January

• The signs of the zodiac within the month of January are Capricorn (December 22-January 19) and Aquarius (January 20-February 18).
• In the sky, however, in January the Sun passes through the zodiac constellations Sagittarius and Capricornus.
• In regular years January begins on the same day of the week as October.
• In leap years January begins on the same day of the week as April and July.

• January's flower is the snowdrop.
• January's birthstone is the garnet.

See Also:

January 29, 2002

• George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union Address to Congress.

January 24, 2002

• Enron hearings begin.
• Terrorist suspect John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.

January 23, 2002

• Kenneth Lay, CEO of the bankrupt Enron Corporation, resigns.

January 20, 2002

• Speed skating: world championships sprint, Hamar, Norway. Katriona Lemay-Doan of Canada wins in the women's event (2. Andrea Nuyt, Neth., 3. Anzhela Kotyuaga, Bel.), Jeremy Wotherspoon, also of Canada becomes the champion in the men's competition (2. Casey Fitzrandolph, USA, 3. Michael Ireland, Can.).

January 8, 2002

• Fast-food restaurant chain Wendy's founder Dave Thomas dies at 69.
• Ozzie Smith is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Michael Jordan's wife files for divorce.

January 4, 2002

• U.S. officials announce they have custody of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi.

January 4, 2002

• The Israeli Army seizes the Karine A on the Red Sea, claiming the arms on the ship were bound for the Palestinian Authority.
• Tom Daschle accuses President Bush and the Republicans have caused the "most dramatic fiscal deterioration in our nation's history."
• The United States Department of Labor announces that the United States unemployment rate rose to 5.8% in December.
• U2, India Arie, and Alicia Keys lead the nominations for the 44th annual Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
• The movies Impostor, Eisenstein, Black Hawk Down, and Gosford Park are released in the U.S. - several are actually worth seeing.

January 3, 2002

• Beer brewer Freddy Heineken (grandson of the brewery's founder) died in his home at the age of 78.

January 1, 2002

• Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in 12 member states of the European Union.

Topics in the news in January 2002

• Ethnicity: Israeli - Jew - Palestinian
• Geography:
  • Re Colin Powell's speech: Gaza - Gaza Strip - Golan Heights - Israel - Judea - Palestine - Syria - West Bank
  • Re airport security bill: Reagan National Airport
  • Re germ warfare: Iraq - North Korea
• Law: anti-terrorism legislation
• Organizations, governmental and professional: Air Transport Association - American Automobile Association - House of Lords - United States Department of Transportation
• People: Yasser Arafat - Caroline Dickinson - Saddam Hussein - Shimon Peres - Colin Powell - Condoleezza Rice - Nabil Shaath - Ariel Sharon
• Religion: Islam - Judaism
• Concepts:
  • Military and defense: biological weapons program - sniffer dogs - weapons of mass destruction - x-ray searching
  • Other: airline baggage - bounty - bounty hunter - sniffer dog - x-ray searching

Background for events in January 2002

The War in Afghanistan: Background

• Developing stories: 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan - individual cases of anthrax
• Ethnicity: People of Afghanistan - Azerbaijan - Pashtun - Tajik
• Geography: Afghanistan - Baghlan, Afghanistan - Israel - Kabul - Kandahar - Kunduz, Afghanistan - New York City - Pakistan - Palestine - United States of America - Washington, D.C
• History: September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Back history
• People: Osama Bin Laden - Tony Blair - George W. Bush - Abdul Rashid Dostum - Pervez Musharraf - Mullah Mohammed Omar - Burhanuddin Rabbani - Donald H. Rumsfeld - Abdul Sattar
• Organizations: al Qaeda - CDC - Northern Alliance - Taliban - United Nations - United Nations Security Council - U.S. Special Operations
• Concepts
  • Geographical: airport - airspace - pipeline
  • Military/guerilla/defense technology and strategy: aircraft carrier - airport security - anthrax - antibiotic resistance - baggage screening - biological warfare - biological weapon - car bomb - ciprofloxacin - domestic security - gas mask - germ warfare - aircraft hijacking - smallpox - terrorist cell - vaccine
  • Political: anti-Americanism - domestic terrorism - foreign aid - foreign aid worker - humanitarian aid - peace - risk analysis - terrorism - terrorist groups - war
  • Religious: Islamism
  • Psychological: collective trauma

• Geography: New York City - Reno, Nevada - Washington, D.C
• People: John Ashcroft - George W. Bush - Colin Powell -
• Organizations: Air Transport Association - Central Intelligence Agency - U.S. Department of Defense - Federal Bureau of Investigation - Office of Homeland Security
• Concepts: bipartisanship - electronic surveillance - encryption - wiretap - tax cut

• Ethnicity: Israeli - Jew - Palestinian
• Geography: Gaza - Gaza Strip - Golan Heights - Israel - Judea - Palestine - Syria - West Bank
• People: Yasser Arafat - Shimon Peres - Colin Powell - Nabil Shaath - Ariel Sharon
• Religion: Islam - Judaism
• The terrorist attack: September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack - World Trade Center - The Pentagon - New York City - Washington, D.C - AA Flight 11 - UA Flight 75 - AA Flight 77 - UA Flight 93 - September 11

• India/Transnational issues
• Kashmir

• East Timor

• Max Perutz, the molecular biologist, has died at the age of 87.
• A new genetic mechanism has been found allowing evolution to radically redesign body plans, caused by mutations occurring in the regulatory genes that control embryonic development.

