Today in History - February 17
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364 Feb 17,
Flavius Jovianus (~32), Christian emperor of Rome (363-64), died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1387 Feb 17, Jogaila founded the
archdiocese of Vilnius and provided land for the Bishop’s headquarters.
(LHC, 2/17/03)
1454 Feb 17, At a grand feast,
Philip the Good of Burgundy took the "vow of the pheasant," by which he
swore to fight the Turks.
(HN, 2/17/99)
1461 Feb 17, The Houses of York
and Lancaster battled again at St. Alban’s. Queen Margaret defeated the
Earl of Warwick and freed Henry VI.
(MH, 12/96)(AM, 7/01, p.69)
1568 Feb 17, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximillian II agreed to pay tribute to the Sultan for peace.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1598 Feb 17, Boris Godunov, the
boyar of Tatar origin, was elected czar in succession to his
brother-in-law Fydor.
(HN, 2/17/99)
1600 Feb 17, Giordano Bruno
(b.1548), Italian philosopher, occasional alchemist and advocate of
Copernican theory, was burned at stake by the Catholic Church. In 2008
Ingrid D. Rowland authored “Giordano Bruno: Philosopher / Heretic.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno)(WSJ,
8/21/01, p.A17)(WSJ, 12/19/08, p.A15)
1612 Feb 17, Ernst of Bayern (57),
prince, bishop of Luik, archbishop of Cologne, died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1621 Feb 17, Miles Standish was
appointed 1st commander of Plymouth colony.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1634 Feb 17, William Prynne
(1600-1669), English Puritan leader and pamphleteer, was tried in Star
Chamber for publishing "Histrio-masti."
(WUD, 1994 p.1159)(MC, 2/17/02)
1652 Feb 17, Gregorio Allegri
(67), Italian singer, composer (Miserere), died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1673 Feb 17, Moliere, [Jean
Baptiste Poquelin], French author (Tartuffe, Le Malade Imaginaire),
died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1691 Feb 17, Thomas Neale was
granted a British patent for American postal service.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1720 Feb 17, Spain signed the
Treaty of the Hague with the Quadruple Alliance ending a war that was
begun in 1718.
(HN, 2/17/99)
1732 Feb 17, Louis Marchand (63),
composer, died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1774 Feb 17, Raphaelle Peale, U.S.
painter, was born.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1776 Feb 17, Edward Gibbon
(1737-1794), English historian, published his 1st volume of "Decline
& Fall of Roman Empire." He completed the 6-volume classic in 1788.
(WUD, 1994 p.596)(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.P6)
1796 Feb 17, Giovanni Pacini,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1796 Feb 17, James Macpherson
(b.1736), Scottish poet, died. In 1761 he had announced the discovery
of an epic on the subject of Fingal written by Ossian (based on Fionn's
son Oisín). He then published poems by Ossian, the alleged blind
3rd century poet, which became very popular and later exposed as a
fraud.
(WSJ, 7/26/08,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Macpherson)
1801 Feb 17, The House of
Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and
Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president. Burr became vice president.
When George Washington announced that he would retire from office, he
set the stage for the nation's first two-party presidential campaign.
(AP, 2/17/98)(HN, 2/17/98)
1801 Feb 17, Thomas Jefferson won
the White House vowing to get rid of all federal taxes. He was
supported by a new coalition of anti-Federalists that was the ancestor
of the Democratic Party. In 2003 Jules Witcover authored "Party of the
People: A History of the Democrats."
(WSJ, 10/10/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/10/98, p.A18)(SSFC,
11/23/03, p.M1)
1817 Feb 17, A street in Baltimore
became the first to be lighted with gas from America's first gas
company.
(AP, 2/17/98)
1820 Feb 17, Henri Vieuxtemps,
composer, teacher (Brussels Cons), was born in Verviers, Belgium.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1827 Feb 17, Johann Heinrich
Pestalozzi (81), Swiss educator, died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1833 Feb 17, Lt. George Back
(1796-1878) departed Liverpool, England, on the packet ship Hibernia
with 4 men to search for missing Arctic explorer Captain John Ross.
Ross had left England in 1829 to seek a Northwest Passage by way of the
Arctic Ocean.
(ON, 5/04,
p.10)(www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9011650)
1836 Feb 17, HMS Beagle and
Charles Darwin left Tasmania.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1844 Feb 17, A. Montgomery Ward,
mail order business founder, was born.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1852 Feb 17, The Imperial Museum,
the 5th and last building of what became known as the New Hermitage,
opened to the public (Feb 2 OS) in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was
commissioned by Nicholas I and designed by Leo van Klenze of Germany.
(www.photofora.com/eugene/centralsquares/newhermitage.htm)(MT,
Winter/03, p.13)
1854 Feb 17, Friedrich A. Krupp,
German arms manufacturer, was born.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1856 Feb 17, Heinrich Heine
(b.1797), German journalist and poet, died in Paris. His prose work
included a series of travel memoirs that began in 1826 with “The Harz
Journey.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Heine)
1859 Feb 17, Giuseppe Verdi's
opera "Un Ballo in maschera" premiered in Napoli.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1864 Feb 17, Andrew Barton "Banjo"
Paterson (d.1941), Australian poet and journalist, was born. He is best
known for his song “Waltzing Matilda.”
(HN, 2/17/01)(NG, 8/04, p.29)
1864 Feb 17, Confederate officer
George Dixon used the submarine H.L. Hunley to sink the USS Housatonic
in Charleston Harbor, S.C. 5 Union soldiers died on the Housatonic as
did the 9-man crew of the Hunley as it soon sank. In 1995 the Hunley
was found by Clive Cussler. The event was turned into a TNT cable movie
in 1999. On Aug 8, 2000, the Hunley was raised and returned to
Charleston.
(HN, 2/17/98)(SFC, 7/9/99, p.C1)(SFC, 8/9/00,
p.A3)(Econ, 4/10/04, p.25)
1865 Feb 17, The South Carolina
capital city, Columbia, was half destroyed by fire as the Confederates
evacuated and Union forces under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman
marched through. It's not known which side set the blaze. Sherman had
made a swift and steady advance through Georgia and South Carolina, and
by late February 1865, his army was approaching Charlotte, North
Carolina.
(HN, 2/17/98)(AP, 2/17/98)
1865 Feb 17, Union forces regained
Fort Sumter.
(HFA, '96, p.22)
1865 Feb 17-18, Battle of
Charleston SC.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1867 Feb 17, William Cadbury,
chocolate manufacturer, was born.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1867 Feb 17, The 1st ship passed
through the Suez Canal.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1870 Feb 17, Mississippi became
the 9th state readmitted to US after Civil War. [see Feb 23]
(MC, 2/17/02)
1870 Feb 17, Nebraska, the last
state needed to secure ratification, approved the 15th Amendment to the
US Constitution, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race.
(AH, 2/05, p.17)
1874 Feb 17, Thomas J. Watson Sr.
(d.1956), U.S. industrialist, was born in upstate New York. In 1914 he
began running the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., a predecessor to
IBM. He converted the financially ailing manufacturing business into
the international giant IBM.
