1587 – Queen Elizabeth I of England signs death warrant for her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots
1843 – Oldest continuous writer of insurance in America – The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (MONY) opens
1884 – 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, published
1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luis Filipe are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon
1968 – Saigon police chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executes Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém with a pistol shot to head. The execution is captured by photographer Eddie Adams and becomes an anti-war icon.
1979 – Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 years in exile
1991 – Afghanistan and Pakistan hit by earthquake, 1,200 die
2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
2009 – Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is elected as the first female Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the first openly gay Head of Government in the modern world.
2016 – WHO declares a global public health emergency over the rapid spread of zika-linked conditions
2016 – Poor weather conditions strand 100,000 Chinese New Year travelers at a railway station in Guangzhou, China
2017 – British MPs vote in favour of the European Union Bill, allowing the government to begin Brexit
2018 – The Indian government announces plan to give 500 million people free healthcare
2018 – Archaeologists announce discovery of thousands of undetected structures in Mayan lowland civilisation, Guatemala, using Lidar, suggests population of 10 million
2019 – US President Donald Trump confirms US withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty because of Russia’s violation of the treaty
2019 – January 2019 was Australia’s hottest month on record according to the Bureau of Meteorology
2020 – Locusts swarm across East Africa leads Somalia to declare national emergency, largest in 25 years
2020 – Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, appointed the new Prime Minister of Iraq by President Barham Salih after 4 months of protests
Film & TV:
1893 – Thomas Edison completes worlds 1st movie studio at West Orange, New Jersey
Music:
1896 – Giacomo Puccini’s Opera “La Boheme” premieres in Turin
Sport:
1960 – Australian Championships Men’s Tennis: In a classic all-Australian final Rod Laver beats Neale Fraser 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 8-6, 8-6; Laver’s first Grand Slam title
2005 – Arsenal’s English Premier League record 33-game unbeaten streak at home ends when the Gunners go down, 4-2 to Manchester United at Highbury
