Today is Thursday, January 12, the 12th day of 2012. There are 354 days left in the year.
1755 ― Tsarina Elisabeth establishes first Russian University
1816 ― France decrees Bonaparte family excluded from the country forever
1836 ― HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reach Sydney, Australia
1906 ― First time Dow Jones closes above 100 (100.26)
1932 ― Philip Barry's ``Animal Kingdom" premieres in New York City
1948 ― Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi begins his final fast
1948 ― First supermarket in U.K. opens
1950 ― USSR reintroduces death penalty for treason, espionage and sabotage
1970 ― Boeing 747 makes its maiden voyage
1990 ― Romania bans Communist party (first Warsaw Pact member to do so)