(WUD, 1994, p.1614)(HN, 2/17/99)(WSJ, 5/15/03, p.A1)
1874 Feb 17, Adolphe Quetelet
(b.1796), Belgian astronomer and mathematician, died. He founded and
directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introducing
statistical methods to the social sciences.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Quetelet)
1876 Feb 17, Sardines were 1st
canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1880 Feb 17, Tsar Alexander II of
Russia survived an assassination attempt.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1883 Feb 17, A. Ashwell patented a
free toilet in London.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1889 Feb 17, H[aroldson] L. Hunt,
Texas oil multi-millionaire, was born.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1897 Feb 17, The forerunner of the
National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, was founded in
Washington, D.C.
(AP, 2/17/98)
1904 Feb 17, The original two-act
version of Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly" was poorly
received during its world premiere at La Scala, Milan.
(AP, 2/17/08)
1905 Feb 17, Russia’s Grand Duke
Sergei Alexandrovich (b.1857), the brother of Tsar Alexander III, was
assassinated by a terrorist bomb at the Kremlin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Sergei_Alexandrovich_of_Russia)(Econ,
12/19/09, p.82)
1906 Feb 17, Alice Lee Roosevelt,
President Theodore Roosevelt's irrepressible eldest daughter, married
Congressman Nicholas Longworth of Ohio in an elaborate White House
ceremony. Heedless of social convention, Alice's behavior routinely
shocked her family and friends. Once the president, when confronted
with another of Alice's escapades, remarked, "I can do one of two
things, I can run the country or control Alice. I cannot do both."
Nevertheless, the world public was captivated with the first daughter,
who seemed to embody the ideal Gay Nineties woman. In spite of its
promising beginning, Alice's 25-year marriage to Longworth was not a
happy one, but Alice reigned as the grande dame of Washington, D.C.
society for another 50 years.
(HNPD, 2/16/99)
1908 Feb 17, Walter Lanier “Red”
Barber, baseball announcer for the Cincinnati Reds, the Brooklyn
Dodgers and the New York Yankees, was born in Columbus, Miss.
(HN, 2/17/01)(AP, 2/17/08)
1909 Feb 17, Marjorie Lawrence,
soprano (Venus-Tannhauser), was born in Australia.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1909 Feb 17, A government
commission reported that the tobacco industry was controlled by six men
with 86 firms that were worth $450 million.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1909 Feb 17, Apache chief Geronimo
died of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill,
Okla.
(HN, 2/17/99)
1910 Feb 17, In San Francisco 3
elephants appearing at a Broadway vaudeville house went on a rampage
while parading in North Beach.
(SSFC, 2/14/10, DB p.42)
1911 Feb 17, The 1st hydroplane
flight to & from a ship was made by Glenn Curtiss in San Diego.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1913 Feb 17, Oskar Danon,
composer, conductor, was born.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1913 Feb 17, Rene Leibowitz,
composer, conductor, was born.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1913 Feb 17, NY Armory Show
introduced Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to US public. [see Feb 15]
(MC, 2/17/02)
1917 Feb 17, Edmund Bishop (70),
English secretary of Thomas Carlyle, died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1919 Feb 17, Germany signed an
armistice giving up territory in Poland.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1920 Feb 17, A directorship for
the Klaipeda (Kaliningrad) region was formed.
(LHC, 2/17/03)
1924 Feb 17, Margaret Truman,
pres. daughter, writer (Murder at FBI), singer, was born in Mo.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1925 Feb 17, Hal Holbrook, actor
(All the President's Men, Mark Twain), was born in Cleveland.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1925 Feb 17, The first issue of
Harold Ross’ magazine, The New Yorker, hit the stands, selling for 15
cents a copy. Raoul Fleischmann provided the financial backing. [see
Feb 21]
(HN, 2/17/01)(SSFC, 6/20/04, p.M1)
1926 Feb 17, An avalanche buried
75 in Sap Gulch, Bingham, Utah, and 40 died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1927 Feb 17, The death toll
reached 24 with some 3,000 left homeless after a fierce storm hit the
Pacific Coast.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.G8)
1929 Feb 17, Chaim Potok, novelist
(The Chosen, The Promise), was born.
(HN, 2/17/01)
1932 Feb 17, Irving Berlin's
musical "Face the Music," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1933 Feb 17, Newsweek magazine was
first published by Thomas J.C. Martyn under the title "News-Week."
(AP, 2/17/07)
1933 Feb 17, Blondie Boopadoop
married Dagwood Bumstead in the comic Blondie.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1933 Feb 17, US Senate accepted
the Blaine Act ending prohibition.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1933 Feb 17, The League of Nations
censured Japan in a worldwide broadcast. The rise of militaristic
nationalism led Japan down the road to Pearl Harbor and World War II.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1934 Feb 17, 1st high school auto
driving course was offered by State College, Penn.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1935 Feb 17, Thirty-one prisoners
escaped an Oklahoma prison after murdering a guard.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1936 Feb 17, Jim Brown, NFL
fullback (Cleveland Browns), actor (Dirty Dozen), was born in Ga.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1937 Feb 17, Nearly at the end of
the four years of construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, 10
construction workers lost their lives when a section of scaffold fell
through a safety net. When construction began on the 35-million-dollar
bridge spanning the Golden Gate Strait between San Francisco and Marin
County, Chief Engineer Joseph B. Strauss was determined to use the most
rigorous safety precautions available. Protective hardhats and
glare-free goggles were required and special diets were developed to
combat dizziness. But it was the safety net strung under the bridge
during construction that saved the lives of 19 men who became known as
the "Half-Way-to-Hell" Club. Until February 17, 1937, only one life had
been lost during construction. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to
vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937.
(HNPD, 2/17/99)
1938 Feb 17, The first Baird color
TV was demonstrated at the Dominion Theatre in London. [see Dec 20]
(HN, 2/17/01)(MC, 2/17/02)
1942 Feb 17, Sidney Newsom
(b.1877), California architect, died. He and his brother Noble created
homes that recalled Spanish haciendas, English cottages, French
chateaus and American colonial homesteads.
(SFC, 2/4/05,
p.F1)(https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/architects/1794/)
1943 Feb 17, Dutch churches
protested to Artur Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1944 Feb 17, U.S forces landed on
Eniwetok atoll in the South Pacific Marshall Islands. Battle of
Eniwetok Atoll began. US victory on Feb 22.
(HN, 2/17/99)(MC, 2/17/02)
1944 Feb 17, US began night
bombing of Truk in the Marianas Islands.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1944 Feb 17, Oil was discovered in
commercial quantities in Alabama.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1945 Feb 17, Gen. MacArthur’s
troops landed on Corregidor in the Philippines. General Tomoyuki
Yamashita was the Japanese general opposing MacArthur.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1947 Feb 17, The Voice of America
began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.
(AP, 2/17/98)
1949 Feb 17, Chaim Weitzman was
elected the 1st president of Israel.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1950 Feb 17, In New York 31 people
died in a train crash at Long Island’s Rockville Center.
(www.emergency-management.net/pass_train.htm)
1951 Feb 17, FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover initiated a secret nationwide program intended to remove
politically suspect employees from their jobs. Congress never
authorized the “Responsibilities Program” and over 4 years it provided
governors of nearly every state verbal reports on the political
backgrounds of 908 employees.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)
1951 Feb 17, Packard introduced
its “250” Chassis Convertible.
(HN, 2/17/02)
1953 Feb 17, Baseball star and
pilot Ted Williams was uninjured as his plane was shot down in Korea.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1955 Feb 17, Britain announced its
ability to make hydrogen bombs.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1956 Feb 17, ATV Midlands launched
a weekday service and ABC began transmission at weekends in the same
region the following day. A north of England service, covering
Lancashire and Yorkshire, began in May, with ABC broadcasting at
weekends and Granada during the week.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1957 Feb 17, Suez Canal reopened.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1958 Feb 17, The comic strip
"B.C.", created by Johnny Hart (1931-2007), 1st appeared.
(http://www.toonopedia.com/bc.htm)
1959 Feb 17, The U.S. launched its
first weather station in space, Vanguard II weighing 9.8 kg.
(HN, 2/17/98)(MC, 2/17/02)
1960 Feb 17, Martin Luther King
Jr. was arrested in the Alabama bus boycott.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1962 Feb 17, Beach Boys introduced
a new musical style with their hit "Surfin."
(MC, 2/17/02)
1962 Feb 17, Bruno Walter (85),
symphony conductor (NY Philharmonic), died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1963 Feb 17, Michael Jordon,
Chicago Bulls basketball player, was born. He led the Bulls to three
consecutive NBA titles and was considered by some to be the greatest
basketball player ever.
(HN, 2/17/99)
1963 Feb 17, Soviet leader
Khrushchev visited the Berlin Wall.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1964 Feb 17, The Supreme Court
ruled in Westberry v. Sanders that congressional districts within
each state had to be roughly equal in population.
(AP, 2/17/98)
1966 Feb 17, Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
(b.1875) former president GM (1923-1956), died. As president of GM he
brought in corporate management, introduced the ideas of model changes
and offering a car "for every purse and purpose." In 2002 David Farber
authored "Sloan Rules."
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1967 Feb 17, Beatles released
"Penny Lane" & "Strawberry Fields." Strawberry Fields was a
children’s home run by the Salvation Army. It was closed in 2005.
(http://www.jpgr.co.uk/r5570.html)(SFC, 6/2/05, p.E8)
1969 Feb 17, Bob Dylan &
Johnny Cash recorded an album that was never released.
(http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/57340.html)
1969 Feb 17, Russia and Peru
signed their first trade accord.
(www.historynet.com/tdih0217.htm)
1970 Feb 17, Robert Marasco's
"Child's Play," opened at the Royal theater on Broadway.
(http://tinyurl.com/3thznf)
1970 Feb 17, Joni Mitchell
(b.1943) held a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
(http://tinyurl.com/3etl9t)
1970 Feb 17, At Fort Bragg, North
Carolina, Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald’s wife and 2 daughters were murdered.
Dr. MacDonald was convicted of the murders but claimed that drug-crazed
assailants were responsible. The book "Fatal Vision" by Joe McGinniss
recounted the story. In 2005 evidence was presented that Helena
Stoeckley (1953-1983), a defense witness, had admitted to a prosecutor
that she was at MacDonald’s house on the night of the murder.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/14/05,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_R._MacDonald)
1970 Feb 17, Alfred Newman
(b.1900), US composer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Newman)
1970 Feb 17, S.Y. Agnon, Jewish
writer and Nobel Prize winner (1966) died in Jerusalem. His books
included “Days of Awe,” a compendium of Jewish practices, legends and
commentaries.
(WSJ, 9/22/07, p.W6)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/agnon.htm)
1972 Feb 17, President Nixon
departed on his historic 10-day trip to China.
(AP, 2/17/98)(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F7)
1973 Feb 17, President Richard
Nixon named Patrick Gray director of the FBI.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1975 Feb 17, Art by Cezanne,
Gauguin, Renoir, and van Gogh, valued at $5 million, was stolen from
the Municipal Museum in Milan.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1979 Feb 17, China invaded Vietnam
and began a "pedagogical" war against Vietnam. China completed its
withdrawal on March 19. In China’s border war with Vietnam deputy
commander Zhang Wannian led a victorious division offensive in the
battle of Liang Shan.
(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/prc-vietnam.htm)(SFC,
9/18/97, p.C2)
1981 Feb 17, Pope John Paul II met
with President Marcos in Manila.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1982 Feb 17, Thelonious S. Monk
(b.1917), US, jazz pianist, composer (Blue Monk), died. Monk, one of
the early bebop musicians of the 1940s, stopped touring and recording
in the early 70s, leaving such jazz standards as "Straight, No Chaser"
and " ‘Round Midnight." In 2009 Robin D. G. Kelley authored “Thelonious
Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original.”
(HNQ,
2/28/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk)(SFC, 11/26/09,
p.F7)
1982 Feb 17, Zimbabwe’s Robert
Mugabe dismissed Joshua Nkomo (1917-1999) for plotting a coup. A rebel
insurrection that professed loyalty to Nkomo followed and was crushed.
Nkomo fled the country.
(www.keesings.com/search?kssp_a_id=31550n01zwe&kssp_selected_tab=article)
1985 Feb 17, Murray Haydon became
the third person to receive an artificial heart.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1986 Feb 17, Johnson and Johnson,
maker of Tylenol, announced it would no longer sell over-the-counter
medications in capsule form, following the death of a woman who had
taken a cyanide-laced capsule.
(AP, 2/17/06)
1986 Feb 17, The Single European
Act modifying the Treaty of Rome was signed a 1st time in Luxembourg.
[see Feb 28] The single European Act was passed to end trade
restricting regulations and create a true single European market by
1992.
(Econ, 9/25/04, Survey
p.9)(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1986/index_en.htm)
1988 Feb 17, Lt. Col. William
Higgins, an American officer serving with a United Nations truce
monitoring group, was kidnapped in southern Lebanon. He was later slain
by his captors.
(AP, 2/17/98)
1989 Feb 17, Iran's President Ali
Khamenei said Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," could
save himself from a death sentence pronounced by Ayatollah Khomeini if
he were to apologize for his book, which was regarded as blasphemous.
(AP, 2/17/99)
1990 Feb 17, Former President
Reagan spent a second day in a Los Angeles courtroom, giving videotaped
testimony about the Iran-Contra affair for the trial of his former
national security adviser, John Poindexter.
(AP, 2/17/00)
1991 Feb 17, Benin held elections
for the National Assembly, its first multi-party election since 1964.
No party secured an overall majority. The largest grouping was an
alliance of the pro-Soglo parties.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beninese_parliamentary_election,_1991)
1991 Feb 17, During the Persian
Gulf War, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz traveled to Moscow for a
meeting with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
(AP, 2/17/01)
1992 Feb 17, Serial killer Jeffrey
Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison. He was beaten to
death in prison in November 1994.
(AP, 2/17/98)
1992 Feb 17, Italian police
arrested Mario Chiesa, the first one to be picked up in what would
become Italy's massive corruption scandals. This date became considered
a watershed moment in recent Italian history. Italy’s "Clean Hands"
corruption scandal originated in Milan. A series of bribery cases led
to the conviction and flight of Socialist Bettino Craxi.
(AP, 3/31/09)(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T11)(Econ, 11/26/05,
Survey p.10)
1993 Feb 17, President Clinton
addressed a joint session of Congress, asking Americans to accept one
of the biggest tax increases in history as part of a plan to stimulate
the economy and curb massive budget deficits.
(AP, 2/17/98)
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 17, The U.S. government
reported a record trade deficit with Japan the previous year.
(AP, 2/17/99)
1994 Feb 17, Bosnian Serbs began
large-scale withdrawal of its heavy guns from the hills around Sarajevo
under pressure from Russia.
(AP, 2/17/99)
1995 Feb 17, Federal judge allowed
a lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive and
manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked.
