Historical timeline for January 19

Bytedance and sister companies are banned from the United States for "security concerns".

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's probe lands on the moon, making Japan the 5th country to land a spacecraft on the moon.

A bomb attack on an army convoy in the city of Bannu kills at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and injures 38 others.

The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the FBI.

Four-man Team N2i, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the Antarctic pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1965 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper's Istanbul office by 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogün Samast.

A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crashes near Hejce, Hungary, killing 42.

British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.

Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

The barge North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

After being struck by lightning the crew of Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C are forced to ditch. All 18 aboard are later rescued.

Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.

Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.

Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir due to an insurgency.

Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 crashes in Bayfield, Colorado, killing nine.

Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW's plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.

President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").

Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.

Indira Gandhi becomes India's first female prime minister.