Today is Friday, February 19, the 50th day of 2010. There are 315 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

2003: Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, 78, and his son Gerard Ntakirutimana, 45, a doctor, are convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in Rwanda by the UN International Criminal Tribunal. The pastor, the first clergyman convicted by the tribunal, is sentenced to 10 years in prison. His son received 25years.

Other Notable Events

1618: Peace of Madrid is ratified, ending war between Venice and Austria.

1674: Treaty of Westminster is signed, whereby Britain withdraws support for French in war against Dutch.

1797: Pope Pius VI, by Treaty of Tolentino, cedes Romagna, Bologna and Ferrara to France, as Napoleon Bonaparte advances through Tyrol to Vienna.

1803: Act of Mediation is passed in Switzerland, under which cantons regain independence.

1878: American inventor Thomas Edison receives a patent for his phonograph.

1927: Chinese Nationalists extract a reduction of concessions from Britain at Hankow and Kiukiang.

1942: First Japanese attack on Australian mainland in World War II when aircraft attack Darwin and nearby military bases killing 243, sinking eight ships and destroying 23 aircraft.

1951: A popular revolution in Nepal overthrows the 104-year rule of the Rana political dynasty and restores the royal family’s power.

1959: Agreement is signed in London by Greece, Turkey and Britain for independence of Cyprus.

1990: About 500 protesters break into government headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, calling for resignation of President Ion Iliescu.

1991: Boris Yeltsin calls for the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev, saying Gorbachev is sacrificing reform for increased personal power.

1993: A packed ferry carrying up to 1,500 people sinks in stormy seas off Haiti. Only 285 people are known to have survived.

1994: Gunmen kill 18 young ANC supporters in Natal province, South Africa, the first major act of violence in a Zulu anti-election campaign.

1995: Dozens are injured when landowners attack hundreds of parishioners guarding the cathedral in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico, accusing their bishop of fomenting the Zapatista rebellion.

1996: The World Health Organisation confirms that the Ebola virus killed 13 villagers in Gabon.

1997: Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who guided the country from political chaos and economic ruin toward prosperity in the post-Mao era, dies in Beijing at age 92.

1998: Four UN observers are kidnapped in Georgia. The kidnappers are surrounded by heavily armed troops and surrender after a week.

2004: The UN Development Programme awards $30,000 each to seven tropical communities including Proyecto Nasa in Colombia, Mexico’s Comunidad Indigena de Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro and GREEN Foundation in India, for their work to reduce poverty while conserving biological wealth.

2005: A private banker who had millions hidden in his home in Ireland is freed without immediate charge as police search financial records nationwide for clues into an alleged IRA money-laundering ring and links to a massive Belfast bank robbery.

2006: Israel’s Cabinet approves an immdiate freeze on the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax money to the Palestinians in its first response to the takeover of the Palestinian parliament by the militant group Hamas.

2007: Two bombs explode on a train headed from India to Pakistan, sparking a fire that kills 66 people in an attack officials say was aimed at undermining the peace process between the rivals.

2008: An ailing Fidel Castro resigns as Cuba’s president after nearly a half-century in power.

2009: A jury in Moscow votes unanimously to acquit three men in the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Today’s Birthdays

David Garrick, English author-dramatist (1717-1779); Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (1743-1805); Sir William McMahon, former Australian prime minister (1908-1988); Merle Oberon, British actress (1911-1979); Smokey Robinson, US singer (1940-); Michael Nader, US actor (1945-); England’s Prince Andrew (1960-); Seal, US singer (1963-); Benicio Del Toro, actor (1967-).