Today in History January 8

Today in History - January 8

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871 Jan 8, Ethelred of Wessex defeated the Danish forces at Ashdown.

(PCh, 1992, p.72)(MC, 1/8/02)

1081 Jan 8, Henry V, Roman German king, emperor (1098/1111-25), was born.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1198 Jan 8, Lotario de Conti di Sengi became Pope Innocent III (d.1216). He raised the papacy to an acme of papal prestige and power, and Christian Europe came close to being a unified theocracy with no internal contradictions. He oversaw 2 crusades and established fees for indulgences to fatten the Church's treasury. He hired Italian merchant bankers to manage papal funds and sanctioned the new Franciscan and Dominican orders.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)

1324 Jan 8, Marco Polo, Venetian explorer, governor of Nanking, died.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1547 Jan 8, The first Lithuanian book was printed in Konigsburg (Karaliauciuje) at the printing shop of H. Weinreich. It was a catechism titled: "Katekizmusa prasti Zadei, makslas skaitima raschta yr giesmes" by the Lithuanian student Martynas Mazvydas (200-300 copies). He had been specifically invited by Albrecht von Brandenberg to prepare a book in Lithuanian that would assist the priests in teaching the native language and help spread the ideas of the Reformation, i.e. Lutheranism. It was a small format book of 79 pages part of which was taken up by 11 hymns presented with music. The text was a faithful translation of J. Seklucian’s (1545) and J. Malecki’s (1546) Polish catechisms.

(Voruta #27-28, 7/1996, p.10)(DrEE, 9/14/96, p.4)(LHC, 1/7/03)

1587 Jan 8, Johannes Fabricius, astronomer who discovered sunspots, was born in Denmark.

(HN, 1/8/99)(MC, 1/8/02)

1642 Jan 8, Astronomer Galileo Galilei (77) died in Arcetri, Italy. Galileo had 2 daughters consigned to a nunnery and one son, whom he got married into a rich Florentine family. In 1614, Father Tommaso Caccini denounced the opinions of Galileo on the motion of the Earth from the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella, judging them to be erroneous. Galileo went to Rome and defended himself against charges that had been made against him. In 1616, he was admonished by Cardinal Bellarmino and told that he could not defend Copernican astronomy because it went against the doctrine of the Church. Later, in 1632 he was summoned by the Holy Office to Rome. The tribunal passed a sentence condemning him and compelled Galileo to solemnly abjure his theory. He was sent to exile in Siena. Galileo spent his last years almost totally blind and poor. In 1999 Dava Sobel published "Galileo's Daughter."

(BHT, Hawking, p.180)(AP, 1/8/98)(WSJ, 10/19/99, p.A24)(MC, 1/8/02)

1598 Jan 8, Genoa, Italy, expelled its Jews.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1656 Jan 8, Oldest surviving commercial newspaper began in Haarlem, Netherlands.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1681 Jan 8, The treaty of Radzin ended a five year war between the Turks and the allied countries of Russia and Poland.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1705 Jan 8, Georg F. Handel's 1st opera "Almira," premiered in Hamburg.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1713 Jan 8, Arcangelo Corelli (59), composer, violinist (Concerti Grossi), died.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1745 Jan 8, England, Austria, Saxony and the Netherlands formed an alliance against Russia.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1746 Jan 8, Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops occupied Stirling.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1775 Jan 8, John Baskerville (68), English printer, type designer, died.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1786 Jan 8, Nicholas Biddle, head of the first United States bank, was born.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1796 Jan 8, Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois (46), French Revolution leader, died in exile. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety that ruled during The Terror.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1798 Jan 8, The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect by President John Adams nearly three years after its ratification by the states; it prohibited a citizen of one state from suing another state in federal court.

(AP, 1/8/08)

1806 Jan 8, Lewis & Clark found the skeleton of 105' blue whale in Oregon.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1809 Oct 8, Hapsburg Emp. Francis I appointed Count Clemens von Metternich (36) foreign minister of Austria.

(PC, 1992 ed, p.371)(ON, 5/04, p.1)

1811 Jan 8, Charles Deslondes led several hundred poorly armed slaves towards New Orleans in the largest slave rebellion in US history.

(AH, 2/06, p.14)

1815 Jan 8, US forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson and French pirate Jean Lafitte led some 3,100 backwoodsmen to victory against 7,500 British veterans at Chalmette in the Battle of New Orleans in the closing engagement of the War of 1812. A British army marched on New Orleans without knowing that the War of 1812 had ended on Christmas Eve of 1814. A massacre ensued, as 2,044 British troops, including three generals, fell dead, wounded or missing before General Andrew Jackson's well-prepared earthworks, compared with only 71 American casualties. Among the British victims were Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham and the Highlanders of the 93rd Regiment of Foot. In 2000 Robert V. Remini published "The Battle of New Orleans."

(AP, 1/8/98)(HN, 1/8/99)(WSJ, 1/26/00, p.A20)(AH, 2/05, p.16)

1824 Jan 8, William Wilkie Collins, English novelist (Woman in White), was born.

(www.qub.ac.uk/en/imperial/india/wilkie-background.htm)

1824 Jan 8, Tom Spring defeated Jack Langan in a British championship boxing match that lasted 2½ hours.

(SFC, 2/1/06, p.G6)(www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/spring-t.htm)

1830 Jan 8, Gouverneur Kemble Warren (d.1882), Major Gen (Union volunteers), was born.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1830 Jan 8, Hans von Bulow, pianist, virtuoso conductor, was born in Dresden.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1833 Jan 8, Boston Academy of Music, 1st US music school, was established.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1853 Jan 8, 1st US bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson was unveiled in Wash. DC. [see Mar 8]

(MC, 1/8/02)

1856 Jan 8, Dr. John A. Veatch discovered borax in Tuscan Springs, Calif.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1862 Jan 8, Frank Nelson Doubleday, founder of Doubleday publishing house, was born.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1867 Jan 8, Legislation gave suffrage to DC blacks, despite Pres. Johnson's veto.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1867 Jan 8, Japan’s Emperor Osahito died. The Tokugawa Shogunate gave up power as a revolutionary movement overthrew Shogun Iyesada. Rebels introduced a representative government under the name of Emperor Maiji (1852-1912).

(www.uq.net.au/~zzhsoszy/states/japan/japan.html)(ON, 11/04, p.12)

1868 Jan 8, Frank Dyson was born. He proved Einstein right that light is bent by gravity.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1871 Jan 8, Prussian troops began to bombard Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1880 cJan 8, Emperor Norton died in San Francisco and had an elaborate funeral sponsored by the Pacific Union Club at a cost of $10,000. His remains were later moved from the Masonic Cemetery to Woodlawn Cemetery with a marble tombstone inscribed: Norton I...Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. Joshua A. Norton 1815-1880. Dr. Robert Burns Aird (d.2000) later composed a musical based on Norton's life. The organization E Clampus Vitius later proceeded to hold an annual memorial services at his Colma grave site.

(HFA, '96, p.65)(G&M, 7/30/97, p.A24)(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A20)(CHA, 1/2001)

1889 Jan 8, Dr. Herman Hollerith (1860-1929), statistician for the US Census Bureau, received the 1st US patent for a tabulating machine. It resembled Charles Babagge’s Analytical Engine, but used electromagnetic relays instead of metal gears.

