercy Sunday.
May 5 – The World Health Organization identifies the spread of poliomyelitis in at least 10 countries as a major worldwide health emergency
May 5 – Boko Haram militants kill approximately 300 people in a night attack on Gamboru Ngala.
May 20 – Terrorists in Nigeria detonate bombs at Jos, killing 118 people.
May 22 – The Royal Thai Army overthrows the caretaker government of Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan after a failure to resolve the political unrest in Thailand.
June 2 – King Juan Carlos announces his abdication as Monarch of Spain.
He is succeeded by his son, Felipe VI.
June 4 – G7 Summit was held in Brussels, Belgium.
It was originally going to be held in Sochi, Russia.
It did not due to the Crimean crisis.
June 19 – Felipe VI became the Monarch of Spain.
July 17 – After a five-hour humanitarian ceasefire, Israel confirms the beginning of a ground offensive in Gaza.
July 17 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (Boeing 777) crashes in Ukraine, after being shot down by a missile.
298 people die, including 15 crew members.
July 21 – The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 2166 in response to the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
July 24 – Air Algérie Flight 5017 crashes in Mali, killing all 116 people on board.
October 28 – Guy Scott became the acting President of Zambia after Michael Sata died.
He became the first White leader in Sub Saharan Africa since 1994, when F. W. de Klerk resigned.
January 1 – Lithuania starts to use the Euro currency.
June 24 – A referendum took place whether the United Kingdom would stay in the European Union or leave the European Union.
The result of the referendum was 51% of votes in favour of leaving the European Union.
November 8 – Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton.
January 20 – Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States
February 10 – Israeli F-16 shot down by Syria Air defense force.
December: A COVID-19 pandemic started in Wuhan, China and spread to the world.
Significant political changes
March 11, 2010 – Sebastián Piñera becomes President of Chile, succeeding Michelle Bachelet.
April 10, 2010 – Lech Kaczyński, President of Poland dies in a plane crash.
He is succeeded by Bronisław Komorowski.
May 5, 2010 – Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, President of Nigeria dies of illness.
He is succeeded by Goodluck Jonathan.
May 8, 2010 – Laura Chinchilla succeeds Oscar Arias as President of Costa Rica.
May 11, 2010 – David Cameron, leading a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, replacing Gordon Brown of the Labour Party.
June 2, 2010 – Yukio Hatoyama resigns as Prime Minister of Japan, and is replaced by Naoto Kan.
June 8, 2010 – Naoto Kan becomes Prime Minister of Japan succeeding Yukio Hatoyama.
June 24, 2010 – Julia Gillard succeeds Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister of Australia.
June 30, 2010 – Benigno Aquino III becomes President of the Philippines, succeeding Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
July 2, 2010 – Christian Wulff becomes President of Germany, succeeding Horst Koehler, who had resigned after making controversial comments over the war in Afghanistan.
January 1, 2011 – Dilma Rousseff becomes President of Brazil, succeeding Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
January 14, 2011 – After protests President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali resigns, leaving the Prime Minister to be acting president.
February 11, 2011 – After pro-democracy protests President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigns, leaving the military in control.
July 9, 2011 – South Sudan becomes a country.
Salva Kiir Mayardit becomes its President.
August 26, 2011 – Naoto Kan resigns as Prime Minister of Japan, being succeeded by Yoshihiko Noda.
October 20, 2011 – The National Transitional Council takes control of the whole of Libya on the death of Muammar al-Gaddafi.
November 11, 2011 – Michael D. Higgins becomes President of Ireland, succeeding Mary McAleese.
November 12, 2011 – Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy.
He is succeeded by Mario Monti.
December 6, 2011 – Elio di Rupo becomes Prime Minister of Belgium, succeeding Yves Leterme.
December 17, 2011 – Kim Jong-il, Supreme Leader of North Korea dies.
He is succeeded by his son, Kim Jong-un.
February 17, 2012 – Christian Wulff resigns as President of Germany.
Joachim Gauck succeeds him on March 18, 2012.
February 27, 2012 − Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi becomes President of Yemen, replacing Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had resigned after protests.
March 1, 2012 – Sauli Niinistö becomes President of Finland, succeeding Tarja Halonen.
March 18, 2012 – Joachim Gauck becomes President of Germany, succeeding Christian Wulff.
April 5, 2012 – Bingu wa Mutharika, President of Malawi dies.
He is succeeded by Vice President of Malawi, Joyce Banda.
May 15, 2012 – Francois Hollande becomes President of France, succeeding Nicolas Sarkozy.
June 30, 2012 – Mohamed Morsi becomes President of Egypt.
