On this day

February 19th

1803 - USA: Ohio became the 17th state. Although slavery had been outlawed in the Northwest Territory by the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, Ohio was the first state in which slavery was forbidden by law from the beginning of statehood.

1866 - USA: The New Freedmen's Bureau Bill was passed by Congress. The law authorized military trials for those accused of depriving newly freed blacks of their civil rights. President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill on the grounds that it violated the Fifth Amendment, and that legislation affected 11 southern states not represented in congress. The veto served to widen the rift between Congress and the president. Legislators retaliated by overriding the veto on July 16 of that year.

1888 - USA: A cyclone virtually destroyed Mount Vernon, Illinois, killing 35 people.

1902 - France: Vaccination against smallpox becomes obligatory.

1907 - Berlin: The Kaiser opens the first session of the Reichstag.

1910 - The Alps: Germany, Italy and Switzerland agree to build a railway through the St. Gothard Pass.

1913 - UK: A suffragette bomb devastates David Lloyd George's new home at Walton Heath.

1915 - UK: The Norwegian ship "Belridge" is torpedoed off Folkestone, becoming the first casualty of the German blockade.

1919 - France: French premier Clemenceau is shot by anarchist Emille Cottin.

1926 - Italy: Around 200 Mafia leaders are reported to have been arrested in Sicily.

1928 - USA: Malcolm Campbell sets a land speed record of 206.35 mph in his car "Bluebird" at Daytona.

1933 - Tokyo: Japan announces it will quit the League of Nations if it condemned for its actions in China.

1940 - Sweden: King Gustav announces his support for his government's decision to refuse Finland military aid.

1942 - France: Police arrest several Resistance leaders, including the philosopher Georges Politzer.

1943 - USA: 31 people are killed when a B-29 Super-fortress crashes on a test flight in Seattle.

1945 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler issues the "Nero Command" ordering the destruction of all industry, transport links and agriculture.

1953 - London: The government puts the cost of Flood damage on the East coast at £40 million.

1966 - London: Christopher Mayhew resigns as Navy Minister over "dangerously mistaken" defence polices.

1968 - USA: The first stateside teacher's strike in U.S history began when more than half of Florida's public school teachers walked off the job. The strike lasted until March 8.

1970 - London: Buckingham Palace announce that Prince Charles will be joining the Navy.

1976 - Reykjavik: Iceland breaks off relations with Britain over a fishing dispute.

1978 - Cyprus: 15 Egyptian commandoes are killed in a raid to free 30 hostages held on a plane at Larnaca Airport.

1983 - USA: Patti Austin and James Ingram began a two-week stint at No.1 on the U.S singles chart with "Baby Come To Me."

1987 - USA: Trade sanctions against Poland were lifted by President Ronald Reagan after the Communist regime freed political prisoners. The action removed the ban on trade credits and restored Poland's "most favoured nation" status for export-import purposes.

1989 - Scotland: Simply Red played the Edinburgh Playhouse.

1991 - Moscow: The Russian leader Boris Yeltsin accuses Mikhail Gorbachev of "bringing the Soviet Union to dictatorship."

1992 - Punjab: The ruling Congress Party wins local elections boycotted by Sikhs.

1998 - Bosnia: NATO announces a new, smaller peace-keeping force will oversee Bosnia.

2002 - Outer Space: NASA's Odyssey space probe begins mapping the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

2005 - Indonesia: An Earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale strikes South-East Sulawesi.

2009 - Mediterranean: The French battleship "Danton" is discovered.

2012 - USA: Singer Whitney Houston is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey.

2013 - USA: NASA loses direct contact with the International Space Station due to an equipment failure. Communication was restored three hours later.

February 20th

1864 - USA: At the Battle of Olustee, near Jacksonville, Florida, Union forces under General Seymour were badly defeated by Confederate troops under General Joseph Finegan. The Union had around 2,000 killed or wounded. The effort to set up a loyal state government was severely hampered in what was the largest land engagement in Florida.

1905 - USA: A mine disaster in Virginia City, Alabama, south-west of Birmingham, killed 116 miners.

1907 - USA: The Immigration Act of 1907 was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt. It included a provision empowering the president to restrict immigration by Japanese labourers.

1910 - UK: Hurricane-force winds cause several deaths and severe damage across the country.

1921 - Ireland: An ex-soldier is dragged from hospital in Cork and killed by Sinn Feiners.

1934 - Berlin: Anthony Eden meets Adolf Hitler in an atmosphere described of "general cordiality."

1936 - Berne: The Swiss government bars entry to Nazi Party members.

1938 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler demands the right of self-determination for Germans in Austria and Czechoslovakia.

1939 - USA: Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time costing $1.15 a pair.

1940 - Germany: General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, who commanded the XXI Corps in the invasion of Poland, is given the command of the invasion force for Norway.

1941 - Libya: British and German troops have their first clash in the desert at El Agheila.

1942 - Berlin: German casualties in the USSR stood at 199,448 dead, 708,351 wounded, 44,342 missing, and 112,627 cases with severe frostbite.

1943 - USSR: Soviet troops capture Pavlograd, and engage the enemy at Krasnograd.

1943 - Tunisia: At the Kasserine Pass, U.S. forces were driven back by General Irwin Rommel's Afrika Corps using the 62-ton Mark VI tank.

