Unix Timestamp: 1044748800
Sunday, February 9. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Spanish Basque nationalists announce a new political party named Sortu (meaning born in the Basque language), categorically rejecting all violence, including that of ETA. //www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1617787.php/New-Basque-separatist-party-unveils-its-name-Sortu (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)

"The Guardian" publishes WikiLeaks cables claiming that Saudi Arabia had exaggerated its crude oil reserves by nearly 40% and will have trouble keeping a cap on oil prices. //www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/08/saudi-oil-reserves-overstated-wikileaks ("The Guardian")

The Associated Press receives a video showing Pakistani militants beheading kidnapped Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak. //www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD967UBLO0 (AP via Google News)

59 people are killed and 200 injured after a fire breaks out in a mosque in Tehran, Iran.

Saudi Arabia holds its first ever municipal elections, in which only male citizens are allowed to vote.

An ETAcar bomb injures at least 40 people at a conference centre in Madrid.

North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it feels from the United States.

Former Prime Minister of LebanonRafik Hariri is killed in Beirut after an assassination attempt by suicide bombing it also kills at least 16 other people and injures 120 others.

YouTube, the most popular video sharing website, is founded.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admits that he had suspected for at least three years that Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, was sharing nuclear technology with other countries, blaming the United States for not giving him convincing proof of the activities of his own scientist.//www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/10/1076388364592.html

The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Elizabeth II's sister Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon dies in her sleep aged 71 after suffering a major stroke.

The U.S. Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.

The submarine USS \\'\\'Greeneville\\'\\' accidentally strikes and sinks the Japanese fishing vessel "Ehime-Maru" near Hawaii.

Torrential rains in Africa lead to the worst flooding in Mozambique in 50 years, which lasts until March and kills 800 people.

Chess computerDeep Blue defeats world chess chion Garry Kasparov for the first time.

Bosnian Serbs break off contact with the Bosnian government and with representatives of Ifor, the NATO localised force, in reaction to the arrest of several Bosnian Serb war criminals.

The element Copernicium is discovered.

"STS-63": Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale became the first African American and Briton, respectively, to walk in space.

The Vance-Owen Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced.

The 1994 Winter Olympics begin in Lillehammer.

Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is stolen in Oslo (and is recovered on May 7).

Algerian Civil War: The government of Algeria declares a state of emergency and begins a crackdown on the Islamic Salvation Front.

Voters in Lithuania support independence.

Halley's Comet reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th Century.

U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena is kidnapped and murdered in Mexico (his body is discovered March 5).

Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay due to thrust reversal on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 among the 174 people on board.

Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.

Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.

Stardust fire: A fire at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland in the early hours kills 48 and injures 214.

A Turkish Federated State of North Cyprus is declared as an unsuccessful first step to international recognition of a Turkish Cypriot separatist state in Cyprus.

Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar, is assassinated.

Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the opposition UK Conservative Party. Thatcher, 49, is Britain's first female leader of any political party.

The "Soyuz 17" crew (Georgi Grechko, Aleksei Gubarev) returns to Earth after 1 month aboard the "Salyut 4" space station.

Fire breaks out in the World Trade Center.

The British government declares a state of emergency over a miners' strike.

Phonorecords are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.

President of EcuadorJosé María Velasco Ibarra is deposed for the fourth time.

The Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight.

The Beatles appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show", marking their first live performance on American television. Seen by an estimated 73 million viewers, the appearance becomes the catalyst for the mid-1960s British Invasion of American popular music.

Greeks Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) drops diplomatic relations with France because of French recognition of the People's Republic of China.

Gabonese president Leon M\'ba is toppled by a military coup and his archrival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place. However, French intervention restores M'ba's government the next day.

"Wesberry v. Sanders" (376 US 1 1964): The Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

The Beatles perform for the first time at the Cavern Club.

Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones)

The U.S. Army begins to deploy anti-aircraft cannons to protect nuclear stations and military targets.

Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction.

Two Viet Minh battalions attack a French base in French Indochina.

Second Red Scare: In his speech to the Republican Women's Club at the McClure Hotel in Wheeling, West Virginia, SenatorJoseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with 205 Communists.

The European Broadcasting Union is founded.

British Columbia B-36 crash - The U.S. Air Force loses a Convair B-36 bomber that carried an Mark 4 nuclear bomb off the west coast of Canada, and produces the world's first Broken Arrow.!Was this term, in fact, used in 1950? Does it really qualify, as the core was a lead training dummy?

Pro-communist riots erupt in Paris.

