Today is Tuesday, Jan. 5, the 5th day of 2016. There are 360 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1477 – Swiss defeat and kill Charles the Bold of Burgundy at Battle of Nancy.
1762 – Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia dies, is succeeded by Peter III.
1781 – A British naval expedition led by American traitor Benedict Arnold burns down much of Richmond, Virginia.
1809 – Britain and Turkey conclude Treaty of Dardanelles.
1869 – Joint Argentine, Brazilian and Uruguayan forces take Asuncion, Paraguay, during Triple Alliance war.
1895 – Discovery of X-rays is announced by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen; French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, is publicly stripped of his rank. He is ultimately vindicated.
1919 – Communist Spartacist revolt begins in Berlin; National Socialist Party, or Nazi Party, formed in Germany.
1925 – Nellie T. Ross succeeds her late husband as governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in U.S. history.
1929 – King Alexander I suppresses Yugoslav Constitution and establishes dictatorship.
1949 – In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Harry Truman labels his administration the “Fair Deal.”
1964 – Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Benedictos of Jerusalem meet in Holy Land on Mount of Olives — the first meeting in five centuries between a Roman Catholic pope and Eastern Orthodox Church patriarch.
1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the development of the space shuttle.
1987 – Cheering students in China burn hundreds of copies of newspaper Peking Daily to protest government publication’s harsh criticism of student demonstrations.
1991 – Cuba and the Soviet Union sign agreement ending trade at easy terms and artificially low prices.
1994 – Easing fears of a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia, the Clinton administration says North Korea has agreed to allow renewed international inspection of seven nuclear sites.
1996 – Yehiya Ayyash, the suspected mastermind of a string of suicide attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, dies when a booby-trapped mobile phone blows up in his hands in the Gaza Strip.
2003 – Two Palestinians carry out a coordinated suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, killing themselves, 22 others and wounding more than 100. The attack marks the first suicide bombing in Israel since November 2002.
2006 – A suicide bomb explodes in a crowded market in an Afghan town just a few hundred yards (meters) from where the U.S. ambassador is meeting with local leaders. Ten Afghans are killed and 50 wounded in the deadliest of a recent series of attacks.
2007 – In a wave of Palestinian fighting, assailants outside a Gaza mosque gun down a Muslim preacher known for his anti-Hamas views, and thousands march through Gaza carrying the bodies of seven slain Fatah men.
2008 – Indonesia’s former dictator Suharto, 86, is put on a dialysis machine in critical condition a day after being admitted to Pertamina Hospital. He dies Jan. 27 of multiple organ failure after more than three weeks on life support
2009 – Russia’s cutoff of natural gas to Ukraine forces several European countries to dip into reserves, with Moscow tightening the tap even further.
2011 – Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a fierce opponent of the United States and head of Iraq’s most feared militia, comes home after nearly four years in self-imposed exile in Iran, welcomed by hundreds of cheering supporters in a return that solidifies the rise of his movement.
2012 – An apparently coordinated wave of bombings targeting Shiite Muslims kill at least 78 people in Iraq, the second large-scale assault by militants since U.S. forces pulled out last month.
2015 — Republicans determined to upend President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda take control of both chambers of Congress, setting the stage for power struggles on issues from health care to the environment that could define the final two years of his term and shape his legacy.
Today’s Birthdays:
Konrad Adenauer, German statesman (1876-1967); Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani prime minister (1928-1979); Friedrich Duerrenmatt, Swiss playwright and novelist (1921-1990); Robert Duvall, U.S. actor (1931–); Umberto Eco, Italian writer (1932–); Charlie Rose, U.S. talk show host/journalist (1942–); Diane Keaton, U.S. actress (1946–).
Thought for Today:
In aging, one becomes more foolish and more wise — Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, French author (1613-1680).
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