Decade2011: February 2000

The month is not yet over, but to begin with February 2000 and the events recorded--

February 4 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion, in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
February 6 – Tarja Halonen is elected the first female president of Finland.
February 7 – Stipe Mesic is elected president of Croatia.
February 9 – Torrential rains in Africa lead to the worst flooding in Mozambique in 50 years, which lasts until March and kills 800 people.
February 11 – A blast from an improvised explosive device in front of a Barclay's Bank, across from the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, wounds dozens but kills none.
February 13 – The final original Peanuts comic strip is published, following the death of its creator, Charles Schulz.
February 21 – UNESCO holds the inaugural celebration of International Mother Language Day.

And so far this month, this year--

February 12–28 – The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.

and more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2010

I intend to record the events that transpire so we can at least see what happened.
Recording this is important, remembering moreso, even for future generations.

1 February 2010 (Monday)

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President Barack Obama will propose a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 that foresees the deficit hitting a record $1.6 trillion in the current fiscal year but falling to about $700 billion by 2013. (WSJ)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presses China to back Iran sanctions for its nuclear program. (WSJ)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrives in Cyprus to begin talks aimed at reuniting the country. (The Hindu) (Deutsche Welle) (UN News Centre)
Nigerian militant group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta denies it attacked oil pipelines in the south of the country, after Shell closes three oil flow stations. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Envoys of the Dalai Lama return from Beijing after the ninth round of negotiations. (Times of India) (Xinhua) (RIA Novosti)
A female suicide bomber kills 41 people and injures a further 106 in an attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. (Al Jazeera) (The Daily Telegraph)
Nine people are killed in a bus rampage in Tianjin, northern China. (BBC) (China Daily) (Taiwan News)
52nd Grammy Awards:
- Pop singer Beyoncé Knowles wins the most awards at the 52nd Grammy Awards, winning six of her ten nominations including Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", and becoming the first woman to win six awards in the same night. (BBC) (The Times of India) (Chicago Tribune)
- Rock band AC/DC win their first ever Grammy Award. (The Daily Telegraph)
- Seven performers, including Michael Jackson, Bobby Darin and Loretta Lynn, are awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards. (All About Jazz)
Chinese state media voices its disapproval after the Obama administration unveils its first arms package for Taiwan, a move that prompted China to threaten sanctions on the firms involved. (Reuters) (BBC)
Anti-government protests take place in cities across Russia, with 100 protesters detained at rallies in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. (BBC) (The Moscow Times) (Sify)

2 February 2010 (Tuesday)

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Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of espionage, while the latter detains one Russian and expels four others. (BBC) (RIA Novosti) (Kyiv Post)
A hearing whether to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy is held in the United States allowing the possibility of openly gay people to become active-duty members of the United States armed forces. (BBC)
The World Food Programme announces the number of hungry people in Sudan has quadrupled since August 2009 to 4.3 million. (AFP) (Emirates News Agency) (Taiwan News)
China says that relations will be undermined if U.S. President Barack Obama meets the Dalai Lama. (BBC) (China Daily) (CBC)
Continental Airlines and five men go on trial for their alleged role in the crash of Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde flight, that killed 113 people in 2000. (Reuters)
The Lancet medical journal issues a full retraction of a paper that caused a 12-year international controversy over alleged links between the MMR vaccine and autism. (BBC) (Reuters)
Finance Minister of Germany Wolfgang Schaeuble says that the German government will buy stolen information on Swiss bank accounts, offered in a CD that contained 1,500 names in exchange for 2.5 million euros, to pursue tax evasion. (Bloomberg)
Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards are announced. Avatar and The Hurt Locker lead the way with nine nominations each, and are both among ten nominees for Best Picture, the first time more than five films have been up for consideration since 1943. (CNN)
Paul Volcker testifies before the Banking Committee of the United States Senate about the so-called "Volcker rule," an administration proposal to separate banks from hedge funds and have them close down their risk-taking prop desks. (L.A. Times)

3 February 2010 (Wednesday)

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L'Homme Qui Marche I by Alberto Giacometti, a bronze sculpture sells in London for £65,001,250, a new world record auction price. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
A major fireball is reported in the skies over Ireland, lighting up "the whole country". (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
Avatar becomes the highest grossing film in the U.S. and Canada while surpassing the 2 billion dollars mark in worldwide sales. (Reuters) (BoxOfficeMojo)
Judges at the International Criminal Court rule that Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir could face charges of genocide over the War in Darfur. (The Guardian) (CNN)
Pirates off the coast of Somalia seize a North Korean-flagged cargo ship south of Yemen. (AFP) (CNN)
NASA and Cornell University have given up attempting to move the Spirit rover, currently stuck in sand near Home Plate, Gusev crater on the planet Mars, and are converting it into a stationary outpost. Its twin rover, Opportunity, remains mobile on Mars. (Space.com)
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim goes on trial in Kuala Lumpur, accused of sodomy. (Bernama) (BBC) (AFP)
A man detonates a homemade bomb outside a shopping mall in Darwin, Australia, wounding 15 people. (Sydney Morning Herald) (The Australian)
A bombing near a girls' school in Lower Dir, Pakistan kills seven, including three U.S. Marines, marking the first time U.S. soldiers are killed in that country. (CNN) (Al Jazeera)