1944 - Atlantic: The U-Boat U413 sinks the destroyer HMS "Warwick" off Trevose.

1949 - Oslo: Norway votes to join the North Atlantic pact.

1950 - London: The government freezes all civil service wages.

1959 - Nyasaland: British troops are flown-in to quell anti-British riots.

1960 - USA: Jimi Hendrix made his stage debut, playing a show at a high school in Seattle.

1962 - London: Six anti-nuclear protestors are jailed under the Official Secrets Act.

1964 - Morocco: Algeria and Morocco reach agreement on an end to their border war.

1967 - UK: Viyella International announces the closure of two Lancashire cotton mills.

1968 - London: MP's pass a bill to raise National Insurance rates and end free secondary school milk.

1971 - USA: A false nuclear alert was broadcast by radio and television stations across the country when an operator at the National Emergency Warning Center in Colorado mistakenly ran an emergency alert tape rather than the usual test tape. It took some 40 minutes to cancel the phony alert.

1971 - Uganda: Idi Amin declares himself President, and promotes himself to General.

1976 - USA: All four members of rock group Kiss had their footprints implanted on the pavement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

1978 - UK: South-west England suffers its worst blizzards for several years.

1983 - India: Over 600 Moslem refugees in Assam are massacred in the worst sectarian violence since partition.

1984 - Maputo: The Mozambique government agrees a formal peace pact with South Africa, outlawing cross-border raids.

1985 - Washington: Margaret Thatcher tells Congress that she supports "Star Wars" and appeals for the Americans to end aid to the IRA.

1989 - UK: IRA bombs destroy a Shropshire barracks.

1990 - UK: Environmentalists attack the governments plans for proposing to spend £12.4 billion on new roads.

1992 - New York: The UN decides to send 16,000 troops to Cambodia to enforce a cease-fire.

1995 - UK: Blur win four awards at the Brits.

1998 - Japan: At Nagano, 15-year old Tara Lipinski skates to victory as the youngest gold medallist in the history of the Winter Olympics.

2004 - UK: Brian Wilson began an 11 date UK tour at London's Royal Festival Hall. The shows saw Wilson perform the full suite of songs from his unreleased masterpiece "Smile."

2007 - Bosnia: NATO troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina carry out early morning raids on the homes of children of convicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic.

2009 - West Bank: Israel seizes 425 acres of Palestinian Authority State land in the West Bank for a Jewish settlement.

2011 - South Korea: Intruders steal secret computer files from Indonesian envoys staying in the country.

2013 - USA: NASA reports the discovery of Kepler-37b, the smallest exoplanet yet known.

February 21st

1828 - USA: The first newspaper for Indians in the U.S followed the arrival on this date of a printing press at the headquarters of the Cherokee Council in Echota, Georgia. There the Cherokee Indian leader Sequoyah created a written language based on letter symbols.The Cherokee Phoenix, written and printed in this language, was edited by Elias Boudinot, a Cherokee.

1857 - USA: Foreign coins were declared no longer legal tender by an act of Congress.

1885 - USA: The Washington Monument was dedicated in the nation's capital, 37 years after the cornerstone was laid, and four and a half years after construction began. The total cost was almost $1,200,000. The monument was opened to the public on October 9, 1888.

1901 - London: The Apollo Theatre opened in Shaftesbury Avenue.

1922 - USA: The aerial explosion of the lighter-than-air ship "Roma", after hitting high tension wires at Hampton Roads Army Airbase, Virginia, killed 34 of its 45 man crew. The airship had been purchased from the Italian government.

1926 - France: Tennis player Suzanne Lenglen announces her retirement from singles play.

1929 - Washington: Charles Lindbergh is appointed Federal Aviation Adviser to the U.S. department of Commerce.

1931 - Moscow: Leon Trotsky is stripped of his Soviet citizenship.

1936 - Madrid: Premier Azana declares an amnesty for 30,000 political and other prisoners.

1937: Abyssinia: Around 3,000 Abyssinians planning an attack on Addis Ababa, are annihilated by Italian forces.

1940 - North Atlantic: The cruiser HMS "Manchester" and the destroyer HMS "Kimberley" capture one of six German merchant vessels which the Royal Navy had been hunting.

1941 - Italy: Olive oil, cooking fat, and butter rations are halved.

1942 - India: Chiang Kai-shek makes a broadcast asking the people to support China and the Allies in their war against Japan.

1943 - Munich: Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst, the leaders of the "White Rose" rebellion are guillotined.

1945 - Iwo Jima: Kamikaze aircraft sink the U.S. aircraft carrier "Bismarck Sea" and damage the carrier "Saratoga."

1951 - Canada: The Canberra, Britain's first jet bomber, crosses the Atlantic in a record 4 hours 40 minutes.

1952 - London: Actress Elizabeth Taylor marries Michael Wilding.

1956 - London: The Duke of Edinburgh announces the introduction of an award scheme for enterprising young people.

1961 - UK: The Beatles made their first appearance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. They went on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the famous club.

1963 - Cuba: A U.S. fishing boat was attacked by two Cuban-based jet aircraft. The disabled shrimp boat "Ala" had been adrift in international waters about 60 nautical miles north of Cuba. Cuba formally denied the attack on February 25.

