Today in History - February 5
Return to home
1428 Feb 5, King
Alfonso V ordered Sicily's Jews to convert to Catholicism.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1495 Feb 5, The 1st Lithuanian
Russian war ended with the signing of a peace treaty in Moscow.
(LHC, 2/5/03)
1556 Feb 5, Henry II of France and
Philip of Spain signed the truce of Vaucelles.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1562 Feb 5, Michael Radvila the
Black accepted homage of G. Ketler, Duke of Couronia, to Sigismund
August.
(LHC, 2/5/03)
1576 Feb 5, Henry of Navarre
renounced Catholicism at Tours.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1631 Feb 5, A ship from Bristol,
the Lyon, arrived with provisions for the Massachusetts Bay Colony
(Massachusetts Bay Company). Puritan Roger Williams, proponent of
religious freedom and later founder of Rhode Island, arrived with his
wife in Boston from England and joined the Separatist colony at
Plymouth.
(http://tinyurl.com/m6czns)(AP, 2/5/97)(WSJ,
6/21/05, p.D10)(AH, 4/07, p.25)
1644 Feb 5, The 1st US livestock
branding law was passed by Connecticut.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1649 Feb 5, The Prince of Wales
became king Charles II. Charles II (18), while living in exile at the
Hague, was recently informed that his father was beheaded at Whitehall
on Jan 30.
(WSJ, 2/28/00, p.A36)(MC, 2/5/02)
1723 Feb 5, John Witherspoon,
Declaration of Independence signer, was born.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1748 Feb 5, Christian Gottlob
Neefe, German composer, conductor, tutor of Beethoven, was born.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1762 Feb 5, Martinique, a major
French base in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, surrendered to
the British.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1783 Feb 5, Sweden recognized the
independence of the United States.
(AP, 2/5/97)(HN, 2/5/99)
1788 Feb 5, Sir Robert Peel
(d.1850), British prime minister through the early 1800s, was born. He
founded the Conservative Party and the London Police Force whose
officers were called "bobbies."
(HN, 2/5/99)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.93)
1807 Feb 5, Pasquale Paoli (80),
Corsican freedom fighter, died.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1811 Feb 5, George, Prince of
Wales, was named the Prince Regent due to the insanity of his father,
Britain's King George III. George Augustus Frederick became prince
regent after his father, George III, slipped permanently into dementia.
In 1999 Saul David published "The Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of
Wales and the Making of the Regency."
(WSJ, 3/26/99, p.W10)(AP, 2/5/08)
1812 Feb 5, Franz Schneider (74),
composer, died.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1816 Feb 5, Gioachino Rossini's
Opera "Barber of Seville" premiered in Rome.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1837 Feb 5, Dwight Lyman Moody
(d.1899), evangelist, was born. He founded the Moody Bible Institute in
Chicago. “No man can resolve himself into Heaven.”
(AP, 7/26/00)(HN, 2/5/01)
1840 Feb 5, Hiram Stevens Maxim
(d.1916), inventor of the automatic single-barrel rifle, was born in
Sangerville, Maine. He invented the hair-curling iron, and patented
such items as a mousetrap, a locomotive headlight, a method of
manufacturing carbon filaments for lamps, and an automatic sprinkling
system.
(V.D.-H.K.p.267)(MC, 2/5/02)
1840 Feb 5, In Damascus, Syria,
Father Thomas, originally from Sardinia, and the superior of a
Franciscan convent at Damascus, disappeared with his servant. 13
prominent Jews were falsely accused of the ritual murder of the
Franciscan monk and his servant. The “Damascus Affair” inspired
international protests. In 2004 Ronald Florence authored “Blood Libel:
The Damascus Affair of 1840.”
(SSFC, 6/28/09,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_affair)
1846 Feb 5, The first Pacific
Coast newspaper, Oregon Spectator, was published.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1848 Feb 5, Belle Starr, Western
outlaw, was born.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1855 Feb 5, Viscount Palmerston
(70) became Britain's prime minister and served until his death in 1865.
(PC, 1992, p.273)
1861 Feb 5, The kinematoscope was
patented by Coleman Sellers in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1864 Feb 5, Federal forces
occupied Jackson, Miss.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1865 Feb 5, Three-day Battle of
Hatcher's Run, Va., began.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1870 Feb 5, The 1st motion picture
was shown to a theater audience in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1872 Feb 5, Lafayette Benedict
Mendel, biochemist, was born.
(HN, 2/5/01)
1879 Feb 5, Joseph Swan
demonstrated a light bulb using carbon glow.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1881 Feb 5, Phoenix, Ariz., was
incorporated.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1881 Feb 5, Thomas Carlyle
(b.1795), Scottish essayist and historian, died in London.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/carlyle.htm)
1887 Feb 5, Verdi's opera "Otello"
premiered at La Scala.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1897 Feb 5, The Indiana House of
Representatives unanimously passed a measure redefining the area of a
circle and the value of pi. The bill died in the state Senate.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1898 Feb 5, Ralph McGill, editor
and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution, was born.
(HN, 2/5/01)
1900 Feb 5, Adlai E. Stevenson II,
Illinois governor and American diplomat, was born. He twice lost to
Dwight Eisenhower for presidency of the United States (1952 and 1956).
"All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions."
(HN, 2/5/99)(AP, 7/4/9)
1900 Feb 5, The United States and
Great Britain signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United
States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1901 Feb 5, Loop-the-loop
centrifugal RR (roller coaster) was patented by Ed Prescot.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1901 Feb 5, J. Pierpont Morgan
formed US Steel Corp. [see Feb 25]
(MC, 2/5/02)
1904 Feb 5, The American
occupation of Cuba ended.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1906 Feb 5, Actor John Carradine
was born in New York City.
(AP, 2/5/06)
1909 Feb 5, Hendrik Baekeland,
Belgian-born inventor, presented a paper to the NY chapter of the
American Chemical Society entitled: “The Synthesis, Constitution, and
Uses of Bakelite.”
