01|Mohammed Rafiq Tarar is sworn in as president of Pakistan. Tarar, a former senator and Supreme Court judge, was overwhelmingly elected president on Dec. 31, 1997, by members of the National Assembly.|
01|A law banning smoking in all California bars, nightclubs, and gambling casinos goes into effect at midnight. The legislature in California banned smoking in all other indoor public places in 1995.|
02|Winds of 90 miles (150 kilometers) per hour, driving rains, and waves of 26 feet (8 meters) blast Europe's Atlantic coast, sinking boats and triggering a series of accidents that kill at least four people and leave wide areas of the coastal sections of Spain, France, and the United Kingdom without power.|
03|A French foreign ministry spokesperson labels the recent mass killings of Algerian civilians by Islamic extremist groups "atrocious and horrible" but states that there is nothing that other countries can do to curb them. Algeria was a French colony from 1848 until 1962. On Dec. 30, 1997, the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, insurgents wielding knives killed more than 400 people in villages about 180 miles (290 kilometers) west of Algiers, the capital.|
04|Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy resigns from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, leaving Netanyahu with only a 61 to 59 majority in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. On January 1, Levy publicly criticized Netanyahu's social welfare programs and performance in negotiating peace with the Palestinians.|
04|Daniel arap Moi wins a fifth five-year term as president of Kenya in an election that domestic and international observers describe as "flawed and chaotic" but essentially honest.|
05|Ford Motor Company announces that it will lower smog-producing emissions in its 1999 sport-utility vehicles and minivans, scheduled to appear in the autumn of 1998, to the same levels produced by its automobiles. Chrysler Corporation responds that it will lower emissions in its popular line of Jeep Cherokees and Grand Cherokees to match those of Ford sport-utility vehicles.|
06|Algeria rejects a United Nations offer to conduct an international inquiry into the ongoing massacre of civilians by Islamic militant groups. Observers estimate that at least 60,000 people have been murdered in Algeria since 1992, when the military-backed government canceled elections that an extremist group, the Islamic Salvation Front, was expected to win. Since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Dec. 30, 1997, more than 1,000 people in the Relizane province in western Algeria have been killed.|
07|A federal jury in Denver, Colorado, announces that it is deadlocked over sentencing Terry L. Nichols for his role in the April 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building. Nichols was convicted on Dec. 23, 1997, of conspiring to bomb the building and of involuntary manslaughter. The deadlock allows Nichols to escape the death penalty. Under federal law, only a jury can hand down a death sentence. Judge Richard P. Matsch was to sentence Nichols later in 1998.|
08|The Indonesian stock market drops 19 percent, the largest one-day loss yet in the current Southeast Asian economic crises, which began in July 1997. The Indonesian currency, the rupiah, which has declined 75 percent in value since July, continues its downward spiral, falling to a record low of 1,550 to the dollar. Rumors circulate through the capital, Jakarta, that 76-year-old President Suharto is ill and that the military is about to seize power. The crisis triggers panic buying, clearing the shelves at grocery stores, and forcing many shopkeepers to close their doors.|
08|Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, convicted of planning the Feb. 26, 1993, World Trade Center bombing, is sentenced by Federal Judge Kevin Duffy to life in prison plus 240 years. In passing sentence, the judge notes that while legally restrained from sentencing Yousef to death, he recommends that Yousef be kept in solitary confinement. Yousef responds by proclaiming, "I am a terrorist and I am proud of it."|
09|Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl concedes that the German unemployment rate of 11.8 percent cannot be halved as he had promised in January 1996. The unemployment rate was at its highest level since 1933.|
10|More than 3 million people in the eastern third of Canada and hundreds of thousands more in upstate New York and northern New England remain without electricity following days of freezing rain. Ice and splintering trees toppled power poles and crumpled high-tension electrical towers throughout the region. Rivers and tributaries reach record levels from a combination of melted snow and heavy precipitation, which began on January 6. In Quebec, the provincial power company estimates that it may take a week or longer to restore electricity to all customers. In New York, the governor dispatches the national guard to communities paralyzed by the vast storm.|
11|The Green Bay Packers capture the National Football League's National Conference championship by beating the San Francisco 49ers 23 to 10. The Packers will meet the American Conference champions, the Denver Broncos, at Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego on January 25.|
