Today in History - January 2
Return to home
17CE
Jan 2, Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet, died.
(MC, 1/2/02)
69CE Jan 2, Roman Lower Rhine army
proclaimed its commander, Vitellius, emperor.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1235 Jan 2, Emperor Joseph II
ordered the Jews of Galicia, Austria, to adopt family names.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1492 Jan 2, Boabdil, the leader of
the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal
to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. Sultan Muhammad XI
surrendered, ending Muslin rule in Spain. The combined Catholic forces
of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile drove out the last of
the Berbers from Spain. The Moors were expelled. King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella took the town of Grenada, the last Moslem kingdom in
Spain. The event became marked by an annual festival that began around
1516.
(ATC, p.73,100)(AP, 1/2/98)(SFEC, 3/22/98,
p.T11)(HN, 1/2/99)(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A6)(SSFC, 1/27/02, p.C20)
1570 Jan 2, Tsar Ivan the Terrible
began a march to Novgorod.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1602 Jan 2, Battle at Kinsale,
Ireland: English army beat the Spanish.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1647 Jan 2, Nathaniel Bacon
(d.1676), leader of Bacon's Rebellion (1676), Va., was born.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1727 Jan 2, James Wolfe, commanded
British Army (captured Quebec), was born.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1757 Jan 2, British troops
occupied Calcutta, India.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1758 Jan 2, The French began
bombardment of Madras, India.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1776 Jan 2, 1st US revolutionary
flag was displayed.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1780 Jan 2, A blizzard hit
Washington's army at the Morristown, NJ, winter encampment.
(AH, 2/05, p.16)
1780 Jan 2, Johann Ludwig Krebs
(66), composer, died.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1788 Jan 2, Georgia became the
fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
(HFA, '96, p.22)(AP, 1/2/98)
1790 Jan 2, Mozart's opera "Cosi
fan tutti" premiered in Vienna. [see Jan 26]
(MC, 1/2/02)
1807 Jan 2, Lord Grenville
presented to British Parliament a “Bill for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade,” effective May 1. He introduced it directly to the House of
Lords. It passed the House of Lords by 64 votes and cleared the House
of Commons on March 25.
(ON, 4/05, p.3)
1811 Jan 2, US Sen Thomas
Pickering became the 1st senator to be censured. He revealed
confidential documents communicated by the president of the US. [see
Mar 3,12]
(MC, 1/2/02)
1813 Jan 2, In Vilnius, Lithuania,
Russian Army head M. Kutuzov announced the end of war in Russia.
(LHC, 1/3/03)
1814 Jan 2, Lord Byron completed
"The Corsair."
(MC, 1/2/02)
1818 Jan 2, Lord Byron completed
"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (4th canto).
(MC, 1/2/02)
1822 Jan 2, Rudolph J.E. Clausius,
German physicist (thermodynamics), was born.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1837 Jan 2, Mili Alexeyevich
Balakirev, composer (Tamara), was born in Nizhny-Novgorod, Russia.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1839 Jan 2, French photographic
pioneer Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre took the first photograph of the
moon. Soon after his first photograph of people was a shoeshine scene
on a Paris boulevard.
(HN, 1/2/99)(SFEC, 1/16/00, Z1 p.2)(ON, 4/00, p.10)
1843 Jan 2, Wagner's opera "Der
Fliegende Holländer" premiered in Dresden.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1861 Jan 2, Helen Herron Taft,
First Lady to President Robert Taft, was born.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1861 Jan 2, The USS Brooklyn was
readied at Norfolk to aid Fort Sumter.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1861 Jan 2, SC seized the inactive
Ft. Johnson in Charleston Harbor.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1861 Jan 2, Frederik Willem IV
(65), king of Prussia (1840-61) and Germany (1849-61), died.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1863 Jan 2, In the second day of
hard fighting at Stone's River, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., Union troops
defeated the Confederates. The battle, which began Dec 31, involved
80,000 troops and left 24,000 casualties.
(HN, 1/2/99)(AM, 11/04, p.28)
1866 Jan 2, Gilbert Murray,
Australian born scholar who became the chairman of the League of
Nations (1923-1928), was born.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1870 Jan 2, Construction of
Brooklyn Bridge began. [see July, 1869]
(MC, 1/2/02)
1881 Jan 2, Camille Saint-Saens'
3rd Concerto in B premiered.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1882 Jan 2, Oscar Wilde arrived in
New York City and began to tour the US with lectures on the aesthetic
movement.
(HT, 3/97, p.16)
1882 Jan 2, Because of
anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil was organized as a trust.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1885 Jan 2, Gen. Wolseley received
the last distress signal of Gen. Gordon in Khartoum.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1889 Jan 2, Tito Schipa, tenor (La
Rondine), was born in Italy.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1893 Jan 2, World's Columbian
Exposition opened in Chicago. [see May 1]
(MC, 1/2/02)
1895 Jan 2, Count Folke
Bernadotte, statesman (Red Cross, UN), was born in Sweden.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1899 Jan 2, Alexander Tcherepnin,
composer, was born in St Petersburg, Russia.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1900 Jan 2, US Secretary of
State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with
China. This policy rejected efforts to carve up China or restrict its
ports.
(AP, 1/2/98)(WSJ, 2/3/04, p.A12)
1900 Jan 2, Gustave Charpentiers
opera "Louise" premiered in Paris. [see Feb 2]
(MC, 1/2/02)
1900 Jan 2, E. Verlinger began
manufacturing 7" single-sided records in Montreal.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1903 Jan 2, President Theodore
Roosevelt closed a post office in Indianola, Mississippi for refusing
to hire a black postmistress.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1904 Jan 2, U.S. Marines were sent
to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1904 Jan 2, James Longstreet (82),
Confederate general, died.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1905 Jan 2, After a six-month
siege, Russians surrendered Port Arthur to the Japanese.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1915 Jan 2, Karl Goldmark (84),
Austria-Hungarian composer (Queen of Saba), died.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1916 Jan 2, The U.S. instructed
Ambassador Sharp to tell the Entente in Paris that America would reject
the German peace offer.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1918 Jan 2, Bolsheviks talked
about resuming war unless the Germans return occupied territory.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1919 Jan 2, There was an
anti-British uprising in Ireland.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1920 Jan 2, Isaac Asimov, Prolific
American writer of over 300 books including Foundation and I, Robot,
was born.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1921 Jan 2, Religious services
were first broadcast on radio when KDKA aired the regular Sunday
service of Pittsburgh's Calvary Episcopal Church.
