FEB 16
- 600 - Pope Gregory stated that "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze.
- 1742 - Spencer Compton became 2nd Prime Minister of Great Britain.
- 1846 - India: First Anglo-Sikh War, Battle of Sobraon ended (10,000+ sikh warriors killed).
- 1917 - Spain: 1st synagogue (in last 425 years) opened in Madrid.
- 1918 - Lithuania declared independence from Russia & Germany.
- 1923 - Egypt: Howard Carter opened the inner burial chamber of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb.
- 1942 - Birthday: Kim Jong-il, Supreme Leader of North Korea (1994-2011), born in Paektu Mountain, North Korea.
- 1959 - After overthrowing Fulgencio Batista, Fidel Castro became the 16th Prime Minister of Cuba.
- 2017 - Pakistan: Suicide attack on shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sehwan killed 72 people.
- 2017 - Iraq: A car bomb killed at least 45+ people in in Bayaa, Baghdad.
- 2020 - US evacuated its 400 citizens from coronavirus-infected cruise ship (Diamond Princess) quarantined in Yokohama port, Japan.