Today is Wednesday, January 9, the ninth day of 2008. There are 357 days left in the year.
0536 _ Byzantines Libya occupies Rome on Ostrogoten
1212 _ Frederik II crowns himself Roman Catholic king
1688 _ King James II's wife and son flee England for France
1793 _ Noah Webster establishes New York's first daily newspaper, American Minerva
1878 _ Joseph Pulitzer buys St. Louis Dispatch for $2,500
1931 _ The Japanese army attacks the Chinese province of Jehol
1939 _ Russian air raid on Helsinki
1941 _ China declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy
1941 _ Hitler orders U.S. ships torpedoed
1948 _ The U.N. General Assembly unanimously approves the Convention on Genocide
1963 _ Zanzibar gains independence from Britain
1990 _ Lech Walesa wins presidential election in Poland
1992 _ Prince Charles and Princess Diana separation announced by British PM John Major
1992 _ Operation Restore Hope ― U.S. Marines land in Somalia