July 24, 2012 – John Atta Mills, President of Ghana dies.
He is succeeded by Vice President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama.
November 15, 2012 – Xi Jinping becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, succeeding Hu Jintao.
December 1, 2012 – Enrique Peña Nieto becomes President of Mexico, succeeding Felipe Calderon.
December 26, 2012 – Shinzo Abe becomes Prime Minister of Japan, succeeding Yoshihiko Noda.
February 25, 2013 – Park Geunhye becomes President of South Korea, succeeding Lee Myung Bak.
March 5, 2013 – Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, dies of cancer.
Vice President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro becomes acting president until elections were held on April 14, 2013.
March 20, 2013 – Zillur Rahman, President of Bangladesh died.
Bangladesh parliament speaker Abdul Hamid was appointed acting president until he was sworn in on April 22, 2013.
April 14, 2013 – In Venezuela, elections were held to fill the term of Hugo Chávez, who died on March 5, 2013.
Nicolas Maduro was elected.
April 28, 2013 – Enrico Letta becomes Prime Minister of Italy, succeeding Mario Monti.
June 27, 2013 – Kevin Rudd becomes Prime Minister of Australia, succeeding Julia Gillard.
July 3, 2013 – President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt is thrown by a coup, leaving Adly Mansour, the Egyptian supreme court judge as the Acting President.
September 18, 2013 – Tony Abbott becomes Prime Minister of Australia, succeeding Kevin Rudd.
January 27, 2014 – Juan Orlando Hernández becomes President of Honduras, succeeding Porfirio Lobo Sosa.
March 11, 2014 – Michelle Bachelet becomes President of Chile, succeeding Sebastián Piñera.
May 8, 2014 – Luis Guillermo Solís becomes President of Costa Rica, succeeding Laura Chinchilla.
May 31, 2014 – Peter Mutharika becomes President of Malawi, succeeding Joyce Banda.
June 1, 2014 – Salvador Sánchez Cerén becomes President of El Salvador, succeeding Mauricio Funes.
June 7, 2014 – Petro Poroshenko becomes President of Ukraine.
June 8, 2014 – Abdel Fattah el-Sisi becomes President of Egypt.
July 1, 2014 – Juan Carlos Varela becomes President of Panama, succeeding Ricardo Martinelli.
July 24, 2014 – Reuven Rivlin becomes President of Israel, succeeding Shimon Peres.
September 29, 2014 – Ashraf Ghani becomes President of Afghanistan, succeeding Hamid Karzai.
October 11, 2014 – Charles Michel becomes Prime Minister of Belgium, succeeding Elio Di Rupo.
October 20, 2014 – Joko Widodo becomes President of Indonesia, succeeding Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
October 31, 2014 – Blaise Compaoré resigned as President of Burkina Faso.
December 21, 2014 – Klaus Iohannis becomes President of Romania, succeeding Traian Băsescu.
November 4, 2015 – Justin Trudeau becomes Prime Minister of Canada, succeeding Stephen Harper.
December 10, 2015 – Mauricio Macri becomes President of Argentina, succeeding Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
June 30, 2016 – Rodrigo Duterte becomes President of the Philippines, succeeding Benigno Aquino III.
July 13, 2016 – Theresa May becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding David Cameron.
January 20, 2017 – Donald Trump becomes President of the United States, succeeding Barack Obama.
November 21, 2017 – Robert Mugabe resigned as President of Zimbabwe.
December 1, 2018 - Andrés Manuel López Obrador becomes President of Mexico, succeeding Enrique Peña Nieto.
Things that are supposed to happen
The baby-boomer generation, which is a phrase that refers to many people who were born after World War II in 1945, will be at least 65 years old, which will result in many people retiring (stop working due to old age).
Many people will think this may make the government have less money than it should due to government services retired people use, such as Medicare and Social Security.
Sporting events
Different Olympic games:
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia
2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore
2012 Summer Olympics in London
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, southern Russia
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea
Different World Cup games:
2010 FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa, won by the Spain
2011 Cricket World Cup was held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, won by India
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was held in Germany, won by Japan
2011 Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand, won by New Zealand
2014 FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil, won by the Germany
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup to be held in Canada
2015 Cricket World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand
2015 Rugby World Cup to be held in England
2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia
2019 Cricket World Cup to be held in England and Wales
2019 Rugby World Cup to be held in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore
A rainforest is a forest that gets heavy rainfall.
The most notable rainforests are in the tropics or subtropics, mostly in the Intertropical Convergence Zone.
The biggest rainforest is the Amazon rainforest, which is mostly in Brazil.
