Today in History

1164        Jan 30, Henry II held a council at the Clarendon hunting lodge and presented a document called the Constitutions of Clarendon. In sixteen constitutions he sought less clerical independence and a weaker connection with Rome. Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, refused to sign. (ON, 8/20/11, p.2) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)1384        Jan 30, Vytautas handed over Samogitia to the Knights of the Cross and promised to serve as a vassal to the order following receipt of Trakai. (LHC, 1/30/03)1607        Jan 30, A sudden flood around the Bristol Channel in southwest Britain killed at least 2,000 people. It was the worst natural disaster ever recorded in Britain. (Econ, 5/5/07, p.101)1647        Jan 30, King Charles I was handed over to the English parliament. (MC, 1/30/02)1649        Jan 30, King Charles I of England, who ruled from 1625-1649, was beheaded for treason at Banqueting House, Whitehall, by the hangman Richard Brandon. He lost his capital trial by one vote, 68-67. “For the people, and I truly desire their liberty and freedom as much as anybody whomsoever, but I must tell you that their liberty and their freedom consists in having of government those laws by which their life and their goods may be most their own. It is not for having a share in government, sirs; that is nothing pertaining to them. A subject and a sovereign are clean different things.” Charles I was canonized by the church of England 13 years later. Parliament became the supreme power under the rule of Oliver Cromwell, who ruled over Parliament as Lord Protector of the New Commonwealth from 1649-1658. He argued against his soldiers having a voice in government because they owned no property. He stated in so many words that government “has always been, and should always continue to be, of property, by property, and for property.” (SFEC, 8/11/96, p.T7) (V.D.-H.K.p.218) (WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A20) (HN, 1/30/99) (SFEC, 7/2/00, Z1 p.2) (WSJ, 2/7/03, p.W13) 1649        Jan 30, Jester Muckle John lost his job when King Charles 1 was beheaded. (Reuters, 8/7/04)1667        Jan 30, Lithuania, Poland and Russia signed a 13.5 year treaty at Andrusov, near Smolensk. Russia received Smolensk and Kiev. (LHC, 1/30/03)1717        Jan 30, Surrounded by the Russian army the Lithuanian-Polish parliament reduced its army by half and acknowledged Russian protection. (LHC, 1/30/03)1798        Jan 30, A brawl broke out in the House of Representatives in Philadelphia. Matthew Lyon of Vermont spat in the face of Roger Griswold of Connecticut, who responded by attacking him with a hickory walking stick. Lyon was re-elected congressman while serving a jail sentence for violating the Sedition Acts of 1798. (AP, 1/30/98) (SFC, 4/27/00, p.A5) (WSJ, 10/29/04, p.W10)1800        Jan 30, US population was reported at 5,308,483; Black population 1,002,037 (18.9%). (MC, 1/30/02)1815        Jan 30, The burned Library of Congress was reestablished with Jefferson’s 6,500 volumes. (MC, 1/30/02)1820        Jan 30, Edward Bransfield discovered Antarctica and claimed it for the UK. (MC, 1/30/02)1844        Jan 30, Richard Theodore Greener became the first African American to graduate from Harvard University. (HN, 1/30/99)1847        Jan 30, The California Star, founded by Sam Brannon, published the official name change of Yerba Buena to San Francisco on this day. Mayor Washington Bartlett had the town council approve the change. (www.sfmuseum.org/hist/name.html) (SFC, 1/25/02, p.G6)1862        Jan 30, The USS Monitor, a Union ironclad ship designed by John Ericsson, was launched into the East River at Greenpoint, Long Island, under Captain John L. Worden. It was the first warship equipped with a revolving turret. On March 6 it left NY Harbor and headed for Virginia to face the Confederate ironclad. (HN, 1/30/99) (AH, 12/02, p.8) (ON, 10/08, p.1)1882        Jan 30, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1933-1945), was born in Hyde Park, N.Y. He led the country out of the Great Depression and through most of World War II. (AP, 1/30/98) (HN, 1/30/99) (MC, 1/30/02)1883        Jan 30, James Ritty and John Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register. (AP, 1/30/07)1885        Jan 30, John Henry Towers, naval and aviation hero, was born. (HN, 1/30/99)1889        Jan 30, Rudolf (b.1858), Archduke of Austria, and his mistress, Marie Vetschera, were found dead having committed a double suicide overnight. Their story was later depicted by Hungarian filmmaker Miklos Jancso in his film “Vices and Pleasures” (1976). (http://tinyurl.com/kkskjkd) (AP, 1/31/14)1894        Jan 30, Boris III  (d.1943), czar of Bulgaria (1918-43), was born. (SFC, 9/6/00, p.A10) (MC, 1/30/02) 1894        Jan 30, Pneumatic hammer was patented by Charles King of Detroit. [see May 19, 1892] (MC, 1/30/02)1900        Jan 30, John P. Parker (b.1827), Ohio-based inventor and conductor on the Underground Railway, died. His autobiography “His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railway” was recounted in a series of interviews and later edited by Stuart Seely Sprague and published in 1996. (ON, 12/11, p.5) (www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2466&nm=John-P-Parker)1901        Jan 30, Women Prohibitionists smashed 12 saloons in Kansas. (HN, 1/30/99)1903        Jan 30, Here is a live operatic performance recording of the opening scene excerpt from Act 2 of Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci”. It was recorded Live by Lionel Mapleson at Metropolitan Opera House, New York, on a two minute Wax cylinder. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIB0XXEKYgk&feature=youtu.be)1912        Jan 30, Barbara Tuchman, U.S. historian best remembered for her book “The Guns of August,” was born. (HN, 1/30/99) 1912        Jan 30, The British House of Lords opposed the House of Commons by rejecting home rule for Ireland. (HN, 1/30/99)1916        Jan 30, Sir Clements Markham (b.1830), English explorer and geographer, died. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clements_Markham)1922        Jan 30, Dick Martin, actor, comedian (Laugh-In), was born in Detroit, Mich. (MC, 1/30/02)1925        Jan 30, Turkish government threw out Constantine VI, the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople. (MC, 1/30/02)1927        Jan 30, Olof Palme (d.1986), PM of Sweden (1969-76, 1982-86), was born in Stockholm. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme)1931        Jan 30, Gene Hackman, actor (Bonnie & Clyde, Under Fire, Superman), was born in Calif. (MC, 1/30/02) 1931        Jan 30, The United States awarded civil government to the Virgin Islands. (HN, 1/30/99)1933        Jan 30, The first episode of the “Lone Ranger” radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit. The show was created by George Washington Trendle and Fran Striker. The show ran for 21 years on ABC radio. (AP, 1/30/98) (SFC, 12/29/99, p.A11)(MC, 1/30/02) 1933        Jan 30, German President Paul von Hindenburg made Adolf Hitler chancellor. After World War I, Germany fell into disarray and looked for a leader to strengthen it again. Hitler had emerged after joining the Nazi Party in 1919 and taking it over in 1921. In 1932 Hitler ran against von Hindenburg and lost–but not by a wide margin. The Nazis won 230 seats in the German parliament and continued to gain influence, stifling democracy and communism by force and by making laws against them. After Hindenburg’s death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Der Führer of the Third Reich and continued as Germany’s leader through World War II. Gen. Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord tried to block the appointment of Hitler as chancellor but was overruled by Pres. Hindenburg. (AP, 1/30/98) (HN, 1/30/99) (HNPD, 1/31/99) (SFC, 2/5/00, p.A19)1936        Jan 30, Governor Harold Hoffman ordered a new inquiry into the Lindbergh kidnapping. (HN, 1/30/99)1939        Jan 30, Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965), Harvard law professor, was sworn in as the 80th US Supreme Court Justice (1939-62). He retired in 1962. “There is no inevitability in history except as men make it.” (AP, 2/27/98) (HNQ, 3/16/99) (www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/78/)1941        Jan 30, Dick Cheney was born in Lincoln, Neb. He served as chief of staff for Pres. Ford from 1975-1977. He was a US Rep. From 1979-1989 and served as the Sec. of Defense for pres. George H.W. Bush from 1989-1993. From 1995 to 2000 he served as the CEO of Halliburton Corp. and in 2000 was chosen by Gov. George W. Bush as a running mate. (WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A28)1943        Jan 30, Fieldmarshal Friedrich von Paulus surrendered himself and his staff to Red Army troops in Stalingrad. (HN, 1/30/99)1944        Jan 30-1944 Feb 2, At Cisterna, Italy, some 250-300 US Rangers died as part of the battle of Anzio. 8 rangers escaped and hundreds were captured. (AP, 3/20/10) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cisterna)1945        Jan 30, US Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas executed a flawless rescue of 486 POWs from Camp Cabanatuan north of Manila. In 2001 Hampton Sides authored “Ghost Soldiers,” an account of the rescue. (WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20) (SSFC, 6/17/01, DB p.70) (AH, 2/05, p.16) 1945        Jan 30, The Allies launched a drive on the Siegfried line in Germany. (HN, 1/30/99) 1945        Jan 30, Nazi SS guards shot down an estimated 4,000 Jewish prisoners on the Baltic coast at Palmnicken, Kaliningrad. The town was later renamed by the Russians to Yantarny. Some 7,000 prisoners had been marched 25 miles from Koenigsberg to a vacant lock factory at Palmnicken where they were mowed down with machine guns. The prisoners had been vacated from a network of 30 camps that made up Poland’s Stutthoff concentration camp. 90% of the Jews were women from Lithuania and Hungary. (SFC, 1/31/00, p.C1) 1945          Jan 30, The German liner “Wilhelm Gustloff” sank in the Baltic Sea between the Bay of Danzig and the Danish island of Bornholm. An estimated 7000-8000 people, civilian refugees from East Prussia and wounded German soldiers, drowned in the icy waters. Three torpedoes fired from a Russian submarine had scored direct hits on the ship. The result was the largest and most horrible naval disaster of all time. (NW, 3/18/02, p.11) (www.cybercreek.com/cybercity/WWIIps/gu)1946        Jan 30, The 1st issue of Franklin Roosevelt dime. (MC, 1/30/02)1948        Jan 30, Orville Wright (b.1871), US aviation pioneer, died. In 1953 McGraw Hill published 2 volumes edited by Marvin W. McFarland: “The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright.” (WUD, 1994, p.1647) (ON, SC, p.4) (MC, 1/30/02) 1948        Jan 30, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (78) was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a fellow Hindu while walking to a prayer meeting in New Delhi a few minutes after five o’clock in the evening. Godse felt that in trying to achieve reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims, Gandhi had betrayed the Hindu cause. Born into a family of merchants, Gandhi studied law in England, where he was inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and developed his own philosophy of peaceful resistance. After residing and practicing law in South Africa for 20 years, Gandhi returned to India to campaign for home rule and reconciliation of all classes and religious groups. Convinced that India would never be free as part of the British Empire, he demanded independence as payment for helping Britain win World War II. Indian independence was achieved in 1947, but riots broke out between Hindus and Muslims seeking the partition of the country into India and Pakistan. Mahatma (“Great Soul”) Gandhi was on a hunger strike demanding an end to the violence when he was murdered. The book “Gandhi the Man” by Eknath Easwaran was published in 1972. (AHD, 1971, p.542) (HFA, ’96, p.40) (SFC, 1/31/97, p.A13) (SFC,12/24/97, p.C6) (HNPD, 1/309) 1948        The seven sins according to Mahatma Gandhi were: 1) wealth without work. 2) Pleasure without conscience. 3) Knowledge without character. 4) Commerce without morality. 5) Science without humanity. 6) Worship without sacrifice. 7) Politics without principle. (SFEC, 1/23/00, Z1 p.2)1949        Jan 30, In India, 100,000 people prayed at the site of Gandhi’s assassination on the first anniversary of his death. (HN, 1/30/99)1951        Jan 30, Ferdinand Porsche (b.1875), German car inventor (Porsche), died. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Porsche)1953        Jan 30, President Dwight Eisenhower announced that he would pull the Seventh Fleet out of Formosa to permit the Nationalists to attack Communist China. (HN, 1/30/99)1955        Jan 30, Jill Kinmont Boothe (1936-2012), Los Angeles native and national women’s slalom champion, crashed and broke her neck in Alta, Utah, while trying to make the US Olympic team. She was paralyzed below her shoulders and would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Her skiing career over, she learned to write, type and paint using her neck and shoulder muscles with the aid of a hand brace. (AP, 2/12/12) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Kinmont_Boothe)1956        Jan 30, Elvis Presley recorded his version of “Blue Suede Shoes.” (MC, 1/30/02)1958        Jan 30, The play “Sunrise at Campobello,” by Dore Schary about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s struggle against polio, opened on Broadway with Ralph Bellamy as FDR. (AP, 1/30/08)1961        Jan 30, Dorothy Thompson (b.1893), American journalist and radio broadcaster, died in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1939 she was recognized by Time magazine as the second most influential women in America next to Eleanor Roosevelt. In 2011 Susan Hertog authored “Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson, New Women in Search of Love and War.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Thompson) (Econ, 12/31/11, p.69)1962        Jan 30, Two members of the “Flying Wallendas” high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit. (AP, 1/30/98)1964        Jan 30, The United States launched Ranger 6 from Cape Canaveral. It was an unmanned spacecraft carrying six television cameras that was to crash-land on the moon. (AP, 1/30/98) (HN, 1/30/99)1965        Jan 30, The state funeral of Winston Churchill took place. (MC, 1/30/02)1968        Jan 30, The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Communist forces launched a surprise offensive on the lunar New Year Tet holiday truce that became known as the Tet Offensive. They struck in a coordinated attack on 36 of South Vietnam’s 44 provincial capitals, and 70 other towns in the country. Although the Communists were beaten back, the offensive was seen as a major setback for the US and its allies. (www.ashbrook.org/publicat/dialogue/hayward-tet.html) (SFC, 2/3/00, p.A25) (AP, 1/30/08)1969        Jan 29, Allan Welsh Dulles (b.1893), US diplomat, director (CIA 1953-61), died. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Dulles)1972        Jan 30, In Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland, British troops fired on a civil rights march in the Bloody Sunday massacre. 13-14 people were killed by soldiers of the First Parachute Regiment, six of whom were only 17. The British embassy in Dublin was burned down. One man who was photographed being arrested and taken into a British army Saracen was later found shot dead. The march, which was called to protest internment, was “illegal” according to British government authorities. Internment without trial was introduced by the British government on August 9, 1971. The British government-appointed Widgery Tribunal found soldiers were not guilty of killing the 13 marchers. The 1997 book “Eyewitness Bloody Sunday” by Don Mullan included 113 accounts by participants and bystanders. In 1998 an independent commission said that the identities of the soldiers would not be protected. In 2001 Martin McGuinness admitted that he was 2nd in command of the IRA at the time of the massacre. The Saville Inquiry heard its last oral testimony in 2004. A report in 2010, 12 years in the making, blamed British soldiers for the killings. (SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1p.7) (SFC, 1/30/97, p.A18) (SFEM, 1/18/98, p.11) (SFC, 12/18/98, p.D4) (SFC, 5/1/01, p.A8) (Econ, 2/14/04, p.51) (SFC, 6/16/10, p.A2)1973        Jan 30, A jury found Watergate defendants Liddy & McCord guilty on all counts. (www.watergate.info/chronology/1973.shtml)1976        Jan 30, The play “Streamers” by David Rabe (b.1940) premiered at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut. (SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.37) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamers) 1976        Jan 30, George Bush became the 11th director of the CIA replacing William E. Colby. Bush revived the reputation of the organization and left it Jan 20, 1977. (SFEC, 1/16/00, Par p.2) (http://tinyurl.com/2mm8r9) 1976        Jan 30, The US Supreme Court in Buckley v Valeo upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions and established that campaign contributions is a protected form of expression. The court also ruled candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns. (Econ, 11/24/12, p.29) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckley_v._Valeo)1979        Jan 30, The civilian government of Iran announced it had decided to allow Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who’d been living in exile in France, to return. (AP, 1/30/98)1980        Jan 30, The first-ever Chinese Olympic team arrived in New York for the Winter Games. (HN, 1/30/99) 1980        Jan 30, Professor Longhair (61), legendary New Orleans Blues musician, died. He was born as Henry Roeland Byrd in 1918. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Longhair)1981        Jan 30, An estimated two million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker-tape parade honoring the freed American hostages from Iran. (AP, 1/30/02)1988        Jan 30, Israeli troops fired on hundreds of demonstrators in the West Bank while protests also rocked the Gaza Strip, shattering three weeks of relative quiet in the occupied territories. (AP, 1/30/98)1989        Jan 30, Former criminal defense lawyer Joel Steinberg was convicted in NYC of first-degree manslaughter in the 1987 death of his illegally adopted 6-year-old daughter, Lisa. On March 24 he was sentenced from 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison. (AP, 1/30/99) (www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/lisa_steinberg/12.html) 1989        Jan 30, Ilene Misheloff (13) disappeared in Dublin, Ca., while walking home from school. (SFC, 1/29/99, p.A18) (SFC, 1/29/09, p.A1)1990        Jan 30, A federal judge ordered former President Reagan to provide excerpts of his personal diaries to John M. Poindexter for the former national security adviser’s Iran-Contra trial. The judge later reversed himself, deciding the material was not essential. (AP, 1/30/00)1981        Jan 30, an estimated two million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker-tape parade honoring the freed American hostages from Iran. (AP, 1/30/01) 1991        Jan 30, The first major ground battle of the Gulf War was fought at the frontier port of Khafji in Saudi Arabia; eleven US Marines were killed, seven of them by “friendly fire.” (AP, 1/30/01)1992        Jan 30, President George H.W. Bush and other world leaders gathered for an unprecedented U.N. Security Council summit to coordinate policy on peacekeeping, disarmament and quelling aggression. (AP, 1/30/02) 1992        Jan 30, The space shuttle Discovery landed in California, ending an eight-day mission. (AP, 1/30/02) 1992        Jan 30, Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey announced his resignation. The 8-year rule by PM Haughey ended. Later allegations arose that he had accepted cash from Dunnes Stores while in office. There were also allegations that Dunnes had given members of Parliament more than $5 million over 10 years. (SFC, 4/23/97, p.A5) (AP, 1/30/02)1993        Jan 30, Los Angeles inaugurated its Metro Red Line, the city’s first modern subway. (AP, 1/30/98) 1993        Jan 30, A car bombing in Bogota, Colombia, killed at least 20 people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_bomb) 1993        Jan 30, On the 60th anniversary of Hitler’s swearing-in as chancellor of Germany, more than 300,000 Germans carried candles to denounce the Nazi era. (AP, 1/30/98)1994        Jan 30, The Dallas Cowboys repeated as NFL champions as they defeated the Buffalo Bills, 30-13, in the Super Bowl. It was the fourth straight Super Bowl loss for the Bills. (AP, 1/30/99) 1994        Jan 30, Pierre Boulle (b.1912), French writer (Executioner), died. {Writer, France} (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Boulle)1995        Jan 30, The Smithsonian Institution abandoned plans for a major exhibit on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, yielding to critics who charged the exhibit would have portrayed America as the aggressor and Japan as the victim in World War II. (AP, 1/30/00) 1995        Jan 30, At least 42 people were killed and nearly 300 wounded when a car bomb blamed on Muslim insurgents exploded in downtown Algiers. (AP, 1/30/00)1996        Jan 30, In an election billed as an early barometer for the national political season, Ron Wyden won a close race to become Oregon’s first Democratic US senator in 30 years, replacing Bob Packwood. (AP, 1/30/01) 1996        Jan 30, The FDA licensed indinavir, viracept, Abbott Lab’s ritonavir (trade name Norvir) and saquinavir based on short term clinical data between 1995-1997. The new protease-blocking drugs were effective in combating AIDS especially when used in combination with current medicines. The drugs were later found to cause metabolism problems related to fats. (WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-16) (SFC, 2/5/98, p.A7) (WSJ, 1/3/06, p.A10) 1996        Jan 30, Iran tested a Chinese missile designed to attack ships by flying under their radar and could be fired from boats with a range of miles. (WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-12)1997        Jan 30, The US Marine Corps opened an investigation of two videotaped hazing incidents in 1991 and 1993 known as “blood pinings” in which elite paratroopers had golden jump pins beaten into their chests. The 1993 incident led to a recommended discharge for a sergeant. (AP, 1/30/98) 1997        Jan 30, The GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites detected unusual crustal movements of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. (SFC, 2/17/97, p.A4) 1997        Jan 30, In Columbia police seized 8 tons of cocaine and shut down a large cocaine processing plant in the state of Guaviare. (SFC, 1/31/97, p.A15) 1997        Jan 30, In Guatemala more than 1,000 military police seized their own headquarters and demanded at least $7,000 severance pay each when the 4,000 member military police is dissolved later in the year. (SFC, 1/31/97, p.A12) 1997        Jan 30, In Jamaica it was reported that NAFTA has had devastating effects on the economy. Garment exports were down 7% and 7,000 jobs were lost. (SFC, 1/30/97, p.A10) 1997        Jan 30, In southern Lebanon a roadside bomb killed 3 Israeli soldiers. (SFC, 1/31/97, p.A15)1998        Jan 30, In Washington the creation of The National First Ladies’ Library was announced at the Renwick Gallery. Physical materials would be located in Canton, Ohio, in the childhood home of Ida Saxton McKinley, the 20th first lady. (SFC, 2/5/98, p.A8) 1998        Jan 30, An aviation pact was reached between Washington and Tokyo, enabling American travelers to fly to Japan and other Asian points from several more U.S. cities. (AP, 1/30/99) 1998        Jan 30, In Sarasota, Florida, a 14-year-old girl was found staggering along a road. She had been raped and stabbed nearly 30 times and beaten badly four days earlier. She hid in the woods in fear of her assailant, Scott Christopher Malsky (22), who was arrested in Delaware the next day. (SFC, 2/2/98, p.A3) 1998        Jan 30, In Columbia paramilitary gunmen descended on the city of Puerto Asis and proceeded to kill 48 civilians thought to be guerrilla sympathizers. Mayor Nestor Hernandez warned army commanders at a local garrison but received no assistance. (SFC, 2/14/98, p.A8) 1998        Jan 30, From Hong Kong it was reported that real estate prices were diving down. Prices were reported down 25% since August. (SFC, 1/30/98, p.A1) 1998        Jan 30, From India it was reported that over the past 2 months over 50 cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh state had committed suicide due to farming losses caused by cluster caterpillars. (SFC, 1/30/98, p.A13) 1998        Jan 30, It was reported that Iraq had executed 10 people for stealing the huge bearded head of a large winged-bull dating from 700 BC. (SFC, 1/31/98, p.A9) 1998        Jan 30, In Lebanon the army clashed with supporters of Sheik Sob Tufaili in Baalbek and at least 50 people were killed. Tufaili had been expelled a week earlier from the Muslim fundamentalist Hezbollah. (SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A21) 1998        Jan 30, In Spain Alberto Jimenz Becerril, a Popular Party Councilman, and his wife, Asuncion Garcia Ortiz, were assassinated in Seville. (SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A12) 1998        Jan 30, In the Sudan the city of Wau fell to rebels who pretended to defect and then attacked from inside. (SFC, 1/31/98, p.A9)1999        Jan 30, Huntz Hall (78), comedian and actor, died in North Hollywood, Ca. He was in 120 films of which 87 were with the “Dead End Kids,” “East Side Kids,” and the “Bowery Boys.” (SFC, 2/2/99, p.A19) (www.imdb.com/name/nm0355653/) 1999        Jan 30, The UN Security Council agreed to establish panels to assess Iraqi disarmament and adherence to other UN resolutions. (SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A17) 1999        Jan 30, NATO authorized its secretary general to launch military action in Yugoslavia if the warring parties failed to negotiate an agreement for autonomy in Kosovo. (AP, 1/30/00)2000        Jan 30, In Atlanta the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV. (SFC, 1/31/00, p.A1) 2000        Jan 30, Elian Gonzalez’s grandmothers returned home to a hero’s welcome in Cuba, vowing to continue the struggle to wrest the six-year-old shipwreck survivor from relatives in Miami. (AP, 1/30/01) 2000        Jan 30, A Kenyan Airbus 310 crashed into the sea after takeoff from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Kenya Airways Flight 431 carried 179 people. 