This day in history

[February 16, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Monday, Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2009. There are 318 days left in the year. This is Presidents Day.

Today's highlight in history:

On Feb. 16, 1862, during the Civil War, some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tenn. (Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant.")

On this date:

In 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.

In 1868, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

In 1918, Lithuania proclaimed its independence, which lasted until World War II. (It again declared independence in 1990).

In 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

In 1945, American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

In 1959, Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month and a half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1968, the nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated, in Haleyville, Ala.

In 1977, Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.

In 1988, seven people were shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, Calif., by a man who was obsessed with a co-worker. (The gunman, Richard Farley, is under sentence of death.)

In 1998, a China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board.

Ten years ago: Enraged Kurds seized embassies and held hostages across Europe following Turkey's arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Testimony began in the Jasper, Texas, trial of John William King, charged with murder in the gruesome dragging death of James Byrd Jr. (King was later convicted and sentenced to death.)

Five years ago: A confident John Kerry launched a full-throttle attack on President George W. Bush's economic policies, mostly ignoring his Democratic rivals on the eve of the Wisconsin primary. The Walt Disney Co. rejected a takeover bid by Comcast Corp.

One year ago: President George W. Bush, on a six-day tour of Africa, made his first stop in Benin before flying on to Tanzania. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, picked up a total of 50 GOP national convention delegates from Michigan and Louisiana. A car plowed into a group of street-racing fans obscured by a cloud of tire smoke on an isolated Maryland highway, killing eight people.

Today's birthdays: Singer Patty Andrews is 91. Kim Jong Il, the president of North Korea, is 67. Actor Jeremy Bulloch is 63. Actor Pete Postlethwaite is 63. Actor William Katt is 58. Actor LeVar Burton is 52. Actor-rapper Ice-T is 51. Actress Lisa Loring is 51. Tennis Hall of Fame player John McEnroe is 50. Rock musician Andy Taylor is 48. Rock musician Dave Lombardo (Slayer) is 44. Rock musician Taylor Hawkins (Foofighters) is 37. Singer Sam Salter is 34. Rapper Lupe Fiasco is 27. Actor Mike Weinberg is 16.

Thought for today: "The heart may think it knows better; the senses know that absence blots people out. We have really no absent friends." -- Elizabeth Bowen, Irish-born author (1899-1973)

[Associated Press]

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