Today in History - January 27
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98CE Jan 27,
Marius Cocceius Nerva (67), emperor of Rome (96-98), died.
(MC, 1/27/02)
661 Jan 27, Ali ibn Abu Talib,
caliph of Islam (656-61), was murdered in Kufa, Iraq. Caliph Ali,
son-in-law of Mohammed, was assassinated and his followers (Shiites)
broke from the majority Muslim group. A member of the anarchist sect of
Kharajites assassinated Ali. This sect believed that there are no
verdict’s but God’s.
(SFC, 3/16/02,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_ibn_Abi_Talib)(SSFC, 6/30/02,
p.M6)(http://tinyurl.com/44dtom)
1164 Jan 27, Abraham ibn Ezra,
poet, philosopher, died.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1302 Jan 27, Dante became a
Florentine political exile.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1571 Jan 27, Shah Abbas, King of
the Safavid dynasty in Persia (1587-1629), was born. He established a
monopoly on the production and sale of silk and used the wealth to
develop the city of Isfahan. Fearful of assassination he turned on his
own family, executed one son, and blinded 2 sons, his father and his
brothers.
(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R8)(http://4dw.net/royalark/Persia/safawi3.htm)
1593 Jan 27, Vatican opened a 7
year trial against scholar Giordano Bruno.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1629 Jan 27, Hieronymus Praetorius
(68), composer, died.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1662 Jan 27, 1st American lime
kiln began operation in Providence RI.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1671 Jan 27, Welsh pirate Sir
Henry Morgan (1635-1688) landed at Panama City.
(WUD, 1994 p.931)(MC, 1/27/02)
1695 Jan 27, Mustafa II became the
Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Amhed II.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1700 Jan 27, A tsunami hit Honshu
Island, Japan. It was later estimated that wave was triggered by a 9.0
magnitude earthquake in California.
(CW, Spring ‘99, p.32)
1736 Jan 27, Stanislaw Lesheinski
gave up the Polish-Lithuanian throne.
(LHC, 1/27/03)
1756 Jan 27, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart (d.1791) was born on Gertreiderstrasse in Salzburg, Austria, the
son of violinist and composer Leopold Mozart. He later played string
quartets with Johan Baptist Vanhal, Haydn and Dittersdorf. The young
Mozart began composing minuets at age 5 and, with his older sister
Marianne, gave concerts in Munich and Vienna from age 6. At 13, Mozart
became director of concerts for the archbishop of Salzburg and in 1782
he married Constanze Weber against her father's wishes. Although Mozart
gave piano concerts throughout Europe and composed more than 600 works,
including 40 symphonies, he and his wife were plagued by debt. When
Mozart died in 1791, probably of heart disease, he was buried in an
unmarked pauper's grave. It was not until his works were published, in
many cases near the end of the 19th century, that Mozart's genius
became widely recognized. His works included "The Marriage of Figaro"
and "The Magic Flute." In 2005 Stanley Sadie authored “Mozart: The
Early Years,” which chronicled Mozart’s life to age 25.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, Par p.11)(HNPD, 1/26/99)(HN,
1/27/99)(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.D8)
1778 Jan 27, Nicolo Piccinni's
(1728-1800) opera "Roland" premiered in Paris.
(WUD, 1994 p.1088)(MC, 1/27/02)
1814 Jan 27, Johann Gottlieb
Fichte (b.1762), German philosopher, died.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1823 Jan 27,
Edouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo, French composer (Symphonie Espagnole),
was born.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1823 Jan 27, Pres. Monroe
appointed 1st US ambassadors to South America.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1825 Jan 27, Congress approved
Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced
relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."
(HN, 1/27/99)
1832 Jan 27, Charles Lutwidge
Dodgson, who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pen
name Lewis Carroll, was born in Cheshire, England.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1836 Jan 27, Leopold von
Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (masochism), was born.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1850 Jan 27, Samuel Gompers, first
President of American Federation of Labor, was born.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1851 Jan 27, John James Audubon
(b.1785), wildlife painter and conservationist (Audubon Society), died.
He was buried in NYC. In 2004 Duff Hart-Davis authored "Audubon's
Elephant," an account of his 12 year sojourn to Europe to oversee the
production of "Birds of America." In 2004 William Souder authored
“Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of the Birds of
America.” In 2004 Richard Rhodes authored “John James Audubon: The
Making of an American.”
(WSJ, 3/26/04, p.W6)(SSFC, 6/20/04, p.M6)(SSFC,
10/17/04, p.M6)(AH, 10/04, p.75)
1859 Jan 27, Kaiser Wilhelm II,
German emperor (1888-1918) during World War I, was born. He was forced
to abdicate in 1918.
(HN, 1/27/99)(MC, 1/27/02)
1862 Jan 27, President Abraham
Lincoln issued General War Order No. 1, setting in motion the Union
armies.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1880 Jan 27, Thomas Edison
received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1885 Jan 27, Jerome Kern, Broadway
composer (Showboat, Roberta), was born in NYC.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1888 Jan 27, National Geographic
Society was founded in Washington, DC. It 1st magazine was published
Oct 1, 1888. In 2004 Robert M. Poole authored “Explorers House:
National Geographic and the World it Made.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Society)(Econ,
10/16/04, p.81)
1900 Jan 27, Hyman Rickover,
American admiral, was born. He is considered the "Father of the Atomic
Submarine."
(HN, 1/27/99)
1900 Jan 27, Foreign diplomats in
Peking fear revolt and demanded that the Imperial Government discipline
the Boxer Rebels.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1901 Jan 27, Giuseppe Verdi
(b.1813), opera composer, died at the Grand Hotel in Milan, Italy, at
age 87. In 1993 Mary Jane Phillips-Matz authored "Verdi."
(SFEM, 9/10/00, p.20)(AP, 1/27/01)(WSJ, 4/11/03,
p.W7)
1904 Jan 27, Willie Vanderbilt
(1878-1944) reached 92.3 mph in his new German motorcar at the Daytona
Beach Road Course at Ormond Beach, Florida, establishing a new land
speed record. He was the 2nd child and first son of William Kissam
Vanderbilt and Alva Erskine Smith.
(Econ, 12/22/07,
p.122)(www.racechase.com/ftopic254.html)
1905 Jan 27, Russian General
Kuropatkin took the offensive in Manchuria. The Japanese under General
Oyama suffered heavy casualties.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1915 Jan 27, US Marines occupied
Haiti. [see Jul 29]
(MC, 1/27/02)
1916 Jan 27, President Woodrow
Wilson opened a preparedness program.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1918 Jan 27, "Tarzan of the Apes,"
1st Tarzan film, premiered at Broadway Theater. Elmo Lincoln, renamed
from Otto Elmo Linkenhelter by D.W. Griffiths, was the first Tarzan in
the film "Tarzan of the Apes."
