Today is Thursday, Jan. 14, the 14th day of 2016. There are 352 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1784 – United States ratifies peace treaty with England, formally ending American War of Independence.
1809 – England and Spain form alliance against Napoleon Bonaparte.
1814 – Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden in Treaty of Kiel.
1858 – Felice Orsini’s plot to assassinate Napoleon III is uncovered.
1867 – Peru declares war on Spain.
1907 – Earthquake in Jamaica destroys Kingston and takes 1,000 lives.
1942 – Forces under U.S. General Douglas MacArthur resist Japanese attacks on Bataan in Philippines in World War II.
1950 – United States recalls all consular personnel from China.
1962 – At least 36 Algerians and Europeans are killed in disorder and terrorist attacks in Algeria’s major cities.
1966 – Indonesia closes its mission at United Nations as it prepares to withdraw from the world organization.
1986 – Vinicio Cerezo is sworn in as Guatemala’s first civilian president in 16 years.
1990 – Azerbaijani attacks on Armenians leave at least two dozen dead in Baku, Soviet Union.
1991 – On eve of United Nations deadline for use of force in Iraq, European Community decides it is useless to send diplomatic mission to Baghdad.
1992 – Israel opens peace talks with Jordan and resumes bargaining with Palestinians.
1993 – As many as 54 people die when a Polish ferry capsizes during a fierce storm in the Baltic Sea.
1994 – Japanese police raid two companies suspected of selling electronics to the North Korean missile program.
1995 – In Colombia, leftist rebels attack police stations in several towns, killing six policemen and three other people.
1996 – Alvaro Arzu is sworn in as Guatemala’s new president.
1997 – In Cairo, Egypt, a crowded public bus smashes through a metal fence and plunges 35 meters (115 feet) into the Nile. At least 39 people die.
1998 – The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to rebuke Iraq for not giving arms inspectors full access. Iraq accuses an American arms inspector of being a spy.
2001 – Cambodia’s Senate approves a law to create a tribunal to try Khmer Rouge leaders. A cabinet minister says the court will spare no leader of the murderous regime.
2002 – The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee releases a letter sent in August 2001 by an executive of Enron Corp. to Kenneth Lay, the energy company’s chairman and chief executive officer, pointing out improprieties in the now-bankrupt Enron’s accounting practices.
2003 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration suspends 27 U.S. gene therapy trials after a second child in four months develops leukemia-like symptoms in a French trial that used a similar technique.
2006 – The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s trial submits his resignation. Saddam and his co-defendants are charged in the deaths of more than 140 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for an assassination attempt.
2009 – A French court acquits six doctors and pharmacists in the deaths of at least 114 people who contracted a brain-destroying disease after being treated with tainted human growth hormones.
2010 – Protesters enraged over soaring unemployment and corruption drive Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power after 23 years of iron-fisted rule.
2012 – The luxury cruise ship Concordia runs aground off the coast of Tuscany, gashing open the hull and forcing some 4,200 people aboard to evacuate aboard lifeboats to a nearby island. The crash killed 32 people.
2013 – Toyota again dethrones General Motors as the world’s top-selling automaker in 2012.
2014 – President Barack Obama asks Congress to hold off on new Iran sanctions, saying it’s time to let diplomats and technical experts do their work.
2015— Ukraine holds a day of mourning for 13 people killed two days ago when their bus was hit by what the government says was a shell fired by Russian-backed separatists.
Today’s Birthdays:
Valdemar I, the Great, Danish king (1131-1182); Zacharias Topelius, Finnish writer (1818-1898); Albert Schweitzer, French missionary-doctor-musician, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1875-1965); Giulio Andreotti, former Italian prime minister (1919-2013); Faye Dunaway, U.S. actress (1941–).
Thought for Today:
Dignity is like a perfume; those who use it are scarcely conscious of it — Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689).
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