What Happened in February 2018

Events 1 - 100 of 126

• Feb 1 Archaeologists announce discovery of thousands of undetected structures in Mayan lowland civilisation, Guatemala, using Lidar, suggests population of 10 million

• Feb 1 Rashid Khan becomes the youngest player to top the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in ODIs
• 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, Russia has its heaviest snowfall in a day on record (43 cm / 17 inches), 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 Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo equals world record number of victories for a jockey - 12,844 in Rio de Janeiro

• 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 Armed groups release 300 child soldiers from Yambio, South Sudan according to UN
• Feb 7 Brock Purdy signs his letter of intent to commit to Iowa State University
• Feb 7 DNA analysis of Chedder Man, UK's oldest complete skeleton shows he had dark skin and blue eyes

• 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 Noriaki Kasai of Japan becomes first athlete in history to participate in 8 Winter Olympics in the ski jumping qualification prior to the Pyeongchang Games
• Feb 8 Twitter reports its first quarterly profit as a public company

• Feb 10 Adam Ondra completes the first-ever flash of a confirmed 9a+ (5.15a) route with his ascent of Super Crackinette in France
• Feb 10 German biathlete Laura Dahlmeier wins women's 7.5k sprint gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; also wins 10k pursuit gold
• Feb 10 Sochi (2014) Olympic large hill ski jump champion Andreas Wellinger of Germany wins the individual normal hill gold medal at Pyeongchang by just 0.2m from Norway's Johann André Forfang
• Feb 10 Swedish cross country skier Charlotte Kalla wins 3rd career Olympic gold medal in the 15k skiathlon in Pyeongchang; also wins 10k freestyle gold in Vancouver (2010) and 4 x 5k relay in Sochi (2014)
• Feb 10 Tottenham Hotspur edge Arsenal, 1-0 at Wembley Stadium in front of English Premier League record single-game attendance of 83,222 fans
• Feb 11 Dutchman Sven Kramer becomes only male speed skater to win same Olympic event 3 times, claiming gold in the 5,000m at Pyongchang; first man to win total 8 Olympic medals in the sport

• Feb 11 Norway sweeps the medals in the Olympic 30k cross country skiathlon at Pyeongchang; Simen Hegstad Krüger wins gold ahead of teammates Martin Johnsrud Sundby & Hans Christer Holund
• Feb 11 Russian airliner crashes south-east of Moscow, killing all 71 on board
• Feb 12 American snowboarder Jamie Anderson retains her Olympic slopestyle title (Sochi 2014) at the Pyeongchang Winter Games, comfortably ahead of Canada's Laurie Blouin
• Feb 12 Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst becomes first Winter Olympian to win an individual gold medal in 4 straight Games with victory in the 1,500m at Pyeongchang; first speed skater to win 10 Olympic medals
• Feb 12 French biathlete Martin Fourcade wins men's 12.5k pursuit gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; also wins 15k mass start gold
• Feb 12 German biathlete Laura Dahlmeier wins her 2nd gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the women's 10k pursuit; also wins 7.5k sprint gold
• Feb 12 Oxfam deputy director resigns over charity's failure to deal with sexual misconduct allegations in Haiti and Chad

• Feb 12 Tropical cyclone Gita strikes Tonga as a category four cyclone causing widespread damage
• Feb 13 After winning Olympic gold in the women's curling in Sochi (2014), Canadian Kaitlyn Lawes wins the mixed doubles with dual gold medallist John Morris in Pyeongchang
• Feb 13 Austrian alpine skier Marcel Hirscher wins the men's combined gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; goes on to also win giant slalom gold
• Feb 13 Dutch speed skater Kjeld Nuis wins the men's 1,500m gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; also takes 1,000m gold

• Feb 13 South Africa declares a three-year drought a National Disaster, though pushes Cap Town's "Day Zero" to June 4

