Unix Timestamp: 1012348800
Wednesday, January 30. 2002, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Government of Australia announces that it will apologize to the stolen generation of indigenous Australians in the Parliament of Australia on February 13. //www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23132308-661,00.html (AAP via "Melbourne Herald-Sun")

The United States Federal Reserve cuts the federal funds rate by half a point to 3 per cent, the second cut in this key interest rate in eight days as it acts to head off a recession. //www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/business/30cnd-fed.html ("The New York Times")

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and state electricity chief Anatoly Chubais call for a less hawkish foreign policy. Analysts claim the two are close to the likely next President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. //www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7267546 ("The Guardian")

The first free Parliamentary elections in Iraq since 1958 take place.

Would-be shoe-bomber Richard Reid is sentenced to life in prison for trying to down American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. Reid had previously pleaded guilty. This is the last time January 30th is on a Thursday until 2014.

Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.

Dr. Harold Shipman is found guilty of murdering 15 patients between 1995 and 1998 at Hyde, Greater Manchester, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Super Bowl XXXIV took place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The half time adverts featured seventeen dot-com companies (most memorably pets.com) that each paid over $2 million for a 30-second spot.

Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.

Central Bank bombing: an explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.

February 5 ndash Sarah Balabagan is caned in the United Arab Emirates.

An explosion in Shaoyang, China kills 122 and injures over 400 when 10 tons of dynamite in an illegal explosives warehouse underneath an apartment building detonate.

Irish National Liberation Army leader Gino Gallagher is killed in an internal feud.

John Howard becomes leader of the Liberal Party of Australia to challenge Paul Keating for the 1996 Federal Election and the position of Prime Minister of Australia.

North Korea signs an accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency allowing for international inspections of North Korea's nuclear power plants.

Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney shuffles his cabinet, appointing 6 new ministers and re-assigning the responsibilities of 19 others.

"Live from Lincoln Center" debuts on PBS.

The Beatles give their last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records.

Two cosmonauts transfer from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4 via a spacewalk while the two craft are docked together, the first time such a transfer takes place. The two spacecraft undock. Soyuz 4 will reenter Earth's atmosphere and land February 17 while Soyuz 5 will have a hard landing February 18.

Ten paintings are defaced in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Nauru president Hammer DeRoburt declares independence from Australia.

The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad merge to form Penn Central, the largest ever corporate merger up to this date.

Viet Cong soldiers attack the US Embassy, Saigon.

Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam.

Vietnam War: A Viet Cong officer named Nguyễn Văn Lém is executed by Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The event is photographed by Eddie Adams. The photo makes headlines around the world, eventually winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and sways U.S. public opinion against the war.

State funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place with the largest assembly of statesmen in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.

February – African and Malagasy Union for Economic Cooperation (UAMCE) (Union Africaine et Malgache de Coopération Économique).

General Nguyen Khanh leads a bloodless military coup d'état, replacing Duong Van Minh as Prime Minister of South Vietnam.

Two of the high-wire Flying Wallendas are killed, when their famous 7-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, Michigan.

A military coup in Burma brings General Ne Win to power.

Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA basketball game.

An American AirlinesBoeing 707crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after a rudder malfunction causes an uncontrolled roll, resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft, with the loss of all life on board.

The S. S. Kresge Company opens its first Kmart discount store in Garden City, Michigan.

President John F. Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union Address.

The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.

Danish passenger/cargo ship

February 8 ndash A heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Calgary, Alberta.

WWII: United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.

WWII ndash Australians capture Derna, Libya from the Italians.

Hitler gives a speech before the "Reichstag" calling for an export battle to increase German foreign exchange holdings. The same speech also sees Hitler's prophecy where he warns that if Jewish financers start a war against Germany, the...result will be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.

The release of the movie City Lights starring Charlie Chaplin.

The first radiosonde is launched in Pavlovsk, USSR.

Right-wing veterans and the "Republican Schutzbund" clash in Schattendorf, Burgenland, Austria. One man and a child are killed by gunshots (see July 15).

February ndash Werner Heisenberg formulates his famous uncertainty principle while employed as a lecturer at Niels Bohr's Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen.

Sayyid Muhammad, Khan of Khiva abdicates.

Estonian War of Independence: The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed, ending the war and recognizing Estonian independence.

France occupies Memel.

The oldest surviving pro wrestling match on film happens, with Joe Stecher defeating Earl Caddock.

Pershing's troops in Mexico begin withdrawing back to the United States. They reach Columbus, New MexicoFebruary 5.

House of Lords rejects Irish Home Rule Bill for the second time.

Governor William Goebel of Kentucky shot by several assassins.

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera commit a double suicide (or a murder suicide) in the Mayerling hunting lodge.

Emperor Kōmei dies suddenly, age 36, leaving his 14-year-old son Crown PrinceMutsuhito to succeed as the next Emperor of Japan.

American Civil War: The first US ironclad warship, the USS "Monitor", is launched.

Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.

A fire ruins and destroys two-thirds of the then villa (now city) of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

An assassination is attempted against President Andrew Jackson in the United States Capitol (the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States).

The Menai Suspension Bridge, built by engineer Thomas Telford, is opened between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.

Lord Cochraneoccupies Valdivia in the name of the Republic of Chile.

History of Antarctica: British Royal Navy captain Edward Bransfield lands on the mainland of Antarctica.ref name=Jones/

86 free African American colonists sail from New York City to Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Monroe and Livingston sail for Paris to discuss, and possibly buy, New Orleans they end up completing the Louisiana Purchase.

The first boat specialized as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne.

February ndash Soldiers at "Fort Louis de la Mobile" celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile, starting the tradition for Mobile, Alabama.

December 14 of previous year in the Chinese calendar) ndash In Japan, the revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin occurs, assassinating Daimyo Kira Yoshinaka, the enemy of their former lord Asano Naganori, at his own mansion as a vengeance. All 47 samurais commit seppuku, a ritual suicide on March 20 (February 4 in the Chinese calendar).

The body of Oliver Cromwell is exhumed and subjected to a posthumous execution, along with those of John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton.

The Dutch and the Spanish sign the Peace of Münster, ending the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish Empire recognizes the Dutch Republic of United Netherlands as a sovereign state, (governed by the House of Orange-Nassau and the Estates General) which was previously a province of the Spanish Empire. (Ratified May 15.)

The Dutch and the Spanish sign the Peace of Münster, ending the Eighty Years\\\\' War. The Spanish Empire recognizes the Dutch Republic of United Netherlands as a sovereign state, (governed by the House of Orange-Nassau and the Estates General) which was previously a province of the Spanish Empire. (Ratified May 15.)

Battle of Ochmatów: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under hetmanStanisław Koniecpolski secure a substantial victory over the horde of Crimean Tatars under Tugay Bey.

Pope Clement VIII (born Ippolito Aldobrandini) succeeds Pope Innocent IX, who died one month earlier, as the 231st pope.

Charles VIII of Sweden is deposed. ClergymanKettil Karlsson Vasa becomes Regent of Sweden.