Today in History: Pope Benedict XVI announces resignation

Today is Sunday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2024. There are 324 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Feb. 11, 2013, with a few words in Latin, Pope Benedict XVI did what no pope had done in more than half a millennium: announced his resignation. The bombshell came during a routine morning meeting of Vatican cardinals. (The 85-year-old pontiff was succeeded by Pope Francis.)

On this date:

In 660 B.C., tradition holds that Japan was founded as Jimmu ascended the throne as the country’s first emperor.

In 1847, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio.

In 1937, a six-week-old sit-down strike against General Motors ended, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement, in which Stalin agreed to declare war against Imperial Japan following Nazi Germany’s capitulation.

In 1963, American author and poet Sylvia Plath was found dead in her London flat, a suicide; she was 30.

In 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party.

In 1979, followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran.

In 1990, South African Black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.

In 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded Harry Whittington, a companion during a weekend quail-hunting trip in Texas.

In 2008, the Pentagon charged Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.

In 2011, Egypt exploded with joy after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak, whose resignation ended three decades of authoritarian rule.

In 2012, singing superstar Whitney Houston was found dead in a hotel room bathtub in Beverly Hills, California on the eve of the Grammy Awards at age 48.

In 2018, a Russian passenger plane crashed into a snowy field six minutes after taking off from Moscow, killing all 65 passengers and six crew members.

In 2020, the World Health Organization gave the official name of COVID-19 to the disease caused by the coronavirus that had emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

In 2021, at the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, Democrats asserted that Trump had incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol, put his own vice president in danger and expressed solidarity with rioters who sought to overturn the 2020 election in his name.

In 2023, rescue crews pulled more survivors, including entire families, from toppled buildings despite diminishing hopes as the death toll of the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck a border region of Turkey and Syria five days earlier surpassed 28,000. (It would eventually reach more than 50,000.)

Today’s birthdays: Gospel singer Jimmy Carter is 92. Actor Tina Louise is 90. Bandleader Sergio Mendes is 83. Actor Philip Anglim is 72. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is 71. Actor Catherine Hickland is 68. Rock musician David Uosikkinen (The Hooters) is 68. Actor Carey Lowell is 63. Singer Sheryl Crow is 62. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is 60. Actor Jennifer Aniston is 55. Actor Damian Lewis is 53. Actor Marisa Petroro is 52. Singer D’Angelo is 50. Actor Brice Beckham is 48. Rock vocalist Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) is 47. Singer-actor Brandy is 45. Country musician Jon Jones (The Eli Young Band) is 44. Actor Matthew Lawrence is 44. R&B singer Kelly Rowland is 43. Actor Natalie Dormer is 42. Singer Aubrey O’Day is 40. Actor Q’orianka Kilcher is 34. Actor Taylor Lautner is 32.