Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 March 9

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From today's featured article

Kahaani is a 2012 Indian mystery thriller film directed and co-produced by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan (pictured) as Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman searching for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga Puja, assisted by Satyoki "Rana" Sinha (Parambrata Chatterjee) and Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Made on a shoestring budget of 80 million (US$1.3 million), Kahaani was conceived and developed by Ghosh, who co-wrote the film with Advaita Kala. The crew often employed guerrilla-filmmaking techniques on Kolkata's city streets to avoid attracting attention. The film was noted for avoiding the usual Bollywood tropes of Kolkata culture and for using many local crew and cast members. Kahaani explores themes of feminism and motherhood in male-dominated Indian society. The film also makes allusions to Satyajit Ray's films such as Charulata (1964) and Aranyer Dinratri (1970). Kahaani was released worldwide on 9 March 2012. Critics praised the screenplay, the cinematography and the performances of the lead actors. Critical acclaim and word-of-mouth publicity helped the film earn 1.04 billion (US$16 million) worldwide, and it won several awards. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the Broadmoor Sirens (pictured) are tested every Monday at 10 am to ensure their readiness to give warning should a patient escape from Broadmoor?
... that Mongol-Manchu-Chinese-Canadian poet Chia-ying Yeh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, was imprisoned with her baby during the White Terror of Taiwan?
... that the first baseball World Series trophy, the Dauvray Cup, was funded by stage actress Helen Dauvray?
... that Yoko Hayashi helped investigate the accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations whilst also trying to eliminate discrimination against women?
... that The Last of Us received the most wins at the 10th British Academy Video Games Awards, collecting five BAFTAs?
... that although he defeated and drove Sayf al-Dawla out of Syria, Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid soon agreed to divide the country with him?
... that the Sirima-Shastri Pact paved the way to Sri Lankan citizenship for 300,000 and repatriation to India for 525,000?
... that advertising executive Jane Trahey persuaded Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, and Judy Garland to pose for an ad campaign, giving them each a mink coat as payment?

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In the news

A series of suicide bombings in Maiduguri, Nigeria, kills at least 54 people and wounds more than 140 others.
The Iraqi government reports that the ancient cities of Hatra and Nimrud have been destroyed by ISIL, who claimed they were blasphemous.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres (pictured).
Pakalitha Mosisili forms a coalition government following a snap election in Lesotho.
The wreck of the Japanese battleship Musashi is discovered in the Sibuyan Sea of the Philippines.
The Reform Party wins the Estonian parliamentary election.

Ongoing: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – War in Ukraine
Recent deaths: Dave Mackay

On this day...

March 9: Commonwealth Day in the Commonwealth of Nations (2015); National Heroes and Benefactors Day in Belize (2015)

1009 – The first known record of the name of Lithuania appeared in an entry in the annals of the Quedlinburg Abbey (in modern Germany).
1776 – The Wealth of Nations by Scottish political economist Adam Smith (bust pictured) was first published, becoming the first modern work in the field of economics.
1842 – Nabucco, an opera by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi that established his reputation as a composer, premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
1915 – The Panama–California Exposition opened in San Diego's Balboa Park, celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal.
1925 – The Royal Air Force began a bombardment and strafing campaign against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan.
1945 – World War II: A bomb raid on Tokyo by American B-29 heavy bombers started a firestorm, killing over 100,000 people.

More anniversaries: March 8 – March 9 – March 10

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From today's featured list

The position of Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford was established in 1636 by William Laud (pictured), Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Archbishop of Canterbury. The first professor was Edward Pococke, who was working as a chaplain in what is now Syria when Laud asked him to return to Oxford. Laud's university regulations provided that the professor's lectures were to be attended by all medical students and bachelors of arts at the university, although this seems not to have happened since Pococke had few students. In 1881, a university statute provided that the professor was to lecture in "the Arabic, Syriac, and Chaldee Languages", and attached the professorship to St John's College. The number of students studying Arabic increased after the Second World War because of the reputation of Sir Hamilton Gibb and because some had became interested in Arabic culture while serving in the Middle East during the war. The current holder, Julia Bray, is the first woman to hold the position. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Vipera dinniki is a species of venomous viper which can reach 48.6 cm (19.1 in) in length. First described by Alexander Nikolsky in 1913, V. dinniki is found in the highlands of Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

Photograph: Benny Trapp

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