Today in History January 3

Today in History - January 3

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Grizzly bear cubs are born around this date.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, Z1 p.5)

106BCE Jan 3, Marcus Cicero (d.43BCE), Roman orator, statesman and author, was born. He was elected Consul in 63. He chose to support Pompey over Caesar and was murdered by Mark Antony: "What is more unwise than to mistake uncertainty for certainty, falsehood for truth?"

(V.D.-H.K.p.74)(AP, 4/10/98)(HN, 1/3/99)

1521 Jan 3, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic Church.

(NH, 9/96, p.18)(AP, 1/3/98)

1543 Jan 3, Juan Cabrillo, conqueror of Central America and discoverer of California, died.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1621 Jan 3, William Tucker was born. He is believed to be first American born African-American. [1624 date also given]

(HN, 1/3/99)(MC, 1/3/02)

1641 Jan 3, Jeremiah Horrocks (22), English astronomical prodigy, died.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1670 Jan 3, George Monck (61), English general (to the-sea), died.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1754 Jan 3, Joseph Black, a medical student at the Univ. of Edinburgh, rediscovered carbon dioxide after pouring acid into a tall glass containing some chalk Black had read Helmont’s memoirs and so knew of gas sylvestris. A candle near the glass was snuffed out due to the outpouring of carbon dioxide. He also found that carbon dioxide will precipitate out of limewater when exposed to a strong source of carbon dioxide gas. Black later attained a professorship and had James Watt, engine-builder, as one of his first assistants.

(NOHY, 3/90, p.5,42)

1777 Jan 3, Gen. George Washington's army routed the British led by Cornwallis in the Battle of Princeton, N.J.

(AP, 1/3/98)(HN, 1/3/99)

1793 Jan 3, Lucretia Coffin Mott women’s rights activist, was born. She was a teacher, minister, antislavery leader and founder of the 1st Women’s Rights Convention.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)(HN, 1/3/02)

1795 Jan 3, The 3rd division of the Lithuanian Polish Republic was made between Russia and Austria.

(Voruta #27-28, Jul 1996, p.5)

1795 Jan 3, Josiah Wedgwood (b.1730), British ceramics manufacturer, died. His daughter, Susannah, was the mother of Charles Darwin. In 2004 Brian Dolan authored “Wedgwood: The First Tycoon.”

(SSFC, 12/5/04, p.E5)(www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk/wedgwood_chronology.htm)

1825 Jan 3, Scottish factory owner Robert Owen bought 30,000 acres in Indiana as site for New Harmony utopian community.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1833 Jan 3, Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. In 1982 Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back after a 74-day war.

(AP, 1/3/98)

1847 Jan 3, California town of Yerba Buena was renamed to San Francisco. [see Jan 30]

(MC, 1/3/02)

1852 Jan 3, The 1st Chinese arrive in Hawaii.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1861 Jan 3, Delaware rejected a proposal that it join the South in seceding.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1861 Jan 3, US Ft. Pulaski & Ft. Jackson, Savannah, were seized by Georgia.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1864 Jan 3, John Joseph Hughes (b.1797), Irish-born Archbishop of the Catholic diocese of NY, died.

(WSJ, 12/5/08, p.A19)(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/John-Joseph-Hughes)

1868 Jan 3, Emperor Meiji ascended the throne and assumed power. The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns. The feudal clan system was abolished and industrialism was started. Japan opened itself up to the West, thereby obtaining the benefits of western technology. With the erosion of the Tokugawa bakufu system and international pressure to open the country, the boy emperor Mutsuhito—later known by the name Meiji—became the political leader replacing the Tokugawa shogunate. The social and political changes during the Meiji period (1868-1912) had begun in the late Tokugawa period, but were only formalized with the creation of the Meiji constitution in 1889.

(V.D.-H.K.p.243,286)(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 215)(AP, 1/3/98)(HNQ, 11/21/00)

1871 Jan 3, Henry W. Bradley patented oleomargarine in Binghamton, NY.

(AH, 2/06, p.14)

1879 Jan 3, Grace Coolidge (Goodhue) First Lady: wife of 30th U.S. President Calvin Coolidge [1923-29], was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)(HN, 1/3/99)

1883 Jan 3, Clement Attlee Britain’s prime minister [1945-1951; head of Labour Party, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1885 Jan 3, Anna Pavlova Russia’s premier ballerina, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1888 Jan 3, Marvin C. Stone of Washington, DC, patented the drinking straw.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1892 Jan 3, J.R.R. Tolkein, author of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. "All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost."

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)(AP, 1/5/99)(AP, 1/3/00)

1897 Jan 3, Marion (Cecilia Douras) Davies actress: Runaway Romany, When Knighthood Was in Flower, The Patsy, Show People, Going Hollywood, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1898 Jan 3, Zasu Pitts actress: Busby Berkeley’s 1933 musical: Dames, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1901 Jan 3, Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnamese president (1955-63), was born.

(HN, 1/3/99)(MC, 1/3/02)

1903 Jan 3, The Bulgarian government renounced the treaty of commerce tying it to Austro-Hungarian empire.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1905 Jan 3, Ray Milland (Reginald Truscott-Jones) Academy Award-winning actor: The Lost Weekend [1945], We’re Not Dressing, Star-Spangled Rhythm, Lady in the Dark, Let’s Do It Again, X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1909 Jan 3, Victor Borge (Borge Rosenbaum) pianist, comedian, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1910 Jan 3, British miners struck for an 8 hour working day.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1910 Jan 3, The Social Democratic Congress in Germany demanded universal suffrage.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1911 Jan 3, Joseph Rauh civil rights activist: cofounded Americans for Democratic Action; member: executive board of NAACP; general counsel: Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1911 Jan 3, John Sturges director: Bad Day at Black Rock, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Ice Station Zebra, The Eagle Has Landed, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1912 Jan 3, Plans were announced for a new $150,000 Brooklyn stadium for the Trolley Dodgers baseball team.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1915 Jan 3, Jack Levine, artist, was born in Boston, Mass. His social realist and expressionist art included political and satirical undertones.

(SFC, 7/24/04, p.E1)

1916 Jan 3, Betty Furness consumer advocate, TV spokesperson for refrigerators, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1916 Jan 3, Three armored Japanese cruisers were ordered to guard the Suez Canal.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1918 Jan 3, Maxene Andrews was born. Singer with sisters LaVerne and Patti: The Andrews Sisters: Why Talk About Love?, A Simple Melody, Bei Mir Bist Du Schön, Rum and Coca Cola; solo: I Suppose; on Broadway with Patti: Over Here.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1920 Jan 3, The Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000, twice the amount of any previous player transaction. The deal also included a $300,000 loan secured by a mortgage on Fenway Park, a contractual clause that made the Yankees owners the Red Sox's landlords.

(http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00242487.html)

1920 Jan 3, The last of the U.S. troops quit France.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1921 Jan 3, John Russell actor: Forever Amber, Rio Bravo, Pale Rider, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1921 Jan 3, Italy halted the issue of passports to those emigrating to the U.S.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1922 Jan 3, Bill Travers producer, director, actor: Born Free, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1924 Jan 3, Hank Stram football: coach, was born: Kansas City Chiefs: Super Bowls I, IV; sportscaster: CBS radio.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1924 Jan 3, British Egyptologist Howard Carter found the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1925 Jan 3, Benito Mussolini dissolved the Italian parliament and became dictator.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1926 Jan 3, Joan Walsh Anglund author, was born: Bedtime Book, Crocus in the Snow; illustrator of children’s books.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1926 Jan 3, George Martin record producer, arranger, keyboard player, was born: group: The Beatles; AIR Studios; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [3-15-99].

