Saturday, February 15, 1997
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Today's Events
A refurbished British Army World War II underground operations center, known as the "Battle Box," opens at Fort Canning Hill in Singapore.
The new U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is scheduled to visit Italy.
President Bill ClintonÕs weekly radio address is scheduled to be broadcast at 10:06 a.m. EST.
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On the horizon
On Sunday, February 16, the Laurence Olivier Theater Awards are announced in London.
On Monday, February 17, more than 250 magicians from around the world, including 28 international stars, convene in Bogota, Colombia, for the International Magic Congress.
On Tuesday, February 18, Korea's outlawed Confederation of Trade Unions says it will start a series of nationwide strikes.
On Wednesday, February 19, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visits Russia.
On Thursday, February 20, Formula One team chief Frank Williams and five other people are due to go on trial, charged with manslaughter in the death of Brazil's world champion driver Ayrton Senna in a 1994 San Marino Grand Prix crash.
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On this day
In 1637, Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, archduke of Austria and king of Bohemia and Hungary, died.
In 1763, the Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed, ending
hostilities between Austria and Prussia in the Seven Years' War. Prussia retained Silesia and emerged as a great military power.
In 1882, the first shipment of frozen mutton left New Zealand
for England aboard SS Dunedin, arriving on 25 May.
In 1898, the Spanish-American war began after the battleship
U.S.S. Maine, traveling to Havana on a goodwill mission, struck a mine and blew up.
In 1922, the Permanent Court of International Justice, sitting at the Hague in the Netherlands, held its first session.
In 1933, Giuseppe Zangara, an Italian-born anarchist, failed
in his attempt to assassinate U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt in Miami.
In 1942, in Singapore, a British-led allied force of some
85,000 troops, bombarded and cut off from support and supplies after a week-long battle, surrendered to a Japanese invading force less than half its size.
In 1944, the monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy was bombed by Allied aircraft.
In 1964, Britain and Cyprus referred the Cyprus dispute to the U.N. Security Council.
In 1965, Canada adopted the Red Maple Leaf as its new national flag.
In 1971, Britain changed over to decimal currency from pounds, shillings and pence.
In 1982, 84 people died in an oil rig disaster off Newfoundland, Canada.
In 1984, British pop singer Elton John married Renata Blauel
in Sydney, Australia.
In 1989, 100,000 Soviet troops left Afghanistan under a
U.N.-brokered accord 10 years after Moscow had sent troops to
help the tottering Marxist government in Kabul.
In 1990, Britain and Argentina restored full diplomatic ties,
affirming reconciliation after their 1982 war for the Falkland Islands.
In 1992, two Spaniards completed the first east-west balloon flight across the Atlantic when they arrived in Venezuela from Spain.
In 1993, the Slovak parliament elected economist Michal Kovac
as newly-independent Slovakia's first president.
In 1994, Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, the "Rostov
Ripper," who raped and butchered more than 50 victims, was
executed after losing an 11th-hour appeal for clemency.
In 1994, North Korea ended a year-long standoff with the
International Atomic Energy Agency, after it allowed the
agency's inspectors to check seven declared nuclear plants.
In 1995, Crowd trouble forced the friendly soccer
international between Ireland and England to be abandoned after 27 minutes play at Lansdowne Road, Dublin.
In 1996, the British government said a three-year inquiry into arms sales to Iraq before the Gulf War had cleared ministers of conspiracy and had revealed no official cover-up.
In 1996, an ammunition dump at the Afghan presidential palace
in Kabul blew up, killing at least 60 people.
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Newslink
Not everyone is happy this ValentineÕs Day weekend. The National Organization for Women is using the weekend to
promote nationwide protests demonstrating support for same-sex marriage. To learn more, click here.
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Holidays and more
Fashion designer Adolfo is 64.
Author Susan Brownmiller is 62.
Cartoonist Matt Groening is 43.
Actor Harvey Korman is 70.
Singer Melissa Manchester is 46.
Actress Jane Seymour is 46.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan
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