Unix Timestamp: 1011916800
Friday, January 25. 2002, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on board.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, with 85 passengers on board, crashes into the Mediterranean Sea after taking off from Beirut Airport, Lebanon. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/8478060.stm (BBC) //english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/01/20101252742591787.html (Al Jazeera)

Björgvin G. Sigurðsson, Iceland's Minister of Business Affairs, resigns as a result of the country's financial crisis. //edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/25/iceland.resignation/index.html (CNN)

China's worst snowstorm since 1954 kills 133, delays traffic, and causes massive power outages in central and southern parts of the country.

Pope Benedict XVI issues his first encycylical, "Deus Caritas Est".

A stede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi during a religious pilgrimage in India kills at least 250.

The Internet was attacked by very high traffic caused by a self-replicating software worm program called SQL Slammer. This attacked Microsoft SQL servers, causing them to spray the Internet with more copies of the worm program. This was made possible by a security vulnerability in Microsoft SQL Server. The worm attack had the side effect of causing a distributed denial-of-service attack on the rest of the Internet.

An international group of volunteers leaves London for Baghdad to act as voluntary human shields, hoping to avert a U.S. invasion.

A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, killing 24.//aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20010125-0 ASN Aircraft accident Douglas C-47A-65-DL (DC-3C) YV-224C Ciudad Bolívar

A 6.1 Richter scaleearthquake hits western Colombia, killing at least 1,000.

Norwegian rocket incident: A rocket launched from the space exploration centre at Andøya, Norway is briefly interpreted by the Russians as an incoming attack.

U.S. President Bill Clinton delivers his first State of the Union address, calling for health care reform, a ban on assault weapons, and welfare reform.

26 – The Burns' Day storm kills 97 in northwestern Europe.

U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush and CBS News anchor Dan Rather clash over Bush's role in the Iran-Contra scandal, during a contentious television interview.

Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army Rebel group takes over Uganda after leading a successful 5-year guerrilla war in which up to half a million people are believed to have been killed. They will later use January 26 as the official date to avoid a coincidence of dates with Dictator Idi Amin's 1971 coup.

Chiang Ching (Madame Mao) is sentenced to death in the People's Republic of China.

January 27 ndash The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70.

English actor Derren Nesbitt is convicted of assaulting his wife Anne Aubrey.

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is set up on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra.

Yugoslavian air stewardess Vesna Vulović is the only survivor when her plane crashes in Czechoslovakia. She survives after falling 10,160 meters (33,330 feet) in the tail section of the aircraft.

Shirley Chisholm, the first African American Congresswoman, announces her candidacy for President.

The Israeli submarine "INS Dakar" sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 69.

In Washington, D.C., the National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.

Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.

26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4.

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941.

The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.

Dutch author Anne de Vries releases the first volume of her novel "Journey Through the Night" ("Reis door de nacht") set during World War II.

A Philippine plane crashes in Hong Kong, with $5 million worth of gold and money.

The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.

WWII: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.

Refik Saydam forms the new government of Turkey. (11 th government)

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet, in response to rumours (which are true) that he is seeking to end the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, gives a speech highlighting his government's commitment to the "cordon sanitaire".

Spanish Civil War: Spanish Nationalist troops, aided by Italy, take Barcelona.

A brilliant aurora borealis described variously as a curtain of fire and a huge blood-red beam of light startles people across Europe and is visible as far south as Gibraltar.

German War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg resigns, following the revelation that his new wife had previously posed for pornographic photos.

The Niagara Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York collapses due to an ice jam.

Mohandas Gandhi is released again in India.

The 1924 Winter Olympics open in Chamonix, France (in the FrenchAlps).

The League of Nations is founded in Paris.

The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.

The Ukrainian People\'s Republic declares independence from BolshevikRussia.

Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

The "Wedding March" by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter Victoria, Princess Royal to Prince Friedrich of Prussia in St. James's Palace, London.

The "Wedding March" by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter Victoria, Princess Royal to Prince Friedrich of Prussia in St. James's Palace, London.

Thomas Jefferson founds the University of Virginia.

The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791, splitting the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.

Tatiana Day) ndash Moscow University is established.

Shah Jahan crowned as ruler of the Mughal Empire in Agra.

Japan ndash Battle of Mikatagahara: Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.

São Paulo, Brazil, is founded.

26 January - Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden appointed Lord Chancellor of England

King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, who becomes his second queen consort.

February ndash Da Gama reaches Malindi in modern-day Kenya.

The English Merchant Adventurers are granted a trade monopoly with the Netherlands.

PortugueseexplorerVasco da Gama visits Quelimane and Mozambique in southeastern Africa.

John Cabot leaves Bristol on an expedition, never to be seen again.

May ndash Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, recognises Perkin Warbeck as rightful King of England.

Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.

Treaty of Istanbul between the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Venice according to which Venice will cede Argo, Negroponte, Lemnos and Shkodër, and pay an annual tribute of 10,000 golden ducati. The surrender of Shkodër, after a fifteen-month siege, brings all of Albania under the Ottoman Empire.

King Edward II of England marries Isabella of France. They are both crowned a month later (on February 25).

Godfrey II, Count of Louvain becomes Duke of Brabant.

Werner, Margrave of the Nordmark succeeds Lothair.

Pope Paschal I succeeds Pope Stephen IV as the 98th pope.

Shaolin Temple is founded (according to the "Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks" (645) by Dàoxuān, the monastery is built on the north side of Shaoshi, the western peak of Mount Song, one of the four Sacred Mountains of China, by emperor Xiao Wen Di of the Northern Wei Dynasty in 477. Yang Xuanzhi, in the "Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang" (547), and Li Xian, in the "Ming Yitongzh"i (1461), concur with Daoxuan's location and attribution. For alternate founding date, see 497).

King Genseric dies a natural death at Carthage and is succeeded by his eldest son Huneric. He maintains control with his Vandal fleet over the islands in the western Mediterranean Sea and lifts the policy of his father of persecuting the Roman Catholics in Africa.

This year is the earliest date for the oldest known painted depiction of a horse collar, on a cave mural of Dunhuang, during the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Xiao Wen Di sets up the Three Leaders system, under which native hamlet, village and district officers are responsible for taxation and conscription.

Shun Di, age 10, becomes emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty after his brother Houfei Di is assasinated by general Xiao Daocheng. He installs him as puppet ruler and sets himself up as regent. Xiao receives near-imperial powers and establishes Buddhism as the state religion.

Armatus, Byzantine military commander ("magister militum"), is killed by order of emperor Zeno. He is murdered by his own friend Onoulphus after supporting the rebellion of his uncle Basiliscus (see 475).

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Aelle, first king of the South Saxons, lands on the Sussex coast (England), with his three sons, near Cymenshore. The Britons engage him upon landing but his superior force besieges them at Pevensey and drives them into the Weald. Over the next nine years, Saxon coastal holdings are gradually expanded.

Claudius makes Agrippa king of Judea.

An attack across the Rhine by the Germans is stopped by the Romans.

The disciples of Jesus form communities after the Diaspora, especially in Damascus and Antioch. For the first time they are called Christians.

After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Emperor by the Senate.ref name=Claudius /

Messalina, wife of Claudius, persuades Claudius to have Seneca the Younger banished to Corsica on a charge of adultery with Julia Livilla.

Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty deposes his wife, Guo Shentong, as empress, and creates his consort Yin Lihua empress in her place.

Claudius restores religious freedom to Jews throughout the empire,

The death of Caligula saves the Jewish people from being punished for resisting orders to worship his statue in the Temple of Jerusalem.