Today in History - February 21
Return to home
556 Feb 21,
Maximianus van Ravenna, bishop (Basilica S Stefano), died.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1173 Feb 21, Pope Alexander III
canonized Thomas Becket (1117-1170) of Canterbury.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1543 Feb 21, In the Battle at
Wayna Daga Ethiopian and Portuguese troops beat Moslem army. Ahmed
Gran, sultan of Adal, died in the battle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelawdewos_of_Ethiopia)
1554 Feb 21, Hieronymus Bock,
German doctor (founder of modern botany), died.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1595 Feb 21, Robert Southwell,
English-Jesuit poet, was hanged for "treason" being a Catholic.
(HN, 2/21/99)(MC, 2/21/02)
1613 Feb 21, Mikhail Romanov (17),
son of Patriarch of Moscow, was elected czar of Russia. He was crowned
Jun 22. The Romanovs began to rule over Russia and lasted until 1917.
(PCh, 1992, p.220)(SFC, 4/19/97,
p.A3)(http://eefy.editme.com/L18b)
1674 Feb 21, Johann Augustin
Kobelius, composer, was born.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1677 Feb 21, [Benedictus] Baruch
Spinoza (b.1632), Dutch philosopher, died. In 2003 Antonio Damasio
authored "Looking for Spinoza," a look at contemporary neurological
research in contrast with the opposing philosophical views of Spinoza
and Descartes. In 2005 Matthew Stewart authored “The Courtier and the
Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World.
(WUD, 1994 p.1371)(SSFC, 2/2/03, p.M4)(WSJ,
12/15/05, p.D8)
1690 Feb 21, Christoph
Stoltzenberg, composer, was born.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1728 Feb 21, Peter III, Russian
Tsar (1762), husband of Catherine, was born in Kiel Germany. [see Feb
10]
(MC, 2/21/02)
1744 Feb 21, The British blockade
of Toulon was broken by 27 French and Spanish warships attacking 29
British ships.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1764 Feb 21, John Wilkes was
expelled from the English House of Commons for his "Essay on Women."
(MC, 2/21/02)
1775 Feb 21, As troubles with
Great Britain increased, colonists in Massachusetts voted to buy
military equipment for 15,000 men.
(HN, 2/21/99)
1792 Feb 21, US Congress passed
the Presidential Succession Act. [see Mar 1]
(MC, 2/21/02)
1794 Feb 21, Antonio Lopez de
Santa Anna, Mexican Revolutionary, was born.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1795 Feb 21, Francisco Manuel da
Silva, composer, was born.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1795 Feb 21, Freedom of worship
was established in France under constitution.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1797 Feb 21, Trinidad, West Indies
surrendered to the British.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1801 Feb 21, John Henry Newman,
was born. He was the Protestant vicar who converted to Catholicism and
became a Roman Catholic Cardinal. He authored “Dream of Gerontius.”
(HN, 2/21/99)(MC, 2/21/02)
1803 Feb 21, Edward Despard became
the last person drawn & quartered in England.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1814 Feb 21, Nicolo Gabrielli,
composer, was born.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1821 Feb 21, Charles Scribner, was
born. He founded the New York Publishing firm which became Charles
Scribner's Sons and also founded Scribner's magazine.
(HN, 2/21/99)
1828 Feb 21, The first issue of
the Cherokee Phoenix, the 1st American Indian newspaper in US, was
printed, both in English and in the newly invented Cherokee alphabet.
(HN, 2/21/98)(MC, 2/21/02)
1836 Feb 21, Leo Delibes, ballet
composer (Coppelia), was born in Saint-Germain-du-Val, France.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1838 Feb 21, Alexis De Rochon,
Spyglass Developer, was born.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1842 Feb 21, 1st known sewing
machine was patented in US by John Greenough in Wash, DC.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1844 Feb 21, Charles-Marie Widor,
composer, professor (Paris Conservatory), was born in Lyons, France.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1846 Feb 21, Sarah G. Bagley
became the first female telegrapher, taking charge at the newly opened
telegraph office in Lowell, Mass.
(AP, 2/21/00)
1849 Feb 21, In the Second Sikh
War, Sir Hugh Gough’s well placed guns won a victory over a Sikh force
twice the size of his at Gujerat on the Chenab River, assuring British
control of the Punjab for years to come.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1852 Feb 21, Nikolai Gogol
(b.1809), Russian novelist and playwright, died (OS) [see Mar 4].
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Gogol)
1862 Feb 21, The Texas Rangers won
a Confederate victory in the Battle of Val Verde, New Mexico.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1862 Feb 21, Confederate
Constitution & presidency were declared permanent.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1864 Feb 21, The 1st US Catholic
parish church for blacks was dedicated in Baltimore.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1864 Feb 21-22, Battle at Okolona,
Mississippi.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1866 Feb 21, Lucy B. Hobbs became
the first woman to graduate from a dental school, the Ohio College of
Dental Surgery in Cincinnati.
(AP, 2/21/98)
1867 Feb 21, Otto Hermann Kahn
(d.1934), banker who the organized Metropolitan Opera Co, was born.
(MC, 2/21/02)(WSJ, 8/13/02, p.D4)
1874 Feb 21, The Tribune of
Oakland, Ca., was founded by George Staniford and Benet A. Dewes. The
Oakland Daily Tribune was first printed at 468 Ninth St. as a 4-page,
3-column newspaper, 6 by 10 inches. Staniford and Dewes gave out copies
free of charge. The paper had news stories and 43 advertisements.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, BR
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Tribune)
1874 Feb 21, Benjamin Disraeli
replaced William Gladstone as English premier. Disraeli's 2nd ministry
continued to 1880.
(MC, 2/21/02)(PC, 1992, p.530)
1876 Feb 21, Constantin Brancusi
(d.1957), Romanian-French sculptor (Princesse X), was born in Hobitza,
Romania. he made it to Paris in 1902. His works include “The Kiss”
(1908) and the “Sleeping Muse” (1910).
(WSJ, 10/19/95, A-18)(WSJ, 11/30/01, p.W12)(MC,
2/21/02)
1878 Feb 21, The first telephone
directory was issued, by the District Telephone Company of New Haven
(New Harbor), Conn. It contained the names of its 50 subscribers.
(AP, 2/21/98)(HN, 2/21/01)(WSJ, 11/24/07, p.W7)
1885 Feb 21, The Washington
Monument was dedicated by Pres. Chester A. Arthur.
(HN, 2/21/98)(AP, 2/21/98)(ON, 3/00, p.10)
1887 Feb 21, The 1st US
bacteriology laboratory opened in Brooklyn.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1893 Feb 21, Andés Segovia
(d.1987), Spanish classical guitarist, was born in Linares, Spain.
(WUD, 1994 p.1291)(HN, 2/21/01)(MC, 2/21/02)
1895 Feb 21, The NC Legislature
adjourned for the day to mark the death of Frederick Douglass.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1902 Feb 21, Dr. Harvey Cushing,
US brain surgeon, performed his 1st brain operation.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1903 Feb 21, Anais Nin (d.1977),
novelist (Winter of Artifice, House of Incense), was born in Paris:
“People do not live in the present always, at one with it. They live at
all kinds of and manners of distance from it, as difficult to measure
as the course of planets. Fears and traumas make their journeys
slanted, peripheral, uneven, evasive.”
