Reuters historical calendar - February 28

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 28 since 1900: 1921 - The Kronstadt Rebellion began in Russia when sailors of the Baltic Fleet and workers at Kronstadt naval base rose up against the Communist government.

1922 - Britain formally declared Egypt's independence, but retained control of the Suez Canal and the country's defence.

1931 - Sir Oswald Mosley formed the ''New Party'' in Britain; it later evolved into the British Union of Fascists.

1933 - A day after the German parliament, the Reichstag, burned down, chancellor and National Socialist (Nazi) party leader Adolf Hitler persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to sign a decree suspending guarantees of personal liberty, freedom of speech and the press and the right of assembly.

1967 - The American publisher Henry Luce died. He was a co-founder of Time magazine and also founded Life and Fortune magazines.

1986 - Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated by a gunman in central Stockholm.

1991 - After 42 days of the Gulf War, US and allied forces ceased fire and Iraq told its army to stop fighting.

1996 - Britain's Princess Diana agreed to divorce her estranged husband, Prince Charles, calling it the saddest day of her life.

2001 - Gin Kanie, who charmed Japan as one of the world's oldest twins, died aged 108. Her twin sister, Kin Narita, had died in January 2000 aged 107.

2004 - African leaders agreed at a summit to set up the African Standby Force, a multinational force empowered to intervene across Africa to end civil wars or genocide.

2005 - Lebanon's government resigned in the face of intense pressure to end Syrian domination and find the killers of ex-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

2005 - The celebrated Italian poet Mario Luzi, who caused a storm by comparing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Italy's wartime dictator Benito Mussolini, died at the age of 90.

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