Important Events From This day in History February 16th

 

2005 The Kyoto Accord

2005 : The Kyoto accord, which aims to curb the air pollution blamed for global warming, has come into force seven years after it was agreed. The 141 countries who have signed the accord have pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% by 2012. The US the world's top polluter has not signed up to the treaty as the new emissions targets would be too costly to introduce.

1989 Scotland Pan Am Flight 103

1989 : Investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, said a Semtex bomb and an electronic timer hidden inside a Toshiba radio cassette player in a case in the cargo hold had brought down Pan Am Flight 103 the previous December, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground. Contrary to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules, which insist that the checked baggage of any passenger who failed to board be removed from the aircraft's hold, Investigators found that the case that contained the bomb was an unaccompanied bag that had been routed onto PA 103, via the interline baggage system, from Luqa airport on Air Malta flight KM180 to Frankfurt, and then by feeder flight PA 103A to Heathrow.

1923 Egypt King Tutankhamen

1923 : The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen recently unearthed was opened in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, inside was a spacious and beautifully decorated chamber completely occupied by an immense shrine covered with gold inlay and workmanship of this is truly amazing. This Chamber has been undisturbed for 3000 years and unlike many of the ancient relics in Egypt has not been robbed of it's treasures. The historical interest of the discovery will provide Egyptologists with some of the best insight to that period in history.

16 Feb, 1933 U.S.A. Dynamite

1933 : Fourteen sticks of dynamite encased in a time bomb were found on the top of Lyric Theater in Lubbock, Texas. It was a setup similar to the one that was found at C.C. Lindsey's home almost a week ago (last Friday). Lindsey was the operator of Lindsey and Palace Theaters at this time.

1933 U.S.A. MGM

1933 : David O. Selznik was made the new vice-president of MGM studios on this day. He also played the role of producer for MGM. He replaced a person commonly known as RKO, who had returned to the company with whom he (RKO) had launched his career.

1937 U.S.A. Nylon

1937 : Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon.

1937 U.S.A. Farmers

1937 : Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke out about the problem regarding farm tenancy. He has made it known that more and more farmers are unable to attain the home that they live in-they rent instead of own. At this time in history there were over three million tenant families, totaling about 15 million people overall. Also, about 40,000 people each year were losing their farms and becoming tenants. FDR wanted to see to it at this time that action be taken to help farmers keep their homes.

1938 U.S.A. Agricultural Adjustment Act

1938 : Following on from problems highlighted the previous year President Franklin Roosevelt signed a new version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). The new bill was designed to steady agriculture prices, as well as farmers' earnings and the stockpiling of agricultural surpluses. The AAA also established the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. which offered insurance to wheat farmers in case of damage caused by "unavoidable natural causes."

1938 U.S.A. Heavy Rain Texas

1938 : It was reported on this day that heavy rainfall occurred the evening before. Even though Texas is generally a warmer drier state than others, locals were not prepared for it. Instead they expected bitter winter temperatures. The concern about this rainfall is that colder weather was predicted for later in the week. This cold weather would then cause a complete freeze-over and West Texas would be covered with ice.

1942 U.S.A. Jersey Bounce

1942 : The song "Jersey Bounce" is recorded by Shep Fields and his orchestra. This piece becomes one of the defining numbers of the big band musical era.

16 Feb, 1950 U.S.A. Truman

1950 : Truman had announced what he called a "non-political" campaign, which was intended to help democrats run for seats in Congress. Part of President Harry Truman's plan was to wait until after the primary elections to assist any democrat in winning, in any state.

1951 Soviet Union Complains to UN over Korea Conflict

1951 : Only a year after a treaty was signed between the Soviet Union and China, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had criticized the UN (United Nations). He had referred to the UN as "a weapon of aggressive war." This statement was made just under a year after the start of the Korean conflict. At this time the United States, South Korea, and other members of the United Nations were advocating against the North Koreans and communist China.

1959 Cuba Fidel Castro

1959 : Fidel Castro had been sworn in as prime minister. He had won this seat by leading a guerrilla campaign that resulted in the exile of Fulgencio Batista. A couple of years after Castro became leader of Cuba, the United States withdrew all diplomatic personnel. Castro was advocating strong Anti-American beliefs.