(ON, 9/05, p.12)
1907 Feb 5, Norton Simon,
publishing executive (Simon & Schuster), was born.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1914 Feb 5, Sir Alan Hodgin,
English physiologist and biophysicist, was born.
(HN, 2/5/01)
1915 Feb 5, Robert Hofstadter, US
atomic physicist, was born.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1916 Feb 5, Enrico Caruso recorded
"O Solo Mio" for the Victor Talking Machine Co.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1917 Feb 5, Congress nullified
President Woodrow Wilson's veto of the Immigration Act, a law severely
curtailing the immigration of Asians. Literacy tests were required.
(AP, 2/5/97)(HN, 2/5/99)
1917 Feb 5, Mexico's constitution
was adopted.
(HFA, '96, p.22)(AP, 2/5/97)
1918 Feb 5, The Soviets proclaimed
the separation of church and state.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1921 Feb 5, John M. Pritchard,
conductor, was born in London, England.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1921 Feb 5, Yankees purchased 20
acres in Bronx for Yankee Stadium.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1922 Feb 5, The Reader's Digest
began publication in Pleasantville, New York. In 1939 it moved to
Chappaqua, NY. In 2005 it published its 1,000th issue.
(HN, 2/5/01)(SFC, 7/19/05, p.D6)
1922 Feb 5, William Larned's
steel-framed tennis racquet got its first test.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1923 Feb 5, Stephen J. Cannell, TV
producer, writer (Rockford Files), was born.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1926 Feb 5, Arthur Ochs
Sulzberger, longtime New York Times publisher, was born.
(HN, 2/5/01)
1934 Feb 5, Hank Aaron, American
hall of fame baseball player, all-time homerun leader (755), was born.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1937 Feb 5, President Roosevelt
proposed increasing the number of Supreme Court justices. Critics
charged that he was attempting to "pack" the court.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1938 Feb 5, John Guare,
playwright, was born. His work included “The House of Blue Leaves.”
(HN, 2/5/01)
1940 Feb 5, Glenn Miller and his
orchestra recorded "Tuxedo Junction" for RCA Victor's "Bluebird" label.
(AP, 2/5/99)
1941 Feb 5, The SS Politician
wrecked off the coast of the Isle of Eriskay in the Hebrides. It
carried some 20,000 cases of whisky, which the natives hid from customs
agents. The story was told in the 1947 book “Whisky Galore” by Compton
Mackenzie. The book was made into a film in 1949.
(http://heritage.scotsman.com/timelines.cfm?cid=1&id=40422005)
1941 Feb 5, Andrew Barton "Banjo"
Paterson (b.1864), Australian poet and journalist, died. He is best
known for his song “Waltzing Matilda.”
(www.whatsthenumber.com/oz/voice/writers/paterson0.htm)(NG, 8/04, p.29)
1945 Feb 5, American and French
troops destroyed German forces in the Colmar Pocket in France.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1945 Feb 5, US troops under
General Douglas MacArthur entered Manila ("I have returned!").
(MC, 2/5/02)
1947 Feb 5, The Soviet Union and
Great Britain rejected terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese
Pacific Isles.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1952 Feb 5, New York adopted the
three-colored traffic lights.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1953 Feb 5, "Peter Pan" by Walt
Disney opened at Roxy Theater, NYC. [see Feb 11]
(MC, 2/5/02)
1957 Feb 5, Joseph Benson Hardaway
(b.1895), animation director and voice actor, died. Nicknamed "Bugs,"
he was instrumental in naming the character "Bugs Bunny" when, while
working on the film short "Hare-um, Scare-um," an animator handed him a
model sheet of the rabbit character.
(www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=pr&FSctf=170)
1958 Feb 5, Gamel Abdel Nasser was
formally nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab
Republic. The UAR was formed by the union of Egypt and Syria. Syria
withdrew in 1961. Egypt used the UAR name from 1961-1971.
(AP, 2/5/97)(WUD, 1994, p.1555)
1961 Feb 5, The Soviets launched
Sputnik V, the heaviest satellite at 7.1 tons.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1961 Feb 5, Anthony G. de
Rothschild (73), British philanthropist, died.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1962 Feb 5, French President
Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria's independence.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1962 Feb 5, Sun, Moon, Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn aligned within a 16 degree arc.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1962 Feb 5, Jacques Ibert (71),
French composer (Escales), died.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1967 Feb 5, “The Smothers Brothers
Comedy Hour” premiered on CBS TV.
(AP, 2/5/07)
1968 Feb 5, US troops divided Viet
Cong at Hue while the Saigon government claimed they would arm loyal
citizens. The main assaults at Khe Sanh started.
(HN,
2/5/99)(http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Siege_of_Khe_Sanh/)
1971 Feb 5, Apollo 14 lander
Antares landed on Moon. Astronauts Shepard & Mitchell walked on the
moon.
(http://www.astronautix.com/flights/apollo14.htm)(HN, 2/5/99)
1972 Feb 5, It was reported that
the United States had agreed to sell 42 F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.
(www.historynet.com/tdih0205.htm)
1972 Feb 5, Marianne Moore
(b.1887), American poet, died in NYC. Her longest work was the 1923
poem "Marriage." In 1998 her the book: "The Selected letters of
Marianne Moore" was edited by Bonnie Costello, Celeste Goodridge and
Cristanne Miller.
(WSJ, 1/8/98,
p.A7)(www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/moore.html)
1973 Feb 5, Juan Corona was
sentenced in Fairfield, Ca., to 25 consecutive life terms for the 25
murders of migrant workers.
(www.trivia-library.com/a/longest-prison-sentences-in-history.htm)
1973 Feb 5, Services were held at
Arlington National Cemetery for Army Lt. Col. William B. Nolde, the
last American soldier killed before the Vietnam cease-fire.
(AP, 2/5/04)
1981 Feb 5, A military jury in
North Carolina convicted Marine Pvt. 1st Class Robert Garwood of
collaborating with the enemy while a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Garwood was dishonorably discharged.
(AP, 2/5/06)
1982 Feb 5, Laker Airways, founded
in 1966 by Sir Freddie Laker, collapsed owing $351M.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laker_Airways)
1983 Feb 5, Former Nazi Gestapo
official Klaus Barbie (1913-1991), expelled from Bolivia, was brought
to trial in Lyon, France. He was convicted and sentenced to life in
prison.
(AP, 2/5/03)(www.izieu.com/new_page_7.htm)
1985 Feb 5, The US halted a loan
to Chile in protest over human rights abuses.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1988 Feb 5, The Arizona House
impeached Gov. Evan Mecham, setting the stage for his conviction in the
state Senate.
(AP,
2/5/97)(http://politicalgraveyard.com/special/trouble-disgrace.html)
1988 Feb 5, A pair of indictments
were unsealed in Florida, accusing Panama's military leader, Gen.
Manuel Antonio Noriega, of bribery and drug trafficking.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1989 Feb 5, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
(b.1947) became the 1st NBA player to score 38,000 points.
(www.brainyhistory.com/years/1989.html)
1989 Feb 5, The Soviet Union
announced that all but a small rear-guard contingent of its troops had
left Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/5/99)
1990 Feb 5, The Nepali Congress
passed a resolution officially launching the "country-wide peaceful
mass movement." Shortly thereafter, as many as 475 opposition party
members, human rights advocates, students, lawyers and journalists were
arrested. In a number of incidents, police opened fire indiscriminately
into crowds of unarmed demonstrators. Estimates of the number killed
range from 50 to several hundred. While the lower figure probably is
more accurate, the precise figure may never be known because the police
disposed of many of the bodies in secret without conducting inquests.
(www.hrw.org/reports/1990/WR90/ASIA.BOU-07.htm)
1990 Feb 5, Soviet leader Mikhail
S. Gorbachev told the Communist Party it had to earn the right to rule,
instead of treating it as an unchallenged right.
(AP, 2/5/00)
1991 Feb 5, President Bush
announced he was sending Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and General
Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the Gulf war
zone to assess how the US-led offensive was progressing.
(AP, 2/5/01)
1991 Feb 5, A Michigan court
barred Dr. Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.
(http://tinyurl.com/e3ynu)
1991 Feb 5, Pedro Arrupe (83),
Basque priest and head of the Jesuit order, died.
(www.bc.edu/offices/ministry/justice/arrupe/pedro/)
1992 Feb 5, The US House of
Representatives authorized an investigation into whether the 1980
Reagan-Bush campaign conspired with Iran to delay release of the
American hostages. The task force investigating the "October Surprise"
allegations later said it found no credible evidence of such a
conspiracy.
(AP, 2/5/02)
1992 Feb 5, In Northern
Ireland Protestant guerrillas shot and killed 5 Catholic men in the
Sean Graham betting shop on the Lower Ormeau Road.
(www.nuzhound.com/articles/Irelandclick/arts2002/bookies2-1-02.htm)
1993 Feb 5, Federal judge Kimba
Wood, President Clinton's expected choice for attorney general,
withdrew from consideration, saying her baby sitter had been an illegal
alien for seven years.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1994 Feb 5, White separatist Byron
De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, Miss., of murdering civil
rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963, and was immediately sentenced to
life in prison. Beckwith died Jan 21, 2001 at age 80.
(AP, 2/5/01)
1994 Feb 5, Sixty-eight people
were killed when a mortar shell exploded in a marketplace in Sarajevo,
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(AP,
2/5/99)
1995 Feb 5, The White House and
congressional Republicans drew battle lines over President Clinton's
$1.61 trillion budget, with Republicans accusing Clinton of "taking a
walk" and the administration saying Clinton was cutting the deficit
more than any president in history.
(AP, 2/5/00)
1996 Feb 5, John C. Salvi the
Third went on trial in Dedham, Massachusetts, in the shooting deaths of
two receptionists at abortion clinics. Salvi was later convicted and
sentenced to two life terms; he was found dead in his cell in November
1996, an apparent suicide.
(AP, 2/5/01)
1996 Feb 5, Actress Elizabeth
Taylor filed for divorce from Larry Fortensky, her seventh husband.
(AP, 2/5/01)
1996 Feb 5, Gianandrea Gavazzeni
(86), conductor, died.
(http://tinyurl.com/9jr6h)
1997 Feb 5, U.S. Ambassador to
France, Pamela Harriman, died in Paris at age 76.
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.A1)(AP, 2/5/97)
1997 Feb 5, In Algeria rebels
killed a family of 9 by hacking off their heads in Benchikao. The
government in Algiers began banning parked cars in the city to thwart
car bomb attacks.
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.C2)
1997 Feb 5, In Ecuador hundreds of
thousands began a 48-hour general strike against Pres. Abdala Bucaram
to protests economic austerity, nepotism and corruption.
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.C2)
1997 Feb 5, Three Swiss banks
announced that they had put about $70-71 million into an account with
the Swiss National Bank to establish a “Humanitarian Fund” for the
victims of the Holocaust.
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.C2)(AP, 2/5/97)
1997 Feb 5-1997 Feb 6, In China
the Uighers rioted in the province of Xinjiang and reports of deaths
varied from 4-300. The fighting was said to have begun after the public
execution of 30 young Muslims. Residents said Muslims attacked and
killed ethnic Chinese before police quashed the revolt. Authorities
said 10 people died and 140 were injured. 12 people were later executed
for the uprising.
(USAT, 2/11/97, p.5A)(USAT, 2/12/97, p.8A) (WSJ,
2/11/97, p.A1)(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A10)
1998 Feb 5, Pres. Clinton ordered
2,000 Marines to the Persian Gulf and met with PM Tony Blair of Britain
to discuss the possible use of force against Iraq.
(SFC, 2/6/98, p.E2)
1998 Feb 5, Democratic fundraiser
Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie pleaded innocent in Washington to charges he'd
raised illegal donations to buy influence in high places. Trie pleaded
guilty in May 1999 to a felony count and a misdemeanor and was
sentenced later that year to four months' home detention and three
years' probation.
(AP, 2/5/03)
1998 Feb 5, A federal judge
in Los Angeles threw out Charles Keating's state securities fraud
conviction for a second time, saying the trial judge had given jurors
flawed instructions. In 1999, on the eve of the retrial of the federal
case, Keating entered a plea agreement: he admitted to having committed
bankruptcy fraud by extracting $1 million from American Financial Corp.
while already anticipating the collapse that happened weeks later; in
return, the federal prosecutors dropped all other charges against him
and his son, Charles Keating III. He was sentenced to the four years he
had already served.
(AP,
2/5/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Keating)
1998 Feb 5, In Germany thousands
protested the high unemployment rate. It had reached 12.6%, or 4.8
million people.
(SFC, 2/6/98, p.E3)
1998 Feb 5, In India a tractor
pulling a trolley full of children crashed into a truck and plunged
into a river and killed at least 34 in Madhya Pradesh state.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.11)
1998 Feb 5, In the Ivory Coast
Kevin Leveille (26), a Peace Corp worker from Ventura, Ca., was
attacked and killed in Tanda. He had 2 months left in his assigned task
of working on water and sanitation problems.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.11)
1998 Feb 5, In Kenya Pres. Moi
imposed a curfew on towns in the Rift Valley where over 100 people have
died in ethnic and political violence. Jomo Kenyatta Univ. in Nairobi
was closed following a protest against the violence.
(WSJ, 2/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 5, In Sierra Leone
fighting began as Nigerian led intervention forces moved to oust the
military junta.
(SFC, 2/12/98, p.A12)(SFC, 2/13/98, p.D5)
1999 Feb 5, The Bureau of ATF
planned to allow California winemakers to attach new labels promoting
the health benefits of wine.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 5, Former heavyweight
boxing champion Mike Tyson was sentenced in Maryland to a year in jail
for assaulting two motorists following a traffic accident. He ended up
serving 3 1/2 months.
(AP, 2/6/00)
1999 Feb 5, The Dupont Co., based
in Wilmington, Del., agreed to a $90 million settlement with
environmentalists to abandon plans to mine titanium along the edge of
the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 5, It was reported that
Bill and Melinda Gates (Microsoft Corp.) gave $3.3 billion to their
foundations, 2.2 billion to the William H. Gates Foundation and 1.1
billion to the Gates Learning Foundation.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A2)
1999 Feb 5, In Jordan King Hussein
was pronounced clinically dead but his heart continued and his family
kept him on life support systems.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 5, Serbian authorities
refused to grant re-entry travel documents to Albanian guerrilla
members for the peace conference in Paris. The 13 Serbian negotiators
appointed by Milosevic said they would not sit down with members of the
KLA.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A10)
2000 Feb 5, In Angola a military
helicopter crashed and 30 people were killed at Lubango. 12 people
survived and 3 Catholic nuns were among the dead.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 5, Right-wing leader
Joerg Haider told a deeply divided Austria not to worry about
international sanctions, saying the new governing coalition that
included his Freedom Party would soon prove its democratic credentials
to the world.
(AP, 2/5/01)
2000 Feb 5, In Chechnya the Human
Rights Watch group said it had documented 22 cases in which Grozny
residents were killed by Russian soldiers. Another 14 cases were under
investigation. Later reports indicated 82 civilians were killed by
Russian mercenaries (kontraktniki).
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A25)(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A9)
2000 Feb 5, The Chinese new year
4698.
(SFC, 1/1/00, p.A18)
2000 Feb 5, In Germany a train
derailed and ploughed into a house outside of Cologne and 6 people were
killed with 20 injured.
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A4)
2000 Feb 5, In Iran a mortar
attack struck the Golbang publishing house in Tehran near government
offices. One person was killed and at least 4 injured. The attack was
presumed to be the work of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK).
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A27)
2000 Feb 5, In Kosovo 41 people,
including 11 French soldiers, were injured in during a 2nd day of
clashes between peacekeepers and Albanians.
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A26)
2001 Feb 5, Flanked by a jumbo
refund-check stage prop, President George W. Bush asked Americans to
get behind his proposed tax cuts.
(AP, 2/5/02)
2001 Feb 5, Pres. Bush met with
Canadian PM Jean Chretien at the White House for a get-acquainted
session.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A8)
2001 Feb 5, Four disciples of
Osama bin Laden went on trial in New York in the 1998 bombings of two
U.S. embassies in Africa. The four were convicted and sentenced to life
in prison without parole.
(AP, 2/5/02)
2001 Feb 5, California clinched
deals for long term power contracts at $60-65 per megawatt hour as
federal assistance ended.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 5, Engineering students
from the Univ. of British Columbia dangled the body of an old VW from a
railing of the Golden Gate Bridge. It hung for 4 hours before officials
cut and let it fall into the water.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 5, In Illinois William D.
Baker (66), shot and killed 4 employees at the Navistar factory in
Melrose Park and then shot and killed himself. He was about to begin
serving a 5-month sentence for conspiring to steal engines and parts.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A3)
2001 Feb 5, In Ecuador soldiers
battled Indians opposed to fuel and public transportation increases.
The Red Cross said 4 Indians died.
(WSJ, 2/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 5, In Indonesia
supporters of Pres. Wahid demonstrated in East Java, home of the
Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization. Some 10,000
set fires to branch offices of the Golkar Party in Situbondo and
another 10,000 marched in Surabaya.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A9)
2001 Feb 5, It was reported that
severe cold and snowstorms in Mongolia threatened to wipe out a 5th of
the nation’s livestock and threatened tens of thousands of herders with
starvation.
(SFC, 2/5/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 5, In Russia Pres. Putin
dismissed Alexander Gavrin, the energy minister, and ousted Yevgeny
Nazdratenko, governor of the Primorye region due to an energy crises
that has left thousands without heat.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A9)
2001 Feb 5, In Russia a bomb went
off in a Moscow subway station and at least 9 people were injured.
(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A10)
2002 Feb 5, Pres. Bush promoted
his call for $5.9 billion to be dedicated to bioterrorism preparedness
as part of a $38 billion homeland defense.
(SFC, 2/6/02, p.A13)
2002 Feb 5, US officials announced
plans to train and arm Colombian troops to protect the key Cano Limon
oil pipeline.
(SFC, 2/7/02, p.A12)
2002 Feb 5, A federal grand jury
in Alexandria, Va., indicted John Walker Lindh on 10 charges, alleging
he was trained by Osama bin Laden's network and then conspired with the
Taliban to kill Americans. Lindh later pleaded guilty to lesser
offenses and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
(SFC, 2/6/02, p.A1)(AP, 2/5/07)
2002 Feb 5, Committees in both the
House and Senate decided to subpoena former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay
to appear to tell what he knew of Enron's complex financial dealings.
(Lay did appear, but refused to testify, citing his Fifth Amendment
rights.) At a Senate hearing, Deborah Perrotta, a laid-off Enron
employee, wept as she described how her retirement savings all but
disappeared when the company failed.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2002 Feb 5, In Canada a police
raid on the farmstead of Robert and David Pickton in Port Coquitlan,
BC, turned up evidence of 2 missing women. Since 1984 at least 50
prostitutes had vanished from the streets of Vancouver. Robert Pickton
was arrested Feb 22. In 2003 the murder charges against Pickton rose to
22. Pickton’s trial began Jan 22, 2007, with prosecutors saying the he
had confessed to killing 49 women.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A9)(SFC, 12/16/03, p.A14)(WSJ,
1/23/06, p.A1)
2002 Feb 5, In Italy the health
ministry confirmed the country’s 1st case of mad cow disease.
(SFC, 2/6/02, p.A9)
2002 Feb 5, In Pakistan 2 men
associated with the kidnapping of journalist Daniel Pearl were arrested
in a Karachi suburb. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (28), Islamic militant,
turned himself in to Ejah Shah, the home secretary in Punjab province.
(SFC, 2/6/02, p.A14)(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A20)
2002 Feb 5, In Jenin, 3
Palestinians members of the Kameel clan were killed by a mob after a
court sentenced them to 15 year jail terms for the murder of another
clan member.
(SFC, 2/6/02, p.A9)
2002 Feb 5, In Nigeria troops
cracked down on ethnic fighting in Lagos following 3 days of clashes
that left over 100 dead.
(WSJ, 2/6/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 5, In Durban, South
Africa, a commuter train collided with a freight train and 18 people
were killed.
(SFC, 2/6/02, p.A9)
2003 Feb 5, Secretary of State
Colin Powell, made his case that Iraq had defied all demands that it
disarm, presented tape recordings, satellite photos and statements from
informants that he said was "irrefutable and undeniable" evidence that
Saddam Hussein is concealing weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 2/5/03)(SFC, 2/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 5, Circuit city dismissed
some 3,900 highly paid commissioned salespeople to reduce company
expenses.
(WSJ, 6/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 5, It was reported that
genealogical research in Utah identified a gene that causes depression.
(WSJ, 2/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 5, The World Court ruled
that the United States must temporarily stay the execution of three
Mexican citizens on U.S. death rows.
(AP, 2/5/03)
2003 Feb 5, Larry LeSueur (93),
longtime CBS News radio reporter died in Washington.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2003 Feb 5, The Israeli military
demolished the home of a Palestinian militant in the Gaza Strip,
killing an elderly woman inside. Israeli troops killed a total of 5
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
(AP, 2/5/03)(WSJ, 2/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 5, North Korea said that
it had reactivated its nuclear facilities and is going ahead with their
operation "on a normal footing."
(AP, 2/5/03)
2003 Feb 5, Heavy rains in
northern Mozambique caused flooding that left about 100,000 families
homeless, swept away thousands of acres of crops and severely damaged
roads and bridges.
(AP, 2/6/03)
2004 Feb 5, CIA Director George
Tenet acknowledged that US spy agencies may have over-estimated Iraq's
illicit weapons capabilities.
(SFC, 2/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 5, A US federal judge
ruled that high school football players may skip college and go
straight to the pros.
(SFC, 2/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 5, NASA restored
communications with the Mars Spirit rover.
(SFC, 2/7/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 5, In northeastern
Afghanistan rival armed factions clashed and a state television report
said 20 people were killed.
(AP, 2/7/04)
2004 Feb 5, A lantern festival
marking the end of China's Lunar New Year celebrations erupted into a
stampede, killing at least 37 people and injuring 15.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 5, At least 21 shellfish
hunters, all apparently Chinese nationals, died when they were trapped
by fast-rising tides in treacherous Morecambe Bay in northern England.
In 2006 Lin Liang Ren (29) was found guilty in the deaths of the
shellfish pickers at Warton Sands. Lin's girlfriend, Zhao Xiao Qing
(21) and cousin Lin Mu Yong (31) were also convicted of facilitating
the deaths. Liangren was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Xiaoqing was
sentenced to 2 years and 9 months. Muyong was sentenced to 4 years and
9 months.
(AP, 2/6/04)(AP, 3/24/06)(AFP, 3/28/06)
2004 Feb 5, In Haiti an armed
opposition group, led by Butteur Metayer, seized control of Gonaives,
Haiti's fourth-largest city, burning a police station, freeing
prisoners and leaving at least four people reported dead and 20 wounded
in clashes with police.
(AP, 2/5/04)(ST, 3/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 5, U.S. and Iraqi forces
captured more than 100 suspected guerrillas in raids across the
country, arresting one of Saddam Hussein's intelligence chiefs and
another Iraqi believed involved in a suicide bombing last month, a U.S.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 5, Indian soldiers shot
and killed 10 suspected Muslim militants in the forests of northern
Kashmir.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 5, Latvian Prime Minister
Einars Repse announced Thursday that his 14-month-old government was
stepping down, saying his Cabinet can't continue working without a
majority in parliament.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 5, Pakistan's Pres.
Musharraf pardoned Abdul Qadeer Khan after Kahn absolved Islamabad of
selling nuclear secrets to Iran.
(WSJ, 2/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 5, Seven Russian
servicemen were killed and at least 11 wounded over the last 24 hours
in the latest rebel attacks in the breakaway region of Chechnya.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 5, Ugandan rebels
attacked a refugee camp in northern Uganda early, killing 54 civilians
and two soldiers.
(AP, 2/6/04)
2004 Feb 5, Journalists at
Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper left their offices after
the Supreme Court upheld that it was a crime to work without a
government license.
(AP, 2/5/04)(WSJ, 2/5/04, p.A1)
2005 Feb 5, In LA the Actors Guild
awarded Jamie Foxx the best actor award for his role as Ray Charles in
“Ray.” Hilary Swank won the best actress award for her role as a boxer
in “Million Dollar Baby.” Cate Blanchett and Morgan Freeman won
supporting awards.
(SSFC, 2/6/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 5, Steve Young and Dan
Marino were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2005 Feb 5, In London Chancellor
of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said that finance ministers from the
Group of Seven (G7) rich nations had for the first time expressed firm
willingness to provide as much as 100 percent debt relief for the
world's poorest countries. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
Initiative (HIPC) is a joint initiative of the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund that offers debt relief to the world's most
impoverished nations which agree to undertake economic reform.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, In the Republic of
Congo leaders of seven Central African countries signed a landmark
treaty to work together to help save the world's second-largest rain
forest.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 5, Central bank governor
Zhou Xiaochuan said China is committed to revamping its foreign
exchange regime and further relaxing its capital account controls.
(Reuters, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Egyptian police killed
two suspected militants wanted in last year's Sinai bombings following
clashes in Egypt's Sinai peninsula desert.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Sunni rebels killed
three U.S. troops and at least 33 Iraqis in a string of attacks.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, In central Japan
police found 9 bodies were found in two cars in what appeared to be the
country's latest group suicides.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Kuwaiti police and
troops in armored personnel carriers used explosives to blast their way
into a concrete block home in Sulaibiyah capturing 5 suspected
terrorists.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, In Mexico assailants
staged 3 nearly simultaneous guerrilla-style attacks in Acapulco,
killing 3 police officers and a teenage boy a day before a tense
gubernatorial election.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 5, The crown prince of
Saudi Arabia called for the creation of an international anti-terrorism
center to trade information in an effort to prevent attacks.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 5, Togo’s Pres.
Gnassingbe Eyadema (69) died of a heart attack. The military quickly
announced that his son would replaced him as head of state. The
constitution called for the speaker of parliament to succeed the
president in the event of his death.
(SSFC, 2/6/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 5, A Yemeni court
overruled earlier rulings and imposed harsher sentences, including a
death sentence, on three militants convicted of attacking a French oil
tanker and a helicopter carrying U.S. employees of an oil company.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2006 Feb 5, In Detroit, Mich., the
Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl over the Seattle Seahawks 21-10.
(AP, 2/6/06)
2006 Feb 5, Alan Shalleck,
writer and director, was beaten and stabbed to death at his Boynton
Beach home in West Palm Beach, Fla. He had collaborated with the
co-creator of "Curious George" to bring the mischievous monkey to TV
and a series of book sequels. In 2007 Rex Ditto (31) pleaded guilty and
was sentenced to life in prison for killing. His co-defendant and
former lover, Vincent Puglisi (56) was scheduled for trial in early
2008.
(AP, 10/19/07)
2006 Feb 5, Jacob Robida,
suspected of an attack at a Massachusetts gay bar, the killing of an
Arkansas officer and the slaying of a mother of three, was mortally
wounded in a shootout with authorities.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2006 Feb 5, Actor Franklin Cover
(“The Jeffersons”) died in Englewood, N.J., at age 77.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2006 Feb 5, In Afghanistan 172
Taliban and other Islamist fighters surrendered as part of a government
amnesty scheme, vowing to lay down arms and work to rebuild the country.
(AFP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, In Bangladesh at least
40,000 opposition supporters converged on Dhaka to demand the ouster of
the government after a three-day protest march marked by heavy security
and the arrest of key activists.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, Cambodia's king
pardoned exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy who was sentenced to jail
for defamation, in a move officials said was at the request of PM Hun
Sen.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, Costa Rica held
elections and former pres. Oscar Arias was expected to win.
(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.A19)
2006 Feb 5, Iran ended all
voluntary cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog but said it was open
to a proposal to enrich Iranian uranium in Russia, softening its
earlier response to being reported to the Security Council over fears
it wants to produce nuclear arms.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, The head of a
government watchdog agency said Iraqi authorities issued arrest
warrants for Meshaan al-Jiburi, a Sunni Arab member of parliament and
his son, Yazin, accusing them of embezzling millions of dollars meant
to protect vulnerable oil pipelines.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, In Iraq the
bullet-riddled bodies of two Shiites were found in the latest round of
killings between rival Sunni and Shiite groups.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, Israeli aircraft fired
three missiles at a building used by militants in Gaza City, killing
three people and wounding five.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, Israel agreed to make
a crucial payment of $54 million in tax and customs revenues to the
Palestinians, but officials said future transfers will be halted once
Hamas militants form the next Palestinian government.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, Thousands of Muslims
rampaged in Beirut, setting fire to the Danish Embassy, burning Danish
flags and lobbing stones at a Maronite Catholic church as violent
protests spread over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, A general strike
called by communist rebels to disrupt elections in Nepal forced schools
and markets to close, and highways and city streets remained deserted
in much of this Himalayan nation.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, In southwestern
Pakistan a bomb ripped through a passenger bus, killing at least 13
people and wounding 20 others.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 5, Andrea Santoro (60),
an Italian Roman Catholic priest, was shot dead in his Santa Maria
church by a 16-year-old boy in the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon.
In 2007 the teen was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison, but was
expected to serve only 10.
