On this day in history

Source: HistoryNet.com

1918: The last of the food restrictions, enforced because of the shortages during World War I, are lifted.
1942: The Soviets drive German troops back 15 miles at the Don River.
1944: During the Battle of the Bulge, General Anthony McAuliffe responds to a German surrender request with a one word answer: "Nuts!"
1945: The United States recognizes Tito's government in Yugoslavia.
1966: The United States announces the allocation of 900,000 tons of grain to fight the famine in India.
1989: The Romanian government of Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown, ending 42 years of communist rule.
1989: The division of East and West Germany effectively ends when the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin reopens for the first time in nearly 30 years.
1997: Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes his disputed title of President of Somalia, an important step toward reconciliation in the country.
2001: A passenger on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris, Richard Reid, unsuccessfully attempts to destroy the plane in flight by igniting explosives he'd hidden in his shoes.
2001: President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, takes over an interim government.
2008: Some 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry flood part of Tennessee after an ash dike breaks at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, in the eastern part of the state.
2010: U.S. President Barack Obama signs a law officially repealing the 17-year-old policy known as "Don't ask, don't tell"; the new law permits homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military.