February 3rd

Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Lance Armstrong, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the seven-time Tour de France winner and his teammates had participated in a doping program.

Tens of thousands of protesters staged unprecedented demonstrations against Yemen's autocratic president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key U.S. ally in battling Islamic militants.

An Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.

Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1984.

Col. Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the space shuttle when the Discovery blasted off.

The space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot's seat for the first time.

Paraguay's dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, is overthrown. Stroessner had come to power in 1954 with a military coup.

The U.S. House of Representatives rejected President Ronald Reagan's request for more than $36 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

The deadliest snowstorm in history kills 4000. The Iran Blizzard lasted a week and left whole villages without survivors.

Apollo 14 astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell landed on the lunar sufrace during the third successful manned mission to the moon.

The Palestine National Congress appointed Yasir Arafat head of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

1st soft landing on Moon (Soviet Luna 9).

Rock 'n' roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, died in Washington, D.C., at age 67.

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.

US state of Iowa ratifies the 15th Amendment of the United States Constitution allowing suffrage for all races & colour.

The territory of Illinois was created.

Johann Gutenberg, German printer and inventor, died.

Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.