Today in History - February 9
Return to home
1263 Feb 9, A
Lithuania army under Treniota defeated the Livonian Knights of the
Cross.
(LHC, 2/9/03)
1267 Feb 9, Synod of Breslau
ordered Jews of Silesia to wear special caps.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1404 Feb 9, Constantine XI
Dragases, last Byzantine Emperor, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1540 Feb 9, The 1st recorded race
met in England at Roodee Fields, Chester.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1555 Feb 9, John Hooper, the
deprived Bishop of Gloucester, was burned for heresy.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1567 Feb 9, Henry Stuart, earl of
Darnley, Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was
murdered in his sick-bed in a house in Edinburgh when the house blew
up. In 2003 Alison Weir authored "Mary, Queen of the Scots, and the
Murder of Lord Darnley."
(HN, 2/9/99)(MC, 2/9/02)(WSJ, 5/1/03, D10)
1571 Feb 9, Algonquin Indians
attacked the Jesuit mission on the Virginia peninsula killing Fr. Juan
Bautista de Segura and 4 other remaining priests.
(AH, 2/06, p.15)
1578 Feb 9, Giambattista Andreini,
Italian playwright, actor (L'adamo), was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1583 Feb 9, Jeseph Sanalbo, Jewish
convert in Rome, was burned at stake.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1602 Feb 9, Franciscus van de
Enden, Flemish Jesuit, free thinker, tutor of Spinoza, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1617 Feb 9, Hans Christoph Haiden
(44), composer, died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1640 Feb 9, Murad IV (27), sultan
of Turkey (1623-40), died in Baghdad. Ibrahim (1640-1648) succeeded
Murad IV in the Ottoman House of Osman.
(Ot, 1993, xvii)(MC, 2/9/02)
1674 Feb 9, English reconquered NY
from Netherlands.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1741 Feb 9, Henri-Joseph Rigel,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1744 Feb 9, Battle at Toulon:
French-Spanish faced the English fleet of Adm. Matthews.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1765 Feb 9, Elisabetta de
Gambarini (33), composer, died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1773 Feb 9, William Henry
Harrison, the 9th president of the United States (March 4- April 4,
1841), was born in Charles City County, Va.
(HN, 2/9/97)(AP, 2/9/99)(MC, 2/9/02)
1775 Feb 9, English Parliament
declared the Mass. colony was in rebellion.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1780 Feb 9, Walenty Karol Kratzer,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1797 Feb 9, John Quincy Adams’
(Sr.) emerged victorious from America's first contested presidential
election.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1799 Feb 9, The USS Constellation
captured the French frigate Insurgente off the coast of Wisconsin.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1807 Feb 9, French Sanhedrin was
convened by Napoleon.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1812 Feb 9, Franz Anton
Hoffmeister (57), composer, died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1814 Feb 9, Samuel Jones Tilden,
philanthropist, was born.
(HN, 2/9/97)(MC, 2/9/02)
1819 Feb 9, Lydia E. Pinkham,
patent-medicine maker and entrepreneur, was born.
(HN, 2/9/01)
1822 Feb 9, The American Indian
Society organized.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1824 Feb 9, Anna Katharina
Emmerick (b.1774), a sickly, virtually illiterate German nun, died. Her
gory visions of Jesus' last hours of suffering before his crucifixion
drew pilgrims to her bedside in the years before her death. In 2004 she
was beatified by Pope John Paul VI.
(AP, 10/3/04)(www.vatican.va/news_services)
1825 Feb 9, The House of
Representatives elected John Quincy Adams Jr. 6th U.S. president
(1825-1829) after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
(A&IP, ESM, p.96b, photo)(AHD, 1971, p.14)(HN,
2/9/97)(AP, 2/9/99)
1834 Feb 9, Franz Xaver Witt,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1846 Feb 9, Wilhelm Maybach,
German engineer, was born. He designed the first Mercedes automobile.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1861 Feb 9, The Confederate
Provisional Congress, meeting in Alabama, declared all laws under the
US Constitution were consistent with constitution of Confederate
states. The Congress elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as
president and Alexander H. Stephens vice president. Jefferson Davis'
Mexican War exploits led him to the Confederate White House. In 2001
William C. Davis authored "The Union That Shaped the Confederacy:
Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens."
(HN, 2/9/97)(AP, 2/9/99)(WSJ, 6/13/01, p.A18)(AH,
2/06, p.15)
1861 Feb 9, Tennessee voted
against secession.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1863 Feb 9, A fire extinguisher
was patented by Alanson Crane.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1863 Feb 9, Henri Dunant
(1828-1910) addressed the Geneva Society for Public Welfare and asked
the members to form a volunteer society to aid wounded soldiers. The
Intl. Committee of Red Cross (Nobel 1917, 1944, 1963) was formed in
Geneva, Switz. The red cross design based on the Swiss flag with the
colors reversed.
(ON, 4/08, p.11)(www.redcross.org)(SFC, 6/20/06,
p.A4)
1864 Feb 9, After a courtship that
began at a party on Thanksgiving Day 1862, Brevet General George
Armstrong Custer and Miss Elizabeth Bacon, both of Monroe, Michigan,
married. Until Custer died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn a dozen
years later, Libbie followed him to postings throughout the West
whenever possible. Libbie never remarried, even though she outlived her
husband by 50 years, preferring to keep his memory alive by lecturing
and writing books about their life together on the Plains. Elizabeth
Custer lived comfortably in New York City until her death on April 8,
1933, at the age of 91.
(HNPD, 2/9/99)
1864 Feb 9, 109 Union prisoners
escaped through a tunnel from the Confederate Libby Prison in Richmond,
Va., including Lt. James M. Wells of Michigan. In 1904 Wells published
an account of the escape in the Jan. issue of McClure’s Magazine.
(ON, 3/01, p.7)
1865 Feb 9, Wilson Bentley
(d.1931) was born on a farm near Jericho, Vermont. His interest in snow
flakes led him to make the 1st photographs of snow crystals on Jan 15,
1885.
(ON, 11/04, p.4)
1865 Feb 9, Mrs. [Beatrice]
Patrick Campbell, actress (Pygmalion), was born in England.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1870 Feb 9, The U.S. Army
established the US National Weather Service. Congress under continued
petition from Smithsonian secretary Joseph Henry and colleagues, passed
a military appropriation enabling the US Army Signal Service to make
standardized weather observations.
(AP, 2/9/99)(ON, 2/06, p.7)
1871 Feb 9, Howard T. Ricketts,
pathologist, was born.
(HN, 2/9/01)
1874 Feb 9, Amy Lowell (d.1925),
poet, critic, was born. “Youth condemns; maturity condones.”
(AP, 11/25/00)(HN, 2/9/01)
1874 Feb 9, Jules Michelet (75),
French historian (History of France), died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1880 Feb 9, James Stephens
(d.1950), Irish poet and novelist, was born. His work included “The
Charwoman's Daughter” and “The Crock of Gold.” "Originality does not
consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying
exactly what you think yourself."
