Today in History - February 16
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309 Feb 16,
Pamphilus Caesarea, Palestinian scholar, martyr, was beheaded.
(MC, 2/16/02)
600 Feb 16, Pope Gregory the Great
decreed "God bless You" as the religiously correct response to a sneeze.
(MC, 2/16/02)
923 Feb 16, Abu Dja'far Mohammed
Djarir al-Tabari (83), Islamic historian, died.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1075 Feb 16, Ordericus Vitalis,
French monk, historian, poet, was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1270 Feb 16, In the Karusa Ice war
in Estonia, Lithuanian forces defeated the Livonian Knights of the
Cross.
(LHC, 2/16/03)
1497 Feb 16, Philipp Melanchthon,
German Protestant reformer (Augsburgse Confessie), was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1519 Feb 16, Gaspard de Coligny,
Huguenot leader, French admiral, was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1559 Feb 16, Pope Paul IV called
for the overthrow of sovereigns supporting heresy.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1568 Feb 16, A sentence of the
Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death
as heretics. From this universal doom only a few persons, especially
named, were acquitted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years%27_War)
1620 Feb 16, Frederick William,
founder of Brandenburg-Prussia, was born.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1641 Feb 16, English king Charles
I accepted the Triennial Act.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1677 Feb 16, Earl of Shaftesbury
was arrested and confined to the London Tower. [see Oct 24, 1681]
(MC, 2/16/02)
1740 Feb 16, Giambattista Bodoni,
printer, typeface designer (Bodoni), was born in Saluzzo, Italy.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1741 Feb 16, Benjamin Franklin's
General Magazine (2nd US Mag) began publishing.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1751 Feb 16, Thomas Gray's poem
"Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" was 1st published.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1760 Feb 16, Cherokee Indians held
hostage at Fort St. George, SC, were killed in revenge for Indian
attacks on frontier settlements.
(HN, 2/16/99)(MC, 2/16/02)
1779 Feb 16, William Boyce,
English organist, composer (Cathedral Music), died. [see Feb 7]
(MC, 2/16/02)
1804 Feb 16, Lt. Stephen Decatur
attacked Tripoli, where pirates held the USS Philadelphia. Decatur and
76 volunteers, aboard the captured Intrepid, attempted to recapture the
Philadelphia, which caught fire, exploded and sank. Decatur and his
crew escaped.
(AP, 2/16/98)(HN, 2/16/98)(ON, 2/03, p.2)
1808 Feb 16, The Peninsular War
began when Napoleon ordered a large French force into Spain under the
pretext of sending reinforcements to the French army occupying Portugal.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1812 Feb 16, Henry Wilson, 18th
U.S. Vice President (Grant 1873-1875), was born.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1822 Feb 16, Francis Galton
(d.1911), English scientist, was born. He was one of the first moderns
to present a carefully considered eugenics program.
(NH, 6/97, p.18)(SFC, 8/28/97,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton)
1823 Feb 16, John Daniel Imboden
(d.1895), Brig General (Confederate Army), was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1826 Feb 16, Franz von Holstein,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1829 Feb 16, Francois-Joseph
Gossec (95), Belgian-French composer (Messe de Morts), died.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1838 Feb 16, Henry Adams, was
born. He was the son and grandson of the presidents who became a U.S.
historian and wrote "The Education of Henry Adams."
(HN, 2/16/99)
1845 Feb 16, Quinton Hogg, English
philanthropist, was born. [see Feb 14]
(HN, 2/16/01)
1847 Feb 16, Ludwig Philipp
Scharwenka, German composer (Album Polonaise), was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1852 Feb 16, Charles Taze Russell
(d.1916) was born in Pittsburgh. In 1872 Russell abandoned the
Adventist movement and formed the International Bible Students
Association, which was later named Jehovah’s Witnesses (1931).
(www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/302393/Jehovahs-Witness)(AH, 4/07,
p.30)
1854 Feb 16, Franz Liszt's
symphony "Orpheus," premiered.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1857 Feb 16, Elisha Kent Kane
(b.1820), US Navy surgeon and Arctic explorer, died of a stroke in Cuba.
(ON, 6/09, p.5)
1862 Feb 16, During the Civil War,
some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson,
Tenn. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the nickname
"Unconditional Surrender Grant." Nathan Bedford Forrest escaped.
(AP, 2/16/98)(HN, 2/16/98)
1864 Feb 16, Battle of Mobile,
Al., operations by Union Army.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1865 Feb 16, Columbia, S.C.,
surrendered to Federal troops.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1868 Feb 16, The Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.
(AP, 2/16/98)
1870 Feb 16, The clipper ship
Cutty Sark left London on its first voyage, proceeding around Cape Hope
to Shanghai 3 1/2 months later. The ship made only eight voyages to
China in the tea trade, as steam ships replaced sail on the high seas.
(AP, 5/21/07)
1876 Feb 16, George Macauley
Trevelyan (d.1962), English historian (Giuseppi Garibaldi), was born:
“’History repeats itself’ and ‘History never repeats itself’ are about
equally true ... We never know enough about the infinitely complex
circumstances of any past event to prophesy the future by analogy.”
(AP, 4/14/01)(MC, 2/16/02)
1878 Feb 16, The silver dollar
became US legal tender.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1883 Feb 16, "Ladies Home Journal"
began publishing.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1886 Feb 16, Van Wyck Brooks
(d.1963), American biographer, critic and literary historian, was born.
“Nothing is so soothing to our self-esteem as to find our bad traits in
our forebears. It seems to absolve us.”
(AP, 8/14/00)(HN, 2/16/01)
1892 Feb 16, Jules Massenet's
Opera "Werther," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1903 Feb 16, Edgar Bergen, radio
ventriloquist and comedian, was born in Chicago.
(HN, 2/16/01)(MC, 2/16/02)
1903 Feb 16, At Pokegama,
Minnesota, temperatures fell to a record state low of 59 degrees below
zero.
(SFC, 2/16/09, p.D10)
1904 Feb 16, George Keenan, U.S.
diplomat, was born. He became a historian and proposed the policy of
“containment” for dealing with the Soviet Union.