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1929 Jan 3, William S. Paley (27) became CBS president.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1930 Jan 3, Robert Loggia actor, was born: Independence Day, Wild Palms, Big, Armed and Dangerous, Prizzi’s Honor, Scarface, Psycho 2, Pink Panther series, A Woman Called Golda, Speedtrap, An Officer and a Gentleman, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Mancuso FBI.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1930 Jan 3, The second conference on war reparations began in the Hague.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1931 Jan 3, Hundreds of farmers stormed a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1932 Jan 3, Coo Coo (Clifton) Marlin auto race: Winston Cup star, was born.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1932 Jan 3, Dabney Coleman actor, was born: Judicial Consent, The Beverly Hillbillies, Amos and Andrew, Clifford, Never Forget, Short Time, Dragnet, The Man with One Red Shoe, Tootsie, On Golden Pond, 9 to 5, North Dallas Forty, The Other Side of the Mountain, Cinderella Liberty, The President’s Plane is Missing, Buffalo Bill.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1933 Jan 3, The Japanese took Shuangyashan, China, killing 500 in the process.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1938 Jan 3, The first broadcast of Woman in White was presented on the NBC Red network. The program remained on radio for 10 years and was one of the first to feature real doctors and nurses in leading roles.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1938 Jan 3, The March of Dimes was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fight poliomyelitis. Roosevelt himself was afflicted with polio. The organization was originally called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, as the disease was commonly known.

(AP, 1/3/98)(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1939 Jan 3, Bobby Hull ‘The Golden Jet’: Hockey Hall of Famer, was born: Chicago Blackhawks left wing: Hart Memorial Trophy, NHL’s MVP award [1965, 1966]; Lady Byng Trophy for good sportsmanship [1965]; 1st pro hockey player to score more than 50 goals in one season [54: 1965].

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1939 Jan 3, Tennis legend Don Budge played a pro tennis match, his first in Madison Square Garden, NY, before 6,000 spectators. Budge was touring the country as the top U.S. tennis player, having won the grand slam of tennis (Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon) the year before.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1940 Jan 3, The Southland Shuffle was recorded on Bluebird Records by Charlie Barnet and his orchestra. A young trumpet player named Billy May was featured.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1941 Jan 3, Canada & US acquired air bases in Newfoundland with a 99 year lease.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1943 Jan 3, A US B-17 bomber was downed over France following a bombing run over a German submarine base in southern France. John Roten, navigator, was the only survivor. Roten spent 28 months as a POW.

(SFC, 9/10/01, p.A11)

1945 Jan 3, Stephen Stills singer, songwriter, guitarist: group, was born: Buffalo Springfield: For What It’s Worth; group: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1945 Jan 3, US aircraft carriers attacked Okinawa.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1945 Jan 3, Edgar Cayce (b.1877), American self-proclaimed psychic from Kentucky, died. Jess Stearn (d.2002) authored "The Sleeping Prophet: The Life and work of Edgar Cayce" (1968), and "A Prophet in His Own Country: The Story of the Young Edgar Cayce" (1974). In 2000 Sidney D. Kirkpatrick authored Edgar Cayce, An American Prophet.

(SFEC, 7/26/98, BR p.3)(SSFC, 1/14/01, BR p.12)(SFC, 4/2/02, p.A15)(SFC, 8/7/08, p.E6)

1946 Jan 3, John Paul Jones (Baldwin) musician, was born: bass: film score: Scream for Help; group: Led Zeppelin: Whole Lotta Love, Moby Dick, Ramble On, Immigrant Song, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Black Dog, Rock & Roll, The Battle of Evermore, Stairway to Heaven.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1946 Jan 3, Don May basketball player, was born: Univ. of Dayton, Indiana Pacers.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1946 Jan 3, President Truman called on Americans to spur Congress to act on the on-going labor crisis.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1946 Jan 3, William Joyce, (Lord Haw Haw), was hanged in Britain for treason. He had broadcast for the Nazis to British and American fighting troops. In 2005 Nigel Farndale authored “Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce.”

(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/William-Joyce)(Econ, 7/30/05, p.77)

1947 Jan 3, At the top of the record charts:

Ole Buttermilk Sky by The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas & The Campus Kids).

The Old Lamplighter by The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy Williams).

For Sentimental Reasons by Nat King Cole.

Divorce Me C.O.D. by Merle Travis.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1947 Jan 3, Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York City saw some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.

(AP, 1/3/98)

1947 Jan 3, In Trenton, New Jersey, Al Herrin, the handyman who claimed he had no bed to sleep in because he had never slept a wink in his life, passed away at age 92. He was famed for catnapping in chairs but never sleeping in a bed. No bed was found in his living quarters after he died. Doctors said there was evidence that he had gone several months without sleep and they confirmed that if he went that long, it could well be that he was awake his entire life.

(SFC, 12/4/94, p. S-8)(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1948 Jan 3, King Michael left Romania. His Peles Castle in Sinaia was confiscated by the Communists. In 2006 it was returned to the former king.

(SFC, 10/20/00, p.A16)(SFC, 5/24/06, p.A2)

1950 Jan 3, Victoria Principal, actress, was born: Dallas, Fantasy Island, Scott Turow’s The Burden of Proof, Naked Lie, Blind Witness, Mistress, Pleasure Palace, Earthquake, Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1951 Jan 3, Mel Gibson, Academy Award-winning director, was born.: Braveheart [1995]; actor: Braveheart, Maverick, The Man Without a Face, Lethal Weapon series, Forever Young, Hamlet, Bird on a Wire, Tequila Sunrise, Mad Max series, Mrs. Soffel, The Road Warrior, The Year of Living Dangerously, Summer City.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1952 Jan 3, "Dragnet" with Jack Webb premiered on NBC TV.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1953 Jan 3, Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, became the first mother-son combination to serve at the same time in the United States Congress.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1954 Jan 3, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the philosopher Eric Gutkind describing belief in God as "childish superstition" and saying Jews were not the chosen people. In 2008 the letter was put up for auction and sold for $404,000.

(AFP, 5/13/08)(AP, 5/16/08)

1955 Jan 3, Melody Anderson, actress, was born.: Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair, Landslide, Hitler’s Daughter, Final Notice, Speed Zone, Firewalker, Beverly Hills Madam, Policewoman Centerfold, Dead and Buried, Flash Gordon, Manimal.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1955 Jan 3, At the top of the record charts:

Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes.

Let Me Go, Lover by Joan Weber.

The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane by The Ames Brothers.

More and More by Webb Pierce.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1956 Jan 3, Mel Gibson, Academy Award-winning director and actor, was born in Peekskill, New York. His films included Braveheart (1995) actor and director; Maverick, The Man Without a Face, Lethal Weapon series, Forever Young, Hamlet, Bird on a Wire, Tequila Sunrise, Mad Max series, Mrs. Soffel, The Road Warrior, The Year of Living Dangerously, Summer City.