1965 - USA: Malcolm X was assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing a gathering at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. Born Malcolm Little, the 39-year-old leader founded the Black Nationalist Movement after breaking with the Black Muslims in 1964. In recent months he had been moving toward a less violently anti-white stance. Two days after his death, the Black Muslim headquarters in San Francisco and New York City were burned.

1966 - Vietnam: The first air strike against North Vietnam since the January 31 resumption of bombing was made against a training centre at the old French military base at Dien Bien Phu.

1971 - USA: Tornadoes struck Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, killing 90 people and injuring more than 500.

1972 - China: A week long historic visit to China was undertaken by President Richard Nixon. In the Shanghai Communique (Feb 27), the two nations agreed to work to lessen the risk of war, to normalize relations, and to increase scientific and cultural ties. The Chinese held that Taiwan was part of China. The U.S. acknowledged that there was one China and stated that its policy was to withdraw U.S. military forces from Taiwan as tensions in the area decreased.

1975 - USA: For their parts in the Watergate cover-up, former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, and former attorney general John Mitchell were each sentenced to 30 months imprisonment.

1977 - London: 38-year-old Dr David Owen becomes the youngest Foreign Secretary since Anthony Eden.

1984 - London: Margaret Thatcher announces that most workers at GCHQ have accepted the offer of £1,000 to give up their union rights.

1987 - UK: Ben E. King was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Stand By Me." It had first been released in 1961.

1988 - USA: Jimmy Swaggart, America's leading television evangelist, confesses that he consorted with a prostitute.

1995 - UK: Britain's first woman combat pilot Flight Lieutenant Jo Salter of 617 "The Dambusters" squadron showed off her flying skills. Taking off from Lossiemouth , she eased past a lumbering Hercules filled with pressmen.

1996 - France: Jeanne Clement, believed to be the oldest person alive reached the amazing age of 121.

1997 - London: Three men who were jailed 18 years ago for the murder of 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater were freed by the Court of Appeal as their convictions were declared unsafe.

2007 - Turkey: An apartment building in Istanbul collapses killing five people.

2008 - Pacific: The U.S Navy shoot down spy satellite USA 193 in decaying orbit over the Pacific Ocean.

2011 - India: Birdflu is discovered in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

2013 - Egypt: The remains of a Pyramid for an adviser to pharaoh Ramses II is found in a archaeological excavation in Luxor.

February 22nd

1631 - USA: The first public thanksgiving, a fast day, was celebrated in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1847 - Mexico: At the Battle of Buena Vista, U.S forces under General Zachery Taylor, defeated the Mexicans under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

1901 - USA: A pacific mail steamer sinks in Golden Gate harbour, resulting in the deaths of 128 people.

1911 - Canada: Parliament votes to remain within the British Empire.

1917 - UK: The National Trust acquires a 500-year lease on parts of Exmoor.

1920 - Berlin: 21 arrests are made after spates of anti-Semitic violence.

1930 - UK: Lord Beaverbrook the dynamic Canadian-born millionaire newspaper owner launches the United Empire Party. It stood for the creation of an Empire free trade area, with the Dominions providing all Britain's food, while British Industry provided the rest of the Empire with all its manufactured goods.

1932 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler announces he will run for President against Hindenburg.

1937 - Spain: Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the USSR agree to a cordon around Spain to enforce their arms ban.

1941: Warsaw Ghetto: The daily bread ration is set at three ounces as deaths from starvation reach 400 a week.

1942 - Canberra: The Australian Prime minister John Curtin blocks Winston Churchill's plan to send Australian troops to Burma.

1943 - Sofia: The government agrees to deport the Jewish population (around 11,000) from Thrace and Macedonia to Treblinka.

1944 - USSR: Soviet troops capture the industrial centre of Krivoi Rog.

1945 - Corregidor: An estimated 2,000 Japanese soldiers commit suicide by blowing up a vast ammunitions dump.

1954 - New Delhi: Prime Minister Nehru urges a truce between the French and the Viet Minh in Indochina.

1955 - USA: Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly announces her retirement from competitive tennis.

1962 - UK: Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Rock-A-Hula-Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love, taken from his latest film "Blue Hawaii."

1966 - South Vietnam: "Operation White Wing", a month-long search and rescue mission by more than 20,000 U.S., South Vietnamese, and South Korean troops in Quang Ngai Province in South Vietnam, ended after enemy resistance collapsed. Communist troop deaths were reported at 1,130.

1966 - USA: The New York City Opera, presenting its first performance in its new home, the New York State Theatre in Lincoln Centre, gave the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera's Don Rodrigo its North American premiere.

1969 - UK: Tyrannosaurus Rex played Manchester's Free Trade Hall. Support act David Bowie, performed a one-man mime act.

1975 - UK: Scottish group The Average White Band went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Pick Up The Pieces."

1975 - UK: Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel had their only UK No.1 hit with "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)"

1978 - USA: The Police appeared in a Wrigley's Chewing Gum commercial. The band dyed their hair blonde for the appearance.

1978 - USA: Two days after a train derailment in Waverly, Tennessee, two tank cars containing liquid propane exploded, killing 15 people and levelling two blocks of Waverley's business district.

1982 - UK: The firm Mercury receives a licence to operate telephones in competition with British Telecom.

1986 - USA: MTV dedicated a full 22 hours broadcast to The Monkees, showing all 45 episodes of the original Monkees TV series.

