Today is Thursday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2016. There are 310 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1545 – Scots defeat English forces at Ancrum Moor.
1570 – England’s Queen Elizabeth I is excommunicated by Pope Pius V.
1601 – England’s Earl of Essex, former favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, is executed for treason after his attempt to start a rebellion fails.
1713 – Sweden’s King Charles XII is taken prisoner by the Ottoman Sultan.
1793 – American President George Washington convenes the first Cabinet meeting on record – at his home.
1836 – American inventor Samuel Colt patents his revolver.
1870 – Hiram R. Revels became the first black member of the U.S. Senate as he is sworn in to serve out the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis.
1885 – Germany annexes Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
1913 – The 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, authorizing an income tax, goes into effect.
1940 – A hockey game is televised for the first time, by New York City station W2XBS, as the New York Rangers defeat the Montreal Canadians 6-2 at Madison Square Garden.
1948 – Communists stage a coup in Czechoslovakia.
1954 – Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser usurps power as premier of Egypt.
1956 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounces late dictator Josef Stalin before Communist Party Congress in Moscow, beginning the “de-Stalinization” movement.
1976 – United States vetoes U.N. resolution deploring Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem.
1986 – Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos resigns, brought down by a “people’s power” uprising, military revolt, and U.S. pressure.
1988 – Thousands demonstrate in Soviet Armenia despite directive to local authorities to restore order.
1990 – Nicaraguans vote in an election that led to an upset victory for opponents of the ruling Sandinistas.
1991 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein orders his forces, under attack by allied ground troops, to withdraw from Kuwait.
1992 – Imelda Marcos accepts Philippine government conditions for returning her husband’s body.
1994 – American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he is beaten to death by worshippers.
1995 – Two bombs blow apart a train car reserved for the military in northeastern India, killing at least 26 soldiers and wounding more than 30.
1996 – Militant Palestinian suicide bomber sets off an explosion on a Jerusalem bus, killing 26.
2001 – Peace talks aimed at resolving Burundi’s 7-year-old civil war end without resolution. The talks had sought to revive a multiethnic power-sharing agreement signed by many of the warring groups.
2005 – Argentina completes the biggest debt restructuring in history, hoping to end its status as an international financial pariah three years after a devastating economic crisis.
2009 – Turkish Airlines jetliner plows into a muddy field near Amsterdam’s main airport but nearly everyone on board —125 people — survive. Nine die including both pilots.
2011 – Hundreds of thousands pour out of mosques and stage protests across the Arab world, some trying to shake off autocratic rulers and others pressuring embattled leaders to carry out sweeping reforms.
2013 – Miguel Diaz-Canel is tapped to be Cuban President Raul Castro’s chief lieutenant and likely successor.
2014 -Dozens of pro-Russian protesters rally in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea against “the bandits” in Kiev who are trying to form a new government — with some even speaking of secession.
2015 -The killing of 14-year-boy by a policeman during an anti-government protest raises already high tensions in Venezuela amid a crackdown on the opposition and crippling economic problems.
Today’s Birthdays: Gen. Jose de San Martin, hero of Argentine independence (1778-1850); Pierre Auguste Renoir, French artist (1841-1919); Enrico Caruso, Italian opera singer (1873-1921); Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (1890-1965); George Harrison, English singer and Beatle member (1943-2001); Tom Courtenay, English actor (1937–); Herb Elliott, Australian Olympic champion athlete (1938–); Tea Leoni, U.S. actress (1966–); James and Oliver Phelps, English actors (“Harry Potter” movies) (1986–).
Thought For Today:
Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom — Herbert Spencer, British philosopher (1820-1903).
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