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This Day in History - February 11

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Today is the 42nd day of 2012. There are 324 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

1990: African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years in South African prisons.

Other Events

1254: The British Parliament first convenes.

1531: King Henry VIII is recognised as Supreme Head of the Church in England.

1812: Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a redistricting law that favours his party — giving rise to the term "gerrymandering".

1889: Constitution is granted in Japan, with two-chamber Diet, but Emperor retains extensive powers.

1929: Italy signs the Lateran Treaty; establishing an independent Vatican City.

1956: Referendum in Malta favours integration with Britain. 1967: Military rule is imposed in Beijing during civil strife in China.

1971: Treaty banning nuclear weapons from ocean floor is signed by 63 nations in ceremonies at Washington, London and Moscow.

1975: Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female head of the British Conservative Party.

1979: Followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seize power in Iran, nine days after the religious leader returns to his home country following 15 years of exile.

1989: Barbara Harris becomes the first consecrated female Episcopal bishop in United States.

2000: Britain strips Northern Ireland's Protestant-Catholic government of power in a bid to prevent its collapse over the Irish Republican Army's refusal to disarm.

2001: About 7,500 counterdemonstrators turn out to demonstrate against a neo-Nazi march in western Germany that draws 250 people. Four police officers suffer minor injuries, and 17 demonstrators are arrested.

2006: Adventurer Steve Fossett completes the longest nonstop flight in aviation history with an emergency landing in England, flying 26,389 miles (42,460 kilometers) in about 76 hours but stopping early because of mechanical problems.

2007: Turkmenistan holds a tightly controlled presidential election, the first ever with more than one candidate, to replace longtime, iron-fisted leader Saparmurat Niyazov. Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov wins, but shows little promise for liberalization in the isolated former Soviet republic.

Today's Birthdays

Thomas A Edison, US inventor (1847- 1931); Sidney Sheldon, US author (1917-2007); Burt Reynolds, US actor (1936--); Tina Louise, US actress (1934--); Sergio Mendes, Brazilian musician (1941- ); Sheryl Crow, US singer (1962- ); Jennifer Aniston, US actress (1969- ); Brandy, US singer/actress (1979--).