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.E2)(MC, 1/27/02)
1918 Jan 27, Communists attempted
to seize power in Finland.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1924 Jan 27, Lenin's body was laid
in a marble tomb on Red Square near the Kremlin.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1925 Jan 27, Anchorage, Alaska,
delivered a diphtheria antitoxin to Nenana. Dr. Curtis Welch in Nome
had begun diagnosing cases of diphtheria. An emergency delivery of
serum against the disease was arranged by dogsled. 20 mushers rushed
the serum 674 miles from Nenana to Nome in 5 days. The last leg of the
journey was run by Gunnar Kaasen (1882-1964) and his lead dog Balto
(d.1933). An animated film on Balto was made in 1995 by Stephen
Spielberg. The longest segment of the journey, 260 miles, was run by
Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog Togo. The events were later described
by Bill Sherwonit in his book: "Iditarod: the Great Race to Nome."
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A3)(ON, 11/06, p.1)
1926 Jan 27, US Senate agreed to
join the World Court.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1931 Jan 27, Mordecai Richler
(d.2001), Montreal author, (Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz), was born.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1933 Jan 27, Mohamed Al Fayed, CEO
of Harrods, was born.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1934 Jan 27, Julian Ogilvie
Thompson, CEO of De Beers, was born.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1935 Jan 27, The League of Nations
majority favored depriving Japan of mandates.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1936 Jan 27, Merle Johnson Jr.
(d.2001), later known as film actor Troy Donohue, was born.
(SFC, 9/3/01, p.A15)
1939 Jan 27, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt approved the sale of U.S. war planes to France.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1941 Jan 27, The United States and
Great Britain began high-level military talks in Washington.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1943 Jan 27, Some 50 bombers
struck Wilhelmshaven and Emden in the first all-American air raid
against Germany during World War II.
(AP, 1/27/98)(HN, 1/27/99)
1944 Jan 27, The Soviet Union
announced the end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had
lasted 880 days with 600,000 killed.
(AP, 1/27/98)(MC, 1/27/02)
1945 Jan 27, The Soviet army
arrived at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland, and found the Nazi
concentration camp and crematorium. It is now believed that 1 million
Jews were murdered here, up to 75,000 Polish Christians, 21,000
Gypsies, and 15,000 Soviet POWs.
(www.krakow-info.com/auschwit.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/aqhbc)
1947 Jan 27, Britain agreed to
give Burma independence following negotiations with nationalist leader
Aung San.
(SFC, 5/7/02,
p.A9)(www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/persp2001/2-2001/uni.htm)
1948 Jan 27, Mikhail Baryshnikov,
ballet dancer, was born in Riga, Latvia.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1948 Jan 27, The 1st tape recorder
sold.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1951 Jan 27, "Peter Pan" closed at
Imperial Theater NYC after 320 performances.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1951 Jan 27, Atomic testing began
in the Nevada desert as an Air Force B-50D from a base in New Mexico
dropped a one-kiloton nuclear bomb on Frenchman Flats, Clark County, 65
miles NW of Las Vegas. Over the next 40 years 928 nuclear devices were
exploded at the site.
(AP, 1/27/98)(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.D8)(www.ntshf.org)
1956 Jan 27, Elvis Presley's
"Heartbreak Hotel" and "I Was the One" was released by RCA. It sold
over 300,000 copies in its first three weeks on the market.
(Internet)
1959 Jan 27, NASA selected 110
candidates for the first U.S. space flight.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1959 Jan 27, Aldous Huxley (64),
British author of Brave New World (1932), attended a conference at the
Univ. of California Medical school and warned that manipulation of
personality by drugs is already here.
(SSFC, 1/25/09, DB p.50)
1962 Jan 27, The SF Bay Area
hosted the Chubby Checker Twist Party at the Cow Palace. 17,000 fans
made it the 1st big rock concert in Bay Area history.
(SFC, 1/26/02, p.D1)
1965 Jan 27, Military leaders
ousted the civilian government of Tran Van Huong in Saigon, South
Vietnam.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1967 Jan 27, During a launch pad
test of the Apollo I (AS-204) mission at Cape Kennedy, a flash fire
suddenly broke out in the vehicle's command module and killed its crew,
Lt. Col. Edward White (36), II, U.S. Air Force, Lt. Col. Virgil "Gus"
Grissom (40), U.S. Air Force, and Lt. Cmdr. Roger Chaffee (31), U.S.
Navy. The fire consumed the command module mere seconds after the crew
had reported it. Although the Apollo I test ended in tragedy,
subsequent modifications to safety and planning contributed to the
success of later Apollo missions--including the first landing on the
moon and the first time a man walked on the moon.
(AP, 1/27/98)(HNPD, 1/27/99)
1967 Jan 27, The US signed the
Outer Space Treaty with Russia. More than 60 nations signed a treaty
banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons. All weapons of mass
destruction were banned from orbit, as was military activity on the
moon and other celestial bodies.
(SFC, 1/28/67, p.A1)(AP, 1/27/98)(SSFC, 7/15/07,
p.D1)
1969 Jan 27, Byron Vaughn Booth
and fellow convict Clinton Robert Smith, also a robber, escaped from
the California Institution for Men at Chino. The next day they bought a
ticket for a flight from Los Angeles to Miami with a connection in New
Orleans. National Airlines Flight 64 was hijacked over the Gulf of
Mexico after the plane left New Orleans. The plane ended up landing at
Camaguey, Cuba, where Cuban officials removed the hijackers. The flight
continued on to Miami. Booth was arrested in Nigeria in 2001 and
returned to the US.
(SFC, 2/24/01,
p.C14)(http://articles.latimes.com/2001/may/17/local/me-64627)
1969 Jan 27, In Iraq 14 people,
including 9 Jews, were hanged for alleged espionage.
(http://tinyurl.com/5u75cx)
1970 Jan 27, Movie rating system
modified "M" rating to "PG."
(www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2006/01/)
1972 Jan 27, Mahalia Jackson
(b.1911), Grammy Award winning gospel singer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalia_Jackson)
1973 Jan 27, The Paris Agreement
froze the status quo on the ground in South Vietnam. The agreement by
the United States and North Vietnam included a ban on infiltration of
arms or personnel to reinforce North Vietnamese troops in the South, as
well as a ban on the use of Laotian or Cambodian territory for that
purpose. The Paris Agreement provided for continued US supply of the
army of the Republic of Vietnam. Peace Accords were signed in Paris
over events in Vietnam.
(WSJ, 2/5/96, p.A-19)(WSJ, 11/30/95, p.A-23)(HN,
1/27/99)
1975 Jan 27, The US Senate voted
to establish a special 11-member investigating body to examine FBI and
CIA activities. Under the chairmanship of Idaho Senator Frank Church,
with Texas Senator John Tower as vice-chairman, the select committee
was given nine months and 150 staffers to complete its work. On
November 20 the committee released a report, charging both US
government agencies with illegal activities.