(AP, 2/5/06)(AP, 10/4/07)
2007 Feb 5, President Bush sent a
$2.9 trillion spending plan to a Democratic-controlled Congress,
proposing to spend billions more to fight the war in Iraq while
squeezing the rest of government to meet his goal of eliminating the
deficit in five years.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, The US insisted that
Nicaragua destroy hundreds of Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles after
President Daniel Ortega said the weapons were needed for the country's
defense.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, NASA astronaut Lisa
Nowak was arrested in Orlando, Fla., accused of trying to kidnap a
perceived rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2007 Feb 5, Britain pressed ahead
with a cull of 160,000 turkeys after the nation's first outbreak of a
deadly strain of bird flu in farmed poultry as Russia and Japan banned
British poultry imports.
(Reuters, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, A Cold War-era Soviet
submarine that was being towed to Thailand sank off northwestern
Denmark. The Soviet Union built more than 200 Whiskey-class submarines
during the Cold War, many of which are now being offered for sale by
private companies.
(AP, 2/6/07)
2007 Feb 5, In northern Germany 3
men and 3 women were found shot dead in a Chinese restaurant in the
early hours in Sittensen. A 7th person died a day later. German police
soon arrested two Vietnamese men in connection with the killings.
(AFP, 2/5/07)(AP, 2/6/07)(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 5, In India a fire gutted
a garment factory in eastern India, killing seven workers in Howrah, a
suburb of Calcutta.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, Violence raked Baghdad
as an Iraqi general took charge of the security operation in the
capital and Iraqi police and soldiers manned new roadblocks, initial
steps indicating the start of the long-anticipated joint operation with
American forces to curb sectarian bloodshed. At least 29 people died in
bomb and mortar attacks across the city, 15 of them as they waited to
refill propane cooking tanks when two car bombs blew up in quick
succession in south Baghdad. A soldier killed in a roadside bombing in
Basra was the 100th British death attributed to hostile action since
the US-led invasion in 2003. A US Marine was killed in fighting in the
volatile Anbar province. US forces shot and killed Donald Tolfree of
Owosso, Mich., a civilian contract truck driver at Camp Anaconda, the
huge air base north of Baghdad.
(AP, 2/5/07)(AP, 2/6/07)(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 5, China’s president Hu
Jintao brought his eight-nation African tour to Namibia, a sparsely
populated, mineral-rich desert country that hopes to benefit from an
influx of Chinese investment and tourists.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, A home-made bomb
ripped through a train station in Spain's Basque region. Police said it
appeared to have been the work of Basque independence street gangs,
rather than armed separatists ETA.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, Syria’s President
Bashar Assad said cooperation, and negotiations, between Syria and the
US could be the "last chance" to avoid full-scale civil war in Iraq.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, In Hanoi, Vietnam,
international aid experts from the World Bank, UN and other development
agencies and 40 nations met for the Third International Roundtable on
Managing For Development Results, a four-day conference aimed at making
global development efforts more effective.
(AFP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 5, Teachers across
Zimbabwe began an indefinite industrial action to press for better
salaries and better working conditions.
(AFP, 2/5/07)
2008 Feb 5, The US Treasury Dept.
said it is imposing financial sanctions against family members of the
military-run government of Myanmar and individuals it identified as key
members of the financial empire of Tay Za.
(SFC, 2/6/08, p.A7)
2008 Feb 5, Obama won 13 Super
Tuesday states; Clinton, eight plus American Samoa. Clinton won
California and scored the advantage in delegates, bring her total to
845 to Obama's 765, by the latest accounting. McCain won 9 states.
Romney won 7 states. Huckabee said he would press on with his White
House candidacy, emboldened by 5 wins in the South.
(AP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 5, A US Court of Appeals
rejected a decision giving Georgia a quarter of Lake Lanier’s capacity
over the coming decades. It said such changes require congressional
approval. Alabama and Florida had challenged the initial 2003 agreement.
(WSJ, 2/6/08, p.A10)
2008 Feb 5, Storms swept across
southeast US as Super Tuesday primaries were ending. At least 31 people
were killed in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, 7 in Kentucky and four in
Alabama. It was one of the 15 worst tornado death tolls since 1950, and
the nation's deadliest barrage of tornadoes since 76 people were killed
in Pennsylvania and Ohio on May 31, 1985. The death toll rose to 59.
(AP, 2/6/08)(AP, 2/7/08)(WSJ, 2/8/08, p.A1)
2008 Feb 5, Renewed recession
fears followed the release of US service sector data from the Institute
of Supply Management. It showed activity moved rapidly into contraction
in January.
(FT, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, In southern
Afghanistan a roadside bomb hit a US-led coalition vehicle in Helmand
province, killing one soldier and wounding two others.
(AP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 5, A Bangladesh official
said Abdul Kader Mollah, an employee of Titas Gas Distribution Company,
the country’s biggest state-owned gas company, allegedly used his
position to pocket a colossal 145 million dollars in bribes over 12
years. Mollah at the time earned a mere 100 dollars a month.
(AFP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, Senior researchers at
Britain's International Institute for Strategic Studies warned that
"neo-Taliban" groups operating in Pakistan's tribal areas may soon
become a global menace.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, British scientists
said they have created human embryos containing DNA from two women and
a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be used one day to
produce embryos free of inherited diseases.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao said "final victory" was in sight with transportation returning
to normal after the worst winter in decades, but power outages remained
a problem for millions. the former communist party boss of Olympic host
city Qingdao was sentenced to life in prison for accepting hundreds of
thousands of dollars in bribes. Du Shicheng was found guilty of taking
$870,000 worth of bribes from 2000 to January 2006 while serving as the
port city's most powerful official.
(AP, 2/5/08)(AP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 5, In Guatemala 5 bus
drivers were shot dead, each while driving passengers on different main
roads into Guatemala City. 7 more were killed the following day.,
prompting their colleagues to go on strike for several days.
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.40)
2008 Feb 5, Ching Cheong (58), a
Hong Kong journalist charged with spying for Taiwan, was released from
prison in mainland China after being detained for nearly three years.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, A new Iraqi flag,
stripped of the three green stars of Saddam Hussein's toppled Baath
party, was hoisted over the Iraqi Cabinet building in a symbolic break
with the past nearly five years after the US-led invasion. In Taji,
north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the
convoy of a sheik working with US forces, killing two of his followers.
