Today in History - February 7
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457 Feb 7, A
Thracian officer by the name of Leo was proclaimed as emperor of the
East by the army general, Aspar, on the death of the Emperor Marcian.
(HN, 2/7/99)
590 Feb 7, Pelagius II, Gothic
Pope (579-90), died from plague.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1249 Feb 7, The Christburg Peace
Treaty forced the Prussians to recognize the rule of the Teutonic
Knights. Within about 50 years the Teutonic Knights and Knights of the
Cross had overcome most of Prussia and established German as the
dominant culture and language. The German orders then turned to
Lithuania.
(H of L, 1931, p.25)(LHC, 2/7/03)
1301 Feb 7, Edward of Caernarion
(later Edward II) became the 1st prince of Wales.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1478 Feb 7, Sir Thomas Moore
(d.1535), English humanist, statesman and writer, was born in London.
He was best friend of Erasmus, and called by Erasmus: "a man for all
seasons." He studied law and rose to the post of lord chancellor after
the fall of Cardinal Wolsey. More would not accept Henry VIII's divorce
from Catherine of Aragon nor his subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn.
The king had charges of treason filed and More was beheaded on July 6,
1535. He was canonized in 1935. The 1966 film “A man for All Seasons”
was based on his life. He is famous for "Utopia."
(V.D.-H.K.p.160)(CU, 6/87)(WUD, 1994, p.931)(HN,
2/7/99)
1497 Feb 7, Followers of the
priest Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned thousands of
objects in Florence, Italy, on the Shrove Tuesday festival. Tom Wolfe's
1997 novel, “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” makes reference to the
original event, but is not a retelling of the story.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfire_of_the_Vanities)
1522 Feb 7, Treaty of Brussels:
Habsburgers split into Spanish and Austrian Branches.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1569 Feb 7, King Philip II ordered
the inquisition in South America.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1609 Feb 7, Ferdinand I, cardinal,
ruler of Tuscany, died.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1612 Feb 7, Thomas Killigrew,
English humorist, playwright, leader (King's Men), was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1639 Feb 7, Academie Francaise
began its Dictionary of French Language.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1668 Feb 7, English King William
III danced in the premiere of "Ballet of Peace."
(MC, 2/7/02)
1668 Feb 7, The Netherlands,
England and Sweden concluded an alliance directed against Louis XIV of
France.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1693 Feb 7, Anna Ivanova Romanova,
empress of Russia (1730-40) [NS], was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1710 Feb 7, William Boyce, English
organist, composer of Cathedral music, was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1739 Feb 7, Joseph Pouteau,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1740 Feb 7, Adam-Philippe Custine,
French earl, general, MP, was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1743 Feb 7, Lodovico Giustini
(57), composer, died.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1749 Feb 7, Andre Cardinal
Destouches (76), composer, died.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1752 Feb 7, Publication, sale and
distribution of the 1st 2 volumes of the Encyclopedie were summarily
forbidden by order of King Louis XV. Chretien de Malesherbes, the
French director of publications, managed to broker a compromise that
included a layer of censorship and a 3rd volume was published by the
end of 1753.
(ON, 4/05, p.9)
1779 Feb 7, William Boyce (67),
composer, died. [see Feb 16]
(MC, 2/7/02)
1783 Feb 7, The Siege of
Gibraltar, pursued by the Spanish and the French since July 24, 1779,
was finally lifted. [see Sep 13, 1782]
(HN, 2/7/99)(ON, 7/01, p.10)
1784 Feb 7, In Iceland the
Lakagicar (Laki) volcano ceased its eruptions. Smoke from the 8 months
of eruptions caused one of the longest and coldest winters in Europe.
[see Jun 8, 1783]
(ON, 2/04, p.10)
1792 Feb 7, Cimarosa's opera "Il
Matrimonio Segreto," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1795 Feb 7, The 11th Amendment to
US Constitution was ratified.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1801 Feb 7, John Rylands,
merchant, philanthropist, was born in England.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1804 Feb 7, John Deere, farm
equipment manufacturer, was born.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1812 Feb 7, Charles Dickens,
English novelist, was born in Portsmouth, England. His stories
reflected life in Victorian England. In his novel "Dombey & Son,"
Dickens confronted the subject of money, and its use as a measure of
success. His work also included "Master Humphrey’s Clock," published in
installments like most of his novels. The closing line of A Christmas
Carol: "And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!" Some of
his more famous novels include "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two
Cities."
(SFC, 6/17/97, p.E3)(AP, 2/7/97)(HN, 2/7/99)
1812 Feb 7, Lord Byron made his
maiden speech in House of Lords.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1818 Feb 7, The first successful
U.S. educational magazine, Academician, began publication in New York
City.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1820 Feb 7, Samuel Adams Holyoke
(57/58), composer, died.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1827 Feb 7, Ballet (Deserter) was
introduced to US at Bowery Theater in NYC.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1827 Feb 7, Franz Anton Dimmler
(73), composer, died.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1831 Feb 7, The first Belgian
Constitution was ratified.
(http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~noemeetjesland/1830/1830.htm)
1836 Feb 7, The essays "Sketches
by Boz" were published by Charles Dickens.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1837 Feb 7, Sir James Augustus
Henry Murray, Scottish lexicographer and editor, was born. He created
the Oxford Dictionary.
(HN, 2/7/01)(MC, 2/7/02)
1839 Feb 7, Henry Clay declared in
Senate "I had rather be right than president."
(MC, 2/7/02)
1857 Feb 7, A French court
acquitted author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel
"Madame Bovary."
(AP, 2/7/08)
1861 Feb 7, The general council of
the Choctaw Indian nation adopted a resolution declaring allegiance
with the South "in the event a permanent dissolution of the American
Union takes place."
(AP, 2/7/07)
1862 Feb 7, Bernard Maybeck
(d.1957), architect, was born in NYC. He designed the Palace of Fine
Arts in SF and the First Church of Christ Scientist in Berkeley.
(SFEM,12/797,
p.46)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Maybeck)
1862 Feb 7, Federal fleet attacked
Roanoke Island, NC.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1864 Feb 7, Federal troops
occupied Jacksonville, Florida.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1865 Feb 7, John Henry Winder
(b.1800), US Confederate brig-gen and provost marshal, died. He was in
charge of all Union prisoners east of the Mississippi River.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWwinder.htm)
1867 Feb 7, Laura Ingalls Wilder,
author, was born. She wrote "Little House in the Big Woods" which was
basis for television's "Little House on the Prairie."
(HN, 2/7/99)
1870 Feb 7, Alfred Adler,
psychiatrist (Inferiority Complex), was born in Austria.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1871 Feb 7, Karl Wilhelm Eugen
Stenhammer, composer, was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1871 Feb 7, Henry Steinway
(b.1797), German-American piano maker, died. In 2006 James Barron
authored “Piano,” a history of the development of the modern piano.
(WSJ, 7/15/06, p.P8)(http://tinyurl.com/qn6dy)
1872 Feb 7, Alcorn A & M
College opened.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1876 Feb 7, Pres Grant's
private secretary, Gen. Orville E. Babcock, was acquitted of
involvement in the Whiskey Ring. The "Whiskey Ring" was a conspiracy
among distillers, revenue collectors, and high federal officials to
avoid taxation through fraudulent reports on whiskey production. 230
indictments were secured, but no convictions were made. Grant helped
Babcock secure an acquittal for his part in the ring. This affair
contributed to the reputation for corruption that Grant's
administrations acquired.
(MC, 2/7/02)(Internet)
1878 Feb 7, Pope Pius IX
(1846-1878), Giovanni Ferretti (85), died. Revenge-seeking Italian
liberals tried to dump his body into the Tiber River. He served 31
years, seven months and 22 days
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D4)(AP, 10/15/03)
1882 Feb 7, American pugilist John
L. Sullivan became the last of the bare-knuckle world heavyweight
champions with his defeat of Patty Ryan in Mississippi City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Sullivan)
1883 Feb 7, Eubie Blake, ragtime
composer, pianist (Memories of You), was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1885 Feb 7, Sinclair Lewis
(d.1951), American novelist of satire and realism, was born in Sauk
Centre, Minnesota. His books include "Arrowsmith" and "Elmer Gantry."
“There are two insults which no human will endure: the assertion that
he hasn’t a sense of humor, and the doubly impertinent assertion that
he has never known trouble.” "Winter is not a season, it's an
occupation."
(AP, 6/26/98)(AP, 12/22/99)(HNQ, 5/18/98)(HN, 2/7/99)
1891 Feb 7, US Great Blizzard of
1891 began.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1894 Feb 7, The US House of
Representatives passed a resolution that prevented the sending of US
troops to Hawaii to restore Queen Lili’uokalani.
(ON, 11/02, p.7)
1904 Feb 7, A fire in Baltimore
raged for about 30 hours and destroyed more than 1,500 buildings over
80 blocks. The fired caused an estimated $80 million in damages.
(AP, 2/7/97)(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A23)(MC, 2/7/02)
1905 Feb 7, Ulf Svante von
Euler-Chelpin, Swedish physiologist, was born.
(HN, 2/7/01)
1905 Feb 7, Congress granted
statehood to Oklahoma. New Mexico and Arizona were the only remaining
territories. [see 1907]
(HN, 2/7/99)
1905 Feb 7, The Dominican Republic
signed a treaty turning over customs collection to US.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1906 Feb 7, Aisingyoro Henry Puyi,
the last emperor of China, was born in Beijing.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)(AP, 2/7/06)
1910 Feb 7, Edmond Rostand's
"Chanticleer," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1812 Feb 7, A 3rd major earthquake
shook New Madrid, Missouri, and for a few hours reversed the course of
the Mississippi River. [see Dec 15-16, 1811, Jan 23, 1912]
(NH, 3/1/04, p.67)
1913 Feb 7, Turks lost 5,000 men
in a battle with the Bulgarian army in Gallipoli.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1914 Feb 7, Charlie Chaplin
debuted "The Tramp" in "Kid Auto Races at Venice."
(MC, 2/7/02)
1914 Feb 7, Steel work was
completed on Exposition (Civic) Auditorium, SF.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1915 Feb 7, 1st wireless message
sent from a moving train to a station was received.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1915 Feb 7, Fieldmarshal Paul von
Hindenburg moved on Russians at Masurian Lakes.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1917 Feb 7, The British steamer
California was sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1920 Feb 7, Oscar Brand, folk
vocalist (Draw Me a Laugh), was born in Winnipeg, Canada.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1920 Feb 7, Adm. Alexander Kolchak
(b.1874), commander of the White Army in Siberia during the civil war
that followed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, was executed by a firing
squad in Irkutsk about a month after relinquishing command of
anti-Bolshevik forces. He was condemned in Soviet law as a
counterrevolutionary. In 2004 efforts began to exonerate him.
(AP, 12/7/04)(www.firstworldwar.com/bio/kolchak.htm)
1922 Feb 7, John Willard's "Cat
& the Canary," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1924 Feb 7, Mussolini government
exchanged diplomats with USSR.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1926 Feb 7, Negro History Week,
originated by Carter G. Woodson, was observed for the first time. The
2nd week in February was declared Negro History Week.
(USAT, 2/14/97, p.15A)(HN, 2/7/99)
1928 Feb 7, The United States
signed an arbitration treaty with France.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1928 Feb 7, Australian Bert
Hinkler took off from London in a two-seat Avro 581E Avian biplane on
the first leg of his solo flight from England to Australia. On February
22, after flying 128 hours in less than 16 days, Hinkler's 11,250-mile
adventure ended in Darwin, Australia.
(HNQ, 2/7/01)
1931 Feb 7, US opera, "Peter
Ibbetson," by Deems Taylor premiered at Met Opera NYC.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1931 Feb 7, Amelia Earhart (33),
aviatrix, married George Palmer Putnam (45), divorced heir to a
publishing empire in Noank, Conn.
(SFEM, 1/25/98, p.31)(HN, 2/7/99)
1932 Feb 7, Gay Talese, author
(Honor Thy Father), was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1933 Feb 7, At a Social-Democrat
meeting in Berlin thousands cheered as Marxism was pronounced dead.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1934 Feb 7, 1st contract for TVA
power was in Tupelo, Miss.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1934 Feb 7, Kathleen Norris, a SF
Bay Area novelist based in Palo Alto, summed up a trip to Germany
saying Hitler has virtually solved problems of unemployment and
poverty. She said the leader was idolized everywhere as the people’s
rescuer.
(SSFC, 2/1/09, p.50)
1936 Feb 7, President Roosevelt
authorized a flag for the office of the vice president.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1940 Feb 7, Walt Disney's 2nd
feature-length movie, "Pinocchio," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1941 Feb 7, Frank Sinatra and
Tommy Dorsey Orch recorded "Everything Happens to Me."
(MC, 2/7/02)
1943 Feb 7, The government
announced that shoe rationing would go into effect in two days,
limiting each purchaser to three pairs for the remainder of the year.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1944 Feb 7, Bing Crosby and the
John Scott Trotter Orchestra recorded "Swinging on a Star" for Decca
Records in Los Angeles.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1944 Feb 7, The Germans launched a
[counteroffensive] second attack against the Allied beachhead at Anzio,
Italy. They hoped to push the Allies back into the sea.
(AP, 2/7/97)(HN, 2/7/99)
1945 Feb 7, US 76th and 5th
Infantry divisions began crossing Sauer.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1947 Feb 7, Arabs and Jews
rejected a British proposal to split Palestine.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1948 Feb 7, Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff and was succeeded by Gen.
Omar Bradley.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1949 Feb 7, Joe DiMaggio of the NY
Yankees became the 1st $100,000/year baseball player.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1950 Feb 7, The United States
recognized Vietnam under the leadership of Emperor Bao Dai, not Ho Chi
Minh who was recognized by the Soviets.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1956 Feb 7, Garth Brooks, country
vocalist (No Fences), was born in Tulsa, Okla.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1958 Feb 7, Brooklyn Dodgers
officially became the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1959 Feb 7, Castro proclaimed a
new Cuban constitution.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1960 Feb 7, Old handwriting was
found in at Qumran, Jordan, near the Dead Sea. [see 1947]
(MC, 2/7/02)
1961 Feb 7, Jane Fonda made her
acting debut in the NBC drama "A String of Beads."
(MC, 2/7/02)
1962 Feb 7, Sam Snead won the LPGA
Royal Poinciano Plaza Golf Invitational.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1962 Feb 7, President Kennedy
began the blockade of Cuba.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1963 Feb 7, The "Mona Lisa" was
unveiled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1964 Feb 7, The British band
The Beatles began their first American tour as they arrived at New
York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they were greeted
by 25,000 screaming fans.
(SFEM, 3/9/96, p.35)(AP, 2/7/97)(HN, 2/7/99)
1964 Feb 7, Baskin-Robbins
introduced Beatle Nut ice cream.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1965 Feb 7, U.S. jets hit Don Hoi
guerrilla base in reprisal for the Viet Cong raids. Pres. Johnson
ordered the bombing of North Vietnam following the deaths of 9 US
soldiers near Pleiku.
(HN, 2/7/99)(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.A19)
1965 Feb 7, Cassius Clay became a
Muslim and adopted the name Muhammad Ali.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1967 Feb 7, Henry Morgenthau
(b.1891), 52nd US secretary of the treasury, died. He served under
President Franklin D. Roosevelt from January 1, 1934 to July 22, 1945.
(www.ustreas.gov/education/history/secretaries/hmorgenthaujr.html)
1968 Feb 7, The Arthur
Miller play "Price" premiered in NYC.
(www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/arthur_miller_timeline.html)
1968 Feb 7, North Vietnamese used
11 Soviet-built light tanks to overrun the US Special Forces camp at
Lang Vei at the end of an 18-hour long siege.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1971 Feb 7, Switzerland voted to
introduce female suffrage at the federal but not the cantonal level.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(AP, 2/7/01)
1974 Feb 7, Mel Brooks' "Blazing
Saddles" opened in movie theaters.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/combined)
1974 Feb 7, The island nation of
Grenada won independence from Britain. This included the northern
islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 2/7/97)(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.F4)
1975 Feb 7, Pres. Edward H. Levi
(1911-2000), former president of the Univ. of Chicago, began serving as
the attorney general under Pres. Ford.
(WSJ, 3/13/00,
p.A46)(http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/00/000308.levi-nyt.html)
1978 Feb 7, Ethiopia mounted a
counter attack against Somalia.
(HN, 2/7/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_War)
1979 Feb 7, Josef Mengele
(b.1911), Nazi concentration camp doctor and medical experimenter,
accidentally drowned in Bertioga, Brazil. He was secretly buried in
another man's grave in Brazil. [See Jun 6, 1985] In 1985 his identity
was confirmed by DNA. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele)
1983 Feb 7, Elizabeth H. Dole was
sworn in as the first female secretary of transportation by Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to sit on the US Supreme Court.
(AP, 2/7/03)
1983 Feb 7, Iran opened an
invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1984 Feb 7, Space shuttle
astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first
untethered space walk.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1985 Feb 7, "New York, New York"
became the official anthem of NYC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985)
1985 Feb 7, US drug agent Enrique
“Kiki” Camarena Salazar was tortured and killed at a house in
Guadalajara in the presence of a half-dozen top Mexican officials.
Mexican authorities found his body on March 6 at a ranch east of
Guadalajara. In 1992 Ruben Zuno Arce, the brother-in-law of former
president Luis Echeverria, was convicted and sentenced to life in
prison. In 1989 Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo was arrested for complicity
in the murder along with drug charges and sentenced to 40 years in
prison. In 2000 Gallardo received a 2nd 40-year sentence for smuggling
and bribery.
(WSJ, 3/5/97, p.A1)(SFC, 4/20/00, p.A10)(SFC,
8/12/00, p.A11)
1986 Feb 7, US female Figure
Skating championship was won by Debi Thomas.
(http://tinyurl.com/nuoe4)
1986 Feb 7, Haitian
President-for-Life Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was ousted from
power and fled his country, ending 28 years of family rule. He fled to
France with his wife and mother. Henri Namphy became leader of Haiti.
Duvalier and his cronies reportedly embezzled some $500 million during
his last decade of rule.
(TMC, 1994, p.1986)(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)(AP,
2/7/97)(WSJ, 4/16/03, p.A1)
1986 Feb 7, The Philippines held a
presidential election marred by charges of fraud against the incumbent,
Ferdinand E. Marcos. Corazon Aquino defeated incumbent dictator
Ferdinand Marcos but fraudulent returns gave the election to Marcos.
(AP, 2/7/06)
1988 Feb 7, Leslie Manigat was
sworn in as Haiti's president. However, he lost power the following
June.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1989 Feb 7, Bowing to public
outrage, both US houses of Congress voted to kill their scheduled 51
percent pay increase.
(AP, 2/7/99)
1989 Feb 7, In Argentina
devaluation caused a wild panic in the financial district of Buenos
Aires.
(www.studybuddy.nl/english/start.html)
1990 Feb 7, An 811-foot tanker,
the American Trader, spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of
Alaskan crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif.
(AP, 2/7/00)
1990 Feb 7, Judith Clancy
(b.1950), SF artist, died of cancer.
(www.undo.net/cgi-bin/undo/pressrelease/pressrelease.pl?id=1095157331)
1990 Feb 7, In Pakistan riots
broke out between rival political parties and 22 people were hurt.
(http://tinyurl.com/htbtm)
1990 Feb 7, The Supreme Soviet of
the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic annulled the acts of
annexation.
(LHC, 2/7/03)
1990 Feb 7, The Soviet Union's
Communist Party agreed to let other political parties compete for
control of the country, thereby giving up its monopoly on power.
(AP, 2/7/00)
1991 Feb 7, US Defense Secretary
Dick Cheney and General Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, left for a visit to the Gulf War zone.
(AP, 2/7/01)
1991 Feb 7, The Reverend
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti’s first democratically
elected president.
(AP, 2/7/01)
1992 Feb 7, Former heavyweight
boxing champion Mike Tyson testified at his rape trial in Indianapolis
that his accuser, a Miss Black America contestant, had consented to
having sex with him.
(AP, 2/7/02)
1992 Feb 7, The Treaty on the
European Union was signed in Maastricht by the Foreign and Finance
Ministers of the Member States.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1992/index_en.htm)
1992 Feb 7, Russian President
Boris N. Yeltsin and French President Francois Mitterrand signed a
cooperation treaty in Paris.
(AP, 2/7/02)
1993 Feb 7, Commerce Secretary Ron
Brown acknowledged on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he'd failed to pay
Social Security taxes for a domestic worker.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1994 Feb 7, President Clinton sent
Congress his $1.5 trillion budget plan, declaring cuts in hundreds of
programs would achieve a deficit-reduction record unequaled since
President Truman's administration.
(AP, 2/7/99)
1995 Feb 7, Ramzi Yousef, the
alleged mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, was arrested in
Islamabad, Pakistan, after two years as a fugitive.
(AP, 2/7/00)
1996 Feb 7, During a Central
America tour, Pope John Paul the Second received a warm welcome in
Nicaragua, his first visit there since 1983.
(AP, 2/7/01)
1996 Feb 7, Tamil rebels attacked
Sri Lankan troops in the eastern part of the island nation. They killed
11 and lost 15 of their own fighters. The Colombo suicide bombing of
last week killed 83.
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-1)
1997 Feb 7, Mindful of Boris
Yeltsin's ailments, President Clinton agreed to shift their March
summit meeting from the United States to Helsinki, Finland.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1997 Feb 7, The Air Force
suspended all its flights in restricted training areas on the East
Coast after two close calls between National Guard jets and civilian
airliners.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1997 Feb 7, The first day of the
Chinese New Year. The year of the rat ended and the year of the ox,
4695, began.
(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.7)(SFC, 2/8/97, p.A17)
1998 Feb 7, The Winter Olympic
Games opened in Nagano, Japan.
(AP, 2/7/99)
1998 Feb 7, It was reported that
the Axial Seamount undersea volcano off the coast of the Pacific
Northwest was erupting 5,000 feet below sea level.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A5)
1998 Feb 7, It was reported that
the 8,000 Sq. mile Larsen B ice sheet in Antarctica was breaking up due
to rising global temperatures.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A5)
1998 Feb 7, It was reported that
over 1200 Hooker’s sea lion pups had died in the sub-Antarctic islands
south of New Zealand from an unknown disease.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A5)
1998 Feb 7, Novelist Lawrence
Sanders died at age 78. His debut thriller “The Anderson Tapes”
launched his career, and his 38th book was due later this month.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.D8)
1998 Feb 7, In Australia over 1000
defense force personnel were called to help clean up parts of the
Northern Territory where the worst floods in 40 years resulted
from the overflowing Katherine River.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A5)
1998 Feb 7, Falco (40), Austrian
born pop singer, died while on vacation in an auto crash in the
Dominican Republic. His hits included “Der Kommissar,” “Rock Me
Amadeus,” and “Vienna Calling.”
(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.D8)
1999 Feb 7, Delegates at the
Kosovo peace talks agreed on principles that would keep the province
within Yugoslavia for at least 3 more years.
(WSJ, 2/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 7, In Germany the
Christian Democrats won elections in Hesse state elections putting the
Schroeder government short of a majority in the Bundesrat upper house.
(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 7, In Indonesia a
passenger ship sank between Borneo and Sumatra with 332 people aboard.
19 were reported rescued.
(SFC, 2/11/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 7, In Jordan King Hussein
(63) officially died from Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was succeeded by his
eldest son, Abdullah. In 2008 “Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein
in War and Peace,” by Avi Shlaim was published.
(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A1)(AP, 2/7/00)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.88)
1999 Feb 7, In Mexico the state
governorship election in Baja California Sur elected Leonel Cota of the
PRD to a landslide victory. The PRD lost in Guerrero and clamed fraud
and campaign spending violations.
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 7, Serbian police seized
ICN Pharmaceuticals in Belgrade.
(WSJ, 2/8/99, p.A1,19)
1999 Feb 7, In Zimbabwe Pres.
Mugabe suggested that the supreme court resign. He defended the actions
of the army which had arrested and tortured 2 journalists.
(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A10)
2000 Feb 7, With an astonishing
comeback to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Tiger Woods gained
his sixth straight PGA Tour victory, becoming the first player since
Ben Hogan in 1948 to win six in a row.
(AP, 2/7/01)
2000 Feb 7, Pres. Clinton proposed
a $1.84 trillion budget and called for using a projected surplus to
strengthen Medicare and health insurance.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A3)
2000 Feb 7, An apparent team of
computer hackers shut the Yahoo web site down with a
"denial-of-service" attack that mimicked millions of phantom users.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A1)(AP, 2/7/01)
2000 Feb 7, Doug Henning,
Canadian-born magician, died in Los Angeles at age 52 from liver cancer.
(SFC, 2/9/00, p.C5)(AP, 2/7/01)
2000 Feb 7, In Chechnya Russian
forces reported that hundreds of rebels had been killed over the last 2
days near the villages of Katyr-Yurt and Shaami-Yurt.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 7, In Croatia Stipe Mesic
(65) was elected president over Drazen Budisa (51) by a 56.2 to 43.8%
margin.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 7, In England Afghan
hijackers at Stansted released 8 passengers with 157 still trapped on
the plane.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 7, In Indonesia 7 people
were killed in Aceh province in clashed between rebels and security
forces.
(SFC, 2/9/00, p.C3)
2000 Feb 7, Israeli jets launched
air attacks deep into Lebanon. Power was knocked out at Baalbek,
headquarters of the Hezbollah, and at Beirut and Tripoli. 18 civilians
were injured.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 7, Yugoslav Defense
Minister Pavle Bulatovic (51) was gunned down in a Belgrade soccer club
restaurant and died later in a hospital.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A12)(AP, 2/7/01)
2000 Feb 7, The UN Security
Council voted to expand the peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone from
6,000 to 11,100.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A14)
2001 Feb 7, The Senate voted to
release $582 million in dues owed the United Nations.
(AP, 2/7/02)
2001 Feb 7, The space shuttle
Atlantis took off with the Destiny module, a laboratory compartment,
for the Int’l. Space Station.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.A3)
2001 Feb 7, In Washington Robert
Pickett (47), an accountant with a history of mental illness, was shot
in the leg by a Secret Service agent after brandishing a hand gun
outside the White House gates.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 7, Dale Evans (born in
1912 as Frances Octavia Smith), singer and wife of Roy Rogers, died at
age 88. Her compositions included "Happy Trails" and "The Bible Tells
Me So."
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.C2)(NW, 12/31/01, p.110)
2001 Feb 7, Anne Morrow Lindbergh
(b.1906), wife of Charles Lindbergh, died at age 94. In 1955 she
authored "Gift From the Sea," a meditation on women’s lives in the 20th
century. In 1999 Susan Hertog authored her biography "Anne Morrow
Lindbergh."
(WSJ, 11/29/99, p.A26)(SFC, 2/8/01, p.C2)(NW,
12/31/01, p.108)
2001 Feb 7, Pres. Aristide took
power in Haiti for a 2nd term and offered a series of national reforms
with plans for new schools, roads, electricity systems and an
independent court in each of the country’s 565 townships.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.C3)(AP, 2/11/04)
2001 Feb 7, In Israel Ariel Sharon
signaled an end to the peace process begun in 1993 in Oslo and planned
something in the spirit of Oslo on an interim level.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.A12)
2002 Feb 7, Pres. Bush met with
Israel’s PM Sharon and said he would continue to press the Palestinian
Authority to crack down on terrorism. Bush rebuffed a plea to sever
ties with Arafat.
(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/8/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 7, The Bush
administration allowed Geneva accords to cover Taliban fighters but not
members of al Qaeda.
(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 7, A US federal court
ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence a felon to 25 years to
life for shoplifting, which was allowed under the California “three
strikes law.”
(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 7, Former Enron chief
executive Jeffrey Skilling insisted to skeptical lawmakers that he knew
of nothing improper about the complex web of partnerships that brought
down the company.
(AP, 2/7/03)
2002 Feb 7, Authorities in
Oklahoma captured the last of four escaped prison inmates from Texas
who'd been on the run for more than a week.
(AP, 2/7/03)
2002 Feb 7, In Liberia rebel
forces, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, attacked
Klay Junction 25 miles north of Monrovia.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A3)
2003 Feb 7, President Bush courted
the leaders of France and China in an uphill struggle to win U.N.
backing for war with Iraq.
(AP, 2/7/04)
2003 Feb 7, The US moved its
terror alert status to orange, the 2nd highest level. Attorney General
John Ashcroft said the government had received intelligence
information, corroborated by multiple sources, that Osama bin Laden's
terror organization sought to attack Americans at home or abroad during
the annual hajj pilgrimage to the holy Saudi city of Mecca.
(AP, 2/8/03)
2003 Feb 7, Garry Kasparov (39),
chess master, played to a 3-3 tie against the Deep Junior computer
program.
(SFC, 2/8/03, p.A2)
2003 Feb 7, Tom Christerson (71),
the longest-living recipient of a fully self-contained artificial
heart, died at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., after 512 days on
the AbioCor.
(AP, 2/7/04)
2003 Feb 7, Chechen rebel attacks
and land mines killed 10 soldiers and police over the last 24 hours.
(AP, 2/8/03)
2003 Feb 7, In Bogota, Colombia, a
car bomb tore through the El Nogal social club, killing 36 people,
wounding 162. FARC rebels were blamed.
(AP, 2/8/03)(SFC, 2/8/03, p.A12)(AP, 2/7/04)
2003 Feb 7, Three Tamil Tiger
rebels blew up their boat, killing themselves, after they were found
trying to smuggle an anti-aircraft gun and hundreds of rounds of
ammunition into Sri Lanka.
(AP, 2/7/03)
2004 Feb 7, John Kerry scored
decisive wins in Michigan and Washington state Democratic presidential
primaries.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 7, In Haiti police
reinforcements fought bloody battles with gunmen as they tried to
retake Gonaives from rebels who seized it. At least 7 police and 2
militants were killed.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 7, An Israeli helicopter
fired a missile into a car traveling in a crowded Gaza City street,
killing Aziz Mahmoud Shami, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad
group and a 12-year-old boy on his way to school. The attack wounded 10
Palestinians, three of them critically.
(AP, 2/7/04)
2004 Feb 7, In northern Kenya
tribal fighting between cattle rustlers and herdsmen killed at least 13
people, including three children.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2004 Feb 7, Nearly 400 members of
Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah Party resigned to protest what they call
corruption and bad leadership within the group.
(AP, 2/7/04)
2004 Feb 7, Sri Lanka's president
dissolved parliament, paving the way for elections nearly three years
ahead of schedule.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2005 Feb 7, Pres. Bush proposed a
$2.57 trillion budget that would slash domestic programs including
entitlements such as Medicaid, farm subsidies and veterans benefits.
The budget would worsen federal deficits by $42 billion over the next
five years.
(SFC, 2/8/05, p.A1)(AP, 2/7/06)
2005 Feb 7, Defrocked priest Paul
Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the
Boston Archdiocese, was convicted of repeatedly raping and fondling a
boy at his church during the 1980s. Shanley was sentenced to 12 to 15
years in prison.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2005 Feb 7, IBM, Toshiba and Sony
disclosed the architectural design of a new, jointly developed,
multi-core processor called the Cell.
(Econ, 2/12/05,
p.77)(www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2972427392.html)
2005 Feb 7, Australia's central
bank warned that interest rates, stable at 5.25 percent since December
2003, may be raised within months amid signs of renewed inflationary
pressures.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Cuba began an
island-wide ban on smoking in public places such as stores, theaters,
and office buildings.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, In England and Wales
new laws came into effect that allow pubs, clubs and other drinking
venues to apply to stay open 24 hours a day.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Ellen MacArthur (28)
of Britain completed her solo sail around the world in just over 71
days and 14 hours, shaving 32 hours off the previous record.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 7, The EU head office
called for closer coordination among all member governments to hunt
down and prosecute those illegally spreading unsolicited e-mails, or
spam, across the 25-nation bloc.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Insurgents struck at
Iraqi police forces with a suicide bomb, a car bomb and mortars in the
cities of Mosul and Baqouba, killing 31 people.
(AP, 2/7/05)(SFC, 2/8/05, p.A6)
2005 Feb 7, US troops manning a
checkpoint found 4 Egyptian technicians who had been kidnapped the
previous day in Baghdad, freeing them and arresting some of the
abductors.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, John Githongo, Kenya
president's adviser on corruption, stepped down. The US in response
quickly suspended $2.5 million in funding for anti-corruption work.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 7, Pakistan, as part of a
peace deal in south Waziristan, paid 4 tribal militants a total of
$842,000 so they could pay back money received from al Qaeda to fight
Pakistani troops.
(WSJ, 2/10/05, p.A10)
2005 Feb 7, In the Philippines
hundreds of armed followers of a jailed former Muslim rebel leader
attacked government troops and occupied at least one army detachment on
violent southern Jolo island, sparking clashes that killed at least 12
soldiers.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, A Saudi woman was
beheaded after she was convicted of murdering her mother-in-law. Noura
bint Khalaf al-Harbi was found guilty of setting her mother-in-law,
Noura bint Salem al-Harbi, on fire as she slept following a dispute.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Spain launched an
immigrant amnesty program. As many as 800,00 new residency permits were
expected.
(WSJ, 2/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 7, In Sri Lanka E.
Koushalyan, the LTTE's political wing leader for the eastern province,
was killed in an ambush along with four other senior rebels and former
Tamil legislator Chandra Nehru. Military officials said they suspected
the attack was carried out by a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers
led by the former number two in the leadership, known as Karuna.
(AP, 2/8/05)(Econ, 2/26/05, p.40)
2005 Feb 7, Faure Gnassingbe was
sworn in as president of Togo, two days after the death of his father.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan suspended the head of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq
and a senior official who dealt with contracts, following an
independent investigation that accused them of misconduct.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, The freighter M/V
Joekulfell sank in the North Atlantic off the Faeroe Islands, killing
four crewmembers and leaving two others missing. Five were rescued by
helicopter. The Samskip company owned the Isle of Man-flagged vessel.
The vessel departed from the Latvian port of Liepaja and was headed to
Iceland.
(AP, 2/8/05)(http://tinyurl.com/cdza7)
2006 Feb 7, The US Dept. of
Defense submitted a budget request for $439.3 billion for FY 2007. This
was over 7% more than for FY 2006.
(Econ, 2/11/06, p.29)(http://tinyurl.com/rvmbl)
2006 Feb 7, US federal Judge
Kathryn Ferguson penalized the law firm of Gilbert, Heintz &
Randolph $13 million for conflicts of interest while working on the
Congoleum asbestos bankruptcy, while at the same time representing some
10,000 people with asbestos claims against the New Jersey flooring
manufacturer.
(WSJ, 4/24/06, p.B1)(http://tinyurl.com/lg4qf)
2006 Feb 7, Phoenix Coyotes
assistant coach Rick Tocchet was charged with financing a nationwide
gambling ring based out of New Jersey.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2006 Feb 7, SF Supervisor Chris
Daly placed a resolution on the board’s consent calendar calling for
the impeachment of Pres. Bush and VP Cheney.
(SFC, 2/8/06, p.B1)
2006 Feb 7, Alabama state
officials reported four more rural Baptist churches following rash of
suspected arsons that burned five others south of Birmingham last week
[see Feb 3].
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Nevada’s State Gaming
Control Board sent a letter to casinos expressing concern about
“gangster rap.”
(WSJ, 3/28/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 7, General Motors Corp.,
under shareholder pressure to return to profitability, announced it is
cutting in half its yearly dividend to $1 a share and reducing the
salaries of its chairman and senior leadership team.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Microsoft said it will
offer a new security service to PC users for $49.95 per year.
(SFC, 2/8/06, p.C3)
2006 Feb 7, In southern
Afghanistan a suspected suicide bomber blew up a guard post outside
police headquarters in Kandahar, killing 13 people and wounded 11.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, In western Afghanistan
a Turkish engineer, an Indian national and their driver were killed
when a bomb struck their vehicle.
(AFP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, NATO peacekeepers
exchanged fire with protesters who attacked their base in the second
straight day of violent demonstrations in Afghanistan over the
publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. One demonstrator
was killed and dozens wounded.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Mario Condello (53),
an Australian underworld figure due to face court on incitement to
murder charges, was shot dead in his driveway overnight, bringing the
toll in a gangland war to 28. Melbourne's gang war began in 1998 when
self-styled "Godfather" Alphonse Gangitano, 40, was shot dead in his
laundry.
(Reuters, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales asked the US to reconsider a proposed cut in anti-drug aid,
and called on the world to strengthen drug-fighting alliances.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Indians from Brazil
and four other South American countries called for the "resurrection"
of an Indian nation, the 250th anniversary of the killing of a tribal
chief by European soldiers.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, A British jury
convicted firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri of inciting
followers to kill non-Muslims in speeches at his London mosque, which
has been linked to Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe
bomber" Richard Reid.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Officials in Canada
announced an agreement to close 5 million acres in British Columbia’s
Great Bear Rain Forest to logging. Loggers will be guaranteed a right
to selectively cut in 10 million acres of the forest.
(SFC, 2/7/06, p.A6)
2006 Feb 7, An apparent gas
explosion destroyed a two-story military barracks in Chechnya, killing
at least two people and injuring 32.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, An aid group that
provides food to tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Chechnya
suspended its operations after Chechen officials banned all Danish
organizations because of the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Ramon Isaza (65), a
founder of Colombia's anti-rebel paramilitary movement, laid down his
weapon, ending nearly three decades of outlawed, jungle warfare. Isaza
was joined by 990 fighters from his Medio Magdalena Bloc of the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, handing over 754 weapons, 15
vehicles and abundant munitions.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Costa Rican electoral
officials began counting votes by hand in a laborious effort to
determine the winner of one of the country's closest presidential races
in history.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, In Germany Mounir el
Motassadeq (31), a Moroccan convicted of belonging to a terrorist cell
that included three Sept. 11 hijackers, was freed from prison after a
federal court ruled he shouldn't be jailed with appeals still pending.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Haitians jammed
polling stations as UN peacekeepers fanned out to guard the country's
first presidential election in nearly six years.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, In Indonesia
scientists exploring an isolated jungle in remote Papua province
reported the discovery of dozens of new species of frogs, butterflies
and plants, as well as mammals hunted to near extinction elsewhere.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, A prominent Iranian
newspaper said it would hold a competition for cartoons on the
Holocaust to test whether the West extends the principle of freedom of
expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the caricatures of the
Prophet Muhammad.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Masked gunmen
assassinated a Sunni Arab cleric who headed the city council in
once-restive city of Fallujah, and two bombs exploded minutes apart
near a central Baghdad square, killing at least seven people and
wounding 20.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, In Ivory Coast the UN
was due to enforce sanctions on three political leaders judged to have
blocked a peace process.
(Reuters, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Kuwait's new Emir
Sheik Sabah Al Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah (76) turned to his brother,
Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah (68), as the new crown prince and
successor to the throne. Sheik Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah (65) was
appointed PM and directed to form a new government.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, The owner of a Mexican
newspaper in Nuevo Laredo said there will be no more investigative
coverage of drug gangs, a day after the paper's offices were sprayed
with bullets and a reporter hospitalized with five gunshots.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, In Nepal Communist
rebels killed at least seven security forces and wounded 15 in two
overnight attacks. Government troops were given orders to shoot anyone
who tries to disrupt municipal elections.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, A ship with 2,000 tons
of donated rice from India arrived in North Korea. The Indian
government has donated humanitarian aid, including food and medicine,
to North Korea on nine occasions since 1995.
(AFP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Russia announced that
it would pay off a big chunk of its sovereign debt ahead of schedule
this year. Russia also announced plans to forgive $668 million owed to
Moscow by 16 of the world’s highly indebted countries.
(WSJ, 2/8/06, p.A6)
2006 Feb 7, It was reported that
Russia’s Yukos oil company, which says it owes $6.3 billion in back tax
claims, has sold a 49 percent stake in Slovak pipeline operator
Transpetrol for $105 million, to Russia’s Russneft oil company.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, South Korean
conglomerate Samsung Group said it would donate more than $800 million
in corporate and private assets to charity as part of an apology for
several recent scandals.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, Chandrika Kumaratunga,
Sri Lanka's former president (1994-2005), returned her expensive
retirement gift, a 1.5 acre (0.68 hectare) area of land near the
national parliament to the state, after legal action was filed against
her.
(AFP, 2/8/06)
2007 Feb 7, The Washington Post
reported that President George W. Bush has approved plans for the US
Treasury Department to block US commercial bank transactions connected
to Sudan's government, including those involving oil revenue.
(AFP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, The US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) announced its approval of sales of Alli, a
reduced-strength version of the prescription diet drug Xenical. The
first diet pill for over the counter sale hit stores June 15.
(AP, 2/8/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 7, Indictments were filed
in New Jersey against 3 US Army Reserve officers for taking part in a
bid-rigging scam that steered millions of dollars for Iraq
reconstruction to a contractor in exchange for cash, luxury cars and
jewelry.
(SFC, 2/8/07, p.A12)
2007 Feb 7, In SF Mayor Gavin
Newsom met with Lithuania’s Pres. Valdas Adamkus at the Fairmont Hotel
following an address at the World Affairs Council. Pres. Adamkus,
accompanied by a Lithuanian business delegation, was here for a one
week visit seeking US trade opportunities and potential investors.
(www.president.lt/en/news.full/7476)
2007 Feb 7, Blowing snow and
intense cold was blamed for two more deaths, a total of 13 nationwide
since the cold settled in, and kept schools closed for a second and in
some cases a third day across much of Ohio and West Virginia.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In Chicago Equity
Office Properties (EOP), America’s largest commercial landlord,
accepted a cash offer from The Blackstone Group, a private equity firm
that valued the company at nearly $39 billion (including debt).
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.80)
2007 Feb 7, Austrian authorities
said they have uncovered a major international child pornography ring
involving more than 2,360 suspects from 77 countries, including
hundreds in the United States, who paid to view videos of young
children being sexually abused.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, A twin-engine plane
crashed in Brazil’s Amazon jungle, killing all six people aboard.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, Six people were hurt
by a third letter bomb in three days aimed at British motoring-related
organizations and police are investigating if the attacks are part of a
coordinated campaign.