(AP, 1/2/00)
1922 Jan 2, Renata Tebaldi, lyric
soprano, was born, Pesaro Italy.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1923 Jan 2, A Ku Klux Klan
surprise attack on a black residential area of Rosewood, Fla., killed 8
people. The all-black town of Rosewood, a north Florida community of
120 people, was burned to the ground. A white woman fearful of being
caught in an affair, falsely claimed that she was raped and beaten by a
black man. Violence exploded as a white mob tried to string up a black
man for information on an alleged rape. At least 6 black and 2 white
died and almost every building was burned. In 1994 the Florida
legislature provided up to $2 million in compensation to survivors.
Nine survivors won a $2 million settlement in 1995. In 1996 the event
was recreated in the film "Rosewood" by John Singleton.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, DB p.43)(SFC, 9/24/97, p.C2) (SFC,
2/5/00, p.A3)(MC, 1/2/02)
1928 Jan 2, Vaughn Beals, later
CEO of Harley Davidson motorcycle, was born in Cambridge, Mass.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1929 Jan 2, The United States and
Canada reached agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1929 Jan 2, Evelyn “Bobbi” Trout
(d.2003 at 97) shattered the female pilot endurance record of 8 hours
with a flight of 12 hours and 11 minutes.
(SFC, 2/1/03, p.A18)
1932 Jan 2, Japanese forces in
Manchuria set up a puppet government known as Manchukuo.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1935 Jan 2, Bruno Hauptmann went
on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering
the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Hauptmann was found
guilty but professed his innocence until he was executed.
(AP, 1/2/98)(SFC, 10/28/99, p.B7)
1936 Jan 2, The 1st electron tube
to enable night vision was described in St Louis, Mo.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1936 Jan 2, In Berlin, the Nazi
officials claimed that their treatment of the Jews was not any of the
League of Nation's business.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1939 Jan 2, Jim Bakker,
televangelist (PTL Club), was born.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1942 Jan 2, The Philippine capital
of Manila and the US Naval base at Cavite were captured by Japanese
forces.
(AP, 1/2/98)(HN, 1/2/02)
1943 Jan 2, The Allies captured
Buna in New Guinea.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1944 Jan 2, The US established the
War Refugee Board to protect the endangered populations of Europe. In
June Raoul Wallenberg of Sweden was hired to head the agency’s office
in Budapest, where he arrived on July 9.
(WSJ, 2/28/09, p.A7)
1944 Jan 2, The 1st use of
helicopters during warfare was by a British Atlantic patrol.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1945 Jan 2, Allies made an air
raid on Nuremberg.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1947 Jan 2, Mahatma Gandhi began a
march for peace in East-Bengali.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1952 Jan 2, "Pal Joey" opened at
Broadhurst Theater, NYC, for 542 performances.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1954 Jan 2, The "Caine Mutiny" by
Herman Wouk premiered in NYC.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1955 Jan 2, Jose Antonio Remon,
president of Panama (1952-55), was assassinated.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1960 Jan 2, Sen. John F. Kennedy
of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1960 Jan 2, John Reynolds set the
age of solar system at 4,950,000,000 years.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1963 Jan 2, Viet Cong downed five
U.S. helicopters in the Mekong Delta; 30 were reported to be dead.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1963 Jan 2, Dick Powell (b.1904),
American film star, producer and director, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Powell)
1965 Jan 2, The New York Jets
signed University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath for a reported
$427,000.
(AP, 1/2/08)
1965 Jan 2, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr began a drive to register black voters.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1966 Jan 2, The 1st Jewish child
was born in Spain since the 1492 expulsion.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1969 Jan 2, The play "To be Young,
Gifted & Black," by Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) premiered in NYC.
(www.aetna.com/foundation/aahcalendar/1992gifted.html)
1973 Jan 2, The United States
admitted the accidental bombing of a Hanoi hospital.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1974 Jan 2, President Nixon signed
legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph. Federal
speed limits were abolished in 1995. The legislation was conceived by
Claude Brinegar (1926-2009), Nixon’s secretary of transportation.
(AP, 1/2/98)(http://tinyurl.com/45ywak)(SFC,
3/18/09, p.B6)
1974 Jan 2, Coleman Young
(1918-1997) was inaugurated as mayor of Detroit. In 1973 he narrowly
defeated Police Commissioner John F. Nichols, who would later become
Oakland County Sheriff, to become Detroit's first African American
mayor. Young won the four subsequent terms by very wide margins and
continued in office until December, 1993.
(WSJ, 5/28/98,
p.A20)(www.biographybase.com/biography/Young_Coleman.html)
1975 Jan 2, Milton J. Cross
(b.1897), TV announcer (Met Opera), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Cross)
1975 Jan 2, Ken Brugger, searching
on behalf of Canadian entomologist Dr. Fred A. Urquhart, found that
vast numbers of monarch butterflies, wintered at Cerro Pelon, an
inactive volcano a hundred miles west of Mexico City. Urquhart had been
tagging butterflies and searching for their winter quarters since 1954.
In 1986 the Mexican government established some protection over 5 sites
where monarchs were known to overwinter.
(ON, 4/07, p.12)
1978 Jan 2, In Sri Lanka Junius
Richard Jayewardene (1906-1996) became the first president with true
executive powers. He served as president until 1989.
