20 January 1551

A group of Taliban gunmen attacked and took hostages at the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle that left at least 21 people dead.

During a national financial crisis, thousands of people protested (pictured) at the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavík.

In Washington, D.C., Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African-American president of the United States.

The Soviet Red Army violently cracked down on Azeri pro-independence demonstrations in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR.

Bengali student activist Amanullah Asaduzzaman was shot and killed by East Pakistani police, an event that led to the Bangladesh Liberation War.

The Houston Cougars upset the UCLA Bruins in what became known as the "Game of the Century" (pictured), ending the Bruins' 47-game winning streak and establishing college basketball as a sports commodity on American television.

World War II: In an operation that took nearly two months to complete, Germany began the evacuation of at least 1.8 million people from East Prussia in anticipation of the advancing Soviet Red Army.

The Holocaust: Reinhard Heydrich and other senior Nazi officials met at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin to discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question".

Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, became the de facto first prime minister of the Empire of Brazil.

J. S. Bach led the first performance of his cantata Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen on the second Sunday after the Epiphany.

Edward Balliol, whose father John was briefly King of Scotland, gave up his claim to the throne in exchange for an English pension.

Simon de Montfort summoned local representatives to the Palace of Westminster to attend a parliament, now considered to be the forerunner of the House of Commons of England.

According to legend, Lalli slew Bishop Henry of Finland with an axe on the ice of Lake Köyliönjärvi in Köyliö.

A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.

Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region.

A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.

President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board.

Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.

Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.

Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Justin Lekhanya.

Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.

China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam.