Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 February 13

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From today's featured article

The Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollar was struck in 1928 by the United States Mint in honor of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Europeans. It depicts Captain James Cook on the obverse and a Hawaiian chieftain on the reverse. Only 10,000 coins were struck for the public, making them rare and valuable. In 1927, the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii passed a resolution calling on the U.S. government to produce a commemorative coin for the anniversary. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon thought the occasion important enough that, unusually for him, he was not opposed to the new coin. Sculptor Chester Beach made the plaster models for the coins from sketches by Juliette May Fraser. Approval for his designs was delayed by concerns raised by the Mint and by Victor S. K. Houston, Hawaii Territory's delegate to Congress. Although the issue price, at $2, was the highest for a commemorative half dollar to that point, the coins sold out quickly and have risen in value to over $1000. (Full article...)

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Golden-headed cisticola

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In the news

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán

The Republic of Macedonia changes its name to the Republic of North Macedonia as the Prespa agreement comes into effect ending a 27-year naming dispute.
Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán (pictured) is found guilty of ten criminal charges in the United States, including one mandating life imprisonment.
Roma wins four awards, including Best Film, at the British Academy Film Awards.
Bruce McArthur pleads guilty to eight serial killings in Toronto, Canada, and is sentenced to life in prison.

On this day

February 13

The covering of the Senne

1660 – Five-year-old Charles XI became King of Sweden.
1867 – Work began on the covering of the Senne (pictured), burying the polluted main waterway in Brussels to allow urban renewal in the centre of the city.
1913 – Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, declared the independence of Tibet from the Republic of China.
1981 – Sewer explosions caused by the ignition of hexane vapors destroyed more than 13 miles (21 km) of streets in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
2017 – Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was assassinated using VX nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Isabella d'Este (d. 1539) · Rufus Wilmot Griswold (b. 1815) · Waylon Jennings (d. 2002)

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Today's featured picture

Diana and Endymion is an oil-on-canvas painting by Francesco Solimena, produced between 1705 and 1710. The painting depicts the Roman goddess Diana, one of the twelve Gods and Goddesses of Olympus, falling in love with Endymion, a symbol of timeless beauty. Diana and Endymion is part of the last period of Solimena's works when he mainly concentrated on mythological subjects. He developed this interest in mythological stories while inspired by the Arcadian movement embracing classical culture. The painting is in the collection of the National Museums Liverpool.

Painting: Francesco Solimena

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