TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, Jan. 15.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Jan. 15, 2020, Chinese officials said they couldn’t rule out the possibility that a new coronavirus in central China could spread between humans, though they said the risk of transmission appeared to be low.
ON THIS DATE
In 1862, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Abraham Lincoln’s choice of Edwin M. Stanton to be the new Secretary of War, replacing Simon Cameron.
In 1865, as the Civil War neared its end, Union forces captured Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina, depriving the Confederates of their last major seaport.
In 1892, the original rules of basketball, devised by James Naismith, were published for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originated.
In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta.
In 1942, Jawaharlal Nehru was named to succeed Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India’s Congress Party.
In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).
In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.
In 1976, Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford in San Francisco. (Moore was released on the last day of 2007.)
In 1993, a historic disarmament ceremony ended in Paris with the last of 125 countries signing a treaty banning chemical weapons. In 2009, US Airways Capt.
Chesley“Sully”Sullenberger ditched his Airbus 320 in the Hudson River after a flock of birds disabled both engines; all 155 people aboard survived. In 2014, a highly critical and bipartisan Senate report declared that the deadly Sept. 2012 assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi,
Libya, could have been prevented; the report spread blame among the State Department, the military and U.S. intelligence.
Ten years ago: Several international envoys — but crucially none from the world powers — got a look inside an Iranian nuclear site at the invitation of the Tehran government before a new round of talks on Iran’s disputed atomic activities. Five years ago: Al-Qaida fighters attacked a hotel and cafe in Burkina Faso’s capital, killing 30 people. A search began for two Marine helicopters carrying 12 crew members that collided off the Hawaiian island of Oahu during a nighttime training mission; there were no survivors.
One year ago: House Democratic leaders carried the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump across the U.S. Capitol in a formal procession to the Senate. The United States and China reached a trade deal easing tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. Russian President Vladimir Putin engineered a surprise shakeup of Russia’s leadership while proposing changes to the country’s constitution that could keep him in power well past the end of his term in 2024. (Putin ordered the amendments made to the constitution in July 2020 after a week-long vote; critics said the reported 78% approval of the changes had been falsified.)