FEAST DAYS

• Aelred of Rievaulx
• Benedict Biscop
• Tatiana

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HOLIDAYS/OBSERVANCES

• Earliest day on which Lee–Jackson Day can fall while January 18 is the latest, celebrated on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day (Commonwealth of Virginia)
• Memorial Day (Turkmenistan)
• National Youth Day (India)
• Zanzibar Revolution Day (Tanzania)

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EVENTS

• 1997 — NASA launches space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-81
• 1998 — Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning
• 1999 — Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball was sold at auction in New York for $3 million to an anonymous bidder
• 2000 — $6 Million Approved to Fight Ants
• 2001 — Downtown Disney opens to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California
• 2002 — The X (roller coaster) opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California
• 2003 — Groundbreaking begins on Hong Kong Disneyland, scheduled to open in 2006.
• 2004 — The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage
• 2005 — Deep Impact (space mission) launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta 2 rocket
• 2006 — A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims
• 2007 — Comet McNaught reaches perihelion becoming the brightest comet in more than 40 years
• 2008 — A collision near Bathurst, New Brunswick results in the deaths of 7 Bathurst High School basketball team members
• 2009 — Iraqi Security Forces announce that they have captured Tha'ir Kadhim Sraiwi, the alleged leader of Salafi terrorist group Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna
• 2010 — Earthquake occurs in Haiti killing 230,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince
• 2011 — Floods in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, kill more than 250 people
• 2012 — The Burmese government signs a ceasefire with Karen rebels
• 2013 — Beijing's air pollution reaches levels judged as hazardous to human health
• 2014 — 71st Golden Globe Awards
• 2015 — The eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano disrupts flights to and from Tonga