February 27 - the day in history

On this day in 1972 US President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communique.

Today is Sunday, February 27, the fifty eighth day of 2005.
There are 307 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1560 - Treaty of Berwyck is established between England and lords of the Scottish Congregation, calling for expulsion of French from Scotland.

1700 - Southwest Pacific island of New Britain is discovered by English navigator William Dampier.
1861 - Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw that was protesting Russian rule over Poland. Five marchers are killed.
1881 - Boers defeat British force at Majuba Hill in South Africa.
1889 - Burma - now Myanmar - opens railroad from Rangoon to Mandalay.

1901 - Russia's minister of propaganda is murdered to avenge repression of student agitation.
1922 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed the right of women to vote.
1929 - Turkey signs Litvinov Protocol, or Eastern Pact, between Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Romania, for renunciation of war.
1933 - Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, catches fire. The Nazis, blaming the Communists, use the fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties.
1939 - Britain and France recognize General Francisco Franco's government in Spain; the U.S. Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes.
1968 - Britain's House of Commons approves bill to restrict colored immigration to Britain.
1972 - US President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issue the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China.
1974 - Ethiopia's cabinet resigns as military mutiny spreads from captured city of Asmara.
1976 - Eskimo leaders in Canada present government with claim to 640,000 square kilometers (quarter of million square miles) of land.
1978 - Egypt restricts special privileges of Palestinians living in that country, and says they will be treated as any other Arab aliens.
1982 - Wayne B. Williams is found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young blacks whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period.
1986 - Ferdinand E Marcos starts life in exile in Hawaii after hurried departure from Philippines.
1989 - Yugoslavia imposes emergency measures in strike-torn southern province of Kosovo.
1990 - Former Philippine Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile arrested for supporting 1989 coup attempt against Corazon Aquino.
1991 - U.S. President George Bush announces a cessation of offensive military action in the Gulf War.
1992 - A bomb explodes at one of London's busiest train stations injuring 28 people. The Irish Republican Army is blamed.
1993 - Two U.S. soldiers are wounded in a firefight with Somalis in Mogadishu.
1994 - A bomb explodes in a packed Maronite Catholic church in Lebanon, killing nine worshippers and wounding at least 60 as they lined up at the altar to take Communion.
1995 - Baring Brothers and Co., one of Britain's oldest and most prestigious investment banks, goes broke when a trader loses more than US$800 million gambling in Asian futures markets.
1996 - The United Nations suspends sanctions against the Bosnian Serbs after NATO verifies that Serb forces have withdrawn from buffer zones.
1997 - A car bomb explodes outside a police station in the violence-plagued town of Apartado, Colombia, killing at least seven people and injuring 43.

2003 - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva deploys 3,000 troops to Rio de Janeiro to back up the 30,000 state and local police officers during the city's six-day Carnival celebration. It is the first time troops are sent to guard the city during Carnival.

Today's Birthdays:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, US poet (1807-1882)
John Steinbeck, US writer (1902-1968)
Joanne Woodward, US actress (1930--)
Elizabeth Taylor, US actress (1932--)
Ralph Nader, US environmental activist (1934--).

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