Today is Monday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2017. There are 349 days left in the year. This is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Today’s birthdays: Author William Kennedy is 89. Author-editor Norman Podhoretz is 87. Opera singer Marilyn Horne is 83. Hall of Fame auto racer A.J. Foyt is 82. Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 74. Country singer Jim Stafford is 73. Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 70. Director John Carpenter is 69. Dancer-choreographer Debbie Allen is 67. Singer Sade is 58. Model Kate Moss is 43. Actor/playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda is 37.

In 27 B.C., Caesar Augustus was declared the first emperor of the Roman Empire by the Senate.

In 1920, prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the Constitution took effect. (It was repealed by the 21st Amendment.)

In 1978, NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America’s first woman in space, and Guion S. Bluford Jr., who became America’s first black astronaut in space.

In 1991, the White House revealed the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. (Allied forces prevailed on Feb. 28.)

In 1992, El Salvador officials and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war that had left at least 75,000 people dead.

In 2007, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois launched his successful bid for the White House.

Last year, the UN nuclear agency certified Iran had met its commitments under a landmark deal, leading the West to lift economic sanctions.