(http://starbulletin.com/specials/liggett.html)
1995 Feb 17, Colin Ferguson was
convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail
Road shootings. He was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in
prison.
(AP, 2/17/00)
1996 Feb 17, World chess champion
Garry Kasparov beat IBM supercomputer "Deep Blue," winning a six-game
match in Philadelphia. Kasparov had lost the first game, won the
second, fifth and sixth games and earned draws in the third and fourth.
(AP, 2/17/01)
1996 Feb 17, The NEAR-Shoemaker
space craft was launched. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous craft was
scheduled to reach the Eros asteroid in 4 years. NASA planned to land
the craft on Eros, a 22 by 8 mile rock, in Feb 2001.
(SFC, 9/22/00, p.A7)
1996 Feb 17, A powerful 7.5
earthquake and subsequent tidal waves hit eastern Indonesia in the
region of Irian Jaya and killed at least 62 people. Tidal waves killed
more than 100 people in Indonesia.
(WSJ, 2/20/96, p.A-1)(AP, 2/17/01)
1997 Feb 17, In a surprising
development, Pepperdine University said that Whitewater prosecutor
Kenneth Starr would step down from the probe to take a full-time job at
the school. [see Feb 21]
(SFC, 2/18/97, p.A1)(AP, 2/17/98)
1997 Feb 17, The Virginia House of
Delegates voted to retire the state song “Carry Me Back to Old
Virginia,” and make it the state song emeritus.
(SFC, 2/18/97, p.A3)
1997 Feb 17, In Austin, Texas,
Angela Peck was stabbed in the back and the neck by Carl Wayne Thomas
(21), a security guard. She pleaded for mercy and promised to blame the
attack on a fictitious character. Thomas agreed and summoned aid. She
later told the truth and Thomas confessed. He agreed to a 42-year
prison sentence for attempted murder.
(SFC, 10/13/97, p.A9)
1997 Feb 17, Adrian Jacobs,
British businessman and writer, died penniless in London. His work
included a children’s book titled “The Adventures of Willy the Wizard –
No. 1 Livid Land” (1987). In 2009 his estate charged that J.K.
Rawlings, author of the popular Harry Potter books, plagiarized his
book.
(SFC, 6/17/09,
p.E12)(www.imdb.com/name/nm0414310/bio)
1997 Feb 17, In France striking
bus and tram drivers in Lille returned to work after an agreement was
reached to reduce their workweek to 35 hours from 38, without a pay
reduction, along with an extra 2 weeks annual vacation.
(SFC, 2/18/97, p.A10)
1997 Feb 17, In Zaire government
forces used 3 fighter aircraft to bomb the rebel-held city of Bukavu.
At least 6 civilians were killed and 20 injured.
(SFC, 2/18/97, p.A10)
1998 Feb 17, The U.S. women's
hockey team won the gold medal at Nagano, Japan, defeating Canada 3-1.
(AP, 2/17/99)
1998 Feb 17, President Clinton,
preparing Americans for possible air strikes against Iraq, said
military force is never the first answer "but sometimes it's the only
answer."
(AP, 2/17/99)
1998 Feb 17, A jury in Fort Worth,
Texas, convicted former Naval Academy midshipman Diane Zamora (20) of
killing a 16-year-old romantic rival. Zamora and her ex-boyfriend,
former US Air Force Academy cadet David Graham, were sentenced to life
in prison in the slaying of Adrianne Jones.
(AP, 2/17/08)
1998 Feb 17, The US government
began an airwave auction to sell rights for 1,150 Mhz chunks of
microwave radio spectrum at 28 gigahertz. The spectrum was expected to
be used in Local Multipoint Distribution Services (LMDS).
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.B1)
1998 Feb 17, UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi
Annan announced that he would travel to Baghdad to try to resolve the
ongoing crises over Saddam Hussein’s refusal to allow unconditional
weapons inspections.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C2)
1998 Feb 17, In Detroit a landlord
paid an arsonist (35) a Rottweiler dog for setting a fire to get rid of
a family on her property. The fire killed 4 children.
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A3)
1998 Feb 17, Bob Merrill (b.1921),
composer and lyricist, died from suicide at age 74. His work included
the musicals "Carnival" and "Funny Girl" and the song "How Much Is That
Doggie in the Window."
(www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/bkofdead/obits-me.htm)
1998 Feb 17, In Belgium a
parliamentary panel found no police complicity in the killings of 4
girls in Charleroi that sparked demonstrations in 1996.
(WSJ, 2/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 17, Ernst Juenger, German
writer, died at age 102.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.A18)
1998 Feb 17, In Indonesia Pres.
Suharto fired Soedradjad Djiwandono, the country’s Central Bank chief.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C3)
1998 Feb 17, An Iranian crowd
cheered as US wrestlers carried the Stars and Stripes into an
international meet in Tehran.
(AP, 2/17/99)
1998 Feb 17, In Sierra Leone 7
Western relief workers were reported kidnapped.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C3)
1999 Feb 17, In a satellite-linked
address to college campuses across the country, President Clinton made
his case for shoring up Social Security and Medicare.
(AP, 2/17/00)
1999 Feb 17, In Berlin Israeli
security guards shot and killed 3 Kurds who forced their way into the
Israeli consulate. The protesters were enraged by reports that Israel
aided in the arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
(SFC, 2/18/99, p.A1)(AP, 2/17/00)
1999 Feb 17, Andy Elson (45) and
Colin Prescot (48) of England launched a balloon attempt to circle the
globe from Almeria in southern Spain.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A13)
1999 Feb 17, In Ecuador legislator
Jaime Hurtado was shot dead along with 2 aides in Quito.
(WSJ, 2/18/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 17, In Mexico armed men
kidnapped Alvaro Campos, the father of soccer star Jorge Campos, near
Acapulco. Campos was released after 6 days.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A15)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 17, In the Philippines
Brigadier Gen'l. Victor Obillo was kidnapped by rebels of the New
People's Army in the Baguio district of Davao City.
(SFC, 2/18/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 17, In Romania police
crushed a coal miners protest and arrested Miron Cozma. One person was
killed and a hundred were injured.
(SFC, 2/18/99, p.A12)
2000 Feb 17, A House panel said in
a report that the program to inoculate all 2.4 million American
military personnel against anthrax was based on “a paucity of science”
and should be suspended; the Pentagon defended the program and vowed to
continue the inoculations.
(AP, 2/17/01)
2000 Feb 17, Alan Greenspan warned
that the Federal Reserve would probably raise interest rates to further
avert inflation. The next Fed meeting was scheduled for Mar 21.
(SFC, 2/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 17, In China authorities
detained Chen Zixiu (60) for heading to Beijing to protest for the
Falun Gong. She was unable to pay a fine of $120 and was beaten and
died on Feb 21. The government denied mistreatment.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A14)(SFC, 3/1/00, p.A13)
2000 Feb 17, Russia was accused by
human rights groups and refugees of brutality toward Chechens in
camps. Vladimir Putin named Vladimir Kalamanov, the head of the
migration service, to look into allegations of torture, rape and
executions by Russian soldiers against Chechen civilians. Separately
Zhirinovsky was barred by electoral authorities from the presidential
ballot.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.A10)(WSJ, 2/18/00, p.A1)
2001 Feb 17, Pres. Bush named John
Negroponte (62) as the next US ambassador to the UN.