Finland recognizes Indonesia.

Winston Churchill, in a worldwide broadcast, tells the United States to show its support by sending arms to the British: Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.

Reserve Constable Albert Alexander, a patient at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, becomes the first person treated with penicillin intravenously, by Howard Florey's team. He reacts positively but there is insufficient supply of the drug to reverse his terminal infection. A successful treatment is achieved during May.

WWII: Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli.

The King and Country debate: The Oxford Union student debating society in England passes a resolution stating, That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and country.

The Litvinov Protocol is signed in Moscow among the USSR, Poland, Estonia, Romania and Latvia.ref name=Rezun

Flooding hits London suburbs.

Billy Hughes resigns as Prime Minister of Australia, after the Country Party refuses to govern in coalition with him as the leader of the Nationalist Party. Hughes is succeeded by his Treasurer, Stanley Bruce.

The League of Nations gives Spitzbergen to Norway.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert.

Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control.

The Romanian football club Sportul Studenţesc is founded.

6.00 p.m. ndash Tristan Tzara founds the art movement Dadaism (according to Hans Arp).

Dwight F. Davis creates the Davis Cup tennis tournament.

Mintonette, later known as volleyball, is created by William G. Morgan at Holyoke, Massachusetts.

The first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.

U.S. Commission on Fish and Fisheries

The YWCA is founded in New York City.

Anaheim, California is incorporated.

The Army Weather Bureau (within the Army Signal Corps) is created.

About 850 convicts at Chatham Dockyard in England take over their prison in a riot."BBC History Magazine" (February 2011) p. 11.

American Civil War: The U.S. House unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Weed Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.

Cholera breaks out in London, claiming at least 3,000 victims. It spreads to France and North America later this year. ! maybe also other countries, but these were the only ones mentioned in different places in this article

Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands.

The Florida Legislative Council grants a city charter for Jacksonville, Florida.

After no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy AdamsPresident of the United States.

The invading Haitian forces led by Jean Pierre Boyer arrive in Santo Domingo, to overthrow the newly founded Republic.

The George Washington University is chartered as The Columbian College of the District of Columbia by President Monroe.

The Qianlong Emperor abdicates at age 84 to make way for his son, the Jiaqing Emperor.

Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 and attacks Moldavia.

American Revolution: The Parliament of Great Britain declares Massachusetts in rebellion.

Ibrahim I (1640–1648) succeeds Murat IV (1623–1640) as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Papal Conclave of 1621: Pope Gregory XV succeeds Pope Paul V as the 234th pope.

The sudden death of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, in the midst of preparations for the Spanish Armada, forces King Philip II of Spain to re-allocate the command of the fleet.

Rowland Taylor, Rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk, and John Hooper, deposed Bishop of Gloucester, are burned at the stake in England.

Thomas Wyatt surrenders to government forces in London.ref name=CBH

March ndash Canterbury Cathedral surrenders, and reverts to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'.

First horse race held at Chester Racecourse, the oldest in use in England.

KingAndrew II of Hungary proclaims herzeg "Coloman" as Ban of Bosnia, who passes it on to Prijezda, a cousin of BanMatej Ninoslav ("1234" to 1239), despite Matej being the legitimate Ban of Bosnia.

Saint Dominic is canonized.

Upon the death of Knut Långe, the deposed Erik Eriksson returns as king of Sweden, possibly after a small war between the two of them. It is also possible that Knut dies of natural causes and Erik peacefully then returns as king.

Pope Gregory IX calls for a crusade against Bosnia, and replaces the BogumilBosnian Bishop with a CatholicDominicanGerman, "Johann".

Sancho II of Portugal conquers the cities of Aljustrel and Mértola over the Muslims.ref name=picard2000

Song Dynasty Chinese and Mongolian armies occupy the Jurchen capital at Caizhou, marking the collapse of the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234).

Pope Gregory IX releases the "Nova Compilatio Decretalium".

Boleslaus III of Bohemia is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. In the following months Boleslav's brothers Jaromir and Oldrich flee to Germany and place themselves under the protection of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, while Boleslaus III of Bohemia orders massacre of his leading nobles at Vyšehrad.

Pope Adrian I (also referred to as Hadrian) succeeds Pope Stephen III as the 95th pope.

Caliph Al-Mansur orders Christians and Jews in Jerusalem to be sted on their hands with a distinctive symbol.//www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24506 FrontPage Magazine

Zeno, father of Leo II, is crowned as co-emperor ("Augustus"). He rules the empire together with his son and stabilises the Eastern frontier.