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UPI Almanac for Thursday, Feb, 26, 2015

Truck bomb explodes in World Trade Center garage, Winter Games end in Italy, Hagel confirmed as U.S. defense secretary ... on this date in history.

By United Press International
A paratrooper descends into Italy's Olympic Stadium, celebrating a cross country skiiing gold medal win by the host country on the final day of the Winter Games Feb. 26, 2006. File Photo by Heinz Ruckemann/UPI
1 of 9 | A paratrooper descends into Italy's Olympic Stadium, celebrating a cross country skiiing gold medal win by the host country on the final day of the Winter Games Feb. 26, 2006. File Photo by Heinz Ruckemann/UPI | License Photo

Today is Thursday, Feb. 26, the 57th day of 2015 with 308 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mercury and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Uranus and Venus.

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Those born this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include: British playwright Christopher Marlowe in 1564; French novelist and poet Victor Hugo in 1802; Levi Strauss, who created the world's first pair of jeans, in 1829; American frontiersman William "Buffalo Bill" Cody in 1846; surgeon and cornflakes developer John Kellogg in 1852; Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1887; actor William Frawley in 1887; actor Robert Alda in 1914; actor-comedian Jackie Gleason in 1916; actor Tony Randall in 1920; actor Betty Hutton in 1921; rock star Antoine "Fats" Domino in 1928 (age 87); former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 1928; political commentator Robert Novak in 1931; singer Johnny Cash in 1932; rock musician Mitch Ryder in 1945 (age 70); singer Michael Bolton in 1953 (age 62); Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 1954 (age 61); actor/singer Chase Masterson in 1963 (age 52).

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On this date in history:

In 1531, an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, killed more than 20,000 people.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte and 1,200 men left his exile on the Isle of Elba to start his 100-day campaign to regain France.

In 1935, Germany began operation of its air force, the Luftwaffe, under Reichmarshal Hermann Goering.

In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that the United Kingdom had an atomic bomb.

In 1984, the last U.S. Marines sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping force left Beirut.

In 1993, a powerful bomb exploded in the parking garage below the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000.

In 1994, 11 members of the Branch Davidian religious cult were acquitted of murder and conspiracy charges stemming from a federal raid and siege at the compound near Waco, Texas, the year before.

In 1998, a federal jury in Amarillo, Texas, ruled in favor of Oprah Winfrey in a lawsuit filed by Texas cattlemen who said she caused beef prices to fall with a talk show about "mad cow" disease.

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In 2005, Bank of America acknowledged it lost computer tapes containing account information on 1.2 million federal employee credit cards, including those of some U.S. senators.

In 2006, the Winter Olympics ended in Turin, Italy. Germany won the most medals (29) and the most gold medals (11).

In 2011, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose strong sanctions on Libya and called for a war-crimes investigation.

In 2013, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary. (Hagel left the post in late 2014.)

In 2014, a federal judge in San Antonio struck down Texas' ban on same-sex marriage but said the ruling would not take effect immediately, pending appeals.


A thought for the day: "I don't know why it is that we need to denigrate, to knock down. It's so unhealthy for the culture. It's so sick." -- Barbra Streisand

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