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Today's featured article

The flag of Germany
The flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red and gold. The black-red-gold tricolour first appeared in the early 19th century and achieved prominence during the 1848 revolution. The short-lived Frankfurt Parliament of 1848–50 proposed the tricolour as a flag for a united and democratic German state. With the formation of the Weimar Republic after World War I, the tricolour was adopted as the national flag of Germany. Following World War II, the tricolour was designated as the flag of both West and East Germany. Both flags were identical until 1959, when socialist symbols were added to the East German flag. Since reunification on 3 October 1990, the black-red-gold tricolour has remained the flag of Germany. The colours of the modern flag are associated with the republican democracy formed after World War II and represent German unity and freedom: not only the freedom of Germany, but also the personal freedom of the German people. (more...)

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Today's featured picture

VR warehouses

The VR warehouses, a group of old red brick warehouses in the centre of Helsinki, Finland, on fire, May 5, 2006. This event had been preceded by the May Day riots just a few days earlier. Some people decided to set up a bonfire between the warehouses in the night of May 1. The fire almost got to the warehouses, and when the fire department tried to put it out it was attacked by a group of people. Riot police were dispatched to protect the firemen and they also got stones thrown at them. It was widely believed at first that the fire was a case of arson, but in July police concluded that it had been an accidental fire that smouldered for several hours before suddenly breaking out across a large part of the building.

Photo credit: Petteri Sulonen

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