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February 7 - the day in history
The Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time to a rapturous reception from fans on this day.
Today is Monday, February 7, the thirty eighth day of 2005.
There are 327 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1904 - The biggest fire in the United States since the great Chicago blaze of 1871 broke out in Baltimore, destroying more than 2,600 buildings. No deaths were reported.
1964 - The Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time to a rapturous reception from fans.
1968 - Canada's 10 provincial premiers agreed to draft a new constitution giving the French language equal status with English throughout Canada.
1971 - In a referendum, Switzerland voted in favour of female suffrage.
1984 - US astronaut Bruce McCandless flew up to 100 yards (metres) from the Space Shuttle Challenger using only a powered backpack, the first time it had been done.
1990 - The Soviet Communist Party leadership agreed to surrender its 70-year monopoly on power, paving the way for a multi-party democracy.
1991 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a popular leftist priest, was sworn in as Haiti's first democratically elected president.
1992 - European Community ministers signed the Maastricht Treaty of European Union.
1996 - A Boeing 757 charter jet carrying 189 people plunged into the sea off the Dominican coast, killing all aboard.
1999 - King Hussein of Jordan died from cancer after ruling since 1952. Crown Prince Abdullah became king.
2003 - A powerful car bomb wrecked Club El Nogal, one of the most exclusive clubs in Bogota, killing at least 33 people.
2003 - Augusto Monterroso, Guatemalan writer and an acclaimed master of the short story, died. He won Spain's Prince of Asturias prize for literature in 2000. He was 81.
Today's birthdays
Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870)
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, chemist (1834-1907)
Sinclair Lewis, author(1885-1951)
James Spader, actor (1960--)
Ashton Kutcher, actor (1978--)
