Today is Tuesday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2012. There are 349 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight:

On Jan. 17, 1962, 10 former winners of rigged TV quiz shows, including Charles Van Doren, pleaded guilty in New York to perjury, admitting they’d lied under oath when they denied being given answers in advance. (All received suspended sentences.)

On this day:

Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Lili’uokalani to abdicate.

In 1917, the United States paid Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

In 1929, the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor made his debut in the “Thimble Theatre” comic strip.

In 1950, the Great Brink’s Robbery took place as seven masked men held up a Brink’s garage in Boston, stealing $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks and money orders. (Although the entire gang was caught, only part of the loot was recovered.)

In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address in which he warned against “the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

In 1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 72 people.

In 1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

Associated Press