• ETA
• Anti-war protests

• recession
• stock market - stock exchange - Dow Jones Industrial Average - NASDAQ
• Cisco Systems
• United Auto Workers
• Railtrack

• Jennifer Lopez - Sharon Stone - aneurysm

January 31, 2003

January 29, 2003

• A false rumor that Thai actress Suvanant Kongying had told a reporter that the temple ruins at Angkor really belong to Thailand led to a riot in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, causing the destruction of the Thai Embassy and dozens of Thai-owned businesses, hotels and factories.

January 28, 2003

• An election in the state of Oregon to pass an temporary three-year income tax failed with 54% of the votes voting against and 44% voting for. This forced the first layoffs in the Oregon State Police since its creation in 1934, and other actions including cutbacks in many of the local school districts.

January 26, 2003

• American Football Super Bowl XXXVII: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Oakland Raiders, 48-21.

January 25, 2003

• The Internet was attacked by very high traffic caused by a self-replicating software worm program called "SQL Slammer". This attacked Microsoft SQL servers, causing them to spray the Internet with more copies of the worm program. This was made possible by a security vulnerability in Microsoft SQL Server. The worm attack had the side effect of causing a distributed denial of service attack on the rest of the Internet.
• The New Democratic Party of Canada picks Toronto city councillor Jack Layton as its new leader, replacing Alexa McDonough, at its convention in Toronto. Layton wins on the first ballot, beating veteran MP Bill Blaikie.

January 24, 2003

• War on Terrorism: The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation and former governor Tom Ridge takes command. Reorganization of other departments effected by its creation in the United States Government will continue for some time. This represents the largest reorganization of the United States Government since the creation of the United States Department of Defense during World War II.

January 22, 2003

January 21, 2003

• An earthquake hits Mexico that is 7.6 on the Richter scale. The center of the earthquake was on located on the Pacific coast, in the State of Colima. Even in Mexico City, the capital 400 kilometres away from the center of the earthquake, the earthquake was felt.
• Convicted cracker Kevin Mitnick is allowed to use a computer again.

January 20, 2003

January 18, 2003

• A mass mobilization pulls together global protests against war on Iraq in cities around the world, including Tokyo, Moscow, Paris, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Cologne, Bonn, Goteborg, Istanbul, and Cairo. NION and ANSWER hold protests in Washington D.C and San Francisco, California.
• The Swiss yacht Allinghi, captained by New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts, defeated Oracle, a San Francisco, California-based yacht, to win the challenger final of the America's Cup. Allinghi will now face the New Zealand defender, yet to be determined.
• A series of bushfires engulfed portions of Canberra, the capital of Australia. About 500 homes were burnt when the bushfires hit Canberra with great suddenness and speed at about 14:00. 4 people died and over 60 hospital admissions were made, and about 240 persons were treated for injuries. The Mount Stromlo Observatory was destroyed, and over 200 homes were burnt in the western suburb of Duffy. Some northwestern suburbs were also affected. The Australian Capital Territory government later declared a state of emergency. The afternoon sky turned dark or yellowish-grey and city residents saw a yellow-orange full moon that night.

January 17, 2003

January 16, 2003

January 15, 2003

• Belgian plant pathologist, Emile Frison, of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain states that the banana may become extinct within 10 years.
• In a 7-2 decision in the case Eldred v. Ashcroft, the Supreme Court of the United States rules the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act constitutional, preventing the expiration of any U.S. copyrights for 20 years from the date the law went into effect.
• A statement, issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and signed by Pope John Paul II, declared that all Roman Catholic politicians must adhere to church teachings, and that they cannot be faithful to the Church if they vote against Church positions on such issues as abortion.

January 14, 2003

January 13, 2003

• War on terrorism: Six more suspects have been arrested in Bournemouth in England in connection with the investigation into ricin found in London. This brings the total of those arrested to eleven.

• Senator Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut announced he will run in the 2004 U.S. presidential election

January 12, 2003

• North Korea threatens that the US will vanish in a "sea of fire" if it continues to challenge North Korea.
• Ariel Sharon and his Likud party are the target of continued accusations of political corruption.
• Steve Case announces his resignation as chairman of AOL after 18 years at the head of the company.
• Groundbreaking begins on Hong Kong Disneyland, scheduled to open in 2006

January 11, 2003

• George Ryan, Governor of Illinois, announced that he commuted the sentences of all 157 people on the state of Illinois' Death Row to life in prison. "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. What effect was race having? What effect was poverty having? Because of all these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates," Ryan said. Ryan's term of office expires on January 13.
• A U.S. court ordered the controversial organization Clonaid, which claims that it produced a human clone, to reveal the identity and whereabouts of the alleged cloned baby.

