Who Would Have Believed The Singularity Would Be So Stupid?: ON THIS DAY FEB 14

In Rome in C.E. 270, Valentine enraged the emperor Claudius II,* who had issued an edict forbidding marriage. Claudius felt that married men made poor soldiers, because they would not want to leave their families for battle. The empire needed soldiers, so Claudius abolished marriage.

Valentine, bishop of Interamna, invited young couples to come to him in secret, where he joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this “friend of lovers,” and had the bishop brought to the palace. The emperor, impressed with the young priest’s dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to renounce Christianity and boldly attempted to convert the emperor.

History also claims that while Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he fell in love with the blind daughter of the jailer, Asterius. Through his faith he miraculously restored her sight. He then signed a farewell message to her “From Your Valentine,” a phrase that would live long after its author.

Valentine was clubbed to death, then beheaded, on February 14 around 270 C.E. during a Christian persecution. In a way, it could be said he died for love and it may be for this that his feast day, named in 496 C.E. by Pope Gelasius, has become associated with romance.

In Persian culture (Iran) Sepandarmazgan is a day for love, which is on 29 Bahman in the jalali solar calendar. The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar is 17 February. Sepandarmazgan was observed in the Great Persian Empire in the 20th century BC hundreds of years before its acknowledgement by western world.

This day is currently celebrated semi-secretly in Iran despite some restrictions made by government; young Persian boys and girls may be seen on this day going out and buying gifts and celebrating.

In Saudi Arabia in 2008, religious police banned the sale of all Valentine's Day items, telling shop workers to remove any red items, as the day is considered an un-Islamic holiday.

Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic.

In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock - punishable by law in the conservative kingdom. The Saudi Gaz

Some people placed orders with florists days or weeks before Valentine's Day in anticipation of the ban, which is a regular occurrence. "Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," one florist said.

Others were planning to travel to the more religiously liberal neighbouring countries, Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, to celebrate.

Saudi Arabian authorities impose a strict Islamic code that prevents men and women from mixing.

February 14, 1978: In El Salvador, leftist guerrillas belonging to the People's Liberation Army bombed and machine gunned the Nicaraguan Embassy in San Salvador. The Marxists called it a "symbolic" attack against Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza.

February 14, 1978: Palestinian terrorists set off a bomb next to a bus in downtown Jerusalem. Two people were killed and 35 more were injured, many seriously.

February 14, 1979: In Iran, 200 armed Shia terrorists, mostly Islamic students, attacked the U.S. Embassy. They held U.S. Ambassador William H. Sullivan and 101 members of the embassy staff hostage for more than two hours.

The assault began at 10:15 am when the young Islamic jihadists opened fire with heavy machineguns from the roof of a hotel and other buildings in the area. Other Muslim youths then pinned down the 19 marine guards while others scaled the walls and embassy gates from three sides and fired at the chancery. During the attack one embassy employee was killed and five were wounded.

The siege ended when mujahideen loyal to the new government of Ayatollah Khomeini engaged the younger jihadists and eventually placed the U.S. Embassy under control of the mullah's militia.

February 14, 1979: Four Afghan Muslims kidnapped U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs in Kabul and demanded the release of various "Islamic religious figures." Dubs was killed, along with four terrorists, when Afghan police stormed the hotel room where he was being held. The Muslim gang which perpetrated the attack was Fascist, Sunni, and Pakistani, things that created a rift between them and the pro-Soviet Marxist Muslim regime in control of Afghanistan at the time.

It was uncertain whether Mr. Dubs was killed by his abductors, as they had threatened, or was shot when government forces rushed into the hotel and opened fire. According to American Embassy sources, the Marxist Muslim gunmen assaulted the building in spite of a warning from the American Embassy in Kabul not to attack the hotel or open fire on the abductors while efforts were being made to obtain the Ambassador's release.

After the shooting, Mr. Dubs was found dead of gunshot wounds in the head and heart. Three of the Fascist Muslims were killed in the shootout, and one was captured. The kidnappers were believed to be seeking the release of three recently imprisoned Islamic religious leaders and the Americans were just pawns in a Shia-Sunni dispute.

Ignoring the Islamic connection, Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher expressed shock at the Soviet Union's actions because he alleged that they were somehow involved in advising police officers in Kabul. Rather than blame Islam, or even (pre-Taliban) Afghanistan, America blamed the Soviets for their failure to heed the U.S. requests that the assault not be undertaken.