(HN, 2/16/99)
1905 Feb 16, 1st US Esperanto club
was organized in Boston. Dr. Lazarus Ludwig Zamenhof (1859-1917), a
Polish ophthalmologist, invented the artificial language in 1885.
(MC, 2/16/02)(SFCM, 6/8/03, p.18)
1907 Feb 16, Fernando Previtali,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1909 Feb 16, The SF Citizens
Health Committee declared SF free of bubonic plague.
(ON, 1/00, p.7)
1909 Feb 16, 1st subway car with
side doors went into service in NYC.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1909 Feb 16, Serbia mobilized
against Austria and Hungary.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1915 Feb 16, Emil Waldteufel,
[Charles Levy], French composer (Estudiantina), died.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1916 Feb 16, Russian troops
conquered Erzurum, Armenia.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1917 Feb 16, The 1st Madrid
synagogue in 425 years opened.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1918 Feb 16, The Council of
Lithuania declared the independence of the State of Lithuania. The
council also declared that the foundations of the state would be
determined by a Constituent Assembly to be elected by the inhabitants
on the basis of universal, equal and secret suffrage. Independence
lasted until World War II. It again declared independence in 1990.
(DrEE, 10/5/96, p.5)(LHC, 2/16/03)(AP, 2/16/07)
1919 Feb 16, Sir Mark Sykes
(b.1879), best known for the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement dividing up the
Middle East in anticipation of the fall of the Ottoman Empire, died of
Spanish flu in Paris. In 2008 an Oxford team took tissue samples before
reburying his body in its grave in East Yorkshire. They hoped to find
clues that might help fight a future global influenza outbreak.
(AP,
9/17/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sykes)
1920 Feb 16, Patty Andrews,
vocalist (Andrews Sisters), was born in Minneapolis.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1920 Feb 16, The Allies
accepted Berlin’s offer to try World War I war criminals in Leipzig’s
Supreme Court.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1922 Feb 16, Geraint Evans, Welsh
opera baritone (Knaben Wunderhorn, Falstaff), was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1922 Feb 16, The Univ. of Vytautas
the Great re-opened in Kaunas. It was Lithuania’s main university until
1930.
(DrEE, 11/23/96, p.4)(LHC, 2/16/03)
1923 Feb 16, Betsy Smith makes her
first recording “Down Hearted Blues,” her music reflected the
Depression era.
(HN, 2/16/99)
1923 Feb 16, In Egypt the burial
chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed by
archeologist Howard Carter.
(AP, 2/16/08)
1932 Feb 16, The 1st patent for a
tree was issued to James Markham for a peach tree.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1934 Feb 16, Thousands of
Socialists battled Communists at a rally in New York’s Madison Square
Garden.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1935 Feb 16, Brian Bedford, actor
(Anthony-Coronet Blue), was born in England.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1935 Feb 16, Salvatore Bono
(d.1998), vocalist (Sonny & Cher), (Rep-R-Ca, 1995-98), was born in
Detroit.
(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A11)(MC, 2/16/02)
1936 Feb 16, Spanish Frente
Popular (People's Front) won elections.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1937 Feb 16, Wallace H. Carothers,
a research chemist for Du Pont who invented nylon, received a patent
for the synthetic fiber. It would replace silk in a number of products
and reduce costs. [see 1930] In 2000 Susannah Handley authored "Nylon:
The Story of a Fashion Revolution."
(HN, 2/16/98)(AP, 2/16/98)(WSJ, 1/21/00, p.W8)
1938 Feb 16, The US Federal Crop
Insurance program was authorized.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1940 Feb 16, The British destroyer
HMS Cossack rescue British seamen from a German prison ship, the
Altmark, in a Norwegian fjord.
(HN, 2/16/99)
1941 Feb 16, The Italians lost
their last position in the Sudan.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1942 Feb 16, German submarines
attacked an Aruba oil refinery and sank the tanker Pedernales.
(MC, 2/16/02)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.C11)
1942 Feb 16, Tojo outlined Japan’s
war aims to the Diet, referring to "new order of coexistence" in East
Asia. During the Japanese war crimes trials, Tojo himself took
responsibility, as premier, for anything either he or his country had
done. He asserted, however, with the other defendants, that they--and
Japan--had made war only in "self-defense."
(HN, 2/16/98)
1943 Feb 16, Withdrawing Africa
Corps reached the Mareth-line in North Africa.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1943 Feb 16, Sign on Munich
facade: "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" was posted by the "White
Rose" student group. They were caught on 2/18 and beheaded on 2/22.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1943 Feb 16, The Red army
conquered Kharkov.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1944 Feb 16, Richard Ford,
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, was born. His work included “The
Sportswriter” and “Independence Day.”
(HN, 2/16/01)
1945 Feb 16, American paratroopers
landed on Corregidor during World War II, in a campaign to liberate the
Philippines.
(AP, 2/16/98)(HN, 2/16/98)
1946 Feb 16, The 1st commercially
designed helicopter was tested at Bridgeport, Ct.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1948 Feb 16, NBC-TV began airing
its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which
consisted of “20th Century Fox- Movietone News” newsreels.
(AP, 2/16/98)(MC, 2/16/02)
1951 Feb 16, NYC passed a bill
prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1951 Feb 16, Stalin contended that
the U.N. was becoming the weapon of aggressive war.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1952 Feb 16, The FBI arrested 10
members of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1956 Feb 16, Britain abolished the
death penalty.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1957 Feb 16, LeVar Burton, (Roots,
Star Trek Next Generation), was born in Landstuhl, Germany.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1957 Feb 16, A U.S. flag flew over
an outpost in Wilkes Land, Antarctica.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1959 Feb 16, Leonard Spigelgass'
"Majority of One," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1959 Feb 16, The US House
Committee on Un-American Activities has charged that an “elite corps”
of Communist lawyers is promoting the party’s cause in the courts,
Congress and government agencies. A committee report dealt with the
activities of 39 lawyers, who were among more than 100 lawyers
identified as Communists in sworn testimony before the committee in the
past decade.
(SSFC, 2/15/09, DB p.50)
1959 Feb 16, Fidel Castro took the
oath as Cuban premier in Havana after the overthrow of Fulgencio
Batista.
(HN, 2/16/98)(AP, 2/16/98)
1960 Feb 16, US nuclear submarine
USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1961 Feb 16, The United States
launched the “Explorer Nine” satellite.
