Today in History

1189 Jan 21, Philip Augustus, Henry II of England and Frederick Barbarossa assembled the troops for the Third Crusade. (V.D.-H.K.p.109) (HN, 1/21/99)1268 Jan 21, Pope Clement IV gave permission to Poland’s King Premislus II to take over Lithuania and establish Catholicism. (LHC, 1/18/03)1337 Jan 21, Charles V, the Wise, king of France (1364-80), was born. (MC, 1/21/02)1407 Jan 21, Duke Vytautas led Polish and German forces for a 2nd time against the Duchy of Moscow. (LHC, 1/18/03)1629 Jan 21, Abbas I (b.1571), Shah of Persia (1588-1629), died. (http://4dw.net/royalark/Persia/safawi3.htm)1648 Jan 21, In Maryland, the first woman lawyer in the colonies, Margaret Brent, was denied a vote in the Maryland Assembly. [see Jun 24, 1647] (HN, 1/21/99)1664 Jan 21, Count Miklos of Zrinyi set out to battle the Turkish invasion army. (MC, 1/21/02)1737 Jan 21, Ethan Allen, American Revolutionary commander of the “Green Mountain Boys” who captured Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, was born. (HN, 1/21/99)1743 Jan 21, John Fitch, inventor (had a working steamboat years before Fulton), was born. (MC, 1/21/02)1785 Jan 21, Chippewa, Delaware, Ottawa and Wyandot Indians signed a treaty of Fort McIntosh, ceding present-day Ohio to the United States. (HN, 1/21/99)1790 Jan 21, Joseph Guillotine proposed a new, more humane method of execution: a machine designed to cut off the condemned person’s head as painlessly as possible. (HN, 1/21/99)1793 Jan 21, Louis XVI (38), last of the French Bourbon dynasty, was executed on the guillotine. The vote in the National Convention for execution for treason won by a margin of one vote. The Great Terror followed his execution. (WUD, 1994, p.1677) (V.D.-H.K.p.231) (NH, 6/97, p.23) (AP, 1/21/98)1815 Jan 21, Horace Wells (d.1845), dentist, was born. He pioneered the use of medical anesthesia and was the 1st to use nitrous oxide as a pain killer. (Dr, 7/17/01, p.2) (MC, 1/21/02)1821 Jan 21, John Breckinridge (d.1875), 14th U.S. Vice President, was born. He served under James Buchanan (1857-1861). Breckenridge was a Confederate General in the Civil War. [His brother-in-law was Lloyd Tevis, founder of Wells Fargo] (WUD, 1994, p.183) (HN, 1/21/99)1824 Jan 21, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Confederate General, was born. (HN, 1/21/99) 1846 Jan 21, 1st edition of Charles Dickens’ “Daily News.” (MC, 1/21/02)1855 Jan 21, John M. Browning, US weapons manufacturer, was born. (MC, 1/21/02)1858 Jan 21, Felix Marma Zuloaga became president of Mexico upon the ouster of Ignacio Comonfort. (AP, 1/21/08)1861 Jan 21, U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and four (five) other Southern senators made emotional farewell speeches. Just weeks after his home state of Mississippi seceded from the Union; Davis prepared to leave Washington, D.C., and the country he had served as a soldier, cabinet member and member of Congress. One more time, Davis enumerated the reasons why the South felt secession was its only recourse: “…when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a Government which…threatens to be destructive to our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence….” Davis then apologized to any senators he may have offended, and finished his address by saying, “…it only remains for me to bid you a final adieu.” (AP, 1/21/01) (HNPD, 1/21/99)1862 Jan 21, In San Francisco Fr. Maraschi stepped down as the first president-rector of St. Ignatius. Fr. Nicolas Congiato took over. (GenIV, Winter 04/05)1880 Jan 21, 1st US sewage disposal system, separate from storm drains, was established in Memphis. (MC, 1/21/02)1892 Jan 21, Samuel Marsden Brookes, English-born artist, died in SF. He emigrated to the US in 1833, settled in Chicago and moved to SF in 1862. He was a founder of the SF Art Association and the Bohemian Club. (SFCM, 10/28/01, p.20)1899 Jan 21, Alexander Tcherepnin (d.1977), composer, was born in St Petersburg, Russia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Tcherepnin)1903 Jan 21, International Theater (Majestic, Park) opened at 5 Columbus Circle in NYC. (MC, 1/21/02) 1903 Jan 21, Harry Houdini escaped from police station Halvemaansteeg in Amsterdam. (MC, 1/21/02)1905 Jan 21, Christian Dior, fashion designer (long-skirted look), was born in Normandy, France. (MC, 1/21/02)1908 Jan 21, New York City’s Board of Aldermen passed the Sullivan Ordinance that effectively prohibited women from smoking in public. Two weeks later the measure was vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. (AP, 1/21/08) (http://tinyurl.com/2zvwkc)1909 Jan 21-22, An earthquake in Morocco’s northern region, near Tetouan, killed up to 100. (AP, 2/25/04)1910 Jan 21, Angel Island opened as an immigration processing and detention center and became known as the Ellis Island of the West. It processed some 1 million people until 1940. 50,000 Chinese entered the US through Angel Island. It closed after a fire in 1940. (SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W37) (SFEC, 2/6/00, Rp.10) (SFC, 1/21/10, p.A12) 1910 Jan 21, A British-Russian military intervention took place in Persia. (MC, 1/21/02) 1910 Jan 21, Japan rejected the American proposal to neutralize ownership of the Manchurian Railway. (HN, 1/21/99)1913 Jan 21, Aristide Briand formed a French government. (MC, 1/21/02)1915 Jan 21, The first Kiwanis Club was formally founded, in Detroit, Mich. Allen Browne in Dec, 1914, had proposed a fraternal club for business and professional men. Kiwanis was established as an organization devoted to the principle of service and to the advancement of individual, community, and national welfare, and to the strengthening of international goodwill. (AP, 1/21/98) (www.tcfn.org/kiwanistci/about.html)1917 Nov 21, German ace Rudolf von Eschwege was killed over Macedonia when he attacked a booby-trapped observation balloon packed with explosives. (HN, 11/21/99)1919 Jan 21, The German Krupp plant began producing guns under the U.S. armistice terms. (HN, 1/21/99)1921 Jan 21, Barney Clark, the 1st person to receive a permanent artificial heart, was born. (MC, 1/21/02) 1921 Jan 21, J.D. Rockefeller pledged $1 million for the relief of Europe’s destitute. (HN, 1/21/99)1924 Jan 21, Benny Hill (d.1992), British comedian who hosted his own comedy show, was born in Southampton, England. [Some sources give 1925 as the birth year] (HN, 1/21/99) (www.nndb.com/people/883/000031790/) 1924 Jan 21, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 53 and a major struggle for power in the Soviet Union began. A triumvirate led by Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin. By 1928, Stalin had assumed absolute power, ruling as an often brutal dictator until his death in 1953 of a brain hemorrhage. In 1998 Vladimir Brovkin published “Russia After Lenin.” After the death of Lenin, Bukharin became a full member of the Politburo and opposed the policy of initiating rapid industrialization and collectivization in agriculture-a position shared by Stalin at the time. In 2000 Robert Service authored “Lenin.” (TMC, 1994, p.1924) (AP, 1/21/98) (WSJ, 8/3/98, p.A12) (HNQ, 8/31/99)1930 Jan 21, Valentin Ignatyevich Filatyev, Russian cosmonaut, was born. (MC, 1/21/02) 1930 Jan 21, An international arms meeting opened in London. The London Naval Conference, hosted by Britain, sought to establish naval disarmament and review the Washington Treaty of 1922, which limited tonnage of new battleships. After three months of meetings, representatives from Britain, the United States and Japan signed a treaty limiting battleship tonnage based on ratios between the nations. Italy and France declined to sign. A second naval conference in December 1935 did little to promote further disarmament and, by the beginning of World War II, Germany, Japan and the United States had all begun building battleships well over the limit of 35,000 tons stipulated by the original Washington Treaty. [see Apr 22] (HN, 1/21/99) (HNQ, 1/1/01)1933 Jan 21, Itzhak Fuks, Israeli El Al captain, was born. He was captain of the Jumbo Jet that crashed in Amsterdam on Oct 4, 1992. (MC, 1/21/02) 1933 Jan 21, The League of Nations rejected Japanese terms for settlement with China. (HN, 1/21/99)1939 Jan 21, Wolfman Jack, DJ (Midnight Special), was born in Brooklyn, NY as Bob Smith. (MC, 1/21/02) 1939 Jan 21, Picasso painted two pictures, both titled “Reclining Woman with Book.” In one Marie-Theresa Walter is pictured in a smooth S-curve, in the other Dora Maar (born as Theodora Markovitch d.1997 at 89) is broken into jagged forms. Maar was a painter and photographer and struggled to develop her own ambitions, but failed and spent much of her life as a recluse. (WSJ, 4/26/96, p.A-13) (SFC, 7/26/97, p.A24)1940 Jan 21, Jack Nicklaus, golfer (Player of Yr 1967,72,73,75,76), was born in Columbus, Ohio. (MC, 1/21/02)1941 Jan 21, Placido Domingo, opera tenor (Pinkerton-Mme Butterfly), was born in Madrid, Spain. (MC, 1/21/02) 1941 Jan 21, Richie Havens, folk singer (Here Comes the Sun), was born in Brooklyn. (MC, 1/21/02) 1941 Jan 21, Edwin Starr, US singer (War), was born as Charles Hatcher. (MC, 1/21/02) 1941 Jan 21, The United States lifted the ban on arms to the Soviet Union. (HN, 1/21/99) 1941 Jan 21, Australia & Britain attacked Tobruk, Libya. (MC, 1/21/02) 1941 Jan 21, British communist newspaper “Daily Worker” was banned. (MC, 1/21/02) 1942 Jan 21, Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded “One O’Clock Jump” in New York City for Okeh Records. (AP, 1/21/98) 1942 Jan 21, A Bronx magistrate ruled all pinball machines illegal. (MC, 1/21/02) 1942 Jan 21, In North Africa, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel launched a drive to push the British eastward. (HN, 1/21/99)1943 Jan 21, A Nazi daylight air raid killed 34 in a London school. (HN, 1/21/99) 1944 Jan 21, Some 649 British bombers attacked Magdeburg. (MC, 1/21/02) 1944 Jan 21, Some 447 German bombers attacked London. (MC, 1/21/02) 1945 Jan 21, Andrew Stein, pres of NYC council (D), was born. (MC, 1/21/02) 1950 Jan 21, Former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in New York of lying to a grand jury. Hiss, who always maintained his innocence, was sentenced to five years in prison; he served less than four. (AP, 1/21/00) 1950 Jan 21, George Orwell (46), author, died in London of tuberculosis. His books included Down and Out in Paris and London” (1933) and “1984.” William Abrahams (d.1998), editor and novelist, co-authored the 2-volume biography of Orwell: “Life, Death and Art in the Second World War,” and “Journey to the Frontier” with Peter Stansky. In 2000 Jeffrey Meyers authored the biography “Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a Generation.” Orwell married Sonia Brownell (1918-1980) on his deathbed. In 2003 Hilary Spurling authored “The Gril from the Fiction Department,” a biography of Sonia Orwell. In 2003 D.J. Taylor authored “Orwell : The Life.” (AP, 1/21/98)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D7) (SFC, 6/25/98, p.B12) (SFEC, 10/1/00, BR p.5) (WSJ, 5/16/03, p.W10) (SSFC, 9/28/03, p.M2)1951 Jan 21, Communist troops forced the UN army out of Inchon, Korea after a 12-hour attack. (HN, 1/21/99) 1954 Jan 21, The first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn. However, the Nautilus did not make its first nuclear-powered run until nearly a year later. (AP, 1/21/08) 1954 Jan 21, In Czechoslovakia Frantisek Stransky died when a test prototype of the Oskar 54 micro-car crashed. In 1956, the vehicle’s name was changed to “Velorex – Oskar” and then just to “Velorex”. In 1959 the company produced 120 vehicles per month. Beginning in 1936, the brothers Frantisek (1914 – 1954) and Mojmír (1924) Stransky, owners of a bicycle repair shop in village Parnik near ÄŒeská TÅ™ebová, started with the design of a small, cheap three-wheeled car, inspired by three-wheelers from Morgan Motor Company. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velorex)1958 Jan 21, Charles Starkweather, 19, killed the mother, stepfather and half-sister of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at her family’s home in Lincoln, Neb. Starkweather, who had also killed a gas station attendant the previous November, and Fugate went on a road trip which resulted in seven more slayings. Starkweather was executed in 1959; Fugate, who maintained she had been Starkweather’s hostage, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life; she was paroled in 1976. His slaying spree inspired the 1973 film “Badlands” starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. (SFEM, 2/8/98, p.8) (AP, 1/21/08) 1958 Jan 21, James Grover Tarver (b.1885), Texas-born giant, died in Arkansas. He had grown to be 8 feet 4 inches tall and traveled with the Ringling Bros. and other circuses. In 1917 he played the giant in the film “Jack and the Beanstalk.” (SFC, 3/5/08, p.G5) (www.forensicgenealogy.info/contest_80_results.html) 1958 Jan 21, The Soviet Union called for a ban on nuclear arms in Baghdad Pact countries. (HN, 1/21/99)1959 Jan 21, Cecil Blount de Mille (Cecil B. DeMille), one of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers, died at age 77. He was also one of the toughest. He once said to his staff, “You are here to please me. Nothing else on earth matters.” He produced the “The 10 Commandments.” In 2004 Robert S. Birchard authored “Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood.” (HNPD, 8/12/98) (HNQ, 10/27/98) (MC, 1/21/02) (WSJ, 7/14/04, p.D14)1962 Jan 21, Snow fell in the SF Bay Area and accumulated to about 3 inches in Daly City and San Francisco. This was the heaviest local snowfall since 1887. (SFC, 2/23/11, p.A10) (SSFC, 1/22/12, DB p.42)1964 Jan 21, Carl T. Rowan was named the director of the United States Information Agency (USIA). (HN, 1/21/99)1968 Jan 21, In Vietnam the 77-day Siege of Khe Sanh began as North Vietnamese units surrounded U.S. Marines based on the hilltop headquarters. It was the longest and bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War. The Battle began at 0530 hours when North Vietnamese Army forces hammered the Marine-occupied Khe Sanh Combat Base with rocket, mortar, artillery, small arms, and automatic weapons fire. Hundreds of 82-mm mortar rounds and 122-mm rockets slammed into the combat base. Virtually all of the base’s ammunition stock and a substantial portion of the fuel supplies were destroyed. (HN, 1/21/99)(WSJ, 5/2/02, p.D7) (www.vietnam-war.info/battles/siege_of_khe_sanh.php)1968 Jan 21, An American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed at North Star Bay, Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material. Reports began to surface later and in 1995 the Danish government paid a $15.5 million settlement to some 1,700 exposed workers. (www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2004/2004-08-09-02.asp) (AP, 1/21/08) 1968 Jan 21, A group of 31 North Korean commandos trudged undetected for about 40 miles from the border to the presidential Blue House of South Korean President Park Chung-hee in downtown Seoul. South Korean security forces repelled the assault. 28 North Koreans and 34 South Koreans were killed. (SFC, 9/19/96, p.A8) (AP, 12/25/03) 1968 Jan 21, In Vietnam the Battle of Khe Sahn began as North Vietnamese forces attacked a US Marine base; the Americans were able to hold their position until the siege was lifted 2 1/2 months later. It was the longest and bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War. The Battle began at 0530 hours when North Vietnamese Army forces hammered the Marine-occupied Khe Sanh Combat Base with rocket, mortar, artillery, small arms, and automatic weapons fire. Hundreds of 82-mm mortar rounds and 122-mm rockets slammed into the combat base. Virtually all of the base’s ammunition stock and a substantial portion of the fuel supplies were destroyed. (WSJ, 5/2/02, p.D7) (AP, 1/21/08) (www.vietnam-war.info/battles/siege_of_khe_sanh.php)1970 Jan 21, Timothy Leary (1920-1996) was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of two roaches of marijuana in 1968. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary) 1970 Jan 21, The Boeing 747-100 made its 1st commercial transatlantic flight from NY to London. The plane was 231 feet long with a wing span of 195 feet. It could seat 400 people in a cabin 182 feet long. (WSJ, 7/19/96, p.B5) (www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/pf/pf_milestones.html)1974 Jan 21, The U.S. Supreme Court decided that pregnant teachers could no longer be forced to take long leaves of absence. (HN, 1/21/99) 1976 Jan 21, Leonid Brezhnev and Henry Kissinger met to discuss Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). (HN, 1/21/99) 1976 Jan 21, The supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France. (AP, 1/21/98)1977 Jan 21, President Carter urged 65 degrees as the maximum heat in homes to ease the energy crisis. (HN, 1/21/99) 1977 Jan 21, President Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders as long as they had not been involved in violent acts. (AP, 1/21/98) (HNQ, 11/13/99)1978 Jan 21, The Bee Gees’ “Saturday Night Fever” album, released in November, 1977, went #1 for 24 weeks following the release of the Saturday Night Fever film in Dec 1977. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number-one_albums_of_1978_(U.S.))1979 Jan 21, The Pittsburgh Steelers became the first team to win three Super Bowls as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl 13. (AP, 1/22/04) 1979 Jan 21, Neptune became the outermost planet as Pluto moved closer due to their highly elliptical orbits. (www.videocosmos.com/calendar-january2131.shtm)1980 Jan 21, In the Iowa Republican caucus George H. W. Bush beat Ronald Reagan 32% to 30%. Reagan went onto win the nomination and the presidency. (http://correntewire.com/post_iowa_perspective) 1980 Jan 21, Gold peaked in NY at $875 a troy ounce. By mid-March gold prices fell to below $500 per ounce. (SFC, 3/18/05, p.F2) (www.321gold.com/editorials/wong/wong010104.html)1982 Jan 21, Convict-turned-author Jack Henry Abbott was found guilty in New York City of first-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of waiter Richard Adan in 1981. Abbott was later sentenced to 15 years to life in prison; he committed suicide in 2002. (AP, 1/21/07)1985 Jan 21, 19F (-28C) was recorded at Caesar’s Head, South Carolina, a state record. 34F (-37C) was recorded at Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina, a state record. (http://tinyurl.com/yaleou) 1985 Jan 21, James Beard (b.1903), US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices), died. (http://members.localnet.com/~jgeorge/jbeard.htm) (SFC, 5/4/05, p.E1)1987 Jan 21, In South Africa a paramilitary force killed 13 civilians in their sleep in the KwaMakutha Zulu township (KwaZulu-Natal black homeland). In 1996 former defense minister Magnus Malan and 20 others were charged with authorizing the killing. The first six defendants of the Inkatha Freedom party were acquitted by Judge Jan Hugo. Former intelligence officer Johan Opperman admitted to planning the attack. (SFC,7/18/96, p.E3)(SFC,10/11/96, p.A16) (WSJ,10/11/96, p.A1)(SFC,10/12/96, p.A10)1988 Jan 21, Retin-A got a boost when a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association said the anti-acne drug could also reduce wrinkles caused by exposure to the sun. (AP, 1/21/98)1989 Jan 21, Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke led a field of seven candidates in an open primary to advance to a runoff election for a Louisiana state House seat. (AP, 1/1/99)1990 Jan 21, Azerbaijan Pres. Aliyev made his first public appearance since his 1987 resignation from the Soviet Politburo. He broke the information blackout and urged int’l. condemnation of the Soviet attack. Mutinous military cadets fired on troops patrolling the capital during a crackdown on a nationalist uprising. (WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A21) (AP, 1/21/00) 1991 Jan 21, During the Gulf War, Iraq announced it had scattered prisoners of war at targeted areas; President Bush denounced Iraq’s treatment of POW’s, and said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would be held responsible. CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, CBS News London bureau chief Peter Bluff, a cameraman and soundman were captured by Iraqi forces; they were released almost six weeks later. (AP, 1/21/01) 1999 Jan 21, Charles Brown (b.1922), African-American rhythm and blues pioneer, died. In 1947 his song “Merry Christmas Baby” became a perennial hit. (SFC, 2/21/08, p.E8) (http://elvispelvis.com/charlesbrown.htm) 1992 Jan 21, The Supreme Court agreed to review a Pennsylvania law imposing waiting periods and other restrictions on abortions. The court later upheld most of the restrictions while reaffirming women’s constitutional right to abortion. (AP, 1/21/02) 1992 Jan 21, William T “Champion Jack” Dupree (81), US boxer, pianist, died in Germany. (www.john-meekings.co.uk/wtdupree.html)1993 Jan 21, Congressman Mike Espy of Mississippi was confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. (HN, 1/21/99) 1993 Jan 21, Two U.S. warplanes bombed a defense site in northern Iraq after radar was turned on them. Iraq denied provoking the attack. (AP, 1/21/98)1994 Jan 21, A jury in Manassas, Va., acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously wounding her husband John, whom she’d accused of sexually assaulting her. (AP, 1/1/99) 1994 Jan 21, Dow Jones passed 3900 to a record 3,914.20. (http://tinyurl.com/cphe5) 1994 Jan 21, In Argentina a fire near Puerto Madryn killed 25 fire cadets. (http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/75ea/) 1994 Jan 21, Basil Assad (b.1961), the son of Syria’s Pres. Hafez Assad, was killed in a car accident. (SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A12) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_al-Assad) 1995 Jan 21, President Clinton, addressing the Democratic National Committee, implored members to “bear down and go forward” despite results of the 1994 elections. (AP, 1/21/00)1996 Jan 21, At the 53rd annual Golden Globes, “Sense and Sensibility” won best dramatic picture; “Babe” won best comedy; best dramatic acting awards went to Nicolas Cage for “Leaving Las Vegas” and Sharon Stone for “Casino,” while awards for acting in a comedy or musical went to Nicole Kidman for “To Die For” and John Travolta for “Get Shorty.” (AP, 1/21/01) 1996 Jan 21, Jonathon Larson (d.1/25/96), composer of Rent, began complaining of chest pains. Doctors at the emergency room of Cabrini Hosp. said he probably had food poisoning and pumped his stomach before sending him home. An X-ray was taken but it was read by a doctor of osteopathic medicine. (SFC, 6/8/96, p.E4) 1997 Jan 21, Speaker Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the House voted for first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct. (AP, 1/21/01) 1997 Jan 21, The Democratic National Committee announced it would no longer accept money from people or companies with foreign ties and would limit contributions from labor unions and wealthy benefactors. (AP, 1/21/98) 1997 Jan 21, Irwin Levine (58), composer (Tie a Yellow Ribbon), died in New Jersey. (http://tinyurl.com/afxk9) 1997 Jan 21, Colonel Tom Parker (87), manager for Elvis Presley, died. (MC, 1/21/02) 1997 Jan 21, In Algeria two car bombs in the capital killed as a many as 18 people. (SFC, 1/22/97, p.A8) 1997 Jan 21, In Chechnya elections for president were planned and Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev led the 16 candidates. Ichkeria was name given to free Chechnya by the Muslim separatists. (SFC, 1/22/97, p.A9) 1997 Jan 21, In China 2 earthquakes struck within a minute in Xinjiang province and killed at least 12 people. (WSJ, 1/22/97, p.A1) 1997 Jan 21, In Egypt the al-Ahram newspaper reported that a 30-member family of beggars was arrested. They had managed to save $294,000 from illegal begging on the streets of Suez. (SFC, 1/22/97, p.C1) 1997 Jan 21, In South Korea the president agreed to allow the full parliament to consider a revise a new labor law. Arrest warrants against union officials were suspended. (WSJ, 1/22/97, p.A1) 1998 Jan 21, Pres. Clinton angrily denied charges that he had a sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky (24), a White House aide in 1995, and that he encouraged Lewinsky to lie under oath about their involvement. (SFC, 1/22/98, p.A1) (AP, 1/1/99) 1998 Jan 21, The FBI arrested dozens of prison guards and police officers in the Cleveland area following a 2-year sting operation on cocaine trafficking. (SFC, 1/22/98, p.A7) 1998 Jan 21, Jack Lord, TV star of “Hawaii Five-O” fame, died in Honolulu at age 77. In 2006 it was revealed that he left behind $40 million to a dozen local charities. (AP, 1/1/99) (SSFC, 2/26/06, Par p.2) 1998 Jan 21, In Bosnia Western mediators unveiled a common currency and ordered that it be accepted by the Muslims, Serbs and Croats. (SFC, 1/22/98, p.B2) 1988 Jan 21, In Burundi Hutu rebels killed 45 people in 2 attacks, and 20 rebels died in a subsequent battle with the army. (WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A1) 1998 Jan 21, Pope John Paul II arrived in Cuba for a 4-day historic visit. (SFC, 1/8/98, p.B2) (AP, 1/1/99) 1999 Jan 21, Former Sen. Dale Bumpers, an Arkansas Democrat, told the Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton the president was guilty of a “terrible moral lapse” but not of conduct warranting or even permitting his removal from office. (AP, 1/21/00) 1999 Jan 21, In Arkansas twisters led to 4 deaths and over a dozen injuries across the state. (SFC, 1/22/99, p.A3) 1999 Jan 21, In Texas LaTausha Curry (25) was abducted while trying to make a call at a pay phone. Derrick Lamone Johnson later confessed that he and an accomplice had raped and murdered her. In 2009 Johnson (25) was executed. (SFC, 5/1/09, p.A8) (www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/73765.htm) 1999 Jan 21, Charles Brown (b.1922), African-American rhythm and blues pioneer, died. In 1947 his song “Merry Christmas Baby” became a perennial hit. (SFC, 2/21/08, p.E8) (http://elvispelvis.com/charlesbrown.htm) 1999 Jan 21, The UN voted to maintain at least a token presence in Angola. (SFC, 1/22/99, p.A12) 1999 Jan 21, In Telagakodok, Indonesia, at least 40 Christian villagers were killed by a mob of Muslims. (SFC, 1/26/99, p.A14) 1999 Jan 21, In Mexico Raul Salinas de Gortari, brother of a former Mexican president, was convicted and sentenced to 50 years for the 1994 assassination of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu. (SFC, 1/22/99, p.A10) (AP, 1/21/00) 1999 Jan 21, In Romania striking miners stormed through police lines, killed one officer and took 50 captive. The interior minister was fired. (WSJ, 1/22/99, p.A1) 1999 Jan 21, In Russia Grigory Pasko (37), in jail for 14 months, was put on trial for selling classified information. He had reported on the disposal of radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan. (SFC, 1/22/99, p.A12) 1999 Jan 21, In Sierra Leone the rebels were killing and mutilating civilians as they fell back before Nigerian led troops. (WSJ, 1/22/99, p.A1) 1999 Jan 21, Yugoslav Pres. Milosevic postponed the expulsion of US envoy William Walker. (SFC, 1/22/99, p.A10) 2000 Jan 21, The grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez traveled to the United States to plead for the boy’s return to Cuba. (AP, 1/21/01) 2000 Jan 21, The US NASDAQ market rose to a record 4,235.4. (SFC, 1/22/00, p.E1) 2000 Jan 21, Negotiators in Geneva agreed to new guidelines governing children in combat after the US dropped its opposition to establishing 18 as the minimum age for sending soldiers into combat. (SFC, 1/22/00, p.A10) 2000 Jan 21, In Algeria nearly 60 soldiers and Islamic insurgents were killed near Relizane. Security forces killed 12 insurgents in Sid Ali Bounab. (SFC, 1/24/00, p.A7) 2000 Jan 21, In Austria the 2-day old ruling coalition collapsed. (SFC, 1/22/00, p.A11) 2000 Jan 21, In China it was reported that some 700 investigators had gathered over the last 2 months in Xiamen, formerly called Amoy, to investigate corruption and the smuggling of some $9.5 billion worth of goods. (SFC, 1/21/00, p.A12) 2000 Jan 21, In Ecuador the military demanded the resignation of Pres. Jamil Mahuad and declared itself in charge through a 3-man junta that included Gen. Carlos Mendoza, indigenous leader Antonio Vargas and former Supreme Court Chief Carlos Solorzano. (SFC, 1/22/00, p.A1) 2000 Jan 21, In Japan 6 people that included the daughter (16) of Shoko Asahara broke into the Aum cult’s Asashimura facility and kidnapped the 7-year-old son of Asahara. Two of the kidnappers were arrested over the next 2 days. The boy was found Jan 23 in the resort town of Hakone. (SFEC, 1/23/00, p.A22) (SFC, 1/24/00, p.A7) 2000 Jan 21, In Madrid, Spain, Basque separatists ended a 19-month lull in their guerrilla war with a remote bomb that killed Lt. Col. Pedro Antonio Blanco Garcia (48). (SFC, 1/22/00, p.A10) 2001 Jan 21, The Roman epic “Gladiator” claimed best dramatic movie and the 1970’s rock-and-roll story “Almost Famous” won best comedy at the Golden Globes Awards. (AP, 1/21/02) 2001 Jan 21, Pope John Paul II elevated archbishops of New York and Washington and 35 other church leaders to the College of Cardinals. (AP, 1/21/02) 2001 Jan 21, Byron De La Beckwith (80), a white supremacist convicted three decades after the fact for assassinating civil rights leader Medgar Evers, died in Jackson, Miss. (AP, 1/21/02) 2001 Jan 21, In Chechnya rebels fought street battles in Gudermes following weekend raids that left 6 Russian soldiers dead. (WSJ, 1/22/01, p.A1) 2001 Jan 24, Portugal Telecom and Spain’s Telefonica announced today the formation of a US$ 10 billion Strategic Joint Venture (“JV”) for mobile services in Brazil. The resulting entity, named Vivo, was formed from seven assorted mobile units they already controlled. (Econ, 5/22/10, p.71) (http://tinyurl.com/2cxlgd4) 2001 Jan 21, Syria approved private banking and ended artificial exchange rates. (WSJ, 1/22/01, p.A1) 2001 Jan 21, In Ukraine 9 miners died and 15 were injured in a gas explosion in the Donetsk coal region. (WSJ, 1/22/01, p.A1)2002 Jan 21, Sec. of State Colin Powell said the US would contribute $297 million for Afghan reconstruction over the coming year during a conference on Afghan reconstruction in Tokyo. Int’l. donors pledged over $4.5 billion over 5 years. (SFC, 1/21/02, p.A1) (SFC, 1/22/02, p.A12) 2002 Jan 21, K-Mart, the 3rd largest US discount retailer, filed for bankruptcy protection. Kmart was operating 2,114 stores with 250,000 employees. (SFC, 1/22/02, p.A1) (Ind, 2/2/02, 5A) 2002 Jan 21, Peggy Lee (b.1920), jazz and blues singer, died at age 81 in Bel Air, Calif. (SFC, 1/23/02, p.A2) (AP, 1/21/03) 2002 Jan 21, In Goma, Congo, a gas station exploded after some spilled gas was ignited by lava. Dozens of people looting gasoline were killed. (SFC, 1/22/02, p.A6) 2002 Jan 21, In Alexandria, Egypt, a small group of leading rabbis, Muslim clerics and bishops signed the Alexandria Doctrine, which condemned violence and insisted that holy places be kept open. (http://tinyurl.com/2pey69) (Econ, 11/3/07, SR p.13) 2002 Jan 21, Haiti’s prime minister quit amid political and economic woes. (WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A1) 2002 Jan 21, Israeli forces invaded Nablus, killed Palestinians and arrested 9 suspected militants. PM Sharon decided to reopen the Temple Mount to non-Muslims. The Waqf clerical trust imposed a ban on non-Muslims in Sep, 2000. (SFC, 1/22/02, p.A7) 2002 Jan 21, In Kashmir 21 people died in violence. (WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A1) 2002 Jan 21, In Russia the media minister took TV6 off the air after journalists there failed to cut ties with owner Boris Berezovsky. Russian troops rounded up dozens in Dagestan following an earlier bomb attack that killed 7 soldiers. (SFC, 1/22/02, p.A8) 2003 Jan 21, The US Census Bureau reported that Hispanics had passed Blacks as the biggest US minority group. (WSJ, 1/22/03, p.A1) 2003 Jan 21, Thousands of British firefighters walked off the job for the third time in less than three months after failing to resolve a wage dispute with the government. (AP, 1/21/03) 2003 Jan 21, Colombian rebels in Arauca state kidnapped an American photographer and a British reporter, the first time foreign journalists were abducted in Colombia’s four-decade-long civil war. Scott Dalton and Ruth Morris were freed Feb 1. (AP, 2/1/03) (AP, 1/21/04) 2003 Jan 21, Congo’s health minister reported that a flu epidemic had killed more than 2,000 people in a far northern province. (AP, 1/21/03) 2003 Jan 21, Israel razed 62 shops and market stalls in a Palestinian village Tuesday as troops clashed with protesters. (AP, 1/21/03) 2003 Jan 21, In Kuwait American contract worker Michael Rene Pouliat (46) was killed by gunman in an ambush near Camp Doha. Another worker was wounded. Saudi border guards arrested a Kuwaiti suspect the next day. (SFC, 1/23/03, p.A11) 2003 Jan 21, Mexico appealed to the World Court to stop the execution of 51 of its citizens in the United States. (AP, 1/21/03) 2003 Jan 21, A 7.6-7.8 earthquake ripped through western and central Mexico, killing at least 29 people and leaving 10,000 homeless. (SFC, 1/23/03, p.A1)(AP, 1/21/04) 2003 Jan 21, NATO blocked a US request to begin preparations for a military backup in the event of war with Iraq. (WSJ, 1/23/03, p.A1) 2003 Jan 21, In Uzbekistan a series of stories posted on the Internet in early Jan before access was cut off have alleged high-level corruption and the president’s imminent resignation, stirring rare public debate. (AP, 1/21/03)2004 Jan 21, President Bush visited community colleges in Ohio and Arizona, where he highlighted the economy and several new job-training initiatives he’d proposed a day earlier in his State of the Union speech. (AP, 1/21/05) 2004 Jan 21, Ohio lawmakers gave final approval to a measure banning gay marriage and prohibiting state employees from getting benefits for domestic partners. Gov. Bob Taft said he would sign it pending a legal review. (SFC, 1/22/04, p.A1) 2004 Jan 21, The recording industry sued 532 computer users it said were illegally distributing songs over the Internet. (AP, 1/21/05) 2004 Jan 21, Hong Kong officials reported that Avian influenza was detected near 2 chicken farms. 5 people in Vietnam had already died from the recent outbreak. (SFC, 1/22/04, p.A3) 2004 Jan 21, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived in Cuba to consecrate St. Nicholas Cathedral on Jan. 25, said Metropolitan Athenagoras of Panama and Central America. There were 1,200 practicing Orthodox Christians in Cuba. (AP, 1/15/04) 2004 Jan 21, The 6-day World Social Forum ended in Bombay, India, as thousands marching against the Iraq war. Some 80,000 people from a hundred countries participated in the forum. (SFC, 1/22/04, p.A3) 2004 Jan 21, Most of Iran’s ministers and vice presidents submitted resignations to protest the barring of thousands of would-be candidates from upcoming elections. The Guardian Council had just reinstated 200 of the disqualified candidates and said it would reconsider the rest. (AP, 1/22/04) 2004 Jan 21, In central Iraq a barrage of mortar fire struck a US military encampment, killing 2 American soldiers and critically wounding a third. In separate incidents, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying Iraqi women who worked in the laundry at a US military base, killing 4 of them, (AP, 1/22/04) 2004 Jan 21, Israeli forces demolished houses in Gaza’s Rafah refugee camp for the second straight day in an anti-militant clampdown that has left 400 people homeless. A Palestinian woman was killed. (AP, 1/21/04)(WSJ, 1/22/04, p.A1)2005 Jan 21, The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) posted a decision to open thousands of acres on Alaska’s North Slope for exploratory oil drilling. (SFC, 1/22/05, p.A5) 2005 Jan 21, Michael Powell, US chief of the FCC, said he will step down in 2 months. (SFC, 1/22/05, p.A1) 2005 Jan 21, The body of Megan Leann Holden (19) was found near Stanton, Texas. Her abduction from a Wal-Mart parking lot 2 days earlier was captured on surveillance videotape. Johnny Lee Williams (24), the suspect in her murder, was arrested at an Arizona hospital after he shot during a robbery attempt. (SFC, 1/22/05, p.A3) 2005 Jan 21, In Belize a 2-day strike ended to protest a lawmakers vote to approve tax hikes opposed by a majority of the country’s 250,000 people. Some 500 protesters clashed with police in front of Belize’s House of Representatives. (AP, 1/22/05) 2005 Jan 21, Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov told parliament that he would like to see Bulgaria’s 450-strong troop contingent out of Iraq