(AP, 5/21/99)(HN, 2/9/01)
1881 Feb 9, Feodor M. Dostoevsky
(59), Russian novelist (Crime & Punishment), died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1885 Feb 9, Alban Maria Johannes
Berg, composer, was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1885 Feb 9, The 1st Japanese
arrived in Hawaii.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1886 Feb 9, President Cleveland
declared a state of emergency in Seattle because of anti-Chinese
violence.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1886 Feb 9, Modest Mussorgsky’s
(1839-1881) opera “Khovanschchina,” arranged by Rimsky-Korsakov,
premiered in St. Petersburg. The Gregorian date is Feb 21.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khovanshchina)
1891 Feb 9, Ronald Colman, 1947
Academy Award actor (Tale of 2 Cities), was born in England.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1893 Feb 9, Giuseppe Verdi’s last
opera, “Falstaff,” was first performed in Milan, Italy.
(AP, 2/9/01)
1893 Feb 9, Suez Canal builder De
Lesseps and others were sentenced to prison for fraud.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1895 Feb 9, Volleyball was
invented by W.G. Morgan in Massachusetts. A game called “mintonette”
was created by William George Morgan, physical director at the YMCA in
Holyoke, Mass., to accommodate players who thought basketball was too
strenuous. The objective was to hit a basketball over a rope. It was
the predecessor to volleyball.
(SFC,11/15/97, p.C4)(HNQ, 11/26/99)(MC, 2/9/02)
1902 Feb 9, Doctor Doyen of Paris,
performed a successful operation on Siamese twins from the Barnum and
Bailey Circus.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1904 Feb 9, Japanese troops landed
near Seoul, Korea, after disabling two Russian cruisers.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1906 Feb 9, Poet Paul Laurence
Dunbar (33), son of former slaves, died of TB in his hometown of
Dayton, Ohio.
(AH, 2/06, p.15)
1906 Feb 9, Natal proclaimed a
state of siege in Zulu uprising.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1909 Feb 9, Dean Rusk, was born.
He was Secretary of State (1961-1969) under presidents John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson.
(HN, 2/9/99)(MC, 2/9/02)
1909 Feb 9, The 1st US federal
legislation prohibiting narcotics was directed at opium.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1909 Feb 9, France agreed to
recognize German economic interests in Morocco in exchange for
political supremacy.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1913 Feb 9, Leo van der Kar,
masseur, businessman, founder (Sports funds), was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1913 Feb 9-18, The 10 Day Tragedy
of Mexico City when 3,000 died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1914 Feb 9, Gypsy Rose Lee,
stripper, was born in Seattle Wash.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1914 Feb 9, Bill "Rhymes with
Wreck" Veeck, baseball club owner, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1916 Feb 9, Conscription began in
Great Britain as the Military Service Act becomes effective.
(HN, 2/9/99)
1918 Feb 9, Army chaplain school
organized at Ft. Monroe, Va.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1921 Feb 9, James Huneker
(b.1857), American musical writer and critic, died.
(WSJ, 2/11/06,
p.P10)(www.britannica.com/ebi/article-9326842)
1922 Feb 9, The U.S. Congress
established the World War Foreign Debt Commission.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1923 Feb 9, Brendan Behan, Irish
playwright and poet, was born in Dublin, Ireland. His work included
“The Hostage” and “The Quare Fellow.”
(HN, 2/9/01)(MC, 2/9/02)
1923 Feb 9, Norman E. Shumway,
pioneer cardiac transplant surgeon, was born in Mich.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1923 Feb 9, Soviet Aeroflot
airlines formed.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1926 Feb 9, Teaching theory of
evolution was forbidden in Atlanta, Georgia, schools.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1928 Feb 9, Frank Frazetta,
American fantasy and science fiction artist, was born in Brooklyn. He
became noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings,
posters, record-album covers, and other media. In 2003, a feature film
documenting the life and career of Frazetta was released, entitled:
“Frank Frazetta: Painting With Fire.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Frazetta)
1933 Feb 9, The Oxford Union,
Oxford University's debating society, endorsed, 275-153, a motion
stating "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King
and Country," a pacifist stand widely denounced by Britons. [see Feb 9,
1983]
(AP, 2/9/00)
1941 Feb 9, British troops
conquered El Agheila.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1941 Feb 9, Nazi collaborators
destroyed the pro-Jewish cafe Alcazar Amsterdam. Alcazar had refused to
hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in front.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1942 Feb 9, The U.S. Joint Chiefs
of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy
during World War II.
(AP, 2/9/99)
1942 Feb 9, FDR reimposed daylight
saving time (DST) in the US calling it "war time" with clocks turned
one hour forward. It was repealed after the war. [see 1966]
(AP, 2/9/99)(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.D8)
1942 Feb 9, The former French
cruise ship Normandie, launched in 1935, burned in New York Harbor
during its conversion to an Allied trip transport ship. It was once
regarded as most elegant ocean liner ever built. In 1947 it was cut up
for scrap. In 2007 John Maxtone-Graham authored “Normandie.”
(AP, 2/10/97)(WSJ, 12/8/07, p.W13)
1942 Feb 9, Chiang Kai-shek met
with Sir Stafford Cripps, the British viceroy in India. Detachment 101
harried the Japanese in Burma and provided close support for regular
Allied forces.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1942 Feb 9, Japanese troops landed
near Makassar, South Celebes.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1943 Feb 9, FDR ordered a minimal
48 hour work week in war industry.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1943 Feb 9, The World War II
battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied
victory over Japanese forces.
(AP, 2/9/08)
1943 Feb 9, The Russians took back
Kursk 15 months after it fell to the Nazis.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1944 Feb 9, Alice Walker, Pulitzer
prize winning author, was born. Her books include "The Autobiography of
Malcolm X" and "The Color Purple."
(HN, 2/9/99)
1944 Feb 9, U-734 and U-238 sank
off Ireland.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1945 Feb 9, [Maria] Mia Farrow,
actress (Rosemary's Baby, Purple Rose of Cairo, was born in LA.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1945 Feb 9, The German submarine
U-864 with a crew of 73 sank about 2 1/2 miles off Fedje, Norway. It
was on a desperate mission to supply Japan with advanced weapons
technology and carried a poisonous cargo of 70 tons of mercury. Leakage
of the mercury posed a severe threat in 2006 and plans were made to
encase the wreck. In 2007 Norway’s government said it would be buried
in special sand to protect the coastline.
(AP, 12/20/06)(AP, 2/13/07)
1946 Feb 9, Stalin announced the
new five-year plan for the USSR, calling for production boosts of 50
percent.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1947 Feb 9, Bank robber Willie
Sutton escaped jail in Philadelphia.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1950 Feb 9, In a speech at the
Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, W. Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy,
R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists and
that he had a list of them. He asserted that Sec. of State Dean Acheson
knew this and refused to do anything about it.
(AP, 2/9/99)(WSJ, 12/6/99, p.A32)(WSJ, 2/9/00, p.A26)
1951 Feb 9, St. Louis Browns
signed baseball pitcher Satchel Paige (45).
(MC, 2/9/02)
1951 Feb 9, Actress Greta Garbo
got U.S. citizenship.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1953 Feb 9, "Adventures of
Superman" TV series premiered in syndication.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1953 Feb 9, General Walter Bedell
Smith, USA, ended term as 4th director of CIA. Allen W. Dulles, became
acting director of CIA and served to 1961.