(www.answers.com/topic/herman-hollerith)(ON, 5/05, p.7)

1891 Jan 8, Walter Bothe, subatomic particle physicist (Nobel 1954), was born in Germany.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1892 Jan 8, Coal mine explosion killed 100 in McAlister, Okla.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1894 Jan 8, Fire caused serious damage at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1896 Jan 8, Jaromir Weinberger, composer (Bird's Opera, Schwanda der Duddelsacpfeifer), was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1896 Jan 8, Steponas Darius (d.1933), transatlantic pilot, was born in Rubiskis, Lithuania.

(LHC, 1/8/03)

1900 Jan 8, The Boers attacked Ladysmith, but are turned back by General White in South Africa.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1902 Jan 8, Georgy M. Malenkov, Stalin's successor as head of CPSU, PM (1953-55), was born.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1904 Jan 8, Pope Pius X banned low cut dresses in the presence of churchmen.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1908 Jan 8, A subway linking New York’s Brooklyn and Manhattan opened.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1918 Jan 8, President Woodrow Wilson addressed a hastily convened joint session of Congress, publicly stating the Fourteen Points--his idealistic plan for a world forever free from conflict. Most of Wilson's Fourteen Points addressed specific European territorial concerns, but he also called for fair and generous treatment of Germany, absolute freedom of the seas, national boundaries determined on the basis of language, and the establishment of a general assembly of nations. When World War I ended in November 1918, Wilson personally attended the peace negotiations, believing that with his guidance, "peace without victory" was possible and a new world order was at hand. What he had not counted on was the bitterness and cynicism of his allies, who had lost much. As the negotiations progressed, more and more of the Fourteen Points were sacrificed to vengeance and a grab for land. The German magazine Simplicissimus remarked on Wilson's betrayal of his principles in June 1919 with God asking, "Woodrow Wilson, where are your 14 Points?" and Wilson responding, "Don't get excited, Lord, we didn't keep your Ten Commandments either!"

(AP, 1/8/98)(HNPD, 1/7/99)

1918 Jan 8, Mississippi became the first state to ratify the proposed 18th amendment to the US Constitution, which established Prohibition.

(AP, 1/8/08)

1923 Jan 8, Joseph Wiezenbaum, artificial intelligence pioneer, was born.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1923 Jan 8, Giorgio Tozzi, basso (Met Opera, Boris, Don Giovanni), was born in Chicago, Illinois.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1926 Jan 8, Soupy Sales, comedian (Soupy Sales Show), was born in NC as Milton Hines.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1929 Jan 8, The Dow Jones Industrials added National Cash Register as a replacement for Victor Talking Machine.

(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)

1932 Jan 8, Joseph Kahahawai (21) was kidnapped and killed by a vigilante group following an alleged gang rape. Thalia Massie, her husband, mother, and 2 other suspects were convicted of manslaughter in the Kahahawai murder, but their sentences were commuted to one hour in the custody of Territorial Gov. Lawrence Judd. They then sailed to SF to avoid a new trial. In 2005 David E. Stannard authored “Honor Killing: How the Famous Masie Affair Transformed Hawaii.”

(SFC, 5/28/05, p.E1)

1933 Jan 8, Charles Osgood, news anchor (CBS Weekend News), was born in NYC.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1935 Jan 8, Rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley, "The King," was born in Tupelo, Miss. The most popular singer of the 1950s and 60s. Best known for "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Love Me tender." He also starred in over thirty films.

(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A1)(AP, 1/8/98)(HN, 1/8/99)

1935 Jan 8, AC Hardy patented the spectrophotometer.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1937 Jan 8, Nash Motors, a component of the Dow Jones, changed its name to Nash Kelvinator.

(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)

1940 Jan 8, Britain began rationing sugar, meat and butter.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1941 Jan 8, Robert Baden-Powell (83), founder of the Boy Scout movement, died.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1943 Jan 8, The British handed Madagascar over to the Free French.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1944 Jan 8, Sir Edmund Backhouse (b.1873), English Sinologist, died in Beijing. In 1977 Hugh Trevor-Roper authored “Hermit of Peking” an investigation into the life of Backhouse.

(WSJ, 8/18/07, p.P9)

1945 Jan 8, US Tech. Sgt. Russell Dunham (1920-2009) assaulted 3 German machine gun placements, killed 9 German soldiers and took 2 as prisoners near Kaysersberg, France. His bravery earned him the US Medal of Honor.

(SFC, 4/10/09, p.B5)

1946 Jan 8, President Truman vowed to stand by the Yalta accord on self-determination for the Balkans.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1946 Jan 8-9, The Baltic Camp University was founded in Germany by 40 Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian scientists in Hamburg and Pinneberg. It operated for 3 ½ years, with classes over 9 semesters.

(DrEE, 9/21/96, p.3)

1947 Jan 8, Gen. George Marshall became US Sec. of State.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1948 Jan 8, Richard Tauber (55), Austria-British tenor, composer (Lehar), died.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1950 Jan 8, Joseph A. Schumpeter (b.1883), Austrian-German-American economist, died in Connecticut. In 1911 while teaching at Czernowitz (now in the Ukraine), he wrote his “Theory of Economic Development,” where he first outlined his famous theory of entrepreneurship. In 1942 he published his fifth book "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy." In 2007 Thomas K. McCraw authored “Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction.”

(WSJ, 4/5/07, p.D7)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.94)

1951 Jan 8, A cahow, thought extinct since 1615, was rediscovered in Bermuda. David Wingate (15) helped 2 scientists discover the cahow, aka Bermuda petrel, a nocturnal seabird thought to have been extinct since the 17th century. Wingate proceeded to make a life time goal of saving the bird from extinction.

(WSJ, 12/19/00, p.A1)(MC, 1/8/02)

1952 Jan 8, Antonia Maury, discoverer of supergiant, giant & dwarf stars, died.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1954 Jan 8, President Dwight Eisenhower proposed stripping convicted Communists of their U.S. citizenship.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1958 Jan 8, Bobby Fisher won the United States Chess Championship for the first time at 14 years of age.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1959 Jan 8, Fidel Castro rolled into Havana a week after Batista fled. In 2002 Julia E. Sweig authored "Inside the Cuban Revolution."

(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F3)(WSJ, 7/10/02, p.D8)

1959 Jan 8, Charles de Gaulle was inaugurated as president of France's Fifth Republic.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1963 Jan 8, President John F. Kennedy attended the unveiling of the Mona Lisa on loan at America's National Gallery of Art.

(HN, 1/8/99)(MC, 1/8/02)

1964 Jan 8, President Johnson declared a "War on Poverty" in his State of the Union address.

(AP, 1/8/08)

1965 Jan 8, the Star of India and other stolen gems were returned to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

(AP, 1/8/05)

1968 Jan 8, Jacques Cousteau's 1st undersea special aired on US network TV.

(www.imdb.com/title/tt0845400/)

1971 Jan 8, 29 pilot whales beached themselves and died at San Clemente Island, off Calif.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1972 Jan 8, Kenneth Patchen (b.1911), American poet, died in Palo Alto, Ca. He was bed-ridden in his later years from a debilitating spinal injury. His works included "Before the Brave" and "Hurrah for Anything."