(AP, 9/7/97)(MC, 2/21/02)
1903 Feb 21, The cornerstone laid
for US army war college in Washington, DC.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1905 Feb 21, The Mukden campaign
of the Russo-Japanese War, began. In one of the largest battles ever
fought up to that time, some 750,000 Japanese and Russian soldiers
engaged in the battle for Mukden in the Russo-Japanese War. The 3-week
battle pitted 400,000 Japanese and 350,000 Russians stretched over a
front extending more than 90 miles. More than 100,000 were left dead or
injured as the Russians began a retreat toward Harbin on March 9.
(HN, 2/21/98)(HNQ, 4/23/99)
1907 Feb 21, Wystan Hugh Auden
(d.1973), American poet, critic and playwright, was born in England. He
wrote the libretto for Benjamin Britten’s first music drama (1941),
“Paul Bunyan.” He died in Austria after suffering from
Touraine-Solente-Gole in which the skin of the forehead, face, scalp,
hands, and feet becomes thick and furrowed. “Political history is far
too criminal and pathological to be a fit subject of study for the
young. Children should acquire their heroes and villains from fiction.”
His work included “The Age of Anxiety.” In 1998 Norman Page published
“Auden and Isherwood: The Berlin Years.”
(HFA, ‘96, p.22)(AHD, 86)(WSJ, 2/12/96, p.A-13)(WSJ,
1/8/98, p.A7)(AP, 4/15/98)(WSJ, 4/23/98, p.A16)(SFEC, 9/27/98, BR
p.8)(HN, 2/21/01)
1910 Feb 21, John Galsworthy's
"Justice," premiered in London.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1911 Feb 21, Gustav Mahler
conducted his last concert.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1914 Feb 21, White Wolf troops
attacked Zhanjiang, China.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1915 Feb 21, The 20th Russian Army
corps surrendered.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1916 Feb 21, The World War I
Battle of Verdun began in France with an unprecedented German artillery
barrage of the French lines; the French were able to prevail after 10
months of fighting. German Gen’l. Erich von Falkenhayn launched the
attack.
(AP, 2/21/98)(HN, 2/21/01)(Sm, 2/06, p.38)
1920 Feb 21, Robert S. Johnson,
was born. He became the American World War II fighter ace who shot down
27 German planes.
(HN, 2/21/99)
1920 Feb 21, A Prussian
Lithuanian National Council urged the Lithuanian government and the
Allies to take measures for uniting the Klaipeda region to Lithuania.
(LHC, 2/21/03)
1922 Feb 21, Murray "the K"
Kaufman, NYC DJ (5th Beatle), was born.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1922 Feb 21, Airship Rome exploded
at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and 34 died.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1922 Feb 21, Great Britain granted
Egypt independence.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1924 Feb 21, Robert Mugabe,
Zimbabwe president, was born in southern Rhodesia into the Zezeru
sub-group of the Shona tribe.
(www.afroamerica.net/RobertMugabe122001.html)(Econ,
1/15/05, p.44)
1925 Feb 21, Sam Peckinpah, film
director (Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs), was born in Fresno, CA.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1925 Feb 21, The first issue of
the New Yorker magazine, founded by Harold Ross, hit the newsstands.
The top hatted character Eustace Tilley appeared on the cover of the
first issue and every anniversary issue. In 1999 Mary F. Corey
published "The World Through a Monocle: The New Yorker at Midcentury."
In 2000 Ben Yagoda authored "About Town: The New Yorker and the World
It Made." In 2000 Ranata Adler authored "Gone: The Last Days of the New
Yorker."
(TMC, 1994, p.1925)(SFEM, 4/12/98, p.10)(AP,
2/21/98)(HN, 2/21/98)(SFEC, 6/27/99, BR p.4)(SFEC, 2/20/00, BR p.5)
1927 Feb 21, Erma Bombeck, author
and humorist, was born. She became an American syndicated columnist
whose column "At Wit's End" humorously dealt with life as a wife and
mother. Her work included “The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic
Tank.”
(HN, 2/21/01)
1927 Feb 21, Hubert de Givenchy,
fashion designer (Audrey Hepburn), was born in Beauvais, France.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1927 Feb 21, Franz Lehar's opera
"Zarewitsch," premiered.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1930 Feb 21, Marc Connelly's
"Green Pastures," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1931 Feb 21, Alka Seltzer was
introduced. [see Dec 31]
(MC, 2/21/02)
1932 Feb 21, Camera exposure meter
was patented by WN Goodwin.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1934 Feb 21, Nicaraguan patriot
Augusto Cesar Sandino was assassinated by National Guard.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1940 Feb 21, The Germans began
construction of a concentration camp at Auschwitz. Hans Munch was an SS
doctor at the camp and later reported his experiences there in detail
for the 1998 TV documentary “People’s Century.” [see Mar 27]
(HN, 2/21/98)(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)
1943 Feb 21, German tanks and two
infantry battalions broke the Allied line and took Kasserine Pass in
North Africa.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1944 Feb 21, Hideki Tojo became
chief of staff of the Japanese army.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1945 Feb 21, The Bismarck Sea was
the last U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to be sunk in combat during World
War II. The escort carrier Bismarck Sea was supporting the
invasion of Iwo Jima, when about 50 kamikazes attacked the U.S. Navy
Task Groups 58.2 and 58.3. Fleet carrier Saratoga was struck by three
suicide planes and so badly damaged that the war ended before she
returned to service. At 6:45 p.m., two Mitsubishi A6M5 Zeros approached
Bismarck Sea, which opened fire with her anti-aircraft guns. One Zero
was set on fire, but its suicidal pilot pressed home his attack and
crashed into the carrier abreast of the aft elevator, which fell into
the hangar deck below. Two minutes later, an internal explosion
devastated the ship, and at 7:05 p.m., Captain J.L. Pratt ordered
Abandon Ship. Ravaged by further explosions over the next three hours,
Bismarck Sea sank at 10 p.m., the last U.S. Navy carrier to go down as
a result of enemy action during World War II. Of her crew of 943, 218
officers and men lost their lives.
(HNQ, 10/5/01)
1946 Feb 21, Alan Rickman, actor
(Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Rasputin, Die Hard), was born.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1946 Feb 21, Anti-British
demonstrations took place in Egypt.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1947 Feb 21, Edwin H. Land
publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera in NYC. It could produce
a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds. Polaroid Corp. was
co-founded by Land and George W. Wheelwright III (d.2001 at 97).
(AP, 2/21/98)(SFC, 3/3/01, p.A22)(MC, 2/21/02)
1949 Feb 21, Nicaragua and Costa
Rica signed a friendship treaty ending hostilities over their borders.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1950 Feb 21, The United States
formally broke relations with Bulgaria.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1951 Feb 21, SC House urged that
"Shoeless Joe" Jackson be reinstated.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1951 Feb 21, The U. S. Eighth Army
launched Operation Killer, a counterattack to push Chinese forces north
of the Han River in Korea.
(HN, 2/21/99)
1952 Feb 21, Dick Button performed
1st figure skating triple jump in competition.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1952 Feb 21, Bangladesh Martyrs
Day (martyrs of Bengali Language Movement).
(MC, 2/21/02)
1956 Feb 21, A Grand Jury in
Montgomery, Ala., indicted 115 in a Negro bus boycott.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1956 Feb 21, Edwin Franko Goldman
(78), composer, died.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1958 Feb 21, Egypt-Syria as UAR
elected Gamel Nasser president with a 99.9% vote.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1960 Feb 21, Havana placed all
Cuban industry under direct control of the government.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1965 Feb 21, Former Black Muslim
leader El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, aka Malcolm X (Malcolm Little, 39),
was shot to death in front of 400 people in New York by assassins
identified as Black Muslims. He was murdered at the Audubon Ballroom in
Manhattan. His wife, Betty Shabazz, was pregnant with twins and sat in
the audience along with his 4-year-old daughter Quibilah. Three men,
Norman 3X Butler (Abdul Aziz), Khalil Islam, and Thomas Hagan,
connected to the Nation of Islam were convicted for the assassination.
Aziz was paroled in 1985 and in 1998 was appointed by Louis Farrakhan
to head a Harlem mosque.
(TMC, 1994, p.1965)(SFC, 6/24/97, p.A3)(AP,
2/21/98)(SFC, 3/26/98, p.A3)(HN, 2/21/99)
1967 Feb 21, Ford recalled 217,000
cars to check brakes and steering.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1970 Feb 21, Secret peace talks
were held between US Sec. of State Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho of
North Vietnam.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.A19)
1970 Feb 21, The PFLP-GC planted a
time bomb on a Swissair jet that blew up on a flight from Zurich to Tel
Aviv. All 47 aboard were killed.
(SFC, 5/21/02,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_330)
1971 Feb 21, A series of tornadoes
cut through the lower Mississippi River Valley. The two-day outbreak,
which produced 19 tornadoes, killed 123 people across 3 states,
including 11 in Louisiana, 110 in Mississippi, and 2 in North Carolina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Valley_tornado_outbreak_of_February_1971)
1972 Feb 21, Pres. Nixon began his
visit to China as he and his wife arrived in Shanghai. He was the 1st
US president to visit a country not diplomatically recognized by the
US. He brought along a bottle of Schramsberg sparkling wine from
California.
(HN, 2/21/01)(AP, 2/21/04)(WSJ, 7/1/05, p.W6)
1973 Feb 21, Israeli fighter
planes shot down a Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai
Desert, killing over 100 people.
(AP, 2/21/98)
1974 Feb 21, A report claimed that
the use of defoliants by the U.S. had scarred Vietnam for century.
Defoliation was meant to save lives by denying the enemy cover.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1974 Feb 21, Tim Horton, hockey
player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, died at 44 in a car crash driving
back home to Buffalo after a game in Toronto. His career spanned 25
years with 6 invitations to all-star teams.
(SFC, 5/16/97, p.A19)
1975 Feb 21, Former Attorney
General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and
John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for
their roles in the Watergate cover-up. Mitchell was found guilty of
conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. He served 19 months
behind bars.
(AP, 2/21/00)(SFC, 11/6/98, p.D5)
1977 Feb 21, In NYC 74 Unification
Church couples were wed.
(www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Topics/U-Stuff/BLSS-HST.htm)
1981 Feb 21, Charles Rocket
(1949-2005) clearly said "fuck" on Saturday Night Live.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rocket)
1981 Feb 21, A bombing in Munich
of Radio Free Europe injured 9 people. Romania’s Pres. Ceausescu
ordered Gen. Ion Pacepa to find temporary shelter for Ilich Ramirez
Sanchez, aka Carlos the Jackal, in Romania after the bombing. Ceausescu
sold arms and explosives to Ramirez and enabled him to produce
counterfeit passports and driver's licenses.
(AP,
9/30/09)(www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3475896.html)
1982 Feb 21, "Ain't Misbehavin'"
closed at Longacre Theater, NYC, after 1604 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4058)
1982 Feb 21, Murray Kaufman
(b.1922), NYC DJ also known as Murray the K, died. During the early
days of Beatlemania, he was frequently referred to as "the Fifth
Beatle."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_the_K)
1986 Feb 21, Ryan White
(1971-1990), AIDS patient, returned to classes at Western Middle School
in Indiana.
(www.ryanwhite.com/pages/timeline.html)
1986 Feb 21, Larry Wu-tai Chin,
the first American found guilty of spying for China, killed himself in
his Virginia jail cell.
(AP, 2/21/01)
1988 Feb 21, TV evangelist Jimmy
Swaggart tearfully confessed to his congregation in Baton Rouge, La.,
that he was guilty of an unspecified sin, and said he was leaving the
pulpit temporarily. Reports linked Swaggart to an admitted prostitute,
Debra Murphree.
(AP, 2/21/98)
1989 Feb 21, President Bush called
Ayatollah Khomeini's death warrant against "Satanic Verses" author
Salman Rushdie "deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior."
(AP, 2/21/99)
1989 Feb 21, Fifty four members of
the 14 K triad were arrested in 4 countries (US, Canada, Hong Kong and
Singapore). Some 800 pounds of heroin were seized, supposedly worth a
billion dollars at street prices. US police estimated that Chinese
organized crime, and not the Mafia, provided 70 to 80 per cent of all
heroin smuggled into New York City.
(www.alternatives.com/crime/tri14k.html)
1990 Feb 21, Addressing the U.S.
Congress, Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel said his nation welcomed
U.S. help after decades of Soviet domination, but also said Europe
should eventually "decide for itself" how long American and Soviet
troops should remain.
(AP, 2/21/00)
1991 Feb 21, Neil Simon's "Lost in
Yonkers," premiered in NYC.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4632)
1991 Feb 21, The Soviet Union
announced that Iraq had agreed to a proposal for ending the Persian
Gulf War; however, the Bush administration called the plan unacceptable.
(AP, 2/21/01)
1991 Feb 21, Dame Margot Fonteyn
(b.1919), ballerina (1st lady of British Ballet), died in Panama City,
Fl. In 2004 Meredith Daneman authored “Margot Fonteyn: A Life.”
(AP, 2/21/01)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.)
1992 Feb 21, Kristi Yamaguchi of
the United States won the gold medal in women's figure skating at the
Albertville Olympics; Midori Ito of Japan won the silver, Nancy
Kerrigan of the United States the bronze.
(AP, 2/21/98)
1992 Feb 18, John Frohnmayer
announced his resignation as chairman of the National Endowment for the
Arts.
(AP, 2/21/02)
1993 Feb 21, Four days after
suspending Bosnian relief operations because of interference from
Serbs, Muslims and Croats, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako
Ogata ordered full resumption of the aid effort. U.N. Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali had rebuked the suspension.
(AP, 2/21/98)
1994 Feb 21, With Bosnian Serbs
complying with a NATO ultimatum to remove heavy guns near Sarajevo,
President Clinton promised renewed efforts to help "reinvigorate the
peace process."
(AP, 2/21/99)
1994 Feb 21, Jury selection began
in Pensacola, Fla., in the trial of Michael F. Griffin, an
anti-abortion activist accused of killing Dr. David Gunn outside a
women's clinic. Griffin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life
in prison.
(AP, 2/21/04)
1995 Feb 21, The United States and
Mexico signed an agreement to unlock $20 billion in U.S. support to
stabilize the peso, but under tough conditions.
(AP, 2/21/00)
1995 Feb 21, Chicago stockbroker
Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific
Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.
(AP, 2/21/00)
1995 Feb 21, Robert Bolt (b.1924),
British playwright (Doctor Zhivago, Man for All Seasons, Bounty), died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0004122/)
1995 Feb 21, Art Kane (b.1925),
photographer, died.
(www.deathleague.com/person.asp?prk=505&msk=0)
1996 Feb 21, The Space Telescope
Science Institute announced that photographs from the Hubble Space
Telescope confirmed the existence of a “black hole” equal to the mass
of two billion suns in a galaxy some 30 million light-years away.
(AP, 2/21/01)
1996 Feb 21, The Glorious Church
of God in Christ in Richmond, Va., burned down. Arson was suspected and
investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1996 Feb 21, Morton Gould (82),
composer, died in Florida.
(www.spaceagepop.com/gould.htm)
1997 Feb 21, Whitewater prosecutor
Kenneth Starr reversed his decision to quit and said he would complete
the investigation.
(SFC, 2/22/97, p.A1) (AP, 2/21/98)
1997 Feb 21, The space shuttle
Discovery returned to earth after a mission to upgrade the Hubble Space
Telescope.
(AP, 2/21/98)
1997 Feb 21, There was a bombing
at an Atlanta lesbian nightclub that injured five people. It was
similar to the previous recent bombings at an abortion clinic and at
the Olympics. Eric Rudolph was later charged with the bombing. He was
arrested May 31, 2003.
(WSJ, 2/21/97, p.A12)(SSFC, 6/1/03, p.A1)
1997 Feb 21, It was reported that
Burundi troops killed more than 150 civilians in reprisals for rebel
attacks. 100 people were killed at Mugara and fifty near Maramvya.
(SFC, 2/22/97, p.A12)
1997 Feb 21, In Serbia the
opposition coalition took control of the Belgrade City Council with
Zoran Djindjic as mayor.
(SFC, 2/22/97, p.A1)'
1998 Feb 21, U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan began formal talks with Iraqi officials in the
standoff over weapons inspections.
(AP, 2/21/99)
1998 Feb 21, Julian Bond was
elected chairman of the 64-member board of the NAACP.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, p.A5)
1998 Feb 21, In India the governor
in Uttar Pradesh state ousted the Hindu nationalist government and
protests followed. The government was restored by a court a few days
later.
(WSJ, 2/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 21, In Pakistan two
Iranian engineers were killed in “sectarian violence.”
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.T14)
1999 Feb 21, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright reported little progress toward a Kosovo peace
settlement during talks in Rambouillet, France.
(AP, 2/21/00)
1999 Feb 21, US and British
warplanes attacked a missile base and 2 military communication sites
after Iraqi jets violated the no-fly zone.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 21, Ethiopian planes
struck the airport at Assab but Eritrean officials said the 12 bombs
dropped by 2 planes failed to hit their targets.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 21, The leaders of India
and Pakistan signed documents and a joint statement to reduce the risk
of nuclear war and to resolve conflicts in Kashmir.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 21, In Ireland and
Northern Ireland police arrested 7 men associated with the 1998 Omagh
car bombing that killed 29 people.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 21, The People's
Democratic Party led by Gen'l. Obasanjo won 169 of 360 seats in the
House. Lola Abiola-Edowar won a seat in the House of Representatives.
She was the daughter of Moshood Abiola, the billionaire politician who
died in military detention in 1998.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A10)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.C3)
2000 Feb 21, Consumer advocate
Ralph Nader announced his entry into the presidential race, bidding for
the nomination of the Green Party.
(AP, 2/21/01)
2000 Feb 21, It was reported that
the US FBI planned to open an office in Budapest in March at the
request of the Hungarian government in order to help break up Russian
gangs. The FBI would hire 10 Hungarian agents to work alongside 5 US
agents.
(SFC, 2/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 21, China warned Taiwan
that a prolonged lack of negotiations could provoke a military attack.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 21, In Mitrovica, Kosovo,
some 10-25,000 ethnic Albanians clashed with NATO-led troops, who kept
them from crossing to the Serb section of town.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 21, Avalanches in Italy
killed 3 skiers in the northern Venosta Valley.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 21, In Mexico Nicolas
Caletri (44), kidnapping mastermind, was captured in southern Oaxaca.
(SFC, 2/26/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 21, In Nigeria Muslim and
Christian youths seized parts of Kaduna in clashes over a
proposal to bring Islamic law (Shariah) to the state. Over 20 people
were killed.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 21, An avalanche in
Switzerland killed 3 skiers at Davos.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 21, In Tanzania African
presidents and European ministers appealed to Burundi's leaders to
negotiate a swift end to the civil war.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A9)
2001 Feb 21, In the Grammy Awards
Steely Dan won Album of the year for “Two Against Nature;” U2 won for
Song of the Year for “Beautiful Day;” Sting won best male pop vocal
performance for “She Walks This Earth;” and Macy Gray won best female
pop vocal performance for “I Try.” Rapper Eminem won 3 awards.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 21, The US Supreme Court
ruled 5-4 to protect state governments from federal suits for damages
filed by disabled employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The court ruled that state workers cannot use federal disability-rights
law to win money damages for on-the-job discrimination.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A3)(WSJ, 2/22/01, p.A1)(AP, 2/21/02)
2001 Feb 21, Pope John Paul II
installed 44 new cardinals. It was the largest number ever installed at
one time.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A13)
2001 Feb 21, In Chechnya some 50
bodies began to be uncovered across from a Russian military base at
Zdorovye.
(SFC, 4/14/01, p.A8)
2002 Feb 21, Sarah Hughes (16) of
Great neck, NY, won 1st place in the Olympics women’s free skate
competition, leaving teammate Michelle Kwan to settle for a bronze.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A1)(AP, 2/21/07)
2002 Feb 21, Pres. Bush met with
Pres. Zemin in Beijing and both agreed to work on the reunification of
North and South Korea. They disagreed over controls on exports of
missile technology. Pres. Bush answered questions in a live broadcast
and reaffirmed the US right to protect Taiwan.
