February 16th

The Kyoto Protocol comes into force following its ratification by Russia.

Turkish commandos captured Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya, sparking seizures of embassies in Europe by Kurds.

The first trial against John Demjanjuk begins in Jerusalem. Demjanjuk was falsely accused of being a particularly brutal nazi guard dubbed “Ivan the Terrible”; in a separate trial in 2011, he was convicted by a German criminal court as an accessory to the murder of 27,900 people.

Hezbollah is founded. The Lebanese political party and militant group is classified as a terrorist organization by several western countries.

The country's first 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, Ala.

Fidel Castro became the leader of Cuba after having ousted the right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Nylon was patented.

Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb and finds the sarcophagus.

Lithuania proclaimed its independence from Russia.

American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica.

U.S. frigate Philadelphia, captured and held by Barbary pirates at Tripoli during the Tripolitan War, was set fire to and destroyed by a small group of men led by Stephen Decatur.

1st known cheque (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey).