Today in History

1327        Jan 25, King Edward III inherited the British throne.(MC, 1/25/02)1494        Jan 25, Ferdinand I, cruel king of Naples, died. (MC, 1/25/02)1509        Jan 25, Giovanni Morone, Italian theologist, diplomat, cardinal, “heretic,” was born. (MC, 1/25/02)1533        Jan 25, England’s King Henry VIII secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn (who later gave birth to Elizabeth I) in a service performed by Thomas Cramer. (AP, 1/25/98) (HN, 1/25/99) (PCh, 1992ed, p.177)1540        Jan 25, Edmund Campion, saint, Jesuit martyr (Decem Rationes), was born in London. (MC, 1/25/02)1579        Jan 25, The Union of Utrecht brought together seven northern, Protestant provinces of the Netherlands against the Catholics. Known as the United Provinces, they become the foundation of the Dutch Republic. The Treaty of Utrecht was signed, marking the beginning of the Dutch Republic. (TL-MB, 1988, p.22) (AP, 1/25/98)1586        Jan 25, Lucas Cranach “the Younger” (70), German painter, died. (MC, 1/25/02)1640        Jan 25, Robert Burton, author (Anatomy of Melancholy), died. (MC, 1/25/02)1721        Jan 25, Czar Peter the Great ended the Russian orthodox patriarchy. (MC, 1/25/02)1726        Jan 25, Guillaume Delisle (50), French geographer (Atlas geographique), died. (MC, 1/25/02)1759        Jan 25, Robert Burns (d.1796), poet and song writer, who wrote “Auld Lang Syne” and “Comin’ Thru the Rye,” was born in Alloway, Scotland. He took traditional Scottish songs and fiddles tunes, and improved upon existing words, or added verses where they had been lost. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind, should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne. For old lang syne, my dear, for old lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for old lang syne.” (EMN, 1/96, p.4,6) (HN, 1/25/99) (SFC, 12/30/99, p.A13) (MC, 1/25/02)1775        Jan 25, Americans dragged cannon uphill to fight the British at Gun Hill Road, Bronx. (MC, 1/25/02)1787        Jan 25, Shays’ Rebellion suffered a setback when debt-ridden farmers led by Capt. Daniel Shays failed to capture an arsenal at Springfield, Mass. Small farmers in Springfield, Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays continued their revolt against tax laws. Federal troops broke up the protesters of what later became known as Shay’s Rebellion. [See Aug 29, 1786] (AP, 1/25/98) (HN, 1/25/99) (www.sjchs-history.org/Shays.html)1795        Jan 25, The Royal Chapel at Carmel, Ca., was dedicated with a Mass of Thanksgiving. A major renovation was undertaken in 1856. (SSFC, 1/4/09, p.B3)1799        Jan 25, Eliakim Spooner of Vermont received the 1st US patent for a seeding machine. (MC, 1/25/02)1802        Jan 25, Napoleon was elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic. (MC, 1/25/02)1817        Jan 25, Giocchino Rossini’s opera “La Cenerentola” premiered in Rome. It was based on the Cinderella story. (WSJ, 11/2/95, p.A-12) (MC, 1/25/02)1825        Jan 25, Eli Whitney (b.1765), cotton gin inventor and gun manufacturer, died. (ON, 2/03, p.6)1846        Jan 25, The dreaded Corn Laws, which taxed imported oats, wheat and barley, were repealed by the British Parliament. (HN, 1/25/99)1851        Jan 25, Sojourner Truth addressed the 1st Black Women’s Rights Convention in Akron. [See May, 1851] (MC, 1/25/02)1855        Jan 25, Dorothy Wordsworth (b.1771), English prose writer and the sister of poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850), died. In 2009 Frances Wilson authored “The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth.” (WSJ, 2/19/09, p.A17) (www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dwordsw.htm)1858        Jan 25, Britain’s Princess Victoria (the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert), married Crown Prince Frederick William (the future German Emperor and King of Prussia) at St. James’s Palace. The ceremony’s tradition-setting music, personally selected by the Princess Royal, included the “Bridal Chorus” from Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and the “Wedding March” by Felix Mendelssohn. (AP, 1/25/08)1861        Jan 25, Pres. Lincoln picked Ferdinand Schavers, a black man, as his first bodyguard. (Hem., 5/97, p.18) (WSJ, 9/19/97, p.A13)1863        Jan 25, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assumed command and undertook the reorganization of the demoralized Army of the Potomac. He commanded the Army of the Potomac during the Battle of Chancellorsville. By April, he thought he was ready to face Lee”˜s Army of Northern Virginia. [See Jan 26] (HNQ, 9/20/00) 1863        Jan 25, Battle of Kingston, NC. (MC, 1/25/02) 1863        Jan 25, James Morrill (1824-1865), a British citizen, ended years of living among Australian Aborigines after a shipwreck in 1846. (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/morrill-james-2484)1874        Jan 25, The birthday of Somerset Maugham (d.1965). (HFA, ’96, p.22)1877        Jan 25, Congress determined the presidential election between Hayes and Tilden. Tilden won the popular votes, while Hays won the electoral votes. [see Jan 29] (MC, 1/25/02)1878        Jan 25, Off of San Francisco the 3-masted clipper ship King Philip, built in Maine in 1856, was towed by a tug through the Golden Gate and laid anchor to allow the tug to assist a nearby vessel. The anchor failed and the King Philip drifted onto sand at Ocean Beach, where it foundered. Remnants of the ship appeared in 1980 and again in 2007. (SFC, 5/8/07, p.B5)1882        Jan 25, Virginia Woolf (d.1941), English author, critic, was born. She was a member of the intellectual circle known as the Bloomsbury Group and wrote “Mrs. Dalloway” and “Orlando.” “On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points.” “I read the Book of Job last night; I don’t think God comes out of it well.” “The compensation of growing old was simply this: that the passions remain as strong as ever, but one has gained””at last! — the power which adds the supreme flavor to existence, the power of taking hold of experience, of turning it round, slowly, in the light.” In 1997 Panthea Reid published: “Art and Affection: A Life of Virginia Woolf.” In 1998 Mitchell Leaska published: “Granite and Rainbow: The Life of Virginia Woolf.” (AP, 7/6/97) (IW 12/29/97) (AP, 1/18/98) (SFC, 5/25/98, p.E6) (HN, 1/25/99)1886        Jan 25, Wilhelm Furtwangler, conductor, composer, was born in Berlin, Germany. (MC, 1/25/02)1890        Jan 25, The United Mine Workers of America was founded. (AP, 1/25/98) 1890        Jan 25, Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World received a tumultuous welcome home after she completed a round-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes. (AP, 1/25/00)1892        Jan 25, In Buganda (Uganda) the Battle of Mengo took place. Catholics advanced against Anglicans armed with machine guns just outside what is now Kampala. (Econ, 2/14/04, p.16) (www.africa2000.com/UGANDA/tribute.html)1900        Jan 25, the US 56th Congress refused to seat Brigham H. Roberts, Mormon Democrat from Utah, because of his polygamy. (AH, 2/05, p.16)1904        Jan 25, J.M. Synge’s “Riders to the Sea,” premiered in Dublin. [see Feb 25] (MC, 1/25/02) 1904        Jan 25, Two-hundred (179) coal miners were entombed in an explosion in Cheswick, Pennsylvania. (HN, 1/25/99) (MC, 1/25/02)1905        Jan 25, Largest diamond, Cullinan (3106 carets), was found in South Africa. (MC, 1/25/02)1906        Jan 25, Major Gen. Joseph Wheeler II (70), Confederate, US General, died. He led a cavalry division in the Battle of San Juan Hill in 1898. As a Confederate brigadier and then major general, “Fightin’ Joe” Wheeler commanded the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Mississippi and, later, the Army of Tennessee. Captured in May 1865, he went on to have a prosperous postwar life, serving as a U.S. congressman for eight terms. After his Spanish-American War service, Wheeler retired from the army as a brigadier general of U.S. Regulars. He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery. (HNQ, 2/13/02) (MC, 1/25/02)1915        Jan 25, Umberto Giordano, Sardou & Moreau’s opera “Madame Sans Gene” premiered in NYC. (MC, 1/25/02) 1915        Jan 25, The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, inaugurated transcontinental telephone service in the United States. Bell placed the first ceremonial cross-continental call from New York to his old colleague Thomas Watson in San Francisco. (SFC, 2/3/97, p.D1) (AP, 1/25/98)(HN, 1/25/99)1918        Jan 25, Austria and Germany rejected U.S. peace proposals. (HN, 1/25/99)1919        Jan 25, The League of Nations plan was adopted by the Allies. (HN, 1/25/99)1921        Jan 25, Karel Capek’s ” R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots” (1920), premiered in Prague. The play introduced the term robot (robota for forced labor). (www.czech-language.cz/translations/rur-introen.html) (www.kirjasto.sci.fi/capek.htm)1924        Jan 25, The 1st Winter Olympic games opened in Chamonix, France. (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-winter-olympics-begin-in-chamonix-france) (SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A19)1928        Jan 25, The Zamorano Club was founded in Los Angeles, Ca., “to establish contact and encourage exchange of thought among its members, who shall be men interested in Fine Books.” The club was named after Agustin Vicente Zamorano, the first printer in Alta California. (www.zamoranoclubla.org/history/) (http://tinyurl.com/s3c77) 1928        Jan 25, Eduard Shevardnadze, foreign minister of USSR, was born in Soviet Georgia. (MC, 1/25/02)1929        Jan 25, Members of the New York Stock Exchange asked for an additional 275 seats. (HN, 1/25/99)1930        Jan 25, New York police routed a Communist rally at the Town Hall. (HN, 1/25/99)1933        Jan 25, Corazon Aquino was born as Corazon Cojuangco. She defeated the corrupt Ferdinand Marcos to become the President of the Philippines (1986-1992). Her husband had been killed by Marcos’ gunmen. (HN, 1/25/99) (www.answers.com/topic/coraz-n-aquino)1937        Jan 25, The US radio program “The Guiding Light,” made its debut. In 1952 it became a television soap opera on CBS. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiding_Light)1940        Jan 25, Nazis established a Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland. (MC, 1/25/02)1943        Jan 25, The last German airfield in Stalingrad was captured by the Red Army. (HN, 1/25/99)1945        Jan 25, The US Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed suit in the U.S. District Court in New York against De Beers, four other British or South African companies, three Belgian companies and one Portuguese Company which together produced and sold 95 percent of the world’s diamonds, ‘charging them with conspiring to restrain and monopolize the foreign trade of the United States in gem and industrial diamonds in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Wilson Tariff Acts. (www.macha.f9.co.uk/d-Ch5-rationing.html)1946        Jan 25, The United Mine Workers rejoined the American Federation of Labor. (AP, 1/25/98)1947        Jan 25, American gangster Al Capone died of syphilis in Miami Beach, Fla., at age 48. While he was in prison at Alcatraz Capone composed a song titled “Madonna Mia,” and gave to Vincent Casey, a Jesuit priest, who had visited him regularly. In 2009 the song was produced and made available on CD. (AP, 1/25/98) (SFC, 4/17/09, p.A6)1949        Jan 25, Axis Sally, who broadcasted Nazi propaganda to U.S. troops in Europe, stood trial in the United States for war crimes. (HN, 1/25/99) 1949        Jan 25, “Comecon,” or the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, was the Soviet Union’s attempt to create a program that would be the Communist equivalent of the Marshall Plan, an American program to rebuild postwar western Europe. After the formal division of Germany into east and west, the Soviets attempted to create the organization to replicate for Eastern Europe what the Marshall Plan was to do for the west. The Soviet-backed organization started with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania becoming founding members (in addition to the Soviet Union). Albania and East Germany joined shortly thereafter. Comecon was never able to match the effectiveness of the American program because of the lack of resources in the weaker Communist countries and inflexible Soviet leadership concerned primarily with strengthening the Soviet Union. The organization, which sought coordination between the nations’ centrally-planned economies lasted until 1990 when the democratization movements in eastern Europe made Comecon’s purpose moot. In 1991, Comecon was renamed the Organization for International Economic Cooperation. (HNQ, 6/30/99) (HNQ, 1/22/01)1951        Jan 25, The U.S. Eighth Army in Korea launched Operation Thunderbolt, a counter attack to push the Chinese Army north of the Han River. (HN, 1/25/99)1955        Jan 25, Columbia University scientists developed an atomic clock that was accurate to within one second in 300 years. (HN, 1/25/99)1956        Jan 25, Khrushchev said that he believed that Eisenhower was sincere in his efforts to abolish war. (HN, 1/25/99)1959        Jan 25, American Airlines opened the jet age in the United States with the  first scheduled transcontinental flight of a Boeing 707 from LA to NY for $301. (AP, 1/25/98) (HN, 1/25/99)(MC, 1/25/02) 1959        Jan 25, Pope John XXIII proclaimed the 2nd Vatican council. (MC, 1/25/02)1961        Jan 25, Walt Disney’s “101 Dalmatians” was released. (MC, 1/25/02) 1961        Jan 25, President Kennedy held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television. (AP, 1/25/98)1963        Jan 25, Wilson Kettle (102) died, leaving 582 living descendents. (MC, 1/25/02)1964        Jan 25, Beatles 1st US #1, “I Want to Hold your Hand.” (MC, 1/25/02)1969        Jan 25, US-North Vietnamese peace talks began in Paris. (www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)1970        Jan 25, The Robert Altman film “M*A*S*H” premiered in NYC. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASH_(film))1971        Jan 25, Charles Manson and three female followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. (AP, 1/25/98) 1971        Jan 25, The Philadelphia mint made its 1st trial strike of the Eisenhower dollar. (www.usmint.gov/search/index.cfm?flash=yes&criteria=&hf=1&group=166) 1971        Jan 25, In Milan, Italy, firebombs damaged the Pirelli tire factory. (WSJ, 12/13/07, p.A18) 1971        Jan 25, In Uganda Gen. Idi Amin (d.2003) led a military coup that seized power while Pres. Obote was at a summit in Singapore. Obote sought refuge in Tanzania. (WUD, 1994, p. 1688) (SFC, 10/12/05, p.B7)1972        Jan 25, Pres. Nixon made public the secret talks from May 31, 1971, that included a cease-fire-in-place, US withdrawal, and the return of prisoners from North Vietnam. He made a revised offer with the concurrence of South Vietnam’s Pres. Thieu. Nixon aired the eight-point peace plan for Vietnam, asking for POW release in return for withdrawal. (WSJ, 2/5/96, p.A-19) (HN, 1/25/99) 1972        Jan 25, Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to U.S. Congress, announced her candidacy for president as Democrat. (HN, 1/25/01)1974        Jan 25, Ray Kroc (1902-1984), the head of McDonald’s Corp., bought the SD Padres for $12 million and prevented the team’s planned move to Washington DC. (www.addictsports.com/baseball/archive/index.php/t-28507.html)(SFC, 10/13/03, p.A19) 1974        Jan 25, Bulent Ecevit (1925-2006) became prime minister of Turkey. (www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/turkey.htm)1978        Jan 25, Muriel Humphrey was appointed to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of her husband, Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota. (AP, 1/25/98)1980        Jan 25, Robert L. Johnson launched Black Entertainment Television (BET). It began as a two-hour-a-week service that aired every Friday evening. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Entertainment_Television) 1980        Jan 25, A US-Mexico Extradition Treaty, signed by Pres. Carter in 1978, went into effect. It allowed Mexico to refuse extradition of suspects facing the death penalty in the US. (http://tinyurl.com/2svjk5) (www.escapingjustice.com/extrafpo.htm) 1980        Jan 25, Paul McCartney  was released from Tokyo jail & deported. (www.taima.org/en/hemplib3.htm#mccartney) 1980        Jan 25, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr was elected as Iran’s first president since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Though he won an overwhelming majority of the popular vote, he did not have the support of the predominantly fundamentalist parliament. (http://www.80s.com/Icons/Bios/abolhassan_bani_sadr.html)1981        Jan 25, The 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States. (AP, 1/25/99) 1981        Jan 25, In China Jiang Qing (1914-1991), Mao’s widow, received a suspended death sentence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Qing) (http://tinyurl.com/3e5c2m)1982        Jan 25, In Stockton, Ca., Renee Rontal (13) and Nancy Rubia (13) were out looking for fun on a popular cruising strip when they were picked up by a 22-year-old Reyes and 21-year-old Antonio Espinoza. The next day a farm worker found Renee in a ditch outside town with her throat cut. Nancy was found nearby face down in shallow water, and an autopsy concluded that she died from drowning in the muddy water. Both girls had been beaten and raped. Espinoza was arrested a year and a half after the killing and was convicted of murder. On May 27, 2011, FBI agents and Mexican federal police arrested Alfredo Reyes (51) outside a pool hall in Tijuana, where he had been living under an alias. (AP, 6/24/11)1983        Jan 25, The IRAS space probe was launched. It studied infrared radiation from across the cosmos and exposed stars as they were born from clouds of gas and dust. (SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A14) 1983        Jan 25, Klaus Barbie, SS chief of Lyon in Nazi-France, was arrested in Bolivia. (www.exilordinaire.org/rubriques/?keyRubrique=klaus_barbie2) 1983        Jan 25, China’s Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Jiang Qing, Mao’s widow, to life. (http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1983-1/1983-01-25-ABC-22.html)1984        Jan 25, President Reagan endorsed the development of the first U.S. permanently manned space station. (HN, 1/25/99)1988        Jan 25, in his final State of the Union address, President Reagan declared America was “strong, prosperous, at peace.” Vice President George Bush and Dan Rather clashed on “The CBS Evening News” as the anchorman attempted to question the Republican presidential candidate about his role in the Iran-Contra affair. (AP, 1/25/98)1989        Jan 25, Michael Jordan scored his 10,000th NBA point in his 5th season. (www.nba.com/jordan/mj8889.html) 1989        Jan 25, The US Senate Armed Services Committee opened confirmation hearings on the nomination of John Tower to be secretary of defense.(AP, 1/25/99)1990        Jan 25, President Bush proposed to add an additional $1.2 billion to the budget for the war on drugs, including a 50% increase in military spending. (www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/index.html) 1990        Jan 25, An Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed in Cove Neck, N.Y.; 73 of the 161 people aboard were killed. (AP, 1/25/00) 1990        Jan 25, Actress Ava Gardner, star in 60 films, died in London at age 67. Her 3 husbands included Mickey Rooney (1942-1943), Artie Shaw (1945-1946) and Frank Sinatra (1951-1957). (AP, 1/25/00) (SFEC, 3/12/00, Par p.2)1991        Jan 25, During the Gulf War Iraq sabotaged Kuwait’s main supertanker loading pier, dumping an estimated 460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Missiles fired from western Iraq struck in the Tel Aviv and Haifa areas, killing one Israeli and injuring more than 40 others. (AP, 1/25/01) (SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)1992        Jan 25, Finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations met in Garden City, N.Y., agreeing to intensify their cooperation to stimulate the world’s sluggish economy, while leaving it to each country to decide how. (AP, 1/25/02) 1992        Jan 25, Mahmoud Riad (b.1917), Egyptian diplomat and sec-gen of Arab League (1972-79), died. (www.britannica.com/eb/article-9390991?hook=795127)1993        Jan 25, President Clinton appointed his wife, Hillary, to head a committee on health-care reform. (AP, 1/25/98) 1993        Jan 25, Sears announced it was closing its catalog sales dept after 97 years. (www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=2210) 1993        Jan 25, Five commuters were shot outside the gates of the US CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. Two people died. Mir [Amil] Aimal Kasi, a Pakistani national, was tracked down for the shooting in 1997 in Afghanistan and returned to the US. He was convicted of murder in 1997 and was executed Nov 14, 2002. (SFC, 6/18/97, p.A3) (SFC,11/11/97, p.A3) (SFC,11/15/97, p.A3) (AP, 1/25/98) (SFC, 11/15/02, p.A3) 1993        Jan 25, Lance Cpl. Anthony D. Botello (21) of Wilburton, Oklahoma, was killed by a sniper in Mogadishu, Somalia. (LCNT, 2/4/93)1994        Jan 25, President Clinton delivered his State of the Union address in which he challenged Congress to pass comprehensive health care reforms. (AP, 1/25/99) 1994        Jan 25, Singer Michael Jackson settled a child molestation lawsuit against him; terms were confidential, although one source put the monetary figure at least $10 million. (AP, 1/25/04) 1994        Jan 25, The United States launched Clementine I, an unmanned spacecraft that was to study the moon before it was “lost and gone forever.” (AP, 1/25/99)1995        Jan 25, The defense gave its opening statement in the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles, saying Simpson was the victim of a “rush to judgment” by authorities who had mishandled evidence and ignored witnesses. (AP, 1/25/00) 1995        Jan, 25, Extensive flooding hit the streets of Las Vegas and many casinos had water dripping onto gambling tables. (HFA, ’96, p.73) 1995        Jan 25, The top of a Chinese Long March missile disintegrated as it hit supersonic speeds and destroyed a Hughes Apstar 2 satellite. The debris killed at least 6 villagers. (SFC, 6/15/98, p.A5) (www.christusrex.org/www2/china/Hughes/pg7.html) 1995        Jan 25, A team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andoya Rocket Range off the northwest coast of Norway to study the aurora borealis over Svalbard. Nuclear forces in Russia were put on alert, and the nuclear-command suitcase was brought to President Boris Yeltsin, who then had to decide whether to launch a nuclear barrage against the United States. This became known as the Norwegian rocket incident or Black Brant scare. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident)1996        Jan 25, With Republicans bruised by two government shutdowns, the US House overwhelmingly approved legislation to keep federal agencies running through March 15th, 1996. (AP, 1/25/01) 1996        Jan 25, Charles Rothenberg was arrested in the shooting of a 47-year-old man and charged with attempted murder. He had set fire to his 6-year-old son in 1983 in southern California and served 7 years in prison. (SFC, 6/8/96, p.A17) 1996        Jan 25, Wells Fargo won the battle to acquire First Interstate of Los Angeles in a $11.6 billion pact. (WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2) (SFC, 6/9/98, p.A10) 1996        Jan 25, Jonathon Larson (35), composer of Rent, died of an aortic aneurysm. (SFC, 6/8/96, p.E4)1997        Jan 25, Responding to recent cases of deadly food poisoning, President Clinton promised to seek $43 million dollars to implement an early warning system for food contamination. (AP, 1/25/98) 1997        Jan 25, Astrologer Jeane Dixon died in Washington, D.C., at age 79. (AP, 1/25/98) 1997        Jan 25, In Lushnja, Albania, thousands of people lost money in pyramid investment schemes and took to the streets in protest. Some one million Kalashnikov rifles were stolen from government depots. (SFEC, 1/26/97, p.A14) (SFC, 7/26/97, p.A12) 1997        Jan 25, In Argentina Noticias photojournalist Jose Luis Cabezas was found murdered in the Atlantic resort of Pinamar. He had been handcuffed, tortured and burned alive near a meeting place of the Justicialist Party. It was later revealed that police officers carried out the murder under orders from Alfredo Yabran. In 2000 a tribunal found 3 former provincial police officers guilty in the murder along with a former security guard and 4 civilians. (SFC, 3/27/97, p.A15) (SFC, 10/2/97, p.A13) (SFC,12/9/97, p.B10) (SFC, 2/28/98, p.A7) (SFC, 2/3/00, p.A13) 1997        Jan 25, In China it was reported that winter storms had stranded some 320,000 people in Xinjiang province and that many were close to starvation. (SFC, 1/25/97, p.A18) 1997        Jan 25, In Columbia gunmen of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) kidnapped Fernando Caballero Argaez, president of the Bogota Stock Exchange, in Granada. (SFC, 1/28/97, p.A8) 1997        Jan 25, In Kenya it was reported that mass starvation was threatening after a widespread draught this season. (SFC, 1/25/97, p.A18) 1997        Jan 25, In Somaliland it was reported that many wells and bore holes had dried up and that cattle and goats were dying in large numbers. (SFC, 1/25/97, p.A18)1998        Jan 25, “Grease” closed at Eugene O’Neill Theater NYC after 1,503 performances. (www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4610) 1998        Jan 25, In Superbowl XXXII the Denver Broncos faced the Green Bay Packers. The Broncos led by John Elway won their first Super Bowl title in four tries, defeating the Green Bay Packers 31-24. (SFEC, 1/25/98, p.C1) (AP, 1/25/99) 1998        Jan 25, American astronaut Andrew Thomas moved from the space shuttle Endeavour into the Russian space station Mir as the relief for David Wolf. (AP, 1/25/99) 1998       Jan 25, In Algeria 20 people had their throats cut in the village of Frenda. Local media reported that 50 people were killed in Kaid Ben Larbi. Ambushes and bombings were widespread as the celebration of Leilat El Qadr (night of destiny) began in recognition of the end of Ramadan. The government reported 29 rebels killed in 3 clashes in the last few days. (SFC, 1/26/98, p.A8) (WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A1) 1998        Jan 25, In Cuba Pope John Paul II spoke in Revolution Square on his final day in the country. He urged Castro to respect human rights. (WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A1) 1998        Jan 25, In Wandhama, India, north of Srinagar, Muslim separatists killed 23 Hindus. (SFC, 1/27/98, p.A10) 1998        Jan 25, In Israel the chief rabbinate proposed that the state recognize Reform and Conservative converts as Jews. (SFC, 1/26/98, p.A8) 1998        Jan 25, In Italy kidnappers of industrialist Giuseppe Soffiantini sent a slice of his ear and a note to a TV news station. The ransom was reportedly reduced to about $6 million. (SFC, 1/26/98, p.B12) 1998        Jan 25, In Sri Lanka suicide bombers killed themselves and 8 others as their truck crashed through the gates of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. The temple reportedly held a tooth of the Buddha brought from India in the 4th century. Enraged Sinhalese burned down a Hindu cultural center in Kandy in retaliation. (SFC, 1/26/98, p.A9) 1998        Jan 25, In Turkey Prime Minister Yilmaz disclosed that the Ciller government’s security forces used death squads against Kurds and engaged in drug trafficking. This was a result of the 7-month investigation of the Susurluk scandal. (WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A1) (WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A15)1999        Jan 25, The US planned to notify the World Trade Organization that it planned sanctions on the European Union and 100% tariffs on a wide range of products due to a dispute over EU banana import laws. (SFC, 1/13/99, p.A11) 1999        Jan 25, A US warplane missile reportedly misfired and Iraq asserted that 11 civilians were killed and 59 injured at al-Jumhuriya. The Pentagon confirmed that an AGM-130 missile had gone off mark. (SFC, 1/26/99, p.A1) (SFC, 1/27/99, p.A7) (SFC, 2/13/99, p.A9) 1999        Jan 25, The Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that the 2000 census could not use statistical sampling to enhance its accuracy. (AP, 1/25/00) 1999        Jan 25, The US Supreme Court upheld rules to let new local phone companies connect to the Bell companies at low cost. (SFC, 1/26/99, p.A3) 1999        Jan 25, Jury selection began in Jasper, Texas, in the trial of John William King, charged in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. (AP, 1/25/00) 1999        Jan 25, William J. McCorkle (30), “King of the Infomercials,” and his wife, Chantal, were sentenced to 24 years in prison for fraud and money-laundering. (SFC, 1/26/99, p.A3) 1999        Jan 25, Abecnego Monje Ortiz (18) was shot in the back by a US DEA agent as he crossed the Rio Grande in an inner tube with 14 others near Eagle Pass, Texas. In 2001 the DEA agreed to pay Ortiz $1.75 million to help pay medical costs. The DEA agent was sentenced in 2000 to 15 years in prison. (SFC, 2/7/01, p.A14) 1999        Jan 25, In Louisville doctors transplanted a left hand to Matthew Scott in a 14 1/2 hour operation. It was the first hand transplant in the United States. (SFC, 1/29/99, p.A2)(AP, 1/25/00) 1999        Jan 25, In China an explosion in Yizhang killed 8 people and injured over 60. The area was the site of recent worker and farmer protests over corruption, unpaid wages and taxes. (SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9) 1999        Jan 25, In Colombia a 6.0 earthquake hit in western Valle del Cauca state and at least 273 people were killed and 900 injured. The cities of Armenia, Pereira, and Calarca were hardest hit. The death toll went up and it was predicted that 2,000 died in Armenia alone. A powerful earthquake rocked Colombia, killing more than 1,000 people. (SFC, 1/26/99, p.A1) (WSJ, 1/26/99, p.A1) (SFC, 1/27/99, p.A1) (AP, 1/25/00) 1999        Jan 25, In Rakovina, Kosovo 5 ethnic Albanians, including 2 children, were found riddled with bullets. (SFC, 1/26/99, p.A12) 1999        Jan 25, In Jordon King Hussein named his eldest son, Abdullah, as heir to the throne. (SFC, 1/26/99, p.A12) 1999        Jan 25, In Sierra Leone a mortuary worker reported that at least 2,000 men, women and children were killed in Freetown. (SFC, 2/13/99, p.A8) 1999        Jan 25, In Zimbabwe 3 Supreme Court justices wrote Pres. Mugabe a letter asking that he confirm that the army has no power to arrest civilians and that the government will not tolerate torture. (SFC, 2/8/99, p.A10)2000        Jan 25, Martina Navratilova entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame. (AP, 1/25/01) 2000        Jan 25, Under government orders, the Florida relatives of Elian Gonzalez agreed to make the boy available for a meeting with his Cuban grandmothers at a neutral site. (AP, 1/25/01) 2000        Jan 25, A snow storm hit the East Coast and left Raleigh, NC, with over a foot of snow. At least 5 deaths were blamed on the storm. (SFC, 1/26/00, p.A3) (WSJ, 1/26/00, p.A1) 2000        Jan 25, In Texas a tanker truck with 9000 gallons of furfural overturned and spilled the toxic chemical, which is used in manufacturing, into a drainage ditch that flows into San Martin Lake. An estimated 6 million fish and dozens of ducks were soon found dead. (SFC, 2/12/00, p.A9) 2000        Jan 25, In Bosnia NATO peacekeepers arrested Mitar Vasiljevic (45), a member of the White Eagles Bosnian-Serb paramilitary group, on charges of extermination of Bosnian Muslim civilians between 1992 and 1994. The charges included helping to burn scores of Muslims to death in Visegrad. (SFC, 1/26/00, p.A9) 2000        Jan 25, The Russian government announced that 1,055 servicemen had been killed and 3,206 wounded in Chechnya since Oct 1. (SFC, 1/27/00, p.A13) 2000        Jan 25, A complaint was submitted in Dakar, Senegal, against former Chad dictator Hissene Habre. It detailed 97 allegations of political killings, 142 cases of torture and 100 disappearances. (SFC, 1/27/00, p.C2)2001        Jan 25, Richard Clarke, US top counter-terrorism advisor, presented a strategy document to Condoleeza Rice with proposal for eliminating the threat from al-Qaeda. The document was made public in 2005. (SFC, 2/12/05, p.A5) 2001        Jan 25, Alan Greenspan said budget surpluses were growing enough to allow a tax cut and still eliminate the national debt by the end of the decade. (SFC, 1/26/01, p.A1) 2001        Jan 25, A jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., found 13-year-old Lionel Tate guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a 6-year-old family friend. Tate had said he accidentally killed the girl while imitating moves by pro wrestlers. (AP, 1/25/02) 2001        Jan 25, The first World Social Forum (WSF), originated by Oded Grajew, opened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, organized by many groups including the French Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Social_Forum) 2001        Jan 25, Israel and Palestine continued talks in Egypt as an Israeli motorist was killed in an ambush by the “Thabet Thabet Brigade.” (SFC, 1/26/01, p.A12) 2001        Jan 25, In Venezuela a DC-3 Rutaca Airlines flight 225 crashed and all 24 passengers, American and European tourists, were killed. (SFC, 1/26/01, p.A12)2002        Jan 25, A senior House Democrat called for Thomas White, Sec. of the Army and former Enron executive, to testify on his role at Enron. (SFC, 1/26/02, p.A15) 2002        Jan 25, In Cambridge, Mass., Thomas Junta was sentenced 6 to 10 years in prison for beating another man to death at their sons’ hockey practice. (AP, 1/25/03) 2002        Jan 25, In Pittsburgh 2 masked gunmen killed 2 men and a young girl in a sandwich shop. (SSFC, 1/27/02, p.A17) 2002        Jan 25, J. Clifford Baxter, a former Enron vice-chairman, was found dead of apparent suicide in Sugar Land, a Houston suburb. He had reportedly complained about the company’s questionable accounting practices. (SFC, 1/26/02, p.A1) (SFC, 4/12/02, p.A14) (AP, 1/25/03) 2002        Jan 25, In Afghanistan leaders called for an increase in peacekeeping troops as warlords competed for power outside of Kabul. (SFC, 1/26/02, p.A14) 2002        Jan 25, A boat full of Haitian migrants capsized near the Bahamas and at least 14 people were drowned. (SFC, 1/26/02, p.AA8) 2002        Jan 25, A bomb in Bogota, Colombia, killed 4 police officers and a girl (5). FARC rebels were blamed. (SSFC, 1/27/02, p.A19) 2002        cJan 25, Chinese PM Zhu Rongji visited Bangalore, India, and said: Your are number one in software, and we are number one in hardware. If Indian software and Chinese hardware work together, we can create a force that will be number one in the world. (SSFC, 1/27/02, p.A24) 2002        Jan 25, A Palestinian suicide bomber sd’d in a Tel Aviv neighborhood and at least 25 people were wounded following an Israeli missile attack in the Gaza Strip that killed a senior Hamas commander. Separately 2 Hamas members were killed by Israeli troops. (SFC, 1/26/02, p.A6)2003        Jan 25, The Sundance Film Festival in Utah gave the grand jury prize to “American Splendor” and the documentary grand prize to “Capturing the Friedmans.” The audience award went to “The Station Agent.” (SSFC, 1/26/03, p.A2) 2003        Jan 25, A computer worm slowed Internet traffic. The “slammer” virus sought vulnerable Microsoft “SQL Server 2000” software. (SSFC, 1/26/03, p.A3) (WSJ, 1/28/03, p.A1) 2003        Jan 25, NASA launched a spacecraft into orbit to measure all the radiation streaming toward Earth from the sun. The small satellite is called Sorce ”” for Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment. (AP, 1/25/04) 2003        Jan 25, Ivory Coast Pres. Laurent Gbagbo accepted a peace plan to end the 4-month civil war. Former PM Seydou Diarra would lead until new elections. (SSFC, 1/26/03, p.A14) (WSJ, 1/27/03, p.A1) 2003        Jan 25, In Nepal suspected Maoist rebels gunned down police chief Krishna Mohan Shrestha along with his wife and bodyguard. (SSFC, 1/26/03, p.A14) 2003        Jan 25, Pakistan marked its entry into the space age when its first communication satellite, PAKSAT-I, formally began operations. (AP, 1/25/03) 2003        Jan 25, In Venezuela opponents of Pres. Hugo Chavez launched a 24-hour street demonstration to protest a court ruling that postponed a referendum on Chavez’s rule. (AP, 1/25/03)2004        Jan 25, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” the final installment of the epic fantasy trilogy that hadn’t yet won most major movie awards, finally snared best dramatic film and three other trophies at the Golden Globes. HBO’s six-hour adaptation of “Angels in America” won best miniseries or TV movie. (AP, 1/26/05) 2004        Jan 25, Outgoing U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told National Public Radio his inability to find illicit arms in Iraq raised serious questions about U.S. intelligence-gathering. (AP, 1/25/05) 2004        Jan 25, NASA’s Opportunity rover zipped its first pictures of Mars to Earth, delighting and puzzling scientists just hours after the spacecraft bounced to a landing on the opposite side of the red planet from its twin rover, Spirit. (AP, 1/25/04) 2004        Jan 25, In Greenville, SC, a fire at a Comfort Inn left 6 people dead. (SFC, 1/26/04, p.A3) 2004        Jan 25, Mikhail Saakashvili was inaugurated as Georgia’s president. (AP, 1/25/05) 2004        Jan 25, in northern Iraq a US helicopter crashed while searching for a river patrol boat that had capsized on the Tigris. A soldier and 2 pilots were missing. 4 Iraqi policemen manning a checkpoint outside Ramadi west of Baghdad were killed in a drive-by shooting. Gunmen also killed three policemen at another checkpoint in Ramadi. US soldiers arrested nearly 50 people and confiscated weapons in several raids in Iraq’s volatile Sunni Triangle. Another soldier died of wounds from the previous day’s attacks. (AP, 1/25/04) (AP, 1/26/04) 2004        Jan 25, Rescuers in the Philippines launched a massive search for 53 fishermen missing after their boats were pounded by strong winds and high waves off three northwestern provinces. At least two fishermen died. (AP, 1/25/04)2005        Jan 25, The US Congressional Budget Office predicted the government will accumulate another $855 billion in deficits over the next decade. Administration officials detailed President Bush’s request for $80 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. (AP, 1/25/05) 2005        Jan 25, SF and dozens of other US cities undertook a tally of their homeless competing for nearly $1.5 billion in federal funds to care for the homeless. (WSJ, 2/1/05, p.A1) 2005        Jan 25, Legislators in San Francisco, Ca., voted 8-3 to ban smoking in public parks, becoming the first major American city to embrace such an expansive ban on tobacco use. (Reuters, 1/26/05) (SFC, 1/26/05, p.A1) 2005        Jan 25, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $750 million over 10 years to support the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. (WSJ, 1/25/05, p.D6) 2005        Jan 25, Georgina Mace told a meeting of zoologists in London that 0.5% of the area of natural habitats on land is lost each year, largely due to conversion to farmland. (Econ, 2/5/05, p.74) 2005        Jan 25, Philip Johnson (b.1906), architect, died in Conn. His buildings included 101 California St. in SF and the AT&T building in NYC. (SFC, 1/27/05, p.A2) 2005        Jan 25, Ethiopia’s government said it has began giving free doses of life-prolonging drugs to about 14,000 HIV-infected Ethiopians in a US-funded program. (AP, 1/25/05) 2005        Jan 25, Paris’ new memorial to the Holocaust was inaugurated, with President Chirac bowing before the wall inscribed with the names of 76,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps from France. (AP, 1/25/05) 2005        Jan 25, In western India thousands of Hindus panicked during a religious procession, when fire broke out in roadside stalls. The resulting stampede killed at least 258 people near the village of Wai. (AP, 1/25/05) (AP, 1/26/05) 2005        Jan 25, In Iraq gunmen assassinated a senior judge. Roy Hallums, an American hostage kidnapped in November, pleaded for his life with a rifle pointed at his head in a newly released video. Hallums was rescued by coalition troops on Sept. 7, 2005. 11 Iraqi police died in clashes. 6 US soldiers died, including 5 in a vehicle crash north of Baghdad. (WSJ, 1/26/05, p.A1) (AP, 1/25/06) 2005        Jan 25, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern prepared to meet with Sinn Fein leaders, in his first talks with the IRA-linked party since the Dec 20 bank theft. (AP, 1/25/05) 2005        Jan 25, The top Hamas leader said his militant group is prepared to suspend attacks if Israel stops targeting militants and agrees to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners. (AP, 1/25/05)2006        Jan 25, Republicans John McCain and Tom Coburn said they’re putting their colleagues on notice: They will challenge special projects that senators insert into spending bills until the practice stops. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, US authorities discovered what they say is the largest and most sophisticated tunnel under their border with Mexico, one that was used by drug trafficking gangs. The tunnel began near Tijuana’s airport and ended 2,400 feet away in a warehouse on the US side of the border. The find included 2 tons of marijuana. (AFP, 1/27/06) (SFC, 1/27/06, p.B14) 2006        Jan 25, Hattie McDaniel, the first black actress to win an Academy Award, was honored with a U.S. Postal Service commemorative stamp. McDaniel became the 29th person honored in the Postal Service’s long-running Black Heritage stamp series. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, “Survivor” Richard Hatch was convicted in Providence, R.I., of failing to pay taxes on his $1 million winnings. He was later sentenced to more than four years in prison. (AP, 1/25/07) 2006        Jan 25, Ameriprise Financial Inc. said it has notified about 226,000 people that their names and other personal data were stored on a laptop computer that was stolen from an employee’s vehicle. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, Konami Digital Entertainment reported that West Virginia school officials had struck a partnership to use Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution video game in all of its 765 public schools to attack a youth obesity problem. (SFC, 1/25/06, p.C1) 2006        Jan 25, Microsoft offered to license access to its source code for Windows in an effort to fend off pressure from US and EU authorities. (WSJ, 1/25/06, p.A3) 2006        Jan 25, The US-based UPN and WB television broadcast networks agreed to merge. (SFC, 1/26/06, p.E1) 2006        Jan 25, Heart device maker Guidant Corp. agreed to be bought by Boston Scientific Corp. for $80 per share, or about $27 billion, and terminated an agreement to be acquired by Johnson & Johnson. (Reuters, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, It was reported that Wyoming rancher Allen Cook (57), with no connection to the University of Pittsburgh, has given the school 4,700 acres of land littered with dinosaur fossils. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, In Florida a car full of siblings headed home was crushed between a truck and a stopped school bus, killing the seven adopted children just two miles from where they lived. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, In Australia emergency crews rushed to clean up 10,000 liters of fuel oil that fouled mangroves off Gladstone City near the Great Barrier Reef after two vessels collided. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, The older daughter of former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was detained upon arrival in Washington after failing to obey a summons by a Chilean judge, who indicted her on tax evasion charges. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, Google Inc. launched a search engine in China that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing, defending the move as a trade-off granting Chinese greater access to other information. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, In Haiti 2 French missionaries and two Haitians were kidnapped near Cite Soleil, a volatile slum outside Port-au-Prince. Last month, there were 162 reported kidnap cases in Haiti, and January has seen 37 so far. The actual number is probably much higher because victims’ families often prefer to negotiate with kidnappers rather than notify police. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said that Tehran views Moscow’s offer to have Iran’s uranium enriched in Russia as a positive development but no agreement has been reached between the countries. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, The Iraqi Ministry of Justice said it would release 5 of 8 female detainees as part of a larger release program. Police in Baghdad reported the discovery of 10 blindfolded men in water-holding tanks at a sewage treatment facility. Insurgents in Kirkuk killed 2 city officials. (SFC, 1/26/06, p.A10)(SFC, 1/27/06, p.A10) 2006        Jan 25, Kamal Said Qadir (48), an Austrian citizen sentenced by a court in northern Iraq to 25 years in prison last month after being convicted of dishonoring the Kurdish cause, was released from custody. After moving to Austria a few years ago, he wrote articles that accused the powerful Kurdistan Democratic Party of corruption. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, In Iraq a US soldier was killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb blast south of Baghdad, while three Iraqi police died in a similar attack. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, Iraqi police shot dead a Sunni cleric at a checkpoint north of Baghdad. Gunmen killed a policeman in the capital’s Sadr City neighborhood. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, The UN said that thousands of refugees were without help after riots forced it to curtail operations in Ivory Coast. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, Juana Barraza (48) was arrested while fleeing from a home where an elderly woman was slain. She was suspected to be the serial murderer known as the “Mataviejitas,” or “Little Old Lady Killer.” Barraza’s fingerprints matched those left at the scene of 10 other murders, plus at the scene of an attempted murder. (AP, 1/26/06) 2006        Jan 25, Mongolia’s president and parliament approved Mieagombo Enkhbold (41), the chairman of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, as the new prime minister, a major step toward rebuilding the former communist country’s collapsed government. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, A minibus struck a land mine in southwestern Pakistan, killing six passengers and wounding five. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, Palestinians cast ballots in their first parliamentary election in a decade. Hamas won a huge majority in parliamentary elections as Palestinian voters rejected the longtime rule of the Fatah Party, throwing the future of Mideast peacemaking into question. Hamas counted up to 6 leaderships: notional chief Khaled Meshal in exile in Damascus; Ismail Haniyeh and other heavyweights in the Gaza Strip; members in the West Bank; convicted prisoners in Israeli jails; unconvicted prisoners detained in Israeli military jails; and heads of the armed wing. (AP, 1/26/06) (Econ, 6/17/06, p.51) 2006        Jan 25, Sri Lanka’s president and the leader of Tamil Tiger rebels agreed on to resume peace talks. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, The World Economic Forum opened in Davos, Switzerland. 15 heads of state, top business leaders and celebrities attended the session to brainstorm on key issues facing the globe, including high oil prices, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, new business models and the shifting balance of power in Asia. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, An Arctic weather front wreaked more havoc across a wide swath of eastern Europe, killing 53 people overnight in Ukraine alone and severely disrupted transport networks in half-a-dozen countries. (AFP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, Pope Benedict XVI said in his first encyclical, “God is Love,” that the Roman Catholic Church has no desire to govern states or set public policy, but can’t remain silent when its charity is needed to ease suffering around the world. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, In Venezuela thousands of activists marched through Caracas demanding an end to the war in Iraq and shouting slogans against U.S. imperialism at the opening of the World Social Forum backed by President Hugo Chavez. (AP, 1/25/06) 2006        Jan 25, Venezuela’s VP Jose Vicente Rangel said that some Venezuelan military officers have been detained after they allegedly passed information to US officials. (AP, 1/26/06)2007        Jan 25, A rare late work by Rembrandt depicting the Apostle James in prayer was sold in NYC for $25.8 million. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Ford Motor Co. lost $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter amid slumping sales and huge restructuring costs, pushing the automaker’s deficit for the year to $12.7 billion, the largest in its 103-year history. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 24, Scientists reported that they had built the densest memory chip to date. It measured about 100 million bits per square centimeter, about 40 times as much as current memory chips. The chip was about the size of a white blood cell and held about 160,000 bits. (SFC, 1/25/07, p.C2) 2007        Jan 25, Officials said Afghanistan’s heroin-producing poppies will not be sprayed with herbicide this year despite a record crop in 2006 and US pressure to allow the tactic. In southern Afghanistan a NATO airstrike destroyed a Taliban command post, killing a suspected senior militant leader. In eastern Afghanistan border police clashed with suspected militants in Gomal district in Paktika province, leaving 10 suspected Taliban and one police dead. (AP, 1/25/07) (AP, 1/26/07) 2007        Jan 25, Australia’s PM John Howard announced multibillion-dollar water reforms aimed at easing Australia’s record drought. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, China reported that its sizzling economy grew at 10.7% in 2006, its fastest rate in a decade, as the government struggled to contain the strains of an export-driven boom. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Guinea’s Health Ministry said battles between security forces and protesters earlier this week killed at least 59 people, almost double the toll previously reported. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Guyana’s president hired former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik as a state security adviser despite criticism in this South American country over his record of alleged ethics violations. (AP, 1/26/07) 2007        Jan 25, In India an angry crowd severely beat up two suspects who are accused of sexually assaulting and killing up to 20 children and women. The crowd pounced upon the two as they were being taken to a lockup by police after a court in Ghaziabad, a town on the outskirts of New Delhi, sent them to police custody for 15 days. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Iraq’s prime minister told parliament that the coming US-Iraqi security sweep in Baghdad, dubbed “Operation Imposing Law,” would not be the last battle against militants. A suicide car bomber struck a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in central Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding 23. At least 3 policemen were among the dead. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Israel’s President Moshe Katsav, who insists he is the victim of a conspiracy, stepped aside after a parliamentary committee voted 13-11 to grant his request to do so. He preserved his immunity by taking a leave rather than resigning. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, International donors pledged $7.6 billion in aid and loans at a conference to raise money for Lebanon’s U.S.-backed prime minister and his economic reform program. The US pledged to more than triple its economic aid to $770 million including $220 million in military aid. Government and opposition supporters clashed at a Beirut university campus. At least 3 people were reported killed. (AP, 1/25/07) (WSJ, 1/26/07, p.A1) 2007        Jan 25, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi chaired a meeting of African presidents and other top officials to prepare for an African Union summit as conflicts rage on the continent. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, In southern Nigeria gunmen stormed the local offices of a major Chinese oil company, abducting seven Chinese employees and stealing a large amount of cash. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Nigeria divested 24.87% of its equity in the ailing Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN), while the French government also conceded to shed 30% interest in the company, which was turned over to ASD Motors Nigeria. (AFP, 1/26/07) 2007        Jan 25, In northwestern Pakistan a car bomb exploded in the shopping district of Hangu, killing at least two passers-by and wounding four other people. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India, hoping to use the two nations’ decades-long friendship to push for deals in civilian nuclear cooperation, military hardware and trade expansion. Putin sealed a deal to construct more nuclear power plants in India. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, In southern Somalia gunmen attacked Ethiopian soldiers stationed there, killing one and wounding another. (AP, 1/25/07) 2007        Jan 25, Ukraine’s PM Yanukovych said that he is working to completed a pipeline to carry Caspian-region oil directly to the EU. (WSJ, 1/27/06, p.A4) 2007        Jan 25, Uruguay’s left-wing government under Pres. Tabare Vazquez signed a trade and investment “framework agreement” with the US. (Econ, 2/3/07, p.39) 2007        Jan 25, Pope Benedict XVI met with Vietnam’s PM Nguyen Tan Dung. Their talks marked an important step toward establishing diplomatic relations following decades of tension. (AP, 1/25/07)2008        Jan 25, In Miami Moises Maionica (36) of Venezuelan pleaded guilty in a scheme to cover up the source of $800,000 seized in a suitcase in Argentina that was allegedly sent by Venezuelans as a donation to Cristina Fernandez’s presidential campaign. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, Goldman Sachs Group and Credit Suisse Group said they will cut about 2,000 job worldwide as a credit crisis puts a damper on fixed-income trading and corporate deal making. (Reuters, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, Gold and platinum prices reached new highs after mine stoppages in South Africa, a leading producer of the precious metals, led to buying on supply concerns. An ounce of gold for February delivery spiked to $924.30, a fresh record, on the New York Mercantile Exchange before easing back to settle at $910.70, up $4.90. April platinum peaked at a new high of $1,694.90 an ounce. Prices later settled at $1,670, up $57. (AP, 1/26/08) 2008        Jan 25, Richard Darman (b.1943), former budget director (1989-1992) under Pres. George H.W. Bush, died. He was the chief architect of the landmark 1990 deficit reduction plan. (WSJ, 1/26/08, p.A8) 2008        Jan 25, In Afghanistan US-led coalition and Afghan troops clashed with insurgents while searching a compound near the Pakistani frontier, leaving one coalition soldier dead. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, Scottish & Newcastle, the UK’s largest brewer, announced it has agreed to be bought by Carlsberg and Heineken, for around 7.6 billion pounds. (AFP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, Egyptian guards with riot shields formed human chains along the Egypt-Gaza border, but were unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a bulldozer wrecked another section of fence along the frontier. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, Ethiopia’s administration for refugee and returnee affairs said  that more than 450 Eritreans, including 234 soldiers, fled their country into Ethiopia in January alone. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, In France tens of thousands of civil servants demonstrated to protest job cuts and press for higher salaries in what the government dismissed as a “labor union ritual.” (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, India and France said they would push their military ties beyond weapons sales and open up nuclear power cooperation as soon as New Delhi is able to enter the global atomic energy market. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, Iraq’s PM al-Maliki announced that the government was preparing to strike back against al-Qaida in the northern city of Mosul after two days of deadly bombings killed nearly 40 people. He promised the fight “will be decisive.” The US military said that American and Iraqi killed an estimated 41 suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, In Kenya street battles engulfed the western city of Nakuru, tense with ethnic rivalries, leaving bodies in the roadways with gashes in their heads and arrows lodged in their torsos in the latest fighting set off by the disputed presidential election. Overnight, half the town of Total Station was burned down and at least two people were killed. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, A car bomb ripped through eastern Beirut, killing Capt. Wissam Eid, Lebanon’s top anti-terrorism investigator, as he returned from a meeting on the probe into the 2005 assassination of a former prime minister. Three others died in the blast. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, In Lithuania a specially established commission on image creation, chaired by PM Gediminas Kirkilas, approved a strategic marketing concept for the presentation of Lithuania around the world. (www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/19740/) 2008        Jan 25, North and South Korea held working-level military talks, the first dialogue between the two countries this year, as Seoul’s conservative president-elect prepared to take office with calls for a tougher stance toward Pyongyang. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, Pakistani troops battled Islamic militants during a search for several hijacked trucks full of ammunition, with up to 30 rebels and two soldiers killed. Militants said only a few fighters were killed along with 6 Pakistani soldiers. (AFP, 1/25/08) (SFC, 1/26/08, p.A6) 2008        Jan 25, Russia’s lower house of parliament annulled an agreement with Ukraine on using Soviet-built military radars, citing Kiev’s bid to join NATO. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, In South Africa gold production ground to a halt as the industry became the latest victim of a spiraling electricity crisis which the government labeled a national emergency. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, At Davos, Switzerland, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced at the World Economic Forum that his foundation would give $306 million to use green technology and farming techniques to boost millions out of hunger and poverty. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, A World Trade Organization (WTO) accession committee approved Ukraine’s membership bid, clearing the way for the former Soviet republic to join the body. (AP, 1/25/08) 2008        Jan 25, The commander of US forces in Central Asia met with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, the first visit by a high-level US military officer since the authoritarian leader evicted American troops amid Western criticism of a bloody government crackdown. (AP, 1/25/08)2009        Jan 25, Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned a US operation he said killed 16 civilians, while hundreds of villagers in Laghman province denounced the American military during an angry demonstration. (AP, 1/25/09) 2009        Jan 25, Bolivians easily approved a new constitution aimed at increasing their strength while allowing leftist President Evo Morales a shot at staying in power through 2014. The proposed document grants new rights to more than 5 million indigenous inhabitants of 35 distinct “nations.” It would create a new Congress with seats reserved for Bolivia’s smaller indigenous groups and eliminates any mention of the Roman Catholic Church, instead recognizing and honoring the Pachamama, an Andean earth deity. (AP, 1/25/09) (SSFC, 1/25/09, p.A6) (AP, 1/26/09) 2009        Jan 25, In China a Richter scale 5.0 earthquake hit an area inhabited by the Xibe people. It destroyed nearly 200 homes and damaged nearly 3,000 buildings. The community, originally from Manchuria, had established a frontier garrison in Xinjiang during the Qing dynasty. (Reuters, 1/26/09) 2009        Jan 25, Indian police shot dead two suspected militants from Pakistan in a pre-dawn car chase near New Delhi. (AP, 1/25/09) 2009        Jan 25, Liberia’s Ministry of Agriculture said it has set up a command post and called on international experts to help fight an invasion by millions of crop-devouring caterpillars that are eating their way across the country with dire economic consequences. (AP, 1/25/09) 2009        Jan 25, In Mexico Chiapas state Attorney General Raciel Lopez said Mariano Herran has been charged with embezzling funds while working as Chiapas economy secretary last year. Herran was Mexico’s drug czar from 1997 to 2000, replacing Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who was convicted of aiding a top drug lord. (AP, 1/26/09) 2009        Jan 25, Sri Lankan troops overran the last town controlled by Tamil rebels, striking a major blow in Asia’s longest-running ethnic conflict. (AFP, 1/25/09) 2009        Jan 25, An avalanche slammed into a group of Turkish hikers on a trip to a remote mountain plateau, dragging them more than (1640 feet) 500 meters into a valley and fatally burying 10 of them. (AP, 1/25/09) 2009        Jan 25, A small ferry overloaded with holiday shoppers sank in central Vietnam, killing at least 40 people ahead of the traditional Lunar New Year. Most of the dead were women and children. (AP, 1/25/09)2010        Jan 25, In New York 2 Canadian men who pleaded guilty to conspiring to buy anti-aircraft missiles and other equipment for the Tamil Tigers rebel group in Sri Lanka were sentenced to 25 years in a US prison. Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam (41) and Sahilal Sabaratnam (30) were among four men arrested in Long Island, New York, in 2006 in an FBI sting operation as they tried to buy surface-to-air missiles, missile launchers and hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles to be used against Sri Lankan forces. (Reuters, 1/26/10) 2010        Jan 25, In NYC Alfonso Portillo (b.1951), the former president of Guatemala (2000-2004), was charged with using foreign banks to launder millions of dollars plundered from charity and government coffers. He was charged with embezzling $15.7 million. Portillo’s whereabouts were unknown. (SFC, 1/26/10, p.A4) (Econ, 6/19/10, p.42) 2010        Jan 25, In Pennsylvania Andrea Curry-Demus (40) was found to be mentally ill but guilty of 2nd degree murder and kidnapping for luring a pregnant teenager to her apartment, cutting out the baby and killing the mother. The infant, now 18 months old, was living with relatives. (SFC, 1/26/10, p.A4) 2010        Jan 25, Electric vehicle network firm Better Place announced it has signed an agreement with an HSBC-led investor consortium for new equity financing of $350m (£217m), valuing the firm at $1.25bn. Better Place, led by former software entrepreneur Shai Agassi, hoped to be the leading infrastructure provider for the world’s growing fleet of electric cars. (Econ, 2/6/10, p.71) (http://tinyurl.com/ycsyrdj) 2010        Jan 25, In Afghanistan a Norwegian soldier died when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Faryab province in the north. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, The British and Irish governments launched a mission to save Northern Ireland’s unraveling administration, a Catholic-Protestant coalition that the territory’s 1998 peace accord intended would promote a lasting new era of nonviolent compromise. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the Cambodian government to shut down its drug detention centers alleging abuses such as torture and rape, as well as the lockup of children and the mentally ill. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, China sharply rebuked the United States, denying involvement in any Internet attacks and defending its online restrictions as lawful after Washington urged Beijing to investigate an attack against Google. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, In China the Intermediate People’s Court in Urumqi sentenced four more people to death for involvement in rioting last year in the restive far-western region of Xinjiang, the country’s worst ethnic violence in decades. Another person was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, a penalty usually commuted to life in prison, while eight others were given sentences of up to life imprisonment. (AP, 1/27/10) 2010        Jan 25, Official media reported that China is hoping to close thousands of local government lobbying offices in Beijing to cut down on waste and corruption. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, Cyprus police said they have busted a smuggling ring in Cyprus and recovered dozens of ancient artifacts it planned to sell for euro11 million (15.5 million), including a miniature gold coffin, silver coins and terra-cotta urns. Ten Cypriots were arrested during the raids over the weekend, and authorities were searching for another five suspects, including a Syrian man. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people caught fire and crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Beirut. At least 34 bodies were recovered, but no survivors were found by nightfall. In 2012 a Lebanese report put the blame on pilot error and inexperience. Ethiopian Airlines immediately rejected the Lebanese findings saying the crash was likely caused by sabotage or a lightning strike. (AP, 1/25/10) (AFP, 1/17/12) 2010        Jan 25, The National Bank of Hungary cut its main interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 6 percent, its lowest since September 2005. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, In Iraq suicide bombers struck near three hotels popular with Western journalists and businessmen just as Iraq announced the execution of Saddam Hussein’s notorious cousin known as “Chemical Ali.” At least 41 people were killed and more than 104 injured. The explosions came hours after an Iraqi security official defended the ADE651, made by the British company ATSC, a bomb-detecting device that Britain banned for export to Iraq because of questions about whether it works, saying it would be a “big mistake” to withdraw it from checkpoints. (AP, 1/25/10) (Econ, 1/30/10, p.57) 2010        Jan 25, Sara Netanyahu sued the Maariv daily for libel and defamation of character, claiming it is “maliciously trying to humiliate” her. A story on Jan 22 stated that Mrs. Netanyahu fired a 70-year-old gardener at the prime minister’s official residence. The gardener had lost a son in one of Israel’s wars. (AP, 1/26/10) 2010        Jan 25, The UN said that extreme winter weather in 19 of 21 provinces in Mongolia has killed over 1 million in livestock impacting the country’s food supply and worsening poverty. (SFC, 1/26/10, p.A2) 2010        Jan 25, A Nigerian state police commissioner said sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims in Jos left 326 people dead last week. Police in central Plateau state have arrested 303 suspects from last week’s inter-religious violence. In southwestern Ogun State gunmen shot dead Chief Dipo Dina, a prominent opposition politician, amid rising tensions ahead of general elections next year. (AP, 1/25/10) (AFP, 1/26/10) 2010        Jan 25, North Korea detained an American man for illegally entering the country from China, the 2nd arrest of a US citizen it has reported in the past few weeks. On Jan 30, a news report said the American man has sought asylum and wants to join the North Korean military. On April 7, 2010, state media said Aijalon Mahli Gomes (30) of Boston has been sentenced to eight years of hard labor and ordered to pay a $700,000 fine for crossing into the communist country illegally. (AP, 1/28/10) (AP, 1/30/10) 2010        Jan 25, A Saudi foreign ministry spokesman said Saudi Arabia has donated $50 million in relief to Haiti to cope with the devastating earthquake that hit the country nearly two weeks ago, making it the largest donation from the Middle East to date. (AP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, In Somalia a mortar shell smashed into an African Union peacekeeping mission base in Mogadishu, killing several people, including a soldier. (AFP, 1/26/10) 2010        Jan 25, South Korea’s president offered to help energy-hungry India build more nuclear plants as the two Asian powerhouses set a goal of doubling bilateral trade by 2014. (AFP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, Sweden’s Ericsson, the world leader in phone network equipment, announced an extra 1,500 job cuts under restructuring which bit deeply into 4th-quarter net profit. (AFP, 1/25/10) 2010        Jan 25, In Venezuela police and supporters of President Hugo Chavez clashed with students in cities across the country during protests over the government forcing an opposition channel off cable TV. One youth was reported killed and 16 people suffered injuries. A government official said that Pres. Chavez has accepted the resignation of Ramon Carrizalez, who also served as defense minister. Carrizalez’s wife, the environment minister, also resigned. (AP, 1/25/10) (Econ, 1/30/10, p.46) 2010        Jan 25, It was reported that Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi, the leader of Yemen’s Shiite rebels, has declared the war with Saudi Arabia over and that he will pull his fighters out of Saudi territory. At least 133 Saudis soldiers have died in the months of fierce fighting in the rugged border region. (AP, 1/25/10)2011        Jan 25, Pres. Obama in his State of the Union address told Congress “We will move forward together or not at all.” Obama played up US progress in both Afghanistan and Iraq, while declaring the US would stay tough on North Korea and Iran over their nuclear ambitions. (AP, 1/26/11) (Reuters, 1/26/11) 2011        Jan 25, Ahmed Ghailani (36), the Guantanamo detainee who served as Osma bin Laden’s cook and bodyguard, was sentenced in NYC to life in prison for his role in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Africa. (SFC, 1/26/11, p.A3) 2011        Jan 25, A federal indictment was unsealed in Phoenix, Az., and charged 20 people for participating in a ring that bought more than 700 guns to be smuggled into Mexico for use by a drug cartel. Police arrested 17 suspects in a multi-agency operation across the Phoenix valley. Three other suspects remained at large. (AP, 1/26/11) (Reuters, 1/26/11) 2011        Jan 25, Miami, Florida, unveiled its New World Center concert hall designed by Frank Gehry. (Econ, 1/29/11, p.30) 2011        Jan 25, Daniel Bell (b.1919), sociologist and a professor emeritus at Harvard University, died. He is best known for his seminal contributions to the study of post-industrialism. His three best known works are “The End of Ideology,” “The Coming of Post-Industrial Society” and “The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Bell) 2011        Jan 25, In the Central African Republic 3 of 5 candidates in the presidential elections said they rejected the results “in advance” and demanded the Jan 23 vote be annulled. Incumbent Francois Bozize has been tipped to win the vote amidst complaints of irregularities and fraud. (AFP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, In Egypt thousands of anti-government protesters, some hurling rocks and climbing atop an armored police truck, clashed with riot police in the center of Cairo in a Tunisia-inspired demonstration to demand the end of Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30 years in power. A loose coalition had issued a Face book call for a “day of rage” to coincide with Police Day, recently declared a national holiday. The interior minister said authorities have arrested 19 Arabs suspected of having links to al-Qaida en route to Iraq. Habib el-Adly said the suspects had been into custody before Jan 1. (AP, 1/25/11)(Econ, 1/29/11, p.43) 2011        Jan 25, Gabon’s opposition leader Andre Mba Obame took the oath of office declaring himself the new leader, challenging the authority of President Ali Bongo, the son of Gabon’s longtime dictator who died in June 2009 after a 41-year rule. (AP, 1/26/11) 2011        Jan 25, In Greece more than 250 immigrants, mostly from North Africa, began a hunger strike in Athens, demanding to be legalized and challenging a Greek government crackdown on migrant trafficking. (AP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Ireland said it is upgrading its diplomatic relations with the Palestinian territories in recognition of progress being made by the Palestinian Authority. The decision recognizes Ireland’s long-standing support for Palestinian statehood, but does not involve any recognition of a Palestinian state. (AP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman issued a decree appointing former premier Najib Mikati, Harvard-educated billionaire businessman and the candidate backed by Iranian-allied Hezbollah, to form Lebanon’s next government, angering Sunnis who protested the rising power of the Shiite militant group by burning tires and torching a van belonging to Al-Jazeera. (AFP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Mexican federal police shot and killed Jose Humberto Perez (29), a municipal policeman guarding Ciudad Juarez Mayor Hector Murguia, raising tensions between security forces amid a fierce drug war. On Jan 28 federal prosecutors charged two federal police officers with killing the bodyguard. (AP, 1/26/11) (AP, 1/29/11) 2011        Jan 25, Mexican authorities said they have seized more than 23 tons of a chemical used in the manufacture of synthetic drugs, during an inspection of a shipment from China. The ethyl phenylacetate was declared as a different product on arrival at the Pacific port of Manzanillo. (AFP, 1/26/11) 2011        Jan 25, In Pakistan suicide bombers attacked police protecting marches by minority Shiite Muslims in Karachi and Lahore, killing 12 people and wounding dozens. Umar Patek (40), a suspected member of the al-Qaida-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, was wounded and arrested by security forces. The senior Indonesian al-Qaida operative was wanted in the 2002 Bali bombings. Intelligence officials in Indonesia and Philippines made the arrest public on March 29. Pakistani authorities questioned Patek planned to hand him over to Indonesia. (AP, 1/25/11) (AP, 3/30/11)(AP, 3/31/11) 2011        Jan 25, In the Philippines a bomb on a packed bus killed 5 people. Investigators recovered fragments of an 81 mm mortar round and a Nokia cell phone used in the bombing that also wounded 13 other people in Makati city, the financial district of Manila. On June 2 Ryan Sison, a suspect in the bombing, was arrested in a raid in Lucena city in Quezon province. (AFP, 1/25/11) (AP, 1/26/11)(AP, 6/3/11) 2011        Jan 25, It was reported that Poland’s state-run National Remembrance Institute has created a new game called “Kolejka,” or “Queue,” to help young Poles understand the hardships of life under communism. It goes on sale Feb. 5. (AP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Russia’s lower house of parliament ratified a landmark nuclear arms pact with the United States, virtually assuring passage of an agreement President Barack Obama has described as the most significant arms control deal in nearly two decades. (AP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Rwandan rebel Callixte Mbarushimana (47) arrived in the Hague, Netherlands, after a Paris appeals court ruling in November approved the transfer to the International Criminal Court. He was charged with 11 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, rape, persecution based on gender, and extensive destruction of property by the Hutu FDLR in 2009. (AP, 1/25/11) (AFP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Sudan’s army clashed with Darfur rebels for the second time in a week. Insurgents said they shot down a helicopter gunship, killing at least three people. (Reuters, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Thailand’s government faced renewed street protests as the right-wing nationalist group that seized Bangkok’s airports two years ago gathered in the capital to pressure the prime minister over a land dispute with Cambodia. In the south 9 people were killed by a roadside bomb, where an Islamic separatist insurgency has entered its eighth year. (AP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, In Tunisia protesters pressured the new interim government to quit in the wake of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s ouster, as the cabinet prepared a major shake-up. (AFP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Human Rights Watch called on the United States to return Vietnam to a list of the world’s worst abusers of religious freedom, accusing it of continuously harassing some groups trying to worship peacefully. (AP, 1/25/11) 2011        Jan 25, Zimbabwe’s wildlife chief said poachers are using aircraft to hunt and kill rhinoceros as demand in Asia for their horns’ supposed medicinal benefits grows. (AP, 1/25/11)2012        Jan 25, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that it would likely not raise interest rates until the end of 2014. (SFC, 1/26/12, p.D5) 2012        Jan 25, Former US Army Corps of Engineers employee Michael Alexander agreed to plead guilty to charges of participating in a $20 million bribery and kickback scheme involving the awarding of government contracts related to software encryption devices. (SFC, 1/26/12, p.A6) 2012        Jan 25, US Navy SEAL Team 6, the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden, parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. 9 kidnappers were killed and American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted were freed. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, Boeing won its largest ever order from Europe as Norwegian Air Shuttle ordered 122 planes. The deal was worth $11.4 billion at list prices. NAS also planned to buy some 100 Airbuses. The total package for 222 planes was about $10 billion. (Econ, 1/28/12, p.65) (Econ, 4/27/13, p.61) 2012        Jan 25, A study of freakish condition called Morgellons was released. It concluded that Morgellons exists only in the patients’ minds. Federal health officials began the study in 2008. The syndrome wasn’t named until 2002, when “Morgellons” was chosen from a 1674 medical paper describing similar symptoms. (AP, 1/26/12) 2012        Jan 25, In eastern Afghanistan a rocket fired by Taliban insurgents killed a woman and her child in Kapisa province. (AP, 1/26/12) 2012        Jan 25, Azerbaijan officials said 2 men have been arrested in a plot to assassinate Israeli targets in Baku. Local mercenaries, suspected of being recruited by a well-known gangster with ties to Iran, were arrested. Azerbaijani media later said that two Iranian Quds Force members were arrested. In addition, around 20 people, mostly from the same family, were arrested in connection with the planned attacks, in a village on the outskirts of Baku. (http://tinyurl.com/6rqkkdc)(www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/01/26/190617.html)(SFC, 2/22/12, p.A5) 2012        Jan 25, Security forces in Bahrain fired tear gas and stun grenade after opposition groups staged a rare march into the center of the capital Manama. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, In Brazil a building of some 20 stories collapsed in Rio de Janeiro causing 2 other smaller buildings to also come down. At least 17 people were killed and after 3 days 7 people remained missing. (AP, 1/26/12) (AP, 1/28/12) 2012        Jan 25, CongoDRC aid workers declared “a humanitarian catastrophe” in southeastern Congo, and blamed the recent deaths of at least 25 people on Kyungu “Gedeon” Mutanga, a feared Mai Mai warlord who broke out of jail late last year. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied to mark the first anniversary of the country’s 2011 uprising, with liberals and Islamists gathering on different sides of Cairo’s Tahrir Square. The ruling generals have declared Jan. 25 a national holiday to mark the occasion. Previously, Jan. 25 was Police Day. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, German police raided the homes of four alleged supporters of the Nationalist Socialist Underground group, a neo-Nazi group linked to the killings of nine immigrants and a policewoman over the past decade. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, The Haitian government and European Union signed an agreement for building a road to connect the capital with the country’s second largest city. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, In western India bus driver Santosh Mane (30) went on a rampage in central Pune, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens during rush-hour. (AFP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, In Indonesia 7 people were killed and 51 injured as heavy rains from by Tropical Cyclone Iggy lashed the country, bringing down trees and power lines and damaging hundreds of homes. (AFP, 1/26/12) 2012        Jan 25, Japan’s Nissan said it will invest $2 billion in a new auto plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. (SFC, 1/26/12, p.A5) 2012        Jan 25, In Libya Defense Minister Osama al-Juwali sought a solution to the clashes in Bani Walid between locals still loyal to Gadhafi and forces of the new regime. Juili said that Bani Walid was under government control and that the fighting was an internal problem between two groups of young men, one of them being the May 28 Brigade. (AP, 1/25/12) (AFP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, In Pakistan 3 lawyers were shot dead and a fourth wounded in a drive-by sectarian attack in Karachi. The victims were minority Shiite Muslims. Six Pakistani soldiers and 17 Taliban militants were killed in an overnight clash in Jogi village of central Kurram tribal district near the Afghan border. (AFP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, In northwest Pakistan nine phosphate miners were feared dead after they were buried by a large landslide in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, In the Philippines an artillery round accidentally exploded while a welder and police commandos tinkered with it with an acetylene torch, killing four people, including two policemen, in Manila. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov was registered as a presidential candidate and will be the only political newcomer in the race. He joined PM Vladimir Putin and three veteran party leaders on the ballot for the March vote. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, announced the wording of a referendum on the nation’s independence, scheduled for the autumn of 2014, in a consultation document. His wording kept open the option maximum self-government. (Econ, 1/28/12, p.57) 2012        Jan 25, At least 15 Somali migrants were killed and 40 left missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya. The boat had been carrying 55 Somalis and the other passengers were still missing. (AFP, 1/28/12) 2012        Jan 25, In Sudan arson and looting broke out in the war-ravaged Darfur region after a protest against the appointment of a new governor. Hundreds had turned out in Nyala to show support for Abdul Hamid Kasha, the ousted elected governor. Kasha was offered the post of governor in the newly created state of East Darfur but refused. (AFP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, Corporate leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was the opening speaker. (Econ, 1/21/12, p.76)(Econ, 1/28/12, p.51) 2012        Jan 25, In central Syria government forces clashed with army defectors and stormed rebellious districts, firing mortars and deploying snipers in violence that killed at least 7 people. (AP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, The UN said that the worldwide fishing industry could benefit from a $50 billion boost annually if stocks were allowed time to recover. A UN Environment Program report released in the Philippine said 32 percent of the world’s fish stocks have already been depleted by years of overfishing and poor coastal management. (AFP, 1/25/12) 2012        Jan 25, Fresh clashes in southern Yemen killed six al-Qaida militants and injured 10 soldiers. Residents of Radda, 100 miles (160 km) south of Sanaa, held street celebrations, firing guns in the air to celebrate the withdrawal of al-Qaida gunmen from their town. (AP, 1/25/12)2013        Jan 25,  A US federal appeals court ruled that President Barack Obama violated the US Constitution when he used recess appointments to fill a labor board, a decision that could curtail the president’s options in filling vacancies. The panel said the Senate was not truly in recess when Obama made his appointments. (Reuters, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Washington and Beijing agreed that any North Korean nuclear test will lead to North Korea’s further isolation and set back efforts to restart regional talks. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, CIA veteran John Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison for leaking a covert officer’s identity to a reporter. (SFC, 1/26/13, p.A6) 2013        Jan 25, Twitter suspended the account used by Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked militant group two days after al-Shabab used the platform to announce a death threat against Kenyan hostages unless Kenya’s government meets its demands. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, In eastern Afghanistan a suicide car bomber killed five civilians and wounded another 25 in a botched attempt to hit a convoy of NATO supply trucks in kapisa province. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, In Bahrain hundreds of anti-government protesters clashed with riot police in Manama after authorities denied a request for a major opposition rally. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, The British government published a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, and said lawmakers will get their first vote on it in Parliament next month. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, A Canadian police report said a son of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi allegedly received 120 million euros ($162 million) in bribes for giving major contracts in Libya to SNC-Lavalin Inc, Canada’s biggest engineering and construction company. The report did not make clear when the alleged bribes occurred. (Reuters, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Calgary-based Griffiths Energy International will pay a C$10.35 million ($10.26 million) fine after a Canadian court accepted a settlement between the company and prosecutors. The company had admitted to bribing the wife of a Chadian diplomat. (AP, 1/26/13) 2013        Jan 25, In China a scandal involving Chinese city officials having sex with women hired by developers who secretly videotaped the trysts to extort construction deals broadened with state media announcing that 10 more officials have been fired. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, A Colombia judge convicted Jaime Blanco, a former contractor for US-based Drummond Coal, of murder for being the mastermind of the killing of two union leaders on March 12, 2001. Blanco was sentenced to nearly 38 years in prison. (SFC, 2/7/13, p.A2) (http://tinyurl.com/d6szsex) 2013        Jan 25, A senior Japanese envoy handed China’s leader, Xi Jinping, a cordial letter from PM Shinzo Abe in the highest-level contact between the sides since tensions spiked in September over an island dispute, though the meeting yielded little beyond commitments to hold further contact. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Egypt’s schism was on display as the mainly liberal and secular opposition held rallies saying the goals of the pro-democracy uprising have not been met and denouncing Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. At least 11 people were killed as tens of thousands took to the streets to deliver an angry backlash against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. (AP, 1/25/13) (AP, 1/27/13) 2013        Jan 25, Greek riot police stormed the Athens subway train depot before dawn to enforce a government emergency order forcing striking staff back to work in an escalating standoff over new austerity measures. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, In Haiti up to 20 people were killed after their truck plunged into a canal. (SSFC, 1/27/13, p.A4) 2013        Jan 25, The Honduras Congress went on recess. Lawmakers had only partially passed a budget to pay some of state employees and contractors. That left undecided the budgets of autonomous institutions such as utilities and the port authority. The country has been on the brink of bankruptcy for months, as lawmakers put off passing a budget. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Iraqi troops killed five protesters when they opened fire at demonstrators angry at the troops for preventing them from attending an anti-government rally in Fallujah. Gunmen attacked an army checkpoint in Fallujah, killing two soldiers and prompting local authorities to impose a curfew in the city. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Mali’s military and French forces pushed toward the Islamic extremist stronghold in the city of Gao, in their farthest push east since launching an operation two weeks ago to retake land controlled by the rebels. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, In Mexico 16 members of Kombo Kolombia and their crew were reported missing early today after playing a private show in a bar late last night in the town, Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon state. (AP, 1/28/13) 2013        Jan 25, Northern Irish police were pelted by petrol bombs for the first time in almost two weeks on Friday after more protests at the removal of the British flag from Belfast City Hall. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, North Korea threatened to attack rival South Korea if Seoul joined a new round of tightened UN sanctions, as Washington unveiled more of its own economic restrictions following Pyongyang’s rocket launch last month. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Norwegian energy company Statoil ASA said two Norwegian employees missing after a terror attack on a gas plant in Algeria have been confirmed dead. (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Russian police detained 20 gay rights campaigners and militant Orthodox Christian activists near the country’s parliament as it overwhelmingly backed a bill that would ban “homosexual propaganda.” (AP, 1/25/13) 2013        Jan 25, Syrian troops shelled the city of Homs and soldiers battled rebels around the central province with the same name. An amateur video posted online by activists showed rockets slamming into buildings in the rebel-held town of Rastan. Activist groups said at least 140 people were in fighting nationwide. (AP, 1/25/13)(SFC, 1/26/13, p.A2) 2013        Jan 25, In Venezuela violence erupted at Uribana prison in the city of Barquisimeto when groups of inmates attacked National Guard troops who were attempting to carry out an inspection. The death toll reached 58 with some 120 wounded. (AP, 1/27/13) (SFC, 1/28/13, p.A2) 2013        Jan 25, Regional civic campaign group AfriForum said it is taking legal action to stop Zimbabwe from taking delivery of helicopter gunships from neighboring South Africa. (AP, 1/25/13)2014        Jan 25, Arizona’s Republican Party censured Sen. John McCain (77) citing his voting record as too liberal. (SFC, 1/29/14, p.A7) 2014        Jan 25, In Maryland a shooter at the Mall in Columbia killed 2 young employees of the Zumiez skateboard shop and then took his own life. On Jan 26 police identified the shooter as Darion Marcus Aguilar (19) of College Park. (Reuters, 1/26/14) 2014        Jan 25, In Utah some 4,000 protesters gathered in Salt lake City to protests against poor air quality. (Econ, 2/1/14, p.24) 2014        Jan 25, Michaels Stores said that it is investigating a potential security breach involving customers’ credit card information. (SSFC, 1/26/14, p.A13) 2014        Jan 25, In Brazil at least 1,000 demonstrators protested in Sao Paulo against the World Cup, due to open on June 12, in a demonstration that devolved into violence late in the night. (AP, 1/26/14) 2014        Jan 25, Central African Republic Pres. Catherine Samba-Panza’s office announced the appointment of Andre Nzapayeke, a former regional banking official, as the new prime minister. (AP, 1/26/14) 2014        Jan 25, Chilean port workers negotiated a settlement with management and ended a more than three-week-old strike that had slowed copper, fruit and other shipments from the world’s top copper producer. (Reuters, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, Ecuador stressed it wanted the number of US military staff on its territory reduced, and warned it also would not allow US “espionage equipment.” (AFP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, In Egypt at least 49 people were killed during anti-government marches as thousands rallied in support of the army-led authorities on the third anniversary of the country’s 2011. A helicopter crash in the Sinai Peninsula killed 5 Egyptian soldiers. (Reuters, 1/25/14)(AFP, 1/25/14)(AP, 1/26/14) 2014        Jan 25, French Pres. Francois Hollande announced his separation from first lady Valerie Trierweiler following a media storm over allegations he is having an affair with an actress nearly 20 years his junior. (AFP, 1/26/14) 2014        Jan 25, An Iranian embassy official who was kidnapped in Sanaa in July was found beheaded in Naarib province, central Yemen. (Reuters, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, In Iraq at least 17 people were killed in violence that included car bombs and a mortar attack on a Shi’ite Muslim village near Baquba. (Reuters, 1/25/14)(AFP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, In Ivory Coast an angry mob “ransacked” the headquarters of the country’s most prominent gay rights organization, following days of anti-gay protests in a country generally seen as moderate on the issue. (AP, 1/27/14) 2014        Jan 25, In Libya kidnappers seized Egypt’s cultural attache and three other embassy staff in Tripoli, a day after another of its diplomats was abducted. (AFP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, In Madagascar a grenade blast left a toddler dead and over 50 wounded just hours after the inauguration of the island’s new president. (AFP, 1/26/14) 2014        Jan 25, The Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, completed talks on a deal to end four decades of fighting. (AP, 1/25/14) (SSFC, 1/26/14, p.A5) 2014        Jan 25, Somalia’s Shebab insurgents called for renewed attacks against foreign forces, after arch-enemy Ethiopia joined the African Union force battling the extremists. (AFP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, Residents in parts of Somalia under militant control said at least one cellular telephone company has shut down data services in response to a threat from al-Qaida-linked extremists. (AP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, South Sudan’s government said that rebel fighters had attacked government troops after the cease-fire had come into force. New satellite images showed that fighting has resulted in the intentional burning of some 750 homes near the town of Bentiu. (AP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, Syria’s air force struck rebel-held areas near Damascus and Aleppo. (AP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, In Switzerland the first face-to-face meeting between Syria’s government and the opposition hoping to overthrow President Bashar Assad ended after barely a half-hour, with the two sides facing each other silently as a UN mediator laid groundwork for talks. (AP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, Ukraine anti-government protesters seized a regional administration building. Officials warned that police could storm the Kiev city hall to free two policemen allegedly captured by demonstrators. (AP, 1/25/14) 2014        Jan 25, Yemen’s feuding factions wrapped up months of national dialogue aimed at drafting a new constitution and establishing a federal state in a country where southerners are clamoring for independence. (AFP, 1/25/14)http://www.timelinesdb.com