Unix Timestamp: 949536000
Thursday, February 3. 2000, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Egyptian protests:

The sculpture "L'Homme qui marche I" by Alberto Giacometti sells in London for £65 million (US$103.7 million), setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

The sculpture "L\\'Homme qui marche I" by Alberto Giacometti sells in London for £65 million (US$103.7 million), setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

The Palestinian National Authority demands an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020300665.html ("Washington Post")

Sri Lankan Civil War: At least eight people die and up to 100 are hurt in a suicide attack in the main railway station in Colombo. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7224783.stm (BBC News)

Egyptian troops close the last breach in Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip. //www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201867283500pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (AP via "The Jerusalem Post")

Russia investigates smelly orange snow, oily to touch, which has fallen across an area of 1500 square kilometres in the Omsk region of the country. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6323611.stm (BBC)

The Spring Festival travel season in China begins, in which 156 million passengers will travel by train, and 2 billion bus trips are expected. //news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/03/content_5690247.htm (Xinhua) //english.people.com.cn/200702/05/eng20070205_347644.html (People's Daily)

An Egyptian passenger ferry carrying more than 1,400 people, sinks in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast.

Political status of Taiwan: President Chen Shui-bian proposes to set up a demilitarized zone between Taiwan and mainland China. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3453631.stm

An apartment block collapses in the Turkish city of Konya, killing at least 14 people. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3453131.stm

Mini-Tuesday: Five states hold primaries and two states hold caucuses for the Democratic presidential nomination. U.S. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts wins primary elections in Arizona, Delaware, New Mexico, Missouri and North Dakota, which a best result is 51 percent in Missouri. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina wins in South Carolina. Retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark narrowly wins in Oklahoma. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who opted to focus on the Michigan and Washington primaries the following Saturday, polls poorly in all these primaries, with a best result is third with 18% in New Mexico. For the first time, Kerry obtains a majority of elected delegates to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, with 244 delegates to Dean's 121, Edwards' 102 and Clark's 79. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, having earlier announced Joementum, comes in second in Delaware and announces his withdrawal from the race.

Record producer Phil Spector was arrested in relation to an investigation into the fatal shooting of a 40-year-old woman in Los Angeles. Press reports identify the woman as the actress Lana Clarkson.

Costa Rica holds presidential and congressional elections.

American football: Super Bowl XXXVI: New England Patriots 20, Saint Louis Rams 17—one of the most astonishing upsets in Super Bowl history.

Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying plane severs the cable of a cable-car.

William J. Perry is sworn in as the United States Secretary of Defense.

The Democratic-controlled United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to support the Nicaraguan Contras.

Pixar Animation Studios is opened.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament for elections on March 5. Bob Hawke replaces Bill Hayden as leader of the Australian Labor Party.

Syrian president Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Khomeini creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution.

Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was known to science.

Supporters of Khomeini take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration the final session of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly is held.

February 13 – The 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Japan.

Ronald Ryan becomes the last man hanged in Australia, for murdering a guard while escaping from prison in December 1965.

The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.

The Government of the United States authorizes the Twenty-fourth Amendment, outlawing the poll tax.

Protesting against alleged de-facto school racial segregation, Black and Puerto Rican groups in New York City boycott public schools.

General Motors introduces the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and the Buick Sport Wagon.

China buys grain from Canada for $60 million.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town (although he had first made the speech, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast – now Ghana – on January 10).

Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.

The Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific War against Japan once hostilities against Germany are concluded.

Battle of Manila: United States forces enter the outskirts of Manila to capture it from the Japanese Imperial Army, starting the battle.

WWII: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.

WWII: The Four Chaplains of the U.S. Army are drowned, when their ship (USAT Dorchester) is struck by a German torpedo.

WWII: Rommel suspends his offensive in Cyrenaica.

WWII: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy France.

Hawke\'s Bay earthquake: Much of the New Zealand city of Napier is destroyed in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale.

Hawke's Bay earthquake: Much of the New Zealand city of Napier is destroyed in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale.

Soviet troops occupy Ukraine.

WWI: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.

Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada are burned down.

The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income taxes.

P. T. Barnum purchases the elephant Jumbo.

Battle of Lácar (Third Carlist War) -Carlist commander Torcuato Mendíri secured a brilliant victory when he surprised and routed a Government force under General Enrique Bargés at Lácar, east of Estella, nearly capturing newly crowned King Alfonso XII. The Carlists take several pieces of artillery, more than 2,000 rifles, and 300 prisoners. 800 men of both sides are killed - mostly government troops.

The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing African-Americans the right to vote, is passed.

Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu abdicates, and the late Emperor Kōmei's son, Prince Mutsuhito becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan in a brief ceremony in Kyoto, ending the Late Tokugawa shogunate.

The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, D.C., becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.

Battle of Caseros or Battle of Monte Caseros, Argentina: The Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes allied with Brazil and members of Colorado Party of Uruguay, defeat Buenos Aires troops under Juan Manuel de Rosas.

Argentina supports Rosas of Uruguay and begins a siege of Montevideo.

Greece is liberated from the Ottoman forces as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.

Vendsyssel-Thy, once part of the Jutland peninsula that formed westernmost Denmark, becomes an island after a flood drowns its 1 km wide isthmus.

Gioachino Rossini's "Semiramide" is first performed.

The first commercial cheese factory is founded in Switzerland.

The Illinois Territory is created.

American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America.

A sequence of earthquakes begins in Calabria, Italy, leaves 50,000 dead.

American Revolutionary War: Britain acknowledges the United States independence.

The 'Lesser Great Fire' destroys a substantial part of central Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony issues the first paper money in North America.

George Monck and his regiment arrive in London.ref name=CBH

Cardinal Mazarin returns to Paris from exile.

Tulip mania collapses in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands).

Cairo is captured by the Ottoman Empire the Mamluk Sultanate falls.

Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, becoming the first known European to travel this far south and entering the Indian Ocean.

Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his son Mehmed II.

Emperor Frederick Barbarossa takes Crema, Italy following a cruel siege, as part of his caign against the independent Italian city-states.

Pope John XII and Otto co-sign the "Diploma Ottonianum".

Indulf, King of the Scots and Picts, dies and is succeeded by Dubh.

December ndash A Byzantine army under Nikephoros Phokas captures and plunders Aleppo.

Emperor Maximinus II crosses with an army (70.000 men) the Bosphorus, and lays siege to Heraclea (Turkey). He captures the city after eight days.

Edict of Milan: Constantine the Great and co-emperor Licinius met at a conference in Mediolanum (modern Milan). They proclaimed a policy of religious freedom for all, ending the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

Candidates for government office must take civil-service examinations.

The boy emperor, Ping Di dies of unexpected causes at age 14 Wang Mang alone selects the new emperor, the Ruzi Ying, age 2,ref name=wak1/ starting the "Jushe" era of the Han Dynasty.

The imperial Liu clan suspect the intentions of Wang Mang and foment agrarian rebellions during the course of Ruzi Ying's reign. The first of these is led by Liu Chong, Marquess of Ang-Zong (a/k/a Marquis of An-chung), with a small force starting inref name=wak1/ May or June.