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SMS Niobe was a light cruiser of the Gazelle class, built for the Imperial German Navy. Launched in 1899, Niobe was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph). The ship served as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats, a scout for the fleet, and a station ship with the East Asia Squadron. In World War I, Niobe helped defend Germany's North Sea coast. One of the cruisers permitted Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, Niobe was modernized, but was sold in 1925 to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). Renamed Dalmacija the vessel served until April 1941, when she was captured by the Italians. Renamed again as Cattaro, she served until the Italian surrender in September 1943. Seized by the Germans, she was used in the Adriatic Sea until 19 December 1943, when she ran aground on the island of Silba, and was destroyed by British motor torpedo boats. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)

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Did you know ...

FoodPharmer

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... that actress Jane Fenmore Barnes learned how to pilot a plane so she could fly home to Massachusetts on her own?
... that the largest IMAX cinema in the Southern Hemisphere is in Melbourne?
... that Musa al-Gharbi argues that "symbolic capitalists" support social justice movements to amass social currency?
... that Planting a Rainbow has been praised for both its "deft use of colors" and the educational identification of seeds, bulbs, sprouts, and blossoms?
... that Filipino violinist Gilopez Kabayao was nicknamed the "Mozart to the Barrios"?
... that Ian Holm, who died in 2020, was "resurrected" to appear in Alien: Romulus through a combination of animatronics, computer-generated imagery, and artificial intelligence?
... that NFL player Adrian Baril also was a "fat men's race" champion?

In the news

Woo Won-shik, the speaker of the South Korean National Assembly, signing the impeachment resolution

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least 16 people dead.
President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.

On this day

December 19

Frontispiece to A Christmas Carol

1828 – Nullification crisis: American vice president John C. Calhoun's South Carolina Exposition and Protest, written to protest the Tariff of Abominations, was presented to the South Carolina House of Representatives.
1843 – A Christmas Carol (illustration pictured), a novella by Charles Dickens about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by ghosts, was published.
1983 – The Jules Rimet Trophy, awarded to the winner of the FIFA World Cup, was stolen from the offices of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
1997 – SilkAir Flight 185 crashed into the Musi River in Indonesia, killing 104 people.
2013 – The European Space Agency's spacecraft Gaia was launched with the goal of constructing the largest and most precise star catalogue ever made.

Adelaide of Susa (d. 1091)
Sakakibara Kenkichi (b. 1830)
Kristina Keneally (b. 1968)
Ahmet Emin Yalman (d. 1972)

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Today's featured picture

The papaya (Carica papaya), also known as the pawpaw, is a plant species in the family Caricaceae, and also the name of the plant's fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and Central America, and is now grown in several countries in regions with a tropical climate. The papaya fruit is a large berry about 15 to 45 cm (5.9 to 17.7 in) long and 10 to 30 cm (3.9 to 11.8 in) in diameter. The fruit is cultivated for food, being typically consumed when ripe and eaten raw without skin or seeds. The black seeds are also edible and have a sharp, spicy taste. This photograph shows the longitudinal cross section of a papaya fruit lying on its side, with orange flesh and numerous black seeds visible. The picture was focus-stacked from seven separate images.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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