February 28
1806 French forces capture Barcelona, Spain.
1825 Britain and Russia sign treaty covering respective rights in Pacific Ocean area.
1861 The Territory of Colorado is organised.
1877 Turkey and Serbia sign peace treaty.
1922 English princess Mary marries Viscount Lascelles.
1942 Japanese forces land in Java, Indonesia, in Second World War.
1975 Forty two passengers are killed in London’s Underground when a subway train smashes into the end of a tunnel.
1982 UAE University’s first convocation is held in Al Ain.
1985 The IRA carry out a mortar bomb attack on a police station in Newry, Northern Ireland, killing nine Royal Ulster Constabulary officers.
1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated in Stockholm.
1993 A bomb blast inside a gift shop ripped through Zamboanga airport, Philippines, injuring 23 people.
1994 US jets down four Serb warplanes in Bosnia, Nato’s first air attack in the war.
1995 The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends with the signing of the Montevideo Declaration
1997 A 6.1-magnitude earthquake kills 965 people in Azerbaijan, Iran and Pakistan.
2002 Martial law is imposed in Madagascar.
2004 A tanker carrying 3.5 million gallons of industrial ethanol explodes and sinks off the Virginia coast, killing three crew members.
2005 Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announces the resignation of his pro-Syrian government.
2006 EFG Hermes first to join Dubai International Financial Exchange as broker.
2007 Two Picasso paintings worth nearly $66 million (Dh242.2 million) are stolen from the artist’s granddaughter’s house in Paris.
2008 Ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returns from exile to Bangkok.
2009 President Robert Mugabe throws himself a lavish birthday party and calls on Zimbabwe’s last white farmers to leave.
2010 Fierce winter storm hits western Europe, at least 56 dead.
2011 A travel ban is imposed on former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his family.
2013 Thailand signs its first-ever public agreement with a rebel group in its Muslim-majority south, pledging to seek peace talks.
2014 At least 15 people, including 13 children, are killed when a bus carrying students on a trip to the seaside collide with a lorry in eastern Thailand.
HIGHLIGHT
1991
Gulf War ends after six-week blitz
The US-led allies won the Gulf War, halting a six-week air, land and sea blitz that demolished the Iraqi army and killed thousands of soldiers and civilians. US President George Bush announced a ceasefire after a 100-hour land offensive routed Iraqi troops and Baghdad accepted all 12 UN Security Council resolutions on Kuwait. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain ordered compliance with the ceasefire. “We are happy with the end of fighting for it will save our sons’ blood and the safety of our people,” a military communique said. Washington said an arms embargo must continue for as long as Saddam Hussain ruled Iraq. The peace was holding late last night despite skirmishes with Iraqis who the allies said did not know they were supposed to stop shooting. All Saddam’s 42 divisions on the battlefield were knocked out in the one-sided “mother of all battles” in which the allies enjoyed total control of the skies and suffered minimal casualties. Allied commander General Norman Schwarzkopf said “a very, very large number” of Iraqis had been killed.
