Today is Friday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2021. There are 350 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 15, 2020, Chinese officials said they couldn’t rule out the possibility that a new coronavirus in central China could spread between humans, though they said the risk of transmission appeared to be low.

On this date:

In 1892, the original rules of basketball, devised by James Naismith, were published for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originated.

In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta.

In 1942, Jawaharlal Nehru was named to succeed Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India’s Congress Party.

In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).

In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

In 1974, the situation comedy “Happy Days” premiered on ABC-TV.

In 1976, Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford in San Francisco. (Moore was released on the last day of 2007.)

In 2009, US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger ditched his Airbus 320 in the Hudson River after a flock of birds disabled both engines; all 155 people aboard survived.

In 2014, a highly critical and bipartisan Senate report declared that the deadly Sept. 2012 assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, could have been prevented; the report spread blame among the State Department, the military and U.S. intelligence.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Margaret O’Brien is 83. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy White is 68. Actor-director Mario Van Peebles is 64. Rock musician Adam Jones (Tool) is 56. Actor James Nesbitt is 56. Actor Chad Lowe is 53. NFL quarterback Drew Brees is 42. Rapper/reggaeton artist Pitbull is 40. Singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal (TV: “America’s Got Talent”) is 17.