Unix Timestamp: 981504000
Wednesday, February 7. 2001, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturns California's Proposition 8 banning gay marriage in that state. //latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/gay-marriage-prop-8s-ban-ruled-unconstitutional.html ("Los Angeles Times")

Sir Richard Branson warns that oil crunch is coming within five years. //current.com/1k8ts4c (Current TV) //www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=499145in_page_id=2 (thisismoney) //www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/oilprices/7203172/Britain-faces-oil-crunch-within-five-years-Richard-Branson-warns.html (Telegraph) //theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/58428 (theenergycollective)

Pakistan:

2009 Southeastern Australia heat wave continues:

The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin they kill 173, injure 500 more, and leave 7,500 homeless. The fires come after Melbourne records the highest-ever temperature (46.4°C, 115°F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires are ignited by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.

"STS-122": Space Shuttle Atlantis launches to deliver the European-built Columbus science laboratory to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches successfully on its STS-122 mission. //www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,329069,00.html (Fox News)

Several leaders of Abnaa el-Balad are arrested in Israel.

Up to 4000 protesters in Albania threw rocks and tried to storm the offices of Prime Minister Fatos Nano whom they have accused of creating policies that impoverish Albanians. //www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNewsstoryID=454175section=news

At least 50 people are killed in a car bomb attack on a police recruitment centre south of Baghdad.

Israeli Airforce helicopter gunship fires a missile and destroys a car carrying Islamic Jihad members in Gaza City, killing a leading Islamic Jihad militant and an 11-year-old boy. //www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/391574.html

The French National Assembly votes to pass a law banning religious items and clothing from schools.

The last game is completed in the FIDE Man vs Machine World Chess Chionship, in which Garry Kasparov, the highest rated human chess master, competed against the world chion computer program, Deep Junior. The six game match was played to a 3–3 draw.

President George W. Bush ordered the government to draw up guidelines for cyber-attacks against enemy computer networks, according to a Washington Post report. The order is known as National Security Presidential Directive 16.

Senior citizens groups began a call for a boycott of British-owned pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline, the largest in the world, after the company announced that it would no longer sell drugs to Canadian companies that sell drugs at steep discounts to Americans over the Internet. The boycott would include such brands as Tums antacid, Aquafresh toothpaste, Contac cold remedy, Paxil and Flonase.

Stipe Mesic is elected president of Croatia.

King Hussein of Jordan dies from cancer, and his son Abdullah II inherits the throne.

22 ndash The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.

René Préval succeeds Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president of Haiti, in the first peaceful handover of power since the nation achieved independence.

The Maastricht Treaty is signed, founding the European Union.

President Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc) flees Haiti, ending 28 years of family rule.

Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk.

The Soviet Union launches "Soyuz 24" (Viktor Gorbatko, Yuri Glazkov) to dock with the "Salyut 5" space station.

The original Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse is removed from service.

Elizabeth IIis proclaimedQueen of the United Kingdom (and her five other Commonwealth realms) at St. James\'s Palace, London, England.

Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom (and her five other Commonwealth realms) at St. James's Palace, London, England.

Walter Ulbricht becomes leader of the German Communists in Moscow.

WWII: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.

WWII: Black Friday: A force of Allied Bristol Beaufighter aircraft suffers heavy casualties in an unsuccessful attack on German destroyer \'\'Z33\'\' and escorting vessels sheltering in Førde Fjord, Norway.

WWII: In Anzio, Italian forces launch a counteroffensive.

WWII: In the United States, it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in 2 days.

Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States.

Post of Chief of the Air Force Staff created.

WWII: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.

António Óscar Carmona is elected president of Portugal.

Maritime Commission fleet operations transferred to War Shipping Administration (lasting until September 1, 1946).

The ocean liner catches fire while being converted into the troopship USS "Lafayette" (AP-53) for WWII.

RKO release Walt Disney's second full-length animated film, "Pinocchio".

Death penalty: The first state execution using gas in the United States takes place in Nevada.

Admiral Kolchak and Viktor Pepelyayev are executed by firing squad near Irkutsk.

The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

The play "La vida alegre y muerte triste" by dramatist José Echegaray opens.

Pope Pius IX dies after a 31½ year reign (the longest definitely confirmed).

West Virginia University is established in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Battle of Abtao: A Spanish naval squadron fights a combined Peruvian-Chilean fleet, at the island of Abtao in the Chiloé Archipelago of central Chile.

HMS \'\'Orpheus\'\' sinks attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand, with the loss of 189 lives.

Alanson Crane patents a fire extinguisher.

HMS "Orpheus" sinks attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand, with the loss of 189 lives.

The world-famous midgets General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren get married in New York CityP. T. Barnum takes an entrance fee.

The nawab of Oudh (Wajid Ali Shah) is exiled to Metiabruz and the state is annexed by the British East India Company.

In the British Museum, a drunken visitor smashes the Portland Vase, which takes months to repair.

March ndash Commonwealth v. Hunt: the Massachusetts Supreme Court makes strikes and unions legal in the United States.

Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia, defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.

The last New Madrid Earthquake strikes New Madrid, Missouri, with an estimated moment magnitude of over 8

Battle of Eylau: Napoléon's French Empire begins fighting against Russian and Prussian forces of the Fourth Coalition.

The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed.

March ndash English Benedictine monks expelled from Douai are permitted to proceed to England.

An assembly of the Russian Empire elects Mikhail Romanov to be Tsar of Russia, and establishes the Romanov Dynasty, ending the Time of Troubles.

May ndash Cornish Rebellion in England incited by war taxes.ref name=Cassell's Chronology

Shrove Tuesday) ndash Followers of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of immoral objects at the Bonfire of the Vanities in Florence.

John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, marries Lady Margaret Beaufort.

March ndash French troops under Guy de Richemont besiege the English commander in France, Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, in Caen.

King Henry IV of England marries Joanna of Navarre, the daughter of Charles d'Évreux, King of Navarre.

Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first Prince of Wales.

Battle of Montesarchio: Prince Pandulf IV of Benevento is killed battling the encroaching Normans.

William the Conqueror orders the White Tower to be built.

The Liao Dynasty emperor rejects a proposal for all Khitan people to adopt surnames.

Leo I, Thraco-Roman (or Dacian) high-ranking officer, becomes new emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. He is first to accept the Byzantine crown from the hands of the patriarch of Constantinople.