before the end of the year. (AFP, 1/21/05) 2005 Jan 21, A German policeman was stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors and another taken hostage when a man they were trying to arrest turned violent. (AP, 1/21/05) 2005 Jan 21, A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque in Baghdad where worshippers were celebrating a major Muslim holiday, killing at least 14 people and wounding 40. A suicide bomber left 7 people dead at a Shiite wedding party near Youssufiya. (AP, 1/21/05) (SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10) 2005 Jan 21, Hundreds of armed Palestinian police deployed across the northern Gaza Strip on Friday to prevent rocket fire on Israeli communities. (AP, 1/21/05)2006 Jan 21, In Colorado a military jury convicted Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr., an Army interrogator, of negligent homicide. During an interrogation on Nov 26, 2003, he put a sleeping bag over the head of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush and sat on his chest as the man suffocated. (AP, 1/22/06) (SSFC, 1/22/06, p.D4) 2006 Jan 21, In Las Vegas Manny Pacquiao avenged his defeat 10 months ago and handed Erik Morales the worst beating of his career before finally stopping him in the 10th round of their 130-pound showdown. (AP, 1/22/06) 2006 Jan 21, In Las Vegas Jennifer Berry, a 22-year-old ballerina from Oklahoma, was crowned Miss America. The pageant went without coverage from a major television network for the first time since 1954, but aired on Country Music Television. (AP, 1/22/06) 2006 Jan 21, Rescuers in West Virginia found the bodies of two miners who’d disappeared after a conveyor belt caught fire deep inside a coal mine. (AP, 1/21/07) 2006 Jan 21, Ashok Malhotra (43) was shot dead at 2380 Aberdeen Way in Richmond, Ca. 2 suspects, Ishtiaq Hussain (38) and Jose Antonio Barajas (22) were arrested Jan 24 following a chase at the Canadian border, where Hussain was shot. (SFC, 1/25/06, p.B4) 2006 Jan 21, Afghanistan formally approved a five-year development plan, the Afghanistan Compact, to be presented to its international supporters at a key conference in London at the end of this month. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, In Afghanistan a local police chief was killed in a suspected Taliban ambush in Ghazni province. (AP, 1/22/06) 2006 Jan 21, In Bangladesh at least 15 people were injured as police and opposition supporters fought street battles in Dhaka ahead of a nationwide strike called by opposition parties. The Awami League and its 13 left-leaning allies called for a Sunday strike to press for removal of the chief election commissioner and two newly appointed commissioners. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, A lost whale that strayed up the Thames in central London was gently lifted onto a barge as crowds lined the river banks to watch a unique rescue operation. Wally, a young bottle-nosed whale, died while being returned to the sea. (AFP, 1/22/06) 2006 Jan 21, In Colombia a video, released by Colombian guerrillas, showed 12 kidnapped lawmakers pleading with their government to work with Venezuela’s leftist President Hugo Chavez to help obtain their release. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, Guyana’s government deployed soldiers to protect flood control gates and reservoirs after saboteurs set fire to drainage systems in coastal areas threatened by recent flooding. Since December, flooding has covered thousands of acres in waist-deep water and displaced more than 5,000 people. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, In Iraq Sunni Arab politicians called for a government of national unity and signaled they will use their increased numbers in parliament to curb the power of rival Shiites, who have claimed the biggest number of seats in the new legislature. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, A spate of bombings and shootings across Iraq killed at least eight Iraqis. Britain announced the death of a British security worker in a roadside blast. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, Ilan Halimi (23), a mobile phone salesman in northeast Paris, was kidnapped. He was found 3 weeks later naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris. He died en route to a hospital. On Feb 20 a judge placed six men and a woman under investigation for the alleged plot to kidnap and kill on religious, racial or ethnic motives. Gang leader Youssef Fofana was later sentenced to life in prison for the murder. (AP, 2/20/06) (Econ, 3/1/14, p.83) 2006 Jan 21, Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova (61), the ethnic Albanian leader and embodiment of the province’s decades-long struggle for independence from Serbia, died of lung cancer. (AP, 1/21/06) (Econ, 1/28/06, p.84) 2006 Jan 21, The families of 426 HIV-infected Libyan children asked for $12 million in compensation for each child as part of efforts to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with intentionally infecting the children. (AP, 1/22/06) 2006 Jan 21, In Nepal police fired tear gas to disperse activists protesting the Nepalese king’s seizure of absolute power last year. At least 300 people were arrested and 50 were injured. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, In southern Nepal Maoist rebels and government forces clashed in Phapar Badi village, killing 14 militants and six security forces. (AP, 1/22/06) 2006 Jan 21, In Nigeria, a police spokesman said 14 suspects have been arrested following clashes in Lagos earlier this week in which three people were killed. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, A helicopter used by the Red Cross for earthquake relief operations in Pakistan went missing with seven crew members on board. The wreckage of the copter and the bodies of the seven people on board were found in June 2006. (AP, 1/21/07) 2006 Jan 21, Palestinian security forces cast ballots for parliamentary candidates in the official start of this week’s Palestinian elections. (AP, 1/21/06) 2006 Jan 21, US Navy vessels sent warning shots and captured the crew of a suspected pirate ship in the Indian Ocean off Somalia’s coast. The US Navy boarded the pirate ship and detained 26 men for questioning. Sailors aboard the dhow told Navy investigators that pirates hijacked the vessel six days ago near Mogadishu and thereafter used it to stage pirate attacks on merchant ships. (AP, 1/23/06) 2006 Jan 21, African nations were split over Sudan’s bid to head the African Union, a move which could scuttle peace talks in the country’s Darfur region and damage Africa’s efforts to improve its image abroad. (AP, 1/21/06)2007 Jan 21, New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. (SFC, 1/22/07, p.A3) 2007 Jan 21, Lovie Smith became the first black head coach to make it to the Super Bowl when his Chicago Bears won the NFC championship, beating the New Orleans Saints 39-14; Tony Dungy became the second when his Indianapolis Colts took the AFC title over the New England Patriots, 38-34. (AP, 1/21/08) 2007 Jan 21, More than a foot of snow fell on parts of northern Arizona, while children as far south as Tucson got a rare chance to play in the snow. (AP, 1/22/07) 2007 Jan 21, Zdzislaw Rurarz, a former Polish ambassador to Japan, died of cancer in Virginia. He humiliated Poland’s communist regime by defecting to the US in 1981 to protest its imposition of martial law. (AP, 1/28/07) 2007 Jan 21, Louis Malcolm Boyd (b.1927), aka L.M. Boyd, master gatherer of random facts, died at his home in Seattle, Wa. He began his column in 1963 at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer using the pen name Mike Mailway. In SF the column was titled Grab Bag. (SSFC, 1/28/07, p.B3) 2007 Jan 21, Oil leaked from the Napoli, stricken freighter beached on the England’s southwest coast, Two containers of hazardous chemicals fell into the sea as salvage crews struggled to operate. (AFP, 1/21/07) 2007 Jan 21, Canada announced it will spend $25 million to protect, the Great Bear Rainforest, a 16-million-acre preserve that stretches 250 miles along British Columbia’s rugged Pacific coastline, one of the largest intact temperate rainforests left in the world. (AP, 1/22/07) 2007 Jan 21, The Danish container ship Eleonora Maersk, one of the largest ships in the world, was officially registered. (www.ships-info.info/mer-eleonora-maersk.htm)(Econ, 11/12/11, p.72) 2007 Jan 21, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Pres. Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi for talks set to focus on securing guarantees for energy supplies to the EU. Putin promised to smooth energy flow to Europe. (AP, 1/21/07) (WSJ, 1/22/07, p.A1) 2007 Jan 21, Embattled Guinean President Lansana Conte called on his country’s armed forces to stand united in the face of a crippling general strike that has claimed 10 lives as pressure mounted for him to resign. The African Union called on Pres. Conte to pursue talks with trade union leaders to ease a 12-day-old strike. (AFP, 1/21/07) 2007 Jan 21, In India at least one person was killed and eight wounded in two separate explosions in the insurgency-hit northeastern state of Assam. (AFP, 1/21/07) 2007 Jan 21, A major 6.5-magnitude undersea earthquake has rocked Indonesia’s northern Sulawesi province. The earthquake left four people dead and four injured. (AFP, 1/21/07) (AP, 1/22/07) 2007 Jan 21, Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc announced it is lifting its political boycott, some seven weeks after it began to protest the Iraqi prime minister’s summit with President Bush. A bomb struck a small bus in Baghdad as it headed to a predominantly Shiite area, killing six passengers and wounding 10. Two US Marines were killed in separate attacks in the Anbar province. Another US soldier was killed in fighting south of Baghdad. (AP, 1/21/07) (AP, 1/22/07) (AP, 1/23/07) 2007 Jan 21, Islamic Jihad militants launched homemade rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Israel’s continuing military operations against their group in the West Bank. (AP, 1/21/07) 2007 Jan 21, Russian border police seized a Japanese fishing boat and its six crew members in disputed waters between the two countries, prompting the Japanese government to protest. The No. 38 Zuisho Maru was captured off Kunashiri Island, one of four disputed islands in a group the Japanese call the Northern Territories and the Russians call the Kurils. (AP, 1/22/07) 2007 Jan 21, Serbs voted in parliamentary elections that could determine whether the troubled Balkan nation will continue with pro-Western reform or return to its nationalist past. (AP, 1/21/07) 2007 Jan 21, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a top leader of Somalia’s ousted Islamic movement seen by the US as a potential key to preventing a widespread insurgency, surrendered to authorities and went under police protection in Nairobi. (AP, 1/22/07) 2007 Jan 21, In Sri Lanka’s northern waters Tiger rebels rammed an explosives-laden boat against a private merchant vessel operated by foreign crew, sparking a land, sea and air battle. (AFP, 1/21/07) 2007 Jan 21, Darfur rebels accused the Sudanese government of bombing its areas for two days, killing at least 17 civilians, in an attempt to delay a conference of rebel leaders. (AP, 1/21/07) 2007 Jan 21, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told US officials to “Go to hell, gringos!” and called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “missy” on his weekly radio and TV show, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in his country’s affairs. (AP, 1/21/08)2008 Jan 21, Stocks fell sharply worldwide following declines on Wall Street last week amid investor pessimism over the US government’s stimulus plan to prevent a recession. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Marie Smith (89), a resident of southeastern Alaska, died. She was the last speaker of her native Eyak language. (Econ, 2/9/08, p.92) 2008 Jan 21, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the parliament on its opening day that around 300,000 children cannot attend school because of violence in the southern provinces. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, In northeastern Australia surging floodwaters forced scores of people to evacuate their homes. Farmers described the heavy rains as a mixed blessing after years of drought. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Police in ex-Soviet Belarus dispersed a protest by about 2,000 entrepreneurs denouncing President Alexander Lukashenko’s decree that places restrictions on hiring staff. Businessmen said the new regulations deny them the right to hire workers outside their immediate families or obliges them to re-register and be subject to higher taxes. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Brazil’s Petrobras announced the discovery of a huge natural gas reserve off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. (WSJ, 1/23/08, p.A10) 2008 Jan 21, Shares in China’s banks fell sharply after news reports said its No. 2 lender, Bank of China, might write down holdings of US mortgage securities and two others increased reserves for possible losses. State media said a gas explosion in an illegal mine in northern China has killed at least 20 people. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Officials said Congo government negotiators and rebel groups reached a deal to end fighting in the vast country’s restive east, where some 800,000 people had to flee their homes over the last year. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Iran’s supreme leader reversed a decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and ordered him to implement a law supplying natural gas to remote villages amid rising dissatisfaction with the president’s performance. Local media have reported 64 cold-related deaths this winter and say gas cuts are to blame. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, In Iraq a suicide bomber apparently targeting a senior security official blew himself up inside a funeral tent, killing 18 people in Hajaj. US troops killed two al-Qaida-linked militants and detained 18 during raids in central and northern Iraq. A parked car bomb exploded as an Iraqi army patrol passed by south of Mosul, killing two civilians. (AP, 1/21/08) (AP, 1/22/08) 2008 Jan 21, Israel launched an advanced spy satellite that will be able to track events in Iran, the country it considers its top foe, even at night and in cloudy weather. India successfully launched the Israeli spy satellite into orbit. (AP, 1/21/08) (AFP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, In Italy a key ally of Premier Romano Prodi pulled his party from the Cabinet amid a corruption scandal, sending the center-left governing coalition scrambling to keep the administration from falling. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Latvia’s Foreign Ministry declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata, citing a report that he was a threat to national security. On Jan 25 Russia said it will expel a Latvian diplomat in apparent retaliation. Some 400,000 non-citizens lived in Latvia. Ethnic Russians accounted for a third of the country’s population of 2.3 million. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008 Jan 21, Mexico’s army captured Alfredo Beltran Leyva, a top lieutenant of the Sinaloa cartel. He allegedly commanded squads of hit men and organized drug shipments north. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, In southern Nigeria a major oil pipeline belonging to Italian oil company Agip caught fire and a tanker truck exploded in separate incidents. (AFP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, President Pervez Musharraf in Brussels pledged to hold free elections as he began a European trip aimed at bolstering outside support, but urged the West not to hold Pakistan to unrealistic rights standards. (Reuters, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Paraguay’s ruling party nominated Education Minister Blanca Ovelar as its presidential candidate, a first for the South American nation, but her candidacy of still faces a court challenge. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, In Saudi Arabia the daily Al-Watan, which is deemed close to the Saudi government, reported that the Interior Ministry issued a circular to hotels asking them to accept lone women, as long as their information is sent to a local police station. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, In Sri Lanka government soldiers attacked Tamil Tiger rebel bunkers across the front lines in the embattled north, triggering a battle that killed 15 guerrillas and two soldiers. (AP, 1/21/08) 2008 Jan 21, Sudan confirmed that it has appointed Musa Hilal, the suspected head of a Sudanese militia accused of murder, rape and other atrocities in Darfur, to a senior government post. President Omar al-Bashir dismissed allegations against the man as untrue. (AP, 1/21/08)2009 Jan 21, President Barack Obama’s first public act in office was to institute new limits on lobbyists in his White House and to freeze the salaries of high-paid aides, in a nod to the country’s economic turmoil. A judge quickly granted President Barack Obama’s request to suspend the war crimes trial at Guantanamo of a young Canadian in what may be the beginning of the end for the Bush administration’s system of trying alleged terrorists. Obama took the oath of office again with Chief Justice John Roberts to correct the previous day’s initial flub in wording. In the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government President Obama instructed the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue an Open Government Directive. On Dec 8, 2009, a memorandum was issued implement this. (AP, 1/21/09)(Econ, 5/26/12, p.29)(http://tinyurl.com/83n3uhq) 2009 Jan 21, Rev. John Skehan (81), one of two Florida priests accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from their church, pleaded guilty as jury selection was set to begin in the case. Prosecutors said he and Rev. Francis Guinan plucked cash from the offering plate and spent it on upscale homes, gambling trips to Las Vegas with a mistress, even a $275,000 rare coin collection. On March 24 Skehan was sentenced to 14 months in prison. On March 25 Guinan was sentenced to 4 years in prison. (AP, 1/21/09) (SFC, 1/22/09, p.A3) (SFC, 3/25/09, p.A7) (SFC, 3/26/09, p.A6) 2009 Jan 21, Arizona’s Republican Sec of State, Janice Brewer (b.1944), became governor after Democrat Janet Napolitano vacated her office to become Pres. Obama’s Sec. of Homeland Security. (Econ, 11/7/09, p.33) (www.azgovernor.gov/About_Gov.asp) 2009 Jan 21, Haydar Al-Shukri, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said a previously unknown fault, could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline. (AP, 1/22/09) 2009 Jan 21, In Missouri a father was arrested in Daviess County after two sealed coolers with the remains of two infants were found. a third child is believed to have died in Oklahoma. A surviving child, a 3-year-old boy, was in state custody. The man was suspected of fathering four children with his teenage daughter and faced charges of killing at least one after human remains were discovered at their rural home. (AP, 1/24/09) 2009 Jan 21, In Portland, Oregon, officials said they would begin a criminal investigation into newly elected Mayor Sam Adams (45), who admitted shortly after taking office on January 1 that he had lied during his campaign about a sexual relationship with a much younger gay man. (WSJ, 1/24/09, p.A4) 2009 Jan 21, In Blacksburg, Virginia, Haiyang Zhu (25), a Chinese doctoral student at Virginia Tech, decapitated Xin Yang, a new Chinese graduate student. (SFC, 1/23/09, p.A4) 2009 Jan 21, Charles Schneer (b.1920), Hollywood film producer, died in Florida. His 25 films included “It Came From Beneath the Sea” (1955) and “Hellcats of the Navy” (1957). (SFC, 1/27/09, p.B4) 2009 Jan 21, In Afghanistan a suicide bomber attacked a wedding party in the northern province of Baghlan, wounding five children and a district police chief. A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near an Afghan army convoy in western Afghanistan, killing two troops. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, Scientists reported that the entire Antarctic continent has been gradually warming since at least 1957. (SFC, 1/22/09, p.A10) 2009 Jan 21, Brazil’s central bank cut its benchmark overnight rate, the Selic rate, to 12.75%, the highest rate in the America’s, even considering its nearly 7% inflation. (WSJ, 1/22/09, p.A8) 2009 Jan 21, Official data showed Britain’s economy is weakening fast, with more figures due this week expected to confirm the country has sunk into recession for the first time since 1991. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, Germany banned the production, sale or possession of a synthetic marijuana-like drug known as “Spice,” effective as of Jan 22, becoming the 4th nation to ban the substance, marketed as an herbal room-freshener, after Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, In northeastern India an Assam Rifles paramilitary soldier shot and killed six of his colleagues, then fled their military camp in a remote and dangerous outpost. (AP, 1/22/09) 2009 Jan 21, In Iraq a top Sunni politician escaped assassination in a Baghdad car bombing that killed at least 2 other people. Samira Ahmed Jassim (nickname Umm al-Mumineen), a woman suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers, was arrested, dealing a major blow to one of the most effective forms of attacks in Iraq. (WSJ, 1/22/09, p.A1) (AP, 2/3/09) 2009 Jan 21, The last Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip before dawn, as Israel dispatched its foreign minister to Europe in a bid to rally international support to end arms smuggling into the Hamas-ruled territory. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights released a final tally, saying 1,284 Gazans were killed and 4,336 wounded the vast majority civilians. Israel’s military said it will investigate charges that its forces used phosphorous shells in a way that burned civilians during the fighting in Gaza. Hamas officials conceded that they are executing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel during the 3-week invasion. Fatah officials said at least 19 of its members have been executed and more brutally tortured. On Sep 9, 2009, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem published figures it said was compiled in months of research, including visits to families of victims. It said 1,387 Gazans were killed, including 773 civilians (including 252 children younger than 16) and 330 combatants. 13 Israelis also died, including 4 civilians. (AP, 1/21/09) (SFC, 1/22/09, p.A3) (AP, 9/9/09) 2009 Jan 21, Kosovo armed forces took over security duties, less than a year after the territory declared independence and in the face of strong protests from Serbia. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, Indonesia’s Health Ministry said 2 people have died of bird flu, apparently after contact with sick chickens, raising the country’s death toll to 115. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, In Nigeria the best-known militant group in the Niger Delta said one of its allies carried out an attack on a tanker in southern Nigeria in which one Romanian crewman was taken hostage. He was soon released. The MT Meredith, loaded with 4,000 tons of diesel, was attacked by gunmen in speedboats and sustained “massive damage” during the attack. (AFP, 1/21/09) (AFP, 1/22/09) 2009 Jan 21, North Korea and Iran, two nations with nuclear aspirations the US wants to thwart, both signaled that they were open to new initiatives from President Barack Obama that could defuse tensions. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, In Pakistan a Saudi called Zabi ul Taifi was among seven Al-Qaida suspects caught when government forces mounted a raid near the northwestern city of Peshawar. (AP, 1/22/09) 2009 Jan 21, Portugal became the 3rd euro zone country this month, after Spain and Greece, to have its credit rating cut by Standard & Poor’s. (WSJ, 1/22/09, p.A9) 2009 Jan 21, Russia’s military said that an old Soviet-built nuclear-powered satellite has spewed fragments in orbit, but insisted they do not threaten the international space station or people on Earth. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, Sri Lanka’s military declared a “safety zone” to enable some 250,000 trapped civilians to cross into government-controlled territory from the diminishing area held by Tamil Tiger rebels in the war-torn north. (AP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, Three relatives of Taiwan’s former president Chen Shui-bian pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering, as part of a massive corruption case in which the ex-leader has been implicated. (AFP, 1/21/09) 2009 Jan 21, Zimbabwe activists launched a hunger strike to demand faster political change and urge African leaders to isolate the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, who is accused of overseeing its political and economic collapse. (AP, 1/21/09)2010 Jan 21, The US Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission threw out a 63-year-old law designed to restrain the influence of big business and unions on elections, ruling 5-4 that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress. The decision drastically altered who gives and gets hundreds of millions of dollars in elections. Super PACs, political action committees went on to reshape the 2012 presidential campaign. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission)(Econ, 10/9/10, p.50) (Econ, 2/25/12, p.35) 2010 Jan 21, In North Carolina John Edwards, former Democratic presidential candidate, admitted that he fathered a child during an affair before his 2nd White House bid, dropping long-standing denials just ahead of a book by a former campaign aide. (SFC, 1/23/10, p.A6) 2010 Jan 21, Conan O’Brien told NBC good riddance in a $45 million deal for his exit from “The Tonight Show,” allowing Jay Leno to return to the late-night program he hosted for 17 years. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, Air America Radio, a radio network that was launched in 2004 as a liberal alternative to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative commentators, shut down abruptly due to financial woes. (AP, 1/22/10) 2010 Jan 21, General Motor Co.’s Opel unit will cut 8,300 jobs across Europe, including 4,000 in Germany, and close a plant in Antwerp, Belgium, cutting over 2,300 jobs. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, Silversea Cruises christened its newest ship, the Silver Spirit. It was built to accommodate 540 guests and became the largest and most luxurious of the company’s ships. (Econ, 2/13/10, p.67) 2010 Jan 21, Toyota said it is recalling 2.3 million vehicles in the US to fix accelerator pedals with mechanical problems that could cause them to become stuck. The announcement comes just months after it recalled 4.2 million vehicles due to gas pedals that could become trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. (AP, 1/22/10) 2010 Jan 21, New York State police found the body of Dean Pierson (59) in his Copake barn. They said the upstate dairy farmer had shot and killed 51 of his milk cows in his barn before turning the rifle on himself. (AP, 1/23/10) 2010 Jan 21, Angola’s parliament approved a new constitution under which the president would no longer be directly elected by the people, but would be chosen by the parliament. In effect the leader of the largest party in parliament automatically becomes president. The charter must now be approved by the Constitutional Court, a step seen as a formality. Critics said giving parliament the power to name the president will only further entrench President Eduardo Dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979. (AP, 1/22/10) (Economist, 9/1/12, p.52) 2010 Jan 21, China declared it is over the global crisis and signaled a shift in focus to controlling inflation, sparking concern it could hamper growth and the country’s contribution to a worldwide rebound. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, Finland’s Nokia Corp. said it will offer free navigation services globally for users of its smart phones, in a drive to counter a similar move by Google Inc. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, In Kenya radical Muslim cleric Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal was flown out of the country enroute to Jamaica. El-Faisal once served four years in a British jail for inciting murder and stirring racial hatred by urging followers to kill Americans, Hindus and Jews. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, In Malaysia vandals tried to burn down two Muslim prayer rooms, following a string of arson attacks on churches amid a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by Christians. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, A Dutch airlift brought 106 children from quake-ravaged Haiti to new lives in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as anxious families waited to hug children they had been in the process of adopting for months. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, New Zealand said that biblical citations inscribed on US-manufactured weapon sights used by its troops in Afghanistan will be removed because they are inappropriate and could stoke religious tensions. The inscriptions on products from defense contractor Trijicon of Wixom, Michigan, came to light this week in the US where Army officials said on Jan 19 they would investigate whether the gun sights, also used by US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, violate US procurement laws. Trijicon said biblical references were first put on the sites nearly 30 years ago by the company founder, Glyn Bindon, who was killed in a plane crash in 2003. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, In Nigeria religious leaders in Jos prepared for mass burials after four days of Christian-Muslim clashes left nearly 300 dead. (AFP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, The Pakistani army said during a visit by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates that it can’t launch any new offensives against militants for six months to a year to give it time to stabilize existing gains. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, in southern Sudan clashes continued for a 4th day in the troubled southern state of Jonglei leaving 15 more people dead. (AFP, 1/22/10) 2010 Jan 21, Sweden’s Royal Academy of Sciences awarded Austria-born American scientist Walter Munk (92) the 2010 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences for his research on ocean circulation. The Crafoord award has been given annually since 1982 for scientific research in areas not covered by the Nobel Prizes. (AP, 1/21/10) 2010 Jan 21, In Turkey a July, 2009, constitutional amendment paving the way for military officers to be tried in civilian courts was struck down by the constitutional court. (Econ, 2/13/10, p.57) (http://tinyurl.com/ybprno6) 2010 Jan 21, Officials said Yemen will stop issuing visas to foreign visitors upon arrival to try to prevent Islamic militants from sneaking in to meet and train with an al-Qaida offshoot that has established a stronghold in the fractured and impoverished country. (AP, 1/21/10)2011 Jan 21, Osama bin Laden demanded that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of French hostages being held by al-Qaida affiliates, according to an audio message broadcast on an Arabic news channel. (AP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, The US State Department said it has revoked the visas of about a dozen Haitian officials, increasing pressure on the government to drop its favored candidate from the presidential runoff in favor of a popular contender who is warning of renewed protests if he is not on the ballot. (AP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, Glenn Shriver (29) of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was sentenced to 4 years in prison after admitting that he took $70,000 from Chinese spies while attempting to secure jobs with the CIA and US Foreign Service. (SFC, 1/22/11, p.A5) 2011 Jan 21, Gulet Mohamed (19), a Virginia teenager who claims he was beaten and tortured while stuck in Kuwait for a month after he was apparently placed on the US government’s no-fly list, was reunited with his family at a Washington-area airport. In March of 2009, Mohamed traveled to Yemen and Somalia, where he still has family, to learn Arabic. He stayed in those countries for just a few months and settled in Kuwait in August 2009, where he lived with an uncle. (AP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, Northern California school officials said a second-grade teacher in Oakland was placed on leave while a school and police investigate accounts by students that classmates engaged in oral sex and stripped off some of their clothes during class. (AP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai paid his first state visit to Russia amid political mayhem at home that saw a delay in the seating of a new parliament and renewed questions about his ability to lead the war-ravaged state. A joint statement said Pres. Medvedev has gratefully accepted Hamid Karzai’s invitation to visit Afghanistan. (AFP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, In Albania protesters overturned and burned police vehicles and clashed with officers who fought them off with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. Two men were fatally shot in the chest and another died of a wound to the head. Tensions rose sharply last week when Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta resigned after a private TV station aired a video that showed him asking a colleague to influence the awarding of a contract to build a power station. A 4th person died of wounds a few days later. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Albanian_opposition_demonstrations)(AP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, Belarus Pres. Lukashenko (56) warned that no dissent will be tolerated as he took the oath of office for a fourth time in a ceremony that was boycotted by EU ambassadors. (AP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, Brazilian officials said about 400 people were registered as missing after mudslides last week that killed at least 806 people. (AP, 1/21/11) (Reuters, 1/23/11) 2011 Jan 21, China’s ICBC bank agreed to buy 80% of the Bank of East Asia’s retail branch network in New York and California for $140 million. (Econ, 1/29/11, p.74) 2011 Jan 21, Cuba suspended indefinitely all mail service to the United States, extending a ban announced in November and expanding it to cover letters as well as packages. Deliveries were suspended in November following a US decision to increase security measures following last year’s failed terror threat involving packages mailed from Yemen. (AP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, Two-day talks between Iran and six world powers started in Istanbul. A senior Iranian official said suspending uranium enrichment is not up for discussion. (AFP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, Iraqi authorities announced the arrest of several suspects in the deadly suicide bombings outside Karbala that have provoked criticism of the security forces for not protecting the pilgrims flocking to the shrines. Police in Hillah arrested the local leader of a government-backed Sunni Muslim militia for planning the deadly bombings on Shiite pilgrims this week. (AP, 1/21/11) (AP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, Jordan’s opposition vowed continual protests over price increases and inflation until the resignation of PM Samir Rifai and his government. Thousands of Jordanians calling for their government to step down marched in several cities in an outpouring of anger over economic hardship and a lack of democratic reforms in the constitutional monarchy. (AP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, The Royal Malaysian Navy commandos wounded three pirates in a gunbattle and rescued the 23 crew members on the Malaysian-flagged chemical tanker MT Bunga Laurel, shortly after the pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Aden with assault rifles and pistols. On Jan 31 Malaysian police took custody of 7 captured Somali pirates. (AP, 1/22/11) (AP, 1/31/11) 2011 Jan 21, Mexican soldiers patrolling a rural area on the border with Texas killed 10 suspected drug gang gunmen at a training camp in Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas state. In Chihuahua State; a commander who worked in internal affairs for the local Attorney General’s Office was killed along with another agent. In Ciudad Juarez three men died when a gasoline bomb was thrown into their store. Elsewhere in Ciudad Juarez, authorities found the dead bodies of three other victims of apparent gangland murders. The Mexican military seized 45 pounds of marijuana, a sports utility vehicle and a metal-framed catapult just south of the Arizona border near the small town of Naco, following a tip-off from the US Border Patrol. (AP, 1/22/11) (Reuters, 1/26/11) 2011 Jan 21, In New Zealand David Walsh, mathematical savant and professional gambler, opened his Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) at his Moorilla estate on the River Derwent. (Econ, 1/29/11, p.84) 2011 Jan 21, In Pakistan some 2,000 people in a Taliban-controlled region of the northwest demonstrated against American missile attacks pounding the area, calling for an end to the strikes and the arrest of the US officials behind them. In the southwest gunmen torched two tankers carrying fuel for US and NATO forces, wounding two drivers. (AP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, Dozens of Palestinians, enraged by France’s sympathy for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants, ambushed the French foreign minister’s motorcade in the Gaza Strip, pelting it with eggs and hurling a shoe that narrowly missed hitting her. (AP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, A Saudi man died after setting himself on fire in the southwestern town of Samta, in what could be the latest example of a rash of self-immolations sweeping the region following events in Tunisia. (AP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, It was reported that Erik Prince, head of Xe Services (formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide) private security company, was currently involved in an Arab-financed program to mobilize 2000 Somali recruits to fight pirates. (SFC, 1/20/11, p.A2) 2011 Jan 21, South Korean navy commandos stormed the Samho Jewelry, a ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, rescuing all the 21 crew and killing eight pirates. The pirates had seized the 11,500-ton chemical freighter Samho Jewelry on January 15. Five pirates were captured. (AFP, 1/21/11) (AP, 1/31/11)(Econ, 2/5/11, p.69) 2011 Jan 21, The Spanish government said it is drawing up a new plan to restructure the country’s regional savings banks, the weak link in its banking system and a major cause of concern over the public finances. (AFP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, A Sudanese man, Al-Amin Musa Al-Amin (25), set himself on fire in the latest instance of self-immolation in the Arab world. He was being treated in hospital for second-degree burns in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city. (AFP, 1/22/11) 2011 Jan 21, Vietnam’s state-controlled media said a cold spell over the past three weeks has killed at least seven people as well as more than 20,000 cows and buffalos. (AP, 1/21/11) 2011 Jan 21, Zimbabwe researchers said nearly one-third of the country’s registered voters are dead, and others appear to be babies or up to 120 years old, and called for the list to be overhauled so that the upcoming election cannot be rigged. (AP, 1/21/11) 2012 Jan 21, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich beat Mitt Romney in the South Carolina Republican primary 40% to 28%. Rick Santorum took 3rd place with 17% and Ron Paul came in 4th with 13%. (AP, 1/22/12) 2012 Jan 21, In New Jersey a fire destroyed a barn in Lafayette killing 22 valuable show horses. (SSFC, 1/22/12, p.A7) 2012 Jan 21, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that he personally held peace talks recently with the insurgent faction Hizb-i-Islami. At least 13 people, including five Afghan border police, a NATO soldier and two would-be suicide bombers, were killed across the country. (AP, 1/21/12) (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, Anti-whaling activists threw paint and foul smelling acid at a whaling ship in the Antarctic ocean in a fresh bid to halt the annual hunt. (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, Anti-capitalist protesters said they have taken over a large building in the City of London financial district. Occupy London publicly repossessed Roman House, an abandoned nine-storey office building in the Barbican. They left the premises later in the day after a request from contractors employed by the building’s owners. (AFP, 1/21/12) (AFP, 1/22/12) 2012 Jan 21, Burundi admitted that it had asked for an exiled Burundian opposition leader to be arrested in Tanzania and extradited to face murder charges. Alexis Sinduhije, the head of the opposition Movement for Solidarity and Development, a former journalist, was arrested in Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam on January 11 upon his arrival there from Uganda. (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, In China Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital’s air pollution is. (AP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said that Manuel Marulanda, the late leader and co-founder of FARC, the country’s main leftist rebel group, had owned 57 ranches in two states alone. Marulanda had lived a simple life and died a natural death in 2008. (AP, 1/22/12) 2012 Jan 21, In eastern India a landmine attack by Maoist rebels killed at least 12 policemen and injured three others in Jharkhand state. (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, An Iranian boat sank while sailing between Hormuz Island and the port city of Bandar Abbas on the mainland. 17 people died after a storm capsized the passenger boat. (AP, 1/22/12) 2012 Jan 21, Iraqi police said gunmen attacked the house of a police officer near the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing one of his guards. (AP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, An Israeli air strike targeted Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip who were laying explosives near the border. (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, In Ivory Coast at least one person was killed during an attack in Abidjan on a meeting of supporters of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo. (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, In Kuwait Sheik Saud Al Nasser Al Sabah (68) died. He served as Kuwait’s ambassador to the US during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of the oil-rich country and the American-led war to oust Saddam Hussein’s forces. (AP, 1/22/12) 2012 Jan 21, Lebanese officials said the Syrian navy arrested three Lebanese fishermen and confiscated their boat in Lebanese waters off the northern town of Arida. (AP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, In Libya around 200 protesters frustrated with the pace of reforms stormed the grounds of the country’s transitional government headquarters in Benghazi to demand a meeting with the nation’s interim leaders. (AP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, Madagascar’s toppled Pres. Marc Ravalomanana tried to end his exile in South Africa, but his commercial plane was forced to turn back mid-flight when his landing was blocked by Andry Rajoelina, the populist former disc jockey who toppled him. Ravalomanana’s party walked out of a fledgling unity government, after the island nation barred him from flying home to end his three-year exile. (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, Dutch sailor Laura Dekker (16) set foot aboard a dock in St. Maarten, ending a yearlong voyage aboard a sailboat named “Guppy” that apparently made her the youngest person ever to sail alone around the globe. She had set out from St. Maarten on Jan. 20, 2011. (AP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, Pakistan detained 31 Indian fishermen and seized their 14 boats for fishing in its territorial waters in the Arabian Sea. (AFP, 1/22/12) 2012 Jan 21, In Somalia gunmen kidnapped an American man in the northern town of Galkayo. Michael Scott Moore, freed on Sep 23, 2014, was kidnapped while researching a book on piracy. Bilal-Berjawi, a British-Lebanese commander of the al-Shabab militant group, was killed along with two others when a US drone missile struck the car they were traveling in outside Mogadishu. Another airstrike killed six people near the insurgent stronghold of Kismayo. (AP, 1/21/12) (AP, 1/22/12) (AP, 9/24/14) 2012 Jan 21, in eastern Spain a flaming-horned bull trampled and fatally gored a man during a festival in Navajas. Catalonia had legislation protecting flaming bulls, despite a ban that took effect on Jan 1. (AP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, In Sudan gunmen ambushed a UN-African Union peacekeeping patrol in the conflict-stricken Darfur region, killing one Nigerian soldier and wounding three. (AFP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, in northwestern Syria a string of explosions struck a police truck transporting prisoners on the Idlib-Ariha highway, killing at least 14 people. Government troops also battled defectors in the north in fighting that left 10 people dead. Clashes erupted after security forces killed four civilians when they fired on mourners at a funeral in Douma. (AP, 1/21/12) (AP, 1/22/12) (AFP, 1/23/12) 2012 Jan 21, Thailand police seized 3.8 million methamphetamine tablets in the country’s largest drug bust in years. (AP, 1/21/12) 2012 Jan 21, Yemeni officials said outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh will leave soon to Oman, en route to medical treatment in the United States. Yemen’s parliament approved an immunity law, a key step toward Saleh’s formal retirement from his post. (AP, 1/21/12)2013 Jan 21, President Barack Obama took the oath of office for his second term before a crowd of hundreds of thousands, urging the nation to set an unwavering course toward prosperity and freedom for all its citizens. Obama’s inaugural address marked the first time a president used the occasion to praise progress on gay rights. (AP, 1/21/13) (Reuters, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, the new SFJazz Center opened at 201 Franklin St. (SFC, 1/22/13, p.A1) 2013 Jan 21, In Texas Max Shatto (3), an adopted boy born in Russia as Maxim Kuzmin, died in Gardendale. Russian authorities alleged “inhuman treatment” as the cause of death. Laura Shatto told authorities that Max and his half-brother were playing outside the family’s home. Shatto said she came out and found the boy unconscious on the ground. A medical examiner later determined that the boy’s death was not intentional. (SFC, 2/19/13, p.A4) (AP, 2/22/13) (SFC, 2/2/13, p.A4) 2013 Jan 21, In Afghanistan 2 Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of the Kabul traffic police headquarters before another group of militants stormed the compound, battling security forces for nine hours in an attack that left 3 policemen and all 5 attackers dead. (AP, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, Algeria’s prime minister said 37 foreign hostages were killed during the four-day-long standoff at a natural gas plant. At least one Canadian was among the Islamist militants who took hundreds hostage. 