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The Championship Course, along which the Boat Race is contested

The Boat Race 2020 was aside-by-side rowing race scheduled to take place on 29 March 2020. Held annually,the Boat Race is contested between crews from theUniversity of Oxford and theUniversity of Cambridge along a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) tidal stretch of theRiver Thames(course pictured) in south-west London. This would have been the 75thwomen's race and the 166th men's race. Cambridge led the longstanding rivalry84–80 and44–30 in the men's and women's races, respectively. The races were cancelled on 16 March 2020 as a consequence of theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Other than as a result of war, it was the first time that the men's race had been cancelled sincethe first edition in 1845. It was also the first cancellation of the women's race since its 1964 revival. The 2020 event would have been the first time that both senior races would be umpired by women. The members of each crew were announced on the date that the race would have been contested. (Full article...)

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Mirella Freni

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In the news

Azzi Fudd

A nightclub roof collapse inSanto Domingo, Dominican Republic, kills 226 people.
Inbasketball, theUConn Huskieswin the NCAA Division I women's championship(Most Outstanding PlayerAzzi Fudd pictured) and theFlorida Gatorswin the men's championship.
In theNational Hockey League,Alexander Ovechkin breaksWayne Gretzky's record formost goals scored.
Inhorse racing,Nick Rockett, ridden byPatrick Mullins, winsthe Grand National.
South Korea'sConstitutional CourtremovesYoon Suk Yeol as thepresident of South Korea, followinghis earlier declaration of martial law.

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On this day

April 13

Van Cliburn

1777 –American Revolutionary War: British andHessian forces conducteda surprise attack against aContinental Army outpost atBound Brook, New Jersey.
1829 – TheRoman Catholic Relief Act receivedroyal assent, removing the most substantial restrictions onCatholics in the United Kingdom.
1958 – In the midst of theCold War, American pianistVan Cliburn(pictured) won the inauguralInternational Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
2009 – Twenty-three people died ina fire at a homeless hostel inKamień Pomorski; it was Poland's deadliest fire since 1980.
2017 –War in Afghanistan: Inan airstrike inNangarhar Province, the U.S. military droppedthe most powerful conventional bomb used in combat.

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Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, planter, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, andFounding Father who served as the thirdpresident of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of theDeclaration of Independence. Following theAmerican Revolutionary War and before becoming president in 1801, Jefferson was the firstUnited States secretary of state underGeorge Washington, and then the secondvice president underJohn Adams. Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy,republicanism, andnatural rights, and he produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels. Thisline-engraved portrait of Jefferson was produced by theUnited States Department of the Treasury'sBureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of aBEP presentation album of the first 26 presidents. The same portrait appears on the obverse of thetwo-dollar bill.

Engraving credit:Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored byAndrew Shiva

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