1991 - Gulf: Iraqi forces begin setting Kuwaiti oilfields on fire, raising fears for the environment.

1993 - New York: The UN votes to set up a tribunal to try war crimes committed by in former Yugoslavia.

1994 - USA: Aldrich Hazen Ames, former head of the CIA's Soviet counter-intelligence branch, is charged with spying for the KGB.

1997 - UK: No Doubt went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Don't Speak."

2002 - UK: Two middle-aged women spent the first of eight nights sleeping in a car outside Bournemouth international Centre, to make sure they were the first in the queue for tickets to Cliff Richards forthcoming concert.

2006 - UK: In Britain's biggest robbery six men steal £53 million from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

2008 - Guam: A U.S. Air-force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber crashes at Anderson Air Force Base. The two pilots both ejected, one was hospitalized. It was the first B-2 to crash.

2011 - New Zealand: An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude strikes the district of Canterbury on the South Island of New Zealand, causing disruption to the area, and closing Christchurch Airport.

2013 - Japan: Japan announces it will continue its whale hunting despite pressure from environmentalist group Sea Shepard.

February 23rd

1848 USA: John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the U.S., died aged 80. He was buried at Quincy, Massachusetts.

1861 - USA: Texas seceded from the Union, following a state convention's recommendation of February 1. It was the seventh state to secede.

1870 - USA: Mississippi was granted representation in the U.S. Congress. The provisions were the same as those contained in the bill admitting Virginia, except that the representatives were permitted an affirmation instead of an oath.

1904 - Far East: Japan guarantees the sovereignty of the Korean Empire in exchange for military aid in the war against Russia.

1906 - USA: The world heavyweight boxing championship was won by Tommy Burns who defeated Marvin Hart in 20 rounds in Los Angeles. Californian James J. Jefferies, who retired in 1905 because he could find no worthy adversary, refereed the fight.

1916 - London: Prime minister Herbert Asquith rebukes MP's who are starting a "Peace Debate."

1924 - London: Britain agrees to accept 5% of German produce in war reparations.

1931 - USA: Judge Frank Patten orders the arrest of Gangster Al Capone.

1933 - Germany: Bavaria overturns Adolf Hitler's ban on opposition newspapers.

1939 - Berlin: All Jews in the capitol are ordered to give up all their precious stones and metals.

1940 - Turkey: A state of emergency is declared following the alleged crossing of the Caucasian border by a Soviet attachment.

1942 - USA: For the first time in the war shells fall on the U.S mainland as the Japanese submarine I-17 bombards an oil refinery in Santa Barbara, California.

1944 - Italy: Major-General Lucien C. Truscott takes over the command of the U.S. VI Corp's assault on Anzio.

1945 - Caroline Islands: The British Pacific Fleet, renamed Task Force 57 sets sail for Okinawa.

1947 - Germany: Over a two day period British and U.S. agents round-up hundreds of hidden Nazis.

1953 - Taipei: Chiang Kai-shek repudiates the 1945 alliance between Nationalist China and the USSR.

1954 - USA: Anti-polio inoculation of schoolchildren was begun in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by Dr Jonas E. Salk, the developer of the serum.

1958 - Havana: Cuban rebels capture Argentine motor racing champion Juan Fangio.

1961 - USA: The most costly air strike in aviation history ended. The six-day strike had completely shut down Trans World, Eastern, Flying Tiger, American, and National airlines and had hampered operations of several others.

1961 - UK: Petula Clark had her first UK No.1 single with "Sailor"

1965 - UK: A whisky price war began as distillers sold Scotch at 7/- a bottle.

1969 - UK: BBC2 began showing Sir Kenneth Clark's new series "Civilisation."

1970 - UK: Rolls-Royce requests the government for £50 million to develop the R.B. 211-50 Airbus jet engine.

1972 - Aden: Arab terrorists hijack a Lufthansa jumbo jet flying to New Delhi.

1974 - UK: Suzi Quatro was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Devil Gate Drive."

1978 - UK: David Coverdale's Whitesnake made their debut at the Sky Bird Club, in Nottingham.

1981 - USA: A major automobile recall was announced by General Motors. The company recalled 6,400,000 mid-sizes autos built between 1978 and 1981 to replace two bolts in the cars rear suspensions.

1986 - New Zealand: Two Maori activists throw eggs at the Queen during a visit to Auckland.

1992 - France: Germany topped the medals table at the end of the Winter Olympics in Albertville with a total of 26 medals.

1998 - USA: The El Nino weather phenomenon wrecks havoc once again as 40 people are killed in tornadoes in Florida.

1999 - Austria: More than 30 people are killed by an avalanche in the Austrian ski resort in Galtur.

2006 - Cairo: An ancient Egyptian sun temple is discovered beneath a flea market in the Ein Shams suburb of Cairo, which is built on top of the ancient city of Heliopolis.

2009 - South Korea: South Korea's defence ministry issues a report stating that North Korea has medium-range ballistic missiles capable of striking U.S. military bases.

2013 - USA: The USAF grounds its entire $400 billion fleet of 51 F-35 jets due to a major engine technical issue. During inspection maintenance staff detected a cracked engine blade.

