Historical Events
"House of Cards"
Feb 1 "House of Cards", starring Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood and Robin Wright as his wife, is released on Netflix
- Feb 1 21 people are killed and 30 are wounded by a market suicide bombing in Hangu, Pakistan
- Feb 1 26 people are killed after a fireworks truck explodes and causes a highway to collapse in Henan, China
- Feb 1 44th NAACP Image Awards: "Red Tails" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
Kerry Secretary of State
Feb 1 John Kerry succeeds Hillary Clinton as US Secretary of State
- Feb 1 The Nigerian Army bombs a Boko Haram camp, killing 18 people
- Feb 1 Zenit-3SL, a Ukrainian-Russian carrier rocket, fails 40 seconds after liftoff and crashes into the Pacific Ocean
- Feb 2 18 people are killed and 34 are injured after a bus catches fire after falling down a ravine in Gansu province, China
- Feb 2 23 people are killed and 8 are injured after militants attacked an army base in the Lakki Marwat District, Pakistan
Senkaku Islands Promise
Feb 2 Shinzō Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister vows to defend the Senkaku Islands "at all costs"
- Feb 3 33 people are killed by a suicide bombing by an explosive-packed truck in Kirkuk, Iraq
- Feb 3 Super Bowl XLVII, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, New Orleans, LA: Baltimore Ravens beat San Francisco 49ers, 34-31; MVP: Joe Flacco, Baltimore, QB
- Feb 4 20 people are killed after an apartment building was struck by a rocket in Aleppo, Syria
- Feb 4 22 people are killed and 24 are injured after a bus and a truck collide in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
- Feb 4 22 people are killed and 44 are injured after a suicide bombing in Taji, Iraq
- Feb 4 8 people are killed and 30 are injured after a bus collides with two vehicles and flips in Yucaipa, California
- Feb 4 Europol announces it will investigate over 680 football matches alleged to involve match fixing
- Feb 4 Paris, France annuls 213-year-old law banning women from wearing trousers
- Feb 5 UK House of Commons votes in favour of same-sex marriage
- Feb 6 9 people are killed as an 8.0 magnitude 8.0 earthquake strikes off the Solomon Islands coast
- Feb 7 63rd Berlin International Film Festival: "Child's Pose" wins the Golden Bear
- Feb 7 Adam Ondra completes the first ascent of La Dura Dura in Spain, his second 9b+ (5.15c) after Change
- Feb 7 Azerbaijan launches its first satellite, Azerspace-1
- Feb 7 Eugène Delacroix's painting "Liberty Leading the People" is vandalized at the Louvre-Lens museum, Northern France
- Feb 8 100, 000 people march to demand justice for the atrocities of the Bangladesh Liberation War in Dhaka
- Feb 8 16 people are killed and 27 are wounded by a market bombing in Kalaya, Pakistan
- Feb 8 29 people are killed and 69 are injured in a series of Iraq bombings
- Feb 8 A massive blizzard begins in the US and Canada that resulted in 15 deaths, 5,300 cancelled flights, and loss of power for 900,000 people
- Feb 9 5 people are killed after Cessna plane crashes on a Brussels runway
- Feb 9 Adam Ondra completes the second ascent of the 9b (5.15b) route, Fight or flight
- Feb 10 36 people are killed and 39 are injured in a stampede at a train station in Allahabad, India
- Feb 10 5 people are killed by a falling lifeboat from the cruise ship Thomson Majesty in the Canary islands
- Feb 10 55th Grammy Awards: "Somebody That I Used To Know" (Goyte); "We Are Young" (fun); and "Babel" (Mumford & Sons) win
55th Grammy Awards
Feb 10 55th Grammy Awards: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross win for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
BAFTA Awards
Feb 10 66th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs): "Argo", Ben Affleck (Director); Daniel Day-Lewis and Emmanuelle Riva win
- Feb 10 Nigeria defeat Burkina Faso 1-0 to win the football 2013 Africa Cup of Nations
- Feb 11 18 coal miners are killed in an explosion in the Komi region, Russia
Event of Interest
Feb 11 Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation from February 28, the first pope to resign since 1415
Sports History
Feb 12 At a ceremony in Philadelphia, the NFL pays tribute to the life of the late Steve Sabol and his many contributions to the league
- Feb 12 North Korea allegedly conducts its third nuclear test, saying it was a nuclear device that could be weaponized
- Feb 13 10 civilians, including 3 children, are killed by a NATO airstrike in the Kunar Province, Afghanistan
- Feb 13 16 Muslim insurgents are killed in an attack on a Narathiwat military base, Thailand
- Feb 13 Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, says he believes "a recovery is in sight" after fears raised about a triple dip recession
- Feb 14 A suicide bombing kills 4 police officer and injures 5 in Dagestan
- Feb 14 Japan remains in recession as the economy shrinks by a further 0.1%