(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A12)(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A12)(WSJ,
2/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 21, In New Jersey a
retired police officer, John W. Mabie (70) shot and killed his
22-year-old daughter and then killed 3 neighbors.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A5)
2002 Feb 21, It was acknowledged
that WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl was dead after a video was received that
showed an assailant slash his throat. On May 30, Pearl’s wife in Paris
gave birth to a baby boy, Adam D. Pearl.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A1)(SFC, 5/31/02, p.A18)
2002 Feb 21, A US CH-47E Chinook
helicopter with 10 soldiers crashed into the Mindanao Sea in the
Philippines. 3 bodies were found by local fishermen.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A17)(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 21, The Colombia Air
Force dropped 1,500 and 500 pound bombs on FARC rebel sites.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 21, Israeli tanks and
troops pushed into Gaza City and destroyed a broadcast facility. 6
Palestinians were reported killed. Yasser Arafat repeated a call to
halt violence and his security forces arrested 3 suspects in the Oct 17
assassination of Israeli Cabinet minister Zeevi. PM Sharon called for
buffer zones and the disarming of Palestinians.
(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A1)(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A9)(WSJ,
2/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 21, In Nepal the army
killed 48 guerrillas and the parliament extended the state of emergency
by 3 months.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 21, Sri Lanka approved a
Norwegian long-term cease-fire plan already approved by Tamil Tiger
rebels.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A13)
2003 Feb 21, Michael Jordan became
the first 40-year-old in NBA history to score 40 or more points,
getting 43 in the Washington Wizards' 89-86 win over the New Jersey
Nets.
(AP, 2/21/04)
2003 Feb 21, An explosion
rocked a Mobil oil refinery on the edge of Staten Island and 2 workers
were killed.
(AP, 2/21/03)
2003 Feb 21, The owners of The
Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., where 100 people perished in a
fast-moving fire the night before, denied giving the rock band Great
White permission to use fireworks blamed for setting off the blaze,
although the band's singer insisted the use of pyrotechnics had been
approved.
(AP, 2/21/04)
2003 Feb 21, Chief UN
inspector Hans Blix ordered Baghdad to begin destroying dozens of
illegal missiles and their components by March 1.
(AP, 2/22/03)(SFC, 2/22/03, A1)
2003 Feb 21, It was
reported that Iraq had recently begun shipping large quantities of oil
through its Khor al Amaya port.
(WSJ, 2/21/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 21, Israeli troops
killed 2 Islamic militants during separate attempts to attack an army
post and a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 2/21/03)
2003 Feb 21, In Peru police
arrested a prominent coca farming leader as protests in rural Peru
against the eradication of coca, the base ingredient in cocaine, moved
into their 4th day.
(AP, 2/21/03)
2003 Feb 21, Spain's PM
Jose Maria Aznar arrived in Texas for a meeting with Pres. Bush.
(WSJ, 2/21/03, p.A8)
2004 Feb 21, The Mississippi was
closed near New Orleans following a ship collision that left 5 crewmen
lost.
(WSJ, 2/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 21, In Albania some 6-20
thousand people marched in Tirana in opposition to PM Fatos Nano and
his Socialist-led government.
(SSFC, 2/22/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 21, Colombian troops
clashed with leftist rebels and outlawed paramilitaries in separate
offensives, killing 38 fighters. Ten soldiers were also killed.
(AP, 2/23/04)
2004 Feb 21, in northern Honduras
the disfigured body of a young man was found along with a message
threatening the Honduran president. The discovery marks the 10th such
slaying apparently carried about by gangs protesting a government
crackdown.
(AP, 2/23/04)
2004 Feb 21, Iran's hard-line
Islamic rulers claimed that voters dealt reformers a decisive blow with
a strong turnout in disputed parliament elections, but partial returns
suggested the pro-reform boycott had an impact.
(AP, 2/21/04)
2004 Feb 21, The International Red
Cross visited former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was in U.S.
custody.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2004 Feb 21, In northern Uganda
LRA rebels attacked a refugee camp, torching homes and gunning people
down as they fled. At least 192 people were killed, some perishing in
the flames of their own homes.
(AP, 2/22/04)(WSJ, 6/28/04, p.A10)
2005 Feb 21, In Brussels President
Bush appealed to Europe to move beyond animosities over Iraq and join
forces in encouraging democratic reforms across the Middle East. He
also prodded Russia to reverse a crackdown on political dissent,
demanded that Iran end its nuclear ambitions and told Syria to get out
of Lebanon.
(AP, 2/21/05)(SFC, 2/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 21, The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention launched a campaign to make doctors and
parents aware of the need of early diagnosis for autism. Children can
be diagnosed as early as 18 months old.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 21, The new Atomic
Testing Museum opened in Las Vegas.
(www.ntshf.org/)
2005 Feb 21, Heavy storms in
California left 3 people dead.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 21, S. Ernest Vandiver
Jr., former Georgia governor (1959-1963), died.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.B7)
2005 Feb 21, The British
government said same-sex partners will be able to enter into civil
unions from December, joining gays in parts of Europe and the United
States in obtaining many of the rights enjoyed by married people.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, A Chinese newspaper
reported that the China Construction Bank is investigating the
disappearance of $8 million, in the latest big embezzlement case to hit
the country's scandal-ridden state banks.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Colombia deadly
weekend attacks left 9 people dead as rebels blacked out towns, shut
down a highway, blew up a hotel and shattered notions that the nation's
main insurgent group was on its knees.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Colombia 8
civilians including 3 young children and a teenage girl were massacred
near Apartado. A former mayor and a priest later blamed government
troops for the massacre. UN officials later called for an investigation.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Feb 21, Ecuador opened the
door to a U.N. probe into President Lucio Gutierrez's dismissal of the
country's Supreme Court after the UN made a rare public appeal for an
investigation.
(Reuters, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, Over 500 people
rallied in Cairo to protest against a new term in office for Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak and against moves to enable his son Gamal to
succeed him.
(AFP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Indonesia a
30-foot-tall heap of garbage collapsed onto a neighborhood near the
West Java town of Bandung, killing at least 19 people and crushing
dozens of houses.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Iraq a roadside
bomb in southwestern Baghdad killed 3 US soldiers.
(SFC, 2/22/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 21, Israel freed 500
Palestinian prisoners in a goodwill gesture.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, Kyodo News said that
Japan's Princess Aiko, the 3-year-old daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito
and his wife, will be next in line for the Chrysanthemum Throne after
her father.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, An official said
avalanches and slides triggered by heavy weekend snowfall in India's
portion of Kashmir had killed at least 249 people.
(AP, 2/21/05)(AFP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 21, Former Presidents
Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush wrapped up their tour of
tsunami-ravaged nations with a visit to the Maldives.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2005 Feb 21, North Korea’s Kim
told a visiting Chinese envoy that he is willing to return to 6-country
talks if the US demonstrates its sincerity.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 21, PM Lee Hsien Loong
said Singapore will lower personal income tax, reduce spending and aim
for a modest surplus in its US$18.13 billion 2005 budget.
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 21, In Sierra Leone an
Australian investigator for a U.N.-backed war-crimes tribunal was
convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who sought a job as
a nanny in his household.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, The Arab League chief
said that Syria will "soon" take steps to withdraw its army from
Lebanese areas in accordance with a 1989 agreement. Tens of thousands
of opposition supporters shouted insults at Syria and demanded the
resignation of their pro-Syrian government in a Beirut demonstration.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 21, Togo Lawmakers
amended the constitution to allow for elections within 60 days, but
left the West African nation's military-appointed ruler in power in the
interim despite intensifying pressure at home and abroad.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2006 Feb 21, Pres. Bush said he
would veto any legislation blocking a deal for a state-owned company in
Dubai to manage port terminals in US cities. Bush was not aware of the
pending sale of the port operations until after aides approved the deal.