(http://tinyurl.com/2tb7rc)(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Church_Committee)
1976 Jan 27, "Laverne &
Shirley," a spin-off from "Happy Days," premiered on ABC TV. It starred
Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley
Feeney. The show ran to 1983.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C3)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0074016/)
1977 Jan 27, The Vatican
reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1978 Jan 27, The State Supreme
Court ruled that Nazis can display the Swastika in a march in Skokie,
Illinois.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1981 Jan 27, President Reagan
greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran, telling them
during a visit to the White House: "Welcome home."
(AP, 1/27/98)
1981 Jan 27, The Indonesian
passenger ship Tamponas II caught fire and sank in Java sea killing 580
people.
(AP, 2/3/06)
1982 Jan 27, "Joseph & the
Amazing Dreamcoat" opened at Royale NYC for 747 performances.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_and_the_Amazing_Technicolor_Dreamcoat)
1985 Jan 27, A secret three-day
military-satellite mission of the space shuttle Discovery ended with a
smooth landing in Florida.
(AP, 1/27/05)
1985 Jan 27, Pope John Paul said
mass to one million in Venezuela.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1988 Jan 27, The US Senate
Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Judge
Anthony M. Kennedy to the Supreme Court.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1989 Jan 27, President Bush held
an informal White House news conference in which he defended a widely
criticized pay raise for Congress scheduled to go into effect the
following month.
(AP, 1/27/99)
1990 Jan 27, In Romania, four top
associates of executed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu went on trial,
charged with abetting genocide.
(AP, 1/27/00)
1991 Jan 27, The New York Giants
defeated the Buffalo Bills, 20-to-19, in Super Bowl XXV, which was
played amid extra-tight security at Tampa Stadium in Florida, because
of fears of possible Iraqi-sponsored terrorism.
(AP, 1/27/01)
1991 Jan 27, Muhammad Siad Barre,
the dictator of the Somali Democratic Republic since 1969, fled
Mogadishu as rebels overran his palace and captured the Somali capital.
Dictator Siad Barre was ousted and power fractured into some 27 warring
sides and Ali Mahdi Mohamed declared himself president.
(SFC,11/18/97,
p.B2)(www.empereur.com/somalia1991.html)
1992 Jan 27, Democratic
presidential candidate Bill Clinton and Gennifer Flowers accused each
other of lying in a renewed dispute over her assertion that they'd had
a 12-year affair.
(AP, 1/27/02)
1992 Jan 27, Boxer Mike Tyson went
on trial for rape. On Feb 10 he was found guilty.
(http://slam.canoe.ca/BoxingTysonHolyfield/tyson_chronology.html)
1992 Jan 27, Aileen Wuornos, a
Florida prostitute, was convicted of slaying the first of seven men
she'd admitted killing, claiming self-defense.
(AP, 1/27/02)
1992 Jan 27, Pres. Mugabe’s wife,
Sally (b.1932), died. Some dated the collapse of Zimbabwe and Mugabe’s
misrule to her death.
(Econ, 3/31/07, p.28)
1993 Jan 27, The Commerce
Department imposed temporary tariffs on steel imports from 19
countries, drawing sharp criticism from some of the affected nations.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1994 Jan 27, The US Senate passed
a non-binding resolution, 62-38, calling on the Clinton administration
to lift the U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam.
(AP, 1/27/04)
1994 Jan 27, Figure skater Tonya
Harding appeared before reporters in Portland, Ore., to say that while
she'd had no prior knowledge of the attack on her rival, Nancy
Kerrigan, she had failed to report what she'd learned afterward.
(AP, 1/27/99)
1995 Jan 27, About 5,000 mourners
gathered at the site of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz to commemorate
the 50th anniversary of its liberation.
(AP, 1/27/00)
1996 Jan 27, A man invaded a
convent in Waterville, Maine, stabbing and beating four nuns, killing
two of them with two others injured, including one left in a coma. Mark
Bechard was later found not criminally responsible because of mental
illness. Bechard, a mentally ill man who dreamed of becoming a Catholic
priest burst through the doors of the chapel of Servants of the Blessed
Sacrament, went on a rampage, stabbing and stomping elderly nuns.
(AP, 1/27/01)(AP, 1/26/06)
1996 Jan 27, France detonated its
sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb. In 1998 the Int’l. Atomic
Energy Agency confirmed that the test sites in the South Pacific would
be contaminated for centuries. Plutonium particles were scattered in
the sediment of the lagoons at Mururoa and Fangatoufa.
(WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-16)(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A7)
1996 Jan 27, Germany commemorated
the 1st Holocaust Remembrance Day.
(http://tinyurl.com/a6sfj)
1996 Jan, 27 In Niger coup
leaders named the armed forces chief president after seizing power. Ten
people died, political parties were outlawed and the constitution was
suspended. Gen’l. Ibrahim Bare Mainassara seized power.
(WSJ, 1/29/96, p. A-1)(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
1997 Jan 27, Little Richard was
scheduled to receive the Award of Merit at the 24th annual American
Music Awards. His hits included "Tutti Frutti," "Good Golly Miss
Molly," and "Long Tall Sally."
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.C7)
1997 Jan 27, Israeli soldiers
removed 45 Bedouin families of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe from land east
of Jerusalem that they had occupied for decades due to the expansion of
the Maale Adumim Jewish settlement.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A8)
1997 Jan 27, In Mexico police
arrested Benigno Guzman, president of the Peasant Organization of the
Southern Sierra, an anti-government alliance of poor farmers near
Acapulco on charges of belonging to the EPR guerrilla group.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A8)
1997 Jan 27, The Swiss ambassador
to the US, Carlo Jagmetti, resigned after remarks against groups that
represented Holocaust victims seeking recompense from Swiss banks by
likening his country's Nazi gold crisis to a war that had to be won.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A6) (AP, 1/27/98)
1998 Jan 27, Shaken by scandal,
Pres. Clinton made his State of the Union address and proposed
bolstering Social Security with the current surplus, improving schools
by reducing class size and building more, raising the minimum wage, and
making child care more available for low-income families before cutting
taxes or increasing spending. He also issued a warning to Sadam Hussein
of Iraq and asked Congress to support NATO expansion. Earlier in the
day, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, appearing on NBC's "Today"
show, charged the allegations against her husband were the work of a
"vast right-wing conspiracy."
(SFC, 1/28/98, p.A1)(AP, 1/27/99)
1998 Jan 27, The UN named Gro
Harlem Brundtland, the former prime minister of Norway as the head of
the World Health Organization (WHO).
(SFC, 1/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Jan 27, In Britain poet
laureate Ted Hughes won the $33,000 Whitbread Book of the Year award
for his "Tales of Ovid."
(SFC, 1/28/98, p.E6)
1998 Jan 27, The Chinese lunar
year of 4696, the year of the tiger, began. According to ancient legend
the count began when Buddha called all the animals of the world and
promised to name a year after each one in exchange for eternal loyalty
and obeisance. Only 12 answered the call in the following order: rat,
ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, ram, monkey, rooster,
dog, and bear.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A19)(SFC, 1/28/98, p.A16)
1998 Jan 27, In Japan Hiroshi
Mitsuzuka, the finance minister, announced that he will resign
following the arrests of 2 senior officials on bribery charges.
(SFC, 1/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Jan 27, In Sierra Leone
fighting broke out between junta troops and Nigerian peacekeepers
trying to restore Pres. Kabbah.
(WSJ, 1/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 27, The UN Security
Council approved a 3-month extension for peacekeeping operations in
Angola.
(WSJ, 1/28/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan 27, The Clinton
administration announced a plan to end fighting in Kosovo. It called
for NATO air strikes if autonomy to the region is not accepted by Pres.
Milosevic.
(SFC, 1/28/99, p.A12)
1999 Jan 27, In 2 votes the Senate
voted along party lines, 56-44, to reject a Democratic proposal to
dismiss the impeachment case against Pres. Clinton and to subpoena 3
witnesses including Monica Lewinsky. Wisconsin Democrat Feingold made
the only crossover vote.
(SFC, 1/28/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 27, Over 100,000 people
gathered at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis to see Pope John Paul II.
(SFC, 1/28/99, p.A3)
1999 Jan 27, Angola admitted that
UNITA rebels had taken the northern city of Mbanza Congo.
(WSJ, 1/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 27, In Colombia the death
toll from the Jan 25 earthquake went up to 878 with over 3,400 injured
and survivors began looting markets for food.
(SFC, 1/28/99, p.A12)
1999 Jan 27, In Indonesia
legislators announced that independence for East Timor would be
considered. Also Chief Xanana Gusmao was to be released from prison but
kept in confinement.
(SFC, 1/28/99, p.C3)
1999 Jan 27, In Japan the Health
Ministry approved Viagra in 6 months but still held back approval for
the birth control pill, which has been waiting 9 years.
(SFC, 2/11/99, p.A16)
1999 Jan 27, From Japan it was
reported that thousands of fans welcomed back a hitchhiking duo who
traveled from the Cape of Good Hope to a lighthouse in Norway along
with a TV cameraman. The exploits began in 1998 and were aired weekly
on the show "Susunu."
(WSJ, 1/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 27, In Mexico Jorge
Aguirre Meza (39), president of the Sinaloa state bar and a human
rights activist, was shot to death in Novalato.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan 27, In Northern Ireland
Eamon Collins, author of the 1997 book "Killing Rage," was found beaten
to death near Newry. He had been the IRAs intelligence officer from
1980-1985 and offended his associates with the book.
(SFC, 1/28/99, p.C4)
2000 Jan 27, Pres. Clinton gave
his last State of the Union address. His proposals included a $250
billion tax cut; tough gun control measures; expanded tax breaks for
vaccine development; new education spending; and approval of the China
WTO accord. Clinton proposed a $350 billion tax cut, big spending
increases for schools and health care and photo ID licenses for handgun
purchases in his final State of the Union address.
(WSJ, 1/28/00, p.A1,3)(AP, 1/27/01)
2000 Jan 27, The US and China
agreed to resume normal military ties.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.D2)
2000 Jan 27, In Ecuador hundreds
of military officers were arrested or detained for their role in
toppling Pres. Mahuad. Gustavo Noboa named a finance chief who would
press to make dollars the country's currency.
(WSJ, 1/28/00, p.A1)
2000 Jan 27, In Egypt a new law
which expanded women's right to divorce passed the People's Assembly.
Travel freedoms were excised at the last minute.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A15)(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D3)
2000 Jan 27, In Iraq the execution
of 26 political prisoners at the Abu Gharib prison reportedly took
place. Another 13 political detainees were later reported to have died
there in the last 2 months from torture neglect and malnutrition.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.C1)
2000 Jan 27, In Sri Lanka a parcel
bomb exploded in a post office and killed at least 11 people in
Tamil-dominated Vavuniya. 73 people were injured and Tamil rebels were
blamed.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A15)
2001 Jan 27, Jennifer Capriati
upset three-time winner Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-3 to win the Australian
Open title and her first Grand Slam tournament championship.
(AP, 1/27/02)
2001 Jan 27, Lynn Swann and Ron
Yary were both elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on in their
14th year of eligibility.
(AP, 1/27/02)
2001 Jan 27, Bill Gates pledged
$100 million for an AIDS vaccine.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.A18)
2001 Jan 27, In New Hampshire 2
Dartmouth professors, Half and Susanne Zantop, were found slain. James
Parker 16) and Robert Tulloch (17), suspects in the murder, were
arrested in Indiana Feb 19. Parker pleaded guilty in 2001 and agreed to
testify against Tulloch. Parker pleaded guilty to being an accomplice
to second-degree murder and is serving a sentence of 25 years to life.
Tuloch pleaded guilty in 2002 to murder and conspiracy and is serving a
sentence of life without parole.
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/8/01, p.A7)(SFC,
4/2/02, p.A4)(AP, 1/27/06)
2001 Jan 27, A small plane crashed
south of Denver and 10 people were killed including passengers
associated with the Oklahoma State Univ. basketball team.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.A13)(AP, 1/27/02)
2001 Jan 27, In Switzerland riot
police prevented some 1,000 protestors from reaching the World Economic
Forum at Davos.
(SFC, 1/29/01, p.A14)
2001 Jan 27, The Iran Republic
news Agency reported that 3 intelligence agents were sentenced to death
and 12 others to life in prison for their roles in murdering dissident
writers and intellectuals.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.A22)
2001 Jan 27, Israel and Palestine
ended 6 days of talks in Egypt. They failed to reach a peace accord but
declared that they were never closer.
(SSFC, 1/28/01, p.A18)
2002 Jan 27, The Feb 3 Super Bowl
matchup was decided as the New England Patriots upset the Pittsburgh
Steelers, 24-to-17, to win the AFC championship and the St. Louis Rams
defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 29-to-24, to win the NFC championship.
(WSJ, 1/28/02, p.A1)(AP, 1/27/03)
2002 Jan 27, Thomas Johansson
defeated Marat Safin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to win the Australian Open
final.
(AP, 1/27/03)
2002 Jan 27, Vice Pres. Dick
Cheney said he would not release Enron related energy task force
documents from last year’s meetings. Cheney and Rumsfeld said al Qaeda
prisoner status at Guantanamo Bay would not change to POW.
(SFC, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 27, Hamid Karzai, interim
Afghan leader, began a visit to the US and asked Afghan Americans to
return and help with reconstruction.
(SFC, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 27, Honduras restored
diplomatic ties with Cuba just before Ricardo Maduro took office.