Forests like this have extraordinary biodiversity.
Over half of all plant and animal species live in the rainforest.
Also more than 1/4 of all medicines come from here.
And, even though they only cover 6% of the Earth's land area, they are still an important source of oxygen.
The rainforest gets an average of 50 to 250 inches (1.2-6.3m) of rain through the year.
It is warm all year round rarely getting above 34°C (94 °F) or getting below 20 °C (68 °F).
It has an average humidity of 77 to 88%.
Tropical rainforests occur in three major geographical areas around the world.
Parts of South and Central America  the Amazon River basin, and Costa Rica.
Africa  Congo River basin, with a small area in West Africa; also eastern Madagascar.
South Asia and Australasia  west coast of India, Assam, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Queensland, Australia.
A less-used term is temperate rainforest.
For temperate rain forests of North America, annual precipitation is over , and the mean annual temperature is between 4 and 12 °C (39 and 54 °F).
However, definitions in other countries differ considerably.
For example, Australian definitions are ecological-structural rather than climatic:
Closed canopy of trees which excludes at least 70% of the sky.
Forest is composed mainly of tree species which do not require fire for regeneration, but with seedlings able to regenerate under shade and in natural openings.
This definition would not suit the forests of western North America, and so the term "temperate rainforest" is not so widely agreed.
The weather in a rainforest would be humid, which is wet but warm like a greenhouse.
The bottom most layer receives 2% of the sunlight.
Only plants adapted to low light can grow in this region.
The understory layer lies between the canopy and forest floor.
It is a home to a number of birds, snakes and lizards as well as predators such as jaguars and leopards.
The leaves are much bigger at this level and insect life is abundant.
Land is mostly under 700 metres down to below sea level
High rainfall
High temperature
Equable: not much variation
Vegetation: 90% or more Angiosperms
Tall canopy trees
Lianas (climbing plants)
Epiphytes
Leaves large, complete margins, with drip tips
Flowers and fruits large
Pollination mainly by insects
Leguminaceae are the most common plant family
Evergreens: leaves may be shed, but not seasonally
High diversity: many different species
Many insects which eat plants, and many anti-insect defences by plants
Many arboreal (tree-living) mammals
The five layers
Tropical rainforests are typically dominated by different plants and animals at different levels.
The top layer is the emergent layer.
Then there is the canopy layer.
Under the tall canopy is the understory.
The understory is made up of smaller trees, vines and shrubs.
The next layer is called the shrub layer, and has mainly bushes.
The bottom layer is the forest floor.
This is made up of the small plants on the ground.
Emergent layer
The emergent layer is the farthest from the ground.
High in the trees eagles perch.
Their keen eyes search constantly for small monkeys and other prey.
Butterflies, parrots, toucans, and hundreds of other colourful birds constantly fly through the tops of the trees.
Canopy layer
The canopy is like a huge green roof over the forest.
The trees grow up thin and straight, like pillars seeking the sun.
They do not put out branches until they are very tall.
Then, they spread out like an umbrella in the sunlight.
The trees are so close together that very little light penetrates through to the lower layers.
Many kinds of monkeys, birds, and insects live in the layer.
The animals that call this layer home often never touch the ground throughout their entire lives.
They find everything they need existing within the canopy.
Water can be accessed from the boles of trees, if not, the leaves and epiphytes that grow in the canopy can supply that need.
The animals eat the leaves and fruit of the trees, insects, or other animals.
The tall canopy trees must be able to reach the sunlight high in the air and still get nutrients from the thin soil on the forest floor.
Their roots do not go deep into the soil because there is nothing there for the plants to reach.
Instead, the roots spread out in all directions along or just under the ground.
That way they can quickly make use of the nutrients from the recycled plants and animals that have fallen to the floor.
Understory layer
The understory is usually a dark, humid place, under the canopy.
There is very little light and no breeze because they are blocked out by the canopy.
The plants under the canopy must be able to live with very little sunlight.
Bushes, large green plants, and small trees make up this layer.
Often they will only grow in open patches where a big tree has fallen down.
Other plants, like vines, grow on the big trees.
Shrub layer
The shrub layer is mainly made out of bushes.
It contains most of the rainforests orchids, because the orchids use water from the forest floor, vegetation from the understory and sunlight that is reflected from the canopy layer leaves.
It is the smallest layer of the rainforest, yet contains over 84% of the rainforest's orchids.
It is normally very dark in the shrub layer, apart from little spots of sunlight that comes through empty spaces of the emergent layer.
Despite not having very much sunlight, the shrub layer is very humid [wet and warm].