(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000154/)

1957 Jan 3, The Hamilton Watch Company was the first to introduce an electric watch in Lancaster, Pa.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)(MC, 1/3/02)

1958 Jan 3, The first six members of the newly formed US Commission on Civil Rights held their first meeting at the White House after they were sworn in by President Eisenhower.

(AP, 1/3/08)

1958 Jan 3, Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole (Antarctica) overland. Hillary was part of a joint New Zealand-British ice trek that drove farm tractors on the Skelton Glacier to the South Pole. He beat Vivian Fuchs to the South Pole by 17 days.

(SFC, 1/14/99, p.C2)(MC, 1/3/02)

1958 Jan 3, The British created the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general. The federation lasted to 1962. It included Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago and the Windward and Leeward Islands.

(HN, 1/3/99)(WUD, 1994, p.1623)

1959 Jan 3, President Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Alaska to the Union as the 49th state. Its area is 586,412 sq. mls. Capital: Juneau; bird: willow ptarmigan; flower: forget-me-not; nickname: The Last Frontier.

(TMC, 1994, p.1959)(THM, 4/27/97, p.L5)(AP, 1/3/98)(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1959 Jan 3, Fidel Castro took command of the Cuban army.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1961 Jan 3, The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba after Fidel Castro announced he was a communist. The US Guantanamo Bay base remained under US control.

(AP, 1/3/98)(HN, 1/3/99)(MC, 1/3/02)

1962 Jan 3, Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.

(MC, 1/3/02)

1963 Jan 3, Top hits:

Telstar by The Tornadoes

Bobby’s Girl by Marcie Blane

Go Away Little Girl by Steve Lawrence

Don’t Let Me Cross Over by Carl Butler & Pearl (Dee Jones).

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1964 Jan 3, Barry Goldwater announced that he was a candidate for the U.S. Presidency. He lost to Lyndon B. Johnson: 43,126,506 to 27,176,799.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1965 Jan 3, UC Berkeley officials announced a new campus policy that allowed political activity on campus.

(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F5)

1966 Jan 3, Cambodia warned the UN of retaliation unless the U.S. and South Vietnam end intrusions.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1967 Jan 3, Mary Garden (b.1874), Scottish opera star, died in Inverurie, Scotland.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Garden)

1967 Jan 3, Jack Ruby (55), the man who shot accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died in a Dallas hospital.

(AP, 1/3/98)

1969 Jan 3, police in Newark, NJ, confiscated 30,000 copies of the John Lennon, Yoko Ono album, Two Virgins. A nude photo of John and Yoko on the cover violated pornography laws in Jersey.

(www.goatview.com/january03.htm)

1970 Jan 3, "Mame" closed at Winter Garden Theater in NYC after 1508 performances.

(http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=3142)

1971 Jan 3, At the top of the record charts: "My Sweet Lord and Isn’t It" a Pity by George Harrison; "Knock Three Times" by Dawn; "Black Magic Woman" by Santana; and "Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson.

(www.mbgtop40.com/chartreviews/1971/week10of1971.html)

1972 Jan 3, Don McLean received a gold record for his 8-minute-plus (8:32) hit, American Pie.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1973 Jan 3, The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) got out of the baseball business this day by selling the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by George Steinbrenner III for $10 million.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_New_York_Yankees_season)

1974 Jan 3, Following eight years of inactivity, Bob Dylan and The Band began his 2-month concert tour in Chicago, IL. The tour was recorded and later released as a double-LP set titled, “Before the Flood.”

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan_and_The_Band_1974_Tour)

1975 Jan 3, President Ford signed Public Law 93-620. This Act, written to enlarge the Grand Canyon National Park, also provided in Section 10 for the enlargement of the adjacent Havasupai Indian Reservation by 185,000 acres and designated a contiguous 95,300 acres of the enlarged National Park as a permanent traditional use area of the Havasupai Indians of Havasu Canyon, Arizona.

(SSFC, 2/19/06, p.F4)(www.tribal-institute.org/envirotext/89.htm)

1975 Jan 3, President Gerald Ford signed the Jackson-Vanik amendment into law, after both houses of the United States Congress unanimously voted for its adoption. Congress had passed the Jackson-Vanik amendment for economic sanctions on Russia to pressure the Soviet Union to allow unfettered emigration for Soviet Jews. Pres. Bush in 2001 proposed that it be lifted.

(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson-Vanik_amendment)

1975 Jan 3, The US Trade Act of 1974 was enacted.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Act_of_1974)

1976 Jan 3, Pres. Gerald Ford signed the American Folklife Preservation Act. San Francisco Folklorist Aaron Green (1917-2009) had lobbied Congress for the passage of the bill.

(www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6021)

1977 Jan 3, Apple Computers incorporated under Steven Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In March Apple produced the Apple II, the first pre-assembled, mass-produced PC.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)

1978 Jan 3, In India the Congress Party split and Indira Gandhi became head of the larger faction.

(WUD, 1994, p.1691)

1978 Jan 3, Vietnamese troops were reported to be occupying 400 square miles in Cambodia. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging areas for attacks against allied forces.

(HN, 1/3/02)

1979 Jan 3, The top of the record charts included: Le Freak by Chic; Too Much Heaven by the Bee Gees; My Life by Billy Joel; The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1979 Jan 3, Conrad Hilton (b.1887), American founder of the Hilton Hotel chain, died.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Nicholson_Hilton)

1980 Jan 3, Conservationist Joy Adamson (69), author of "Born Free," was killed in northern Kenya by a servant.

(AP, 1/3/98)(WSJ, 9/8/00, p.W4)

1981 Jan 3, John Lennon’s (Just Like) Starting Over and the album Double Fantasy topped the pop music charts just weeks after the death of the former Beatle.

(www.440.com/twtd/today.html)

1982 Jan 3, A small plane crashed into the peak of White Mountain in northern California. Donnie Priest (10), the only survivor, was rescued 5 days later but lost both legs due to frostbite. His mother and stepfather were killed in the crash.

(SSFC, 11/25/07, p.A1)

1983 Jan 3, In Hawaii the Pu’u O’o vent of the Kilauea volcano lit up the skies for the first time and began a state of almost constant eruption.

(SFEC, 4/2/00, p.T6)

1985 Jan 3, Soprano Leontyne Price, part of the Met since 1961, bid adieu to the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She sang the title role of Aida.

(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)

1985 Jan 3, President Reagan condemned a rash of arsons on abortion clinics.

(HN, 1/3/99)

1987 Jan 3, At the top of the record charts included: Walk Like an Egyptian by the Bangles; Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung; Notorious by Duran Duran; Mind Your Own Business by Hank Williams, Jr.

(www.440.com/twtd/archives/jan03.html)

1987 Jan 3, The first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was ‘Lady Soul’: Aretha Franklin (b.1942). Bill Haley was among the 14 others inducted.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretha_Franklin)(http://tinyurl.com/mn5j6)

1975 Jan 3, Milton J. Cross (b.1897), TV announcer (Met Opera), died.

(www.imdb.com/name/nm0189229/)

1988 Jan 3, Margaret Thatcher (b.1925) became the longest serving British PM this century.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_3)

1988 Jan 3, The Israeli Army ordered nine Palestinian activists deported from West Beirut as part of a controversial crackdown to stop the uprising in the occupied territories. Israeli raids on Palestinian and Progressive Socialist Party positions in the region of Saida make killed 21 persons and wounded 11.