February 24th

1761 - USA: Strong colonial opposition to English rule was inaugurated by James Otis in his controversial political speech against writs of assistance before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Later in 1764 he published his famous pamphlet, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, in which he stated that power ultimately derives from the people.

1813 - USA: In the War of 1812 (1812-1814), Captain James Lawrence, commanding the U.S. frigate Hornet, captured the British ship Peacock.

1863 - USA: The Territory of Arizona was formed from the Territory of New Mexico. Its first capital was established at Fort Whipple in 1864.

1890 - USA: The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was designated to be held in Chicago by the House of Representatives. The fair was to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.

1909 - Brighton: Colour films are screened in public for the first time.

1911 - Berlin: The Reichstag votes to increase the German standing Army by 515,000.

1915 - France: 1,000 British suffragettes arrive in the country to take up war work.

1917 - UK: The Zimmerman note, a coded message from German foreign minister Alfred Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico, was given to Walter Hines Page, U.S. ambassador to Britain by the British who had decoded it. The note suggested that in the event of U.S. entry into the war against Germany, Germany would propose an alliance with Mexico. The contents of the note were made public on March 1.

1920 - Poland: Thousands of people are feared to have died after a Typhus epidemic.

1930 - USSR: A report claimed that an average 40 "kulaks" (rich peasants) - were being murdered every day by Stalin's agents.

1933 - Germany: Adolf Hitler authorizes Nazi paramilitaries to act as police in the state of Prussia.

1934 - Germany: Millions of people swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler at ceremonies in Munich and Berlin.

1936 - London: In his first speech as foreign secretary Anthony Eden advocates "Peace through Strength."

1940 - Europe: Germany and Italy sign a trade agreement giving Italy an increased coal supply.

1941 - Mediterranean: Italian forces repel a British attempt to capture the island of Castelrosso.

1942 - Black Sea: Around 764 Romanian Jewish refugees heading for Palestine are killed when a Soviet submarine sinks their steamer Struma.

1943 - Tunisia: Irwin Rommel is appointed to command Army Group Africa.

1944 - Burma: The Allies clear the Japanese from the Ngakyedauk Pass in the Arkan.

1955 - USA: "Silk Stockings", Cole Porter's version of Ninotchka opened at the Music Box in New York City.

1958 - London: The government announces that U.S. missiles will be based in East Anglia, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire.

1961 - UK: Jodrell Bank scientists announce they have sent telegraph signals to Australia by bouncing them off the moon.

1963 - UK: The Rolling Stones began a Sunday night residency at The Station Hotel in Richmond, Surrey, being paid £24 and appearing on their first night to 66 people.

1969 - London: The Jimi Hendrix Experience played their last-ever British performance playing the Royal Albert Hall.

1971 - USA: The Supreme Court ruled that illegally obtained evidence, generally inadmissible in a criminal trial, could be used to contradict a defendant's voluntary testimony. The decision marked a significant alteration of the Miranda ruling of 1966.

1972 - Paris: North Vietnamese delegates walk out of peace talks in protest at U.S. bombing campaigns.

1974 - London: A £1 million Vermeer painting is stolen from Kenwood House Gallery.

1977 - USA: Citing human rights violations as the reason, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance announced a reduction in U.S. aid to Argentina, Ethiopia, and Uruguay. Vance stated that strategic nations such as South Korea did not face similar treatment.

1982 - USA: John Lennon and Yoko Ono win the Grammy Award for Best Album with "Double Fantasy."

1988 - USA: The right to criticize public figures was strongly endorsed by the Supreme Court, 8-0, when it overturned a $200,000 award to the Reverend Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority. The award had been made on the basis of an insulting parody in Hustler magazine. The court said such free speech is to be protected even when it is "Outrageous." Civil libertarians and press organizations hailed the decision.

1990 - USSR: The first multi-party elections since 1917 are held, for the new Lithuanian parliament.

1991 - Gulf: Allied tanks begin to race north with the aim of encircling the Iraqi army.

1992 - USA: The closing of 21 auto plants in the U.S. and Canada over the next several years was announced by General Motors. 12 plants, affecting 16,300 workers, were to be shut down within three years. At the same time the nation's largest auto manufacturer reported a loss in 1991 of $4,445,000,000, the largest in American corporate history.

1997 - Edinburgh: A research team at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute announces the world's first successful cloning of an adult mammal, revealing "Dolly" the sheep to the world.

1998 - London: Britain's plans for the Millennium are launched in Greenwich, where details of the Millennium Dome were announced.

2002 - UK: Sting began a two-week stint at No.1 on the UK Album chart with "Sting, The Very Best of."

2006 - USA: NASA announces an unusual Gamma ray burst GRB 060218 which was believed to be the predecessor to a supernova. It was located 440 million light-years away, and lasted for 33 minutes.

2008 - Cuba: Fidel Castro retires after being President of Cuba for 50 years.

2011 - USA: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its final mission.

2013 - Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai orders the U.S. to leave Wardak province after allegations of torture associated with U.S. forces.

February 25th

1863 - USA: Congress passed the National Banking Act, designed by Salmon P. Chase, providing for a system of national banks.

1870 - USA: The first black to take his seat in Congress, was Senator Hiram R. Revels, Republican of Mississippi.

1909 - Dresden: The first performance of Richard Strauss's opera "Elektra" is given.

1916 - Western Front: General Joffre appoints General Petain head of the French 2nd Army.

