Events in History
- Jan 2 Sila Calderón becomes the first female Governor of Puerto Rico.
- Jan 5 A report reveals that doctor and former GP Harold Shipman has potentially killed hundreds of patients
- Jan 8 The identities of 2 boys who murdered a toddler in 1993 will be kept secret, the High Court rules
- Jan 9 Shenzhou 2, an unmanned Chinese spacecraft, is launched.
- Jan 10 A large piece of the chalk cliff at Beachy Head collapses into the sea.
- Jan 10 The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will not be designated as a national monument, the White House announces; a move environmentalist groups had been pressing for to prevent oil drilling
- Jan 13 Earthquake measuring magnitude 7.6 strikes El Salvador, killing more than 840 people
- Jan 15 Wikipedia a free Wiki or content encyclopedia is launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger
- Jan 16 A fuel supply tanker runs aground off the island of San Cristobal, causing an 'ecological disaster'
Assassination
Jan 16 Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated in his office by one of his own bodyguards
- Jan 16 US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War
- Jan 17 OPEC agrees at a meeting of ministers in Vienna, to reduce members' oil production quotas by 1.5 million barrels per day
Historic Expedition
Jan 17 President Bill Clinton posthumously raises William Clark's rank from Lieutenant to Captain, and gave the titles of Honorary Sergeant to Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman who served as guide, and York, a person enslaved by William Clark, who assisted the expedition party
El Chapo Finally Recaptured
Jan 19 Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán escapes from Puente Grande maximum-security prison near Guadalajara by bribing prison guards and hiding in a laundry cart
George W. Bush Inaugurated
Jan 20 George W. Bush inaugurated as 43rd US President, Dick Cheney becomes 46th Vice President
EDSA II Revolution
Jan 20 President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in the EDSA II Revolution and succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Event of Interest
Jan 20 US President Bill Clinton issues 140 executive pardons on his last day in office; recipients include Marc Rich, Susan McDougall, Patty Hearst, and his brother Roger
- Jan 22 The British government launches pro-vaccine campaign
- Jan 23 The Chinese Communist Party stages a self-immolation in Tiananmen Square to frame Falun Gong and escalate the persecution.
- Jan 24 Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson resigns
- Jan 25 A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24
- Jan 26 An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.
- Jan 29 Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals
Lockerbie Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
Jan 31 In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988
Birthdays in History
- Jan 31 Ahed Tamimi, Palestinian activist who slapped Israeli officer, born in Nabi Salih, West Bank
Deaths in History
- Jan 2 Elizabeth Wilkinson, English professor of German (University College London), dies at 91
- Jan 2 William P. Rogers, American Republican politician & US secretary of state (1969-73), dies at 87
- Jan 7 Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr., American librarian and director of the Pierpont Morgan Library, dies at 90
- Jan 9 Maurice Prather, American photographer, and cinematograper (Carnival of Souls), dies at 74
- Jan 9 Paul Vanden Boeynants, Prime Minister of Belgium (1966-68, 1978-79), dies at 81
- Jan 11 Sir Denys Lasdun, English architect (b. 1914)
Bill Hewlett (1913-2001)
Jan 12 American engineer and businessman (co-founder Hewlett-Packard), dies of a heart attack at 87
Laurent-Désiré Kabila (1971-2001)
Jan 16 Congolese revolutionary and 3rd President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997-2001), assassinated in his office at 61 by one of his own bodyguards
Byron de la Beckwith (1920-2001)
Jan 21 American white supremacist, dies at 80
Authors
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