Today is Friday, Jan. 2, the 2nd day of 2009. There are 363 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
Fifty years ago, on Jan. 2, 1959, the Soviet Union launched its space probe Luna 1, the first manmade object to fly past the moon, its apparent intended target.
On this date:
In 1492, Muhammad XII, the sultan of Granada, the last Arab stronghold in Spain, surrendered to Spanish forces.
In 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the US Constitution.
In 1900, Secretary of State John Hay announced the "Open Door Policy" to facilitate trade with China.
In 1929, the United States and Canada reached agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.
In 1935, Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was found guilty, and executed.)
In 1942, the Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II.
In 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1965, the New York Jets signed University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath to a contract reportedly worth $427,000.
In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 miles-an-hour (however, federal speed limits were abolished in 1995).
In 2006, a methane gas explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia claimed the lives of 12 miners, but one miner, Randal McCloy, Jr., was eventually rescued.
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