Today in History - February 4
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211 Feb 4,
Lucius Septimius Severus (64), emperor of Rome (193-211), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)
786 Feb 4, Harun al-Rashid
succeeded his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of
Baghdad.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1194 Feb 4, Richard I, King of
England, was freed from captivity in Austria with the payment of
Leopold VI's ransom of 100,000
(HN, 2/4/99)(ON, 8/07, p.9)
1505 Feb 4, Joan of Valois
(40), Queen of France, saint, died.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1508 Feb 4, Proclamation of
Trent. [need more data]
(HN, 2/4/99)
1515 Feb 4, Michael Radvila the
Black was born in Nesvizh. He later became palatine of Vilnius,
chancellor of Lithuania, and supporter of Reformation.
(LHC, 2/4/03)
1600 Feb 4, Tycho Brahe and
Johannes Kepler met for 1st time near Prague.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1617 Feb 4, Louis Elsevier
(~76), Dutch publisher, died.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1699 Feb 4, Czar Peter the
Great executed 350 rebellious Streltsi in Moscow.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1710 Feb 4, August II with the
support of the Russian army was recognized by the parliament in
Warsaw as King of Lithuania and Poland.
(LHC, 2/4/03)
1747 Feb 4, Tadeusz Kosciusko,
patriot, American Revolution hero (built West Point), was born in
Poland. [see 1746]
(MC, 2/4/02)
1769 Feb 4, Journalist John
Wilkes was expelled from the British Parliament.
(ON, 12/11, p.9)
1783 Feb 4, Britain declared a
formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United
States of America.
(AP, 2/4/97)
1787 Feb 4, Shay’s Rebellion,
an uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers, failed.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1789 Feb 4, Electors
unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president
of the United States and John Adams as vice-president. The results
of the balloting were not counted in the US Senate until two months
later. Washington accepted office at the Federal Building of New
York. His first cabinet included Thomas Jefferson, Alexander
Hamilton as first secretary of the Treasury, Henry Knox, and Edmund
Randolph.
(A & IP, ESM, p.10)(WSJ, 3/12/97, p.A18)(AP,
2/4/07)
1794 Feb 4, France’s First
Republic (Convention) voted for the abolition of slavery in all
French colonies. The abolition decree stated that "the Convention
declares the slavery of the Blacks abolished in all the colonies;
consequently, all men, irrespective of color, living in the colonies
are French citizens and will enjoy all the rights provided by the
Constitution." Slavery was restored by the Consulate in 1802, and
was definitively abolished in 1848 by the Second Republic, on Victor
Schoelcher’s initiative.
(www.ambafrance-uk.org/Slavery-Slavery-was-abolished-in.html)
1794 Feb 4, Slaves in Haiti won
emancipation.
(AP, 4/7/03)(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.A16)
1797 Feb 4, Earthquake in
Quito, Ecuador, some killed 40,000 people. Riobamba was destroyed.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/13061c.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/btbdc)
1801 Feb 4, John Marshall was
sworn in as chief justice of the United States.
(AP, 2/4/97)
1802 Feb 4, Mark Hopkins,
US educator, philosopher (Williams College), was born.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1809 Feb 4, Louis Braille was
born. He was blinded at age four as the result of an accident in his
father's shop. Nevertheless, he became an accomplished organist and
cellist and won a scholarship in 1819 to attend the National
Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. At age 15, Louis witnessed a
demonstration there by Charles Barbier, a soldier who had invented
"night writing," a system of letters embossed on cardboard for
silent communication along trenches. While Barbier's system was too
complex to be practical, Braille simplified and adapted it to a
six-dot code representing letters that enabled people with impaired
vision to not only read but also write for themselves. In 1827, the
first Braille book was published, but Braille himself died of
tuberculosis at age 43--before his system gained widespread
acceptance.
(HNPD, 2/4/99)
1822 Feb 4, Free American
Blacks settled Liberia, West Africa. The first group of colonists
landed in Liberia and founded Monrovia, the colony's capital city,
named in honor of President James Monroe.
(HNPD, 7/26/98)(MC, 2/4/02)
1824 Feb 4, J.W. Goodrich
introduced rubber galoshes to public.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1846 Feb 4, The first Mormons
left Nauvoo, Ill., and crossed the Mississippi River heading toward
Utah. Brigham Young, Joseph Smith’s successor, led the Mormons
overland from Nauvoo, Ill., to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Mormon
pioneer Sam Brannon gathered some 250 Mormons aboard the ship,
Brooklyn, and sailed from New York to San Francisco. [see 1847]
(SFC, 4/9/96, A-7)(SFEC, 7/21/96, DB p.29)(AH,
2/06, p.14)
1861 Feb 4, Delegates from six
southern states met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate
States of America. They included Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. They elected Jefferson Davis as
president of Confederacy.
(AP, 2/4/97)(ON, 11/00, p.1)
1861 Feb 4, Winfield Scott, US
general-in-chief, decided to relieve Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee as
commander of federal forces in Texas and bring him to Washington DC
where Lee could take command of forces guarding DC.
(ON, 12/05, p.11)
1861 Feb 4, The Apache Wars
began.
(HFA, '96, p.22)
1865 Feb 4, Robert E. Lee was
named commander-in-chief of Confederate Army.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1866 Feb 4, Mary Baker Eddy
"cured" her injuries by opening a bible.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1875 Feb 4, Ludwig Prandtl,
physicist (father of aerodynamics), was born in Germany.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1881 Feb 4, Fernand Leger
(d.1955), French painter, was born.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1881 Feb 4, Kliment J.
Woroshilov, marshal, president USSR (1953-60), was born.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1887 Feb 4, The US federal
Interstate Commerce Commission Act was passed. It was enacted to
restrict monopolies but did not have much power of enforcement. It
regulated railroads and protected farmers from fees that it judged
excessive. The US Congress designated rail a common-carrier service.
(www.classbrain.com/artteenst/publish/article_85.shtml)(SFC, 7/8/96,
p.D2)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R48)(Econ, 5/15/10, p.86)
1889 Feb 4, Harry Longabaugh
was released from Sundance Prison in Wyoming, thereby acquiring the
famous nickname, “the Sundance Kid.”
(HN, 2/4/99)
1889 Feb 4, The Panama Canal
project under Ferdinand de Lesseps (d.1894) went bankrupt. Over
5,000 French people died working on the project. In all over 25,000
people died during 8 years of work, mostly from malaria and yellow
fever.
(Econ, 2/24/07,
p.97)(www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/185.html)
1894 Feb 4, Antoine J "Adolphe"
Sax (b.1814), Belgium-born instrument maker (saxophone), died in
Paris. In 2005 Michael Segell authored ”The Devil’s Horn: The Story
of the Saxophone, From Noisy Novelty to King of Cool.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Sax)(SSFC,
10/16/05, p.M3)
1895 Feb 4, The 1st rolling
lift bridge opened in Chicago.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1899 Feb 4, After an exchange
of gunfire, fighting broke out between American troops and Filipinos
near Manila, sparking the Philippine-American War (also referred to
as the Philippine Insurrection of 1899). American soldiers
patrolling in Santa Mesa opened fire on Filipino soldiers near a
bridge over the San Juan River.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1p.1)(HN, 2/4/00)
1900 Feb 4, Jacques Prevert,
French poet, screenwriter, was born. His work included “The Visitors
of the Evening” and “The Children of Paradise.”
(HN, 2/4/01)
1902 Feb 4, Charles Lindbergh
(d.1974), the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic (1927), was
born in Detroit and grew up in Minnesota.
(HN,
2/4/99)(www.charleslindbergh.com/history/index.asp)
1904 Feb 4, MacKinlay Kantor,
novelist (Andersonville), was born in Webster City, Iowa.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1904 Feb 4, Russia offered
Korea to Japan and defended its right to occupy Manchuria.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1906 Feb 4, Clyde Tombaugh,
astronomer who discovered Pluto, was born.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1906 Feb 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(d.1945), German Protestant theologian, was born. “If you board the
wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other
direction.”
