Today in History for Jan. 17:
In AD 356, Antony of Egypt, considered the founder of Christian monasticism, died at age 105.
In 1377, despite the protest of powerful French cardinals, Pope Gregory XI returned the Roman Catholic papacy to Rome after its 70-year stay in Avignon, in southern France.
In 1562, French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain.
In 1604, James I of England appointed 54 scholars to produce a new translation of the Bible. They included Anglicans, Puritans, linguists, theologians, clergy and laymen. The translation, completed in 1611, became one of the most lasting and influential English translations.
In 1694, the Bishop of Quebec read a pastoral letter declaring it a sin to ``witness corrupting and impure plays,'' referring to theatrical performances staged at Quebec City.
In 1706, American inventor-statesman Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston.
In 1712, British War Secretary Robert Walpole was sent to the Tower of London on charges of corruption.
In 1759, the Holy Roman Empire declared war on Prussia.
In 1773, Capt. James Cook's ship, ``Resolution,'' was the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle.
In 1821, a Mexican land grant to Moses Austin opened the American colonization of what is now Texas.
In 1871, Andrew S. Hallidie received a patent for a cable-car system that began service in San Francisco in 1873.
In 1874, the original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, died at age 63.
In 1876, the Supreme Court of Canada sat for the first time.
In 1893, Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of white businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.
In 1899, American gangster Al Capone was born.
In 1910, Thomas Crapper, believed to be the main developer of the flush toilet mechanism, died at age 72.
In 1917, the U.S. paid Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
In 1929, the ``Popeye the Sailor'' comic strip first appeared.
In 1945, Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during the Second World War.
In 1945, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody. Moscow authorities admitted years later that he died in custody, but the circumstances remain a mystery. Wallenberg was the first person named an honorary citizen of Canada.
In 1946, the United Nations Security Council held its first meeting, in London.
In 1957, ``HMCS Bonaventure,'' Canada's last aircraft carrier, was commissioned in Belfast.
In 1959, the federal state of Mali was formed in Africa by the union of Senegal and French Sudan.
In 1961, Canada returned Polish treasures that it had stored for safekeeping during the Second World War.
In 1961, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Columbia River Treaty in Washington. In return for building three dams (Duncan, Keenleyside and Mica) on the Columbia, Canada received half of the electricity generated and money for half of the flood protection the U.S. would receive over the life of the 60-year treaty. It was one of the last public appearances for Eisenhower prior to John Kennedy's inauguration three days later.
In 1966, an American B-52 bomber carrying four unarmed hydrogen bombs collided with a tanker plane off eastern Spain. Three of the bombs landed on dry land and were collected within 48 hours. The fourth was discovered two months later in the ocean.
In 1972, Canadian air traffic controllers went on strike, grounding most commercial flights. The walkout lasted 10 days.
In 1973, Ferdinand Marcos declared himself Philippine president for life. He fled the country in February 1986 after ``winning'' a rigged election that eventually saw Corazon Aquino sworn in as president. Marcos died in 1989 while in exile in Hawaii.
In 1974, Pauline McGibbon was appointed lieutenant-governor of Ontario, the first woman ever appointed to a vice-regal post in the Commonwealth.
In 1976, the Canadian experimental communications satellite ``Hermes'' was launched at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In 1977, murderer Gary Gilmore got his wish and was executed by firing squad at a Utah prison. It was the first execution in the United States in a decade.
In 1981, six people were killed in a fire at Toronto's Inn on the Park hotel.
In 1981, President Ferdinand Marcos signed documents declaring an end to eight years of martial law in the Philippines.
In 1984, Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang addressed a joint session of the Senate and House of Commons.
In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the private use of videocassette recorders to tape television programs did not violate copyright laws.
In 1985, scientists announced researchers had identified the genetic blueprint governing activities of the suspected AIDS virus.
In 1987, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced he had fired junior transport minister Andre Bissonnette and ordered an RCMP investigation into land flips in the minister's riding of St-Jean, Que. (Bissonnette was acquitted of fraud and breach of trust charges.)
In 1991, British tycoon Richard Branson and fellow adventurer Per Lindstrand completed the first crossing of the Pacific in a hot-air balloon. They landed in a blinding snowstorm in the Northwest Territories. When asked what inspired him to try the feat, Branson replied, ``Pure stupidity.''
In 1991, the Persian Gulf War began when jet fighters of the U.S-led coalition bombed Baghdad after Iraq refused to remove its occupation forces from Kuwait.
