01|The space shuttle Columbia explodes approximately 39 miles (63 kilometers) above east Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard the 17-year-old ship. The Columbia was only 16 minutes away from completing a mission that began on January 16 with a crew that included five Americans--Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Rick Husband, William McCool--an Israeli, Ilan Ramon, and an Indian, Kalpana Chawla. The explosion scatters debris across hundreds of square miles of Texas and Louisiana.|
01|An overcrowded passenger train carrying more than 1,100 people en route to the resort town of Victoria Falls in northwestern Zimbabwe collides with a freight train carrying flammable liquid near the town of Dete. More than 40 people are killed as both trains explode in flames.|
02|Vaclav Havel steps down as president after leading first Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic for nearly 13 years. Havel, an internationally known playwright, was elected in 1989 soon after he had been released from jail for opposing the Communist regime and led a band of dissidents to overthrow the government.|
02|An explosion in Lagos, Nigeria, tears the front from a four-story bank and residential complex, killing at least 35 people. Rescue efforts are hampered by looters carting away piles of cash and computer equipment.|
03|People who are unable to process blood sugar normally are likely to experience memory loss and undergo a shrinkage of the region of the brain that is crucial to recall, announce researchers at New York University in New York City. However, the scientists, who studied 30 nondiabetic middle-aged and elderly people, conclude that exercise and dietary changes can protect most people from memory loss associated with aging.|
03|U.S. President George W. Bush proposes a $2.23 trillion budget for 2004 with a 4.2-percent increase in military spending and $1.3 trillion in new or accelerated tax cuts over the next 10 years. The budget projects a deficit for 2004 of $307.4 billion.|
04|Lawmakers in the Serbian capital of Belgrade dissolve the nation of Yugoslavia in favor of a loose union to be known as Serbia and Montenegro. The accord, brokered by the European Union, gives near total sovereignty to the two republics, which remain linked by joint defense and foreign affairs administrations. Foreign affairs experts predict that nationalistic movements in both republics may tear the new nation apart within five years.|
05|U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell delivers a speech before the United Nations Security Council in which he offers evidence that Iraq continues to hide enormous quantities of chemical agents. Unveiling top-secret U.S. intelligence that he claims provides "irrefutable and undeniable" proof of Iraqi defiance of UN disarmament resolutions, Secretary Powell challenges the Security Council to respond. He also offers evidence that an al-Qa'ida cell in Iraq, operating with the cooperation of President Saddam Hussein's regime, assassinated Laurence Foley, a senior U.S. diplomat in Jordan, in October 2002.|
05|The government of North Korea announces that it has restarted its nuclear facilities, confirming what U.S. intelligence agents had concluded after observing satellite images.|
06|Amnesty International, a London-based human-rights organization, demands an investigation into suicide attempts at the U.S. prisoner-of-war camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The demand is made in response to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Defense that five prisoners had attempted suicide in the last three weeks, bringing the total number of suicide attempts to 15 since the prison went into operation in January 2002.|
06|The government of North Korea issues a warning to the United States that a pre-emptive strike against North Korean nuclear facilities would trigger "total war." The announcement is made in response to comments made by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that North Korea is a "terrorist regime."|
06|Hispanic births account for more than 50 percent of all births in California for the first time since the 1850's, announce researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture. In 1980, Hispanic births accounted for 29 percent of all births in the state.|
07|The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush puts the United States on a "high" terror alert, the second highest level of alert, for only the second time since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Attorney General John Ashcroft, speaking at a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, warns that the al-Qa'ida terrorist network may be planning attacks on hotels and apartment buildings and on sites associated with people of the Jewish faith.|
08|Non-NASA academics, engineers, metallurgists, lawyers, and scientists at independent laboratories will be used to review technical work performed by NASA and its contractors in association with the space shuttle Columbia, which crashed on February 1, announce members of the board of inquiry named to investigate the disaster. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board also plans to employ outside experts to double-check the space agency's own investigations. The move is intended to satisify questions raised by various members of the U.S. Congress concerning the role NASA should play in investigating the crash, which took the lives of seven astronauts.|