(AP, 8/27/00)(HN, 2/4/01)
1906 Feb 4, The New York Police
Department began finger print identification.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1909 Feb 4, California law
segregated Japanese and Caucasian schoolchildren.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1912 Feb 4, Erich Leinsdorf
(d.1993), conductor, was born in Vienna, Austria. Leinsdorf earned a
reputation for exacting standards. He published books and essays on
musical matters and became a naturalized American citizen in 1942.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Leinsdorf)
1913 Feb 4, Rosa Lee Parks,
civil rights activist, was born. Her refusal to give up her seat on
a segregated bus in Alabama started the Civil Rights Movement.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1915 Feb 4, Germans decreed
British waters part of war zone; all ships were to be sunk without
warning.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1919 Feb 4, City of Bremen's
Soviet Republic was overthrown.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1920 Feb 4, The 1st flight from
London to South Africa took off and lasted 1 month.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1921 Feb 4, Betty Friedan,
writer, feminist, was born. She founded the National Organization of
Women in 1966.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1923 Feb 4, French troops took
Offenburg, Appenweier and Buhl in the Ruhr as a part of the
agreement ending World War I.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1924 Feb 4, The 1st Winter
Olympic games closed at Chamonix, France.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1925 Feb 4, Russell Hoban,
artist and writer, was born. His work included “Bedtime for Frances”
and “The Mouse and His Child.”
(HN, 2/4/01)
1931 Feb 4, Isabel Peron,
[Maria Martinez], dancer, president of Argentina, was born.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1932 Feb 4, Robert Coover,
novelist & short story writer, was born.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1932 Feb 4, New York Gov.
Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the Winter Olympic Games at Lake
Placid, N.Y.
(AP, 2/4/97)(HN, 2/4/99)
1933 Feb 4, German Pres. Von
Hindenburg limited freedom of the press.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1935 Feb 4, Martti Talvela,
operatic basso, was born in Hiitola, Karelia, Finland.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1936 Feb 4, 1st radioactive
substance, radium E, was produced synthetically.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1938 Feb 4, The Thornton Wilder
play "Our Town" opened on Broadway. [see Jan 22]
(AP, 2/4/97)
1938 Feb 4, Hitler seized
control of German army and put Nazis in key posts.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1941 Feb 4, The United Service
Organization (USO) was chartered, in order to provide recreation for
on-leave members of the US armed forces and their families.
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb04.html)
1944 Feb 4, Jean Anouilh's
"Antigone," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1944 Feb 4, The Japanese
attacked the Indian Seventh Army in Burma.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1945 Feb 4-12, The Big Three,
President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta, in
the southern Ukraine.
(AP, 2/4/97)(WUD, 1994, p.1653)(HN, 2/4/99)
1946 Feb 4, Garson Kanin's
"Born Yesterday," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1947 Feb 4, Dan Quayle was born
in Indianapolis. He later became vice-president under George
H.W. Bush (1988-1992).
(DFP, 7/28/96, p.J5)(HN, 2/4/01)
1948 Feb 4, Colonial rule ended
and the island nation of Ceylon -- now Sri Lanka -- became an
independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
(SFE, 9/16/96, p.A9) (SFC, 6/20/96, p.A8)(AP,
2/4/97)
1961 Feb 4, In the Portuguese
colony of Angola fighting erupted as 3 anti-colonial guerrilla
movements battled for independence. Rebels butchered Portuguese
settlers, including women and children, on remote Angolan
plantations. In revenge, Portuguese militias and troops carried out
a vicious campaign of repression, despite pressure from the US and
UN to pull out of Africa.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A11)(AP, 12/9/07)(Econ, 9/3/11,
p.46)
1962 Feb 4, Russian newspaper
Izvestia reported baseball is an old Russian game.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1966 Feb 4, Senate Foreign
Relations Committee began televised hearings on the Vietnam War.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1966 Feb 4, Gilbert H.
Grosvenor (90), president National Geographic Society, died.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1969 Feb 4, John Madden
(b.1934) was named head coach of NFL's Oakland Raiders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Madden_(American_football))
1969 Feb 4, Al-Fatah-leader
Yasser Arafat officially took over as chairman of PLO.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1971 Feb 4, Rolls-Royce
collapsed due to rising development costs on the RB.211, the sole
powerplant selected for the Lockheed TriStar. The Conservative
nationalized the company to save it from collapse.
(http://widebodyaircraft.nl/chro1971.htm)(Econ,
1/10/09, p.11)
1972 Feb 4, In California the
Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders when Yvonne Weber (13) and Maureen
Sterling (13) were seen thumbing a lift on Guerneville Road. Their
bones were found 10 months later six miles into the hills north of
Santa Rosa. By December 1973 five more young women had disappeared
in the area. They included Kim Allen (19), Jeannette Kamahele (20),
Lori Kursa (13), Carolyn Davis (15) and Theresa Walsh (23).
(SFC, 7/7/11, p.A9)
1974 Feb 4, Newspaper heiress
Patricia Hearst (19) was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the
Symbionese Liberation Army. Her boyfriend Steven Weed was beaten.
Patty Hearst ran away to join an underground revolutionary group,
the Symbionese Liberation Front.
(TMC, 1994, p.1974)(SFC, 2/8/97, p.A7)(AP,
2/4/97)(AP, 2/4/97)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 4, Mao Tse-tung
proclaimed a new "cultural revolution" in China.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1976 Feb 4, A 7.5-7.9
earthquake hit Guatemala and Honduras. Some 23,000 Guatemalans,
mostly Mayan Indians, were killed. It destroyed 58,000 houses in the
capital and 300 villages.
(NG, 6/1988, p.785,797)(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.8)(AP,
2/4/01)(AP, 6/22/02)
1977 Feb 4, In Illinois 11
people were killed when two cars of a Chicago Transit Authority
train fell off elevated tracks after a collision with another train.
(AP, 2/4/02)
1979 Feb 4, In San Mateo, Ca.,
a robbery at the Pay Less Super Drug Store at 666 Concar Drive left
3 young employees dead. Michael Olson (23), Billy Baumgarnter (17)
and Tracy Anderson (16) were all shot in the back of the head. An
estimated $20,000 was stolen. By 2007 the case was still open with
no arrests.
(SFC, 10/23/07, p.A12)(SSFC, 6/8/08, p.B2)
1979 Feb 4, In Peru police
stormed the union held Cromotex factory in Lima. Union leader Nestor
Cerpa was jailed for a year.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A10)
1980 Feb 4, Abolhassan
Bani-Sadr was installed as president of Iran by Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1980 Feb 4, Syria withdrew its
peacekeeping force in Beirut.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1982 Feb 4, Musical "Pump Boys
& Dinettes," premiered in NYC for 573 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4161)
1982 Feb 4, President Reagan
announced a plan to eliminate all medium-range nuclear missiles in
Europe.
(AP, 2/4/02)
1983 Feb 4, Singer-musician
Karen Carpenter (32) died in Downey, Ca.
(AP, 2/4/08)
1986 Feb 4, The U.S. Post
Office issued a commemorative stamp featuring Sojourner Truth.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1987 Feb 4, Congress overrode
Pres Reagan's veto of Clean Water Act. Changes in the 1972 Act
phased out the construction grants program, replacing it with the
State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund, more commonly known as
the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
(www.epa.gov/r5water/cwa.htm)(www.agiweb.org/legis105/cwupdate.html)
1987 Feb 4, Pianist Liberace
(67) died of AIDS at his home in Palm Springs, Calif.
(AP, 2/4/97)
1988 Feb 4, Senate Republican
Leader Bob Dole twice confronted Vice President George Bush on the
floor of the Senate, accusing his GOP presidential rival of
condoning a campaign attack that amounted to "groveling in the mud."
(AP, 2/4/97)
1989 Feb 4, Soviet Foreign
Minister Eduard Shevardnadze wrapped up four days of high-level
talks in China, the first visit by a Soviet foreign minister in
three decades.
(AP, 2/4/99)
1990 Feb 4, Nine people were
killed as guerrillas attacked a bus carrying Israeli tourists near
Cairo, Egypt.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1990 Feb 4, Cheering protesters
thronged Moscow streets to demand that the Communists surrender
their stranglehold on power.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1991 Feb 4, President Bush sent
Congress a $1.45 trillion budget for fiscal 1992 containing a
deficit of $280.9 billion.
(AP, 2/4/01)
1991 Feb 4, Iranian President
Hashemi Rafsanjani offered to hold talks with Iraq and the United
States in an attempt to mediate an end to the Gulf War.
(AP, 2/4/01)
1991 Feb 4, In Cumuto,
Trinidad, Indravani Pamela Ramjattan (28), a victim of repeated
beatings, was again beaten unconscious by her husband, Alexander
Jordan (47). A week later she got 2 men, one of them her lover, to
murder Jordan. Ramjattan was convicted of murder in a 1995 trial and
sentenced to death.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.A14)
1992 Feb 4, President George
H.W. Bush defended his economic recovery plan before a National
Grocers Association meeting in Orlando, Fla. During his visit, Bush
appeared intrigued by an electronic checkout machine, leaving
reporters wondering if he'd ever seen such a device before.
(AP, 2/4/02)
1992 Feb 4, In Caracas,
Venezuela, there was a coup attempt but Lt. Col. Chavez failed to
capture the presidential Palace and was forced to surrender. He
served 2 years in prison.
(WSJ, 6/12/03, p.A10)
1993 Feb 4, A jury in Atlanta
found General Motors negligent in the fuel-tank design of a pickup
truck and awarded $105.2 million to the parents of a teen-ager
killed in a fiery 1989 crash. The negligence verdict was later
overturned, and the parents of Shannon Moseley reached an
out-of-court settlement with GM.
(AP, 2/4/03)
1994 Feb 4, The Federal Reserve
increased interest rates for the first time in five years in a
surprise announcement that triggered a huge sell-off on Wall Street;
the Fed said the move was designed to head off any recurrence of
high inflation. Alan Greenspan later admitted that the Fed acted to
"prick the bubble in the equity markets."
(AP, 2/4/99)(WSJ, 3/2/00, p.B20)
1994 Feb 4, In Khartoum, Sudan,
five armed men attacked the mosque of Ansar al-Sunna during Friday
prayers, killing 19 and injuring 26 of the worshippers.
(www.africa.upenn.edu/Newsletters/SNV_2.html)
1995 Feb 4, A standoff between
the United States and China escalated into a trade war, with each
country ordering stiff tariffs against the other.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1995 Feb 4, Patricia Highsmith
(b.1921), American born novelist, died in Switzerland. Her first
novel, “Strangers on a Train” (1950) was made into a 1951 film by
Alfred Hitchcock. In 2009 Joan Schenkar authored “The Talented Miss
Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith.”
(SSFC, 12/13/09,
p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Highsmith)
1996 Feb 4, Pres. Clinton and
Monica had their 6th sexual encounter at the White House.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A13)
1996 Feb 4, Secretary of State
Warren Christopher concluded a three-nation visit to the Balkans as
he met in Belgrade with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
(AP, 2/4/01)
1996 Feb 4, Twenty-four people
were killed when a Colombian cargo plane in Paraguay caught fire
shortly after takeoff and crashed into a suburban neighborhood.
(AP, 2/4/01)
1997 Feb 4, Pres. Clinton in
his State of the Union speech that education was his No. 1 priority
for his 2nd term.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A1) (AP, 2/4/97)
1997 Feb 4, A civil jury in
Santa Monica, Calif., found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of
his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman,
awarding $8.5 million in compensatory damages to Goldman's parents.
Six days later, the jury added $25 million in punitive damages to go
to Nicole Brown Simpson's estate and Goldman's father.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A1)(AP, 2/4/97)
1997 Feb 4, It was reported
that $68 million in gold bars, looted by the Nazis from European
central banks and stored in the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank
in New York and the Bank of England, would be frozen. Switzerland,
Sweden and other nations turned them over to the allies after WW II.
The disbursement of the gold was to be administered by the
Tripartite Commission but claims have been made that part of the
gold came from private citizens who died in the Holocaust.
(SFC, 2/4/97, p.A12)
1997 Feb 4, Investment bank
Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter announced a plan to merge for a
combined capitalization of over $20 billion. Phillip J. Purcell,
chairman and CEO of Dean Witter, became chairman and CEO of the new
company. In 2005 Purcell, faced with employee defections, announced
his retirement.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Feb 4, In Australia the
parliament voted to begin the process of becoming a republic. A
constitutional convention was planned for the fall and delegates
would decide on how to put the issue to the electorate.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Feb 4, In Bulgaria the
ex-Communists backed down and agreed to new elections in April.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Feb 4, From China it was
reported that the government was cracking down on the arts while
attempting to promote Pres. Jiang Zemin’s “spiritual civilization.”
Writer Mo Yan, author of “Ample Breasts, Fat Buttocks” was singled
out for criticism.
(SFC, 2/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Feb 4, In Columbia the
U’wa tribe blocked Occidental Petroleum from developing an oil field
on their land worth billions.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A9)
1997 Feb 4, In northeastern
Iran 2 earthquakes with aftershocks killed at least 72 people. Some
43 villages were damaged. Another quake followed the next day.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A9)(SFC, 2/6/97, p.A1)
1997 Feb 4, Two Israeli
helicopters collided at the Shaar Yeshuv kibbutz and 73 soldiers
were killed.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)(AP, 2/4/97)
1997 Feb 4, In Pakistan the
Muslim League won elections with 140 of 217 parliament seats. Nawaz
Sharif was re-elected as prime minister.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A9)(WSJ, 9/5/07, p.A4)
1997 Feb 4, In Rwanda gunmen
killed 2 human-rights monitors 180 miles southeast of Kigali. Five
UN employees were killed.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A9)
1997 Feb 4, In Serbia Milosevic
said that he would recognized the opposition victories in 14 towns.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)
1998 Feb 4, Congress voted to
name Washington National Airport after Ronald Reagan, just in time
for his 87th birthday on Feb 6.
(SFC, 2/5/98, p.A3)
1998 Feb 4, It was reported
that Berkshire Hathaway, the investment vehicle of Warren Buffet,
had accumulated 129.7 million ounces of sliver, some 20% of the
world’s supply, valued at $858.6 million.
(WSJ, 2/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 4, Alfred Mann (72),
the originator of 7 medical device and electronics companies,
announced $100 million donations to both the Univ. of Southern Cal.
and the Univ. of Cal. at Los Angeles to set up biomedical research
institutes.
(SFC, 2/5/98, p.A3)
1998 Feb 4, In Afghanistan a
5.9 earthquake hit the province of Takhar in the northeast at the
junction of the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountain ranges where hills
collapsed into each other making a huge crater. The number dead was
later reported to be 2,300 with 8,000 left homeless.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/1/98, p.A1)(AP,
2/4/99)(SFC, 3/27/02, p.A14)
1998 Feb 4, In Morocco King
Hassan II appointed Abderrahmane El Toussoufi, opposition leader of
the Socialist Union of People’s Forces, as prime minister.
(SFC, 2/5/98, p.A13)
1998 Feb 4, A North Korean
diplomat with a UN agency in Rome defected to South Korea. He
reported that North Korea executed its agricultural chief in 1997
and dozens of Communist youth league members in a purge by Kim Jong
Il.
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 4, In Rwanda Hutu
rebels slaughtered 33 people in the Ruhemgeri region.
