History of 26 February
- 1986 – Corazon Aquino was inaugurated president of the Philippines. Long time President Ferdinand Marcos went into exile.
- 1987 – The Tower Commission rebuked U.S. President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair.
- 1987 – The U.S.S.R. conducted its first nuclear weapons test after a 19-month moratorium period.
- 1991 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that Iraqi troops were being withdrawn from Kuwait.
- 1993 – Six people were killed and more than a thousand injured when a van exploded in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center in New York City. The bomb had been built by Islamic extremists.
- 1995 – Barings PLC collapsed after a securities dealer lost more than $1.4 billion by gambling on Tokyo stock prices. The company was Britain’s oldest investment banking firm.
- 1998 – A Texas jury rejected an $11 million lawsuit by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey for price drop after on-air comment about mad-cow disease.
- 1998 – In Oregon, a health panel rules that taxpayers must help to pay for doctor-assisted suicides.
- 2001 – A U.N. tribunal convicted Bosnian Croat political leader Dario Kordic and military commander Mario Cerkez of war crimes. They had ordered the systematic murder and persecution of Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war.
- 2002 – In Rome, Italy, a bomb exploded near the Interior Ministry. No injuries were reported.
- 2009 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic was acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.
- 2009 – The Pentagon reveresed its 18-year policy of not allowing media to cover returning war dead. The reversal allowsd some media coverage with family approval.
- 2012 – Trayvon Martin was shot and killed at the age of 17 in Sanford, Florida.
- 2012 – A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.
- 2013 – A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Kertus Davis, American race car driver
- 1981 – Oh Seung-bum, South Korean footballer
- 1982 – Li Na, Chinese tennis player
- 1982 – Matt Prior, South African-English cricketer
- 1982 – Nate Ruess, American singer-songwriter
- 1983 – Jerome Harrison, American football player
- 1983 – Pepe, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer
- 1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese international footballer, forward
- 1984 – Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Beren Saat, Turkish actress
- 1985 – Fernando Llorente, Spanish international footballer, striker
- 1986 – Hannah Kearney, American skier
- 1989 – Gabriel Obertan, French footballer
- 1990 – Kateřina Cachová, Czech heptathlete
- 1990 – Takanoiwa Yoshimori, Mongolian sumo wrestler
- 1991 – Lee Chae-rin, South Korean singer
- 1992 – Mikael Granlund, Finnish professional hockey player
- 1992 – Michael Chee Kam, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1997 – Reghan Tumilty, Scottish footballer