01|At least 50 people drown when the front section of a cargo ship sinks after the vessel breaks apart during a storm along Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast. Most of the victims--illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Morocco, and Pakistan, on their way to Greece--were locked in a cargo hold.|
02|President-elect George W. Bush nominates Spencer Abraham for secretary of the Department of Energy; Linda Chavez for head of the Department of Labor; and Norman Mineta for secretary of the Department of Transportation. Senator Abraham of Michigan was defeated in his bid for reelection in November 2000. Chavez, a syndicated columnist, served in the Reagan administration as staff director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Mineta, a Democrat, represented San Jose, California, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1972 to 1995 and is currently commerce secretary in the Clinton administration.|
03|The Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed), the central bank of the United States, cuts short-term interest rates from 6.5 percent to 6 percent. Short-term rates refer to the interest rate banks charge each other for overnight loans. Economists describe the cut, the first in two years, as an attempt by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to head off a downturn in the U.S. economy. After weeks of declining in value, stocks on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq surge upward in response to the Fed announcement.|
03|A crowd of between 50,000 and 100,000 people demonstrate in Wenceslas Square in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, in support of television journalists who have barricaded themselves inside the headquarters of Czech Television, which is owned by the government. According to the journalists, the sit-in strike is an attempt to preserve their independence from political pressure, particularly from the conservative Civic Democratic Party headed by Vaclav Klaus.|
03|Vice President Al Gore administers the oath of office to 11 newly elected members of the United States Senate, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, the junior senator from New York. Hillary Clinton is the first wife of a U.S. president to hold public office. President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea witness the swearing ceremony from the Senate gallery.|
04|Nine people are killed when rival gangs, wielding guns and machetes, clash on Lombok, an Indonesian island known for its beachfront resorts. Lombok is approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Bali, Indonesia's main tourist destination.|
04|A Yemeni government official announces that authorities have uncovered evidence that six people currently in custody in Sana, the capital, were involved in the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing attack on the USS Cole, which left 17 U.S. sailors dead and 30 others injured. In December 2000, the president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, noted that the Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden may have been involved in the attack. U.S. authorities have accused bin Laden, who is believed to live in Afghanistan, of masterminding and financing the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.|
05|United States President Bill Clinton issues a presidential order placing more than 50 million acres (23.5 million hectares) in 39 states permanently off-limits to road building, logging, and oil and gas development. The presidential order affects approximately one-third of all national forestland in the United States.|
06|Members of the United States Congress ratify the tally of the Dec. 18, 2000, Electoral College presidential election vote. Texas Governor George W. Bush, receives 271 votes, one vote more than the 270 he needed to win. The loser, Vice President Al Gore, takes 266 votes. |
06|A Saudi government official announces in Riyadh, the capital, that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), an association of 11 oil-producing nations, plans to cut oil production by 1.5 to 2 million barrels a day in an attempt to boost prices. In 2000, OPEC increased production four times in an effort to reduce prices to below $30 a barrel.|
07|Russian President Vladimir Putin assures German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is in Moscow on a state visit, that Russia plans to pay the debts of the former Soviet Union. Germany holds $20 billion of a total debt of some $48 billion.|
08|California Governor Gray Davis proposes that California reassert control over the state's electrical utilities, which were deregulated in 1996. The deregulation law mandated that utilities buy power on the open market at market prices but barred passing increases on to customers until 2002. However, electric utility experts also blame the state's electrical crisis on too few power-generating plants in California; recurring mechanical breakdowns in the transmission of electricity; and the rising price of natural gas, which fuels many of the state's generators. The price of wholesale electricity jumped in California by more than 1,000 percent between January 2000 and January 2001.|
08|Tens of thousands of religious and nationalist Israelis march through the streets of Jerusalem protesting the most recent Arab-Israeli peace plan, which was drafted by U.S. President Bill Clinton in late December 2000. Clinton proposed that Israel retain sovereignty (authority) over the Jewish areas of Jerusalem but give a new Palestinian nation sovereignty over Arab areas of the city. The most controversial part of the plan divides sovereignty over the Temple Mount, which is sacred to both Jews and Muslims. While Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat expressed reservations with the plan, both agreed to participate in negotiations led by U.S. envoy Dennis B. Ross.|
09|The discovery of what may be the largest concentration of galaxies and quasars in the observable universe is reported at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Gerard Williger of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, describes the immense structure, which is visible by telescope at just below the center of the constellation Leo, as stretching across approximately 500 million light-years and located some 6.5 billion light-years from Earth. Astronomers estimate that the giant cluster includes billions of stars in at least 11 galaxies and as many as 18 quasars.|