(SFC, 2/9/98, p.A12)
1999 Feb 4, Senators at
President Clinton's impeachment trial voted to permit the showing of
portions of Monica Lewinsky's videotaped deposition.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1999 Feb 4, In NYC plainclothes
police officers fired 41 shots at Amadou Daillo (22), a Bronx street
peddler and immigrant from Guinea, who was unarmed in front of his
Bronx home. Police were searching for a rapist and Daillo was killed
with 19 gunshot wounds. Officers Kenneth Boss, Sean Carroll, Edward
McMellon and Richard Murphy were later indicted for 2nd degree
murder.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A3)(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A3)(SFC,
3/26/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 4, The 693-foot cargo
ship New Carissa ran aground in Coos Bay and began leaking oil.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 4, In China dissidents
set up 5 new branches of the banned China Democratic opposition
political party.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A13)
1999 Feb 4, Gravely ill with
lymphatic cancer, Jordan's King Hussein left the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minn., and was flown home.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1999 Feb 4, The Mexican
government revealed a new high-tech strategy against drug
trafficking.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 4, Pres. Estrada
signed a document as “Jose Velarde” to withdraw $10 million from an
undeclared account. In 2000 Clarissa Ocampo, vice president of
Equitable Bank, testified to the false papers before an impeachment
court.
(SFC, 12/23/00, p.A12)
1999 Feb 4, In the Philippines
Leo Echegaray, a house painter convicted of raping his 10-year
stepdaughter, was executed by lethal injection. It was the first
execution there in 23 years.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 4, Russian astronauts
on Mir attempted to deploy a fan-like mirror made of plastic and
coated with aluminum for an 18 hour test. The test failed and
another attempt was planned. They failed again and abandoned the
test.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A23)(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A7)(WSJ,
2/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 4, From South Africa
it was reported that a $650 flame-thrower, invented by Charl
Flourie, was available for installation on cars to protect against
carjackers.
(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A11)
2000 Feb 4, Lynette Cole, Miss
Tennessee, won the Miss USA pageant.
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A4)
2000 Feb 4, Delta Air Lines
said it would provide new PCs and Internet access to its 72,000
employees at $12 per month over 3 years.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 4, Former House
Speaker Carl Albert died in McAlester, Oklahoma, at age 91.
(AP, 2/4/01)
2000 Feb 4, Singer Doris
Kenner-Jackson of the Shirelles died in Goldsboro, North Carolina,
at age 58.
(AP, 2/4/01)
2000 Feb 4, In Austria the new
governing coalition took power and triggered diplomatic sanctions
and protests. President Thomas Klestil swore in a coalition
government that included Joerg Haider’s far-right Freedom Party, a
development which triggered European Union sanctions.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A10)(AP,
2/4/01)
2000 Feb 4, Russians forces
began bombing Katyr Yurt after Chechen rebels arrived from Grozny.
The bombing lasted for 2 days, well after the rebels fled, and at
least 170 civilians were killed. Later reports said 343 refugees
were killed.
(SFC, 2/15/00, p.A13)(WSJ, 3/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 4, In southern Lebanon
Israeli forces attacked targets for the 7th straight day. A
guerrilla commander and 7 civilians were killed.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Feb 4, In Russia former
Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov dropped out of the presidential
race.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A10)
2001 Feb 4, In the NHL All-Star
game, the North America team beat the World squad 14-to-12. In the
Pro Bowl, the AFC defeated the NFC, 38-to-17.
(AP, 2/4/02)
2001 Feb 4, Phillips Petroleum
and Tosco boards approved a Phillips acquisition valued at $7
billion.
(SFC, 2/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 4, In France Iannis
Xenakis, composer and mathematician, died at age 78. He is credited
with having invented “stochastic music” based on mathematical
probability systems. His work included the percussion ensemble
piece: “The Pleiades.”
(SFC, 2/5/01, p.A21)
2001 Feb 4, In Russia Dr.
Kenneth Gluck, a member of Doctors Without Borders, turned up in
good health after being kidnapped in Chechnya 27 days earlier.
(SFC, 2/5/01, p.A9)
2001 Feb 4, In Spain a crowd of
10-40 thousand marched in Barcelona to protest a tough new against
illegal immigrants.
(SFC, 2/5/01, p.A8)
2002 Feb 4, Pres. Bush released
his $2.13 trillion budget plan for the coming federal year. It
included a 12% increase in military spending and cuts in highway and
job training.
(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A1)(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 4, The World Economic
Forum concluded five days of meetings in New York.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2002 Feb 4, Former Enron
chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lay resigned from the board,
cutting his last tie to the company beyond stock ownership.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2002 Feb 4, A New Jersey
teenager (16) began a 2-day shooting spree on the outskirts of
Philadelphia that left 6 people dead. He was arrested Feb 22.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 4, The CIA believed
that it killed a top al Qaeda official with a Hellfire missile,
Predator aerial drone, near Zawar Kili, Afghanistan. 7 al Qaeda
members were killed. At least some of those killed were innocent
villagers. At Zhawara 3 local villagers were killed while looking
for scrap metal.
(WSJ, 2/7/02, p.A1)(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A18)(SFC,
2/11/02, p.A10)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A16)(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A18)(SSFC,
7/21/02, p.A14)
2002 Feb 4, In Afghanistan
northern militia factions agreed to withdraw from Mazar-e-Sharif and
create a new joint security force.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A8)
2002 Feb 4, In Havana, Cuba,
Pres. Fox of Mexico met with 7 prominent dissidents.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Feb 4, An 8-year
corruption investigation of Elf Aquitaine, a French oil firm
privatized in 1994, ended with 40 people implicated.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A6)
2002 Feb 4, Israeli PM Peres
said Iran had put elite forces into Lebanon and had supplied
Hezbollah with 10,000 rockets with ranges of 13-44 miles.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A10)
2002 Feb 4, In the Gaza Strip 5
Palestinians were killed when their car exploded. Israeli military
said the men were carrying an explosive device that went off early.
5 Palestinians died in a Gaza helicopter attack.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A5)(WSJ, 2/5/02, p.A1)
2003 Feb 4, Pres. Bush visited
the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he led a tribute to the
lost crew of the shuttle Columbia and rededicated the nation to
space travel.
(AP, 2/4/04)
2003 Feb 4, Jerome Hines (81),
opera singer died in New York.
(AP, 2/4/04)
2003 Feb 4, Beauty pageant
organizers stripped Miss Brazil of her title after they discovered
she was married. Joseane Oliveira (21) was replaced by first
runner-up Taiza Thomsen (21).
(AP, 2/5/03)
2003 Feb 4, A rare television
interview with Saddam Hussein aired in which the Iraqi leader
charged that US claims of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons
in his country were a pretext to seize Iraq's oil fields.
(AP, 2/4/04)
2003 Feb 4, In central Pakistan
fireworks being loaded into shipping containers caught fire, setting
off a series of powerful explosions that killed at least 17 people,
including two children, and injured dozens.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2003 Feb 4, The United Nations
indicted 32 people, including 15 Indonesian soldiers, on allegations
they tortured and killed East Timorese during the country's bloody
split from Indonesia in 1999.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2003 Feb 4, Venezuela's
government suggested a referendum on his rule later this year as a
way out of the country's political crisis.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2003 Feb 4, Yugoslavia's
parliament transformed the federation into a loose union between
Montenegro and Serbia and retired the name "Yugoslavia."
(WSJ, 2/5/03, p.A1)
2004 Feb 4, The US Senate,
rattled by a ricin attack, began returning to regular business with
no illnesses reported.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2004 Feb 4, John Ashcroft
joined security chiefs from 32 nations at a Bali anti-terrorism
conference.
(WSJ, 2/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 4, A Massachusetts
advisory opinion of the state Supreme Court said gay couples had the
right to marry.
(WSJ, 2/5/04, p.A4)
2004 Feb 4, Hilda Hilst (73),
who provoked Brazilian readers with fiction and poetry depicting
insanity, the supernatural and erotica, died.
(AP, 2/4/04)
2004 Feb 4, In Sierra Leone
Pres. Ahmed Tejah Kabbah and international sponsors declared a
successful end to disarmament, closing a final chapter in an 11-year
war that was one of the modern world's most vicious.
(AP, 2/4/04)
2005 Feb 4, Kevin Shelley
resigned as California’s secretary of state amidst allegations of
questionable fund raising and misuse of federal voting funds.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 4, John and Linda
Dollar, a Florida couple accused of torturing and starving five
adopted children, were captured in southeastern Utah.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 4, Boeing said
Ethiopian Airlines plans to acquire up to 10 of Boeing Co.'s new
787s at an overall cost of about $1.3 billion.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, It was reported
that California’s mysterious explosion of autism cases increased by
13% in 2004. State services for autism had increased from some 5,000
in 1993 to 26,000 in 2004. The US federal Dept. of Education
reported that autism in schoolchildren increased 1,700% nationally
from 1992 to 2002.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 4, Ossie Davis (87),
an actor distinguished for roles dealing with racial injustice on
stage, screen and in real life, was found dead in his hotel room in
Miami. He was best known as the husband and partner of actress Ruby
Dee.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Brazil’s annual
pre-Lenten Carnival got under way. It's long been an open secret
that Rio's annual samba parade is largely funded by the kingpins of
an illegal numbers game known here as the "jogo do bicho,"
Portuguese for animal game.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 4, Guatemala's highest
court said it cannot try soldiers charged with participating in a
wartime massacre of more than 300 civilians until a separate court
determines if the country's postwar reconciliation law bars such
prosecution.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Diplomats said Iran
has agreed to give the UN nuclear watchdog agency a fresh look at a
military complex linked by the US to possible atomic arms research.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Gunmen seized
Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist in central Baghdad, in a hail
of gunfire after she had been interviewing people who fled the US
assault last year on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Sgrena was freed a month later; however, an Italian agent who'd
secured her release was killed by U.S. gunfire at a checkpoint.
(AP, 2/4/05)(AP, 2/4/06)
2005 Feb 4, Japan confirmed its
1st human death from mad-cow disease. It was suspected that the man
died as a result of beef he consumed in England around 1989.
(WSJ, 2/7/05, p.A16)
2005 Feb 4, In Nepal dozens of
paramilitary police raided an underground political meeting and
rounded up a group of party officials, days after the king seized
power and banned public gatherings.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, The Nigerian army
quelled a demonstration at one of Nigeria's main oil export
terminals, while activists accused the soldiers of killing four
protesters.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, Russia lashed out
at Britain after an independent TV channel there aired an interview
with Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, saying the broadcast
amounted to terrorist propaganda and calling for an investigation.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, A Swiss-based group
said Arab tribes in northern Sudan have freed 880 slaves during the
past two weeks and allowed them to returned to southern Sudan.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, The Ukraine
Parliament unanimously approved fiery opposition leader Yulia
Tymoshenko as PM, along with her government's new program to raise
living standards, tackle corruption and set Ukraine on a westward
course.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 4, A Ukraine
intelligence official said secret indictments and arrests have taken
place against at least 6 arms dealers accused of selling nuclear
capable missiles to China and Iran.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.A5)
2005 Feb 4, The UN vowed to
discipline two officials implicated in a report that detailed
conflicts of interest and flawed management in the U.N. oil-for-food
program. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will discipline Benon Sevan
and another UN official, Joseph Stephanides, who may have "tainted"
bidding for an oil-for-food contract,
(AP, 2/4/05)
2006 Feb 4, In Arkansas Jacob
D. Robida (18) shot himself after he killed a Gassville police
officer and a woman in his car. Robida died the next day. 2 days
earlier Robida had used a hatchet and a gun to attack 3 patrons at a
gay bar in Mass.
(AP, 2/3/06)(AP, 2/5/06)(SFC, 2/8/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 4, In Southern
California nearly 2,000 inmates rioted at the Castaic North County
Correctional Facility, throwing mattresses and banging heads against
bunk beds, in an uproar that officials said stemmed from racial
tensions. One inmate was killed.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 4, Betty Friedan (85),
feminist crusader and author of “The Feminine Mystique” (1963), died
at her home in Washington. In 1966 she co-founded the National
organization for Women (NOW).
(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.A6)(Econ, 2/11/06, p.82)
2006 Feb 4, About 250 Afghan
forces fought more than 200 rebels in the area's fiercest fighting
in months. At least 19 people were killed in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
(AP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 4, In Afghanistan a
land mine ripped through a police vehicle, killing six officers and
wounding four in Kandahar.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 4, In Sao Paulo,
Brazil, thousands of fans surged through security barriers at an
autograph session for a wildly popular Mexican band, leaving three
people crushed to death and 38 injured.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 4, Dumarsais Simeus
(65), a presidential candidate whose name was dropped from the
ballot despite two Haitian Supreme Court rulings, said the interim
president, the prime minister and the electoral council should be
jailed.
(AP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 4, Indian airport
workers called off a four-day anti-privatization strike that had
created chaos at the nation's airports after the government promised
them job security.
(AP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 4, The ISNA news
agency reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
ordered the cancellation of economic contracts with countries where
the media have carried cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
(AFP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 4, The UN nuclear
watchdog reported Iran to the UN Security Council in a resolution
expressing concern that Tehran's nuclear program may not be
"exclusively for peaceful purposes." Iran retaliated immediately,
saying it would resume uranium enrichment at its main plant instead
of in Russia.
(AP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 4, A three-day energy
meeting in Mexico City wrapped up after moving to a Mexican-owned
hotel. It was the first private-sector oil summit between Cuba and
the US. The meeting between Cuban officials and US energy executives
was moved to another hotel after the Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton
asked the Cubans to leave. On Feb 6 Mexico launched an investigation
into whether the US government pressured the American-owned hotel
into expelling Cuban guests.
(AP, 2/6/06)
2006 Feb 4, A Palestinian man
stabbed five people on a minibus in central Israel, killing one
woman before passengers subdued him.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 4, Jihad Momani, a
Jordanian tabloid editor, was arrested after his newspaper published
controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, while an
investigation was launched into a second weekly newspaper that also
printed the cartoons. Momani, editor-in-chief of the weekly gossip
newspaper Shihane, was fired from his job the previous day.
(AFP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 4, In the Philippines
thousands of people lined up outside a stadium near Manila to watch
a TV game show surged toward the gates in the mistaken belief they
were open, and at least 88 people were trampled to death. Over 300
people were injured.
(AFP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 4, Rage against
caricatures of Islam's revered prophet poured out across the Muslim
world. Aggrieved believers in Syria called for executions, stormed,
European buildings and torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in
Damascus. In Gaza Palestinians marched through the streets, storming
European buildings and burning German and Danish flags.
(AP, 2/4/06)(AP, 2/4/07)
2006 Feb 4, In South Africa
Zoliswa Nkonyana (19), a lesbian, was stoned, kicked and stabbed to
death just meters (yards) from her Cape Town home. In 2011 four men
were convicted of her murder. On Feb 1, 2012, the 4 men were
sentenced to 18 years in prison.
(www.tac.org.za/userfiles/Zoliswa%20Nkonyana%20Joint%20Statement.pdf)(AFP,
2/1/12)
2006 Feb 4, Tens of thousands
of people filled a plaza near the Thai parliament, chanting slogans
demanding that PM Thaksin Shinawatra step down amid allegations of
official corruption. Thaksin said he would step down if the king
asked.
(AP, 2/4/06)
2007 Feb 4, Peyton Manning
added the missing ingredient to his Hall of Fame credentials by
leading the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 victory over the Chicago
Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
(Reuters, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 4, Barbara McNair,
black singer and actress, died in Los Angeles. Her films included
“Change of Habit” (1969). She hosted the TV Barbara McNair Show from
1969-1972.
(SFC, 2/5/07, p.B5)
2007 Feb 4, Gen. Dan McNeill,
the highest-ranking US general to lead troops in Afghanistan, took
command of 35,500 strong NATO-led force, putting an American face on
the international mission after nine months of British command under
Gen. David Richards. A NATO airstrike killed a senior Taliban leader
riding in a car near Musa Qala.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, Bangladeshi
security forces used emergency powers to detain 13 senior
politicians and former government ministers. Some 3 million Muslim
devotees raised their hands in prayer for global peace, putting
aside their country's sometimes violent struggle with political
corruption and Islamic extremists, at one of the world's largest
religious gatherings. The annual World Congregation of Muslims, or
"Bishwa Ijtema," has been held each year since 1966 on the banks of
the River Turag in Tongi, just north of the capital, Dhaka.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In eastern China a
fire swept through a two-story building of shops and apartments,
killing at least 17 people in Zhejiang province's Taizhou city.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, Armed kidnappers
seized an American missionary as he left his church near Haiti's
capital and have demanded a ransom for his release.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Iraq at least
103 people were killed or found dead, mostly in Baghdad. A roadside
bomb struck a police patrol in a predominantly Sunni area in
Baghdad, killing 4 policemen and wounding 3. The US command said it
has ordered changes in helicopter flight operations. 4 had been shot
down in the last 2 weeks. Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms seized
Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian Embassy, as he
drove through central Baghdad. Iran said it held the United States
responsible for the diplomat's "safety and life."
(AP, 2/4/07)(SFC, 2/5/07, p.A8)(AP, 2/6/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Kenya a top
Kenyan AIDS researcher was killed and an American woman traveling
with him was shot in the face.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Feb 4, In Nigeria
officials said 9 Chinese oil workers, abducted last month by
militants in an armed attack in the southern delta, were released.
(Reuters, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In eastern Pakistan
a passenger train crushed to death a group of six young boys as they
played on a railway track.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, Hamas gunmen
attacked bases of Fatah-allied troops with mortars and
rocket-propelled grenades, part of a four-day campaign by the
Islamic militants to weaken the security forces loyal to Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Nepal police
opened fire on protesters in two towns, killing at least three
people and wounding several more.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, A Philippine marine
general and 19 others were released from a Muslim rebel camp where
they were held for two days by guerrillas demanding more benefits
under a 1996 peace accord.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, A Saudi newspaper
reported that a Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to
receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting
them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women
danced.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Turkmenistan an
eight-story building collapsed in the southeastern city of
Diyarbakir killing 5 people. A 15-year-old boy was rescued 36 hours
later.
(AP, 2/6/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Zambia China’s
President Hu Jintao pledged $800 million in investments, debt
write-offs and a "showcase" free trade zone as he ended a tour
there. Beijing's economic juggernaut has sparked tensions in Zambia.
(AFP, 2/4/07)
2008 Feb 4, President Bush
unveiled a $3.1 trillion budget that supports sizable increases in
military spending to fight the war on terrorism and protects his
signature tax cuts. Bush says the plan will keep the US economy
growing and protect the US militarily.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, In Utah Thomas S.
Monson (80) was introduced as the 16th president of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had become known for his
folksy storytelling as he ascended through church ranks.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Platinum soared
above $1,800 an ounce for the first time as investors bet that a
power shortage in South Africa will tighten global supply for the
metal used in jewelry and automobiles.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Intel said it has
built a new chip with a record 2 billion transistors. Its new
quad-core Itanium processor will operate at frequencies up to 2
gigahertz.
(SFC, 2/5/08, p.C2)
2008 Feb 4, Afghan and foreign
troops conducted two raids on the homes of suspected Taliban
militants, leaving 10 people dead, including women and children. A
separate clash in southern Uruzgan province left nine suspected
militants dead.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, The chief Aruban
prosecutor said a hidden-camera interview with a Dutch student
saying missing teenager Natalee Holloway was dead and that he had a
friend dump her body at sea is admissible in court. The tape, which
was first broadcast the previous evening on Dutch television,
appeared to spur the investigation.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 4, In Chad government
forces and rebels clashed for a third day in the capital of
N'Djamena with gunfire and shelling heard throughout the city.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, In Chile Gen.
Gonzalo Santelices, head of the Santiago army garrison, resigned
amid accusations that he was involved in a case dating back to the
nation's military dictatorship. Santelices had acknowledged that as
a young lieutenant in October, 1973, he followed orders and
transferred 14 prisoners from a jail in northern Chile to a desert
area where they were executed by firing squad.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Hundreds of
thousands of Colombians wearing white T-shirts marched in their
homeland and abroad to demand that FARC, the country's largest rebel
group, stop kidnapping people and release those it holds.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Tata Guines
(b.1930), Cuban conga drummer, died. His six decade career helped
popularize Afro-Cuban rhythms worldwide.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 4, Dominican merchants
closed a popular border market that caters to Haitians, punishing
their impoverished neighbor for banning Dominican poultry and egg
imports following an outbreak of avian flu.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, EU nations gave
preliminary approval to plans to send a 1,800-strong policing and
administration mission to Kosovo to replace the current UN mission.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 4, Egyptian forces and
Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire at the Gaza-Egypt border, killing
one person and wounding 59 others a day after Cairo closed the
breached frontier with the Hamas-run enclave.
(Reuters, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, The UN Security
Council sent a "firm and unwavering demand" that Eritrea immediately
lift fuel restrictions hampering the efforts of peacekeepers
monitoring a tense buffer zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, India and Pakistan
signed an agreement to exchange security information, opening up a
new channel of communication between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
(AFP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Iran said it
launched a research rocket and unveiled its first major space
center, which will be used to launch research satellites.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, At least 3 Iraqis
were killed and one child was injured after American soldiers
stormed a tiny one-room house in the village of Adwar, 10 miles
south of Tikrit, and opened fire. Iraqi police, relatives and
neighbors said a couple and their son (19) were shot to death in
their beds. Iraqi police said two young girls were wounded and one
died the next day at a hospital.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 4, In Israel a suicide
bomber blew himself up in Dimona, the southern town that houses
Israel's secretive nuclear reactor. An Israeli woman (73) was killed
and 7 other people wounded. Police killed a 2nd attacker before he
had a chance to detonate his explosives belt. An Israeli response
killed 9 armed Hamas men.
(AP, 2/4/08)(Econ, 2/9/08, p.54)
2008 Feb 4, Kenya said violence
over disputed elections had eased enough to lift a monthlong ban on
live television broadcasts. The fighting has killed over 1,000
people and made 300,000 homeless since the Dec. 27 presidential
election. Violence continued as former UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan said the government and governing party have rejected his
choice to lead mediation efforts. At least 7 people were killed
overnight in battles between Kisii and Kalenjin communities 155
miles west of the capital.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, In Pakistan a
suicide bomber on a motorbike rammed into a minibus carrying
security personnel, detonating a blast that killed at least six
people and wounded more than 30 in the latest attack in the
Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, In the Philippines
at least 7 civilians, including four children, were killed during a
military operation against al-Qaida-linked militants on southern
Jolo island.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 4, In Serbia Boris
Tadic celebrated his re-election as president by pledging to stay on
a pro-Western course despite nationalist anger over a looming
declaration of independence by Kosovo province.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, In northeastern Sri
Lanka a roadside bomb attack blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels tore
through a civilian bus. 14 people were killed and 15 injured in the
Freedom day attack. According to the defense ministry, the rebels
have lost at least 913 fighters since the beginning of the year,
compared with just 37 government soldiers killed.
(AP, 2/4/08)(AFP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 4, In southern
Thailand a bomb exploded outside an Islamic boarding school, killing
one person and wounding 12. A separate bombing wounded six people,
in the latest violence attributed to an Islamic separatist rebellion
that has entered its fifth year.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Turkey’s warplanes
bombed some 70 Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 4, Ugandan rebels from
the Lord's Resistance Army killed 136 people and looted property
during an attack in and around Kajo-Keji in southern Sudan. In March
officials said Sudanese renegades frustrated with not being absorbed
into the military -- and not Ugandan rebels initially suspected --
were behind the attacks in south Sudan.
(AFP, 2/8/08)(AFP, 3/15/08)
2008 Feb 4, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said the UN has transferred $161 million from the
defunct oil-for-food program to a development program for Iraq.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2009 Feb 4, President Barack
Obama imposed $500,000 caps on senior executive pay for the most
distressed financial institutions receiving federal bailout money,
saying Americans are upset with "executives being rewarded for
failure."
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, Arkansas Gov. Mike
Beebe signed into law new animal-cruelty restrictions that make
aggravated cruelty to cats, dogs and horses a felony on the first
offense. According to the US Humane Society Arkansas became the 46th
state to make cruelty to animals a felony.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 4, A document was
released that listed thousands of people identified as customers and
victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
(WSJ, 2/6/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 4, Dr. Randeep Mann
allegedly bombed the car of Dr. Trent Pierce, the chairman of the
Tennessee state medical board, in revenge for punishment after 10 of
Mann’s patients fatally overdosed on drugs he had prescribed. Pierce
lost an eye and was severely burned.
