today's highlight in history:
on february 16th, 1862, during the civil war, some 14,000 confederate soldiers surrendered at fort donelson, tennessee. (union general ulysses s. grant's victory earned him the nickname绰号,昵称 "1 surrender grant.")
on this date:
in 1804, 2 stephen decatur led a successful raid(突袭,搜捕) into tripoli harbor to burn the us navy 3(护卫舰) "philadelphia," which had fallen into the hands of pirates.
in 1868, the 4 and protective order of 5 was organized in new york city.
in 1918, lithuania proclaimed(声明,宣告) its independence.
in 1923, the burial 6 of king tutankhamen's recently 7(发掘出的,未接地的) tomb was unsealed in egypt.
in 1945, american troops landed on the island of corregidor in the philippines during world war two.
in 1948, nbc tv began airing its first nightly newscast, "the camel newsreel theatre," which consisted of fox movietone(福斯电影新闻) newsreels(新闻汇辑) .
in 1959, fidel castro became 8 of cuba after the 9(推翻,倾覆) of fulgencio batista.
in 1968, the nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated(开始,开幕) , in haleyville, alabama.
in 1987, john demjanjuk went on trial in jerusalem, accused of being "ivan the terrible," a guard at the treblinka 10 concentration camp. (demjanjuk was convicted, but the conviction ended up being overturned颠覆 by the israeli 11 court.)
in 1994, at least 217 people were killed when a powerful earthquake shook indonesia's sumatra island.
ten years ago: former president reagan began two days of giving a videotaped 12(矿床,沉积物) in los angeles for the iran-contra trial of former national security 13 john poindexter.
five years ago: four people were killed when 14(龙卷风) tore through rural north alabama. in a dark and 15 address to his nation, russian president boris yeltsin 16(严责,申斥) his military leaders for big losses and human rights abuses in chechnya, but insisted russia had to use force to defend its 17.
one year ago: 18 kurds seized embassies and held hostages across europe following turkey's arrest of kurdish rebel leader abdullah ocalan. 19 began in the jasper, texas, trial of john william king, charged with murder in the gruesome(可怕的,阴森的) dragging death of james byrd junior. (king was later convicted and sentenced to death.)