Today in History - February 2
Return to home
Candlemas day. Candles are blessed in honor of
the
presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple and the purification of
the
Virgin Mary. The French of long ago believed that pancakes eaten on
this
day prevented hemorrhoids. Pagans call the day Brigid and Irish
Catholics
call it St. Brigid's Day. Druids call it Imbolc or Imbolg.
(WUD, 1994, p.216)(SFC, 1/17/98, p.C5)(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.E4)
Groundhog Day [see 1887]
962 Feb 2, Otto I
(912-973) invaded Italy and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John
XII.
(AHD, 1971, p.931)(HN, 2/2/99)(MC, 2/2/02)
1032 Feb 2, Conrad II claimed the
thrown of France.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1348 Feb 2, The Knights of the
Cross defeated a Lithuanian army at Streva.
(LHC, 2/2/03)
1386 Feb 2, Jogaila was elected
King of Poland.
(LHC, 2/2/03)
1461 Feb 2-3, The English houses
of York and Lancaster battled at Mortimer’s Cross, the Battle of the
Three Suns. In the War of the Roses Edward of York defeated the Welsh
Lancastrians in the 2nd battle of St Alban's.
(MH, 12/96)(AM, 7/01, p.69)(MC, 2/2/02)
1494 Feb 2, Columbus began the
practice using Indians as slaves.
(HN, 2/2/01)
1536 Feb 2, The Argentine city of
Buenos Aires was founded by Pedro de Mendoza of Spain. The memorial
Column standing at the center of Buenos Aires, gives the date as 1500.
(AP, 2/2/97)(MC, 2/2/02)
1556 Feb 2, The worst earthquake
in history devastated China’s Shanxi Province, killing 830,000 people.
(PCh, 1992,
p.190)(www.kepu.ac.cn/english/quake/ruins/rns03.html)
1571 Feb 2, All eight members of a
Jesuit mission in Virginia were murdered by Indians who pretended to be
their friends.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1594 Feb 2, Giovanni Perluigi da
Palestrina (68), Italian composer, died.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1626 Feb 2, Charles I was crowned
King of England. His wife was Queen Henrietta Maria.
(HN, 2/2/99)(WSJ, 10/31/02, p.D6)
1650 Feb 2, Nell [Eleanor] Gwyn,
English actress, mistress to King Charles II, was born.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1653 Feb 2, New Amsterdam, later
New York City, was incorporated.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1709 Feb 2, British sailor
Alexander Selkirk was rescued after being marooned on a desert island
for 5 years. His story inspired "Robinson Crusoe." [see Feb 12]
(MC, 2/2/02)
1754 Feb 2, Charles Maurice de
Tallyrand-Perigord, minister of foreign affairs for Napoleon I, was
born. He represented France brilliantly at the Congress of Vienna.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1762 Feb 2, Thomas Arne's opera
"Ataxerxes," premiered in London.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1789 Feb 2, Armand-Louis Couperin
(63), French composer, organist at Notre Dame, died.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1795 Feb 2, Joseph Haydn’s 102nd
Symphony in B premiered.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1803 Feb 2, Albert Sidney
Johnston, Genl. (Confederate Army), was born. He died in 1862 at Shiloh.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1808 Feb 2, Josef Kajetan Tyl
(d.1856), Czech dramatist and songwriter, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Kajet%C3%A1n_Tyl)
1811 Feb 2, Russian settlers
established Ft. Ross trading post in northern California. Fort Ross was
settled by peg-legged Ivan Kuzkov (Kuskov) in Sonoma County (1912). It
was designed as a base for fur hunters and a warm weather supplier for
the Russian colonies in Alaska. The colonists included 25 Russians and
over 80 Aleut Indians from the islands of western Alaska. Kuskov
managed the settlement until 1821.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T5)(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1
p.4)(SFC, 6/15/01, WBb p.7)(MC, 2/2/02)
1817 Feb 2, John Glover, English
chemist (sulfuric acid), was born.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1823 Feb 2, Rossini's opera
"Semiramide" premiered in Venice.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1826 Feb 2, Jean Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin (b.1755), French lawyer and epicure, died. “Tell me
what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” His famous work,
Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste), was published in
December 1825, two months before his death.
(WSJ, 7/19/08,
p.W1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brillat-Savarin)
1848 Feb 2, US and Mexico signed
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico ceded one-third of its
territory to the US including California, agreed to the Rio Grande as
the boundary between Texas and Mexico and was awarded $15 million.
25,000 Mexicans and 12,000 Americans lost their lives in the 17-month
old conflict.
(HFA, ‘96, p.48)(SFC, 6/13/96, p.A17)(HN, 2/2/99)
1848 Feb 2, The 1st ship load of
Chinese arrived in SF.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1852 Feb 2, Alexandre Dumas Jr.’s
"Le Dame aux Camelias," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1861 Feb 2, Solomon R. Guggenheim,
philanthropist (Guggenheim Museum NYC), was born.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1861 Feb 2, Mohammed VI, last
sultan of Ottoman Empire (1918-22), was born.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1865 Feb 2, Confederate raider
William Quantrill and his bushwackers robbed citizens, burned a
railroad depot and stole horses from Midway, Kentucky.
(HN, 2/2/01)
1869 Feb 2, James Oliver invented
the removable tempered steel plow blade.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1870 Feb 2, Samuel Clemens, Mark
Twain, married Olivia Langdon in Elmira, New York. He fell in love with
her photograph during an 1867 trip to the Holy Land with her brother
Charles.
(SFEM, 1/25/98, p.31)
1870 Feb 2, The press agencies
Havas, Reuter and Wolff signed an agreement whereby between them they
would cover the whole world.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1870 Feb 2, The "Cardiff Giant,"
supposedly the petrified remains of a human discovered in Cardiff,
N.Y., was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1873 Feb 2, Baron Konstantin von
Neurath, German secretary of State (1932-38), was born. After WW II he
was tried as war criminal and received jail sentence.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1875 Feb 2, Fritz Kreisler,
violinist, composer, was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1876 Feb 2, The National League of
Professional Base Ball Clubs with eight teams (Boston, Chicago,
Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, St Louis) was
formed in New York.
(AP, 2/2/97)(HN, 2/2/99)(MC, 2/2/02)
1882 Feb 2, James Joyce (d.1941),
Irish novelist and poet was born near Dublin. He wrote "Ulysses" and
"Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man." From "Ulysses”: “History,
Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.” In 1998
John Wyse Jackson and Peter Costello published the biography: “John
Stanislaus Joyce: The Voluminous Life and Genius of James Joyce’s
Father.”
(AP, 6/22/98)(AP, 2/2/99)(HN, 2/2/99)
1887 Feb 2, People began gathering
at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., to witness the groundhog's
search for its shadow.
(WSJ, 2/2/99, p.B1)
1890 Feb 2, Charles Correl, "Andy"
of the "Amos and Andy" radio program, was born.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1892 Feb 2, Bottle cap with cork
seal was patented by William Painter in Baltimore.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1893 Feb 2, The first movie
close-up (of a sneeze) was made at the Edison studio, West Orange, NJ.
