On this day in history, Nelson Mandela — the world’s most famous political prisoner — was freed​on February 11, 2025 at 12:00 pm

In 2013, the Vatican announced that 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI would resign Feb. 28, the first pontiff to do so since Gregory XII in 1415, citing his age and poor health.

In 2015, Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was accused of causing the 2012 shipwreck that claimed 32 lives and of abandoning the luxury liner while many of the 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard.

In 2015, longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon, who was among a handful of elite journalists who have covered most major overseas conflicts and news stories since the late 1960s, was killed in a car crash in New York. He was 73.

In 2016, in what was hailed as one of the biggest eureka moments in the history of physics, scientists announced they had finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space and time that Albert Einstein predicted in 1916 as part of his general theory of relativity. Astronomers will now be able to “hear” the universe in action.

In 2018, Canada won its first medals at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics — defending Olympic champ Justine Dufour-Lapointe won silver in the ladies’ freestyle moguls event; snowboarders Max Parrot and Mark McMorris claimed silver and bronze, respectively, in men’s slopestyle; speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen took silver in the men’s 5,000 metres, Canada’s first medal in that distance since 1932.

In 2018, Canada won its first gold medals at the Pyeongchang Games — in the team figure skating competition and freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury in the men’s moguls. Snowboarder Laurie Blouin earned silver in the women’s slopestyle.

In 2020, the Queen’s eldest grandson and his Canadian wife announced their divorce after 12 years of marriage. Peter Phillips is Princess Anne’s son. He and his wife Autumn said their separation is sad but amicable, and they planned to share custody of their two daughters, aged nine and seven.

In 2020, the Toronto Raptors set a Canadian record with their 15th consecutive win, the longest single-season streak from a major Canadian-based professional team.

In 2020, the World Health Organization said the novel coronavirus would be called COVID-19 to avoid stigmatizing any country, city, group of people, or animal, that may be linked to it.

In 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Aldona Z. Wos, a North Carolina Republican, doctor and former diplomat, to be the ambassador to Canada. The post had been vacant since August when ambassador Kelly Craft left to become the U-S representative to the United Nations.

In 2020, a primped and poised standard poodle, Siba, won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club, even with the crowd at Madison Square Garden chanting for Daniel, a popular golden retriever.

In 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada said it would not hear Senator Mike Duffy’s case. Duffy had been trying to challenge a ruling that prevented him from suing the Senate for suspending him following a high-profile investigation of his expense claims. The P.E.I. senator was acquitted on 31 criminal charges in 2016. Two years later, a court ruled the Senate’s decision to suspend Duffy was protected by parliamentary privilege, effectively blocking his bid to sue for $7.8 million in damages.

In 2021, the federal government approved Air Canada’s $190-million purchase of Transat after the COVID-19 pandemic diminished the deal’s value. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the deal would give greater stability to Canada’s air transport market.