By The Associated Press
                - Today is Sunday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 1999. There are 313 days
                  left in the year.

                - On Feb. 21, 1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X was shot to
                  death in New York by assassins identified as Black Muslims.
                - In 1866, Lucy B. Hobbs became the first woman to graduate from a
                  dental school, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati.
                - In 1878, the first telephone directory was issued, by the District
                  Telephone Company of New Haven, Conn.
                - In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.
                - In 1916, the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France.
                - In 1925, The New Yorker magazine made its debut.
                - In 1947, Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land
                  camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60
                  seconds.
                - In 1972, President Nixon began his historic visit to China.
                - In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over
                  the Sinai Desert, killing more than 100 people.
                - In 1988, television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart tearfully confessed to
                  his congregation in Baton Rouge, La., that he was guilty of an
                  unspecified sin, and said he was leaving the pulpit temporarily.
                  (Reports linked Swaggart to an admitted prostitute, Debra Murphree.)
                - In 1992, Kristi Yamaguchi won the gold medal in ladies' figure
                  skating at the Albertville Olympics; Midori Ito of Japan won the
                  silver, Nancy Kerrigan, the bronze.
                - Ten years ago: President Bush called Ayatollah Khomeini's death
                  warrant against "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie "deeply
                  offensive to the norms of civilized behavior."
                - Five years ago: With Bosnian Serbs complying with a NATO ultimatum
                  to remove heavy guns near Sarajevo, President Clinton promised
                  renewed efforts to help "reinvigorate the peace process."
                - One year ago: Secretary General Kofi Annan began formal talks with
                  Iraqi officials in the standoff over weapons inspections.

                *Happy Birthday*
                --------------
                - Fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy is 72.
                - Movie director Bob Rafelson is 66.
                - Singer Nina Simone is 66.
                - Actress Rue McClanahan is 65.
                - Actor Gary Lockwood is 62.
                - Actor-director Richard Beymer is 60.
                - Actor Peter McEnery is 59.
                - Recording executive David Geffen is 56.
                - Actor Alan Rickman is 53.
                - Actress Tyne Daly is 53.
                - Tricia Nixon Cox is 53.
                - Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, is 52.
                - Rock musician Jerry Harrison (The Heads) is 50.
                - Actor William Petersen is 46.
                - Actor Kelsey Grammar is 44.
                - Country singer Mary-Chapin Carpenter is 41.
                - Rock singer Ranking Roger (General Public, English Beat) is 38.
                - Actor William Baldwin is 36.
                - Blues musician Corey Harris is 30.
                - Rock musician Eric Wilson (Sublime) is 29.
                - Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt ("Party of Five") is 20.