(HFA, '96, p.24)(MC, 2/2/02)
1895 Feb 2, George Halas, National
Football League co-founder, was born.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1897 Feb 2, Fire destroyed the
Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. A new statehouse was
dedicated on the same site nine years later.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1900 Feb 2, Gustave Charpentier's
opera "Louise" premiered in Paris. [see Jan 2]
(MC, 2/2/02)
1901 Feb 2, Jascha Heifetz
(d.1987), US violin virtuoso (Carnegie Hall), was born in Vilnius,
Lithuania.
(www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002800/Jascha-Heifetz.html)
1901 Feb 2, Mexican government
troops were badly beaten by Yaqui Indians.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1905 Feb 2, Ayn Rand (d.1982),
writer and social philosopher (Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead), was born
in St. Petersburg, Russia, as Alisa Rosenbaum. Her work espoused the
political-economic philosophy of Objectivism, capitalism and what she
called "rational selfishness." She graduated from the University of
Leningrad in 1924 and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a
citizen in 1931. In Objectivism, the individual alone and his acts of
self-interest are seen as the positive driving force of society. Rand
rejected ideologies of altruism and self-sacrifice. Her novels
"Fountainhead" (1943) and "Atlas Shrugged" (1957) and a number of
non-fiction works brought wide recognition to her and her theories.
Rand founded the journal The Objectivist in 1962. She died in 1982.
"Upper classes are a nation’s past; the middle class is its future."
"So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked
what is the root of money?"
(AP, 4/30/97)(AP, 5/13/98)(HNPD,
9/27/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand)
1906 Feb 2, A Papal encyclical
denounced the separation of church & state.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1911 Feb 2, Johan J. "Jussi"
Bjorling, great Swedish tenor, was born. Now regarded by many as the
greatest opera tenor of the middle 20th Century.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1913 Feb 2, The new Grand Central
Terminal in NYC opened. It first opened in 1871 and was rebuilt by
Cornelius Vanderbilt at 42nd and Park Ave. It was designed by the
architectural firms of Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore, and was
extensively remodeled in 1998.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal)(WSJ, 12/9/04,
p.D10)(SSFC, 1/3/10, p.L4)
1915 Feb 2, Abba Eban (d.2002),
Israeli statesman, was born in South Africa. He grew up in England,
attaining honors at Cambridge University, where he honed his oratory as
a leader of the university debating society.
(AP, 11/17/02)
1916 Feb 2, U.S. Senate voted
independence for Philippines, effective in 1921.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1918 Feb 2, John L. Sullivan (59),
American former heavyweight boxing champ, died.
(AH, 2/06, p.34)
1920 Feb 2, A. Wang, founder of
Wang Labs and Wang Computers, was born.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1922 Feb 2, James Joyce's novel
"Ulysses" was published in Paris with 1,000 copies.
(SFC, 10/15/99, p.C12)(MC, 2/2/02)
1923 Feb 2, Ethyl gasoline was 1st
marketed in Dayton, Ohio.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1927 Feb 2, Stan Getz, jazz
saxophonist, was born in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.C4)
1932 Feb 2, Al Capone was sent to
prison at Atlanta, Georgia, for "tax evasion."
(MC, 2/2/02)
1933 Feb 2, Adolf Hitler dissolved
Parliament 2 days after becoming chancellor.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1933 Feb 2, Reichstag President
Herman Goring banned communist meetings and demonstrations in Germany.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1933 Feb 2, Than Shwe, later
military ruler of Myanmar (1992), was born.
(WSJ, 5/15/08,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Than_Shwe)
1934 Feb 2, The SF Police
Commission promulgated a set of regulations regarding dance permits to
Barbary Coast nightclubs. These included a prohibition against colored
and white people dancing together.
(SSFC, 2/1/09, DB p.50)
1934 Feb 2, Alfred Rosenberg was
made philosophical chief of the Nazi Party.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1935 Feb 2, A lie detector,
invented in 1921, was 1st used in court at Portage, Wisc.
(MC, 2/2/02)(Econ, 7/10/04, p.71)
1939 Feb 2, Hungary broke
relations with the Soviet Union.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1942 Feb 2, A Los Angeles Times
column urged security measures against Japanese-Americans, arguing that
a Japanese-American "almost inevitably ... grows up to be a Japanese,
not an American."
(AP, 2/2/99)
1942 Feb 2, US auto factories
switched from commercial to war production.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1943 Feb 2, The remainder of Nazi
forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major World War
II victory for the Soviets. 23 generals, 2,000 officers, and at least
130,000 German troops surrendered. This was later considered as the
turning point of WW II.
(AP, 2/2/97)(HN, 2/2/99)(WSJ, 3/28/03, p.A1)
1944 Feb 2, Andrew Davis,
conductor, was born in Ashbridge, England.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1944 Feb 2, The Germans stopped an
Allied attack at Anzio, Italy.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1945 Feb 2, President Roosevelt
and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill departed Malta for the
Yalta summit with Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1945 Feb 2, Some 1,200 Royal Air
Force planes blasted Wiesbaden and Karlsruhe.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1945 Feb 2, Karl F. Goerdeler
(60), mayor of Leipzig, "July 20th plot", was hanged.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1946 Feb 1, A press conference for
what is considered the first computer, the Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), was held at the University of
Pennsylvania. The machine took up an entire room, weighed 30 tons and
used more than 18,000 vacuum tubes to perform functions such as
counting to 5,000 in one second. ENIAC, costing $450,000, was designed
by the U.S. Army during World War II to make artillery calculations.
The development of ENIAC paved the way for modern computer
technology--but even today's average calculator possesses more
computing power than ENIAC did.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1948 Feb 2, President Harry Truman
sent to Congress a 10-point civil rights program calling for measures
against lynching, poll taxes and job discrimination.
(AP, 2/2/08)
1948 Feb 2, The United States and
Italy signed a pact of friendship, commerce and navigation.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1950 Feb 2, Nuclear physicist
Klaus Fuchs was arrested on spy charges. The Klaus Fuchs (d.1988)
confession revealed that the Soviet Union obtained the atomic bomb from
sources within the Manhattan Project. It was later revealed that
Theodore Alvin Hall, a scientist on the project, passed information to
the Soviets. The story is told in the 1997 book: "Bombshell: The Secret
Story of America’s Spy Conspiracy" by Joseph Albright and Marcia
Kunstel. Fuchs served 9 ½ years in a British prison. Ruth Werner
(d.2000) served as a contact for Fuchs in Britain.
(http://tinyurl.com/kjpk5)(WSJ, 10/20/97,
p.A19)(SFEC, 12/21/97, BR p.7)(SFC, 7/11/00, p.A23)
1954 Feb 2, President Eisenhower
reported the 1952 detonation of 1st Hydrogen bomb.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1956 Feb 2, Figure skater Tenley
Albright became the first American woman to win a gold medal at the
Winter Olympics in Italy. She achieved this despite an ankle injury.