(http://a11news.com/1760/dr-randeep-mann-is-car-bomb-suspect/)(SFC,
1/7/10, p.A4)
2009 Feb 4, In Afghanistan a
roadside bomb killed six bodyguards working for a controversial
Afghan district governor in southern Helmand province.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 4, In northeastern
Australia rain-battered residents were on alert for snakes in their
bathrooms and crocodiles in the road following repeated storms that
have sent local wildlife in search of dry land or a safe haven.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, Brazilian police
killed at least 10 suspects, including two teenage boys, during
operations against drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, The British
military said an army officer has been arrested in Afghanistan on
suspicion of leaking official secrets. Britain’s Sun newspaper said
Lt. Col. Owen McNally had leaked figures about civilian deaths in
coalition operations to a worker from a human rights group.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, Gao Zhisheng, one
of China's most daring lawyers, was arrested. In Jan, 2010, the
Beijing police officer who took Gao away said he "went missing" in
September, leading to fears for the lawyer's safety. On Jan 21,
2010, a Foreign Ministry official said Zhisheng has been judged by
legal authorities and "is where he should be." This was China's
first public comment on the case. Zhisheng resurfaced in northern
China on March 28, 2010, saying he wants spend time with family and
away from media attention. Gao described his ordeal to The
Associated Press in April and disappeared again 2 weeks later.
(AP, 1/22/10)(SFC, 3/29/10, p.A3)(AP, 1/10/11)
2009 Feb 4, French-US telecom
equipment group Alcatel-Lucent said its net loss widened 48.5
percent to 5.215 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars) in 2008,
blaming asset write-downs in a crumbling world economy.
(AFP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, French group Areva
signed a draft accord for the sale of two to six nuclear reactors to
India, a huge new market now open with the end of a nuclear trade
embargo on New Delhi.
(AFP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, In Germany
countries leading the drive to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear
program welcomed the new US administration's readiness to engage
with Tehran. Foreign Ministry officials from Germany and the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain, China,
France, Russia and the US, met in Wiesbaden.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, A Greek police
officer (38) shot and seriously wounded a Greek private security
guard (31) outside the US Embassy in central Athens.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, An Iraqi lawmaker
said the prime minister's coalition will talk to other parties about
sharing power in mostly southern areas after initial projections
showed the Shiite leader's allies were the big winners in last
weekend's provincial elections. Early results showed the that PM
al-Maliki’s allies, the Coalition of the State of Law, finished
first in 10 of the 14 provinces.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, Kazakhstan allowed
its currency to devalue 25% in an effort to protect its foreign
exchange and gold reserves amidst falling oil prices.
(WSJ, 2/5/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 4, In Pakistan
assailants overnight torched 10 returning trucks stranded by the
bombing of a key bridge on the main supply route for US forces in
Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, Poland’s defense
minister stated plans to end military missions in Lebanon, the Golan
Heights and Chad in an effort to cut spending due to the global
economic crisis.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, In Puerto Rico Sara
Kuszak (35) made a desperate call for help from the trunk of her
kidnapper's car, about an hour before she was found dead with her
throat slashed. Eliezer Marquez Navedo (36) confessed to kidnapping
the pregnant tourist as she was jogging and killing her. The FBI
used a signal from the victim's cell phone to help locate the
suspect. Navedo was later convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder
and sentenced to 105 years in prison.
(AP, 2/5/09)(AP, 6/2/09)
2009 Feb 4, Romania’s central
bank cut interest rates by a quarter point to 10%, still the highest
in the EU.
(WSJ, 2/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Feb 4, Russia sought to
bolster its security alliance with six other ex-Soviet nations
(Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan) by forming a joint rapid reaction force in a continuing
effort to curb US influence in energy-rich Central Asia.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, In Somalia gunmen
killed Said Tahlil Ahmed, the director of the country’s largest
media company, HornAfrik, at a market in Mogadishu. Three Somali
Canadians had established HornAfrik in 1999.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, South Korea
implemented its Capital Markets Consolidation Plan (CMCA).
(www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7150292&action=article)
2009 Feb 4, Sri Lanka's
president said that the Tamil Tiger rebels are on the verge of
defeat, but dozens of civilians were reported killed as fierce
fighting continued in Asia's longest-running civil war. The last
hospital in Sri Lanka's shrinking war zone was evacuated as Red
Cross staff and wounded civilians fled attacks that apparently
included cluster munitions. At least 52 civilians were killed by
shelling in the war zone.
(AFP, 2/4/09)(AP, 2/4/09)(WSJ, 2/5/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 4, The Vatican
demanded that Bishop Richard Williamson recant his positions on the
Holocaust before being admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic
Church.
(WSJ, 2/5/09, p.A8)
2010 Feb 4, A US federal judge
declared a mistrial in the case of Gerardo Castillo Chavez, an
alleged drug cartel hit man, after a jury in the Texas-Mexico border
town of Laredo acquitted him on a gun charge and deadlocked on other
charges. Chavez, also known as "Cachetes" or "Cheeks" in Spanish,
was accused of being a member of the Mexican Gulf Cartel's hit
squads that killed and kidnapped people in Laredo in 2005 and 2006.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, In Denver Miguel
Angel Caro Quintero (46) was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison
for racketeering in Colorado and conspiracy to distribute marijuana
in Arizona. His Sonora cartel was tied to the 1985 torture and
killing of an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent,
Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar.
(AP, 2/5/10)
2010 Feb 4, The New York
Attorney General’s filed civil charges against Bank of America and
former CEO Ken Lewis for misleading investors about Merrill Lynch
before it acquired the Wall Street firm in early 2009.
(SFC, 2/5/10, p.D4)
2010 Feb 4, The US “Tea Party
Nation,” a decentralized grassroots movement, began its first
national convention in Nashville, Tenn. The event’s grand finale was
a tirade against Pres. Obama by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
(Econ, 2/13/10, p.31)
2010 Feb 4, The McStay family
of Fallbrook, San Diego County, went missing. Their white, 1996
Isuzu Trooper was found four days later in a strip mall in San
Ysidro, about 70 miles from their home.
(AP, 2/25/10)
2010 Feb 4, Australia said it
used an anti-weapons of mass destruction law to block three
shipments to Iran but calls for new sanctions against the Islamic
state opened up a new international divide.
(AFP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, Britain's Treasury
said it will rush through new legislation after a court ruled the
way it freezes the bank accounts of suspected terrorists was
unlawful. Britain’s Supreme Court ruled last week that the
asset-freezing system was unlawful.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, In China two courts
in the southern province of Guangdong sentenced 25 people to death
for their roles in nine kidnapping cases.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, China told other
world powers that discussing broader sanctions against Iran was
counterproductive, striking a blow to a Western push to rein in
Tehran's nuclear program.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, A Chinese ministry
statement ordered schools to sever all ties and cooperation with
Oxfam saying school administrators must ban all campus volunteer
recruitment efforts run by the group's Hong Kong office. It accused
the Hong Kong branch of having a hidden political agenda. Oxfam has
operated in mainland China for 20 years and worked in cooperation
with the government's poverty alleviation department. Oxfam, a
confederation of 14 national organizations that works in about 100
countries, was founded in Britain in 1942.
(AP, 2/23/10)
2010 Feb 4, Dubai's government,
under pressure to repay billions of dollars in debt, said it has
discovered a new offshore oil field, the first such find by the
city-state in decades.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, The Irish Catholic
party Sinn Fein halted marathon negotiations to save Northern
Ireland's power-sharing government and said it's now up to the
Protestant side to accept a compromise deal.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, In Pakistan
protests erupted across the country after a US court convicted a
Pakistani scientist of trying to kill US servicemen in Afghanistan.
