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Today's featured article

Northern Bank Headquarters on Donegall Square, Belfast

On 20 December 2004, £26.5 million was stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Having taken family members of two bank officials hostage, an armed gang forced the workers to help them steal banknotes. It was one of the largest bank robberies in the United Kingdom. The police and the British and Irish governments claimed that the Provisional Irish Republican Army was responsible, which was denied. Police forces made inquiries and arrests in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. A sum of £2.3 million was impounded from a financial adviser, Ted Cunningham, in County Cork; he was convicted in 2009. Chris Ward, one of the bank officials, was arrested in November 2005 and charged with robbery. The prosecution offered no evidence at trial and he was released. Northern Bank replaced its own bank notes. The robbery adversely affected the Northern Ireland peace process and hardened the relationship between the Taoiseach and Sinn Féin. No individual or group has ever been held directly responsible for the robbery. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

February 11: National Foundation Day in Japan (660 BC)

UCL Main Building

1826 – London University, later University College London (pictured), was founded as the first secular university in England.
1851 – As part of celebrations marking the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, the inaugural first-class cricket match in Australia began at the Launceston Racecourse in Tasmania.
1976 – The Frente de Liberación Homosexual made their final public appearance, shortly before the group's dissolution due to political repression after the Argentine coup d'état.
2001 – The computer worm Anna Kournikova, which would affect millions of users worldwide, was released by a 20-year-old Dutch student.

Thomas Edison (b. 1847)
Helene Kröller-Müller (b. 1869)
Keith Holyoake (b. 1904)
Jennifer Aniston (b. 1969)

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In the news

Sam Nujoma

In American football, the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl.
Former President of Namibia Sam Nujoma (pictured) dies at the age of 95.
A series of boycotts against retail stores expands to several countries in Southeast Europe.
The 49th imam of Nizari Isma'ilism, Aga Khan IV, dies at the age of 88 and is succeeded by his son, Aga Khan V.
Eleven people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden.

Did you know...

Johnny Gaudreau

... that Johnny Gaudreau (pictured), despite being one of the smallest players in the National Hockey League, was a seven-time All-Star?
... that Paul Steele was elected as council leader on the cut of a deck of cards following the 2022 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election?
... that the Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades, which was built to provide water for firefighting, was empty when the 2025 Palisades Fire began?
... that Polish 1960 sci-fi novel Wielka, większa i największa was very influential for Polish young-adult literature?
... that the Eucharistic liturgies of Seek, a Catholic young-adult conference which attracts thousands of attendees, are planned more than a year and a half in advance?
... that in the early 1170s Humphrey III of Toron may have been the lord of Transjordan, but he also may have been dead?
... that Jane Remover was inspired to create Census Designated after a self-described "near-death experience" traveling through a blizzard?
... that Maria Einsmann claimed to be her own husband, Josef, when she registered the births of her companion Helene Müller's two children in 1921 and 1930?
... that Death Angels are Happy?

Today's featured picture

Picture of the day

The Dolderbahn is rack railway in the Swiss city of Zurich. It has a length of 1.3 km (0.8 mi) and is located in Zurich's Hottingen and Fluntern suburbs on the south slope of the Adlisberg mountain. The lower terminus of the line is at Römerhof, around 1.5 km (0.9 mi) from the city centre, where it connects with lines 3 and 8 of the Zurich tramway. The upper terminus at Bergstation Dolderbahn is adjacent to the Dolder Grand Hotel and the Dolder recreation area. Two intermediate stations, at Titlisstrasse and Waldhaus Dolder, are also served. This image shows car 1/2 1 from the 1973 SLM rolling stock.

This image shows car 1/2 1 from the 1973 SLM rolling stock.Photograph credit: Kabelleger

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