(AP, 2/16/01)
1961 Feb 16, Wilbert Ridieu (19)
robbed the Lake Charles, La., Gulf National Bank. He walked out with
$14,000 and 3 hostages, 2 of whom he shot and left for dead. Rideau
stabbed to death Julia Ferguson on a rural Louisiana road following the
bank robbery. He confessed and was sentenced to death 3 times. Rideau
escaped death in the 1970s when the death penalty was outlawed. In 2003
his case was still in court. While in prison Rideau became a
self-educated writer and elevated the prison magazine, the Angolite, to
national acclaim. In 2005 Rideau was set free for time served after a
racially mixed jury found him guilty of manslaughter.
(NW, 1/13/03, p.52)(AP, 1/16/05)(SFC, 1/17/05, p.A5)
1961 Feb 16, China used it's 1st
nuclear reactor.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1963 Feb 16, 1st round-trip swim
of Straits of Messina, Italy, was made by Mary Revell of US.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1964 Feb 16, The Beatles made
their 2nd appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show" from the Deauville Hotel
in Miami.
(SFC, 3/6/04, p.D17)
1965 Feb 16, Four persons were
held in a plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell and the
Washington Monument.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1966 Feb 16, The World Council of
Churches being held in Geneva, urged immediate peace in Vietnam.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1968 Feb 16, Beatles George
Harrison & John Lennon flew to India with their wives for
transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
(www.beatles.ws/1968.htm)
1968 Feb 16, America’s first 911
emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Ala.
(AP, 2/16/98)
1970 Feb 16, In SF a homemade bomb
exploded outside the police Park Station on Waller St. Sgt. Brian
McDonnell (44) died 2 days later and 8 other officers were injured.
Black Panthers were suspected, but a later investigation suggested it
was the work of the Weather Underground.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A8)(SFC, 2/17/07, p.B1)
1972 Feb 16, Wilt Chamberlain
became the 1st NBA player to score 30,000 points.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Wilt_Chamberlain)
1977 Feb 16, Janani Luwum, the
Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what
Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.
(AP, 2/16/98)
1978 Feb 16, The 1st Computer
Bulletin Board System was Ward & Randy's CBBS in Chicago.
(www.historyoftheinternet.com/chap3.html)
1978 Feb 16, China and Japan
signed a $20 billion trade pact, which was the most important move
since the 1972 resumption of diplomatic ties.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1979 Feb 16, Nematollah Nassiri
(b.1911), Iranian general and head of the Savak intelligence agency
during the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was executed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematollah_Nassiri)
1980 Feb 16, Eric Heiden skated 5k
in 7:02.29, an Olympic Record.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_skating_at_the_1980_Winter_Olympics)
1982 Feb 16, In France Magdalena
Kopp, lover of Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was
captured by French officials.
(www.colin-smith.info/pages/books/extracts/carlos/extract_03.htm)(SFC,12/11/97,
p.C2)
1983 Feb 16, In India a bomb
wounded 13 people in the latest election violence in the northeastern
state of Assam. The assassination pushed the death toll from 15 days of
violence to at least 217 people.
(http://tinyurl.com/cer6x)
1986 Feb 16, Mario Soares
(b.1924), Socialist, was elected Portugal's 1st civilian president in
the 2nd round of elections.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_presidential_election%2C_1986)
1987 Feb 16, John Demjanjuk (66),
a retired auto worker from Ohio, went on trial in Jerusalem, accused of
being "Ivan the Terrible," a guard at the Treblinka concentration camp.
He was convicted, but the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the ruling.
(AP,
2/16/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Demjanjuk)
1988 Feb 16, Vice President George
Bush and Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis scored big victories in
the New Hampshire Republican and Democratic presidential primaries.
Bush won the New Hampshire primary over Bob Dole, Jack Kemp, Pete du
Pont and Pat Robertson 37.7 to 28.5 to 12.8 to 10.1 to 9.4%. Dukakis
won over Dick Gephardt and Paul Simon 35.9 to 19.9 to 17.2%.
(AP, 2/16/98)(SSFC, 1/25/04, p.A19)
1988 Feb 16, Richard Wade Farley
gunned down 7 people at ESL Corp. during an office rampage in
Sunnyvale, Calif. Farley was later convicted of murder and sentenced to
death.
(AP, 2/16/98)(SFC, 10/27/04, p.B1)
1989 Feb 16, Investigators in
Lockerbie, Scotland, said a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player
was what brought down Pan Am Flight 103 the previous December, killing
all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground.
(AP, 2/16/99)
1990 Feb 16, Former President
Reagan began two days of giving a videotaped deposition in Los Angeles
for the Iran-Contra trial of former national security adviser John
Poindexter.
(AP, 2/16/00)
1991 Feb 16, Tonya Harding won the
US female Figure Skating championship.
(http://tinyurl.com/qpcus)
1991 Feb 16, Iraqi officials
charged that 130 civilians were killed when British jet fighters raided
the town of Fallouja two days earlier.
(AP, 2/16/01)
1991 Feb 16, A Soviet Foreign
Ministry spokesman downplayed Moscow’s initial enthusiasm for an Iraqi
offer to withdraw from Kuwait, saying it was insufficient to end the
war.
(AP, 2/16/01)
1992 Feb 16, Two days before the
New Hampshire primary, five Democratic presidential candidates debated
on CNN, directing most of their criticism at President George H.W. Bush.
(AP, 2/16/02)
1992 Feb 16, Israeli helicopters
attacked a convoy in Sidon, Lebanon, killing Sheik Abbas Musawi, leader
of the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah (b.1960)
took over Hezbollah after the Israeli assassination of Sheik Abbas
Musawi. He has led the group since, controlling its operational
activities.
(AP, 2/16/02)(AP, 6/3/06)
1993 Feb 16, Prices fell as Wall
Street reacted unfavorably to President Clinton's economic austerity
plan outlined in a White House address the night before.
(AP, 2/16/98)
1993 Feb 16-1993 Feb 17, An
overcrowded ferry carrying up to 1,500 people sank between Jeremie and
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing an estimated 500-700 people; only 285
people were known to have survived.
(AP, 2/17/98)(AP, 2/3/06)
1994 Feb 16, Figure skaters Tonya
Harding and Nancy Kerrigan encountered each other at the Winter Olympic
Games in Norway before posing for the U.S. team photograph.
(AP, 2/16/99)
1994 Feb 16, At least 217 people
were killed when a powerful earthquake shook Indonesia's Sumatra
island.
(AP, 2/16/00)
1995 Feb 16, Four people were
killed when tornadoes tore through rural north Alabama.
(AP, 2/16/00)
1995 Feb 16, In a dark and
defensive address to his nation, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
berated his military leaders for big losses and human rights abuses in
Chechnya, but insisted Russia had to use force to defend its unity.
(AP, 2/16/00)
1996 Feb 16, World chess champion
Garry Kasparov won for the second time against IBM supercomputer “Deep
Blue” in the fifth game of their match in Philadelphia (Kasparov had
drawn twice and lost once).
(AP, 2/16/01)
1996 Feb 16, In Vista, San Diego
County Joshua Jenkins, 15, stabbed his parents and grandparents to
death. The next day he axed his sister. In 1997 he was sentenced to 116
years in prison.
(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.A22)
1996 Feb 16, A commuter train
slammed into Amtrak’s Capital Limited an Silver Spring, Md., and killed
11 people. It was later claimed that a new warning system was partly to
blame.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.B1)(AP, 2/16/01)
1996 Feb 16, Former California
Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown (b.1905) died in Beverly Hills, California,
at age 90. In 2005 Ethan Rarick authored “California Rising: The Life
and Times of Pat Brown.”
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A19)(AP, 2/16/01)
1996 Feb 16, Violence in
Bangladesh kept the election turnout to about 15%. Opposition leaders
filed no candidates and claimed that the results showed that Prime
Minister Zia had lost authority to rule.
(WSJ, 2/16/96, p.A-1)
1996 Feb 16, Green groups
threatened to boycott gas pumps that were not labeled “MMT-free.” They
claimed that the manganese based fuel additive poses health risks. The
accusation was denied by the Ethyl Corp.
(WSJ, 2/16/96, p.A-1)
1997 Feb 16, U.S. Rep. Dan Burton,
R-Ind., the chairman of a House committee investigating campaign
fund-raising activities, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that his probe
would be far broader than originally anticipated.
(AP, 2/16/98)
1998 Feb 16, Mr. Jefferson, the
1st cloned calf, was born in Virginia.
(www.revivicor.com/MrJefferson.htm)
1998 Feb 16, In Afghanistan 27
people died of the cold. Some 30,000 earthquake survivors were sent 24
truckloads of aid by the Taliban.
(WSJ, 2/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 16, In Bihar, India, 20
people were killed during the first round of voting.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Feb 16, In China Ren
Chengjian was hauled back to Zhengzhou from the US where he faced
charges of stealing vast sums, $42 million, from state-run banks and
companies.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 16, In the Republic of
Congo a court indicted 100 members of the recently ousted government on
charges of assassination, torture, rape, fraud and theft.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 16, Lawmakers in Ecuador
and Peru agreed to let their border dispute be resolved by the US,
Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 16, In Japan the Diet
approved laws to pump $517 billion in public money into the country’s
cash-strapped banks.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Feb 16, Skier Hermann Maier
of Austria won the Super-G and Katja Seizinger of Germany won the
women's downhill at the Nagano Olympics; Russia's Pasha Grishuk and
Yeggeny Platov won the ice dancing event.
(AP, 2/16/08)
1998 Feb 16, In Turkey the
government banned Muslim headwear by female students and teachers at
religious schools. Separately the leadership of the main Kurdish
political party was imprisoned on charges of links to separatist rebels.
(WSJ, 2/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 16, In Taiwan a China
Airlines Airbus A300-600R crashed at Chiang Kai-shek airport while
trying to land in fog. 196 people on board were killed plus 6 on the
ground. The passengers included the governor of Taiwan’s Central Bank
and other financial officials.
(SFC, 2/17/98, p.A6)(AP, 2/16/08)
1999 Feb 16, Testimony began in
the Jasper, Texas, trial of John William King, charged with murder in
the gruesome dragging death of James Byrd Jr. King was accused of
beating Byrd with a bat and then dragging him behind a truck until the
African-American man died from decapitation. King was later convicted
and sentenced to death.
(AP,
2/16/00)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Byrd)
1999 Feb 16, In LA a number of
possessions of O.J. Simpson were auctioned off to cover his 1997 legal
suit. A conservative Christian group purchased his Hall of Fame plaque
and other memorabilia and burned it the following day
(SFC, 2/18/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 16, The Chinese Lunar New
Year began the Year of the Rabbit.
(SFC, 2/12/99, p.C1)(SFC, 2/16/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 16, The Northern Ireland
Assembly voted 77 to 29 to create a 12-member executive council to help
pave the way for the transfer of some powers from the British
government.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 16, Romanian miners began
a fresh march on Bucharest.
(WSJ, 2/17/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 16, In South Africa the 4
policemen charged with the fatal beating of Steve Biko were denied
amnesty.
(WSJ, 2/17/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 16, Turkish commandos
captured Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya. Enraged Kurds seized Greek missions
around Europe and took hostages. It was later reported that US data
helped the Turks capture Ocalan.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/17/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
2/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 16, In Uzbekistan six car
bombs exploded in Tashkent in an assault aimed at Pres. Islam Karimov.
13 people were killed and at least 120 injured.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A8)
2000 Feb 16, In NYC Lucy Edwards
(41), a former bank of New York executive, and her husband, Peter
Berlin (46), pleaded guilty to laundering over $7 billion from Russian
bankers in exchange for $1.8 million.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.A9)(AP, 2/16/01)
2000 Feb 16, In California an
Emory Worldwide DC-8 crashed after lifting off from Mather Airport near
Sacramento and all 3 crew members were killed. A disconnected part in
the control system was later blamed for the crash.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.A1)(SFC, 4/21/01, p.A2)
2000 Feb 16, In Germany Wolfgang
Schaeuble, leader of the Christian Democrats, resigned.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 16, In Israel German
Pres. Johannes Rau spoke before the parliament and gave an apology for
WW II Nazi genocide.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.D3)
2000 Feb 16, Russia and NATO
announced a resumption of contacts that were broken in Mar 1999 due to
NATO bombing in Yugoslavia.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.D3)
2000 Feb 16, Spanish papers
reported that former Chilean Gen. Pinochet suffered from brain damage,
according to a leaked British medical assessment, and could not stand
for trial.