4 February 2010 (Thursday)

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A curfew is imposed in Srinagar, Kashmir, after protests over the death of a 15-year-old boy during a demonstration. (AFP) (BBC) (KashmirWatch.com)
North Korea relaxes restrictions on the free market after a revaluation in 2009 led to unrest and worsened food shortages. (AFP) (BBC) (The Times)
Switzerland agrees to accept two Chinese Muslim Uyghurs from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (Swissinfo)
Yahoo! sells HotJobs to Monster.com for US$225million. (PA)
Debt-ridden emirate of Dubai of the United Arab Emirates, confirms the discovery of a new oilfield. (Gulf News) {Kyiv Post)
Sumo grand champion Asashoryu announces his retirement, following allegations he attacked a man outside a Tokyo nightclub. (BBC)

5 February 2010 (Friday)

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At least 22 people are killed and more than 50 are injured in two separate bombings in Karachi. (The Hindu) (BBC) (euronews) (The Guardian)
At least 40 people are killed and more than 140 are wounded in at least two explosions in Karbala during the final day of Arba'een. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (The New York Times)
A private helicopter crashes in the Dominican Republic, killing two. The helicopter was returning from relief work for the 2010 Haiti earthquake. (AP)
Civil servants in Zimbabwe go on strike, demanding a wage increase. (Zimbabwe Times) (Business Day) (Press TV)
Cyclone Oli hits Tahiti and other islands of French Polynesia, killing at least one man. (AP) (BBC)
The last native of India's Andaman Islands fluent in the Aka-Bo language dies, rendering the language extinct. (Daily Mail)
Danish special forces storm a ship captured by armed Somali pirates and free the 25 crew on board. (Miami Herald)
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin agree to devolution from Westminster from 12 April 2010 after two weeks of discussions, the longest ever during the Northern Ireland peace process. (RTÉ) (BBC)
Five Russian soldiers are killed and six injured in clashes with militants in Chechnya. (RIA Novosti) (Press TV) (News24)
Four British politicians will face criminal prosecution over their expense claims in the ongoing expenses scandal. (BBC) (Washington Post)
New images of the dwarf planet Pluto reveal rapid changes on its surface. (BBC) (National Geographic) (Xinhua)
Uganda's deputy Foreign Minister Henry Okello Oryem says the country's anti-homosexuality Bill "will be changed". (BBC)
North Korea announces it will release an American man who entered the country on December 25, 2009. (The Guardian) (Yonhap) (Korea Times)

6 February 2010 (Saturday)

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The Eastern Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, one of the world's largest water projects, has been delayed by about five years due to problems associated with water pollution, officials in east China's Shandong province. (China Daily)
Wang Jiarui, head of the Communist Party of China's liaison office, arrives in North Korea on a "goodwill visit" at the invitation of the Workers' Party of Korea. (AFP) (Tehran Times) (The Straits Times)
Charles McArther Emmanuel, son of President of Liberia Charles Taylor, is ordered to pay more than $22 million (£14 million) to five people tortured during the Liberian Civil War. (BBC)
The Group of Seven nations agree to write off Haiti's debts following a conference in Iqaluit, Nunavut. (BBC)
The Bank of Spain announces that Spain’s economy fell 3.6% in 2009, the most in decades. (Mercopress) (Reuters) (Business Spectator)
Thousands protest in Togo against a decision by the Confederation of African Football to ban the country from the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations. (BBC) (Times of India)
An Australian mining company signs a $70 billion deal to supply Chinese power stations with coal, in the country's biggest ever export contract. (BBC) (The Hindu) (Sydney Morning Herald)
Mark Durkan, former Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, resigns as leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). (The Belfast Telegraph) (The Irish Times)
French aid worker, Laurent Maurice, kidnapped in Chad last November, is released after 89 days of captivity, described as "tired but appears to be in good health". (BBC) (CNN) (Philippine Daily Inquirer) (Reuters South Africa) (CTV News) (news.com.au)
Afghan police admit they shot dead seven civilians, including two children, as they collected firewood in Spin Boldak, Kandahar, last Thursday. (Reuters) (Press TV) (France24)
23 Yemeni government soldiers are killed by the Houthis in two separate incidents: 15 are ambushed in Wadi al-Jabara, while the remaining 8 die in Sa'dah. (Press TV)
The Taliban blow up a girls' school in Huwaid, Pakistan, killing no one. (AFP)