(WSJ, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 27, Iran’s Pres. Khatami
met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri in Tehran as part of an
effort to restore ties.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
2002 Jan 27, Iraq admitted an
int’l. nuclear-inspection team (IAEA) on a 4-day mission to a site near
Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 27, In Nigeria explosions
at the Ikeja military base rocked Lagos. Over 1,000 people died when
they fled the area and drowned in Oke Afa drainage canal. Deaths from
panic later rose to 600 and then 1,000-2,000.
(SFC, 1/29/02, p.A5)(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A9)(SFC,
1/31/02, p.A9)(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A17)(AP, 1/27/03)
2002 Jan 27, A Palestinian woman,
Wafa Idris (28), exploded herself on Jaffa St. in Jerusalem and killed
an Israeli man (81). Over 150 others were injured.
(SFC, 1/28/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/31/02, p.A8)(AP, 1/27/03)
2002 Jan 27, A Russian military
helicopter crashed in Chechnya and all 14 aboard were killed including
generals.
(SFC, 1/28/02, p.A7)(WSJ, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 27, In Uzbekistan a
referendum, largely regarded as rigged, extended Pres. Islam Karimov’s
term to 7 years from 5.
(WSJ, 5/13/02, p.A13)(AP, 3/30/04)
2003 Jan 27, The Bush
administration moved toward a military showdown with Iraq and suggested
a decision could come as early as next week after U.N. inspectors
credited Iraq with only limited cooperation in the search for weapons.
(AP, 1/27/03)(SFC, 1/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 27, In Florida over 800
doctors staged a brief walkout to protest rising malpractice insurance
costs.
(WSJ, 1/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 27, A head-on train
collision between French and Italian passenger trains killed two
people. It appeared to be the result of human error.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2003 Jan 27, India and Pakistan
resumed shelling along the Kashmir border, and New Delhi warned
Pakistan it would be "erased from the world map" if Islamabad used
nuclear weapons against India.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2003 Jan 27, The Bush
administration moved toward a military showdown with Iraq and suggested
a decision could come as early as next week after UN inspectors
credited Iraq with only limited cooperation in the search for weapons.
Meanwhile, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix charged that Iraq had never
genuinely accepted U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament and
warned that "cooperation on substance" was necessary for a peaceful
solution.
(AP, 1/27/03)(SFC, 1/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 27, In Florida over 800
doctors staged a brief walkout to protest rising malpractice insurance
costs.
(WSJ, 1/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 27, A head-on train
collision between French and Italian passenger trains killed two
people. It appeared to be the result of human error.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2003 Jan 27, India and Pakistan
resumed shelling along the Kashmir border, and New Delhi warned
Pakistan it would be "erased from the world map" if Islamabad used
nuclear weapons against India.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2004 Jan 27, In New Hampshire John
Kerry won the Democratic presidential primary with 39% of the vote.
Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman followed with
26, 12, 12, and 9%.
(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 27, The case against
Martha Stewart (62) began in NYC. Prosecutors alleged that Stewart
intended to commit securities fraud in her Dec 21, 2001, sale of
ImClone Systems shares. She was convicted the following March and
sentenced to five months in prison.
(SFC, 2/28/04, p.A3)(AP, 1/27/05)
2004 Jan 27, A new Windows
computer virus, a self-propagating worm known as Mydoom or Novarg,
continued to spread over the Internet.
(SFC, 1/28/04, p.B1)
2004 Jan 27, Jack Paar (85), TV
host, died in Greenwich, Conn. The "Jack Paar Tonight Show" ran from
1957-1965 and "The Jack Paar Program" ran from 1962-1965. His 1960
memoir was titled "I Kid You Not," which was also his signature line.
(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A2)
2004 Jan 27, Global health
officials listed 6 countries with confirmed cases of H5N1 avian flu.
These included Cambodia, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and
Vietnam.
(WSJ, 1/28/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 27, In Afghanistan a
Taliban suicide bomber struck a convoy of the NATO-led security force
in the capital, killing a Canadian soldier and an Afghan civilian.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Jan 27, In Chechnya at least
8 Russian servicemen were killed and 16 others wounded in the latest
rebel raids and land mine explosions.
(AP, 1/28/04)
2004 Jan 27, Wartime Croatian Serb
leader Milan Babic (1991-1992) pleaded guilty to persecution in a plan
to ethnically cleanse parts of Croatia of non-Serbs at the outset of
the Balkan wars, and expressed "a deep sense of shame" for his crimes.
Babic was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
(AP, 1/27/04)(WSJ, 6/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 27, Roadside bombs killed
6 US soldiers in 2 blasts outside Baghdad. 2 CNN employees were killed
in an ambush as their crew returned to Baghdad from southern Iraq.
(AP, 1/27/04)(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A9)
2004 Jan 27, In central Iraq US
soldiers killed 3 members of a suspected guerrilla cell linked to the
former Baathist regime.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Jan 27, In Malaysia an
Iranian asylum seeker set himself on fire in an apparent suicide
attempt outside the Kuala Lumpur headquarters of the UN refugee agency.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Jan 27, Mexican Army troops
arrested Javier Torres Felix, an alleged leader of one of the largest
drug trafficking organizations in western Mexico.
(AP, 1/28/04)
2004 Jan 27, Mexican authorities
in Ciudad Juarez said at least 11 bodies were found at a house that had
been occupied by alleged drug lord Humberto Santillan Tabares.
(ST, 1/28/04, p.A8)
2005 Jan 27, Condoleezza Rice, in
her first day as Secretary of State, reached out to European allies and
partners in the war on terrorism and echoed President Bush's inaugural
charge to promote liberty across the globe.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2005 Jan 27, P&G announced a
$55 billion deal to buy Gillette Corp.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 27, An Afghan soldier
opened fire inside a US base and killed 5 of his comrades.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 27, In northeastern
Bangladesh a bomb exploded at an opposition rally, killing two people
and wounding at least 30.
(Reuters, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, Egypt admitted to
failing to signal a "number of research experiments" to the IAEA, after
diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could
be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material.
(AFP, 2/14/05)
2005 Jan 27, In Poland frail
survivors and humbled world leaders remembered the victims of the
Holocaust as they marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the
Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2005 Jan 27, India has decided to
open the main airport in disputed Kashmir to international flights to
draw more tourists to the scenic Himalayan region.
(Reuters, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, Indonesian Pres.
Yudhoyono rebels in Aceh amnesty and greater autonomy in exchange for a
cease-fire on the eve of new peace talks I Helsinki. Japanese troops
arrived in Aceh to take over aid tasks from US forces.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/28/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 27, Eleven Iraqis and one
US Marine were killed as insurgents clashed with US troops and blew up
a school slated to serve as a polling center. Authorities found the
bodies of four Iraqi National Guardsmen who had been shot dead in
Ramadi, capital of the troubled Anbar province.
(AP, 1/27/05)(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 27, It was reported that
Japan’s trade with China in 2004 exceeded its trade with the US for the
1st time. This included figures for Hong Kong.