(HN, 12/13/99)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.D6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Patchen)

1973 Jan 8, The trial of Watergate burglars began in Washington, DC. In 2006 Andreas Killen authored “1973 Nervous Breakdown: Watergate, Warhol and the Birth of Post-Sixties America.”

(www.watergate.info/chronology/1973.shtml)(SSFC, 4/16/06, p.M3)

1973 Jan 8, Secret peace talks between the US and North Vietnam resumed near Paris.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1975 Jan 8, Judge John J. Sirica ordered the release of Watergate figures John W. Dean III, Herbert W. Kalmbach and Jeb Stuart Magruder from prison.

(AP, 1/8/06)

1975 Jan 8, Richard Tucker (b.1913), [Reuben Ticker], US tenor, cantor (La Gioconda), died.

(www.richardtucker.org/Richard_Tucker.html)

1976 Jan 8, Chou En-lai (78), Chinese premier (1949-1976), died in Beijing.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1978 Jan 8, The Israeli government voted to "strengthen" settlements in occupied Sinai.

(www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/1978)

1979 Jan 8, The US advised the Shah to get out of Iran.

(HN, 1/8/99)

1981 Jan 8, The "Pirates of Penzance" opened at the Uris Theater, NYC, for 772 performances. Linda Ronstadt (b.1946) debuted Mabel.

(http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4088)

1981 Jan 8, Terri Winchell (17) was beaten, raped and stabbed to death in San Joaquin County, Ca. Michael Morales (31) was convicted in the murder and was slated for execution in 2006. Morales said he was enlisted by his cousin, Ricky Ortega, who had learned that Winchell was having an affair with Ortega’s male lover. Morales' original execution date of February 21, 2006, was postponed as a result of two court-appointed anesthesiologists withdrawing from the procedure.

(SFC, 1/28/06, p.B2)(SFC, 2/7/06, p.B3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Morales)

1981 Jan 8, Resorts around Lake Tahoe offered limited skiing and businesses suffered from a late start in the skiing season. It was the latest start since the 1976-77 drought.

(SFC, 1/6/06, p.F2)

1982 Jan 8, American Telephone and Telegraph settled the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies. The ATT Bell System was ordered to be subdivided into 7 Baby Bells by the US government.

(I&I, Penzias, p.190) (HFA, '96, p.22)(AP, 1/8/98)

1982 Jan 8, The US Justice Dept withdrew an antitrust suit against IBM.

(http://tinyurl.com/3e2guh)

1985 Jan 8, The Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco was kidnapped in Lebanon. He was released 19 months later.

(AP, 1/8/05)

1987 Jan 8, For the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000, ending the day at 2002.25.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1988 Jan 8, An Arizona state grand jury indicted Gov. Evan Mecham (1924-2008) and his brother, Willard, on charges of concealing a campaign loan. Both were later acquitted on these charges.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Mecham)(SFC, 2/23/08, p.B5)

1989 Jan 8, "42nd Street" closed at Winter Garden Theater, NYC, after 3,486 performances.

(www.theatermirror.com/TA42sbcp.htm)

1989 Jan 8, Forty-seven people were killed when a British Midland Boeing 737-400 carrying 126 passengers crashed in central England. The pilots shut down the good engine and tried to land with a bad one.

(AP, 1/8/99)(WSJ, 10/3/01, p.A20)

1989 Jan 8, Soviet Union promised to eliminate stockpiles of chemical weapons.

(www.fas.org/nuke/control/bwc/chron.htm)

1990 Jan 8, Terry Thomas (78), English comic (Heroes), died of Parkinson's disease.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry-Thomas)

1990 Jan 8, Military tribunals in Romania began trials of the country's dreaded security forces who stood accused of resisting the revolution that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu.

(AP, 1/8/00)

1991 Jan 8, Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz arrived in Geneva for the first high-level talks between their countries since the Persian Gulf crisis began.

(AP, 1/8/01)

1991 Jan 8, Pro Soviet demonstrators protested price rises and surrounded the parliament in Vilnius. Fresh Soviet troops began rolling across Baltic borders from Pskov, Russia, allegedly to deal with Baltic youth who have been evading the Soviet draft.

(www.balticsww.com/news/features/crackdown.htm)

1992 Jan 8, President Bush collapsed during a state dinner in Tokyo; White House officials said Bush was suffering from stomach flu.

(AP, 1/8/02)

1993 Jan 8, At post offices across America, commemorative Elvis Presley stamps went on sale on what would have been "the King's" 58th birthday.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1993 Jan 8, In Palatine, a suburb of Chicago, 7 people were shot to death at a fried chicken restaurant. The victims were forced into two walk-in coolers and shot a total of 24 times with a .38. Some were also stabbed and one had their throat slit. Their bodies were found the next day. On May 16, 2002, Juan Luna (28) and James Degorski (29) were arrested and confessed to the killings. "They just did it to do something big." In 2009 Degorski was convicted in the slayings of 7 people.

(AP, 1/9/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown's_Chicken_massacre)(SFC, 9/30/09, p.A8)

1993 Jan 8, Bosnian Prime Minister Hakija Turajlic was shot 7 times and killed by Serb gunmen in the presence of French peacekeepers while riding in a UN personnel carrier at a Serb checkpoint near the Serajevo airport.

(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(AP, 1/8/98)

1993 Jan 8, Asif Nawaz Khan Janjua (56), Pakistan’s 10^th Chief of Army, died under mysterious circumstances while jogging near his home in Rawalpindi. His widow later accused the government of poisoning her husband.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asif_Nawaz)(www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14397943.html)

1994 Jan 8, Tonya Harding won the ladies' U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, a day after Nancy Kerrigan dropped out because of a clubbing attack that injured her right knee. The U.S. Figure Skating Assn. later stripped Harding of the title because of her involvement in the attack.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1995 Jan 8, "Guys & Dolls" closed at Martin Beck Theater, NYC, after 1143 performances.

(www.theatredb.com/QShow.php?sid=s0398)

1995 Jan 8, The Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tenn., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.

(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)

1995 Jan 8, Russian forces in Chechnya pounded the capital of Grozny with rocket and mortar fire in an attempt to scatter Chechen fighters defending the presidential palace.

(AP, 1/8/00)

1995 Jan 8, In Sri Lanka the Tigers and government agreed to a truce.

(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)

1996 Jan 8, Federal employees who had been out of work for weeks while the government was shut down began returning to their jobs; however, along the East Coast, many government workers were idled by a huge blizzard that had paralyzed the nation’s capital and caused at least 50 deaths.

(AP, 1/8/01)(MC, 1/8/02)

1996 Jan 8, In a low turnout for presidential elections in Guatemala, Alvaro Arzu, a conservative former foreign minister, beat Alfonso Portillo, backed by ex-dictator, Efrain Rios Montt, by less than 3 %.

(WSJ, 1/8/96, p.A-1)

1996 Jan 8, Francois Mitterand, 79, Socialist ex-minister (1981-1995) died. He had been in office for 14 years and helped to make France an engine of European unity and changed the face of Paris with his grand projects.

