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Estadio de Bata on the day of the final

The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations Final was a football match that took place on 8 February 2015 to determine the winner of that year's African football championship. The match was held at the Estadio de Bata (pictured) in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, and was contested by Ghana and Ivory Coast. The final was 0–0 at the end of normal time, and there were also no goals in extra time, with few clear-cut chances for either team. With the match finishing level, it was decided by a penalty shoot-out. After every outfield player had taken a shot the score was tied at 8–8. The match was then decided by Ivorian goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, who saved an attempt from his Ghana counterpart Brimah Razak and then scored himself past Razak to give Ivory Coast a 9–8 shoot-out win and the title. The victory was Ivory Coast's second Africa Cup of Nations victory and lifted them from third to second place among African nations in the FIFA World Rankings. Ghana's Afriyie Acquah was named the man of the match. (Full article...)

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Midnight Sun Mosque, in the midnight sun

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In the news

Winter Olympics opening ceremony

The Winter Olympics open (ceremony pictured) in Beijing, China.
Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi dies in a US military raid in Atme, Syria.
The Socialist Party, led by António Costa, wins a majority of seats in the Portuguese legislative election.
Sergio Mattarella is re-elected as president of Italy.

On this day

February 6: Sámi National Day (1917); Waitangi Day in New Zealand (1840)

Queen Elizabeth II

1820 – The first ship of the American Colonization Society departed from New York for West Africa with 88 African-American emigrants aboard to found the colony of Liberia.
1840 – British representatives and Māori chiefs first signed the Treaty of Waitangi, widely regarded to be the founding document of New Zealand.
1952 – Elizabeth II (pictured) became the queen regnant of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon upon the death of her father, King George VI.
1976 – Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admitted that the company had paid out approximately US$3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka.
2018 – The SpaceX launch vehicle Falcon Heavy made its maiden flight.

Thurstan (d. 1140)
Bernard of Corleone (b. 1605)
Axl Rose (b. 1962)

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Today's featured picture

Commelina communis, the Asiatic dayflower, is an annual herbaceous plant in the dayflower family, Commelinaceae. The blooms last for a single day and are distinctive with two relatively large blue petals and one much reduced white petal. The three long stamens are fertile, while the three short stamens are infertile. This focus-stacked photograph of a C. communis flower was taken in a garden in Bamberg, Germany.

Photograph credit: Reinhold Möller

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