Flashback

Today is Saturday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2006. There are 316 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight in history: On Feb. 18, 1885, Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in the United States for the first time.

Ten years ago: A member of the Irish Republican Army blew himself up and wounded nine other people when the briefcase bomb he was carrying detonated accidentally on a double-decker bus in London’s West End.

Five years ago: Auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died from injuries suffered in a crash at the Daytona 500; he was 49. Death also claimed baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews at age 69, broadcaster Roger Caras at age 72, “Cheaper by the Dozen” co-author Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. at age 89 and painter Balthus at age 92. Veteran FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested, accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years.

One year ago: Explosions tore through Baghdad and a nearby city on the eve of Shiite Muslims’ holiest day, killing three dozen people. Uli Derickson, the flight attendant who helped save passengers during the 1985 TWA hijacking, died in Tucson, Ariz., at age 60.

On this date:

In 1546, Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died.

In 1564, artist Michelangelo died in Rome.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.

In 1930, the ninth planet of our solar system, Pluto, was discovered.

In 1960, the Eighth Winter Olympic Games were formally opened in Squaw Valley, Calif., by Vice President Nixon.

In 1970, the “Chicago 7” defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.

In 1972, the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty.

In 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden “flight” above the Mojave Desert.

In 1988, Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as the 104th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1995, the NAACP replaced veteran chairman William Gibson with Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.