By The Associated Press

                     - Today is Tuesday, Feb. 9, the 40th day of 1999. There are 325
                       days left in the year.

                     - On Feb. 9, 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the
                       southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese
                       forces.
                     - In 1773, the ninth president of the United States, William Henry
                       Harrison, was born in Charles City County, Va.
                     - In 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams
                       president after no candidate received a majority of electoral
                       votes.
                     - In 1861, the provisional Congress of the Confederate States of
                       America elected Jefferson Davis president and Alexander H. Stephens
                       vice president.
                     - In 1870, the U.S. Weather Bureau was established.
                     - In 1942, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal
                       meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II.
                     - In 1942, daylight-saving "war time" went into effect in the
                       United States, with clocks turned one hour forward.
                     - In 1950, in a speech in Wheeling, W. Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy,
                       R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.
                     - In 1964, The Beatles made their first live American television
                       appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
                     - In 1971, the "Apollo 14" spacecraft returned to Earth after
                       man's third landing on the moon.
                     - In 1984, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov died at age 69, less
                       than 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev; he was succeeded
                       by Konstantin U. Chernenko.
                     - Ten years ago: President Bush, in his first major speech to
                       Congress, proposed a $1.16 trillion "common sense" budget for
                       fiscal 1990.
                     - Five years ago: PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign
                       Minister Shimon Peres initialed an agreement on security measures
                       that had been blocking a peace accord. NATO delivered an ultimatum
                       to Bosnian Serbs to remove heavy guns encircling Sarajevo, or face
                       air strikes. The Bosnian Serbs agreed to withdraw artillery and
                       mortars.
                     - One year ago: The Pentagon said it would send as many as 3,000
                       U.S. ground troops to the Persian Gulf region to discourage what
                       one official called "any creative thinking" by Iraqi leader
                       Saddam Hussein. At the Nagano Games, German Georg Hackl won the
                       men's luge for the third consecutive Olympics.

                     *Happy Birthday*
                     ----------------
                     - Actress Kathryn Grayson is 77.
                     - Television journalist Roger Mudd is 71.
                     - Actress Janet Suzman is 60.
                     - Singer-songwriter Carole King is 57.
                     - Actor Joe Pesci is 56.
                     - Singer Barbara Lewis is 56.
                     - Author Alice Walker is 55.
                     - Actress Mia Farrow is 54.
                     - Singer Joe Ely is 52.
                     - Actress Judith Light is 50.
                     - R&B musician Dennis "DT" Thomas (Kool & the Gang) is 48.
                     - Country singer Travis Tritt is 36.
                     - Actor David Gallagher ("7th Heaven") is 1