Today in History January 5

Today in History - January 5

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1066 Jan 5, Edward the Confessor, king of England (1043-66), died.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1463 Jan 5, French poet Francois Villon was banished from Paris.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1477 Jan 5, Swiss troops defeated the forces under Charles the Bold of Burgundy at the Battle of Nancy.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1531 Jan 5, Pope Clemens VII forbade English king Henry VIII to re-marry.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1589 Jan 5, Catherine de Medici (b.1519), Queen Mother of France, died at age 69. In 2005 Leonie Frieda authored “Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France.”

(TL-MB, 1988, p.24)(AP, 1/5/98)(WSJ, 8/10/05, p.D12)

1592 Jan 5, Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor of India (1628-58), was born. He later built the Taj Mahal.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1638 Jan 5, Petition in Recife, Brazil, led to the closing of its two synagogues.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1709 Jan 5, Sudden extreme cold killed 1000s of Europeans.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1776 Jan 5, Assembly of New Hampshire adopted its 1st state constitution.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1779 Jan 5, Stephen Decatur (d.1820), U.S. naval hero during actions against the Barbary pirates and the War of 1812, was born. [see 1820 Decatur-Barron duel]

(HFA, '96, p.26)(HN, 1/5/99)

1779 Jan 5, Zebulon Montgomery Pike, explorer, (Pike's Peak), was born.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1781 Jan 5, A British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Va. Arnold led some 1,600 British and Loyalist troops in the destructive raid on Richmond.

(AP, 1/5/98)(AH, 2/06, p.14)

1796 Jan 5, Samuel Huntington (64), US judge (signed Declaration of Independence), died.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1804 Jan 5, Ohio legislature passed the 1st laws restricting free blacks movement. [see Mar 28]

(MC, 1/5/02)

1815 Jan 5, Federalists from all over New England, angered over the War of 1812, drew up the Hartford Convention, demanding several important changes in the U.S. Constitution.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1836 Jan 5, Davy Crockett arrived in Texas just in time to die at the Alamo.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1854 Jan 5, The steamship San Francisco wrecked and 300 died.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1855 Jan 5, King Camp Gillette, inventor (safety razor), was born.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1856 Jan 5, Pierre J. David (67), [David d'Angers], French sculptor, died.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1861 Jan 5, The merchant vessel Star of the West set sail from New York to Fort Sumter, in response to rebel attack, carrying supplies and 250 troops.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1861 Jan 5, Alabama troops seized Forts Morgan & Gaines at Mobile Bay.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1874 Jan 5, Joseph Erlanger, doctor (shock therapy Nobel 1944), was born.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1876 Jan 5, Conrad Adenauer (d.1967), statesman and first chancellor of post-World War II West Germany, was born. He was chancellor of Germany from 1949-1963. "The good Lord set definite limits on man's wisdom, but set no limits on his stupidity -- and that's not fair!"

(AHD, 1971, p.15)(AP, 7/1/98)(HN, 1/5/99)

1879 Jan 5, The shares of Homestake Mining Co. began trading on the NY Stock Exchange.

(WSJ, 1/5/00, p.CA1)

1892 Jan 5, The 1st successful auroral photograph made.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1895 Jan 5, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. He was ultimately vindicated. Dreyfus, a Jew falsely accused of spying for the Germans, was imprisoned alone on Devil’s Island until 1899.

(AP, 1/5/98)(SSFC, 12/15/02, p.L5)

1896 Jan 5, An Austrian newspaper (Wiener Presse) reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as "X-rays."

(AP, 1/5/98)

1900 Jan 5, Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-British physicist, inventor of 3D laser photography, was born. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1971. [see Jan 5]

(HN, 6/5/98)(MC, 1/5/02)

1904 Jan 5, American Marines arrived in Seoul, Korea to guard U.S. legation there.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1905 Jan 5, Representatives of 35 state Audubon organizations incorporated as the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals.

(T&L, 10/1980, p.12)(MC, 1/5/02)

1911 Jan 5, Portugal expelled the Jesuits.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1914 Jan 5, Henry Ford astounded the world as he announced that he would pay a minimum wage of $5 a day and share with employees $10 million in last year’s profits. The wage increase counter-balanced the increased demand on the workers from the new assembly line production methods.

(HFA, ‘96, p.22)(HN, 1/5/99)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R28)

1917 Jan 5, Jane Wyman (d.2007), film star, was born as Sarah Jane Mayfield Fulks in St. Joseph, Mo.

(SFC, 9/11/07, p.A2)

1917 Jan 5, Wieland Wagner, German opera director (grandson of Richard Wagner), was born.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1917 Jan 5, Bulgarian and German troops occupied the Port of Braila in East Romania.

(HN, 1/5/99)(WUD, 1994, p.178)

1919 Jan 5, In Boston an explosion opened a tank of molasses and the cylindrical sides toppled outward knocking down 10 nearby buildings. 2 million gallons of molasses oozed onto the streets and killed 21 people. Another 50 were injured. [see 1872]

(SFC, 12/5/98, p.E4)

1919 Jan 5, British ships shelled the Bolshevik headquarters in Riga.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1919 Jan 5, The National Socialist Party (Nazi) formed.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1920 Jan 5, GOP women demanded equal representation at the Republican National Convention in June.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1921 Jan 5, Friedrich Durrenmatt (d.1990), Swiss author and playwright, was born.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_D%C3%BCrrenmatt)

1921 Jan 5, Wagner’s "Die Walkyrie" opened in Paris. This was the first German opera performed in Paris since the beginning of WWI.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1922 Jan 5, Sir Ernest Shackleton (47) died of a heart attack at sea enroute from South Georgia Island to Antarctica. He was buried on South Georgia Island. In 1924 Hugh Robert Mill authored “The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton.”

(ON, 5/00, p.10)(SSFC, 5/20/01, p.T11)

1923 Jan 5, The Senate debated the benefits of Peyote for the American Indian.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1925 Jan 5, Nellie Tayloe Ross (1876-1977) of Wyoming was sworn in as the first woman governor in the United States. She succeeded Frank E. Lucas, who had served as acting governor after the death of Ross' husband, William B. Ross. Ross took office as governor of Wyoming, just 16 days before Miriam A. Ferguson became governor of Texas.

(AP, 1/5/08)(http://wyoarchives.state.wy.us/articles/rossbio.htm)

1928 Jan 5, Walter Mondale, 42nd Vice President (1977-1981) of the U.S., was born. He was the Democratic presidential nominee who lost to Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Ambassador to Japan.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1930 Jan 5, Mao Tse-tung wrote "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire."