(WSJ, 2/16/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 16, In Sri Lanka 57
soldiers and guerrillas were killed in renewed fighting as Knut
Vollebaek, the foreign minister of Norway, met with Pres. Chandrika
Kumaratunga to help broker peace talks.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.D3)
2001 Feb 16, Pres. Bush on his
first foreign trip met with Pres. Fox in Mexico. They announced a joint
agenda to expand trade, protect immigrant rights and reduce drug
trafficking.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A1)(AP, 2/16/02)
2001 Feb 16, Two dozen US and
British aircraft bombed 5 radar and other anti-aircraft sites around
Baghdad with guided missiles. A number of new guided bombs, AGM-154A
priced from $250-700k, missed their targets.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A1)(AP, 2/16/02)
2001 Feb 16, In California Gov.
Davis began negotiations to purchase 32,000 miles of transmission lines
from the utilities that would allow them to issue bonds to pay off
their debt.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 16, Dr. William H.
Masters (b.1915), leading researcher in human sexuality, died at age 85
in Tucson, Ariz. He and Virginia Johnson (Masters and Johnson) authored
the best seller "Human Sexual Response" in 1966.
(SSFC, 2/18/01, p.A24)(NW, 12/31/01, p.108)
2001 Feb 16, Russia test-fired
nuclear-capable missiles from land, sea and air positions.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A12)
2001 Feb 16, In Serbia Kosovo
militants killed 9 Serbs and injured 43 with a roadside bomb that blew
up a bus in northeastern Kosovo.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A12)(SSFC, 2/18/01, p.D1)
2002 Feb 16, Pres. Bush departed
on a 6-day Asia trip. Enroute to a three-nation tour of Asia, Bush
stopped off at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, where he told
hundreds of cheering US soldiers that "America will not blink" in the
fight against terrorism and Osama bin Laden.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A3)(AP, 2/16/07)
2002 Feb 16, In Noble, Ga.,
officials found 334 decomposing bodies at the Tri-State Crematory,
where the furnace had not worked for years. Ray Brent Marsh (28),
manager of the family operation, was arrested and charged with 5 counts
of theft by deception. In 2004 families of the dead settled a
class-action suit for $80 million. Marsh pleaded guilty and was
sentenced to twelve years in prison, with credit for the time he had
served before making bond, plus seventy-five years of probation.
(SSFC, 2/17/02,
p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-State_Crematory#Criminal_prosecution)
2002 Feb 16, Mark Meier, glacier
expert, predicted that oceans would rise 7-11 inches by the end of this
century due to polar warming.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A4)
2002 John W. Gardner (89), founder
Common Cause, a citizen’s lobby for the well-being of the nation, died.
Gardner joined Pres. Johnson’s cabinet in 1965 where he started
Medicare and presided over the creation of PBS.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A6)
2002 Feb 16, In Afghanistan
British peacekeepers came under fire at an observation post in Kabul.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A18)
2002 Feb 16-17, In Afghanistan US
forces made bombing raids aimed at controlling clashes among militia
forces. Pentagon officials later said the attacks were against
suspected al Qaeda fighters.
(SFC, 2/19/02, p.A9)(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 16, Some 20,000 Israelis
rallied for peace in Tel Aviv. 2 Israelis were killed when a
Palestinian suicide bombed sd’d in a pizza restaurant in the West Bank
settlement of Karnei Shomron. In Jenin Nazih Abu Sabaah, a Hamas
leader, was killed by a car bomb. In the Bureij refugee camp 3
Palestinians were killed in gunfire with Israeli troops.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A12)
2002 Feb 16, Zimbabwe expelled
Pierre Schori, head of the EU’s 150-member mission to observe
elections. EU officials threatened sanctions.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A14)(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A13)
2003 Feb 16, Michael Waltrip raced
past leader Jimmie Johnson to win the rain-shortened Daytona 500 for
the second time in three years.
(AP, 2/16/04)
2003 Feb 16, The SF
anti-war demonstration cost organizers some $85,000. An estimated
200,000 people participated. Some 1000 protesters clashed with police
at the end of the rally and 46 people were arrested. A later aerial
study numbered the crowd at 65,000.
(SFC, 2/17/03, p.A1)(SFC, 2/21/03, A1)
2003 Feb 16, Eleanor "Sis" Daley
(95), the matriarch of Chicago's Daley political clan, died.
(AP, 2/16/04)
2003 Feb 16, In Australia
PM John Howard said he respects the views of hundreds of thousands of
citizens who took part in peace protests over the weekend but would not
be swayed by their opposition to war with Iraq.
(AP, 2/17/03)
2003 Feb 16, In Belgium
thieves over the weekend emptied more than 100 vaults at a diamond
trading center in what officials said might be the largest theft ever
in Antwerp.
(AP, 2/18/03)
2003 Feb 16, In Cyprus
Tassos Papadopoulos was elected the country's 5th president over
Glafcos Clerides. He opposed current reunification plans.
(AP, 2/17/03)(WSJ, 2/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 16, Yasser Arafat
affirmed in a letter to Britain's Tony Blair that he will honor a
pledge to appoint a prime minister. 8 Palestinians were killed, 6 in a
mysterious explosion in Gaza City and 2 by Israeli army fire in the
West Bank.
(AP, 2/16/03)(SFC, 2/17/03, A3)
2003 Feb 16, French
President Jacques Chirac said in a published interview that the massive
US military deployment in the Persian Gulf has made it possible to
peacefully disarm Iraq.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 Feb 16, The Israeli
Cabinet voted to allow about 17,000 Ethiopians with Jewish roots to
come to Israel, lifting immigration restrictions on the group known as
Falash Mura.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 Feb 16, In Mexico's
central Mexico state voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum in
support of executing kidnappers, armed robbers and murderers.