09|The chief United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors in Iraq, Mohamed elBaradei and Hans Blix, conclude their latest visit to Baghdad, the capital, with the announcement that they detect signs that the Iraqi government is beginning to cooperate with UN efforts to force Iraq to disarm itself of all weapons of mass destruction. ElBaradei and Blix note that they are leaving Iraq with boxes of newly surrendered documents pertaining to anthrax, nerve gas, and missile programs about which they will report to the UN Security Council later in February.|
10|The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis, Missouri, rules that a prisoner on death row can be forced to take antipsychotic medication to make him sufficiently sane to be executed. In a 6-to-5 decision, the federal judges rule that the state of Arkansas can medicate Charles Laverne Singleton against his will because without the application of the drug, the prisoner could not be put to death under a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibits the execution of the mentally insane.|
10|U.S. citizens should stock plastic sheeting and duct tape to seal windows and doors in case of a chemical, biological, or radiological terrorist attack, announce officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department also recommends that people keep three days worth of bottled water and canned food on hand as well as scissors, a manual can opener, blankets, flashlights, radios, and spare batteries.|
11|The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greeenspan, urges the U.S. Congress not to comply with President George W. Bush's proposal to cut taxes. Greenspan predicts that cutting taxes with the threat of war with Iraq hanging over the country would push up deficits, restraining growth in the U.S. economy. He warns that any future tax cuts should be offset by spending cuts.|
11|An Arab television network airs a tape purportedly made by Osama bin Laden in which the head of the al-Qa'ida terrorist network calls on all Muslims to come to the aid of Iraq in the current crisis with the United States. Bin Laden urges Muslims to launch suicide attacks against Western targets should the United States initiate a war against Iraq.|
12|North Korea has an untested ballistic missile that is capable of reaching the United States, confirms CIA Director George Tenet in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Tenet notes that North Korea "probably" has at least one and perhaps two nuclear weapons as well as the long-range missiles necessary to deliver them to the western United States.|
12|The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' Vienna-based nuclear watchdog agency, informs the UN Security Council that North Korea is in violation of its promise not to pursue atomic weapons.|
13|The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate pass a $397.4 billion appropriations bill for fiscal 2003, which began in October 2002. The measure funds all agencies of the United States government except the Department of Defense.|
13|Enron Corp., the failed Houston-based energy trading company, paid no income tax from 1996 through 1999, reveals a joint Congressional committee report on taxation. The authors of the report note that Enron executives came to regard the company's tax department as a profit center company after its accountants devised various tax shelters that saved Enron more than $2 billion.|
14|The price of a barrel of oil hits $37 on world markets, a two-year high. Economists suggest that bad weather and political uncertainty surrounding the threat of war in the Middle East and terrorism at home and abroad are driving up the price of oil, resulting in higher gas prices and air fares. The average price of a gallon of gas in the United States rose from $1.17 in February 2002 to $1.70 in February 2003.|
14|The cloned sheep Dolly is put to death because of premature aging and disease that marred her short life, announces a spokesperson for the Roslin Institute, the Scottish laboratory where she was created in 1996. British scientists plan to perform a postmortem examination to assess whether her relatively short life, about half of that of a normal Finn Dorset sheep, was in any way connected with the fact that she was a clone.|
15|Millions of people gather in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Cape Town, Manila, Melbourne, Paris, Rome, Soul, and Tokyo to demonstrate against a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq. In New York City, a crowd unofficially estimated at 400,000 marches up First Avenue near the site of the United Nations headquarters. In London, a crowd officially estimated to be between 500,000 to 750,000 people rally in Hyde Park chanting "no war for oil."|
16|Representatives of member nations of NATO agree to supply Turkey with equipment to defend itself in case a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq triggers an Iraqi attack on Turkey. The decision is made despite strong objections by the governments of France and Germany, which oppose providing the United States with authorization from the United Nations for the use of force against Iraq.|