(AP, 1/3/98)(http://tinyurl.com/zz87m)

1990 Jan 3, Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission.

(AP, 1/3/98)

1991 Jan 3, The 102nd Congress convened, plunging immediately into acrimonious debate over the Persian Gulf crisis. President Bush proposed direct talks between Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz.

(AP, 1/3/01)

1992 Jan 3, In California, police pursued a driver who had killed another motorist along Interstate 5 for more than 300 miles until the car ran out of gas in Westminster; the driver was shot to death after officers said he pointed a shotgun at them.

(AP, 1/3/02)

1992 Jan 3, The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 3,200 for the first time, ending the day at 3,201.48.

(AP, 1/3/02)

1992 Jan 3, The UN, led by US Sec. of State Cyrus Vance, brokered a cease-fire between the Croatian government and rebel Serbs. Following subsequent breaches the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) put 14,000 peacekeeping troops into Croatia. The European Community (EC) recognized the independence of Croatia.

(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)

1993 Jan 3, The START II Treaty was signed between the US and Russia by President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. It was to eliminate land-based multiple-warhead missiles and reduce the long-range nuclear arsenals.

(SFEC, 12/1/96, Parade p.6)(AP, 1/3/98)

1993 Jan 3, Three days after he was jeered in Sarajevo, U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali took refuge from angry Somalis in Mogadishu.

(AP, 1/3/98)

1995 Jan 3, The US Postal Service raised the price of a first-class stamp to 32 cents.

(AP, 1/3/05)

1995 Jan 3, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo announced an emergency plan for wage and price controls and budget cuts to stabilize the peso and combat spiraling inflation. The peso had lost 37% of its value since Dec. 20, 1994.

(WSJ, 1/13/95, p.A-3)(AP, 1/3/00)

1996 Jan 3, As a partial US government shutdown spilled into its record 19th day, stubborn House Republicans rebuffed a Senate bill that would have immediately returned idled federal workers to their jobs.

(AP, 1/3/01)

1996 Jan 3, US House speaker Newt Gingrich hired Christina Jeffrey to the post of historian for the House of Representatives.

(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. A-18)

1997 Jan 3, Bryant Gumbel ended his 15-year career as host of the NBC morning show “Today.”

(SFC, 1/4/97, p.E1)(AP, 1/3/98)

1997 Jan 3, Pres. Clinton waived indefinitely the part of the Helms-Burton law that would punish foreign companies that used American property confiscated in Cuba 40 years ago.

(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A3)

1997 Jan 3, President Clinton declared northern Nevada a major disaster area following days of rain that sent rivers over their banks in the Reno and Carson City area.

(AP, 1/3/98)

1997 Jan 3, Las Vegas had a total of 101,106 hotel rooms as of this date.

(SFEC, 5/10/98, DB p.64)

1997 Jan 3, In NY in Centereach, Long Island, William Sodders (21) shot and killed, James Halverson, a firefighter out on a jog, in a random murder. Sodders was later turned in to police by his father after admitting to him the murder. Sodders was said to be influenced by the film “Natural Born Killers.” Halverson left a wife pregnant with twins and a 4-year-old daughter.

(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A7)

1997 Jan 3, In Washington a diplomat from Georgia, Gueorgui Makharadze, was in a car crash that killed a 16-year-old girl. Police said he was drinking, but he refused a breath test.

(SFC, 1/8/97, p.A17)

1997 Jan 3, In Europe the 11th day of a cold front left some 206 dead.

(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A8)

1997 Jan 3, In Mexico a Jalisco state judge dismissed drug trafficking charges against Hector Luis Palma, leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. He was sentenced to 6 years on lesser charges.

(SFC, 1/9/97, p.A12)

1997 Jan 3, In Rwanda two Hutu men were sentenced to death for their role in the 1994 genocide.

(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A10)

1998 Jan 3, Peter Christoff, Prof. of Russian history at SF State Univ., died at age 86. His dissertation was on Alexander Herzen and Mikhail Bakunin and he later specialized on the Slavophil movement, which attempted to reinforce Orthodox Christian values and Slavic cultural traditions in the former USSR. His main work was a 4-volume “History of Russian Slavism.”

(SFC, 1/16/98, p.A19)

1998 Jan 3, In Meknassa, Algeria, a 117 people were killed. In Chekala some 200 people were killed. Villagers fled their homes and sought shelter in big-city public squares.

(SFC, 1/7/98, p.A8)

1999 Jan 3, The Mars Polar Lander was launched. Landing was scheduled for Dec 3 with probes designed to burrow 3 feet into the Mars surface.

(SFC, 12/11/98, p.D6)(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A2)

1999 Jan 3, Chicagoans dug out from their biggest snowstorm in more than 30 years.

(AP, 1/3/00)

1999 Jan 3, In Wyoming Cindy Thompson Dixon (40) was found dead near a road about 5 miles north of Laramie. She was reported to have frozen to death after leaving a bar. She was the mother of Russell Henderson (21), who was waiting in jail for trial in the death of Matthew Shepard. Henderson pleaded guilty to murder in 1999 to avoid a trial and possible death sentence. He was sentenced to 2 consecutive life terms without eligibility for parole.

(SFC, 1/5/99, p.A3)(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A3)(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A1)

1999 Jan 3, In Indonesia 6 people died following a riot touched off by a military raid in Aceh province. The military sought Ahmad Kandang, leader of the separatist Free Aceh movement.

(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A8)

1999 Jan 3, Israeli warplanes attacked Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon and wounded 6 people including a woman (55) and her 4 daughters.

(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A22)

1999 Jan 3, In Israel police detained 8 adults and 6 children belonging to the Concerned Christians sect from Denver, Colo. Police said the group under Monte Kim Miller planned violent acts to hasten the 2nd coming of Christ. 11 of the members were ordered to be deported.

(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/5/99, p.A8)(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A1)

1999 Jan 3, In Pakistan a bomb intended for Prime Minister Sharif killed 3 civilians and a police official. The Muttahida Qami Movement (MQM) was suspected. The MQM represented Urdu-speaking people who immigrated from British India in 1947.

(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A8)

2000 Jan 3, The last new daily “Peanuts” strip by Charles Schulz ran in 26-hundred newspapers.

(AP, 1/3/01)

2000 Jan 3, Pres. Clinton opened peace talks between Syria and Israel in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A1)

2000 Jan 3, In Brazil flooding killed at least 11 people in Rio de Janeiro.

(WSJ, 1/4/00, p.A1)

2000 Jan 3, In Croatia a center-left coalition won the elections over the nationalist Democratic Union (HDZ). Leading the coalition were Ivica Racan (55) of the Social Democratic Party and Drazen Budisa (52) of the Social-Liberals.

(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A10)

2000 Jan 3, A curfew was imposed in southern Egypt following violence between Muslims and Christians that left 20 Christians and Muslim dead in the village of el-Kusheh (Al Kosheh).

(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)(SFC, 6/30/01, p.A10)

2000 Jan 3, Germany reported plans to cut the tax on profits from sales of shares held less than a year, making 50% of the gains taxable rather than 100%. The change would be effective in 2001.

(WSJ, 1/4/00, p.A1)

2000 Jan 3, In Indonesia new fighting in the Spice Islands left at least 18 people dead.

(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)

2000 Jan 3, In India controlled Kashmir a land mine killed 17 people.

(WSJ, 1/4/00, p.A1)

2000 Jan 3, In Beirut, Lebanon, assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the Russian Embassy. One police officer and one attacker were killed. In northern Lebanon Muslim militants killed 4 soldiers and 3 hostages.