(AP, 2/17/03)
2003 Feb 16, The 19-member
NATO alliance turned to its Defense Planning Committee, which Paris
withdrew from in 1966, to negotiate an end to the month-long NATO
deadlock over Iraq. NATO agreed to supply Turkey with defense equipment
in the event of war with Iraq.
(AP, 2/16/03)(SFC, 2/17/03, A1)
2003 Feb 16, A Syrian
military truck carrying diesel fuel overturned and caught fire at a
Lebanese-Syrian border crossing, killing at least 17 people.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2004 Feb 16, A confident John
Kerry launched a full-throttle attack on President Bush's economic
policies, mostly ignoring his Democratic rivals on the eve of the
Wisconsin primary.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2004 Feb 16, In Ohio a crane
collapsed at an I-80 bridge near Toledo and 3 workers were killed.
(WSJ, 2/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 16, In Australia rioters
set fire to a train station and pelted police with gasoline bombs in an
Aboriginal ghetto in Sydney during a nine-hour street battle that began
after a teenager died, allegedly while being chased by officer.
(AP, 2/16/04)
2004 Feb 16, In Belarus President
Alexander Lukashenko ordered the Justice Ministry to strengthen control
over political parties, community organizations and unions.
(AP, 2/16/04)
2004 Feb 16, Ex-soldiers took
Haiti's rebellion to the key central city of Hinche, torching the
police station and freeing prisoners.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 16, India and Pakistan
began historic meetings aimed at preparing for a sustained peace
dialogue on Kashmir and other disputes.
(AP, 2/16/04)
2004 Feb 16, An earthquake shook
Indonesia's Sumatra island, killing five people and damaging 60 homes.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 16, In Iraq 3 U.S.
soldiers were killed in roadside bomb blasts. A bomb exploded in a
schoolyard in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad, killing at least
one child and wounding three other people,
(AP, 2/16/04)(SFC, 2/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 16, Thailand officials
said bird flu has been detected in a previously unaffected Thai
province and has resurfaced in eight other provinces that were under
observation.
(AP, 2/16/04)
2005 Feb 16, US Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan urged a go-slow approach on personal Social
Security accounts, saying that while he embraces the idea central to
President Bush's proposed overhaul, he is concerned about stability in
financial markets.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, The NHL canceled what
was left of its decimated schedule after a round of last-gasp
negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap, the
flash-point issue that led to a lockout.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2005 Feb 16, A corporate jet
crashed in Pueblo, Colo., and 8 people were killed.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 16, The Kyoto global
warming pact went into force, 7 years after it was negotiated, imposing
limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases scientists blame
for increasing world temperatures, melting glaciers and rising oceans.
Canada’s pledge to cut emissions 6% below its 1990 level by 2012 faced
the problem of an average annual increase of 1.5%.
(AP, 2/16/05)(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 16, Rescuers searching
for miners trapped by a coal mine explosion in northeast China found
six more bodies, bringing the death toll in the country's worst mining
disaster in decades to 209.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, In Ecuador tens of
thousands of protesters gathered near Quito's presidential palace to
demand President Lucio Gutierrez's resignation, accusing him of
authoritarian rule and with packing the supreme court with his own
judges.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 16, India and Pakistan
agreed to start a bus service across a ceasefire line dividing the
disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
(Reuters, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, Israel's parliament
gave the final approval to PM Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the
Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2005 Feb 16, CEO Sergio Marchionne
announced Fiat SpA will buy the Maserati sportscar brand from Ferrari,
a company in which it already had a majority stake, just three days
after winning independence from General Motors Corp.
(AP, 2/16/05)(Econ, 4/26/08, p.88)
2005 Feb 16, Japan released GDP
numbers indicating that its economy has technically been in a recession
since Spring of 2004.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.40)
2005 Feb 16, In Paraguay the body
of Cecilia Cubas, the kidnapped daughter of former President Raul
Cubas, was dug up from behind a house months after she was abducted by
heavily armed gunmen.
(AP, 2/17/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.40)
2005 Feb 16, In southern Russia a
car bomb killed 3 people outside a government building in Dagestan.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 16, In Sudan 6 tribal
leaders in a southern Darfur area agreed to cease attacks against each
other and drop all claims for blood money for past assaults on
tribesmen.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 16, Syria and Iran
announced a united front amid perceived US threats.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 16, Former Turkish PM
Mesut Yilmaz rejected charges of corruption as he went on trial over a
banking scandal with alleged mafia involvement, becoming the first head
of government to be tried by the Supreme Court.
(AFP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb 16, Vietnam banned all
poultry raising in the southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City
this year to limit the risk of bird flu transmitting to humans.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2006 Feb 16, President Bush said
he was satisfied with Vice President Dick Cheney's explanation about
his shooting accident; Texas authorities said they had closed their
investigation without filing any charges.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2006 Feb 16, Pennsylvania Sen.
Arlen Specter asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether
a top aide improperly helped direct nearly $50 million in Pentagon
spending to clients represented by her husband. His request followed a
USA TODAY report that he secured $48.7 million in projects for six
clients of the aide's spouse's firm.
(USAT, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 16, Scientists reported
that glaciers in Greenland were melting twice as fast as previously
believed. The melting of glaciers in South America and in the Himalayas
was also accelerating due to global warming.
(SFC, 2/17/06, p.A14)
2006 Feb 16, The UN released a
report saying the US should shut down the prison for terror suspects at
Guantanamo Bay and either release all detainees or bring them to trial.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, In Afghanistan the
bodies of two Italian aid workers were found in a guarded compound in
Kabul. The Italian news agency ANSA said the two could have died from
carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective stove in the compound.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, Australia's
parliament stripped regulatory control of an abortion drug from the
country's health minister, a staunch Roman Catholic who once warned of
an "epidemic" of abortion in Australia.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, A Belgian court found
three men guilty of belonging to an Islamic group linked to terrorist
attacks in Madrid and Casablanca and sentenced them to at least six
years in jail.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 16, In China Li Datong
said the Bing Dian newspaper supplement, known for hard-hitting
coverage of sensitive issues, will resume publication March 1. However
he and deputy editor Lu Yuegang were removed from their posts and
transferred to the News Research Institute, another department of the
China Youth Daily.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, Two shipping
accidents off eastern China's Fujian province left 61 sailors missing.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 16, Egypt confirmed its
first cases of H5N1 bird flu.