11|More than 21 inches (55 centimeters) of rain falls on Townsville in Queensland, Australia, during a 24-hour period, triggering floods that leave as many as 20 people missing and hundreds of houses inundated. Townsville normally receives approximately 42 inches (110 centimeters) of rain per year.|
11|Sonia Gandhi, widow of an assassinated prime minister of India and daughter-in-law of another, announces that she will enter politics to campaign for Congress Party candidates in India's upcoming parliamentary election. The Congress Party dominated Indian politics for much of the country's 50 years of independence. Since the deaths of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, the power of the Congress Party has declined, and politics in India, which has had three coalition governments since 1996, has splintered among small parties based largely on religion and caste.|
12|Freezing temperatures in eastern Canada add to the misery for hundreds of thousands of residents who remain without heat or power after a devastating ice storm paralyzed much of the area. At least 15 Canadians have died as a result of the storm, and more than 10,000 people remain in temporary shelters in Montreal alone. The provincial-owned utility company, Hydro-Quebec, believes it will take at least two more weeks to restore power to all customers.|
13|The Israeli cabinet, taking a hard line on the question of withdrawing from the West Bank, announces that it will make no further concessions until the Palestinians satisfy a number of conditions, including the extradition of 34 Palestinians wanted by Israel for terrorist acts. Observers suggest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is aware that Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat is unlikely to turn any Palestinians over to Israel authorities.|
14|The United Nations Security Council rebukes Iraq for again stopping UN teams from inspecting Iraqi weapons sites. Although two teams have been allowed to visit sites as scheduled, Iraq barred an American-led inspection team from weapon sites for two days. Iraq complained that there are too many Americans and Britons on the teams.|
15|President Suharto of Indonesia signs an accord with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that requires him to reform the economy. The IMF is a United Nations-affiliated organization, located in Washington, D.C., that provides short-term credit to member nations. The IMF agreement stipulates that Suharto end the tight control he exercises over the national economy and break the economic power of his inner circle and family, including giving up family-owned businesses and monopolies. Suharto, who has ruled Indonesia for 32 years, agreed to the reforms only after the economy apparently bottomed out. In the last 18 months, the Indonesian currency, the rupiah, fell from 2,345 to 8,650 to the dollar. The IMF had promised Indonesia $40 billion aid in an earlier agreement, which involved economic reforms that Suharto failed to carry out.|
16|The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration announces that Senator John Glenn, who in 1962 was the first American to orbit Earth, will reenter space aboard the Discovery shuttle flight scheduled for October 1998. Glenn, who will be 77 years old at the time of the flight, is to participate in experiments involving weightlessness and the aging process.|
17|Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, on the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the Persian Gulf War, threatens to evict all United Nations weapons inspectors from Iraq. Claiming that inspection teams have a disproportionate number of Americans, Saddam Hussein has repeatedly blocked UN teams from searching for evidence of weapons of mass destruction.|
18|Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan announces that the government of Iraq has declared a "great jihad (holy war)" against United Nations sanctions. The sanctions were initially imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. At the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the UN Security Council voted to continue to enforce the sanctions until all weapons of mass destruction in Iraq had been eradicated.|
19|The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces that it has the authority through the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to regulate human cloning and warns that cloning a human being without FDA approval would violate federal law. FDA officials claim that human cloning raises "serious health and safety issues."|
20|Two University of Massachusetts scientists, James Robl and Steven Stice, announce the birth of three Holstein calves that were cloned from the cells of cow fetuses. Using a technique similar to the process used to create Dolly, the sheep cloned from the cell of an adult sheep in 1997, the scientists genetically altered the calves to enhance the economic viability of making medicine in animal milk. The scientists suggest that their experiments will eventually lead to the creation of genetically altered animals that act as living organ or drug factories.|
21|Pope John Paul II arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit, marking the first time that any pope has visited the Communist island nation. During his visit, the pontiff was to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro and hold several open air masses.|
