WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2008

Today is Wednesday, January 16, the 16th day of 2008. There are 350 days left in the year.

308 _ St. Marcellus I ends his reign as Catholic pope

1493 _ Columbus returns to Spain on his first trip

1581 _ English parliament passes laws against Catholicism

1759 _ The British Museum opens in London

1832 _ Charles Darwin lands at San Tiago, Cape Verde

1909 _ British explorer Ernest Shackleton finds magnetic South Pole

1914 _ Writer Maksim Gorki returns to Russia

1925 _ Leon Trotsky dismissed as CEO of Russian Revolution Military Council

1944 _ General Eisenhower took command of Allied Invasion Force in London

1951 _ Viet Minh offensive against Hanoi

1961 _ Russian espionage ring detected in Great Britain

1970 _ Colonel Kadhaffi becomes premier of Libya

1980 _ Paul McCartney jailed in Tokyo for 10 days on marijuana possession

1985 _ ``Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds

1989 _ Police arrest writer Vaclav Havel in Prague