1918 - London: Meat, butter and margarine rationing began.

1925 - Turkey: A Kurdish uprising breaks out against the government of Mustafa Kemal.

1929 - South Africa: A bill giving the votes to "coloureds" but not to blacks, is defeated.

1933 - USA: The first U.S. aircraft carrier specifically designed for the purpose, the U.S.S. Ranger, was christened at Newport News, Virginia, by Mrs Herbert Hoover.

1935 - Paris: Louis Lumiere displays an experimental three-dimensional film at the Academie des Sciences.

1939 - Berlin: A decree is issued stating that 100 Jews a day must quit the Reich.

1940 - Atlantic: The Royal Navy ships Escort, Imogen, and Inglefield and the submarine Narwhal sink a U-Boat off North-west Scotland.

1941 - Netherlands: The SS clamps down on a wave of popular demonstrations and strikes protesting against the persecution of the Jews.

1942 - Washington: Thousands of American residents of Japanese descent are forcibly moved from the west coast to internment camps in inland states.

1943 - UK: The RAF and the USAAF establish a pattern of round-the-clock bombing, they begin by hitting Nuremberg.

1945 - Japan: 172 U.S. B-29 bombers drop their payloads of 450 tons of incendiaries on Tokyo, gutting around 28,000 buildings.

1946 - China: Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek agree to establish a National Army, in which Nationalists and Communists will join.

1949 - New Mexico: A flight altitude record was set when an American guided missile, the WAC-Corporal, was launched at White Sands, New Mexico. It reached an altitude of 250 miles, the highest altitude ever achieved by a manmade projectile.

1955 - Bangkok: The South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) holds its first meeting.

1957 - USA: In a censorship ruling, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the conviction of a Detroit bookseller for selling John Howard Griffin's book "The Devil Rides Outside." The ruling voided the Michigan penal law banning the sale of books that might corrupt youth. Justice Felix Frankfurter said the law would reduce adults in Michigan to reading only what might be deemed fit for children.

1963 - Washington: The Supreme Court frees 187 Negros jailed for protesting at segregation in South Carolina.

1964 - USA: The world heavyweight boxing championship was won by Muhammad Ali, in a bout in Miami Beach, Florida, defeating Sonny Liston who could not answer the bell because of an injury to his left arm. Ali announced he would give Liston a rematch, but the WBA, claiming it had a rule forbidding return bouts, declared the heavyweight title vacant and made plans for an elimination tournament. When their contender Cleveland Williams was shot by Texas highway police, the WBA postponed its plans until 1965. The Ali-Liston bout scheduled for November 16 in Boston, was called off 70 hours before the bell, after Ali went into hospital for a hernia operation.

1965 - London: The Conservative Party decides that its future leaders, will be elected by Tory MP's.

1969 - USA: Mariner 7 was successfully launched towards Mars. On July 30 it passed within 2,120 miles of the Martian surface, sending back 74 photographs.

1972 - UK: Miners vote 27-1 in favour of a pay settlement.

1973 - Israel: The government agrees to pay compensation for shooting down a Libyan Boeing 727 airliner which killed 74 passengers and crew.

1976 - Moscow: Party officials prepare to issue thousands of posters of Margaret Thatcher depicted as the "Wicked Cold War Witch."

1977 - UK: The Jam signed to Polydor Records UK for £6,000.

1984 - UK: The Thompson Twins scored their first UK No.1 album with "Into The Gap."

1985 - USA: U2 began their first full US arena tour, kicking off the the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

1995 - USA: Madonna began a seven week run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Take A Bow."

1997 - USA: Eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont is found guilty of murdering Olympic champion wrestler David Schultz. Despite claiming to be the Dalai Lama, he failed to convince the jury that he was insane.

2004: USA: The Rolling Stones topped a U.S rich list of music's biggest money makers. The list was based on earnings during their 2003 "Forty Licks Tour" which netted them $212 million.

2007 - USA: "The Departed" wins the Best Picture and Best Director Oscar for Martin Scorsese at the 79th Academy Awards.

2009 - Australia: An Australian study classifies a fossilized fish as one of the earliest known vertebrates to use internal fertilization.

2011 - UK: Photographs of the Victorian Era and parole details for women prisoners in the UK are published on Ancestry.com.

2013 - Indian Ocean: Scientists announce the finding of fragments of the ancient lost city of "Rodinia"

February 26th

1813 - USA: Robert R. Livingston, one of the leading figures in the development of steam transportation died in New York aged 66. Livingston had financed Robert Fulton's first successful steamboat, the Clermont, which had sailed up the Hudson River in 1807. As a result of Fulton's early support, Livingston had secured a monopoly on steamboat shipping in New York waters. Livingston was a man of many achievements. He had been a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776. As the first chancellor of the State of New York, he had administered the presidential oath to George Washington in 1789 and in 1801, as U.S. minister to France, conducted the negotiations that led to the Louisiana Purchase.

1900 - London: The Grand Theatre in Islington is destroyed by fire.

1912 - UK: Around 2,000 Derbyshire coal miners go on strike.

1920 - Russia: Lenin promises to create a democratic parliament and pay of 60% of Russia's debts.

1922 - Paris: The UK and France agree on a 20-year alliance between the two countries.

1924 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler and Erich von Ludendorff go on trial for their part in the failed "beer-hall putsch."