{Sri Lanka}
(SFC, 11/2/96,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junius_Richard_Jayewardene)
1980 Jan 2, President Carter asked
the Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response to Soviet
action in Afghanistan.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1981 Jan 2, "Yorkshire Ripper"
Peter Sutcliffe (b.1946), murderer of 13 women, was arrested on a
traffic violation. On Jan 4 he declared he was the ripper and charges
were filed on Jan 6. Stuart Kind (d.2003), a leading forensic
biologist, helped British police crack the "Yorkshire Ripper" serial
murder case. Sutcliffe was convicted on May 22 on 13 counts of murder
and sentenced to life in prison. In 2003 Michael Bilton authored
“Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutcliffe)(AP,
4/30/03)
1982 Jan 2, The Somali National
Movement (SNM) launched its first military operation against the Somali
government. Operating from Ethiopian bases.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/sierra/somalia1982b.htm)
1983 Jan 2, The musical play
"Annie," based on the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip, closed at
Broadway’s Alvin Theater after a run of 2,377 performances.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1983 Jan 2, "Sophisticated Ladies"
closed at the Lunt-Fontanne, NYC, after 767 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4098)
1984 Jan 2, A record 281,981
dominoes were toppled at Furth, W. Germany.
(www.recordholders.org/en/records/domino-toppling.html)
1986 Jan 2, Bill Veeck (71) former
baseball owner, died in Chicago. He is remembered for his
well-publicized stunts and promotional gimmicks, including an exploding
scoreboard and a midget pinch-hitter.
(AP, 1/2/06)
1988 Jan 2, President Reagan and
Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signed an agreement to lift
trade restrictions between their countries.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1988 Jan 2, An Ashland Oil Company
tank collapsed at Floreffe near Elizabeth, Penn., sending more than
700,000 gallons of diesel oil into the Monongahela River.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1989 Jan 2, PTL founders Jim and
Tammy Faye Bakker returned to the television pulpit for the first time
in two years, broadcasting from a borrowed house in Pineville, N.C.
(AP, 1/2/99)
1990 Jan 2, On Wall Street, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day above 2,800 for the first
time, at 2,810.15.
(AP, 1/2/00)
1990 Jan 2, Alan Hale Jr.
(b.1921), Skipper on Gilligan's Island, died of cancer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Hale_Jr.)
1991 Jan 2, Sharon Pratt Dixon was
sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first black woman
to head a city of Washington's size and prominence.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1991 Jan 2, European, Soviet and
Arab officials pushed for talks to avert war with Iraq.
(AP, 1/2/01)
1992 Jan 2, Military commanders in
Croatia agreed to a cease-fire accord, the 15th attempt at a truce.
(AP, 1/2/02)
1992 Jan 2, Russian shoppers
experienced their first day of “sticker shock” after President Boris
Yeltsin lifted price controls to stimulate production.
(AP, 1/2/02)
1993 Jan 2, President Bush arrived
in Moscow to sign a strategic arms treaty with Russian President Boris
Yeltsin, who hailed the agreement as "our joint gift to the people of
the Earth."
(AP, 1/2/98)
1993 Jan 2, Leaders of the three
warring ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina met face-to-face in Geneva.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1994 Jan 2, The new Republican
mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani, delivered his inaugural
address in which he called for unity while promising to crack down on
crime and tackle the city's budget problems.
(AP, Internet, 1/2/99)
1995 Jan 2, Marion Barry was
inaugurated as mayor of Washington D.C., four years after leaving
office to serve a six-month sentence for misdemeanor drug possession.
(AP, 1/2/00)
1995 Jan 2, Chechen defenders
drove Russian troops out of the capital of Grozny.
(AP, 1/2/00)
1996 Jan 2, Former Interior
Secretary James Watt pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of
attempting to sway a grand jury investigating 1980s influence-peddling
at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Watt was later
fined and sentenced to five years’ probation.
(AP, 1/2/01)
1996 Jan 2, AT&T announced it
would eliminate 40,000 jobs, mostly through layoffs.
(AP, 1/2/01)
1997 Jan 2, In Las Vegas the New
York New York casino-hotel hosted a private party prior to opening to
the public at 12:35 a.m.
(WSJ, 1/21/97, p.A18)
1997 Jan 2, In the US Northwest a
week of heavy rain and melting snow caused many rivers to overflow.
Downtown Reno was under water and casinos closed and visitors were
trapped in Yosemite National Park. Highway 50 to lake Tahoe was closed
and expected to be out for a month. The Feather River between
Marysville and Yuba City crested at just over 78 feet and 50,000
Californians were forced to evacuate the area.
(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.A1)(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.A1)(SFC, 1/6/97,
p.A13)(AP, 1/2/98)
1997 Jan 2, Letter bombs began
arriving into the US from Egypt. Four were addressed to the Washington
bureau of Al-Hayat, an Arab language daily. Others went to Leavenworth,
Kansas. They contained the plastic explosive semtex.
(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A3)
1997 Jan 2, In India movie
theaters in Bombay closed in protest of a state doubling of the ticket
tax. Some 120 films are produced annually and theaters provide about
half the funding.
(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.A6)
1997 Jan 2, 90 miles off the coast
of Japan the Russian oil tanker Nakhodka broke in two. It carried 5
million gallons of fuel oil. The bow of the ship ran aground 5 days
later, 110 miles northwest of Tokyo, and much oil was spilled.
(SFC, 1/8/97, p.C1)
1997 Jan 2, In Kazakhstan
President Nusultan Nazarbayev was building a new capital 600 miles
north of Almaty in swampy Akmola with transfer due to begin in 1998.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.A10)
1997 Jan 2, In Peru Pres. Fujimori
replaced the president of the Supreme Court and six police generals,
who were among the hostages held by Tupac Amaru rebels. The hostage
count was down to 74.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A16)
1997 Jan 2, The Serbian Orthodox
Church issued a criticism of Pres. Milosevic and accused his government
of stealing elections and provoking bloodshed.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A16)
1997 Jan 2, In Singapore the
ruling party captured all but 2 seats in parliamentary elections. More
than 85% of the country’s 3 million live in government-built apartments.
