THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2009

Today is Thursday, February 26, the 57th day of 2009. There are 308 days left in the year.

1531 _ Earthquake in Lisbon Portugal, kills 20,000

1797 _ Bank of England issues 1st banknote

1815 _ Napoleon and 1,200 leave Elba to start 100-day reconquest of France

1848 _ Marx and Engels publish ``The Communist Manifesto"

1916 _ Mutual signs Charlie Chaplin to a film contract

1924 _ Trial against Hitler in Munich begins

1952 _ P.M. Winston Churchill announces that Britain has its own atomic bomb

1983 _ Michael Jackson's ``Thriller" album goes to No. 1 and stays No. 1 for 37 weeks

1984 _ Robert Penn Warren, Pulitzer Prize winner, named first U.S. poet laureate

1984 _ Pak Awang (84) marries 80th spouse