(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A10,12)

2000 Jan 3, In Russia acting Pres. Putin fired Tatyana Dyachenko, the daughter of Boris Yeltsin and Kremlin image advisor from her post in one of his first official acts, moving quickly to distance himself from Yeltsin’s scandal-tinged administration.

(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A10)(AP, 1/3/01)

2000 Jan 3, In Sri Lanka fighting was reported at a key northern pass that had left 60 people dead on both sides.

(WSJ, 1/3/00, p.A1)

2001 Jan 3, Oklahoma defeated Florida State, 13-to-2, to win the Orange Bowl and capture college football's Bowl Championship Series title game.

(AP, 1/3/02)

2001 Jan 3, The 107th Congress opened with the Senate split evenly down the middle. Because of the 50-50 divide, the Democrats were initially in control, since Vice President Al Gore could break ties, but the Republicans took over on Inauguration Day when Dick Cheney became vice president. However, the Senate reverted to Democratic control when Vermont Sen. James Jeffords switched his affiliation from Republican to Independent in May.

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A3)(AP, 1/3/02)

2001 Jan 3, The US Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan, outside its normal schedule of meetings, reduced interest rates by a half % and sent the Nasdaq up 324 points to 2616. The Dow rose 299 to 10,945.

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A1)(Econ, 10/20/07, SR p.16)

2001 Jan 3, In Delaware a fire at an Oak Orchard rural home killed 11 Wright-Shelton family members including 7 children.

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.C12)(AP, 1/3/02)

2001 Jan 3, In Prague some 100,000 people gathered in Wenceslas Square to support the striking TV journalists.

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A8)

2001 Jan 3, On the India-Pakistan border 4 Indian soldiers and 2 civilians were killed at the border post of Arhayee Mandi.

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A12)

2001 Jan 3, Iraq denied reports that Pres. Saddam Hussein was hospitalized with a stroke following a parade Dec 31.

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A12)

2001 Jan 3, Yasser Arafat accepted “with reservations” Pres. Clinton’s outline for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A8)

2001 Jan 3, In Spain a commuter train hit a van near Lorca and 12 Ecuadoran farm workers were killed.

(WSJ, 1/04/01, p.A1)

2001 Jan 3, In Tanzania 6 armed men attacked a ferry with 50 passengers in Lake Tanganyika and 3 were shot to death including a 3-year-old girl. Male passengers were ordered to jump into the lake and 5 bodies were later recovered. 20 were feared drowned. 5 gunmen were later arrested

(SFC, 1/8/01, p.A10)(SFC, 1/9/01, p.A15)

2001 Jan 3, In Turkey suicide bomber Gultekin Koc (23) killed himself a 2 others in a police station in Istanbul. At least 7 people were injured. Koc was a member of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, a Marxist group

(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A9)(SFC, 9/11/01, p.B3)

2002 Jan 3, Miami beat Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl.

(AP, 1/3/03)

2002 Jan 3, A three-year federal investigation into the political and personal finances of Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., ended with no criminal charges.

(AP, 1/3/03)

2002 Jan 3, A judge in Alabama ruled that former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry was mentally competent to stand trial on murder charges in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls. Cherry was later convicted, and served a life sentence until his death in November 2004.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2002 Jan 3, US warplanes hit an al Qaeda compound in the Khost region south of Tora Bora and Islamic fighters near Baghran were reported to be in negotiations.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A19)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 3, The US announced increased military operations in Somalia and prepared to send Marines there. It was suspected that Al Qaeda fighters might attempt fleeing to Somalia.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A19)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A14)

2002 Jan 3, In Florida the conviction of Juan Melendez for a 1983 murder was overturned after he had spent 17 years on death row. In 2000 the transcript of another man’s confession, withheld by prosecutors, was found.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A17)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 3, In the US south the largest snowstorm in a decade stranded thousands and left at least 9 people dead.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A7)

2002 Jan 3, Afghan troops beat back refugees seeking food at a Red Crescent compound in Jalalabad. There were numerous reports of stolen wheat and relief supplies attributed to members of the Eastern Shura.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 3, Argentina failed to make a $28 million payment on a foreign loan. A devaluation of the peso by 30-40% was expected soon. Duhalde named Jorge Remes Lenicov, former economic chief of Buenos Aires, as his finance minister.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A5)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A5)

2002 Jan 3, In Australia fires continued for the 11th straight day. At least 40 were fires were started by arsonists. Over 100 fires covered 1,250 square miles.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A14)

2002 Jan 3, Israel seized a ship, Karine A, in the Red Sea carrying 50 tons of advanced weapons allegedly for the Palestinian Authority. Most of the equipment was from Iran. Operation Noah’s Ark was not reported until the next day when US envoy Gen. Zinni arrived to promote peace talks. Hezbollah helped broker the deal and it was reported to have been overseen by Fuad Shubaki, a close aide to Arafat. Captain Omar Akawi, a member of Fatwah, said he was in contact with Adel Awadallah, an alias for Adel Mughrabi, a weapons buyer for the Palestinian Authority.

(SFC, 1/5/02, p.A1,9)(SFC, 1/7/02, p.A3)(SFC, 1/8/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 3, Juan Garcia Esquivel, pianist and composer, died in Mexico at age 83. He turned out 10 albums in the US from 1957-1963.

(SFC, 1/10/02, p.A16)

2002 Jan 3, Alfred Henry Heineken (78), builder of a global beer brand, died in the Netherlands. Freddie designed the green bottle and logo. In 1983 he was abducted for weeks and released unharmed.

(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/5/02, p.A22)

2002 Jan 3, Russian forces fought Chechen rebels for a 6th day in a conflict that left 40 dead. In other action 5 Russian soldiers were killed in attacks across Chechnya. Fighting continued in Tsotsin-Yurt. Moscow claimed 100 rebels killed, but rebels disputed that and said 40 Russians were killed.

(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A17)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 3, The UN made public a decision by Kofi Annan to pursue war crimes in Sierra Leone with a war crimes tribunal.

(SFC, 1/5/02, p.A7)

2003 Jan 3, Ohio State beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl 31-24 in double overtime to become the national college football champion.

(SFC, 1/4/03, p.C1)

2003 Jan 3, President George W. Bush visited Fort Hood in Texas, where he rallied Army troops as the nation faced the prospect of war with Iraq.

(AP, 1/3/04)

2003 Jan 3, David Westerfield, the man who'd kidnapped and murdered 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam, was sentenced to death by a judge in San Diego.

(AP, 1/3/04)

2003 Jan 3, In Brazil Pres. Silva delayed a plan to spend $700 million on jet fighters. The military's $7.4 billion budget is scheduled to be cut by $282 million.

(AP, 1/3/03)

2003 Jan 3, Ivory Coast Pres. Laurent Gbagbo pledged to cease hostilities and send home foreign mercenaries fighting with loyalist troops.

(AP, 1/3/03)

2003 Jan 3, A Peruvian court struck down anti-terror laws that had been used to quash rebel movements in the 1990s.

(AP, 1/3/03)

(AP, 1/3/08)

2003 Jan 3, Jose Maria Gironella (85), Spanish author, died. His work included "The Cypresses Believe in God," a trilogy based on the 1936-1939 Civil War, for which he won the 1953 National Literary prize.

