February 25 - the day in history

On this day in 1956 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounces late dictator Joseph Stalin before Communist Party congress in Moscow, beginning the "de-Stalinization" movement.

Today is Friday, February 25, the fifty sixth day of 2005.
There are 309 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1545 - Scots defeat English forces at Ancrum Moor.
1570 - England's Queen Elizabeth I is excommunicated by Pope Pius V.

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1601 - England's Earl of Essex, former favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, is executed for treason after his attempt to start a rebellion fails.

1713 - Sweden's King Charles XII is taken prisoner by the Ottoman Sultan.
1793 - American President George Washington convenes the first Cabinet meeting on record - at his home.

1836 - American inventor Samuel Colt patents his revolver.
1870 - Hiram R Revels became the first black member of the US Senate as he is sworn in to serve out the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis.
1885 - Germany annexes Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

1913 - The 16th Amendment of the US Constitution, authorizing income tax, goes into effect.
1919 - Oregon becomes the first state to tax gasoline.
1948 - Communist stage a coup in Czechoslovakia.
1954 - Col Gamal Abdel Nasser usurps power as premier of Egypt; Syria's President Chickekli flees following army revolt.
1956 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounces late dictator Joseph Stalin before Communist Party congress in Moscow, beginning the "de-Stalinization" movement.
1976 - United States vetoes UN resolution deploring Israel's annexation of Jerusalem.
1986 - Philippines President Ferdinand E Marcos resigns, brought down by a "people's power" uprising, military revolt, and US pressure.
1988 - Thousands demonstrate in Soviet Armenia despite directive to local authorities to restore order.
1990 - Nicaraguans vote in an election that led to an upset victory for opponents of the ruling Sandinistas.
1991 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein orders his forces, under attack by allied ground troops, to withdraw from Kuwait. An Iraqi Scud missile hits a US Marine barracks near the Saudi city of Dhahran, killing 28 soldiers and wounding several others.
1992 - Imelda Marcos accepts Philippine government conditions for returning her husband's body.
1993 - US Marines and Nigerian soldiers blast at snipers in central Mogadishu, Somalia, in a five-hour battle that kills one Somali.
1994 - American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he is beaten to death by worshippers.
1995 - Two bombs blow apart a train car reserved for the military in northeastern India, killing at least 26 soldiers and wounding 30.
1996 - Militant Palestinian suicide bomber sets off an explosion on a Jerusalem bus, killing 26.
1997 - President Jiang Zemin delivers a final eulogy for leader Deng Xiaoping, vowing that China's opening to the outside world will continue.
1998 - Gunmen who held four UN observers hostage in Georgia surrender after a weeklong standoff.
1999 - China vetoes an extension of the UN peacekeeping mission in Macedonia, which borders war-torn Kosovo province. Macedonia had established diplomatic relations with Taiwan a month earlier.