(MC, 2/9/02)(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A4)
1953 Feb 9, The French destroyed
six Viet Minh war factories hidden in the jungles of Vietnam.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1955 Feb 9, US federations of
trade unions agreed to merge into the AFL-CIO: The American Federation
of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
(AH, 2/05, p.17)(SFC, 2/4/05, p.F9)
1960 Feb 9, The Hollywood, Ca.,
Walk of Fame began with an installation of its first pink terrazzo star
for, actress Joanne Woodward, at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. The first eight
stars were dedicated in September 1958 and placed in the sidewalk on
the northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave.
(SSFC, 2/7/10,
p.D4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame)
1960 Feb 9, The Angelo Petri, the
world’s largest wine tanker, foundered outside the San Francisco Golden
Gate. It carried a capacity load of 2,383,000 gallons of wine and
vegetable oil. In 1946 the vessel had broken in two near Honolulu.
(SSFC, 2/7/10, DB
p.42)(www.navsource.org/archives/11/0103.htm)
1960 Feb 9, Ernst von Dohnanyi
(82), US composer, died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1961 Feb 9, Grigory Levenfish
(70), Int’l. chess grandmaster from Russia, died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1962 Feb 9, An agreement was
signed to make Jamaica an independent nation within the British
Commonwealth later in the year.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1963 Feb 9, 1st flight of Boeing
727 jet.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1964 Feb 9, The Beatles made their
first live American television appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
(AP, 2/9/99)
1964 Feb 9, The U.S. embassy in
Moscow was stoned by Chinese and Vietnamese students.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1964 Feb 9, In Britain Maria
Callas sang in a live production of Pucini's Tosca produced at Covent
Garden by Franco Zeffirelli. It was later made available on video.
(SFEC, 5/23/99, DB p.58)
1966 Feb 9, Sophie Tucker (79),
Russian-US singer, actress (My Yiddish Mama), died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1969 Feb 9, The Boeing 747, the
world's largest airplane, made its 1st commercial flight.
(www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/pf/pf_milestones.html)
1969 Feb 9, Gabby Hayes (b.1885),
American film and TV actor, died. He played the sidekick to Hopalong
Cassidy and later Roy Rogers Westerns.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_%27Gabby%27_Hayes)
1971 Feb 9, Satchel Paige became
the 1st negro-league player elected to baseball HOF.
(www.biographybase.com/biography/Paige_Satchel.html)
1971 Feb 9, The "Apollo 14"
spacecraft returned to Earth after man's third landing on the moon.
(AP, 2/9/99)
1971 Feb 9, In San Fernando, Ca.,
a 6.5 earthquake killed 65 people.
(SFEC, 10/17/99, p.A3)
1974 Feb 9, US female Figure
Skating championship was won by Dorothy Hamill.
(http://espn.go.com/abcsports/wwos/milestones/1970s.html)
1978 Feb 9, Kimberly Leach (12)
was killed by Ted Bundy in Lake City, Fla.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberly_Leach)
1978 Feb 9, Canada announced it
was expelling 13 Soviet diplomats who it said had tried to recruit a
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer.
(HN, 2/9/97)(www.cnn.com/almanac/9802/09/)
1978 Feb 9, In Tanzania cholera
broke out and killed 300 people.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)
1979 Feb 9, Allen Tate (b.1899),
poet and exponent of the New Criticism, died in Nashville.
(WSJ, 8/2/08, p.W9)(http://tinyurl.com/5g27ry)
1981 Feb 9, Bill Haley (b.1925),
vocalist (Rock Around Clock), died of heart attack. Haley was
posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haley)
1982 Feb 9, On approach to Haneda
Airport a Japan Airlines DC-8 plunged into Tokyo Bay killing 24 people.
141 survived the crash caused when the captain pushed the nose down
prematurely and engaged in a struggle with the co-pilot.
(WSJ, 3/10/98,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_350)
1983 Feb 9, In a dramatic reversal
from 50 years earlier, the Oxford Union Society at Oxford University
rejected, 416 to 187, a motion "that this House would not fight for
Queen and Country." [see Feb 9, 1933]
(AP, 2/9/00)
1984 Feb 9, Soviet leader Yuri V.
Andropov (69) died, less than 15 months after succeeding Leonid
Brezhnev. He was succeeded by Konstantin U. Chernenko. US Pres. Ronald
Reagan said he wouldn’t go to any memorial for Andropov: “I don’t want
to honor that prick.”
(AP, 2/9/99)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.75)
1985 Feb 9, Madonna's album "Like
a Virgin," released in 1984, reached #1.
(http://tinyurl.com/2vfje9)
1985 Feb 9, Seoul admitted using
force against opposition leader Kim Dae Jung.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1986 Feb 9, Halley's Comet reached
30th perihelion, its closest approach to Sun. 5 spacecraft from the
USSR, Japan, and the European Community visited Comet Halley in early
1986.
(http://tinyurl.com/nmhkd)(www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/halley.html)
1986 Feb 9, The tomb of
Tutankhamen's treasurer, Maya, was found in Egypt.
(http://tinyurl.com/mfsn7)
1987 Feb 9, Robert McFarlane
(1919-2006), former US national security adviser, attempted suicide.
(www.tarpley.net/bush18.htm)
1989 Feb 9, President Bush, in his
first major speech to Congress, proposed a $1.16 trillion "common
sense" budget for fiscal 1990.
(AP, 2/9/99)
1990 Feb 9, John Gotti (1940-2002)
was acquitted of charges that he commissioned the Westies gang to shoot
a union official in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen. This earned him the
nickname “The Teflon Don.”
(SFC, 6/11/02, p.A2)
1990 Feb 9, Perrier Group of
America Inc. announced it was voluntarily recalling its inventory of
mineral water in the United States after tests showed the presence of
benzene in a small number of bottles.
(AP, 2/9/00)
1990 Feb 9, The Galileo satellite,
launched Oct. 18, 1989, made its closest approach to Venus.
(www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/90/release_1990_0124.html)
1991 Feb 9, Defense Secretary Dick
Cheney and Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin L. Powell met with military
commanders in Saudi Arabia to evaluate a possible ground assault
against Iraqi forces.
(AP, 2/9/01)
1991 Feb 9, In a national poll 3
quarters of Lithuanian citizens called for independence from the Soviet
Union in a non-binding plebiscite.
(AP, 2/9/01)(LHC, 2/9/03)
1992 Feb 9, Magic Johnson returned
to professional basketball by playing in the NBA All-Star game. Johnson
was named most valuable player as his side, the Western Conference,
defeated the Eastern Conference 153-to-113.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1992 Feb 9, The government of
Algeria declared a state of emergency to quell spreading Muslim
fundamentalist unrest.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1992 Feb 9, An Air Senegal flight
chartered by Club Med crashed and 30 people were killed. In 2000 a
French court convicted Club Med founder Gilbert Trigano and his son,
Serge, for involuntary manslaughter.
(SFC, 7/7/00,
p.D6)(http://aviation-safety.net/database/country/country.php?id=6V)
1993 Feb 9, NBC News announced it
had settled a defamation lawsuit brought by General Motors over the
network's "inappropriate demonstration" of a fiery pickup truck crash
on its "Dateline NBC" program.
(AP, 2/9/03)
1994 Feb 9, PLO leader Yasser
Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres initialed an agreement
on security measures that had been blocking a peace accord.
(AP, 2/9/99)
1994 Feb 9, NATO delivered an
ultimatum to Bosnian Serbs to remove heavy guns encircling Sarajevo, or
face air strikes. Hours before the ultimatum was issued, the Bosnian
Serbs agreed to withdraw their artillery and mortars from around
Sarajevo.
(AP, 2/9/99)(www.fas.org/man/gao/nsiad-95-148.htm)
1994 Feb 9, Nelson Mandela became
the first black president of South Africa.
(HN, 2/9/99)
1994 Feb 9, Jarmila Novotna (86),
Czech-US soprano (Madame Butterfly), died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0637229/)
1995 Feb 9, A preview of "Heiress"
opened at Cort Theater NYC for 340 performances.
(http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?id=4287)
1995 Feb 9, Former US Sen. J.
William Fulbright (b.1905) died in Washington, DC.
(http://exchanges.state.gov/education/fulbright/fulbbio.htm)
1995 Feb 9, David Wayne (b.1914),
[Wayne Mcmeekan], US actor (Dallas), died.
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915536/)
1996 Feb 9, Pres. Clinton signed
the new telecommunications bill into law. It included a subsidy
program, “E-Rate,” to provide schools with a connection to the
Internet. Phone companies in 1998 began charging their long-distance
customers a surcharge to cover the subsidies. It also included a ban on
Internet smut that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1999.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)(WSJ, 4/20/99, A1)
1996 Feb 9, In Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, a former member of the city’s beach detail shot and killed
five former co-workers before killing himself.
(AP, 2/9/01)
1996 Feb 9, A collision of
rush-hour commuter trains in Secaucus, New Jersey, claimed the lives of
both engineers and a passenger.
(AP, 2/9/01)
1996 Feb 9, Leo Jenkins was
executed under a new Texas law that allowed the family of his victims
to witness his execution. A film was made of the execution for HBO
titled: “A Kill for a Kill.”
(WSJ, 1/6/97, p.A10)
1996 Feb 9, The Irish Republican
Army ended its cease-fire with a massive blast that killed two people
in London's East End and injured nearly a 100 people. The bomb was a
500 pound device hidden in a rebuilt truck.
(WSJ, 2/12/96, p.A-1)(WSJ, 2/14/96, p.A-10)(AP,
2/9/01)
1996 Feb 9, Adolf Galland (83),
German general (Luftwaffe Ace), died.
(http://tinyurl.com/9wm96)
1997 Feb 9, Fox cartoon series
"Simpsons" aired its 167th episode, the longest running animated series
in cartoon history.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1997 Feb 9, The East beat the West
in the NBA All-Star game, 132-to-120.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1997 Feb 9, Best Products closed
the last of its stores, a victim of the diminishing allure of the
catalog showroom concept of retailing.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1997 Feb 9, In Newton, Mass., an
8-month old baby died while under the care of a 19-year-old British
nanny. Louisa Woodward, pleaded innocent, but was tried and convicted
on 2nd-degree murder charges in Oct.
(SFC,10/31/97,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Woodward)
1997 Feb 9, In Ecuador an
agreement was reached to have Rosalia Arteaga serve as interim
president until the passing of a constitutional amendment to elect a
successor.
(SFC, 2/10/97, p.A8)
1998 Feb 9, Pres. Clinton declared
27 counties in California a federal disaster area. Estimated storm
damage reached over $275 million.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 9, The Pentagon announced
that some 3,000 ground troops from Fort Hood, Texas, were to be sent to
the Persian Gulf region over the next 10 days. The move was to
discourage “creative thinking” on the part of Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A1)(AP, 2/9/99)
1998 Feb 9, From Georgia it was
reported that Steuart and Jane Dewar were attempting to set up a
Gorilla Haven for retired gorillas in the area of Morgantown on part of
275 acres they owned in Fannin County. There was substantial neighbor
opposition.
(SFC, 2/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Feb 9, At the Nagano Games,
German Georg Hackl won the men's luge for the third consecutive
Olympics.
(AP, 2/9/99)
1998 Feb 9, In Columbia rebels
blew up the nation’s main oil pipeline spilling 15,000 gallons and
forcing a suspension of pumping. It was the 7th attack on a pipeline
this year.
(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 9, In Tbilisi, Georgia,
armed attackers ambushed Pres. Shevardnadze (70). One attacker and one
bodyguard were killed.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A12)
1998 Feb 9, In Indonesia a curfew
was imposed on the town of Ende after 2 days of riots burned 21 stores
owned by the ethnic Chinese, who dominate most of the businesses.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 9, In Northern Ireland a
Protestant drug dealer, Brendan Campbell (33), and a Protestant
militant, Bobby Dougan (38), were slain in separate incidents. Police
blamed the IRA and a dissident gang.
(SFC, 2/11/98, p.B3)
1998 Feb 9, South Korean unions
voted down a pact to make it easier for businesses to lay off workers.
The unions also called for a nationwide strike this week. The strike
was called off.
(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 9, In Mexico it was
reported that flash floods in Tijuana killed at least 13 people.
(WSJ, 2/9/98, p.A1)
1999 Feb 9, The Senate began
closed-door deliberations in President Clinton's impeachment trial,
even though members from both parties acknowledged that the two-thirds
margin for conviction could not be attained.
(AP, 2/9/00)
1999 Feb 9, It was reported that
USA Networks would merge its cable-television AT Home Shopping Network
with the Lycos Internet portal.
(WSJ, 1/3/00, p.R12)
1999 Feb 9, In Cambodia some 1,700
guerrillas of the Khmer Rouge were inducted into the Cambodian military.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 9, An Ethiopian plane
bombed an Eritrean village and at least 5 civilians were killed.
Eritrea reported that a large number of Ethiopian forces were killed
near Tsorena, but Ethiopia denied the Eritrean version of the fighting.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 9, In Europe heavy snows
caused avalanches that killed at least 5 people. Ten people were killed
in the French Alps.
(WSJ, 2/10/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 9, In Iran the head of
the intelligence ministry, Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, resigned along
with 3 deputies due to last year's killings of dissident writers and
politicians.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.A10)
2000 Feb 9, In Renton, Wa., some
17,000 Boeing engineers and technical workers began a 40-day strike,
one of the biggest white-collar strikes in US history.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A9)(AP, 2/9/01)
2000 Feb 9, Hackers stepped up
their “denial of service” attacks on popular Internet sites, zeroing in
on such targets as eTrade and ZDNet, inconveniencing millions of Web
users and unnerving Wall Street.
(AP, 2/9/01)
2000 Feb 9, In Britain the House
of Commons passed a bill to suspend home-rule in Northern Ireland.
(WSJ, 2/10/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 9, In Indonesia clashes
between troops and rebels in Aceh province left 15 people dead.
