Today in History – Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016

0
1258

Today is Sunday, Feb. 7, the 38th day of 2016. There are 328 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1793 – Austria and Prussia sign alliance against France.

1816 – Congress of New Grenada entrusts Simon Bolivar with political and military control in invasion of Venezuela from Haiti.

1831 – Belgian Constitution is proclaimed.

1863 – HMS Orpheus is wrecked near New Zealand, killing 190 people.

1944 – German forces launch assault on Allies’ Anzio bridgehead in World War II.

1947 – British proposal for dividing Palestine into Arab and Jewish zones with administration as trusteeship is rejected by Arabs and Jews.

1962 – Coal mine explosion in Saarbruecken, Germany, kills 298 miners.

1964 – Rock ‘n’ roll’s British invasion begins when the Beatles are greeted by thousands of screaming fans on their arrival in New York for their first American tour.

1969 – Nigerian planes bomb and strafe crowded market in village in rebellious Biafra, killing more than 200 people.

1971 – U.S. Apollo 14 astronauts speed toward splashdown in Pacific Ocean after their visit to moon.

1974 – Britain grants independence to small Caribbean island of Grenada.

1984 – Space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart go on first untethered spacewalk.

1986 – Haiti’s President for Life Jean-Claude Duvalier goes into exile, ending 29-year family dynasty in the Caribbean republic.

1992 – Pakistan for the first time acknowledges its ability to make nuclear weapons.

1994 – Guerrillas kill four Israeli soldiers in an ambush in Lebanon that draws retaliatory air and artillery strikes.

1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.

1996 – A charter jetliner carrying German tourists crashes into the Caribbean minutes after taking off from Puerto Plata, the Dominican Republic, killing 189 aboard.

1999 – King Hussein dies of cancer after nearly half a century on the throne of Jordan.

2001 – Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returns to power in Haiti. Aristide won a second term as president in November 2000 elections that were boycotted by major opposition parties.

2005 – Secretary-General Kofi Annan suspends the head of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq and a senior U.N. official who dealt with contracts following an independent investigation that accused them of misconduct.

2007 – The Episcopal Church names a woman, Rev. Nerva Cot Aguilera, as bishop in Cuba, the first such appointment by the church in the developing world.

2010 – Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych declares victory in Ukraine’s presidential contest even though exit polls show a very tight race.

2011 – A fire guts warehouses holding many of the elaborate, feather-and-sequin costumes and extravagant floats for Rio’s Carnival parade, destroying the dreams and hard work of thousands of mostly poor Brazilians who toil year-round to stage one of world’s most spectacular celebrations.

2012 – Greece’s private creditors signal progress on a debt-relief deal but crucial talks between Greek coalition leaders about forcing more austerity upon a hostile public are again postponed.

2013 – Ireland clinches a long-sought agreement with the European Central Bank to restructure the loans used to bail out its failing banks, a deal expected to reduce the national debt by euro 20 billion ($27 billion).

2014 — A Russia in search of global vindication kicks off the Sochi Olympics looking more like a Russia that likes to party, with a pulse-raising opening ceremony about fun and sports instead of terrorism, gay rights and coddling despots.

2015 — Ukraine’s president pushes for a quick cease-fire in his country’s troubled east and defensive weapons from the West as mediators seek momentum for a deal to stem the fighting on Europe’sedge.

Today’s Birthdays:

Sir Thomas More, English Lord Chancellor and writer (1478-1535); Charles Dickens, English novelist (1812-1870); Dmitri Mendeleyev, Russian chemist (1834-1907); Sinclair Lewis, U.S. writer (1885-1951); Aisingyoro Henry Puyi, last emperor of China (1906-1967); Sir Russell Drysdale, Australian artist (1912-1981); Earl King, U.S. blues singer/guitarist (1934-2003); Garth Brooks, U.S. country singer (1962–); Chris Rock, U.S. actor/comedian (1965–).

Thought For Today:

There are only two classes of mankind in the world — doctors and patients — Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet (1865-1936).

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.