3 kidnappers were reported captured. (AP, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, Arctic Council members set up the first permanent secretariat at Tromso, Norway. (Econ, 2/2/13, p.49) 2013 Jan 21, A Bangladesh war crimes tribunal sentenced Abul Kalam Azad to death in absentia for genocide and murder committed during its 9-month war in 1971. Azad was believed to be in Pakistan. (Econ, 1/26/13, p.38) 2013 Jan 21, London’s Heathrow airport cancelled 10 percent of flights, a day after it cut its capacity by a fifth, and said services could face further delays with more snowfall expected. (Reuters, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, In Egypt a speeding truck collided with a minibus on a highway in the country’s south, killing 14 people and injuring 13 others. (AP, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, In Eritrea more than 100 dissident soldiers stormed the Ministry of Information in Asmara and read a statement on state TV saying the country’s 1997 constitution would be put into force. Government soldiers surrounded the ministry, an indication the action by the dissident soldiers had failed. (AP, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, In Germany passengers suffered delays and flight cancellations at Frankfurt airport, Europe’s third busiest, after freezing rain had forced the airport to shut late on Jan 20. (Reuters, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, German customs officials at Duesseldorf airport found a check in Venezuelan currency worth $70 million in the luggage of Tahmasb Mazaheri, Iran’s former central bank chief, upon his arrival from Turkey. Mazaheri told authorities the money was to be used for the construction of 10,000 apartments funded by the Venezuelan government. The newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported the story in its Sunday Feb 3 edition. (AP, 2/4/13) 2013 Jan 21, In Indonesia police said flooding in Jakarta has killed at least 26 people and sent more than 100,000 fleeing from their homes. (SFC, 1/22/13, p.A2) 2013 Jan 21, Malian and French troops took control of the town of Diabaly, patrolling the streets in armored personnel carriers. American planes began transporting French troops and equipment to Mali. French and Malian troops arrived in Douentza to find that the Islamists already had retreated from the town. (AP, 1/21/13) (AP, 1/22/13) 2013 Jan 21, in Nigeria 18 people were killed in an attack on a local market in Dambao, Borno state. The violence started after the local market banned a group of hunters from selling “bush meat” from slaughtered monkeys and other creatures. (AP, 1/22/13) 2013 Jan 21, The Syrian government blamed a rebel attack on a key power line for a blackout that hit Damascus and much of the country’s south overnight. By midday power returned to more than half of the capital. At least 42 people were reported killed in a car bombing at a headquarters of a pro-government militia in Salamiya, Hama province. A week later Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida-linked group fighting, claimed responsibility for the attack. (AP, 1/21/13) (AP, 1/24/13) (AP, 1/28/13) 2013 Jan 21, Turkey’s state-run news agency said a court has charged 9 lawyers, including prominent human rights defenders, with membership in an outlawed leftist militant group and ordered them arrested pending trial. (AP, 1/21/13) 2013 Jan 21, In Turkey Sarai Sierra (33) went missing, when she was supposed to return to New York City but was not on her flight back home. She had arrived in Istanbul on Jan 7. Her body was discovered Feb 2 evening near the remnants of ancient city walls. She had suffered a fatal blow to the head. On March 17 a suspect, identified only as Ziya T, was caught in Syria in a joint operation by Syrian rebels and Turkish officials. (AP, 1/29/13) (AP, 2/3/13) (AP, 3/18/13) 2013 Jan 21, In Yemen a US drone airstrike on a car in Marib killed 3 suspected al-Qaida militants and wounded 2 others. (AP, 1/21/13) (SFC, 1/22/13, p.A2) 2013 Jan 21, In Zimbabwe a massive explosion at a tribal sorcerer’s house killed 5 people outside the capital, Harare. The explosion damaged 12 nearby houses in the Chitungwiza Township. A 6th person died later. (AP, 1/22/13) (AP, 1/30/13)2014 Jan 21, In Dublin, Ca., BART police officer Michael Maes accidentally shot and killed Sgt. Tom Smith (42), another BART officer, during a routine mission to gather evidence at an apartment. On May 30 Alameda County prosecutors said no charges would be filed against Maes. (SFC, 1/22/14, p.A1) (SFC, 5/31/14, p.A1) 2014 Jan 21, In Indiana Cody Cousins (24) shot and stabbed to death Andrew Boldt (21). On Sep 19 Cousins was sentenced on to 65 years in prison for killing his fellow Purdue engineering senior whom he envied, in front of about a dozen students in a lab class. (AP, 9/19/14) 2014 Jan 21, A snowstorm hit the mid-Atlantic and Northeast US. It stretched a thousand miles between Kentucky and Massachusetts. Manalapan, NJ, got 16 inches of snow. (SFC, 1/22/14, p.A7) 2014 Jan 21, Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were indicted on 14 counts of federal corruption charges. They were charged with accepting over $165,000 in gifts and loans from the CEO of a dietary supplements company. (SFC, 1/22/14, p.A5) (SFC, 7/29/14, p.A5) 2014 Jan 21, In Abu Dhabi a court jailed a group of 10 Emiratis and 20 Egyptians to terms ranging from three months to five years for forming a Muslim Brotherhood cell. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Australia’s federal government granted an exemption from environmental laws to approve a Western Australian shark mitigation plan, which is aimed at reducing the risks to water users after six fatal attacks in the past two years. (AFP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Britain told Iran to stop supporting the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad militarily, urging it to back efforts to broker peace in Syria instead. (Reuters, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, In Central African Republic French intelligence services reported the discovery some 15 bodies in a new mass grave near Bangui. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, An official Chinese newspaper said China will base a 5,000-ton civilian patrol ship on Woody Island, which China calls Sansha city, on the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea and begin regular patrols, a move likely to add fuel to territorial disputes with neighbors. (Reuters, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, China executed a man who held six women as sex slaves in an underground prison and killed two of them, in a crime which shocked the nation. Li Hao (36) was convicted of murder and rape in Luoyang Intermediate People’s Court in the central province of Henan in 2012. (Reuters, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, France said it will create new outposts and broaden its military presence in Africa’s turbulent Sahel region to better fight the terror threat from extremist groups like al-Qaida. Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France is moving toward a regional counterterrorism approach in former colonies like Chad, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security said an analysis of hijacked computer networks has turned up about 16 million compromised online accounts. (SFC, 1/22/14, p.A2) 2014 Jan 21, In India police clashed with protesters led by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the first violence during a two-day rally in the capital that has put a focus on the radical politics of the man shaking up a national election. (Reuters, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, An Indonesian court sentenced an Islamist militant to 7½ years in prison for masterminding a plot to bomb the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta. (SFC, 1/22/14, p.A2) 2014 Jan 21, Iraq’s Shiite-led government said it has decided in principle to create three new provinces from contested parts of the country in an apparent attempt to address Sunni grievances and counter the expansion of the Kurdish self-rule region. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Iraqi forces pressed their attack on anti-government fighters holding parts of the restive city of Ramadi. Violence elsewhere killed 10 people. The UN warned of “an exponential increase in the number of displaced and stranded families”, with more than 22,000 families having registered as internally displaced. (AFP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, It was reported that Israel’s government has approved plans to build 381 new homes in a settlement near annexed east Jerusalem. (AFP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Fishermen in Japan began slaughtering dozens of bottlenose dolphins in Taiji, ignoring protesters’ calls to spare the animals and a rare public show of concern by the US government. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Kurds in northeast Syria, on the eve of peace talks in Switzerland, declared a provincial government in the area. (Reuters, 1/22/14) 2014 Jan 21, In Lebanon a suicide bomber killed 4 people in a residential district of southern Beirut known for its support of the powerful Shi’ite Muslim military and political movement Hezbollah. (Reuters, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, The political arm of Libya’s Muslim Brotherhood withdrew its ministers from the Cabinet of embattled PM Ali Zidan, after failing to secure enough support in the divided parliament for a no-confidence vote. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, In Nigeria suspected Islamist extremists attacked a farming settlement in northeast Borno state, killing 10 people and razing homes. (AP, 1/24/14) 2014 Jan 21, Pakistani fighter jets and helicopters attacked suspected Taliban hideouts in a tribal area in North Waziristan killing up to 40 people. At least 28 people were killed when a bomb exploded near a bus carrying Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims to the city of Quetta. (Reuters, 1/21/14) (AP, 1/22/14) 2014 Jan 21, Gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan, attacked two teams of polio workers, killing 3 members of the teams and wounding a 4th before fleeing. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Emergency workers evacuated thousands of people across the southern Philippines, including many already made homeless by a typhoon in November, after three days of rain flooded towns and farmland. (Reuters, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Russia’s National Anti-Terror Committee said police have killed Eldar Magatov, a senior Islamist militant, in a shootout in the Dagestan region ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Reuters, 1/21/14) 2012 Jan 21, In Somalia gunmen kidnapped an American man in the northern town of Galkayo. Michael Scott Moore, freed on Sep 23, 2014, was kidnapped while researching a book on piracy. Bilal-Berjawi, a British-Lebanese commander of the al-Shabab militant group, was killed along with two others when a US drone missile struck the car they were traveling in outside Mogadishu. Another airstrike killed six people near the insurgent stronghold of Kismayo. (AP, 1/21/12) (AP, 1/22/12) (AP, 9/24/14) 2014 Jan 21, In South Africa Petra Diamonds said a 29.6-carat blue diamond has been found at the Cullinan mine, source of some of the world’s most famous diamonds. (AP, 1/22/14) 2014 Jan 21, A report on Syria, commissioned by the government of Qatar, detailed photographic and documentary evidence of systematic torture and killing of some 11,000 detainees between march 2011 and August 2013. (Econ, 1/25/14, p.38) (http://tinyurl.com/qhbyqde) 2014 Jan 21, Thailand’s government declared a 60-day state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas to cope with protests that have stirred up violent attacks, adding to the country’s monthslong sense of crisis. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Uganda said 9 of its soldiers have been killed and 12 others wounded during a month fighting in South Sudan, dismissing rebel claims to have killed scores. (AFP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, In Ukraine top opposition leader Vitali Klitschko headed for talks with the Pres. Yanukovych after yet another night of violent street clashes between anti-government protesters and police. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, Vatican Monsignor Nunzio Scaran, already on trial for allegedly plotting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) from Switzerland to Italy, was arrested in Salerno in a separate case for allegedly using his Vatican bank accounts to launder money. (AP, 1/21/14) 2014 Jan 21, In Yemen unidentified gunmen assassinated Ahmed Sharaf el-Din, a lawyer and the top envoy of a northern rebel movement in Sanaa. The son of powerful Islamist Al-Islah (Reform) party’s secretary general was badly injured when his father’s car exploded in Sanaa. In the north a day of clashes between Shiite rebels and gunmen from the powerful Hashid tribe left 20 people dead. (AP, 1/21/14) (AFP, 1/21/14) (AFP, 1/22/14) (Econ, 1/25/14, p.39)

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