• Feb 14 Dutch speed skater Jorien ter Mors wins her 3rd career Olympic gold medal in the 1,000m at Pyeongchang; 1,500m and team pursuit champion in Sochi (2014)
• 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 Denver's Serbian center Nikola Jokić records fastest triple double in NBA history (14 minutes, 33 seconds) in the Nuggets' 134-123 win at Milwaukee; Jokić finishes with 30 points, 17 assists, 15 rebounds
• 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 15 Frenchman Pierre Vaultier retains his Olympic snowboard cross title (Sochi 2014) with a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games
• Feb 15 German figure skaters Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot set new ISU best free skating score of 159.31 on their way to pairs gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
• Feb 15 German women's luge singles champion Natalie Geisenberger and men's doubles winners Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt earn their 2nd Olympic gold medals in Pyeongchang in the team relay event
• Feb 15 IBU Female Rookie of the Year, Hanna Öberg of Sweden wins 15k individual biathlon gold medal with 4 clean shootings at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; first victory and podium of her career
• Feb 15 Sochi (2014) Olympic slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the US wins the giant slalom at the Pyeongchang Winter Games; also takes combined silver
• Feb 15 Vancouver (2010) Olympic super-G champion Aksul Lund Svindal of Sweden wins the downhill gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games
• 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 16 Sochi (2014) Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer of Austria wins the super-G gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games
• Feb 16 Swiss cross country skier Dario Cologna wins 4th career Olympic gold medal in the 15k freestyle in Pyeongchang; wins event in Vancouver (2010), and 15k classical & 30k skiathlon in Sochi (2014)
• Feb 17 10k freestyle cross country champion Ragnhild Haga and 30k classical winner Marit Bjørgen win their 2nd Olympic gold medal in Pyeongchang as part of Norway's 4 x 5k relay team
• Feb 17 3 suicide bombers kill 18 in Konduga, north-east Nigeria
• Feb 17 Britain's Lizzy Yarnold wins her 2nd consecutive Olympic women's skeleton gold medal in Pyeongchang; also wins event in Sochi (2014)
• Feb 17 Czech skier Ester Ledecká wins super-G gold medal at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; later wins parallel giant slalom snowboarding to be first female to win gold in different sports at a single Games

• Feb 17 Polish ski jumper Kamil Stoch retains his Olympic individual large hill title (Sochi 2014) with gold in Pyeongchang; beats normal hill winner Andreas Wellinger of Germany by 3.4m
• Feb 17 Russian biathlete Anastasiya Kuzmina wins her 3rd career Olympic gold medal in women's 12.5k mass start in Pyeongchang; 7.5k sprint champion in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014)
• Feb 18 60th Daytona 500: Austin Dillon wins after multi-car wreck sends race into overtime (207 laps) ahead of rookie Darrell Wallace Jr

• Feb 18 After taking out the men's combined gold medal, Austrian alpine skier Marcel Hirscher wins the giant slalom at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
• Feb 18 Aseman Airlines flight crashes in the Zagros mountains, Iran, killing all 66 on board
• Feb 18 Frenchman Martin Fourcade wins his 2nd of 3 gold medals at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the 15k mass start biathlon; also wins men's 12.5k pursuit & mixed relay

• 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 Canadian team of Justin Kripps & Alexander Kopacz dead-heat in 3:16.86 with Germans Francesco Friedrich & Thorsten Margis for the 2-man bobsleigh gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
• 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
• Feb 20 After winning the Olympic ice dance gold medal in Vancouver (2010), Canadian pair Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir follow their team event gold by taking the ice dance title at the Pyeongchang Winter Games
• Feb 20 Dutch skater Jorien ter Mors becomes first female to win Olympic medals in 2 different sports at a single Winter Games (Pyeongchang); 1,000m speed skating gold, 3000m short track relay bronze
• Feb 20 Dutch women’s short track speed skating 3000m relay team skates a world record 4:03.471 in the B Final at the Pyeongchang Olympics; South Korea takes the gold medal in an inferior time, 4:07.361; Dutch win bronze by default
• Feb 20 Frenchman Martin Fourcade wins his 3rd gold medal of Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the biathlon mixed relay; also wins 12.5k pursuit & 15k mass start; 5th career gold (2 Sochi 2014)

• Feb 20 Venezuela becomes the first country to launch a virtual currency, the petro, to counteract their financial crisis
• Feb 21 Indian film star Kamal Haasan launches a new political party - Makkal Needhi Mayyam in Tamil Nadu state

• Feb 21 Norwegian cross country skiers Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Johannes Høsflot & Klæbo win their 2nd Olympic gold medals in Pyeongchang in the men's team sprint freestyle; trio also wins gold in 4 x 10k relay
• Feb 21 Winter Olympics: Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall become the first Americans in history to win a cross country gold medal (team sprint)
• Feb 22 Chinese short track speed skater Wu Dajing beats men's 500m world record twice en route to winning the gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; 2nd man in history under 40 seconds (39.584s)
• Feb 22 German individual Nordic combined 10k large hill champion Johannes Rydzek and normal hill winner Eric Frenzel win their 2nd gold medals of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the 4 x 5k team event

• 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"