(SSFC, 2/18/01, p.D5)
2001 Feb 17, Khalid Abdul Muhammad
(born as Harold Moore), national chairman of the New Black Panther
Party and former Nation of Islam official, died at age 53 in Marietta,
Ga. He was known for his harsh rhetoric about Jews and whites
(SSFC, 2/18/01, p.A2)(AP, 2/17/02)
2001 Feb 17, In El Salvador
another earthquake hit San Salvador. The 5.3 quake killed at least 1
person.
(SSFC, 2/18/01, p.D6)
2001 Feb 17, The
Cambodian-registered East Sea freighter with 912 ethnic Kurds ran
aground off the French Riviera. The crew of the ship fled following the
intentional grounding. Criminal gangs in Turkey and Iraq were reported
to be behind the smuggling.
(SSFC, 2/18/01, p.D1)(SFC, 2/19/01, p.A10)
2002 Feb 17, Pres. Bush opened a
three-nation Asian tour in recession-wracked Japan, where he urged PM
Junichiro Koizumi to follow through on long-promised economic reforms.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A1)(AP, 2/17/07)
2002 Feb 17, The new US
Transportation Security Administration took over supervision of
aviation security from the airline industry and the Federal Aviation
Administration.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2002 Feb 17, Ward Burton took
advantage of Sterling Marlin's blunder for his first victory in the
Daytona 500. Marlin, who appeared in control of the race, was penalized
for getting out of his car and pulling briefly on a damaged fender
during the stoppage.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2002 Feb 17, There were 3 reported
winning Lotto tickets in the record $193 million Cal. state lottery.
Andy Kampe (57) picked up a claim form at Albertson’s in Half Moon Bay
on Feb 18.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A2)(SFC, 2/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 17, Israeli police foiled
an attempted suicide bombing near Hadera. One man was shot and killed
and another killed when his stolen car exploded. The Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades claimed the 2 dead as its members.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A9)
2002 Feb 17, In Nepal Communist
rebels killed 129 police, soldiers and civilians in Mangalsen and
Sanphebaga.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A3)
2002 Feb 17, In Saudi Arabia a man
was sentenced to 6 years in prison and 4,750 lashes for having sex with
his wife’s sister. The woman, who did not consent, was sentenced to 6
months and 65 lashes.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A10)
2003 Feb 17, An estimated 40
million viewers tuned in to the finale of Fox's reality show "Joe
Millionaire," in which Evan Marriott chose Zora Andrich.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2003 Feb 17, A blizzard
shut down much of the mid-Atlantic region on Presidents Day with
windblown snow up to 4 feet deep, halting air and some rail travel and
caused at lest 40 deaths.
(AP, 2/17/03)(SFC, 2/18/03, A1)(SFC, 2/19/03, A3)
2003 Feb 17, In Chicago 21
people were killed at the E2 nightclub in an early morning stampede
after security guards used mace and pepper spray to halt a fistfight
between 2 women. On Sep 23 the owner and 3 others associated with the
club were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
(SFC, 2/18/03, A1)(SFC, 9/24/03, p.A3)
2003 Feb 17, Baltimore Orioles
pitcher Steve Bechler died of heatstroke at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
hospital, less than 24 hours after complaining of dizziness during a
spring training workout.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2003 Feb 17, London began
charging motorists $8 a day to drive in its center.
(SFC, 2/17/03, A2)
2003 Feb 17, European Union
leaders declared their solidarity with the United States, warning
Saddam Hussein that Iraq faced one "last chance" to disarm peacefully
but calling war a last resort.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2003 Feb 17, Israeli
soldiers killed a top Hamas fugitive in a roadside ambush. In another
operation they raided a stronghold of the militant Islamic group,
shooting dead 2 Palestinians and blowing up the house of a suspected
bombmaker.
(AP, 2/17/03)
2003 Feb 17, American CIA
operatives snatched Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (Abu
Omar) from his house in Milan and took him to Egypt, where he was
jailed, tortured and released. In 2005 an Italian judge ordered the
arrest of 13 American suspects on charges of kidnapping. In 2009 Nasr
asked for euro10 million (nearly $15 million) in damages from the
American and Italian defendants charged in his abduction.
(Econ, 7/2/05, p.48)(AP, 10/7/09)(SFC, 10/8/09, p.A2)
2003 Feb 17, In Mexico the
bodies of 3 women were found in the desert outside of Ciudad Juarez,
the latest victims in a string of killings in the border city.
(AP, 2/18/03)
2003 Feb 17, Uzbek
journalist Ergash Bobozhonov (61), who wrote articles published abroad
criticizing corruption among officials, was arrested and faced charges
including libel.
(AP, 2/22/03)
2004 Feb 17, In Wisconsin John
Kerry won the primary with about 40 percent of the vote while Edwards
finished a close second with 34 percent. Dean, who had banked his
future on a strong showing, drew just 18 percent.
(AP, 2/18/04)(SFC, 2/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 17, Cingular Wireless won
the bidding war to acquire AT&T Wireless Services for nearly $41
billion in cash, a deal that would create the largest cell phone
company in the US.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, In Connecticut 2
cranes collapsed at a bridge construction site and one worker was
killed.
(WSJ, 2/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 17, In Ecuador riot
police firing tear gas clashed with hundreds of Indian protesters,
leaving at least 17 people injured in the second day of demonstrations
demanding more roads and better education for isolated Andean
communities. Separately prison inmates held 360 visitors hostage to
protest overcrowding, long sentences and poor conditions including a
lack of running water.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, Finnish technology
group Setec said it won the first order for passports with new
biometric technology required by international aviation authorities and
the U.S. government.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, The Gambian president
announced the discovery of "large quantities" of oil in his tiny West
African nation, saying the offshore find would eliminate poverty and
hunger.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, In Haiti pres.
Aristide said the nation is in the throes of a coup attempt and
appealed for international help.
(WSJ, 2/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 17, India and Pakistan
reached a broad agreement on the timetable for sustained peace talks on
disputed Kashmir and other tough issues separating the South Asian
neighbors.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, In Iraq roadside
bombs killed 2 U.S. soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad and Sunni
Muslim areas to the north of the capital.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, A new study reported
that 2 cows in Italy had been found with a new form of mad cow disease,
bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy (BASE).
(SFC, 2/17/04, p.A7)
2004 Feb 17, Jose Lopez Portillo
(83), former Mexican president (1976-1982) who governed through an
oil-driven boom to a debt-induced bust, died of complications from
pneumonia.
(AP, 2/18/04)
2004 Feb 17, The Dutch parliament
approved a measure to expel 26,000 people seeking political asylum,
despite objections from left-leaning political parties and human rights
groups.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, UN agencies began
urgently airlifting relief supplies into eastern Chad and western Sudan
to help more than 600,000 Sudanese lacking food, water and medical
supplies because of fighting.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2005 Feb 17, President Bush named
John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, as the government's first
national intelligence director (DNI). Central American politicians and
human rights activists issued stinging criticism of Negroponte, citing
the career diplomat's active backing for the Contra rebels and support
for a government involved in human rights abuses.
(AP, 2/17/05)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.29)
2005 Feb 17, Two US Border Patrol
agents in Texas stopped a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana and shot
Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an admitted Mexican drug smuggler, as he fled
back across the Rio Grande. In 2006 agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose
Compean were sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison for offenses that
included violating the smuggler’s civil rights and failure to report
the shooting to superiors. In 2007 Latino gang members beat Ignacio
Ramos at the Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex in Mississippi.
