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Today's featured article

Java is an object-oriented programming language developed initially by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems. It was intended to replace C++, although the feature set better resembles that of Objective-C. Sun Microsystems currently maintains and updates Java regularly. Specifications of the Java language, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the Java API are community-maintained through the Sun-managed Java Community Process. Java was developed in 1991 by Gosling and other Sun engineers, as part of the Green Project. After first being made public in 1994, it achieved prominence following the announcement at 1995's SunWorld that Netscape would be including support for it in their Navigator browser.
Recently featured: Canadian House of Commons – Shoe polish – KaDee Strickland
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Selected anniversaries
December 17: National Day in Bhutan (1907)

	•	1843 - A Christmas Carol, a fictional novella about Ebenezer Scrooge, was first published by Charles Dickens (pictured).
	•	1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
	•	1903 - Orville and Wilbur Wright aboard the Wright Flyer conducted the first successful flight of a powered fixed-wing aircraft.
	•	1944 - Malmédy massacre: Waffen-SS troops under Joachim Peiper shot at about 150 unarmed prisoners of war with machine guns near Malmedy, Belgium.
	•	1989 - The Simpsons made their debut as an animated series on the Fox television network.
Recent days: December 16 – December 15 – December 14
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In the news

	•	The New York Times reports that the National Security Agency has received presidential authorization to conduct warrantless domestic wiretaps.
	•	The Iraqi interior ministry indicates Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was captured in Fallujah sometime in 2004, but then released by mistake.
	•	Elections are held for the first permanent National Assembly of Iraq under the new Constitution.
	•	Marwan Barghouti founds al-Mustaqbal, in a split from Fatah, currently leading the Palestinian National Authority.
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Today's featured picture

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening into the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The entire bridge including the approach spans is 1.7 miles (2,727 m) long, whilst the main span between the towers is 4200 feet (1280 m). The two towers rise 746 feet (230 m) above the water. From its completion in 1937, the center span was the longest among suspension bridges until 1964 when the Verrazano Narrows Bridge was erected.
Photo credit: Daniel Schwen
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