Feb 19, when monarchy was restored in Nepal

On this day in 1881, Kansas becomes the first US state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

Today is Saturday, February 19, the fiftieth day of 2005.
There are 315 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1618 - Peace of Madrid is ratified, ending war between Venice and Austria.
1674 - Treaty of Westminster is signed, whereby Britain withdraws support for French in war against Dutch.

1878 - American inventor Thomas Edison receives a patent for his phonograph.
1881 - Kansas becomes the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

1927 - Chinese Nationalists extract a reduction of concessions from Britain at Hankow and Kiukiang.
1942 - First Japanese attack on Australian mainland in World War II when aircraft attack Darwin and nearby military bases killing 243, sinking eight ships sunk, and destroying 23 aircraft.
1945 - During World War II, 30,000 US Marines land on Iwo Jima, where they encounter ferocious resistance from Japanese forces before taking control of the island.
1951 - A popular revolution in Nepal overthrows the 104-year rule of the Rana political dynasty and restores the royal family's power.
1986 - The U.S. Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide, 37 years after the pact had first been submitted for ratification.
1988 - Bomb shatters crowded bank office in Windhoek, Namibia, killing 14 people and injuring 31.
1990 - About 500 protesters break into government headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, calling for resignation of President Ion Iliescu.
1991 - Boris Yeltsin calls for the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev, saying Gorbachev is sacrificing reform for increased personal power.
1992 - Thousands flee artillery exchanges between Israeli troops and Muslim fighters in Southern Lebanon that kill at least four.
1993 - A packed ferry carrying up to 1,500 people sinks in stormy seas off Haiti, and only 285 people are known to have survived.
1994 - Gunmen kill 18 young ANC supporters in Natal province, South Africa, the first major act of violence in a Zulu anti-election campaign.
1995 - Dozens are injured when landowners attack hundreds of parishioners guarding the cathedral in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico, accusing their bishop of fomenting the Zapatista rebellion.
1997 - Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who guided the country from political chaos and economic ruin toward prosperity in the post-Mao era, dies in Beijing at age 92.

2000 - The U.S. State Department orders the expulsion of a Cuban diplomat linked to a Cuban-born U.S. immigration official arrested in Miami on spy charges.
2002 - Dr. James Graves is found guilty of four counts of manslaughter in connection with overdoses of the painkiller OxyContin in Florida. He is sentenced to 63 years in prison.
2004 - The U.N. Development Program awards $30,000 each to seven tropical communities including Proyecto Nasa in Colombia, Mexico's Comunidad Indigena de Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro and GREEN Foundation in India, for their work to reduce poverty while conserving biological wealth.

Today's Birthdays:
David Garrick, English author-dramatist (1717-1779)
Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (1743-1805)
Sir William McMahon, former Australian prime minister (1908-1988)
Merle Oberon, British actress (1911-1979)
Smokey Robinson, U.S. singer (1940--)
Michael Nader, U.S. actor (1945--)
Prince Andrew (1960--)
Seal, US singer (1963--)
Benicio Del Toro, actor (1967)
Sonu Walia, actress

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