Both agents were freed in 2009 following a commute of their sentences
by outgoing Pres. George Bush.
(SFC, 10/20/06, p.A6)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A11)(SFC,
2/18/09, p.A6)
2005 Feb 17, ChoicePoint Inc., a
national provider of identification and credential verification
services, said it will send an additional 110,000 statements to people
informing them of possible identity theft after a group of
well-organized criminals was able to obtain personal information on
almost 140,000 consumers through the company. In 2006 ChoicePoint
agreed to pay $15 million to settle FTC charges that consumer privacy
rights were violated in the DB theft.
(http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/17/technology/personaltech/choicepoint/)(SFC,
1/27/06, p.D3)
2005 Feb 17, An archaeology report
by the Museum of New Mexico's Office of Archaeological Studies
confirmed that a 600-year-old pueblo is buried under Santa Fe's City
Hall, its convention center, the parking lot they share and nearby
federal buildings.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Researchers
demonstrated a robot that used a “passive-dynamic design” to learn
walking step by step like a toddler.
(SFC, 2/18/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 17, Gene scientists
published the 1st map of a common DNA variations.
(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 17, Dan O'Herlihy (85),
Irish-born actor, died in Malibu, Calif.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0641397/)
2005 Feb 17, In Afghanistan a cold
snap over the past month has claimed at least 267 lives and thousands
more people were thought to be stranded in remote areas. Winter
blizzards left over 1,000 children dead.
(AFP, 2/17/05)(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 17, In Brazil Pres. Da
Silva signed decrees creating 2 new Amazon environmental protection
areas in a region of Para state coveted by soy farmers and ranchers
less than a week after an American nun was gunned down trying to
protect the jungle from deforestation.
(AP, 2/18/05)(SFC, 2/18/05, p.A14)
2005 Feb 17, EU finance ministers
warned Greece to get its finances in order by the end of 2006 and bring
its annual budget deficit in line with EU spending rules or face hefty
fines.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Georgia’s parliament
approved Zurab Nogaideli as premier.
(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 17, Iraq's electoral
commission certified the results of the Jan. 30 elections and allocated
140 of 275 National Assembly seats to the United Iraqi Alliance, giving
the Shiite-dominated party a majority in the new parliament.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Hundreds of Jewish
settlers took first steps to eventually leave their homes in the Gaza
Strip, a day after Israel's parliament approved $871 million in
compensation for them.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, In Rwanda cabinet
ministers from 11 African nations gathered to flesh out details of a
deal intended to end a cycle of wars, rebellions, dictatorships and
poverty in central Africa's Great Lakes region.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, Spanish police
arrested two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA
in Valencia, seizing explosives that they planned to use for imminent
attacks.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 17, In southern Thailand
a bomb exploded near a tourist hotel in the border town of Sungai
Kolok, killing 5 people and wounding over 40.
(AP, 2/17/05)(SFC, 2/18/05, p.A3)
2006 Feb 17, Harry Whittington,
the lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney while quail hunting, left
a Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital, saying "accidents do and will
happen."
(AP, 2/17/07)
2006 Feb 17, A federal jury in New
Orleans cleared Merck and Co. in the death of a 53-year-old Florida man
who had taken the painkiller Vioxx.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2006 Feb 17, Two US CH-53E
helicopters crashed off the coast of Djibouti. Only 2 of 12 crew
members survived.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 17, Louisiana lawmakers
voted to assume control of new Orleans levees from local boards.
(WSJ, 2/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 17, A fierce storm system
swept across the Midwest moving eastward, ripping the roof off an
Indiana church, pelting Arkansas with hail and cutting power to
thousands in Michigan.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, Radio Shack Corp. ,
whose chief executive has admitted to lying on his resume, said
quarterly profit fell 62 percent after a switch in wireless providers
led to an inventory write-down, sending its shares to a nearly
three-year low. The company announced a new turnaround plan that
includes closing 400 to 700 company-operated stores.
(Reuters, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, US-based Space
Adventures announced it plans to build a $265 million spaceport in the
United Arab Emirates.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 17, Ray Barreto (76), a
Grammy-winning Latin jazz percussionist, died in New Jersey.
(SFC, 2/18/06, p.B5)
2006 Feb 17, William Cowsill (58),
lead singer of the family band The Cowsills, died in Calgary, Alberta.
The pop family band was the inspiration for “The Partridge Family” TV
series (1970-1974).
(SFC, 2/21/06, p.B4)(AP, 2/17/07)
2006 Feb 17, UN and government
officials said 6 Congolese soldiers died of hunger in an army training
camp that ran out of food in the east of the country.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, French President
Jacques Chirac has arrived for his first visit to Thailand as head of
state, with Paris hoping to secure lucrative contracts in one of the
most dynamic countries in the region.
(AFP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, In Iraq authorities
also found the bodies of three men who had been bound and shot in the
head in northern Baghdad. 2 gunmen stormed into a fashion accessories
store in southern Baghdad's Maalif area and killed two brothers working
there. Drive-by gunmen killed a cigarette salesman in Husseiniyah, a
town about 20 miles northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, An Iraqi contractor
pleaded guilty to adding $1.14 million in fraudulent surcharges after
Haliburton hired his company to fly in military cargo.
(WSJ, 2/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 17, In western Japan 2
young children were found stabbed on a roadside, one dead and the other
seriously injured.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, In Libya 11 people
were killed or wounded during a riot at the Italian consulate when
police firing bullets and tear gas tried to contain more than 1,000
demonstrators hurling rocks and bottles. The Libyans were angry over
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
(AFP, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 17, Nepal's Supreme Court
ordered the royalist government to release 37 political detainees who
opposed the king's rule, while communist insurgents freed two abducted
officials amid a major army offensive in the southwest.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 17, Pakistan security
forces seized heavy weapons and munitions destined for Islamic
militants in a northwestern tribal region near Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, A Pakistani cleric
announced a $1 million bounty for killing a cartoonist who drew Prophet
Muhammad, as thousands joined street protests and Denmark temporarily
closed its embassy and advised its citizens to leave the country.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, In the eastern
Philippines a rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of
mud, swallowing hundreds of houses and an elementary school in sludge
three stories high. 1,800 people were missing and feared dead, which
included nearly every man, woman and child who lived in Guinsaugon.
Logging in the area was cited as a contributing factor. 8.5 million
acres of forests had been logged in the Philippines over the last 15
years.
(AP, 2/18/06)(SFC, 2/18/06, p.A9)
2006 Feb 17, Russian prosecutors
opened an investigation into the editor of a newspaper that reprinted
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, and another paper was ordered
closed after publishing a cartoon depicting Muhammad along with Jesus,
Moses and Buddha.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 17, David Sampson,
America’s Deputy Sec. of Commerce, announced in Kiev that the US now
recognized Ukraine as a market economy.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.86)
2007 Feb 16, US Senate Republicans
foiled a Democratic bid to repudiate President Bush's deployment of
21,500 additional combat troops to Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice made a surprise visit to Baghdad.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2007 Feb 16, At Camp Pendleton,
Calif., Marine Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington was sentenced to 8 years
in military prison for his role in the kidnapping and killing of an
Iraqi civilian.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2007 Feb 17, In Cape Canaveral,
Florida, a rocket carried 5 satellites into orbit as part of the THEMIS
mission to study magnetic storms in the Earth’s atmosphere.