(SFC, 2/10/03, p.B5)

2003 Jan 3, In Caracas, Venezuela, clashes between opponents and supporters of Pres. Chavez left at least eighty people wounded.

(AP, 1/3/03)

2004 Jan 3, The NASA spacecraft Spirit landed on Mars at the Gusev Crater. It was the 4th successful US landing on Mars.

(SSFC, 1/4/04, p.A1)(USAT, 1/16/04, p.2A)

2004 Jan 3, In San Jose., Ca, a gang brawl at a Jack in the Box restaurant left 2 teenagers (17) dead. James Ortega (14) was charged as an adult on 2 counts of gang motivated murder. In 2007 a San Jose court sentenced Ortega to 36 years to life in prison for the shooting.

(SFC, 1/9/04, p.A17)(SFC, 2/23/07, p.B1)

2004 Jan 3, In China a fire broke out on an overcrowded bus along an expressway that connects Shanghai with the eastern city of Nanjing, killing at least 12 people and injuring 14.

(AP, 1/3/04)

2004 Jan 3, In China a landslide crushed five houses, killing at least 14 people in northern Shanxi province.

(AP, 1/4/04)

2004 Jan 3, An Egyptian Air Flash, Boeing 737, carrying 148 people, most of them French tourists on New Year family holidays, crashed into the Red Sea off the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all on board.

(AP, 1/3/04)(SFC, 1/3/04, p.A3)

2004 Jan 3, India's PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a historic visit to Pakistan ahead of a key South Asian summit, greeted with a warm handshake by PM Zafarullah Khan Jamali. The airport ceremony would have been unimaginable just one year ago.

(AP, 1/3/04)

2004 Jan 3, In eastern India unidentified gunmen stormed a village and shot to death five so-called "untouchables."

(AP, 1/3/04)

2004 Jan 3, In Iran rescuers pulled Sharbanou Mazandarani (97) from the rubble at Ban, 9 days following the earthquake, as the death toll rose to about 35,000.

(SSFC, 1/4/04, p.A2)

2004 Jan 3, In Tikrit, Iraq, American soldiers opened fire with a machine gun on a taxi, killing four Iraqi civilians, including a 7-year-old boy.

(AP, 1/10/04)

2004 Jan 3, Israeli soldiers shot and killed 3 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus.

(AP, 1/3/04)

2004 Jan 3, Isidro Galeana (65), a former state police commander and the first former government official to face arrest for his role in Mexico's "dirty war" of the 1960s and 1970s, died of a heart attack.

(AP, 1/4/04)

2004 Jan 3, Nigeria said it had routed a newly emerged Muslim militant movement fighting to create an Islamic state in Africa's most populous nation. 2 weeks of running gunbattles had killed at least eight people.

(AP, 1/3/04)

2005 Jan 3, President Bush tapped his father, former President Bush, and former President Clinton to help raise tsunami relief funds.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2005 Jan 3, The third-ranked Auburn Tigers limped to a 16-13 victory over No. 9 Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2005 Jan 3, Heavy snow shut down a major highway north of Los Angeles and slowed post-holiday travel in the Sierra Nevada as Californians grappled with a 2nd week of stormy weather.

(AP, 1/3/05)

2005 Jan 3, Will Eisner (b.1917), comic book pioneer, died in Fla. In 1978 he wrote and drew his graphic novel “A Contract With God.” It was the 1st of a trilogy that included “A Life Force” (1983) and “Dropsie Avenue” (1995).

(SFC, 1/4/05, p.A2)(Econ, 1/15/05, p.81)(SSFC, 12/25/05, p.M3)

2005 Jan 3, In eastern Afghanistan a US soldier was killed and three others wounded in a clash with militants.

(AP, 1/3/05)

2005 Jan 3, The Algerian Interior Ministry said security forces had arrested the leader of the Armed Islamic Group, the radical insurgency movement responsible for brutal village massacres several years ago, and killed his replacement. The arrest of Nourredine Boudiafi and the killing of Chaabane Younes were near-fatal blows to the seriously weakened GIA, as the movement is known. Islamic extremists killed 18 people in an ambush of an army convoy south of the capital Algiers.

(AP, 1/4/05)(AFP, 1/5/05)

2005 Jan 3, Thousands of Argentines angered over safety lapses at a nightclub where a fire killed 183 people, many of them teenagers, marched through capital streets holding pictures of the victims and demanding the resignations of key city officials.

(AP, 1/4/05)

2005 Jan 3, Honduras Pres. Ricardo Maduro said that police have arrested the alleged mastermind of an attack on a public bus that left 28 passengers dead two weeks ago. The suspect was identified as Juan Carlos Miralda, 24, one of the leaders of the violent Mara Salvatrucha criminal gang.

(AP, 1/4/05)

2005 Jan 3, India’s death toll from the Dec 26 tsunami was expected to top 15,000.

(AP, 1/3/05)

2005 Jan 3, J.N. Dixit (68), India’s national security advisor, died in New Delhi.

(SFC, 1/6/05, p.B7)

2005 Jan 3, In Iraq 3 suicide car bombs, including one that exploded near the Iraqi prime minister's party headquarters in Baghdad, along with a roadside explosion, rifle fire and an explosive rigged to a dead body killed at least 20 people.

(AP, 1/3/05)(SFC, 1/4/05, p.A3)

2005 Jan 3, Jewish settlers clashed with Israeli troops who came to tear down two structures at an unauthorized West Bank outpost, and a soldier was arrested for encouraging comrades to refuse to evacuate the settlement.

(AP, 1/3/05)

2005 Jan 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin stripped many of the duties of his top economic adviser, an outspoken critic who has accused the Kremlin of trying to muzzle voices of dissent and civil society in Russia.

(AP, 1/3/05)

2005 Jan 3, Ukraine gave in and agreed to pay Turkmenistan a third more for natural gas following a shut-off.

(WSJ, 1/4/05, p.A1)

2006 Jan 3, Jack Abramoff, the US lobbyist who spawned a congressional corruption scandal, pleaded guilty to 3 felonies and pledged to cooperate in a criminal probe edging closer to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2006 Jan 3, In Pennsylvania the Dover School Board rescinded its policy of presenting intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in high school biology classes.

(SFC, 1/4/06, p.A2)

2006 Jan 3, Rhode Island became the 11th state to legalize medical marijuana and the first since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that patients who use the drug can still be prosecuted under federal law.

(AP, 1/4/06)

2006 Jan 3, The US DJIA rose 129.91 to 10847.41 on expectations for an end to interest rate increases based the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting in December.

(WSJ, 1/4/06, p.A1)

2006 Jan 3, The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that 47 journalists were killed in 2005, and that more than three-quarters were murdered to silence their criticism of punish them for their work. Iraq accounted for 22 of the deaths.

(WSJ, 1/4/06, p.A9)

2006 Jan 3, The UN secretariat of the Convention on Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species ordered a temporary halt to the global export of caviar to compel nations to demonstrate that their fishing practices are not pushing caviar producing fish to extinction.

(SFC, 1/4/06, p.A2)(WSJ, 1/4/06, p.A9)

2006 Jan 3, Armed men beheaded a teacher in the central Afghan town of Qalat, the latest in a string of attacks against educators at schools where girls study. Officials blamed Taliban militants.