(SFC, 2/22/06, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/23/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 21, The US Supreme Court
ruled that federal narcotics do not trump the religious expression
rights of a Brazilian-based sect that uses a hallucinogenic tea in a
sacrament. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, with some
130 members in the US, had filed suit after federal authorities
intercepted a shipment of hoasca, whose ingredients included a
hallucinogenic plant, and threatened prosecution.
(WSJ, 2/22/06, p.A6)
2006 Feb 21, US federal courts in
Ohio charged 3 men, originally from Jordan and Lebanon, with conspiring
to kill US forces in Iraq.
(SFC, 2/22/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 21, In California the
execution of Michael Morales at San Quentin was put on hold after 2
anesthesiologists backed out of assuring that he would be unconscious
while dying per a requirement by US District Judge Jeremy Fogel.
(SFC, 2/23/06, p.A14)
2006 Feb 21, Stefan Eriksson (44)
was involved in the crash of a million-dollar Ferrari Enzo in northern
Malibu, Ca. In 2005 he and some partners had racked up some $400
million in losses in Gizmondo, a London-based subsidiary of Tiger
Telematics, that was developing a handheld gaming device. Prior to
Gizmondo Eriksson had served time in a Swedish prison for
counterfeiting. Eriksson was arrested on April 8 for failing to make
payments on 3 cars worth $3.5 million. On Nov 7 Eriksson was sentenced
to 3 years in prison for embezzlement and gun possession.
(SSFC, 4/9/06, p.A1)(SFC, 4/10/06, p.A2)(SFC,
11/8/06, p.A4)
2006 Feb 21, New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art and Italy signed a deal under which it will
return antiquities Italy says were looted in exchange for long-term
loans of other artifacts.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, Lawrence Summers,
former US Treasury Secretary, announced his resignation as president of
Harvard Univ. effective at the end of the academic year.
(SFC, 2/22/06, p.A2)(WSJ, 2/22/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 21, Google announced that
it hired Dr. Larry Brilliant (61) as executive director of Google.org,
a charitable effort funded by some $1 billion.
(SFC, 2/22/06, p.C1)
2006 Feb 21, Taser Intl. said it
is working to deliver electricity to the human body using 12-guage
shotgun shells. Test models of the XREP reached 100 feet. The US
military challenged the company to extend the range to 330 feet.
(SFC, 2/22/06, p.A2)
2006 Feb 21, Donald Herbert (44),
a brain-injured Buffalo, N.Y., firefighter who suddenly spoke after
nearly a decade in a near-vegetative state, died.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2006 Feb 21, The Chinese
government issued a plan with promises to spend more on schools, health
care and aid for farmers in the poor countryside, where communist
leaders worry about potentially explosive unrest over poverty and other
problems.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, The commander of
Colombia's army, Gen. Reinaldo Castellanos, resigned amid a scandal in
which 21 soldiers were allegedly beaten, branded or sexually assaulted
by their superiors.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, Greek seamen extended
until early Friday a rolling strike that has shut down ports since last
week, causing food and fuel supply problems and halting many exports.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, Tests confirmed H5N1
in three birds found dead in Hungary, making the country the seventh EU
nation with an outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, In Iraq a car bomb
exploded on a street packed with shoppers in a Shiite area of Baghdad,
killing 22 people and wounding 28. Elsewhere 8 other Iraqis were killed.
(AP, 2/21/06)(WSJ, 2/22/06, p.A1)
2006 Feb 21, Japan's trade
minister arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao,
the highest-level contact between the two countries since relations
soured last October.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, Kazakhstan's
intelligence agency said that five of its employees were among the six
arrested suspects in the Feb 11 murder of Altynbek Sarsenbayev, a
leader of the opposition Nagyz Ak Zhol party.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, In Cancun, Mexico,
Domenico Ianiero, 59, and his wife, Annunziata, 55, of Woodbridge,
Ont., were found in their hotel rooms at the all-inclusive five-star
resort on the Mayan Riviera in the early morning. Their throats had
been slashed. The crime apparently took place after a rehearsal dinner
ahead of a wedding in which the Lily, one of the Ianieros' twin girls,
was to be married at the resort. Prosecutors in Cancun said two
Canadian women were suspected in the killing and had fled to Canada.
(CP, 2/22/06)
2006 Feb 21, Christian mobs
rampaged through the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha, burning mosques
and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence that
followed deadly protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad
over the weekend.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, In Pakistan 11
Islamic militants were sentenced to death for an assassination attempt
on a Pakistani army general that killed 10 people in 2004.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, Hamas presented its
choice for Palestinian prime minister. Ismail Haniyeh (43), a pragmatic
former university administrator, and the Islamic militant group reached
out to other factions, including Fatah, to join a broad-based Cabinet
that might stand a chance of gaining international approval.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, In Peru Miguel Toledo
(36), a nephew of Pres. Alejandro Toledo, was given a four-year
suspended sentence on charges he drugged and raped a 22-year-old woman
in 2004.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2006 Feb 21, Portugal's President
Jorge Sampaio was granted honorary citizenship of East Timor as he
began a three-day official trip to the former Portuguese colony.
(AFP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, The weekly Nash
Region became the second Russian newspaper in a week to shut down amid
heightened sensitivities about portrayals of Muhammad.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, It was reported that
the Stockholm chapter of the biker gang Hell's Angels is being
investigated for fraud after police found 70 percent of members were
certified as depressed by the same doctor and were getting state
sickness benefits.
(Reuters, 2/21/06)
2007 Feb 21, The government
reported that US consumer prices jumped in January, a week after
Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned that inflation remains the
central bank's top concern.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Mayor Newsom and
Philip Mangano, the government’s head of homelessness, announced that
SF had received $19.7 million in federal funds to help fight
homelessness.
(SFC, 2/22/07, p.B1)
2007 Feb 21, The SF Police
Commission approved a computerized system to track problematic behavior
by police officers.
(SFC, 2/22/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 21, Food retailer Asda,
owned by US group Wal-Mart, said it would create 8,000 jobs and build
18 new supermarkets across Britain this year.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, PM Tony Blair said
Britain will withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the coming
months and aims to further cut its 7,100-strong contingent by late
summer if Iraqi forces can secure the country's south.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Ottawa took the first
step to end a strike by Canadian National Railway workers that has
spurred demands for government intervention by a chorus of shippers as
well as an internecine union battle.
(Reuters, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, A land mine killed
five Colombian soldiers after a patrol chasing leftist rebels stumbled
in to a mine field.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Costa Rica an
American senior citizen (70) killed an alleged mugger with his bare
hands. His traveling companions aboard a tour bus fended off two other
assailants in the Atlantic coast city of Limon. The tourists left on
their Carnival cruise ship after the incident and authorities did not
plan to press charges against them.
