Unix Timestamp: 1074211200
Friday, January 16. 2004, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The King Center publishes online 200,000 personal papers belonging to Martin Luther King, Jr. to mark his birthday. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16585984 (BBC News)

Somali pirates release the Danish cargo ship CEC "Future" after receiving a ransom payment. //www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD95O5SC01 (AP via Google News)

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf assumes office as President of Liberia, the first female elected head of state in Africa.

"STS-107": Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on its last flight.

The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its last mission STS-107. It disintegrated 16 days later.

The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes the assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.

In Sacramento, California, a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.

An Indonesian ferry sinks off the northern tip of Sumatra, drowning more than 100 people.

President of Sierra Leone Valentine Strasser is deposed by the chief of defence, Julius Maada Bio. Bio promises to restore power following elections scheduled for February.

The ''North Cape'' Oil Spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat "Scandia" ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The ''North Cape'' Barge is pulled along with it and leaks 820,000 gallons of home heating oil.

An avalanche hits the village Súðavík in Iceland, killing 14 people.

El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign a pact in Mexico City ending a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000 lives.

León Febres Cordero, president of Ecuador, is kidnapped by followers of imprisoned general Frank Vargas, who successfully demand the latter's release.

Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband.

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran flees Iran with his family, relocating to Egypt after a year of turmoil.

The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany.

Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War.

The Scottish Labour Party is formed.

Student Jan Palach sets himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia 3 days later he dies.

A military coup occurs in the Dominican Republic.

Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).

The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.

Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.

The New York City Mad Bomber, George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut, and is charged with planting more than 30 bombs.

Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine.

Şemsettin Günaltay forms the new government of Turkey. (18th government, last single party government of CHP)

Vincent Auriol is inaugurated as president of France.

The UN Security Council holds its first session.

Charles de Gaulle resigns as a head of a French provisional government.

Senator Dennis Chavez (D-NM) calls for a vote on an FEPC bill which calls for an end to discrimination in the workplace. A filibuster prevents it from passing.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins.

WWII: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.

WWII: British forces capture Tripoli from the Italians.

Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.

Critic and commentator Alexander Woollcott suffers an eventually fatal heart attack during a regular broadcast of the CBS Radio roundtable program People's Platform.

Iraq declares war on the Axis

Actress Carole Lombard and her mother are among those killed in a plane crash near Las Vegas, Nevada, while returning from a tour to promote the sale of war bonds.

Two landmark live recordings are produced this day: the very first of Mahler's Ninth by the Vienna Philharmonic under Bruno Walter in the face of dire circumstance and Benny Goodman and his orchestra become the first jazz musicians to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Two landmark live recordings are produced this day: the very first of Mahler\\\\\'s Ninth by the Vienna Philharmonic under Bruno Walter in the face of dire circumstance and Benny Goodman and his orchestra become the first jazz musicians to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Serial killer Albert Fish is executed in Sing Sing Prison.

The FBI kills the Barker Gang, including Ma Barker, in a shootout.

A "BBC" radio play about a worker's revolution causes a panic in London.

World War I: A peace conference opens in Versailles, France.

The First Dáil Éireann meets in the Mansion House in Dublin.

The 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition, is ratified.

Bentley Motors is founded in England.

An ambush of the police at Soloheadbeg marks the beginning of the Irish War of Independence.

Ernest Shackleton's expedition claims to have found the magnetic South Pole, but the location recorded may be incorrect.//deeptow.whoi.edu/southpole.html The Magnetic South Pole

April 7 ndash Algeciras Conference to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis between France and Germany.

The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Chilean Civil War breaks out.

A resolution is passed in the German Parliament, to condemn the Prussian deportations, the politically motivated mass expulsion of ethnic Poles and Jews from Prussia, initiated by Otto von Bismarck.

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States civil service, is passed.

January 24 ndash Siege of Geok Tepe: Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev defeat the Turkomans.

Denmark rejects a Prussian-Austrian ultimatum to repeal the Danish Constitution, which says that Schleswig-Holstein is part of Denmark.Claus Bjørn Carsten Due-Nielsen, "Dansk Udenrigspolitiks Historie", 2nd edition, vol. III Fra Helstat til Nationalstat 1814-1914, Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2006, pages 238–39

John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.

Peninsular War: Battle of Corunna: The French are defeated by the British.

The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic (the next Dutch general elections are held in 1888).

The French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.

American Revolutionary War ndash Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet.

February ndash The League of Armed Neutrality is formed between Denmark, Sweden, and Russia.

The British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.

Treaty of Westminster signed between Great Britain and Prussia guaranteeing the neutrality of the German province of Hanover controlled by King George II of Great Britain.ref name=Cassell's Chronology

Application of Nueva Planta decrees to Catalonia, making it subject to the laws of the Crown of Castile, concluding the unification of Spain under Philip V.

The Treaty (or Act) of Union of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England is ratified by the Scottish Parliament.

February ndash Harrow School is founded, with a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. He is executed on June 2.ref name=Cassell's Chronology

Charles I, having already abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor, resigns the Kingdom of Spain in favour of his son, Philip II, and retires to a monastery.

Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia. This replaces the Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.

The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.

The Grote Mandrenke storm tide strikes the Netherlands, England, Germany and Denmark, destroying the city of Rungholt in Nordfriesland, Germany.

The Council of Nablus is held in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Pope Stephen VII succeeds Pope Leo VI.

Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III of Cordoba creates the Caliphate of Cordoba to compete with his Fatimid rivals who had assumed the title in 910.

Construction of Quiriguá (in modern Guatemala) begins (approximate date).

The main redaction of the Babylonian Talmud is completed under Rabbis Ravina and Ashi (approximate date).

Last known eruption of Chimborazo (volcano) (in modern Ecuador)

Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

Carriaric, king of the Suevi, converts to Catholicism.

The Eastern Wei Dynasty ends and the Northern Qi Dynasty begins in northern China. Wen Xuan Di is the first ruler of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Silk-producing technology reaches Constantinople (approximate date).

Two Christian missionaries smuggle a few silkworm larvae to Constantinople from China (approximate date).

Procopius writes "Secret History" (approximate date).

Gupta Empire falls (approximate date).

In Ireland, the Diocese of Tuam is erected.

Hindu mathematicians give zero a numeral representation in a positional notation system.