Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, leaves the Pentagon on Friday, Jan. 29, 1993 in Washington after making a statement on behalf of the Joint Chiefs earlier supporting President Clinton?s proposal for a formal order to lift the ban of homosexuals in the military by July 15. Powell said Clinton ?has given us a direction for us to move in, and we are going to be moving in that direction.? (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)

Today is Sunday, Jan. 24, the 24th day of 2021. There are 341 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight in History

On Jan. 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of ’49.

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Actress Shirley MacLaine arrives at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association?s 41st Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday, Jan. 28, 1984. She is up for a best actress award for her role in ?Terms of Endearment. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)

On this date

In 1908, the Boy Scouts movement began in England under the aegis of Robert Baden-Powell.

In 1924, the Russian city of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) was renamed Leningrad in honor of the late revolutionary leader. (However, it has since been renamed St. Petersburg.)

In 1939, at least 28,000 people were killed by an earthquake that devastated the city of Chillan (chee-YAHN’) in Chile.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the new iPad during an event in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

In 1945, Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton was among a group of captives executed by the Germans at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.

In 1965, British statesman Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.

In 1978, a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Cosmos 954, plunged through Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.

In 1984, Apple Computer began selling its first Macintosh model, which boasted a built-in 9-inch monochrome display, a clock rate of 8 megahertz and 128k of RAM.

In 1987, gunmen in Lebanon kidnapped educators Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh. (All were eventually released.)

In 1989, confessed serial killer Theodore Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair.

In 1993, retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall died in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 84.

In 2003, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn as the first secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security.

Ten years ago: A suicide bomber attacked Moscow’s busiest airport, killing 37 people; Chechen separatists claimed responsibility. In his second court appearance, Jared Lee Loughner (LAWF’-nur) pleaded not guilty in Phoenix to federal charges he’d tried to kill U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides in a Tucson shooting rampage that had claimed six lives. An emotional Oprah Winfrey publicly introduced her newly found sibling, a half-sister identified only as “Patricia” who was given up for adoption by Winfrey’s mother nearly 50 years earlier, when the talk show host was 8 years old.

Five years ago: A magnitude-7.1 quake knocked items off shelves and walls in Alaska, jolting the nerves of residents in the earthquake-prone region. The Denver Broncos defeated the New England Patriots, 20-18, to win the AFC Championship; the Carolina Panthers claimed the NFC Championship with a 49-15 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

One year ago: Concluding their opening arguments at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, House Democrats warned that Trump would persist in abusing his power and endangering democracy unless Congress acted to remove him before the 2020 election. After the Chinese city of Wuhan halted outbound flights, trains, buses and ferries in an effort to stop the spread of a deadly new virus, 12 other cities in the province followed suit, bringing more than 36 million people under lockdown. Health officials in Chicago said a woman in her 60s had become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the new virus; she’d returned from China in mid-January. President Donald Trump became the first sitting president to address abortion opponents at the annual March for Life. The Pentagon said 34 U.S. troops suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iran’s missile strike on an Iraqi air base earlier in the month. Fifteen-year-old Coco Gauff upset defending champ Naomi Osaka in the third round of the Australian Open.

Today’s Birthdays: Cajun musician Doug Kershaw is 85. Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 82. Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is 80. Singer Aaron Neville is 80. Actor Michael Ontkean is 75. Actor Daniel Auteuil is 71. Country singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs is 71. Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 70. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is 68. Actor William Allen Young is 67. Bandleader-musician Jools Holland is 63. Actor Nastassja Kinski is 60. R&B singer Theo Peoples is 60. Country musician Keech Rainwater (Lonestar) is 58. Comedian Phil LaMarr is 54. Olympic gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton is 53. R&B singer Sleepy Brown (Society of Soul) is 51. Actor Matthew Lillard is 51. Actor Merrilee McCommas is 50. Blues/rock singer Beth Hart is 49. Actor Ed Helms is 47. Actor Mark Hildreth is 43. Actor Christina Moses is 43. Actor Tatyana Ali is 42. Actor Carrie Coon is 40. Actor Daveed Diggs is 39. Actor Justin Baldoni is 37. Actor Mischa Barton is 35.

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JANUARY 25

In 1533, England’s King Henry VIII secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who later gave birth to Elizabeth I.

In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix (shah-moh-NEE’), France.

In 1945, the World War II Battle of the Bulge ended as German forces were pushed back to their original positions. Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first community to add fluoride to its public water supply.

In 1947, gangster Al Capone died in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 48.

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JANUARY 26

On Jan. 26, 2020, NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others were killed when their helicopter plunged into a steep hillside in dense morning fog in Southern California; the former Lakers star was 41.

In 1988, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Phantom of the Opera” opened at Broadway’s Majestic Theater.

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JANUARY 27

On Jan. 27, 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.

In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.

In 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco. J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died in Cornish, New Hampshire, at age 91.

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JANUARY 28

On Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

In A.D. 814, Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne died in Aachen in present-day Germany.

In 1911, the notorious Hope Diamond was sold by jeweler Pierre Cartier to socialites Edward and Evalyn McLean of Washington, D.C., for $180,000.

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JANUARY 29

On Jan. 29, 1979, President Jimmy Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping (dung shah-oh-ping) to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.

In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s famous narrative poem “The Raven” (“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…”) was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.

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JANUARY 30

On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse (neh-too-RAHM’ gahd-SAY’), a Hindu extremist.