January 10, 2003

January 8, 2003

• North Korea threatens war if the United Nations applies economic sanctions.
• Air Midwest airplane crashes during take off from Charlotte, North Carolina's international airport, killing all 21 people aboard. The plane, headed to Greer, South Carolina, was not able to maintain altitude after take-off, crashing onto a USAirways plane hangar. In another crash, in Turkey, at least 74 of the 77 people on board died when a plane of the Turkish Airlines company, crashed while attempting an emergency landing at the Diyarbakir airport.

January 7, 2003

• Jon Johansen was acquitted of all charges in the Norwegian DeCSS trial, in an important test case for copyright law.
• War on Terrorism: British police announced details of the discovery of traces of the toxin ricin in a flat in Wood Green in North London in the wake of the arrest of 6 terrorist suspects. The timing of this news coincided with a major speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair dealing with the threat of terrorism and Britain's relationship with the U.S.A.
• British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced details of the call-up of reservists in the miltary build-up calculated to increase pressure on Iraq.
• French President Jacques Chirac, in a New Year's message to French forces, stated that French forces should be prepare to be activated if the United Nations decides on military action in Iraq.
• Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihaj Vajpayee told an educational conference in Mumbai: "Our scientists are now talking of going to the Moon."
• Astronomers at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton University have found the most distant extrasolar planet, OGLE-TR-56b, by a new technique of observing the intensity of light as a planet transits its sun, rather than by gravitational pertubation.

January 6, 2003

• Three Wise Men day celebrated all over Latin America. A tradition for centuries in Latin America, the Three Wise Men day is the official ending of Christmas on most Latin American countries. During this day, most Latin American children will receive presents just as if it was another Christmas Day.
• The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Day, due to the discrepancies between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. See Epiphany.

January 5, 2003

• The flood in Germany turns out to be less severe than expected in the last few days. Exception is Wertheim, where a 100-year-high is expected.
• Terrorist incident: A double suicide bombing shatters a busy area of Tel Aviv, Israel. 23 people are killed and about 100 are wounded. Both the Islamic Jihad and Hamas claim to be responsible for the double bombing.

January 4, 2003

January 3, 2003

January 2, 2003

• The first 49 of a promised 1,264 West African peacekeepers arrives at Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, to help supervise the cease-fire between the government of President Laurent Gbagbo and the main rebel group, the Patriotic Movement of the Ivory Coast. Rebellion against the Gbagbo government began September 19, 2002. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to send peacekeepers on September 29. The EECOWAS peacekeepers will join 2,500 French forces. Rebel groups occupy the northern half of Cote d'Ivoire.
• French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin arrives in Cote d'Ivoire to help mediate the conflict.
• Oil leakage from the sunken tanker Prestige threatens the southwestern coast of France. The prefect of Aquitaine reported a slick from the tanker is 50 kilometers (30 standard miles) from the coast. French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin promised 50 million euros for the cleanup. The Prestige, which carried 77,000 tonnes of crude oil, sunk in late November, 2002, off the coast of the Galician region of Spain.
• The People's Republic of China Foreign Ministry reacted to a report in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz which stated that Israel had complied with a U.S. request to suspend all contracts on the exports of arms and security equipment from the PRC to Israel. Israeli Defence Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron stated that Israel intends to "track down" all security ties with the PRC. An unnamed senior Israeli official stated that the Americans were using the pretext of protecting Taiwan to cover a proposed shift of American policy to allow direct arms sales to the PRC.
• United States Army division commanders are beginning a war game at V Corps headquarters at Heidelberg, Germany, called VICTORY SCRIMMAGE. The exercise is under the command of Lieutenant General William Wallace, who is expected to command American ground forces in a planned U.S. war against Iraq.
• Clonaid Chief Executive Brigitte Boisselier told the French television station France 2 that the American parents of the supposed clone that Clonaid created are balking at provicing DNA evidence to prove that their new-born baby "Eve" is really a clone. The claim is that the parents are afraid that Florida will try to take the baby away from them.

January 1, 2003

• Users of the Gregorian calendar around the world celebrate the New Year. Happy New Year!
• Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva ("Lula") becomes the 37th president of the Federative Republic of Brazil for the period (2003-2007). Da Silva was elected representing the Worker's Party with 61% percent of the vote. His inaugural speech includes vows to wipe out poverty, hunger, and corruption, but da Silva promised during the campaign to abide by an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to maintain a budget surplus of 3.75% and filled key economic posts with men considered friendly to foreign investment. Among guests at the inauguration were Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuban President Fidel Castro, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.
• The Turkish-registered tanker Vicky, with 70,000 tonnes of diesel cargo, struck the wreck of the sunken auto carrier Tricolor off the coast of Dunkirk, France. The double-hulled tanker freed itself from the wreck with the rising tide and sailed a mile off to check for leakage. The Vicky is the second ship to strike the wreck of the Tricolor since the carrier sank on December 14, 2002.
• A Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules overflew the islands of Tikopia and Anuta in the Solomon Islands to inspect damage by Cyclone Zoe. The overflight carried officials of the Australian government agency AusAid. Reports show that there was damage to crops and traditional homes, but there may be no casualties among the islands' 1,600 inhabitants.