(NYT, 2/3/1956, p. 26)
1959 Feb 2, Buddy Holly made his
last performance.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1959 Feb 2, Arlington and Norfolk,
Va., peacefully desegregated public schools.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1960 Feb 2, The U.S. Senate
approved 24th Amendment calling for a ban on the poll tax.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1961 Feb 2, The hijackers of the
Portuguese ocean liner the Santa Maria allowed the passengers and crew
to disembark in Brazil, 11 days after seizing the ship.
(AP, 2/2/07)
1964 Feb 2, The G.I. Joe action
figure debuted as a popular American toy.
(MC, 2/2/02)(SFC, 7/10/04, p.F11)
1965 Feb 2, Joe Orton's farce,
"Loot," premiered in Brighton.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1967 Feb 2, The American
Basketball Association (ABA) was officially born as the brainchild of
promoter Dennis Murphy. He later founded the World Football League, the
World Hockey Association, and World Team Tennis.
(www.hoophall.com/genrel/070307aaa.html)
1969 Feb 2, Boris Karloff
(b.1887), British actor born as William Henry Pratt, died. He is best
remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of
Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Karloff)
1969 Feb 2, In Marin County, Ca.,
a fire destroyed a 22-room mansion at Rancho Olompali occupied by
members of “the Chosen Family” led by Donald McCoy (1932-2004).”
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.B7)(SFC, 1/14/09, p.B12)
1969 Feb 2, Giovanni Martinelli
(b.1885), Italian opera singer, died. He enjoyed a long career at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City and appeared at other international
theatres.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Martinelli)
1970 Feb 2, Bertrand Russell
(B.1872), philosopher, social gadfly and British MP, died in Merioneth.
"Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than
when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?" He wrote "Pricipia
Mathmatica." In 1996 "Bertrand Russel: The Spirit of Solitude,"
1871-1921 by Ray Monk was published.
(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)(AP, 1/7/99)(HN,
5/18/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell)
1971 Feb 2, The Apollo XIV
astronauts confirmed that they would attempt a lunar landing.
(G&M, 2/2/96, p.A-2)
1971 Feb 2, The Ramsar Convention,
officially titled “The Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat,” was developed and adopted
by participating nations at a meeting in Ramsar, Iran. It came into
force on December 21, 1975. The US ratified the Ramsar agreement in
1986.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsar_Convention)(NH,
5/01, p.35)
1971 Feb 2, Idi Amin assumed power
in Uganda, following a coup that ousted President Milton Obote. Idi
Amin Dada (1925-2003) appointed himself president.
(AP, 2/2/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin)
1972 Feb 2, The play "Jumpers" by
Tom Stoppard (b.1937) was first performed at the Old Vic Theatre,
London, England.
(SFEM, 1/2/00,
p.6)(www.complete-review.com/reviews/stoppt/jumpers.htm)
1972 Feb 2, Winter Olympics began
in Sapporo, Japan.
(HN, 2/2/01)
1973 Feb 2, Crocodile Rock by
Elton John peaked in the top 10 singles.
(http://goodyoldies.com/billboard/1973.htm)
1974 Feb 2, Barbra Streisand made
her 1st #1 hit, "The Way We Were."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_100_number-one_hits_of_1974_(USA))
1976 Feb 2, Susan LeFevre (21)
escaped from a Michigan prison, where she was serving a 10-year
sentence for a heroin conviction. In 2008 she was arrested in San
Diego, where she lived as a suburban mother under the name Marie Walsh.
In 2009 LeFevre (54) was released from prison in Michigan.
(http://quintessentialprocrastinator.blogspot.com/2008/08/susan-lefevre.html)(SFC,
5/19/09, p.A5)
1979 Feb 2, John Simon Ritchie
(b.1957), better known as Sid Vicious, the bassist for the British Sex
Pistols rock group, overdosed from heroin in NYC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Vicious)
1980 Feb 2, Reports surfaced that
the FBI had conducted a sting operation targeting members of Congress
using phony Arab businessmen in what became known as "Abscam," a
codename protested by Arab-Americans.
(AP, 2/2/00)
1980 Feb 2, A 2-day prison riot
began at the old main penitentiary near Santa Fe, NM. The riot left 33
inmates butchered by other prisoners.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_State_Penitentiary_riot)
1982 Feb 2, Pres. Hafez Assad
ordered the Syrian army under his brother, Rifaat Assad, to crush a
fundamentalist Muslim revolt in Hama. At least 10,000 residents were
massacred.
(WSJ, 6/13/00,
p.A26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_Massacre)(Econ, 10/27/07, p.33)
1985 Feb 2, David Raley, a
caretaker at the Carolands Chateau in Hillsborough, Ca., lured 2
teenage girls inside, where he assaulted and stabbed them, killing one.
The 2nd girl survived and identified her assailant. In 2006 an appeals
court upheld his death sentence.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A17)(Ind, 2/26/00, p.5A)(SFC,
4/15/06, p.B3)
1987 Feb 2, The White House
announced the resignation of CIA director William Casey, who was
hospitalized and had undergone brain surgery.
(AP, 2/2/06)
1987 Feb 2, Largest steel strike
in American history, in progress since August, ended.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1988 Feb 2, In a speech that three
major television networks declined to broadcast live, President Reagan
pressed his case for aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1989 Feb 2, President Bush met at
the White House with Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, after
which both leaders sounded upbeat about U.S-Japanese relations.
(AP, 2/2/99)
1990 Feb 2, In a dramatic
concession to South Africa's black majority, President F.W. de Klerk
lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free
Nelson Mandela.
(AP, 2/2/00)
1991 Feb 2, In Brazil Expedito
Ribeiro de Souza, an environmental activist and head of the Farmworkers
Union, was killed. Jose Serafim Sales was convicted for the shooting in
1995 and was sentenced to 24 years in prison. He later escaped. In 2000
rancher Jeronimo Alves Amorim was convicted for ordering the killing
and was sentenced to 19 ½ years in prison.
(SFC, 6/8/00, p.A16)
1992 Feb 2, The U.S. Coast Guard
shipped home 250 more Haitian refugees from the Guantanamo Bay Naval
Base in Cuba, a day after repatriating a shipload of about 150 Haitians.
(AP, 2/2/02)
1992 Feb 2, Longtime “Miss
America” emcee Bert Parks died in La Jolla, Calif., at age 77.
(AP, 2/2/02)
1993 Feb 2, In a speech to the
National Governors' Association, President Clinton pledged to transform
welfare into a "hand up, not a handout" by giving recipients training
and then requiring them to work.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1993 Feb 2, IRS and Willie Nelson
settled on $9M tax bill (of $16.7M). In November 1990 the IRS had
raided Willie Nelson's home in Texas and seized everything. The IRS
auctioned off Nelson's home and his property, though friends and fans
bought most of his things and gave them back later.
(www.440.com/twtd/archives/feb02.html)(www.bankruptcy-usa.info/famous-bankruptcies.html)
1994 Feb 2, The US Commerce
Department reported that its Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose
for the fifth straight month, with a 0.7 percent advance in December
1993.
(AP, 2/2/04)
1994 Feb 2, Marija
Alseika-Gimbutas (b.1921), Lithuanian-born archeologist and
pre-historian, died in LA, Ca.
