En este día...

	Monday, January 31st The 031st day of 2011. There are 334 days left in the year. Go to a previous date.

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Today's Highlights in History
See a larger version of this front page.		On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. (Go to article.)On Jan. 31 , 1919, Jackie Robinson ,who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues , was born. Following his death on Oct. 24, 1972, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
		On January 31, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)

On this date in:
1606	Guy Fawkes, convicted for his part in the Gunpowder Plot against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed.
1797	Composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria.
1865	Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies.
1917	Germany announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
1919	Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who broke the sport's color barrier in 1947, was born in Cairo, Ga.
1944	U.S. forces invaded the Japanese-held Marshall Islands during World War II.
1945	Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
1949	The first TV daytime soap opera, "These Are My Children," was broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
1950	President Harry S. Truman announced that he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.
1958	The United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit, Explorer I.
1971	Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on the third successful manned mission to the moon.
1990	McDonald's Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow.
2000	An Alaska Airlines jet plunged into the ocean off Southern California on a flight from Mexico to San Francisco, killing all 88 people on board.
2001	A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
2006	Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died at age 78.
2006	Samuel Alito was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.
2006	The Senate approved Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

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Current Birthdays

Justin Timberlake turns 30years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini Singer-actor Justin Timberlake turns 30 years old today.

90 Carol Channing Actress 80 Ernie Banks Baseball Hall of Famer 76 Kenzaburo Oe Nobel Prize-winning author 74 Philip Glass Composer 73 Queen Beatrix Queen of the Netherlands 70 Richard Gephardt Former House minority leader 64 Nolan Ryan Baseball Hall of Famer, executive 60 KC Singer, musician (KC and the Sunshine Band) 55 Johnny Rotten Rock singer (The Sex Pistols) 52 Anthony LaPaglia Actor ("Without a Trace") 41 Minnie Driver Actress 38 Portia de Rossi Actress ("Arrested Development," "Ally McBeal") 34 Bobby Moynihan Actor, comedian ("Saturday Night Live")

Historic Birthdays
Jackie Robinson
1/31/1919 - 10/24/1972 African/American baseball player  (Go to obit.)
72	Robert Morris 1/31/1734 - 5/8/1806 American merchant/banker
54	Andre-Jacques Garnerin 1/31/1769 - 8/18/1823 French parachutist
85	Charles Green 1/31/1785 - 3/26/1870 English balloonist
70	Sam Loyd 1/31/1841 - 4/10/1911 American puzzlemaker
58	George Perkins 1/31/1862 - 6/18/1920 American insurance executive
67	Zane Grey 1/31/1872 - 10/23/1939 American Western writer
49	Anna Pavlova 1/31/1881 (O.S.) - 1/23/1931 Russian ballerina
72	Eddie Cantor 1/31/1892 - 10/10/1964 American comedian
84	Alva Myrdal 1/31/1902 - 2/1/1986 Swedish diplomat
65	John O'Hara 1/31/1905 - 4/11/1970 American writer
53	Thomas Merton 1/31/1915 - 12/10/1968 American Catholic monk/poet

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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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