- Feb 14 Oscar Pistorius, a South African amputee sprinter, is charged with the murder of Reeva Steenkamp
- Feb 14 The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, will be switched off for two years for upgrading
- Feb 14 The recession in the Eurozone economy deepens with a fall of 0.6% in GDP in the fourth quarter of 2012
- Feb 15 2012 DA14, an asteroid with a 50m diameter, comes within 27,700km of Earth the same day as the Chelyabinsk meteor hits Siberia
- Feb 15 Chelyabinsk meteor breaks up over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring over 1,200 people, with 26 to 33 times energy of Hiroshima bomb
- Feb 16 84 people are killed and 190 are injured after a market bombing in Hazara Town, Pakistan
Film & TV History
Feb 16 Angelina Jolie undergoes a preventive double mastectomy after learning she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer due to a defective BRCA1 gene
- Feb 16 Anthony Carmona is elected President of Trinidad and Tobago
Sports History
Feb 16 Lionel Messi scores his 14th consecutive goal in La Liga and his 300th goal in 365 appearances for Barcelona
- Feb 17 37 people are killed and 130 are injured in a series of Baghdad car bombings
- Feb 17 5 people are killed and 11 are injured after a gas explosion destroyed an apartment complex in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, Czech Republic
- Feb 17 62nd NBA All-Star Game, Toyota Centre, Houston, TX: West beats East, 143-138; MVP: Chris Paul, LA Clippers, G
- Feb 17 Jess Cameron with 75 and Elise Perry 3-27 lead Australia to 114 run win over West Indies in the Women's Cricket World Cup Final in Bombay, India
- Feb 17 President Rafael Correa wins the Ecuadorian general election in a landslide victory
- Feb 18 $50 million worth of diamonds is stolen in an armed robbery at Brussels Airport, Belgium
- Feb 18 15 people are killed by flooding and landslides in Indonesia
- Feb 19 12 people are killed and 11 are injured after a Yemeni Air Force plane crashes in Sana'a
- Feb 20 Estonia becomes the first country to establish a national system of fast chargers for electric cars
- Feb 20 Kepler-37b, the smallest known exoplanet, is discovered
- Feb 21 21 people are killed and 54 are injured in a bombing in Hyderabad, India
- Feb 21 83 people are killed and 250 are injured in a series of bombing attacks in Damascus, Syria
- Feb 22 13 Chadian soldiers and 65 Muslim insurgents are killed in conflict in Northern Mali
- Feb 22 29 people are killed and 150 are injured by 3 Syrian army missiles in Aleppo
- Feb 22 The European Commission forecast for 2013 expects growth of 0.1% across the 27 members of the EU but a contraction of 0.3% in the Eurozone economy
- Feb 22 The UK's AAA credit rating is downgraded by Moody's Investors Service to AA+; the agency expects growth to "remain sluggish over the next few years"
Film & TV History
Feb 23 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards: "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" wins
- Feb 23 51 people are killed and 62 are injured in conflict between rival tribes in Darfur, Sudan
- Feb 24 10 Chadian soldiers and 28 Muslim insurgents are killed in conflict in Adrar des Ifoghas, Mali
- Feb 24 55th Daytona 500: Jimmie Johnson wins 2nd Great American Race; Danica Patrick first female to start from pole position; also best-ever finish by a woman at Daytona (8th)
Academy Awards
Feb 24 85th Academy Awards: "Argo", Daniel Day-Lewis & Jennifer Lawrence win
- Feb 24 Nicos Anastasiades wins the Cypriot presidential election
Election of Interest
Feb 24 Raúl Castro is elected to a second term as the President of Cuba
- Feb 25 Cuban President Raúl Castro announces he will not seek another term in 2018
- Feb 25 Italy Common Good, a centre left alliance, wins the Italian general election
- Feb 26 A flexible battery capable of being charged wirelessly and folded and stretched is developed
- Feb 26 A hot air balloon crashes in Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 tourists
- Feb 26 A rocket launched from the Gaza strip into Israel ends the ceasefire since November 2012
- Feb 27 17 Afghan militia are killed by Taliban insurgents in an attack in the Andar District
- Feb 27 20 people are killed in a market fire in Calcutta, India
- Feb 27 Pope Benedict XVI presents his farewell address to Vatican City
- Feb 28 28 people are killed and 60 are injured after a series of bombings across Baghdad, Iraq
- Feb 28 35 people are killed in violent demonstrations across Bangladesh
- Feb 28 The brains of two rats successfully connected so that they share information
Famous Weddings
Christina Applegate
Feb 23 Former "Married With Children" actress Christina Applegate (41) weds rocker Martyn LeNoble (43) in Los Angeles
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe, Norwegian musicologist, educator, and composer, dies at 86
Ed Koch (1924-2013)
Feb 1 American congressman and New York City Mayor (1977-89), dies of heart failure at 88
- Feb 1 Paul Holmes, New Zealand radio and TV broadcaster, dies from prostate cancer and heart problems at 62
- Feb 1 Vladimir Yengibaryan, Armenian boxer (Olympic gold light welterweight 1956), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 80
- Feb 2 Chris Kyle, American sniper, is shot at 38
- Feb 2 John Kerr, American actor (South Pacific, Peyton Place, Pit & Pendulum), dies at 81
- Feb 2 Pepper Paire, American National Women's Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (1948 AAGPBL All-Star Team), dies at 88
- Feb 2 Walt Sweeney, American football offensive lineman (9 × Pro Bowl; First-team All-Pro 1967, 68; San Diego Chargers), dies from pancreatic cancer at 71
- Feb 3 Cardiss Collins, American politician (first African-American woman to represent the Midwest in Congress), dies at 81
- Feb 4 Donald Byrd, American jazz trumpeter (Black Byrd), dies at 80
- Feb 4 Pat Halcox, British trumpeter, dies at 82
- Feb 4 Reg Presley [Reginald Ball], English rock vocalist (Troggs - "Wild Thing"; "Love Is All Around"), and songwriter, dies from lung cancer at 71
- Feb 4 Theresia van der Pant, Dutch sculptor, dies at 88
- Feb 5 Dietrich Manicke, German composer, dies at 89
- Feb 5 Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer, dies at 88
- Feb 5 Paul Tanner, American trombonist (Glenn Miller Orchestra), developer and player of the Electro-Theremin (The Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations"; "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times"), and educator (UCLA), dies of pneumonia at 95
- Feb 5 Stuart Freeborn, English motion picture make-up artist, dies at 98
- Feb 8 James DePreist, American conductor (Mitropoulos Prize, 1964, Oregon Symphony, 1980-2003), dies of a heart attack at 76
- Feb 9 Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-born American martial artist, dies at 99
- Feb 10 Eugenio Trías Sagnier, Spanish philosopher, dies at 70
- Feb 10 W. Watts Biggers, American novelist (The Man Inside) and animator (Underdog), dies of a heart attack at 85
- Feb 11 Rick Huxley, British rock guitarist (Dave Clark Five - "Glad All Over"), dies from emphysema at 72
- Feb 12 Hennadiy Udovenko, Ukrainian politician and diplomat (UN General Assembly President, 1997-98), dies at 81
- Feb 12 Richard Orton, British modern classical and electronic music composer, performer, and educator (University of York, 1967-96), dies at 73
- Feb 14 Reeva Steenkamp, South African model and paralegal, shot and killed by boyfriend Oscar Pistorius, at 29
Tony Sheridan (1940-2013)
Feb 16 British singer-songwriter and guitarist who collaborated with the pre-fame Beatles ("My Bonnie"), dies at 72
- Feb 17 Mindy McCready, American country music singer ("Guys Do It All the Time"; "A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)", commits suicide by gunshot at 37
- Feb 17 Richard Briers, English actor, dies from emphysema at 79
- Feb 18 Damon Harris, African-American soul singer (The Temptations-My Girl), dies from prostate cancer at 62
- Feb 18 Elspet Gray, Lady Rix, Scottish actress (4 Weddings & a Funeral, Solo, Tokyo), dies at 83
- Feb 18 Kevin Ayers, British progressive rocker (Soft Machine; Joy of a Toy), dies at 68
- Feb 19 Donald Richie, American-born author and (Japanese) film critic, dies at 88
- Feb 19 Manfred Niehaus, German composer, dies at 79
- Feb 19 Pete D. Anderson, American jockey (Belmont Stakes 1958) and trainer, dies at 81
- Feb 19 Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist (Nobel 1996), dies at 75
- Feb 20 Antonio Roma, Argentinian footballer, dies at 80
- Feb 22 Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (Women's World Champion, 1970, 1972-74; European Champion, 1972-74), dies of a stroke at 74
- Feb 22 Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor (Vienna Symphony, 1960-70; Philadelphia Orchestra, 1993-2003), and pianist, dies aged 89
- Feb 25 "Dangerous" Dan Toler, American rock guitarist (Dickey Betts; Allman Brothers), dies of ALS at 64
- Feb 25 C Everett Koop, American pediatric surgeon, health administrator and 13th US Surgeon General (1982-89), dies at 96
- Feb 26 Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and composer (world's most recorded classical organist), dies at 86
- Feb 27 Dale Robertson, American actor (Death Valley Days, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Iron Horse), dies at 89
- Feb 27 Richard Street, American R&B musician (The Temptations), dies at 70
- Feb 27 Stephane Hessel, German-born French diplomat, dies at 95
- Feb 27 Van Cliburn, American pianist (Tchaikovsky Competition winner, 1958), dies at 78
- Feb 28 Bruce Reynolds, English criminal, dies at 81
- Feb 28 Donald A. Glaser, American physicist (Nobel 1960), dies at 86
Year of the Rabbit
Year of the Dragon
Year of the Snake
Year of the Horse
Year of the Goat/Sheep
Year of the Monkey