(WSJ, 1/27/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 27, Jordan’s King
Abdullah II said he would introduce some limited democratic reforms in
his kingdom.
(AP, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, Pakistani police
arrested 23 Afghans in raids in the border city of Quetta on suspicion
of links with Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 27, The Palestinian
leadership banned civilians from carrying weapons, its latest step
aimed at reigning in militant violence.
(AP, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 27, In southern Russia
hundreds of police and soldiers stormed an apartment building in
Nalchik, the regional capital of the province of Kabardino-Balkariya,
killing seven suspected Islamic extremists linked to Chechen rebels
after a two-day standoff.
(AP, 1/27/05)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.21)
2005 Jan 27, Taiwan formally
severed ties with Grenada after accusing the tiny Caribbean island of
trying to exploit the rivalry between China and Taiwan to get more
financial aid.
(AP, 1/27/05)
2006 Jan 27, A US government
report said economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter to the
weakest pace in three years as consumers spent less robustly, growth in
home building eased and businesses were less eager to boost investments.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Lawmakers in
Washington state passed a gay rights bill and Gov. Chris Gregoire said
she will sign it on Jan 31.
(SFC, 1/28/06, p.A3)
2006 Jan 27, Police in Houston,
Texas, said they had arrested 8 gang members from New Orleans as
suspects in 11 slayings.
(SFC, 1/28/06, p.A3)
2006 Jan 27, The first inhalable
version of insulin, "Exubera," won federal approval.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2006 Jan 27, Microsoft Corp's
founder Bill Gates in Davos, Switzerland, pledged $900 million to fight
tuberculosis, kick-starting a $31 billion funding drive against a
disease which kills one person every 15 seconds.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Western Union
delivered its last telegram.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2006 Jan 27, Belgium’s food safety
agency closed 96 pig and chicken farms as it traced the source of
dioxins found by a Dutch firm last week back to a vat of Belgian pork
fat.
(AP, 1/30/06)
2006 Jan 27, Bolivia’s Pres. Evo
Morales cut his salary by more than half and declared no Cabinet
minister can collect a higher wage than his own, with the savings to be
used to hire more public school teachers.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, In Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, a sudden flood caused by heavy rains killed at least four
people in the underground parking garage of a shopping mall.
(AP, 1/28/06)
2006 Jan 27, British port operator
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. switched prospective
suitors for the second time after Dubai Ports World raised its offer
for the company to almost $7 billion, trumping an offer from
Singapore's PSA International Ltd.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Christopher Lloyd
(84), iconoclastic English gardener, died.
(Econ, 2/4/06, p.78)
2006 Jan 27, Five Caribbean
islands held their last parliamentary elections as members of a unified
Netherlands Antilles. Curacao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and St.
Eustatius have set a target date of July 1, 2007 for breaking off to
form their own governments.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, China's biggest
lender, state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, signed a
$3.78 billion investment deal with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., American
Express Co. and Germany's Allianz AG.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Mittal Steel, the
world's biggest steel producer, launched a takeover bid worth 18.6
billion euros (22.7 billion dollars) for European group Arcelor in an
ambitious attempt to create a dominant global giant.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Georgia's president
said that Iran had agreed to start providing emergency gas supplies to
the Caucasus mountain nation as early as this weekend, signaling an end
to an energy crisis made worse by an extreme cold snap.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Johannes Rau (75),
former German president (1999-2004), died. He urged his country to open
up to foreigners and promoted deeper ties with Israel.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Three French citizens
and a Haitian who were kidnapped near a volatile slum outside of the
capital were released unharmed.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, It was reported that
one of every two German oak trees was sick due to pollution and global
warming.
(www.dawn.com/2006/01/27/int14.htm)
2006 Jan 27, In Honduras Manuel
Zelaya was inaugurated as the new president. He promised to fight
corruption and help criminal and gang members become useful citizens.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Basra's governor
threatened to stop dealing with British forces unless they release
several Iraqis detained this week, including policemen suspected of
links to local killings and kidnappings. Iraqi special forces backed by
US troops raided houses in Baghdad and detained 60 suspected insurgents.
(AP, 1/27/06)(WSJ, 1/28/06, p.A1)
2006 Jan 27, Libya said it is
heading toward allowing private newspapers, radio and television news
in what has been a state-controlled media environment for more than 30
years.
(AFP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Malaysian dissident
politician Anwar Ibrahim sued former PM Mahathir Mohamad for defamation
after Mahathir refused to apologize for calling him a homosexual.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Angel Hidalgo
Espinosa, the leader of a farmers' group in Mexico's southern Chiapas
state, was convicted in the 2001 slayings of 8 peasants and sentenced
to 37 years in prison.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, In Mexico authorities
got into a shootout with drug traffickers in Acapulco and at least 4
people were killed.
(SFC, 1/28/06, p.A6)
2006 Jan 27-2006 Jan 28, In Nepal
11 Maoist rebels fighting to overthrow the monarchy and two soldiers
were killed in a battle in the eastern part of the kingdom.
(AP, 1/28/06)
2006 Jan 27, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas asked Hamas to form a new government after his vanquished
Fatah Party rejected a role in the Cabinet and Israel ruled out peace
talks. In the wake of Hamas' triumph in Palestinian parliamentary
elections, thousands of outraged Fatah supporters burned cars and fired
in the air across the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 1/27/06)(AP, 1/27/07)
2006 Jan 27, A Panamanian ship
collided with two other vessels near the Peruvian port of Callao,
splitting in two and leaving one sailor missing.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, The UN said killings,
rapes and indiscriminate attacks on civilians continue in Darfur,
accusing Sudanese soldiers of apparently coordinating with armed
militia in terrorizing the troubled region.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2007 Jan 27, Sundance Film
Festival's grand-jury prize for best US drama went to "Padre Nuestro,"
an immigrant saga about a Mexican teen's heartbreaking search for his
father in America.
(AP, 1/28/07)
2007 Jan 27, In Washington DC tens
of thousands converged on the National Mall to oppose Pres. Bush’s plan
for a troop increase in Iraq. Thousands marched in San Francisco.
(SSFC, 1/28/07, p.A15)
2007 Jan 27, In Oregon the new $57
million Portland Aerial Tram officially began operations. Two
78-passenger cabins carried commuters from the Banks of the Willamette
to the campus of the Oregon Health and Sciences Univ. on Marquam Hill.
(SFC, 1/29/07, p.A4)
2007 Jan 27, In China a gas
explosion in the Yile Coal Mine in the southern town of Shuitang in
Guizhou province killed at least 15 miners.
(AP, 1/29/07)
2007 Jan 27, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon held up Congo's first elections in 46 years as a sign of
hope for the rest of Africa, praising the country's fragile democracy
on his first tour of the continent.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, Two car bombs in
quick succession struck a market in a mainly Shiite district in
Baghdad, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 40. US
airstrikes killed 14 terror suspects and destroyed a safe house for
foreign fighters during a raid south of Baqouba that also led to the
capture of two other suspects. At least one rocket struck Baghdad's
heavily fortified Green Zone, and two people suffered minor injuries.