(LHC, 1/23/03)
1995 Feb 2, President Clinton
nominated Henry Foster Jr. to succeed fired Surgeon General Joycelyn
Elders; however, Foster's nomination was later defeated in the Senate.
(AP, 2/2/00)
1995 Feb 2, The leaders of Egypt,
Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians held an unprecedented summit in
Cairo to try to revive the Mideast peace process.
(AP, 2/2/00)(http://tinyurl.com/255pml)
1996 Feb 2, Barry Loukaitis (14)
turned his guns loose on fellow 9th graders at Frontier Middle School
in Seattle.
(SFEC, 6/14/98, p.A1)
1996 Feb 2, A deep freeze
continued in the Plains, the Midwest and much of the South, breaking
temperature records that had stood for a century.
(AP, 2/2/06)
1996 Feb 2, Gene Kelly (83),
dancer actor and choreographer, famous for his part in the musical
Singin' in the Rain, died of complications from strokes at his home in
Beverly Hills, Ca.
(WSJ, 2/5/96, p.A-1)(AP, 2/2/08)
1997 Feb 2, Authorities in
Vallejo, Calif., recovered 500 pounds of stolen dynamite and arrested
two men in bombings that destroyed three bank teller machines and
blasted a courthouse wall. Six men wound up receiving long prison terms
for their roles in the case.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.A1)(AP, 2/2/07)
1997 Feb 2, In Algeria Islamic
guerrillas killed 31 people. The dead were all believed to be related
to a dissident member of the GIA, the Armed Islamic Group. After their
throats were cut a dwarf hacked off their heads with an ax and a knife.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C2)
1997 Feb 2, In Belgium some 20
thousand demonstrators joined workers of bankrupt Forges de Clabecq, a
steel firm, to protest job losses and social injustice.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C3)
1997 Feb 2, In Columbia at least
25 soldiers were killed and scores wounded in fighting with leftist
guerrillas east of Bogota.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C3)
1997 Feb 2, In Serbia riot police
beat pro-democracy protestors in the biggest show of force in 75 days
of anti-government protests.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.A1)
1998 Feb 2, Pres. Clinton proposed
a $1.73 trillion fiscal 1999 budget and projected a $10 billion
surplus, the first year without a deficit since 1969. He planned to
pump billions to schools, health and child care.
(WSJ, 2/2/98, p.A1)(AP, 2/2/99)
1998 Feb 2, The government
released statistics showing deaths from AIDS fell by almost half during
the first half of 1997, a decrease attributed to increased use of
powerful combinations of medicines.
(AP, 2/2/99)
1998 Feb 2, In Florida three days
of storms began the left an estimated damage of over $25 million. Gov.
Chiles requested $19 million in federal disaster aid.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Feb 2, UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan
recommended that the Security Council more than double the amount of
oil Iraq is allowed to sell.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)
1998 Feb 2, In Algeria the
military reported that they killed 60 rebels in a weekend offensive.
Local media said 17 civilians were killed in 3 massacres in western and
southern provinces.
(WSJ, 2/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 2, Russia announced that
an envoy in Baghdad received concessions from Saddam Hussein on UN
weapons inspections. US Sec. Albright failed to get permission from
Saudi Arabia for US use of air bases to launch air strikes against
Iraq. France, Turkey, Jordan, the Arab League and Yasser Arafat said
they would send envoys to Baghdad to avert a possible US military
strike.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)
1998 Feb 2, In the Philippines a
Cebu Pacific Air DC-9 crashed on Mount Sumagaya as it approached for
landing at Cagayan de Oro. 104 people were onboard. Rescuers reached
the wreckage the next day but found no survivors.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)(SFC, 2/4/98, p.C3)
1999 Feb 2, A federal jury in
Portland, Oregon, ordered abortion foes who had created "wanted"
posters and a Web site listing the names and addresses of "baby
butchers" to pay $107 million in damages; the defendants said they
would appeal. In 2004 the case was before the U.S. Supreme Court.
(AP, 2/2/04)
1999 Feb 2, In Angola a chartered
Antonov crashed in a Luanda residential area and 28 people were killed.
(WSJ, 2/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 2, In Brazil Pres.
Cardoso fired Central Bank chief Francisco Lopes. He appointed Arminio
Fraga (42), an investment strategist and former associate of George
Soros, to the post.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 2, In Guinea-Bissau a
grenade destroyed a church and killed 3 people. 35 people were reported
killed since fighting began Jan 31.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 2, In Kosovo members of
the KLA agreed to attend peace talks in France.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 2, In Iraq US pilots
operated under broader rules of attack and targeted a newly assembled
missile site.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 2, In Russia the top
court banned the death penalty until a jury system is adopted
throughout the nation. Police commandos also raided the Moscow
headquarters of Sibneft, an oil company believed to be controlled by
financier Boris Berezovsky.
(WSJ, 2/3/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 2/7/99, p.A22)
1999 Feb 2, In Venezuela Hugo
Chavez was sworn in as president. He soon began Plan Bolivar 2000, a
national effort to refurbish schools and clinics using military forces.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)(SFC, 6/14/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 2, In Yemen kidnappers
freed 4 Dutch and 2 British nationals.
(WSJ, 2/3/99, p.A1)
2000 Feb 2, The TV cable Oxygen
channel, dedicated to female viewers, made its debut.
(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.D5)
2000 Feb 2, Pres. Clinton proposed
a $2 billion "ClickStart" program to bring Internet access to
low-income households.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 2, The US Federal Reserve
raised short-term interest rates by .25%.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 2, A federal jury in
Portland, Oregon, ordered abortion foes who had created “wanted”
posters and a Web site listing the names and addresses of “baby
butchers” to pay $107 million in damages; the defendants promised to
appeal.
(AP, 2/2/01)
2000 Feb 2, Searchers recovered
the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage of Alaska Airlines Flight
261 in the Pacific Ocean, off the California coast.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2000 Feb 2, In Bolivia an oil
spill was reported to have leaked some 5,000 barrels into the
Desaguadero River, which empties into Lake Titicaca. The spill was
reported to have reached Lake Poopo and Lake Uru Uru and was spreading
to the communities of the Aymara Indians.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A16)
2000 Feb 2, In Israel an Israeli
Arab legislator, Issam Mahoul, announced that the country possessed up
to 300 nuclear warheads and that 3 new German-made submarines would be
fitted with nuclear weapons.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A13)
2000 Feb 2, In Kosovo a rocket
attack on a NATO escorted bus filled with Serb civilians killed 2
villagers and wounded 3.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 2/3/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 2, In southern Lebanon a
roadside bomb killed one man and injured 2 Israeli militiamen.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A13)
2000 Feb 2, In Tajikistan at least
5 people were killed and 22 wounded when a city bus exploded outside
Dushanbe. A natural gas canister or home made bomb was blamed.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A13)
2000 Feb 2, In Turkey the bodies
of 5 more Hezbollah victims were found in Diyarbakir and Gaziantep and
raised the total to 55.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A14)
2001 Feb 2, Former President
Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said they would pay for $86,000
worth of White House gifts they'd chosen to keep.
