By The Associated Press

  - Today is Saturday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 1999. There are 307
    days left in the year.

  - On Feb. 27, 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag,
    caught fire. Blaming the Communists, the Nazis used the fire as a
    pretext for suspending civil liberties.
  - In 1801, the District of Columbia was placed under the
    jurisdiction of Congress.
  - In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland,
    Maine.
  - In 1861, in Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting
    Russian rule over Poland; five marchers were killed.
  - In 1922, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment
    to the Constitution that guaranteed the right of women to vote.
  - In 1939, the Supreme Court outlawed sit-down strikes.
  - In 1972, President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued
    the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit
    to China.
  - In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the
    hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890
    massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted
    until May.)
  - In 1979, Jane M. Byrne confounded Chicago's Democratic political
    machine as she upset Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's
    mayoral primary. (Byrne went on to win the election.)
  - In 1982, Wayne B. Williams was found guilty of murdering two of
    the 28 young blacks whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area
    over a 22-month period.
  - In 1997, divorce became legal in Ireland.
  - Ten years ago: President Bush warned of what he called the
    "fool's gold" of trade protectionism as he addressed South
    Korea's National Assembly before returning home.
  - Five years ago: The Winter Olympic Games ended in Lillehammer,
    Norway.
  - One year ago: With the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's
    House of Lords agreed to end 1,000 years of male preference by
    giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne
    as any first-born son.

  *** Today's Birthdays
  - Actress Joanne Woodward is 69.
  - Actress Elizabeth Taylor is 67.
  - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is 65.
  - Actress Barbara Babcock is 62.
  - Actor Howard Hesseman is 59.
  - Basketball player James Worthy is 38.
  - Actor Adam Baldwin is 37.
  - Rhythm-and-blues singer Chilli (TLC) is 28.
  - Rhythm-and-blues singer Roderick Clark is 26.
  - Chelsea Clinton is 19.