Achille Lauro hijacking. Fighting was escalating in Yemen between rebel forces and government troops. Buenos Aires was the scene of the worst rioting in years on the occasion of a visit from David Rockefeller, not one of the loved people in Argentina. And vice-President Bush joined Daniel Ortega at the Inauguration of Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo. Cerezo, who was largely viewed as a mouthpiece for the real military power behind the Guatemalan government, was vigorously supported by the Reagan administration and applauded by Reagan as a step in the direction towards democracy, despite the fact that within weeks most all the suppressive actions of the Guatemalan government were alive and well and rounding up suspects as usual.

Fun and games and the usual rotation of the earth, slightly off its axis, this day in January 1986.