(AP, 2/2/02)
2001 Feb 2, Mexico agreed to sell
a small amount of power to California. The Bush administration refused
to impose energy price caps despite pleas by Western governors.
(SFC, 2/3/01, p.A3,8)
2001 Feb 2, Congo’s Pres. Joseph
Kabila called for the armies of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi to withdraw
and promised that troops from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe would leave
after stability was restored.
(SFC, 2/3/01, p.A8)
2001 Feb 2, Hutu militiamen
backing Joseph Kabila ambushed a bus in rebel-controlled eastern Congo
and killed 11 passengers.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 2, Alfred Sirven, former
2nd in command of Elf Aquitaine, was arrested in Manila following 4
years on the lam. He was involved in a multimillion-dollar corruption
case against Roland Dumas, a former French foreign minister.
(SFC, 2/3/01, p.A10)
2002 Feb 2, Jim Kelly of the
Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers star John Stallworth were elected
to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
(AP, 2/2/03)
2002 Feb 2, The NHL World
All-Stars rallied to defeat North America 8-5.
(AP, 2/2/03)
2002 Feb 2, The Bush
administration approved a $700 million grant to help rebuild lower
Manhattan devastated by the Sep 11 terrorist attacks.
(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A13)
2002 Feb 2, In NYC protesters of
the World Economic Forum turned out in large numbers. Inside foreign
economic leaders criticized the US for protectionist policies, and Bill
Gates and U2 rock star Bono pushed for increases in foreign aid by rich
countries to poor countries.
(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A3)(AP, 2/2/03)
2002 Feb 2, New Orleans voters
approved a $1 per hour increase in the minimum wage above the $5.15
federal standard in a referendum that went to court for resolution.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A9)
2002 Feb 2, A special committee of
the Enron Corp. board filed a 217-page report that concluded Enron
executives had manipulated company profits.
(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 2, In Lagos, Nigeria,
fighting broke out between militants of the Yoruba and Hausa tribes. At
least 55 people were killed over the next 2 days as fighting spread.
(SFC, 2/4/02, p.A3)(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A5)
2002 Feb 2, In Pakistan police
arrested 2 people in Karachi linked to the Jan 23 kidnapping of WSJ
reporter Daniel Pearl.
(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A7)
2003 Feb 2, The search continued
for pieces of the space shuttle Columbia, a day after the spacecraft
disintegrated during re-entry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2003 Feb 2, Lou Harrison (85), US
composer, died. His work melded Asian and Western styles.
(SFC, 2/4/03, p.A19)
2003 Feb 2, Australia's first
cloned sheep, Matilda (b. Apr, 2000) died unexpectedly of unknown
causes.
(AP, 2/7/03)
2003 Feb 2, Chechen rebel attacks
and mines killed 5 Russian servicemen and wounded 8.
(AP, 2/3/03)
2003 Feb 2, In northeastern China,
fire tore through the Tiantan Hotel Harbin, killing 33 people at the
start of Chinese New Year.
(AP, 2/2/03)
2003 Feb 2, A tornado tore through
remote villages in Bandundu province in central Congo, killing 164
people, destroying homes and ruining crops.
(AP, 2/6/03)
2003 Feb 2, Vaclav Havel stepped
down after 13 years as president of the Czech Republic.
(AP, 2/2/03)
2003 Feb 2, Indonesian police
arrested Mas Selamat bin Kastari, a major terrorist suspect, on the
island of Bintang.
(SFC, 2/4/03, p.A9)
2003 Feb 2, In Kazakhstan Progress
M-47 lifted off atop a Soyuz-U rocket to deliver supplies to the int'l.
space station.
(SFC, 2/3/03, p.A5)
2003 Feb 2, In Nigeria a powerful
explosion destroyed a bank and dozens of apartments above it on Lagos
Island, and relief workers reported at least 46 killed and many more
trapped.
(AP, 2/2/03)(AP, 2/3/04)
2003 Feb 2, In the Philippines a
two-hour gunbattle involving about 70 New People's Army rebels killed
two soldiers and five rebels near the town of Baganga in the southern
Davao Oriental province.
(AP, 2/2/03)
2004 Feb 2, Pres. Bush proposed a
$2.4 trillion federal budget with a projected deficit of $521 billion
for this year. It included an increase in rent for San Francisco's use
of Hetch Hetchy reservoir in the Yosemite Valley from $30,000 a year to
$8 million.
(SFC, 2/3/04, p.A1)(SFC, 2/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 2, A white power
containing Ricin, a deadly poison, was discovered in a mail room near
the office of US Senate majority leader Bill Frist.
(SFC, 2/3/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 2, Scientists reported
the discovery of elements 113 and 115.
(SFC, 2/3/04, p.A4)
2004 Feb 2, The US ambassador to
Ecuador said the US will withhold $15 million in military aid to
Ecuador for not signing an agreement granting US military members
immunity from an international court.
(AP, 2/2/04)
2004 Feb 2, PM Ariel Sharon told
his stunned Likud Party he plans to dismantle all Israeli settlements
in the Gaza Strip, his most specific comment yet on unilateral steps if
peace talks fail.
(AP, 2/2/04)
2004 Feb 2, Israel killed a leader
of Islamic Jihad and three other militants in a Gaza raid.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2004 Feb 2, In Nepal some 15,000
people marched in downtown Katmandu demanding democratic reforms.
Police broke up the rally with tear gas, water cannons and bamboo
batons, injuring at least 12 people.
(AP, 2/2/04)
2004 Feb 2, Pakistan said
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of its nuclear program, has acknowledged
in a written statement that he sent sensitive technology to Iran, Libya
and North Korea to aid their atomic programs.
(AP, 2/2/04)
2004 Feb 2, A 6-year-old
Thai boy, who had been in contact with roosters used in cock fights,
died in Bangkok of bird flu. Thailand breeders began hiding their
valuable fighting roosters.
(WSJ, 2/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 2, In central Turkey an
11-story apartment building collapsed in Konya, killing at least 63
people. 12 people were found alive in the rubble the next day.
(AP, 2/3/04)(AP, 2/6/04)(AP,
2/7/04)
2004 Feb 2, In western Uganda a
boat overloaded with passengers and cargo capsized in stormy weather on
Lake Albert and more than 40 people were feared drowned.
(AP, 2/3/04)
2005 Feb 2, President Bush
showcased his Social Security plan and claimed advances on jobs and
against terrorism in his State of the Union address. Bush called for
changes in Social Security that would combine reduced government
benefits for younger workers with "a chance to build a nest egg"
through personal accounts.
(AP, 2/3/05)(AP, 2/2/06)
2005 Feb 2, The US Federal Open
Market Committee, for the 6th straight meeting, increased its target
for overnight interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 2.50% and
signaled that rates will rise further in coming months.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, The US said that North
Korea's nuclear initiative is a threat to world peace and urged the
secretive regime in Pyongyang to resume talks aimed at ending the
program.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Matthew Carrington
(21), a student at Cal State Chico, died of heart failure after
drinking excessive amounts of water while doing calisthenics during a
hazing ritual for the Chi Tau fraternity.
