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On This Day: 23 February Thursday, February 23, the 54th day of 2006.
There are 311 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date: 1573 -  Irish rebellion is crushed with surrender of James Fitzmaurice;  pacification of Perth ends fighting in Scotland between Regent and supporters of Mary Queen of Scots. 1574 -  Fifth War of Religion breaks out in France. 1660 -   Sweden's King Charles IX executes leaders of pro-Polish party for treason. 1820 -  Cato Street conspiracy to murder British cabinet minister is discovered. 1836 -   Siege of the Alamo begins in the American state of Texas against Mexican attackers. 1854 -  Britain agrees to leave territory, north of Orange River in South Africa, allowing for establishment of constitution for Orange Free State. 1861 -   American President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington to take office after an assassination plot was foiled in Baltimore. 1901 -  Britain and Germany agree on boundary between German East Africa and Nyasaland. 1905 - The Rotary Club is established in Chicago. 1927 - United States President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission. 1933 -   Japan begins occupation of China, north of the Great Wall. 1934 -  Nicaraguan rebel leader Cesar Augusto Sandino, invited to meet with army leader and later dictator Anastasio Somoza, is abducted and murdered. 1938 -  First oil discovery in Kuwait. 1942 -  Japanese submarine shells oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California. 1945 -   US marines plant flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, but it will be another three weeks until all Japanese defenders on the island are defeated. 1954 -  The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1964 - Britain recognises President Abdul Amari Karume's regime in Zanzibar. 1970 -  Republic of Guyana, formerly British Guinea, ends association with Britain, but remains within Commonwealth. 1975 -   US decision to end arms embargo against Pakistan draws wrath of India, which cancels planned March meeting in Washington, DC. 1977 - Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith announces major relaxations in the country's racial laws in an attempt to reach an internal settlement with black leaders. 1988 -  The UN's Human Rights Commission adopts a resolution backing the armed struggle to eliminate apartheid in South Africa.
Only Britain, the US and West Germany vote against the resolution. 1990 -  Prince Sihanouk returns to Cambodia after 11 years in exile. 1991 -  Military junta seizes power in Thailand after a bloodless coup. 1993 -  Rallying behind red flags and portraits of Lenin, more than 10 000 pro-Communists march to the Kremlin to denounce Russian President Boris Yeltsin and urge the military to rise up against him. 1994 -   Bosnia's Muslim-led government and Croat forces sign a truce. 1995 -  Speaking to Canada's parliament, US President Bill Clinton voices support for a united Canada. 1996 -  Two sons-in-law of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are killed by clan members after returning to the country after defecting. 1997 -  Ali Abu Kamal, a Palestinian, fires a gun into a crowd on the observation deck of  New York City's Empire State Building, killing one person and injuring six, then shoots himself to death. 1998 - Leftist guerrillas set off a mine in India, killing five soldiers sent to guard polling stations and raising the death toll related to parliamentary elections to 29. 1999 -   The first peace talks between Kosovo Albanians and Yugoslavia end in Rambouillet, France, without much progress toward a settlement. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation suspends its threat of bombing till the talks resume on March 15. 2000 - Preston King, a black man who refused induction into the army in the 1960s because the all-white draft board wouldn't address him as "Mr", returns to the US for the first time in 39 years after receiving a presidential pardon. 2001 - Thousands of people flee brutal ethnic clashes on the Indonesian part of Borneo Island as fighting between native Dayak people and immigrants from Madura Island escalates, claiming at least 165 lives. 2002 -  Colombia's President Andres Pastrana returns to the very spot in former rebel territory, where he began a tortuous peace process three years ago and blames the guerrillas for sabotaging the talks to end Colombia's 38-year war. 2003 -  Opposition legislators walk out in protest after Bangladesh's parliament passes a law pardoning soldiers involved in a three-month anti-crime campaign in which 44 people died on January 11. 2004 - At least 66 people die in weekend clashes among Colombian troops, leftist rebels of the United Self-Defence Forces or AUC, and right-wing paramilitary forces. The two-day toll is extremely high even by standards in Colombia, which has been engulfed in a 40-year insurgency. 2005 - Indonesia's government and separatist rebels make headway in talks aimed at ending nearly 30 years of fighting in the oil and gas-rich province of Aceh with both sides agreeing to outside involvement and the insurgents scrapping, at least publicly, a desire for independence.
Today's Birthdays:  George Frederick Handel German composer (1685-1759)  Sir George Frederick Watts  English artist (1817-1904)  Constantine Caramanlis  Greek president (1907-1998)  Peter Fonda, US actor/director (1940)  Brad Whitford  guitarist for Aerosmith (1952) Howard Jones British singer (1955) Kristin Davis US actress (1965). |
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February 23: Brunei's 22nd National Day  By His Excellency Dato Paduka Adnan Buntar, Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam. "Every year on this day, 23 February, Brunei Darussalam celebrates its National Day and this year is our 22nd Anniversary. On this auspicious occasion and on behalf of the government of His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and the people of Brunei Darussalam, it is a great honour to convey our respectful greetings and best wishes to Their Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and Empress, members of the Imperial family, and to the government and people of Japan. "Our two countries have enjoyed a warm, cordial and friendly relationship over the past years in various areas of cooperation from trade to people to people exchanges. I believe our two countries are moving towards a more comprehensive partnership to involve more cooperation beyond the traditional trade relation...."
Brunei's flag
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