Unix Timestamp: 1140825600
Saturday, February 25. 2006, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A G-20 finance ministers meeting is held in Mexico City to discuss progress in the Eurozone bailout. //www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/26/g-idUSL2E8DP4QR20120226 (Reuters)

Yemen:

The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 15,000 refugees have fled from southern Darfur to the Zam Zam refugee c in the north. //edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/02/26/darfur.refugees/index.html?eref=edition (CNN)

Antarctica's subglacial Gamburtsev Mountain Range is mapped. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7908824.stm (BBC)

The Special Court for Sierra Leone convicts three Revolutionary United Front commanders of war crimes and crimes against humanity during an 11-year civil war. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7910841.stm (BBC)

A suicide bomber in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, kills 8 people including Pakistan's Surgeon General, Lieutenant General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022501906.html ("The Washington Post")

Libya's Foreign Minister, Abdulrahman Shalgam, issues a statement reaffirming its acceptance of culpability for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, after the Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem, in an interview for the BBC, claimed Libya had bought peace with the $2.7bn compensation payments, but had not accepted guilt. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3487562.stm (BBC) //www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/8042204.htm (Mercury News)

Guantanamo Bay: The Pentagon announces that the first charges are to be filed against two of the six hundred detainees of the detention c, but human rights groups have had their request to observe the military tribunals turned down. The defendants are named as Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al-Bahlul and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, both alleged to be Al-Qaeda members and charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3518653.stm (BBC) The Pentagon also confirms that even if cleared by the tribunals, the defendants may still not be released. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3487958.stm (BBC)

King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who recently made a statement in support of same-sex marriage, responded to an insulting e-mail by announcing he is not gay. The king is 81 years old and has 14 children. //www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/25/wcam25.xmlsSheet=/news/2004/02/25/ixworld.html ("Telegraph")

Pakistani leaders pressure Muslim militants in Kashmir to declare a ceasefire with India. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tries to gain Muslim votes for his Bharatiya Janata Party with the prospect of peace with Pakistan. //in.news.yahoo.com/040225/137/2bnd1.html (Reuters) //in.news.yahoo.com/040225/137/2bo5l.html (Reuters)

A wolverine, the state animal of Michigan, has been spotted in that state for the first time in 200 years.! Broken link //story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=storyu=/ap/20040225/ap_on_re_us/wolverine_sighting_2

Two suicide bombs in Israel kill 25 and injure 80 Hamas claims responsibility.

Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) (Organización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica OTCA).

Israeli KahanistBaruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank he kills 29 Muslims before worshippers beat him to death.

February 26 – 613 Azerbaijani civilians are massacred in Khojaly.

Gulf War: Part of an Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 29 and injuring 99 U.S. soldiers. It is the single-most devastating attack on U.S. forces during that war.

St. Kitts and Nevis recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tase children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.

M-19 guerrillas begin the Dominican embassy siege in Colombia, holding 60 people hostage, including 14 ambassadors.

The Commonwealth Trade Union Council is established.

Iran recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The "Voyager 1" probe confirms the existence of Janus, a moon of Saturn.

A coup in Suriname ousts the government of Henck Arron leaders Desi Bouterse and Roy Horb replace it with a National Military Council.

Vietnam War: Ha My massacre.

Muhammad Ali beats Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Florida, and is crowned the heavyweight chion of the world.

The last public trams in Sydney, Australia, cease operation, bringing to an end the Southern Hemisphere's largest tramway network.

Bertrand Russell launches the Caign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a cult of personality.

U.S. Capitol shooting incident: Four Puerto Rican nationalists open fire in the United States House of Representatives chamber and wound five they were apprehended by security guards.

U.S. officials announce that a hydrogen bomb test (Castle Bravo) has been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes premier of Egypt.

Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke after an all-night dinner with Soviet Union interior minister Lavrenty Beria and future premiers Georgi Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev. The stroke paralyzes the right side of his body and renders him unconscious until his death on March 5.

Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia sign the Balkan Pact.

James D. Watson and Francis Crick of the University of Cambridge announce their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.

Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg is made deputy constable and lieutenant governor of Windsor Castle.

Release, in France, of Jacques Tati's film "Les vacances de M. Hulot", introducing the "gauche" character of Monsieur Hulot.

Parícutin active volcano in Michoacán, west central Mexico ceases its discontinuous eruption after spewing forth a gigaton of lava and burying San Juan Parangaricutiro.

The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia, a day celebrated by that regime as Victorious February (Czech:"Vítězný únor" Slovak:"Víťazný Február") until November 1989.

The 14th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles How Green Was My Valley wins Best Picture.

The Princess Elizabeth registers for war service.

The worst coal dust explosion to date, in Honkeiko, China, claims 1,549 lives.

