Sunday, February 19, 2006

Spotlight
Yao Ming will tip off against Shaq in tonight's NBA All-Star Game in Houston. Kobe, Tim Duncan, T-Mac, and Steve Nash join Yao in competition against Shaq, Allen Iverson, LeBron, Jermaine O'Neal and Dwayne Wade for the 55th season championship. Destiny's Child will take the court to sing the National Anthem in their last performance together. Today's game caps a weekend of competitions including the Rookie Challenge, Slam Dunk Contest, and the Three-Point Shootout.

Quote
"Being an All Star is everything." – Allen Iverson

Word of the day
rookie: in sport, someone in his first year of professional play; Shaquille O'Neal has been in every NBA All-Star Game since his rookie season (1993), making this his 13th consecutive championship game (there was no game in 1999). (© )

Today's News

• Chicago: looking to join the WiFi club (story)
• SUVs: tax breaks available in US for gas guzzlers (story)
• Bond girl: latest one is French star Eva Green (story)

Today's History

• Treaty of Westminster: ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War; New Amsterdam was ceded to England (1674)
• Donner party: rescuers reached ill-fated group of settlers who resorted to cannibalism (1847)
• Russia: serfs were liberated by Czar Alexander II with the Edict of Emancipation (1861)

Today's Birthdays

• Nicolas Copernicus: astronomer who theorized that the earth revolves around the sun (1473-1543)
• Smokey Robinson: R&B singer/songwriter (66)
• Amy Tan: author, The Joy Luck Club (54)