(AP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 21, Denmark’s PM
Rasmussen said that his country will withdraw its 460-member contingent
from southern Iraq by August and transfer security responsibilities to
Iraqi forces.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Security officials
said Egyptian border and security authorities had arrested 23
Palestinians and Egyptians in the Sinai region, including one who was
wearing an explosives belt and had crossed from Gaza to Egypt in an
underground tunnel.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Ethiopia the UN
humanitarian office said that 684 people have died in a diarrhea
epidemic and that neighboring countries were also affected. Ethiopia’s
government has refused to declare the phenomenon as a cholera epidemic,
preferring to refer to it as "acute watery diarrhea."
(AFP, 2/22/07)
2007 Feb 21, Europol said Police
in seven European countries have broken up a network that carried out
more than 200 carefully choreographed armed robberies of jewelry
stores, and channeled $53 million in loot into drugs and real estate.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Nobel Peace Prize
winner Rigoberta Menchu announced that she will run for the presidency
of Guatemala in the country's September elections, a move likely fuel
talk about an Indian resurgence in Latin American politics.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, India said it has
banned the export to Iran of all material, equipment and technology
which could contribute to Tehran's nuclear program.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, India and Pakistan
signed a deal to reduce the risk of a nuclear arms accident in a show
of cooperation and defiance against terror attacks that killed 68
people from both countries.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, A suicide car bomber
struck a police checkpoint in the Shiite city of Najaf, killing at 13
people in the spiritual heartland of the militia factions led by
Muqtada al-Sadr. A car bomb in the western Baghdad district of Bayya
killed at least two and injured 31. Later, a car bomb in the
neighborhood killed at least three people. The area is mixed between
Sunni and Shiites. PM Nouri al-Maliki fired a top Sunni official who
had called for an international investigation into the rape allegations
leveled by a Sunni Arab woman against three members of the
Shiite-dominated security forces. A tank truck carrying chlorine
exploded killing 3 people and wounding at least 25. In Ramadi a
six-hour battle broke out after insurgents armed with rocket-propelled
grenades attacked US troops from nearby buildings. A Marine spokesman
said 12 insurgents were killed and there were no civilian casualties
reported. Iraqi authorities said the dead included women and children.
(AP, 2/21/07)(AFP, 2/22/07)(SFC, 2/22/07, p.A10)(AP,
2/23/07)
2007 Feb 21, Israeli troops
fatally shot a West Bank leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group who
was involved in an attempted bombing near Tel Aviv. 93.6 RAM FM began
broadcasting 20 independent news bulletins a day from studios in
Jerusalem and the West Bank to a target audience of half a million
English-speakers on both sides of the divide in the Holy Land.
(AFP, 2/20/07)(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Italy Premier
Romano Prodi stepped down following an embarrassing parliamentary
defeat of his government's proposed foreign policy program. His
center-left government had been in power for just 9 months.
(AP, 2/22/07)(SFC, 2/22/07, p.A3)
2007 Feb 21, The Bank of Japan
voted to raise interest rates by a quarter of a point to 0.5%.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.85)
2007 Feb 21, Lebanese
anti-aircraft guns fired at Israeli warplanes over southern Lebanon,
indicating that Lebanon's army is taking a new assertiveness toward
Israel.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, At a regional meeting
in Libya the leaders of Sudan and Chad said they agreed to redouble
efforts to end violence spilling over their border from Darfur.
(Reuters, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Human Rights Watch
condemned Malaysia's plan to introduce tough laws that curb the
movements of migrant employees and allow employers "to lock up workers."
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Montenegro police
arrested Smail Tulja (67) in his home in Montenegro's capital,
Podgorica, on an international arrest warrant that the authorities
received from FBI and Interpol agents. He was wanted for the killing
and dismemberment of an elderly woman in New York City in 1990 and is
also suspected in similar slayings of women throughout Europe.
(AP, 2/22/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Nigeria a Lebanese
hostage abducted along with three Italians in southern Nigeria was
freed after being held for more than 10 weeks. MEND said the men
guarding Saliba had been bribed to allow his escape. Two of the
Italians abducted with Saliba were still being held by MEND. The third
was freed on January 18 because of health problems. Gunmen killed two
soldiers and wounded a third in the southern Niger delta.
(AFP, 2/21/07)(AP, 2/22/07)(AFP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 21, Finance Minster
Alexei Kudrin said that a new domestic offering for shares in Russia's
largest state-controlled bank had brought in $8.8 billion.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Seven Saudis released
from the US prison in Guantanamo Bay returned home and were promptly
detained to see if they had terrorist connections.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Somalia gunmen
fatally shot two local government officials in Mogadishu.
(AP, 2/22/07)
2007 Feb 21, South Africa's
finance minister painted an upbeat picture of the economy, forecasting
five-percent annual growth to the end of the decade as he posted the
first budget surplus in recent memory. Two people were arrested over
the theft of jewelry worth more than 500,000 dollars from the home of
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of South Africa's
anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, Thailand police said
suspected Islamic separatists had set ablaze Thailand's biggest rubber
warehouse and shot dead four people in fresh attacks across the
Muslim-majority southern provinces. A top economic aide to ousted PM
Thaksin Shinawatra resigned from his position in the current
military-appointed government following sharp criticism from
pro-democracy groups.
(AFP, 2/21/07)(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 21, A 5.7 magnitude
earthquake shook southeastern Turkey. A five-story apartment building
collapsed in Istanbul, killing at least two people and injuring more
than two dozen others.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2008 Feb 21, President George W.
Bush promised US support for Liberia in its recovery from a crippling
civil war as he visited the close U.S. ally on the last stop of a
five-nation tour of Africa.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, It was reported that
the US Defense Dept. had dispersed $80 million monthly, or some $1
billion a year, for the last 6 years to Pakistan to support troops in
the tribal area along the Afghan border.
(SFC, 2/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Feb 21, Google Inc. said will
begin storing the medical records of a few thousand people as it tests
a long-awaited health service that's likely to raise more concerns
about the volume of sensitive information entrusted to the Internet
search leader.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, Ben Chapman
(1928-2008), film star, died. He played the creature in the film “The
Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954).
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.97)
2008 Feb 21, Evan Mecham (b.1924),
former Arizona Gov. (1987-1988), died. He was impeached, indicted and
subjected to a recall campaign in 1988 for misuse of state funds and
inflammatory racial opinions.
(SFC, 2/23/08, p.B5)
2008 Feb 21, In Afghanistan NATO
troops found 1.65 tons of opium, which ISAF said was worth $400
million, and a "significant quantity" of drug-making equipment. The
$400 million figure appeared to be the opium's estimated street value
once it was trafficked outside Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 21, Hans Janitschek (73),
an Austrian journalist who spent years as a UN consultant and also
served as secretary general of the Socialist International
organization, died suddenly at UN headquarters. Janitschek wrote
several political biographies, co-authored Waldheim's autobiography and
published more than a dozen books.