(MC, 1/5/02)

1931 Jan 5, Alvin Ailey, choreographer (American Dance Theater), was born.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1932 Jan 5, Umberto Eco, Italian novelist who wrote "The Name of the Rose," was born.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1932 Jan 5, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko Gorbachev, Russia's 1st lady (1982-1991), was born.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1933 Jan 5, In San Francisco federal judge Harold Lauderback ordered the auction of 2,245 gallons of moonshine that had been seized in raids.

(SSFC, 1/4/09, DB p.50)

1933 Jan 5, Work on Golden Gate Bridge began on the Marin County side of SF Bay.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1933 Jan 5, The 30th president (1923-1929) of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, died in Northampton, Mass., at age 60. In 1998 Robert Sobel published his biography: "Coolidge: An American Enigma." Robert Ferrell published "The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge." In 2006 David Greenberg authored “Calvin Coolidge.”

(AP, 1/5/98)(WSJ, 6/16/98, p.A17)(WSJ, 8/7/98, p.W13)(WSJ, 12/12/06, p.D8)

1936 Jan 5, Daggha Bur, Ethiopia, was bombed by the Italians.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1938 Jan 5, Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, was born.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1942 Jan 5, U.S. and Filipino troops completed their withdrawal to a new defensive line along the base of the Bataan peninsula.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1942 Jan 5, 55 German tanks reached North-Africa.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1942 Jan 5, Tina Modotti (b.1896), Italian born actress, model, photographer and secret agent, died in Mexico City. She had been expelled from Mexico in 1930 but returned incognito in 1939. In 1999 her biography by Pino Cacucci was translated into English.

(SFEC, 7/25/99, BR p.1)(SFC, 9/2/06, p.E3)(http://tinyurl.com/lklsy)

1943 Jan 5, George Washington Carver, Educator and scientist, died at age 81 at Tuskegee, Alabama. Carver was born the son of a slave woman in the early 1860s, went to college in Iowa and then headed to Alabama in 1896. There, at the Tuskegee Institute, Carver served as an agricultural chemist, experimenter, teacher and administrator, working to improve life for African Americans in the rural South by teaching them better agricultural skills. One of the farming methods Carver devised, using peanut and soybean crops to enrich soil depleted by cotton crops, revolutionized Southern farming. Carver became somewhat of a benevolent example of the potential of black intellectuals. He was well-respected by people such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Josef Stalin and Thomas Edison, whose offer of a job for more than $100 a year Carver refused. Carver worked at Tuskegee until his death.

(AP, 1/5/98)(HNPD, 1/5/99)

1943 Jan 5, The Japanese began a planned withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1946 Jan 5, Diane Keaton, actress (Annie Hall, Little Drummer Girl), was born in LA.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1947 Jan 5, Great Britain nationalized its coal mines.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1949 Jan 5, In his State of the Union address, President Truman labeled his administration the “Fair Deal.” Alben Barkley (1877-1956) served as Truman’s vice-president.

(WUD, 1994 p.120)(AP, 1/5/98)(WSJ, 2/12/02, p.A18)

1950 Jan 5, Carson McCuller's "Member of the Wedding," premiered in NYC.

(www.carson-mccullers.com/mccullers/timeline.htm)

1951 Jan 5, Inchon, South Korea, the sight of General Douglas MacArthur's amphibious flanking maneuver, was abandoned by United Nations force to the advancing Chinese Army.

(HN, 1/5/01)

1952 Jan 5, PM Churchill arrived in Washington to confer with Pres. Truman.

(HN, 1/5/01)

1954 Jan 5, Walter Edward Scott (b.1872), Death Valley con man, died. He was supported for much of his life by millionaire Albert Johnson (d.1948).

(ON, 3/04, p.8)( http://mojavedesert.net/walter-scott/)

1956 Jan 5, Elvis Presley, truckdriver, began his 1st recording session for RCA. "Heartbreak Hotel," written by Mae Boren Axton, was the first song recorded. It became the first of his 45 records to sell over a million copies. The second was "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You", and "I Was the One" was the third. In 1971 Jerry Hopkins authored Elvis: A Biography.

(SFC,1/22/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 4/6/97, DB p.65)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A31)

1957 Jan 5, President Eisenhower, in an address to Congress, proposed offering military assistance to Middle Eastern countries so they could resist Communist aggression; this became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

(AP, 1/5/07)

1959 Jan 5, The "Bozo the Clown" live children's show premiered on TV.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1963 Jan 5, "Camelot" closed at the Majestic Theater, NYC, after 873 performances.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1963 Jan 5, "Carnival!" closes at Imperial Theater, NYC, after 719 performances.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1965 Jan 5, Charles Robert Jenkins (b.1940) deserted his US Army post at the Korean DMZ hoping to be arrested, turned over to Russia and returned to the US. His plan failed and he ended up living in North Korea where he married Hitomi Soga, a Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s. In 2004 Jenkins reunited with his wife in Indonesia and in September turned himself in to US military authorities in Japan. [see Sep 1, 1965] In 2008 Jenkins with Jim Frederick authored “The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea.”

(SFC, 11/2/02, p.A5)(SSFC, 5/23/04, p.A18)(WSJ, 7/12/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/1/04)(WSJ, 3/13/08, p.D9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Robert_Jenkins)

1968 Jan 5, The US Justice Dept. indicted Dr. Benjamin Spock, Rev. William Coffin of Yale (1924-2006) and 3 others for conspiring to violate draft law.

(SFC, 4/13/06, p.B7)

1968 Jan 5, A newspaper strike shut down the SF Chronicle, the Examiner and the News-Call Bulletin for 53 days. Bill O'Brien (d.2004) became president of the SF-Oakland Newspaper Guild the next day and supported the strike, which had originated with Hearst papers in LA. Senior executives of the SF Chronicle put out a special edition of the paper on a copy machine.

(SFC, 2/05/04, p.A27)(SSFC, 6/7/09, p.W3)(http://tinyurl.com/nkszr8)

1968 Jan 5, Alexander Dubcek (1921-1992) was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia.

(http://www.radio.cz/en/article/112505)(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDdubcek.htm)

1969 Jan 5, President Nixon appointed Henry Cabot Lodge as negotiator at the Paris Peace Talks.

(HN, 1/5/99)

1970 Jan 5, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pa., home. Nine people were later charged in the killing including UMW Pres. W.A. Boyle.

(AP, 1/5/98)(SFC, 11/8/99, p.C2)

1970 Jan 5, In China a 7.7 earthquake in Yunnan province killed over 15,000 people and was covered up by authorities amid the chaos of the cultural revolution.

(SFC, 1/800, p.A8)

1971 Jan 5, Pres. Nixon named Robert Dole as chairman of the Republican National Party.

(HN, 1/5/01)

1971 Jan 5, Sonny Liston (b.1932), World Champion boxer (1962-64), was found dead in his Las Vegas home.

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

1972 Jan 5, President Nixon ordered development of the space shuttle.

(AP, 1/5/98)

1975 Jan 5, "The Wiz," a musical version of L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," opened at the Majestic Theater on Broadway with an all-black cast. It ran for 1672 performances.

(AP, 1/5/00)

1981 Jan 5, Berkeley police arrested 8 demonstrators protesting against draft registration. The protest was one of the largest across the country as a 2nd round of draft registration began.

(SFC, 12/30/05, p.F2)

1981 Jan 5, Harold C. Urey (b.1893), US chemist (Deuterium, Nobel 1934), died.

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

1982 Jan 5, A Federal judge voided an Arkansas state law requiring balanced classroom treatment of evolution and creationism.

(HN, 1/5/99)(MC, 1/5/02)

1983 Jan 5, President Reagan announced he was nominating Elizabeth Dole to succeed Drew Lewis as secretary of transportation. Dole became the first woman to head a Cabinet department in Reagan's administration, and the first to head the DOT.

(AP, 1/5/03)

1985 Jan 5, Boris Weisfeiler (43), a Russian émigré and naturalized US citizen, disappeared while hiking in Chile. US declassified documents in 2000 indicated that Boris, a mathematics professor, was detained by the Chilean military and handed over to Colonia Dignidad.

(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A8)(SFC, 6/12/08, p.A10)

1985 Jan 5, Israel’s 6-week Operation Moses for the resettlement of 8,000 Ethiopian Jews ended. It began Nov 18, 1984, but new was blacked out for security reasons.

(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html)

1988 Jan 5, The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to ask Israel not to deport Palestinians from the occupied territories in the first council vote against Israel since 1981.

(AP, 1/5/98)

1988 Jan 5, Basketball star "Pistol" Pete Maravich died of a heart attack during a pickup game in Pasadena, Calif., at age 40. He had recently finished an autobiography. In 2007 Mark Kriegel authored “Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich.”

(AP, 1/5/98)(WSJ, 2/3/07, p.P13)

1989 Jan 5, Lawrence E. Walsh, the special prosecutor in the Iran-Contra case, asked for a dismissal of two charges against Oliver North, citing the Reagan administration's refusal to release material sought by North.

(AP, 1/5/99)

1990 Jan 5, President Bush told a news conference the United States had a strong case against deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega and said he was convinced Noriega would receive a fair trial on drug-trafficking charges.

(AP, 1/5/00)

1991 Jan 5, President Bush met at Camp David, Maryland, with UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar to discuss the Persian Gulf crisis. The same day, a pretaped radio address by Bush was broadcast in which the president warned Iraq: “Time is running out.”

(AP, 1/5/01)

1992 Jan 5, President Bush arrived in Seoul, South Korea, on the third stop of a 12-day tour focusing on international trade issues.

(AP, 1/5/02)

1993 Jan 5, The state of Washington executed Westley Allan Dodd, an admitted child sex killer, in America's first legal hanging since 1965.

(AP, 1/5/98)

1993 Jan 5, The Braer, a Liberian-registered tanker, ran aground in Scotland's Shetland Islands, spilling some 26 million gallons of light crude oil.

(AP, 1/5/98)(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)

1994 Jan 5, The Clinton administration said North Korea had agreed to allow renewed international inspections of seven nuclear sites.

(AP, 1/5/99)

1994 Jan 5, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, died in Boston at age 81. In 2001 John A. Farrell authored “Tip O’Neill and the Democratic Century.”

(AP, 1/5/99)(WSJ, 3/15/00, p.A16)

1995 Jan 5, President Clinton received Republican congressional leaders at the White House, declaring that "we can do a lot of business together" on reforming the way government works.

(AP, 1/5/00)

1996 Jan 5, An end to a three-week-old partial government shutdown was in sight as the House acted to restore the jobs and wages of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

(AP, 1/5/01)

1996 Jan 5, Lawyers for Hillary Rodham Clinton released sought-after billing records that were discovered the day before in a White House office.

(AP, 1/5/01)

1996 Jan 5, US retailers posted their worst holiday sales since 1990.

(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)

1996 Jan 5, Lincoln Kirstein (b.1906), American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, and cultural figure in New York City, died. In 1946 Balanchine and Kirstein founded the Ballet Society, renamed the New York City Ballet in 1948. Together they made this one of the most innovative dance companies in the world. His books included the 1932 novel “Flesh Is Heir,” a historical romance. In 2007 Martin Duberman authored “The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein.”

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Kirstein)(WSJ, 2/17/07, p.P18)(SSFC, 5/13/07, p.M3)

1996 Jan 5, Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama resigned.

(AP, 1/5/01)

1997 Jan 5, In Afghanistan an air raid killed 4 and wounded 32. A bomb in central Kabul killed 3 and wounded 37.

(WSJ, 1/6/97, p.A1)

1997 Jan 5, In Algeria Muslim guerrillas massacred 16 in Ben Achour village.

(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A9)

1997 Jan 5, In Burundi the Tutsi-led army attacked and killed hundreds of Hutus in a dispute over land at Bukeye in central Burundi.

(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A10)

1997 Jan 5, In the CAR district of Petevo, French troops killed 10 CAR army mutineers, after 2 French soldiers were killed on a mediation mission.

(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A9)

1997 Jan 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held a secret, predawn summit, but fell short of agreement on the issues delaying an Israeli troop withdrawal from Hebron.

(AP, 1/5/98)

1997 Jan 5, Jewish leaders blasted the remark of former Swiss Pres. Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, who called Jewish demands for the compensation of Holocaust victims “blackmail.”

(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A9)

1997 Jan 5, In Kenya the Daily Nation reported that a man stole $1 million by impersonating a Citibank bank employee. The money had been shipped from NY to a Kenyan airport freight terminal at the Nairobi Int’l. Airport.

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

1997 Jan 5, In Mexico at least 26 people were arrested in Sinaloa state, many of them police officers, at the wedding party for the sister of Amado Carrillo, the reputed top drug trafficker in Mexico.

(SFC, 1/8/97, p.A7)

1997 Jan 5, In Rwanda a mother and father and 7 children were murdered. The mother had testified against the former mayor of Taba, Jean-Paul Akayesu, for the murder of some 2,000 villagers.

(SFC, 1/17/97, p.A13)

1997 Jan 5, In South Africa police arrested 2 white men in connection with 3 bomb blasts near Johannesburg.

(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A9)

1998 Jan 5, Balloonist Steve Fosset was forced down in Russia after completing 7,300 miles in four days in his effort to circle the globe.

(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A3)

1998 Jan 5, Volkswagen rolled out a new version of the Beetle at the annual Detroit Auto Show.

(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A2)

1998 Jan 5, Sonny Bono (62), former 1960's pop singer and later Republican congressman, died when he struck a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Mary Bono later revealed that he was a heavy user of pain pills.

(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A1)(SFC, 11/20/98, p.A5)(AP, 1/5/99)

1998 Jan 5, A Canada ice storm knocked out electricity in Quebec & Ontario.

(MC, 1/5/02)

1998 Jan 5, In China Stanford scholar Hua Di (63) was arrested in Beijing on charges of treason for allegedly leaking military secrets.

(SFC, 10/29/98, p.A23)

1998 Jan 5, In Denmark the bronze head of the Little Mermaid was again sawed off in Copenhagen harbor.

(SFC, 1/7/98, p.A9)(MC, 1/5/02)

1998 Jan 5, In India a train crash in Uttar Pradesh killed at least 48 people.

(WSJ, 1/7/98, p.1)

1998 Jan 5, In Kenya Daniel Arap Moi was scheduled to be inaugurated as president after the elections gave him 40% or 2,445,801 votes.

(SFC, 1/5/98, p.A12)

1998 Jan 5, In Lithuania Vladas Adamkus (71), former administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, won the presidency in a runoff election with 49.9% vs. 49.3% for Arturas Paulauskas.

(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A8)

1998 Jan 5, In Mexico Francisco Labastida took over as the chief of internal security after Emilio Chuayffet resigned under pressure from the Chiapas massacre.

(SFC, 1/5/98, p.A10)

1999 Jan 5, A federal judge approved settlement in a class-action suit filed by African-American farmers. The agreement to compensate for years of racial bias could total $400 million. The farmers will get $50,000 tax-free and their government debts forgiven.

(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A4)(WSJ, 1/6/99, p.A1)

1999 Jan 5, A new theory on how HIV attacks cells was reported. The production and survival time of T cells was said to be shortened by HIV.

(SFC, 1/5/99, p.A1)

1999 Jan 5, New research showed that dendritic spines on the nerve branches of the brain sprouted and changed form within fractions of a second.

(SFC, 1/5/99, p.A6)

1999 Jan 5, In Angola Unita rebels shelled Malanje for a 2nd day. 25 people were killed and 100 wounded.

(WSJ, 1/6/99, p.A1)

1999 Jan 5, In Iran the Intelligence Ministry said that rogue intelligence officers were responsible for 5 killings last year of government critics.

(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A6)

1999 Jan 5, Four U.S. Air Force and Navy jets fired at Iraqi MiGs testing the "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq in the first such confrontation in more than six years. 6 missiles fired by 2 US F-15s missed the 4 MiG 25s of Iraq.

(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A6)(AP, 1/5/00)

1999 Jan 5, It was reported that Iraqi security forces killed hundreds of people in the Shiite Muslim south in summary executions directed by Saddam Hussein's 2nd son over the last 6 weeks.

(WSJ, 1/5/99, p.A1)

1999 Jan 5, Malaysia admitted that former Deputy Premier Anwar was beaten by police after his arrest in September.

(WSJ, 1/6/99, p.A1)

2000 Jan 5, Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley engaged in a feisty debate in Durham, New Hampshire.

(AP, 1/5/01)

2000 Jan 5, Touching off angry protests by Cuban-Americans in Miami, the US government decided to send six-year-old Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba. After a legal battle, and the seizure of Elian from the home of his US relatives, the boy was returned to Cuba in June.

(SFC, 1/6/00, p.A1)(AP, 1/5/01)

2000 Jan 5, In the Ivory Coast Gen. Robert Guei announced that he was suspending the country's staggering foreign debt payments.

(SFC, 1/6/00, p.A10)

2000 Jan 5, In Nigeria rival youths of the Yoruba and Hausa tribes clashed in Lagos and Ibadan and some 35 people were killed.

(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)

2000 Jan 5, In Karachi, Pakistan, freed militant Masood Azhar called on some 10,000 followers to liberated Kashmir and to destroy India and the US.

(SFC, 1/6/00, p.A8)

2000 Jan 5, The 17th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorje (14), arrived in India after a week-long flight from Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet.

(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)

2001 Jan 5, In a blizzard of last-minute executive orders, President Clinton banned roads and most logging in 58.5 million acres of federal forests in 38 states.

(WSJ, 1/05/01, p.A1)(AP, 1/5/02)

2001 Jan 5, US Republicans agreed to share power in the Senate with Democrats on committees.

(SFC, 1/6/01, p.A1)

2001 Jan 5, In 2007 it was reported that a French intelligence document dated to this day warned that al-Qaida was at work on a hijacking plot. The information was passed on to the CIA. Documents on Osama bin Laden's terror network were drawn up by the French spy service, the DGSE, between July 2000 and October 2001.

(AP, 4/16/07)

2002 Jan 5, It was reported that funds for the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the leading opposition group to Saddam Hussein, were suspended due to accounting problems.

(SFC, 1/5/02, p.15)

2002 Jan 5, In Florida Charles J. Bishop (15) crashed a stolen Cessna 172 airplane into the 40-story Tampa Bank of American building. Bishop left a note saying he acted alone and expressed sympathy for Osama bin Laden.

(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A12)

2002 Jan 5, Canada reported plans to send 900 troops to assist with peacekeeping in Afghanistan.

(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A9)

2002 Jan 5, Italy's foreign minister, Renato Ruggiero, resigned after a spat with PM Silvio Berlusconi over the government's lukewarm reception of the euro.

(SFC, 1/7/02, p.A5)(AP, 1/5/03)

2002 Jan 5, Singapore reported that authorities had arrested 15 suspected militants between Dec 9-24, some of whom were al Qaeda trained in Afghanistan.

(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A8)(SFC, 1/7/02, p.A8)

2003 Jan 5, In Edinburg, Texas, 6 men were shot to death in a home invasion that involved weapons and drugs.

(SFC, 1/6/03, p.A8)

2003 Jan 5, Jean Kerr (79), author and playwright, died. Her books included "Please Don't Eat the Daisies."

(SFC, 1/7/03, p.A22)

2003 Jan 5, In Algeria rebels killed 13 people form 2 families near the capital in Zabana. The Armed Islamic Group was suspected.

(AP, 1/5/03)

2003 Jan 5, In Bhutan Indian separatists said 50 Indian soldiers attacked their camps. 15 soldiers and 7 rebels were reported killed.