(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A4)
2007 Feb 17, In North Dakota More
than 8,900 people flapped their arms and legs on the state Capitol
grounds in an attempt to reclaim the record, which was snatched away
about a year ago in Michigan. The snow angel category was created in
2002 when 1,791 people made snow angels on the Capitol grounds in North
Dakota.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, In Chicago 3 women
were found bludgeoned to death with a hammer in two apartments on the
city's far North Side. Police had a suspect in custody. All were
Assyrian Christians, and recent immigrants to the US.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 17, In southwestern
Pennsylvania fire swept through a house in Waynesburg, killing six
young children and a woman and injuring one other person.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, NATO-led forces in
southern Afghanistan shot to death an Afghan civilian mistaken for a
suicide bomber because of twine and straps protruding from his jacket.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 17, In Rio de Janeiro the
Black Ball band, which has played carnival since 1918, opened the first
full day of Carnival.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, About 40 prisoners
escaped from a jail in East Timor, adding to security concerns as it
prepares for elections following political turmoil and violence last
year.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, Ecuador’s new leftist
President Rafael Correa said he will resign if his supporters do not
win control of an assembly to rewrite Ecuador's constitution.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, President Jacques
Chirac awarded the Legion d'Honneur order to actor and director Clint
Eastwood (76), calling his latest films lessons in humanity. Chirac
said Eastwood's latest films "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from
Iwo Jima" showed the impasse that can follow from the blind use of
force.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, Maurice Papon (96), a
former French Cabinet minister, died. He was convicted of complicity in
crimes against humanity for his role in deporting Jews during World War
II and became a symbol of France’s collaboration with the Nazis.
(AP, 2/17/07)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.99)
2007 Feb 17, Police in the central
Indian state of Madhya Pradesh recovered 390 pieces of bones of newly
born babies or fetuses from the backyard of a Christian missionary
hospital. Last December, the government said 10 million girls had been
killed by their parents in the past 20 years either before they were
born or immediately after.
(Reuters, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 17, In Iraq a suicide car
bomber rammed into a crowded market in Kirkuk moments after a
booby-trapped vehicle exploded, killing at least nine people and
injuring 60. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced
stop in Baghdad before heading for scheduled talks in Israel. Iraqi
authorities foiled a potential suicide bomber near Karbala. A minivan
came under fire after the driver failed to slowdown at a checkpoint,
and then detonated the explosives and was killed in the blast. A US
soldier in Baghdad was killed when an insurgent hurled a grenade at his
vehicle. Another soldier died when a patrol came under fire north of
Baghdad. A US Marine died in western Iraq.
(AP, 2/17/07)(AP, 2/18/07)(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 17, Some 70 thousand
Italians under heavy police guard protested against the expansion of a
US military base in Vicenza that has divided the center-left government.
(Reuters, 2/17/07)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.61)
2007 Feb 17, Lesotho held
elections. The ruling party, which has brought stability to the
mountain kingdom, faced a new rival set up on a platform of change.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, Former Nicaraguan
President Arnoldo Aleman acknowledged for the first time that he spent
$1.8 million in government money on jewelry and meals, mostly while he
was abroad seeking aid following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in
1998.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 17, Nigerian hostage
takers released an American oil worker in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 17, In southwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber killed 15 people, including a judge, after
blowing himself up inside a courtroom in Quetta.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, A US human rights
watchdog that recently sent a team to Saudi Arabia to investigate
abuses said in a new report the kingdom keeps thousands of prisoners in
jail without charge, sentences children to death and oppresses women.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 17, Syrian President
Bashar Assad arrived in Iran to discuss Iraq and other Middle East
issues with President Mahmoud Ahmadinajed.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, James Morris, the
head of the UN food agency, said some 18,000 children die every day
because of hunger and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed
every night with empty stomachs, a "terrible indictment of the world in
2007."
(AP, 2/17/07)
2008 Feb 17, US President George
W. Bush discussed the bloody conflict in neighboring Kenya with
Tanzania's Pres. Jakaya Kikwete before showering him with praise and
signing over a $700 million development grant.
(Reuters, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, The US Department of
Agriculture ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef
from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse
investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs. Downer cows
at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company had been processed and
sent for use in the National School Lunch Program.
(AP, 2/18/08)(Econ, 3/1/08, p.36)
2008 Feb 17, In Afghanistan a
suicide bombing at an outdoor dog fighting competition in Kandahar
killed 80 people and wounded scores more, in what appeared to be the
deadliest terror attack there since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
The attack apparently targeted Abdul Hakim Jan, a militia commander,
who had stood up against the Taliban and died in the attack.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, In Algeria African
Union energy ministers launched a new energy organization for Africa
tasked with coordinating policy for the resource-rich continent.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, British chancellor
Alistair Darling announced that stricken mortgage lender Northern Rock
would be nationalized.
(Econ, 2/23/08, p.73)
2008 Feb 17, In China an explosion
at an illegal mine disguised as a wild boar farm killed 26 people in
northern Hebei province. On Dec 31, 2009, Gao Huailiang was sentenced
to death in Hebei province, for making, selling and transporting
illegal explosives. 20 others were sentenced to prison time for running
the mine.
(AP, 2/18/08)(AP, 12/31/09)
2008 Feb 17, Communist party
leader Demetris Christofias led in exit polls after Cyprus elections.
It was unclear who he would be competing against in a run-off on Feb 24.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, Indian troops killed
at least 20 Maoist guerrillas in clashes following the killing of 13
policemen by the insurgents in the eastern state of Orissa.
(AFP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, Israeli troops backed
by aircraft and tanks clashed with Palestinian militants firing mortars
and machine guns near Gaza's former international airport, killing
three gunmen and a civilian. Later a Palestinian rocket struck a house
in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, shortly after the UN's
humanitarian chief condemned the rocket fire and urged Gaza's Hamas
rulers to end the attacks.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, In Iraq a female
suicide bomber struck in a predominantly Shiite area of central
Baghdad, killing at least three people in an attack that occurred as
officials have been stressing the capital's increased security. In
Mosul a police officer and two civilians were killed when a bomb in a
parked car detonated.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, Kosovo declared
itself a nation, mounting a historic bid to become an "independent and
democratic state" backed by the US and key European allies but bitterly
contested by Serbia and Russia. Russia denounced Kosovo's independence
declaration and called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security
Council, underlining its opposition.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, Madagascar was hit by
Cyclone Ivan. At least 44 people were killed and some 145,000 left
homeless.
(Reuters, 2/18/08)(SFC, 2/26/08, p.A3)
2008 Feb 17, In New Zealand 3
people were killed after a light plane and a helicopter collided in
mid-air in the coastal settlement of Paraparaumu.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, In southwest Pakistan
a military pickup truck struck a land mine that killed four troops and
wounded two others. The Baluch Republican Army, a little known rebel
group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 17, In South Korea a
special prosecutor's team questioned President-elect Lee Myung-bak over
allegations of financial fraud a week ahead of his inauguration.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2009 Feb 17, Pres. Obama announced
the deployment of 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan. Pres. Karzai
spoke on the phone with President Barack Obama for the first time.
(AP,
2/18/09)(http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090218/us_time/08599188024600)
2009 Feb 17, The US federal
government said Texas financier R. Allen Stanford's investment
businesses were too good to be true, and shut his companies down. The
SEC charged Stanford (58) with an $8 billion fraud. On Feb 19 Stanford
was tracked down in Virginia, where FBI agents served him with civil
complaint legal papers.
