This day in history

[February 16, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2010. There are 318 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Feb. 16, 1960, the nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton departed New London, Conn. on the first-ever totally submerged circumnavigation by a vessel, a voyage which took nearly three months.

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

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 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: Lucy Edwards, a former Bank of New York executive, and her husband, Peter Berlin, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to conspiring to launder billions of dollars from Russian bankers in one of the biggest such schemes in U.S. history. (The couple was fined, put under house arrest for six months and given suspended sentences.)

Five years ago: The NHL canceled what was left of its decimated schedule after a round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap -- the flash-point issue that had led to a lockout. Israel's parliament gave the final approval to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.

One year ago: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Tokyo to begin her first trip abroad as President Barack Obama's chief diplomat. The government of Pakistan agreed to implement Islamic law in the northwestern region of Malakand in an attempt to pacify a spreading Taliban insurgency. In Stamford, Conn., a 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis went berserk, severely mauling its owner's friend, Charla Nash; Travis was shot dead by police. Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korea's first Roman Catholic cardinal and advocate for democracy, died at age 86.

Today's birthdays: Singer Patty Andrews is 92. Kim Jong Il, the president of North Korea, is 68. Actor Jeremy Bulloch is 64. Actor Pete Postlethwaite is 64. Actor William Katt is 59. Actor LeVar Burton is 53. Actor-rapper Ice-T is 52. Actress Lisa Loring is 52. Tennis Hall of Fame player John McEnroe is 51. Rock musician Andy Taylor is 49. Rock musician Dave Lombardo (Slayer) is 45. Rock musician Taylor Hawkins (Foofighters) is 38. Olympic gold medal runner Cathy Freeman is 37. Singer Sam Salter is 35. Rapper Lupe Fiasco is 28. Actor Mike Weinberg is 17.

Thought for today: "There are two ways to slice easily through life; to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking." -- Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American linguist (1879-1950)

[Associated Press]

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