By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2021. There are 356 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 9, 2020, Chinese state media said a preliminary investigation into recent cases of viral pneumonia had identified the probable cause as a new type of coronavirus.

On this date:

In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew from Philadelphia to Woodbury, New Jersey.

In 1861, Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union, the same day the Star of the West, a merchant vessel bringing reinforcements and supplies to Federal troops at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, retreated because of artillery fire.

In 1916, the World War I Battle of Gallipoli ended after eight months with an Ottoman Empire victory as Allied forces withdrew.

In 1951, the United Nations headquarters in New York officially opened.

In 1987, the White House released a January 1986 memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North showing a link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

In 2003, U.N. weapons inspectors said there was no “smoking gun” to prove Iraq had nuclear, chemical or biological weapons but they demanded that Baghdad provide private access to scientists and fresh evidence to back its claim that it had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction.

In 2009, the Illinois House voted 114-1 to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who defiantly insisted again that he had committed no crime. (The Illinois Senate unanimously voted to remove Blagojevich from office 20 days later.)

Ten years ago: Federal prosecutors brought charges against Jared Loughner, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and killing six people at a political event in Tucson the day before.

Five years ago: French Jewish leaders and the nation’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, held a memorial ceremony for four people killed in a kosher market a year earlier by an attacker claiming ties to the Islamic State group.

One year ago: The Democratic-controlled House approved a resolution asserting that President Donald Trump must seek approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran. At his first campaign rally of 2020, Trump told an Ohio crowd that he had served up “American justice” by ordering a drone strike to take out Iran’s top general.