Historical Events in January 2012

Jan 9 Lionel Messi wins the FIFA Ballon d'Or for the second consecutive year

Jan 9 14th BCS National Championship: #2 Alabama beats #1 LSU, 21-0
Jan 9 "Time is Love" single released by Josh Turner (Billboard Song of the Year 2012)

Jan 11 38th People's Choice Awards: Johnny Depp & Emma Stone win (Movie Star) and Nathan Fillion & Nina Dobrev win (TV Drama)

Jan 12 17th Critics' Choice Movie Awards: The Artist wins Best Film
Jan 13 Italian cruiseliner Costa Concordia runs aground at Isola de Giglio, Italy, causing 32 deaths
Jan 14 Suicide bomber kills 53 and injures 130 in Basra, Iraq
Jan 14 Ma Ying-jeou wins re-election as President of the Republic of China with 51% of the vote

Jan 15 69th Golden Globes: "The Descendants," George Clooney & Meryl Streep win

Jan 18 Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout becomes the largest protest in the history of the internet
Jan 19 FBI shuts down Megaupload.com for alleged copyright infringement, hacker group Anonymous responds by attacking government and entertainment industry websites
Jan 22 AFC Championship Game: New England Patriots beat Baltimore Ravens 23-20
Jan 22 NFC Championship Game: New York Giants beat San Francisco 49ers 20-17 (OT)
Jan 23 European Union agrees to embargo Iranian oil in protest against Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program
Jan 28 Death toll from coordinated bombing attacks in Kano, Nigeria, reaches 185
Jan 29 NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 59-41

Jan 29 100th Men's Australian Open: Novak Đoković beats Rafael Nadal (5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5) , named one of the greatest grand slam finals ever

Jan 29 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Victoria Azarenka beats Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0
Jan 29 59th NHL All-Star Game: Team Chara beats Team Alfredsson 12-9 at Ottawa, Ontario
Jan 29 28th Sundance Film Festival: "The House I Live In", directed by Eugene Jarecki, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic

Jan 29 American snowboarder Shaun White achieves the first ever SuperPipe perfect score (100) in Winter X Games history

Jan 31 Leonard Cohen releases his album "Old Ideas", becomes No.1 in 10 countries