Today is Tuesday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2018 with 349 to follow.
The moon is new. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn. Evening stars are Neptune and Uranus.
Advertisement
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speaks during a meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 2015. On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia's president. She was the first female elected head of state in Africa. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Andre Michelin, the French industrialist who first mass-produced rubber automobile tires, in 1853; Canadian poet Robert Service in 1874; former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1901; inventor Frank Zamboni in 1901; singer Ethel Merman in 1908; zoologist Dian Fossey in 1932; writer Susan Sontag in 1933; opera singer Marilyn Horne in 1934 (age 84); race car driver A.J. Foyt in 1935 (age 83); producer/singer Rene Angelil in 1942; country singer Ronnie Milsap in 1943 (age 75); radio talk show host Laura Schlessinger in 1947 (age 71); film director John Carpenter in 1948 (age 70); choreographer/actor/director Debbie Allen in 1950 (age 68); Nigerian singer Sade Adu in 1959 (age 59); British television host James May in 1963 (age 55); British model Kate Moss in 1974 (age 44); singer Aaliyah; baseball star Albert Pujols in 1980 (age 38); actor/playwright/singer Lin-Manuel Miranda in 1980; actor Birgitte Hjort Sorensen in 1982 (age 36); singer FKA Twigs in 1988 (age 30).
Advertisement
On this date in history:
Related
In 1581, the English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism.
In 1883, the U.S. Congress passed a bill creating the civil service.
In 1919, the United States went legally "dry" as prohibition of alcoholic beverages took effect under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was repealed in 1933.
In 1942, screen star Carole Lombard, her mother and 20 other people were killed in a plane crash near Las Vegas. Lombard was the wife of actor Clark Gable.
In 1944, U.S. Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower arrived in London to assume command of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe.
In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan called for "peaceful competition" with Moscow. He authorized research and development on space-age weapons capable of destroying incoming nuclear missiles -- the program known as "Star Wars."
In 1990, Soviet troops entered Azerbaijan amid fighting between Christian Armenians and Islamic Azerbaijani in Azerbaijan in the waning days of the central government's power.
In 1997, the 28-year-old son of TV star Bill Cosby, Ennis Cosby, was shot to death in the Bel-Air area of Los Angeles while changing a flat tire on his car.
Advertisement
In 2001, President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was shot to death by one of his bodyguards, who was killed by other guards.
In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush said his re-election was a ratification of what he did in Iraq and there was no reason to hold any administration official accountable.
In 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia's president. She was the first female elected head of state in Africa.
In 2013, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing announced a tax amnesty program, offering an opportunity to people owing taxes to pay without penalty.
In 2014, Major League Baseball announced a "historic" expansion of instant replay to review close calls -- starting in the 2014 season.
A thought for the day: Neil Armstrong, recalling how it felt to look back at Earth from the surface of the moon: "I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small."
