2000 – The US persuaded Puerto Rico to continue use of the Navy firing range off Vieques Island with dummy bombs in exchange for $40 million. A vote by islanders to approve live ammunition would bring Puerto Rico an additional $50 million. A no vote would require clean up and a halt to training by May 1, 2003.
2001 – In the Netherlands a Scottish court sentenced Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, to life in a Scottish prison for the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. A second Libyan was acquitted.
2002 – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a speech that the United States had to prepare for potential surprise attacks “vastly more deadly” than the Sept. 11 terrorist hijackings.
2002 – It was reported that the US and Kazakstan planned a joint venture to use a former Soviet nuclear weapons plant to process uranium for power plants and absorb atomic workers.
2002 – US troops began a 6-month exercise for Filipino soldiers on Zamboanga, who were hunting Abu Sayyaf extremists.
2002 – In Afghanistan warlord Saifullah defeated troops under Padsha Khan Zadran in Gardez and some 50 people were killed.
2003 – President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met at the White House; Bush said he would welcome a second U.N. resolution on Iraq but only if it led to the prompt disarming of Saddam Hussein. Pushing for a new resolution, Blair called confronting Iraq “a test of the international community.”
2003 – In Afghanistan, a bomb destroyed the Rambasi Bridge near Kandahar, and killed at least 15 people travelling by bus. Police blamed Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives.
2003 – Top UN arms inspectors said they would not agree to new talks in Baghdad unless Iraq demonstrated more cooperation and met unspecified conditions.
2004 – The Mars rover Opportunity rolled off its landing pad onto the surface of Mars.
2004 - The crews of a 47-foot MLB from Station Chincoteague and a rescue helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City combined to rescue five men after their vessel began taking on water 25 miles east of Chincoteague.
2005 – US guards in southern Iraq opened fire on prisoners during a riot at the detention facility for security detainees at Umm Qasr, killing 4 of them. 6 other prisoners were injured.
2005 - Iraqis elected the Iraqi Transitional Government in order to draft a permanent constitution. Although some violence and a widespread Sunni boycott marred the event, most of the eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated.
2007 – Boston transit officials and the U.S. Coast Guard shut down parts of Interstate 93, two bridges, and a section of the Charles River after the discovery of suspicious devices placed around the city. Turner Broadcasting released a statement that the items were marketing tools placed within ten U.S. cities for the cartoon Aqua Teen Hunger Force. One arrest was made Wednesday.
2009 – Iraq held provincial elections. Provincial candidates and those close to them faced some political assassinations and attempted assassinations, and there was also some other violence related to the election.
2013 – NASA unveils the prototype of a lunar mining robot called the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR).
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/january-31/
