Events in History
- Feb 1 Archaeologists announce discovery of thousands of undetected structures in Mayan lowland civilisation, Guatemala, using Lidar, suggests population of 10 million
- Feb 1 The Indian government announces plan to give 500 million people free healthcare
- Feb 2 All 955 miners rescued from the Beatrix gold mine in Welkom town, South Africa, after 2 days underground
- Feb 3 Moscow has its heaviest snowfall in a day on record, killing one and bringing down 2,000 trees
- Feb 5 A share market sell off starts on Wall Street with Dow Jones sinking 4.6%, spreads around the globe
- Feb 5 Dow Jones Industrial Average has largest intraday point swing, dropping over 1,413 points
- Feb 6 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Hualien County, Taiwan, leaving 10 dead and over 50 missing
- Feb 6 Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declares state of emergency ordering arrest of two judges
- Feb 6 Polish president Andrzej Duda signs controversial Holocaust law, outlaws accusing Poles of complicity under Nazis
- Feb 6 UN calls for ceasefire in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area by Syrian government troops after 40 people reportedly killed
- Feb 7 "The Los Angeles Times" is bought by LA doctor Patrick Soon-Shiong from Tronc for $500 million
- Feb 7 All citrus fruit can be traced to the southeast foothills of the Himalayas, according to DNA study published in "Nature"
- Feb 7 Angel Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party reaches a coalition deal with Social Democrats after four months
- Feb 7 Armed groups release 300 child soldiers from Yambio, South Sudan according to UN
- Feb 7 DNA analysis of Chedder Man, UK's oldest complete skeleton shows he had dark skin and blue eyes
Event of Interest
Feb 7 Missing Nigerian painting masterpiece of Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi by Ben Enwonwu announced rediscovered in London
- Feb 7 White House aide Rob Porter resigns in wake of physical abuse allegations by ex-wives
- Feb 8 Bangladesh court sentences former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to 5 years in prison for corruption
- Feb 8 Twitter reports its first quarterly profit as a public company
Event of Interest
Feb 11 MOMA opens a major solo exhibition for Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral in New York
- Feb 11 Russian airliner crashes south-east of Moscow, killing all 71 on board
- Feb 12 Oxfam deputy director resigns over charity's failure to deal with sexual misconduct allegations in Haiti and Chad
Event of Interest
Feb 12 Portait paintings of Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley and Michelle Obama by Amy Sherald are unveiled at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
- Feb 12 Tropical cyclone Gita strikes Tonga as a category four cyclone causing widespread damage
Event of Interest
Feb 13 Israeli Police report recommends Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be prosecuted on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges
- Feb 13 South Africa declares a three-year drought a National Disaster, though pushes Cap Town's "Day Zero" to June 4
Event of Interest
Feb 13 South African President Jacob Zuma is ordered to step down by the A.N.C.
- Feb 14 Ex-student Nikolas Cruz shoots and kills 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida, before being captured
- Feb 14 South African President Jacob Zuma resigns from office
- Feb 15 Cyril Ramaphosa is sworn in as South African President, replacing Jacob Zuma
- Feb 15 Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigns in a surprise move
- Feb 15 First known case of transgender woman breastfeeding reported in "Transgender Health Journal" in US
- Feb 16 More than 100,00 orangutans killed in Borneo since 1999 according to study published in "Current Biology"
- Feb 16 National state of emergency declared in Ethiopia in wake of anti-government protests
- Feb 17 3 suicide bombers kill 18 in Konduga, north-east Nigeria
- Feb 18 Aseman Airlines flight crashes in the Zagros mountains, Iran, killing all 66 on board
- Feb 18 Syrian government forces begin a new offensive on Eastern Ghouta in Syria's civil war
- Feb 19 At least 17 killed when a garbage mound collapses in Maputo, Mozambique
- Feb 19 Nigeria says 110 girls missing, presumed kidnapped by Boko Haram after attack on school in Dapchi, Yobe state
- Feb 19 Syrian government forces bombard Gouta in deadliest day in 3 years, killing over 100 civilians
London Fashion Week
Feb 20 Queen of England, Elizabeth II makes surprise appearance at London fashion week
- Feb 20 Venezuela becomes the first country to launch a virtual currency, the petro, to counteract their financial crisis
Laykyun Sekkya
Feb 21 Laykyun Sekkya, the world's third tallest statue at 116 meters (381 ft) depicting Gautama Buddha completed in Khatakan Taung, Myanmar
Malaysian History
Feb 22 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stirs up controversy by declaring he prefers quinoa to rice, the national dish
- Feb 22 Neanderthals, not humans, were the first artists on Earth, producing red cave paintings 65,000 years ago in Spain, according to new research published in "Science"
- Feb 23 Study suggests earliest European Palaeolithic artwork in Spain made by Neanderthals not humans in "Science Journal"
- Feb 24 UN Security Council passes resolution for 30 day ceasefire in Syria
- Feb 25 China briefly bans the letter 'N' as part of widespread censorship efforts
- Feb 26 7.5 magnitude earthquake in central Papa New Guinea kills at least 100
- Feb 26 Cold weather nicknamed "the Beast from the East" hits Europe, killing 7 and covering Pompeii in snow
- Feb 26 Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, receives its 1 millionth seed on 10 year anniversary
- Feb 26 Global Seed Vault opens in Svalbard, Norway, to help preserve diversity and loss from other genebanks
Event of Interest
Feb 27 Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Trump, has his top-secret security clearance at the White House downgraded
- Feb 28 700 illegal churches closed in Rwanda for being too noisy and lacking building permits
Deaths in History
- Feb 1 Patricia Lindop, British radiobiologist & physician, dies at 87
- Feb 2 Dave Barrett, 26th Premier of British Columbia (1972-75), dies at 87
- Feb 2 Joseph Polchinski, American leading theoretical physicist (multiverse), dies of brain cancer at 63
- Feb 4 Alan Baker, British Mathematician and winner of 1970 Fields Medal (for his work on transcendental number theory), dies at 78
- Feb 6 Joe Knollenberg, American politician (Rep-R-Michigan 1993-2009), dies at 84
- Feb 13 Henrik [Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat], Prince Consort of Denmark, dies at 83
- Feb 14 Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1982-94), dies at 78
- Feb 17 Arno Motulsky, German-born founder of medical genetics, known as the "father of pharmacogenomics," dies at 94
Billy Graham (1918-2018)
Feb 21 American Baptist evangelist (Crusades) described as 1 of the 20th century's most influential Christian leaders, dies at 99
- Feb 25 Penny Vincenzi [Hannaford], British novelist (An Absolute Scandal, Spoils of Time trilogy), dies at 78
- Feb 27 Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Argentine general, Commander of the Third Army Corps (1975-79), and convicted human rights violator and murderer, dies of cardiogenic shock at 90
- Feb 28 Jayendra Saraswathi, Hindu religious leader (69th Shankaracharya Guru), dies at 82
Authors
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