(Reuters, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 16, Indonesia signed an
agreement with Newmont Gold Corp. to drop a civil suit in
exchange for $30 million to be paid over 10 years for a fund to monitor
environmental and community development.
(WSJ, 2/17/06, p.A6)
2006 Feb 16, A top official said
Iraq's Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into claims that
Shiite-led death squads have been operating in the country. Attacks
around the country killed at least 19 people, including six Iraqis in a
car bombing and three sheiks in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 2/16/06)(WSJ, 2/17/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 16, In Baghdad, Iraq,
gunmen wearing Iraqi special forces uniforms kidnapped Ghalib Abdul
Hussein Kubba, director-general of the Basra International Bank, and
his son after killing five of their bodyguards.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 16, In southern Iraq 2
Macedonians working for a cleaning company were abducted in Basra. A $1
million ransom was demanded for their release.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 16, Russia's Evgeni
Plushenko beat world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland by an
unfathomable 27.12 points to win the gold medal in men's figure skating
at the Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2006 Feb 16, In Karachi, Pakistan,
some 40 thousand people shouting "God is Great!" marched and burned
effigies of the Danish prime minister in the country's fourth day of
protests over cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, A human rights group
said that homophobic rhetoric has escalated in Poland since a socially
conservative party came to power, threatening the rights of gays and
lesbians.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, In Romania
authorities investigating the leak of secret military documents,
including details on coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, arrested
Marian Garleanu, a Romanian journalist, for possession of leaked
material. Garleanu denied any wrongdoing and said he was targeted
because he has repeatedly exposed corruption in the Ministry of Defense.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 16, Serbia rejected
European Union's guidelines for an independence vote in Montenegro,
increasing tensions within the troubled Balkan state.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, A government
spokesman said a swan found in Slovenia this month died of the lethal
H5N1 avian flu virus strain, according to laboratory tests performed in
Italy.
(Reuters, 2/16/06)
2007 Feb 16, The US House of
Representatives voted 246-182 for a non-binding resolution opposing
Pres. Bush’s plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. 17 Republicans
voted in favor.
(SFC, 2/17/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 16, An annual survey
released Forbes.com said Raleigh, North Carolina, topped the list of
the best US cities for getting a job.
(Reuters, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, US coffee giant
Starbucks, locked in a trademark tussle with Ethiopia, said it will not
oppose Addis Ababa's bid to brand its coffee in America and pledged to
pursue dialogue over the matter.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, A rebel commander
said the Taliban have deployed 10,000 fighters for a spring offensive
of "bloody attacks" against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, The ritual sacrifice
of a snow-white llama symbolically marked President Evo Morales'
nationalization of Bolivia's lone operating tin smelter.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 16, French President
Jacques Chirac said US cotton subsidies were scandalous and immoral
because they hurt African farmers.
(Reuters, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, A spokesperson said
the UN has allocated $2.35 million from an emergency fund to provide
humanitarian aid to Guinea, which is in the midst of a tense nationwide
strike.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, The number of Iraqi
civilians killed in Baghdad's sectarian violence fell drastically
overnight. 10 bodies were reported by the morgue in the capital,
compared to an average of 40 to 50 per day. A US Marine was killed
during combat operations in western Anbar province.
(AP, 2/16/07)(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 16, An Italian judge
indicted 26 Americans and five Italians in the abduction of an Egyptian
terror suspect on a Milan street in what would be the first criminal
trial stemming from the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. The
proceedings were later suspended pending a ruling on the Italian
government's request to throw out the indictments.
(AP, 2/16/07)(AP, 2/16/08)
2007 Feb 16, Japan's Cabinet
approved sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program under UN
Security Council guidelines.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, Abdul Ghani, a
Pakistani health official in charge of a campaign to inoculate children
against polio, was killed in a bomb blast following rumors the
vaccination was a US plot to sterilize them. Police in southern
Pakistan announced they had arrested five suspected militants from the
southern city of Karachi and Rawalpindi, a garrison city near
Islamabad, and that the suspects were planning suicide attacks on
foreigners and minority Shiite Muslims. Police also arrested three
Islamic militants who were planning suicide attacks to take place at
forthcoming Shiite Muslim gatherings in Sindh province.
(AFP, 2/16/07)(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 16, Peru’s President Alan
Garcia said that he is selling the presidential airplane in an effort
to curb "frivolous" expenses in his administration.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, In Poland Antoni
Macierewicz (b.1948), vice-minister of national defense, authored a
report on the recently disbanded WSI (military intelligence service)
that named dozens of current and former agents.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.63)(www.warsawvoice.pl/view/13967)
2007 Feb 16, Russian prosecutors
released more details on new theft and money laundering charges against
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a jailed former oil tycoon, and increased by $2
billion the amount of money they say he and his partner stole from
subsidiaries of OAS Yukos.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, In Serbia Slobodan
Milosevic's paramilitary commander, his secret police chief and five
others were convicted of killing four people in an attack against a
prominent opposition leader who survived.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, BBVA, Spain's number
two bank, said it has reached an agreement to buy US bank Compass
Bancshares for around 9.6 billion US dollars (7.4 billion euros) in the
latest major foreign acquisition by a Spanish firm.
(AFP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, Sri Lanka's navy said
it destroyed two Tamil Tiger rebel boats as the craft were hauling
hundreds of thousands of steel balls often used in bombs. Four rebel
fighters were believed killed. Tamil Tiger rebels accused Sri Lankan
security forces of killing 39 civilians and blamed them for the
disappearance of 39 others in the last two weeks.
(AFP, 2/16/07)(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, In Sudan heavy
fighting took place between the Targem and Rezegat Maharia tribes in
South Darfur state. Unconfirmed reports suggested that between 70 to
100 tribesmen were killed and 14 injured.
(Reuters, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 16, A Turkish court
sentenced seven suspected al-Qaida militants to life in prison for a
pair of 2003 suicide bombings in Istanbul that killed 58 people,
attacks prosecutors said were ordered by Osama bin Laden.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, A Yemeni official
said a boat loaded with Somali and Ethiopian migrants capsized in the
Gulf of Aden during a night crossing in which at least 112 people died.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2008 Feb 16, US President George
W. Bush in Benin, opening a five-country Africa tour, stepped up
pressure on Kenyan leaders to accept a power-sharing deal to end their
country's deadly political crisis.
