February 26th

Trayon Martin, 17, was shot to death in Sanford, Fla., during an altercation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who said he'd acted in self-defense. (Zimmerman is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder.).

Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections, asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76.

A U.N. tribunal convicted Bosnian Croat political leader Dario Kordic and military commander Mario Cerkez of war crimes for ordering the systematic murder and persecution of Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war.

Barings PLC, Britain's oldest investment banking firm, collapsed after a securities dealer lost more than $1.4 billion by gambling on Tokyo stock prices.

A bomb exploded at the World Trade Center in New York. The blast killed six people and injured more than 1,000.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.

The Tower Commission issued its report on the Iran-Contra affair, rebuking President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

National Public Radio was incorporated.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) was first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt.

Country musician Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Ark.

The first German Expressionist film is premiered. “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” by Robert Wiene is considered one of the best silent film of the horror genre.

Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

The world's first jazz record is created. The “Original Dixieland Jass Band” recorded “Livery Stable Blues” for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.

A color motion picture is shown to the general public for the first time. A series of 21 short Kinemacolor film were presented at the Palace Theatre in London.

Leaders of the Boxer Uprising in China, Chi-hsui and Hsu Cheng-yu, were beheaded.

Berlin Conference gives Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to Great Britain.

New York City's first pneumatic-powered subway line was opened to the public. (The tunnel was only a block long.).

The Second French Republic was proclaimed.

Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

Bank of England issues first £1 note.

Roman Inquisition delivers injunction to Galileo demanding he abandon his belief in heliocentrism.