(SFC, 2/11/00, p.D2)
2000 Feb 9, Israeli jets struck
targets in southern Lebanon for the 11th day and Foreign Minister David
Levy threatened that it would set Lebanon on fire if militants
retaliated with rockets.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 9, In Nigeria it was
reported that 17 people were killed when a young man, who was not
allowed to participate, lit a match at a site where people were
siphoning off fuel from a pipeline in Ogwe.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.C4)
2000 Feb 9, In Turkey Kurdish
rebels of the PKK announced that they had given up their war and would
press their cause "within the framework of peace and democracy."
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A12)
2001 Feb 9, The US nuclear
submarine Greeneville struck the Japanese fishing boat, Ehime Maru,
near Oahu with 35 people on board including 13 students. The boat sank
in 5 minutes and 9 men and boys were killed. The sub was practicing a
rapid ascent and had 15 civilian guests onboard. It was later revealed
that civilian visitors sat at 2 of the subs 3 main controls when it
surfaced. Capt. Scott Waddle, the sub skipper, was relieved of duty
pending investigation. Sonar contact with the fishing vessel had been
established over an hour before the accident. Capt. Waddle was later
reprimanded and submitted his resignation.
(SFC, 2/10/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 2/11/01, p.A3)(SFC,
2/13/01, p.A3)(SFC, 2/14/01, p.A2)(SFC, 2/15/01, p.A3)(SFC, 2/21/01,
p.A2)(SFC, 3/15/01, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/24/01, p.A1)(AP, 2/9/08)
2001 Feb 9, In Colombia Pres.
Pastrana and FARC commander Marulanda agreed to resume peace
negotiations.
(SFC, 2/10/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 9, In Israel Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon asked Ehud Barak to serve as defense minister. A
Palestinian shepherd was killed by an Israeli bullet.
(SFC, 2/10/01, p.A10)(SSFC, 2/11/01, p.C5)
2001 Feb 9, In Mexico Pres. Fox
inaugurated a $50 million aid plan for Chiapas. Yucatan’s PRI Gov.
Victor Cervera refused to accept a state electoral commission.
(SFC, 2/10/01, p.A10)(WSJ, 2/12/00, p.A18)
2002 Feb 9, At the Winter Olympics
in Salt Lake City, Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands won the gold
medal in the men's 5,000-meter speedskating race in world record time
of 6:14.66.
(AP, 2/9/03)
2002 Feb 9, Oakland's Rich Gannon
led the AFC to a 38-30 victory over the NFC in the Pro Bowl.
(AP, 2/9/03)
2002 Feb 9, The US and Pakistan
signed an agreement to enhance defense cooperation.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A19)
2002 Feb 9, The Afghan government
released 320 captured Taliban fighters and gave each soldier the
equivalent of $15 as a gesture of reconciliation.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A18)
2002 Feb 9, In Algeria security
forces killed Antar Zouabri, head of the Armed Islamic Group, and 2
other insurgents in Boufarik.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 9, Britain's Princess
Margaret (71), the high-spirited and unconventional sister of Queen
Elizabeth II, died in London.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A12)(AP, 2/9/03)
2002 Feb 9, East Timor approved a
draft for a new constitution. Full independence was scheduled for May
20.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 9, In Honduras police
broke up a drug-smuggling, kidnapping and bank robbery ring in Lempira.
It was an arm of cartels based in Tijuana.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 9, In South Africa
Bulelani Vukwana (29), shot and killed his girlfriend and 9 others
before killing himself in Mdantsane suburb of East London.
(SFC, 2/11/02, p.A8)
2003 Feb 9, The West beat the East
155-145 in the first double overtime game in NBA All-Star history.
2003 Feb 9, President Bush told
congressional Republicans at a policy conference that Iraq had fooled
the world for more than a decade about its banned weapons and the
United Nations was now facing "a moment of truth" in disarming Saddam
Hussein.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2003 Feb 9, The U.S. Navy ended
its last planned bombing exercises on Puerto Rico's Vieques Island.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2003 Feb 9, In China state media
reported that scientists had discovered a massive underground lake,
some 35 billion cubic feet, in the arid northwest beneath the
Taklimakan desert.
(AP, 2/9/03)
2003 Feb 9, The leaders of Germany
and Russia renewed their calls for a peaceful resolution in Iraq,
restating their opposition to any U.S.-led war to disarm and oust
Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2003 Feb 9, Iran reported the
discovery of uranium reserves and planned production facilities for
peaceful use of nuclear energy.
(SFC, 2/10/03, p.A8)
2003 Feb 9, Montenegro's 2nd
attempt in 2 months to elect a president failed.
(AP, 2/10/03)
2003 Feb 9, Three Palestinians
were killed when their explosives-laden car blew up outside an Israeli
army post after crashing into a cement block barrier. In secret talks
last week Israel offered the Palestinians a gradual cease-fire.
(AP, 2/9/03)(SSFC, 2/9/03, p.A22)
2003 Feb 9, Swiss voters approved
measures to further extend their direct democracy.
(AP, 2/10/03)
2004 Feb 9, President Bush and
Democratic front-runner John Kerry sparred over the president's
economic leadership, while Kerry's rivals sought to slow his brisk pace.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2004 Feb 9, Tower Records Inc.
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, after the music and
entertainment chain has so far proven unable to cope with competition
from large retailers, digital downloading and file copying.
(Reuters, 2/9/04)
2004 Feb 9, Rebel attacks and land
mines in Chechnya killed at least 9 Russian servicemen and local
pro-Moscow police over the last 24 hours.
(SFC, 2/10/04, p.A6)
2004 Feb 9, An Egyptian enraged at
the events in the Middle East stabbed 2 foreign tourists in Cairo’s
historic Ghawriya district.
(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A17)
2004 Feb 9, In Haiti government
police retook 2 of nearly a dozen towns seized by rebels as the death
toll in the violent uprising rose to at least 40.
(SFC, 2/9/04, p.A5)(AP, 2/9/05)
2004 Feb 9, Culturecom Holdings
Ltd. of Hong Kong unveiled a DVD player and word-processing device
built with chips developed by Chinese computer scientist Chu Bong-foo.
Chu found a way to put Asia characters in position to command binary
code.
(WSJ, 2/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 9, Japan passed a law
making it easier to impose economic sanctions on impoverished North
Korea, prompting the communist country to demand that Tokyo be barred
from future multilateral talks on its nuclear program.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2004 Feb 9, In Malaysia
anti-corruption officers arrested the former head of scandal-plagued
steel company Perwaja.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2004 Feb 9, Saloum Cohen (82),
high priest of the tiny Samaritan community and a Palestinian lawmaker,
died. Cohen had been the spiritual head of the 660-strong Samaritans
since 2001.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2004 Feb 9, The UN adopted
Resolution 1559. It called for free elections in Lebanon and the
withdrawal of all foreign forces and the disbanding of all militias.
(www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sc8181.doc.htm)
2004 Feb 9, Venezuela devalued its
currency by 17 percent against the U.S. dollar, a surprise decision
that could fuel inflation but help the government meet financing needs.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2005 Feb 9, Ceremonies were
scheduled for a first-day-of-issue stamp commemorating Pres. Ronald
Reagan (1911-2004).