17|A double-barreled storm system with high winds and low temperatures races across the eastern United States, closing highways and airports and triggering widespread power outages. East Coast cities receive record-breaking amounts of snow, including more than 19 inches (48 centimeters) at Central Park in New York City; 24 inches (61 centimeters) at the Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia; 26 inches (66 centimeters) at the Baltimore Washington Airport in Maryland, and more than 27 inches (69 centimeters) at Logan Airport in Boston. Authorities attribute some 40 deaths to the storm, which began in the Midwest on February 14.|
17|A brawl in a seriously overcrowded second-story nightclub in Chicago sets off a deadly stampede toward the club's single exit fronting on the street. Pepper spray used by security guards to break up a fight at the E2 club in Chicago's South Loop triggered panic in a crowd of some 1,100 people. A pile up halfway down a steep and narrow stairwell leaves 21 people dead and more than 50 others injured. Authorities claim the club, which city inspectors had cited for numerous code violations, was operating illegally.|
18|French President Jacques Chirac publicly warns the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to keep their opinions regarding a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq to themselves or risk losing their chance to join the European Union (EU). A number of the 13 countries currently slated to join the EU openly support the United States and the United Kingdom in the Iraqi crisis. Foreign affairs experts suggest that France fears that enlarging the EU with former Communist countries with ties to the United States will dilute French influence over the continent and its role in world affairs.|
18|A man carrying a container of flammable liquid sets two trains on fire at a subway station in the South Korean city of Taegu, killing at least 180 people and injuring 145 others.|
19|A Germany court convicts Mounir el-Motassadeq of 3,066 counts of accessory to murder for the role he played in plotting the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. El-Motassadeq, who moved to Germany from Morocco in 1993 to attend school, belonged to a Hamburg-based al-Qa'ida terrorist cell, whose members set into motion the attacks that resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 people. During the trial, el-Motassadeq acknowledged that he had been trained in terrorist techniques at a camp in Afghanistan that was connected to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network.|
19|A Russian-built Iranian military plane crashes in eastern Iran some 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of the city of Zahedan, killing all 302 people aboard. All of the passengers were members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, a military force established to safeguard Iran's Islamic revolution.|
20|Nearly 2,000 U.S. Army and Marine troops are to be sent to the Philippines to assist in putting down an insurgency by the Islamic extremist group Abu Sayyaf, announces the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. troops are to accompany Filipino soldiers into the jungles of Sulu province and to the island of Zamboanga, where they are likely to be involved in combat.|
20|Ninety-eight people are killed and at least 200 others are injured when a fire ignited by a pyrotechnic display during a rock concert sweeps through an overcrowded nightclub in West Warwick, near Providence, Rhode Island.|
20|The Armed Forces of the United States are completely ready to launch a military action against Iraq if ordered to do so by President George W. Bush, announces U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld notes, however, that the buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East does not necessarily mean that war is inevitable.|
21|Turkey's foreign minister, speaking in Ankara, the Turkish capital, announces that Turkey and the United States have arrived at a "broad agreement" on basing U.S. soldiers and war planes in Turkey for a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq. The announcement is made as the United Nations (UN) delivers an ultimatum that Iraq's arsenal of missiles that exceed a specified range must be destroyed by March 1. Chief UN weapons inspector Han Blix notes that if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein refuses to comply, Blix will declare Iraq in "material breach" of a UN resolution that it disarm itself of all weapons of mass destruction.|
22|Three early morning earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 4.2 to 5.4 shake southern California from downtown Los Angeles to San Diego. The quakes are centered 4 miles (6 kilometers) north of the mountain resort town of Big Bear City, which is 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.|
23|Some 20 Israeli tanks enter Beit Hanun, a northern Gaza Strip town that has been the source of repeated rocket fire on Israeli targets, and wage fire fights with Palestinian gunmen and young people armed with rocks. The Israeli forces blow up five houses of suspected militants. Eight Palestinians and one Israeli soldier are killed in the melee. At least 40 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the militant Palestinian group Hamas set off a bomb on February 15 that killed four Israeli soldiers.|