(SFC, 1/18/07, p.A5)
2005 Feb 2, China and Russia
agreed to set up a new body to consult more closely on security issues.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Marxist rebels in
southern Colombia ambushed an army convoy with explosives and gunfire,
killing 8 soldiers and wounding 4 others.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 2, The EU told Italy,
France and Germany, to do more to bring their budgets in balance as
required by the rules of Europe's single currency.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, French Pres. Jacques
Chirac planned to visit Senegal for the first time in a decade, hoping
to boost ties with a former West African colony at a time when the US
is raising its military profile in the region.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 2, Max Schmeling
(b.1905), the heavyweight champion whose two fights with Joe Louis set
off a propaganda war between the Nazi regime and the US on the eve of
World War II, died at age 99 at his home in Hollenstedt, Germany.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 2, India’s Finance
Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said India has raised the interest
rate for its largest pension fund, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF),
to 9.5%. India raised the foreign investment cap in telecoms companies
to 74% from 49%.
(Reuters, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim,
the Shiite Muslim who heads the ticket expected to have won the largest
number of parliamentary seats in Iraq's election, indicated that his
group wants the post of prime minister in the new government. Leading
Sunni Muslim clerics said the country's landmark elections lacked
legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the
balloting, which the clerics had asked them to boycott.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, In Iraq 2 civilians
were killed and six injured when insurgents fired mortar shells at a
U.S. base in Tal Afar, 30 miles west of Mosul.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 2, Kurdish leader Massoud
Barzani outlined a set of demands for Shiite political parties and said
Kurds would back only Shiites willing to maintain the current Kurd
autonomy.
(WSJ, 2/3/05, p.A15)
2005 Feb 2, Armando Guebuza was
sworn in as president of Mozambique.
(Econ, 2/5/05,
p.48)(www.voanews.com/english/2005-02-02-voa28.cfm)
2005 Feb 2, Nepal’s King Gyanendra
announced a 10-member Cabinet dominated by his own supporters, one day
after he dismissed the government.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, Russia's government
said the country's economy grew by 7.1 percent last year, an increase
in its preliminary estimates.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2006 Feb 2, US House Republicans
elected Ohio Rep. John Boehner as majority leader to replace Texas Rep.
Tom DeLay.
(WSJ, 2/3/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 2, In California Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory announced that it will install a battery
of machine guns to deter terrorists. The Gatling guns will be capable
of firing 4,000 rounds a minute from 6 barrels with a range of nearly a
mile.
(SFC, 2/4/06, p.B1)
2006 Feb 2, Tornadoes tore through
New Orleans neighborhoods that had been hit hard by Hurricane Katrina
five months earlier.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2006 Feb 2, NYC Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, a billionaire known for his philanthropy, anonymously
donated $100 million to Johns Hopkins University to support stem cell
research.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, United Airlines' new
stock debuted on the Nasdaq Stock Market, a day after the carrier
emerged from bankruptcy following a three-year restructuring.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, In New Bedford, Mass.,
Jacob D. Robida (18) used a hatchet and a gun to attack 3 patrons at a
gay bar. On Feb 4 in Arkansas Robida shot himself after he killed a
Gassville police officer and a woman in his car. He died the next day.
(AP, 2/3/06)(AP, 2/5/06)(SFC, 2/8/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 2, Climate experts
confirmed the start of La Nina, a mild cooling of the tropical Pacific
Ocean. It often coincides with more numerous hurricanes, a wetter
Pacific Northwest and a drier South.
(SFC, 2/3/06, p.A18)
2006 Feb 2, German
alternative-power company Solarworld AG said it will buy businesses
from Shell to take over as the top maker of solar power equipment in
the US.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, The Greek government
reported that mobile phones belonging to top Greek military and
government officials, including the prime minister and the US embassy,
were tapped for nearly a year beginning in the weeks before the 2004
Olympic games. It was not known who was responsible for the taps, which
numbered about 100.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, Guatemalan police said
they have arrested 7 Christian fundamentalist vigilantes who extorted
travelers and may have killed five people they believed were criminals.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, Honduras numbered 24
state prisons, but only one, the National Penitentiary, was actually
built to house inmates. Prison facilities built for 6,000 prisoners
housed 13,000.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, Eight survivors were
rescued two days after an overcrowded Indonesian ferry sank in rough
seas on the western side of Timor island. At least 20 people were still
missing.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, A US helicopter fired
rockets into a crowded Shiite neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, killing
a young woman, after the aircraft was fired on. In eastern Baghdad 2
bombs exploded about 20 minutes apart, killing at least 11 Iraqis and
wounding dozens. A US soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of
Baghdad.
(AP, 2/2/06)(SFC, 2/4/06, p.A7)
2006 Feb 2, In Iraq a mortar
attack on the Northern Oil. Co. in Kirkuk resulted in devastating
pipeline fires and a shut down of all oil operations in the area. The
director of the plant was arrested 2 days later along with several
employees and police officials and all were charged with helping to
orchestrate the attack.
(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.A18)
2006 Feb 2, Italy's government won
a vote of confidence in the upper house of parliament on a broad decree
that includes financing for the country's mission in Iraq.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, Lebanese officials
said the bullet-ridden body of a 15-year-old shepherd was found in
disputed territory occupied by Israel.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, Mexican authorities
captured Oscar Arriola Marquez, leader of the Arriola Marquez cartel,
wanted in the US on cocaine trafficking and money laundering charges,
and ranked among the world's most-wanted fugitives.
(AP, 2/3/06)
2006 Feb 2, In Nepal the homes of
3 mayoral candidates loyal to the king were bombed, a week before
nationwide municipal elections that insurgents have called a sham and
vowed to disrupt.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, Armed militants,
angered by a cartoon drawing of the Prophet Muhammad published in
European media, surrounded EU offices in Gaza and threatened to kidnap
foreigners as outrage over the caricatures spread across the Islamic
world. A fatwa was issued by Yussuf al-Qaradawi, a Brotherhood sheikh
with his own program on al-Jazeera. Other radical groups joined the
fray. Although there is no Quranic injunction against images, Islam in
its early years came into contact with a version of Christianity that
was militantly iconoclastic and some Muslim theologians issued fatwas
against any depiction of the Godhead.
(AP, 2/2/06)(WSJ, 2/8/06, p.A16)
2006 Feb 2, South Korea decided to
begin talks with the US toward achieving a free trade agreement between
the two countries.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, South Korea's spy
agency said that North Korea was not currently producing counterfeit
currency, apparently contradicting US allegations that have become the
latest obstacle in nuclear disarmament talks with the communist country.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, In Russia 3 bombs
ripped through slot-machine parlors in the southern city of
Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, killing at least two people
and injuring up to 25 others.
(AP, 2/3/06)
2006 Feb 2, Russia and Ukraine
announced the signing of an agreement finalizing their Jan 4 compromise
on natural gas prices.