(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A9)
1997 Jan 2, In Zaire rebel troops
captured Pres. Seko’s 32,000 sq. mile Kilomoto gold mining region and
the town of Mangbwalu.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A18)
1998 Jan 2, The defense in the
Terry Nichols trial rested its case in the penalty phase after calling
nine witnesses who pleaded for his life. Nichols had already been
convicted of conspiracy, which carried a potential death sentence, and
involuntary manslaughter for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Nichols was sentenced to life in prison on federal convictions of
conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter involving the deaths of eight
federal law enforcement officers. He was later convicted of state
murder charges in Oklahoma, and sentenced to 161 consecutive life
sentences.
(AP, 1/2/99)(AP, 1/2/08)
1998 Jan 2, In Canada Mayor Mel
Lastman will begin running the new municipality of greater Toronto.
(SFC,12/897, p.A18)
1998 Jan 2, In the Czech Republic
Josef Tosovsky was sworn in as the prime minister. He pledged economic
reforms, privatization, and efforts to fight crime and corruption.
(SFC, 1/3/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 2, Italy pledged to grant
political asylum to genuine Kurdish immigrants. Another 1,300 were
scheduled to soon arrive from Turkey. German and Austrian officials
feared the immigrants would spill over to their countries.
(SFC, 1/3/98, p.A9)
1998 Jan 2, In Mexico Judge Maria
Claudia Campuzano freed 5 suspects who were held in connection with the
Dec 15 murder of John Peter Zarate. The judge claimed conflicting
evidence as grounds for the release.
(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A10)
1999 Jan 2, In Chicago about 22
inches of snow fell on the city and across the northern Midwest. In
Detroit some 4,000 travelers were stranded in planes on the tarmac for
as long as 9 hours.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A5)(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A3)
1999 Jan 2, Rolf Liebermann, Swiss
composer, died in Paris. He led the Hamburg Opera from 1959-1972 and
the Paris Opera from 1973-1980. His work included "Eleonore 40/45,"
"Penelope," "L'Ecole des Femmes" and "La Foret."
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.D2)
1999 Jan 2, In Angola rebel forces
shot down a UN plane with 8 (9) people shortly after takeoff from
Huambo; there were no survivors. The plane was later found with bullets
in the tail section and the flight recorders removed.
(SFEC, 1/3/99, p.A23)(SFC, 1/27/99, p.C10)(AP,
1/2/00)
1999 Jan 2, In Egypt police
arrested 71 suspected Muslim militants over the last 3 days on
suspicion of plotting to kill senior government officials.
(SFEC, 1/3/99, p.A19)
1999 Jan 2, In the Philippines
rebels lobbed a grenade into a crowd watching firemen fight a fire on
Jolo Island and at least 10 people were killed and 74 injured. The Abu
Sayyaf guerrillas were believed to be responsible.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A22)(WSJ, 1/4/99, p.A1)
2000 Jan 2, Steven Ray Thacker
(29) of Oklahoma was arrested in Tennessee following a 3-state crime
spree that left 3 people dead.
(SFC, 1/3/00, p.A5)
2000 Jan 2, Elmo Russell Zumwalt
Jr., former US Navy commander, died at age 79. He and his son authored
"My Father, My Son" in 1986 and his son died shortly thereafter from
cancer that they attributed to Agent Orange. In 1976 Adm Zumwalt
authored "My Watch."
(SFC, 1/3/00, p.A5)(AP, 1/2/01)
2000 Jan 2, Patrick O'Brian, (born
in England as Richard Patrick Russ), celebrated novelist, died at age
85 in Ireland while writing his 21st novel set during the Napoleonic
wars. His 1st Aubrey and Maturin novel was "Master and Commander,"
begun in 1969 was published in 1970. His first novel was "The Golden
Ocean" written in 1956.
(SFC, 1/8/00, p.A19)(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.W15)
2000 Jan 2 In Somalia Shuab
Mohamed Hussein, a CARE engineer, was killed during an ambush north of
Mogadishu.
(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)
2001 Jan 2, Pres. Clinton met with
Yasser Arafat and coaxed Arafat to curb the Middle East violence.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 2, Pres.-elect Bush chose
Spencer Abraham of Michigan as Sec. of Energy; Linda Chavez as Sec. of
labor; and Norm Mineta, Pres. Clinton’s Commerce Sec., as Sec. of
Transportation. Chavez ended up withdrawing after it was disclosed she
had given money and shelter to an illegal immigrant who once did chores
around Chavez's house.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A1)(AP, 1/2/02)
2001 Jan 2, Former Attorney
General and Secretary of State William P. Rogers died in Bethesda, Md.,
at age 87.
(AP, 1/2/02)
2001 Jan 2, Ships made the first
legal and direct crossing between China and Taiwan in more than half a
century.
(AP, 1/2/02)
2001 Jan 2, In Afghanistan
opposition troops captured Ghalmin in central Ghor province.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A12)
2001 Jan 2, In Cambodia the
legislature voted to create a special tribunal to try leaders of the
1970s Khmer Rouge regime.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 2, In Indonesia Ryaas
Rasyid, the Administrative Reform Minister, resigned and said the
government was moving too slowly to decentralize administrative
policies.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A10)
2002 Jan 2, The No. 5 Florida
Gators crushed No. 6 Maryland 56-23 in the Orange Bowl.
(AP, 1/2/03)
2002 Jan 2, The new Afghan
government confirmed that American bombs had killed the Taliban's
intelligence chief, Qari Ahmadullah.