21|President Bill Clinton denies sexual involvement with 24-year-old Monica Lewinsky. The Washington Post reported that independent counsel Kenneth Starr is investigating allegations concerning a relationship, including reports that Clinton encouraged the woman, a former White House aide, to lie about whether she was involved with Clinton several years ago.|
22|Theodore J. Kaczynski acknowledges that he is the so-called Unabomber and pleads guilty to all federal murder charges against him. His plea is a bargain made in order to avoid a possible death sentence. In exchange, Kaczynski was to be sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole. During Kaczynski's 18-year war on modern technology, he mailed 16 package bombs that killed 3 people and maimed 28 others.|
23|Officials of Canada's largest and third largest banks, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, announce that they plan to merge, creating the third largest bank in North America behind Chase Manhattan Corp. and Citicorp. Financial observers note that the move follows a series of similar mergers, creating megabanks in both Europe and the United States.|
24|Hundreds of German demonstrators, identified as radical rightists and neo-Nazis, and counter-demonstrators, labeled leftists, brawl in the streets of Dresden over an exhibit showing rank-and-file German soldiers during World War II (1939-1945) killing Jews and other civilians alongside Adolf Hitler's notorious SS units. The exhibit--"War of Extermination: Crimes of the Wehrmacht from 1941 to 1944"--infuriated rightists and neo-Nazis as well as German veterans, who claim that ordinary soldiers fought only enemy soldiers.|
25|The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 31 to 24, to win Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego. The Broncos' upset victory in one of the most competitive games in Super Bowl history ends the American Conference's 13-year losing streak. Denver running back Terrell Davis is voted the game's Most Valuable Player.|
26|Compaq Computer Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers, agrees to buy Digital Equipment Corporation, which produces large corporate computers, for $9.6 billion in cash and stock. The takeover, the largest in computer business history, will place Compaq in direct competition with IBM, the world's largest maker of all types of computers.|
27|The finance minister of Japan, Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, resigns after taking full responsibility for a bribery scandal. The resignation comes one day after officials of the ministry, the most powerful arm of the Japanese government, were arrested for accepting bribes. Observers of the troubled financial scene in Asia suggest that Mitsuzuka's resignation may lead to economic reforms as well as to government stimulation of the economy, which could reduce the risk of an economic slowdown worldwide. The Japanese economy is viewed as large enough to potentially pull the economies of other Asian countries onto a solid financial footing.|
27|U.S. President Bill Clinton, addressing Congress, declares the state of the union sound and proposes increased spending on social programs and a plan to rescue Social Security. He also says that he will submit the first balanced budget to Congress since 1969.|
28|The Brazilian Congress votes to establish criminal penalties for damaging the environment. The new law will enable legal authorities to enforce existing environmental protection laws. On January 26, the government of Brazil issued statistics revealing that the rate of destruction of the Amazon rain forest tripled between 1991 and 1995. In 1995, 11,196 square miles (28,991 square kilometers), an area larger than New Jersey, was burned.|
28|Twenty-six people--16 Sri Lankans and 10 Indians--accused of conspiring to assassinate Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 are found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Nearly 300 witnesses testified in the trial, which lasted six years. Gandhi, the son and grandson of Indian prime ministers, was killed when a woman detonated plastic explosives strapped to her body while handing him a bouquet of flowers.|
29|A Birmingham, Alabama, abortion clinic is bombed, killing an off-duty policeman working as a security guard and critically injuring a nurse. The clinic had long been a target of antiabortion protests.|
30|The United States and Japan agree to lift most restrictions on air traffic between the two countries, ending a major and long-running trade dispute. The agreement calls for adding air service to more cities in both countries and either loosening or removing restrictions on a number of U.S. and Japanese airlines, including All Nippon Airways, FDX Corporation (formerly Fedex), Japan Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines. Airline experts predict that air fares to and from Japan will drop as a result of the agreements.|
31|Thousands of people march through Seville, Spain, to protest the January 30 murders of a city councilman and his wife. Police blame Basque separatists for the killings.|
31|Martina Hingis of Switzerland wins the women's title at the Australian Open in Melbourne by beating Spain's Conchita Martinez in straight sets.|