(AP, 1/4/06)

2006 Jan 3, Argentina repaid $9.57 billion in debt to the International Monetary Fund, a measure officials depicted as a means to help reclaim Argentina's economic independence.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2006 Jan 3, A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Egypt will deport 654 Sudanese refugees who were violently evicted from a protest camp in a Cairo park last week.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2006 Jan 3, A top official said Iran has decided to resume research into nuclear fuel production in a statement certain to increase concerns that Iran is moving toward production of nuclear weapons.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2006 Jan 3, Gunmen attacked a car carrying construction workers in western Baghdad, killing three and wounding two. Gunmen in the same neighborhood fired on a car carrying civilians, killing two and wounding three. The sister of Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr was kidnapped and her bodyguard killed. The nephew of Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Yasiri, Baghdad rescue police commander, was kidnapped.

(AP, 1/3/06)(SFC, 1/4/06, p.A3)

2006 Jan 3, Urbano Lazzaro (81), a resistance fighter credited with arresting fascist dictator Benito Mussolini at the end of World War II, died in Vercelli, Italy.

(AP, 1/4/06)

2006 Jan 3, In Japan Yoshie Sato (56) was killed near the Yokosuka base. Japanese media later reported that a US serviceman (21) had admitted to US military authorities to killing her.

(AFP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 3, Peru formally asked Chile to extradite former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori so he can be tried on human rights and corruption charges.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2006 Jan 3, Russian and Ukrainian officials agreed to resume talks on resolving a dispute over the price of natural gas that has reverberated across the continent and left Ukraine cut off from its supplies.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2006 Jan 3, Serb officials acknowledged that war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic was drawing an army pension until at least mid-November 2005.

(WSJ, 1/4/06, p.A1)

2006 Jan 3, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez offered Bolivia's president-elect Evo Morales diesel fuel, trade benefits and help in financing his social reforms as the two leftists cemented ties, reasserting their opposition to US policy in Latin America.

(AP, 1/3/06)

2007 Jan 3, Hundreds of hay bales fell from the sky across Colorado's rangeland as military helicopter and cargo plane crews delivered food to cattle that have been stranded by heavy snow and high drifts for a week.

(AP, 1/4/07)

2007 Jan 3, Bob Nardelli abruptly resigned as chairman and chief executive of The Home Depot Inc. after a six-year tenure that saw the world's largest home improvement store chain post big profits but left investors disheartened by poor stock performance. He left with a severance package of $210 million. He was succeeded by Frank Blake.

(AP, 1/3/07)(SFC, 1/4/07, p.C1)(Econ, 1/6/07, p.54)

2007 Jan 3, C. William Verity Jr. (89), former US Commerce Secretary, died in Beaufort, SC.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2007 Jan 3, Afghanistan’s the interior ministry said Afghan and NATO troops killed 17 rebels, including two commanders, in a sweep of a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed five Afghan security forces and wounded four as they patrolled with NATO troops.

(AFP, 1/3/07)(AP, 1/4/07)

2007 Jan 3, A key political alliance announced it would boycott this month's general elections in Bangladesh, deepening a political crisis that has crippled the South Asian country for months.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2007 Jan 3, Belarus vowed to charge fees for transshipped oil.

(WSJ, 1/4/07, p.A1)

2007 Jan 3, Mike Perham (14), a British teenager, became the youngest person to sail solo across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching the Caribbean island of Antigua after a six-week voyage. Perham was trailed by his father in another boat.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2007 Jan 3, It was reported that more than a million Chinese die each year of smoking related diseases. The toll was expected to double by 2025. A roadside bomb in southern China killed two children who found the explosive wrapped in a package and began playing with it in Shenzhen.

(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.A1)(AP, 1/4/07)

2007 Jan 3, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing arrived in the central African nation of Guinea-Bissau for cooperation talks. His 7-nation tour reflected Chinese interest in Africa.

(AP, 1/4/07)

2007 Jan 3, In northern India ash-smeared and naked Hindu saints led millions of devotees in a pre-dawn holy dip at the meeting of three major rivers, starting a weeks-long pilgrimage to wash away their sins.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2007 Jan 3, Iraq arrested 3 men who were present at Saddam Hussein's execution, including the person believed to have recorded the event on a cell phone camera. US troops detained 23 people suspected of ties to senior al-Qaida leaders in raids in western Iraq. Police in Baghdad found 27 bodies, most of them with gunshot wounds to the head. Four Americans and an Austrian abducted in southern Iraq spoke briefly and appeared uninjured in a video.

(AP, 1/3/07)(SFC, 1/4/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 1/4/07, p.A1)(AP, 1/3/08)

2007 Jan 3, Kenya sent extra troops to its border with Somalia to keep Islamic militants from entering the country after Ethiopian helicopters attacked a Kenyan border post by mistake while pursuing suspected fighters.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2007 Jan 3, Myanmar's military government freed nearly 3,000 convicts, but key political prisoners were not among those released.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2007 Jan 3, A Nigerian militant group said it had seized $545,000 sent by Italian oil firm Agip to obtain the release of 4 foreign workers kidnapped on Dec 7 but had kept the men hostage.

(AP, 1/4/07)

2007 Jan 3, In the northern Philippines a minibus carrying partygoers from a beach collided with a cargo truck, killing eight people and injuring 17.

(AP, 1/2/07)

2007 Jan 3, In Saudi Arabia Muslims circled the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, for a final time, bringing to a close what may have been the largest hajj pilgrimage ever.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2007 Jan 3, South Korea’s official media reported that Paek Nam Sun, North Korea's foreign minister and the country's top diplomat for nearly 10 years, has died at the age of 78.

(AP, 1/3/07)

2007 Jan 3, In Tunisia at least 14 people, including two security forces, were killed in the shootout in Soliman, 25 miles south of the capital, Tunis. Fifteen people were arrested. On Jan 12 the interior minister said nearly 30 Islamic extremists involved in a deadly gunbattle with police had blueprints of foreign embassies and documents naming foreign envoys.

(AP, 1/13/07)

2007 Jan 3, Turkmenistan's acting president, in his first campaign statement for next month's election, called for wider Internet access in the country and for improving pensions that were slashed last year.

(AP, 1/4/07)

2008 Jan 3, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses as the candidates move on to New Hampshire. Obama won with 38% over Edwards at 30% and Hillary Clinton at 29%. Overall, Clinton leads with 175 delegates, including superdelegates, followed by Obama with 75 and Edwards with 46. Huckabee won 34% with Romney at 25%. Huckabee scored 30 delegates and Romney got 7.

(AP, 1/4/08)

2008 Jan 3, Ford Motor Co. named Tata Motors Ltd. the top bidder for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands and entered into "focused negotiations at a more detailed level."

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, In southwestern Afghanistan a suicide bomber attacked Indian road construction workers and their Afghan police escorts, killing seven and wounding 12.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, In Chile Interior Minister Belisario Velasco, one of the most powerful officials in President Michelle Bachelet's government, resigned as part of an expected Cabinet shake-up. Mapuche Indians trying to reclaim farmland they say belonged to their ancestors clashed with police in violence that left one protester dead.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, China issued rules restricting the broadcast of Internet videos to sites run by the state.

