Today’s Highlights

On Feb. 25, 1964, Muhammad Ali became world heavyweight boxing champion for the first time as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.

On this date

1870: Republican Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as U.S. senator, becoming the first African American member of either house of Congress.

1986: President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election.

1991: During the Persian Gulf War, 28 American soldiers were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

1994: American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers.

1997: A jury in Media, Pennsylvania, convicted chemical fortune heir John E. du Pont of third-degree murder, deciding he was mentally ill when he shot and killed world-class wrestler David Schultz.

2020: U.S. health officials warned that the coronavirus was certain to spread more widely in the U.S.; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to be prepared. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, speaking in India, said the virus was “very well under control.”

Today’s birthdays

Former talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael is 90. Actor Tom Courtenay is 88. TV journalist Bob Schieffer is 88. Film director Neil Jordan is 75. Rock musician-actor John Doe is 72. Comedian Carrot Top is 60.