1940 - Finland: The Finnish army evacuates Koivisto fort, and prepares for a prolonged siege at Viipuri.

1942 - Burma: The Japanese push west of Sittang to threaten the rail link between Rangoon and Mandalay.

1944 - UK: Oxford win the wartime boat race on the River Ouse.

1945 - Damascus: The Syrian government declares war on Germany and Japan.

1955 - USA: Some 4,000 atomic bombs had been stockpiled by the U.S, and 1,000 by the USSR, according to an unofficial estimate of Professor Cecil F. Powell, the British scientist and Nobel Prize winner in Physhics.

1959 - Sothern Rhodesia: A state of emergency is declared dissolving African nationalist parties.

1960 - USA: James R. Hoffa was called completely dishonest with respect to his promise to rid the Teamster's Union of criminal elements. The charge against Hoffa, president of the union, was made by a Senate select committee.

1962 - USA: Segregation laws in transportation facilities, both interstate and intrastate, were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ordered a federal court in Mississippi to act against state segregation laws in terminals.

1964 - USA: "The Deputy", a play by Rolf Hochhuth adapted by Jerome Rothenberg, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City. A sensation even before its first performance, it charged Pope Pius XII with partial responsibility for the deaths of millions of Jews during World War II by reason of his failure to take a public stand against the Nazis.

1967 - UK: 30 people are held in police drug raids in the West Country.

1970 - USA: The Army announced it would discontinue surveillance of civilian demonstrations and maintenance of files on civilians who might be involved in civil disturbances.

1972 - USA: A coal-slag dam collapsed in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, after three days of torrential rain, killing some 118 people.

1975 - USA: Wallace Muhammad was named head of the Nation of Islam, a day after the death of his father Elijah Muhammad, in Chicago.

1977 - USA: The Eagles went to No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with "New Kid In Town."

1982 - USA: Widespread use of Marijuana in the U.S. "justifies serious national concern" the National Academy of Sciences contended in reporting the results of the most comprehensive study yet of the effects of Marijuana smoking.

1985 - UK: Michael Fairley, the hooded rapist known as "The Fox" is given six life sentences.

1987 - USA: The Tower Commission Report on the Iran-Contra affair was critical of President Reagan for failing to understand or control the secret attempt to trade arms to Iran for the release of American hostages being held in Lebanon and divert profits from the sale to the Nicaraguan Contras.

1989 - London: More than 15,000 people protest at plans to build a high speed rail link to the Channel Tunnel.

1992 - Virginia: A group of Australian financiers and investors win $27 million in the state lottery after buying seven million $1 tickets.

1993 - New York: Six people are killed, and over a thousand are injured by a truck-bomb blast at the World Trade Center.

1995 - Cambridge: Scientists reveal that an iceberg the size of Oxfordshire has broken away from Antarctica.

2000 - USA: Lonestar began a two-week run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Amazed."

2007 - UK: UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne announces the deployment of an additional 1,400 troops to Afghanistan.

2009 - Ireland: 13,000 civil servants stage a one-day strike action.

2012 - China: A bus plunges off a cliff in Shanxi, killing 15 tourists.

2013 - USA: U.S researchers announce a flexible battery that can be charged wirelessly and will continue to work when folded, twisted or stretched.

February 27th

1807 - USA: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of America's most popular and revered poets, was born in Portland, Maine. His birthday came to be celebrated for many years in public schools throughout the nation. One of the earliest records of such a celebration appeared in the biennial report of the superintendent of schools in West Virginia in 1905. The Historical Society of Cambridge, Massachusetts, celebrated the centenary of Longfellow's birth in 1907.

1918 - Ireland: Lawlessness is reported to have become widespread.

1922 - USA: The 19th amendment to the Constitution, providing for women's suffrage was declared constitutional by a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court.

1925 - Munich: Adolf Hitler makes his first public appearance since his release from prison, making a speech at the Burgerbrakeller in Munich of his resurrected Nazi Party.

1931 - USA: The "New York World" was merged with a Scripps-Howard paper, "The New York Telegram", to form "The New York World-Telegram.". The "World's editor, Walter Lippmann, joined the "Herald Tribune" and launched a syndicated column that immediately became popular throughout the country.

1938 - Austria: Troops surround Graz to prevent a march by Austrian Nazis.

1941 - Amsterdam: Martial law is declared as 389 Jews arrested the previous week are deported to Buchenwald concentration camp.

1942 - Bay of Bengal: Japan raids the Andaman Islands.

1943 - Berlin: Jewish slave workers in arms factories are deported to Auschwitz.

1945 - Germany: Allied forces enter Monchengladbach.

1946 - New York: "The Road to Utopia" starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour opens across the city.

1960 - USA: Connecticut bans "Playboy" magazine from its newsstands.

1962 - London: MP's pass a bill to restrict immigration from the Commonwealth.

1964 - UK: Cilla Black was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Anyone Who Had A Heart."

1971 - USA: Five months after her death Janis Joplin began a nine-week run at No.1 on the U.S. album chart with "Pearl."

1975 - USA: Procedures to reduce the dangers of genetic research, including the possibility of creating organisms that cause cancer or are drug-resistant, were agreed to by biologists from 17 countries at a conference in California.

