Unix Timestamp: 1074297600
Saturday, January 17. 2004, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Israel announces a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza War. It comes into effect the following day,ref name=ceasefire

Crash landing at London Heathrow: A British Airways Boeing 777 flying from Beijing, China to London, England lands on the grass short of the south runway and continues onto the runway, stopping on the white stripes, injuring 13 people, but resulting in no fatalities. The chaos results in the cancellation of 200 flights. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7194086.stm (BBC News)

Russian security officer Vasily Khitryuk is convicted of spying for Lithuania. //www.pr-inside.com/russian-security-officer-convicted-of-r391926.htm (PR-inside)

NYSE Euronext, the holding company for the New York Stock Exchange, agrees to buy the American Stock Exchange for $260 million in stock. //www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/finance/article/nyse-euronext-buys-american-stock-exchange-260m-stock_441737_9.html (Fox Business)

Protests occur in India and the United Kingdom against the British series of \\\\'\\\\'Celebrity Big Brother\\\\'\\\\', after Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O\'Meara were allegedly racially abusive towards Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

The Indian Government has waded into the alleged bullying and racial abuse of contestant Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother UK, which is said to have sparked more viewer complaints to media regulator Ofcom than any other show in the history of British television. //www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2551921,00.html (The Times)

Gertrude Janeway, the last widow of a Union veteran from the American Civil War, died at the age of 93, in Blaine, Tennessee. Gertrude married John Janeway in 1927, when she was 18 and he was 81. He died in 1937. Still alive is Confederate widow Alberta Martin, of Elba, Alabama.

The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo displaces an estimated 400,000 people.

Impeachment proceedings against Philippine President Joseph Estrada, accused of playing Jueteng, end preeminently and trigger the second EDSA People Power Revolution or People Power II.

A Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake called the Great Hanshin earthquake occurs near Kobe, Japan, causing great property damage and killing 6,434 people.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake, magnitude 6.7, hits the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles at 4:31 a.m., killing 72 and leaving 26,029 homeless.

Ante Marković succeeds Branko Mikulić as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.

Stockton massacre: Patrick Edward Purdy kills 5 children, wounds 30 and then shoots himself in Stockton, California.

The Polish United Workers' Party votes to legalize Solidarity.

British Telecom announces it is going to phase out its famous red telephone boxes.

Unemployment in the United Kingdom increases by 129,918 to 3,070,621, a post-war record.

Mauno Koivisto is elected President of Finland.

Cold Sunday sweeps over the northern United States.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law.

Snow falls in Miami, Florida (despite its ordinarily tropical climate) for the only time in its history. Snowfall has occurred farther south in the United States only on the high mountains of the state of Hawaii.

Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.

U.S. President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka Tokyo Rose).

Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah (the first execution after the reintroduction of the death penalty in the U.S.).

Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.

U.S. President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka Tokyo Rose).

SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines.

The Baltimore Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, in Super Bowl V. The game was plagued by a record combined 11 turnovers, and was not decided until Jim O'Brien kicked a 32-yard field goal with five seconds remaining. Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley became the first player from a losing team to be named Super Bowl MVP.

Lyndon B. Johnson calls for the non-conversion of the U.S. dollar.

A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging four nuclear bombs.

Vietnam War ndash Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8.

John Glenn announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.

In Yugoslavia, Milovan Djilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties.

Great Brinks Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from the Brink\'sarmored car company headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

The first VW Type 1 to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sle car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models were sold in America that year, convincing Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff the car had no future in the U.S. (The Type 1 went on to become an automotive phenomenon.)

A truce is declared between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in Java.

British forces in Italy cross the Garigliano River.

The Soviet Union ceases production of the Mosin-Nagant 1891/30sniper rifle.

Meat rationing ends in Australia.

The U.S. Congress votes favorably for Philippines independence, against the view of President Herbert Hoover.

First appearance of comic strip hero Popeye in "Thimble Theatre".

The OGPU arrests Lev Trotsky in Moscow he assumes a status of passive resistance.

Juan de la Cierva invents the autogyro, a rotary-winged aircraft with an unpowered rotor.

British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four become the second expeditionary group to reach the South Pole.

Brigham H. Roberts of Utah is not seated by the U.S. House of Representatives because of his plural marriage.

The United States takes possession of Wake Island.

Félix Faure was elected President of French Republic after the resignation of Jean Casimir-Perier.

The U.S. Marines intervene in Hawaii, resulting in overthrow of the government of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii.

Battle of Philippopolis: Russian troops defeat the Turks.

American Indian Wars: The first Battle of the Stronghold is fought during the Modoc War.

The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Transvaal.

Saint Anthony Hall is founded at Columbia University, New York City, New York.

Simón Bolívar proclaims the Republic of Gran Colombia.

Fire nearly destroys the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.

Revolution breaks out in Amsterdam.

American Revolution ndash Battle of Cowpens: Americans under Daniel Morgan defeat British forces.

James Cook takes possession of South Georgia for Britain.

Captain James Cook becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.

Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Caroline Matilda are arrested, leading to his execution and her banishment from Denmark.

Battle of Falkirk: British Government forces are defeated by Jacobite forces.

Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albermarle County, North Carolina in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take refuge in Fort Reading on the Pamlico River.

Chair of St. Peter ("Cathedra Petri") set above the Altar in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.//www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Cathedra/Cathedra.htm

Treaty of Königsberg is signed, establishing alliance between Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.

England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

Led by the Duke of Soubise, the Huguenots launch a second rebellion against king Louis XIII with a surprise naval assault on a French fleet being prepared in Blavet.

February ndash Huguenot forces under the Duke of Soubise capture the Island of Ré.

EmperorSusenyos of Ethiopia defeats an Oromo army at Ebenat 12,000 Oromo are reportedly killed at a cost of 400 Amhara.

France gains Bresse, Bugey and Gex from Savoy, ceding Saluzzo in exchange.

Huguenots are recognized under the Edict of Saint-Germain.

Suleiman the Magnificent suppresses a revolt by the ruler of Damascus.

Cesare Borgia returns triumphantly to Rome from Romagna.

Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back from Avignon to Rome.

February ndash The Pope's representative in northern Italy, Robert of Geneva (the future antipope Clement VII), pillages Cesena and 4,000 antipapal rebels are massacred.

Fourteen-year-old Maria of Sicily succeeds her father, Frederick III the Simple.

The Bad Parliament begins sitting in England. Influenced by Prince John of Gaunt, it undoes the work done by the Good Parliament, the previous year, to reduce corruption in the Royal Council. It also introduces a poll tax.

Turks attack Smyrna

The Treaty of San Agayz is signed. King Alfonso III of Aragon conquers the island of Minorca from the Moors.

Emperor Theodosius I, age 48, dies after a disease involving severe edema, at Milan. The Roman Empire is re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under Honorius, his brother.