(Reuters, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, Aron Groiss, director
of research at the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, presented
a study in London saying textbooks used in Iran's schools are
instilling students with hatred toward the West, especially the United
States, and urging them to become "martyrs" in a global holy war
against countries perceived to be enemies of Islam.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 7, Canada’s Nortel
Networks Corp. said it will slash 2,900 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its
workforce, over the next two years and shift another 1,000 employees to
lower-cost locations like China, India and Mexico as North America's
biggest maker of telephone equipment struggles to shore up its profits.
(Reuters, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In central China an
overcrowded passenger vehicle returning from a wedding party plunged
off a cliff, killing 16 members of an extended family.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 7, Colombia's top court
ruled that gay couples, who have lived together for more than 2 years,
should have the same rights to shared assets as heterosexual couples.
The decision by the Constitutional Court marked the first recognition
of gay couples' rights in Colombia.
(AP, 2/9/07)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.34)
2007 Feb 7, Georgia signed a
regional cooperation agreement with Azerbaijan and Turkey which
included plans for a railway connecting the three countries.
(WSJ, 2/28/07, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/2gbbgg)
2007 Feb 7, At least 15 people
were killed in attacks across Iraq, including two employees of the
government-funded Iraqi Media Network in Baghdad. A female census
worker was shot to death while she was riding to work with her husband
in the northern city of Mosul. A Sea Knight CH-46 helicopter went
down northwest of Baghdad, the fifth helicopter lost in Iraq in just
over two weeks. All 7 aboard were killed. Four US Marines were killed
in fighting in Anbar province from wounds sustained due to enemy action
in two separate incidents. Another 3 US soldiers were killed in
fighting Anbar province.
(AP, 2/7/07)(AP, 2/8/07)(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 7, An Italian judge
ordered a U.S. soldier to stand trial in absentia for the fatal
shooting of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Baghdad on
March 4, 2005.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, Michel Niaucel, a
French diplomat with the European Union in Ivory Coast, was shot to
death in his home overnight. Niaucel was in charge of West Africa
security operations for the EU.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, Japan's PM Shinzo Abe
pledged to regain four disputed northern islands from Russia, saying it
was time to end the bickering between Tokyo and Moscow over the prime
fishing grounds.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, The US Embassy issued
a travel advisory saying violent crime was on the increase in Kenya.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Feb 7, The Mozambique
government said floods have killed 29 people and wrecked thousands of
homes after torrential rain and hurricanes swept through the country in
the past two weeks.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, Gunmen seized a French
oil worker in Nigeria's restive southern petroleum-producing region.
Kidnappers there also seized a woman from the Philippines. Kidnappers
released a British oil-worker after the man taken in a raid last month
fell ill. President Olusegun Obasanjo called for a high-level meeting
to address the violence.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 7, Russia's defense
minister laid out an ambitious plan for building new intercontinental
ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines and possibly aircraft carriers.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In Saudi Arabia rival
Palestinian leaders began open-ended talks in Mecca optimistic that
they could reach an agreement to end their bloody street battles and
resume the peace process with Israel.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In Somalia doctors
said a cholera outbreak has killed more than 115 people and
hospitalized 724 in towns where people were forced to use contaminated
water from a flooded river.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In South Africa Chin’s
President Hu Jintao promised to increase imports from Africa,
responding to fears about the trade deficit that increased as China
pumped unprecedented aid, investment and loans into the poor but
resource-rich continent.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, The Spanish Civil
Guard said authorities have arrested 52 people in a major crackdown on
a suspected ring of antiquities looters from dozens of sites in
southern Spain.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In Sri Lanka Selliah
Parameswar, a Hindu priest who welcomed President Mahinda Rajapakse to
a former guerrilla bastion, was dragged out of his house in Batticaloa
district and killed by a group of unidentified gunmen. The Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blamed a breakaway group allegedly linked
to government forces.
(AFP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 7, Officials in Venezuela
confirmed that Venezuela will buy whatever legal products Bolivia can
make from coca leaf as part of an effort to wean farmers from the
cocaine industry.
(SFC, 2/8/07, p.A2)
2007 Feb 7, Zimbabwe’s President
Robert Mugabe, under mounting pressure over a world record-busting
inflation rate and escalating strike action in the public sector,
sacked his finance minister. A union chief said 60 Zimbabwean junior
doctors have been sacked from Harare's main hospital after going on
strike in December demanding salary hikes.
(AFP, 2/7/07)
2008 Feb 7, The US Congress passed
an emergency plan that rushed rebates of $600 to $1,200 to most
taxpayers and $300 checks to disabled veterans, the elderly and other
low-income people. President Bush indicated he would sign the measure.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, The US said it was
barring 10 leading Kenyan politicians from entering the US, the first
time Washington has blamed them for the postelection violence that has
brought the African country to the brink of collapse.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, Mitt Romney, former
governor of Massachusetts, suspended his campaign for the Republican
presidential nomination.
(SFC, 2/8/08, p.A1)
2008 Feb 7, US prosecutors said
Merck will pay $671 million to settle claims it overcharged government
health programs for 4 drugs and gave doctors fees and gifts to induce
them to prescribe the drugs. The case was triggered when a sales
manager filed suit in 2001 and a Louisiana doctor exposed overcharging.
(SFC, 2/8/08, p.C2)
2008 Feb 7, In Los Angeles a man
barricaded himself in a house after telling police he had killed 3
relatives, then opened fire on a SWAT team, killing one officer and
wounding another. Randall Simmons (51) was the first SWAT officer
killed in the line of duty in the unit’s 41-year history.
(AP, 2/7/08)(SFC, 2/8/08, p.A4)
2008 Feb 7, In Port Wentworth,
Georgia, an explosion and fire at a sugar refinery owned by Imperial
Sugar, based in Sugar Land, Texas, left 11 people dead. Imperial had
acquired Savannah Foods & Industries, the producer of Dixie
Crystals, in 1997. The acquisition doubled the size of the company,
making it the largest processor and refiner of sugar in the US.
(AP, 2/8/08)(SFC, 2/11/08, p.A10)(AP, 2/24/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Kirkwood, Missouri,
a gunman stormed a council meeting, yelled "Shoot the mayor!" and
opened fire, critically wounding Mayor Mike Swoboda (69), killing two
police officers and three city officials. Swoboda died on Sep 6.
Charles Le "Cookie" Thornton, who had lost a free-speech lawsuit
against the St. Louis suburb 10 days earlier, was fatally shot by law
enforcers. He had claimed in the past city leaders stifled and harassed
him.
(AP, 2/8/08)(SFC, 9/7/08, p.A3)
2008 Feb 7, In Portsmouth, Ohio,
William Michael Layne (56) stabbed his estranged wife in front of her
5th grade class and girl friend in an alley behind her home and then
shot himself dead in a standoff with police. Both women were in
critical condition.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Afghanistan a
suicide car bomb targeting a NATO convoy left three soldiers lightly
wounded in eastern Khost province. A bungled suicide attack hurt two
civilians in southwestern Nimroz province.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, In eastern Algeria
suspected Islamist militants gunned down eight police officers in a
late night ambush outside the village of Ain R'Ghiya. In a separate
morning attack, another officer was killed and one injured in the
village of Boukalfa.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, A new security pact
between Australia and Indonesia came into force at a ceremony in Perth
attended by the foreign ministers of the at-times testy neighbors.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, Belize's opposition
United Democratic Party won a landslide victory in general elections,
ending PM Said Musa's 10 years in office. UDP leader Dean Barrow was to
be sworn in as the country's first black prime minister the next day.