1976 - London: The Post Office announces the end of Sunday collections and Saturday afternoon post office opening.

1977 - Canada: Keith Richards was arrested by Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Toronto's Harbour Castle Hotel, for possession of heroin and cocaine.

1980 - USA: The Doobie Brothers win Song of the year at the Grammy Awards with "What A Fool Believes."

1982 - London: The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company gives its last Gilbert and Sullivan performance at the Adelphi Theatre.

1991 - USA: Soul singer James Brown was paroled after two years of a six year prison sentence, imposed for resisting arrest after a car chase across two states.

1993 - London: An IRA bomb attack injures 18 people in Camden.

1996 - New York: The UN Security Council strongly denounces Cuba for shooting down two unarmed planes belonging to a Cuban exile group.

1999 - UK: Britney Spears began a two-week stint at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Baby One More Time." it went on to be the biggest selling single of the year.

2002 - London: Ryanair flight 296 catches fire at Stansted Airport. An investigation criticized Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.

2007 - USA: A hail storm causes damage to the "Atlantis" space shuttle, delaying the STS - 117 launch proposed for March 15.

2010 - Chile: An 8.8 magnitude earthquake hits near the city of Concepcion.

2012 - Africa: East Africa's high speed internet access is severely damaged by a ship dropping its anchor onto fibre-optic cables off the coast of Mombasa, Kenya.

February 28th

1827 - USA: The Woolens Bill stalled in the Senate. The bill, which increased tariffs on raw and manufactured wool, had been passed by the House but was tabled in the Senate by the tie-breaking vote of Vice-President John C. Calhoun. Rejection of the bill stimulated the high tariff forces on the manufacturing centres of the North; at the same time, the South opposed the tariffs because they disturbed world markets on which its agricultural economy depended.

1906 - USA: One person is killed and many are injured during racial rioting in Springfield, Ohio.

1911 - UK: The Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers is created.

1921 - Armenia: A report states that the Turks have carried out horrific massacres of Armenians near Kars and Alexandropol.

1927 - Budapest: 70 arrests are made following the discovery of an alleged Communist plot to overthrow the government.

1931 - UK: Imperial Airways start a new route connecting London with Central Africa.

1933 - Germany: Communist playwright Bertolt Brecht goes into voluntary exile in protest against the Nazis.

1940 - UK: The first in a new line of destroyers HMS "King George V" is launched.

1942 - Poland: 10,000 Jews from Lodz are gassed to death in Chelmno; while figures stated 4,618 Jews had died from starvation in the Warsaw Ghetto.

1944 - Pacific: U.S. cavalrymen land on the Admiralty Islands, taking Los Negros airfield.

1945 - Germany: The U.S. first army, crosses the River Erft, six miles from Cologne, to be met by strong resistence.

1949 - Vietnam: Seven French officers are killed by a Vietminh mine near Saigon.

1954 - UK: Dylan Thomas's radio play "Under Milk Wood" has it's first reading at the Old Vic Theatre.

1957 - UK: Vauxhall launces its new "Victor" saloon car which gives 40 miles per gallon.

1958 - USA: A school bus collided with a car and plunged into the Big Sandy River near Prestonburg, Kentucky. The driver and 27 children drowned.

1964 - UK: The Yardbirds played the "Rhythm and Blues Festival" at the Town Hall in Birmingham.

1968 - UK: Esther and Abi Ofarim were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Cinderella Rockefella."

1970 - USA: Charges of institutional racism were levelled at Daniel Patrick Moynihan, domestic advisor to President Nixon, after a leak to the press of his private memo stating "the time may have come when the issue of race could benefit from a period of benign neglect" Moynihan later said the memo meant that blacks would fare better if advocates at both ends of the political spectrum were less vocal.

1971 - USA: The U.S. PGA golf tournament was won by Jack Nicklaus, by three strokes from Billy Casper.

1973 - USA: Wounded Knee, South Dakota, was occupied by militant members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) to dramatize the group's demands for free elections of tribal leaders, investigation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and review of all U.S. Indian treaties. The Group surrendered on May 8 after officials promised to investigate the complaints.

1974 - USA: The $6,400,000 lawsuit against the Committee to Re-elect the President for its involvement in the Watergate break-in was settled. The Democratic National Committee accepted $775,000.

1983 - UK: Yorkshire and South Wales miners are called out on strike in protest at planned pit closures.

1985 - Northern Ireland: Nine RUC men are killed in an IRA mortar attack on a police station in Newry.

1988 - Calgary: K.D. Lang performed at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

1990 - UK: 18 Oxfordshire Tory Councillors resign over Government rules that forced their poll tax up from £253 to £412.

1993 - USA: Six people are killed in a gun battle between federal agents and members of the Branch Davidian Sect in Waco, Texas.

1994 - Bosnia: NATO fires its first shots in anger over Bosnia, shooting down four Serb warplanes, which ha bombed a Bosnian munitions factory.

2005 - Iraq: A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hiliazh kills 127 people.

2007 - Paris: Two paintings by Pablo Picasso "Maya with the Doll" and "Jacquline" are stolen from the painter's granddaughter's apartment.

2010 - Brazil: 80 tons of dead fish are discovered and removed from a lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, due to localized ocean anoxia and algal blooms.

2013 - Space: A third temporary radiation belt is discovered around the Earth by NASA's twin Van Allen probes.