Historical timeline for February 19

The 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea officially opens in Pyongyang and lasts for 7 days. (from February 19th to February 25th, 2026)

Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, a 19-year-old protester, becomes the first known casualty of anti-coup protests that formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.

Nine people are killed in two domestic terrorist shootings in Hanau, Hesse, Germany.

Forty-four people are killed in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico.

The debut exhibition of the Belitung shipwreck, containing the largest collection of Tang dynasty artifacts found in one location, begins in Singapore.

A methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, kills 65 miners.

An Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashes near Kerman, Iran, killing 275.

NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

Flying Tiger Line Flight 066 crashes into a hill near Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Malaysia, killing four.

A Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner operating as AVAir Flight 3378 crashes in Cary, North Carolina, killing 12.

Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers in eastern Sri Lanka.

A Boeing 727 operating as Iberia Flight 610 crashes Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148; it is the deadliest accident to occur in Iberia's history and the deadliest to occur in Basque County.

China Airlines Flight 006 experiences an aircraft upset over the Pacific Ocean, injuring 24.

William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave the hospital.

Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat.

Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417.

Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and a communist spy of the North Vietnamese Viet Minh, along with Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Trần Thiện Khiêm, all Catholics, attempt a coup against the military junta of the Buddhist Nguyễn Khánh.

The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique reawakens the feminist movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread.

China successfully launches the T-7, its first sounding rocket.

The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.