(AP, 2/8/08)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.44)
2008 Feb 7, Bolivia's foreign
minister said that the world has an obligation to send aid to
flood-ravaged areas, linking a disaster that has killed 49 people to
global climate change.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, The Bank of England’s
monetary policy committee (MPC) lowered interest rates from 5,75% to
5.5%.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.63)
2008 Feb 7, Chadian President
Idriss Deby Itno issued a "solemn call" for a European peacekeeping
force for Darfur refugees, to deploy as soon as possible. The president
also said he was "ready to pardon" six French aid workers convicted in
December of trying to kidnap more than 100 children they said were
orphans from Darfur.
(AP, 2/7/08)(AFP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, Chile announced it
will try to head off power rationing by cutting electrical voltage,
distributing efficient light bulbs and extending daylight savings time.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Egypt at least 29
people, including children, were killed and 16 injured in a traffic
pileup blamed on early morning fog southeast of Cairo.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Greece senior
clergy elected Metropolitan Bishop Ieronymos of Thebes as the new
leader of the powerful Orthodox Church to succeed the late Archbishop
Christodoulos.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, In western India
Dynaneshwar Sathawane, a local leader of the ruling Congress party, was
stripped, stoned and beaten to death by a mob during a rally of nearly
500 people in Maharashtra state.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 7, Experts said Iran's
nuclear project has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge
to churn out enriched uranium much faster than its previous machines.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Iraq gunmen stormed
a house near Baqouba, separated out the women and children inside and
killed three brothers, all members of a US-backed neighborhood watch
group. A roadside bomb killed three awakening council members and
wounded eight others south of Baghdad. A truckload of weapons,
ammunition and explosives were seized at an Iraqi police checkpoint at
the entrance to Karbala. US troops captured an alleged Shiite militia
leader and three other suspects in a raid south of Baghdad. 15
suspected militants were detained in sweeps through Sadr City, and one
person was killed.
(AP, 2/7/08)(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, Israeli ground forces
backed by warplanes exchanged fire with Hamas gunmen in the northern
Gaza Strip, killing a teacher and six militants in escalating violence
that is hobbling peace efforts. Israeli troops entered the town of
Qabatiya before dawn to arrest an Islamic Jihad militant. Soldiers shot
a mentally disabled man, Taysir Nazal (56), as he emerged from his
home, in his legs. Nazal died from his wounds on Feb 14.
(AP, 2/7/08)(AP, 2/14/08)
2008 Feb 7, Authorities in Italy
and the US conducted raids targeting dozens of alleged members of Mafia
clans who controlled drug trafficking between the two sides of the
Atlantic. A 169-page indictment in the US went back 3 decades and
included at least 7 murders. The main targets in NY included 3 of the
“five families” controlling organized crime in America: the Genovese,
Bonanno and Gambino families.
(AP, 2/7/08)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.41)
2008 Feb 7, Libya’s National Oil
Corp and Indonesia signed a deal for the north African state to supply
the world's most populous Muslim nation with crude oil for the next 20
years.
(AFP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, Mexican soldiers
seized nearly 10 tons of marijuana, a machine gun, scores of assault
rifles and three grenades in a raid just across the border from Texas.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, NATO defense ministers
held talks on Afghanistan in Lithuania. France agreed to help Canada in
fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, Nepalese authorities
arrested Amit Kumar, the alleged mastermind of a shadowy organ
transplant operation in India that illegally removed hundreds of
kidneys, sometimes from unwilling donors, at a jungle resort in
southern Nepal (see Jan 30).
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, Pakistani police
arrested two suspects in the suicide attack that killed opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto. A team from Scotland Yard returned to Pakistan
to report the conclusions of their probe into the assassination. 3 men
were killed and 13 others wounded when a bomb exploded in southwestern
Baluchistan province.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, The OSCE’s election
monitoring organization said that it will not observe Russia's
presidential election next month because of the "severe restrictions"
imposed by the Kremlin.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Sri Lanka
government troops attacked rebel bunkers along the northern front
lines, triggering gunbattles that killed 34 rebels and one soldier.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 7, Tanzania's PM Edward
Lowassa and two Cabinet ministers resigned over a corruption scandal
involving a contract with a nonexistent firm supposedly based in the
US. Pres. Jakaya Kikwete dissolved the entire Cabinet as a result.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 7, Turkey’s lawmakers
voted to approve a constitutional amendment allowing female students to
enter universities wearing Islamic head scarves, a move that many
secular Turks view as an attempt to impose religion on their daily
lives.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, The WHO warned in a
new report that the "tobacco epidemic" is growing and could claim 1
billion lives by the end of the century unless governments dramatically
step up efforts to curb smoking.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2009 Feb 7, San Francisco ushered
in the Year of the Ox with its annual Chinese New Year parade.
(SSFC, 2/8/09, p.B1)
2009 Feb 7, Blossom Dearie
(b.1926), jazz pianist, singer and songwriter, died in NYC.
(SFC, 2/11/09, p.B7)
2009 Feb 7, In Bolivia President
Evo Morales and thousands of supporters celebrated the new constitution
as it took effect, saying the new document will enshrine indigenous
rights and end centuries of oppression.
(AP, 2/7/09)
2009 Feb 7, A Bolivian woman died
from an injection of urine allegedly administered by her friend as a
form of health therapy. Investigating prosecutor Oscar Flores later
said that Gabriela Ascarrunz (35) died of an "infection caused by urine
that was injected by fashion designer Monica Schultz."
(AP, 2/11/09)
2009 Feb 7, In Brazil 4 people at
the rear of a plane that crashed in a muddy Amazon river managed to
open an emergency door and swim to safety as the aircraft sank,
dragging 24 others to their death.
(AP, 2/8/09)
2009 Feb 7, In Ecuador President
Rafael Correa ordered the expulsion of a top US diplomat he accused of
suspending $340,000 in annual aid because Ecuador would not allow the
US to veto appointments to the anti-smuggling police.
(AP, 2/7/09)
2009 Feb 7, In Ethiopia Brian
Adkins (25) was killed in his home in Addis Ababa. He was serving as a
consular officer at the US Embassy there. A suspect was arrested on Feb
11.
(AP, 2/11/09)(www.huffingtonpost.com/news/africa)
2009 Feb 7, In Antananarivo,
Madagascar, at least 28 people were killed by security forces during
anti-government protests. Arrest warrants were issued the next day for
those deemed responsible for the political violence. A week of violence
left up to 100 people dead.
(SFC, 2/9/09, p.A2)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.50)
2009 Feb 7, Officials in Morocco
said heavy rains have claimed 24 lives and forced 2,000 people to be
evacuated over the past week.
(AFP, 2/7/09)
2009 Feb 7, In Gaza Hasan
al-Hijazi, who was shot by three masked men. Hamas later issued a
statement calling the killing a "mistake."
(AP, 2/14/09)
2009 Feb 7, In Venezuela tens of
thousands of protesters marched in Caracas to oppose a constitutional
amendment that could allow President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election
indefinitely.
(AP, 2/7/09)
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