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Feb 24, when the Gulf War began
On this day in 1530, Charles V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
Today is Thursday, February 24, the fifty fifth day of 2005.
There are 310 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1525 - Spanish army, using muskets for first time in war, routs French and Swiss forces at Pavia, Italy, as 14,000 men are slain in battle.
1530 - Charles V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy by Pope Clement VII at Bologna - the last imperial coronation by a pope.
1656 - Spain declares war on England.
1824 - Governor General of India declares war on Burmese after British East India Company territory is violated.
1830 - King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates in the face of an insurrection in Paris, giving way to the Second Republic.
1891 - China pays indemnity to Russia for return of Ili Valley in northwest China.
1920 - Nazi Party is organized in Germany.
1945 - Egypt's Premier Ahmed Pasha is assassinated after announcing Egypt's declaration of war against Germany; U.S. troops liberate Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese occupation during World War II.
1946 - Juan Peron is elected for first of three presidential terms in Argentina.
1962 - At least 25 people, most of them Muslims, are slain during terrorist outbreak in Algiers.
1966 - Military coup in Ghana deposes President Kwame Nkrumah while he is out of country en route to China.
1990 - Candidates favoring independence run well in elections to the Supreme Soviet of Lithuania.
1991 - Hours after last-minute Soviet diplomatic efforts fail, allied forces launch a ground offensive against Iraqi forces in Kuwait and Iraq.
1992 - Azerbaijani militants fire rockets into the capital of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, killing four. 1993 - With the lowest popularity rating in Canadian polling history, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney calls it quits after nine years in office.
1998 - An armed band shoots and kills a socialist candidate and four supporters in northern India in election-related violence.
2000 - Betty Lou Beets, 62, is executed after Texas Gov. George W. Bush rejects her claim that she killed her fifth husband in self-defense and deserved a reprieve. She is the second woman executed in Texas since the Civil War.
2002 - The Winter Olympic Games concludes in Salt Lake City, Utah, with Germany winning the most medals in the games: 12 golds, 16 silvers and seven bronzes for a total of 35.
2004 - A 6.5-magnitude earthquake rocks a picturesque but impoverished region of northern Morocco, killing more than 550 people.
Today's Birthdays:
Ibn Battuta, Arab explorer (1304-1368)
Charles V, Holy Roman emperor, (1500-1558)
Wilhelm Grimm, German author (1786-1859)
George Augustus Moore, English novelist (1852-1933)
Bettino Craxi, first Socialist prime minister of Italy (1934-2000)
James Farentino, U.S. actor (1938--)
Paula Zahn, U.S news correspondent (1956--)
Todd Field, U.S. actor/director (1964--)