10 survivors were pulled from the water. (SFC, 1/31/00, p.A1) (WSJ, 1/31/00, p.A1) 2000        Jan 30, In Lebanon Col. Akl Hashem,  2nd in command of the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army, was killed in a Hezbollah bomb at his home attack in Dibel village. (SFC, 1/31/00, p.A1) 2000        Jan 30, In Romania a dam at the Baia Mare gold mine overflowed and caused cyanide to pout into the Lapus River and then into the Somes River. It flowed into Hungary and within weeks into the Tisa (Tisza) River in Yugoslavia. (SFC, 2/12/00, p.A9) (SFC, 2/18/00, p.A1)2001        Jan 30, Republicans pushed John Ashcroft’s attorney general nomination to the Senate floor by a narrow 10-8 Judiciary Committee vote; all but one Democrat voted against him. (AP, 1/30/02) 2001        Jan 30, Chrysler announced production cuts of 15% and work force cuts to 20% in the biggest US auto industry retrenchment in nearly a decade. (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.R12) 2001        Jan 30, In France thousands of teachers, hospital workers and police marched to demand pay increases. Some 17,000 marched in Paris. (SFC, 1/31/01, p.A12) 2001        Jan 30, In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicted Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, of murder in the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. A 2nd Libyan, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted. (SFC, 1/31/01, p.A11) (SFC, 2/1/01, p.A1) 2001        Jan 30, In Turkey Mehmet Fevzi Sihanlioglu (55), member of parliament, was beaten by fellow lawmakers in the Grand National Assembly and died of a heart attack. The attack followed a debate on whether time for speeches should be extended. (SFC, 2/14/01, p.D18)2002        Jan 30, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States would watch closely to see what Iraq, Iran and North Korea did next, a day after President Bush singled them out as part of a dangerous “axis of evil.” (AP, 1/30/03) 2002        Jan 30, Congressional investigators and the GAO planned to sue the White House to obtain a list of executives who met with the Cheney task force that developed Bush’s energy policy in 2001. Enron officials were on the list. (WSJ, 1/31/02, p.A1) 2002        Jan 30, The US Federal Reserve finished a 2-day meeting and did not change short-term interest rates. The DJIA rose 144 to 9,762. Nasdaq rose 20 to 1,913. (SFC, 1/31/02, p.A1) 2002        Jan 30, The 3.5-ton satellite Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUNE), launched in 1992, broke up in Earth’s atmosphere over Egypt. It had surveyed the entire Milky Way and beyond and transmitted date until Jan 31 2001. (SFC, 1/30/02, p.A2) (www.cbc.ca/health/story/2002/01/31/satellite020131.html) 2002        Jan 30, Inge Morath (78), Austrian-born photographer and wife of Arthur Miller, died in NYC. (SFC, 2/4/02, p.B5) 2002        Jan 30, Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai visited the World Trade Center site and placed a wreath of yellow roses by a memorial wall as he surveyed the ruins of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. (AP, 1/30/03) 2002        Jan 30, In Afghanistan war lords Padsha Khan Zadran and Saifullah led fighting for the control of Paktia province. (SFC, 1/31/02, p.A6) 2002        Jan 30, In Chile it was reported that the remains of some 10 victims of the Pinochet regime had been found at Fuerte Arteaga, an army base north of Santiago. (SFC, 1/31/02, p.A9) 2002        Jan 30, In Ireland the Roman Catholic Church agreed to pay $110 million in cash and property to Irish children sexually abused by priests, nuns and other church officials in past decades. There were as many as 7,000 potential claimants for payouts ranging from $43k to 260k. (SFC, 1/31/02, p.A9) (SFC, 2/1/02, p.A16) 2002        Jan 30, In Italy Samuele Lorenzi (3), was found bludgeoned to death in the family’s Alpine home. His mother Anna Maria Franzoni, who denied the murder, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2007 a Turin appeals court upheld the conviction but reduced her sentence to 16 years. (AP, 4/27/07) 2002        Jan 30, A Palestinian suicide bomber, Murad Abu Asal (23), killed himself and wounded 2 Israeli Shin Bet officers near Taibe. (SFC, 1/31/02, p.A8)2003        Jan 30, President Bush put allies on notice that diplomacy would give way to a decision on war with Iraq in “weeks, not months.” Wary world leaders and congressional critics urged patience and demanded proof of Iraq’s transgressions. (AP, 1/30/04) 2003        Jan 30, Spencer Abraham, US Energy Secretary, said the US would rejoin the $5 billion int’l. project to build an experimental fusion reactor. The US had left the project in 1998. (SFC, 1/31/03, p.A6) 2003        Jan 30, John Snow won confirmation as US Treasury secretary. (WSJ, 1/2/04, p.R8) 2003        Jan 30, Richard Reid, the British citizen and al-Qaida follower who’d tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Boston. (AP, 1/30/04) 2003        Jan 30, In Afghanistan 4 American soldiers were killed when special operations UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down seven miles east of the Bagram Air Base while on a training mission. (AP, 1/31/03) (SFC, 1/31/03, p.A11) 2003        Jan 30, Belgium officially recognized gay marriages. (SFC, 1/31/03, p.A9) 2003        Jan 30, Brazil’s President Lula da Silva launched his anti-hunger program with a move to provide $14 a month to 1.5 million families, most from the country’s poverty-stricken northeast. (AP, 1/30/03) 2003        Jan 30, An Israeli undercover unit shot dead two Palestinian militants in Tulkarem, including a militia leader. Army bulldozers demolished a Palestinian vegetable market and closed Palestinian police and TV stations in Hebron. (AP, 1/30/03) 2003        Jan 30, Italian police arrested 28 Pakistanis during a routine sweep for illegal immigrants. The arrested possessed explosives, hundreds of forged documents and maps of the Naples area with “sensitive” targets circled. (AP, 1/31/03) 2003        Jan 30, Sweden said it will contribute $5.9 million to help Afghanistan repay debts to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. (AP, 1/30/03) 2003        Jan 30, Thailand sealed its border with Cambodia, recalled its ambassador and sent military planes to evacuate hundreds of terrified Thais after rioters looted and torched its embassy in the Cambodian capital. (AP, 1/30/03)2004        Jan 30, NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity spied hints of a mineral that typically forms in water, a finding that could mean Mars was once wetter and more hospitable to life. (AP, 1/30/05) 2004        Jan 30, The Chinese government said audits aimed at ferreting out corruption in China uncovered $8 billion in misused or embezzled funds and widespread irregularities that produced “serious losses” of state assets. (AP, 1/30/04) 2004        Jan 30, In remote southwestern Ethiopia tribal fighting, sparked by a raid on a gold mine, began. Over the following week nearly 200 people were killed and some 10,000 others were forced to flee their homes. (AP, 2/11/04) 2004        Jan 30, Alain Juppe, former French PM (1995-1997), was found guilty in a party financing scandal and declared ineligible for public office for 10 years. (AP, 1/30/04) 2004        Jan 30, Iliad, a French broadband firm founded by Xavier Niel, made a successful IPO. Niel was briefly jailed a few months after its IPO, when it was discovered that one of his sex shops was a front for prostituion. Niel was fully exonerated, but was fined for receiving money from the shop. (www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-4228042_ITM)    (Econ, 9/12/09, p.74) 2004        Jan 30, Iran’s hard-line Guardian Council reinstated a third of the candidates it had disqualified from next month’s legislative elections. (AP, 1/30/04) 2004        Jan 30, In Japan a judge ruled that Shuji Nakamura, inventor of the blue light-emitting diode (LED), should share in the profits of his former employers. He was awarded $190 million in a case against Nichia Corp. (Econ, 2/7/04, p.60) 2004        Jan 30, A 25-30 seat passenger plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Lagos, Nigeria. (AP, 1/30/04) 2004        Jan 30, In Peru VP Raul Diez Canseco resigned amid allegations that he gave a tax break to his girlfriend’s father, a scandal that had forced him to step down as trade minister two months earlier. (AP, 1/31/04) 2004        Jan 30, It was reported that Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange had filed their 1st suit against the US companies that produced the toxic defoliant used by American forces during the Vietnam War. (AP, 2/4/04)2005        Jan 30, In Georgia more than 300,000 customers had no electricity as crews worked to repair power lines snapped by an ice storm. (AP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, SBC Communications agreed to acquire AT&T in a $16 billion transaction. (WSJ, 1/31/05, p.A1) 2005        Jan 30, Researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison reported that they’ve whipped up a new recipe that could someday treat spinal cord injuries or provide a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. (AP, 1/31/05) 2005        Jan 30, In much of Bangladesh traffic ground to a halt and shops closed as a nationwide strike, protesting a deadly grenade attack on the main opposition party, entered a 2nd day. (AFP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, In Colombia a 126-member unit of the United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) disbanded in Ciudad Bolivar, 155 miles northeast of Bogota, bringing to at least 4,700 the number of fighters who have demobilized in the past two years. (AP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, Iraqis voted to elect 275 members of a transitional national assembly, which will write a constitution; 111 members of the Kurdish legislature; and local councils in Iraq’s 18 provinces. Insurgents struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including 9 attackers. 