Today is Friday, January 9, the ninth day of 2009. There are 356 days left in the year.
1558 _ Geneva becomes independent from Berne canton, Switzerland
1570 _ Tsar Ivan the Terrible kills 1,000-2,000 residents of Novgorod
1945 _ U.S. soldiers led by General Douglas MacArthur invade Philippines
1953 _ Korean ferryboat ``Chang Pyong-Ho" sank off Busan killing 249
1969 _ Concorde jetliner's first test flight (Bristol England)
1970 _ Constitution of Singapore enacted
1980 _ 63 beheaded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
1983 _ British P.M. Margaret Thatcher visits the Falkland Islands
1987 _ Chinese-Vietnamese border fights, 1500 killed
1998 _ Decapitated head of Danish Little Mermaid is returned