(AP, 1/2/03)
2002 Jan 2, In Argentina Eduardo
Duhalde was sworn in as president.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A6)
2002 Jan 2, In Australia fires
continued near Sydney and almost 160 houses were lost. 21 arson
suspects had been arrested since the fires began Christmas eve. Arson
bombs were found in Sydney’s northern suburbs.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A4)
2002 Jan 2, In India, Kashmir,
militants detonated 2 grenades near the legislature killing 1 police
officer and wounding at least 24. 2 soldiers were later killed by
militants at an Indian military post in Darhal.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 2, Foreign ministers of
India and Pakistan shook hands at a regional summit in Nepal.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 2, Anil Agarwal, founder
and leader of India’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), died of
cancer. Leadership passed to Sunita Narain.
(www.cseindia.org/aboutus/anilji/anilji.htm)(Econ,
8/26/06, p.51)
2002 Jan 2, In Zambia Levy
Mwanawasa (1948-2008) of the ruling Multiparty Democracy (MMD) was
sworn in as president despite protests of ballot stuffing and voter
intimidation. An appeal for a recount was rejected. Nearly 85% of the
country’s 10 million people lived on less than $1 a day. Unrest closed
much of Lusaka. Zambia’s inflation at this time was 21.7%.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A4)(WSJ, 1/3/02, p.A1)(SFC, 8/20/08,
p.B4)
2003 Jan 2, President Bush,
seeking to counter Democratic criticisms that his economic policies
favored the rich, said the economic-stimulus plan he was going to
unveil the following week would focus on jobs and the unemployed.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2003 Jan 2, Sen. John Edwards of
North Carolina announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination
for president.
(WSJ, 11/3/04, p.A6)
2003 Jan 2, Sydney Omarr (76), the
astrologer to the stars whose horoscopes appeared in more than 200
newspapers, died in Santa Monica, Calif.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2003 Jan 2, It was reported that
scientists had mapped chromosome 14, the 4th of 24 and longest
sequenced to date.
(AP, 1/2/03)
2003 Jan 2, A Palestinian gunman
was killed several hours after he tried to shoot an Israeli couple and
then holed up inside their house in the Israeli village of Maor.
(AP, 1/2/03)
2003 Jan 2, A motorized rubber
boat carrying 41 illegal immigrants sank off the southern coast of
Spain, and six passengers drowned.
(AP, 1/2/03)
2004 Jan 2, The NASA Stardust
spacecraft took pictures of the Wild-2 comet tail and collected
particles on "aerogel," a silica foam 99.8% air, the lightest material
ever made.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A8)(SSFC, 1/4/04, p.A8)
2004 Jan 2, The Fort Pierre
Livestock Auction in South Dakota managed to auction beef calves at
around 92.5 cents a pound. This was 15-20% below mid-December prices
due to the recent mad cow scare.
(WSJ, 1/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 2, In Argentina near
Buenos Aires an explosion at a supermarket that sold illegal fireworks
left five people dead and injured more than a dozen others. A gas leak
was blamed.
(AP, 1/4/04)
2004 Jan 2, British flights to
Washington and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were canceled as a security
precaution.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2004 Jan 2, Bulgaria reported that
more than two dozen Bulgarian soldiers are refusing deployment in Iraq,
following the deaths of five countrymen.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Jan 2, Ecuadorian authorities
captured Ricardo Ovidio Palmera Pineda, aka Simon Trinidad, one of the
7 members who make up the ruling secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC. He was arrested at dawn in a medical
clinic in Ecuador.
(AP, 1/3/04)(Econ, 1/10/04, p.30)
2004 Jan 2, Kemal el-Sheik (85),
Egyptian film director celebrated for a career that spanned nearly five
decades, died.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Jan 2, A U.S. military
helicopter crashed west of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding
another.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Jan 2, In central Iraq
insurgents hit a U.S. base with mortar shells, killing one American
soldier and wounding two others. A US helicopter was shot down near
Fallujah killing one American soldier.
(AP, 1/3/04)(SFC, 1/2/04, p.A5)
2004 Jan 2, Norwegian police
arrested Mullah Krekar, Muslim Kurd leader of Ansar al-Islam, on
charges connected to 2 suicide bombings in Iraq 2 years ago.
(SFC, 1/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Jan 2, Philippine movie star
Fernando Po Jr. filed his candidacy for the presidency.
(SFC, 1/2/04, p.A2)
2005 Jan 2, US professional
football teams (NFL) joined Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and other
sports figures around the world in assisting the relief mission for the
tsunami-earthquake catastrophe in southern Asia.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2005 Jan 2, The death toll from
the Dec 26 Tsunami was expected to hit 150,000.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2005 Jan 2, In El Dorada, Ark.,
firefighters evacuated hundreds of residents as they fought a blaze in
a hazardous waste warehouse.
(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 2, H. David Dalquist
(86), creator of the aluminum Bundt pan (1950), the top-selling cake
pan in the world, died at his home in Edina, Minn. He founded St. Louis
Park-based Nordic Ware, which has sold more than 50 million Bundt pans.
(AP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 2, In western Afghanistan
a US soldier and a former Afghan militia leader were killed when
American troops clashed with gunmen while searching the leader's
compound.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2005 Jan 2, Canada confirmed that
a 2nd case of mad cow disease has been discovered, just days after the
United States said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 2, In Croatia Pres. Stipe
Mesic won about 49 percent of the votes, compared with 20 percent for
his closest rival, conservative government minister Jadranka Kosor, the
popular incumbent narrowly failed to win the absolute majority required
for a first-round victory. Voters will return to the polls later this
month for a presidential runoff.
(AP, 1/3/05)
2005 Jan 2, A suicide attacker
detonated a car bomb north of Baghdad, killing at least 22 Iraqi
soldiers. 10 Iraqis were killed in attacks elsewhere.
(AP, 1/2/05)(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 2, Some 1,500 people
inhabited the artificial Maldive island of Hulhumale. Some $60 million
had already been spent on its creation and completion was expected in
2040.
(SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 2, Thailand's confirmed
death toll from the Dec 26 tidal wave disaster approached 5,000,
including more than 2,400 foreign holidaymakers.