February 14, 1985:In the Philippines, Muslims protesting U.S. and Japanese support of the popularly elected Marcos government claimed responsibility for a hotel fire in Manila which killed 30, including five Americans. The murderous blaze destroyed the Regent of Manila hotel. In the middle of the night guests were forced to leap from windows as the hotel was plunged into complete darkness.This was the fourth arson attack in the Philippines in as many months. In total, forty people were killed in the reign of terror.

February 14, 1986: A civilian bus in Jerusalem was bombed, injuring six passengers. Force-17, Yasser Arafat's personal terrorists, claimed responsibility.

February 14, 1989: In Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the world's highest ranking Shiite cleric, issued a fatwa, or religious order, regarding the novel Satanic Verses by author Salman Rushdie. He told Muslims to assassinate the author and offered a million dollar reward for his head.

While they would not kill Rushdie, the author would have to go into hiding. And within a matter of a few years, Muslims would murder countless people associated with the translation and distribution of the book in a variety of Western countries.

February 14, 1991: Shia Muslims kidnapped a French and an Italian citizen in southern Beirut.

February 14, 1991: In the United Arab Emirates, an Italian sailor died after being stabbed while on leave from his ship in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.

February 14, 1994: Islamic Group terrorists opened fire on a bus filled with Romanian engineers in Asyut, Egypt. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya claimed responsibility for the attack as part of their campaign against foreigners. On February 3rd and 8th, they had issued statements warning all foreigners to leave Egypt or suffer the consequences.

February 14, 1995: A senior army officer of the deposed Afghani Marxist Muslim regime was assassinated at his home in Pakistan.

February 14, 1996: The Abu Sayyaf Group attacked the Citibank headquarters in Manila, Philippines. The jihadists fired automatic weapons and then hurled hand grenades into the building.
Authorities found a bag which had fallen out of one of the four vehicles used during the raid. It contained an RPG, grenades, an assault rifle, and priest's robes.

February 14, 1998: Coimbatore was subjected to the most devastating attack of terrorist bombings Tamil Nadu has ever witnessed. The attack, blamed on Muslim fundamentalist groups, came barely three months after 18 Muslims were killed in the city in November-December 1997 in a pogrom unleashed by a section of the police in concert with Hindu militants following the killing of a police constable, allegedly by three Muslim youth.

forty-six persons - 35 men, 10 women and one child - were killed and over 200 injured in 13 bomb attacks in 11 places, all of them within a 12-km radius. Ten more persons were killed in the next few days: six suspected Muslim fundamentalists died following a police raid on their hideout in Tirumal Street on February 15, and four teenaged Muslim boys died following a stray blast in Al-Ameen Colony on February 17.

The first of the serial bombs on February 14 exploded at 3.50 p.m. on Shanmugham Road in R.S. Puram, barely 100 metres from the venue of an election meeting that was to be addressed by Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani. Over the next 40 minutes, blasts were reported on West Sambandam Road, Gani Rowther Street at Ukkadam, at a textile showroom on Big Bazaar Street, a shopping complex near the main bus stand at Gandhipuram, the vehicle parking lot at the Coimbatore Junction railway station, the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), a travel agency (owned by a local BJP leader) on V.K.K. Menon Road, a jewellery shop on Oppanakara Street, a BJP election office at Ratnapuri near Sivananda Colony and a temple at Kurichikulam.

The explosives used were gelatin sticks; these were activated by timer devices. They were concealed in cars, motorcycles, bicycles, the sideboxes of two-wheelers, denim and rexine bags, and - in one case - a cart loaded with pineapples. Several bombs that failed to detonate were defused by the bomb disposal squad sof the Army, the National Security Guards and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. An abandoned car laden with a horrifying 70 kg of explosives, discovered on East Lokamanya Street in R.S. Puram, close to the BJP meeting venue, gave cause for much anxiety for days until the complicated device was dismantled.

Police sources blamed the blasts on Al-Umma, a Muslim fundamentalist organisation that has its base in Kottaimedu, a predominantly Muslim area in Coimbatore. The sources said the bombings were an act of reprisal for the death of 18 Muslims in the communal riots and police firing in November-December 1997. The police are also investigating the possible involvement of the Jihad Committee, another Muslim fundamentalist organisation.

Within hours of the blasts, the Tamil Nadu Government banned Al-Umma and the Jihad Committee. Al-Umma founder-president S.A. Basha and 12 other members of the organisation were arrested in Chennai; explosive materials and weapons were seized from his house in Triplicane, Chennai. Leaders of the Jihad Committee and the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) were arrested in a State-wide crackdown. Among those arrested were Jihad Committee president R.M. Haniffa, general secretary Mohammed Haniffa, student wing secretary Akram Khan, TMMK president and college lecturer M.H. Jawahirulla and treasurer G.M. Pakkar. Over the next few days, over 100 activists of the three organisations were arrested at Keezhakkarai, Devakottai, Dindigul, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Nagercoil, Melapalayam and Udumalpet.

About 1,000 others were detained as a precautionary measure. In Coimbatore district, nine persons were arrested; 528 others - 326 Hindus and 202 Muslims - were detained as a precautionary measure.

February 14, 2001: In Iran, five mortar shells were launched into a suburb of Mousian, near the Iraqi border. Authorities suspected the Iraq-based Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). There were no reported injuries.

February 14, 2000: Trial began for 24 Turkish DHKP/C terrorists for their attacks on French, U.K., and U.S. targets during the 1991 Gulf War.

On This Day Since 9/11

2/14/2007	Iraq	Baghdad	6	30	Three Jihad car bombings leave six people dead.
2/14/2007	Iraq	Ramadi	5	20	A Fedayeen suicide bomber sends five souls to Allah.
2/14/2007	Yemen	Saada	2	2	Two members of the military are killed in an ambush by radical Shiites.
2/14/2007	Pakistan	Dera Ismail Khan	1	0	A Shiite cleric is gunned down in a sectarian attack.
2/14/2007	Thailand	Yala	1	0	A 30-year-old rubber tapper is murdered by Islamic radicals.
2/14/2007	Thailand	Narathiwat	1	0	A Buddhist man is shot to death by Muslims while riding his motorcycle.
2/14/2007	Thailand	Yala	2	0	A Buddhist father and son, selling herbal medicines by the roadside are brutally gunned down by Islamic gunmen.

2/14/2007	Iran	Zahedan	18	0	A radical Sunni group takes credit for a bomb attack on a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards. Eighteen are killed.
2/14/2007	Iraq	Baghdad	4	10	Four Christians are killed in an Islamic car bombing of their hospital.
2/14/2006	Pakistan	Peshawar	1	0	An 8-year-old boy is shot in the face by an Islamic activist protesting cartoons.
2/14/2006	Iraq	Tikrit	3	0	Gunmen kill an Iraqi contractor and, in a separate attack in Baghdad, a man and his son.
2/14/2006	Iraq	Balad	11	1	A horrible Valentine's day massacre as Sunnis round up a family of Shiites and then machine-gun them to death, including a 5-year-old boy. Only one other child escaped death.
2/14/2006	India	Sopore	1	5	Six civilians are injured when a Muslim militant tosses a grenade into the street. One succumbs to injuries two days later.
2/14/2005	Lebanon	Beirut	15	120	Powerful suicide bomb blast kills the former Lebanese Prime Minister and fourteen others. One-hundred and twenty are injured in the blast.

AMMAN, Jordan - It was a Valentine's day massacre in front of Beirut's formerly glorious St. George hotel. Violence returned to the Lebanese capital on a scale not seen since the end of the civil war 14 years ago, and its victim was the very man who was synonymous with the country's slow emergence from that nightmare, former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The explosion killed nine people on the well-protected Hariri's convoy, apart from the 62-year old billionaire politician.

2/14/2005	Iraq	Baghdad	3	0	Sunni extremists spray the inside of a passenger car with automatic weapons, killing an Iraqi officer and two companions.
2/14/2005	Philippines	Davao	1	8	A 12-year-old boy is killed in an Abu Sayyaf bombing at a bus stop. Eight others are injured.
2/14/2005	Thailand	Narathiwat	1	1	Muslim separatists shoot a 48-year-old man off of a motorcycle, injuring his wife as well.
2/14/2005	India	Shopian	0	25	Twenty-five people are injured when the Mujahideen toss a grenade into a crowded street.
2/14/2005	Philippines	General Santos	5	36	An bomb outside a shopping mall kills five shoppers and injures at least three dozen others. Abu Sayyaf claims responsibility.

2/14/2005

Philippines

Manila

The Abu Sayyaf terrorist group detonates a bomb in the Philippine capital outside a crowded bus terminal, setting three buses on fire and killing at least three.

2/14/2004	Iraq	Fallujah	21	33	'There is no god but Allah!' shout gunmen who storm a police prison, killing more than twenty and injuring at least thirty-three others.
2/14/2004	Thailand	Narathiwat	2	0	Muslim gunmen on a motorcycle kill two workers as they are on their way to a job site.
2/14/2002	India	Thanna Mandi	1	0	A woman is killed by a group of Muslims.