On February 17

Arab Spring: Bahraini security forces killed four protesters in a pre-dawn raid at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, while the "Day of Rage" took place in Libya with nationwide protests against Muammar Gaddafi's government.

An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 8.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) occurred in the New Guinea Trench, which generated a tsunami that killed 108 people.

The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army carried out a bombing of a restaurant near Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing twelve people and injuring thirty others.

A U.S. Army soldier stole a Bell UH-1 helicopter (pictured) and landed it on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Gabonese military officers overthrew President Léon M'ba, but French forces, honouring a 1960 treaty, forcibly reinstated him two days later.

Vanguard 2 (model pictured), the first weather satellite, was launched to measure cloud cover distribution.

World War II: The U.S. Navy began Operation Hailstone, a massive naval air and surface attack against the Japanese naval and air base at Chuuk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands.

The Armory Show (commemorative button pictured), the first large modern-art exhibition in the United States, opened at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City.

Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly premiered at La Scala in Milan to poor reviews, forcing him to revise the opera.

Rudolf Diesel's first working diesel engine ran for one minute.

Cochinchina campaign: French Navy forces captured the Citadel of Saigon, defended by 1,000 Vietnamese soldiers of the Nguyễn dynasty.

Great Trek: Zulu impis massacred about 532 Voortrekkers, Khoekhoe, and Basuto near present-day Weenen, South Africa.

The United States ratifies the Treaty of Ghent – signed in late 1814 – formally ending the War of 1812.

Myles Standish was elected the first commander of the militia of Plymouth Colony.