Spinks stripped of heavyweight title
1987 - Michael Spinks was stripped of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight title for failing to make a mandatory defence of his crown against fellow-American Tony Tucker. IBF president Robert Lee said the seven-member IBF championship committee voted unanimously to depose Spinks for his refusal to fight Tucker, the IBF’s number-one contender. “It is most unfortunate that we had to take this course of action,” Lee said. “Michael Spinks was a good champion and we are disappointed that he has not seen fit to observe a champion’s obligation.” According to IBF rules, Spinks had to defend his title by January 19, nine months after defeating American Larry Holmes in his last mandatory defence.
February 26
1813 - Robert R. Livingstone, one of the founding fathers of US, dies.
1815 - French general Napoleon Bonaparte returns to France from exile on Elba.
1848 - The Second French Republic is proclaimed.
1916 - Germans sink French transport ship Provence II, killing 930 people.
1936 - Military coup in Japan replaces Koki Hirota as premier.
1952 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces Britain has its own atomic bomb.
1972 - Floodwaters break through badly-constructed strip-mine dams at Buffalo Creek, West Virginia.
1974 - Ethiopian army units seize Asmara, second largest city in Ethiopia.
1980 - Ahmad Shukeiri, first president of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, dies in Amman at 72.
1986 - Fifteen Egyptians are killed and more than 300 injured in riots in Cairo.
1987 - Afghan aircraft bomb two Pakistani border villages, killing at least 35 people.
1988 - Panama President Eric Arthuro Delvalle is sacked by National Assembly after trying to dismiss General Manuel Antonio Noriega.
1990 - Nicaraguans oust President Daniel Ortega, ending a decade of leftist rule.
1991 - The Kuwaiti capital is liberated by the Gulf War allies after 208 days of Iraqi occupation.
1993 - A bomb at the World Trade Centre in New York City kills six people.
1995 - Saudi Arabia and Yemen sign an agreement to resolve their 60-year-old border dispute.
1996 - A Sudanese military plane crashes in Sudan, killing all 70 passengers and crew.
2008 - Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani appoints Major General Mohammad Asif as new head of military intelligence.
2010 - A 507 carat diamond is sold by Petra Diamonds for $35.3 million (Dh129.83 million), breaking the record for the highest price paid for a rough diamond.
2015 - Australian researchers create two jet engines using 3D printing.
2016 - Gianni Infantino is elected Fifa president.