(WSJ, 2/3/06, p.A10)
2006 Feb 2, The Vatican announced
that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of an auxiliary
bishop of Detroit, Thomas Gumbleton, a liberal voice in the US church
who recently revealed that a priest abused him 60 years ago.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 2, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela is expelling a US Navy officer for allegedly
passing secret information from the Venezuelan military to the Pentagon
and warned he will throw out all US military attaches if further
espionage occurs.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2007 Feb 2, Scientists from 113
countries issued a report saying they have little doubt global warming
is caused by man, and predicting that hotter temperatures and rises in
sea level will "continue for centuries" no matter how much humans
control their pollution. The 4th report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) was published in Paris.
(AP, 2/2/07)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.86)
2007 Feb 2, Gov. Rick Perry issued
an order making Texas the 1st state to require schoolgirls get
vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical
cancer.
(SFC, 2/3/07, p.A3)
2007 Feb 2, Storms blew through
central Florida, killing 21 people, flattening dozens of homes and a
church and lifting a tractor trailer into the air.
(AP, 2/3/07)(AP, 2/2/08)
2007 Feb 2, Ivan Santos (15) was
shot and killed in San Pablo, Ca. On Mar 22-23 Police arrested Ramon
Alejandre (30), Roberto Garcia (21) and a boy (17) for shooting Santos,
who was allegedly dressed like a rival gang member.
(SFC, 3/24/07, p.B3)
2007 Feb 2, Joe Hunter (79),
Motown’s first bandleader, died in Detroit, Mich.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.B6)
2007 Feb 2, Billy Henderson (67),
singer in the band called the Spinners, died in Florida. His songs
included “I’ll Be Around” (1972) and other hits. The 5-member band had
formed in 1954 in Ferndale, Mich.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.B6)
2007 Feb 2, Eric von Schmidt (75),
guitarist and painter, died in Connecticut. He was a mentor for Bob
Dylan, who wrote the liner notes for Schmidt’s 1969 album: “Who Knocked
the Brains Out of the Sky.”
(SFC, 2/5/07, p.B4)
2007 Feb 2, In Bolivia a high
court ruled in favor of a Amauris Sanmartino, a Cuban dissident who was
recently deported from Bolivia for criticizing President Evo Morales,
saying a law prohibiting foreigners from involvement in the Andean
country's politics is unconstitutional. Sanmartino went to Colombia and
planned to relocate to Norway.
(AP, 2/2/07)(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Feb 2, US Peace Corps
volunteers flew to Cambodia to teach English at rural schools, marking
the 45-year-old organization's first mission there.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, Abdoulaye Miskine, the
head of one of the Central African Republic's main rebel groups, inked
in Libya a peace deal described as "historic" by the government. Under
the deal, which CAR's other main rebel factions are expected to sign up
to, there will be an immediate ceasefire and Miskine's rebels will be
integrated into civilian life or absorbed into the army. Rebel
prisoners are to be freed.
(AFP, 2/3/07)
2007 Feb 2, A mine explosion in
China’s Henan province killed 24 coal miners at the Xing'an coal mine.
Newspapers later reported that mining officials had said that seven
miners had died in the blast, and that mine owner Fu Faming ordered
miners back into the shaft to seal it with earth in an attempt to bury
evidence of the deaths.
(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 2, Ecuador’s President
Rafael Correa dismissed the country's army commander, just over a week
after a military helicopter crash killed Ecuador's first female defense
minister.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, A French court
convicted dozens of people in a baby-trafficking case involving the
sale of nearly two dozen Bulgarian infants over two years.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, In northern India a
crowded bus veered off a steep mountain road and fell into a gorge,
killing at least 10 people and injuring 17 others.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, Iran said it will
allow UN surveillance cameras at its Natanz nuclear complex.
(WSJ, 2/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 2, US forces killed 18
insurgents in fighting overnight after insurgents opened fire on the
Americans from several positions in Ramadi. A roadside bomb struck a
police patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing one officer. A US
military helicopter went down near Taji and 2 crew members were
killed.
(AP, 2/2/07)(SFC, 2/3/07, p.A4)
2007 Feb 2, UN envoy Martti
Ahtisaari unveiled his long-awaited plan for Kosovo, a proposal
recommending internationally supervised statehood for the contested
province where separatists fought a bloody war with Serbia in the late
1990s.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, Lebanon's top Sunni
Muslim clerics published a religious edict prohibiting Muslims from
killing their fellow countrymen, particularly other Muslims.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, Fatah fighters stormed
a Hamas-affiliated university for the second time, hours before the two
political factions grappling for control of the Palestinian government
said they had agreed on a new cease-fire. 17 people, including four
children, were killed in renewed fighting before the
announcement.
(AP, 2/2/07)(WSJ, 2/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 2, Malaysia said it is
ready to halt free trade talks with the United States after a US
lawmaker called for a suspension in protest over an energy deal with
Iran signed in January.
(AFP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, President Gen. Pervez
Musharraf said Pakistan will erect fencing to reinforce parts of its
porous mountain border with Afghanistan, acknowledging for the first
time that some outgunned Pakistani frontier guards have allowed
militants to cross. The United States handed over eight Cobra attack
helicopters to Pakistan, which is under growing pressure to stop
Taliban guerrillas crossing into Afghanistan to fight NATO
forces.
(AP, 2/2/07)(Reuters, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, Suspected Muslim
guerrillas stormed a Philippine jail and blasted a hole through a wall,
freeing three alleged bombers and dozens of other inmates. In the
southern Philippines 50 people were killed and 65 others injured when a
tanker truck exploded as it was negotiating a downhill mountain
road.
(AP, 2/2/07)(AP, 2/3/07)
2007 Feb 2, In Somalia an
explosion at an Islamic school for women and girls in Mogadishu wounded
at least seven people. At least three mortar attacks were launched
overnight in the city by unknown attackers.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, Chinese President Hu
Jintao offered Sudan assistance for the peaceful resolution of the
Darfur conflict but ignored Western pressure to make future aid
conditional on the progress made. Jintao agreed on closer economic
cooperation with Sudan after sealing talks with a series of trade
agreements. Jintao told Sudan's leader he must give the United Nations
a bigger role in trying to resolve the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, A ruling by
Switzerland's highest court opened up the possibility that people with
serious mental illnesses could be helped by doctors to take their own
lives.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2008 Feb 2, Mitt Romney coasted to
a win in presidential preference voting by Maine Republicans, claiming
his third victory in a caucus state and fourth overall.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 2, In Tinley Park, Ill.,
a gunman herded five women into the back room of a strip mall Lane
Bryan clothing store and killed them during a botched robbery. He
vanished after walking out of the shop's front door.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 2, Gus Arriola (b.1917),
cartoonist, died in Carmel, Ca. His Gordo (1941-1985) cartoon strip was
one of the first in the US to celebrate Mexican culture.
(SSFC, 2/3/08, p.B1)
2008 Feb 2, Joshua Lederberg
(b.1925), Stanford professor and Nobel-winning molecular biologist,
died in NY.