(SFC, 1/8/03, p.A16)

2003 Jan 5, British anti-terrorism police arrested 6 men of North African origin after finding small quantities of ricin, a lethal poison, in a London apartment.

(SFC, 1/8/03, p.A10)

2003 Jan 5, Roy Jenkins (82), British politician, liberal reformer and biographer, died after collapsing at his home in East Hendred.

(WSJ, 1/14/03, p.D6)

2003 Jan 5, Chinese media reported that an unmanned Chinese space capsule had returned safely to Earth.

(AP, 1/5/04)

2003 Jan 5, In Israel 2 Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up minutes apart in a central Tel Aviv area crowded with foreign workers, killing 23 bystanders in the bloodiest attack in six months.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2003 Jan 5, In Kosovo gunmen killed 3 people including Tahir Zemaj, a former Albanian rebel leader.

(WSJ, 1/6/03, p.A1)

2003 Jan 5, In Lithuania rightist Rolandas Paksas (46), a former stunt pilot and PM in 1999 and 2000, was elected president in a surprise victory over Pres. Adamkus, 54.9% vs. 45%. Paksas promised to keep Lithuania closely aligned with the West. The election of Paksas was bankrolled by Yuri Borisov, a Russian-born dealer in helicopter parts.

(AP, 1/6/03)(Econ, 1/10/04, p.46)

2003 Jan 5, The Laos government declared this day a national holiday in honor of King Fangum, "the father of Lao unity" and the 650th anniversary of the founding of Lan Xang in1353.

(AP, 1/6/03)

2004 Jan 5, After 14 years of denials, Pete Rose publicly admitted that he'd bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2004 Jan 5, Pres. Bush extended a 1986 order of sanctions against Libya.

(WSJ, 1/6/04, p.A1)

2004 Jan 5, The US began fingerprinting and photographing int'l. passengers at 115 airports and 14 cruise-ship ports.

(SFC, 1/6/04, p.A1)

2004 Jan 5, NASA released a 3-D, black-and-white panoramic picture of the bleak surface of Mars snapped by the newly landed rover, Spirit.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2004 Jan 5, Norman Heatley (92), a scientist whose pioneering work on penicillin production helped save countless lives, died in Oxford, England. It was Heatley and his Oxford University colleagues who produced enough for the first clinical tests on humans.

(AP, 1/17/04)(SFC, 1/19/04, p.B4)

2004 Jan 5, Kiharu Nakamura (90), Japanese geisha, died in the US. Her 10 books included "The Memoir of a Tokyo-born Geisha."

(Econ, 1/24/04, p.78)

2004 Jan 5, Tug McGraw (59), baseball pitcher, died near Nashville, Tenn.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2004 Jan 5, China confirmed its first SARS case since an outbreak of the disease was contained in July and authorities ordered the emergency slaughter of some 10,000 civet cats and related species after tests linked a virus found in the animals to the patient.

(AP, 1/5/04)

2004 Jan 5, Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer took over as NATO's top official.

(AP, 1/5/04)

2004 Jan 5, A letter bomb addressed to a senior member of the European Parliament burst into flames. Italian anarchists were suspected in the 7 mail attacks since Dec 27.

(AP, 1/5/04)(SFC, 1/6/04, p.A10)

2004 Jan 5, In Mexico heavily armed men in military and police-style uniforms raided the western prison at Apatzingan in Michoacan state and freed 25 inmates.

(AP, 1/6/04)

2004 Jan 5, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf held much-anticipated, face-to-face talks with Indian leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the sidelines of a South Asian summit.

(AP, 1/5/04)

2004 Jan 5, In Thailand 2 bombs exploded in the southern town of Pattani, killing 2 policemen and injuring several people, police said. Two other bombs were found before they could go off.

(AP, 1/5/04)(WPR, 3/04, p.32)

2005 Jan 5, President Bush opened a new drive for caps on medical malpractice awards, contending the limits would lower health care costs.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2005 Jan 5, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, a Marine charged with desertion in Iraq after mysteriously disappearing from his post was again declared a deserter, this time for failing to report to his U.S. base.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2005 Jan 5, It was reported that PolyMedix, a research firm in Philadelphia, was targeting bacteria with synthetic molecules that prevented the development of resistance.

(WSJ, 1/5/05, p.B2A)

2005 Jan 5, Julius Axelrod, NIH neuroscientist, died in Rockville, Md. He shared a 1970 Nobel Prize with 2 others for work on neuro-transmitters.

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

2005 Jan 5, Australian PM John Howard pledged $765 million over five years to Indonesian tsunami reconstruction and development due to the Dec 26 disaster.

(AP, 1/6/05)(Econ, 1/15/05, p.38)

2005 Jan 5, The head of the IAEA said Iran has agreed to give U.N. inspectors access to a huge military site that the United States alleges is linked to a secret nuclear weapons program.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2005 Jan 5, Iraq's intelligence chief said as many as 30,000 well-trained terrorists are actively operating throughout Iraq at the behest of former regime leaders based in Syria.

(AP, 1/6/05)

2005 Jan 5, A car bomb exploded outside a police academy south of Baghdad during a graduation ceremony, killing at least 20 people. Hours earlier, another car bomb killed two Iraqis in Baghdad. A 2nd car bomber killed five Iraqi policemen in Baqouba.

(AP, 1/5/05)(AP, 1/6/05)

2005 Jan 5, The bodies of 18 young Iraqi Shiites taken off a bus and executed in December 2005 were found in a field near Mosul.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2005 Jan 5, A group calling itself "The Free People of the Galilee" claimed that it abducted Dana Bennet, an Israeli-American woman, in Aug 2003, and demanded that Israel release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about her fate.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2005 Jan 5, Two homemade Palestinian rockets fell into an army base in southern Israel, wounding 12 people, one of them seriously.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2005 Jan 5, In western Nepal soldiers backed by helicopters raided a communist rebel hideout, killing at least 30 guerrillas and foiling a planned attack on an army base.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2005 Jan 5, The UN said that camps for up to 500,000 tsunami refugees will be built on devastated Sumatra island, while world leaders headed to Indonesia to discuss how to distribute billions of dollars in aid.

(AP, 1/5/05)

2006 Jan 5, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested that Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine punishment for “dividing God’s land.” Robertson later apologized.

(AP, 1/5/07)

2006 Jan 5, California’s Gov. Schwarzenegger in his State of the State speech called for over $222 billion for public works projects.

