Monday, November 28, 2005

Spotlight
On Nov. 28, 1960, Mauritania became a fully independent country, declaring its independence from France. Mauritania had been a protectorate of France from the early 1900s, then became a separate colony in French West Africa in 1920, and was declared an autonomous entity within France in 1958. Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, Mauritania's president from 1984, was deposed in a military coup in August 2005, while he was away at the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.

Quote
"Injustice in the end produces independence." – Voltaire

Today in History

• Ferdinand Magellan: reached the Pacific from the Atlantic by sailing through the Strait of Magellan (1520)
• William Shakespeare: wed Anne Hathaway in Stratford-upon-Avon (1582)
• independence declared: Albania, from the Ottoman Empire (1912); East Timor, from Portugal (1960)

Today's Birthdays

• Randy Newman: singer, songwriter; Oscar-winner for "If I didn't have you" from Monsters, Inc. (62)
• actors: Ed Harris (55), S. Epatha Merkerson (53)
• Jon Stewart: host of The Daily Show, "the most trusted man in fake news" (43)

Word of the Day
 ouguiya: Mauritania's basic unit of currency, one of the only two countries not to use a decimal-based currency; there are five khoums in an ouguiya.   (© )