(SFC, 2/8/08, p.B9)
2008 Feb 2, African Union leaders
condemned the latest unrest in Chad and Kenya at the close of a summit
overshadowed by new crises on the continent and which saw little
headway achieved on older ones. Hundreds of rebels penetrated the
capital of Chad, clashing with government troops and moving on the
presidential palace after a three-day advance through the oil-producing
central African nation.
(AFP, 2/2/08)(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, Hamas agreed to
Egyptian calls to control the flow of Palestinians through the breached
Gaza border and expects Egypt to seal remaining gaps in the frontier
wall.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy married former model Carla Bruni at the Elysee Palace.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, An Indonesian health
ministry official said floods in Jakarta have killed three people and
displaced nearly 100,000 after two days of torrential rain.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, Iraqi forces raided
two villages north of the capital, killing seven suspected militants
and arresting four others. Near Samarra, Iraqi police killed four men
and captured a senior aide to an al-Qaida in Iraq leader. Near Tal Afar
Iraqi commandos killed three wanted men and arrested three others. The
US military accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians near Iskandariyah
during an operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq, the deadliest known
case of mistaken identity in recent months.
(AP, 2/2/08)(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 2, An Iraqi government
official said Iraq has halted oil exports to Austria's OMV, the leading
oil and gas group in central Europe, to protest a deal with the
self-ruled Kurdish region.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 2, A Lebanese prosecutor
issued arrest warrants for 11 soldiers and six civilians in connection
with Jan 27 clashes between troops and Shiite Muslim protesters that
left 7 people dead.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, A police raid in
Pakistan's northwest triggered a shootout that killed two officers and
three militants and led the insurgents to use women and children as
human shields.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, South Korean car giant
Hyundai Motor Co opened a second plant in India, making the country its
biggest foreign manufacturing site.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, In central Sri Lanka a
bomb tore through a bus packed with mostly elderly Buddhist pilgrims,
killing 18 people and wounding 51 others.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 2, Taiwan's president
inaugurated a runway on disputed Taiping island in the Spratlys chain
in the South China Sea, sparking a protest from the Philippines which
also claims sovereignty over the isle.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 2, In Turkey tens of
thousands of secular Turks rallied against a plan by the government to
allow women students to wear the Muslim headscarf at university, a move
they say will usher in a stricter form of Islam.
(Reuters, 2/2/08)
2009 Feb 2, President Barack Obama
promised to establish a review board to oversee the government's $700
billion rescue package aimed at averting a financial meltdown,
declaring that some of the nation's banks would have to write down bad
debts, while other banks may fail.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, Eric Holder won US
Senate confirmation as the nation's first African-American attorney
general, after supporters from both parties touted his dream resume and
easily overcame Republican concerns over his commitment to fight
terrorism and his unwillingness to back the right to keep and bear arms.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, Tom Daschle, President
Barack Obama's choice to head the Health and Human Services Department,
apologized to the Senate panel that will decide his fate, saying he was
"deeply embarrassed and disappointed" about failing to pay more than
$120,000 in taxes. On Feb 3 Daschle withdrew his name from nomination.
(AP, 2/2/09)(WSJ, 2/4/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 2, In New Mexico Richard
Leon Goyette (47) was arrested in Albuquerque for conveying false
information. Angered over losses in the stock market he has sent
financial institutions angry e-mails and dozens of threatening letters
containing suspicious powder.
(WSJ, 2/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 2, In southern
Afghanistan a Taliban suicide bomber in a police uniform detonated his
explosives inside a police training center, killing 21 officers and
wounding at least 20.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, Hundreds more British
power plant workers went on strike in a widening labor campaign over
the use of overseas workers to build an oil refinery in Immingham.
Workers were upset over the decision by Italian construction company
IREM SpA to use Italian and Portuguese workers for a 200 million-pound
($280 million) project at a Total refinery. An estimated 6 million
people skipped work when the largest snowstorm to hit London in 18
years stopped bus and subway services, grounded airliners and hobbled
businesses.
(AP, 2/2/09)(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Cambodia police in
Siem Reap arrested Jack Louis Sporich (75), an American from Chicago.
He was charged with sexually abusing four Cambodian boys.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 2, In England a protester
hurled abuse and then a shoe at China's Premier Wen Jiabao as he
delivered a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University.
(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 2, A Chinese official
said an estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless
after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up due to the
global economic slowdown, noting that widespread unemployment could
threaten the country's social stability.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Ethiopia Libyan
leader Moamer Kadhafi was elected to head the 53-nation African Union
at a summit amid concerns over deadly unrest in Madagascar and a bid to
indict Sudan's president for war crimes.
(AFP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Greece riot police
fired tear gas at farmers to prevent them from driving their tractors
to Athens as part of a protest demanding government financial help.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, Guyana banned
nighttime flights because of a strike by air traffic controllers. The
strike began the night of Jan 30 over union demands for salary
increases of 5 percent. The government says it cannot grant the pay
hikes because it needs to upgrade airport safety equipment.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, The International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a nuclear inspections deal with
India.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, Indonesia's navy
picked up 198 starving, dehydrated boat people from Myanmar who said
they drifted for three weeks after authorities in Thailand forced them
to sea in a boat without an engine. Indonesian fishermen had discovered
the 40-foot (12-meter) boat off Aceh's coast in northern Sumatra and
towed it to shore.
(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 2, Iran successfully
launched a missile carrying Omid (hope in Farsi), its first
domestically made satellite into orbit. In 2005, Iran launched its
first commercial satellite on a Russian rocket in a joint project with
Moscow, which appears to be the main partner in transferring space
technology to Iran.
(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Iraq a roadside
bomb targeting an American convoy exploded. Two people were killed and
six others were wounded.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, A missile from an
Israeli aircraft struck a car traveling in the southern Gaza Strip,
killing a Palestinian militant and further straining a truce with the
territory's Hamas rulers. Defense Minister Ehud Barak proposed linking
Gaza with the West Bank by digging a tunnel through Israeli territory.
(AP, 2/2/09)(WSJ, 2/3/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 2, A volcano near Tokyo
erupted, shooting up billowing smoke and showering parts of the capital
with a fine ash that sent some city residents to the car wash and left
others puzzled over the white powder they initially mistook for snow.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, In southwestern
Pakistan gunmen seized John Solecki, head of the UN refugee office in
the city of Quetta, as he traveled to work. On April 4 Solecki was
released unharmed.
(AP, 2/2/09)(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.A7)
2009 Feb 2, Saudi Arabia issued a
list of its 83 most wanted suspects living abroad, including six Saudis
released from Guantanamo Bay, and asked Interpol for help in arresting
them.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Somalia AU
peacekeepers opened fire on civilian vehicles and fatally shot 18
people after an AU vehicle was hit by a land mine in Mogadishu.
(SFC, 2/3/09, p.A3)
2009 Feb 2, In Sri Lanka rare
images of suffering civilians trapped in the war zone emerged: Dead
parents still cradling their children. A teenage boy with no arms
crying in despair. A severely crowded hospital with many patients lying
on mats under already full beds.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, Zimbabwe's central
bank revalued its dollar again, lopping another 12 zeros off its
battered currency to try to tame hyperinflation and avert total
economic collapse.
(AP, 2/2/09)
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