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• Feb 3 American "Full House" actor John Stamos (55) weds second wife, American model Caitlin McHugh (31) at the Little Brown Church in Studio City, California

• Feb 1 Alan Stout, American composer, dies at 85
• Feb 1 Dennis Edwards, American pop and soul singer (The Temptations - "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone"), dies following a stroke at 74
• Feb 1 Patricia Lindop, British radiobiologist and 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 3 Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, American pop, funk and jazz session and touring drummer, (Michael Jackson -"Billie Jean"; George Duke; Herbie Hancock), composer, and producer, dies of prostate cancer at 65
• Feb 4 Alan Baker, British Mathematician and winner of 1970 Fields Medal (for his work on transcendental number theory), dies at 78
• Feb 4 John Mahoney, British-born American actor (Fraiser, Frantic, 8 Men Out), dies of throat cancer at 77
• Feb 4 Kenneth Haigh, British actor (Look Back in Anger, Search for the Nile), dies at 86
• Feb 5 Jeremy Nunley, American NFL defensive tackle and defensive end (Houston Oilers), dies at 46
• Feb 6 Joe Knollenberg, American politician (Rep-R-Michigan 1993-2009), dies at 84
• Feb 7 John Perry Barlow, American lyricist (Grateful Dead - "Estimated Prophet"; "I Need A Miracle"; "Cassidy"), essayist, internet pioneer, and activist, dies at 70
• Feb 7 Mickey Jones, American musician and actor (Home Improvement, Justified), dies at 76
• Feb 8 Paul Danblon, Belgian composer, opera director, opera administrator and scientific journalist, dies at 86
• Feb 9 Craig McGregor, American rock bassist (Foghat, 1976-2018), dies of lung cancer at 68
• Feb 9 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Icelandic theatre, dance, and film score composer (The Theory of Everything), dies from a combination of cocaine and prescription medication at 48

• Feb 9 John Gavin [Juan Vincent Apablasa Jr], American actor (Imitation of Life, Psycho), and US Ambassador to Mexico (1981–86), dies of complications from pneumonia at 86
• Feb 9 Liam Miller, Irish soccer midfielder (21 caps; Sunderland, Hibernian), dies of pancreatic cancer at 36
• Feb 9 Reginald "Reg" E Cathey, American actor (The Wire, Oz, House of Cards), dies of lung cancer at 59
• Feb 10 Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricket all-rounder and captain (61 Tests; 3448 runs @ 32.22, 7 x 100; 59 wickets), dies at 79
• Feb 11 Vic Damone [Vito Farinola], American singer ("On the Street Where You Live"), entertainer, actor and TV presenter (Vic Damone Show), dies at 89
• Feb 13 Henrik [Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat], Prince Consort of Denmark, dies at 83
• Feb 13 Tito Francona, American baseball utility (MLB All Star 1961), dies at 84
• Feb 14 Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1982-94), dies at 78
• Feb 15 Vaclovas Paketūras, Lithuanian composer (The Sun Is Setting; Polyphonic Pieces), dies at 90
• Feb 15 Wynn Irwin, American actor (Lotsa Luck, Sugar Time), dies at 85
• Feb 16 Hubert Doggart, English cricket batsman (2 Tests; Cambridge University CC, Sussex CCC) and executive (President MCC 1981–82), dies at 92
• Feb 17 Arno Motulsky, German-born founder of medical genetics, known as the "father of pharmacogenomics," dies at 94
• Feb 17 Beatricce "Beebe" Freitas [nee Botty], American pianist, organist, and voice teacher (Hawaii Opera Theatre), dies at 79
• Feb 19 Yury Tyukalov, Soviet rower (Olympic 1952,56 Gold), dies at 87

• Feb 21 Emma Chambers, British actress (The Vicar of Dibley, Notting Hill), dies from natural causes at 53
• Feb 22 Nanette Fabray [Ruby Fabares], American actress and singer (Love Life, Caesar's Hour, One Day at a Time), dies at 97
• Feb 23 Lewis Gilbert, British director, producer and screenwriter (You Only Live Twice, Sink the Bismarck!), dies at 97
• Feb 24 Durward Knowles, Bahamas yachtsman (Olympic gold, Star class 1968), dies at 100

• 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 Harvey Schmidt, American musical theatre composer (The Fantasticks; 110 in the Shade), and illustrator, dies of complications of congestive heart failure at 88
• Feb 28 Jayendra Saraswathi, Hindu religious leader (69th Shankaracharya Guru), dies at 82