(WSJ, 1/9/96, p.A-1)(MC, 1/8/02)

1996 Jan 8, Japan's Trade Minister Hashimoto was endorsed by the ruling coalition to become prime minister.

(WSJ, 1/9/96, p.A-1)

1996 Jan 8, A Russian-made Antonov-32 skidded into a crowded marketplace shortly after take-off in Kinshasa in Zaire (Congo) and killed at least 350 people. The twin-turboprop was owned by African Air and was overweight when it took off. At least 470 people were injured.

(WSJ, 1/9/96, p.A-1) (SFC, 5/12/96, p.A-14)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)

1997 Jan 8, Anne Galjour, San Francisco writer and performer, received the 13th annual Will Glickman Playwright Award for the best new play, "Mauvais Temps," produced in the Bay Area in 1996.

(SFC, 1/9/97, p.E2)

1997 Jan 8, The Supreme Court heard arguments on whether to allow physician-assisted suicide.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1997 Jan 8, The state of Arkansas put three men to death in the second triple execution since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1997 Jan 8, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was hospitalized with early signs of pneumonia.

(AP, 1/8/98)

1997 Jan 8, In Bulgaria the ruling party backed Nikolai Dobrev for premier.

(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A1)

1997 Jan 8, From Israel warplanes were sent on 2 raids to Lebanon after a Katyusha rocket hit northern Israel.

(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A1)

1997 Jan 8, In Pakistan gas cylinders aboard a truck leaked in Lahore and killed at least 30 people with 900 taken to hospitals. The gas was identified as either ammonia or chlorine.

(WSJ, 1/10/97, p.A1)

1998 Jan 8, At the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Philadelphia, Michelle Kwan received seven perfect presentation marks out of nine for her short program.

(AP, 1/7/99)

1998 Jan 8, Ramzi Yousef was sentenced in New York to life in prison for the 1994 bombing of a Philippines airliner and 240 years for masterminding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

(www.courttv.com/news/flashback/January.html)

1998 Jan 8, Air traffic control over the Pacific broke down for 16 hours; officials said the outage posed no real danger.

(AP, 1/7/99)

1998 Jan 8, Walter Diemer (93), inventor (bubble gum 1928), died of heart failure.

(MC, 1/8/02)

1998 Jan 8, Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, died at age 93.

(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)

1998 Jan 8, The EU decided to send a fact-finding mission to Algeria. New reports said 30 more people were killed in the region of Relizane.

(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A8)

1998 Jan 8, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was forced to meet with protestors angry over the nation’s 12.4% unemployment.

(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A11)

1998 Jan 8, In Indonesia the currency and stock market dropped and panic buying hit retailers after the budget failed to address the nation’s urgent needs. The rupiah fell at one point to 10,550 to the dollar and the market dipping 19%.

(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A8)

1998 Jan 8-9, The US Northeast and Canada were hit with a severe ice storm and at least 16 people were reported killed. Millions of people were left without power in upper New York, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A3)(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A8)

1999 Jan 8, By a unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate formally ratified the rules for President Clinton's impeachment trial.

(AP, 1/8/00)

1999 Jan 8, Two top organizers of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt lake City resigned in a mushrooming bribery scandal amid disclosures that civic boosters had given cash to members of the International Olympic Committee.

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A1)(AP, 1/8/00)

1999 Jan 8, In Bridgeport, Conn., Leroy Brown Jr. (8) and his mother Karen Clarke (30) were found murdered. The boy had witnessed a drive-by shooting and identified Russell Peeler as the gunman. Adrian Peeler (22) was arrested in North Carolina on Jan 21. He had escaped from a halfway house in April and was sought for questioning.

(SFC, 1/12/99, p.A2)(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A3)

1999 Jan 8, In Azerbaijan the first part of an oil pipeline across Georgia to the Black Sea was opened.

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)

1999 Jan 8, George Skiadopoulos (25), a Greek seaman, murdered and mutilated his American girlfriend, former model Julie Scully (31) of Mansfield, N.J. Scully's body was found burned and beheaded. A Greek appeals court in 2002 reduced his life sentence to 23 years in prison.

(AP, 10/8/02)

1999 Jan 8, In Indonesia some 2,000 people rampaged in Karawang and 2 people were shot dead by police.

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A9)

1999 Jan 8, In Kosovo ethnic Albanians killed 3 Serbian police officers in separate ambushes. Ethnic Albanians also seized 8 Yugoslav soldiers (Serbian policemen).

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A9)(SFC, 1/12/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.A1)

1999 Jan 8, In Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir named Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (59) as his heir apparent.

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)

1999 Jan 8, In Mexico 5 dissident army officers of the Patriotic Command to Raise the People's Consciousness were arrested. They had tried to present Pres. Zedillo with a letter complaining of abuses of soldiers by army commanders.

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)

1999 Jan 8, In Pakistan it was reported that some 50,000 Pakistanis were being kept as slaves by powerful landlords in the Sindh province. Gov. Moinuddin Haider acknowledged the problem and promised to investigate.

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)

1999 Jan 8, In Sierra Leone Sam Bockarie of the rebel army rejected a cease-fire and pushed to the western parts of Freetown.

(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A9)

2000 Jan 8, During a debate in Johnston, Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley accused Al Gore of trying to scare voters by misrepresenting his health care proposal; for his part, the vice president said he had not been hiding in a Washington bunker but campaigning on "the front lines in the fight for our future."

(AP, 1/8/01)

2000 Jan 8, The US Dept. of Transportation cited safety standards and decided not to remove restrictions on Mexican trucks crossing the border despite unrestricted access granted in 1995 as part of NAFTA.

(SFEC, 1/9/00, p.A4)

2000 Jan 8, Uzbek Pres. Karimov was re-elected to a five-year term with more than 90 percent of the vote.

(AP, 3/30/04)

2001 Jan 8, Mike Dombeck, US Forest Service chief, outlined a policy to end the cutting of all old-growth trees in national forests.

(SFC, 1/9/01, p.A3)

2001 Jan 8, Pope John Paul II was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

(AP, 1/8/02)

2001 Jan 8, Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined a quarter of a million dollars for extorting payoffs from businessmen applying for riverboat casino licenses.

(AP, 1/8/02)

2001 Jan 8, Donna Bailey (43), paralyzed from a Ford Explorer rollover crash, settled her suit with Ford and Firestone for a total in the range of $20-35 million along with the disclosure of internal memos and reports on tire safety and rollover issues.

(SFC, 1/9/01, p.A3)

2001 Jan 8, Advanced Micro Devices announced its new 850 MHz Duron chip.

(WSJ, 1/09/01, p.B7)

2001 Jan 8, In Afghanistan the Taliban ordered the death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to a different religion.

(WSJ, 1/09/01, p.A1)

2001 Jan 8, The Taliban massacred some 150-300 unarmed Hazaras, a Shiite Muslim minority group, in Yakalang.

(SFC, 2/19/01, p.A9)(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A4)

2001 Jan 8, It was reported that Britain was culling 20-30 thousand older cows per week in the mad cow crises and that it would take 3 years to catch up with the backlog for rendering their remains to powder.

