US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survive.

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.

ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.

An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system.

Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.

The Racak incident: 45 Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak are killed by Yugoslav security forces.

Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as "The Beast", is arrested in Sicily after three decades as a fugitive.

The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth Realm to institute its own separate Victoria Cross award in its own honours system.

The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.

AT&T's long distance telephone network suffers a cascade switching failure.

The Living Seas opens at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, Florida.

The Kälvesta air disaster kills 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden's history.

Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.

Dennis Rader aka the BTK Killer kills his first victims by binding, torturing and murdering Joseph, Joseph II, Josephine and Julie Otero in their house.

Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.

Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.

After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.

The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.

The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, California. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10

The government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Nigeria is overthrown in a military coup d’état.

Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.

Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.

The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short ("The Black Dahlia") is found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California.

The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.

World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.

The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps.

The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women.

James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.

The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.

A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).

American Civil War

University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.

Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.

Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.

American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.

The British Museum opens.

Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.

Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.