February 22nd Major News Events

1998 U.S.A. Tornadoes Florida

1998 : Central Florida was hit by fatal tornadoes that had taken 42 people. Seven twisters in all had swept through this area, and quite a bit of damage had occurred in Kissimmee, Orlando, and surrounding areas.

2001 Netherlands War Crimes Tribunal

2001 : A U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague convicts three Bosnian Serbs on charges of rape and torture.

2006 Great Britain Securitas Bank Robbery

2006 : A armed gang steal £53 million from the Securitas bank depot in Kent. It was the largest such theft in British history.

2006 South Dakota Approves a Ban on Abortion

2006 : The South Dakota Senate has approved a bill that will outlaw nearly all abortions in the state. If the bill is signed by Governor Rounds, advocates of abortion rights have pledged to challenge it in court immediately. The bill passes by a vote of 23 to 12 after opponents had tried to attach amendments that would have created exceptions for cases of rape and incest.

2006 U.S.S. Missouri makes Moscow's Defender of the Motherland Day

2006 : Moscow has removed the posters that were put up for its celebratory war veterans parades that had the American warship U.S.S. Missouri on them. The posters were taken down a few hours before the Defender of the Motherland Day events began. The Russian defence ministry has said it did not produce the posters, and a city hall official said that the design should have been shown to someone that could distinguish different types battleships. The defence ministry went on to say that the posters had been made by a civilian firm, and that the people who made it were 'simply incompetent.'

2007 Tolkien Estate Gets Court Order to Block Online File Sharing Works

2007 : It has been revealed that the Tolkien Estate has won a court order against a file-sharing Web site whose members posted scanned copies of J.R.R. Tolkien's work. The order, which had been issued earlier in February by the federal court in the Southern District of New York, will compell ESnips Ltd. to identify the subscribers who posted the material. High-quality copies of The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, the History of Middle Earth and the Silmarillion had been posted on the site, according to The Estate's law firm Manches. While ESnips has agreed to remove the material, it refused to identify the names of the posters without a court order. Such infringements are 'damaging not only to the estate's interest, but also to the integrity of the published works. It is not something we allow.' Tolkien's estate routinely takes action against internet infringers.

2008 Moscow Opposes Kosovo Independence

2008 : Following the Kosovo Unilateral Declaration Of Independence from Serbia, Serb officials have welcomed the support of Russia in opposition to Kosovo's independence. The Belgrade-based daily Press's headlines have said that Russia supported Serbia's desire to retrieve Kosovo, but Serbia is now under pressure from Washington and Brussels to stop the violence that started on February 17th. An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the Western recognition of Kosovo as a cocked gun ready for firing.

2009 Slumdog Millionaire wins at the 2009 Oscars

2009 : Slumdog Millionaire wins eight Oscars. Directed by Danny Boyle and written by Simon Beaufoy it is set and filmed in India. It is the story of a man from Bombay who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It has won eight of its ten Oscar nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Original Song.

2009 Israel Suspected To Be Behind Hamas Killing

2009 : E.U. foreign ministers have 'strongly condemned' the use of forged European passports in the assassination of the Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Their statement has made no direct reference to Israel, whose secret services are widely accused of having carried out last month's killing in Dubai. The Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met some of the foreign ministers on the sidelines of the meeting, and has repeated that there is 'no proof' of Israel's involvement.

2011 Defense Minister of Germany Forfeits PhD

2011 : Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the defense minister of Germany gave up his doctorate after being accused of plagiarizing his doctoral thesis. Several claims against Guttenberg were made including one that he had completely lifted a part of his thesis from a newspaper article. Guttenberg admitted to mistakes and asked the University of Bayreuth to remove his PhD.

2012 Comedian Frank Carson Dies

2012 : UK Comic Frank Carson died at the age of 85 after suffering from illness. The comedian was a regular on British television throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Born in Belfast, Carson was recognized for his charity work that he conducted in Northern Ireland.

2013 Djibouti Opposition Joins Elections

2013 : The opposition party in Djibouti decided to join elections ending a ten year boycott. Opposition parties banded together to campaign in parliamentary elections and were able to participate largely unhindered.

2014 Pope Francis Names New Cardinals

2014 : Pope Francis has appointed nineteen new cardinals in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. This is his first of such appointments since becoming the Pope.