(AP, 2/17/09)(WSJ, 2/18/09, p.A1)(AP, 2/19/09)
2009 Feb 17, Chrysler and GM told
the US government they may need up to $21.6 billion in combined bailout
loans. GM’s survival plan called for cutting a total of 47,000 jobs
globally and closing 5 more US factories.
(SFC, 2/18/09, p.C1)(WSJ, 2/18/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 17, Liberty Media Corp.
said it will invest $530 million in financially struggling satellite
radio company Sirius XM Radio Inc.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, Trump Entertainment
Resorts Inc, the casino operator named for Donald Trump, filed for
bankruptcy protection as recession and declining gambling revenues
battered the company and its rivals.
(Reuters, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, In the SF Bay Area a
sewage spill began at the Fort Baker treatment plant of the
Sausalito-Marin County Sanitaru District. By the next day some 300,000
gallons of bacteria-laden sewage had entered the SF Bay.
(SFC, 2/18/09, p.B4)
2009 Feb 17, In Atlanta, Georgia,
Eugenia Calle (57), a prominent researcher who studied links between
cancer and obesity, was found beaten to death in her condominium. Jamal
Thompson (22) was soon arrested and charged with her murder.
(SFC, 2/20/09,
p.A10)(www.inquisitr.com/18407/dr-eugenia-calle-murder/)
2009 Feb 17, In Afghan a US
airstrike reportedly killed six women and two children, despite a
recent US-Afghan agreement to increase participation of Afghan forces
in US missions, a step aimed at preventing civilian casualties. The US
coalition said that the strike in the Gozara district of Herat province
killed 15 militants and targeted a leader named Ghulam Yahya Akbari.
The US military on Feb 21 said an investigation into a coalition
operation Gozara found that 13 civilians were among 16 people killed.
(AP, 2/18/09)(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 17, British experts that
they have found the first evidence of a hemophiliac contracting mad cow
disease from contaminated blood products.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, China and Russia
signed a $25 billion energy deal in Beijing that will see the Asian
country secure oil supplies from Moscow for the next 20 years in return
for loans.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, Colombia's main
leftist rebel group said that it "executed" eight Indians in the
country's remote southwest, accusing them of acting as paid informants
for Colombia's military. The communique posted on a Web site
sympathetic to the rebels followed widespread but unconfirmed reports
that as many as 27 Awa Indians had been killed.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, The UN said some 4.9
million more Ethiopians are in urgent need of food aid, bringing the
total number of people in Ethiopia who need relief aid to 12 million,
or 15 percent of the population.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, In Equatorial Guinea
gunmen clashed with security forces near the presidential palace.
Gunmen in two speedboats attacked the island capital before dawn. 16
men from neighboring Nigeria were arrested in the mysterious attack on
the presidential compound. The government said several attackers
drowned.
(AP, 2/17/09)(AP, 2/19/09)
2009 Feb 17, France's lower house
of parliament unanimously passed a law granting government payments to
those who take time off work to care for dying relatives in their last
weeks of life.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister met with top Iraqi leaders in
Baghdad in the latest high-level visit by a major Western nation that
opposed the 2003 US-led invasion but has promised to help Iraq rebuild
now that security has improved.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, In southern Iraq a
bus filled with Shiite pilgrims collided with a British military
vehicle, killing seven pilgrims and injuring 27 others.
(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 17, A Milan court
sentenced David Mills, the British former tax lawyer of Italian PM
Silvio Berlusconi, to four-and-a-half years in jail for corruption.
(AFP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, Japan's Finance
Minister Shoichi Nakagawa abruptly resigned over allegations he made a
drunken appearance at a G-7 news conference, shaking PM Taro Aso's
already deeply unpopular government. On Oct 4 Nakagawa (56) was found
dead in his home. Police ruled out foul play.
(AP, 2/17/09)(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Feb 17, In Japan US Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned North Korea against following
through on a threatened missile launch, saying it would damage its
prospects for improved relations with the United States and the world.
Clinton also signed an agreement with Japan that will move 8,000
Marines off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to the US territory
of Guam.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, Kosovo celebrated the
first anniversary of its unilateral declaration of independence from
Serbia. Thus far it was recognized by only 54 of the UN’s 192
countries. Five of the EU’s 27 countries so far refused recognition.
(Econ, 2/14/09, p.16)
2009 Feb 17, Business leaders in
Martinique agreed to a 20 percent price cut on most supermarket
products, despite initial refusal.
(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 17, In Mexico hundreds of
people blocked bridges to the US in three border cities, demanding the
army leave in another challenge for the Mexican government as it
struggles to quell escalating drug violence. 3 police officers,
including the operations director of the Ciudad Juarez city police,
were shot to death by unidentified assailants on a street near the US
consulate. Federal police fighting gunmen in the northern border city
of Reynosa had to call the army for help. After the fighting, which
left five gunmen dead and seven police injured, authorities seized
several assault rifles and even a 60 mm mortar. Cardboard signs with
handwritten messages appeared taped to the doors and windows of
businesses in ciudad Juarez, warning that one officer would be killed
every two days police chief Roberto Orduna did not quit.
(AP, 2/18/09)(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 17, In southern Nigeria
gunmen attacked two oil facilities operated by Royal Dutch Shell. A
local militant leader claimed responsibility for the attack in a letter
and threatened further violence. A Nigerian appeal court sacked the
governor of the southwestern state of Ekiti after complaints of vote
irregularities and ordered a fresh poll within three months.
(AP, 2/17/09)(AFP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 17, NATO warned that
Pakistan risked creating a safe haven for Islamist extremists after it
struck a deal to impose Islamic law and suspend a military offensive in
the former tourist haven of Swat.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, In Portugal Conchita
Cintron (b.1922), Peruvian-born matador, died. She faced her first bull
at age 13 and made her premier at the main arena in Lima in 1937. She
reportedly killed over 750 bulls during her career in Europe.
(SFC, 2/20/09, p.B8)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.93)
2009 Feb 17, The UN agency for
children said Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have stepped up conscription of
child soldiers, as the rebels prepare to face a final onslaught by the
military. Tamil politicians accused the Sri Lankan government of
ignoring the safety of tens of thousands of civilians in its campaign
to wipe out the Tamil Tiger rebels, saying more than 2,000
noncombatants have been killed in the recent fighting.
(AFP, 2/17/09)(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, The Sudanese
government and Darfur's most powerful rebel group signed an declaration
to conduct future peace negotiations, but failed to agree on a
hoped-for cease-fire after a week of talks.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, Sudanese writer Tayeb
Salih (b.1929), one of the most respected Arab novelists of the 20th
century, died in London where he spent most of his life. His books
included the classic "Season of Migration to the North" (1966) about a
Sudanese man's experiences of life and love in Britain in the 1960s.
(AFP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 17, The Yemeni Interior
Ministry announced the surrender of Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, a
former Guantanamo detainee who later became an al-Qaida field
commander. He was handed over to Saudi authorities.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, In Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe and his arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai sat at a cabinet
table for the first time as ministers of the country's new unity
government held their inaugural meeting. A Zimbabwe court charged Roy
Bennett, a senior MDC party official, over a plot involving terrorism
and insurgency, just days after the party joined a unity government.
(AFP, 2/17/09)(Reuters, 2/17/09)
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