HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Wednesday, February 15, the 46th day of 2017. There are 319 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1942 – World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. 1949 – Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls. 1952 – King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St

George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. 1961 – Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members. 1965 – A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner. 1971 – The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on

Decimal Day. 1972 – José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time. 1989 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially

announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan. 1992 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in

Milwaukee to life in prison. 1996 – At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people. 2001 – The first draft of the complete human genome is

published in Nature. 2003 – Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between eight million to 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history. 2013 – A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happens unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14. 2014 – Renaud Lavillenie of France breaks Sergey Bubka’s

world record in pole vault with a mark of 6.16 m.