Two mortar shells slammed into a residential district in the western
Baghdad neighborhood of Hurriyah, killing two people and wounding seven
others. Armed men who wore commando uniforms and drove cars with
license plates commonly used by the Interior Ministry stormed a
computer company and kidnapped seven people, including shoppers, in the
mainly Christian neighborhood of Sina'a. A taxi driver was shot to
death after he was caught in the crossfire during clashes in the
northern city of Mosul. The bodies of five men were pulled from the
Tigris River in Suwayrah. A US Marine died from wounds suffered in
fighting in Anbar province, and two soldiers were fatally injured in
separate bombings in the Baghdad area.
(AP, 1/27/07)(AP, 1/28/07)
2007 Jan 27, Guinea's union
leaders ended a deadly 17-day strike after the president agreed to name
a new prime minister with boosted powers.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, Gunmen carjacked a US
Embassy vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital and killed two
women in the car.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, Police in Tijuana,
Mexico, got their guns back three weeks after they were forced to turn
over weapons to federal authorities because of allegations they were
colluding with drug traffickers.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, The Netherlands'
government extradited Iraqi-born Wesam al Delaema (32), a naturalized
Dutch citizen, to the US. He was charged with involvement in terror
attacks on US troops in Iraq. In 2009 Delaema was sentenced in
Washington DC to 25 years in prison. His actual term was up to the
Netherlands.
(AP, 1/28/07)(SFC, 4/17/09, p.A6)
2007 Jan 27, A Belgian man working
for a building materials company was murdered in the oil city of Warri,
in Nigeria's Niger Delta. 2 suspects were arrested. Carjackers with
AK-47s shot dead two women in a US embassy vehicle in Nairobi's western
outskirts, and police killed two of the fleeing gunmen during a
shootout in the nearby bush.
(Reuters, 1/27/07)(Reuters, 1/28/07)
2007 Jan 27, Nancy Pelosi, the
speaker of the US House of Representatives, held talks with Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf focusing on the fight against terror. A bomb
went off near a Shiite Muslim mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city
of Peshawar, killing 15 people and wounding 35.
(AFP, 1/27/07)(AP, 1/28/07)
2007 Jan 27, A Belgian man working
for a building materials company was murdered in the oil city of Warri,
in Nigeria's Niger Delta. 2 suspects were arrested. Carjackers with
AK-47s shot dead two women in a US embassy vehicle in Nairobi's western
outskirts. Police killed two of the fleeing gunmen during a shootout in
the nearby bush.
(Reuters, 1/27/07)(Reuters, 1/28/07)
2007 Jan 27, Andrei Lugovoi, the
man reported by British media to be a suspect in the murder of a former
Russian agent in London hit out at "lies, provocation and government
propaganda," denying any role in the radiation poisoning death of
Alexander Litvinenko.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, In Switzerland major
powers at Davos agreed to resume global free trade talks. A meeting of
the world's top commercial powers yielded only a vague pledge of
commitment to global trade liberalization efforts, a disappointment
after business and political leaders called for progress in the World
Trade Organization talks.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, In Yemen 6 security
forces were killed and 20 others were injured in clashes with followers
of Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi in Saada.
(AP, 1/28/07)
2008 Jan 27, Gordon B. Hinckley
(b.1910), the humble head of the Mormon church, died in Salt Lake City.
He added millions of new members and labored long to burnish the
faith's image as a world religion.
(AP, 1/28/08)
2008 Jan 27, Chinese police shot
and killed two members of a "terrorist gang" and rounded up 15 others
during a raid in the restive northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang.
Police found guns, homemade bombs, training materials and "extremist
religious ideological materials" during a raid in Urumqi.
(Reuters, 2/18/08)(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Jan 27, At least 10 bodies
were recovered after a boat capsized on Lake Tanganyika in eastern
Congo. An official later said the overloaded boat was piloted by a
drunken captain.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan 27, Egyptian forces
brandishing electrified batons stopped Gaza cars from crossing the
breached border and tightened security at checkpoints to try to confine
Palestinians who moved freely into Egypt for a fifth straight day.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 27, France's Societe
Generale said Jerome Kerviel, the young trader blamed for losses that
cost the bank more than $7 billion, hacked computers and used "several
techniques of fraud." Judicial officials said the man would remain in
custody a further 24 hours. The bank said Kerviel had built up a
position worth some $73.5 billion, which was eventually closed or
hedged by Jan 23 with a loss of $7.21 billion.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 27, Indonesia, the nation
hardest hit by bird flu, recorded its 100th human death as the virus
picked up speed across Asia.
(AP, 1/28/08)
2008 Jan 27, Former Indonesian
President Suharto (b.1921) died. The US Cold War ally led one of the
20th century's most brutal dictatorships over 32 years that saw up to a
million political opponents killed.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 27, In Iraq an American
soldier was killed in a roadside bombing.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 27, In western Kenya
gangs armed with machetes and bows and arrows burned and hacked to
death members of a rival tribe, as the death toll from the latest
explosion of violence over disputed presidential elections rose to 69.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 27, In Lebanon protesters
angry about electricity rationing clashed with troops in Beirut's worst
riots in a year, leaving 7 Shia youths dead.
(AP, 1/27/08)(Econ, 2/2/08, p.56)
2008 Jan 27, Mozambique said it
would forcibly evacuate 10,000 people who have defied government calls
to leave areas at risk of flooding along the Zambezi valley in the
country's central regions.
(Reuters, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 27, In northwest Pakistan
security forces retook the Kohat Tunnel, which was captured a day
earlier, and killed at least 24 militants.
(SFC, 1/28/08, p.A12)
2008 Jan 27, Mikhail Kasyanov,
former prime minister and the most vocal Kremlin critic in Russia's
presidential contest, was barred from the ballot by election
authorities who said tens of thousands of signatures on his nominating
petitions were faked. Kasyanov denounced the Central Election
Commission's ruling as politically motivated and described the election
as "farce." "I have no doubt that Putin personally made the decision
not to register my candidacy," he said in a statement.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 27, In central Turkey a
passenger train derailed, killing at least nine people and injuring
dozens of others, possibly due to ice on the tracks.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2009 Jan 27, President Barack
Obama chose an Arabic-language satellite TV network for his first
formal television interview as president, delivering a message to the
Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy."
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Eddied Perez (b.1957,
former gang leader and mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, surrendered to
police to face a bribery charge related to home renovations.
(SFC, 1/28/09, p.A4)
2009 Jan 27, In California federal
prosecutors said purchasing managers for Kraft Foods and Frito-Lay have
admitted to taking $318,000 in bribes from Randall Rahal, a former
sales broker for SK Foods of Lemoore, a major Central California tomato
processor. On August 11 Robert Watson (59), former Kraft Foods
purchasing manager, was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months for taking
$158,000 in bribes.
