UN votes for war crimes tribunal
1993 - United Nations Evoking memories of the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War, the Security Council voted unanimously to set up an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali was asked to draw up detailed proposals within 60 days on how the court should function and the Council will have to endorse his report before the tribunal is actually established. This will be the first such war crimes court since the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and France set up an international military tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945 to try Nazi leaders. The two situations are not directly comparable since in Yugoslavia, the UN is a peacemaker, not one of the belligerents.
February 22
1848 - Revolt erupts in Paris due to failure of Louis Philippe’s reign.
1862 - American Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as Confederate President.
1913 - Francisco Madero, President of Mexico, is assassinated in a military coup.
1924 - Calvin Coolidge delivers the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.
1928 - Australian aviation pioneer Bert Hinkler becomes the first person to fly solo from England to Australia.
1958 - Indian scholar, freedom fighter and politician Maulana Abul Kalam Azad dies.
1966 - Uganda’s Prime Minister Milton Obote orders five cabinet members arrested and assumes full power.
1972 - Shaikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani becomes Emir and Prime Minister of Qatar.
1980 - Afghanistan declares martial law.
1986 - Philippines armed forces break with the government of President Ferdinand Marcos, precipitating his downfall.
1987 - Thousands of Syrian troops enter west Beirut in response to an appeal by Lebanese Muslim leaders.
1990 - Last statue of Joseph Stalin topples in Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator.
1997 - Fleeing fighting, 30,000 refugees from Rwanda and Burundi leave their refugee camp in eastern Zaire.
1998 - Tamil separatist rebel gunboats attack a 12-ship convoy carrying soldiers to northern Sri Lanka, killing up to 80 people.
2006 - Blast damages historic Shiite shrine in Iraq, sparking sectarian reprisals.
2007 - UN nuclear watchdog announces findings that Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment programme.
2008 - Turkey lifts ban on female students wearing the headscarf at university.
2009 - 73 miners are dead and dozens reported missing after a gas blast in a coal plant in Shanxi Province of China.
2011 - At least 160 are killed by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.
2015 - An overcrowded ferry collide with a cargo vessel and sinks in a Bangladesh river, killing at least 41.
