Today’s highlight

On Feb. 19, 2008, an ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; his brother Raul was later named to succeed him.

On this date

1878: Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for “an improvement in phonograph or speaking machines.”

1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the relocation and internment of people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S.-born citizens.

1959: An agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.

1986: The U.S. Senate approved, 83-11, the Genocide Convention, an international treaty outlawing “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

1997: Deng Xiaoping, the last of China’s major Communist revolutionaries, died at age 92.

2018: Syrian government forces began a bombing campaign in the northeastern suburbs of Damascus, the last major stronghold for rebels in the area of the capital; the campaign left hundreds dead.

2022: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing a sharp spike in violence in and around territory held by Russia-backed rebels and increasingly dire warnings that Russia plans to invade, called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him and seek a resolution to the crisis. Vice President Kamala Harris says the world had arrived at “a decisive moment in history” and that the United States was committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Smokey Robinson is 83. Singer Lou Christie is 80. Author Amy Tan is 71. Actor Jeff Daniels is 68. Tennis Hall of Famer Hana Mandlikova is 61. Singer Seal is 60. Actor Benicio Del Toro is 56. Pop singer-actor Haylie Duff is 38. Actor Victoria Justice is 30. Actor David Mazouz (TV: “Gotham”) is 22. Actor Millie Bobby Brown is 19.