(WSJ, 1/08/01, p.A1)

2001 Jan 8, In Montenegro assassins killed a senior secret-service officer in Podgorica.

(WSJ, 1/09/01, p.A1)

2001 Jan 8, Palestinian’s rejected Pres. Clinton’s formula for a permanent Mideast settlement.

(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.D2)

2002 Jan 8, Ozzie Smith, regarded as the finest-fielding shortstop ever, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first try.

(AP, 1/8/03)

2002 Jan 8, Pres. Bush signed an education bill that tied federal aid to test performance. It was the most far-reaching federal education bill in nearly 4 decades.

(WSJ, 1/9/02, p.A1)(AP, 1/8/03)

2002 Jan 8, The Bush administration sent a secret report to Congress, the "Nuclear Posture Review," that said the Pentagon needs to be prepared to use nuclear weapons against 7 nations: China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Iran, and Libya. A furor erupted when it was leaked to the press in March.

(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A1)(SFC, 3/11/02, p.A3)

2002 Jan 8, Dave Thomas (69), founder of Wendy’s hamburger chain, died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

(SFC, 1/9/02, p.A1)(AP, 1/8/03)

2002 Jan 8, US soldiers captured 14 suspected fighters at the Zhawar Kili cave and bunker complex near Khost. An al Qaeda fighter blew himself up with a grenade during an escape attempt at a Kandahar hospital. 2 senior al Qaeda leaders were reported caught with documents and laptops, while fleeing bombing in eastern Afghanistan. An intensified search was reported to be in progress for Abu Zubeida (Zain al-Abidin Muhammad Husain), the director of external affairs for al Qaeda.

(SFC, 1/9/02, p.A8)

2002 Jan 8, The Most Rev. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, announced his retirement as spiritual leader of the world's 70 million Anglicans.

(AP, 1/8/03)

2002 Jan 8, India and Pakistan traded fire on their Kashmir border.

(WSJ, 1/9/02, p.A1)

2002 Jan 8, Iran’s Revolutionary Court began the closed door trial of 15 men charged with plotting to overthrow the Islamic system

(SFC, 1/9/02, p.A5)

2003 Jan 8, Pres. Bush signed an emergency extension of federal unemployment benefits following approval by the 108th Congress. It extended 26 weeks of state aid with 13 weeks of federal aid.

(SFC, 1/9/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/8/03, p.A1)

2003 Jan 8, A federal appeals court ruled that Pres. Bush could order U.S. citizens captured overseas indefinitely detained as enemy combatants without the rights normally afforded citizens charged in criminal cases.

(AP, 1/8/04)

2003 Jan 8, In Charlotte, NC, a US Airways Express Beech 1900 turboprop crashed on takeoff and all 21 aboard were killed.

(SFC, 1/9/03, p.A3)

2003 Jan 8, In Mali the 3rd annual Festival of the Desert ended in Essakane.

(SFC, 1/11/03, p.D1)

2003 Jan 8, Manuel Ciervides Lacayo, the Panamanian consul to Guayaquil, Ecuador, was shot and killed while vacationing in Panama.

(AP, 1/9/03)

2003 Jan 8, In Turkey the pilot of the British Aerospace RJ-100 missed the runway because of heavy fog in the southeastern city of Diayarbakir. 75 people were killed with 5 survivors.

(AP, 1/9/03)(WSJ, 1/9/03, p.A1)

2003 Jan 8, A UN team was reported to be investigating reports that Congolese rebel troops had killed and eaten Pygmies in northeastern Congo. UN authorities confirmed the reports Jan 15 and identified the rebel campaign as "Operation Clean Slate."

(AP, 1/8/03)(SFC, 1/16/03, p.A9)

2004 Jan 8, The journal Science reported high levels of dangerous chemicals in farmed salmon. Wild Pacific salmon had 10 times less than the farmed ones.

(SFC, 1/9/04, p.A2)

2004 Jan 8, Pressure in the Int'l. Space Station continued to drop.

(WSJ, 1/9/04, p.A1)

2004 Jan 8, Queen Elizabeth II christened the world's largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2.

(AP, 1/8/04)

2004 Jan 8, Chinese state media reported that authorities had dismissed 44,701 police between August and November in 2003 for lacking job qualifications, corruption or other offenses in a campaign to raise policing standards.

(AP, 1/8/04)

2004 Jan 8, Authorities in Georgia's autonomous region of Adzharia imposed a state of emergency, fearing the newly elected Georgian president may try to rein in the province.

(AP, 1/8/04)

2004 Jan 8, India unveiled a broad range of tax cuts.

(WSJ, 1/9/04, p.A6)

2004 Jan 8, In Iraq a US Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed near Fallujah killing all nine soldiers aboard.

(AP, 1/8/04)

2004 Jan 8, Libya agreed to compensate family members of victims of a 1989 bombing of a French passenger plane over the Niger desert that killed 170 people.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2004 Jan 8, In Kenya a new agreement, between the Ministry of Education and the country's largest and oldest orphanage for HIV-positive children, allowed a group of children infected with the virus that causes AIDS to attend public schools.

(AP, 1/10/04)

2004 Jan 8, Teams of Swiss police in 5 cantons arrested 8 suspected accomplices in the May 12 al Qaeda car bomb attack in Saudi Arabia.

(SFC, 1/10/04, p.A3)

2004 Jan 8, It was reported that Thailand's PM Thaksin Shinawatra had ordered the Finance Ministry and stock exchange to set up a task force to examine the balance sheets of listed companies.

(WSJ, 1/8/04, p.A14)

2004 Jan 8, Turkey and the US agreed to reopen the Incirlik air base for Iraq operations.

(WSJ, 1/9/04, p.A1)

2005 Jan 8, The official death toll from the Dec 26 tsunami rose above 150,000.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2005 Jan 8, An Army platoon sergeant who ordered his soldiers to throw Iraqis into the Tigris River was sentenced to six months in military prison; the jury in Fort Hood, Texas, also reduced the rank of Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins by one grade.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2005 Jan 8, Richard P. Rodriguez (29) stabbed to death Angela M. Smith (51) in Tucson, Az. Rodriguez was found dead of a gunshot wound the next day in Blythe, Ca., near the Arizona border. He had grown up in the evangelical sex cult “Children of God” also known as the Family. Smith, a member of the cult, was involved in his upbringing. The cult was later linked to the San Diego based Family Care Foundation. In 2007 Don Lattin authored “Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge.”

(SFC, 1/11/05, p.B8)(SSFC, 2/6/05, p.A1)(SSFC, 10/20/07, p.M1)

2005 Jan 8, Hurricane-force winds swept across northern Europe, leaving at least 13 dead including 3 in Carlisle, England, 4 in Denmark and 6 in Sweden.

(AP, 1/9/05)

2005 Jan 8, Indian security forces killed the last rebel holed up inside a government office in Kashmir, ending a two-day battle during which guerrillas took over the building and set it on fire with dozens of employees inside.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2005 Jan 8, In Iraq officials said Militants had abducted three senior Iraqi officials, beheaded a man who worked for the U.S. military and killed at least four others.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2005 Jan 8, The US military acknowledged 5 people were killed when it bombed the wrong house during a search operation in northern Iraq. The owner of the house, Ali Yousef, said 14 people were killed when the 500-pound GPS-guided bomb hit at about 2 a.m. in the town of Aitha, 30 miles south of Mosul. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said seven children and seven adults died.

