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Today's featured article

The Flag of Canada is a red flag with a white square in its centre, featuring a stylized 11-pointed red maple leaf. Its adoption in 1965 marked the first time a national flag had been officially adopted to replace the Union Flag. The Canadian Red Ensign had been unofficially used since the 1890s and was approved by a 1945 Order-in-Council for use "wherever place or occasion may make it desirable to fly a distinctive Canadian flag". In 1964, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson appointed a committee to resolve the issue, sparking a serious debate about a flag change. Out of three choices, the maple leaf design by George F. G. Stanley was chosen. The flag made its first appearance on February 15, 1965; the date is now celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day. Other flags have been created for use by Canadian officials, government bodies, and military forces. Most of these flags contain the maple leaf motif in some fashion, either by having the Canadian flag charged in the canton, or by including maple leaves in the design. The Royal Union Flag is also an official flag in Canada, used as a symbol of Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, and of its allegiance to the Crown. The flag forms a component of other Canadian flags, notably the provincial flags of Manitoba and Ontario. (more...)

In the news

• Flooding (rising Des Moines River pictured) continues in the Midwestern United States, leading to the evacuation of thousands of homes.
• Irish voters reject the Treaty of Lisbon in a referendum, thus putting into question the reform program of the European Union.
• Pakistan condemns a United States-led air strike near the border with Afghanistan that allegedly killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops, in clashes that also killed eight Taliban militants.
• Amid an outbreak of tornadoes and derechos in central and eastern North America, a tornado hits a Boy Scout camp in Iowa, killing four.
• Japan's House of Councillors passes a censure motion against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the first such motion to be passed since World War II.
• Sudan Airways Flight 109 crashes on landing at Khartoum International Airport in Khartoum, Sudan, killing dozens.
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  A Common Brown Robber fly (Zosteria sp.), one of the 7,100 described species of robber flies, shown here feeding on a hoverfly. Adult robber flies attack other flies, beetles, butterflies and moths, various bees, dragon and damselflies, ichneumon wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders.

  Photo credit: Fir0002
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