(SFC, 10/7/04, p.B3)
2005 Feb 9, Carly Fiorina's nearly
six-year reign at Hewlett-Packard Co. ended as the company's board
forced her out as chief executive. Patricia Dunn took over as chairman.
In 2006 Fiorina authored “Tough Choices,” a memoir of her tenure at H-P.
(AP, 2/9/05)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.59)(WSJ, 10/6/06, p.B2)
2005 Feb 9, Wal-Mart said it
planned to close its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, where workers were
seeking to become the 1st ever to win a union contract with Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart began operations in Canada in 1994 and currently operated 254
stores there. Doors were shut May 6.
(WSJ, 2/10/05, p.A2)(SFC, 4/15/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 9, Ethnic Chinese
communities across Asia celebrated the start of the lunar year 4703,
the Year of the Rooster, with visits to crowded temples and family
banquets.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 9, The French National
Assembly approved a reform of the controversial 35-hour working week.
The Socialist measure had been introduced to cut unemployment but is
now blamed by the right for doing exactly the reverse.
(AFP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Gunmen killed an Iraqi
journalist working for a U.S.-funded television station and his son as
they left their home in the southern city of Basra. Gunmen also killed
3 members of a Kurdish political party and a Housing Ministry official.
The US military announced the deaths of 4 US soldiers.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/10/05, p.A9)
2005 Feb 9, In Kashmir suspected
Muslim rebels shot dead a popular municipal councilor outside a mosque.
Separately Indian troops killed 4 militants in a gunbattle inside a
mountain cave.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas said Israel will lift travel restrictions on Palestinians
in parts of the West Bank and abandon several major checkpoints as part
of its withdrawal from five towns in the coming weeks.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, An explosion ripped
through a mine in a coal-rich region of Siberia, killing at least 18
workers and leaving eight missing.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, In Somalia BBC
journalist Kate Peyton was shot to death outside a Mogadishu hotel
where she had interviewed some members of the interim parliament.
(SFC, 2/19/05, p.A14)
2005 Feb 9, In Spain a car bomb
exploded in a business park on the outskirts of Madrid just after the
morning rush hour, injuring 43 people. Government officials blamed the
Basque separatist group ETA.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Sudanese Aviation
Minister Ali Tamim Fartak said European aviation consortium Airbus
Industrie has cancelled the 45-million dollar debt owed to it by Sudan
Airways.
(AFP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Faure Gnassingbe,
Togo's new president, addressed the nation for the first time since
succeeding his father. He offered talks with the exiled opposition and
promised general elections as soon as possible.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 9, Helicopters rescued
stranded Venezuelans after flood waters struck the mountainous central
coast, triggering landslides, destroying homes and washing out roads.
Officials said at least 13 people were killed and thousands of others
were forced from their homes.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2006 Feb 9, President Bush
outlined details of an alleged plot to hijack an airliner and fly it
into a skyscraper in Los Angeles. The next day security officials and
terrorism experts in Southeast Asia said Malaysian engineer Zaini
Zakaria (38) was among three men al-Qaida was preparing to take part in
an attack on Los Angeles. Zaini has been detained without trial under
the Internal Security Act in Malaysia since he surrendered in December
2002.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 9, The US Treasury Dept.
sold $14 billion of 30-year bonds at 5.52%. The last 30-year auction
was on Aug. 15, 2001.
(SFC, 2/10/06, p.D3)
2006 Feb 9, Neil Entwistle (27), a
British man, whose wife and daughter were found shot dead in their
Massachusetts home, was arrested in Britain and charged with murder.
(AFP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, American International
Group, Inc. (AIG), agreed to pay $1.64 billion to resolve allegations
that it used deceptive accounting practices to mislead investors and
regulatory agencies.
(SFC, 2/10/06, p.D3)
2006 Feb 9, Sir Freddie Laker
(83), pioneer of low-cost airline travel, died in Florida.
(WSJ, 2/11/06, p.A1)(Econ, 2/18/06, p.82)
2006 Feb 9, An Australian inquiry
into alleged kickbacks paid to Iraq under the UN oil-for-food program
claimed its first scalp with the resignation of Andrew Lindberg, the
chief executive of wheat exporter AWB.
(AFP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, In Afghanistan
hundreds of Shiite Muslims and Sunnis clashed in Herat during an
important Shiite festival, exchanging fire, hurling grenades and
burning mosques. At least five people were killed and 51 injured.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Australian senators
voted to remove an effective ban on abortion drug RU-486.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Tesco, Britain's
biggest retailer and the world's third-biggest retailer, said it is
preparing to take on number-one Wal-Mart on its own turf after
unveiling plans to set up shop in the US next year.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Rene Preval took a
strong lead in Haiti's presidential election, with most of the first
votes counted going to the former president who is seen as a champion
of the poor.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 9, In central Indonesia
an Islamic teacher named Sahal, suspected of involvement in a Southeast
Asian terrorist network, was arrested in the town of Poso.
(AP, 2/11/06)
2006 Feb 9, A roadside bomb blast
killed two US Marines near the western Anbar province city of Fallujah.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 9, Kidnapped American
journalist Jill Carroll appeared in a video aired on a private Kuwaiti
TV channel, appealing for her supporters to do whatever it takes to win
her release and saying "there is a very short time." She was freed on
March 30, 2006.
(AP, 2/9/06)(AP, 2/9/07)
2006 Feb 9, Premier Silvio
Berlusconi's government easily won a confidence vote in the Chamber of
Deputies on a bill that included financing the country's military in
Iraq.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, An Italian judge
dismissed an atheist's petition that a small-town priest should stand
trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed. Luigi Cascioli, a
72-year-old retired agronomist, had accused the Rev. Enrico Righi of
violating two laws with the assertion, which he called a deceptive
fable propagated by the Roman Catholic Church.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 9, Japanese officials
said 45 cows at a farm in northern Japan were suspected of having mad
cow disease and will be destroyed.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Moroccan state media
reported that the US has handed over three suspected Islamic militants
held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
(Reuters, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, In Nepal thousands of
opposition protesters flooded the streets of Kathmandu, as early
results showed pro-government candidates sweeping local elections that
were marred by rebel attacks, the shooting of protesters and low
turnout.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Some 58 containers
were swept from the P&O Nedlloyd ship Mondriaan, which got caught
in a storm about 9 miles off the coast of the island of Terschelling,
in the North Sea. The next day thousands of tennis shoes, aluminum
briefcases and children's toys washed onto the beach of a Dutch island,
drawing crowds of treasure-hunting residents.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 9, Health authorities
imposed a quarantine on poultry farms across northern Nigeria. 2 more
states reported cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
(AP, 2/9/06)(SFC, 2/10/06, p.A8)
2006 Feb 9, North Korea has
requested 150,000 tons of fertilizer from South Korea, months after it
demanded that the UN World Food Program halt emergency food shipments.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 9, In Pakistan’s
Northwest Frontier province a suspected suicide bombing and gunfire
killed at least 29 minority Shiite Muslims and gunmen killed at least
four more people in an attack on a bus in Hangu.