Many insects live in the shrub layer such as scorpions, beetles and tarantulas.
Many people categorize the rainforest into 4 layers not 5.
They consider the shrub layer to be part of the understory.
Forest floor
The ground level is called the forest floor.
Snakes, Tapirs, Jaguars, Tamanduas, and Gorillas are just a few of the species that live here.
It is dark on the rainforest floor.
Insects, giant centipedes, spiders, ants, and beetles are also very abundant here.
The floor of the rainforest is often very open and easy to walk across.
That is because so little light reaches the floor that very few plants can grow there.
One type of plant in the rainforest does not need soil.
These plants are called epiphytes, or air plants.
Air plants live on the branches of trees in the canopy or understory, with their roots out in the air.
In the humid rainforest, they collect water from the rain that falls on them.
One kind of air plant is a flower called an orchid.
There are thousands of different kinds of orchids in the rainforest.
Some air plants store water in pools in and around their roots.
These pools can become homes for frogs and salamanders.
Frogs usually need to lay their eggs in ponds, but some rainforest tree frogs lay their eggs in the pools in air plants.
That way, the frogs never have to go down to the ground.
Some plants are made for medicine for humans.
Many kinds of insects live in the rainforest.
It never gets cold enough to kill them.
There are bees, butterflies, termites, beetles, and many kinds of flies.
One kind of ant is the army ant.
Army ants do not have nests.
They march out in a line every day to hunt for other insects, which they eat.
At night they hook themselves together to form a living nest around their queen and larvae.
Snakes live in the trees and on the forest floor.
They eat frogs, eggs, birds, insects, and small animals.
Some of the snakes, like the fer-de-lance of Latin America, are poisonous, but others are not.
One large non-poisonous snake is the Anaconda of South America.
It is one of the largest snakes in the world.
It kills its prey by wrapping itself around the animal and squeezing it until it cannot breathe.
Monkeys are a very common animal in the rainforest.
Most live their lives up in the canopy and the understory.
They have long arms to swing from branch to branch, and some use their tails to hold onto the trees while they eat.
They are fast and agile, jumping easily from tree to tree for food.
Different monkeys eat different things.
They can eat nuts, flowers, roots, and frogs.
Their hoots and howls are heard throughout the rainforest, even when they cannot be seen among the trees.
Many colorful birds also live among the canopy of the rain forest, and there are also animals that live on the forest floor.
The tapir is a forest animal that looks like a large pig.
It is actually related to the horse and the rhinoceros.
They live in South American and Asian rain forests, eating leaves, twigs, and fruit.
Tapirs are among the animals hunted by the big cats of the rain forest.
Jaguars, leopards, and tigers are the largest predators of rain forests.
These cats have beautiful fur coats that have been hunted for the fur trade for years.
The spotted coats of the jaguar and leopards were especially popular for fur coats.
Today most countries are trying to protect their big cats, but many are still hunted illegally.
These are only a few of the animals and plants in the rainforest.
About half of all of the different species, of plants and animals in the entire world live in rain forests.
Many of the plants and animals, especially insects, do not even have scientific names, because they have never been classified.
People of the rainforest
There are many tribes of people who have lived in the rainforests for thousands of years.
These forest dwellers usually belong to one of two groups.
They are usually hunter/gatherers or slash-and-burn farmers.
Hunter/gatherers
Hunter/gatherers live as they do in every other region of the world.
They kill animals and gather what the forest provides for part of their food.
Unlike in the Arctic, tools are always available.
Unlike in the desert, water is always available.
The people do not need clothes to protect them from the weather.
The forest even provides a way to make hunting easier.
Many of the people hunt with poisoned arrows.
The poisons come from the plants of the forest.
That makes the animals easier to kill.
Slash-and-burn farmers
Most of the forest people are slash-and-burn farmers.
They raise crops in small clearings as well as hunting and gathering in the forest.
This provides them with food year-round.
They start by cutting (slashing) down the trees and the other plants in an area.
They let the dead plants dry out, then they burn them.
The ash from the burned plants goes into the soil and makes it fertile for a little while.
This is called slash-and-burn farming.
The small clearings grow food crops for a few years, then the family or group moves on and clears a new field.
The old field is left to be overgrown by the forest.
In a few years, it once again looks like the rain forest that surrounds it.
This type of farming does not harm the rain forest when only a few people are doing it.
The small clearings become rain forest again without any damage.
The land is used and recycled for use again some other time.
The rain forest easily regrows to fill in the clearings after the people leave.
That is changing today.
Today, the rain forests are getting smaller because too many people are burning them.
Rainforests in danger