BITS OF HISTORY (FEBRUARY 19)

2003: A Russian-built Il-76 military transport plane carrying members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard including 18 aircrew smashed into a mountainside in southeastern Iran killing all 276 aboard.

2008: Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said that he will not return to lead the communist country, retiring as president 49 years after he seized power in a revolution and became a central figure of the Cold War.