(SFC, 1/6/06, p.A1)

2006 Jan 5, The Florida Supreme Court struck down the voucher system that allowed some children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, saying that it violates the state constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public schools.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, In Afghanistan a suicide attacker in Kandahar detonated explosives strapped to his body during a visit by the US ambassador, killing 10 Afghans and wounding 50.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, The wife of Dragomir Abazovic, a Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect, was killed in a shoot-out when European Union (EUFOR) peacekeepers moved in to arrest her husband at their home. Abazovic and the couple's 11-year-old son were also shot and injured.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, The UN said around 2,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees have arrived in Burundi in the past month, many saying they feel insecure in Rwanda or are being refused permission to cultivate their land.

(AP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 5, China’s government announced the closing 5,290 coal mines in a safety crackdown on the world's deadliest mining industry.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, In China Feng Bingxian (59), a businessman who led investors against the government seizure of oil fields in northern China, was convicted along with 2 co-defendants of organizing illegal protests and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

(SFC, 1/6/06, p.A3)(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.A8)

2006 Jan 5, In China an oil spill occurred at Gongyi city in neighboring Henan province when a frozen pipe broke, causing six tons of oil to spill into a tributary of the Yellow River.

(AFP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 5, In western China violent blizzards have forced the evacuation of 97,000 people in a largely Muslim region of Xinjiang, as the nation braced for its worst winter in 20 years.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, In Colombia local TV reported that 2 soldiers had been arrested for giving weapons to leftist rebels, their main battlefield enemy, in exchange for cocaine. 14 FARC guerrillas and two soldiers were killed in clashes in a coca-growing area on the edge Sierra Macarena National Park in southern Colombia.

(AP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 5, In France a 76-year-old performance artist was arrested after attacking Marcel Duchamp's (1917) "Fountain," a porcelain urinal, with a hammer at the Pompidou Center.

(AP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 5, The leader of Haiti's largest business association called for a general strike next week to protest the wave of kidnappings that has sparked fear in the capital and contributed to the chaos that prompted authorities to postpone elections.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, A shootout between inmates at Honduras' biggest prison left at least 13 inmates dead and another 30 wounded.

(AP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 5, A suicide bomber infiltrated a line of police recruits in Ramadi, killing at least 58 and wounding dozens including a US Marine and soldier. 11 US troops were slain during the day. 5 soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb south of Karbala. 2 soldiers were killed in the Baghdad area when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. 2 US Marines were killed by separate small arms attacks while conducting combat operations in Fallujah. An explosion near one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines killed at least 5 people. The day’s death toll rose to at least 136 people in a series of attacks as politicians tried to form a coalition government.

(AP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 5, Iraq's largest oil refinery closed again, a day after insurgents ambushed a convoy of tanker trucks carrying gas from the facility.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, Israel’s PM Ariel Sharon (77) fought for his life following seven hours of emergency surgery to stop widespread bleeding in his brain. The massive stroke made it unlikely that he would return to power. Vice Premier Ehud Olmert was named acting PM and convened the Cabinet for a special session.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, Suspected rebels killed 3 police and wounded 4 more in attacks across Nepal, while hundreds of protesters marched through Kathmandu, demanding restoration of democracy.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, Pakistan said it had taken all "appropriate action" to break up the underground nuclear network run by its former chief nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, Peru recalled its ambassador from Venezuela, accusing President Hugo Chavez of meddling in Peru's upcoming presidential race.

(AP, 1/5/06)

2006 Jan 5, In Saudi Arabia a building used as a hostel by pilgrims in Mecca collapsed as millions of Muslims converged for the annual hajj, and at least 76 people were killed.

(AP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 5, A Turkish teenager whose brother died of bird flu also succumbed to the disease. Fatma Kocyigit (15) died in a hospital in the eastern city of Van, four days after the death of her brother, Mehmet Ali Kocyigit (14). The children helped raise poultry on a small farm in the eastern town of Dogubeyazit, close to Iranian border, and were in close contact with sick birds. Their 11-year-old sister died the next day.

(AP, 1/5/06)(AP, 1/6/06)

2006 Jan 5, In Venezuela a viaduct, carrying the motorway that crosses the mountains between Caracas and the int’l. airport, was closed due to geologic and structural problems. Travel time one way rose up to 5 hours.

(Econ, 1/14/06, p.44)

2007 Jan 5, Pres. Bush nominated Michael McConnell, a retired US Navy vice admiral, to be the next director of national intelligence (DNI). He would follow John Negroponte, who served 18 months as the 1st head over 16 intelligence agencies.

(SFC, 1/6/07, p.A3)

2007 Jan 5, The White House announced a planned shuffling of military leaders in the Iraq war. Adm. William Fallon ended up replacing Gen. John Abizaid as top US commander in the Middle East; Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus succeeded Gen. George Casey as top American general in Iraq; Casey replaced retiring Gen. Peter Schoomaker as Army chief of staff.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2007 Jan 5, US House Democrats approved new budget rules that required new spending or tax cuts to be paid for by other spending cuts or tax increases. The new rules also required lawmakers to disclose which spending items (earmarks), they have added to bills.

(SFC, 1/6/07, p.A1)

2007 Jan 5, SF signed a contract with EarthLink and Google to install and operate a free wireless Internet service across the city.

(SFC, 1/6/07, p.A1)

2007 Jan 5, Hitachi announced the 1st 1-terrabyte hard drive, eclipsing Seagate’s 750 gigabyte drives.

(SFC, 1/5/07, p.C1)

2007 Jan 5, Momofuko Ando (b.1910), inventor of instant noodles (1958), died in Japan.

(Econ, 1/20/07, p.94)

2007 Jan 5, In eastern Afghanistan a suicide bomber in a car wounded four soldiers.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia and China have ratified a nuclear agreement clearing the way for the export of uranium to feed Beijing's giant nuclear power program.

(AFP, 1/5/07)

2007 Jan 5, Bangladesh police over the last 2 days detained about 1,500 activists ahead of a two-day nationwide general strike aimed at forcing electoral reform and the postponement of a general election this month.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, Chinese police raided an alleged terrorist camp in a western mountain region near the border with Pakistan, killing 18 suspects and arresting 17 at a training camp run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Critics accused Beijing of using claims of terrorism as an excuse to crack down on peaceful pro-independence sentiment and expressions of Uighur identity.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 5, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Pres. Bozize of the Central African Republic. Zhaoxing was set to sign a series of accords as part of seven-nation tour highlighting China's increasing interest in the African continent.

(AFP, 1/5/07)

2007 Jan 5, In central Congo a diamond mine collapsed in Tshikapa. 2 people were soon rescued and 15 bodies were later pulled from the mine. Further rescue efforts were abandoned. The group appeared to have been teenagers who hoped that recent rains had uncovered diamonds in the community mine.