(AP, 2/9/06)(SFC, 2/10/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 9, Palestinian
prosecutors froze bank accounts and seized assets of dozens of suspects
in a widening corruption probe of senior government officials believed
to have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Two masked gunmen shot
out the tires of a diplomatic vehicle and kidnapped Egypt's military
attache to the Palestinian Authority, in a brazen daylight abduction
just outside the heavily guarded Egyptian mission in Gaza City.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Russian President
Vladimir Putin invited leaders of Hamas to Moscow, saying his country
does not see the Palestinian group as a terrorist organization.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Spanish police in
Madrid arrested Ricardo Taddei (63), a former Argentine police officer,
wanted in connection with kidnappings and torture during his country's
"dirty war" against leftist dissidents.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, In Turkey a bomb
attack wounded at least 17 people at an Internet cafe in Istanbul. A
hardline Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez unleashed more criticism toward President Bush and accused
the US and Britain of planning to invade Iran.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2007 Feb 9, US Defense Secretary
Robert Gates told reporters in Munich, Germany, that serial numbers and
other markings on bombs suggested that Iranians were linked to deadly
explosives used by Iraqi militants.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2007 Feb 9, Fred Everts (36), the
former roommate of Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller (one of the nation's most
prolific child molesters), was sentenced in San Jose, Ca., to at least
800 years in prison for sexually abusing three boys.
(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 9, Fortress Investment
Group LLC, became the 1st private equity group to go public. Shares
were issued on the NYSE at $18.50 and closed at $31.
(WSJ, 2/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 9, It was reported that
researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have overcome
a major obstacle in harnessing the full power and speed of the light
waves for Internet fiber-optic networks.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, Taliban militants
ambushed a truck full of Afghan police in southern Afghanistan, killing
four officers and injuring three. A separate gunfight left 11 Taliban
fighters dead.
(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 9, Bolivia’s Pres. Evo
Morales declared the Vinto tin smelter to be nationalized. Glencore,
the Swiss based owner, demanded compensation saying the seizure
violated a 1991 bilateral agreement between Bolivia and Switzerland.
(Econ, 2/17/07, p.40)
2007 Feb 9, In London airline
tycoon Richard Branson announced a $25 million prize for the first
person to come up with a way of scrubbing greenhouse gases out of the
atmosphere in the battle to beat global warming.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, British government
scientists said the avian flu strain that hit the farm in Suffolk owned
by poultry giant Bernard Matthews appeared to be identical to that
found in Hungary, where Matthews owns local company Saga Foods.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, British bus and train
operator FirstGroup PLC said it agreed to buy US-based bus company
Laidlaw International Inc. in a 1.9 billion pound ($2.7 billion) deal.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, Ian Richardson
(b.1934), Scottish-born film and TV actor, died in London. He played
the evil Francis Urquhart in 3 TV miniseries “House of Cards” (1990),
“To Play the King” (1993) and “The final Cut” (1995).
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.B7)
2007 Feb 9, In Cambodia the
American navy's USS Gary docked at Sihanoukville, becoming the first US
military craft to visit the former communist country in more than 30
years.
(AFP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, China’s state Food and
Drug Administration vowed to probe up to 170,000 medicines produced by
manufacturers, which allegedly bribed its sacked head Zheng Xiaoyu for
production licenses. The top drug safety official was being
investigated for bribery after a number of deaths and scandals were
linked to shoddy medicines.
(AFP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, In China envoys to
international talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program
struggled to find a compromise as differences emerged over a Chinese
proposal on how to begin the disarmament process.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, A French appeals court
ruled that Pierre Pinoncelli (78), who attacked Marcel Duchamp's famed
porcelain urinal (fountain) with a hammer last year, does not have to
pay $260,000 in damages. Pinoncelli urinated on "Fountain" during a
1993 exhibition in Nimes in southern France, and cut off his own finger
as an expression of solidarity with Colombian-French politician Ingrid
Betancourt, held hostage by leftist guerrillas in Colombia since 2002.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, In France
Alcatel-Lucent SA said it plans to cut another 3,500 jobs after it
swung to a loss in the fourth quarter, the first for which the telecom
equipment maker reported combined earnings.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, In Guinea President
Lansana Conte named Eugene Camara, a recently appointed cabinet member,
as prime minister. The move was apparently aimed at appeasing union
leaders who led a crippling two-week strike. Under an agreement signed
by the two sides, the new PM cannot have previously served in the
government.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, Hundreds of UN
peacekeepers raided Haiti's largest and most violent slum, seizing a
portion of it in a six-hour gunbattle that left a gang member dead and
two soldiers wounded.
(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 9, The UN atomic monitor
suspended nearly half the technical aid it provides to Iran, a
symbolically significant punishment for nuclear defiance that only
North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq had faced in the past.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, Gunmen dressed in
Iraqi army uniforms swept into a village south of Baghdad, kidnapping
13 civilians and killing at least 11 of them. A British soldier was
killed and three others were hurt in a roadside bomb attack in southern
Iraq. 3 US soldiers died in an explosion in volatile Diyala province
northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 2/9/07)(AFP, 2/9/07)(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 9, Israeli police stormed
the grounds of Islam's third-holiest shrine, firing stun grenades and
tear gas to disperse thousands of Muslim worshippers who hurled stones,
bottles and trash in an eruption of outrage over Israeli renovation
nearby.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, Nichiro Corp., a
Japanese food company, recalled nearly 5 million cans of tuna after a
customer found part of a box cutter blade in a can. The small piece of
blade was found in a can of tuna produced in Vietnam in February 2006
and imported to Japan by a third company for sale by Nichiro.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, An official said
flooding in central Mozambique threatened some 285,000 people.
(AFP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, Gazans rejoiced in the
streets to celebrate a Hamas-Fatah power-sharing deal they hope will
avert civil war, but Palestinian officials preached patience, saying
implementing the agreement would be a challenge.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, The Kremlin said oil
tycoon and Chelsea soccer club owner Abramovich will stay on as
governor of the Chukotka region in northeastern Russia. Abramovich had
submitted his resignation in December.
(www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/4542629.html)
2007 Feb 9, In Vietnam the US
ambassador said the US government will give Vietnam $400,000 toward
cleaning up a former US military base contaminated by Agent Orange, its
biggest step yet toward resolving one of the most contentious legacies
of the Vietnam War.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, The United Nations
agreed to a Serbian request to delay final talks on the fate of
breakaway Kosovo province by a week to give Belgrade time to appoint
delegates.
(Reuters, 2/9/07)
2008 Feb 9, Sen. Barack Obama
swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington
state, slicing into Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead
in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Obama also won almost 90% in the Virgin Islands. McCain narrowly won
Washington while Huckabee took Kansas along with a narrow win in
Louisiana.
(AP, 2/10/08)(SSFC, 2/10/08, p.A1)
2008 Feb 9, In San Mateo County,
Ca., police found John Alfred Dennis Jr. (59), an Oakland historian and
respected college teacher, slain in a vehicle at Montara State Beach.
Troy Tyrone Thomas (43), the driver of the vehicle, was arrested.
Dennis had mentored Thomas for some years. On July 7 Thomas pleaded
guilty and faced life in prison.