7 February 2010 (Sunday)

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Laura Chinchilla is elected President of Costa Rica, the first woman to take the office, following the 2010 general election. (Reuters)(Tico Times) (RTÉ) (Xinhua)
First Gentleman and former President Néstor Kirchner of Argentina undergoes emergency surgery to remove a blockage in his carotid artery. (BBC) (The Washington Post) (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
In Nigeria, the Governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, is controversially re-elected. (BBC) (Reuters South Africa)
The Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, Connecticut, explodes, killing at least five people and injuring at least 14 others. (BBC News) (The New York Times)
A Pakistani lawyers' group in Lahore threatens to "burn alive" anyone who prosecutes lawyer accused of murdering a 12-year-old servant girl. (Asia News)
Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie defeats Alasdair McDonnell in an election to become leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) following Mark Durkan's resignation yesterday. She is the first woman to take charge of the party in its history and the first female leader of a major party in Northern Ireland. (The Belfast Telegraph) (BBC) (RTÉ)
Voters in Ukraine go to the polls in the second round of the country's presidential election. (Al Jazeera) (The Independent)
Australian Senator John Faulkner and Doctor Wayne Mapp attend a ceremony in Gallipoli to commemorate dead ANZAC and Turkish soldiers, laying wreaths at several locations. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Huang Yizhong is jailed for 13 years in Jiangmen, Guangdong, for copying and spreading pornographic material through his website. (The Washington Post)
Britain is to tighten the rules on immigrants entering the country on a student visa in a clampdown on a system which some security experts say has been exploited by Islamist militants. (Reuters)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad orders his country's atomic agency to begin enriching uranium to a higher level. (The New York Times) (Press TV)
Libya bans YouTube, independent news sites and opposition web sites in crackdown on controversial subjects, including human rights abuses by the Libyan government. (The Jerusalem Post)

8 February 2010 (Monday)

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Dr. Conrad Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in pop singer Michael Jackson's death.(BBC)
The sodomy trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is halted after his lawyers attempt to have the judge removed. (Bernama) (Al Jazeera) (UPI)
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych appears to win the 2010 presidential election, with 98% of the ballots counted. (Kyiv Post) (The New York Times) (The Hindu)
At least 17 Indian soldiers are killed in an avalanche in Kashmir. (Indian Express) (BBC)
Space Shuttle Endeavour launches successfully from Kennedy Space Center at 4:14 EST, marking the beginning of STS-130, a two-week mission to the International Space Station. (UPI)
The World Health Organisation confirms that a cholera outbreak which has spread along the north coast of Papua New Guinea has hit more than 2,000 people, killing around 50 of them. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A colony of Galapagos Islands sea lions relocate 1,500 kilometres, the first time they have set up a colony outside the islands. (BBC)
A series of avalanches at the Salang tunnel in Afghanistan is presumed to kill 64 people, with at least 400 injuries reported. (The New York Times) (Toronto Sun)

9 February 2010 (Tuesday)

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The recently-elected President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolves his country's parliament one day after the arrest of Sarath Fonseka. (BBC)
The Italian Embassy in Iran is attacked by protesters unhappy with Italy's decision to scale back economic dealings and push for tighter sanctions and protests are also held outside French and Dutch embassies. (The Jerusalem Post)
Andal Ampatuan, Jr., former ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and 196 other people are charged with murder in the Philippines, in connection with the Maguindanao massacre in November 2009. (ABS-CBN News) (AFP)
China sentences Tan Zuoren, who investigated poor construction after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, to five years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power". (BBC) (The Washington Post) (Radio Television Hong Kong)

10 February 2010 (Wednesday)

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Hundreds of Somali citizens flee the capital Mogadishu as hundreds of insurgents enter the city ahead of a government announcement of an offensive against them. (BBC) (News24.com)
Frank Bainimarama, leader of the 2006 Fijian coup and current Prime Minister of Fiji, announces that he will retire in 2014. The report is denied by Fiji's Permanent Secretary for Information. (RNZI)
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales rules that open air funeral pyres can be accommodated under the 1902 Cremation Act as amended. (BBC)
A 3.8-magnitude earthquake strikes near Chicago, United States. No reports of major damage. (CNN)
Officials in Haiti state that at least 230,000 people died in the 2010 Haiti earthquake, but that number may yet grow, approaching the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake as the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st century thus far. (BBC)
Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is appointed acting President of Nigeria in place of Umaru Yar'Adua. (NEXT) (AllAfrica.com) (BBC)
Nationwide strikes led by Communist and Socialist parties take place in Greece to protest the government's handing of the country's debt. Most of the country was brought to a standstill as factories, schools, airports and hospitals closed down or reduced capacity (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (Al Jazeera)
Prominent Uzbek photographer Umida Akhmedova is found guilty on charges of "slandering the nation" in her work, but is immediately pardoned under an amnesty. (BBC) (The Moscow Times)
Afghan officials report that at least 150 bodies were pulled from vehicles buried by avalanches in the Salang Pass in the Hindu Kush mountains earlier this week. (UPI.com)