February 21st

Eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement on a second, 130-billion bailout for Greece to help with the country's debt crisis.

Deep cracks opened in Moammar Gadhafi's regime, with Libyan government officials at home and abroad resigning, air force pilots defecting and a major government building ablaze after clashes in the capital of Tripoli.

It was confirmed that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was dead, allegedly murdered by Islamic militants.

Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Canada.

President George H.W. Bush called Ayatollah Khomeini's death warrant against "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie "deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior.".

TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart tearfully confessed to his congregation in Baton Rouge, La., that he was guilty of an unspecified sin, and said he was leaving the pulpit temporarily. (Reports linked Swaggart to a prostitute.).

Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.

Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the Sinai Desert, killing more than 100 people.

U.S. President Richard Nixon embarks on his historic visit to China. The first visit of a U.S. President in China was an important step in normalizing relations between the two countries.

Black nationalist leader Malcolm X was assassinated.

The peace symbol is designed by Gerald Holtom. The symbol was commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and combines the semaphore symbols for the letters N and D - an abbreviation of “Nuclear Disarmament”.

Francis Crick and James Watson discover structure of DNA-molecule.

Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.

The New Yorker magazine made its debut.

Great Britain grants Egypt independence.

Battle of Verdun, the longest and one of the bloodiest engagements of World War I, began.

Poet W.H. Auden was born in York, England.

The Washington Monument was dedicated.

The first telephone directory was issued, by the District Telephone Co. of New Haven, Conn.

Former President John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. (He died two days later.).

The world's first railway journey takes place in Wales. The first full-scale steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick, traveled from the Pen-y-darren ironworks near Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon.

Michael Romanov, son of Patriarch of Moscow, elected first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov.

Joan of Arc's first day of interrogation during her trial for heresy.

Pope Alexander III canonizes Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.