(AP, 1/2/05)
2006 Jan 2, No. 4 Ohio State beat
No. 5 Notre Dame 34-20 in the Fiesta Bowl.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2006 Jan 2, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in 7 northern counties
making them eligible for disaster aid. The aid was soon extended to 16
more counties.
(SFC, 1/3/06, p.A1)(SFC, 1/4/06, p.B1)
2006 Jan 2, Grass fires in New
Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas left at least 4 people dead with over 250
structures burned.
(SFC, 1/3/06, p.A4)
2006 Jan 2, In Tallmansville, West
Virginia, an explosion at the Sago coal mine trapped 13 miners more
than a mile underground. After 1½ days 12 miners were found
dead. Randal McCloy (27) was the lone survivor.
(AP, 1/4/06)
2006 Jan 2, Independence Air,
formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines, said it will shut down on
Jan 5. The DC based carrier only began operations Jun 16, 2004.
(SFC, 1/3/06, p.E1)
2006 Jan 2, The Afghan government
said it has ordered the US Embassy, the UN and other organizations to
remove security barriers that are blocking streets in Afghanistan's
capital and causing traffic jams.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, In Afghanistan a
suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car near a US
military convoy in the southern city of Kandahar, killing himself and
wounding an American soldier and two passers-by. Suspected Taliban
gunmen killed an Afghan aid worker who was praying in a mosque in
southern Afghanistan. A policeman was killed in a separate firefight
with militants.
(AP, 1/2/06)(AFP, 1/3/06)
2006 Jan 2, In eastern Australia 5
people were killed when a plane carrying a group of skydivers plunged
into a dam near Brisbane.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, China’s Xinhua News
reported that the nation’s GDP grew 9.8% in 2005.
(WSJ, 1/3/06, p.A14)
2006 Jan 2, The roof of an ice
rink with about 50 people inside collapsed after a heavy snowfall in a
town in the Bavarian Alps killing 15 people, most of them teens and
children.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2006 Jan 2, In India’s Orissa
state police shot and killed 12 tribals who were seeking to block
construction of a steel plant in Kalinga Nagar. Tensions were
heightened after the "tribals hacked to death a senior constable."
Hundreds of protesters, some armed with bows and arrows, soon blocked a
highway to protest the police shooting.
(AFP, 1/3/06)
2006 Jan 2, In central Indonesia
flash floods swept away hundreds houses and schools, killing at least
57 people.
(AP, 1/3/06)
2006 Jan 2, In Iraq the main Sunni
Arab group, the Iraqi Accordance Front, and Kurdish regional Pres.
Massoud Barzani agreed on broad outlines for a coalition government.
(SFC, 1/3/06, p.A5)
2006 Jan 2, A suicide car bomber
targeted a busload of police recruits north of Baghdad, killing seven
people, and gunmen in the capital killed five workers.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, US aircraft bombed a
house in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, killing seven people and
wounding four. Iraqis claimed an innocent family was killed. US
military said a recon drone had recorded men planting a roadside bomb
and traced them to the building.
(AP, 1/3/06)(SFC, 1/4/06, p.A3)
2006 Jan 2, An Israeli
intelligence report said Palestinians have smuggled anti-aircraft
missiles into the Gaza Strip along with tons of other military hardware
since Israel withdrew in September.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, A car exploded in
northern Gaza after nightfall, killing at least one Palestinian.
Witnesses said an Israeli aircraft was overhead.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, More than 130 Libyan
political prisoners, mostly members of the banned opposition Muslim
Brotherhood group, started a hunger strike in a Tripoli prison, saying
the government broke its promise to release them.
(AP, 1/3/06)
2006 Jan 2, The leader of Mexico's
Zapatista rebels, wearing a ski mask to protect his identity, railed
against the country's government and free trade to kick off a six-month
tour of Mexico aimed at reshaping the nation's politics.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, Communist rebels in
Nepal announced they would end a four-month cease-fire, saying they had
to take up arms to defend themselves against government attacks.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, Russia's
state-controlled natural gas monopoly accused Ukraine of diverting
about $25 million worth of Russian gas intended for other customers, a
day after Moscow halted deliveries to Kiev in a price dispute whose
effects were spreading across Europe.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, A heavily-criticized
Russia promised to restore full gas supplies to Europe after Germany
warned that its dispute with Ukraine over deliveries could hurt its
long-term credibility as an energy supplier.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, In Sri Lanka 5
civilians suspected of working for separatist rebels were allegedly
killed when their grenades exploded before they could hurl them at
troops. Forensic tests showed that the victims had been shot dead. The
incident referred to as Trincomalee massacre happened when 5 minority
Sri Lankan Tamil high school students playing by the beach were briefly
detained and then shot dead.
(AP, 1/3/06)(AP,
2/14/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Trincomalee_massacre)
2006 Jan 2, Kizza Besigye,
Uganda's main opposition leader, was released on bail, and greeted some
12,000 cheering supporters outside the courthouse where he is on trial
for charges he says were fabricated to keep him out of next month's
presidential election.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2006 Jan 2, Yemeni tribal and
state officials said 3 Italian women kidnapped in north Yemen have
refused to go free until their abductors release two Italian men held
with them.
(AP, 1/2/06)
2007 Jan 2, The Wall Street
Journal introduced a new print format.
(WSJ, 1/2/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 2, Jim Gibbons, former
Republican Representative in Congress, was sworn in as governor of
Nevada. He soon faced FBI investigations over unreported gifts while
serving on the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees.
(WSJ, 2/15/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 2, US markets and federal
agencies closed in respect for funeral rites for former Pres. Gerald
Ford. Ford’s body was flown to Michigan for burial following services
in the National Cathedral.
(WSJ, 1/2/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 2, New York City commuter
Wesley Autrey Sr. saved a 19-year-old student who had fallen onto
subway tracks by leaping down and pulling the teen and himself into the
trough between the tracks as a train passed over them.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2007 Jan 2, Garry Betty (49),
chief executive of EarthLink Inc., died of cancer. Betty had led the
company from 1995, one year after Sky Dayton founded the Internet
service provider.