(AP, 1/7/07)

2007 Jan 5, Leon Febres Cordero, Former President of Ecuador (1984-1988), resigned from Congress and political life, citing unspecified medical problems. His center-right Social Christian Party long dominated Ecuadorian politics.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, Nicolas Cocaigne, a French prisoner in Rouen, confessed to killing his cellmate and then eating part of the man's body. Thierry Baudry's mutilated body was found Jan 3 by a guard at the prison. A third cellmate who claimed he slept though the attack was charged with complicity in homicide.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, A prominent Sunni Arab group charged that some officials in the Iraqi government have links with Shiite militias involved in sectarian violence and said authorities should be held responsible for any attacks by the armed groups. Mortar rounds killed four civilians on Baghdad's outskirts, and gunmen attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint north of the capital, killing four soldiers. Police in the southern city of Basra reported that an American contractor and two Iraqis were abducted. The 2 Iraqis were later found dead. The body of Ahmed Hadi Naji (28), an Associated Press employee, was found in Baghdad shot in the back of the head, 6 days after he was last seen by his family leaving for work. A US soldier died from combat wounds sustained in Iraq's Anbar province.

(AP, 1/5/07)(AP, 1/6/07)(SFC, 1/6/07, p.A5)(AP, 1/7/07)

2007 Jan 5, Mexican officials in Michoacan state said they had found nine bodies in a shallow grave in the city of Uruapan.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, In southern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped five Chinese workers fixing overhead telephone lines.

(AP, 1/5/07)

2007 Jan 5, The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries warned that some 790,000 salmon and trout escaped from Norwegian fish farms in 2006, up 10% on the previous year and a trend that poses a serious threat to wild salmon.

(AFP, 1/5/07)

2007 Jan 5, In Pakistan's part of Kashmir a landslide triggered by recent heavy rains swamped a minibus and a car on a narrow mountainous road, killing 15 people and injuring three others.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, In Gaza Adel Nasar, an anti-Hamas cleric, was shot by men in a car after he delivered a sermon warning that God would punish those responsible for seven killings the previous day.

(AP, 1/5/07)(WSJ, 1/6/07, p.A1)

2007 Jan 5, Stanislaw Wielgus, Warsaw's incoming archbishop, admitted he had cooperated with the Communist-era secret police and said he was leaving his fate in the hands of Pope Benedict XVI.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, In Sri Lanka an explosion inside a passenger bus killed 6 people in Nittambuwa. Officials blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels, but the group denied any involvement.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, Sudanese aircraft carried out strikes on Bamina and Gadir in North Darfur state near the border with Chad, endangering a fragile ceasefire.

(AFP, 1/9/07)

2007 Jan 5, Taiwan's high-speed rail system welcomed its 1st paying passengers amid lingering safety concerns and embarrassing ticketing glitches. Construction of the system began in 2000 with an original launch date of October 2005, but a delay in the completion of the project's core electrical systems forced a postponement to October 2006.

(AP, 1/4/07)(AFP, 1/5/07)

2007 Jan 5, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Tanzania's Foreign Minister Asha-Rose Migiro to the deputy secretary-general post at the UN, calling her a highly respected leader and outstanding manager who has championed the developing world. A senior UN official said the United Nations has investigated more than 300 members of UN peacekeeping missions for alleged sexual exploitation and abuse during the past three years and more than half were fired or sent home.

(AP, 1/6/07)

2007 Jan 5, Senior doctors at Zimbabwe's state hospitals joined junior doctors in a strike over pay that has left patients stranded at the country's major medical centers. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told state radio meanwhile that he had met with representatives of the striking doctors and that they had agreed to return to work.

(AFP, 1/5/07)

2008 Jan 5, Georgia authorities served a warrant charging Gary Michael Hilton (61) with the kidnapping with bodily injury of Meredith Emerson (24). Emerson was last seen on New Year's Day hiking with her black Labrador retriever, Ella, in Vogel State Park. On Jan 7 he led investigators to a spot in a wooded area in north Georgia where they found her body. In March Hilton was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

(AP, 1/6/08)(AP, 1/8/08)(SFC, 3/24/08, p.A8)

2008 Jan 5, In Hayden, Idaho, a man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911.

(AP, 1/9/08)

2008 Jan 5, A levee break flooded hundreds of homes In Nevada as a storm that has pummeled the West Coast with high wind and heavy rain dropped a thick blanket of snow on the Sierra Nevada.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2008 Jan 5, In Alaska a small plane crashed at the end of a runway off Kodiak Island killing 6 people enroute to celebrate Eastern Orthodox Christmas.

(SFC, 1/7/08, p.A3)

2008 Jan 5, Heavy rains caused flooding across parts of eastern Australia, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people as rural towns throughout the area were put on flood alert.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2008 Jan 5, Georgians voted to determine whether to keep Mikhail Saakashvili as president in the former Soviet republic, where he was once considered a symbol of democratic reform but now faces accusations of authoritarian leanings. Saakashvili's supporters poured onto the streets, tooting car horns and waving white-and-red national flags, celebrating victory based on exit poll results. Saakashvili received 52.8% of the vote according to preliminary results.

(AP, 1/5/08)(AP, 1/6/08)(AP, 1/7/08)

2008 Jan 5, In Iraq a roadside bomb struck a passing minibus north of the town of Muqdadiyah, killing six people. In Baqouba another roadside bomb wounded three civilians.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2008 Jan 5, The Israeli army wound up a large 3-day operation in Nablus saying they had discovered another explosives laboratory there.

(SSFC, 1/6/08, p.A18)

2008 Jan 5, Kenya’s government said President Kibaki is ready to form "a government of national unity" to help resolve disputed elections that caused deadly riots. Some 300 people have been killed and the UN said 250,000 made homeless in violent protests and clashes since the vote.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2008 Jan 5, Malaysia’s New Straits Times said Malaysian police have arrested a beauty parlor owner and a farmer suspected of distributing a sex video showing a former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek committing adultery. Soi Lek resigned Jan 2 after admitting he was the man in the video.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2008 Jan 5, Jacob Zuma, the new African National Congress leader and would-be national president, took another wife, in a Zulu tradition of polygamy that coexists uneasily with calls for gender equality in modern South Africa.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2008 Jan 5, Syria joined other Arab nations in endorsing the head of Lebanon's army as that country's next president, putting pressure on the Lebanese opposition to drop demands that have blocked a compromise over the post.

(AP, 1/5/08)

2009 Jan 5, President George W. Bush authorized the immediate use of US aircrafts to transport supplies to the international peacekeeping force in Darfur.

(AP, 1/6/09)

2009 Jan 5, Pres. Elect Obama named William Panetta (70) to head the CIA.

(SFC, 1/6/09, p.A1)

2009 Jan 5, The US Federal Reserve began buying mortgage bonds guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, in an effort to make home financing more affordable.

(WSJ, 1/6/09, p.C3)

2009 Jan 5, The California Supreme Court decided that churches that break away from a national denomination may not take church assets with them.

(SFC, 1/6/09, p.A3)

2009 Jan 5, Alexander James Trabulse (61) of Colma, Ca., was arrested at San Francisco Airport, after arriving from France. He had been charged 3 days earlier with mail fraud. Authorities said he had sent account statements to investors in his Fahey Fund that inflated the hedge fund’s returns by as much as 200%. On Nov 3 Trabulse pleaded guilty for defrauding investors of some $8.3 million.

(SFC, 1/9/09, p.C1)(SFC, 11/4/09, p.D3)

2009 Jan 5, Former US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy said Citgo Petroleum, the US refiner owned by the Venezuelan government, planned to stop deliveries to his Boston-based nonprofit, Citizens’ Energy, due to falling oil prices. The stop order was removed 2 days later.

(WSJ, 1/6/09, p.A7)(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 5, A Minnesota board certified results showing Democrat Al Franken winning the state’s US Senate recount by 225 votes over Republican Norm Coleman, whose lawyer promised a legal challenge.

(SFC, 1/6/09, p.A2)(WSJ, 1/6/09, p.A1)

2009 Jan 5, Boeing signed a $2.1 billion deal with India for eight P-81 maritime patrol aircraft.

(WSJ, 1/6/09, p.B4)

2009 Jan 5, In Illinois Steven L. Good (52), chief executive of Sheldon Good & Co, one of the nation’s largest real estate auction firms, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a forest outside Chicago. In 2003 he authored “Churches, Jails and Gold Mines… Mega-Deals from a Real Estate Maverick.”

(WSJ, 1/7/09, p.A9)

2009 Jan 5, In Afghanistan 9 Taliban militants were killed in a gunfight by Afghan and NATO troops in the southern province of Kandahar. 2 gunmen shot a Muslim cleric to death inside a mosque in Kandahar city.

(AFP, 1/5/09)(AP, 1/6/09)

2009 Jan 5, British company Waterford Wedgwood PLC, the maker of classic china and crystal, filed for bankruptcy protection after attempts to restructure the struggling business or find a buyer failed.

(AP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, Chile’s Pres. Michelle Bachelet announced a $4 billion economic stimulus package.

(WSJ, 1/6/09, p.A9)

2009 Jan 5, China launched a major crackdown on Internet pornography targeting popular online portals and major search engines such as Google.

(AP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, A Chinese woman (19) died from bird flu in a Beijing hospital, but the World Health Organization said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.

(AP, 1/6/09)

2009 Jan 5, In eastern Congo rival rebel chief of staff Bosco Ntaganda announced the dismissal of Laurent Nkunda and has taken control of the CNDP rebel movement.

(AFP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 5, Germany’s ruling coalition agreed to a 2-year fiscal stimulus package of as much as $69 billion (€50 billion).

(WSJ, 1/6/09, p.A8)

2009 Jan 5, In southwestern Germany the body of billionaire Adolf Merckle (74) was found near railway tracks at Blaubeuren. He had committed suicide after his business empire, which included interests ranging from pharmaceuticals to cement, ran into trouble in the global financial crisis. In 2008 Forbes Magazine had ranked Merckle as the world’s 94^th richest man.

(AP, 1/6/09)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.58)

2009 Jan 5, In Greece gunmen sprayed Athens riot police with automatic weapons fire, seriously wounding a policeman in an escalation of violence that broke out after the fatal police shooting of a teenager last month.

(AP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, In Hong Kong a new survey said one in five residents is considering leaving the city because of its dire air quality, raising fears over the financial hub's competitiveness.

(AFP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, India handed to Pakistan what it said was evidence linking the country to the Islamic militants who attacked Mumbai in November.

(AFP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, In Iraq the US inaugurated its largest embassy ever in the heart of the Green Zone, officially opening the $700 million fortress-like compound that was built as a testament to America's commitment to Iraq. Four bombs exploded in different parts of Baghdad just before noon, killing four people and wounding 19. Subhi Hassan, who handles political relations for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and a bodyguard were killed after unidentified gunmen chased down their car after it passed through a checkpoint. US troops killed a civilian in a vehicle after the driver failed to heed warnings to stop in Baqouba.

(AP, 1/5/09)(AP, 1/6/09)

2009 Jan 5, Israel consolidated its hold on parts of the Gaza Strip, seizing high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the territory's biggest city as a stream of world leaders headed for the region to press for a truce. About 12 Palestinian children were killed. The 10^th day of fighting put the Palestinian death toll at an estimated 550. 3 Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded by friendly fire. Gaza health officials said an Israeli airstrike outside a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip killed 39 people, many of them children. An Israeli missile struck a building in Zeitoun where Palestinians had been herded. At least 30 people were killed.

(AP, 1/5/09)(SFC, 1/6/09, p.A3)(AP, 1/11/09)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.49)

2009 Jan 5, In Indian Kashmir Omar Abdullah (38), a young pro-India Muslim, was sworn in as the new chief minister after elections that attracted a higher turnout than many politicians and voters expected.

(AFP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, Ahmed Aboutaleb (47), a Moroccan immigrant, was installed as mayor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands' second largest city, in a move hailed as a significant step for the integration of minorities in the European Union nation.

(AP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, In Pakistan three bullet-riddled bodies were found along a road some 16 miles east of Miran Shah. Police said suspected Taliban militants had executed a Pakistani construction contractor and two Afghan men they accused of spying for the US.

(AP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, Sri Lanka’s government troops captured a strategic Tamil Tiger-held town and moved closer to a key rebel base, as citizens raised flags and held a moment of silence to honor the military as it battles to end the country's 25-year-old civil war. The rebels, as well has hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting, were confined to a jungle area slightly larger than the city of Los Angeles.

(AP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, The Vatican said that Bishop Allen H. Vigneron will replace Cardinal Adam Joseph Maida at the head of the Detroit archdiocese. The pope also named the auxiliary bishop of Halifax, Claude Champagne, as the new bishop of Edmundston in Canada. Benedict appointed the Rev. Cirilo Flores as new auxiliary bishop of Orange, California.

(AP, 1/5/09)

2009 Jan 5, Turkey restored the citizenship of its most famous poet Monday in a symbolic step meant to show it was addressing criticism of its human rights record in hopes of joining the European Union. Turkey had stripped Nazim Hikmet of his nationality in 1951 at the height of the Cold War because of his communist views, branded him a traitor and imprisoned him for more than a decade. He died in exile in Moscow in 1963.

(AP, 1/5/09)
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