Unix Timestamp: 1139356800
Wednesday, February 8. 2006, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Bushfires in Victoria, Australia, have killed at least 108 people and destroyed at least 750 homes. //www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5685378.ece ("The Times")

The Taliban releases a video of Polish geologist Piotr Stańczak, whom they had abducted a few months earlier, being beheaded. It is the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since American journalist Daniel Pearl was executed in 2002.

Scotland Yard detectives investigating the death of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto say that she died from the effect of a bomb blast not gunfire. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7234147.stm (BBC News)

The London Iraqi exiles admits that information supplied as a key piece of intelligence might have been false (but provided in good faith). The CX report information was one of the items of intelligence on Saddam Hussein's possible use of WMD.

In a BBC interview, Dr. Hans Blix accuses the U.S. and British governments of dramatising the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to strengthen the case for the 2003 invasion.

Sections of a 'dodgy dossier' issued by the UK government, which purported to present the latest British intelligence about Iraq, and which had been cited by Tony Blair and Colin Powell as evidence for the need for war, were criticized as plagiarisms. They had been copied without permission from a number of sources including "Jane's Intelligence Review" and a 12-year-old doctoral thesis of a Californian student that had been published in the US journal "Middle East Review of International Affairs". Some sentences were copied word-for-word, and spelling mistakes had been reproduced from the original articles. Downing Street responded by saying that the government had never claimed exclusive authorship and that the information was accurate.

The opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, which are held in Salt Lake City.

February 24 ndash The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Disney California Adventure Park opens to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

Bob Collins' plane collides with that of a student pilot over Zion, Illinois.

An IRA ceasefire ends with a half-tonne bomb in London's Canary Wharf District, killing 2 and causing over £85 million worth of damage.

General Motors sues NBC, after "Dateline NBC" allegedly rigged 2 crashes showing that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the following day.

Lien Chan is named by Lee Teng-Hui to succeed Hau Pei-tsun as Premier of the Republic of China.

Mani Pulite scandal: Italian legislator Claudio Martelli resigns, followed by various politicians over the next 2 weeks.

The opening ceremony for the 1992 Winter Olympics is held in Albertville, France.

The 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo, SFRY.

20 fans of Olympiacos and 1 fan of AEK Athens die, while 54 are injured, after a stede at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, possibly because gate 7 does not open immediately after the end of the game.

Sixteen Unification Church couples wed in New York, New York.

The first computer bulletin board system ("CBBS") is created in Chicago.

The Hillside Strangler, a serial killer prowling Los Angeles, claims a tenth and final victim.

United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.

Somalia mobilizes its troops, due to an apparent Ethiopian attack.

Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Cranbrook, British Columbia, killing 44 of the 50 people on board.

The People\\'s Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

Rhodesia, one of only two remaining white-ruled African nations, announces that it will accept multiracial democracy within two years.

Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Pensacola, Florida.

After a record 84 days in orbit, the crew of "Skylab 4" returns to Earth.

Apollo program: "Apollo 14" returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.

Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame from the Negro League. Jackie Robinson was inducted July 23, 1962.

A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts.

The Sylmar earthquake (6.4 on the Richter Scale) hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.

The last issue of "The Saturday Evening Post" hits magazine stands.

Madison Square Garden in New York City opens.

Border clashes take place between Israel and Jordan.

American civil rights movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken up by highway patrolmen 3 college students are killed.

The National Hockey League expands to twelve teams.

Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy Administration.

Payment first made by Diners Club card, in New York, first use of a charge card.

A dance hall fire in Berlin, Germany, kills over 80 people.

WWII ndash Battle of Guadalcanal: United States forces defeat Japanese troops.

WWII ndash The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act (260–165).

February 27 ndash Spanish Civil War ndash Battle of Jarama: Nationalist and government troops fight to a stalemate.

Spanish Civil War: Falangist troops take Málaga.

Sean O'Casey's "Plough and Stars" opens at Abbey Theater in Dublin.

Sean O\'Casey's "Plough and Stars" opens at Abbey Theater in Dublin.

The controversial film, "The Birth of a Nation", directed by D.W. Griffith, premieres in Los Angeles, California.

A Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts the Russo-Japanese War.

Second Boer War: British troops are defeated by the Boers at Ladysmith.

The Dawes Act, or the General Allotment Act, is enacted.

The British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off Istanbul Russia threatens to occupy Istanbul but does not carry out the threat.

American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed, comprising the first six break-away States.

The New Roman Republic is established.

London and Greenwich Railway opens its first section, the first railway in London, England.

Swaminarayan wrote the Shikshapatri, an important test within the Swaminarayan faith.

Unitarian Bernardino Rivadavia becomes the first President of Argentina.

University College London is founded, under the name "University of London".

Estonia emancipates its peasants from serfdom.

Franz I of Austria declares war on France.

Battle of Eylau: Napoleon fights a hard, but inconclusive battle against the Russians under Bennigsen.

An earthquake in London breaks chimneys in Limehouse and Poplar.

Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia

Catherine I becomes Empress of Russia on the death of her husband, Peter the Great.

Catherine I is officially named czarina by her husband, Peter the Great, in Russia.

The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is granted a Royal charter from King William III and Queen Mary II of England.

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, longtime favorite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, rebels against the queen his revolt is quickly crushed.

Sir Anthony Shirley, England's best-educated pirate, raids Jamaica.

George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, sets fire to Donibristle Castle and murders James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray.

A magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurs in Concepción, Chile.

Laurence Saunders becomes the second Marian Protestant martyr in England, being led barefoot to his execution by burning at the stake.

Pope Julius III succeeds Pope Paul III as the 221st pope.

Japanese Buddhist Priest "Gisei" is made the rank of Junior Sōzu.

Constantius III is appointed co-emperor ("Augustus") with his ineffectual brother-in-law, Honorius, and becomes the real ruler of the Western Roman Empire.