Today in History

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, former president of Tunisia, flees to Saudi Arabia after a series of demonstrations against his regime.

Yemen declares war on al-Qaeda terrorist group.

Huygens probe lands on Saturn’s moon Titan.

The Republic of Georgia restores the “five cross flag” as its national flag after some 500 years of disuse.

UN tribunal sentences 5 Bosnian Croats to prison for up to 25 years; they were charged with killing some 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village in 1993.

The United Nations votes 104-18 to deplore the Soviet aggression in Afghanistan.

A blast on the U.S. carrier Enterprise in the Pacific results in 24 dead and 85 injured.

LL Cool J (James Todd Smith), influential rapper (“I’m Bad”); actor (NCIS: Los Angeles TV series).

Maureen Dowd, New York Times columnist, author; won Pulitzer Prize for her series on the Monica Lewinsky scandal during the Clinton administration.

T Bone Burnett (Joseph Henry Burnett), musician, songwriter, Grammy-winning producer (O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack).

Taylor Branch, author, historian; best known for his America in the King Years trilogy chronicling the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Nina Totenberg, journalist; legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio.

Italian occupation authorities refuse to deport Jews living in their territories in France.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders all aliens in the U.S. to register with the government.

Julian Bond, civil rights leader and Georgia state senator.

Berlin is placed under martial law as 40,000 radicals rush the Reichstag; 42 are dead and 105 are wounded.

Andy Rooney, American humorist, author and television personality (60 Minutes).

A Provisional Parliament is established in Poland.

British authorities seize German attaché Franz von Papen’s financial records confirming espionage activities in the U.S.

The French abandon five miles of trenches to the Germans near Soissons.

The USS Arkansas, the largest U.S. battleship, is launched from the yards of the New York Shipbuilding Company.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer, French theologian who set up a native hospital in French Equatorial Africa in 1913.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis writes to General Joseph E. Johnson, observing that troops may need to be sent to Alabama or Mississippi.

Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie escape unhurt after an Italian assassin throws a bomb at their carriage as they travel to the Paris Opera.

Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at Rivoli in northern Italy.

Benedict Arnold, American colonial General turned traitor.

William Whipple, signatory of Declaration of Independence.

Francis of France, held captive by Charles V for a year, signs the Treaty of Madrid, giving up most of his claims in France and Italy.

Henry III marries Eleanor of Provence.