(WSJ, 1/4/08, p.A1)

2008 Jan 3, A bitterly cold winter storm pummeled parts of Europe, killing at least three sailors when a ship sank in rough seas, and piling up snow that stranded thousands at airports, on mountain roads and in remote villages.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, Worshippers at a Hindu temple in southern India stampeded as they tried to draw close to a goddess' statue, trampling at least five people to death and injuring 15 others. The northern state of Himachal Pradesh said it planned to use unemployed youths to sterilize monkeys to try to combat aggressive primates who have been raiding farms. The idea drew immediate condemnation from conservationists, who said the plan was unscientific and would likely worsen the problem.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki held talks with PM Gordon Brown, notably discussing the plight of five Britons seized in Baghdad last year. Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, a top Shiite politician, acknowledged the contribution of US-backed Sunni Arab groups to the decline in violence across Iraq and called for their use in the continuing fight against al-Qaida. The Samarra dam bridge, one of the entrances into Samarra, reopened. For the past 8 months, the entrances to the city were essentially closed due to the levels of violence. At least 5 people were killed in two separate attacks in Baghdad, one targeting a local member of the prime minister's party. One woman was killed and another civilian wounded when a rocket slammed into the primarily Shiite neighborhood of Washash in northwest Baghdad. Iraqi authorities ordered a one-day vehicle ban in Baqouba in response to a series of deadly suicide bombings and other attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq against predominantly Sunni fighters that have allied with the United States. The US military killed two insurgents and detained 12 in the Diyala region. But the operations also resulted in the deaths of two American soldiers the wounding of another in a small arms attack.

(AFP, 1/3/08)(AP, 1/3/08)(AP, 1/4/08)(AP, 1/5/08)

2008 Jan 3, Israeli tanks and warplanes attacked a series of targets throughout the Gaza Strip. 9 people were killed including 3 civilians with over 30 Palestinians wounded. The attack had intensified following a Katyusha rocket strike 10½ miles into Israel. The Israeli military uncovered an arms cache in Nablus that contained explosives, military equipment and material for manufacturing rockets.

(AP, 1/3/08)(SFC, 1/4/08, p.A16)(SSFC, 1/6/08, p.A18)

2008 Jan 3, Israeli authorities ordered fowl destroyed in an area of northern Israel after chickens kept at a kindergarten were diagnosed with a deadly strain of bird flu.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, Crews in Naples, where the streets increasingly are lined with trash, began cleaning up a long disused dump in a bid to ease a mounting garbage crisis.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, In Kenya riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to beat back crowds heading for a banned rally to protest the disputed election, and the president said he is willing to talk to the opposition once calm has been restored.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, Libya's foreign minister declared an end to confrontation with the US in a rare visit to Washington by a top Libyan diplomat aimed at cementing ties between the former foes.

(AP, 1/4/08)

2008 Jan 3, In the southern Philippines 2 al-Qaida-linked Muslim militants, including one wanted for the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans and 17 other people from a resort island, were captured in separate raids. Troops arrested suspected Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Tuwatin Anahalul in Zamboanga del Sur province's Margusatubig town.

(AP, 1/4/08)

2008 Jan 3, Puerto Rico halted all bird imports after a rare outbreak of avian flu in nearby Dominican Republic, where authorities killed more than 100 chickens, including fighting roosters that tested positive for the lethal virus. The ban forced the cancellation of more than 100 cockfights, dealing a blow to the lucrative industry.

(AP, 1/4/08)

2008 Jan 3, South Sudanese officials said North Sudanese troops have missed a third deadline to fully redeploy from the south following over two decades of north-south civil war that ended in 2005.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, In northern Sri Lanka heavy fighting broke out between government troops and Tamil Tigers, hours after Colombo announced it was pulling out of a tattered ceasefire agreement with the rebels.

(AFP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, Turkey’s Parliament approved a law extending a smoking ban in this tobacco-growing nation to all bars, restaurants and coffeehouses by mid-2009.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2008 Jan 3, In Turkey a car bomb exploded in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern city of Diyarbakir, killing 6 people, including 5 students. 67 people were wounded, including military personnel.

(AP, 1/3/08)(Reuters, 1/4/08)(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 3, President Hugo Chavez shuffled his Cabinet, naming a retired military officer as vice president and other changes aimed at tackling corruption and inefficiencies in his socialist government.

(AP, 1/3/08)

2009 Jan 3, The United States blocked approval of a UN Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.

(AP, 1/4/09)

2009 Jan 3, In New Orleans Danny Platt (22), was arrested and accused of committing an "extremely hideous" murder because he was ordered to pay child support. He initially told police that gunmen had kidnapped his 2 1/2-year-old son.

(AP, 1/4/09)

2009 Jan 3, Sir Alan Walters (b.1926), a top economic adviser to former British PM Margaret Thatcher, died. Walters received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 1983.

(AP, 1/6/09)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.50)

2009 Jan 3, Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in European cities against Israel's bombardment of Gaza, including protesters who hurled shoes at the tall iron gates outside the British prime minister's residence in London.

(AP, 1/3/09)

2009 Jan 3, In eastern China an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory killed 13 people in the city of Weifang in Shandong province. A boy, Zou Chuanshuo (2) was killed with an ax in Luoyang in Hubei province. The child's grandmother Zhu Deqing (43) and six others were also killed. On Jan 11 authorities arrested junk collector Xiong Zhenlin (32) in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. He confessed to the murders, which included a widow who jilted him. A Chinese court sentenced him to death on Feb 9 for the murders. Zhenlin was executed on april 16 in the central city of Suizhou.

(AP, 1/4/09)(AP, 2/9/09)(AP, 4/16/09)

2009 Jan 3, In Ghana opposition leader John Atta Mills was declared the next president in the closest electoral race this West African nation has ever seen. The peaceful ballot secured Ghana's place as a beacon of democracy on a volatile continent.

(AP, 1/3/09)

2009 Jan 3, In Iraq two brothers were killed and another was wounded when a bomb they were concealing in their car exploded near the town of Sinjar, 75 miles west of Mosul.

(AP, 1/3/09)

2009 Jan 3, Israeli warplanes, gunboats and artillery units bombarded more than 40 Hamas targets, including weapons storage facilities, training centers and leaders' homes. Palestinian medical officials said an Israeli airstrike on a mosque in the Gaza Strip killed 10 people and wounded dozens in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

(AP, 1/3/09)

2009 Jan 3, In southwest Pakistan two paramilitary soldiers were killed and four wounded in a landmine explosion in Dera Bugti, Baluchistan province. Sarbaz Khan, a spokesman for the Baluch Republican Army, later claimed responsibility of the attack.

(AFP, 1/3/09)

2009 Jan 3, Russian gas flows to four European Union countries fell normal levels after Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine in a pricing row with no talks in sight to resolve the dispute. Bulgaria's Bulgargaz joined energy firms in Poland, Romania and Hungary in saying they had noted falls in supply.

(Reuters, 1/3/09)

2009 Jan 3, In Somalia Islamic insurgents appeared to be scrambling for power, taking over several police stations in the capital as Ethiopian troops who have been propping up the government began to pull out.

(AP, 1/3/09)

2009 Jan 3, Sri Lankan troops advanced on the military headquarters of the Tamil Tigers and engaged the rebels in fresh gun battles. At least three people were wounded in a bomb blast in Colombo.

(AFP, 1/3/09)
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