Tuesday February 17, 2004

Holidays

• Saint Evermodus
• Saint Alexis Falconieri (d. 1310)
• Saint Seven Founders of the Servites
• Random Acts of Kindness Day.
• Ancient Latvia - Tanis Diena observed.
• Saint Silvinus
• Roman Empire - Quirinalia in honor of Quirinus.
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Events

• Bishop Thomas O'Brien, the former head of Arizona's largest Roman Catholic diocese, is convicted of a hit and run making him the first Catholic bishop in the United States to be convicted of a felony. (Washington Post)
• Democratic presidential nomination: Wisconsin held its primary election. John Kerry got 40% of the vote, followed by John Edwards with 34%, and Howard Dean with 18%.
• The US FAA announces it will attempt to require a fuel tank inerting system in most large airliners in an effort to prevent fuel tank explosions such as the one which apparently destroyed TWA Flight 800 in 1996. The order could take two years to complete and then would require a retrofit of about 3,800 large Boeing and Airbus jets over the next seven years. (Newsday) (NYT)
• Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, a top Vatican official arrives in Moscow for sensitive talks with the Russian Orthodox hierarchy, which accuses the Catholic Church of aggressive proselytizing in traditionally Orthodox lands. (NYT) (Russian Orthodox Church)
• A study published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests breast cancer is linked to the use of antibiotics. (Tucson Citizen) (NYT)
• As expected, the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company unanimously rejects a hostile buyout offer by Comcast, saying the cable television giant's bid is too low, but does not rule out accepting a higher bid in the future. (AP)
• Cingular wins the auction for ATT Wireless by offering to pay to become the United States' largest wireless telephone company. (''Forbes'')
• Same-sex marriage in the United States: San Francisco Superior court Judge James L. Warner postpones any decision to block the city and county of San Francisco, California, from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and to void the 2,464 same-sex marriages that were performed in the city since February 12. This was on the grounds that the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund's order for San Francisco to ampquotcease and desist issuing marriage licenses to and/or solemnizing
• A CNN survey finds that children made more than 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The 4,450 accused priests represent about 4% of the 110,000 priests who served during the 52 years covered by the study. Nearly 3%, or 133 of the priests, had 10 or more allegations. (CNN)
• An outbreak of dengue fever kills 91 people in Indonesia and infects thousands more. Health officials report that 4,500 people have been hospitalized for the mosquito-borne disease, mostly in the capital and other parts of East Java, including the city of Yogyakarta. The number hospitalized is double that of last year. (BBC) (NYT)
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Famous Deaths

• Jose Lopez Portillo

  President of Mexico (Born 1920).

Top #5 songs in the USA

1. Twista - Slow Jamz
2. Usher - Yeah!
3. OutKast - The Way You Move
4. Beyonce - Me, Myself & I
5. OutKast - Hey Ya!

Top #5 songs in the UK

1. LMC vs U2 - Take Me To The Clouds Above
2. Kelis - Milkshake
3. Outkast - Hey Ya!
4. Sam & Mark - With A Little Help From My Friends / Measure Of A Man
5. Michelle - All This Time

Top #5 R&B songs

1. Twista Featuring Kanye West & Jamie Foxx - Slow Jamz
2. Beyonce - Me, Myself And I
3. Usher Featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris - Yeah!
4. Ruben Studdard - Sorry 2004
5. Alicia Keys - You Don't Know My Name

Top #5 Latin songs

1. Paulina Rubio - Te Quise Tanto
2. Thalia - Cerca De Ti
3. Obie Bermudez - Me Canse De Ti
4. Chayanne - Cuidarte El Alma
5. Marco Antonio Solis - Mas Que Tu Amigo

Division 2

• Grimsby - Bristol City : 1 - 2
• Tranmere - Plymouth : 3 - 0

Division 3

• Albion Rvs - Stranraer : 1 - 4
• Bristol Rvs - Huddersfield : 1 - 1
• Cambridge - Carlisle : 2 - 2
• Darlington - Northampton : 1 - 2
• York - Lincoln : 1 - 4

Stock Markets

• ExxonMobil XOM: opens at $42.20
• Apple AAPL: opens at $23.10
• Microsoft MSFT: opens at $26.70
• General Electric GE: opens at $33.08
• International Business Machines IBM: opens at $99.99

Exchange Rates

• 1 USD = 105.69 JPY
• 1 USD = 1.3085 CAD
• 1 USD = 1.2275 CHF
• 1 EUR = 135.66 JPY
• 1 EUR = 0.6744 GBP