Today in History

Feb 15 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 15:

1933 – Giuseppe Zangara, an Italian-born anarchist, failed to assassinate U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami.

1965 – Canada adopted the Red Maple Leaf as its flag.

1971 – Britain adopted decimal currency — 100 new pence to the pound — from pounds, shillings and 240 pence to the pound.

1994 – Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, the “Rostov Ripper” who raped and butchered more than 50 victims, was executed after losing an 11th-hour appeal for clemency.

1997 – Historic railway ancient viaduct blown up in Olpe, Germany.

2003 – In a huge wave of demonstrations, the biggest since the Vietnam War, more than six million peace protesters took to the streets in 600 towns and cities against a war in Iraq.

2004 – China executed Yang Xinhai, one of its worst serial killers, a man who murdered 67 people and raped two dozen women in a four-year crime spree.

2008 – Most-expensive Hot Wheels car in history on display in New York.

2012 – Fire sweeps through Honduran prison.

2013 – Possible meteor shower over Russia.

2018 – Cyril Ramaphosa sworn-in as South Africa’s president.

Image credit: Getty Images

Feb 14 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 14:

1929 – Al Capone’s henchmen killed seven of the Bugs Moran gang in the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” in a Chicago garage.

1989 – Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (edict) ordering the death of British author Salman Rushdie after the publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses”.

2003 – Hans Blix addresses U.N. Security Council on weapons inspections in Iraq.

2003 – Funeral for late Romanian King Carol II.

2005 – Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed in a bomb blast.

2005 – YouTube online video platform is launched.

2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting in which a former student killed five students and himself during a lecture.

2011 – Thai couples break record for longest kiss.

2012 – Rangers Football Club enters administration.

2015 – Fatal shooting at Copenhagen event with Prophet Mohammad artist Lars Vilks.

2016 – Pope Francis celebrates mass in Mexico.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Feb 11 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 11:

1919 – Friedrich Ebert was elected first president of the German republic. He helped set up the Weimar constitution that tried to unite Germany after World War One.

1929 – The Lateran Treaty was signed establishing an independent Vatican state in Rome.

1945 – The Yalta Conference ended. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt agreed on the founding of the United Nations and plans to defeat Germany in World War Two.

1975 – President Richard Ratsimandrava of the Malagasy Republic, now Madagascar, was assassinated after only six days in office.

1990 – Nelson Mandela was released from prison after serving 27 years.

1990 – Boxer James “Buster” Douglas knocks out legendary Mike Tyson.

1992 – Diana, Princess of Wales, is famously pictured sitting alone in front of Taj Mahal.

2006 – Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett broke the record for long-distance flight without refuelling, flying 26,389 miles (42,450 km) in his specially designed GlobalFlyer plane. The previous record of 26,366 miles (42,431 km) was set by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager in 1986.

2008 – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot and critically wounded at his home in Dili in an assassination attempt by rebel soldiers.

2008 – A 600-year-old gate, called Namdaemun, in central Seoul listed as South Korea’s number one national treasure and the country’s landmark symbol was destroyed by an arsonist.

2010 – British fashion designer Alexander McQueen died.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Feb 10 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 10:

1932 – Edgar Wallace, British thriller writer, died.

1947 – Treaty of Paris signed among five victor nations.

1962 – Roy Lichtenstein’s first solo exhibit opens.

1996 – An IBM computer called Deep Blue made chess history by comfortably beating world champion Garry Kasparov, the first victory of a machine over a reigning world champion under classic tournament rules. Kasparov went on to beat the computer in later matches.

1998 – Tribal Shanti Bahini guerrillas fighting for autonomy in Bangladesh surrendered, ending a 25-year insurgency in which more than 8,500 people were killed.

1998 – Former French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann, a founding father of the European Union, died.

2001 – The International Space Station became the largest structure in space with the addition of the $1.4 billion science module Destiny.

2005 – Playwright Arthur Miller, a titan of American theatre who wrote “Death of a Salesman” and was revered for works that spoke for the common man, died aged 89.

2006 – Mexican painter and sculptor Juan Soriano, whose large sculptures adorn public spaces in Mexico’s capital, died. He was 85.

2007 – U.S. Senator Barack Obama announces candidacy for president.

2018 – Israeli F-16 hit by Syrian missile.

Image credit: Flickr

Feb 4 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 4:

1904 – The Russo-Japanese war began when Japan laid siege to Port Arthur.

1935 – Walter Neusel defeats Jack Petersen at heavyweight fight.

1945 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet leader Josef Stalin met at Yalta in the Crimea to discuss plans for the defeat of the Axis powers and decide on the post-war world.

1948 – Ceylon gains independence with Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore as its first Governor-General.

1974 – Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of U.S. newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

1976 – An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale and resulting mudslides killed 23,000 people near Guatemala City.

1999 – Daredevil Robbie Knievel successfully jumps his motorcycle in a rooftop to rooftop leap at the 16-story twin hotel towers of the Jockey Club, in Las Vegas.

2004 – Facebook is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.

2007 – Singer and actress Barbara McNair, who starred opposite Elvis Presley and Sidney Poitier and became one of the first black women to host her own television variety show, died aged 72.

2018 – South Carolina Amtrak train crash.

Feb 3 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 3:

1916 – Parliament fire in Ottawa causes damage worth five million dollars.

1924 – Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States, died.

1981 – Gro Harlem Brundtland was elected Norway’s first woman prime minister following the resignation of Odvar Nordli.

1989 – Pope John Paul, Mother Teresa visit home for destitute in Calcutta.

1994 – President Bill Clinton announced the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam, marking a dramatic shift in relations chilled for decades by war and post-war hostility.

1995 – Eileen Collins becomes first woman to pilot space shuttle.

1998 – U.S. Military plane hits cable car line above Italian ski resort town of Cavalese, killing 20 holidaymakers.

2006 – Al Salam 98, a ferry with 1,414 passengers, sank in the Red Sea overnight on a trip from Saudi Arabia to Egypt. Only 387 people survived.

2011 – Shinmoedake peak erupts in Japan.

2014 – Hostage taking, shooting at Moscow high school.

2018 – Tomb of Priestess Hetpet revealed in Egypt.

Image credit: Flickr

Feb 1 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 1:

1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal was assassinated together with his son in Lisbon.

1946 – Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie was elected the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

1987 – American singer James Brown visits Western Wall in Jerusalem during concert tour.

1992 – U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the Camp David declaration stating that their countries no longer regarded each other as adversaries.

2003 – The space shuttle Columbia, broke up over Texas on re-entering atmosphere at end of their almost 16-day flight killing all seven astronauts including the first Israeli.

2004 – Hundreds killed in Haj pilgrimage stampede.

2009 – Patriarch Kirill, the new leader of the world’s 160 million Russian Orthodox, pledges at his enthronement to keep his church united, recruit the young and open up to dialogue with “sister churches”.

2009 – Johanna Sigurdardottir forms government, making her Finland’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government

2012 – Dozens killed in soccer clashes at Egypt’s Port Said stadium.

2013 – London’s Shard, western Europe’s tallest building, opens to public.

2018 – Jailed Catalan independence leaders lodge case with United Nations.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Jan 31 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on January 31:

1933 – Edouard Daladier takes office as Prime Minister for first time in France.

1943 – German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered to the Russians at Stalingrad in World War Two.

1956 – A.A. Milne, author of the “Winnie the Pooh” stories, died.

1990 – Fast-food chain McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in Moscow.

1994 – Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat visits Switzerland.

1996 – Suicide truck bombers attacked Sri Lanka’s central bank in the heart of the capital, Colombo. At least 80 people were killed.

2000 – An Alaska Airlines MD-83 carrying 88 people plunged 17,000 feet (5,180 metres) into the Pacific off southern California. All aboard were killed.

2010 – Singer Taylor Swift wins four Grammy Awards.

2014 – 102-year-old French cyclist beats own world record by cycling nearly 27 kilometres in an hour.

2014 – Singer Katy Perry reaches 50 million followers on Twitter.

2018 – Super blue moon / total lunar eclipse.

Jan 27 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on January 27:

1901 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer of operas including “Rigoletto”, “La Traviata” and “Aida”, died.

1973 – A ceasefire agreement signed in Paris ended the U.S. military role in Vietnam.

2002 – Kidnappers release image of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl.

2002 – Explosion at military storage facility in Lagos causes over 1,000 deaths, including 120 who drowned trying to escape.

2004 – Iranian asylum seeker sets himself on fire in Kuala Lumpur.

2005 – World leaders and survivors gathered in Poland for the 60th anniversary ceremony of the liberation of the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz.

2006 – Former German President Johannes Rau, a prominent figure in post-war German politics, died. He was 75.

2008 – Indonesia’s former President Suharto, whose legacy of economic development was marred by graft and human rights abuses during his 32 years in power, died.

2009 – John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who chronicled the drama of small-town American life with flowing and vivid prose, wit and a frank eye for sex, died.

2013 – Hundreds die in Brazil Boate Kiss nightclub fire.

2016 – Tibetan monk begins world tour in London urging action over Chinese oppression.