Battle of Los Angeles: Over 1,400 AA shells are fired at an unidentified, slow-moving object in the skies over Los Angeles. The appearance of the object triggers an immediate wartime blackout over most of Southern California, with thousands of air raid wardens being deployed throughout the city. In total there are 6 deaths. Despite the several hour barrage no planes are downed.

The British submarine HMS ''Upright'' (N89) attacks an Italian covoy sinking the Italian cruiser "Armando Diaz".

Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.

In California, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles fails, killing 600.

Malta becomes a British dominion.

Francisco Franco becomes General of Spain.

Art Gillham records for Columbia Records the first Western Electric masters to be commercially released.

Murderer Henri Désiré Landru is beheaded by the guillotine.

Oregon places a one cent per US gallon (0.26¢/liter) tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.

In an accident at Grove Hill, Harrow, London, England, Edwin Sewell becomes the world's first driver of a petrol-driven vehicle to be killed his passenger, Maj. James Richer, dies of injuries three days later.

The majority of the Yavapai (Wipukyipai) and Tonto Apache (Dil Zhéé) tribes are forced by the U.S. Cavalry under command of Brigadier General George Crook to walk at gunpoint from the Arizona's Verde Valley, to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, 180 miles to the southeast. The two tribes are not allowed to return to the Verde Valley until 1900.

Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.

American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia (the 500 prisoners had left Richmond, Virginia seven days before).

The "HMS Birkenhead" sinks near Cape Town, South Africa. Only 193 of the 643 on board survive after troops stand firm on the deck so as not to flood the lifeboats containing women and children.

The Provisional Cession of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands established by Lord George Paulet.

May ndash Samuel Morse patents the telegraph.

Martin Van Buren succeeds Andrew Jackson as President of the United States.

The city of Chicago is incorporated.

In Philadelphia, The Institute for Colored Youth (ICY) is founded as the first institution for the higher education of black people in the United States.

Samuel Colt receives a United States patent for the Colt revolver, the first revolving barrel multishot firearm.

A Convention of 57 delegates from Texas communities gathers in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.

Antonio García Gutiérrez's play "El Trovador" is performed for the first time in Madrid, Spain.

Battle of Valls: Spanish forces are defeated in Catalonia by Marshal Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr.

A major redistribution of territorial sovereignty within the Holy Roman Empire is enacted via an act known as the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss.

William Tate surrenders to the British at Fishguard.

George Washington holds the first Cabinet meeting as President of the United States.

Guatemalan Sergeant Major Melchor de Mencos y Varón departs the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala with an infantry battalion, to fight British pirates that reportedly disembarked on the coasts of Petén (today Belize) and were sacking the nearby towns.//www.inforpressca.com/melchordemencos/historia.php Historia del Municipio de Melchor de Mencos, Petén!

Frederick William I of Prussia begins his reign.

Thirty Years\\' War: Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria becomes Elector of the Electorate of the Palatinate.

March ndash French explorer Samuel Chlain sails to Canada.

The Portuguese ship "Santa Catarina" is seized by Dutch East India Company ships off Singapore. The first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia is established in Banten.

Spring ndash Possible first performance of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet".ref name=CBH Scholars date its writing as between 1599 and 1601.

Robert Devereux is beheaded.

Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England with the bull "Regnans in Excelsis".

Jacob Hutter is burned at the stake for heresy.

K\\'an Joy Chitam I comes to power in the Maya city of Palenque, ending a interregnum of a little over four years.

Rudravarman granted investiture by China as the first king of the fourth dynasty of Cha (modern Vietnam).

The Benedictine Order is established at Monte Cassino near Naples by Benedict of Nursia, who founds a monastery and formulates for his monks strict rules in the "Regula Benedicti".

The Academy founded at Athens by Plato in about 387 BC closes down by order of Justinian I on charges of un-Christian activity. Many of the school's professors emigrate to Persia and Syria.

The Canons of the Council of Orange are established, approving the Augustinian doctrine of sin and grace over Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism, but without Augustine's absolute predestination.

Epiphanius is elected patriarch of Constantinople by the Byzantine emperor Justin I.

The construction of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, is started (approximate date).

Onoulphus, brother of Odoacer, is killed during the siege of Ravenna by archers while seeking refuge in a church.

Odoacer surrenders Ravenna after a 3-year siege and agrees to a mediated peace with Theodoric the Great. He steadily consolidates his rule and provides security for the local population. His achievement is to manage the transformation of Italy from being the center of a fractured Roman Empire to a successful and independent Ostrogothic Kingdom.The End of Empire (p. 275). Christopher Kelly, 2009. ISBN 978-0-393-33849-2

Emperor Hadrian makes Antoninus Pius his successor, on condition that he adopts Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.