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Alstom Metropolis trains in Sengkang Depot

The North East Line is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. Operated by SBS Transit, the 20-kilometre (12 mi) line runs from HarbourFront station in southern Singapore to Punggol station in the northeast via Chinatown, Little India, Serangoon and Hougang. Completed at a cost of S$5 billion, the line began operating 14 of its 16 stations on 20 June 2003. Buangkok station opened on 15 January 2006, and Woodleigh station began operations on 20 June 2011. A one-station extension to Punggol Coast station is expected to be completed in 2024. Alstom rolling stock – C751A (examples pictured) and C751C – runs on the line, which is fully automated using the moving block Alstom Urbalis 300 communications-based train control signalling system. The stations are wheelchair-accessible, and most are Civil Defence shelters designed to withstand airstrikes and chemical attacks. There are 18 artworks displayed across its 16 stations as part of the MRT network's Art-in-Transit programme. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Eucalyptus wandoo woods

... that the Noongar used the Eucalyptus wandoo tree (woods pictured) as a medicine and ointment?
... that in the 1968 election, Ludwig Keke defeated Nauru's first female candidate for parliament, his sister Liebon Sunshine Keke?
... that when UCLA was founded in 1919, the university's students provided numerous services, including athletics, housing, and parking?
... that the 16th-century poet Fuzuli wrote a poetic letter titled "Complaint" after Ottoman officials cut his stipend?
... that by September 29, 1864, the 23rd Virginia Infantry Battalion only had 78 enlisted men present for duty?
... that Landrada of Austrasia "was regarded, even as a child, as a model of Christian perfection"?
... that the University of Minnesota Messenia Expedition has been described as "the first truly multidisciplinary archaeological expedition in Greece"?
... that Longcat was long?

In the news

Jonathan Marchessault

In Uganda, the Allied Democratic Forces kill 42 people at a school in Mpondwe.
In Canada, 15 people die after a bus collides with a semi-truck along the Trans-Canada Highway near Carberry, Manitoba.
At least 78 people are killed and hundreds of others are missing after a migrant boat sinks off the coast of Pylos, Greece.
In ice hockey, the Vegas Golden Knights defeat the Florida Panthers to win the Stanley Cup Finals (Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault pictured).
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi dies at the age of 86.

On this day

June 20: World Refugee Day

Obverse of the Great Seal of the United States

1782 – The Congress of the Confederation adopted the Great Seal of the United States (obverse pictured), used to authenticate documents issued by the U.S. federal government.
1900 – Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army began a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Peking.
1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force began Operation Bellicose, a four-day shuttle-bombing mission that included raids on Germany and Italy and a refuelling and rearming stop in Algeria.
1975 – Steven Spielberg's film Jaws was released; it became a summer blockbuster and the first film to earn $100 million in U.S. theatrical rentals.
2019 – Iranian aircraft shot down an American drone over the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

Sigismund III Vasa (b. 1566)
Mary R. Calvert (b. 1884)
Ulrich Mühe (b. 1953)
Chanchal Kumar Majumdar (d. 2000)

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Today's featured picture

Ilan Ramon (June 20, 1954 – February 1, 2003) was an Israeli fighter pilot and later the first Israeli astronaut. Ramon was a Space Shuttle payload specialist on STS-107, the final mission of Space Shuttle Columbia, in which he and the six other crew members were killed when the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry. At the age of 48, he was the oldest member of the crew. Ramon is the only foreign recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, which he was awarded posthumously by the United States Congress. This official NASA portrait of Ramon, wearing an Advanced Crew Escape Suit, was taken in 2001.

Photograph credit: NASA

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