(AP, 1/9/05)

2005 Jan 8, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo flew to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to assess the crisis there following talks with his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Beshir.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2005 Jan 8, In northern Pakistan at least 11 people were killed, including six family members who were burned alive, during sectarian unrest after riots broke out following the shooting of a popular Shiite leader.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2005 Jan 8, In Pakistan’s SW Baluchistan province assailants fired rockets at wells and a gas pipeline, killing a woman and wounding 14 other people. The attacks followed the rape of Dr. Shazia Khalid (31) a week earlier by a government soldier.

(AP, 1/9/05)(SFC, 3/22/05, p.A1)

2005 Jan 8, Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry met with Syria's president and said he was hopeful that strained U.S.-Syrian relations could be improved.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2005 Jan 8, Russian troops killed 5 alleged militants hiding in a house in the city of Nazran, Ingushetia, in a firefight.

(AP, 1/8/05)(SSFC, 1/9/05, p.A3)

2005 Jan 8, Venezuela government officials escorted by troops and police descended on a privately owned cattle ranch to determine whether some lands may be turned over to poor farmers as part of an agrarian reform. The owner of the 32,000 acre El Charcote Ranch, Agropecuaria Flora C.A., is a subsidiary of the British-owned Vestey Group Ltd. and a major beef producer. The company insists that it can prove ownership back to 1830. A 1998 census found that 60 percent of Venezuelan farmland was owned by less than 1 percent of the population.

(AP, 1/8/05)

2006 Jan 8, The cost of a US 1st class postage stamp rose to 39 cents.

(WSJ, 1/7/06, p.A1)

2006 Jan 8, Wildfires in the southwest US spread to Arkansas and Colorado destroying 9 more homes. Over the last 2 weeks the fires in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas have destroyed 475 homes and left 5 people dead.

(SFC, 1/9/06, p.A3)

2006 Jan 8, In Washington DC David E. Rosenbaum (63), a recently retired journalist for the NY Times, died from injuries suffered in a robbery on Jan 6. Michael Hamlin (24) and Percy Jordan Jr. (42) were soon arrested and charged with felony murder. Both men were convicted of murder. In 2007 Hamlin was sentenced to 26 years in prison after he pleaded guilty and testified against his cousin.

(SFC, 1/14/06, p.A3)(SFC, 10/25/06, p.A3)(SFC, 1/4/07, p.A3)

2006 Jan 8, In Afghanistan suspected Taliban gunmen burned down a primary school in the southern city of Kandahar, the latest in a spate of attacks against teachers and institutions that educate girls.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, A car ploughed into a group of 12 cyclists in North Wales, killing four and leaving four others seriously injured.

(AFP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, State media said China will invest more than $3 billion over the next five years to clean up the Songhua River, a key source of drinking water for tens of millions of people that was polluted in November by a toxic spill that flowed into Russia.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, The Indian capital of Delhi saw its first winter frost in 70 years as a cold wave sweeping in from the frigid heights of the Himalayas. The death toll from the cold rose to 137 people in northern India.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, In Iraq 3 Marines were killed by small arms attacks in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad. 5 people were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad, including a policeman killed by a suicide car bomber that targeted an Interior Ministry patrol. Seven others were wounded.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, Almost 500 would-be illegal immigrants have arrived on Italy's Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, between Sicily and North Africa, in the past 24 hours.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, Greenpeace claimed a Japanese whaling ship deliberately rammed its ship Arctic Sunrise, denting the ship's bow but causing no injuries. Greenpeace said it would continue hounding Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters despite the damaging collision.

(AP, 1/9/06)

2006 Jan 8, Jordan's parliament approved a law that prevents Amman handing over US citizens accused of war crimes to the international criminal court (ICC).

(Reuters, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, The US and South Korea withdrew their last remaining staff from the site of two North Korean nuclear reactors, ending a decade-old construction project amid rekindled tension over the North's nuclear ambitions.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, In Morocco a senior official said Royal Air Maroc (RAM), encouraged by its majority shareholdings in the national airlines of Senegal and Gabon, is planning a major expansion of routes in Africa.

(AFP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, The UN envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail of Malaysia, said he had quit his post after being refused entry for the past 2 years to the military-ruled country where he pushed for reforms.

(AFP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas company Nigeria NLNG said it had shipped the first cargo of gas from its fourth production plant to the US.

(AFP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, The Islamic militant group Hamas launched a TV station in the Gaza Strip as part of its expansion into Palestinian politics.

(AP, 1/9/06)

2006 Jan 8, In the Philippines fire raced through a dormitory in Manila's congested university district, killing at least eight people, including some clustered near a second-floor exit.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, In Tajikistan a fire swept through a home for mentally disabled children in the capital of Dushanbe, killing 13 children before firefighters arrived.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, In Turkey Anatolia news reported that a court has approved the release of Mehmet Ali Agca (46), the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, saying he completed his prison term.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, Three Turks were reported to be infected with a deadly strain of bird flu in the capital Ankara.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2006 Jan 8, In Venezuela American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

(AP, 1/8/06)

2007 Jan 8, USS Newport News nuclear-powered submarine collided with a Japanese oil tanker in the Straits of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's oil supplies travel. The bow of the submarine was traveling submerged when it hit the stern of the supertanker Mogamigawa. Damage was light.

(AP, 1/9/07)

2007 Jan 8, California’s Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed to extend medical insurance to all Californians, including illegal immigrants. He said the $12 billion cost would be spread among employers, individuals, insurers, government and health care providers.

(SFC, 1/9/07, p.A1)

2007 Jan 8, Ron Dellums was sworn in as Oakland’s 48th mayor.

(SFC, 1/9/07, p.B1)

2007 Jan 8, A wildfire destroyed 5 multimillion dollar homes in Malibu, Ca.

(SFC, 1/10/07, p.B10)

2007 Jan 8, In NYC an unidentified rotten-egg smell wafted over the city.

(SFC, 1/10/07, p.A2)

2007 Jan 8, In Texas police shut down 10 blocks of businesses in the heart of downtown Austin after dozens of birds were found dead.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, General Electric Co. it agreed to buy oil services company Vetco Gray for $1.9 billion from a group of private equity funds.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, The San Francisco Hyatt Regency, opened in 1973, was sold by Strategic Hotel Capital LLC to Dune Capital Management and DiNapoli Capital Partners, privately held investment funds in a deal pegged at over $200 million.

(SFC, 1/9/07, p.E3)

2007 Jan 8, Yvonne De Carlo (84), TV and film star, died. She played Moses' wife in "The Ten Commandments," but achieved her greatest popularity on TV's "The Munsters" (1964-1966). In her 1987 book, "Yvonne: An Autobiography," she listed 22 of her lovers, who included Howard Hughes, Burt Lancaster, Robert Stack, Robert Taylor, Billy Wilder, Aly Khan and an Iranian prince.