(AP, 3/1/08)
2008 Feb 21, Australia's new
government confirmed that it would withdraw its combat troops from Iraq
by mid-year but pledged strong ties with the United States ahead of
landmark talks this week.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, In Brazil a ferryboat
carrying more than 100 passengers collided with a barge carrying fuel
tanks and sank to the bottom of the Amazon River. At least 14 people
died. 92 people were rescued by several small boats and the state's
floating police station.
(AP, 2/22/08)
2008 Feb 21, In London Steve
Wright (49) was found guilty of murdering five prostitutes in a killing
spree which brought terror to the English market town of Ipswitch in
2006.
(AFP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, In Burkina Faso some
200 people were arrested following a 2-day protest against rising
living costs which ended in violent clashes.
(AFP, 2/26/08)
2008 Feb 21, Chinese state media
said authorities are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of the
country's most polluted lakes, and after their diet of toxins they will
be sold on to consumers.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, In Iraq 4 British
soldiers were wounded near their base outside the southern city of
Basra, an attack the Iraqi police described as a roadside bomb
explosion that targeted a British patrol.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, A magnitude-6.2
earthquake, the largest ever recorded on Norwegian territory, hit off
the Arctic Svalbard islands, the national seismic monitoring center
said. No casualties or damage were reported.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, In Serbia protesters,
outraged at US support for Kosovo, stormed the US Embassy in Belgrade
and set part of it on fire. Zoran Vujovic (21) died in the fire and 150
people were injured. Police arrested almost 200 rioters involved in the
protests.
(SSFC, 2/24/08, p.A4)(WSJ, 2/25/08, p.A1)
2008 Feb 21, In South Korea a
special prosecutor cleared Pres.-elect Lee Myung-bak of financial fraud
allegations.
(SFC, 2/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Feb 21, Turkish troops
launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of
separatist Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 2/22/08)
2008 Feb 21, In Venezuela a plane
carrying 46 people crashed in the western mountains, 6 miles from the
airport in the Andean city of Merida. All aboard were believed killed.
(AP, 2/22/08)
2009 Feb 21, President Barack
Obama ordered the US Treasury to implement tax cuts for 95 percent of
Americans, fulfilling a campaign pledge he hopes will help jolt the
economy out of recession.
(Reuters, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, The US postal service
released a set of six 42-cent stamps honoring a dozen early civil
rights activists.
(SFC, 2/21/09, p.A4)
2009 Feb 21, The Journal Register
Co., a Yardley, Pa.-based company, filed for bankruptcy protection. The
company owned 2o daily and 159 nondaily newspapers with some 3,500
employees.
(SSFC, 2/22/09, p.A8)
2009 Feb 21, In Afghanistan a
battle outside Kandahar killed at least six Taliban fighters. Fighting
continued into the next day. An airstrike against militants in Helmand
province killed 8.
(AP, 2/22/09)
2009 Feb 21, In India Sivaprakasam
(60), a former civil servant, burned himself to death in Tamil Nadu to
protest Sri Lanka’s campaign against the Tamil Tiger rebels. His was
the 5th Tamil Nadu suicide by fire this year.
(Econ, 2/28/09, p.46)
2009 Feb 21, In western Indonesia
a Sumatran tiger mauled two illegal loggers to death, bringing to 5 the
number of people killed by the critically endangered cats in less than
a month.
(AP, 2/22/09)
2009 Feb 21, Iraq's infamous Abu
Ghraib prison reopened as the Baghdad Central Prison, with official
promises of humane treatment in a lockup notorious as a center for
abuse, both under Saddam Hussein and the US military.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, In Ireland around
100,000 people filled the streets of Dublin in protest at the
government's handling of the country's economic crisis.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, Jamaican regulators
said they are forbidding all explicit references to sex and violence
over the airwaves. The announcement followed a Feb. 6 ban that
specifically targeted dancehall tunes and videos depicting "daggering,"
a dance style popular among Jamaican youth that features pelvic
grinding simulating sex.
(AP, 2/22/09)
2009 Feb 21, In Kashmir two men
were killed when soldiers opened fire after a group of Kashmiri youths
hurled stones at them and chanted anti-India slogans. On March 21 the
Indian army said it would punish three soldiers for their role in the
shooting.
(AFP, 3/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, Two rockets were
fired from south Lebanon at Israel, with one slamming into a mostly
Christian Arab village and causing minor injuries to at least one
Israeli. Israel responded by firing at least 6 shells on a village in
the area where the rockets had been launched.
(AP, 2/21/09)(SSFC, 2/22/09, p.A5)
2009 Feb 21, In Mexico assailants
in an SUV hurled two grenades at a police station in the Pacific resort
town of Zihuatanejo, wounding one officer and four civilians. Teenagers
stoned a 22-year-old man to death in Tuxtla Gutierrez because they
believed he had stolen a cell phone and a bicycle from one of their
friends.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, In central Nigeria
rioters burned homes, churches and mosques, when violence flared after
Muslims parked their cars in front of a church in Bauchi. The clashes
followed an argument between Christians and Muslims the previous day.
Authorities in northern Nigeria have deployed troops and imposed a
curfew following clashes between Christians and Muslims which left at
least 11 people dead.
(AP, 2/21/09)(AFP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 21, A Pakistani official
said that the Taliban and the Pakistani government had agreed to a
"permanent cease-fire" in the restive northwest Swat Valley. A roadside
bomb apparently targeted an oil tanker headed to NATO troops in
Afghanistan. The remote-controlled bomb killed one person and wounded
two others near the Landi Kotal area. The Taliban had been engineering
a class revolt for years by exploiting fissures between a small group
of wealthy landlords and their landless tenants.
(AP, 2/21/09)(WSJ, 4/16/09, p.A4)
2009 Feb 21, A few hundred Russian
opposition sympathizers held an anti-Kremlin rally in central Moscow
demanding the resignation of the government. Former chess champion
Garry Kasparov and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov addressed the
crowd from a truck.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, In Russia assailants
with automatic rifles blocked a car of 2 bank employees on a highway in
Tula province south of Moscow and stole about 43 million rubles ($1.2
million; euro 940,000) in cash at gunpoint. The bank employees, a
cashier and a driver, were traveling in a Toyota with no armed escort
despite the large amount of cash.
(AP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 21, In central Slovakia a
train collided with a bus, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others
near the town of Brezno.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, A South Korean
housewife broke a world record in marathon singing after crooning for
more than 76 hours without stopping at a Seoul karaoke bar.
(AFP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, In eastern Sri Lanka
a group of Tamil rebels stormed a village, killing two ethnic Sinhalese
farmers and wounding 15 others.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 21, Sudan's justice
minister said Sudan will free 24 Darfur prisoners as part of a goodwill
agreement with rebels, even as fresh reports of violence came in from
the battle-scarred region. Two Sudanese working for Aide Medicale
Internationale, a French humanitarian group in Darfur, were shot dead
in an attack that also left four people wounded. A gang of 24 men on
horses and camels ambushed the workers on a road between Kurunji and
Khor Abeshe in South Darfur.
(Reuters, 2/21/09)(AFP, 2/23/09)
.Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to February 22