On this date in history:

In 1878, Thomas Edison patented the first gramophone.

In 1922, vaudeville star Ed Wynn became the first big name in show business to sign for a regular radio show.

In 1942, as a security measure during World War II, the U.S. government began relocating Japanese-Americans living in coastal Pacific areas to internment camps in remote areas of several states. (They were allowed to return to their homes in January 1945.)

In 1945, U.S. Marines landed on the island of Iwo Jima, opening one of the major battles in the Pacific during World War II.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the Mir space station. (It was occupied for 10 of its 15 years in orbit.)

In 1997, China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping died at age 92.

In 2003, all 289 people aboard an Iranian military transport plane were killed when it crashed in a mountainous region of southeastern Iran.

In 2005, U.S. Roman Catholic officials said they received 1,092 charges of clergy sex abuse, most involving boys.

In 2008, Cuban President Fidel Castro, 81, who temporarily handed power to his brother, Raul, in July 2006, because of illness, stepped down permanently after 49 years in power. Raul, 76, then formally succeeded him.

In 2010, golf superstar Tiger Woods, in a global TV apology, said, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in ... I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable and I am the only person to blame. He praised his wife for her enormous grace and poise throughout this ordeal, asked for forgiveness and scolded the news media for stalking his family.

In 2012, 44 inmates died and 30 escaped during a prison riot in northern Mexico.

In 2013, Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, unable to forge a new government amid mounting citizen protests, announced his resignation.

In 2014, fires burned at Independence Square in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev where at least 26 people had been killed in anti-government protests.

Copyright 2015 by United Press International