(SFC, 2/11/08, p.D1)(SFC, 2/12/08, p.B1)(SFC,
7/10/08, p.B2)
2008 Feb 9, Michigan’s
unemployment rate topped the nation at 7.6%.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.31)
2008 Feb 9, A massive fire in
London's famed Camden market caused extensive damage to the market and
area buildings.
(AP, 2/10/08)
2008 Feb 9, Egypt's highest civil
court ruled that 12 Coptic Christians who had converted to Islam could
return to their old faith, ending a yearlong legal battle over the
predominantly Muslim state's tolerance for conversion.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 9, The French government
suspended the use of genetically modified corn crops in France while it
awaits EU approval for a full ban.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 9, In Haiti a man blamed
for kidnappings in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville was
pummeled with rocks and killed by neighbors in the seaside Cite Soleil
slum. The next day UN and Haitian police rescued a suspected kidnapper
(27) from a mob in downtown Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 9, In India Baba Amte
(93), founder of a leper center in Warora (1951), died at the center in
western Maharashtra state.
(SFC, 2/22/08, p.B9)(Econ, 3/1/08, p.93)
2008 Feb 9, A stampede at an
Indonesian punk rock concert left 10 people dead and dozens more
injured, most of them teenagers.
(AP, 2/10/08)
2008 Feb 9, Iraqi police killed
Abu Omar al-Dori, a local al-Qaida in Iraq leader, in his home in
Samarra. 12 decomposed bodies were discovered in a mass grave near
Baqouba. Iraqi police arrested 31 Shiite activists in early morning
raids south of Baghdad.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 9, An 8-year-old boy lost
his leg in a rocket attack on Sderot, one of the 11 rockets fired at
southern Israel. Four Israeli airstrikes after the attack killed a Gaza
gunman and targeted weapons-making operations of the Islamic militant
Hamas group.
(AP, 2/10/08)
2008 Feb 9, In Japan the world's
leading economies pledged to work together to secure stability in
volatile markets but brushed off the idea of a single uniform remedy
for the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 9, Raila Odinga, Kenya's
opposition leader, demanded that Pres. Kibaki resign, a sharp
turnaround from his conciliatory tone during talks with the government
earlier this week.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 9, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber struck at an election rally in Peshawar,
killing 27 people and wounding more than 25.
(AP, 2/9/08)(AP, 2/10/08)
2008 Feb 9, Sudan and the African
Union-UN peacekeeping mission for Darfur signed an agreement
determining how the joint force will operate, capping weeks of
drawn-out negotiations.
(AP, 2/10/08)
2008 Feb 9, Turkey’s parliament
voted to amend the constitution to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic
head scarves at Turkey's universities, despite fierce opposition from
the secular establishment.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2009 Feb 9, US Federal judges
tentatively ordered California to release tens of thousands of inmates,
up to a third of all prisoners, in the next three years to stop
dangerous overcrowding.
(Reuters, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 9, Baseball player Alex
Rodriguez admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs with the Texas
Rangers from 2001 to 2003.
(WSJ, 2/10/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 9, In Argentina the
ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X said British Bishop Richard
Williamson, whose denials of the Holocaust led to Vatican demands he
recant, has been removed as the head of an Argentine seminary. On Feb
19 the bishop was ordered to leave Argentina within 10 days.
(AP, 2/9/09)(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 9, In Argentina at least
12 people were missing and over 1000 evacuated after a mudslide swept
away a railroad bridge and homes in the northern border town of
Tartagal.
(SFC, 2/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Feb 9, In Australia police
declared incinerated towns crime scenes, and PM Rudd spoke of "mass
murder" after investigators said arsonists may have set some of the
country's worst wildfires in history. The official death toll from the
wildfires was later downgraded to 173 from a previous count of 210.
(AP, 2/9/09)(AP, 2/10/09)(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Feb 9, In Montreal, Canada,
researchers said that an Indevus Pharmaceuticals gel formulated to
protect women from the virus that causes AIDS appeared to protect about
a third of them from infection, the first time a so-called microbicide
has been shown to work.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, In Beijing, China, the
tower of a nearly completed skyscraper was destroyed by a fire believed
to have ignited by a fireworks display marking the end of the Lunar New
Year celebrations. It was part of the new headquarters for China
Central Television.
(SFC, 2/10/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 9, In Cuba Orlando
"Cachaito" Lopez (b.1933), considered the "heartbeat" of Cuba's
legendary Buena Vista Social Club for his internationally acclaimed
bass playing, died of complications from prostate surgery.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, The French government
said it would give $8.4 million in low interest loans to Renault SA and
PSA Peugeot-Citroen in exchange for pledges that the car makers won’t
close any factories of lay off workers in France for the duration of
the funding.
(WSJ, 2/10/09, p.B2)
2009 Feb 9, A senior Iraqi
security official said that four prisoners have been transferred from
the US military detention center in Guantanamo Bay to Iraqi custody. A
suicide bomber detonated his car near a US Army patrol in Mosul killing
4 soldiers and their Iraqi translator.
(AP, 2/9/09)(SFC, 2/10/09, p.A3)
2009 Feb 9, In northern Italy
Eluana Englaro (38) died at her clinic as the Italian Senate discussed
legislation clarifying the right to die. Englaro had been in a
vegetative state since a 1992 car accident and died after her family
cut off her food and water.
(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 9, Nissan said it is
slashing 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, to cope
with what Japan's third-largest automaker expects will be its first
annual loss in nine years.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, Scientists in Japan
reported that they have identified an enzyme which appears to suppress
breast cancer and they hope the finding will spur new therapies to
control the second most common cancer in the world.
(Reuters, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, In Madagascar defense
minister Cecile Manorohanta said she has resigned because civilians
were killed when security forces fired on anti-government protesters
over the weekend.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, A Palestinian fighter
died in a clash with Israeli troops and Israeli aircraft attacked two
targets in Gaza as mediators tried to broker a long-term cease-fire a
day before Israel holds national elections.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, In the Philippines Abu
Sayyaf militants holding three Red Cross workers tried to break a
military cordon that has boxed them in for days, setting off a clash
that wounded five marines and sparked concerns over the hostages'
safety.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, South Korean
prosecutors cleared police of any wrongdoing over a commando raid last
month that left six people dead in a clash with displaced tenants in
central Seoul.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, Spain's interior
minister blamed the armed Basque separatist group ETA for an explosion
in the east of Madrid, which police said caused extensive damage but no
casualties.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Feb 9, In Sri Lanka a woman
with a bomb strapped to her body hid in a crowd of civilians at a
refugee camp in Vishvamadu, blowing herself up and killing 29 people as
security forces frisked people fleeing the northern war zone.
(AP, 2/9/09)(SFC, 2/10/09, p.A6)(Econ, 2/14/09, p.52)
2009 Feb 9, In Switzerland Paula
Oliviera (26), a lawyer from Brazil, claimed she was attacked by three
skinheads, one with a Nazi symbol tattooed on the back of his head,
outside a Zurich train station. On Feb 13 investigators said was
not pregnant and probably cut wounds into herself.
(AP, 2/13/09)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to February 10