By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2021. There are 323 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlights in History:

On Feb. 11, 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. A group of 195 evacuees was cleared to end a two-week quarantine at a Southern California military base, where they had been staying since flying out of China amid the coronavirus outbreak.

On this date:

In 1812, Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting law favoring his Democratic-Republican Party — giving rise to the term ìgerrymandering.î

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

In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln bade farewell to his adopted hometown of Springfield, Ill., as he headed to Washington for his inauguration.

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 Germanyís capitulation.

In 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of Britainís opposition Conservative Party.

In 1979, followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (hoh-MAYí-nee) 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 (HAHí-leed shayk moh-HAHí-med) and five other detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.

In 2009, All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about steroids in baseball. (He was sentenced to a yearís probation.) Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who first went to Congress in 1955, became the longest-serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

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