24|The United States submits a proposal to the United Nations Security Council asking for a resolution authorizing war against Iraq on the grounds that Iraq has failed to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction. Foreign affairs experts suggest that the request is made to bolster British Prime Minister Tony Blair's shaky political position. Blair does not enjoy the support of the majority of the British people or even many members of his own party on the question of war against Iraq. Experts point out that the prime minister and the president could use a majority Security Council vote to stiffen public resolve for war even if the resolution is ultimately vetoed by France.|
24|A severe earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 rocks a remote area in far western China. According to Chinese officials, at least 260 people are killed and over 2,000 others are injured in and around the city of Jiashi 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of the city of Kashgar, which is near China's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.|
24|British Prime Minister Tony Blair announces plans to combat global warming by cutting carbon dioxide emissions in the United Kingdom by 60 percent over the next 50 years. The prime minister criticizes the government of the United States, Britain's chief ally, for backing out of the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, a treaty designed to minimize carbon dioxide emissions around the world.|
25|The U.S. Supreme Court orders a new appeal hearing for an inmate on death row in Texas. The inmate, an African American, had requested a hearing before a federal appellate court based on the contention that his constitutional rights had been violated when 10 out of 11 African Americans were illegally excluded from the jury in his 1986 murder trial. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for 8-to-1 majority, notes that that an inmate applying to a federal court for an appeal hearing need not present a winning case, merely a plausible one. Justice Kennedy sharply criticizes the Texas courts and the federal appellate court for ignoring strong evidence of racial bias in the selection of the jury, and he admonishes courts to be more open to appeals from inmates on death row.|
26|North Korea has reactivated a nuclear reactor, announce officials with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. The start-up is interpreted as a step toward renewed production of nuclear weapons. U.S. intelligence agents spotted a telltale plume from the reactor within hours after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell commented that North Korea had been "wise" not to restart the reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. Powell, speaking in Seoul, where he was attending the inauguration of South Korea's new president, Roh Moo Hyun, also announced that the government of the United States was donating 110,000 tons (100,000 metric tons) of food to North Korea to ease wide-spread starvation brought on by years of drought and famine.|
26|The price of crude oil on world markets climbs to its highest level since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. On the New York Mercantile exchange, the price of a barrel of oil hits $37.70, a 4.5-percent increase from the high on February 25. Analysts connect the spike in oil prices to a U.S. Energy Department report showing a sharp decline in U.S. inventories of oil and refined petroleum products.|
26|Ten residents of a nursing home in Hartford, Connecticut, are killed in a fire that firefighters believe was set by an arsonist. Most of the victims die of smoke inhalation.|
27|Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presents the members of his new, right-wing coalition government to the parliament, the Knesset, and declares that the government's chief aim is economic recovery. He informs the Knesset that he will not enter into peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority until all violence is halted and Yasir Arafat is replaced as its leader. At least 2,500 Israelis and Palestinians have died since the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian violence began in September 2000.|
28|Delegates from the United Nations (UN) Security Council receive copies of a report on the progress of Iraqi disarmament in which the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix reports that any real actions taken by the government of Iraq to comply with UN demands to disarm "have been very limited." Blix notes that during the period covered by his report [Dec. 1, 2002, to March 1, 2003] "Iraq could have made greater efforts to find remaining proscribed items, or credible evidence showing the absence of such items." Iraq informed Blix on February 27 that it agreed "in principle" to destroy ballistic missiles that exceed the range limit imposed by the UN after the 1991 Persian Gulf War but warned that it was not possible to complete the task before the March 1, 2003, deadline. In his report, Blix concludes that the disarmament had not in fact yet begun.|
28|A spokesperson for the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush announces that the only way the Iraqi government can avoid war is to disarm as directed by various United Nations resolutions and exile President Saddam Hussein. Ari Fleischer, speaking for the administration, notes that while President Bush is hopeful that war can be avoided, he is adamant that Hussein and his top lieutenants most be removed from power.|