(WSJ, 1/6/07, p.A4)
2007 Jan 2, An Australian
Aborigine tribe was granted joint management rights over several state
and national parks under a deal that recognizes its traditional
ownership of the land.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, In Brazil an explosion
in Sao Paulo ripped through a state police warehouse used to store guns
and ammunition, killing one officer and injuring five.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, China's foreign
minister continued his whistle-stop African tour in Equatorial Guinea,
where he cancelled debt, promised aid and opened a new Chinese-built
media centre.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, Ethiopian helicopters
pursuing Somali Islamists missed their target and bombed a Kenyan
border post, prompting Kenyan fighter planes to rush to the area. The
gun collection program in Mogadishu began with little response. 2
Ethiopian soldiers were shot dead.
(AFP, 1/2/07)(SFC, 1/3/07, p.A3)(Econ, 1/6/07, p.41)
2007 Jan 2, Gunmen attacked the
car of a provincial councilman northeast of Baghdad, killing the
official and three relatives. A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi
civilians and wounded seven others in eastern Baghdad. US troops killed
a suspected al-Qaida weapons dealer and two other people in Baghdad
raids. Police found 15 bodies dumped in northern Baghdad.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, Teddy Kollek (b.1911),
the legendary mayor of Jerusalem, died. He was born in Hungary, but was
brought up mostly in Vienna. Kollek arrived in Palestine in 1934 and in
1965 was elected mayor of Jerusalem and served to 1993. He presided
over the reunification of the city after the 1967 Mideast war and tried
to balance the needs of its split Jewish and Arab populations.
(AP, 1/2/07)(Econ, 1/13/07, p.78)
2007 Jan 2, Mexico said it is
sending some 3,300 soldiers and federal police officers to fight drug
gangs in the crime-plagued border city of Tijuana, which has become a
major smuggling route for cocaine and methamphetamine entering the
United States.
(AP, 1/3/07)
2007 Jan 2, In South Africa Oprah
Winfrey opened a school for disadvantaged girls south of Johannesburg,
fulfilling a promise she made to former President Nelson Mandela six
years ago and giving more than 150 students a chance for a better
future. The school later became embroiled in allegations of abuse;
Winfrey apologized and promised an overhaul.
(AP, 1/2/07)(AP, 1/2/08)
2007 Jan 2, Tamilnet.com said at
least 15 civilians were killed and dozens more wounded when Sri Lankan
air force jets "carpet bombed" territory held by the Tamil Tigers.
(AFP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, New UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ran into trouble on his first day of work
over Saddam Hussein's execution when he failed to state the United
Nations' opposition to the death penalty and said capital punishment
should be a decision of individual countries.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, A UN official said the
UN will investigate a report of allegations of sexual abuse and child
rape by peacekeepers operating in southern Sudan.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, Rival gangs battled
for control of Uribana Prison in eastern Venezuela, killing 16 inmates
and injuring 13. National Guard troops restored order after the riot
broke out overnight. The death toll in riots this week rose to 22.
(AP, 1/2/07)(AP, 1/3/07)
2008 Jan 2, California led 15
other states and 5 environmental groups into federal court to challenge
the Bush administration’s refusal to let the state limit vehicle
emissions of gases that contribute to global warming.
(SFC, 1/3/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 2, Gold prices swept to a
record high of $861.10 above the key $850-an-ounce mark, driven by
surging oil, a weaker dollar and simmering geopolitical tensions. It
later backtracked slightly to $855.70/$856.50 in New York at 2:25 p.m.
EST.
(Reuters, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, Oil futures hit an
intraday high of $100 per barrel and closed at a record $99.62.
(WSJ, 1/3/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 2, US researchers said a
married couple who sailed to America from England around 1630 are the
reason why thousands of people in the United States are at higher risk
of a hereditary form of colon cancer.
(Reuters, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, Becton, Dickinson and
Co said it received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for
a test to identify the presence of two deadly healthcare-associated
infections: Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
(Reuters, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, In Algeria a car bomb
exploded near a police station in Naciria east of Algiers, killing at
least four people and ripping off the building's façade.
(AFP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, Sterling slumped to a
record low against the euro after the release of weak British economic
data that raised expectations of further interest rate cuts by the Bank
of England.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, George MacDonald
Fraser (82), English author of the "Flashman" series of historical
adventure yarns, died. "Flashman," published in 1969, introduced
readers to an enduring literary antihero: the roguish, irrepressible
Harry Flashman. Fraser’s work also included over 30 movie scripts
including “The Three Musketeers” (1973).
(AP, 1/3/08)(WSJ, 1/17/08, p.D7)(Econ, 1/12/08, p.78)
2008 Jan 2, In southern Chile
hundreds of people fled their homes overnight as the Llaima volcano
erupted, rocking the area with explosions and spewing lava and ash.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, Egypt allowed more
than 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims to enter the Gaza Strip, drawing a
fierce rebuke from Israel, which had tried to prevent top members of
the militant Hamas from returning home.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, France's most drastic
measure to curb smoking went into effect with a full ban on lighting up
in cafes, restaurants and discotheques.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, In northern India an
unusually fierce cold snap has killed nine people over the past two
days, bringing the death toll from weeks of unusually chilly weather to
38.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, In Iraq a suicide
bombing in Baqouba killed seven people, including Abu Sadjat, a local
tribal chief, and wounded 22 others.
(AP, 1/2/08)(SFC, 1/3/08, p.A11)
2008 Jan 2, Israeli forces killed
seven Palestinian militants in a clash before dawn, pressing its war
against armed groups in the Gaza Strip days before President Bush
arrives to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, International pressure
mounted on Kenya's leaders to end postelection violence that has killed
more than 300 people. Vice President Moody Awori told a local
television station that the violence has cost the country $31 million a
day.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, In Lebanon Sheik
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader Hezbollah, declared no president will be
elected unless his opposition party gets veto power in the future
government.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, Myanmar's military
junta dramatically raised the annual fee for TV satellite dishes, an
apparent move to block the foreign news channels that beamed in global
criticism of its recent crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, Authorities said
Pakistan's elections will be delayed six weeks until Feb. 18 because of
unrest following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Opponents
condemned the postponement but said they would take part in the vote
anyway. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said that he had requested
a team of investigators from Britain's Scotland Yard to assist in the
investigation into the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, The Sri Lankan
government decided to withdraw from an internationally brokered
cease-fire with the insurgents. Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated
a bomb near a bus carrying wounded soldiers through a busy commercial
district in Sri Lanka's capital, killing one soldier and three
civilians and wounding 24 other people. Air force jets launched two
airstrikes in the north, one targeting a Tamil Tiger naval base in
Mannar district and the other a logistics base in Mullaitivu district.
Some 5,000 people had died over the last two years of the cease-fire.
(AP, 1/3/08)(Econ, 1/5/08, p.36)
2008 Jan 2, Darfur rebels in Sudan
said they had taken a town around Geneina, the main city of west Darfur
which they claim to have surrounded.
(AFP, 1/2/08)
2009 Jan 2, In SF the AsianWeek
newspaper, founded in 1979, published its final print edition. It
planned to continue a presence online at www.asianweek.com.
(SFC, 1/1/09, p.C1)
2009 Jan 2, Idaho investors met
with Daren Palmer of Idaho Falls and were informed that as much as $100
million in their investments was gone. State security regulators soon
launched an investigation into Palmer (40) and his Trigon Group Inc.
under allegations that he had operated a long running Ponzi scheme.
(WSJ, 1/17/09, p.B4)
2009 Jan 2, In Britain 2 people
were feared dead after a light aircraft crashed into a major railway
line, causing severe disruption to train services between Rugeley and
Stafford.
(AFP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, In Burundi an
8-year-old albino boy was hacked to death in front of his mother and
made off with his arms and legs. The body parts of a single albino, to
be used in witch doctor potions, fetched about $1000. This attack
followed another on a 6-year-old girl.
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.50)
2009 Jan 2, Ghana's leader
appealed for calm and urged his people to accept the results of a tight
presidential election as voters in a single district cast ballots that
could decide the West African nation's next president. Election results
from all other districts showed opposition leader John Atta Mills ahead
of his ruling party rival Nana Akufo-Addo by only around 23,000 votes
out of more than 9 million cast.
(AP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, India eased foreign
borrowing for real estate and certain other companies and allowed
additional liquidity for non-banking financial firms to boost growth.
(AP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, In Iraq a suicide
bomber sneaked into a luncheon gathering called by the leader of a
local tribe in Youssifiyah, killing at least 23 people and wounding
110. Gunmen killed two people when they opened fire on a checkpoint
manned by members of the Sons of Iraq in Jurf al-Sakhar. Four other
people were reported wounded in the attack 40 miles south of Baghdad.
(AP, 1/2/09)(SFC, 1/3/09, p.A3)
2009 Jan 2, Israel bombed a mosque
it claimed was used to store weapons and destroyed homes of more than a
dozen Hamas operatives, but under international pressure, the
government allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports to
leave besieged Gaza. Thus far more than 400 Gazans have been killed and
some 1,700 have been wounded. Three Israeli civilians and one soldier
have also died in the rocket attacks.
(AP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, Kenya's Pres. Mwai
Kibaki signed into law a media bill that opponents say threatens the
country's hard-fought reputation for having one of Africa's most
vigorous press. A controversial part of the bill, which parliament
passed last month, allows the government to shut down media outlets by
declaring a state of emergency. Kibaki said that part was not included
in the bill he signed.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 2, Mexican Federal
prosecutors said they placed three municipal policemen in the northern
border city of Ciudad Juarez under house arrest on suspicion of aiding
drug traffickers. In the northern city of Monterrey, prosecutors
accused former Nuevo Leon state policeman Aldo Perales (34) of leading
a gang of bank robbers and participating in more than 30 robberies.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 2, In southern Nigeria an
oil pipeline was blown up with dynamite.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 2, Pakistan reopened the
main supply route for US and NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan after
blocking it for three days during a military operation against
militants who have been attacking convoys.
(AP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, Luis Fortuno (48),
Puerto Rico's new governor was sworn, inheriting an island government
that is battling a recession, a soaring murder rate and a deficit of
more than $1 billion.
(AP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, Singapore said its GDP
had contracted at an adjusted annualized pace of 12.5% in the 4th
quarter. Its biggest contraction since it began publishing data in 1976.
(WSJ, 1/3/09, p.A4)
2009 Jan 2, Crewmen fired high
pressure water jets to fight off heavily armed Somali pirates trying to
board a Greek oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden in the fourth such attack
since the start of the year. A Chinese cargo ship evaded two pirate
boats chasing it in the Gulf of Aden.
(AP, 1/2/09)(AFP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, In northern Sri Lanka
government forces captured the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital, dealing
a devastating blow to the rebels' quarter-century fight for an
independent state. A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker on a
motorcycle detonated a bomb near the air force headquarters in the
heart of Colombo during the afternoon rush hour, killing two airmen.
(AP, 1/2/09)
2009 Jan 2, Ugandan Lord's
Resistance Army rebels killed two wildlife rangers and six other people
in a remote national park in northeastern Congo.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 2, Ukraine sought support
in European capitals a day after Russia cut off gas supplies and
hardened its stance on prices. The cutoff came after Ukraine made a
$1.5 billion overdue payment, but Russia demanded another $600 million,
including $450 million penalties for the late payment for gas shipped
in November and December. The two sides also have not agreed on prices
for 2009. Russia accused Ukraine of stealing gas destined for the rest
of Europe.
(AP, 1/2/09)(Reuters, 1/2/09)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to January 3