On This Day: January 20th

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.