09|Linda Chavez withdraws her name from consideration as labor secretary in President-elect George W. Bush's Cabinet after the media revealed that Chavez in the 1990's had given room, board, and spending money to an illegal immigrant from Guatemala. Chavez admitted that the woman had performed household chores but denied that she had been an employee.|
09|Blizzards in northeast China and in North Korea and South Korea leave more than 30 people dead and thousands of others stranded.|
10|A spokesperson for American Airlines of Fort Worth, Texas, announces that the company is offering $500 million for St. Louis, Missouri-based Trans World Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy prior to the announcement. American also plans to acquire 20 percent of US Airways from United Airlines of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, if the U.S. Department of Justice approves United's proposed buyout of the Arlington, Virginia-based airline. Aviation experts predict that the various acquisitions will give American and United control over more than half of all domestic flights in the United States.|
11|The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent U.S. government agency that regulates communication by wire, cable, radio, and television, unanimously approves the merger of America Online, Incorporated of Dulles, Virginia, with Time Warner, Incorporated, a New York City-based media corporation. AOL is the world's largest Internet service provider, with more than 22 million subscribers. Time Warner is the world's largest media conglomerate with operations in book and magazine publishing; cable television systems and channels; and the film and record industries. Under the terms of the FCC approval, the new company must abide by a series of conditions designed to protect consumers.|
11|President-elect George W. Bush nominates Elaine Chao for secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor. Chao served as deputy secretary of transportation and headed the Peace Corps during the George H. W. Bush administration. In 1992, she was named president of the United Way of America. Chao is married to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.|
12|Temperatures drop to 58 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) in areas of Siberia, where widespread fuel shortages have left tens of thousands of people with little or no heat.|
13|A 7.6-magnitude earthquake centered along El Salvador's Pacific coast kills more than 700 people in and around San Salvador, the capital. In one neighborhood, the quake sets off a landslide that buries between 200 and 300 houses, trapping hundreds of residents.|
14|The New York Giants take the National Football Conference championship by beating the Minnesota Vikings, 41-0. The Baltimore Ravens win the American Conference championship by defeating the Oakland Raiders, 16-3. The Giants and Ravens square off in the Super Bowl on January 28 in Tampa, Florida.|
15|Israel cancels peace talks with Palestinian leaders and seals off Gaza in response to the killing of an Israeli settler, allegedly by a group affiliated with the extremist Islamic group Hamas. According to Palestinian police, the Palestinian airport in Gaza City and the border crossing into Egypt are closed, and Israeli forces, deploying tanks along the main roads, are keeping all Palestinians from moving in or out of the region. During a television interview, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak urges Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat to do more to stop the violence. At least 360 people, the vast majority of them Palestinians, have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.|
16|An oil tanker carrying 160,000 gallons (605,665 liters) of diesel and 80,000 gallons (303,000 liters) of petroleum products runs around near San Cristobal, an island in the Galapagos chain off the West Coast of Ecuador. Environmentalists fear that fuels leaking from the ship threaten the unique wildlife of the Galapagos, which are famous for their giant tortoises and rare species of birds and plants. The naturalist Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution there in the 1800's.|
16|Peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives resume despite violence and increased tension in Gaza. Experts on the peace process believe that the latest discussions center around the fate of Palestinian refugees. Palestinian leaders demand that all refugees and their descendants--as many as 4 million people--be allowed to return to their former homes in Israel. Israel rejects the demand, pointing out that many of the refugees have lived in neighboring countries since the late 1940's, when about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of Israel after neighboring Arab nations attacked Israel.|
16|The Philippine Senate indefinitely adjourns the trial of President Joseph Estrada after the Senate president, secretary, and all 11 prosecutors resign. The resignations are in response to a Senate vote barring the prosecutors from inspecting Estrada's bank records, which they claimed would prove the president had received millions of dollars in bribes since taking office in 1998. The Philippine House of Representatives impeached Estrada on Nov. 13, 2000, on charges of corruption.|
17|Electrical power shortages in California force state power officials to authorize rolling blackouts in an area stretching from the Oregon border to Bakersfield in the central part of the state. The cutoffs, arranged in checkerboard patterns to avoid blacking out whole cities at a time, leave hundreds of thousands of houses and businesses without light for periods of 60 to 90 minutes.|
18|A spokesperson for the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo confirms that President Laurent Kabila is dead. Kabila was shot on January 16 during a disturbance at the presidential palace in Kinshasa, the capital. The president's son, Joseph Kabila, commander of the nation's armed forces, was appointed caretaker leader on January 17.|
19|The head of the Philippine armed services, General Angelo Reyes, appearing before a crowd of 250,000 people in Manila, the capital, demands that President Joseph Estrada resign. Seven members of the cabinet, including the defense secretary and air force chief, announce that they will no longer serve under Estrada, who is accused of illegally acquiring millions of dollars since taking office in 1998.|
20|George W. Bush, son of former President George H. W. Bush, is sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States. The inauguration ceremony takes place on the west side of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.|