A jury in New York found Aafia Siddiqui (37), a mother and
neuroscientist trained, guilty on all charges.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, A South Korean news
report said the director of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's secret
moneymaking "Room 39" bureau has been fired. Analysts said the move
may be a way to get around international sanctions. Room 39 is
described as the lynchpin of the North's so-called "court economy"
centered on the dynastic Kim family. The department is believed to
finance his family and top party officials with business ventures,
some legitimate and some not, that include counterfeiting and
drug-smuggling.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, A leading Russian
lawmaker said Russia and Western powers have moved closer to
agreement on the need for new sanctions against Iran over its
nuclear program.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, Romania’s Pres.
Traian Basescu says the country's top defense body has approved a US
proposal to place anti-ballistic interceptors in Romania as part of
a revamped US missile shield. The measure passed the Supreme Defense
Council and must be approved by Parliament.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, Russia hailed a new
agreement with the United States intended to boost joint anti-drug
efforts, but urged the US and NATO to do more to stem a flow of
drugs from Afghanistan that has sickened millions of Russians.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2010 Feb 4, In Sudan 16 people
were killed in clashes between south Sudan troops and cattle herders
from the northern Messeria tribe in the southern Unity state.
(AFP, 2/6/10)
2010 Feb 4, Turkey’s government
scrapped its controversial security and public order “Emsya”)
protocol, which allowed the army to take charge in the provinces
when law and order breaks down.
(Econ, 2/13/10, p.56)
2010 Feb 4, Venezuelan police
used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter hundreds
of students protesting against the government, as Pres. Chavez's
supporters celebrated the 18th anniversary of his failed coup as an
army officer.
(AP, 2/4/10)
2011 Feb 4, President Barack
Obama and Canadian PM Stephen Harper agreed to a new approach to US
and Canadian security that they said would help boost trade by
reducing logjams at the border.
(Reuters, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, US federal
authorities said they are charging 23 people with moving drugs and
illicit money through the Caribbean on behalf of a major Colombian
drug cartel. 21 of the suspects have been arrested so far in
Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, New York, Miami and
the US Virgin Islands.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, The US
Transportation Security Administration gave more than 40,000 airport
screeners the right to vote on limited collective bargaining.
(SFC, 2/5/11, p.A4)
2011 Feb 4, The US X-47B jet,
which looks like a smaller version of the B-2 stealth bomber, stayed
in the air for 29 minutes and climbed to 5,000 feet in a test flight
at Edwards Air Force Base, Ca. The robotic, bat-winged bomber was
designed to take off from an aircraft carrier. Northrop was building
the navy bomber under a $636 million contract awarded in 2007.
(AFP, 2/6/11)
2011 Feb 4, It was reported
that Bank of America has agreed to pay $410 million to settle a suit
on overdraft charges.
(SFC, 2/5/11, p.D1)
2011 Feb 4, In California a
Stockton real estate executive pleaded guilty to conspiring to rig
bids and commit mail fraud. Richard W. Northcutt (56) became the 4th
person to plead guilty in a federal investigation of
anti-competitive practices in real estate foreclosure auctions
across northern California.
(SFC, 2/5/11, p.C1)
2011 Feb 4, The New York Times
reported that US and Egyptian officials were discussing a plan for
Mubarak to turn power over now to a transitional government headed
by Vice President Omar Suleiman.
(AFP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, US Sens. John
McCain and Joseph Liberman visited Lithuania. McCain and Lieberman
slammed the Belarusian regime, labeling President Alexander
Lukashenko a ruthless tyrant and called on Washington to take the
lead on imposing sanctions on the country.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, The US and the UN
sharply criticized a vote by Somali parliamentarians to extend their
term by 3 years. The 500-member body voted on the extension despite
failing to pass any laws in the past 6 years.
(SFC, 2/5/11, p.A2)
2011 Feb 4, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide car bomb struck outside the house of Kandahar
city police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid, wounding at least 2 people.
It was the 2nd attack on him this week.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, Algerian forces
killed Kamel Bourihane (aka Abou Hafs), a senior Islamic militant.
He was linked with two attacks in 2007 in the capital Algiers that
left dozens dead.
(AFP, 2/6/11)
2011 Feb 4, Police in Brazil
said they had freed a 45-year-old woman who had been locked in a
house for 20 years with no communication with the outside world.
Parana state police said the woman was locked in the home by her
partner, a man (60), in the city of Mariluz.
(AFP, 2/5/11)
2011 Feb 4, Cambodian and Thai
soldiers exchanged heavy fire on the two countries' shared border
near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple killing one soldier and a
civilian, as tensions between the neighbors boiled over.
(AFP, 2/4/11)(Econ, 2/12/11, p.50)
2011 Feb 4, Cuba freed Guido
Sigler, a prominent political prisoner, and the Roman Catholic
Church said another, Angel Moya, would be released soon and allowed
to stay in the country.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, In Egypt protesters
demanding President Hosni Mubarak's ouster packed Cairo's central
square by the tens of thousands, waving flags, singing the national
anthem and cheering, appearing undaunted and determined after their
camp withstood two days of street battles with regime supporters
trying to dislodge them. At least 8 people have been killed in the
fighting and more than 800 injured. , Finance Minister Samir Radwan
said Egypt has created a 5 billion Egyptian pound ($854 million)
fund to compensate people for property damaged during the political
protests that have rocked the country. An Egyptian reporter who was
shot during clashes a week ago died of his wounds.
(AP, 2/4/11)(Reuters, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, European leaders
launched a trillion-euro bid to slash dependency on Middle East oil
and Russian gas, clearing the way to place nuclear power at the
center of 21st century needs.
(AFP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, In Honduras gunmen
ambushed the director of the nation's main prison and shot up the
car he was driving, wounding the official in the head and also
hitting a prison employee who was a passenger.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, Iran's supreme
leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for an Islamic regime to be
installed in Egypt, saying the wave of Arab revolts is an
"earthquake" triggered by the 1979 Iranian revolution.
(AFP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, Iraq’s PM al-Maliki
said that he’ll return half of his annual salary to the government’s
treasury in a symbolic effort to narrow the gaps between the
nation’s rich and poor. Iraqis seized on Egypt's unrest to protest
what they call corruption in their own security forces, rampant
unemployment and scant electricity and water supply.
(SFC, 2/5/11, p.A2)(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, Italian President
Giorgio Napolitano refused to sign a key government decree to
increase the taxation powers of local authorities, dealing a blow to
embattled PM Silvio Berlusconi.
(Reuters, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, Kazakhstan Pres.
Nazarbayev called early presidential elections for April 3, an
accelerated timetable that gives the country's weak opposition
forces little time to prepare.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, Myanmar's newly
elected parliament named Thein Sein (65), a key figure in the
long-ruling military junta, as president, ensuring that the first
civilian government in decades will be dominated by the army that
has brutally suppressed dissent.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, In New Zealand
rescuers struggled to save scores of pilot whales after 80 beached
themselves. 14 died and others were not expected to last the night.
66 survivors of the pod freed themselves and swam back to sea during
a late night high tide.
(AP, 2/4/11)(AP, 2/5/11)
2011 Feb 4, Pakistan's ruling
party said it plans trim the bloated 50-plus-member Cabinet to help
cut spending at a time of severe financial crisis.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, Russian Defense
Minister Anatoly Serdyukov inspected military facilities on the
disputed southern Kuril islands also claimed by Japan, prompting a
sharp protest from Tokyo.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, In Rwanda
journalists Agnes Nkusi Uwimana and Saidaiti Mukakibibi, were
sentenced to 17 and 7 years respectively for publicly criticizing
the government in published articles.
(AP, 2/12/11)(http://rwandinfo.com/eng/)
2011 Feb 4, In Sri Lanka a mob
armed with clubs attacked opposition protesters who were marching
toward a prison in Colombo to demand the release of former army
commander Sarath Fonseka, the defeated presidential candidate from
jail.
(AP, 2/4/11)
2011 Feb 4, In Sudan two days
of fighting in Malakal, a flashpoint town near the north-south
border, has killed nine people, including a UN staff member.
(AP, 2/4/11)
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