Unix Timestamp: 1202256000
Wednesday, February 6. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.

The United States closes its embassy in Damascus, while the United Kingdom recalls its ambassador. //www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-pulls-diplomats-out-of-syria-as-violence-intensifies/2012/02/06/gIQAN1CxtQ_story.html ("Washington Post") //www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 (CNN)

Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is released from house arrest in Islamabad. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7873962.stm (BBC)

At least three domain name system root nameservers are under denial-of-service attack. //www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/07/root_server_attack/ (The Register). See "DNS Backbone DDoS Attacks"

An international passenger train crashes into a freight train in Komárom, Hungary, causing the engineer's death. Two of the 25 passengers also suffered injury. //www.hirtv.hu/?tPath=/belfold/kek_hirek/article_hid=137651 (HírTV)

At least 39 people are killed and around 120 injured in an explosion aboard a train on the Moscow Metro (subway) during the morning rush hour. The authorities are investigating the apparent bombing, which may be connected to a series of attacks in the Russian capital. President Vladimir Putin publicly blames the blast on Chechen militants and their leader, Aslan Maskhadov. The Chechen rebel leadership issues a statement denying responsibility. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17819-2004Feb6.html//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3464545.stm//www.gateway2russia.com/st/art_207984.php

A suicide bomber kills 41 people on a metro car in Moscow.

An earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, occurs in the Papua province of Indonesia and kills at least 23 people. //www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/69883/1/.html

U.S. President George W. Bush appoints an Iraq Intelligence Commission to investigate United States intelligence capabilities, specifically regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The commission is headed by Governor, and former Senator, Chuck Robb and Judge Laurence Silberman. //www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/06/wmd.panel/

In the United Kingdom, seven more arrests have been made under the Terrorism Act 2000 in raids in the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester.

Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II upon 50th Anniversary of King George VI's death in 1952

Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon wins election as Prime Minister of Israel.

Tarja Halonen is elected the first Finnish female president.

Tarja Halonen is elected the first female president of Finland.

Birgenair Flight 301, on an unauthorised charter flight from the Caribbean to Germany, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 passengers and crew.

Markale massacres: A Bosnian Serb Armymortar shell kills 68 civilians and wounds about 200 in a Sarajevo marketplace.

The United States Senate approves a measure calling for the faster phase-out of chlorofluorocarbons under the revised Montreal Protocol the phase-out is scheduled to be completed by 2000.

Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major United Statespolitical party.

The People\'s National Party, led by Michael Manley, wins the Jamaican general election.

The government of the People's Republic of Poland holds formal talks with representatives of Solidarity movement for the first time since 1981.

The Los Angeles, California City Council bans the sale or possession of semiautomatic firearms.

U.S. President Bush meets Canadian prime minister Mulroney in Ottawa, laying the groundwork for the Acid Rain Treaty of 1991.

Klaus Barbie is officially charged with war crimes.

King Dragon operation in Arakan: Burmese General Ne Win targets Muslim minorities in the village of Sakkipara.

Toronto: Construction on the CN Tower begins.

February 18 ndash The 1968 Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble, France.

Mazenod College, Victoria opens in Australia.

Alexei Kosygin arrives in the UK for an 8-day visit. He meets The Queen on February 9.

The Chinese government announces that it can no longer guarantee the safety of Soviet diplomats outside the Soviet Embassy building.

Serious bushfires in southern Tasmania claim 62 lives, and destroys 2,642.7 square kilometres (653,025.4 acres) of land.

Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.

Cuba cuts off the normal water supply to the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in reprisal for the U.S. seizure 4 days earlier of 4 Cuban fishing boats off the coast of Florida.

A Jackson, Mississippi jury, trying Byron De La Beckwith for the murder of Medgar Evers in June 1963, reports that it cannot reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial.

The Beatles arrive from England at New York City's JFK International Airport, receiving a tumultuous reception from a throng of screaming fans, marking the first occurrence of Beatlemania in the United States.

At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

Ruth Carol Taylor is the first African American woman hired as a flight attendant. Hired by Mohawk Airlines, her career lasts only six months, due to another discriminatory barrier ndash the airline's ban on married flight attendants.

The strongest ever known solar maximum is recorded.As of 2012.

Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.

Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany on the return flight from a European Cup game in Yugoslavia. 23 people survive, but four of them, including manager Matt Busby and players Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards, are in a serious condition.

A Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, killing 85 people and injuring over 500, in one of the worst rail disasters in American history.

First Cabinet Secretary N.R.Pillai appointed in India.

South Pacific Commission (SPC) founded.

French writer Robert Brasillach is executed for collaboration with the Germans.

WWII ndash Fall of Benghazi to the Western Desert Force. Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel is appointed commander of Afrika Korps.

Black Sunday at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia: 300 swimmers are dragged out to sea in 3 freak waves 80 lifesavers save all but 5.

Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia have formed the Balkan Pact.

Gaston Doumergue forms a new government in France.

French political crisis: The French far right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon, in an attempted coup against the Third Republic.

The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.

February 7 ndash Officers on the USS ''Ramapo'' record a 34-meter high sea-wave in the Pacific Ocean.

Friedrich Ebert is elected President of Germany.

The Seattle General Strike begins. Over 65,000 workers strike.

The Seattle General Strike ends when Federal troops are summoned by the State of Washington's Attorney General.

The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.

Spanish–American War: A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee.

Potato blight breaks out in Ireland:ref name=CBH beginning of the Great Famine.

The Virginia Minstrels perform the first minstrel show (Bowery Amphitheatre, New York City).

The Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.

Chinese junk "Tek Sing" sinks in the South China Sea with the loss of around 1600 people on board.

A formal treaty between Hussein Shah of Johor and the British Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles establishes a trading settlement in Singapore.

New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to a John Stevens.

The ship "Topaz" (from Boston April 5, 1807 hunting seals) rediscovers the Pitcairn Islands only one HMS ''Bounty'' mutineer is still alive, Alexander Smith (John Adams).

The Royal Navy gains a victory off Santo Domingo (see Action of 6 February 1806).

Massachusetts ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the sixth U.S. state.

American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France, signaling official French recognition of the new republic.

Mustafa II (1695–1703) succeeds Ahmed II as Ottoman Emperor.

The colony of Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is destroyed.

James Stuart, Duke of York becomes James II of England and Ireland and King James VII of Scotland in succession to his brother Charles II (1630–1685), King of Great Britain since 1660. James II and VII reigns to 1688.

Swedish troops of Charles X Gustav of Sweden cross The Great Belt (Storebælt) in Denmark over frozen sea.

Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands.

After leading the revolt against Emperor Otto III and expelling the Crescentii, Gregory I, Count of Tusculum is named Head of the Republic

the Fatimid general, Husaba of the Kutama Berber tribe, takes Barqah (Benghazi).ref name=HalmHeinz Halm //books.google.fr/books?id=usUjj9OV9l0Cpg=PA199 "The empire of the Mahdi, Partie 1, Volume 26" BRILL, 1996 ISBN 978-90-04-10056-5

A 4-month papal vacancy ends. Pope Julius I succeeds Pope Mark as the 35th pope.