Week of January 1, 1991

The Iraqi regime agrees to send its foreign minister to Geneva for talks with

Secretary of State James A Baker III.

In a videotaped New Year’s greeting to “all the wonderful people of the soviet

Union,” President Bush offered encouragement to a beleaguered Mikhail S.

Gorbachev, saluting he and his people for undertaking “an arduous journey”

toward anew society.”

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev called on citizens to unite and bring the country

out of its deepening crisis.

President Bush insists that Secretary of

State James A. Baker III will not engage

in ‘secret diplomacy” when he meets with

Iraq’s foreign minister this week in

Geneva. His message will be for Iraq to

get out of Kuwait or face consequences.

Evacuees from Somalia’s capital tell of a

city in smoke and corpses everywhere.

Operation Desert Shield has already

claimed the lives of 52 Americans in the

Persian Gulf region and 34 more in two

accidents outside the military theater.

Meanwhile in Iraq - some Congressional

leaders say that Congress will vote to

authorize President Bush to go war with

Iraq.

The White House concedes that the U.S. is in a recession. Banks cut their prime

interest rate to 9.5%.

A sniper hit a school bus near Cape Cod, killing one high school basketball

player. The bus was carrying 13 girls from a New Bedford High School freshman

basketball team to a game at Falmouth, Mass.

The “Voice of Free Iraq” aimed at undermining support for Saddam Hussein

begins broadcasting. The station refers to Hussein as “the very Satan,” “despot,’

tyrant” and “crooked.’

Week of January 1, 1991

In Texas, Diana Lumbrera is accused of killing her 6 children - convicted of

smothering one and is charged with the deaths of four others. Friends believe it

was witchcraft.

White supremacist Byron de

La Beckwith is arrested again

and could be returned to

Mississippi this week to face a

third trial for the 1963 slaying of

civil rights leader Medgar

Evers . He was arrested on a

governor’s warrant charging

him with first-degree murder

and has been jailed without

bond. He is 70.

The nation’s unemployment

rate jumps to 6.1% - the highest

level in 3 ½ years.

Federal officials seize the Bank of New England group and promised to protect

all deposits - the third biggest bank collapse in U.S. history

The New York City Tribune - founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in 1976

suspends publication for a second time. The newspaper’s weekday circulation is

12,000.

Sports - Dennis Rodman of the Detroit Pistons - Scores 34 points and grabbed

23 rebounds - both career highs as the Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets - 63-

36.

Bowl games -

Orange - Colorado - 10 - Notre Dame - 9

Rose - Washington 46 Iowa - 34

Citrus - Georgia Tech - 45 Nebraska 21

Cotton - Miami - 46 Texas - 3

Sugar - Tennessee - 23 Virginia - 22

Technology -

We love it - taking videos with Sony’s “Handycam” video 8. So far - 1 million

have been sold worldwide and it was one of the hottest Christmas presents.

Week of January 1, 1991

Hot albums -

To The Extreme - Vanilla Ice

Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em - M.C. Hammer

The Immaculate Collection - Madonna

Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey

I’m You baby Tonight - Whitney

Houston

Madonna’s “Justify My Love” video

is too racy to be played on MTV and

may be pulled from some retail

shelves. Some also believe it has

an anti-Semitic new testament

passage.

Pay-per-view - Tina Turner’s “The

Queen of Rock Struts her Stuff.”

Top TV -

60 Minutes - 23.3

Cheers - 16.6

Full House - 16.4

The Cosby Show - 15.8

Family matters - 15.7

Murder, She Wrote - 15.7

Unsolved Mysteries - 15.2

A Different World - 15.2

The Golden Girls - 14.4

America’s Funniest Home Videos - 14.4

Empty Nest - 13.5

Jake and the Fatman - 13.4

Perfect Strangers - 13.2

Matlock - 13.0

NBC News launches its 24-hour News Channel, transmitting video films of late-

breaking news, sports and features from a new base in Charlotte (Nc.) to network

affiliates for local use. NBC News Channel will feed raw and edited footage,

including foreign, domestic and regional material to local stations, which can edit

the reports for the newscasts.

At the movies -

Home Alone

Godfather Part III