January 11 - the day over the years

Hundreds of uniformed Lithuanian nationalists kept all-night vigil in republic's parliament, saying they are defending it from possible attack by the Soviet army!

Today is Tuesday, January 11, the eleventh day of 2005.
There are 354 days left in the year.

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A quick recap of what has gone on this date in history

49 BC - Roman emperor Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon river and moves his troops into an offensive position in the war against Pompeii.

1569 - First lottery in England is drawn in St. Paul's Cathedral under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth I.

1814 - Joachim Murat, King of Naples, deserts Napoleon and joins Allies.
1866 - Ship "London" is wrecked en route to Australia. Some 231 people die.

1919 - Romania annexes Transylvania.
1923 - France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr valley after the German government fails to keep up its World War I reparation payments.
1935 - Aviator Amelia Earhart begins a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.
1939 - Abu Dhabi Ruler Sheik Shakhbout signs emirate's first oil agreement, with a British-led consortium.
1942 - Japan declares war against the Netherlands, the same day that Japanese forces invade the Dutch East Indies.
1943 - Britain and United States relinquish extraterritorial rights in China.
1945 - Truce is declared in Greek civil war.
1962 - Avalanche buries village in the Peruvian Andes, and 3,000 people are reported killed.
1964 - US Surgeon General Luther Terry issues the first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to one's health.
1970 - In Nigeria, 32-month-old secessionist Biafran regime collapses under onslaughts by Nigerian military.
1973 - Owners of American League baseball teams vote to adopt the designated-hitter rule on a trial basis.
1976 - President Rodriguez Lara of Ecuador is ousted in a coup.
1977 - France sets off an uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of involvement in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
1986 - L Douglas Wilder becomes Lt Governor of Virginia, making him the first African-American sworn in as a Southern state official since American Civil War.
1990 - About 250,000 people demonstrate in favour of independence in Lithuanian capital as Mikhail Gorbachev arrives there to persuade the local Communist Party to retract its decision to break with national party.
1991 - Hundreds of uniformed Lithuanian nationalists keep all-night vigil in republic's parliament, saying they are defending it from possible attack by the Soviet army.
1993 - The UN Security Council meets to warn Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that he is violating Gulf War cease-fire terms by his unauthorized seizure of weapons in Kuwaiti territory.
1995 - An Intercontinental Aviation DC-9 with at least 52 people aboard crashes near Cartagena, Colombia, with only one survivor.
1996 - A military court in Peru sentences American Lori Berenson to life in prison without parole for her involvement with a pro-Cuban guerrilla group.
1997 - Burundian soldiers shoot and kill 126 Hutu refugees trying to break out of a holding camp in northeastern Burundi.
1998 - An armed gang attacks two villages outside Algiers, Algeria, slaughtering 120 people.
1999 - Haiti's President Rene Preval dissolves Parliament after a 22-month impasse with no working govt. He appoints a premier and a Cabinet by decree.
2001 - Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, enters a military hospital to undergo neurological and mental tests ordered by a judge seeking to try him on human rights charges; US Army acknowledges that soldiers killed an "unknown number" of S Korean refugees early in the Korean War at No Gun Ri.
2002 - The first 20 Taliban and al-Qaida detainees from the US campaign in Afghanistan arrive at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
2003 - The Indian government and the Naga faction, one of the longest-running separatist insurgent groups in Asia, agreed that a five-year cease-fire will become permanent and there will be no more fighting.
2004 - Hardliners throw Iran's legislative elections into crisis by disqualifying hundreds of liberal candidates, including more than 80 sitting lawmakers who are allied with the reformist President Mohammad Khatami.

Today's Birthdays:
Francesco Parmigianino, Italian artist (1504-1540)
William James, US philosopher (1842-1910)
Rod Taylor, Australian actor (1930--)
Jean Chretien, Canadian prime minister (1934--)
Clarence Clemons, US saxophonist
Kim Coles, US actress (1962--)
Rita Bhaduri,actress
Nadeem,music director
Mary J Blige, US singer (1971--)