Today's Highlight in History:
On January third, 1959, President Eisenhower signed a proclamation公布，宣告 admitting Alaska to the Union as the 49th state.

On this date:
In 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated逐出教会 from the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1777, General George Washington's army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey¹.

In 1868, the Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded通报，预示 the fall of the military rulers known as "shoguns幕府将军."

In 1892, J.R.R. Tolkein, author of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy三部曲, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

In 1938, the "March of Dimes³" campaign to fight polio小儿麻痹症 was organized.

In 1947, congressional proceedings⁴ were televised for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York got to see some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.

In 1961, the United States severed⁵隔断，切断 diplomatic relations with Cuba.

In 1967, Jack⁶ Ruby⁷, the man who shot accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died in a Dallas hospital.

In 1980, conservationist Joy Adamson, author of "Born Free," was killed in northern Kenya by a servant.

In 1993, President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a historic nuclear missile-reduction treaty in Moscow.

Ten years ago: Ousted⁸ Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to US forces, ten days after taking refuge in避难 the Vatican's diplomatic mission following the US invasion of his country.

Five years ago: The Postal⁹ Service raised the price of a first-class stamp to 32 cents. Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo announced an emergency plan for wage and price controls and budget cuts to stabilize¹⁰ the peso比索 and combat spiraling inflation螺旋式膨胀.

One year ago: Chicagoans dug out from their biggest snowstorm in more than 30 years. Israeli authorities detained 14 members of Concerned Christians¹¹, a Denver-based cult礼拜，狂热信徒, later expelling all of them. (Israeli officials feared the group was plotting violence in Jerusalem in order to bring about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.)