Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 February 10

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From today's featured article

Operation Kita was conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific War in February 1945 to return both Ise-class hybrid battleship-aircraft carriers (Ise pictured) and their escorts to Japan from Singapore, where they had been based since November 1944. Before departing, the Japanese ships (designated the Completion Force) were loaded with oil and other raw materials to help bring supplies through the Allied blockade of Japan. The Completion Force sailed on 10 February 1945 and was sighted leaving port by a Royal Navy submarine. The Allies, who had learned of the Completion Force's composition and goals from decrypting Japanese radio signals, planned coordinated attacks by U.S. submarines and aircraft. All attempts failed and the Completion Force reached its destination of Kure, Japan, on 20 February without suffering any casualties. Due to the intensifying Allied blockade, the Ise-class ships and their escorts were among the last IJN warships to reach Japan safely from the Southwest Pacific. All the ships of the Completion Force were sunk in or near Japanese home waters before the end of the war. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the Essen cross with large enamels (pictured) displays five large cloisonné enamel plaques, a Crucifixion in the center and symbols of the Evangelists at the four ends?
... that Armen Dzhigarkhanyan has appeared in more films than any other Russian actor?
... that while pictures of Christopher Columbus, Count Zeppelin and Charles Lindbergh appear on the Glockenspiel House, a carillon plays?
... that Peter Brunt, who would become Camden Professor of Ancient History at Oxford University, was rejected for military service during World War II because he had flat feet?
... that India's Yanaimalai (Elephant Hill) got its name because it looks like an elephant sitting down?
... that New Malden High Street contains many Korean shops, reflecting the large population of South Koreans in the London suburb?
... that 2014 Olympian Emily Scott was preparing to apply for food stamps when a USA Today article about her brought in over $48,000 in donations, allowing her to continue training?

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In the news

The earliest human footprints outside Africa are discovered in the United Kingdom.
The Winter Olympics open in Sochi, Russia.
In American football, the Seattle Seahawks defeat the Denver Broncos to win Super Bowl XLVIII.
Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (pictured) dies at the age of 46.
India's first monorail since independence, the Mumbai Monorail, is inaugurated.
Two previously unknown poems written by seventh-century BC Greek poet Sappho are discovered.

Recent deaths: Ralph Kiner – Maximilian Schell – Arthur Rankin, Jr.

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On this day...

February 10: Feast of Saint Paul's Shipwreck in Malta

1258 – Hulagu Khan and the Mongols sacked and burned Baghdad, a cultural and commercial centre of the Islamic world at the time, ending the rule of the Abbasid caliphate.
1763 – Britain, France, and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris to end the Seven Years' War, significantly reducing the size of the French colonial empire while at the same time marking the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance outside of Europe.
1840 – Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (pictured) married Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom at the Chapel Royal, becoming prince-consort.
1962 – "Rudolf Abel", a Soviet spy arrested by the FBI, was exchanged for Gary Powers, the pilot of the CIA spy plane that had been shot down over Soviet airspace two years earlier.
1964 – The Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collided with and sank the destroyer HMAS Voyager in Jervis Bay, Australia, killing 82 of Voyager's personnel.

More anniversaries: February 9 – February 10 – February 11

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It is now February 10, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

From today's featured list

More than 100 tornadoes have affected the U.S. state of Connecticut, resulting in at least 48 deaths, 780 injuries, and more than $500 million in damage. Connecticut is not typically known to fall casualty to tornadoes, but, as with most of the northeastern United States, the number of tornadoes peaks in the summer months, normally in July or August. Hartford County has had the most tornadoes in the state, although Litchfield County has reported the most tornadoes since 1950. Several areas have been struck more than once, and Waterbury has been struck by no less than four tornadoes since 1955. Although Connecticut tornadoes are typically weak, isolated events can be violent. Three tornadoes of F4 intensity have affected the state in its history, as well as at least 27 tornadoes of F2 intensity or greater. The 1878 Wallingford tornado (aftermath pictured) killed at least 29 and likely 34 people in Wallingford, the most by any tornado event in Connecticut history. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Dom Luís Bridge is a 172-metre (564 ft) long metal arch bridge that spans the Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. Designed by Téophile Seyrig, construction was completed in 1886.

Photograph: Diego Delso

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