Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 February 20

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From today's featured article

Afroyim v. Rusk is a 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case which ruled that American citizens may not be deprived of citizenship involuntarily. The U.S. government tried to revoke the citizenship of Beys Afroyim (pictured with his son), who had voted in an Israeli election after becoming a naturalized American citizen, but the court decided that his right to retain his citizenship was guaranteed by the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It overruled Perez v. Brownell (1958), in which it had upheld loss of citizenship under similar circumstances. Afroyim opened the way for a wider acceptance of multiple citizenship in American law. Its impact was narrowed by Rogers v. Bellei (1971), which held that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply in all cases, but the specific law in that case was repealed in 1978. The Bancroft Treaties—a series of agreements between the United States and other nations which sought to limit dual citizenship—were abandoned after the Carter administration concluded that they had been rendered unenforceable. As a consequence of revised government policies adopted in 1990, it is now "virtually impossible" to lose American citizenship involuntarily. (Full article...)

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In the news

At least 25 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kiev, Ukraine.
An OHCHR panel releases a report on human rights violations in North Korea.
Renaud Lavillenie of France breaks Sergey Bubka's indoor world record in pole vaulting, with a mark of 6.16 metres.
Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam (pictured) announces the formation of a new government.
The genome of a 12,500-year-old Clovis culture infant is sequenced, clarifying the origin of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
At least 76 people are killed when a military plane crashes in Algeria.

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On this day...

February 20

1846 – Polish insurgents led an uprising in the Free City of Kraków to incite a fight for national independence that was put down by the Austrian Empire nine days later.
1864 – American Civil War: The Union suffered one of its bloodiest losses at the Battle of Olustee near Lake City, Florida.
1965 – NASA's Ranger 8 spacecraft (Ranger Block III pictured) successfully transmitted 7,137 photographs of the Moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission before crashing into Mare Tranquillitatis.
1998 – At the age of 15, American figure skater Tara Lipinski became the youngest gold medal winner in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.
2009 – The Tamil Tigers attempted to crash two aircraft packed with C-4 in suicide attacks on Colombo, Sri Lanka, but the planes were shot down before they reached their targets.

More anniversaries: February 19 – February 20 – February 21

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It is now February 20, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Lunar distance is a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. This diagram shows the distance, averaging 384,400 km (238,900 mi), to scale, as well as the Earth and the Moon (scroll to see the entire image).

Model: Nickshanks

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