(AP, 1/11/07)

2007 Jan 8, Iwao Takamoto (81), creator of the Scooby-Doo cartoon character, died in Los Angeles. He also assisted in the designs of some of the biggest animated features and television shows, including "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," "Lady and the Tramp" and "The Flintstones."

(AP, 1/9/07)

2007 Jan 8, Austria's two main political parties, the Social Democrats and the People's Party, agreed to form a new coalition government.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, In Bangladesh riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and batons to disperse thousands of stone-throwing protesters in Dhaka, who are demanding postponement of this month's elections and electoral reforms.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, Backers of leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales set fire to the Cochabamba state capitol in a protest to demand the resignation of state Gov. Manfred Reyes Villa, who is allied with the conservative opposition.

(AP, 1/9/07)

2007 Jan 8, In Finland 2 newspaper editors were fined for publishing a letter that said violence against Jews was justified and that the Holocaust was acceptable.

(AP, 1/9/07)

2007 Jan 8, In Germany Mounir el Motassadeq, a Moroccan man convicted of aiding three of the four suicide pilots who committed the Sept. 11 attacks, was sentenced to the maximum of 15 years in prison for his role in the terror plot.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, Thousands of poor migrant laborers fled India's remote northeast despite a government promise of protection after dozens were massacred at the weekend by a powerful rebel group.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, In Iraq 9 workers, primarily Shiite, were killed in an ambush near Baghdad's airport. 6 bodies found in a largely Sunni neighborhood in southern Baghdad.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, Israeli police arrested Yigal Saar, the US representative of the Israel Tax Authority, as part of a bribery and influence-peddling probe that has so far questioned the authority's top officials and an aide to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

(AP, 1/9/07)

2007 Jan 8, Daniyal Akhmetov, the PM of oil-rich Kazakhstan, resigned in the wake of criticism of his performance by the heavy-handed president of the Central Asian country. Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan as president since its independence in 1991, regularly replaced his prime ministers as he tried to secure his position and balance interests of various powerful elite groups.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, The Nigerian government withdrew a suit seeking to sack Vice President Atiku Abubakar for defecting to a party other than the one in which he was elected.

(AFP, 1/9/07)

2007 Jan 8, Fatah gunmen released the deputy mayor of Nablus unharmed, two days after kidnapping him. Fatah militants torched stores of Hamas supporters in Ramallah and shot at the house of a top Hamas official. Agence France-Presse expressed gratitude for the release of a photographer who had been held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, Rev. Janusz Bielanski, head priest of Krakow's prestigious Wawel Cathedral, left his post amid allegations he collaborated with secret services of the communist era, a day after Warsaw's newly-appointed archbishop resigned in a scandal that shocked the nation.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, A senior Russian official said that Russia has been forced to stop delivering oil to Europe via Belarus after disruptions to the flow of exports it blamed on Minsk.

(AP, 1/8/07)

2007 Jan 8, Venezuela’s Pres. Hugo Chavez announced plans to nationalize power and telecommunications companies and make other bold changes to increase state control as he promised a more radical push toward socialism. Chavez stated that he had been a “communist” since at least 2002.

(AP, 1/9/07)(Econ, 1/13/07, p.34)

2008 Jan 8, Pres. Bush met with Turkey’s Pres. Abdullah Gul to discuss US policy on Turkey's fight against Kurdish rebels. Bush prepared to leave later in the day on his first major trip to the Mideast to try to build momentum for peace.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, Pres. Bush signed legislation aimed at preventing the severely mentally ill from buying guns.

(WSJ, 1/9/08, p.A1)

2008 Jan 8, California’s Gov. Schwarzenegger in his 5th State of the State speech proposed a constitutional amendment to keep the state from spending more than it collects in taxes. He said the projected $14 billion deficit was driven by voter-approved mandates escalating faster than state income. The proposed cost cutting included a the shutdown of 48 state parks.

(SFC, 1/9/08, p.A1)(SFC, 1/17/08, p.A12)

2008 Jan 8, In New Hampshire Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (39%) led Barack Obama (36%) and John McCain (37%) led Mitt Romney (32%), reviving their sagging campaigns.

(AP, 1/9/08)

2008 Jan 8, Gold futures surged above $880 an ounce and closed at $880.30, up $18.30.

(SFC, 1/9/08, p.C3)

2008 Jan 8, James "Jimmy" Cayne (73), Bear Stearns Cos. Chief Executive, said he will give up day-to-day control of the fifth-largest US investment bank amid unprecedented losses from the subprime mortgage crisis. He planned to remain as executive chairman, and will be succeeded as CEO by President Alan Schwartz, effective immediately.

(AP, 1/8/08)(Econ, 1/12/08, p.65)

2008 Jan 8, Google unveiled a strategy for its philanthropic arm, Google.org, under the leadership of Dr. Larry Brilliant. The program will be funded with 1% of the firm’s equity, annual profits and employee’s time and pursue 5 core initiatives in 3 areas: fighting climate change, economic development, and building an early warning system for pandemics and disasters.

(Econ, 1/19/08, p.75)

2008 Jan 8, Flooding in northern Indiana left 3 people dead.

(SFC, 1/10/08, p.A3)

2008 Jan 8, In Algeria an army commander and three members of the security forces were killed during an operation aimed at flushing out an Islamist group in scrubland in the north of the country. The sweep, aided by helicopters, was intended to flush out a group of 10-15 new recruits to the Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb group, who were intent on launching attacks on Constantine.

(AP, 1/9/08)

2008 Jan 8, In Vienna, Austria, a court convicted an accountant of embezzling $1.8 million from the Helsinki Federation for Human Rights to support his mistress, a crime that forced the respected group to fold. The 43-year-old accountant to three years in jail, two of which were suspended. His 31-year-old girl friend was sentenced to two years, 16 months of which could be served on parole.

(AP, 1/9/08)

2008 Jan 8, Britain’s PM Gordon Brown said that he wants a 3-year public sector pay deal, rather than the traditional annual deals, to control inflation and maintain economic stability.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, Sohail Qureshi (29), a dentist, was jailed in London after admitting planning to travel to Pakistan to carry out unspecified acts of terrorism. Qureshi, who was sentenced to four and a half years, was detained at London Heathrow Airport in October 2006 carrying thousands of pounds in cash, as well as a night sight, medical supplies and computer material.

(AFP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, Britain's Royal Mail issued a set of stamps commemorating James Bond to mark 100 years since the birth of his creator, Ian Fleming.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, China posted a regulation dating from Dec 31 declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways. China said it is banning free plastic shopping bags and called for a return to the cloth bags of old, steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers. The ban takes effect June 1.

(AP, 1/10/08)

2008 Jan 8, The US military said US and Iraqi forces have launched operation Phantom Phoenix to strike against al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremists, hoping to build on a recent reduction of violence and push militants from their strongholds. The head of the municipality of Baghdad's primarily Sunni neighborhood of Yarmouk was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a checkpoint manned by police special forces in the Madain area, about 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing two members of the special forces and wounding five people. 3 US soldiers were killed and two wounded in an attack in Salahuddin province.