5 people were killed and 17 injured when a suicide attacker blew himself up aboard a minibus bound for a polling station in central Iraq. 260 attacks left 34 people dead. Security problems in Mosul kept some 15,000 from polls. (AP, 1/30/05) (SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1) (WSJ, 2/8/05, p.A1) 2005        Jan 30, A British C-130 military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad in Iraq killing 10 troops. An Iraqi insurgent group claimed responsibility for shooting down the plane in an Internet statement. (AP, 1/31/05) 2005        Jan 30, More than 100,000 demonstrators gathered in Jerusalem to protest PM Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank, demanding it be put to a national referendum. (AP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, Israeli troops killed a 65-year-old man who entered an unauthorized area near an army post. (AP, 1/31/05) 2005        Jan 30, Kuwaiti security forces stormed a building in a residential part of the capital and exchanged gunfire with suspected terrorists, killing one suspect in a battle that also left a security officer and a bystander dead. (AP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, In Northern Ireland’s Catholic enclave of Short Strand Robert McCartney (33), a Catholic forklift driver, was stabbed to death outside a pub crowded with Provisional IRA men. On June 3 Terence Davison (49), a reputed IRA veteran, was charged in the murder. In 2008 Davison was acquitted. In 2012 McCartney’s sisters decided to testify against Padraic Wilson (53), an IRA veteran and Sinn Fein activist. (Econ, 2/26/05, p.55) (SFC, 6/4/05, p.A3) (SSFC, 6/5/05, p.A3) (AP, 1/30/08)(AFP, 6/27/08) (AP, 11/3/12) 2005        Jan 30, OPEC warned that oil prices, already hovering near $50 a barrel, would remain high through the spring, even as the cartel decided to keep its production ceiling at 27 million barrels a day. (AP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, In Karachi, Pakistan, gunmen riding three motorcycles opened fire outside a Sunni Muslim mosque, killing a Sunni cleric who once belonged to an outlawed group suspected of committing sectarian violence and his bodyguard. (AP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, at a summit of the 53-member African Union in Abuja, Nigeria, urged pan-African cooperation to resolve conflicts. (AFP, 1/30/05) 2005        Jan 30, The World Economic Forum ended 5 days of talks in Davos, Switz. Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju said Chinese per capita income will triple during the next 15 years and there was no reason for the world to fear his country’s emergence as a global giant. During the forum Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab, proposed providing personal laptops for under $100 to school children in the poorest parts of the world. (AP, 1/30/05) (Econ, 10/1/05, p.62)2006        Jan 30, Pres. Bush nominated Edward Lazear, Stanford Univ. prof. of economics, as his chief economics adviser, replacing Ben Bernanke, the new chairman-select of the Federal Reserve. (SFC, 1/31/06, p.E1) 2006        Jan 30, The Smithsonian Institute selected a space on the National Mall near the Washington Monument as the site of Its National Museum of African American History and Culture. (SFC, 1/31/06, p.A2) 2006        Jan 30, Exxon Mobil posted record profits for any US company: $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $36.13 billion for the year. (AP, 1/30/07) 2006        Jan 30, In Goleta, Ca., Jennifer San Marco, a female ex-postal worker, opened fire at a mail processing plant, killing 5 people before committing suicide. A former neighbor was found slain the next day and a critically wounded worker died Feb 1. (AP, 1/31/06) (SFC, 2/2/06, p.A4) 2006        Jan 30, Playwright Wendy Wasserstein (55) died. She celebrated women confronting feminism, careers, love and motherhood in such works as “The Heidi Chronicles” and “The Sisters Rosensweig.” She was the first woman to win both a Tony and Pulitzer prize. In 2011 Julie Salamon authored “Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein.” (AP, 1/30/06) (Econ, 8/13/11, p.78) 2006        Jan 30, Australian Gas Light Company (AGL) announced that it would build the country’s largest wind farm as part of efforts to meet its legal obligation to invest in renewable energy. The 95 megawatt facility would cost 236 million dollars (177 million US dollars) and use 45 wind turbines over an area of 14 square kilometers (5.6 square miles) near the town of Hallett in South Australia. (AFP, 1/30/06) 2006        Jan 30, The University of Vienna announced that it plans to build a new Holocaust research center in honor of the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. (AP, 1/30/06) 2006        Jan 30, Music retailers said the Rock band Arctic Monkeys have smashed the British record for the fastest-selling debut album of all time. (AFP, 1/30/06) 2006        Jan 30, Chile’s President-elect Michelle Bachelet unveiled a Cabinet that fulfilled her campaign promise to give half the jobs to women and kept a balance among the four parties in her center-left coalition. (AP, 1/31/06) 2006        Jan 30, Feng Xiliang (86), a US-trained journalist, died in Beijing. In 1978 he helped to launch the China Daily, the communist government’s main English-language newspaper. (AP, 2/2/06) 2006        Jan 30, The controversy over Danish caricatures of Prophet Muhammad escalated as gunmen seized an EU office in Gaza and Muslims appealed for a trade boycott of Danish products. Denmark called for its citizens in the Middle East to exercise vigilance. A roadside bomb targeted a joint Danish-Iraqi military patrol near the southern city of Basra. (AP, 1/30/06) 2006        Jan 30, Iran’s Interior Ministry said 7 Iranian soldiers kidnapped last month by Jundallah, (God’s Brigade), have been freed. No word was given on the fate of 2 other kidnapped soldiers. (AP, 1/31/06) 2006        Jan 30, European Union foreign ministers called on Hamas to recognize the state of Israel, renounce violence and disarm. “It is the view of the Quartet (UN, EU, American and Russia) that all members of a future Palestinian government must be committed to nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the Roadmap. We urge both parties to respect their existing agreements, including on movement and access.” (AP, 1/30/06) (http://tinyurl.com/fut5w) 2006        Jan 30, Iraqi and UN health officials said a 15-year-old girl who died this month was a victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, the first confirmed case of the disease in the Middle East. (AP, 1/30/06) 2006        Jan 30, In Iraq US soldiers backed by warplanes killed two militants in Ramadi, while at least one Iraqi policeman died and dozens were wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on their base south of Baghdad. (AP, 1/30/06) 2006        Jan 30, In Nigeria 4 foreign oil workers were released after being held hostage for more than two weeks by a militia demanding that residents in southern Nigeria benefit more from its energy wealth. (AP, 1/30/06) 2006        Jan 30, In Adana, Turkey, a bomb exploded at a Turkish-American friendship association in a southern city that hosts a US air base, wounding five Turks. (AP, 1/30/06)2007        Jan 30, The Windows Vista computer operating system from Microsoft went on sale in the consumer retail market. (SFC, 1/30/07, p.C1) 2007        Jan 30, The draft of a new global climate report said rising temperatures will leave millions more people hungry by 2080 and cause critical water shortages in China and Australia, as well as parts of Europe and the United States. (Reuters, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, In Florida 2 people shot and killed a sheriff’s wife and a deputy before officers killed the suspects at the sheriff’s home in Jackson County. (AP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, A propane tank explosion leveled the Little General Store in Ghent, W.Va., killing four people. (AP, 1/30/08) 2007        Jan 30, Jeanne Kane, a member of the 1960s singing group the Kane Triplets, was shot and killed by her ex-husband John Galtieri, a retired NYC police officer. In 2009 Galtieri was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. (http://tinyurl.com/lhbevm) (SFC, 5/28/09, p.A5) 2007        Jan 30, Gordon S. Macklin (79), a founder of the Nasdaq stock exchange (1971) and a board member for Worldcom during its notorious accounting fraud, died of unknown causes. (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070131/obit_macklin.html?.v=1) (WSJ, 2/3/07, p.A8) 2007        Jan 30, Sidney Sheldon (89), American writer, died. He won awards in three careers, Broadway theater, movies and television, then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men. (AP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, Britain shut down Northern Ireland’s legislature and planned a new election to determine the fate of power-sharing, the central goal of the peace accord. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Manchester was chosen as the site for Britain’s first Las Vegas-style supercasino. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao set out on an eight-nation tour of Africa. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: “On the arms exports to Africa, China takes a cautious and responsible attitude.” (AP, 1/30/07) (AFP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Colombia’s Supreme Court opened preliminary investigations into four more politicians for alleged ties to illegal right-wing militias after it was revealed they signed a 2001 letter of understanding with the paramilitary groups. (AP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, Supporters of Ecuador’s leftist President Rafael Correa armed with sticks and stones fought their way into the Congress building, demanding lawmakers call a referendum on whether the country’s constitution should be rewritten. (AP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, The African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ended with a proposed peacekeeping force for Somalia still lacking firm commitments for thousands of troops. (Reuters, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Thousands of German workers took part in protests against a government plan to raise the retirement age to 67. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, The United Nations said it will send 350 more peacekeepers to Haiti in the latest effort to flush out armed gangs from the capital’s slums. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, In Hong Kong Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, told the Financial Times in an interview: “There is a bubble going on. Investors should be concerned about the risks.” He said 70% of the domestically traded companies were worthless and should be delisted. (Econ, 2/10/07, p.81) (http://tinyurl.com/2ubmjk) 2007        Jan 30, Reliance Industries opened 9 shops in and around Delhi. They were among the first supermarkets to appear in India. (Econ, 2/3/07, p.64) 2007        Jan 30, Assailants struck Shiite worshippers in three Iraqi cities, killing at least 39 people in bombings and ambushes during the climax of ceremonies marking Ashoura, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar. Mortar shells slammed into predominantly Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad hours later, killing at least five people and wounding 20. Bloodshed killed at least 58 people despite heightened security surrounding Ashoura ceremonies. A morgue official in the city of Kut said his facility received six more bodies from previously unreported Ashoura-related violence. Two US soldiers and one Marine died of wounds sustained due to enemy action in Anbar province. (AP, 1/30/07) (AP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, Another outbreak of bird flu was suspected in southern Japan after 23 chickens were found dead at a farm. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, The first all-female UN peacekeeping unit, made up of 103 women from India, arrived in Liberia to help the West African nation recover from 14 years of on-and-off civil war. (Reuters, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Jamal Khalifa, a Saudi citizen married to a sister of Osama bin Laden, was killed when gunmen broke into his house in village in Madagascar in an apparent robbery. (AP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, Nigeria’s Vice President Atiku Abubakar accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of buying arms to suppress unrest in the oil-rich Niger delta rather than pacifying the region with development. (AFP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, Pakistan’s PM Musharraf appealed to the European Union to help repatriate some 3 million Afghan refugees, a move he said would help clear his country of militants blamed for attacks in border regions. A rocket or a grenade exploded at a Shiite procession, sparking violence in Hangu in which two Sunni Muslims were fatally shot and 13 other people were wounded, many of them policemen. (AP, 1/30/07) (AP, 1/31/07) 2007        Jan 30, Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh appealed to all Palestinians to prevent a resurgence in the internal violence that killed 36 people in recent days as a tenuous cease-fire took hold in the Gaza Strip. Gunmen killed a Hamas militant, but the cease-fire seemed to hold. (AP, 1/30/07) (WSJ, 1/31/07, p.A1) 2007        Jan 30, The Saudi foreign minister said Saudi Arabia and Iran are working together to try to calm the crises in Iraq and Lebanon. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Somalia’s president agreed to a national reconciliation conference to try to end 16 years of anarchy in the war-ravaged country. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Researchers said South Africa’s AIDS epidemic, often regarded by health workers as a disease of the poor, is in fact spreading quickly among the country’s richest and best educated people. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, In Sweden former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Darfur human rights activist Mossaad Mohamed Ali won the Olof Palme Prize for their work to protect human rights. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Borys Tarasyuk, Ukraine’s pro-Western foreign minister, resigned saying a monthlong struggle between him and the government dominated by a Russia-leaning party risked damaging the country’s international reputation. (AP, 1/30/07) 2007        Jan 30, Venezuela said it plans to obtain air defense missiles to guard strategic sites such as oil refineries and major bridges against any air strike. (AP, 1/30/07)2008        Jan 30, The US Federal Reserve cut its federal funds rate by half a point to 3%, and left the door open to further cuts. The 1.25 point cut in 8 days was the largest since it began disclosing rate moves two decades ago. (SFC, 1/31/08, p.C1) (WSJ, 1/31/08, p.A1) 2008        Jan 30, Democrat John Edwards exited the presidential race, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters’ sympathies. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Following his third place finish in Florida, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Sen. John McCain. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, In Philadelphia Nurse Lee Cruceta (35) admitted he cut body parts from 244 corpses and helped forge paperwork so the parts, some of them diseased, could be used in unsuspecting patients. Cruceta has also pleaded guilty to related charges in New York and negotiated pleas to serve concurrent sentences of 6 1/2 to 20 years. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Using DNA, the blueprint of life, US researchers said they have made a three-dimensional structure from particles of gold in a development that could lead to a host of custom-designed materials. (Reuters, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, It was reported that bats were dying off by the thousands as they hibernated in caves and mines around New York and Vermont, sending researchers scrambling to find the cause of mysterious condition dubbed “white nose syndrome.” Up to 11,000 bats were found dead last winter and many more were showing signs of illness this winter. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado (b.1920), Mexican Roman Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement (1941), died in Texas. (www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/world/americas/01maciel.html) 2008        Jan 30, In Afghanistan a suicide bomber in a vehicle tried to attack a NATO convoy in Kandahar province’s Zhari district, but instead hit a private car wounding 4 civilians. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, The Bangladesh government said an unidentified person has donated $130 million to help rebuild hundreds of schools and storm shelters destroyed by a cyclone along Bangladesh’s southwest coast. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, In Brazil heavily armed police cracking down on crime ahead of Rio’s famed carnival celebrations engaged in shootouts with criminals in two slums, killing at least seven suspects. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, China’s government deploy nearly 500,000 army troops to assist areas troubled by winter storms. 15 sailors drowned and another was missing after two ships collided on China’s Yangtze river. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Wilber Varela, one of Colombia’s most-wanted drug lords, was found slain in Merida, Venezuela. Varela’s war with his rival within the Norte del Valle cartel, Diego Montoya, plagued the city of Cali and much of southwestern Colombia, killing more than 1,000 people in several years. (AP, 2/1/08) 2008        Jan 30, Thousands of striking taxi drivers drove at a snail’s pace around France as part of a protest against government plans to open up their business to greater competition. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Police in India said they broke up an illegal organ transplant ring spanning five Indian states and involving at least four doctors, several hospitals, two dozen nurses and paramedics and a car outfitted as a laboratory (see Feb 7). (AP, 1/30/08) (WSJ, 1/31/08, p.A1) 2008        Jan 30, The final Winograd Commission report was announced in Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem. It had been commissioned to inquire into Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon. (Econ, 2/2/08, p.56) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winograd_Commission) 2008        Jan 30, Ao Man-long, Macau’s highest-level official ever convicted of corruption, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for taking contract kickbacks in the construction boom that’s turning the Chinese gambling enclave into a Las Vegas-style vacation destination. (AP, 1/31/08) 2008        Jan 30, Mozambique’s interior ministry said police intercepted a lorry carrying 39 youngsters as they were about to be smuggled across the border into Zimbabwe by suspected child traffickers. Rights groups warned late last year that trafficking of Mozambican children across to neighboring countries, mostly South Africa, has risen tenfold in the last two years. (AFP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, In southern Nepal 34 people were wounded in a bomb attack at a political rally. (AFP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, In Pakistan 3 suspected militants allegedly planning suicide attacks died when a bomb detonated early in Miran Shah. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, In the southern Philippines a homemade bomb ripped through a fish processing plant, killing three and injuring 27 workers. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, President Vladimir Putin and his likely successor called for sweeping environmental improvements, saying cleaning up Soviet-era pollution and reducing industrial waste are crucial for Russia’s economy and public health. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Imprisoned Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky launched a hunger strike to protest authorities’ refusal to give his jailed ex-lawyer AIDS medication. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, South African police raided a downtown Johannesburg church late at night where hundreds of Zimbabweans had taken refuge, hauling people in pajamas to a police station in scenes reminiscent of apartheid-era raids. (AP, 1/31/08) 2008        Jan 30, Auto giant Ford announced a multi-million dollar investment in South Africa, brushing aside fears about an electricity crisis which has alarmed other international investors. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, In Sri Lanka troops overran at least 25 bunkers and killed 10 guerrillas. (AP, 2/1/08) 2008        Jan 30, Subprime-related problems at UBS AG mounted as the Swiss bank unveiled $4 billion in new write-downs in a surprise statement and sank deep into the red for the year, depressing its shares. (AP, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Tunisia hosted the 25th session of the meeting of Arab Ministers of the Interior. Security chiefs agreed to toughen rules on material that might promote terrorism. (Econ, 2/9/08, p.53)(http://allafrica.com/stories/200801220589.html) 2008        Jan 30, The United Nation’s disaster relief agency announced that a meningitis outbreak that has claimed some 52 lives in Burkina Faso by mid-month has spread to three other west African countries. A spike in the number of meningitis cases has also been reported in Mali, Niger and Nigeria since the end of 2007. (AFP, 1/31/08) 2008        Jan 30, The UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the struggling UN peace force on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border for six months despite a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for just one month. (Reuters, 1/30/08) 2008        Jan 30, Vietnam’s central bank raised official interest rates up 1.5% to fight inflation which had reached 14.1%, the highest since 1995. (Econ, 2/2/08, p.46)2009        Jan 30, President Barack Obama signed a series of executive orders that he said should “level the playing field” for labor unions in struggles with management. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, The Republican Party chose former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele as the first black national chairman in its history. (AP, 1/31/09) 2009        Jan 30, US Senator Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) introduced legislation that would limit the salary, bonuses and stock options of executives of financial companies getting federal bailout aid to no more than what the US president earns: $400,000 a year, excluding benefits. (WSJ, 1/31/09, p.B1) 2009        Jan 30, Exxon Mobil Corp. reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a US company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago. Chevron reported a record $23.93 billion annual profit. (AP, 1/30/09) (SFC, 1/31/09, p.C1) 2009        Jan 30, Scientists reported that serotonin, a brain chemical that affects people’s moods, can also transform dessert locusts into swarms that ravage the countryside. Serotonin, a messenger molecule, carries signals between nerve cells. (SFC, 1/30/09, p.A9) (Econ, 2/28/09, p.85) 2009        Jan 30, A trip to the Grand Canyon turned deadly when a bus carrying Chinese tourists overturned on an Arizona highway near the Hoover Dam, killing seven people and injuring 10 others, several critically. (AP, 1/31/09) 2009        Jan 30, In West Virginia a small plane crashed in snowy weather killing all six on board. (SSFC, 2/1/09, p.A8) 2009        Jan 30, In Algeria at least 27 people were wounded and several buildings torched during clashes among Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in Ghardaia. (AFP, 1/31/09) 2009        Jan 30, Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, struggled to cope with a once-in-a-century heatwave as temperatures hit 109 degrees. The heat wave has claimed dozens of lives and sparked wildfires that have razed up to 20 homes. (AFP, 1/31/09) (WSJ, 1/31/09, p.A1) 2009        Jan 30, Bahrain’s riot police in Manama used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters angry with perceived government discrimination against the Shiite majority. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, At least two million worshippers gathered north of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for the Bishwa Ijtema, or World Muslim Congregation, a three-day event billed as the largest annual Islamic event after the hajj. It was first held in the 1960s and was launched by Tablig Jamaat, a non-political group that urges people to follow Islam in their daily lives. (AFP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, In Brazil officials in Rio Grande do Sul state said 10 victims had drowned in the city of Pelotas, and that floods had driven thousands from their homes. (AP, 1/31/09) 2009        Jan 30, In Britain wildcat strikes against foreign workers spread through oil refineries and other energy facilities, fuelled by fears of rising job cuts due to the global slowdown. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Ethiopia said that 4.9 million of its people will need emergency food aid in the first six months of 2009 due to drought and appealed for $390 million from donors to pay for it. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, In Libreville, Gabon, leaders of the six Central African states (Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, CAR, Congo, Equatorial Guinea), began meeting to discuss closer economic ties, including the creation of a new regional airline. The Economic and Monetary Union of Central Africa, known as CEMAC, planned discussions on such issues as monetary reform and the free movement of citizens. (AFP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Hans Beck (79), creator of the colorful plastic Playmobil toy figures that sold by the millions around the world, died in Germany. Beck had created and developed the 3-inch (7.5-centimeter) tall line of figures for the company in 1971. they were dubbed Playmobil and brought to market in 1974. (AP, 2/4/09) 2009        Jan 30, Georgia’s PM Grigol Mgaloblishvili (35) resigned, citing health reasons after just three months on the job as President Mikhail Saakashvili’s second-in-command. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Guatemala’s government filed 3,350 criminal complaints accusing former soldiers, paramilitaries and others of human rights violations against more than 5,000 civilians during the country’s 1960-1996 civil war. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Indian officials said tigers have killed at least three children and four adults in northern Uttar Pradesh in recent weeks, forcing frightened villagers to stay indoors while forest rangers search for the wild cats. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Indonesia said it will repatriate 174 “economic migrants” who fled Myanmar claiming persecution, as new accounts emerged of their harrowing sea journey and alleged abuse by the Thai navy. The 174 Rohingya and 19 Bangladeshis being kept at an Indonesian naval base landed in Weh Island off northern Sumatra on January 7. (AFP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, An Israeli rights group said it to use a database detailing the complicity of Israel’s government in widespread illegal construction in West Bank settlements to help Palestinians file lawsuits over their lost land. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Kuwait’s National Assembly passed a law banning women from working between 8 pm and 7 am except in hospitals. Legislation also limited the workweek to 48 hours and required accommodation for expatriate workers. New penalties for begging carried a 6-month sentence and a fine of 500 Kuwaiti dinars followed by deportation. (SSFC, 2/1/09, p.A4) 2009        Jan 30, Nigerian militants called off a cease-fire after clashing with government forces. (WSJ, 1/31/09, p.A1) 2009        Jan 30, North Korea announced that it is scrapping agreements with South Korea on easing military tensions, accusing Seoul of pushing relations to the brink of war. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, A roadside bomb hit a Pakistani army convoy near a Taliban stronghold in the Swat valley, killing three soldiers and wounding another six. (AP, 1/31/09) 2009        Jan 30, In Gaza City some 5,000 people rallied as Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Hayeh emerged from hiding and declared victory in the 23-day Israeli offensive in Gaza. (SFC, 1/31/09, p.A5) 2009        Jan 30, Russia moved to rebuild ties with Cold War ally Cuba, granting it loans and signing deals on energy and industrial cooperation. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe signed legislation that disbands the country’s elite anti-crime investigating unit, known as the Scorpions. The unit will now be part of the standard police forces. (AP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Sri Lanka rejected growing international calls for a ceasefire amid fears for the safety of 250,000 civilians trapped as the military pushed for victory against Tamil rebels. (AFP, 1/30/09) 2009        Jan 30, Turkmenistan’s authoritarian President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov ordered members of his government to go back to school or lose their jobs. He said that officials are under qualified to implement the necessary reforms in the energy-rich Central Asian nation. (AP, 1/31/09) 2009        Jan 30, In Venezuela an armed group vandalized Caracas’ oldest synagogue, shattering religious objects and spray-painting walls in what Jewish leaders called the worst attack ever on their community. On March 26 prosecutors filed charges against eight police officers and three other people, accusing them of involvement in the attack. (AP, 2/1/09) (AP, 3/26/09) 2009        Jan 30, Zimbabwe’s opposition decided to join a government with President Robert Mugabe next month, ending a paralyzing political deadlock that has worsened the desperate economic and humanitarian crisis. WHO reported that the death toll in Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak had reached 3,161, out of 60,401 recorded cases. (Reuters, 1/30/09) (AP, 1/30/09)2010        Jan 30, In Las Vegas Caressa Cameron (22) of Virginia became the nation’s newest Miss America, emerging from a field of 53 contestants picked for their beauty, compassion and interview savvy. Cameron, the first black Miss America since Ericka Dunlap in 2005, said she wants to get a master’s degree and eventually become a news anchor. (AP, 1/31/10) 2010        Jan 30, In NYC a fire housing Guatemalan immigrants killed at least 5 people in Brooklyn. Arson was suspected. (SSFC, 1/31/10, p.A16) 2010        Jan 30, A joint US-Afghan force clashed with Afghan troops manning a snow-covered outpost and called in an airstrike, killing four Afghan soldiers. Both sides called the clash a case of mistaken identity. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, China suspended military exchanges with the United States and threatened sanctions against American defense companies, just hours after Washington announced $6.4 billion in planned arms sales to Taiwan. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, The European Union said Italy is to stop fishing for bluefin tuna, the lucrative but over-exploited species beloved of Japanese sushi fans, for 12 months. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Haiti about 20 armed men blockaded a street and attacked UN a convoy carrying food from the airport.  Ten American Baptists were detained for trying to take 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic without documentation. (AP, 2/2/10) (AP, 2/5/10) 2010        Jan 30, Ashes of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, kept for decades by a family friend after his assassination, were scattered off South Africa’s coast. (AFP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, Thousands of Iranians gathered at dusk against a snowy mountain backdrop to light giant bonfires in an ancient mid-winter festival. Sadeh was the national festival of ancient Persia when Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion, before the conquest of Islam in the 7th century. (AP, 1/31/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt at a restaurant popular with security forces in Samarra, a city that was once a flash point for sectarian slaughter, killing at least two people. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Italy hundreds of judges walked out of nationwide ceremonies held to mark the start of the judicial year in protest at “destructive legislation” introduced by PM Silvio Berlusconi. (AFP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Japan thousands of protesters from across Japan marched in central Tokyo to protest the US military presence on Okinawa, while a Cabinet minister said she would fight to move a Marine base Washington considers crucial out of the country. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, In the Marshall Islands the government considered invoking special powers of quarantine as an outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis has been declared a public health emergency. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Mexico armed men stormed a party, killing 15 high school and college students in Ciudad Juarez in what witnesses thought was an attack prompted by false information. Ten people were found dead at the scene and six died at hospitals. An official later said gunmen were directed to the neighborhood by a resident who said members of a rival gang were planning a party. (AP, 2/2/10) (AP, 2/4/10) 2010        Jan 30, Nigeria’s main rebel group called off a truce in the oil-rich Niger Delta, threatening an “all-out onslaught” and adding to the country’s political and economic woes. A leak was observed on the Anglo-Dutch Trans-Ramos pipeline. The leak was stopped and an investigation confirmed the leak was due to a sabotage. Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell shut down some oil production following the sabotage. (AFP, 1/30/10) (AFP, 2/1/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Pakistan a suicide bomber killed 16 people at a police checkpoint in the northwest Bajur tribal area. 3 suspected US missiles hit a compound and a bunker in the Mohammad Khel area of North Waziristan. 2 missiles hit the compound being used by the militants, killing 7 of them. The third killed two more insurgents in a bunker. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, Russian PM Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying that Libya has signed an arms deal with Russia worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion). (Reuters, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, Russia opened its first new casino, under a plan to limit legalized gambling to 4 comparatively remote areas, since it closed all casinos a half year earlier. Along with the opening in Azov city, the new law limits legalized gambling to the Kaliningrad enclave on the Baltic Sea, the Altai region of Siberia, and the Primorski region of the Far East. (SSFC, 1/31/10, p.A6) 2010        Jan 30, In Sri Lanka police shut down the offices of an opposition newspaper, as international rights groups accused the authorities of a vendetta against critical media. The chief editor was arrested. A court lifted a ban on the paper on Feb 1. On Feb 16 the chief editor of the pro-opposition Lanka newspaper, Chandana Sirimalwatte, was ordered to be released from police custody because there was no evidence against him. (AFP, 1/30/10) (AFP, 2/16/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Davos, Switzerland, government regulators from the US and Europe laid out their financial reform plans before a skeptical banking industry, asking financiers for input but adamant that change was coming with or without their support. (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 30, In Yemen militant Saleh al-Shaoush was arrested as he prepared to carry out a suicide bombing in the southeastern port of Mukalla. He had been stopped on his motorbike and found to be wearing an explosives belt and carrying two bombs. His trial began in October. (AFP, 10/9/10)2011        Jan 30, John Barry (77), English-born composer, died in NY. He wrote the music for a dozen James Bond films and many other films. He won 2 Oscars in 1966 for best song and best score for the film “Born Free.” (SFC, 2/1/11, p.C4) 2011        Jan 30, Ernest Borgnine (94), known for roles in such films as “From Here to Eternity” and “Marty,” received a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild and reminded his cohorts that “there are millions of those in the world who would love to be in our shoes.” (Reuters, 1/31/11) 2011        Jan 30, In southern California over 2 dozen protesters were arrested for protesting against Charles and David Koch, brothers who have used millions from their energy conglomerate to finance conservative causes. 11 busloads of protesters converged on a political retreat run by the Kansas billionaires at a resort in Rancho Mirage. (SFC, 1/31/11, p.A4) 2011        Jan 30, In San Francisco shopkeeper Hong Ri Wu shot and killed fellow merchants Qiong Han Chu (30) and Fen Ping Ou (30) on Fisherman’s Wharf because they refused to stop selling the same knockoff purses that he was trying to sell. In 2014 Wu (59) was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. (SFC, 6/12/14, p.D6) 2011        Jan 30, Albanian police said they detained three people suspected of conspiring to murder a top opposition leader at Jan 28 anti-government protest, as the opposition said it would not back down from its campaign against the ruling party for alleged corruption. (AP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, Egyptian fighter jets swooped low over Cairo in what appeared to be an attempt by the military to show its control of a city beset by looting, armed robbery and anti-government protests. Gangs of armed men attacked at least four jails before dawn, helping to free hundreds of Muslim militants and thousands of other inmates. The official death toll from five days of growing crisis stood at 74, with thousands injured. Al-Jazeera said that Egyptian authorities ordered the closure of its Cairo news hub. (AP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, Equatorial Guinea’s Pres. Teodoro Obiang assumed the African Union chairmanship at the organization’s annual summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00012576.html) 2011        Jan 30, In eastern Germany a head-on collision between a cargo train and a passenger train killed 10 people and injured 23 others. Authorities said they believe the death toll in one of the country’s worst train accidents ever could still rise. (AP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, In India at least 5,000 people marched through central New Delhi to show their anger over recent scandals that hit PM Manmohan Singh’s government. This was the anniversary of the death of independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, who was known for his scrupulous honesty. (AP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, Iranian courts sentenced two people to death for running porn sites. (AFP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, Israeli officials agreed to allow Egypt to move several hundred troops into the Sinai peninsula for the first time since the countries reached peace three decades ago. (AP, 1/31/11) 2011        Jan 30, Israel sentenced a prominent Arab-Israeli human rights activist to nine years in jail after pleading guilty to spying for Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Ameer Makhoul was convicted last October of espionage and aggravated espionage on the basis of a plea bargain in which the prosecution dropped a charge of assisting the enemy in time of war. (AFP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, Israel signed an agreement with the European Space Agency for cooperation on space technology and exploration of the solar system. (AFP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, In Mexico the state of Guerrero, populated by 3.3 million people, held elections. Voters gave the leftist Party of Democratic Revolution, or PRD, victory over the powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in one of six state elections ahead of next year’s presidential race. (AP, 1/30/11) (Reuters, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, In Mexico six bodies were found outside the city of Monterrey. They were burned so badly that investigators couldn’t determine the cause of death or the victims’ gender. (AP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, The Myanmar opposition group led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi launched its first official website: http://www.nldburma.org/. (AP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, In northern Nigeria gunmen attacked a police checkpoint, killing a policeman and leading police to shoot dead two Boko Haram gunmen in Maiduguri. Police said they have arrested 19 people over the slaying of the region’s dominant gubernatorial candidate. (AP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, Oman said it has dismantled an Emirati spy ring that was targeting the government and the military in the Gulf sultanate. An official the cell was uncovered five months ago, before it was watched and dismantled by Omani security services. (AFP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, An unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft docked at the Int’l. Space Station delivering 2.6 tons of supplies to the US-Russian-Italian crew. (SFC, 1/31/11, p.A2) 2011        Jan 30, In north Sudan students clashed with police as youths heeded calls to take to the streets for a day of nationwide anti-government protests, despite a heavy security presence on the ground. Mohammed Abdulrahman, a student beaten by police during the demonstrations in Khartoum, died of his wounds in Omdurman hospital. (AFP, 1/30/11) (AFP, 1/31/11) 2011        Jan 30, Sudan’s government welcomed the preliminary results of the southern Sudan referendum but said there was a “huge amount” to do before it becomes an independent nation. Southern Sudan’s referendum commission said close to 99 percent of south Sudanese chose to secede from the north in the landmark January 9-15 referendum. (AFP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, Thousands of Tunisians turned out to welcome Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi (69) after more than 20 years in exile, as he eyed a political future for his Ennahda movement after the fall of the government. Ghannouchi was persecuted in Tunisia ever since founding his Islamist movement in 1981. (AFP, 1/30/11) 2011        Jan 30, In Venezuela a fire set off a series of explosions at a military arms depot in the city of Maracay, killing one person and leading authorities to evacuate around 10,000 people from the area. (AP, 1/30/11)2012        Jan 30, US federal regulators approved the first drug for people with advanced forms of basal cell carcinoma. It was made by Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche. (SFC, 1/31/12, p.C1) 2012        Jan 30, Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based advocacy organization, issued a report saying Mexico lost $872 billion between 1970 and 2010 because of money laundering, tax evasion and other forms of corruption. (SFC, 1/31/12, p.A2) 2012        Jan 30, California’s Claremont College acknowledged that that the school had submitted false SAT scores to publications since 2005 to inflate the school’s ranking. (SFC, 2/1/12, p.A6) 2012        Jan 30, A new study said a burgeoning population of huge pythons, many of them pets that were turned loose by their owners when they got too big, appears to be wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Florida Everglades. (AP, 1/31/12) 2012        Jan 30, A Riyadh-based Afghan diplomat said Afghan officials and representatives of the Taliban insurgents are to hold peace talks in Saudi Arabia. (AFP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Afghan police said a woman has been strangled to death, apparently by her husband, who was upset that she gave birth to a second daughter rather than the son he wanted. Sher Mohammad fled the Khanabad district in Kunduz province last week, about the time a neighbor found Estorai, his 22-year-old wife, dead in their house. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, The World Trade Organization ruled that China’s policies to restrict exports of several metals, like bauxite and magnesium, violated its WTO obligations. (Econ, 2/4/12, p.75) 2012        Jan 30, In CongoDRC a plane crashed after takeoff in South Kivu. There were at least five people on board. (AP, 1/31/12) 2012        Jan 30, In the Dominican Republic a tourist bus crashed down a hill, killing the driver and injuring 10 people, including seven from the United States. (AP, 1/31/12) 2012        Jan 30, In Ethiopia a vote by African leaders for the head of their African Union executive ended in deadlock amid a drive by southern Africa to wrest influence from the continent’s French-speaking countries. Gabon’s Jean Ping (69), who has headed the African Union Commission since 2008 and was seeking a new term, was challenged by South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former foreign minister. The AU extended the mandate of Jean Ping until fresh polls are held during the next summit in Malawi. (AFP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Across eastern Europe heavy snow and a severe cold snap have killed at least 36 people and many areas were under emergency measures as schools closed down, roads became impassible and power supplies were cut off. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, In Egypt 7 gunmen charged into the New Cairo branch of HSBC Bank on the city’s outskirts, firing their weapons in the air, and took money from tellers. 3 gunmen robbed an armored car as it unloaded money at another bank in southern Cairo, fleeing with over 3 million Egyptian pounds ($542,000 dollars). (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, An Indonesian court indicted five activists for treason in the restive Papua region after they raised an outlawed Papuan flag on Oct 19 and declared its independence. (AFP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Iran’s top diplomat offered to extend the current visit of UN nuclear inspectors and expressed optimism their findings would help ease tensions despite international claims that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran’s state TV reported the development of laser-guided artillery shells capable of hitting moving targets. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Iraq said interior ministry security forces have detained 16 members of Vice President of the Republic Tareq al-Hashemi’s guard, who were said to be practicing assassinations with silenced rifles and pistols targeting interior ministry officers and judges. (AFP, 1/31/12) 2012        Jan 30, In Mexico several officers were ambushed at a Ciudad Juarez gas station. Three assailants were killed and three other policemen were wounded. (AP, 2/2/12) 2012        Jan 30, Myanmar’s Pres. Thein Sein began a 3-day visit to Singapore. During the visit he signed agreements on cooperation in areas from tourism to the law. (Econ, 2/4/12, p.43) (www.stratfor.com/situation-report?page=21) 2012        Jan 30, In Nigeria a Court of Appeals ruled that Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha, the right-hand man for the feared military dictator Sani Abacha, should be hanged. He was accused of orchestrating the 1996 machine-gun killing of the wife of Moshood Abiola, a flamboyant businessman widely believed to be have won an annulled 1993 presidential election. Gunmen on motorcycles attacked a police station in Kano but were repelled by police. Boko Haram gunmen attacked an air force barracks, a police station and an army checkpoint, about 90 miles (150 km) north of Maiduguri, killing 5 people. (AP, 1/30/12) (AFP, 1/30/12) (AP, 1/31/12) 2012        Jan 30, In Norway 2 men were found guilty Monday of involvement in an al-Qaida plot to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad. A third defendant, David Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was convicted on an explosives charge and sentenced to four months in prison. The Oslo district court sentenced alleged ringleader Mikael Davud, to seven years in prison and co-defendant Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak to three and a half years. The three men were arrested in July 2010. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, In northwest Pakistan a suicide bomber killed Haji Akhunzada, an Islamist militant commander, who had escaped two previous assassination attempts, and three other people on the outskirts of Peshawar. (AFP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, In western Panama members of the Ngobe-Bugle Indian tribe began blocking the Pan-American Highway to protest changes that the government made to a mining law and its plans to build dams in their territory. (AP, 2/17/12) 2012        Jan 30, In Peru some 112 people were treated for injuries after a magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck the country’s central coast at 11 minutes after midnight. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, In the Philippines an accidental grenade blast killed a communist rebel and wounded 11 civilians, including 7 children, in southern Bukidnon province’s Kibawe township. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Romania’s highest court sentenced former PM Adrian Nastase (2000-2004) to two years in prison after convicting him of illegally raising funds for a failed presidential campaign. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it has invited Syrian authorities and opposition for talks in Moscow. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, In northern Senegal paramilitary police opened fire on men and women protesting the president’s plan to run for a third term, killing a woman in her 60s and a high school student in Podor. (AP, 1/31/12) 2012        Jan 30, Somalia’s Islamist Shebab rebels banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), ordering it to close its emergency relief operations in the war-torn regions it controls. (AFP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Sudanese officials said the army has freed 14 Chinese road construction workers, part of a group reportedly abducted by militants on Jan 28 in a remote region in the country’s south. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, The World Food Program estimated that as many as a half million people could be forced to flee Sudan if the government in Khartoum does not allow humanitarian aid into the country. A top US official said that a humanitarian crisis is looming. (AP, 1/30/12) 2012        Jan 30, Swaziland police fired teargas at university students, when they protested the government’s failure to open the school for classes this year. (AFP, 2/10/12) 2012        Jan 30, Syrian forces heavily shelled the restive city of Homs and troops pushed back dissident troops from some suburbs on the outskirts of Damascus in an offensive trying to regain control of the capital’s eastern doorstep. Activists reported the discovery of a family of six, a couple and their four children, who had been killed by gunfire several days earlier in the Karm el-Zeitoun district of Damascus. SANA state news reported that a “terrorist group” blew up a gas pipeline in the province of Homs. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said almost 100 people, including 55 civilians, were killed during a regime assault on Homs. (AP, 1/30/12) (AFP, 1/30/12) (AFP, 1/31/12) 2012        Jan 30, In Yemen US airstrikes targeting leaders from the active al-Qaida branch killed four suspected militants, including a man suspected of involvement in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. (AP, 1/31/12)2013        Jan 30, In Alabama Jimmy Lee Dykes (65) holed up in a bunker with a 5-year-old hostage kept law officers at bay in an all-night, all-day standoff that began when he killed a school bus driver and dragged the boy away. Bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr. (66) was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect 21 students. (AP, 1/30/13)(AP, 2/1/13) 2013        Jan 30, A massive storm in the southeast US left at least 2 people dead in Georgia. (SFC, 1/31/13, p.A5) 2013        Jan 30, Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan (78) was released from federal prison. He will remain under house arrest until his 6½-year sentence officially ends in July. (SFC, 1/31/13, p.A9) 2013        Jan 30, In Afghanistan a bomb exploded in an open-air market in Khost province, killing two small children. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, In Argentina an attempt by Chevron Corp. to unfreeze its assets was dismissed by an appeals court. Winners of a $19 billion environmental judgment in Ecuador have filed suits in Canada, Brazil and Argentina. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, In north-central Chile a magnitude-6.8 earthquake shook offices, toppled supermarket shelves and broke windows. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, China’s Beijing government put into place emergency measures to try to combat thick smog which has encased the city. (SFC, 1/31/13, p.A2) 2013        Jan 30, In Egypt two protesters were killed in clashes in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and its surroundings. Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt’s liberal opposition leader, called for a broad national dialogue with the Islamist government, all political factions and the powerful military. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, Egypt’s Islamist Pres. Morsi, on a one-day visit to Berlin to seek support to rebuild a crumbling Egyptian economy, turned aside repeated criticism of his past comments referring to Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs,” insisting that the remarks were taken out of context and were aimed at criticizing Israeli attacks on Palestinians. (AP, 1/3o/13) 2013        Jan 30, At a conference in Kuwait Gulf nations answered UN calls to boost humanitarian aid for Syria with $900 million in pledges even as more refugees poured into neighboring Jordan and its leader warned resources were strained to the limit. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, Israel said it is transferring some $100 million in last month’s tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority that were frozen last year. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, Israeli jets bombed a convoy near Syria’s border with Lebanon, apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah in what some called a warning to Damascus not to arm Israel’s Lebanese enemy. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, The Lebanese military said that Israeli warplanes have sharply increased their activity over Lebanon in the past week, including at least 12 sorties in less than 24 hours in the country’s south. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, In Mali French forces took control the airport in Kidal, seizing a key position in the last remaining urban stronghold of Islamist extremists, whose fighters escaped with their weapons into a desert region the size of Texas. 4 Malian soldiers died and 5 others were wounded when their vehicle hit a land mine in the town of Gossi. (AP, 1/30/13) (AP, 1/31/13) 2013        Jan 30, Russia pulled out of an anti-crime accord with the United States in a move the US called “self-defeating,” the latest sign of rising tensions between Moscow and Washington. (AP, 1/30/13) 2013        Jan 30, South Korea launched a satellite into space from its own soil for the first time. The satellite is designed to analyze weather data, measure radiation in space, gauges distances on earth and test how effectively South Korean-made devices installed on the satellite operate in space. (AP, 1/30/13)2014        Jan 30, Royal Dutch Shell said it will suspend drilling in offshore Alaska after a US court decision and as the oil major streamlines operations following a slump in annual profits. (AFP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, In western Kentucky 8 children and their mother, LaRae Watson (35), were killed in a house fire. (SFC, 1/31/14, p.A8) 2014        Jan 30, In Utah Jose Angel Garcia (27) shot and killed Sheriff’s Sgt. Cory Wride following a 50-mile chase near Eagle Mountain. A 2nd deputy was wounded. Garcia was also wounded and died the next day. Garcia’s girlfriend Meagan Grunwald (17) survived the shootout and faced nearly a dozen charges in the crime rampage. In April she pleaded innocent to all charges. (SFC, 2/1/14, p.A6) (SFC, 5/13/14, p.A5) 2014        Jan 30, A Bangladesh court sentenced Motiur Rahman Nizami (70), leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, and 13 others to death over a huge 2004 arms smuggling racket, sparking fears of new political unrest. (AP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Leaders of the 54-member African Union met in Ethiopia for a two-day summit with the conflict in the Central African Republic and South Sudan dominating the agenda. (AFP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, England-based Oxfam confirmed accepting US actress Scarlett Johansson’s decision to step down, saying her promotion of Israeli drinks firm SodaStream, which has a factory in a settlement east of Jerusalem, was “incompatible” with her role at the international aid agency. (AFP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, A small socialist party quit Denmark’s coalition government amid discord over plans to sell a stake in state-controlled Dong Energy to Goldman Sachs and other investors. (AP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Egyptian security forces arrested 11 Muslim Brotherhood members accused of running Facebook pages inciting violence against the police. An government air raid in the Sinai Peninsula hit militants linked to the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. 7 militants were reported killed. (AP, 1/30/14) (AFP, 1/31/14) 2014        Jan 30, In France about 20 percent of flights in and out of Paris’ airports were canceled because air traffic controllers are on strike over plans to combine European air space. Controllers in several other European countries also plan work stoppages. (AP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Greek police detained dozens of people during a protest at the merchant marine minister’s office over the deaths of immigrants whose boat sank as it was being towed by the Coast Guard. (AP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, In Iraq at least 6 gunmen burst into the state-run Company for Transportation ministry building in Baghdad and killed at least 2 people. Police shot and killed 4 of the militants while two others blew themselves up. Officials blamed the Sunni Muslim ISIL (ISIS) rebels. Attacks across the city left 11 dead. (Reuters, 1/30/14) (SFC, 1/31/14, p.A4) 2014        Jan 30, In Italy Amanda Knox (26) and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted a 2nd time for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher (21) in 2007 while the two were students together in the Italian university town of Perugia. Neither her 28½-year sentence nor the 25-year prison term handed to Sollecito will have to be served pending further appeals. (Reuters, 1/31/14) 2014        Jan 30, In Japan about 1,400 people filed a joint lawsuit against three companies that manufactured reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, saying they should be financially liable for damage caused by their 2011 meltdowns. (AP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Nature published two papers by a team led by Haruko Obokata of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Japan. The team claimed to have found a simple way to reprogram ordinary mouse cells, persuading them to transform themselves into pluripotent cells. (Econ, 3/22/14, p.79) 2014        Jan 30, In Libya gunmen kidnapped the son of the army’s special forces commander, the latest high-profile abduction in the eastern city of Benghazi where the military has been battling Islamist militants. (Reuters, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Panama’s judicial authorities ordered the release of 32 of 35 crew members of a North Korean ship detained last July for carrying hidden arms from Cuba. The Chon Chon Gang was carrying Cuban fighter jects and missiles. Owners this month agreed to pay a $670,000 fine. (SFC, 1/31/14, p.A2) 2014        Jan 30, In the Philippines nearly 200 inmates complaining of hunger and squalid conditions escaped from a provincial jail in an eastern province that was devastated by a monster storm in November. Authorities recaptured 148 of the 182 escapees hours after they stormed out of the Leyte provincial jail in Palo town. (AP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Romania’s National Center of Cinematography viewed Danish director Lars von Trier’s movie “Nymphomaniac II” for a second time and decided to lift the ban it had imposed the day before. (AP, 1/31/14) 2014        Jan 30, Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee identified the Dec 29 Volgograd bombers as Asker Samedov and Suleiman Magomedov and called them members of the “Buinaksk Terrorist Group.” It also said two suspected accomplices have been arrested in Dagestan province. (Reuters, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, In Syria at least 11 people, including three children, were killed by explosive-packed barrels dropped from government army helicopters over the town of Daraya. (AFP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Tunisia’s central bank expressed “optimism” after the IMF released a delayed $506 million loan to support the fragile economy following major steps this week to end months of political turmoil. (AFP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, In Turkey hundreds of police were transferred from their posts in Ankara and Izmir, and dozens more were affected in Istanbul and the southeastern city of Gaziantep. Altogether, more than 5,000 police officers have been dismissed or transferred since the graft inquiry became public on December 17 with the arrest of businessmen close to PM Tayyip Erdogan and three cabinet ministers’ sons. (Reuters, 1/31/14) 2014        Jan 30, Uganda’s government said it is planning to double expenditure on anti-retroviral drugs in an effort to reverse a worsening trend in HIV infections. (AFP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, Ukraine’s embattled President Viktor Yanukovych took sick leave, leaving it unclear how involved he may be in efforts to resolve the country’s political crisis in which protesters are calling for his resignation. (AP, 1/30/14) 2014        Jan 30, In Ukraine Dmytro Bulatov (35) a member of Automaidan, a group of car owners that has taken part in the protests against President Viktor Yanukovych, was discovered outside Kiev. His face and clothes were covered in clotted blood, his hands were swollen and bore the marks of nails. He had gone missing on Jan 22. (AP, 1/31/14) 2014        Jan 30, A Yemeni cargo ship ran aground and sank off the coast of Yemen killing all 12 crew. (Reuters, 2/1/14) http://www.timelinesdb.com