1965 Beeching Report on British Railways

1965 : The Chairman of the British Railways Board, Dr. Richard Beeching, has outlined transport needs for the next quarter of a century which recommends that a quarter of the British railway system should be shut down. His reports led to the closure of a quarter of the rail network including over 2,000 local stations at a cost of nearly 70,000 jobs.

1968 US 911 Emergency Telephone Service

1968 : The first 911 emergency telephone system is inaugurated in Haleyville, Ala. but due to problems with telephone service boundaries and electromechanical switching equipment which could not recognize the 911 number it is not until the mid 1980s that 911 works countrywide.

1972 England Miners Strike

1972 : Most parts of Britain are suffering with loss of electricity for up to 9 hrs per day, this includes local homes and businesses due to the miners strike now in it's sixth week. Central Electricity Generating Board has announced electricity will be switched off on a rota basis between 0700 and 2400 every day.

1983 Australia Brush Fires

1983 : A total of 24 Brush fires spread across South Australia starting on this date. These fires had killed at least 75 people and had injured another 800. The cause of this fire was the extremely hot and dry climate that occurred in the year prior to this. Even though fires in this area are somewhat common, these fires were considered "different" because they had affected highly populated areas (small towns and/or cities). Otway, Gambeir, and Geelong were some smaller South Australian towns that were the hardest hit.

2001 Kosovo Bomb Attack

2001 : Ethnic Albanian extremists carry out a bomb attack on a bus convoy carrying more than 250 Serbs to a religious ceremony in Kosovo.

16 Feb, 2005 National Hockey League

2005 : The National Hockey League officially cancelled its 2004-2005 season today after salary negotiations failed between the players and clubs.

2006 U.N. Calls Closure of Guantanamo Bay

2006 : U.N. human rights investigators have called for the closure of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay. A U.N. report on the camp says that the U.S. should try or free all inmates. It says that some aspects of the prisoners' treatment amounts to torture. Washington has rejected the call for closure, with a White House spokesman saying that the facility houses extremely dangerous terrorists. The White House has reacted to the report by calling it 'a discredit to the UN,' and that it failed to examine the facts properly.

2007 English Teachers Want Classics Taught

2007 : The British Education Secretary Alan Johnson's order for difficult classic authors be taught to 11 and 12-year-olds is not being looked on favorably by teachers. These have said that the introduction of complex texts to pupils who are not ready for them is likely to turn them off authors like Austen and Dickens for life. Johnson has said that writers like George Eliot and Alexander Pope were 'untouchable' in a curriculum shake-up, and he has argued they were essential to well-rounded British education.

2010 Hillary Clinton Meets Saudi King

2010 : Hillary Clinton's meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is said to have gone well. This has followed from Barack Obama's 2009 visit, which went badly (with requests for the Saudis to talk to Israel). In contrast, reports of the Clinton visit have said that the diplomats 'were very pleased with the content of the conversation on Iran and with the co-operation we have with Saudi Arabia.' It would appear that the Gulf countries are becoming increasingly worried about Iran's nuclear intention and eager for American support on it.

2010 Hamas Commander Assassinated

2010 : Mahmoud al-Mabhouh is assassinated in Dubai 11 "Europeans" are suspected of the murder, during later investigations it is found the passports were fake and many have pointed the assassination to Israeli Intelligence Operatives.

2011 US Immigration and Customs Agent Killed in Shooting in Mexico

2011 : An United States Immigration and Customs agent was shot and killed by people who appeared to be members of a drug gang at an unofficially checkpoint near San Luis Potosi. Another agent was injured.

2012 North Korea Celebrates Kim Jong-il's Birthday

2012 : North Korea publicly celebrated the birthday of the recently deceased leader Kim Jong-il with military parades and a ceremony. A giant bronze statue of the late leader was also unveiled a few days earlier to commemorate his birthday.

2014 US Officials Expelled From Venezuela

2014 : Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro expelled three United States consular officials from the Venezuela. Maduro accused the US officials of having meetings with students who had been protesting Venezuela's government. The officials were not named.

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