February 20
1792 US President George Washington signs an act creating the US Post Office.
1809 Saragossa, Spain is captured by French forces after a bloody siege.
1872 Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin.
1928 Britain recognises independence of TransJordan.
1935 Karoline Mikkelson becomes 1st woman in Antarctica
1941 Romania breaks relations with Netherlands.
1942 Japanese invade island of Bali in Dutch East Indies during Second World War.
1962 Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth.
1964 Morocco and Algeria sign an accord to end border conflict.
1967 Indonesia’s President Sukarno surrenders all executive power.
1986 Russia launches the Mir space station.
1990 England announces it will unilaterally lift ban on new investments in South Africa.
1992 Israeli troops break through UN barricades in Lebanon to attack rocket-launching fighters.
1997 Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie sinks his own 5,000 metres indoors world record at Stockholm’s Globen arena in 12 minutes 59.04 seconds.
1998 The last power cable supplying downtown Auckland, New Zealand, fails, leaving 100 blocks dark for weeks.
1998 Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest Olympic women’s figure skating champion in history by winning the ladies’ figure skating title in Nagano, Japan.
1999 India and Pakistan start first bus services in 51 years.
2002 A fire breaks out on a train travelling from Cairo to Luxor, killing 373 people.
2003 Pakistani Air Force chief, Air Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, dies in plane crash.
2005 Hunter Stockton Thompson dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Woody Creek home.
2007 Three ultra-endurance athletes complete the first-ever run across the world’s largest desert.
2008 Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew return to Earth, after successful delivery of a new European lab to the international space station.
2013 Estonia becomes the first country in the world to establish a national electric car charging network.
2014 Libyans votes to elect a panel to draft a new constitution.
2015 New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum hits fastest World Cup 50 off 18 balls against England in Wellington.
2016 Italian Sara Errani wins the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open.
2017 South Sudan declares famine in parts of war-torn country, thousands of deaths feared.
HIGHLIGHT
1993
Mexico’s Chavez retains WBC crown
Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez added to his legend by defeating American Greg Haugen in the fifth round of a fight he dominated from the opening bell before the largest crowd in boxing history. An estimated 136,000 fans, screaming and waving Mexican flags, packed the open-air Aztec Stadium to watch their idol retain his WBC super lightweight title. Chavez, 30, gave his fans their money’s worth when he knocked down Haugen in the first round, then kept up a steady barrage of punches until referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight at two minutes, two seconds of the fifth round of their 12-round bout. Chavez knocked Haugen down on the seat of his trunks with a straight right hand to the head. Haugen got up quickly and took an eight count from Cortez. But the tone of the fight was clear. Haugen’s night ended after Chavez hit him with more than a dozen consecutive shots. The dazed 32-year-old Haugen no longer could defend himself. The victory touched off a wild celebration in the stadium.