(AFP, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 16, In Maryland a car
plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a drag race on a
suburban road, killing 8 people and injuring at least four.
(AP, 2/16/08)(SSFC, 2/17/08, p.A2)
2008 Feb 16, It was reported that
the first flowering in 50 years had taken place in the bamboo forests
of Bangladesh leading to a plague of rats. The last flowering in 1958
also caused a similar rodent plague.
(SFC, 2/16/08, p.B6)
2008 Feb 16, Egyptian border
guards shot and killed an Eritrean woman and arrested her two young
daughters after they tried to cross illegally into Israel.
(AP, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 16, The EU gave the final
approval for the deployment of a 1,800-member policing and
administration mission in Kosovo.
(AP, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 16, In Italy Michael
Seifert (83), a former SS prison guard who was sentenced to life in
prison in Italy for Nazi war crimes, was jailed near Naples, hours
after he was extradited from Canada. Seifert, known as the "Beast of
Bolzano," was convicted in absentia in 2000 by a military tribunal in
Verona on nine counts of murder committed while he was an SS guard at a
prison transit camp in Bolzano, northern Italy.
(AP, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 16, A company source said
Toshiba Corp is planning to give up on its HD DVD format for
high-definition video, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray
technology backed by Sony Corp.
(Reuters, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 16, In northwest Pakistan
a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into an
independent parliament candidate's election office, killing at least 40
people and wounding more than 90 days before a crucial vote. A second
car bombing near a checkpoint killed two civilians and wounded eight
security personnel.
(AP, 2/16/08)(AP, 2/17/08)
2009 Feb 16, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton launched her Asia tour in Japan calling US-Pacific ties
"indispensable" for curbing problems like climate change, the global
financial crisis and nuclear weapons.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, In Stamford,
Connecticut, a 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee was shot dead by
police after a violent rampage that left a friend of its owner badly
mauled. Travis (15) had once starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and
Coca-Cola. The chimp was acting so agitated earlier that afternoon that
the owner gave him the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in some tea. Owner
Sandra Herold later denied giving Xanax to the chimp. Charla Nash lost
her hands, nose, lips and eyelids in the attack. Doctors later said she
will be blind for life.
(AP, 2/17/09)(SFC, 2/19/09, p.A5)(AP, 4/7/09)
2009 Feb 16, In Kansas Republican
legislators blocked an effort by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to
transfer funds to allow the state to pay its bills. Income tax refunds
were suspended and the state payroll was threatened. The impasse was
resolved the next day as Gov. Sibelius met a key Republican demand and
signed a bill to balance the budget.
(WSJ, 2/17/09, p.A5)(WSJ, 2/18/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 16, Konrad Dannenberg
(b.1912), German-born rocket designer, died in Huntsville, Ala. He was
part of Werner von Braun’s rocket development team, which sent a rocket
into outer space (1942) and came to the US after WW II.
(WSJ, 2/21/09, p.A5)
2009 Feb 16, A new British
anti-terrorism law went into effect that could effectively bar
photographers from taking pictures of police of military personnel.
(SFC, 2/17/09, p.A2)
2009 Feb 16, Authorities
acknowledged that nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France
collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, touching off new
concerns about the safety of the world's deep sea missile fleets. The
HMS Vanguard, the oldest vessel in Britain's nuclear-armed submarine
fleet, and the French Le Triomphant submarine, which was also carrying
nuclear missiles, both suffered minor damage in the collision.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Sir Ernest Harrison
(b.1926), British businessman, died. He led Racal Electronic PLC and
oversaw the birth of Vodafone Group PLC (1988).
(WSJ, 2/28/09, p.A8)
2009 Feb 16, China’s Pres. Hu
Jintao arrived in Mauritius to sign deals worth more than 270 million
dollars to fund infrastructure projects on the Indian Ocean island. The
next day he pledged continued aid to Africa despite his country's
economic downturn, and wrapped up a four-nation visit to the continent.
(AFP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 16, France's top judicial
body recognized the French government's responsibility for the
deportation of Jews during World War II, the clearest such recognition
of the state's role in the Holocaust.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, On the French island
of Guadeloupe police detained about 50 people after coming under a
barrage of stones as they tried to take down barricades. On Martinique
as many as 10,000 demonstrators marched through the narrow streets of
the capital to protest spiraling food prices and denounce the business
elite.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, In Iraq roadside
bombs struck two minibuses filled with Shiite pilgrims returning to
Baghdad, killing eight people, in the latest of a series of deadly
attacks targeting the pilgrims.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Officials said Israel
has taken control of a large chunk of land near a prominent West Bank
settlement, paving the way for the possible construction of 2,500
settlement homes, in a new challenge to Mideast peacemaking.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Japan warned it was
in the deepest economic crisis since World War II, after Asia's biggest
economy suffered its worst contraction in almost 35 years.
(AFP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, In Madagascar
anti-government protesters threw stones and police responded with tear
gas as opposition leader Andry Rajoelina continued his attempts to
force out the president. No casualties were immediately reported.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Pakistan’s government
agreed to impose Islamic law and suspend a military offensive across
much the northwest in concessions aimed at pacifying the Taliban
insurgency spreading from the border region to the country's interior.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Russia’s Pres.
Medvedev replaced four provincial governors for their poor performance
amid financial crisis and named new governors for the western Oryol,
Pskov and Voronezh regions and the northern Nenets region.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Russia Pres. Medvedev
said Bolivia will receive helicopters from Russia to help fight drugs
as well as assistance to develop energy resources.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Cardinal Stephen Kim
Sou-hwan (86), South Korea's first cardinal, died. He was a tireless
advocate for democracy and stood up to a string of military dictators.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, In Spain Samsung of
South Korea unveiled the world's first solar-powered mobile phone at an
industry show where the sector is showcasing the new technology it
hopes will drive demand through the economic crisis.
(AFP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, The UN said Tamil
Tiger guerrillas have prevented tens of thousands of civilians from
leaving Sri Lanka's war zone and those trying to escape have been "shot
and sometimes killed."
(AP, 2/16/09)
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