(SFC, 1/28/09, p.B3)(SFC, 8/12/09, p.D2)
2009 Jan 27, The social-networking
site Facebook removed a group whose title advocated raising money so a
gunman could be hired to "liquidate" Bolivia's leftist president, Evo
Morales. The Spanish-language group, created in August, had 8,069
members and had drawn the attention of at least one outraged blogger,
when The Associated Press alerted Facebook. Creator Hony Pierola (20)
denied any malice.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, A new study led by
the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said
climate change is "largely irreversible" for the next 1,000 years even
if carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be abruptly halted.
(AFP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Near Los Angeles
police found the bodies of 7 people at a home in Wilmington.
Ervin Lupoe (40) killed his five children and his wife before turning
the gun on himself. Both adults were recently fired from their hospital
jobs.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 27, John Updike (b.1932),
American writer and poet, died of lung cancer. He released more than 60
books, including 28 novels, in a career that started in the 1950s,
winning virtually every literary prize.
(AP, 1/28/09)(Econ, 1/31/09, p.89)
2009 Jan 27, Gunmen abducted 10
Afghan workers in a daring ambush in Herat. 2 local UN staff, kidnapped
on New Year’s Day by alleged Taliban militants, were freed. One captive
was already freed, but 3 remained hostage. A roadside bomb struck a
vehicle carrying civilians in Kandahar province, killing four and
wounding nine.
(AFP, 1/28/09)(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 27, In Bahrain police
fired tear gas at dozens of rioters as the public prosecutor charged
three Shiite Muslim activists with promoting a coup.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, In Brazil some
100,000 activists of all stripes converged on the Amazon city of Belem,
opening the 9th World Social Forum.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Brazil established a
new set of bureaucratic hoops for importers, raising worries about
creeping protectionism.
(WSJ, 1/28/09, p.A10)
2009 Jan 27, Lord Mandelson,
business secretary to Britain’s PM Gordon Brown, announced loan
guarantees of up to 2.3 billion pounds (2.5 billion euros, 3.2 billion
dollars) in credit funding for its ailing auto industry.
(AP, 1/27/09)(Econ, 1/31/09, p.63)
2009 Jan 27, Canada's Conservative
government unveiled a two-year C$40 billion ($32 billion) stimulus
package to help pull the economy out of recession, laying out plans for
a budget deficit for the first time after 11 straight years of surplus.
(Reuters, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, The UN refugee agency
said thousands of Congolese civilians have fled across the border to
South Sudan to escape rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Iceland's center-left
Social Democratic Alliance Party was chosen to lead the country
following the collapse of the island nation's government amid deep
economic troubles and intense political discord.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Iceland raised it
quota on whale hunting to 250 a year, a dramatic increase over past
levels.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Ramaswamy
Venkataraman (98), India's eighth president (1987-1992), died. He
helped draft the country's 1950 constitution.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Indonesian police
opened fire on hundreds of people in Papua province during a protest
against alleged police violence. 4 people were injured.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, In Iraq a car bomb
exploded near a Kurdish party's office in the northern city of Mosul,
killing at least three Iraqi soldiers only days before pivotal
elections. A Sunni insurgent group claimed responsibility for downing
two US helicopters that crashed a day earlier, killing four US troops.
The US military denied the claim.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Jamaican police said
a gunman shot a woman (55) in her one-room wooden shack and then set it
ablaze, leaving her 3 grandchildren to perish alongside her in the fire.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Japan announced a
$16.7 billion stimulus package to help businesses that have en
decimated by the global financial crisis.
(www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/timeline/Credit_Crisis_Timeline.pdf)
2009 Jan 27, Japan’s No. 38 Yoshi
Maru fishing boat was seized by Russian authorities in waters between
the two countries and was taken to the Russian port of Nakhodka. On Feb
7 Russian authorities released all 10 Japanese crew members seized
after allegedly straying into Russian waters.
(AFP, 1/28/09)(AP, 2/7/09)
2009 Jan 27, In Mexico thieves,
apparently targeting people who exchange money at Mexico City's
international airport, shot a French citizen in the head. Authorities
warned that gangs have put lookouts at exchange windows in the
terminal. Mexico City prosecutors soon detained two suspects in the
shooting. French scientist Christopher Augur died at a Mexico City
hospital four days after his assault.
(AP, 1/27/09)(AP, 1/30/09)(AP, 1/31/09)
2009 Jan 27, Pakistani tribal
elders urged the government to stop military operations against Taliban
militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and to start peace
talks.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Palestinian militants
detonated a bomb that killed an Israeli soldier patrolling near Gaza
and Israel responded with an airstrike. Not long after the bombing, a
27-year-old Gaza farmer was killed by Israeli gunfire along the border
several miles away. An Israeli airstrike wounded 2 men, at least one of
whom was a Hamas gunman. Israel closed its crossings into Gaza to
humanitarian aid traffic after briefly opening them.
(AP, 1/27/09)(SFC, 1/28/09, p.A2)
2009 Jan 27, Pacific Island
leaders gathered in Port Moresby and threatened to expel Fiji from
their forum if coup leader Frank Bainimarama fails to announce credible
plans for elections.
(Econ, 1/31/09,
p.48)(www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2475598.htm)
2009 Jan 27, A Peruvian court
freed two men accused of belonging to a military death squad linked to
several massacres in the early 1990s, after the suspects completed six
years in prison without a conviction. Douglas Arteaga Pascual and Angel
Pino Diaz were charged in 2001 and accused of belonging to a death
squad known as the "Colina group." A verdict was expected this year.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 27, Russian Orthodox
bishops, monks and laymen voted for a new head for the world's second
largest Christian church in a contest between a powerful modernizer and
an influential conservative. Metropolitan Kirill (62) defeated a
conservative rival, Metropolitan Kliment, with 508 of 700 votes.
(AP, 1/27/09)(SFC, 2/2/09, p.A3)
2009 Jan 27, In South Africa the
15-nation SADC grouping said after a meeting, its fifth attempt to
secure a deal on forming a unity government, it had agreed that
opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai should be sworn in as prime
minister by February 11. An analyst said chances for a deal appeared
slim. The recently introduced 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note cannot
buy a loaf of bread, which costs Z$30 trillion. Two weeks ago, a loaf
of bread cost Z$30 billion.
(Reuters, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, South Korea’s central
bank announced that a woman will appear on its banknotes for the first
time, with the issuance of a new 50,000-won ($36) bill.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, In Sri Lanka a health
official alleged that at least 300 civilians were wounded and scores
feared killed by Sri Lankan army artillery shells fired into a
designated "safe zone" for ethnic Tamils trapped by fighting between
the military and Tamil rebels.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 Jan 27, Sudanese armed forces
waged air strikes and artillery attacks on rebels in two key areas of
Darfur for a second day.
(AFP, 1/27/09)
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