20|Joseph Estrada resigns as president of the Philippines with thousands of people in the streets of Manila, the capital, demanding that he vacate the presidential palace. Earlier in the day, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that the office of president was empty, and the chief justice swore Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in as president. Estrada was accused of misappropriating public funds and accepting millions of dollars in bribes from illegal gambling interests.|
20|The U.S. Senate, meeting after the inauguration of President George W. Bush, confirms seven of Bush's Cabinet nominees: retired General Colin L. Powell as secretary of the Department of State; Paul H. O'Neill, the former chairman of Alcoa Inc., as secretary of the Department of the Treasury; Donald H. Rumsfeld, defense secretary in the Ford administration, as secretary of the Department of Defense; Roderick R. Paige, the former superintendent of schools in Houston, as secretary of the Department of Education; Spencer Abraham, who served in the U.S. Senate from Michigan, as secretary of the Department of Energy; Donald L. Evans, a Texas oil executive, as secretary of the Department of Commerce; California agriculture official Ann M. Veneman as secretary of the Department of Agriculture.|
21|Palestinian and Israeli negotiators resume peace talks in Taba, Egypt, a resort on the Red Sea. Both Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said they would join the discussions if their representatives make substantive progress in the peace process.|
22|Officials with the Bush administration warn the government of Iraq that the United States expects Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to honor his agreement to end nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs. The agreement was made as a condition for ending the 1991 Gulf War. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Iraq has reconstructed at least two factories for the production of such weapons. British and American bombers destroyed the factories, located in an industrial complex west of Baghdad, the capital, in 1998 in response to Iraq's refusal to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.|
23|The U.S. Senate confirms Mel Martinez as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Anthony Principi as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Martinez was the chairman of Orange County, Florida, and Principi served as deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs during the George H. W. Bush administration.|
23|Ecuadorian government officials declare a state of emergency and request international aid to help clean up an oil spill that threatens the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean off Ecuador. The spill from a freighter that ran aground on January 16 has spread over 1,800 square miles (4,600 square kilometers) of ocean and washed ashore on the Galapagos islands of Santa Fe and San Cristobal.|
24|The U.S. Senate confirms two additional members of the George W. Bush Cabinet: Tommy Thompson as secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Norman Mineta as secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Thompson was governor of Wisconsin, and Mineta served as commerce secretary in the Clinton administration.|
25|Chiquita Brands International of Cincinnati, Ohio, files a $525-million suit against the executive body of the European Union (EU) in an effort to force the EU to end import quotas on bananas from U.S. corporations. Company officials claim the quotas have driven Chiquita, founded in 1899 as the United Fruit Company, to the edge of bankruptcy.|
26|A powerful earthquake of 7.9 magnitude strikes northwest India, killing at least 17,000 people and injuring 30,000 others. The epicenter is in the state of Gujarat, near the city of Bhuj, which is devastated. In Ahmedabad, the commercial center of the state, high-rise buildings topple, burying hundreds of residents. Experts consider the quake, also felt in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, to be the worst to hit India in more than 50 years.|
26|Joseph Kabila is sworn in as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He succeeds his father, Laurent Kabila, who was assassinated by a bodyguard on January 16.|
27|Police in Davos, Switzerland, turn water cannons on some 150 demonstrators protesting economic globalization during a meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WEF is an independent, nonprofit foundation, based in Switzerland, committed to improving the state of the world through economic growth and social progress.|
28|The Baltimore Ravens win Super Bowl XXXV by beating the New York Giants 34-7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.|
29|The U.S. Senate confirms Elaine Chao as secretary of the Department of Labor. Chao served in the George H. W. Bush administration as deputy secretary of transportation.|
29|Officials with the automobile manufacturer DaimlerChrysler AG, which is based in Germany, announce plans to cut 26,000 jobs from its Chrysler division, which is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler's market share in the United States has continued to slide since the company merged with Daimler-Benz AG in late 1998.|
30|The U.S. Senate confirms Gale Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, as secretary of the Department of the Interior. Norton was employed in the Interior Department from 1985 to 1987 during the Reagan administration.|
31|The Federal Reserve (the Fed), an independent government agency that oversees the U.S. banking system, lowers interest rates for the second time in less than one month. The Fed drops the federal funds target rate on overnight loans between banks from 6 to 5.5 percent. The central bank also reduces the discount rate on Federal Reserve loans to member banks from 5.5 to 5 percent. Economists describe the cut as another attempt to stimulate an economy that appears to be slowing.|
31|Three Scottish judges find Libyan defendant Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi guilty of murder in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York City. The judges rule that Megrahi was a high-ranking officer of Libya's intelligence organization and that he hid the bomb that destroyed Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing the 270 passengers and crew members aboard the jet. Megrahi's co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, is released. According to the judges, the evidence against him was insufficient to prove that he was guilty. The trial, which took place in the Netherlands, took nearly nine months.|