In 1994, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake rocked the Los Angeles area. The quake buckled highways, flattened buildings, ruptured gas lines and sparked fires. At least 61 people were killed. Damage was estimated at $30 billion.
In 1995, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated Kobe, Japan. It killed 5,291 people and injured hundreds more. More than 88,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Osaka was also badly hit.
In 1996, San Francisco astronomers said they had discovered two new planets, 35 light years from Earth. They said the planets were bigger than Jupiter with conditions that would support living organisms.
In 2002, in intra-day trading, the Canadian dollar fell below 62 cents US for the first time ever. It rebounded to close at 62.12 cents US. (The next day, the loonie closed at a record low 62.02 cents US).
In 2002, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell announced sweeping cuts to the province's public sector, eliminating as many as 11,700 jobs by 2005.
In 2004, Hollinger International Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-based Hollinger Inc., fired Conrad Black as chairman and filed a US$200-million suit against him and his right-hand man David Radler and his holding companies, alleging breach of fiduciary duty. In 2007, they were found guilty after a four-month trial. Black was sentenced to six-and-a-half years. David Radler was granted a lenient sentence of 29 months and handed a $250,000 fine in exchange for his testimony against Black and three other executives. Radler was granted full parole on Dec. 15, 2008, while Black was released from a Florida prison on May 4, 2012.
In 2007, Pulitzer Prize-winning political satirist Art Buchwald died at age 81. Often called ``The Wit of Washington,'' his syndicated column chronicled the U.S. capitol for more than four decades and at one point appeared in more than 500 newspapers worldwide.
In 2008, Bobby Fischer, the chess master who became a Cold War icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, died in Reykjavik, Iceland, at age 64.
In 2010, Erich Segal, the American screenwriter and novelist who wrote ``Love Story,'' died in London at age 72.
In 2010, the science-fiction blockbuster ``Avatar'' won best drama at the Golden Globes and picked up the directing honour for Canadian James Cameron. Canadian Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner won the screenplay honour for ``Up in the Air.''
In 2010, Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid (a.k.a Chemical Ali) was convicted of crimes against humanity for ordering a poison gas attack on a Kurdish village in 1988. He was hanged on Jan. 25.
In 2011, ``Piers Morgan Tonight'' debuted on CNN with Oprah Winfrey as his first guest. Morgan replaced legendary interviewer Larry King, who retired after a 25-year run on the network. (In February 2014, CNN announced the show's cancellation after three years of lacklustre ratings.)
In 2013, a federal judge in Chicago sentenced Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana to 14 years in prison for providing material support to a terrorist group that staged the 2008 Mumbai attacks, that left more than 160 people dead.
In 2017, British American Tobacco Plc agreed to fully take over Reynolds American Inc. in a US$49 billion deal that would create the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company.
In 2017, Australia, China and Malaysia announced they were suspending the nearly three-year underwater search of the Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 onboard, including two Canadians.
In 2018, the economy's impressive run prompted the Bank of Canada to raise its trend-setting interest rate a quarter point to 1.25 per cent.
In 2018, a Boko Haram double suicide bombing at a market in Nigeria's northern city of Maiduguri killed at least 12 people and wounded 48 others.
In 2018, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 26,000 for the first time.
In 2019, Prince Philip was unhurt after a serious car crash in which the 97-year-old had to be helped out of his overturned Land Rover near the royal residence at Sandringham. Two women in a second vehicle were injured but a nine-month-old baby boy was not hurt.
In 2021, inoculation efforts across Canada resulted in more than 543-thousand residents receiving a COVID-19 vaccine dose.
In 2022, Health Canada approved Pfizer's antiviral pill for COVID-19 for adults with mild or moderate cases of the virus who are also at high risk of becoming more seriously ill. It was not authorized for teens or patients already hospitalized for COVID-19. Clinical trials showed the drug was almost 90 per cent effective at preventing serious illness in higher-risk patients who received it within the first five days of being infected.
In 2024, a shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages still held by Hamas arrived in Gaza after France and Qatar arranged the delivery by brokering the first agreement between Israel and the militant group since a weeklong ceasefire broke down in November 2023. The deal also included the delivery of additional medicine and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
In 2024, cities on both the East and West coasts were dealing with or bracing for blasts of snowy weather. Vancouver was under a snowfall warning, with as much as 30 centimetres in some parts of B.C. Snowsquall warnings were in effect for St. John's and parts of Newfoundland's Avalon and Burin peninsulas, with expectations of up to 30 centimetres of snow and winds gusting as high as 100 kilometres an hour, causing whiteout conditions from Jan. 18 until Jan. 19.
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The Canadian Press