November 21, 2013

2013John Egerton, American journalist and author (born 1935)^[†]

John Egerton was an American journalist and author known for his writing on the Civil Rights Movement, Southern food, history of the South, and Southern culture.

2013Fred Kavli, Norwegian-American businessman and philanthropist, founded The Kavli Foundation (born 1927)^[†]

Fred Kavli was a Norwegian-American businessman and philanthropist. He was born on a small farm in Eresfjord, Norway. He founded the Kavlico Corporation, located in Moorpark, California. Under his leadership, the company became one of the world's largest suppliers of sensors for aeronautic, automotive, and industrial applications supplying General Electric and the Ford Motor Company.

2013Dimitri Mihalas, American astronomer and author (born 1939)^[†]

Dimitri Manuel Mihalas was a laboratory fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the field of astronomy, astrophysics, and stellar atmospheres. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was of Greek origin.

2013Vern Mikkelsen, American basketball player and coach (born 1928)^[†]

Arild Verner Agerskov Mikkelsen was an American professional basketball player. One of the National Basketball Association's first power forwards in the 1950s, he was known for his tenacious defense and durability, playing 699 out of a possible 704 games during his career. He was a six-time All-Star and four-time Second Team All-Pro, and was inducted into the NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame and the sport's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

2013Bernard Parmegiani, French composer (born 1927)^[†]

Bernard Parmegiani was a French composer best known for his electronic or acousmatic music.

2013Tôn Thất Đính, Vietnamese general (born 1926)^[†]

Lieutenant General Tôn Thất Đính was an officer who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). He is best known as one of the key figures in the November 1963 coup that led to the arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam, commonly known as South Vietnam.

2013Fifty-four people are killed when the roof of a shopping center collapses in Riga, Latvia.^[†]

On 21 November 2013 the roof of a Maxima shopping centre in the Zolitūde neighbourhood of Riga, Latvia, collapsed at 17:44 local time resulting in the deaths of 54 people, including three rescue workers, and injuries to another 41 people. An unknown number of people were able to leave the store on their own after the initial collapse. It was the worst disaster in Latvia since 1950, when the steamer Mayakovsky sank in Riga, killing 147 people. The disaster is often called Zolitūdes traģēdija by Latvian media outlets.

2013Massive protests start in Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych suspended signing the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement.^[†]

Euromaidan, or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv. The protests were sparked by President Viktor Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. Ukraine's parliament had overwhelmingly approved of finalizing the Agreement with the EU, but Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. The scope of the protests widened, with calls for the resignation of Yanukovych and the Azarov government. Protesters opposed what they saw as widespread government corruption, abuse of power, human rights violations, and the influence of oligarchs. Transparency International named Yanukovych as the top example of corruption in the world. The violent dispersal of protesters on 30 November caused further anger. Euromaidan was the largest democratic mass movement in Europe since 1989 and led to the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.