January 17th

Today's Highlight in History:
On January 17th, 1893, Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.

On this date:
In 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston.

In 1893, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, died in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70.

In 1899, notorious gangster Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1945, Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War Two.

In 1945, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

In 1946, the United Nations Security Council held its first meeting.

In 1961, in his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex."

In 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first US execution in a decade.

In 1989, five children were shot to death at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, by a drifter who then killed himself.

In 1994, a six-point-seven magnitude earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 61 people and causing $20 billion worth of damage.

Ten years ago: A federal judge in Miami set a March 1990 date for ex-Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega's drug trafficking trial to begin. (After initial delays, Noriega was tried and convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison, later cut to 30 years.)

Five years ago: More than six-thousand people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of seven-point-two devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

One year ago: As White House lawyers met to work on President Clinton's defense, their client spent the day preparing for his State of the Union address. The defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos defeated the New York Jets, 23-to-10, to win the American Football Conference title; the Atlanta Falcons upset the Minnesota Vikings, 30-to-27, to win the National Football Conference championship.

"I am always ready to learn, but I do not always like to be taught."

-- Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965).