On this day in ...... 1948 (60 years ago today), 7 former leaders of Japan were executed for war crimes by hanging at Sugamo prison (left) in Tokyo. The previous month the group, which included Generals Hideki Tojo and Kenji Doihara, had been convicted following a 2-1/2-year trial before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. (photo credit)
... 1997, economic news was glum amid reports that Moody's 
Investors Services Inc., "one of the world's largest credit-rating agencies," had "downgraded the sovereign debt of South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand to 'junk' status." The move "seriously impair[ed] the countries' ability to raise the money needed to work through the region's wrenching downturn." Eventually the International Monetary Fund would step in, and economies seemed to be recovering 2 years later. (photo credit)
Investors Services Inc., "one of the world's largest credit-rating agencies," had "downgraded the sovereign debt of South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand to 'junk' status." The move "seriously impair[ed] the countries' ability to raise the money needed to work through the region's wrenching downturn." Eventually the International Monetary Fund would step in, and economies seemed to be recovering 2 years later. (photo credit)
