Unix Timestamp: 1045612800
Wednesday, February 19. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Iranian warships dock at the Syrian port of Tartous, according to Iranian state media. //www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/20122197221461654.html (Al Jazeera)

Iran ceases oil exports to France and the United Kingdom, in a retaliatory move against European Union sanctions. //www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201221913203691810.html (Al Jazeera)

Iran suspends oil exports to Britain and France following sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States in January.

Fidel Castro retires, resigning as the President of Cuba (after 49 years in office) and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, effective 24 February 2008 upon the election of his successor. //www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23241323-2,00.html (AFP via News Limited) //www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2008/02/19/nacional/artic10.html (Granma) //uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKN1941945720080219 (Reuters UK)

Pasta de Conchos mine disaster: Sixty-five miners die after becoming trapped underground, following an explosion in Nueva Rosita, Mexico.

Suicide bombers kill more than 30 people in Iraq as Shia Muslims mark Ashura, their holiest day.

Reformist newspapers "Shargh" and "Yas-e-no" are shut down by the Iranian judiciary, only one day before the parliament elections.//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3502995.stm (BBC)

European Commission President Romano Prodi vows stronger action to combat anti-Semitism in Europe. Prodi states that some criticism of Israel was inspired by what amounts to anti-Semitic sentiments and prejudice. Youths from the large Arab immigrant communities in France, Belgium and other European countries are blamed for the rise in attacks against Jews in Europe. The European Union's //eumc.eu.int/eumc/index.php European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna, Austria, found the increase of anti-Semitic attacks was committed above all either by right-wing extremists or radical Islamists or young Muslims mostly of Arab descent. //www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/396146.html (Haaretz)

One Dane and five of the nine Britons held without trial as terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay are to be released, probably within the next two weeks, according to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. The soon-to-be-released captives have been amongst the 660 detainees at the US base in Cuba, held for the past two years as suspected Al-Qaida or Taliban 'combatants'. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3504221.stm (BBC) //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3505365.stm (BBC)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear agency, finds undeclared components in Iran compatible with advanced uranium centrifuge designs, increasing Western concerns that it may be developing nuclear weapons. //www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/396159.html (Haaretz)

States of emergency are declared in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada, after a prolonged blizzard dumps 90 centimetres of snow on the provinces. This doubles the previous record, set in the 1950s. Roads are completely impassable, blocked with drifts of up to 3 to 4 metres. //www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/20/newweather_atl040220 (CBC)

San Francisco sues California to force the state to accept marriage licenses it altered to remove reference to bride and groom and recognize same-sex marriage. //www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/7995259.htm ("Kansas City Star")

The Kuwaiti newspaper "A-Siasa" reports that Palestinian and international terrorist organizations have decided at a recent Beirut conference to launch a wave of terror attacks against Israeli and Jewish interests worldwide. According to the report, there will also be similar attacks against coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The conference, which took place at the start of February, was also said to have been attended by senior members of the Syrian, Lebanese and Iranian intelligence services who presented a list of Israeli intelligence officials to be assassinated. Organizations in attendance included: Al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad. //www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/396163.html (Haaretz) //www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=270760lang=edir=news (Al Bawaba)

NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

A wooden ferry capsizes as it enters the port of Cádiz in the Philippines, killing 54 people.

The 1984 Winter Olympics close in Sarajevo.

The DeLorean Motor Company Car Factory in Belfast is put into receivership.

Asama-Sansō incident: Five United Red Army members break into a lodge below Mount Asama, taking the wife of the lodge keeper hostage.

Poseidon bubble: shares in Australian nickel mining company Poseidon NL, which stood at $0.80 in September 1969, peak at around $280 before the speculative bubble bursts.

NET televises the very first episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

The Florida Education Association (FEA) initiates a mass resignation of teachers to protest state funding of education. This is, in effect, the first statewide teachers' strike in the United States.

The naval minister of the United Kingdom, Christopher Mayhew, resigns.

The publication of Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" launches the reawakening of the Women's Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness-raising groups spread.

The United Kingdom decides to grant Cyprus its independence.

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization established.

Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States.

Jean Lee becomes the last woman hanged in Australia, when Lee and her 2 pimps are hanged for the murder and torture of a 73-year-old bookmaker.

Konrad Adenauer tries unsuccessfully to negotiate with East Germany to begin unification.

Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.

Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow, gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention in the United States.

Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch.

World heavyweight boxing chion Joe Louis retires.

Cincinnati Gardens opens in Cincinnati.

February 20 ndash 980 Japanese soldiers die as a result of a killing spree by long saltwater crocodiles in Ramree, Burma.

WWII ndash Battle of Iwo Jima: About 30,000 United States Marines land on Iwo Jima.

23 ndash the Battle of Sittang Bridge British forces retreat to the Sittang River.

Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.

February 22 ndash WWII: Three Nights' Blitz over Swansea, South Wales: Over these 3 nights of intensive bombing, which last a total of 13 hours and 48 minutes, Swansea's town centre is almost completely obliterated by the 896 high explosive bombs employed by the Luftwaffe. A total of 397 casualties and 230 deaths are reported.

February 22 ndash WWII: Three Nights\' Blitz over Swansea, South Wales: Over these 3 nights of intensive bombing, which last a total of 13 hours and 48 minutes, Swansea's town centre is almost completely obliterated by the 896 high explosive bombs employed by the Luftwaffe. A total of 397 casualties and 230 deaths are reported.

A general strike in Shanghai protests the presence of British troops.

US Senate refuses to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Mukden begins in Manchuria.

The SS "Naronic" is believed to have sunk due to a storm.

Kansas becomes the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.

The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison.

(Third Carlist War)-Government troops under General Primo de Rivera drove through the weak Carlist forces protecting Estella, Spain and took the city by storm.

March ndash The University of Illinois at Urbana/Chaign is established (opened 1 year later).

Battle of Inlon River in Hubei China

The Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

The newly formed Texasstate government is officially installed in Austin.

Captain William Smith in British merchant brig "Williams" sights Williams Point, the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, the first land discovered south of latitude 60° S.

In Alabama, former Vice President of the United StatesAaron Burr is tried for conspiracy and acquitted.

Act of Mediation issued by Napoleon Bonaparte establishes the Swiss Confederation to replace the Helvetic Republic. Under the terms of the act, Graubünden, St. Gallen, Thurgau, the Ticino and Vaud become Swiss cantons.

England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renames it New York, in exchange for the British colonies of Berbice and Essequibo.

First recorded eruption of Mayon Volcano, the Philippines' most active volcano.ref name=volcano.si.eduSmithsonian Institution. "Global Volcanism Program". URL: //www.volcano.si.edu/ accessed on 12.03.2008. Event dated with reference to historical documents.

Huaynaputinavolcano in Peru undergoes a catastrophic eruption, the worst to be recorded in South America.

September ndash Henry, Prince of Wales (later Henry V of England) retakes Aberystwyth from Owain Glyndŵr.

Battle of Bramham Moor: a royalist army defeats the last remnants of the Percy rebellion.

Second Battle of Uji: Minamoto no Yoshinaka is defeated by his cousins, Yoshitsune and Yoritomo, for the control of Japan.

Pope Boniface III succeeds Pope Sabinian as the 66th pope, but dies the same year.

The veneration of non-Christian images is banned in the Roman Empire.

Emperor Constantius II issues a decree closing all pagan temples in the Roman Empire and ordering the banishment once again of the anti-Arian patriarch of Alexandria, Athanasius. He tries to have him arrested during a vigil service, but Athanasius flees to the Nitrian desert in Upper Egypt.

Anthony the Great dies at his hermitage near the Red Sea in mid-January at age 103 (approximate), having preached against Arianism and tried to codify guidelines for monastic life.

Naemul becomes king of the Silla dynasty (Three Kingdoms of Korea).

Battle of Reims: Julian is defeated by the Alemanni at Reims (Gaul).

Winter ndash Siege of Senonae: Julian over-wintered at Senonae (Bourgogne). German federated troops ("foederati") desert and hostile warbands besieged the town.

Construction begins on the first basilica of Saint Peter in Rome.

Rhaetia (Switzerland) is invaded by the Alemanni.

Siege of Autun: Julian receives a report that Augustodunum (Autun) is under attack by the Alemanni. The city walls are in poor state and in danger of falling.

Battle of Brumath: Roman forces pursued Germanic warbands through the Gallic countryside. Julian wins an open battle near Brumath (Alsace).

Septimius Severus returns to Rome and has about 30 of Albinus's supporters in the Senate executed. After his victory he declares himself the adopted son of the late Marcus Aurelius.

A Christian council is held in Edessa.

Battle of Lugdunum: EmperorSeptimius Severus defeats the self-proclaimed emperor Decimus Clodius Albinus at Lugdunum (modern Lyon). Albinus commits suicide, legionaries sack the town.

Septimius Severus reconstitutes the Province of Mesopotamia under an equestrian governor commanding two legions.

Septimius Severus forms new naval units, manning all the triremes in Italy with heavily armed troops for war in the East. Soldiers embarked on an artificial canal between the Tigris and Euphrates.

The Roman army marched east to repel a Parthian invasion of Mesopotamia, they loot the royal palace at Ctesiphon and capture an enormous number of its inhabitants as slaves.

Legio I, II, and III "Parthica" are levied by Septimius Severus for his Parthian caign.

Galen's major work on medicines, "Pharmacologia", is published.

Septimius Severus, who had spared the Senate at the beginning of his reign, now excludes it from controlling the Roman empire by declaring a military dictatorship.