2000 – US House members voted to strengthen military ties with Taiwan with a 341-70 vote in favor of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act.
2001 – In Ecuador Ronald Clay Sander (54), an oil technician from Missouri, was found shot to death. He had been kidnapped in October and 7 more hostages were still held.
2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
2003 – Space shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts just 16 minutes before they were supposed to glide to ground in Florida. The astronauts included Michael P. Anderson (b.1959), David M. Brown (b.1956), Laurel Clark (b.1962), Kalpana Chawla (b.1962), Rick Husband (b.1957), William C. McCool (b.1961) and Ilan Ramon (b.1954). An explosion in the wheel well under the left wing was later suspected as the cause.
2003 – In Colombia leftist guerrillas freed an American photographer and a British reporter.
2012 – The London Times reports that a secret NATO report claims that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, is set to regain control over Afghanistan after international forces withdraw from the country.
2013 – A suicide bombing outside the U.S. embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara, kills at least two people.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/february-1/