(AP, 1/8/08)(AP, 1/10/08)

2008 Jan 8, In northern Greece a group of female protesters locked in a land dispute with the Greek Orthodox Church defied a 1,000-year-old ban and entered the all-male Mount Athos monastic sanctuary.

(AP, 1/9/08)

2008 Jan 8, Two rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel overnight, expanding the violence that has erupted on Israel's other borders ahead of President Bush's visit to the region. No injuries were reported.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, Some 60,000 tons of garbage were piled up in the streets of Naples.

(Econ, 1/12/08, p.44)

2008 Jan 8, Kenya's opposition leader rejected talks with the president, describing an invitation to meet as "public relations gimmickry" that would undermine attempts to end the ethnically-charged election standoff that has killed more than 500 people.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (70), the Maldives president, survived an assassination attempt when boy scout Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim (15) grabbed the knife of an attacker who jumped out of a crowd of people greeting the president.

(AP, 1/9/08)(AP, 1/10/08)

2008 Jan 8, In Mexico 3 US residents and seven others linked to the powerful Gulf drug cartel were arrested following a deadly shootout in Rio Bravo just across the border from Texas. In a second shootout, two federal agents were killed and three more injured when they clashed with a group of suspects in the nearby city of Reynosa.

(AP, 1/9/08)

2008 Jan 8, A human rights campaign group called on Morocco to stop "muzzling" independence campaigners in the vast disputed region of Western Sahara, as UN-brokered peace talks on the 32-year row got underway in New York.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, Nauru’s foreign minister said Australia's plans to close a much-criticized detention center for asylum seekers on Nauru will devastate its economy.

(AFP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, A Sri Lankan government minister died in a roadside bombing blamed on the Tamil Tiger rebels, the first successful assassination of a top Sri Lankan official in 19 months. The bomb tore through the car carrying Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake as he traveled through the Ja-Ela area.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, A government spokeswoman said Taiwan cannot match China's reported $6 billion aid offer to Malawi, but hopes a legacy of goodwill can convince the African nation not to switch allegiance to its giant neighbor.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2008 Jan 8, The wife of ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra was handed an arrest warrant after she returned to Thailand to face corruption charges that could put her behind bars for 20 years.

(AP, 1/8/08)

2009 Jan 8, President-elect Barack Obama warned of dire and lasting consequences if Congress doesn't pump unprecedented dollars into the economy, making an urgent pitch for his mammoth spending proposal in his first speech since his election.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, The US Navy said a new international force to battle pirates off the Somali coast is being formed under American command in a bid to focus more military resources to protect one of the world's key shipping lanes.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, Dell Inc. announced that it is moving its Irish manufacturing operations to Poland by 2010, as part of a cost cutting measure that will result in the loss of some 1,900 Irish jobs.

(WSJ, 1/9/09, p.B4)

2009 Jan 8, Department-store operator Macy's Inc. said it will close 11 underperforming stores in nine states, affecting 960 employees, and lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter after one of the weakest holiday seasons in years.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, Flooding in the US Pacific Northwest led to mudslides and avalanches and closed 20 miles of I-5 between Olympia, Wa., and the Oregon line.

(SFC, 1/9/09, p.A2)

2009 Jan 8, Rev. Richard John Neuhaus (b.1936), Catholic priest and author, died. His book included “The Naked Public Square” (1984), which argued that religious values have a crucial place in American politics.

(WSJ, 1/10/09, p.A6)

2009 Jan 8, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said that reports suggested 17 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the Jan 6 US raid in Laghman province. A suicide bomber struck US troops patrolling on foot in southern Afghanistan, killing three civilians, 2 Americans and wounding at least nine others. A coalition strike on a bomb-making network in Zabul killed five militants.

(AFP, 1/8/09)(AP, 1/8/09)(AP, 1/9/09)(SFC, 1/9/09, p.A10)

2009 Jan 8, The Bank of England cut interest rates from 2% to 1.5%, the lowest level since its founding in 1694, taking it into uncharted territory as it attempts to ward off a prolonged recession.

(AP, 1/8/09)(WSJ, 1/9/09, p.A5)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.49)

2009 Jan 8, Britain's Financial Services Authority fined insurance broker Aon Ltd. 5.25 million pounds ($8 million) for weak anti-bribery controls, the largest penalty of its kind.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, In eastern Congo Mai Mai militiamen attacked a group of seven rangers killing one in a government-controlled sector in the far north of Virunga National park.

(AP, 1/10/09)

2009 Jan 8, A magnitude 6.1 earthquake rocked Costa Rica killing at least 20 people with dozens still missing.

(AP, 1/9/09)(AP, 1/14/09)

2009 Jan 8, In Iraq 2 simultaneous roadside bombs tore through an Iraqi army patrol responding to a mortar attack north of Baghdad, killing six Iraqi soldiers. Two other Iraqi soldiers died in another blast near the city of Kirkuk.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, Israeli representatives arrived in Cairo for Egyptian-brokered talks on a cease-fire proposal after the UN Security Council failed to agree on action to end the crisis in Gaza.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, The UN halted aid deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip, citing Israeli attacks on a UN truck that killed 2 Palestinian workers. For a 2nd straight day, Israel suspended its Gaza military operation for three hours to allow in humanitarian supplies. Israel killed at least 11 people, including three who were fleeing their homes, raising the death toll from its 13-day offensive to 699 Palestinians. 11 Israelis have died since the offensive began. Militants in Lebanon fired at least three rockets into Israel. UN figures said as many as 257 children have been killed and 1,080 wounded, about a third of the total casualties since Dec. 27.

(AP, 1/8/09)(SFC, 1/9/09, p.A3)

2009 Jan 8, Kuwait’s top investment bank, Global Investment House, said it had defaulted on most of its $3 billion in debt, raising concerns that other Arab Gulf financial firms may follow as the global financial crises spreads through the region.

(WSJ, 1/9/09, p.C2)

2009 Jan 8, In Pakistan a fire swept through a slum in Karachi, killing 38 people, many of them children.

(AP, 1/9/09)

2009 Jan 8, Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly said it would restore supplies to Europe through Ukraine, cut off after a dispute between Moscow and Kiev, as soon as international monitors are in place.

(Reuters, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, In Somalia gunmen fatally shot a UN World Food program worker during a food distribution, the second staff member killed this week.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, In Spain Leonidas Vargas (60), a convicted Colombian drug baron with links to two major smuggling cartels, was shot dead in a Madrid hospital.

(AP, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, Sri Lankan troops captured an important Tamil Tiger base and pounded the rebels with air attacks, forcing the insurgents to withdraw deeper into the dwindling area that remains under their control. Gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed Lasantha Wickrematunge, the editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper critical of the government, the second violent attack on media this week. Three days after he was gunned down execution-style, Wickrematunge's newspaper published a haunting, self-written obituary in which he says he was targeted for his writings and adds: "When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me."

(AP, 1/8/09)(AP, 1/12/09)

2009 Jan 8, Darfur rebels accused Sudan's army of bombing their positions over the last 24 hours, breaking a period of relative calm in the country's violent west.

(Reuters, 1/8/09)

2009 Jan 8, In Zimbabwe opposition members accused of being involved in a bomb plot said they were tortured into making false confessions.

(AP, 1/8/09)

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