Thursday, January 30, 1997
Today's events
The World Economic Forum holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Spanish Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar will hold talks in Bonn, Germany, with reform of the European Union likely to top the agenda.
The New United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
will give a news conference in Geneva.
Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Arun Gandhi will immerse ashes of India's founding father in the Ganges River near Allahabad, India.
The Dutch EU presidency will launch its "Year Against
Racism and Xenophobia."
The Christian Coalition will announce its legislative agenda for the 105th Congress.
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On the horizon
On Friday, January 31, the verdict is expected in a Bonn court on whether 21 Jewish former slave laborers should get compensation for their unpaid work in Nazi forced labor camps during WW II.
Saturday, February 1, is the last day of official campaigning for national and provincial elections in Pakistan.
On Sunday, February 2, the Missionaries of Charity religious order announces a possible successor to the ailing Mother Teresa.
On Monday, February 3, an international congress on education opens in Havana, Cuba.
On Tuesday, February 4, President Clinton delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.
On Wednesday, February 5, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana is expected to visit Turkey.
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On this day
In 1606, Sir Everard Digby, Thomas Winter, John Grant and
Thomas Bates, conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up
the houses of Parliament, were executed.
In 1648, treaties were signed ending the Eighty Years War
between Spain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands.
In 1649, King Charles I was beheaded in London for treason.
In 1790, the first purpose-built lifeboat, The Original, was
launched on the River Tyne in England.
In 1835, President Andrew Jackson survived the first assassination attempt on a U.S. president.
In 1858, the Halle Orchestra was founded by Charles Halle in
Manchester, England.
In 1889, Crown Prince Franz Karl Josef Rudolf of Austria and
his mistress, Marie Vetsera, committed suicide at the imperial
hunting lodge of Mayerling, Austria.
In 1902, Britain and Japan signed a treaty providing for the
independence of China and Korea.
In 1933, German President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf
Hitler chancellor.
In 1937, 13 leading Communists were sentenced to death
for allegedly participating in a plot, led by Leon Trotsky, to
overthrow the Soviet regime and assassinate its leaders.
In 1943, Adm. Karl Doenitz was appointed commander-in-chief of
the German Navy in place of Adm. Erich Raeder.
In 1945, the Duke of Gloucester became Australia's first royal
governor-general.
In 1964, a coup d'etat in South Vietnam by Gen. Nguyen Khanh
displaces Gen. Duong Van Minh.
In 1965, the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill was held
in London.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI met Soviet President Podgorny, the first
Soviet head of state to visit the Vatican.
In 1968, Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers
launched the Tet (New Year) offensive, targeting more than 100
towns and cities in South Vietnam. The offensive was militarily
unsuccessful, but North Vietnam scored a psychological victory.
In 1970, Lesotho's prime minister, Chief Leabua Jonathan,
declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution,
claiming malpractices had been discovered in recent elections.
In 1972, British soldiers shot 13 people to death at a banned
Catholic civil rights march in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in
a clash known as "Bloody Sunday."
In 1972, Pakistan left the Commonwealth in protest against
imminent recognition of Bangladesh by Britain, Australia and New
Zealand.
In 1973, Gordon Liddy and James McCord were convicted of burglary, wire-tapping and attempted bugging of the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C.
In 1989, Lebanon's warring Shiite groups, the Syrian-backed
Amal militia and the pro-Iranian Hizbollah, signed a peace
accord, ending a yearlong feud.
In 1992, Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey announced he
would resign after being accused of telephone-tapping.
In 1992, Argentina opened the files on scores of Nazis who
fled to South America after World War II, a move Jewish leaders
said would help the hunt for war criminals.
In 1994, the U.S. granted Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams a
visa to attend a New York conference on Northern Ireland.
In 1996, Hasan Muratovic was formally appointed prime minister
of Bosnia Herzegovina's central government.
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Newslink
On January 30, 1969, the Beatles performed together in public for the last time. The show took place on the roof of their Apple Studios in London, England, but it was interrupted by police after they received complaints from the neighbors about the noise. To revisit those magic times, click here.
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Holidays and more
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney is 56.
Actor Charles S. Dutton is 46.
Actor Gene Hackman is 67.
Actress Dorothy Malone is 72.
Comedian Dick Martin is 75.
Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 60.
Singer Jody Watley is 36.
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Sources: Reuters,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan
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