Those killed were members of the Taji Awakening Council.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, An Israeli airstrike
in response to Qassam rockets killed 7 Hamas police officers near Khan
Yunis. A barrage of rockets followed and battered Sderot less than a
half mile from the Gaza fence, seriously wounding a woman just before
the arrival of President Shimon Peres.
(AP, 2/5/08)(SFC, 2/6/08, p.A7)(SFC, 2/7/08, p.A4)
2008 Feb 5, In Mozambique one
person was killed and 63 were wounded in Maputo when police opened fire
in a bid to break up violent protests against increases in bus fares.
The local council of Tete said an outbreak of diarrhea in the flood-hit
city has claimed the lives of 64 people since early January.
(AP, 2/5/08)(AFP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,
a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental
meditation, died at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop.
(AP, 2/6/08)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.95)
2008 Feb 5, In Rwanda Theoneste
Niyitegeka, a doctor and one-time possible presidential candidate, was
sentenced to 15 years in jail for his role in the country's 1994
genocide.
(AFP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 5, Serbia's coalition
government was on the verge of collapse over the European Union's plans
to send a mission to Kosovo province.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, In northeastern
Somalia grenade attack killed 21 people and wounded 100 in Bossaso,
Puntland.
(AP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 5, A South African court
sentenced Daniel Geiges (69), a Swiss engineer, for his part in an
international nuclear smuggling ring. Geiges was given a 13-year
suspended sentence on charges relating to a network run by disgraced
Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan. Geiges' former boss and
co-accused, German engineer Gerhard Wisser was given an 18-year
suspended sentenced last year in a plea agreement for his role in the
network.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, In South Africa 12
patients, including two children, were killed when their minibus
overturned en route to a hospital in South Africa's Northern Cape
province.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, Simba Makoni, a senior
member of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party, said he would run for
president at the March 29 election in the first major internal
challenge to Robert Mugabe in 20 years.
(Reuters, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, UN officials said
Ethiopia and Bangladesh have offered to jump-start the UN peacekeeping
mission in Darfur by loaning it helicopters to fly troops and supplies
around the vast region in western Sudan.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2009 Feb 5, New US government data
said the number of US workers filing new claims for unemployment
benefits jumped to a 26-year high last week pointing to a rapid
deterioration in the economy.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, In eastern Afghanistan
a suicide car bomb struck a convoy of foreign troops.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, The Bank of England
cut interest rates by a half-point to a record low 1 percent as it
fought a deepening recession brought on by the world financial crisis.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, British workers voted
to end a week-long unofficial strike over the use of foreign labor at a
French-owned oil refinery that sparked sympathy protests across Britain.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, The British Council
said that it has suspended work in Iran because of what it calls
intimidation by the authorities there. The British Council reopened its
Tehran office in 2001 after a 22-year break following the 1979 Islamic
revolution. It said 13,000 Iranians took part in English lessons and
other programs it ran in Tehran last year.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, A nongovernment
organization said the corrupt elite of Cambodia, one of the world's
most impoverished nations, has laid the groundwork for siphoning off
vast profits from a coming boom in mining and oil exploitation.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, China declared an
emergency in eight provinces suffering a serious drought that has left
nearly 4 million people without proper drinking water and is
threatening millions of acres of crops. The government published a plan
for the relocation and urbanization of farmers living near the Three
Gorges Reservoir. Some 1.4 million farmers would have to move again.
(AP, 2/5/09)(WSJ, 2/7/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 5, Germany's biggest
lender, Deutsche Bank, posted its first annual loss since World War II
after a terrible fourth quarter but said it would survive the global
meltdown without state aid. Deutsche Bank reported a 2008 loss of $5
billion, including $1.8 billion attributed a group run by Wall Street
trader Boaz Weinstein.
(AP, 2/5/09)(WSJ, 2/6/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 5, The Iraqi election
commission said that PM Nouri al-Maliki's party won 38 percent of the
votes in Baghdad in the Jan 31 election, followed by allies of anti-US
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and a Sunni party with nine percent each. A
suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded restaurant in a Kurdish
city near the Iranian border, killing at least 12 people.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, The Israeli navy
intercepted a ship delivering 60 tons of supplies to the Gaza Strip
from Lebanon in the latest bid to defy Israel's blockade of the
militant-held territory.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, In Nigeria a private
security official said unidentified gunmen have attacked an
oil-industry vessel off the coast of Nigeria and killed its captain.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, In central Pakistan a
suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shiite mosque in the town of Dera
Ghazi Khan, killing 24 people.
(AFP, 2/5/09)(SFC, 2/6/09, p.A3)
2009 Feb 5, Somali pirates said
that they were freeing, a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and other heavy
weapons after receiving a $3.2 million ransom. The MV Faina was seized
last September 25. The Kenyan government claimed to the cargo, which
included 33 Soviet-designed battle tanks.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, The South Africa
Reserve Bank slashed its benchmark interest rate by a full point to
10.5 percent, following a half-point cut in December, saying inflation
is headed downward.
(AFP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, Sri Lanka's prime
minister rejected calls for a cease-fire from donor countries concerned
by reports of growing civilian casualties in the South Asian nation's
civil war and instead demanded the Tamil Tiger rebels' unconditional
surrender.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, The Swedish government
agreed to scrap a three-decade ban on building new nuclear reactors,
saying it needs to avoid producing more greenhouse gases.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, Jennifer Figge (56)
arrived in Trinidad, exhilarated and exhausted as she touched land this
week for the first time in almost a month, becoming the first woman on
record to allegedly swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Figge actually swam
only a fraction of the 2,100-mile journey. The rest of the time, she
rested on her crew's westward-sailing catamaran.
(AP, 2/8/09)(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 5, Turkey's parliament
approved the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The
parliament voted 243-3 after the Cabinet signed the protocol.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 5, Zimbabwe's parliament
passed a constitutional bill to allow a coalition government of
President Robert Mugabe and opposition rivals, being set up under a
deal to end political and economic crisis.
(Reuters, 2/5/09)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to February 6